Los Angeles Lakers unite LeBron & Bronny! NFL Sunday Ticket case could cost league $14 BILLION!

Today’s word of the day is ‘king’s court’ as in LeBron James as in King James as in Prince James as in Bronny James. The Lakers did it. The Lakers drafted Bronny James with the 55th pick of the NBA Draft. Historic moment. A jury has ruled against the NFL in its antitrust Sunday Ticket case. This could cost the NFL $14 billion. This could have a major impact on fans, on the league, on players. Let’s discuss what this all means. Did you watch the presidential debate last night? The horror show that was Biden and Trump. NPPOD. Bryce Harper might be in some injury trouble. Hamstrings are bad. Will Shohei Ohtani be in the home run derby? Are the Dodgers going to protect him? Does he need the protection? How much is Stephen A. Smith worth? He wants big money. He wants to be everywhere.

0:00 – Intro
0:45 – Bronny to LA
11:30 – NFL suit
21:45 – Presidential Debate
36:16 – NPPOD
39:10 – Phillies hurt
42:20 – Ohtani Derby
47:10 – Stephen A Smith

#NBA #DavidSamson #NFL

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here you go here you go King’s Court that’s the nothing personal word of the day for Friday June 28th 2024 we are going to talk about LeBron James bronnie the NFL antitrust suit we have a verdict that will impact you not and we are going to talk about last night’s presidential debate don’t turn the channel that’ll probably come after the break I’m gonna ask you all a few questions we’re gonna have sort of a debate although it’s just me here but I’m gonna have a debate with you the first debate that we had putting the show together today where do we start I’m going to start with bronnie the reason I’m going to start with bronnie is that there’s a few misunderstandings let’s start with this one no ad bronnie is not going to help the Lakers this year yes Rich Paul you demanded that nobody draft bronny James but the Lakers yes Adam Silver you in the NBA helped make sure that nobody was going to draft bronnie James but the Lakers don’t let anyone fool you into thinking the NBA had nothing to do with this that they just stood back didn’t get involved they let the chips fall where they may that’s not what Commissioners and leagues do we don’t like letting the chips fall where they may we like telling the chips exactly where they’re going to land the NBA had a story to tell they had a day two of the draft to broadcast at 4M out of ESPN studios in South Street Seaport sort of the middle of Stephen A Smith’s day the drama was only about bronny that’s why everybody was watching quick who did the Celtics draft with the number 54 pick don’t know I’m not even sure I saw it on ESPN they blew by that so quickly my head was spinning now granted I was in the middle of eating watching thinking writing pondering what was going to happen only several hours later and then Shams spoiled it for us big whoop do you think that’s an agreement a hey you can you have the information you we know you have it you know you have it just release it right before we’re going to broadcast it not like an hour or anything but just like a minute embargo that information for a minute it was a huge surprise Rob pinka the GM VP of basketball operations GM for the Lakers very stressful draft day of looking at the board thinking about who’s available in the number 55 slot it’s laughable second only to him telling you this is true in the history of the NBA there’s never been a father and a son that have shared an NBA basketball court and that feels like something that could be magical we know and have to respect of course that LeBron has a decision on his opt out but if it worked out that he was on our team next season NBA history could be made Rob I want to help you get more sleep and you know this don’t insult your audience LeBron James has not decided whether he’s going to be on the Lakers next year there’s no deal worked out whether it’s 3162 or him just Pi picking up his option you’re going to be surprised the phone’s going to ring will LeBron call call excuse me hold for LeBron please the Lakers know they knew the NBA knew you think that the broadcast Partners when they’re deciding what games will be nationally televised to start the season do you think there’s a chance the Lakers will be on National Television as part of the TNT package with Inside the NBA in their final year with the Lakers playing their first game if LeBron is healthy do you think for a minute there’s a chance that Brony will not make the Lakers do you think that the Lakers can take the chance or the NBA can take the chance that LeBron gets hurt pulls a hammy goes full Harper oh cries done ankle knee head shoulder that’s it no father son the first second LeBron can play a regular season game bronny will be in that game the good news is that we’re not supposed to believe that it was a pick based on nepotism what’s wrong with that why admit it it’s fine there’s nepotism everywhere hi my name is David there’s nepotism in Hollywood hi there’s nepotism in Your Lawn Company there’s nepotism in your ladder company in your Locksmith Company in your plumbing company in your electric company go search right now on Google and son Father and Son how many companies how many Industries have that what are you going to do I’m going to take over the family business people don’t seem to view that as a big deal when it comes to summer job time what are you doing I’m working for my father cutting trees cutting trees you’re an arborist and Son it all seems to work out fine what does your dad do he’s a basketball player what do you do I’m gonna play basketball fantastic you’re not very good at basketball yeah I know but boy I’m going to get a shot here do know that pinka said that bronnie is first and foremost a person of High character let me bring you deep into a draft room we are evaluating players and we’re saying we want a player who’s first and foremost High character can he play don’t bother me with that I want to know about his character secondly pinka said he’s a young man that he means who works incredibly hard thank God those are the qualities we look for in drafting players so Genie bust the arm of the Lakers is looking at her GM and saying hm you’re looking for someone who’s first and foremost a person High character and second someone who works hard I’ve got 50 people at metalark who are a very high character first and foremost they work incredibly hard here’s what they can’t do they can’t play basketball but their candidates to be drafted by the Lakers you think that LeBron James and LeBron James Junior bronny James let me let me do this better because this is going to be the finale of this I I’m so over it we had to wait to see we told you this was going to happen none of this was surprising back in March of 24 March 5th two months ago three months ago we said bronnie will get drafted by the Lakers all of this cra CP oh you never know maybe Boston Celtics will draft him at 54 maybe Phoenix is going to draft him maybe they’ll hold them hostage poor choice of words maybe they’ll find a way where LeBron and his son will be playing for the Knicks the Nets the Suns the Thunder they’d be amazing on the Rockets it was always going to be the Lakers the James family isn’t moving out of La it was not even a question well they brought in JJ reick to be the head coach to be involved in the draft I’m sure he was had no idea that the Lakers were leaning that Direction with Brony in the second round you think that they weren’t told do you think for a second LeBron wasn’t told that Bron’s coming in at pick 55 and bronny LeBron if not given assurances would have said you better pick him in the first round because he better not go with another team you don’t think the Lakers said to LeBron we know he’s available at 55 trust us we promise you he’ll be available at 55 LeBron said fine draft someone else in the first round take him at 55 we’re g to play together that’ll be that well I’m G to give you some bronny waight toes and you can book these coka number one he will play minutes the first game LeBron plays so if LeBron is hurt to start the season Bron’s not gonna play if LeBron is healthy to start the season Bron’s going to play in the first game and it’s gonna be magical it’s gonna be delicious it’s going to be history it’s going to be Cat Stevens’s Father’s son it’s going to be the whole package tears are enough of you talking about the Brilliance of LeBron James that he can still actually play in the NBA and have a kid young enough to have a kid that’s then old enough to play in the NBA when he’s still playing in the NBA it’s never happened I’m all in I love the story line I just want the honest story line the Lakers were always going to draft him LeBron was always gonna opt into his deal or sign an extension it was always only going to be for the Lakers but once they’ve got their moment they take some photos they do a deal for trading cards they sign some memorabilia they rip up the court and sell it in counter pieces first time father and son on same court same time boy I could monetize the crap out of that moment a little James James jersey James squared bronnie LeBron oh I got a million ideas here’s the thing Bron is barely good enough to be in the G league if he’s good enough to even be in that my second wait to see about Brony is he will get zero hear me out zero playoff minutes if the Lakers even make the playoffs zero dnp CD at best that’s if he’s still on the roster because the Lakers if they promised LeBron James that bronny would be carried all season long maybe only through the first Road so they can have a road trip together father son that’s not too weird is it so maybe they’ve promised him a road trip or two but that’s it would LeBron really want to play on a team or be in charge of a team where he has players forget nepotism where he has not the best 15 players available each night Bron’s not getting playoff minutes it’s a big story though hold on do you have your wallets get your wallet out if you’re watching this live on the nothing person with David Samson YouTube channel and you’re a fan of the NFL or look in your bank account if you want get get get get on your app get on your app and check out what you have I’ve got a promise for you you will not have more money tomorrow than you had today based on the verdict in the NFL antitrust suit lot of great headlines billions of dollars awarded in Damages billions 4.7 billion doar I hope you were all thinking about Austin Powers the movie and Mike Myers here’s what the suit was about you’re going to read a lot about it I want to get it to you in very digestable easy to understand talking points there were people who got together and said we want to sue the NFL because we believe you’re making us pay too much for Sunday Ticket on Direct TV and we found lawyers who were willing to make it a class action suit and a court was willing to certify a Class A bunch of bars and a bunch of individuals all of whom are saying it could have been way cheaper and we’re going to prove that and the Anti-Trust exemption that the NFL claims they have where they can do broadcast deals with Reckless indifference toward competition that’s for regular TV not for pay TV and we’re going to bring it to court in front of a jury of our peers and the jury’s going to hear Roger Goodell testify they’re going to hear Jerry Jones testify and they’re going to come to a verdict that we’ve all been damaged we are GNA give refunds to everybody $2,000 for you Oprah $2,000 for you bar on the street $2,000 for you sitting on your couch watching every out of Market game that will be a crisp $22,000 bill that you will receive hold on let me think about this never the headline is that the NFL lost the headline is the jury awarded 4.7 billion and it could triple it could be billions of dollars there’s something in our system and we do have a judicial system that criminally and civil actually works when there is a jury award that award is looked at by appell courts it’s looked at by judges it’s looked at could be by the Supreme Court no money is paid to anyone until the award is certified by the appell at court and the Supreme Court decides to not hear the case or they hear the case and they uphold the lower Court’s ruling the NFL is going to appeal this amount of money Players this is interesting if the NFL actually has to spend let’s say $200 million per team the way the salary cap is that actually will not have a direct impact on the salary cap but it’s not going to impact the progress of the game the NFL is not going out of business nothing is going to happen bad to the NFL but in this appeal process what they are going to show is that this was an unreasonable award that in fact the jury misunderstood and misapplied the facts and the law and that the antitrust exemption that is good for the NFL and for broadcasting in general does apply in this case the reason I think the NFL will win this on appeal is that the result of a loss while you’re thinking will be money in your pocket what it really is is that it will enable teams and the league to bifurcate if not force leagues in the teams to bifurcate their rights meaning if you want to watch the Green Bay Packers you don’t have to get the Sunday Ticket you can simply stream the Green Bay Packer games those that are not on National Television but you’re gonna pay a lot of money to watch those games you’re going to say this is my dream as a consumer I don’t want to pay 400 bucks when ESPN were was going to give it to me for 70 that’s not what you should be thinking about what you should be thinking about is I don’t want to pay 400 bucks to YouTube or Direct TV by the way this is not impact the YouTube plan this does not impact next year at all if you want to watch games that are not in your Market or are not the national games you need YouTube which is the new Direct TV if you want to watch Green Bay when they’re not a national television you’re a fan of the Green Bay Packers you’re going to have to spend X dollar let’s say it’s 20 bucks a game let’s just pretend that’s the number and then if you watch another game that could be 40 bucks so during the course of a month if the Packers play four games and none of them are on national television and you do not live in Green Bay because it’s not on your CBS on your free over the air you’re looking at 80 bucks that month to watch your team now look at what the cost is if you paid per month for the NFL package to get every game be very careful thinking this was good for the consumer be very careful thinking that the result of this NFL anti trust suit where you are going to have liberal people you’re going to have all sorts of people saying this is a brilliant result finally power to the people bring those big corporations down don’t allow them to price gouge us the NFL has more games available to you there’s games what is it Coca Thursday get Prime Friday not anymore unless it’s Christmas or Black Friday Saturdays in December Sundays there’s 1:00 there’s a double header National double header your team is always on when there’s a byee and your team isn’t on they put free games on that may not be the team you love but it’s not like you don’t get to watch over the a free like rabbit ear type free football the NFL was angry I get it I was a part of a bunch of class actions where there was risk of major Awards and the reason I thought NFL would settle this is we always wanted to settle we never wanted bud or any commissioner on the stand certainly didn’t want any owners on the stand didn’t want anyone knowing what we were doing didn’t want anyone getting in our business because we’re all private businesses and we’re in the business of not opening books to anybody showing you what happening telling you our strategies many many businesses are like that this is not baseball Centric the NFL simply felt they could not settle this because the plaintiffs had no reason to settle why because the amount of attention the plaintiffs have gotten the amount of attention the law firm the amount of attention this case has gotten that’s the Priceless part about this the NFL was careful to say quote we are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit we continue to believe that our media distribution strategy which features all NFL games broadcast on free over theair television in the markets of the participating teams we said that and National Distribution of our most popular games we said that supplemented by many additional choices including Red Zone Sunday Ticket and NFL plus is by far the most fan-friendly distribution model in in all of sports and entertainment they’re right did you hear what we were saying a few minutes ago about what the result of this is how you’re not getting any money in your pocket how you’re not actually going to have the ability to watch the teams you want to watch in a cheaper way there is nothing related to this case there is nothing related to this verdict that will in any way change how the NFL acts number one how other leagues act number two how you act in engaging with this content number three and giving you the ability to buy free Christmas presents this year because of this refund you’re going to get ngth not going to happen I think we’re going to have a couple years now before we have to talk about this they they’re saying months but it won’t months there’ll be a bunch of hearings later on this summer where it’s possible the verdicts can be thrown away but then it’s possible that the plaintiffs could have another bite there’s all sorts of legal angles here which is what you want in your system you want both sides to have the chance to go all the way to take it all the way to be heard by as many possible courts as possible before a decision is done this is the system we have this is the system that works you are watching this system now in action I want to get to the presidential debate now I’ve been collecting my thoughts since 10:30 do you want me to break first coka okay I will after the break we’re going to get to the debate that’ll give me an extra few minutes to get my thoughts even more together we’ll be right back welcome back to nothing personal it’s David Samson on Friday have a great weekend everybody although we still have 29 minutes left we have a few topics still to get to but I want to talk about the debate last night for those of you who did not watch I will sum it up for those of you who did watch I want to explain a few things and I want you to help me understand a couple things as well I’d never seen a former president and current president debate because it’s never been done this was an early debate in this in the calendar the election’s not till November the next debate’s not till September the former president Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for president the current president Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee for president this is what we know we also know that if you go back in the history of debates it’s generally the same conversation about deficit debt Social Security economy foreign policy immigration safety terrorism disease generally it’s the same topics when politicians agree to a debate whether it’s a the primary level whether it’s after primaries whether it’s at the city council level or up to president of the United States debating originally was meant to get information to people who had no other way to get information because there was no dissemination of information no TVs no Twitter a debate was supposed to explain to you what a person thinks so you can decide if you agree with that person and then you your vote accordingly somewhere along the line debates no longer became about that because if you wanted the issues discussed you could go to the websites that the candidates have at any level of government if you want to understand what a candidate thinks about a topic you can follow them on Twitter there are many many ways debate is not one of them when CNN got the debate last night and they made the rules where microphones would be muted the candidates would have 2 minutes to talk one minute to rebut no studio audience what do you think the purpose of the debate last night was from both sides because what you heard is there were days of strategy President Biden was secreted away in Camp David prepping Donald Trump was in Florida for two days prior getting prepped on issues if you are on Trump’s side you had one goal in mind and that was it the goal was to make sure at the end of the debate that everybody looked at you and said huh you seem to have your marbles Joe Biden’s Camp had one goal in mind at the end of the debate they wanted people to say hey I’ve got energy and I’ve got my marbles that was it this was not about understanding what they have or have not done on immigration what their view is of Ukraine Russia the economy Israel though I’m going to get to some of this under my scorecard of I’ve got my marbles and the other guy doesn’t there was a clear Victor in last night’s debate and it was Donald Trump if your scorecard were based on false claims and lies the clear winner was was Biden who lied himself plenty for those criticizing Donald Trump for not answering questions you’re not a very good debater you don’t have to answer the question of the moderator Donald Trump had talking points he made them the moderator said in your 38 seconds remaining of your 2 minutes would you like to answer the question we asked and sometimes he did sometimes he didn’t he doesn’t have to people are criticizing the Democratic party for putting Biden on stage how could you do this elder abuse I heard someone say if the Democrats had someone better who they thought would be able to win the presidency when you know that incumbents have an advantage a significant historical Advantage the Democratic party the Democratic Leadership would have done something what you heard last night is the Democratic Leadership is now panicking they’re going to try to do something they’re going to talk to Biden and say are you sure that you want to go through with this are you willing to step aside is there anyone Michelle Obama is there anyone who will step up and take your place we can’t win the election with your performance like that and to that I say why not when you cast your vote you’re not voting for just Biden or just Trump you’re voting for their administrations you’re voting for The People that they surround themselves with I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on I encourage you to watch the 29 minute John Oliver on this year’s election it’s 29 minutes of your time it doesn’t matter that he’s extremely liberal and hates Trump watch and learn and then do some reading learn about Trump his administration what he plans to do when he’s president don’t listen to the absolute Insanity of after I’m elected before I take office I will end the Israel Hamas war after I am elected there will be no more Russian invasion of Ukraine don’t listen to that don’t listen to Biden telling you that the border patrol supports me they don’t don’t listen to Biden say I’ve got an eight handicap Trump has a six who cares you should be embarrassed you talked about Gulf mortified I was don’t listen that no troops were killed under Biden that’s not true he lied he was wrong don’t listen to Trump talk to you about what’s happening with roie Wade and how everybody wanted that back in the States he’s wrong there is no one who wants afterbirth abortions that’s called a murder that is not what anyone is arguing or disputing but I don’t want you to focus on that I want you to focus on what these parties believe in and then decide which one you’re in do you want less government or more government do you want your rights protected or not protected as a woman do you want other people telling you what you should be doing with your body or do you want to tell yourself don’t get me started on the woman’s issues a woman watching that debate has to be mortified mortified thinking that the Democratic candidate cannot put three sentences together and make a paragraph and the Republican candidate wants to make sure that you don’t get any say over your body petrified they should be as a Jew I was petrified I’m supposed to support who the right-wing Jews are supporting with Trump am I supposed to support who the leftwing Jews are promoting and and supporting in Biden and then I relaxed took a breath and said no let’s talk about administrations let’s talk about cabinets let’s talk about platforms let’s talk about the power the president actually has let’s talk about what the president can do can’t do will do and then you can read articles and find out that all the stuff talked about in the debate was just about about wanting them to make you believe whether they’ve got their marbles or not I don’t want to hear about Biden’s son in Iraq I don’t want to hear about porn stars I don’t want to hear about Gulf I don’t want to hear Trump say that Iran had no money when he was president it’s just wrong am I upset that Trump didn’t acknowledge what January 6th was and what is role was yeah yes I am he can be honest but he can’t be to his hard right base but he can be honest about what that was not answering what he would do if there were an election where he lost Biden not being at all forthcoming about his failings as president where inflation is where the economy is where we are with opioids when did it happen that everybody was unwilling to ever acknowledge anything bad the rosec colored glasses stagger me can I please just show you one video that sums up one of my thoughts on this he is look I’d be happy to have a driving contest with him the reason I got my handicap which when I was vice president down to a six and but by the way I told you before before I’m happy to play golf if you carry your own bag think you can do it that’s the biggest Li is a six handicap of all I was eight handicapped yeah eight but I have you know how many I’ve seen you swing I know you swing that’s when I lost it I admit it I’m in sports I’ve been in sports a long time business politics been interested in politics since I was that kid in elementary school interested in politics what people are saying how they’re saying it studying their Styles learning how to be a talker because I knew I would be a talker because I was always a talker always trying to make sure that I was not wasting people’s time that stays with me to this day did you watch that video you’ll never get those 30 seconds left and you had to revisit it twice and now that’s a minute of your life and I apologize for showing it but my point to you was do you look at that exchange and say I am proud I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on do you look at that exchange and say to yourself we’re in trouble don’t be fooled we’re not in trouble you need to vote for the party that best represents the way you believe you want to live and others around you should be allowed to live you need to vote with a party not a person when you vote for a person you are woefully over indexing the power of the person and I get it I get that we tell you it’s the most powerful office in the world I get that we tell you it’s one of the three branches of government I get when we tell you president of the United States commanderin-chief of the Armed Forces but as important as those titles however ceremonial they may be is what that president comes with so dig a Little Deeper read the extra article Don’t Be convinced by the pundits you’re going to hear today saying Biden’s done the election’s over Trump wins maybe it’s so but if you vote for Trump because of the way Biden performed then you’re part of the problem if you vote for Biden because you don’t like that Trump paid off Stormy Daniels then you’re part of the problem I want you to vote for a candidate because you understand the issues that each party represents the power of the parties then decide what issue if you’re a single issue voter and you’re single issue is Israel and you believe that Republicans are better with Israel on Israel vote Republican fine if you’re a single issue voter when it comes to women’s bodies and women’s rights vote for the Democrat fine if you’re a single issue otor on the economy vote for neither fine it’s not fine to vote for neither you got to vote for somebody in conclusion as it relates to the debate there will be a lot of Fallout from this debate that will fade over the summer months that will reappear as we head into the conventions and as we head into the next debate in September do not allow the noise surrounding the debate including the pundits who are saying that the Democratic party is panicked including the pundits who are saying the Republican party has its dream come true it’s the equ equivalent last night of a 20-point lead in the first quarter of an NBA it doesn’t matter there’s so much game left to be played if Biden actually steps down the Republicans will look at this day as the worst day in their party’s history because they want to run against Biden they don’t want to run against the Biden replacement so many more opportunities for you to educate yourself on the issues not not on the noise put the earplugs in and educate yourself part of educating yourself is knowing when to fade me and when not to we are in a major fade David mode now in our nothing personal pick of the day we had flare pitching well against the angels He gave up five runs the Angels got shut out by the the angel shut out the Tigers we are now 82 and 100 I don’t recall ever being 18 games under 500 I’m desponding beyond repair extremely frustrated as a team trying to trade Jack flare that performance stinks he’s going to start again if you’re a team trying to acquire a pitcher you sort of acquire him as a mid-level mid to bottom level the rotation guy don’t give up a big piece but be willing to give up sort of a low-level Prospect flarity did himself no favors the Tigers did themselves no favors and we end up losing the game I’ve got two picks for you this weekend because I’m not giving up tonight we’ve got the Yankees and the Blue Jays how are the Yankees doing terrible three and 10 in their last 13 they’ve given up seven or more runs and theyed the last 10 losses the Yankees look like the Yankees of last year when they didn’t make the playoffs but they got out to such a hot and heavy start that they were the best team in baseball for a while that the expectation was they’d be the best team throughout the course of of the Season meanwhile they’re going through one of those stretches that makes you think I hope it’s just a stretch I hope this is not who the Yankees are you’re saying that about gck Cole Too aren’t you if you’re the Blue Jays you’re saying we can’t win a game we’ve got Kikuchi here we don’t want to even win a game we want Rogers to sell no we don’t we want Rogers to buy no we don’t we want Rogers to just please care that’s the owner of the Blue Jays Blue Jays are in last place their season’s over I said it to Blair and Barker yesterday and I apologize for it no I don’t I don’t apologize it is what it is the Blue Jays are in last place they’re not making the playoffs I was wrong about them this season there is no recovering it is June 28th it’s done they do not have the type of team that will go on one of those crazy runs the teams have gone on through August September where all of a sudden they became a juggernaut and they go on a 20 and two run ngth strowman minus 120 over Kikuchi in the Blue Jays that’s the pick tonight Sunday it’s Corbin day Patrick Corbin gets the start Sunday you know how we do it that I think it’s the only games I’ve won recently we’re taking the Rays over Patrick Corbin on Sunday that is the nothing personal pick of the day how despondent are people in Philly right now just out of curiosity Philly lost to the Marlins yesterday but that doesn’t matter Philly has something much more important they’re waiting for today and I would not have waited Bryce Harper pulled up lame hamstring issue needs an MRI I want him in the tube last night after the game I’m not waiting I’m not waiting we did not wait we had the players in the tube immediately let’s find out what the heck we’re dealing with Harper will get in that tube and the Phillies will then make an announcement about the number of weeks he’s going to miss they have not put him on the injured list yet he’s going on it he will not play in the All-Star game which is too bad he’s the leader in Allstar voting it’s another blow to baseball having Harper there I would make Harper go to Dallas but he doesn’t even have to maybe he will good guy become a good guy would like him to go sign autographs make appearances but he’s certainly not going to play in the game if his hamstring popped he could miss two months two months and we’re ready in July sort of July this our last show of June our next show is going to have the June baseball recap that’s Monday that’s the day we’re also going to Chicago for a live show coka boy we got a busy week coming up Kyle schwarber felt his groin pull the guy never plays the field that’s why I can’t stand full-time dh’s can’t stand it I want stand St playing the field don’t tell me he’s soft I want him playing the field I want schwarber playing the field he’s terrible but you know what happens when you put him in the field you reach down and say oh that hurt last thing I reached down for was the donut and I don’t mean Duncan I mean the thing you put around your bat so schwarber’s hurt Harper’s hurt we’re GNA find out it’s going to be bad how do you protect your players you have to protect protect your players from injury but there’s really no way to we have a bunch of trainers we have all these systems in place we have all these machines we have all these routines that we do for players and it’s not just stretching it’s what you do before games during games after games on off days off season we have programs that we write out for every player we check on the players during the course of the offseason players come into to camp in better shape than they’ve ever been in and guess what it’s too many games on too many days 162 games on the body without amphetamines without steroids it’s impossible to do you want to know why there’s so few Juan Pier or Marcus simeons because it is impossible to do when you have a chance to protect your player you do it but then you get in trouble with baseball I don’t want my pitcher pitching in the WBC come on the WBC matters to baseball it matters to us it’ll help with the exposure of our sport it will help with Revenue oh but fine I don’t want my player doing the Home Run Derby come on there’s no Home Run Derby curse people love the Home Run Derby you got to let your star player do the Home Run Derby I always encouraged I wanted my guys doing the Derby because the Marlins didn’t get any attention so any chance we had to have players in the derby I would push our players to do it it’s fun as Stan in 2016 he had fun but he’ll also tell you it hurts he’ll tell you he was exhausted he won’t tell you that it hurts your swing he won’t tell you that if there’s a slump that happens after it’s because of the hrd Home Run Derby but that is a very common thought the Dodgers have themselves a bit of a conundrum at the moment sh Otani leads the league in home runs sh Otani is tied for the league lead in Tommy John’s sh Otani is an MVP candidate as a no field only bat player far from the two-way player that he was Dave Roberts the manager of the Dodgers is quoted on the subject but has nothing to do with the subject the decision on Otani being in the Home Run Derby is solely up to the front office of the Dodgers working in conjunction with the Commissioner’s Office period no players invited to the derby without the front office being asked in first if I’m the Dodgers there is not one scenario I let shotani be in the Home Run Derby if I’m baseball I don’t even ask the Dodgers to have shotani in the Home Run Derby you are going to get show in October you need that way more than shoh in Arlington in July if there is any possible chance that it will impact his rehab for pitching you cannot allow him in the derby do I believe that that has a deleterious impact on his pitching rehab I do not but it doesn’t matter because it could be and when you’re paying him 462 million present value or 700 million over 20 years you want him to be a two-way player the Dodgers need to be cautious they need to be smart and they cannot allow shohi to be the bad guy the way this works is that shi would not want to do anything in any way to make you believe that he does not want to participate in the home runder in order for him to save face and in order for this to work baseball has to not invite Shi and they have to get a roster of people for the Derby that has enough interest that the networks are happy the owners are happy the union is happy and everyone can go along their way they cannot publicly say we asked shohi and Shi declined no how do I think this ends pretty simply it ends with him likely being player of the month for June what an unbelievable June he had so far he’s hitting 310 with 11 home runs 23 rubies basically walking as much as he strikes out it will end with the player of the month and it will end with him not participating in the Home Run Derby does it matter that Aaron judge said he doesn’t want to be in the Home Run Derby does it matter that Stanton said he doesn’t want to be in the Home Run Derby or he’s hurt can’t be aunia hurt can’t be Otani we’ll see but won’t be have you seen the NBA dunk contest recently we will find Sluggers to hit home runs in the derby and there will be great stories and you will see things that are magical because there will be young players who will do things with a bat and you’ll say wow that is amazingly fun to watch we will all watch the Home Run der regardless of the big names being in it I think I’m going to give you official weight to see on this coka do you mind we’ve had so many weight to sees but I I do want to make another one that’s multiple weight to sees when we tell you something’s going to happen I want to make it official Otani does not participate in the Home Run Derby in the 2024 All-Star game wait to see I want to end the show on something going back a little bit to politics just a little bit and it’s about Stephen A Smith Stephen A Smith is a free agent Stephen A Smith reportedly wants 25 million a year reportedly ESPN offered him 18 million a year Stephen A Smith wants to get into politics wants to get a talk show wants to spread his wings wants to do NFL Stephen A Smith wants to go full year to the turtle and I dig it I don’t believe that it interests me to watch him being videotaped walking into an arena as though he owns the place but guess what many of you do because you engage with him on all sorts of different platforms did you see him doing debate prep on news Nation it’s not Newsmax news Nation with Chris Cuomo giving his view of the debate tweeting about the debate don’t say to Stephen A Smith stay in your lane Stephen A Smith is the expressway he should should be the expressway I want to be the expressway I don’t want to just talk about baseball I want to talk about business I want to talk about politics entertainment I am absolutely seduced by the microphone and the platform if I can admit it why can’t Stephen admit it and be okay with it and if there is a market that will pay him that amount of money don’t be Grudge him that the head of programming at ESPN start started preparing you for the fact that hey we don’t really need him for First Take it’s month over month 24 months in a row the greatest thing ever but we can move people in and out that’s what heads of content have to do they can’t make you get married to One Voice one person because we could disappear like that if you are metalark you got to be saying to yourself it can’t just be Dan or Pablo or Samson or Aman or Stu or Billy or Mike or any of us it has to be all of us ESPN it can’t be about one anchor one host it has to be about the products you have to be able to survive anything Stephen A Smith has every right to maximize his worth in the free agent World players do it if you don’t want to listen to him talk about politics turn the channel if you don’t want to listen to his hot takes that are so ridiculous that they defy reason or they’re just made for the purpose of being hot because you all love that sort of tea watch it or turn the channel but the proof is with you these people with microphones don’t get paid the amount of money they get paid out of the goodness of the heart of the people paying the money none of us do we get paid because of you which is why we’re so thankful to you without an audience who am I talking to every day the Loyalty you have for nothing personal every day the Loyalty you have for the sporting class for all the different things I do I get it I don’t take it for granted and I work my ass off so does Stephen A that deserves your respect his willingness to spread his Lings Wings broaden his Horizons all of that deserves your respect he’s allowed to look in the camera and say it’s just business we’re going to be back Monday with the live show have a safe weekend thank you for being with me this is nothing personal [Music]