Nothing Personal with David Samson

Today’s word of the day is ‘82’ as in Happy 82nd Birthday to my dad. This is the first one without him, and I’m not sure how to feel. (3:00) The Minnesota Timberwolves were fined $250K. Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore held a team dinner and that broke some rules. Let’s explain why this simple mistake is part of the problem. (15:50) The New York Mets have offered Billy Eppler its GM job. Who is Eppler? Where did he come from? Did Steve Cohen panic? (22:30) So what about Billy Eppler’s old team? The Los Angeles Angels have a problem again because Shohei Ohtani is tired of losing. Uh oh. Mike Trout chose to stay in the mess. Ohtani shouldn’t have too. (30:15) Review: Love Hard (34:15) The Cleveland Guardians are a step closer to being complete. But the whole lead up has been a mess. Now the owner wants to sell part of the team, the store wasn’t ready to sell merchandise, but at least the settlement was reached for the team name. (45:30) NPPOD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘justification’ as in justified as in Jon Gurden is suing the NFL after being fired by the Las Vegas Raiders for emails that were leaked. The statement released by Gruden’s attorney alleges that there was no explanation or justification for why Gruden’s emails were the only of the 650,000 emails leaked. Did we think this was going to happen? Nope. Is it a major surprise? Yup. Let’s talk about what happens next. (18:45) Stan Kroenke is the owner of the Los Angeles Rams and he’s going to need to open up his check book for St. Louis. He offered $100M to settle. They said no. What about $150M? No. What about $200M? Maybe. (29:15) Review: Red Notice. (31:45) The Detroit Tigers have landed Eduardo Rodriguez on a 5-year, $77M deal. The Boston Red Sox offered him the qualifying offer and he turned it down. Was this a mistake by the Red Sox? (38:40) Why would players sign before a lockout? Are we going to see the run of shortstops sign big deals in the next few weeks? The CBA is about to expire! (44:15) NPPOD (45:50) Rookie of the Year picks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘WAR’ as in what is it good for? As in Wins Above Replacement as in the what in the world is MLB trying to say by recommending that arbitration prices be set from a players WAR on fangraphs. (26:55) Review: No Time to Die. (33:14) What is going on with the New York Knicks? After a week they were the talk of the town. First place in the eastern conference. Now? They can’t win at The Garden! Tom Thibodeau actually benched his entire starting unit against the Bucks in the 4th quarter. It’s what Thibodeau said after the game that we need to discuss. (40:50) NPPOD. (43:20) More and more details have been released in the Henry Ruggs case. Yesterday his lawyer tried to blame first responders for not getting to the scene quick enough. It’s such a BS claim, it’s a shame, and it just adds to more of the tragedy this was. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy Veteran’s Day. Every day we should be thinking about them. Every day we should be supporting them. Not just on Veteran’s Day.Today’s word of the day is ‘rotten eggs’ as in the Easter Bunny delivering rotten eggs as in what in the world has Scott Boras said now. Boras held his media scrum at the MLB Winter Meetings and he felt like giving Nothing Personal quotes. He talked tanking, World Series tanking, tanking for draft picks, tanking and trading, tanking tanking tanking. Perfect. (25:20) Andrew Heaney is the biggest move being made so far at the Winter Meetings. The Dodgers gave him $8.5M… what? Asked the Yankees how worked out. (30:15) Review: Coming Home. (32:40) Let’s discuss the Dalvin Cook situation. There are two sides of this story… leaks are happening… rumors are swirling. What should the Vikings do? (42:35) NPPOD. (44:50) Let’s end today talking about Boras again. We have to. He had some things to say about JD Martinez and the Boston Red Sox.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘reluctance’ as in the New York Mets still have no president of baseball ops, they still have no GM, but Sandy Alderson knows why… family reasons or the ‘reticence’ to work on the big stage of New York City. I mean… what are we doing? (11:15) The Green Bay Packers were fined $300K, Aaron Rodgers and Allen Lazard were fined $15K each. The NFL investigated the Packers and finally had to admit they broke COVID protocols. Interesting. The NFL said it was over a Halloween party, but Twitter investigators saw more and more instances of Rodgers breaking protocols. (17:15) Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver is under investigation for workplace misconduct and his wife has his back. Penny Sarver has decided to text employees, which they claim to have taken as threats. This is exactly what Robert Sarver does not need. (29:55) Review: Fitch. (32:10) NPPOD. (33:15) The Oakland Athletics are having a fire sale right now. GM David Forst said the Athletics are cash-strapped and need to cut payroll. Fans are not going to be happy about this. (40:15) MLB announced finalists for the awards. Let’s take a look at the awards and let’s tell some stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘resources’ as in the Las Vegas Raiders are a walking Human Resources violation as in the Raiders resources are not in a great place right now. We know about Jon Gruden getting fired over his emails. We know about Henry Ruggs III being released for his road accident that killed a young woman. Now the Raiders have Damon Anette who was released after a video of him making death threats with a machine gun. Disaster. (13:10) The Portland Trailblazers acknowledged that the NBA would be conducting an investigation into president of basketball ops Neil Olshey for misconduct. This is the 2nd investigation that is being conducted in the NBA for workplace misconduct. What is going on? (22:55) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me about players publicly asking to stay with a team when they become a free agent. They wanted to know if this were a positive move. (35:15) Review: Who Killed Garrett Philips. (44:15) NPPOD.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘adrenaline’ as in running the New York City Marathon as in that’s what was done yesterday as in a runner’s high as in I normally can’t go to sleep, but last night I really couldn’t sleep. (12:00) Gold Glove winners were announced by MLB. Did you see it? Probably not because MLB decided Sunday night during NFL game was the best time for it. Just baseball being baseball. (16:20) MLB qualifying offers are out there. The list is full of some premier talents like Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Jon Gray, Alex Wood, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Semien, and Carlos Correa. (28:20) Review: Superstar. (30:55) Carlos Correa was offered a deal by the Houston Astros. It was a 5-year, $160M deal. Is this something that Correa would accept? No chance. (38:20) NPPOD. (40:15) Aaron Rodgers went on the Pat McAfee show and expressed his feelings. Aaron Rodgers said some things that just didn’t make a whole lot of sense. The Packers looked bad news bears against the Chiefs with Jordan Love at QB. Now what? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Roy Wood Jr. joins Nothing Personal for a Samson Sit-Down! Roy has a new special out called Imperfect Messenger that you can catch on Comedy Central. Wood Jr. joined The Daily Show in 2015. He joins to talk about his comedy special, Dave Chappelle outrage, planning a stand up, and more! He’s the host of Roy’s Job Fair podcast and you can follow him on Twitter @roywoodjr.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ’hot potato’ as in it’s too hot to hold as in the scandals going around in sports just never end as in which one is next as in Urban Meyer? Nope. Jon Gruden? Nope! What about Robert Sarver of the Phoenix Suns? Hot potato! Sarver has been accused of running a racist and misogynistic workplace environment. The NBA is now going to investigate. Could this lead to Sarver having to sell the Suns? (17:10) Ben Simmons has still not played for the Philadelphia 76ers. First he didn’t report then he had a back issue and now it’s his mental health. If he has problems then it’s a good thing he’s getting help. If it’s not true and he’s using it to not get fined… wow. The Sixers have been public about Simmons unwillingness to speak with team doctors. (26:00) Review: Army of Thieves. (29:55) During a high school hockey game a bunch of students yelled profanities at a female goaltender. It was horrible to hear and see. It’s a shame that she had to go through this. Something needs to be done to stop this. (36:10) NPPOD - Let’s talk about the Odell Beckham and Baker Mayfield beef. (42:30) Wait to see updates Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ’shameful’ as in Aaron Rodgers decision to not be vaccinated as in his attempt to work around the NFL protocols as in being one of the faces of the NFL and not being under the same protocols as other players. How has Rodgers been able to speak without a mask during pressers? How has Rodgers been attending parties? How has Rodgers been able to travel with all the team? Why is he treated any different? (19:40) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me if Buster Posey will make it to the Hall of Fame. This is an interesting case. Let’s take a look. (28:10) Review: Lanksy.(32:00) What is going on with the Boston Celtics? After losing to the Bulls Marcus Smart was very vocal about his thoughts on Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. He basically called them out for being selfish. A day later and the Celtics needed a players only meeting! (42:05) NPPOD. (43:15) NFL Trade Deadline passes and Deshaun Watson is still a Houston Texan. What happened? Stephen Ross wanted Watson, but did not want him unless he understood that he could play with no more court. That didn’t happen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices