The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
David Samson Spars With Senator Chris Murphy | Hour 2
21 May 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stukas Podcast.
You get a double dose of Samson today. He will be appearing later in the show on Pitch Clock as we continue around here to segregate baseball. Jeremy and Samson are both very good on baseball. You should listen to Samson on baseball and business. Nothing personal, Chris. Nothing personal.
Thank you.
Jeremy and Samson will be doing Pitch Clock later in the show. And Nothing Personal is the name of Samson's podcast, which I continue to tell you at every turn has an assortment of terrain that he covers that I simply do not see other people covering. We will get to him in just a second. I do want to put in front of you another prediction, though.
I made the prediction yesterday that at some point during that Spurs-OKC series, things are going to continue to escalate and it's going to appear like the Thunder are going to be trying to hurt Wemba Nyama. Something else that's going to make an appearance at some point during this postseason is the ridiculousness of the Spurs last night.
Used their challenges in the first half to keep Wemby out of foul trouble. Used them correctly, got them both right, and then lost their challenges. At the end of one of these games, one of these teams isn't going to have a challenge. They would have been right both times. and not late in the game been able to reverse something because the officiating was so bad.
That's going to be a thing at some point. We're not going to keep getting away with doing this this poorly where the officiating is poor and your system is also shitty, and it's going to cost someone a game because the Spurs, I think, in the second quarter were out of challenges, and they got them both right. Like, what is that, Zaz?
That's asinine. I don't remember. I know what the second challenge was. What was the first challenge called? They got it right.
No, but the reason I ask is... It was Wemby's foul. It was Wemby's foul. That was the second one, for sure. I think both of them were to keep Wemby out of getting fouls.
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Chapter 2: How does David Samson feel about the Knicks' recent performance?
That should have been the highlight of my sporting life. It was game one of the conference finals and I felt nothing. I was like the chorus line, man. I don't know why that happened, but I've been thinking about it ever since because it bothered me, Dan, terribly. I should have been jumping up and down. I should have been schvitzing. I should have been pacing.
And I just wasn't doing any of those things. I was saying they're going to have to start hitting shots. They're laying bricks down. for three and a half quarters. They're gonna have to make some shots, aren't they? And then they did. And then I was just waiting for Kenny Atkinson to get fired.
And I guess I was thinking if I were running the Cavaliers, I may have stormed the court and fired him right then and there on the court at the final buzzer.
I heard Cleveland radio host Tony Rizzo yesterday say that Atkinson should be fired ahead of game two and they should hire Jason Kidd.
He should be the coach tonight. It was an unbelievable coaching malpractice to continue allowing the pick and roll switch to happen. You can coach that to not happen. You don't have to have the switch off where Harden takes it. And they kept running the same play again.
It's like in football, I was thinking if you're running the same play every time, eventually the defense is going to catch up to it and change the way they defend it. But the Cavaliers didn't do that. To say nothing of the fact that they did not give Donovan Mitchell the ball in overtime.
I continue to say that any team with James Harden in charge is going to be a team that can't get anywhere, but they're in the conference finals, good on them. But I just thought it was a disaster, which makes tonight's game even more interesting because game one becomes a memory if Cleveland wins tonight and they went for one game in the first two and they get it.
But if they lose tonight, the series is over at 2-0. So it's definitely a big game tonight.
I want to ask you some follow-ups of why you would feel like a foreigner there. I assume it's because real life is happening to you and sports is less important than it used to be to get perspective about life compared to perspective about sports.
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Chapter 3: What predictions does David Samson make about the NBA playoffs?
I don't like the way he plays. I don't like his style of play. I don't like debating officials. I don't like all the flopping. So, yeah, I go into tonight hoping he's terrible.
Well, do you have that view of SGA?
Getting there. You know, getting there. He was awful to watch last night. It's a brutal watch.
I think you should try to remember the four year run that he'd had with LeBron. And I was just lucky enough to experience that because I was in Miami at the time and I was at so many of his games. He also was an unbelievable complainer. And I remember noting that during the four years I was watching him up close. He complained every single time. He would flop all the time.
So that is what players do. They're trying to draw fouls. You know, Michael Jordan was no saint. I will tell you that. When he got into the paint, he expected the whistle to blow. And any time Daryl Garrison would swallow his whistle or Jake O'Donnell or any of them, he would go crazy. But he wouldn't flop it. Well, it's just different.
It's just not flopping around the ground because who the hell wants to get up every time? There's no reason to flop to the ground when you can just sort of complain to the referees. Why a foreigner, David? I just didn't. It's a very bad thing when you want to feel something and you can't. It reminds me, and I was singing the Barry Manilow song, trying to get that feeling again.
I was singing that during the comeback. Like, why can't I get that feeling? How do I, what do I do to get that feeling back? And then you realize there's nothing you can do. Once you lose that feeling, it just doesn't come back. And that's it. And I had to come to grips with that.
And I didn't come to grips with it until game one, the last seven minutes of the fourth and all the overtime when I was just sitting in bed with headphones on and my girlfriend was sleeping and I was just, I was silent and that's unheard of. I should have been like, anyway. It's nothing, Dan.
Explain it to me. No, but explain it to me. Has it been that way the last three years? This is the most relevant stretch of Knicks basketball that there's been. Since Larry Johnson had that four-point play.
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Chapter 4: Why does David believe Kenny Atkinson should be fired?
In 25 years. The Larry Johnson four-point play was fun. So here's my answer to you. My answer, Dan, is that being in sports for as long as I was has robbed me of my fandom. So it was heading this direction. And much like COVID just steepened the slope of many things that were gonna happen anyway, what's going on with me has just steepened the slope of what was happening anyway.
And so it's just been jarring to me how quickly I've bottomed out in terms of my allocation of time And how much time I spend with sports and the visceral attachment I have to the feeling of success and failure around sports. By the way, it's impacted everything, including nothing personal. I used to be obsessive about checking rankings and checking downloads and keeping track of numbers.
I mean, to the second. And now, for whatever reason, I just take the microphone and keep talking every morning.
That's sad.
Well, the second part feels healthier. The first part, not.
But I mean, everything he's saying is talking about a deadening and a numbing. I asked Mike today, I asked Mike today, how you doing? Everything okay? And he just turns around. He's like, is anyone okay? Is anyone okay right now? And I thought about it. I'm like, yeah, probably not.
I think everyone is in, I think every single person right now is in a stage of disorientation about just world events, if you're paying any attention. He did say that. I did say that. He said, except Zazz. He did actually say, he's like, is anyone okay? And he's like, yeah, Zazz is probably okay. I feel good.
I think the key for us is to remember that everyone has a job during these times. And our job is to entertain even when there are political overtones to it or serious things that we can talk about. Like I want to talk about my show I did with a senator the other day and what happened after the show, which is shocking to me.
But our job is to entertain and sort of ignore what's going on because we're supposed to be used as an escape. But it's hard when it's something that's unscripted. to be the escape because you really have to remove yourself from reality. And it's easy when there's a script, it's much more difficult when there's not.
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Chapter 5: What insights does David share about the impact of private equity on youth sports?
Stephon Marbury and John Starks, too. They're on the court while the ball is in play. Like they're cheering. They're pointing out defenses. Marbury is on the floor here several times in overtime. I'm not going to lie, though. The way you're setting this up, I think he's like at half court. And then the video we show, he's like toe is on the court.
We can't play the video, so I had to grab the best photo. So he goes further. No, he does not. He goes like two steps in, all right? Well, David, it was enough that Marbury felt the need to tweet an apology the next day because he was so overzealous. I'll read this to you here. I would like to issue a formal apology. He's at Starbury Marbury if you want to give him a follow on X.
I would like to issue a formal apology to every Knicks fan, every security guard, and especially Jalen Brunson. Not because I stole his shine, because I could never. That man owned the garden. I just got swept up in the current like a plastic bag. My energy flew out the roof. I lost my mind and my feet carried me somewhere they didn't belong. Thank you to the fans for the positive reaction.
It felt great, which is honestly concerning. Now, how about we run that back? Just kidding. Unless Jalen hits another one. Then all bets are off. Signed, Starbury. A bunch of emojis at the end there.
What are those emojis? Read all those emojis, please, Zaslow.
People's eyebrow. People's eyebrow. Spock. We got what looks like a laughing face emoji. Ooh, a lion. Could be Mufasa. Not sure. Then you have, is that a goat? I think it's a bull. A bull? A goat. I feel ox. Don't shame me on my emoji knowledge.
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Chapter 6: How does David describe his interview with Senator Chris Murphy?
You gotta know what the goat looks like, Zas. I'm not a child, alright? I don't use emojis.
Why is there a bull and a wolf there? I don't know. Lion, bull, wolf.
Chinese New Year? Let me look that up. He's big over there.
That's true, actually.
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Chapter 7: What are David's thoughts on the current state of sports media?
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Don Levatard. Tatas. Stugatz. Tatas. This is the Don Levatard Show with the Stugatz.
What were you saying, Samson, about a senator?
I was. Well, before I get to that, the reason why Marbury had to send that tweet is there's different levels where the alums get seats in the garden. The first row, there's first row behind the basket. That's where you see often Marbury and LJ is there and Latrell Sprewell is there, which is unbelievable. And then Patrick Ewing and John Stark.
Sometimes they're courtside on the other side, not behind the basket, but at the end of the sideline. And then there's alums like bill bradley he gets put in the stands sometimes alan houston is in the stands so there's a hierarchy of where people are and marbury does not want to upset mr dolan for fear he'll end up like mr oakley so he's got to come out there and say okay i won't do that again
That's a really good point. I do find it interesting that you scoffed at Sprewell being one of the guys who can be front row there when I would say Marbury's the guy I would scoff at. Like he was the face of the most embarrassing times as a New York Knick.
Yeah, I certainly don't appreciate seeing Stefan Marbury. I don't view him as a Knick. I don't think about him as a Knick. His Knick tenure, it might as well not have happened. But there could certainly be, you alluded to China. He is big business. Do not kid yourself.
No, but he's New York. He's the city, though. Come on, that's a place that loves it. basketball for sure. It's point guards. It's that city prides itself. High school legend. I mean, he comes from there. It's roots. It is a bad time in Knicks basketball, but get to the Senator story.
What happened? So I did a story where sort of nothing personal is becoming a place where politicians want to come on the show and they want to talk about bills that they're introducing in Washington and have a conversation about it. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut has sponsored a bill called Let Kids Play. It's an act that is trying to get private equity money out of youth sports.
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Chapter 8: What lessons does David learn from watching a recent documentary?
And Coca is very clear with all of these handlers of the politicians, it's not gonna be some sort of just glad-handing where I'm just gonna smile and not tell you what I think about it. And so there's great debates that happen during these shows.
So we go through the show that just got released on YouTube today or yesterday, and it's a podcast today, whatever it is, it's outside of the regular Nothing Personal.
but it got heavy because i so vehemently disagree with this bill and i asked the senator questions that were real questions like okay who's gonna pay for it is the government well no well then who if you don't want private equity money and venture capital money and so i thought it was a reasonable question and there was a bit of sparring that went on during this and it occurred to me that
coca and his concern of we're not going to get called again to do these anymore and my thought was i don't care because i don't want to be the one who's the cupcake and if people want to come on and have a real conversation i'll do it and then it occurred to me that those types of real conversations as you talked about on your show seem to be disappearing so i may have gotten metal arc media in trouble and if i did dan i sincerely apologize
I don't believe that's sincere. You smiled the whole time saying that. I don't think you care whether you got us in trouble.
Don't worry about apologizing to Dan for making it awkward with a guest.
Now, listen, Mike, I actually did think about that. The stakes are much higher with you and your show, quite obviously. He was born in the dark.
You merely adopted it.
So that is the only saving grace as I was going through the show in my head and replaying it where I could have been better. And I watched it again, trying to learn how to be a better interviewer and how to have better debate. And what was in my head was, wait a minute. Dan does this all the time. And look at the career he's built over 20 years. And here I am in year five or year six.
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