11.4.22 - JR SportBrief Hour 1

Is there something really absurd that skews you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball. A fear you can't shake? I'm gonna leak ocular fluid on my cheeks.

It's gonna go into my mouth and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I wanna talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. Throughout the 60s and 70s, you're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Friday night to you. We are 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, it is also simple Rocket can. I'm gonna be hanging out here with you for the next four hours. This is the beginning of the show. This is when I get started, 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. If you didn't have a good Friday, if you didn't have a good week, let me launch you into the weekend on a high note. I'm being joined by super producer and host Dave Shepherd. And more importantly, I'm being joined by you.

If you weren't listening right now, I don't know what I'd be doing, but I wouldn't be here. So thank you. All right, if you wanna give me a holler, it's simple. We got a phone number here.

It has a lot of lines attached to it. And you can reach out. That number's 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. If you wanna talk to me on social media, if you have something worth sharing, it's simple.

You can get ahold of me. I am at JR Sport Brief everywhere. Obviously, this Friday, tonight, this is almost a warmup. This is a precursor for things to come. We got a lot of events that are gonna take place even starting tomorrow. We got Tennessee and Georgia taking place in the afternoon. My main man Emery Hunt from CBS Sports HQ, he's gonna come through and talk to us about that game. We're gonna find out his thoughts on the current rankings. We'll talk Heisman. We're gonna talk college football. Obviously, we have NFL football coming up this Sunday.

We saw a game last night where Jalen Hurts continued to kind of lay his claim and stake as NFL MVP so far this season. The Rams and the Bucks will be playing in the quote-unquote loser bowl. Speaking of the loser bowl, for some reason, the defending NBA champs, the Warriors, they don't play defense right now and they stink. The team is actually playing in New Orleans tonight and they sat down all of the big name starters. Yeah, it must suck if you bought a ticket for that. Shout out to all my friends in New Orleans.

I'm sure I'll get a couple of text messages about what I just said. In actuality, the Warriors are hanging in there against the Pelicans, 64 to 62, with no Clay Thompson, no Draymond Green, and no Steph Curry. Kyrie Irving, the saga continues. Right before coming on air, Nike let everyone know, we don't have anything to do with this guy. Yes, Nike has cut and severed their ties with Kyrie Irving not releasing his next shoe. And that is the latest quote-unquote shoe to drop in a Kyrie saga.

Kevin Durant chiming in today as well and talking about the distraction. And then we know something big might happen tomorrow in the world of sports and that happens to be game six of the World Series. Yes, the World Series will return to Houston, Texas, the Astros with an opportunity to grab themselves another World Series championship. First one they gonna get their hands on potentially since 2017.

We saw what the Braves did to them last year. Astros always in it and they're trying to go ahead and get another one and that's exactly where we're gonna start off the show tonight before I do anything. Shep, how are you feeling tonight?

You doing good? Doing what my head's spinning with all that sports you just talked about in terms of what's coming up tomorrow, I'm not gonna lie. You gonna be able to watch everything?

That's a lot of things to watch. I mean, I'm gonna have to, right? You don't have to do anything. That's fair point too. You do, it makes you happy.

Yeah, yes, that's a good point. I'm very excited for Dusty Baker. I'll put it that way, Johnny himself. Well, let's see what Dusty can do.

It stinks, see this is the difficult part. There are a lot of people all over the country because of the Astros and the cheating scandal in 2017. There are a lot of people who just like, oh, I hope the Astros lose. There's a lot of people who say, oh man, I need the Phillies to go ahead and take care of them and now this would have to be a come from behind situation.

We all saw what happened last night. Verlander on the mound, got in a little bit of trouble but was able to pick up his first World Series win in eight career starts. Man, he's been in five World Series games and he is just, he stunk, or excuse me, eight career starts over five World Series appearances overall, his ERA has been over six. And so last night, he actually, even though he threw five innings, he was able to hold down the fort, got out of trouble multiple times and one of the most successful pitchers of Future Hall of Famer, he finally got a W. He won a championship in 2017, obviously here with these Astros, but this time he can say, damn it, I contributed a whole lot and helped us get a lead here in the series. And we know Dusty Baker wouldn't even be here if this team didn't get involved in a cheating scandal. Dusty Baker was the, he was the mop-up man. I don't wanna call him a babysitter because he's too damn, too damn important. He's had too much success but he was tasked with coming on, riding the ship and doing what he's always done.

Be a good manager, be an affable person, an affable personality, a welcoming one, to kinda balance and even the ship and that's what he's been able to do. And so along the way over the past few years, we've seen this team change. Carlos Correa leaves for money in Minnesota.

Let's see where he leaves for money next. They got a rookie out there playing shortstop and he's hitting home runs and being absolutely amazing in Jeremy Peña and he was a key part in them going into Philly and picking up two consecutive victories to go back to Houston with a chance to win. The bullpen has been absolutely amazing. And so when you look at a rookie like Jeremy Peña being big time, almost helping one game away, Dusty Baker from winning his first championship as a manager, is what Dusty had to say about his rookie shortstop being so damn good.

He works at it and he works at his game and what he's done this year was similar to when I saw young Andrew Jones as a young player with the Braves against the Yankees. Wow. Oh, that's a, that's a big old comparison out, isn't it? Speaking your language, talking Andrew Jones for Atlanta.

Nah, it's partially. Right. The other element here is Jeremy Peña. He actually talked about, you know, what Dusty Baker just said, coming up in these big old moments.

This is what he had to say. A shout out to my teammates. They prepare for every single game and you know, you just, it rubs off on you. You know, they have a sense of calmness because they've been here, I guess, four years out of the last six.

So, you know, you just gravitate towards them and just go out and compete and have fun. Yeah. These Astros, this is their sixth, of course they're in the World Series, but this was their sixth straight American League Championship Series appearance. This is their fourth World Series appearance in that stretch. I told you about them losing to the Braves last year. 2019, they went to seven games in the World Series against the Nationals.

We see how that turned out. That was actually the year that the guy that they're facing right now, Bryce Harper, decided to leave Washington for Philadelphia. They've won 541 games since the start of the 2017 season.

Now, you may not want to count all of those games. A few trash cans might've been involved, but you can't take away from the success that this team has had, how they've been able to continue that success with an influx of new players, younger players, MVP caliber players, and it's awesome. I mean, damn it, Justin Verlander has basically missed two years.

Tommy John. I mean, it's amazing that he's able to still go out and do what he's doing right now, even in the World Series, knowing that he's missed so much time. He's probably gonna win the Cy Young in the American League, and yeah, he might be running out of a little bit of gas right now, but what he's done has been absolutely amazing.

And so, yeah, he gave you five last night. He gave up a home run right out of the gate to Kyle Schwauber. He got out of jams multiple times, but Verlander, a vet or pro, he says, listen, I wasn't gonna be stopped or slowed down or discouraged. You have to rely on the hundreds of starts and the thousands of pitches I've thrown before and just kind of say, okay, I've given up lead-off home runs before, let me bear down, and this is not gonna be indicative of what's gonna happen the rest of the game by any means. Let's see what happens.

Yeah, been there, done that, experienced it all. What is there for Justin Verlander to do? This man has been pitching, he has now pitched in a World Series. He's pitched in three different decades in the World Series. He's seen a lot, and he's still going, by the way, Justin Verlander, he's gonna be a free agent. So, I mean, all things considered, what a nice way to potentially go out if that was his last start here with the Houston Astros. Franber Valdez will be on the mound tomorrow night.

Zach Wheeler, who was running out of gas in the last start, he's gonna be on the mound tomorrow night. Houston is gonna be ready, Houston is gonna be jumping. We talked about jail and hurts last night, that Eagles victory over the Texans.

He's from Houston, he's gonna be hyped. Everybody's gonna talk about, oh, screw you for dissing us in 2017. And if they win the World Series tomorrow, or if they win it in seven games on Sunday, everybody's just, I don't wanna say, gonna have to eat crow because what took place in 2017, it doesn't have anything to do with 2022. For the fans, it might add some validation, it might give them a reason to be more excited, it might give them another reason to say, hey, F you. But I think most of America will just shrug and say, okay, good, yeah, you won, congratulations.

This time you did without cheating. Patch yourselves on the back. Jeremy Pena, the man who replaced Carlos Correa, he talked about being one win away. So we're trying to stay grounded and we're gonna just log back in and play our game, show up, ready to go, ready to compete and yeah, try to close it out.

Okay, at least they'll be able to do it at home, right? I mean, if it happened in Philadelphia, I saw Justin Verlander giving Philly fans the middle finger the other day. I think Philadelphia fans, they'd probably go home and be upset and lick their wounds. I kind of hope that this year wasn't a fluke and that they can continue to build on it because ain't nobody expect the Phillies to be here. They were the third place also ran team. The 80 odd win team, I think 86, 87 wins here in the National League East. This is a fluke, they better take advantage of this, especially the hot start that Bryce Harper gave them along the way.

You only got but so much time. And so at least the Astros go home. They have a chance to win in front of their home fans and they won't have the possibility of being jeered and probably worse in Philadelphia. I mean, we always hear the horror stories about how difficult and tough fans in Philadelphia are. And speaking of that, I think the commissioner was reminded of that again. There isn't a day that goes by, a stadium that he shows up in, I'm talking about Rob Manfred, that this man is not booed, yelled at, cursed at, insulted, that actually includes last night. This man was sitting in his suite, but whatever suite he was in, of course he's the commissioner, he could sit in an owner's suite, he'd sit wherever he wants. You've been in a suite, there's most times, you can see the people in the suite next to you.

It's separated by glass, sometimes not even that. And so there was an individual, a young man or a man, I will assume he's young, he's young enough to be stupid, a pain in the ass. There was a man who let the world of Reddit know, which is a message board community, he let them know, hey, Rob Manfred is in the suite next to me. Go ahead and type your comments of what you want me to say to Rob Manfred. And by the way, the comment which gets voted on the most, I'm gonna stream it at Rob Manfred. Well, this individual was a man in person of his word, because he sure enough got the attention of Rob Manfred, and what he decided to shout, well, here, just take a listen. Hey Rob, if you want the youth and the blackouts, dumbass, hey Dan, if you want the youth, let's hear that again, what'd he say, if you want the youth to watch baseball, what?

Hey Rob, if you want the youth and the blackouts, dumbass, hey Dan, end the blackouts, dumbass. Rob Manfred, he got this man's attention, Rob Manfred looked up at him, and then he turned his head and looked straight forward, kind of no expression, like I'm just used to this. The gentleman sitting next to Rob Manfred, who I believe is a PR employee for Major League Baseball, he just kind of chuckled and laughed. It's what Rob Manfred has to deal with, but the fact that I don't think that's the point there, I don't think that's the point there. Here's the thing, Major League Baseball has multiple issues. Yelling at Rob Manfred to end blackouts to bring youth in, I don't know if that's the biggest change, or the biggest issue. I think most teams are starting to change that, if you're unfamiliar with the blackout rules, you know, for the most part, in 2022, tons of people are cutting the cord. People aren't paying for cable subscriptions, and the blackout rules state that you can buy a package to watch every game in the country, but if you want to watch your local team, you have to pay for cable. And so that was an interesting thing to decide to yell at Rob Manfred, he could have just yelled a profanity at him.

I'm not an advocate for that. He could have done better, I'm surprised that that's something that they wanted to have yelled at Rob Manfred. Welcome to the world of Philadelphia. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS, good on the Astros, one went away from claiming their second World Series championship. When we come back, we are going to take a break, or excuse me, after the break, we're gonna talk some college football. We're gonna have a conversation with experts, CBS Sports HQ's Emery Hunt, he's gonna come through and drop some knowledge as to what we need to know about Georgia and Tennessee, what the hell is going on with TCU out of the college playoff? I wanna ask him about that beat down from the Spartans, there's so much to get into, Emery Hunt on the other side, it's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

Hey Rob, if you want the youth and the blackouts, dumbass. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. That's right, it's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio, we got a jam-packed weekend.

World Series is going on, NFL is in its midway point, the NBA is a topic of conversation for a variety of reasons. And also we probably have the biggest game of the college football season so far taking place tomorrow between Georgia and Tennessee. We know that we've had the first rankings of the college football playoff released, we got a lot going on as we head into the stretch run here and to have that conversation we are being joined right now by no one other than someone who I say is an expert because he is.

He's a color analyst, he's a speaker, covers everything, college football for CBS Sports HQ as well as Sports Line, it's my main man Emery Hunt. How are you man? I'm cool man, how's everything going, I appreciate you having me on. No doubt, no doubt, looking forward to having you on every Friday as we get down the stretch here in the college football season. Obviously we know about the big game I just mentioned, undefeated Georgia, undefeated Tennessee, both eight, no. This is, I don't wanna say this is for all the marbles, this will obviously determine or help determine who will be ranked number one. What is the ultimate importance of the, for the winner and loser of this game?

You know, that's a great question. I feel like the ultimate, a lot of people will obviously say to win the game but I feel like the ultimate goal for both because everything is so style points based is to show well. What both are hoping for outside of them winning the game is that they show well, that they play competitive, that this game comes down to the wire to where you could make a case that, oh man, if so and so would have did this, then they could have won the game. You want that type of matchup, that type of game for this matchup similar to what we saw Tennessee and Alabama have. So therefore, you know, projecting forward, you can say, okay, if this is something that played well now, imagine what could happen if you saw this matchup again in the playoffs. And that's what they're ultimately hoping. That's what the FEP is hoping as well too.

Oh, absolutely. Emory Hunt is here with us from CBS Sports HQ, All Things College Football. Who are you favoring in the game, man? I'm leaning towards Tennessee, man. I feel like because of their offense, you know, how many plays they're able to run.

During a normal football game, we're seeing maybe 60, 65 plays, but Tennessee is upwards toward 80. And so you figure an extra quarter, quote unquote, of Georgia playing defense, that wears you down, man. And the fact that they are able to get so many plays in at a high execution rate, I just feel like because they are attacking this defense like you would attack an Alabama defense, you gotta be afraid and not afraid to throw the football against a defense like this and like them.

And we've seen them proven to be not afraid. So I think that's gonna be a problem for Georgia. It's gonna force Georgia to play sort of a fast, great type offense. I don't think Georgia's built that way this season, especially outside of their tight end. So I feel like this is just a bad matchup and I like Tennessee.

I can hear that. We know Hooker basically leading the way for Tennessee. Will this stamp him as the Heisman winner if he shows out tomorrow?

Is there anybody else that would still be at his heels? That you know what's funny, man, last time we talked, it's the same thing. It's just the fact that we are, as a people, conditioned to focus on what we saw last. And if we see Hinton Hooker go out, think about how much we started to talk about Hinton Hooker after what he did against Alabama. So imagine now, a couple of weeks later, against Georgia doing the same thing and having the same game and winning the game as well, you could pretty much stamp his number one lock spot as the Heisman winner because games like this, these quote unquote Heisman moments, they matter. And if he is able to do it against both Alabama and now Georgia, you can say, you almost write his name in on that trophy because he's gonna take it home back to Tennessee. Emory Hunt is here with us.

The Jarrard Sport Reeshow CBS Sports Radio. When you think about some of the other teams that are currently ranked in the playoff, we know the Vols are number one. Ohio State is there at two. Clemson rounds things out at number four. There've been a lot of people talking about TCU being the Cincinnati this year, being the, I don't wanna say the little engine that could, but being the one that might be left out. What are your thoughts on Clemson, what DJ Ooyang Lele has been able to do and kind of that next lineup of teams moving into Michigan, et cetera? You know, that's the one team when you look at the four playoff spot.

So you think, all right, this is a team will be the weakest link in my opinion. I don't think Clemson is number four type talent right now this year. So TCU does have an opportunity, but for TCU in order to usurp Clemson, two things have to happen.

One, Clemson will have to lose. And two, TCU can't find themselves getting down in games and playing these back and forth type of games. They gotta start really winning these style points match up. So they gotta blow out their opponents. They gotta make sure they win significantly. Like they play Texas Tech tomorrow, they gotta really blow the doors off Texas Tech where it's not even in doubt. And so if they start to stack these impressive wins, these eye test victories, then that can help them take over a team like Clemson. Otherwise they're gonna need Clemson to lose and they're still gonna have to win out. But I feel like Clemson to me, out of the Power Five programs, they are the weakest link.

I would feel more confident in someone, if someone will put USC right there as opposed to Clemson, because I just feel like Clemson quarterback situation just doesn't yield itself to really winning one or more in the playoffs. We've seen progression, I mean, year over year, I could say for Ooyangulale. What's missing from his game to take that next step to reach that top two, three, four?

I feel like it's just the consistency. We'll see flashes, you know, you'll see the wild throw, the tight window throw, you'll see the running ability that has now been added towards his game. Now they're actually incorporating that more so into the offense than years before, but it's just consistency. You don't know what you're gonna get from, you know, series to series. And at least he's progressed from a throw to throw basis, but series to series, you wanna see him at least be able to be flat-lined. And that for you won't have to worry about the questions of Cleveland coming into the ballgame.

And so for me, it's just a consistency from him, you know, series to series that really limits him from being someone you could buy all into. Emory Hunt is here with us from CBS Sports HQ, college football expert. We saw an ass whooping, like a literal physical ass whooping last weekend in a tunnel in Ann Arbor between the Spartans and the Wolverines. There were a lot of callers earlier this week who weren't happy with how Michigan State handled that situation despite suspending eight of their players and some of the charges that will be pressed.

What does Michigan do into the future, if anything, to prevent that from happening? Or was that just a one-off between two fierce rivals? I feel like that was just a one-off because we haven't seen that from them two ever. You know, usually if you're going to see a fracas, it's going to be on a field and, you know, it'll quickly get separated. Or maybe it happens before the game where both teams are stretching and they meet up at the middle and start drawing at each other. That seemed personal. You know, that seemed like an individual-based type thing. And therefore, I'm willing to attribute that to a one-off because I'm pretty sure next year's game, they'll have measures in place where we won't even see them come together as a group because of this situation.

So I don't think it's something that we're going to have to worry about moving forward. On the field for the Wolverines, between a hard bar and his future, which is seemingly always discussed in his race, what do you foresee taking place with them the rest of the year? I like Michigan, man. I feel like they play the closest style to the old-school SEC. They're able to run the football extremely well. They're built well on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

And now they have the added element of the dual-threat quarterback in Maximera. So for me, they give you more of a problem than your average Big Ten team. So this is a dangerous Michigan team. This team, I think collectively, is better than the Michigan team we saw last year in the playoffs that got beat down by Georgia. So I like the way this team is built.

I like the way they've been battle-tested throughout the season. I think they're going to be a strong out in the playoffs and get in and make some noise. They have a chance to get to the title game based on how they're built and where they're different at this year.

Like I said, the quarterback position gives you more of a dual threat. But that added element just enhances their run game. They seem to be locked in to try to finish what they started last year. They didn't like how they got exited out the playoffs. So I think this team has a little bit more focus going forward.

They're not just going to be happy to be there. Last question for you, Emery. We got a lot of other games that take place tomorrow. Anything else that we need to pay attention to, whether it be a player or game, as the season gets into the stretch run?

Well, you talk about highest in trophy contenders and finalists. Alabama versus LSU. If LSU wins this ball game with Jake Daniels at quarterback with how well he has played the last couple of weeks and building that momentum, LSU wins. They go to number one in the Western division and can pretty much write their own ticket and would face the one out of Georgia, Tennessee in the SEC title game. So this game in Baton Rouge is going to be huge. So I think that's the game everyone needs to be watching. I think LSU gets them. I'm down here in New Orleans covering stuff for CBS all day tomorrow and Sunday.

That's the Cesar Sportsbook at Harris Casino in New Orleans. And there's a lot of LSU fans and Bama fans staying at this hotel is going to make that drive, that 40 minute hour drive out to Baton Rouge. And it's supposed to be raining all day tomorrow. So bad weather, closed game. I think LSU has a chance to really pull off the upset.

Yeah, and that also bad weather or not, that's not going to stop any of the partying out there. Let me ask you a question. Are those fans, are they still out there chanting those dirty words out of the opposition? Right now at this time of the night, they all are full of that liquid courage. You know it's coming out loudly at each other because they all buffed up off that liquid energy that they're getting right here.

OK. Yeah, we want to call it energy. Emory, I appreciate you for joining us. Where can people keep up with you, follow you in all your great commentary? Follow me on social media at Twitter, on Twitter, at fballgameplan. YouTube.com slash footballgameplan, smash that subscribe button.

But keep it locked on CBS Sports HQ. You'll see me there all day, all the time, especially this weekend covering college football and NFL Saturday and Sunday. Looking forward to it.

Thank you so much to Emory Hunt for joining us. We're definitely going to have him back next weekend and continue the conversation. By then, obviously, we'll know what will have taken place between Georgia and Tennessee, what the standings look like, who potentially moved in or out of that playoff ranking. I'm not too high on Clemson myself. I think, ultimately, that Michigan will find its way back into the playoff. We have to see what takes place between them and Ohio State as well. So a lot to do, a lot to watch, a lot to talk about. When we come back on the other side, we talked about Georgia and Tennessee.

I'm here in Georgia, Athens, right down the road from me. I know we got a lot of people getting ready for the party that will take place tomorrow and ultimately getting ready for the game. We're going to hear from both coaches on the other side of the break.

And then right down the road from me in Athens, Georgia, the starting quarterback, Stetson Bennett. Man, there's a story going around about this, man. That isn't too nice.

It has to do with a financial situation. We'll talk about it on the other side. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. JR wants to hear from you. Call him now at 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4227. It is the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

Thank you again, my main man Emery Hunt, football expert. College football NFL covers all things on sports line as well as CBS Sports HQ. Thank you for joining us. You got us already. Tennessee and Georgia taking place tomorrow, 3.30 PM, Eastern time.

Yeah, and it's not just in Athens. There's a lot of people getting, what is the word, lubricated. I'm sure we got a lot of people starting tonight ready until tomorrow. And speaking of being lubricated for different reasons, hey, Shep, you're running the New York City Marathon on Sunday. How are you feeling? I'm feeling well. I won't be lubricated the night before. I'll tell you that much.

Yeah, well, no. But are you hydrating? What are you eating? What are you drinking? What's going on, man?

A lot of complex carbohydrates, so brown rice, and just trying to stay as hydrated as much as humanly possible. I'm excited for it, Jay. I'm not going to lie, man. Very excited.

You got to run it with me. Is that true? No, hell no.

Gotcha. No. Well, first of all, we know that's not realistic. It's too late for that. But even if it was, no, I'm not running that race.

That ship sailed, I would say, I don't know, 10, 15 years ago. So don't expect that. I didn't know that. I know you stopped playing basketball. But I didn't know your knees were that. Because I look at you, you're still a pretty young guy. You're pretty fit.

Oh, yeah, no, thank you. I am, and I'm in good shape. But my knees feel great. But I ain't trying to test it now. That's fair. The human body's not meant to run a marathon, so I get that. Yeah, so what number marathon is this for you? This is number three in New York City.

OK, that's amazing. So where else have you run marathons at? Well, I've done a lot of half marathons.

But if I'm going to do a marathon, New York City is the place to do it. Because it becomes a party. It becomes every walk of life, every art form. It's a celebration.

It's absolutely incredible. Anyone ever has a desire to push their body and to also experience the celebration of accomplishment and just people coming together, the New York City Marathon is that. There's not a dry eye in the building when people cross that finish line, checking off what many people is a bucket list item. So what's the load up dinner for tomorrow night? The load up dinner is going to be a lot of brown rice, probably some broccoli, and just a lot of fluids, that being Gatorade and water.

And just try to get a really, really good night's sleep. You're going to do a lot of traveling. You get on a ferry, we first get on a subway, then you get on a ferry, then you get on a bus, then you get on a shuttle.

So it's like you're being, you know, shipped around as if you're like a politician. Well, the race starts at what time? 9, 9.15 a.m.?

For the athletic people, I'm joking about that. But for the more advanced runners, it starts earlier. But for most people, it's like 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock. The elite, they start at like 8.30. When does the first, you know, gun or whatever they call it? What time does that go off?

I'm pretty sure, yeah, those are the ones with the names, like they don't have numbers, they just have names. They are usually 8, 8.30. Okay, and so what time are you going to have to get up on Sunday morning to run this race? I am going to be getting up, and I got a dog, so I got to walk the dog and all that.

So earlier than most people, but probably 4.30. Okay, okay. All right, that's reasonable. Well, listen, man. What?

What? That's 4.30. I thought it was going to.

Reasonable. I thought it was going to have to be earlier than that. For, to go from Manhattan to travel, I thought you would have had to get up earlier than that. JR, fourth, I mean, listen, I know you get very little sleep as is, but you're telling me you get up at 4.30 typically?

No, but for the marathon. I understand that. That's the earliest wake-up call I've had in a long time. Oh, well, I mean, well, that's for you. I mean, but to run the race for everything that you just described, the travel that's necessary, you're talking about having to walk the dog, I would say for all of that for a four hour, five hour period, that's a 4.30. I thought you were going to tell me maybe even four or a little earlier than that.

I would have found that to be nuts, so. Fair enough. I think if you have a good dinner, what time are you going to sleep tomorrow?

Probably maybe nine, not 10. Okay. I'll tell you this, by the way, very quickly. I'm coaching a JV basketball team now. I'm the head coach at Calhoun, so I'm going to be in practice tomorrow. Going to be hosting tomorrow.

Going to be doing the marathon Sunday. It's going to be exhausting. And you're going to produce here on Monday night?

Yeah, but JR, wait a minute. Producing for you, I am dead serious about this. I mean this. Working with you is not work. This is not work. You're going to walk? Your ass is going to hurt. Listen, if you were another host, maybe my body's a little tired. Okay. But not with you. Will be. Your body will be tired on Monday night. That's okay. That's okay.

I'll get some good looks from some people my age, hopefully, and hopefully that goes somewhere. All right, I hope. Didn't somebody cheat the New York City marathon a few years ago? I think it might have been Boston.

I think I know. Yeah, because you can't cheat New York City. You can't cheat New York City because there's just too many ushers.

There's too many people volunteering. There's, yeah. But didn't, when the person cheated, wherever it was, they got on the subway or something, right? That sounds right, but I'm pretty sure that's not New York City, though.

No, that's fine. No matter where it is. Well, you can find a way to cheat. Not in New York City. You can't. Okay, I'm just, hey, you can find a way, man.

You know, I'm not, don't skirt it. I'm very familiar with the city and the borough. So, you know, I know a couple Bodega owners. They got secret tunnels and get you the right cab and get you where you need to be. Yeah, but I don't know if a lot of cabs are gonna be moving in New York City on Sunday, though.

Yeah, no, roundabout ways, man. Gotcha. Regardless, it'll still save you time versus all the roads that are closed up. So that's a big event. And good luck to you on Sunday for that, Shep. I know I'll talk to you between now and then anyway.

Thank you, JR. Of course. Let's get to this event. I did mention this before the break and we had Emery on as well from CBS Sports HQ. The game that I'm gonna watch is Georgia and Tennessee.

If I had some damn time, I would have actually went out to the game. But it's gonna take place right on down the road in Kirby Smart, the defending national championship coach who got a raise and was the highest paid, and so he wasn't. This is what he had to say about what he's looking for as they get ready to play Tennessee. Look at all the games.

You evaluate how people played them, what's been successful. I mean, they're looking at every game on us and they're saying, okay, where are the explosive plays coming from? And it's probably more different for us to play them because everybody they play has to play them differently because of their offense.

But we don't put more stock in one game over another. We know defense won them the championship last year. The offense for Tennessee is ridiculous. They're dropping like 30 points per game, every game, and their head coach. This second year, Josh Hyple, he has them hyped in only the second year. They're doing it big.

This is what he had to say about coming out here to Georgia. We'll find out on game day. But at the end of the day, there's been time since we've gotten here that we've handled, being on the road extremely well. There's other times where we haven't handled it.

A lot of that's us and the communication and playing smart football will be important on Saturday, but anticipate us handling it well. Yeah, it's gonna be the, well, that sounds weird. I have to say this guy's first name every time, Hendon Hooker.

I was about to say it's about the, I was gonna say it's about to be the Hooker show and then I was like, wait a minute, that might be misconstrued in various ways. Terry, you're not kidding. This guy is going to ultimately wind up with the Heisman. I don't consider the guy at Ohio State's drought and then obviously young at Alabama, man, it's incredible. Yeah, no, Hendon Hooker has been able to take his game.

He had a damn good year last year, but the fact that they were close to the 500 didn't do him any favors. Now that they're 8-0, they're sitting at number one, they're gonna take on Georgia and Emery said it. He's just like, look, all the possessions, their pace. The thing for Georgia and every single one of their matchups is can they keep up offensively? Can the Bulldogs keep up with Tennessee or are they just gonna smash them?

Because on a typical game, you're not expecting Georgia to give up more than maybe two touchdowns a game and that's it. If they can hold Tennessee to that tomorrow, then by all means, they're gonna jump into that, that number one spot and that's even with Nolan Smith, defensive end linebacker, edge rusher, this man's out with a torn chest muscle, they're gonna be hunting down Hooker. Anyway, it's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. I wanna talk about a quarterback who did go to Alabama and then he went to Oklahoma. And then I do wanna tell you about Stetson Bennett, the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs, an interesting story released today. We'll talk about it on the other side here on CBS Sports Radio.

Football season is here. The new Odyssey app lets you stay connected to your NFL team. Your station, your shows. Follow your favorite stations and come back again and again. Get real time updates on everything you care about.

Miss your show? Jump back to their awesome re-wide feature. The Odyssey app is NFL football. Live and on demand, wherever you are, whenever you want. And do we mention it's all free?

Download the Odyssey app today. Throughout the 60s and 70s. Is there something really absurd that skews you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball. A fear you can't shake. I'm gonna leak ocular fluid and my cheeks is gonna go into my mouth and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I wanna talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from.