JR SportBrief - Hour 1

No one's more locked into the NFL than First and Pod. Which team right now do I think is better? I think right now Aaron Rodgers has a better chance. You've reached a point of no return when the Panthers blow you out.

You get embarrassed by them. You scored three points, dude. Listen, I thought the Packers were the best team in the NFC until last week, so I'm pretty jarred here. I'm thrown for a loop.

Subscribe to First and Pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. Is there something really absurd that skeeves you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball? A fear you can't shake? I'm going to leak ocular fluid down my cheeks.

It's going to go into my mouth and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I want to 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. I'm being joined tonight by my main man, Jack Stern, holding it down on the boards and I'm thrilled to be here with you. We got a lot to talk about, a lot to discuss here over the next four hours. Let the music play a little bit higher. It's Friday night.

There we go. We're getting ready for another weekend of NFL football. We're getting ready for college football. We got Pete Rose still trying to get into the Hall of Fame. We have NFL players in Germany. We got Tom Brady telling everybody that he still doesn't want to retire. We have NFL players who are still piling on to the Indianapolis Colts for giving Jeff Saturday a job. Aaron Rodgers is going to be hosting his former coach Mike McCarthy.

We just got a lot to do, a lot to discuss. And oh yeah, Kyrie Irving still not playing basketball. Josh Allen is day to day.

T.J. Watt looks like he'll be back in action. That's a lot. That's a whole hell of a lot. If you want to talk to me here over the next four hours, it's simple. We got a phone number. It's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4 CBS. You can find me. I am at JR Sport Brief everywhere on social media.

If you follow me on Twitter, you will already know what we'll discuss because I just shared it. Pat yourself on the back. My main man, Jack Stern. Jack, how are you this evening? I am doing absolutely fantastic, JR.

There's no place I would rather be at 1002 back here on the East Coast on a Friday night than sitting in the control room at CBS Sports Radio producing the JR Sport Brief show. You lying? You telling lies? I have never told a lie in my entire life, JR.

I would never do such a thing. We got to get Jack Stern a comedy hour here on CBS Sports Radio. I like Jack. Good stuff. As I mentioned, tons to discuss.

Tons to talk about. In about 20 minutes from now, we're going to have our weekly conversation with my main man Emory Hunt from CBS Sports HQ. Get caught and up to date with everything going on in the world of college football, Houston Astros. I don't want to call it hilarious, but their general manager is out the door. And so we'll get there.

But I do want to open up the show right now tonight at this point. And it's not necessarily a piggyback on what took place or what we saw Thursday night football between the terrible Panthers and the Falcons that can't fly. But it's more so an acknowledgement of what we will see in a couple of Thursdays from now on Thanksgiving. Because you can throw that out the window about some of these crap games that we've gotten over the past few Thursday nights. Game last night wasn't all that competitive. Last week we saw Philadelphia over Houston. Baltimore over Tampa Bay was OK. A couple of weeks before that, we had to witness Washington and Chicago just try to play football. But the NFL actually had a cool announcement today. And this isn't so much about Thursday night football.

It's about actually Thanksgiving. The NFL has graduated from just giving us the the Lions and well, we know they always lose or the Lions and the Cowboys on Thanksgiving, which is a tradition. We also now got a night game. And so for Thanksgiving this year, Buffalo will take on Detroit. The New York Giants are in Dallas.

And then pretty much this swing game is New England at Minnesota. And the NFL shared with all of us today. That John Madden. Will be honored across the board on Thanksgiving for every and at every single game.

And I think that is amazing. John Madden for my lifetime is synonymous with Thanksgiving. He's synonymous with Thanksgiving the same way that I expect the Lions to suck in the Cowboys to come on around dinnertime. John Madden, one of the greatest coaches that the NFL has ever seen. One of the greatest sports analysts that we've ever heard. He was damn good with a telestrator. He was an amazing pitchman. I never heard anyone or seen anyone sell foot cream the way that John Madden did.

You had athlete's foot? Tough acting to an acting. John Madden taught me that. And of course his legacy still exists today with a video game named after him. Madden.

People are still playing this. People, there are a lot of folks who only know John Madden through the video game. I'm happy enough to have seen him on television screens growing up.

Didn't matter if it was NBC, ABC, Fox. He was on every station at one point in his career. He was there. And so the NFL has now taken liberties to honor John Madden. You might recall, unfortunately, he passed away at the end of last year, right before New Year's, December 28th, Madden passed away at 85 years old. And so the NFL, a full year later, just about, the man who used to give away turkey legs on Thanksgiving. He used to host the game and call the game and listening to John Madden on Thanksgiving. And then he would give away a turkey that used to have eight and 10 legs just sewed onto it.

It was freakish. And so the NFL is launching the John Madden Thanksgiving celebration. Commissioner Goodell says no one cared more or contributed to our game more than John Madden. Honoring his impact and memory on Thanksgiving day brings all the elements significant to John's life, family, football, food, and fun. And you damn right, food. This man served some of the weirdest things on Thanksgiving. I used to look at that turkey.

You put eight cowboys in front of a turkey and somehow some way everybody got a leg. What is this? What is John Madden serving up here?

I recall by the time he hooked up with Al Michaels on ABC, there was a day that John Madden actually explained one of his concoctions. He described a turducken. Listen to this. What it is, it's a de-boned chicken stuffed in a de-boned duck stuffed in a de-boned turkey with dressing between the chicken and the duck and the duck and the duck and the turkey. So as you cut down that way, you go turkey, dressing, duck, dressing, chicken. You know, one of the great things about your coming over here is I'm able to ask you all of these questions because for a lot of years, I thought a turducken was some sort of a foul crossbreed, but it's not. Well, it's just three different things.

Yeah, yeah. Well, it's really five different things. It's a chicken, a duck, a turkey, and two kinds of dressings. And are you going to have one on your Thanksgiving table? Yeah, I'm going to have one. I have to bring it, though. Oh, okay. I don't know if I'd ever eat that.

It sounds okay. Not all sewed up together. And the way John Madden broke down a turducken is similar to how he would break down games. I'd say he's still one of the best ever. You put John Madden in front of a telestrator, then you were in for just art all by itself. The way he explained things, his enthusiasm, his ability to just break down a play in layman's terms, where you could enjoy the game and feel like you learned a little bit because John Madden taught you. And so the NFL, on Thanksgiving, before all three games, they're going to have a special segment dedicated to John Madden. And I look forward to it.

It's going to be better than a lot of these crap games that we got. And so when Thanksgiving rolls around, you'll be able to remember Madden. He passed after Thanksgiving last year.

He passed after Christmas. And for one third of the year, these NFL games will be worth it. And thank God, no one has to sit down and watch it on Amazon Prime. Imagine the disaster that that would be if any of these games were on Amazon on Thanksgiving.

But let me not speak too soon. That's likely inevitable. And so for this moment, this year, enjoy the games. They'll be on the classic, regular, traditional stations. Fox, NBC, CBS, NFL getting ready to honor John Madden.

And you got to love every minute of it. Hey, Jack, do you recall seeing John Madden? You have any idea who John Madden is? Do you recall seeing John Madden? Do you have any memories outside the game? Yeah, I do remember seeing John Madden.

I'm only 25 years old, so my experience was very limited. But when I did see him, he was with Al Michaels on ABC. And he made those nighttime games for me, very nostalgic JR, especially looking back on it in hindsight. He had just such a calm, soothing voice, which is so rare in today's day and age in the NFL. And he's always one of those commentators that I'm going to remember. Yeah, no, he was an amazing broadcaster.

He helped. And we can go back in time and even further back and think about some of the classic broadcasters. He's in that range and realm, especially before they really, really started to what we have now, just throw every former quarterback in there and every former player and make them an analyst. John Madden is certainly a classic. He's going to live forever and not just because of a video game.

And in that aspect, an element of it, you got to appreciate it. He worked with a lot of talents. I remember him sitting there with Pat Summerall.

And then obviously you just heard the clip from ABC. He was there with Al Michaels. And Al Michaels is still out here calling games. He called last night's game for Amazon. And so we moved into a space where some of the legends are, yeah, they're now gone.

And we got new ones. I mean, I expect to hear Tony Romo on Thanksgiving. I would expect to hear him. We know Tom Brady, he has a job waiting for him whenever he decides to quit and retire. And then we have a comment on that. Tom Brady once again, reminds everybody that he's not quitting or retiring right now.

He doesn't regret his decision. We'll talk about that next hour, but it's nice. A Thanksgiving tradition with a sold together turkey is John Madden at its finest. And it's pretty cool that the NFL is going to go ahead and honor this man on Thanksgiving, where he was just a tradition like everything else. The winner of the game got that eight legged turkey. We looked at it at home and said, what the hell is that?

And then we ate. Thank you, John Madden. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

We are just getting started. If you want to talk about a tradition is Nick Saban whooping everybody every single year. Right now, Nick Saban in Alabama, they look like they're trying to get it together. It looks like they're not going to make the college football playoff. It looks like Alabama is not going to win a championship this year or have a chance to do so. Is the tradition of Alabama winning at all?

Has that now fallen by the wayside or is this just a, a bump in the road? We're going to talk about that. We're going to get into Ole Miss. We'll look at LSU. We'll talk about UCLA.

We got a lot to do. Emory Hunt is going to join us on the other side of the break. Football analyst over at CBS Sports HQ. I'm going to ask him these questions and more, and I want to get his opinion as well on the Indianapolis Colts.

Like right now, they are the butt of everybody's jokes. It's a Friday night. I'm here to have a good damn time. And we're going to talk to Emory on the other side. It's the JR sport reshow, CBS Sports Radio. It is the JR sport reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. I can't believe Tom is just flying, flying by. It keeps on slipping away from me.

It's a song. Anyway, we're pulling up on the end of the college football season. How, how did we get here? College football rankings are coming out. We got teams that are disappointing. We have teams that are surprising.

It looks like we won't have a team that we always have in the mix. And to break it down, to talk about it all, we're being joined right now by a college football expert. It's my main man, Emory Hunt from CBS Sports HQ. Emory, how are you this evening?

I'm doing fine. JR, man, it's always a pleasure, man. Appreciate you bringing me on. No doubt about it. Happy to have you here.

I got to start off. I feel like dating back the last year, Nick Saban said it was a rebuilding situation. Now, it seems like his team isn't as talented. We saw them fall to LSU and now Nick Saban is taking the blame. What's going on with Alabama? I don't think they'll make the playoff this year.

I think that's obvious. And what does this look like for them moving forward into the future? Have we seen them peak under Saban?

You know, that's a great question. I don't think we've seen them peak under Saban. I just think that this year in particular, they ran into two different teams that do the same things in terms of how they attack and in showing how they're not afraid of Nick Saban and the Nick Saban coach defense, because that's been the biggest issue. And in history, it used to be, okay, if you had a mobile quarterback. No one's more locked into the NFL than First and Pod. If I'm the Jets, I would trade for Kareem Hunt tomorrow by the end of his podcast. Makes too much sense.

He was like barely used. This is the perfect situation. Why do you want to trade for a one year running back just to? If I'm the Jets? Yeah. I think Hunt's still maybe not a top 15 running back, but I think he's a top 25 running back.

Subscribe to First and Pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And back in the day, not be afraid to throw at them and also be a mobile quarterback. You saw Mandel not be afraid to throw at them and be in mobile quarterback. We saw last week, Jane Daniels, not be afraid to attack them vertically, but most importantly, not be afraid to take off and run. So unless you have those elements and that's why they had that game that went back and forth earlier in the year against Arkansas, Casey Jefferson's a guy that's not afraid to throw at them, but also has the mobile quarterback element.

That's the issue. And so as long as you don't have that, you're never going to be able to beat or contend with the Nick Saban defense. And if you're one dimensional, like Missouri, like Mississippi State, like these teams that want to run the air raid, but don't have the quarterback check and also run, you're going to be at a disadvantage.

But if you have guys that can do both, you're going to have the advantage. And that's why we saw what we saw versus Tennessee and LSU. Tomorrow, Nick Saban's going to be taking on one of his former employees in Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss. What chances do you give Ole Miss of knocking off Alabama tomorrow? If Ole Miss had a quarterback that wasn't afraid of pressure, I'd give them a heavy chance. But the fact of the matter, they do have tremendous talent at tailback. They got tremendous talent at wide receiver. They're defense capable enough to where they can get some stops and contend, but I don't trust Jackson dark to supersede pressure. And that's all what you want to boil down the quarterback position too. How can you handle pressure pressure from the defense itself and pressure from the situation?

I don't think Jackson dark is that guy in terms of handling that type of pressure on both ends. So I like Alabama and that's what I think they rebound and bounce back against Ole Miss. Emory Hunt is here with us, college football expert, CBS Sports HQ. Another matchup is the team that beat Alabama. LSU is going to take on Arkansas at the beginning of the season. People were looking at Brian Kelly and just clowning him after that loss to to Florida State. What do you think about the job that he's been able to do up until now?

Listen, if you go back and check the CBS Sports HQ footage, I was on LSU being an SEC champion back in May. And here's why. You look at what Brian Kelly was able to do at Notre Dame with the recruiting, let's say limitations that he had in that in that realm. Now you give him access to guys that don't need nothing but grits and hog head cheese sandwiches all day long. In conjunction to what he's going to be able to do to develop these dudes, there's going to be a problem. And he brought in the quarterback who's not afraid of pressure. That's the kind of thing with me.

I don't care how tall you are, how far you can go, how fast you can run. Are you scared or are you not scared? Jayden Daniels showed early in his career that he was not afraid of pressure of all types.

And so you add those two components combined with what they already had on the roster and what they were able to accumulate in the transfer portal. I was shocked that more people didn't see this coming from LSU. So I'm not surprised at the job he's doing. I'm more afraid for the SEC moving forward, knowing how this dude can recruit, develop, and accumulate talent in that talent-rich state of Louisiana, where you have 12 Division I teams, FCS and FBS, and none of them are bad. So that tells you the high school talent that's there in that state alone. And when you combine all of those factors with what his ability is as a coach, LSU is going to be a problem moving forward. Brian Kelly, he just took the job, already has him in a solid position. How long do you think before they get into that college football playoff?

Maybe next year? Listen, I mean, I feel like they're going to run the table the rest of the way. So they'll be in the SEC title game and against Georgia, you factor in, okay, Stetson Bennett versus Jayden Daniels. Georgia's defense versus LSU defense.

That's a wash in my opinion. Can Jayden Daniels make enough plays in the passing game? Can those receivers step up and make enough plays in the passing game?

That's the game to watch. So there's a legitimate shot for them this year to be in the college football playoff. And if not this year, then most certainly next year, if Jayden Daniels returns, which I expect him to do so, they'll be in there because of, again, they're starting two true freshmen at both tackle spots. That doesn't happen in the SEC when you're dealing with Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, you know, those teams that legitimately have dogs up front. You're starting two guys that were just in high school last year in the SEC. So this team that we're seeing now, while they're good and really good, they'll be even better next year.

So if they don't get to the playoff this year, they're more than for sure getting to there next year. Yeah, Brian Kelly, not looking like too much of a joke right now. We're being joined by Emery Hunt of CBS Sports HQ. There's another coach who's, you know, kind of digging his way out. It's been a slow burn, not as fast as LSU's turnaround here. That's UCLA. They're going to take on Arizona.

Their offense is lighting everybody up. Chip Kelly criticized early on at the start for how slow it took to turn things around out in California. What do you think about how he's been able to turn the tide there? You know, I think he gets a bad rap because of what happened with his NFL tenure. And people forget the first year of his tenure, they got to playoffs and they were competitive.

They were doing things that we now see that are commonplace in the NFL. So him going to UCLA, UCLA is like the Tiffany version of USC. You know, you're in Pasadena, you're not in LA. You know, I know you've probably been out to LA and also Pasadena. So you see difference in culture.

That's what is LA and what is Pasadena? You know, you're going from, you know, beer to champagne. And it takes time to get that champagne to get up to speed. And so he's got guys now, he's got a good running back in Charbonnet. He also has a quarterback in, in, you know, Dorian Thompson Robinson, who's not afraid of pressure, kind of like Jamie Daniels, but I think has a better, better arm talent. So he has a lot working for him and it's now starting to come together at UCLA. And he's taking advantage of a Pac-12 that really to be complete, completely honest is wide open.

So, you know, it takes some time in certain programs. I've always said this, and I've been a part of this whole cycle, part of this problem. When you're in a Metro area, major city, college football. I remember my senior year in high school was a year Tulane was coming off their 12 and 0 season. And my high school was legitimately, and no lie, two blocks away from Tulane. So even though I was a recruit coming out of New Orleans, there was no way in hell I was going to Tulane because I'm not trying to be on the same street for four to five years.

I'm, I'm out of there. Right. So it's hard to recruit in major Metro areas.

So it takes time in those spots. And I'm glad to see him finally get that opportunity to turn around so not to see that food because it's later. Well, Emery, let me ask you this. We know UCLA, they, they not long for that conference, getting ready to move over to the big 10. There was an article today in a New York Times detailing the fall of attendance at UCLA in this transition, how they are giving away tickets. What is this going to look like?

We know they'll get paid from television money into the future. What does this look like with them moving over into the big 10 from a competition standpoint? Listen, the competition is going to be there because you know, you get to consistently at the top of the big 10 more so than you do at the PAC 12. The only reason why PAC 12 was you tend to be packed in terms of fan support was because of the historical problems, right? But for big 10, you're getting the Wisconsin, you're getting, uh, Ohio state, Michigan.

Um, you're getting those teams. Uh, but I think what's going to happen as with any program, just like a little bit too, too late, you know, when I was getting recruited by Tulane and they they're playing a super dome, it's cavernous. And when they were going through that undefeated season, next thing you know, you're, you're seeing 50,000 people now in the super dome.

And at first it's like 3,500. So as long as UCLA wins, it happened to USC. Remember for a while, USC was mediocre, you know, under, um, the, the, the coast that ended up coaching that Missouri, I think it's Larry, I forgot his last name, but Larry Smith. So, you know, as long as you're winning in the major city, we know out there, it happens with pro sports.

It's bandwagon fans that have come and support. So as long as Chip Kelly's able to turn out a winner year in, year out, he'll see the rolls, roll packs for UCLA, no matter who they're playing. Emory, what game do we need to pay attention to? What, what haven't we discussed that we need to watch here tomorrow and over the weekend, you got to watch that Alabama old miss game. Cause if Ole miss continues to win and LSU has to slip up, which people expect for whatever reason against Arkansas, Ole miss is in that college world playoff.

And you know, everyone also wants to be there front and center when the dynasty crumbles. And if Ole miss ran by Lane Kiffin is able to topple Alabama and knocked into an unprecedented three losses. Oh my God, like break up the sec. So that Alabama whole miss game might be the best game of the day because of what's at stake in terms of both for Alabama and also for Ole miss.

Yeah. There's always a lot of folks waiting for Alabama to fall. Let's see if Ole miss can give them the business. One final question for you here, more of an NFL question. Emory Hunt is joining us from CBS sports HQ.

What are your thoughts on the Indianapolis Colts, man? Listen, I'm, I'm, I'm split because as a guy in the media that I feel like I have a keen eye for identifying talent and guys that can play at the next level and being able to find those diamonds in the rough. I hope a Jeff Saturday achieves greatness. Just like I hope a guy like Mike Miyake was to have success at that would be Las Vegas Raiders. But on the other side of me, as a guy that knows coaches that are minority, that don't get that opportunity is like, well, damn, what more do they not have to do in order to get ahead of the guys that in the trenches all day long. So I'm kind of torn because from a selfish standpoint, I want him to succeed. So that opens the door for guys like myself. But on the other side, I don't want him to succeed because I know that opens the doors for guys not like myself to be coaches.

So I, I it's, it's a weird fence to sit on. You hope he takes advantage of the opportunity, but you also feel for the guys like you heard the enemy, the Marcus Brady, who was the OC who was fired, even though he didn't call the plays. And now he's going to look at it as a failure as opposed to the guy that just got the job because he was cool with the owner. So I'm torn man, but I could see both sides of rooting for Jeff Saturday to succeed. I hear that.

We'll see what he can do. Emery, where can people follow you or your work on CBS Sports HQ and elsewhere? They can follow me on Twitter at F ball game plan.

I'm officially official, no bought checks or nothing like that. F ball game plan on Twitter. You can catch me tomorrow broadcasting the Georgetown Bucknell game on ESPN Plus.

Check that out on the color analyst there. And you can find me all over the internet, youtube.com slash football game plan. My main man Emery have a good weekend and we'll be sure to catch up with you again next week.

Cool deal. Always a pleasure, JR. Looking forward to it, man. No doubt about it. We've been joined by Emery Hunt of football game plan and CBS Sports HQ.

I can't lie. I'm certainly looking forward to an Alabama loss. Any day that Alabama loses is good by me. I say that as I will be in Alabama next week for my media, for the movement tour.

So please have mercy on me. It's the JR sport brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. You just heard from Emery. It's a hard knock life trying to be a coach. It's a hard knock life trying to be a general manager.

It's a hard knock life to manage anybody in anything. Even the Houston Astros GM found out the hard way. It's the JR sport brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you once again to CBS Sports HQ analyst Emery Hunt for joining us to, you know, update us on everything going on in the world of college football. We're gearing closer to the playoff. The season is coming down to the wire and a close.

And I just me speaking personally, I'm enjoying the fall of Alabama. Is Nick Saban going to bounce back next year? Likely. It's like the Terminator. This guy is not going to go away. And with all the money that he's making, I wouldn't I wouldn't expect him to.

And it's tough enough running any program. It doesn't matter if you're in college, doesn't matter if you're in the pros. And if you need a just wide example or big example, take a look at baseball. It was only a week ago, less than a week ago. It was last Saturday that the Houston Astros won their first title since 2017.

Yes, the one where they cheated. And they did it with a a brand new GM. They did it with a brand new manager and Dusty Baker finally getting over that hump, winning his first one as a manager. They lost last year. And so you would think it very odd for the general manager to have gotten the boot.

And that's exactly what happened. And it's not even something where he just got fired. He didn't get a contract extension. They offered him a one year deal. And he said, no, the manager is James Click.

He took over from Jeff Lu now right after the whole cheating scandal broke and everybody got the boot. It was wide ranging. It even hit a team like the New York Mets and Carlos Beltran. It was just wide reaching. And so James Click became the general manager after they hired Dusty Baker. And so Jim Crane, who happens to own the Houston Astros, I guess he's like Jerry Jones.

I guess he's like most owners. And I can't. What makes your skin crawl?

No matter how absurd I want to know tales without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called your weirdest fears. You send me your fear. I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop. And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them.

Listen and subscribe to your weirdest fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from fault. And he probably looks at James Click and says, I hired you to run a team that was basically already put together and in place. I'm running the show.

You're just a placeholder. Dusty Baker, who's 73 years old. He accepted his one year deal. And why would they offer him like a five year deal?

I mean, this is unlikely to happen. He's going year by year. And after winning a championship, I'm sure he is perfectly fine with stepping away whenever.

Meanwhile, Click. He says that throughout his tenure here with the Houston Astros as general manager, he likes to be deliberate and crane. He's hands on. He likes to speed things up. And now he's gone. They basically offered him a one year deal.

He said, no, thank you. Which is just odd. Why would you give a general manager coming off of a championship, a one year deal, unless you expected him to reject it? And that's exactly what took place.

And so the writing was on the wall here. And just a few days ago, I want you to listen to this. James Click, the former, now former general manager of the Houston Astros. He just thanked everybody involved in them winning. Listen.

Just to be on the stage with this team, with Dusty, with Jim, with all the players, to be in front of our fans here in Houston. Thank you. You did this.

Thank you. Yeah. Well, the owner of the team doesn't think he did anything. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gave him some nonsense here. He has a one year deal.

And I can understand that. How much can you really do in a three year span for a team that has gone to six consecutive ALCS's? You're going to just say the GM is deserving of all the praise? The owner is going to pat himself on the back. It's been reported that he has guys like Legend, Astros legend, first baseman. Jeff Bagwell has more influence over what takes place than James Click. He's the dude who shows up to work and doesn't get any of the credit.

He's the man who shows up to work and a boss just says, I'm more important. And he's the guy that's going to be important. And so who they hire as general manager now will be very, very interesting because the message has already been sent. I'm spending the money. The team was put together before you got here. Just take the deal. And so I don't know if this is the smartest of moves by Jim Crane, unless he's going to bring in someone more reputable.

And that's that's tough to even see or say. Managers, as in on the bench, couple million dollars a year. General managers, maybe you're making a couple million, maybe if that. And the players, tens of millions, the owners.

Billionaires. When it's time to go, it's time to go. And I'm not going to say that the Houston Astros for the next six years are going to go to more ALCS's. But sometimes you can't take things for granted.

And sometimes the owner needs to know when to move the hell up on out the way. This might be something that Jim Crane regrets. You know, Dusty Baker himself is not going to manage for the next forever. The Astros are ultimately going to have to find another manager. They're going to have to find another GM.

You know what? They might be in the midst of a of a dynasty, if you want to call it right now. This isn't going to last forever. And Jim Crane, he might regret it. Not talk all the time about the New York Yankees and everybody wants to fire Cashman and get Cashman out of here. He's been running the team for 20 years. And oh my goodness, and they need a new face and someone to run the squad. Well, the Astros have had success and they're getting rid of their guy.

I'd rather have 20 years of being close to competing than just cycling through teams. There were many years where the Astros were complete trash before they went on this run here. And sometimes you got to know when to get the hell up on out the way. And that's the owner. Like I'd give somebody like like Hal Steinbrenner credit right now for not listening to the fans who want to fire everybody every five minutes. Guys like like Jerry Jones, what does he want by meddling?

Nothing. The success that Jerry Jones had was early on in his tenure as the Cowboys owner, when he didn't have the team, when he wasn't the boss of the whole squad. And since he has been, they've stunk. Man, we got a team that plays basketball. The Sacramento Kings, they're run by a guy named Vivek Ranadive. This man admitted he doesn't know a damn thing about basketball and the extent is coaching his kids. But somehow, some way he has sat down in evaluation rooms and helped dictate who the Sacramento Kings need to draft.

They're the longest team, or they have, or they have the longest drought, I should say, of any NBA team having not made the playoffs. You have Shahid Khan of the Jacksonville Jaguars thinking that handing the reins over to Urban Meyer is a good idea. Sometimes these owners of the teams, they're their own worst enemies.

And when you actually have success, don't fix it if it ain't broke. Thinks it's a bad move by the Astros. The owner thinking that, hey, I own the team. We've had the success.

I can have anybody come in here and manage it, run it, and BGM. And I think that's just a foolish, foolish move. Let's see what the Astros can do into the future. They still got some talent.

Let's see if they believe in anybody to run it. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We got a lot to get into. We talked to Emory Hunt about the college game. We talked about the NFL getting ready to honor John Madden on Thanksgiving.

Just told you about the Astros owner giving the GM the boot only days after the parade, handing him an insulting contract. But now, on the other side of the break, we're going to talk about the NFL. We're going to talk about the NFL. We're going to talk about the NFL. But now, on the other side of the break, we're going to talk some NFL. We got a game on Sunday that kicks things off.

And it's not taking place here in the United States of America. The game is going to kick off. NFL Sunday is going to kick off in Germany. Gino Smith, Tom Brady. Who would have ever thought that this would be a matchup that people want to see? Gino is hot like fire. And Tom Brady, it seems the end of his career might be cold as ice. We're going to talk about this game on the other side. Is Gino for real? It's the JR Sport Brief Show. I'm for real here on CBS Sports Radio.