9.9.22 - JR SportBrief Hour 4

You're listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. It is CBS Sports Radio and you are locked into the JR Sportbrief show. We're coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

Whether you want to buy a home or refinance your current one, Rocket can. I'm hanging out here with super producer and host Dave Shepherd. I'm also hanging out with you. Trying to get you all set for the weekend. It's been a busy Friday night show. We talked about the NFL. We talked about the games on Sunday. We've talked about the college football games on Saturday.

We've talked about the US Open tonight. Francis Tiafoe. Man, he fought and fought and fought.

Gave a lot of people a heart attack, but he lost. He's not going to represent the United States of America in the US Open Final on Sunday and yeah, tennis. Still waiting for us, Sampras and Agassi. It's not here. It might be sooner than later.

Let's hope and wait. Baseball is changing up some of its rules. Basketball is going to have its Hall of Fame enshrinement take place on Saturday evening. Manu Ginobili going into the hall. Shout outs to Swin Cash. Swin, I know Swin and her husband. Great human beings. She's going in.

Congratulations to her. Tim Hardaway's going in. Huggins is going in. Again, Tim Hardaway.

OK, what about George Karl? OK, fine. We can talk about that too. We got a lot to do and I don't know about a 20 minutes from now we'll have a conversation with Mack Hollins of the Las Vegas Raiders.

And so one of the things that I do want to talk about that also took place tonight. Oh, my goodness. We're going to be talking about the Los Vegas Raiders.

Oh, man. I know there's a lot of Yankee fans just all over the country, and there's a lot of people who absolutely hate the Yankees. They spend a lot of money, but they haven't won a title since 2009, so why would you hate him that much?

But man, they are just falling apart. Tonight they took on the Rays. They might as well be called the New York judges because if Aaron Judge was not on this team, the Yankees would have hit the toilet a long time ago. Aaron Judge did not hit a home run tonight. He still has an average of 304. He had two hits, but he's still quote unquote stuck on 55 home runs, which leads the world and also 119 RBI's, which also leads the world. And we know he's trying to push to 61 home runs. Go get Maris and then go get 62. But the big thing that took place tonight, and then I'm going to talk about the rule changes.

I'm going to pick the phone lines up in a second. Aaron Hicks, the left fielder for the New York Yankees. Man, he got his ass whooped by the fans in the Bronx, New York tonight. He was chasing a foul ball to left field or to the foul line right towards the wall. He lunged to catch the ball. He didn't catch it. He thought the ball was foul. The ball landed right there in fair territory after he didn't catch it.

He didn't realize he was disappointed that he didn't catch it. And he stood there kind of leaning on the wall and the fans are yelling at him, stupid, get the ball. He allowed two runs to score.

He dropped another one he dropped another one in the same frame out in left field. Aaron Boone had to pull this man from the game. Aaron Boone had to pull Aaron Hicks from the game. The Yankee fans are so brutal. They were yelling and chanting at Aaron Hicks. You want to know what the hell they were calling this man? They were chanting at him, Joey Gallo. Man, these Yankee fans are something else.

And I wish I was joking. To insult one major league baseball player, the fans, the Yankee fans in the Bronx decided to chant at this man, the name of a guy who was one of the worst Yankees in recent memory. A guy who was so bad they had to trade him out of town. Yeah, Aaron Hicks is just a terrible season. He's cooked. He's done with the New York Yankees.

They got to figure out a way to dump him. You have Aaron Boone saying, yeah, I had to pull him. The Yankees lead, which at one point was just felt like 15 plus games ahead of Tampa Bay. It's now down to three and a half games. The Yankees were on pace for a million wins, and now they only have 83.

Matter of fact, Aaron Hicks, he talked after the game, and this is what he said Aaron Judge had to tell him. Listen, move on. You know, you know, it's pretty much what we got to do.

We got to move on. And you know, those are tough plays. And you know, when, when you're the guy that doesn't make the play, you know, it's rough, you know, especially when you, you want to make the play for your team. And you know, he was just saying, hey, let's go next one, next one. Two plays.

Oh my God. There's nothing like two plays. One, he just brain lock. He forgot the ball was in play. And then the next time he's dropping one and then he gets pulled.

This will be a night that he never forgets. And then the fans called him Joey Gallo. Shep, can you imagine being so damn bad at your job that people yell at you and call you someone else who was worse at it than you are? Yeah. I mean, cause those, those fans have every right to tell a human being what they should do with their lives. Cause they're perfect, right?

No, I mean, but damn, it's, this is what. How does that help? How does that help? How does that help Aaron Hicks? How does that help the New York Yankees?

Do you want to take your misery everywhere you go or just the stadium? It doesn't. It doesn't. But this is the, these are the facts. This is what it comes down to. If you play in New York, it's just what it is. Is it right? No, it's not.

But this is what it is. And I, Aaron Hicks at this point, he's damaged goods. We saw Joey Gallo play in New York and he stunk and it took him a day of going out to Los Angeles with no pressure.

And he was able to play and he's, he's performed better. So Aaron judges is, well, not Aaron judge, Aaron Hicks is, I don't see any coming back from this. The Yankees are going to have to figure out something in the off season to get him the hell up on out of there. Man, he's getting, getting called Joey Gallo. That is, that's creative. It's pretty wild. This wild situation here.

Anyway, even wilder of a situation. I'm actually glad that this is going to take place. Major league baseball is changing up some of these damn rules. They're going to be implemented next year. The league's competition committee, which includes owners and umpire players, they voted and not unanimously to actually help move the damn game of baseball forward. We're going to have a pitch clock starting next year on the major league level. A pitcher is going to have 15 seconds to throw that damn ball to the plate.

He's going to have 20 seconds if somebody happens to be on base. Major league baseball with so many teams, uh, employing multiple defenders into one spot, baseball is going to ban the shift. You're going to need two fielders on each side of second base, which means historically, if you're the third baseman, keep your ass on third base. If you're the shortstop, stay between third and second. And if you're the second baseman, you know where you belong, close to the right side of second base, but not on first. They're also requiring these infielders to stay on the dirt. So you're not going to see the second baseman become the second right fielder and you won't see the shortstop become a center fielder out in right field. You won't see any of that.

And it's a good and a bad. It'd be nice of baseball players could actually, you know, hit the other way to eliminate the shift. But then some guys like Joey Gallo who hit into the shift every damn day, they're going to benefit. The bases will also be larger, which will open things up for more stolen bases.

They're not going to be that big where it's going to be ridiculously noticeable. And then pitchers, they're not going to be able to circumvent the pitch clock by throwing over to first base a million times. You're only going to be allowed two pick-offs slash mound step-offs per plate appearance.

And what happens? Automatic ball, if you don't deliver that ball to the plate. In the case of the batter, what happens if you're not in the box, an automatic strike? And so I am not mad at these rule changes in Major League Baseball. They're made to speed up the game to make it more entertaining and it's absolutely necessary. In the case of the pitch clock, it's actually cut down minor league games to two hours and 30 minutes. Now, when it comes down to Major League Baseball players who are obviously more skilled, are we going to start seeing two hour, two and a half hour games versus three hour games? Probably not. They're going to be guys who foul pitches off and it's not going to be the same, but this is going to be the start of at least hoping to put a tiny, tiny dent into Major League Baseball.

Let's see how much of it it does. 855-212-4CBS, I'm going to get your calls in before we talk to Mac Hollins. Let's go ahead and talk to Rich. He's here from Chicago. You're on the JR Sport Reshow, CBS Sports Radio. Good evening, JR. I'm very well, go ahead.

Hey, I've got two things for you. One, I want your opinion on one and then I want to review a couple of the matchups in college football this weekend, which isn't like week one, which was really exciting. But one of the things I wanted to talk about was, I think, the consolidation of these mega conferences is a good thing for one reason. Well, there's probably more than one, but one that's apparent to me is that you will pretty much eliminate cupcake opponents during the season that nobody really wants you to see or have a powerhouse play because there's still some of that going on. But there are five games which aren't a lot that feature ranked teams playing other ranked teams or highly thought of teams.

I want to go through them really fast and get your opinion on these. And I think it comes down to week two is going to tell you a lot about what I call pretenders versus contenders. And one of them that I am a Florida guy is Florida, Kentucky. Florida was unranked and they're ranked 12th in one week, which is a little silly. And Kentucky is actually good, but Florida is playing them in Gainesville. Bama, Texas.

I think Texas is terrible. And they've got that as a featured game. Alabama is a 20-point favorite. Well, we talked, well, Rich, in the interest of time, we talked about, we ran through exactly those games earlier on in the show.

So I'm going to give you a brief summation. You name the two games that I really want to see. You name the two games that I'll probably pay the most attention to and it's twofold. Texas and Alabama are obviously going to open things up tomorrow, early in the day, in the afternoon or the morning, depending on where you live. And Alabama is probably going to beat the brakes off of Texas. Okay?

There's two things to pay attention to here. Really, how much are they going to beat them by? What is Quinn Ure is going to do? And then pretty much Texas, you want to talk about super conferences. They're waiting to leave the Big 12 and everybody's just waiting on Arch Manning. And for your Gators, there's only one reason, one, that I want to sit down and watch the Gators. It's the man who helped get them into that 12th rank and that 12th seed.

It's Anthony Richardson. I want to see what he does at the quarterback position. I want to see how he can continue. He's ridiculously exciting and we're just going to have to pretty much go from there.

He's the only reason I will sit down and watch the Gators right now, especially coming under a first-year head coach. Well, they're, they are, they are improved. They do a great job.

They are, they are improved. They do have an outstanding coach and yes, they still have holes, but Kentucky is no slouch. Their quarterback is going to get drafted too.

That's why that's another reason to watch. He's outstanding and this is not going to be a cakewalk. Yeah, it's, it's, it's not going to be a cakewalk by any, any stretch of the imagination, but you, you opened up the, your statement by, you know, talking about how this part of the season, there's a lot of ass whippings, okay? Alabama and Texas are going to take on each other. Alabama just beat Utah State 55 to nothing. The Longhorns, they beat Louisiana Monroe 52 to 10. There's a lot of ass whippings and we talked about this earlier this week. There's only a handful of schools that we can legitimately look at and say, oh my God, these are national championship contenders and we know who pretty much will occupy maybe three out of the four slots and then we know the other three or four teams that have the potential to do so as well and unfortunately, regardless of how good Kentucky might be kind of in that second or third tier or even for the Florida Gators, it's going to take a whole hell of a lot for them to, to move up into that space of just being a national championship contender. We know who they are, Alabama, Georgia, and then we can throw in Ohio State and or Michigan or anybody else who wants a seat at the table because they will surprise us.

We're probably going to have one surprise school. Rich is here from Detroit, you're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, what's going on, man?

I'm here, Rich, go ahead. I was calling about baseball. The shift, the new rules in baseball, the shift, banning the shift, I think probably will help the sport, but I think all of the other rules are a product of baseball letting its television media executives basically take over the direction of the sport. None of these rules, be they bigger bases, definitely a pitch clock. There's no fan, real fan of baseball anywhere, man, that's been clamoring for these rules and yet they keep pushing them out here as though they're going to be some type of savior, a turning point for baseball. Nobody wants to see a pitch clock, bigger bases and anything else that they're doing to increase them, to increase offense, even increase offense thing.

Nobody has been clamoring for that. Well, here's a situation, Rich, I think you're omitting one big part. There are less, quote unquote, real fans of baseball.

And that's the larger, that is the larger problem. It's not so much TV executives saying this is something that needs to be implemented. The fact and the reality is that younger people are not watching baseball.

There are a multitude of reasons as to why this exists, but this isn't an edict coming down from TBS or Fox or ABC. This is just the reality that baseball needs to change just like every other sport. Because if we had to take a look at baseball the way it was played, I'm going to say 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago, it's not going to fly. Every sport here in the United States of America has evolved. Football has evolved. The NBA has evolved.

We can go back to a 79-80 and look at a three-point line. The athletes have evolved and baseball is a beautiful game. And although no one might be clamoring, quote unquote, real fans of baseball are clamoring for a rule change, the fact is if it stayed the same, if it stays the same, it's going to die. Is it going to fall off the face of the earth?

No. People will always hit a ball with a stick, but it's going to move into a third tier sport. It already is. It's behind the NBA. It's behind the NFL in regards to popularity.

And the revenues are going in that same damn direction. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio 855212 for CBS. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk to Mack Hollins of the Las Vegas Raiders, check in with him, his new team, what he's doing with Special Olympics.

I'm going to get to more of your calls before I roll out. Let's talk to Mack on the other side here on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the JR Sport Reshow right here with you on CBS Sports Radio. And right now on the E or I guess the NFL season has started already, but we're getting ready for NFL football on Sunday.

Right now we're being joined by someone who's a dear friend. He's a Special Olympics champion, ambassador. He is also a Vegas Raiders wide receiver.

We've had him here on the show. It's my main man, Mack Hollins. Mack, how are you brother? I'm doing great JR. I really appreciate you having me.

No doubt about it. It's good to have you back on the show. We're going to talk about some of the amazing things that you do with and for Special Olympics, including there's a cool gaming event that's going to take place tomorrow and next weekend.

We'll get into that. Obviously, everybody, this is the first football Friday for the start of the season. We saw the game last night. The Rams and the Bills got us all set. How are you feeling here on a Friday night, man? I'm feeling good.

This is what we do it for. We go through the last, who knows how long, feels like it was two months worth of training camp for this weekend. Obviously, the Bills and Rams got to get theirs out of the way. They got to get that itch scratched a little bit. But ours is coming in two days and that's going to be super excited. We put in a lot of work and all the guys are ready to go against somebody in a different color jersey. No doubt about that.

The Raiders, your new team is going to take on the Chargers. We'll have a chance and opportunity to see that. How does it feel putting on that black and that silver, man?

Are you waiting for that? Oh yeah. My very first interview, I said black and silver is silver and black.

The order matters. It's silver and black. Don't worry. I was at fault for that one too, but it's super exciting. Obviously, preseason is one thing.

You put it on and I guess, I don't know, because it's year six, it doesn't have that same feel as when it's a real deal game. So it's going to be really exciting to put it on for the first time on Sunday and go to war with my brothers. Man, you talk about your brother. Mack Hollins is joining us here.

CBS Sports Radio, the JR Sport Reshow. Your offense is stacked. Your wide receiver room is stacked. The guys with the hands are stacked. Renfro, we see Devontae there. You got Darren Waller on the squad as well.

And then I'm going to get to you guys kind of squeezing into that Uber at that time. Talk about all the receivers and hands and the offense that you guys have right now. Yeah, I think what's great about our room and receiver room, as well as just the whole offense and really the team in general, is our ability to push each other. We have a lot of guys that have accolades and guys who have a history of success in this league. I think in this league, but we don't have anybody who's comfortable with where they are or feels like they're just supposed to be handed anything.

And that's, you know, I've been in the league a few years and I've seen that on other teams or heard of it from former teammates when they're on other teams. And it's just not a recipe for success. So, you know, nothing is handed to you in this league.

Nothing's given to you. Nothing is easy in this league. So to, you know, to be in a room and on a team of a bunch of guys that work hard and push each other, it's really exciting.

It gives you something to, you know, wake up and get out of bed and go to work for. Special Olympics Champion Ambassador Matt Collins is here with us, CBS Sports Radio. What happened in that Uber, man? Hunter Renfro made Joe squeeze up in a Toyota Camry. You guys, you're six foot four by yourself, man.

Listen, I'll say this to the day I die. I got no problem with Hunter getting that Uber. When you order Uber, it says it can fit four people and we have four people. I would, I don't know if it's because we're both walk-ons or what it is, but I'm not, I'm not ordering the XL if we don't have six, seven people, but it did happen to be probably the smallest car in all of Canton, Ohio.

And we listen, we just hopped in and that, you know, those are good memories. Okay. Well, I mean, come on, y'all about a foot bigger than me. Y'all are not, y'all are not four people's size. So next time get a, get a bigger car.

Maybe we'll, we'll pool our money and see if we can get some change together and upgrade. No doubt about it. Listen, man, the guy who's going to be throwing you the football, Derek Carr, we've seen him kind of just be all business. How's it feel being on the receiving end of his passes right now?

It's great. And he's, you know, as much as he's a great player on the field, off the field, he's, he's a great guy. And that matters a lot to, to, to a team and, you know, his ability to interact with any person and any player and the, how genuine he is to everybody. It's really, like, it's nice to see, you know, it gives you a little, like puts a smile on your face and you, you want to talk to Derek, you want to hang out with Derek because he's a great dude and his kids are great, family's great, and he just brings a great energy.

And, you know, you can just feel when people have good energy, it's not a, what they say or what, you know, the, the way they treat you, it's just, they can walk in room and you're not even looking at them and you can just feel that the room's going to change. Matt Collins is here with us, Vegas, Las Vegas Raiders, wide receiver. You talk about Derek. I remember the minute he got drafted, I was one of the first people that interviewed him the second he got drafted on Google.

We did that first. So it's nice to see his progression and I wish you and the Raiders, nothing but success, man, but you talk about him being a good guy, Matt, you're a good guy, Special Olympics champion ambassador. I've done plenty of work with Special Olympics over the years with my media for the movement tour. And we're going to talk about gaming for inclusion, but why is Special Olympics an organization that you work so closely with?

Multiple reasons, but I think it started, I've always had a connection to it. I had a neighbor with intellectual disabilities growing up. I had a roommate in college who basically, basically his brother had intellectual disabilities, was a Special Olympics athlete. And then throughout my career in the NFL, my relationship to the point where now I'm a champion ambassador has, has grown with Special Olympics and I've just fallen more and more in love with it. And just the athletes, the people involved with it, it's just something that makes me happy. At the end of the day, maybe it's a selfish reason that I do it. It makes me happy to be there and to hang out with the athletes and watch them compete and to see how close that that bridge that people say there is between us really is.

It's not as far apart as it may seem. We're all people, man. That's just what it, what it boils down to. We're all human beings. We're all people. But I talk for a living. I can't run and catch footballs and be an athlete like you. And you're very well-read. You're more than an athlete. You're a human being. You've started book clubs. You're doing work with Special Olympics, what we're talking about here.

You're also a gamer, man. And Special Olympics has something amazing that's going to take place tomorrow and then next Saturday as well. Talk to us about Gaming for Inclusion. Yeah, this is a, this is, this is a big initiative that Special Olympics has really got behind and created and got behind.

It's going into the second year. And really, I'd say it's, it's something that kind of is one of the few good things that came out of COVID and being on lockdown is this opportunity to continue to close that gap between people with intellectual disabilities and without, because it gives people an opportunity to see that those with intellectual intellectual disabilities can do the exact same things that anybody else can. Like when you see some of these kids gaming and you're like, if you didn't know, if you weren't looking at them or didn't assume anything, you'd say they're a professional gamer. The way that they're able to be like, just win every match, whether it's Rocket League, whether it's Fortnite, or whether it's Call of Duty, like you'd be shocked. It's the exact same reaction that I see people when they first come to a Special Olympics event, like, like any type of sports event. And they're in shock. That same exact reaction is what I see with the Gaming for Inclusion stuff. And it's so incredible to see that. And that's what, that's another reason this brings me back to just see somebody's life change and their whole perspective on those with intellectual disabilities.

Those with intellectual disabilities change right there. Mac, I'm smart enough to not even try to play against anybody. I will stand there and watch. I know if I tried to play, I'd get my behind handed to me.

I would just sit down and watch. That, that's, that's me majority of the time. I'm just, what I do is I watch and I see who's the best. And then I just try to just smooth talk my way onto their squad. This is okay.

It doesn't always work, but when it does, it's great. A little bit of a front runner. There's nothing, there's nothing wrong with that. Mac Hollins, Raider squad receivers joining us. And so Gaming for Inclusion is going to take place tomorrow.

It's going to stream on Microsoft's Twitch platform. And next week it will actually be the celebrity showcase. So people who compete tomorrow, we ball down to the best of the best and they'll take on former running back, Jamal Charles. We got some WWE superstars. We have some other people. This is a big deal, Mac.

Oh yeah. It's a really big deal. You know, Twitch has become this huge thing.

And then for the specialists to be able to partner with, with Microsoft and do that type of stuff. And now you're seeing these WWE stars, Jamal Charles, like that would have never happened pre COVID because video gaming was weird. It was the, what like people that are never going to be successful do.

And now all of a sudden you get locked in your house for two years. And all those people that have been getting really successful at gaming are now coming out on the back end as the successful people that are getting sponsorships, that are getting paid or making a living off of video games. And what's great is that that opportunity is now opening up for those with intellectual disabilities. And it's like, they're having the same opportunities and now it's this huge event and everybody has the opportunity to watch it, which will be super, super fun, especially because it's on a Saturday. That means I can, I can, I can watch and I can enjoy it before we go out on the field and do our thing. I appreciate, appreciate that, man.

I encourage everyone to go to special olympics.org slash gaming for inclusion. We have the tournament that'll take place tomorrow. And then the celebrity showcase the following week, man, I know you got a game to get ready for. I'm going to ask you this on the way out.

I don't expect the fancy answer, man. What are these Las Vegas Raiders going to do this season, man? The goal is to score more points in the opponent every week.

So if you score more points, you'll win the game. That's the goal. I appreciate that. Where can people keep up with you? All the amazing work that you do in and for the community and also special Olympics, man.

Thank you. It'll all be on all my, all my platforms are at Mac Hollins. So just my name at Mac Hollins, you know, Fridays are my fast fact Friday days where I do videos on informational videos. I got my Mac book Mondays, you know, always trying to educate and make it fun.

And then a little splash of football in there too. I appreciate that. What's the last book? What do I need to read? Tell us, Matt. Oh, if you're, I'm reading a book called the color of money right now, which is pretty good.

But if you're into, I read a book, that's a good laugh, but it's has some serious parts. Lamb. Okay. Lamb. I eat lamb. I don't know about the book lamb, but I'm gonna look it up. It's about, it's about Jesus's best friend.

Jesus is best. Okay. I'm going to check that out. It's a fun read.

It's a fun read. Okay. Mac, I appreciate you, man.

I'm going to go ahead and Google that right now. There you go. I'm going to do it in the commercial break. I appreciate you always being an ambassador for special Olympics.

I encourage folks to go ahead and check out gaming for inclusion. Mac, good luck with you and the Raiders. I'm sure I catch up with you before the season is done. You're busy guy.

If not afterwards. Okay. Thank you so much, Jr. I really appreciate it. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. Thank you for taking my call on the huge fan. I listen to you every night on the way home from work. Jr. You are a great sports psychologist. Thank you very much, my brother from another mother and I'm lucky. Call in now at 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS.

That's right. It's the JR sport brief show here with you on CBS sports radio. Thank you again to Mac Hollins for joining us, man. I'm going to have a lot to talk about when we get back here on Monday night. We have MMA tomorrow. We have college football tomorrow. We have the Basketball Hall of Fame tomorrow. U.S. Open finals over the weekend as well.

No Americans. Obviously NFL on Sunday. We just have a busy, busy weekend. Even the WNBA.

Their finals start on Sunday as well. I'm going to get to your calls here right now before I roll out. So let's not waste any time. Jeff is here from Atlanta. You're on CBS sports radio. Hey Jeff, where the hell you at? Jeff is not there.

Save me some time. Chris from Maryland. You're on CBS sports radio. Yes, in Atlanta. That's where Jeff is.

Bless your heart, JR, for the Special Olympic stuff. I'm calling about the baseball. I don't know what to think. I try to keep an open mind, but I'm kind of a dinosaur. Hell, I didn't even like the DH.

But I'm not certain what to think. I am all in favor of the pitch clock. I do have that. It should have been that way. That's something that's evolved and that's all on the players.

There was something about that in the rules before, but they never really enforced it. But man, the bases? What's up with that? 90 feet? I don't know.

That's a little something. It doesn't seem natural also to tell me where I can position my players. Hell, didn't Ted Williams hit 400 and they had to shift back then. I'm not certain home runs are up.

There's a lot to chew on here, but I think it's really what they're trying to do is about the TV because I'm pretty certain. Is attendance down? Yes. Is it at the parks?

Is it down? The answer is yes to both. Here's the deal. And I guess this is something that's being echoed by several people. Anyone can say it's about the TV.

It's not. It's really a simple fact. Baseball does not have the same. Don't forget television. Television is what's keeping baseball alive because it's a live sport. This is really what it boils down to.

It's very simple. Baseball for many reasons does not have the same type of popularity it had in the past. People have more options. Baseball is a slower sport. Society does not operate in a slower space. This baseball needs to speed things up.

That's what it boils down to. If I may, if you can help me with this though, I mean for the life of me, because I like all sports. Sports are great.

I think it's good for, you know, it's good. But for life of me, I haven't been able to catch on to soccer. It seems, that seems kind of boring to me. And, but yet that popularity has increased and it seems to have games on.

Heck, even games not. But here's a, this is a very, this is a very simple answer. And Chris, I'm going to answer you. Thank you for calling from Maryland. Thank you. No problem. Soccer has a set time.

Okay. It has a set time. Baseball has no clock. You can look at the action for soccer, depending on what you're, and the different strokes for different folks. If you know what you're looking at or the formations and what you, it depends.

But the bigger picture is, it has a clock. 45, 45 extra time. Are we going to penalties? What form or what league are we watching?

What international? Are we going to penalties? Or what are we doing here? But you have a clock. I can watch the game. There are no commercials. You see, you might look at soccer and say, oh man, this is boring. Man, I love all sports.

You know how many times I sit down and watch a game and go, another commercial? Do you know how many times, and my brain unfortunately, and I guess fortunately, works in a different space because I understand programs. I understand programming.

I understand timing. I am a producer by trade. I've produced television, radio. I've worked at a magazine.

Like I understand producing. Do you know how many times I sit at a sporting event and we're sitting there? You were really sitting there with no action because of television commercials. Most fans don't even realize that. You got to wait for the umpire to get the cue from the TV people to get the game going.

Like this is big business. And so I understand you may not like soccer, but there's a lot of people who love it because of the time, the lack of commercials, because the continuous action that you do get. There are people who look at football and go, man, this is a lot of stop and go.

And so there's different strokes for different folks. Alan is here from Toronto. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah.

Hi, JR. There's going to be a lot more burglars on the base pass. I mean, a lot more stolen bases.

When these guys are on the base pass, I'm talking about John Bertie, Cedric Mullins, or Jose Altuve. They're going to be leading about one third of the way down because they know the pitcher cannot throw to first to try and pick them off. And instead of being a step in a dive away, I'm going to be two steps in a dive away.

I'm going to draw these two steps. They're not going to be one third of the way down. You know, the pitcher, my God, Alan, Alan, Alan, Alan, stop talking, man. Alan, slow down.

Yep. The pitchers can't throw. They are limited in the amount of pitches. They can't stand on the mound and throw 10 times to first base. But they're limited to two and after two, then you know that they can't throw. So they're going to take a big sizable lead.

They're going to go one third of the way down. Yes. And it will increase the amount of stolen bases. Yes. Well, I got to tell you, there was some guy named Ricky Henderson. It seemed like he stole a million. And it seems like nowadays nobody does anything.

So I don't think it's the worst thing in the world. But, you know, they're going to have a big advantage. You know, Bertie and Mullins and Altuve. Yeah, guys who run. Yes. People. Yeah. Well, here's the thing. People have stopped running in baseball.

They used to run all the damn time. I guess we'll get closer to the mean at this point. And the bases are going to be a little bigger, too. That's that's going to help. The bases are going to be a little bit bigger. Yes.

And people watching at home will know zero difference. Yeah. If you like stolen bases, I do myself. I like it a lot better. I just like a little bit of action. I think we all like a little bit of action. Paul is calling from Alexandria.

Paul, you're on CBS Sports Radio. Hi, JR. JR, I don't like the banning of the shift. I hate the shift, but I think that the batters ought to learn how to break the shift. I agree. It just it's a stupid thing.

And I have a question for you. Quickly regarding the size of the bases. What is that? What's that supposed to do? Make it easier for the player to hang on to the base and not overrun the base? No, the point of the larger base is to also encourage stolen bases similar to what I just discussed with Alan. It's not going to be ridiculously sizable, but it allows someone who's heading in for a slide to be able to get that hand or this gigantic glove or mitt that they have in a little bit easier to keep someone on base. That's the point of the larger bases, to encourage theft.

Might make for broken angles for broken hands, too. No, I don't think any more than usual. Change is necessary, folks. It happens. Who likes it? Nobody. I would love if they didn't need the shift, but I understand the premise and thought of it because ain't nobody doing it.

Hitting the other way. It'd be nice. Maybe we'll get back to it. Hey, Shep, thank you again for an amazing week, man. Thank you, JR. We have a busy, busy weekend. What are you up to this weekend?

I'm hosting the Hall of Fame show on Sirius XM MBA radio. So I'm going to channel my inner JR and hope to be cool and good. Nah, you're awesome.

Period. Thank you. No need to channel me. You are. You are absolutely awesome. Thank you, sir.

You have a great show tomorrow, by the way. Half of these guys are just a Yawnfest going into the Hall of Fame. I'm like, no comment.

Half of these guys are Yawnfest. Tim Hardaway in the Hall of Fame. Okay, I'm in trouble, JR. It's okay. I said it. It's the JR Sportbree show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We will be back with you together Monday, 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 Pacific. Don't move here on CBS Sports Radio. Ryan Hickey is up next, and I like him, too. He's good. Take a listen. Don't move. Thank you, Chef.