7.8.24 - JR SportBrief Hour 4

It is!

The JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Much love to people still continuing vacation. People finish with vacation.

People trying to stretch out the vacation. We're back! I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.

Super producer and host Ryan Hickey is holding it down for us on the boards in New York. And so whether you're working or chilling or trying not to work, whatever the hell you're doing, thank you for listening to the show. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well.

I hope you're good, cool and smooth. The show gets started every single weekday at 6pm Eastern, 3 Pacific. You can listen live on your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate. You can tune in on the free Odyssey app. You can hit rewind and pause. Go from your car to the house.

So wherever the hell you're going, I don't know. Sirius XM Channel 158. And a smart speaker if you got one.

Ask it to play the Infinity Sports Network. We've had a busy show. Thank you so much to our guest earlier on for coming by. Matt Snyder from CBS Sports came on through to talk some Major League Baseball. We talked Olympics and people who didn't make Olympic teams like Angel Reese and Kaitlyn Clark. Angel Reese is getting double doubles everywhere. Kaitlyn Clark had the first rookie triple-double. We talked about MLB All-Star starters next week. Guys who made it, guys who didn't.

Can't wait to see Paul Skeans throw at 103 miles per hour. Brandon Iuch is still upset with the San Francisco 49ers trying to force his way out so he can end up with some bread and get some money. Joe Burrow is like, hey, I haven't been around. I've been hurt. People are forgetting about me. Paul George explained how he ended up being a member of the Philadelphia 76ers.

LeBron James says Bronny doesn't care about criticism. We got all these player moves in the NBA. DeMar DeRozan is on the Kings with Sabonis and Fox. What a week. What a week. It's impossible to keep up with everything.

It's tough. And then right before we went to break, we talked about Joel Embiid and new teammates with Paul George. Joel Embiid chose to play for Team USA.

Now, Hickey, we looked this up even more. Joel Embiid started playing basketball at 15. He came to America at 16 years old. The man has been here half his damn life. Why do people give him such a hard time? I don't get it.

I'm with you. And it's just like then, like, you know, if you want to play for Cameroon where he was born, does he still have a connection there in terms of like basketball? Like we know Giannis does with Greece.

But why would Embiid play for Team Cameroon if there's not that same connection? Lupe Amute saw him at 15 and said, you're going to play basketball. A year later, he's in America. Like Joel Embiid, everything he knows about basketball, he learned over here. He lived, he went to high school here in Florida.

Okay. And then he went to play at Kansas. And in the Philadelphia 76ers, like five years after he learned how to pick up a basketball, said, him, we want him. Unfortunately for them, they also had some guy named Ben Simmons. But anyway, I digress. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. There's so much going on. Even Dan Hurley got himself a new contract. It's official.

You've heard about it for I feel like months now. He's staying at UConn, six years, $50 million. After telling the Los Angeles Lakers no for more money, Lakers offered this man 70 mil. He's staying at UConn, making less.

Sometimes money doesn't buy happiness, right? And Dan Hurley has all these incentives. I'm sure he can make some of this cash up if he picks up another championship or two.

Interesting. Speaking of championships, you know, we talked about Steph Curry, still kind of crazy. This is this is how you know you're a big time winner. You're one of the most influential basketball players ever. American basketball players.

You're the greatest shooter ever. Steph Curry has never been to the Olympics. Why? Because he's been winning rings. He's like, man, I just ended my season.

Now I'm supposed to do this. And then in Japan, he didn't go because of COVID. And this is his first time. And so there's a lot to do. There's a lot of first year for this man, Steph Curry.

Let's think about this. Later on this year, Steph Curry is going to be playing his first season here. Well, not well, not since he started. He came in a year before. But for the first time in 13 years, there's no Klay Thompson. And something else he said, with the way the NBA is, the Golden State Warriors picking up their four championships and going four years and then picking up that last one a couple of seasons ago. Steph Curry said the days of dynasties in the NBA, they're probably done. Listen to what he told ESPN. I don't think so. Just because it's very hard to keep things together in this league.

There's a lot more player movement. Me, Klay and Draymond especially, we complimented each other so well for so long. We all brought something different to the table. So we'll see. Records are meant to be broken. Dynasties come all different shapes and sizes. So we'll see.

It's tough. You think about how the way the NBA is creating parity and they're trying to create balance so we don't have these ridiculous super teams like what they had. And let's be real. Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, like they were drafted by the Warriors.

And two of the championships that they got, I don't know, some guy named Kevin Durant showed up. Now, something like that would be prohibited. And so I think it's kind of, I don't want to say false history, but there's a big missing piece when you don't acknowledge the full story of what's going on. Is it difficult to build a dynasty now? I think it is. I think it's more difficult to keep one together. When you have teams that are going to get taxed, if you go over a certain amount of money, it's cost prohibitive.

Now, why a team like the Clippers would want to keep, I don't know, Paul George and Kawhi? I don't think it's anything more than a ploy to sell tickets in this fancy new stadium that they're building. Whatever the stupid thing is with the toilets. Picky, do you remember the sponsor's name? Intuit, right? Intuit Dome. Yes, the dome, Intuit Dome. The Intuit Dome, known for its one million toilets. I mean, outside of Steve Ballmer telling me about toilets and the fan wall, like, what else is about this place? Anything?

I got nothing else. Yeah, that's all we know. And the new, I mean, that's not really about the dome itself, but the new logo and new uniforms are kind of separate. The Clippers are now, we're going back to their sailing history now, right? That's right.

Okay. So new logo, new team. Is there any other basketball reason to say that I'm going to build a team around Kawhi at this stage? Like, they gave him a contract extension three years. Outside of just saying we need to sell tickets, what's the point of that?

I got nothing for you. Is anybody buying tickets to see Kawhi? It's a fair question. At this point in his career, he's, no. Listen, Steve Ballmer could work with Bill Gates and sell stuff, Microsoft stuff, but software, be more specific. Basketball, he's just like, I'm just, I already got billions.

I'm just, I'm just going to make money. But it's tough to keep these teams together. You look at the Celtics. How the hell is this even possible a few years from now? Like, they're literally, and granted, God bless them, they're going to be in their prime for a bunch more years.

How the hell are they, they being the Celtics? You think about the cash and contracts they gave to Derek White? Like, how are they going to keep together two dudes making 300 million plus? Like, I still think it's inevitable that eventually, at some point, Tatum and Brown will break up, OK?

You heard it here from me first, and I don't think that's anything crazy. That just goes to the point that Steph Curry just said, it is tough to keep teams together. Championship teams. And when you think about dynasties in the NBA, OK, of course, we're going to look at the Lakers, multiple iterations of the Celtics and the Lakers. Obviously, you got the Chicago Bulls in the 90s. What would that look like if Michael Jordan didn't venture to go play baseball? You have the Warriors of this generation, the San Antonio Spurs.

And if I got to think about the past 20 years, that's it, right? Like, Spurs, and that's pretty much because of Tim Duncan being there. And then Warriors.

Hickey, am I missing another team? I get it. The Cavaliers and whoever LeBron went, but that's not a dynasty. That's just a singular individual. Right. And two titles and going to four straights, not exactly a dynasty either. No, I think that that's that's really it. That's really in the last century or century this century.

Yes. So I guess Steph Curry is is right to a degree. But when you think about. Like Oklahoma City, if they continue to grow and Chet Holmgren is a multiple time All-Star and Shea Gilgus Alexander continues to compete at an MVP level. And if they don't go on a stretch or run where they win like three championships over the next, I don't know, six years, I would consider them to be a dynasty. And so I think Steph Curry is wrong in that regard. It's going to be difficult to keep the teams together for a long time, like they were 10, 12, 13 years.

Hell, yeah. But I do think you can look at teams and say, well, you want to tell me that Tatum and Brown may not win another championship? You want to tell me as OKC as they don't evolve that they may not win a championship?

So, look, God bless Steph Curry. I think he's wrong on that one. You want to talk about three guys being together for that long? Possibly.

It could be worse. I can tell you one scene that's not going to be a dynasty. The 76ers. They got Maxey and Bede. And Bede was playing on Team USA with Steph Curry. And they just added Paul George. Paul George finally talked about his new contract, four years, two hundred and twelve million dollars. And he actually told us, Paul George did, why he decided to team up with Embiid and Maxey. This is what he told NBC Sports out in Philly.

Easy. Joel Embiid is a dominant force. One of the best, if not the best bigs in the league.

Would have been absolutely fun pairing with him. And Tyrese Maxey is one of the hottest up and coming stars that the NBA has. I love his game from afar and look forward to being alongside him. And then what Nick Nurse has done with this Philly group, what he's done in his career. He's a winner. And I believed in him. So, you know, I'm looking forward to this new journey and being a sixer. You want to talk about being able to afford people? Steve Ballmer told him, I'm not giving you one hundred and thirty like I did Kawhi.

Not even. And so he got two hundred and twelve million dollars to now head over to Philadelphia. But enjoy the suburbs and enjoy the criticism. Hickey, how long before the fans out there turn on them? Oh, I mean, they could if he's in a shooting some of the first 10 games of the season, they'll turn on. Oh, man. He's making it sound like all lollipops and rainbows by going out to Philly.

Now, they're going to like him. I think the only reason only way that people in Philly won't rock with Paul George is if he's hurt. If they got a deal with this man, I don't want to put him in a Ben Simmons category, but if there's anything reminiscent of where the hell are you?

Are you available? Are you going to play? Are you going to play hard?

This some of these contracts, they could be disasters, man. When you think about the money that's being allocated to aging NBA players just because the money is there. Like DeMar DeRozan. God bless him. This man still plays hard.

He's about to be 35 years old. And DeMar DeRozan, I appreciate him. I enjoy the guy.

I have seen him in multiple games, live and in person. The guy will destroy you in mid range. OK, he will destroy you on the block in the post.

He is nothing to play with. But do I want to give and maybe the Kings and DeRozan might be a decent idea because you still have Fox there. But I mean, damn, all this money invested into these aging players. Three years, 74, I guess is not bad for DeMar DeRozan. But is it really pushing the Kings over the edge?

They certainly hope so. How about this? Dwayne Casey actually knows the guy from up in Toronto. He was on Sirius XM NBA radio and he says DeMar DeRozan on the Kings.

Good idea. He's one of the best mid range shooter in the history of the game as far as his big range efficiency goes, because everybody now is into analytics, which is great. But DeMar is again, his shoots historical from the mid range and he does a great job of doing it the old fashioned way to mention the fact that he draws fouls.

He gets everybody on his pump fakes and does a great job from that standpoint. So he can get some tough buckets as well as is at the end of the games. He does a great job of closing for you. So to add another closer along with Fox and Sabonis, you got two key guys and you throw Monk in there.

You got three big time closers for a team in regular season play as well as in the playoffs. So he adds a lot to their offensive game and he's sneaky good defensively. He's tougher than he looks. And, you know, he's kind of a quiet kid, but he's Compton tough. So defensively he can give you that that edge and that grit.

He's a killer. I think this for Steph Curry's point, there's so much parody in the NBA. I think outside of looking at the Boston Celtics next season and saying, hey, this is the team that's going to repeat. Like, I feel like it's wide open after that, like the New York Knicks, they lose as they are. Hartenstein, you would think that the Knicks will be better or just as good as they were. If they could stay healthy.

OK, C will be better. I mean, even taking a look at the Dallas Mavericks and thinking that they're going to, you know, run it back is I think you'd be fooled. Right. Even LeBron. Like, what did the Lakers do that made you?

Oh, my God. They added Bronny and Dalton connect. LeBron James. He spoke on ESPN and he says even us. Yes, the Lakers. We can still win a championship. Of course.

Of course. What gives you that confidence? Because we've done it before. We still have two guys who commit every single day.

Myself and we commit to excellence and commit to win. We're not that far off. You know, we were one year removed from the Western Conference finals this past year. Didn't go as well as we would like, but we're not that far off. And there's so many teams in the league, you know, so many great teams in the league and the Western Conference and Eastern Conference. But we don't see that we are that far off.

OK. All right. Not that far. Last time I checked, he was older. Last time I checked, Anthony Davis is older and I know he played last year.

Can't believe he played 70 plus games. Am I betting on that again from Anthony Davis? Lakers always got to do something, always got to make another big splash.

Just to try to do anything. Well, he didn't think they want to play in right that they did. They got a batter for it. OK. How exciting.

That was a highlight of this season for Lakers. The J.R. sport reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. I just told you about all this bread, all this cash, all this money that these aging NBA players are making.

Well, we know who's king here in the United States. It's the NFL. The NFL continues to make buckets and buckets of money.

Maybe that's why Brandon is mad. We'll talk about what the NBA or excuse me, what the NFL is generating on the other side. We'll hear again from Joe Burrell. Some of his words from earlier today.

Out of sight, out of mind. Of course, at the end of the show, I'm going to share with you quite a few things that took place this day in sports history. We'll do that on the other side of the break.

We have so much more to do. You're locked in to the J.R. sport reshow on the Infinity Sports Network. It's been a three year wait, but the Olympics are back and the CBS Sports Podcast Network has you covered with everything happening in Paris. It's a new era for the U.S. women's national team. An attacking third will tackle all the women's soccer action. First cut will keep close tabs on golf while beyond the arc will follow the U.S. men's basketball team on a quest for another gold. And we need to talk now will provide comprehensive coverage of women's athletes at the Olympic Games.

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Not available in all states. Right before we went to break we talked about some of these contracts that are getting handed out in the NBA. You think about aging individuals and what type of deals they're receiving.

It's kind of mind boggling. But the money is there and somebody is going to spend it. The NFL? Depending on who you are, typically a quarterback, things could be booming for you as well. Well, for a lot of the quarterbacks. I mean that's why there's such a conundrum right now in the NFL.

You think about a starting caliber quarterback, someone like a Tua Tonga Veloa or dare I say even a Dak Prescott. Like there's conversations as to what type of deals they should get. We got guys like Herbert who are making almost as much as the MVP of the league in a Lamar Jackson. And so there's no exact science when you got guys making, you know, 50, 52 and 55 million dollars a year. Business is booming.

How about this? Earlier today we heard from Joe Burrow. And Joe Burrow, he ain't no old guy.

He's 27 years old. But since he's been in the NFL, we've seen, unfortunately, a series of injuries, some of them flukey, like an appendix rupture and like training camp. And we see him with a busted up wrist. We saw the end of his rookie year.

The man gets taken out at the legs and he rips every ligament in his leg. And when he's not doing that, it's like, hey, here's the Super Bowl. You know, here's an AFC championship game.

He's making 55 million dollars a year. I think I think everybody with the Bengals, especially as cheap as they are, they want a return on their investment out there. OK. And so when I have to think about the Bengals.

It's real simple, out of sight, out of mind. And if you want Joe Burrow on the field. You want to pay him the money you want.

You don't you want results. You don't pay nobody 55 million dollars for them to be in the rehab room. Now, Joe Burrow. And speaking to pardon my take earlier today, this man look, Jack, like he's been in the gym and he pretty much admitted I've dealt with so many injuries that I think people are forgetting about me. Listen to what Joe Burrow had to say.

Do you think people have forgotten about Joe Burrow? I believe that. Yeah. That's what happens when you get hurt, though.

You don't play football. People forget about you. Yeah.

Which I kind of I like the spot you're in right now because I feel like I love the spot. Yeah. Like AFC. Everyone's like, oh, well, you know, you know, Josh, Lamar and Patrick, CJ Stroud.

It's like you're forgetting one guy. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. But again, that's part of the game.

You don't if you're not out there and people aren't watching you, then there's nothing to talk about. Yeah. So I'm going to give people talk about something to talk about this year. Well, I'm excited about.

Yeah, everybody is everybody got to play the underdog role, right? I said he's making fifty five million dollars. Is he playing? Paul George is going to make two hundred and twelve million dollars.

You trust in Paul George to play for the Sixers? Businesses boom in the live sports, businesses boom in the NFL, the NBA. They are booming. A matter of fact, we got we got a report that came out today that says NFL national revenue hit 13 billion dollars. 13 billion. That's that's that's national revenue.

That is majority media rights. And if you account then for all the money, the revenue for the NFL is probably closer to 20 billion dollars. And so when people start worrying about how much guys are making this, this is not monopoly money. The money exists. It has to get split somewhere.

It gets split between the owners and the players. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Maurice is calling from Baltimore. You on the general sport show us up, Maurice. Hey, how you doing, man? Good show.

Hey, I got a question, though. I heard you. I'm glad you brought up the NFL last after you paid like on each team with all these players in the NFL. Aren't you only given less than half the NFL squad that money because the NBA only has to pay about 13 to 14 and maybe baseball 20. And I see that's ridiculous. No salary cap. But don't you think the NFL is like all behind as far as the money?

And you have a good show, man. Well, thank you, Maurice, for calling from Baltimore behind in the money. That's tough to say.

You want to know why? It's up to the Players Association to fight and argue for that. And when you think about the shelf life of the majority of the players, three to four years for an NFL player. That that's tough, man. First of all, I don't think that the Players Association for the NFL is strong enough to make that argument.

All right. I remember vividly back in 2020 or 2019, early 2020, before the world hit the skids like the NFL was having trouble with its own players voting, voting for the next CBA. OK. And so when you got players who have to think about themselves because the time frame that they play is so short, it's like a dog eat dog world.

I need to worry about what I'm going to get. And here's the other thing. And I know this is a big conversation. The NFL generating 13 billion dollars in media, the NFL generating 20 billion dollars overall. You know, how can the players not put their foot down and say, hey, we deserve we deserve more?

Well, it's tough. When a lot of the guys, I hate to tell you, some of these dudes are living check to check, just like a lot of us. And so it's just like, look, if the money is not flowing and rolling in that I don't see any. The NFL is also different. These NFL players, they're getting paid during the season. OK. And so you can go to all the financial training and go to all the classes that you want.

If you're not prepared for the off season. Yeah. You might be able to get a loan. Well, you don't think that comes with some some penalties?

You don't think you don't get taxed on that loan? It's tough. So should NFL players make more?

That's tough to say. NFL players, they feel like they get churned in and out more than any other group. You have a wider talent pool.

Let's be real. An NBA training camp team shows up in October. You know, and what you got 20 guys there, they narrow it down to 15, 12 of them will be there. NFL training camp opens is like 100 guys and they chop them down of half of that at 53 just about.

It's tough. I don't know if we'll ever see, you know, just a little bit more unity in regards to, OK, well, how much money can we make? Because the NFL, I don't want to call it a perfect business. I think there's no such thing as a perfect business, but how the NFL operates financially, how they sell. I don't want to say they're bulletproof, but the model that they built is is there a bigger entertainment entity in this country?

I think you'd be hard pressed to find one, man. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. We're going to take a break. We come back. I'm going to share with you a few things that took place this day in sports history. It is July 8th. OK, I know time has flown by with all of the holiday and weekend stuff.

It's July 8th. I'm going to fill you in. It's quite a few historical moments that we had.

We'll do that on the other side of the break. If your day sounds like we need to report ASAP, you deserve Mandela. If you've persevered through. You deserve this rich golden log with a crisp and refreshing taste for if you overcame. You deserve this ice cold reward. Mandela, the mark of the fight. Drink responsibly.

You're imported by Crown Airport, Chicago, Illinois. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief. The J.R. sport show here with you on the infinity sports network. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven.

It's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. What a busy day. First day back. I think we've run through a lot. I mean, all of the transactions in the NBA. We talked about Major League Baseball's All-Star game in Home Run Derby next week. Even talked about the records being broken by both Angel Reese and Kaitlyn Clark. We heard from Joe Burrow.

Brandon Aiyuk is still complaining or trying to complain his way out of the bay and the forty niners. This is a lot going on. Tons have a lot to recap tomorrow.

The Rosen on the Kings. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Let's hit the phones and then we'll get to quite a few things that took place this day.

July 8th in sports history. David is calling from Maryland. David, you're on the J.R. sport reshow, the Infinity Sports Network. What's up?

Hey, thanks for taking my call. J.R., you know that the owners in all of these sports, they do have a really sweet deal in the sense that they don't own the means for production, as in most capitalist business. And in order to understand that, you see the kind of deals they do with the collective bargaining. You know, they split either 50 percent of the revenue. The NFL is like forty nine percent of the revenue. And it's a sweet deal.

TV is going up. So that means it's going to be more money in the owners pockets. It's going to be more money in the players pockets. But for the NFL, unlike the other leagues, they don't get guaranteed contracts.

I think there's been two. Deshaun Watson and Kirk Cousins. And those are the only two that have had guaranteed contracts. And they were a bit of outliers. And so you kind of understand that the players, they're their own brand.

It's only like a three and a half year shelf life. So they got to get the most money that they can get. Yeah. Well, that that pretty much. Well, I guess you would agree with me.

I feel like you repeat a lot of what I said. Yeah. They're screwed. The players are pretty much screwed.

I mean, unless you're a star. This is it's a it's a meat grinder. And so, yes, there's this. Hold on. Wait a second. Wait.

Thank you. OK. We can count on our hands the guys who are making fifty five million bucks. OK. We cannot count on our hands, toes, fingers, not on an abacus. The amount of dudes who come in playing the NFL and get cut right the hell on out. And so it's tough to have any type of hardcore collective bargaining when a you have that many people who are showing up to work and then getting discarded.

And then B, it goes to the second thing that I told you. These dudes could be making a lot of money. A lot of them still live check to check. The checks are not rolling in all year long. And so they don't they don't have real bargaining power because they have such a wide base of people who participate.

It's like, hey, one car goes out, I bring another one in. Well, the other thing that goes along exactly with what you're saying is when you look at the NFL, you got about 10 agents who basically control the players unions because those 10 agents control the money makers who are getting paid. Let's look at Kirk Cousins. Here's a guy who's not a top 15 quarterback. I don't think he ever has been. But when you look at them, that's that's that's debatable. OK, but but this isn't debatable. When he finishes his contract, there will be only two quarterbacks ever earn more money than he has. Yeah.

God bless him. But but but that being stated, you know, I mean, he and his agent, they've used and they they've they've structured their deals based upon the leverage that they have. And, you know, that's very all players are trying to do. Sure. But very, very few have have such bargaining power for. Very few. Very few.

Very few. I think the quarterback the quarterbacks are are I guess. Come on, Daniel Jones. We we we we know why you got you got quarterbacks. These guys are taking up more than a quarter of the cap.

And that's why the world revolves around them. And somebody has to deliver the rock and everybody else gets the scraps. Hey, David, I got to keep it rolling.

OK. I just want to make one more one more one more statement. And that's the money is getting ready to go up. So for the people who are locking in with their money this year, next year, there's going to be even more money available because of TV contracts. And it's been more money.

Always, always the case. The only thing that will slow and thank you, David, for calling from Maryland. The only thing slowing down the NFL is if someday people wake up and they go, I don't want to watch people get their heads busted anymore. And that's why the game continues to change and continues to evolve, especially on a safety aspect.

I'll tell you this, though, there's there's nothing that's foolproof. The NFL might have to change completely what the NFL looks like in another 40, 50 years. I have no idea. I don't know. Is it still going to be king of the mountain?

Maybe, probably, I guess. Are we going to have a a kid that comes along or a set of kids that say, I don't want to do this? We're going to have a generation when baseball was America's pastime and until it wasn't anymore. I'm not saying that there's a guarantee the NFL is just, you know, foolproof. I don't think any business is. If you don't change with the times, it's like everything else. You get left behind. I don't think it's in the NFL's future, especially no time soon.

But I'm not going to say that they're foolproof. Anyway, speaking of going back in time, that's exactly what the hell we're going to do now. What took place this day in sports history? Let's hear the funky old music. Back in the days when I was young, I'm not a kid anymore, but some days I didn't wish I was a kid again. It's time for this day in sports history.

You see, back in those days, we had radio and you couldn't see anything and it was primitive and lousy and we liked it. On the JR Sport Brief Show. I wish I was 50 years younger and I'd kick your ass. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Taking a look at a few things that took place this day in sports history. It's July 8th, by the way, 2024.

Let's go back in time to when? Let's go back to the year 2000 because Venus Williams won her first Grand Slam and she did it at Wimbledon. She beat Lindsay Davenport. Venus was only 20 years old at the time. She was the first black female champ since 1958 when Althea Gibson went out there and won it.

Oh, yeah, that's one big old gap. Let's take a listen to Venus following her victory on NBC. It's really great because I've been working so hard all my life to be here. And, you know, it's strange because, like, I go to this bed at night and I'll dream and I'll dream that I won a grand slam when I wake up. It's a nightmare.

So now that I've done it, I don't have to wake up like that anymore. Oh, man, it is so crazy to hear how young she sounds. I mean, between her and her sister, iconic, iconic, crazy to think her sister more successful than her.

Anyway, that whole family's successful. OK, let's keep it moving. July 8th, 2010, LeBron James made his decision. Oh, yeah, he was in Connecticut on ESPN when he said this. LeBron, what's your decision? And this fall, man, this is very tough. And this fall, I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat. Oh, yeah.

A lot of. Why are you embarrassing Cleveland? You did a whole press conference to leave us. And he didn't win two. Well, he did two, but he didn't win three, not four, not five, not six. He didn't win as many. And he eventually went back to Cleveland.

How about that? And now he's still going strong. And now his son is in the league. LeBron James decision took place this day. July 8th, back in 2010, he's still going.

Damn, let's hit the fast forward button. July 8th, 2012, Roger Federer won Wimbledon again. That's all he did. He beat Andy Murray for his seventh Wimbledon title.

It was his 17th major. And man, listen to the final call. He got used to hearing this all the time on BBC. And now the emotion comes out of the man.

At times, this performance was genius. Yeah, I mean, at that point in time, you could say he was the greatest. That was his 17th major. He retired two years ago. He finished with 20. But now you think about who has the most grand slams. Oh, well, Novak Djokovic has 24. Nadal has 22. Federer is still damn good. What else happened? How about we go back? 2022, July 8th, Simone Biles gets the presidential medal of freedom at the age of 25.

Listen to this. Biden gave it to her. Simone Biles, the most decorated American gymnast in history.

Well, everyone stops everything every time she was on camera just to watch. We see her compete. We see unmatched, unmatched power and determination, grace and daring. A trailblazer and a role model. When she stands on the podium, she sees we see what she is. Absolute courage to turn personal pain into greater purpose, to stand up and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. Today, she adds to her medal count of 32.

I know you're going to find room. Thirty two Olympic and world championship medals at age 25. The youngest person ever to receive the medal of freedom.

Damn. And now she's 27. Going back to the Olympics, she's the most decorated gymnast ever.

How many more medals can she win? Damn, picky. She's four foot eight. Four foot eight, man. Four foot eight. Crazy.

I thought she was, you know, what do I know? But, you know, maybe five feet. Four foot eight.

Four foot eight. Wow. Anyway, good luck to her. And she had to go through a lot.

Remember the last Olympics in Japan? A lot of criticism. Things were just, you know, things are still nasty all over the place, but things were so nasty when she decided to kind of drop out due to twisties.

And it's a mom playing tricks on her. And she was just so criticized over mental health and not being tough enough. And we got people who couldn't get off their couch to, you know, flip a burger. This woman is flipping in the air and everybody was so critical about mental health and people just attack folks and can't imagine what it takes to do half of what they do.

Half of it. And so, you know, you think about some of the storylines in the Olympics and yes, we don't have a Michael Phelps, but, you know, it'd be real interesting to see what Simone Biles does at 27. I just told you, LeBron James, his decision was this day back in 2010.

Can you imagine? As old as he is, Simone Biles is pretty much ancient when it comes down to gymnastics and she's still still going strong. So we got a lot to look forward to Team USA basketball.

People are learning more and more about Cooper flag. It seems like every day as he's competing with the legends of the game. We got a lot to look forward to with these Olympics. Listen, folks, it's been fun to be back. It's good to be back. I'll be back tomorrow again with Hickey at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. Hickey, you're not going back to Italy between now and tomorrow, are you?

No, sir. I'll be here. I promise. OK. All right. No worries. I'll be back as well.

Hickey in New York. I'll be here from Atlanta, Georgia. If you missed a minute of the show, go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. Thank you as well to our guests for coming through to talk some Major League Baseball All-Star game. That's Matt Snyder.

You missed a second Odyssey app. But don't move. The J.R. sport we show here on the Infinity Sports Network is done.

But coming up next is Bart Winkler. So you better not move because I said so. You'll be cool, be safe, be smooth and be well. And thank you, Hickey. You sit in traffic now, but later there's an ice cold reward. Medela, the mark of a fighter. You've earned this rich golden lager with a crisp, refreshing taste because, you know, all your patience is paid out in gold.

You remain calm through haunts, bumper to bumper and people yelling. You are a fighter and Medela is your reward. Medela, the mark of a fighter. Take responsibility.

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