JR SportBrief Hour 4

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Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions may apply. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio, and I am coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios. Whether you're looking to purchase a new home or refinance yours, Rocket Mortgage can help you get there for home loan solutions that fit your life. Rocket. Rocket can. I'm having so much fun.

And why shouldn't I? Talking about sports, I'm hanging out here with you. You're hanging out here with me. Shoutouts to the Uber drivers. Shoutouts to the Lyft drivers.

Shoutouts to everybody behind a wheel making some money. Be safe and get your money. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. I'm at JR Sport Brief on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If your ass is driving, do not even think about picking up a phone. Don't do it.

Be safe. Anyway, tonight, we did a lot. We talked football.

Of course, roughing the passer. We talked Devante Adams. Facing assault charges.

Pushing that photographer. We talked about Draymond Green. No suspension. Just a little bit of a fine. Private matter amongst the Golden State Warriors.

We talked about Tuatanga Veloa. He turned or returned to practice in a limited capacity. He still won't be playing against those Vikings. Jameis Winston was able to practice a little bit. Man, we got so many injuries, it's ridiculous. And oh yeah, by the way, this kind of flew under the radar, depending on who you are. Deshaun Watson is back in the building for the Browns.

Every week, slowly but surely, what he's allowed to do, his activity starting to increase, now he's allowed back into the building, one step at a time. I know, it's already week six. Anyway, the Major League Baseball playoffs are going on. We just actually had a game end about, I don't know, 30, 40 minutes ago. The Dodgers were able to come out, or excuse me, not come out and tie the series. The Padres tied the series tonight against the Dodgers.

The Padres win five to three in Los Angeles. Their series is tied one all. And so there are quite a few individuals in the baseball playoffs right now who have quite a few things to prove. They trying to make money? Are they always criticized?

Have they failed to live up to expectations? Who in the world of baseball has the most to prove? You may not be a baseball fan, but you might know some of these names. Let me give you a quick recap.

And if you missed it, just hit rewind on the Odyssey app. Justin Verlander, I had him at six. This man is pushing 40 years old. Absolutely amazing. Just came back from Tommy John surgery, and for some reason he's better than ever.

Hard to believe. Mr. MVP Cy Young. At number five, Jose Altuve. Yeah, the little guy.

The little guy that everybody said was a cheater. And number four, I gave you Aaron Judge. He has a lot to prove. Just hit more home runs than anyone in American League history.

And now he's trying to win a championship before he gets paid by somebody. And number three, I gave you Manny Machado. Tonight, he helped the San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had a home run, drove in two runs. Manny Machado is big time. He was in a world series with the Dodgers. Remember when he got traded?

And they lost. Now he's trying to come back and win a world series, and he wants to eventually probably opt out of his deal and make more money. That's a lot of pressure. And number two, I gave you Garrett Cole, the ace of the New York Yankees staff, even though he scares the living hell out of Yankees fans.

And at number one, we want to talk about pressure. How about Bryce Harper? Imagine being one of the best players in the game since you were a teenager, just being hurt all the time, and then winning MVPs. And then you leave one team, you go to another, and your former team wins a world series the minute that you leave. Well, at least Bryce Harper and the Phillies are back in the postseason for the first time since 2011, and he's trying to soak it all in. This is what he said when they actually clinched a postseason berth. It's a different group.

It's a different mentality in here. You know, bringing in a guy like Schwarber, bringing in a guy like Castellanos, signing JT back, you know, having the bullpen and having the starting pigeon that we did. We overcame a lot, but also every single guy that we called up stepped up. All of our young guys stepped up, and that's what winning organizations do. And we were able to do that this year, and like I said, you know, this is just step one. We're excited to be here.

We're excited to, you know, pop bottles finally again, and, you know, it's been a long time. You know, I gotta be honest here, and maybe you'll disagree with me. It's always been a little, not outrageous, peculiar. Yes, maybe that. No, no, peculiar isn't the word. Odd is the word.

Maybe. How at every level of the Major League Baseball playoffs, they celebrate. I get it. It's a long ass season. If you win a division, if you go to the playoffs, it's something to appreciate. But do we have to bring out the goggles and the beer and party like it's 1999, like every round? No, no rise. Let's just celebrate and keep it moving. I mean, well, damn.

Shep, am I out there? I get it. It's a long season, and I get any excuse. It's not a baseball thing.

I think it's a lot of people. Any excuse that you have to party, like people are gonna go out there and do it. Jay, listen, I'm not saying anything new here, but baseball is synonymous with celebrating mediocrity. Oh, touche. If you're a Hall of Famer, you hit 310, and you're an iconic player of your generation. Well, I mean, it's hard to hit a baseball now.

Well, okay. Well, I mean, it always amazes me that like, you know, I mean, we celebrate the most winning team in the history of the sport. That's the Seattle Mariners. We still talk about them. They didn't even make a World Series, and they're still revered to this day. And I'm talking about the 2001 Ichiro Mariners, which still gets talked about and reveled in like this iconic franchise, but we don't talk about that in football. We don't talk about that. You know, we think of football. We think of the 17, and correct me if I'm wrong, 18 and one Patriots, and they're the biggest colossal disappointment. They're not celebrated, but that Mariners team that couldn't make a World Series because they won a certain amount of games in the regular season, they're iconic. Maybe only in Seattle. No, I think they're revered league-wide to this day. Whatever.

Okay. They made a movie about a team that can't even get to an ALCS. It was like the most popular baseball movie in the last 20 years. Now, Brad Pitt had something to do with it. I'm obviously talking about Moneyball.

Moneyball. Yes. Yeah.

And Billy Bean celebrated like he's, you know, the smartest thing since sliced bread. You can't get to a World Series. You can't get to a World Series is life dependent on it. Yeah. It's tough to win in base.

It's tough to win in any sport. I'm just the actual celebrations and the levels of, of that, that they reach. I just, I go, yeah, these guys are just, they're looking for a reason to drink, looking for a reason to pop a bottle and have some champagne. And why not? Life is stressful.

If you got a reason to celebrate, then dammit, go ahead and do it. But it's just always funny to me. I'm like, that team sucks. They're a bunch of losers. Like they barely got into the post season. They over here popping bottles. Like they won the World Series that I shake my head at and laugh. I go, yup.

Any, any excuse to drink? Why not? I get it. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS.

The player I believe with the most to prove is Bryce Harper. What do you say? Let's go to Texas. Let's talk to Chris. You're on CBS Sports Radio, Chris.

What's going on? Well, here's what I have to say. I'm cracking myself up.

But if it, if I had an excuse to drink, I'd just invite everybody over to the house. But it's the funny thing I think about you is that JR, you're, uh, if I ever need an attorney, I'm going to hire you because you can go from being condescending to be highly intellectual in the same breath. But, um, well, thanks. I'm going to put that on my resume. Not that I have one, but I will. If you need a job, we can get you one. Oh no, I'm dead serious. So a job doing what?

I'm interested. Digging ditches. We can dig some ditches together. Nah, man. I've, I've, I've done my share. I probably shouldn't talk about that, but go ahead.

I'm 62. So I'm quit digging ditches too. But anyway, Manny, I, I think our deal is that we need to, uh, stop, you know, bringing up salaries cause you and I both know that in the event we get an extra dollar an hour, we'll take it. And so they pay them what they'll get. You know, they got agents. So at the time and agents get 10, six to 10%. So some, somebody is making money off of people making money. But, um, yeah, but that comes with salary.

Yeah. But here's these guys make so much money now. It's, it's publicized. I mean, the Aaron judge is up for a contract or it was up for a contract before the season.

Now he'll be a free agent. The New York Yankees, Brian Cashman came out and pretty much told everybody what they offered him. And it wasn't to just say, hey, we're so hospitable was so charitable as the New York Yankees. They basically tried to shame the guy. And so the money is a big part of, of what a lot of athletes or the pressure a lot of athletes feel.

But you and I know that if you offered me $20 to cut your grass and they offered me $30 to cut the neighbor's grass, whose grass am I cutting? Yeah, but that's, that's, I think we're talking about two separate things here. I'm talking about pressure. Yeah.

Well, I know. And I, I'm pretty sure Aaron's not feeling no pressure. He's like, the only, the only thing that hurt my feelings about him is he didn't win the triple crown.

It's like, dude, it's like, if you do it, so long, that would like be a feather in your cap. Yeah. It would have been nice. Well, we can blame Arias from, from the twins. He was, he was, he was hurt and injured at the end of the year. So he sat out a few games. That's, that's what happened.

But the other thing is Garrett. Yes. When every time I see him or listen to him, I think he's fixing to cry. Yeah. It looks, it's like, he looks like he's watering up, fixing to have tears in his eyes. And then he says something and it looks like he's depressed. Yeah. He, yeah. Well, he always looks depressed.

He looks like he's been sucking on lemons and he needs a hug. Well, thank you, Chris. I appreciate your man. Okay.

One more second. Cause based on your second, yeah, on the first question. So we're talking about who has the most pressure on him. It's like, you know, we got Kershaw and Darvish are going against each other and they're, they played, I don't know. I haven't been home, so I don't know what the game turned out tonight, but they're going to see each other one more time. And so it's like, I'm pretty sure those two guys are putting the most pressure on each other.

What a wonderful experience to have them behind us. Yeah. Well, Chris, no, no doubt about it. You said you missed the game. Yeah. I, I had to work tonight. I'm sorry.

Oh, wait, you did too. Oh, well, trust me sitting here talking about sports doesn't feel like work. At Clayton Kershaw, he pitched five innings. He gave up three runs. He struck out six guys. His post-season resume is well documented before he actually won the world series and helped them in the shortened year due to COVID. You know, people gave Clayton Kershaw a hell of a time, a matter of fact, and thank you, Chris, for calling up from Texas. We can listen to Clayton Kershaw right now. He says, yeah, I made some mistakes.

Listen to this. There's a few mistakes in there that got hit hard. Obviously the home run man, he was a mistake. And the two strike hit that Profar got there was, was a mistake. And then I left the slider up to Soto too, that he got a hit on. So I definitely made some mistakes that they made me pay for. I definitely had some traffic all day. Could have been a lot worse for sure.

You know, I think, yeah, there's just, there's a lot of traffic all day. I had to make some pitches, had to, you know, pitch out of jams basically every inning. He is absolutely amazing when he's healthy. Another season, ERA of 2.2 when he was healthy. And he's such a, he's a great guy. I've never met Clayton Kershaw, but just comes across as like one of the nicest dudes.

Los Angeles hasn't done a damn thing to that guy. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. What players are feeling the pressure? Adam is calling from Soronso. You're on CBS Sports Radio. JR, appreciate you taking my call, man. I got to apologize in advance.

I got a bit of an offbeat answer. I'm going to go with the, I know you said Jose Altuve. I'm going to go with the Astros core. And I mean, Altuve, Bregman, and Gurriel.

Let's be real, man. The Astros core over the last half decade has been amazing. They've been the three world series. They won one. I know it was cheating, but they've been amazing. But if they don't win another one, and especially this year, I think this year is going to be the year. If they don't win another one, they're going to have to go the rest of their lives knowing that, well, they're going to go the rest of their lives with everyone else clowning them saying, well, you were great and all, but you couldn't win without cheating. So, you know, I think they all got something to prove.

I think they're all great players, but if they don't win anything, it's going to be a joke because, you know, they couldn't do it without the trash cans, man. Wow. You're just trying to upset all of my friends in Houston.

That's what you're trying to do, huh? Hey, I would have included George Springer in there. Mr.

I can't get a hit for the Blue Jays in the post-season, but. Well, the man got a broken, what is his, is his face broken? That poor guy can't even. Yeah.

He, he almost got killed by our idiot shortstop, Bo Bichette, who has been making errors all season, but let's not get into that, man. That makes me mad. Sorry about that. It's all good. Well, where's, what's, what's Toronto doing right now? What's up?

Uh, sitting on the couch, man, just. Oh yeah, that's right. That's right.

Hey, the Yankees are going to get swept by the Astros in the championship series, so it's okay, man. Oh, okay. All right.

We'll see. Thank you. Thank you, Adam.

Appreciate you, JR. No doubt about it. He's like, well, damn, the whole Astros cheated. People in Houston are sick and tired of hearing about that.

And too bad. Emory is calling from Georgia. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Oh dude, this has been like the most amazing conversation. Hey, I really appreciate your, uh, your whole, what was the initial, you had the top five, right? You had the top five. No, I don't do a top five, nothing. No, six.

Oh, you said top six. Yeah. Where are you? Are you, you're in Georgia.

Where are you in Atlanta? Of course, dude. I'm in, I'm in the battery. Oh, you're in the battery. You could have fooled me.

I thought you would have been hanging out a little five points. Oh dude. How would you know that? I don't know. Well, I'm just, uh, maybe from Atlanta or know something about Atlanta. Am I, do I know something about Atlanta? I mean, do you want to, when I'm back in Atlanta on peach tree, do you want to come up to the studio? Like what do you, what do you, what do you think I am here?

What do you know? I just feel like when you said the most approved, like Justin Verlander has nothing to prove. He is obviously one of the greatest.

Uh, Bryce Harper could die tomorrow. He's Emory. Were you at the punch bowl social today? Um, no, sir.

I was not at a work till five. Okay, go ahead. Continue on quickly. All right. Well, um, just, I'm saying dude, the most approved is Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton today. Who else, who else has to prove anything? I don't, I don't get the proof. What does Spencer Strider have to prove?

The guy is basically broken right now. Well, it's everybody on our roster because we give everybody money. The, you gave him what?

Uh, the Atlanta Braves have given Michael Harris, Spencer Strider, everybody money. Money. Okay. All right. So, uh, I'll make it quick. Yes. Will never hit 500 home runs. Okay.

What else you got? I'm just talking about, dude, who's got the most approved. It's the guys that got a lot of money this year and they're 20. Oh, they have a lot to prove. I think they're just happy to be, have a, you know, be getting robbed by them. You said, yeah, we're a lander at number six.

He doesn't have anything to prove. Are you driving a vehicle? Emory? No. Good. Thank you. Thank God you're not driving a vehicle.

I was going to be concerned about everybody on 85. Did he not listen to what you said about, he is so accomplished. It's not about what he has to prove to Joe public. It's about what he has to prove now to himself.

Did you hear that guy try to formulate a sentence? You know how I know he's never called before. Cause I, to his credit, Emory is a very cool name. Yeah. That's how I knew when you said he was new, he should have just said yes and then gone with it.

There's a hospital called Emory. Yes. That's what he said. That's what he said when we spoke and then he asked me, oh, you, you know, something about Atlanta. Yeah.

It wasn't his finest moment. I don't know anything about Atlanta. I just, somebody dropped me out the sky. I ended up on Peachtree street, but I'm not on Peachtree street tonight. I'm on bourbon street. Yes. I'm broadcasted live from new Orleans, Louisiana, hanging out with the students at Tulane university and I'm having a good old time. Oh yeah.

I travel all over the country. Do I know something about Atlanta? Yeah. I know you've been drinking a little five points, had a little too much to drink at vortex or too much to eat. Maybe you're at the blue flame right now.

Maybe a magic city. Sounds like you've been drinking at the battery. So I'm glad you're not operating a vehicle. It's the JR sport reshow here on CBS sports radio 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. I'm gonna get some more of your calls to JR sport reshow. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio.

You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. And I told the guy in the back, I said, Hey man, he's talking about me. He said, Oh yeah.

Yeah. I said, yeah, man. I said, that's my man. He said, Oh, Oh, okay. Then you start talking about, he didn't really care, but then you start talking about the tip. When I took, when I dropped him off, he tipped me.

So I appreciate that. Call in now at 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Oh man. I need to, I need to go on my phone.

I'm not going to do it now. Shout outs to my Uber driver in Washington, DC. Y'all think I'll be playing. I'm I'm outside.

Come on. Shout outs to my man, Kendrick. I'm outside.

I saw Kendrick today. I'm a man of the people. Damn it. No, I'll be outside. Y'all don't know where I'm at when I'm outside, but I'll be outside anyway. Geese geese live outside. There was a goose and I'm not exaggerating. There was a goose at Dodger stadium.

The Padres won five to three. They tie up their divisional series at one all, but late in the game, there was a goose just parked itself outside of, you know, I guess shallow center, you know, right outside the second base bag. And the goose decided to just chill. And they decided to play the game. It went on.

And I think in the middle of one of the innings, Peter is not going to be happy about this. The grounds crew went out there with some towels. One guy decided to take a Gatorade towel. And this was a big ass goose, by the way, this man, he picked the goose up in the towel. They put it in a garbage bag line bin and they removed the goose from the field. And I am sure they put the goose somewhere safe. Peter is somewhere mad.

I'm going to look this up tomorrow. I know Peter is going to put out a statement. How dare they remove the goose from the green grass of Dodger stadium. The goose deserved to be there more than Freddie Freeman deserved to be there. I know it's coming.

That guy who got, well, the guy who said he got a concussion, he was concussed after he got hit by Bobby Wagner last week. He was one of those animal activists. And I'm for, I'm for the animals. I love animals. I love them. I love to watch them.

Love to have them as pets, depending on the animal, like to eat them. Not really a heavy, heavy meat eater, but I'll eat meat. But I'm not one of the Peter people.

Peter goes too far. Like, why, why do you got to force what you believe on somebody else? If the guy wants to eat a steak, let him eat a steak.

You don't want to eat one, then don't. Yeah. No, no religions do that. Do they do what?

Force beliefs on other people that they believe themselves wholeheartedly. They're not supposed to, right? Well, they do. Yes.

Not supposed to. I think let people eat what they want. People do it.

They do what you want. As long as you're not hurting anybody. Food chain people. If I went to the jungle and I got eaten by a lion, what are you going to do? Tell the lion not to eat me because it's wrong?

No. Dumb ass Peter people. Anyway, eight five five two one two four CBS.

That's eight five five two one two four CBS. The Peter people are going to come for me. Marty's calling from Westchester. Hey, Marty, you ever had, you ever ate like a goose? You have a duck? I like duck, but I haven't had duck in a long time. I love duck to duck is delicious, man.

It really is. It is love duck. Peter doesn't like you, Marty. It's okay. I like you. Oh, thank you. You're welcome. Go ahead.

What's up? Yes. You can make a case for any of the six players that you mentioned on your list. But the guy that really stands out for me is Garrett Cole. I mean, he's had a bullseye on his back ever since he signed that big contract a few years ago with the Yankees. And he's off to a good start. He pitched a good game yesterday.

No question about that. But the pressure is still on. If he if he, you know, comes up in game four, he's still going to have to perform.

That could be a big game for them, either up to one or down to one. And then moving forward after that, presuming that Houston moves on, and I think they will, the pressure continues from it just seems like he does have the weight of the world on his shoulder. His body language is at least a lot to be desired at times. He looks constipated every time.

Like, he always looks angry, like he needs to use the bathroom, but he can't make it. Hey, Marty, your friend called me on the fan on on Friday. What's your friend's name? I heard that conversation.

Mark from Bayside. Yes. Yeah. Did you go to another game? We're supposed to go tomorrow, weather permitting. Oh, the weather in New York sucks right now? They're talking about the 80 percent chance of rain tomorrow. Oh my God. It's a disgusting wind, so we have to keep our fingers crossed.

So think. Yeah, that's right. I did hear about that.

Well, fingers crossed. I'm not going to be on the fan in New York City this weekend, but I'll be back soon, Marty. But I know you pay attention, bro, OK? All right, Bill. It's good to talk to you tonight. Always a pleasure.

All the time. Have some duck tonight if it's not too late, OK? If not tonight, definitely tomorrow. My man. I'll talk to you later, Marty.

OK, sounds good. No doubt about it. Shout outs to Marty from Westchester, New York.

I used to live in Westchester. If you like duck, you might like goose here. Fox Sports one is a damn goose on the field. Listen. Oh, we've had just about everything, including a duck. Yep.

Why? There's a duck resting in short right center field and the players and the umpire, they're not even aware of it. Let me tell you, it was a goose. That's why I was like, that's a big ass duck. And typically you see one goose, you don't.

I mean, well, in a ballpark. Yeah, I guess this was a dumb goose, because if you see one of them, them suckers, they move. I guess it's still a flock for geese, a flock of geese. Yeah, they move deep. They walk, they take their time.

They cross the street. They go four, five, six, seven deep. Don't run into a little goose, little, little geese. Yeah, little geese. They're nice looking, little brown.

They're furry, beautiful little birds. And then they get older. They get ugly. They become aggressive. They want to snatch the food out your hand.

You can't, you can't cross the street until they get across. Geese have some of the nastiest craps you'll ever see in your life. And you got a grounds guy who had to go out there and pick one up with a Gatorade, a Gatorade towel. Where the hell were the rest of the geese? One lonely goose.

Hope he finds his friends. Rich is calling from Chicago. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, I'm JR, JR. Look, you're a producer. Shep's a good guy. Every time I call in, he knows his stuff. But I got to tell you something.

He could, he could identify the rookies and so can you. You know, this guy Emory is brain dead. I've lived all over the country. Been here a long time in Chicago, but both my kids were born in Atlanta.

And, and I lived in the northern suburbs. And this guy, this guy doesn't even know what he's talking about. Not only is he not a geography guy, and he doesn't know that your presence is in Atlanta. But first of all, he's complaining about how much money they're spending.

Let me tell you something. The Braves are ranked 12th out of Major League Baseball and Team Craterall, 12th. They, you know what's crazy, Rich? The Braves, how they are bucking the quote unquote system. And they are paying their young guys so fast.

And they're getting them on the cheap. I feel like that the Braves are just, it's like they found a formula and they are just, they're destroying everybody. It's hilarious.

I love it. They're like the Cleveland Indians. The Indians are doing or took the Braves playbook.

They had a bunch of young guys that are going to be stars and they're going to tie them up just the same way. The Braves, you know, I'm from Jacksonville originally and Chipper Jones is from Jacksonville and he's an icon in Atlanta, probably still. And all he did was rave about how great the Braves fans were. And I was there three years in the days where it was horrible back in when Aaron was in his last legs. But I lived there back in 80 to 83 and they had Dale Murphy and that third baseman, his name escapes me.

You know him, he hits about 80 home runs in best 220 every year. They had him in this third baseman and they were horrible. What, back at Fulton?

What, at Fulton County? Yeah, Dale Murphy was great. No one talks about him. And they had that third baseman, was it Horner? Roger? No, Horner. Oh, I get it, man. No, that predates me. Yeah, well, you know, he doesn't even recognize he's sitting in a great city with, with Bob Warner.

Yeah. I think the guy, the guy couldn't move three steps and hit 40 home home runs. Dale Murphy covered the whole outfield by himself.

I mean, it was just sad to go out. They have about 12,000 a game. I mean, it was, and now I lived in Marietta and had stayed in Atlanta and both my kids were born in Northside Hospital. I lived a mile from the new Braves stadium. I could have walked to this stadium and I was a big Braves guy.

Well, there's a, there's a, there's a lot of, there's a lot of highway and mall over there now. So I don't, you, you, you could walk, but you might be, get hit by a vehicle on the way there. Well, I, I get hit cause I'm 69 years old and just walking.

I'm doing, I've had 10 operations from football and four on my knees. And I, I've taken an Uber for one mile now. Listen, listen, I get, I get it rich. I don't want to walk no way either.

If I had somebody carry, I would. Anyway, excuse me. And I told Shep this here's my surprise. He's on your list, but he would be my number one guy. Let me tell you, Verlander. And here's the reasons why his last three starts. Now he's 39, as you pointed out, but his last three starts this year, he's got an ERA of 5.3 and he's got a playoff record of 14 and 11. Now you talk about him and Kershaw Kershaw, as you know, isn't a, has not been outstanding in playoff baseball. He's terrible. And I'm worried about Verlander. I'm a big fan of he's a great guy. I've met him a couple of times.

He's terrific, but I got to tell you something. I don't think he, yeah, 5.3 and this last three games. So that to me is a little bit of a trend and in 14 and 11 in playoff baseball, I think the Astros are in trouble and everybody loves it. I think they're in trouble. I hope so.

Let me tell you something rich and this sounds counter. I like to see, I think most people like to see the other team's ace get his ass whooped. That's just it. I want to see Verlander get destroyed every chance and opportunity. The only guy who I really like out of any of these folks, I like, I like Kershaw. I want to see him have success. Everybody else. They can go kick rocks.

I like seeing them get abused. So anyway, I like, I'm not an Astros guy. Okay. I'm just not, but I got to tell you, I'm pulling for the Braves again with you.

Okay. Well, who said I was pulling for him? You're, come on, you're a hometown guy. You gotta be the bridge.

No, don't, don't, don't believe that so much, rich. I like him. I like him.

I don't know if I'm pulling for him, but we'll see what happens. Okay. All right. Thank you, rich. Appreciate you for calling from Chicago.

Yeah. I'm in, I'm in new Orleans right now. Ain't no baseball team. Ain't no baseball team. I was root for me. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. God bless you, JR. I'm a huge follower, supporter, and listener of your show. Been admiring you for years. I follow you on Twitter. It's an honor to be able to talk to you, man. You're listening to the JR sport brief.

Call in now at eight five five two one two four CBS. If you follow me on Twitter, you're going to know what I'm referencing right now, because I just retweeted it. It is absolutely hilarious. That's at JR sport brief. If you want to see Russell Westbrook ignore Patrick Beverly, and it's only the preseason hilarious.

So let me give you some context here. Not that this matters, but I might as well. This is a warmup, right? The regular season gets started about a week from now. Minnesota is in Los Angeles. They win a meaningless preseason game, one 18 to one 13.

Here's some pertinent information. Anthony Davis was healthy enough to play. LeBron James played. Russell Westbrook played. Patrick Beverly played.

There is about a 10 second clip that is going viral, has gone viral. Patrick Beverly is rounding up the troops. He calls LeBron over. LeBron is standing there, all ears. What do you got to say, Patrick Beverly?

Somebody else is standing there. I don't know who the hell this is. What do we got? He got Patrick Beverly. He gets LeBron. LeBron comes over.

I don't know who the other guy is. He gets Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis comes over. He's calling. Patrick Beverly is calling over Russell Westbrook. And he's like, I ain't walking over to you. He takes his position at the free throw line and he just kind of slaps hands. And Anthony Davis is like, what are you, what are you doing? Come over.

It is select. Russell Westbrook does not want to be there. It was Lonnie Wark.

Yeah, I figured that's who it was. The new addition. He does not want to be there. This, the Lakers will be hilarious, just like you expect them to be. It's the pre-season and Russell Westbrook is already two through and two over it.

Funny stuff. Let's get a couple of your calls in before I have to roll out. Deacon is calling from Houston. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, what's up, JR?

What's going on? Listen, man, it's been a long, long time since I called a national show, but you make it seem so easy, man. Like, come on, man.

I'm going to go to the national show, but you make it seem so easy, man. Like a couple people just having a breezy conversation. So I thought I'd give it a shot. Well, thank you, man. What's up? Well, listen, man, I wanted to chime in on the guy that called in earlier and kind of the ongoing conversation about like the entire Astros roster needing to prove themselves. Like, I'm going to tell you something, man.

It's just true. Like this is a team that always struggled to get over the hump in the playoffs. They got to one World Series. They got swept.

Then they got, you know, that, then they got good and they started, you know, they, they just, they hit their stride in the mid 2000, mid 2000 teams. And like, but dude, when all the stuff came out, man, and at first you kind of brush it off as like all the teams cheat and this happens and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, okay.

But I mean, like, as you start getting details of it and you're like, all right, man, you can't pretend that like knowing exactly which pitch Kershaw was going to throw didn't have some kind of factor in that seven run comeback or whatever. Well, let me go ahead. I get down to Houston quite a bit. Would you say that your opinion is in the minority that most people in Houston are pretty much tired of the act? Well, not accusations, but just tired of hearing about it.

A huge minority. Yes. Okay. I was, okay. Yeah.

Okay. So yeah, but my, and my thing is like, look, I get it and it is now an old story, but what I'm just talking about is the bottom line is the one and only championship in his, in Houston history is a little painted. Now they've had two shots at it since they had home field advantage. They've lost both times against the nationals. They didn't win one home game, man. So it's like, yeah, they need to win one title in the post A.J. Hinch, Jeff Luna era to show we're, we're more than what, you know, we're more than, than the one painted championship. We got another one.

Do you think there went final question is I got to get ready to roll Deacon. Do you believe that they'll win the world series this year? Dodges are good, man. Okay. They're good. Well, braves are good too. Yeah. Well, you're right.

So yeah, they got, they got two tough outs. Okay. I mean, if Verlander can perform, yes.

If not, no. All right. Well, Deacon, listen, man, call me up as the season continues to roll on. Okay. Win or lose. I sure will, brother. Have a good night.

Look forward to talking to you. Thank you, Deacon for calling from Houston. I was like, wow, you don't really hear that. People are ready to just defend the app.

People in Houston. I can't blame them. It's like, how many times do you want to be called a cheater? Imagine being in a relationship and you are a cheat. Well, I guess if you're a cheater, you deserve it. Imagine being in a relationship and you're a cheater and your partner takes you back. And then you're reminded by everybody all the time that you're a cheater. And it's like, well, she forgave me. Why don't you?

I made that story up, but it happens all the time. Hey, Shep, what do you think about Russell Westbrook? Does he need a hug? He needs a lot of things.

Hugs would be top of the list if I had to say so as well, though, too. Let's see what Russell Westbrook's line looked like for tonight. He was so miserable.

25 minutes, one of three from the field, O of two from downtown, five points. It's preseason, but I guess he's just already found something to be miserable about. Fun stuff. I can't wait. Hey, Shep, what does this mean? I got to shut up now? You don't have to shut up. Unfortunately, we do have to hand the show over the baton over to Amy. But you can keep talking if you want, though.

I thought I was going to do a marathon for like 48 hours. I'll talk to Amy, see how she's with that. Well, she's not the only person. I got to talk to like, what, D.A.

in the morning? That's true, too. And then Bill. Bill Ryder. And then Jim. Jim Rome.

And Maggie and Perloff and Zach. And then it's back to me. That's a full 24 hours.

The JR Sportbreeze show here on CBS Sports Radio. It's a wrap. I am leaving.

I'll be back tomorrow, 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. Much love to everybody out here in Louisiana. Thank you, Tulane. And thank you, Shep.

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