9.9.22 - JR SportBrief Hour 1

You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio.

Happy Friday to you. Yeah, you listening. Right here, right now. I'm coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

Whether you want to buy a home or refinance your current one, Rocket, Rocket can. Yeah, it's Friday. I'm going to be here with you for the next four hours. This is the start of the show. 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I'm being joined by super producer and host Dave Shepherd and I'm being joined by you. No matter how you listen.

On the free Odyssey app, on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate, on Sirius XM Channel 158, and on a smart speaker. I'm glad that you're here. We got a lot to do tonight. This is the time of year where everything is starting to come back. Dog days of summer are over.

Labor Day was this past Monday. The NFL season started last night with that ass whooping that the Bills handed out to the Los Angeles Rams. We got a full slate of games on Sunday.

Got the Basketball Hall of Fame tomorrow. We have a tournament that the NBA is considering for the middle of the season. Major League Baseball is getting into their stretch run. Major League Baseball is also looking to implement rule changes.

Well, they will be implemented. Not this season, but it's coming. Francis Tiafoe, the lone American remaining here at the U.S. Open. He's trying to hold on for dear life. Amazing tennis match, at least the start. There's a Spaniard, a young Spaniard, 19 years old.

Alcaraz is beating him up right now, this minute. Tomorrow, we got a full slate. Week two, college football. Some exciting names, exciting teams. Texas and Alabama will get us set up, get us started. And then pretty much in the, what I would consider the best nightcap, we got the Gators and someone who is probably, maybe, could be the most electric quarterback in college football. And speaking of electric, one of the most electric players that the NFL has ever seen at the quarterback position, Lamar Jackson.

Friday is here. Friday has come and basically gone and Lamar does not have a new deal. Lamar Jackson is going to head into this season and play with no extension. Hmm. It's going to be costly for somebody.

Will it be costly for Lamar in the long run or will it be costly for the Baltimore Ravens? So we have a busy, busy Friday. If you want to participate in the show, something that is also very common and this is your show, if you want to hit me up, it's easy. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. You can also find me online. I am on Twitter. I am on Facebook. I am on Instagram. I am at JR Sport Brief. Super producer and host, Dave Shepherd. How are you? And at the same time, I just realized the guy who said that the Buffalo Bills are going to win every game, he didn't call last night.

What happened to him? I don't know how you keep track of all your callers. We might have had a thousand. I'm not exaggerating last night. Yeah, but where the hell was that guy at? I know.

You figure that's an opportunity where you would want to call in. JR, I'm good, man. I can't keep track of all the sports going on right now. It's unbelievable.

It's a beautiful thing and you're going to give it about a month. The NHL and NBA, they'll be underway. And a month from now, we'll pretty much be in baseball their postseason.

And so this is almost like the appetizer right now. We've got a full slate of college football games tomorrow. We have a full slate of NFL games on Sunday. And on the NFL side, things got kicked off last night, as I mentioned.

The Buffalo Bills, they beat up on the Los Angeles Rams at home, the final score 31 to 10. And it should have been a little bit higher of a score if we didn't get all of the turnovers, really from both sides. Nobody could hold on to the ball in the early part of the game. And Matthew Stafford, he had an ugly game.

Disgusting. I guess if he closed his eyes long enough, he would think he was back in Detroit with the Lions. Three interceptions, seven sacks. He was hit 15 times. If that happened to Tom Brady, I wonder how Tom Brady would be feeling. But anyway, Matthew Stafford stunk.

Everybody stunk. Matthew Stafford couldn't find another receiver not named Cooper Cupp. Alan Robinson making his debut. One reception for 12 yards.

Speaking of the number 12, I don't think Cam Akers played more than 12 plays in the game. Jalen Ramsey on the defense. He got burned. Fricassee'd. Steambroiled. Cooked to a crisp.

Yeah, I'm hungry. Jalen Ramsey gave up six completions for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Not the best of games for Jalen Ramsey. Quite frankly, he was very clear in saying, yeah, we got our asses kicked. And the head coach, Sean McVay, who got a contract extension only hours before the game took place. Sean McVay, he talked to the media after, and he said, listen, folks, the buck stops with me. When you look at a lot of the ways that this game unfolded, I feel a huge sense of responsibility to this team.

We weren't ready to go. I take a lot of, you know, pride in that, and that's on me. I got to do better. There was a lot of decisions that I made that I felt like didn't put our players in good enough spots.

This was a humbling experience, but we're going to stay connected. Yeah, humble shmumble. They're the defending Super Bowl champs. And sure, Von Miller isn't there to terrorize quarterbacks on their behalf. He's now playing for the Buffalo Bills, and he had two sacks yesterday, three tackles for loss.

He might as well have pitched a 10 in the backfield. The Rams are going to be fine. Seattle stinks. We know Seattle stinks. Well, we're going to find out how bad they really stink when Russell Wilson decides to carve them up on Monday Night Football, but we'll get there.

Next hour, we're going to talk about some of these absolutely amazing matchups. Seattle stinks. San Francisco. San Francisco was basically saying to ourselves, wait, wait a minute. We got Trey Lance right here.

This man could go boom or he could go bust. What are we going to do? We're going to throw Jimmy Garoppolo in there eventually.

What's going to happen? You have the Arizona Cardinals. They're going to be starting off their first game of the season against those Kansas City Chiefs. That should be fun. Arizona is finally going to have to play an entire season.

Not look great to start and then fall apart at the end. Cliff Kingsbury got an extension. Kyler Murray, we know he got an extension, $230 million. And so the NFC is, NFC West is not exactly a cakewalk, but the Rams are still the cream of the crop until somebody knocks them off.

And so yes, it was disappointing. Yes, they took an L. They got the Atlanta Falcons next, man. Not too shabby. The Atlanta Falcons are probably going to be one of the worst teams this upcoming season, flattened period. They have Marcus Mariota as their quarterback.

They're going to be the best team in the world. They have Marcus Mariota as their quarterback. Well, at least he's starting the season. Reuter might come in and, and he's a rookie.

What do you expect in nothing? Kyle Pitts and Drake London will be praying for a new guy to be drafted next season. That's what the Falcons are praying for.

So expect Aaron Donald to pretty much terrorize the Falcons. It's a difficult thing coming off a championship to go out there and destroy again. We haven't seen a repeat champion since some guy named Bill Belichick had a quarterback named Tom Brady, and this is something that they did back in 2005. The last team that might've been close to repeating his champions, lo and behold, happens to be the Seattle Seahawks. Pete Carroll and an ill-time call at the goal line and Russell Wilson with an ill-time pass to Malcolm Butler.

That was an opportunity to go out there and repeat. It's not anybody's birthright here, but anyone who wants to look at the Rams and, and be concerned or be worried, not yet. Yes, Whitworth is in a broadcast booth. Yes, Odell Beckham Jr is still recovering from his knee surgery. Yes, Alan Robinson has to become acclimated. He has to become acclimated with the offense. Cam Akers as Sean McVay shared with the media today, he has to show up and he has to be an active participant in the offense. Bobby Wagner is now a member of the team, but Bobby Wagner does not specialize in the offense. He has to be an active participant in the offense.

And he has to be an active participant in the offense. Bobby Wagner is now a member of the team, but Bobby Wagner does not specialize in just chasing down the quarterback the way that a Von Miller does. And so there are adjustments that need to be made, but nobody, count them, nobody needs to be overly concerned after one game against the, well, I don't want to say ultimate champions, but they are the team that is being favored right now by most folks, including me, the Buffalo Bills. It's not like the Rams got beat up by the Jaguars. It's not the Rams. It's not like they got blown out by the Lions. They got beat up by a team that can legitimately go out there and win the Super Bowl. So when they beat the Falcons 31 to 10 and they hit them with the reverse, everybody's going to relax. 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS.

Iman is calling for Marilyn. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, how's it going, JR?

I'm really happy to be able to call in again and, you know, share my thoughts with you. I called in a couple weeks ago, let you know about some Lamar Jackson contract, asked a couple questions, but I had two things tonight. Firstly, I just wanted to talk about Gabe Davis because what he showed everyone last night is, I mean, that dude is a stud. Like teams are not going to be able to, you know, just be fine with covering Stephon Diggs now. Like that man is a stud and he is going to be a really good player this year. He was looking amazing. No, absolutely.

Absolutely. Well, I mean, we've seen his growth. We've seen what he can do in the playoffs. He ain't no small human being, not by any stretch of the imagination.

And so for this go round, he's someone who I think he's going to move his yardage up into that 1,000 range and probably grab 10 TDs. So it's not a shock, not a surprise, man. Yeah.

And one more thing. Cam Akers, I know you just said something about, you know, them saying he needs to get more involved in the offense, but, you know, why wasn't he? Like, I don't understand. It's not his fault.

He was barely put in the game. And like, I know so many fantasy owners were stunned last night with the fact that he was just getting nothing. Like it was insane. I don't, I don't, I don't. Well, I'm, I'm going to, I'm going to explain it to you right now.

It's, it's, it's rather simple. And thank you Iman always for calling from Maryland. If you heard Sean McVay today talk about Cam Akers, it wasn't in the most glowing fashion. Cam Akers was basically benched.

Okay. And it's not because Sean McVay is a stupid human being. We know he's one of the best coaches in the NFL.

The man has a photo graphic memory. He's only 36 years old. Three years ago, he went to his first Super Bowl. He outsmarted himself against Bill Belichick, one of the greatest coaches of all time.

A couple of years later, he goes back to the Super Bowl and actually wins. Sean McVay is not a dumb human being. And so we can look at his decision-making and nobody will be perfect. Part of the job of the coach is to be criticized, to sometimes criticize just too much.

Second guess. That's, that's what happens because there's only one coach. The decisions and the buck stops with one guy. And so if you take a chance, you'll be criticized.

Why didn't you do that? If you lean this way, people will go, hey, why didn't you do that? If it doesn't work, people will tear you apart. That's just the nature of being a coach.

You will be second guessed, especially when it goes wrong because nobody's right all the time. Sean McVay talked about Cam Akers today, like an individual who didn't understand a blocking assignment. He talked about Cam Akers, like someone today who wasn't in the right position, who didn't give or show effort. And I don't know, you don't have to be a professional football player, but most of us understand that the job of a running back doesn't stop or just start when the ball is handed to you. There are other elements that you need to take care of when you're on the field. Typically blocking, pass protection, being a decoy, there's more to it than, hey, give me the ball and let's see if I can push it out for five yards plus. That's not just the job of running back. And so that's why Cam Akers didn't play. And so for anybody who looked and said, oh my God, my fantasy numbers, they absolutely stink.

Too bad. Sometimes we got to get out of the fantasy element or fantasy aspect and look at the reality. The Los Angeles Rams ain't trying to rack up fantasy points. They're getting their money. The Buffalo Bills are getting their money. They're making millions and millions of dollars.

People sitting at home are just trying to make a little bit of extra scratch by playing fantasy. They trying to win games, you trying to win a buck. And if Sean McVeigh feels that he has a player on his team who's dogging it, then he ain't going to play him. And why should he? So basically he put Cam Akers on notice. He said that there's going to be ebbs and flows throughout the course of the season. And we have to see how he performs just like everyone else.

But you heard it very clearly when I played it a few minutes ago. Sean McVeigh knows the buck stops with him. And let's also remember, these are your defending Super Bowl champs. Let's not all be too concerned too fast. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio 855-212 for CBS. That's 855-212 for CBS. Speaking of concerned, when we come back, you're going to hear from Nick Saban.

Doesn't sound too concerned about Texas. We'll talk about some of the other great college football games that will take place tomorrow. It's the JR Sport Reshow here on CBS Sports Radio, but we know the NFL is back and I have something very, very important to share with you. Football fans, the first Sunday of the NFL season is here and DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL, has a can't miss offer. New customers can bet just $5 and get $200 in free bets instantly. And as an added bonus for week one, everyone can experience the thrill of DraftKings early win promotion.

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That's 855-212-4227. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, the NFL kicked things off with their season last night in Los Angeles, but now we're moving into the real week two of the college football season. We got a full Saturday slate all day long and typically the games at the start of the year before we really dive deep into any type of conference play, a lot of these games are glorified as whoopings. But there are two games in particular tomorrow outside of me just flipping around that I'm really gonna pay close attention to. And one of the games is really the kickoff.

It's the number one ranked team in the country, Alabama. We're gonna be taking on the Texas Longhorns in one of my favorite cities in the United States of America that happens to be Austin, Texas. Hey Shep, you've been down to Austin before? No, I'm embarrassed to have him because it's an amazing city. Yeah, I don't know. It's a dangerous place and I don't mean, I don't mean crime. Oh, I know what you mean. Stay away.

Yeah, 6th Street is a very fun place. I don't, I don't know how anybody goes to Texas and I don't want to say graduates, but gets anything done. But I digress.

Great food, great drinks and great other things. But Texas is going to be hosting Alabama. That game is going to start at noon Eastern time and we saw what Alabama did to Utah State last week.

55 to nothing. Embarrassing. And then the Texas Longhorns, come on, they ain't no Alabama, but they took on Louisiana Monroe and they beat them 52 to 10. And so here we have a match up and I feel like this is every match up because at this point of his career, Nick Saban has basically just pushed out a million disciples. Sarkeesian, Sark, the man who was his former offensive coordinator, the man who went to the Falcons and stunk that joint up and then he went back to being the offensive coordinator at Alabama. He's now the leader for the Texas Longhorns. He has a young quarterback like I mean, real young quarterback and Quinn Ewers. He has one of the best, if not the best running back in all of college football and Bijan Robinson. But that's probably not going to be enough to beat Alabama. Alabama is favored to win by 20 points. And who knows?

It's probably going to be more than that. And so here we have it, the Kentankerous Nick Saban. He was asked about Sark. It's like, hey, this man used to coach on your staff. Hey, this man knows a lot about your players.

What the hell are you going to do with Texas? What are you going to do with Sark knowing that he knows all about your program? This is what Nick Saban said.

Coach, every preparation is different for each game, but an 11 o'clock kick against a coach that knows a defense like yours well, how do you adjust to that going into this week? Well, you know, we seem to play several teams now that kind of know us, but you act like we don't know them. So just because somebody knows you when they play, it doesn't mean they're going to beat you.

And just because you know them when you play them doesn't mean you're going to beat them either. Oh my God. The conversations between him and Bill Belichick must be gold. Hey, Shep, do you think they talk about anything besides football?

Probably, yes. What, just how's your wife for like two minutes and then they just talk football? What else are they talking about? Bill Belichick's case, you know, the beautiful partner he's with, but yes, in so many words.

Yeah, they don't talk about anything. It's like, hey, how's your wife? Well, she's good. How's your wife? She's good. What about that linebacker you got? What about that Mac Jones?

How's he? Man, must be some dry conversations. Well, no, JR, you know this.

Those guys are actually very captivating off camera. They just don't want to give you, they don't want to give you too much. I'm, I'm aware. Okay, good. You're, you're kind of, you're kind of taking a, you're taking the fun out of me, making fun of them being dry individuals. Sorry. No, you're not. Speaking of dry individuals, Sark has a, I guess he has a little bit more, more personality.

He opened up his yap about taking on his former boss. One of the biggest mistakes people make is like, this is going to be the game that's going to define our program. I don't, it might, it might not. I'm not that concerned about it. I'm more concerned about just the way we play the game, you know, said all along.

My goal is to be in Dallas December 3rd, right? This game has no impact on that, right? It'd be great. It's an awesome opponent.

I want to play really well. I want to make sure that our guys play our style of football, our brand of football, and do it the way that I know and do it the way that I know we're capable of doing it. I'm sure they're saying the same thing in their locker room, right? Because we don't impact them going to the SEC Championship game either, but it's an awesome opportunity. Two good teams, two good coaching staffs, and in an unbelievable environment, it'd be a great setting for college football.

Oh, stop it, man. And not so much about what's taking place right now. The Big 12 Championship, I mean, there are two things that Texas is counting down towards. One is getting out of the Big 12.

The second one is not even getting to the Big 12 Championship. It's just looking at the clock and waiting for Arch Manning to show up, waiting for that man to come through and hopefully help change this program. Let's see how seasoned he is coming from the great Manning family tree. Alabama's probably going to wipe them out tomorrow, and it's going to be fun to watch.

Arch Manning won't be out there. Let's see what Quinn Ewers does. Let's see if he shows up in his Aston Martin. You can thank Name, Image, and Likeness for his vehicle. He's going to drive himself to an ass-whooping. That'll be a good one to at least start your Saturday off with.

And then in the nightcap, this should actually be fun. And it's really one individual player that I want to see. His name is Anthony Richardson. Starting quarterback for the Florida Gators down in Gainesville. This man is a freak athlete of nature. He's about 6'2.

He has to be about 225, 230. He is built like a truck, and he has the athleticism, and I am not exaggerating, of like a gymnast. This man is finishing practice, and he's doing forward flips, and the back flips, and side flips. Last week when the Gators beat the Utes, this man was jump, spinning, fake passes. He's like a combination of Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. We haven't seen his passing acumen all the way yet. He rushed for three touchdowns, but this man is dynamic. We can go through this entire football season, and he has already built himself up, I believe, into ending this year as one of the top prospects. I think he can do it. I think he can up his game. I think he could do some major damage in this season. The Gators are going to take on Kentucky, but my eyeballs will be on Anthony Richardson. I want to see what this guy can do.

A freak of nature. If you thought Lamar Jackson looked absolutely amazing, and they thought this guy was a running back playing at quarterback, let's see how Anthony Richardson continues to develop the rest of this season. It's the JR Sport Reef Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. When we come back, speaking of a prospect, there's one in action right now. It's going down in Queens, New York, and everybody from Larry Fitzgerald to Michelle Obama is currently watching him play.

Francis Tiafoe trying to represent the United States of America at the finals for the U.S. Open. We're going to talk about it when we come back. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I love your show every week.

I work about 60 hours a week. Every week, I get off of work at about midnight, and I tune into your show. I love your show. I listen to your show every night, going home from work, and I appreciate you, man.

I listen to you on my drive home from work, and I appreciate you being you and being fresh, man. Thank you. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS.

That's right. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. College football tomorrow. I told you that I can't wait to turn on the Gators in the evening time as they take on Kentucky, and it's not so much for the actual game. I can't wait to see Anthony Richardson and another start. I want to see if he's going to do some back flip, spin, fake pass, jump over somebody. It's coming. This guy's electric.

He is a highlight machine. He's giving me a reason to sit down and watch the Gators. They got a new head coach in Billy Napier, taking over for Dan Mullen, who got the boot at the end of last season.

And so, yeah, I can't wait. Young. And speaking of young, right now, in Queens, New York City, the U.S. Tennis Center, we're basically coming to a close for the U.S. Open.

There's been a lot of attention, obviously, placed on Serena Williams as her career as we believe came down to a close, and she's going to move on to retire in a word that she refused to use. But we've seen the elevation of several young stars. We've seen Coco Gauff in action.

She didn't win. But on the American side for the men right now, we have seen the elevation of Francis Tiafoe. The man from Maryland.

Parents happen to be immigrants from Sierra Leone. He grew up here in the United States of America at the Tennis Center down in Maryland. And I've heard about this guy for 10 years as a prospect. He has the tools. He's 610. He's 200 pounds. This guy's big. He's strong.

He's fast. He just beat Rafael Nadal last week. This man, if he wins his match tonight, which he is currently trailing, he's trying to stay alive. This man has a chance to go to the final, and the man that he is playing against, Carlos Alcaraz. This man right now is a young man. He is 19 years old. He just played a match Wednesday night into Thursday morning that lasted until 2 30 a.m eastern time. This match lasted more than five hours. He is out here on the court right now.

A couple of, how about this right now? A couple of games away from going to the final on Sunday. 19 years old. We had to deal with watching Rafael Nadal for all of these years represent Spain. And here we have another Spaniard, this one at 19 years old, who's just ready to whoop ass. If I got to think about a great, great American tennis player on the men's side, I got to go back almost 30 years now at this point. So Francis Tiafoe, he's trying to stay alive here in the fourth set.

He just tied the, tied it at four all, and he's trying to, trying to stay alive. Shep, do you think he can come back and do it? I do.

I do. I mean, J.R., you talked about his game. And the second win that he got in this fourth set is nothing short of remarkable, considering all the tread that he's put on his tires, beating Nadal, beating Rublev. You know, but it's, J.R., it's amazing to me because when we grew up, American males dominated this sport. I mean, they were always one, two, and three in the world. Sampras, Agassiz, yeah.

Yeah, Chang, and Currier. And then before that, obviously, the greats like McEnroe and Conners, Ash, even preceding them. It's amazing to watch an American male tennis player be in the final four at Arthur Ashe.

Yeah. Well, you know, there are so many other countries that have gotten involved, there is so much competition for sport or our athletes here in the United States of America. I don't want to say our best athletes are going to other sports, but they don't, people ain't running to a tennis court. That's, that's just the reality. Aaron Judge was asked the other day, hey, why are you the only six foot seven, 280 pound baseball player?

And he's very clear. Everybody else who's 6'7 and 300 pounds, 280, 250, playing basketball, playing football, they're defensive ends, they're small forwards, they're not out here swinging a bat. I'm sure that we could get plenty of other six foot seven giants to go out there and play baseball, but is it, is it going to make sense?

Are you going to get to the money? If you think about the finances that are available here to a tennis player in the United States of America, year over year, Francis Tiafoe, who's, who's basically been on the scene for, for 10 years now, started making money five, six, seven years ago, winning prize money. He ain't making more than a mill per year. This will probably be his most lucrative year.

So, you know, let's think about that. Right now, he is ranked number 22 on the WTA rankings when it comes down to men. This is a global ranking.

His ranking is likely to go up at the conclusion of the U.S. Open. What is he going to make this year? I don't know.

What would you say, Shep? A mill and a half, maybe two? No more than three, probably?

No more. It depends on if he wins this. If he wins this, he clearly supplants $3 million. Well, I mean, based on how it's going now, he's, he's hanging in there.

He's hanging all right. He's probably, he's all things considered. I'd love to see him win, but he is probably going to go home. But my point being, it don't matter if he goes home with a mill and a half this year or two or three or four or five, it pales in comparison to the type of money that athletes make in other sports. Top basketball player, not even a top basketball player, a role player, a guy on the bench, a guy who doesn't suit up and is basically a practice player, is someone making $2 million, $3 million a year to practice and sit on the bench. We got hundreds of those guys and the top tennis players, if you ain't cracking one of the championships, one of the four, Australian, U.S., British, Wimbledon, French, if you ain't doing that, man, you, you, you, you hanging on by a thread. JR, to your point, Novak Djokovic is the highest earning tennis athlete in the history of this sport. He is just as good at it as he is at winning tennis athlete in the history of this sport. He is just a shade under $160 million for his lifetime.

Now, as you alluded to with Roger and Rafa Novak, those guys have now been around for 20 plus years. Damian Lillard, who's not even a top five NBA player, is going to make that amount of money in three years time. Yeah, in almost two years at the end of his contract. This man is 60 a year.

Come on now. He's going to be 35, 36 when he's making that? Still short. Yeah.

What, what do you, what do you mean? For the NBA, he's very short. What do you mean in regards to height, stature? What I'm saying is those contracts for smaller guards don't age well. Look at what's going on with CP3, right? I'm not, I'm not talking about that. Right. The fact is he can make $60 million a year at his age, out of his prime $60 million a year, and a top tennis player on earth, man, and prize money.

He's not scraping that. Maybe, maybe if you become the, an icon, maybe if you're making money off of the court, you can do that. Naomi Osaka is a, is an excellent example. She hit her hot streak and, and won the US Open a few years ago. She's fallen off whether due to injury or, or mental issues or not being able to handle the pressure. She makes most of her money as a pitch woman, as a pitch person.

And so it's tough here in the United States of America. I love tennis just as much as I love. There's basketball, the NFL, baseball. I love tennis. It's not the same type of sport. You can't sit down and watch it every single day, which you can, and not at the same level of you thinking about the US Open, Wimbledon, the French, Australian Open, et cetera. But the fact is our best athletes within good reason, they gravitate to other sports.

A lot of it is a cultural thing. You go all over here in the South. I can walk right down the block here in Midtown Atlanta from the studio. And I can walk right to a football game within a 20, 30 mile radius.

I can go to a whole ton of them that are playing at a high level and high quality where guys like Cam Newton were produced. Not the same with tennis. You gotta practice. You gotta find someone. You have to be able to, to get with the competition.

It's tough. It'd be nice if Francis Tiafoe can, can move on. It'd be nice if he can help elevate the US men's game. He's, he's still in his twenties.

I believe he's 26 years old right now. There are other young American men. There are others, but we've been saying this for a very long time. As Nadal, Spain, Federer, Switzerland. And then you have Djokovic who's Serbian. They have pretty much dominated men's tennis for the better part now of 20 years.

And I don't want to call it a nightmare scenario or situation. We have no idea what things look like for Alcaraz over the next bunch of years, but he is 19 years old and he is already ranked number three in the world. He looks like he might be on his way. He is firmly in control right now of going to the US Open final.

And man, we just might have to wait one more damn year. We might be waiting a whole lot of years before tennis is, is here on the scene. I think if anyone can, quote unquote, carry the mantle for tennis, man, maybe it's, maybe it's Coco Gauff. Coco is 18 years old and that's on the women's side. Serena is gone. Serena and Venus carry things for the women. And we've seen other women come and go and the rankings always shift. They go up, they go down.

It's a hard-knock life here. Our best athletes playing in the NBA, playing in the NFL, maybe they're, maybe they're going into baseball, which is another difficult sport to get into, depending on where you live, not as easily accessible. And let's see what Francis Tiafoe can do. Not looking all that great right now. I'm not going to lie, Francis Tiafoe can do right now, hanging on by a thread. I'll update you on this match as it goes on. Hopefully it extends on.

And if it ends rather sooner than later, it ain't good for Tiafoe. It's the JR sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to get ready to take a break. And when we come back, we're going to talk about the sport that absolutely dominates here in the United States of America.

It's the NFL. The Rams, the Bills, they got us going last night, but we have our full slate coming on Sunday. Lots of games to watch. I'm going to run through the list. I'm going to run through the schedule and I'm going to tell you the games that I'm going to look for. I'm going to tell you the games that you should absolutely pay attention to. And I'm going to do it on the other side of this break as Michelle Obama is impressed with the moxie of Francis Tiafoe. We're going to talk more NFL on the other side. It's the JR sport re-show CBS Sports Radio.