Nothing Personal with David Samson

Today’s word of the day is ‘clash’ as in an argument as in teammates fighting as in Ronald Acuña gave an interview where he said he wouldn’t miss anything about Freddie Freeman being off the Atlanta Braves. It was a little odd to see how this played out. Acuña didn’t like the way Freeman had handled things his rookie year in Atlanta. Freeman didn’t really understand where this was coming from — but we get it. (15:20) We have an update on the Brian Flores lawsuit. Two more African American coaches have joined the suit. Steve Wilks and Ray Horton both spoke openly about the way their interviews and coaching years were handled. Mike Mularkey came out to Horton’s defense and said the Titans told Mike he had the job before anyone else was even interviewed. (30:15) Review: Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4. (32:00) Tiger Woods is back! His first tournament in over a year. He looked hurt when walking the course, but when he stepped up to the tee he was back. The old Tiger. The winner. The competitor. He moves the needle like no one else in sports can. (42:30) NPPOD. (45:45) Ke’Bryan Hayes got the largest contract in Pittsburgh Pirates history. $70M extension. For what? I mean, get paid… but why is he the player that Pirates made history with? Of all the other players in the clubs history.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘Opening Day’ as in it’s finally here as in baseball is back as in the lockout is over as every team is currently tied for first! Let’s break down everything you need to know about what happens today. What are teams doing to get ready? Do you still believe in your team? Do you NOT believe in your team? (12:30) Here’s my top 5 ballpark snacks! Not hot dogs or gourmet meals or monstrosity burgers. SNACKS! (15:20) Is the AL East the most interesting division in MLB history? The Blue Jays are good. The Yankees are good. The Rays are good. The Red Sox are good. The Orioles are… in the division, for sure. (21:20) What’s going on in the NL East? Are the Braves set to repeat? Can Scherzer and deGrom be historic for the Mets? Do the Phillies bat come together? What about the Marlins and Nationals? (28:45) Review: Boiling Point. (30:55) It’s time for awards! We’ll walk through MVP and Cy Young winners! (34:55) Who wins the Wild Card? Any teams you didn’t think I’d like? Who wins the World Series? Repeat Braves? New-look Blue Jays? Big bat Yankees? Big arm Mets? (38:30) My top 5 surprises for MLB this season.I love you all. Have a great season! - Coca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘Winning Time’ no, not the series on HBO, no not some champion contender, we mean the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers. Why are we talking about them? The Lakers were eliminated from the a spot in the playoffs. They couldn’t even finish in the 10th spot for a chance at the play-in tournament. A LeBron James led team was an absolute disaster. The Russell Westbrook experience was a failure. Anthony Davis missed a majority of the season (again) with injury. What happens now? Will Frank Vogel get another year? (13:10) What’s going on in this division? Is it any good? The Pirates stink, the Reds stink, the Cubs… stink! Will it be a Brewers and Cardinals race alone? (21:40) AL Central time! The Cleveland Guardians are debuting a new name and the stink! The Tigers will overachieve. The White Sox are real contenders. (27:00) SO You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me about the new sign-stealing device that will be used in MLB. Interesting. (39:00) Review: The Rental. (44:55) It’s happening! Tiger Woods is back! The Masters is here and Tiger has returned to save golf ratings! (46:40) NPPOD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘service time’ as in Opening Day is about to be here as in has service time manipulation been deaded by the new CBA? Have you seen some of these new fresh names that have made MLB opening rosters? Let’s talk about some of these young players and why the fantasy is. sometimes better than the reality. (16:20) Let’s start our MLB previews with the NL West. A breakdown of the NL West and how we think this division will finish. It’s going to be the Dodgers vs Padres race! (25:35) What’s the AL West going to look like? Athletics are a disaster. Rangers tried. Angels are the Angels. Is this still the Astros division? Are the Mariners going to get hot? (33:55) Review: The Bubble. (36:35) Dan Snyder is back again. We promise it won’t be an everyday thing. It’s just… he can’t help himself. The owner of the Washington Commanders released a statement about his alleged behavior. (43:10) NPPOD (44:00) Bracket winners announced! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘stolen’ as in Dan Snyder just can’t help himself as in the Washington Commanders reportedly withheld ticket revenue from opponents. How can this possibly be? What happens if this is true? (12:50) So You Wanna Talk to Samson!? Someone asked me about Carlos Beltran’s comments on YES Network. Beltran spoke about cheating with the Houston Astros and how the team did it because no one asked them to stop. Why is he bringing this up now? (30:00) Review: Red Rocket. (32:30) Jacob deGrom has a stress fracture in his scapula. Jacob deGrom has said he will still opt out. Max Scherzer has a hamstring injury. The Mets paid the price, but will they get a return on the investment? How do teams have deals that fall apart? (40:15) The Oakland Athletics have tore it all down. Traded player after player after player. Why are so many people up in arms again? They weren’t going to win anything this year or next year or the year after. (45:40) NPPOD. Do we ride with UNC or take Kansas? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘drought’ but first let’s start with April Fool’s Day as in the day of pranks as in the day of jokes as in the new world order of disinformation but every day is filled with that so let’s make today Don’t Be A Fools Day! Now back to drought! Yankees face Brian Cashman is mad, angry, upset, yada yada yada! He says “hey, Yankees fans can’t be upset because we should have won the 2017 World Series!”. That was the year of the Houston Astros cheating scandal. Interesting comments coming from a team that themselves got in trouble! (12:00) Dan Snyder is back in hot water again… not surprising. Bad team, bad front office, bad workplace culture, bad ownership group, and now, bad financials! A report came out that during this investigation by Congress it was revealed that Dan Snyder kept TWO DIFFERENT BOOKS on Washington’s financials. Oh boy. (32:30) Review: Casual. (35:30) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me about the New York Mets and Jacob deGrom. Historic start to 2021, and he got hurt. Mets sign Max Scherzer for a big 1,2 punch - and now deGrom has another shoulder issue before Opening Day. Is the juice worth the squeeze? (44:35) NPPOD. It’s the Final Four! Duke vs North Carolina! Villanova vs Kansas! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘consultant’ as in assistance as in Assistant to the Regional Manager as in Bruce Arians announced last night he would be stepping down as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to join the front office. Sure. Gotcha. So you’re saying Tom Brady returned to the Buccaneers and was okay with his coach stepping down this late? Or was this planned the whole time? Hmm… (12:25) Today was supposed to be MLB’s Opening Day, until it wasn’t. Why didn’t MLB plan anything big for today to make up for the fact that it’s been delayed a full week? Are we just supposed to pretend it never happened? Or is Home Run Derby X the new big thing? HA. Cmon, man! What is Rob Manfred up to? He needs to rehab his relationship with the players and he’s trying to do that. (23:50) Quick story on the Nationals spring training games. They were shelled by the Cardinals. But this part is important. (28:50) Review: Windfall. (33:55) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? So Meta (formerly Facebook) is coming after TikTok, hard. They spent BIG money on a conservative lobbying firm to try and hurt TikTok in Washington D.C. (42:10) NPPOD. (44:55) Wait to see: Is Tiger Woods returning to the Masters? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘defamation’ as in Trevor Bauer is back! No, not back pitching, but back in the news. Last night Bauer took to Twitter and said he is suing The Athletic and former employee Molly Knight. Let’s explain what’s going on here. (13:20) Roger Goodell answered some media questions yesterday at the NFL owners meetings. He spoke about a few different topics, but let’s read what he said about Deshaun Watson. (20:20) Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti was at the NFL Owner’s Meetings and spoke about Deshaun Watson and Lamar Jackson. Watson got a fully guaranteed deal from the Cleveland Browns. Now what happens with the Ravens and Lamar Jackson who needs a new deal after this season? Bisciotti is not happy! (28:50) Review: Against The Ice. (33:20) Everyone was mad about the overtime rules in the NFL. Bills vs Chiefs, anyone? So they changed the rules for the postseason. Easy fix. (38:30) Are the Kansas City Chiefs moving to Kansas? Is that possible? What about the Washington Commanders? Are they moving too? Is everyone moving!? (42:30) NPPOD. (44:30) Jim Irsay is the owner of the Indianapolis Colts. He had some things to say about Carson Wentz yesterday that was not good. The Colts traded Wentz away so why did Irsay need to say anything? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘1.4 Billion’ as in $1.4B as in one point four billion dollars as in that’s the cost of the new Buffalo Bills stadium. How does this get done? Are the Bills paying for the whole stadium? Ha. $850M will be coming from tax payers. The Bills will only pay $350M and the NFL will fund $200M. Why is it done like this? Let’s talk about Marlins Park. (21:10) What’s going on with NFL diversity programs in coaching hiring? The NFL is launching a new program where teams are required to hire a minority or a woman for an offensive coaching role. The payments are not from the team, but from an NFL fund. What? (31:35) Review: Pam & Tommy. (37:30) Will Smith apologized for the incident at the Oscars. (40:25) NPPOD. (42:40) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Dave Roberts said the Dodgers are going to win the World Series. He said to write it down in Sharpie now. Someone asked me if I like when my manager says this.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘smack’ as in the 2022 Oscars will be remembered for the slap heard round the world. Chris Rock was presenting and made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith. Will Smith got up, walked across the stage, and smacked Chris Rock across the face. What a moment. Let’s fire off some takes! What happened during the Oscars? Winners and losers. Jokes and not jokes. Presenters. Hosts. What a night. (31:50) Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns held a press conference on Friday. It was a train wreck. Jimmy and Dee Haslam held their own press conference. Another disaster. (45:40) NPPOD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices