JR SportBrief Hour 4

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Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10% on your first month. If you're feeling down and having trouble getting up in the morning, here's a tip. Brush your teeth.

That's it. Often when we wake up, our brains go into planning mode, which leads to overthinking and stress before our head even leaves the pillow. Something simple like brushing your teeth can break that cycle and jumpstart your day. This tip was brought to you by BetterHelp Online Therapy, which connects you with a licensed therapist via video, phone, or online chat. Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10% on your first month.

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. And 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 very simple.

Rocket can't. I'm hanging out with super producer and host Dave Shepherd. I'm being joined by everybody listening all over North America. This show gets broadcast out to Houston, to Buffalo, to Baltimore, to Seattle. Hey, I'll be out in Seattle next week. Shout outs to my friends in Arizona, all my people in Las Vegas, my friends in Chicago, Milwaukee, Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, here in Atlanta, Georgia, Baltimore. I was in Baltimore yesterday. I'm going to share a cool conversation I had with you in Baltimore. We'll do that.

And I don't know, right before I roll out later on in this hour. Much love to everybody in Southern California, Northern California, out in the desert of California, of Arizona. Thank you to everybody. I didn't forget you either, Hawaii and Alaska. If you want to talk to me, it's simple.

That's 855-212-4CBS. That's at JR Sport Brief everywhere on social media. And I didn't forget my friends in Canada. Right before we went to break, we talked about the World Cup. The United States of America, congratulations to them. They will be moving on. They beat Iran today. One to nothing. You want to know what a United States of America victory sounds like?

You don't have to think about it. You can listen to it here, courtesy of Fox. Rezaian back inside. U.S. players are gassed. Iranians are up.

It comes into the box again. An Iranian player looking for a penalty. And the game is over. If you love football, you hate football, the United States of America, their next matchup is do or die. Win or move on and lose and come back home. They take on the Netherlands this upcoming Saturday at 10 Eastern, 7 Pacific.

That's in the morning time. And so if you don't like soccer or you're into it or you just want to root for the United States of America, go ahead and tune in. Leading up to this game, right before we went to break, we talked about some of the unfortunate events leading up to the World Cup. Overall, the host nation, host country Qatar basically bribed FIFA to get its hands on the World Cup. It's 120 degrees in the summertime. They had to move the World Cup because no duh, you can't play in 120 degrees without killing human beings. But they actually built these stadiums in 120 degree weather.

They had migrants come in from neighboring countries to build it in 120 degree heat. And if you ask Qatar, they'll say about 500, 600 people died. And if you ask some Western countries who have checked in with other countries who have to ship bodies back to their home country, they will say it's closer to five to 6000 individuals who have died building these stadiums. And so the World Cup, just like the Olympics, always has a little bit of a stench to it. Most times the governing bodies can be a little bit dirty or maybe very dirty and corrupt. And sometimes some of the issues in the host countries can overshadow the football. And even FIFA has said, oh, we need to use football to unite. Well, listen to this journalist from Iran ask Tyler Adams about, you know, the United States of America.

You tell me if this reporter's question to Tyler Adams is something used to unite. First of all, you say you support the Iranian people, but you're pronouncing our country's name wrong. Our country is named Iran, not Iran.

Please, once and for all, let's get this clear. Second of all, are you OK to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against black people in its own borders? My apologies on the mispronunciation of your country.

Yeah. That being said, you know, there's discrimination everywhere you go. You know, one thing that I've learned, especially from living abroad in the past years and having to fit in in different cultures and kind of assimilate into different cultures, is that in the U.S. we're continuing to make progress every single day. Like you just educated me now on the pronunciation of your country. So, yeah, it's a process.

I think as long as you see progress, that's the most important thing. Damn. I mean, every country has its problems. Every country. There's no such thing as a perfect country. United States of America is far from perfect.

But I mean, damn. And by the way, that that gentleman, the who asked I don't want to call him a gentleman, the guy who asked the question from Iran. I mean, he basically works for the government. And so FIFA can talk about all we need to use football to unite. Did that sound like a unifying question?

The head coach of the United States, United States men's national team. He was asked about inflation and whether or not Americans are actually supporting the United States of America. His question was like, hey, I was just in New York a couple of weeks ago and it seemed like anybody cared about the World Cup.

Does the inflation in the United States of America, does the high cost, does that factor into no one giving a damn? That was basically his question. And so there's there's always just. It's tough to sit down and watch at times. You've got to make a choice.

I can sit and watch the game. I think it's a personal choice, but you would not catch me in Qatar. And I know a lot of people even go vacationing, you know, even in other parts of the country and other parts of the world. And now that there's some places I just I've been all over the world.

There's some places I do not want to go. Eight five five two one two four CBS. How are you feeling about the World Cup? Max is calling from Buffalo. You're on CBS Sports Radio. How are we doing? We are doing good.

Speaking for myself, what's up? So I've been around soccer my whole life. I play it. I've coached it. I've watched it.

I've. Max, Max, Max, your phone connection is terrible, Max. Come back. I'm not I'm not hanging up on you, but please try and come back. Clear. Daniel is calling from San Diego. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, what's up, buddy?

What's going on? Yeah, it's definitely hard watching the World Cup. It's been hard really watching the World Cup like 2008 in South Africa shouldn't have been in South Africa either. Those stadiums aren't even being used anymore.

They're just growing vines. I wonder what's going to happen to these stadiums. To be honest, I don't think they have like a lead to support it afterwards. So those will probably just turn to rubbish.

But congrats to USA beating Iran. I think I think I said that right. Hopefully. And then.

Yeah, I don't know. It's difficult to watch, but I'll turn it on in the morning and probably fall asleep sometimes. And then wake up to a goal like the crowd cheering, waking me up. So, OK. All right.

Good luck, Daniel. Thank you for calling from San Diego. And no, it's the same thing that that takes place with the World Cup. Like there's there's massive amounts of money that are invested into these cities, these countries. And and let's be clear, the United States of America is going to be hosting a World Cup. The World Cup is coming to United States of America and North America, I might add.

I believe in twenty twenty six. And we are using every resource possible. How about this? We don't have to build stadiums. We have them all over the damn place. Here in Atlanta, Mercedes Benz is going to be used for the World Cup. SoFi Stadium, Kansas City. I forgot what they call that stupid thing now.

Doha Gaha gave it a stupid name. But where the Chiefs play. You can think about the Meadowlands up in Toronto, I believe will be used. We're going to use everything. These things have been built already.

Unfortunately, some of these stadiums via taxpayers, but it's better than shipping in people and having them die out. And I don't know, 90 degree heat. Eight five five two one two four CVS. Max is here. I hope his phone works. He's from Buffalo. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Jerry, you got me now? I do.

What's up? So I've been around soccer my whole life. Watch it, played it. I think the big thing about the World Cup happens every four years. A lot of the atrocities are terrible. But the thing is, it brings the people together in these countries. I mean, soccer and other countries are a lot of people in the U.S. can't comprehend. It would be like if the NFL had an all U.S. team and every big country had a massive team.

And we put all of our teams to the side and we all came for America. That's how it is for soccer in these countries. And there's war and poverty and all this crazy political stuff. But when the World Cup comes around, it's for the people. I know the governments involved are are horrendous. But for the Iranian people, for the Qatar and people, for the Saudi Arabian people, when this comes around, they put everything aside. And yes, the most important thing. And we think we're aware of that. Max, what else you got?

Last thing is go bills. OK, thank you, Max. No, I could have said that and I will summarize that.

And I think an even better way. We know this. The United States of America is not a hotbed for soccer or football. Whatever the hell you want to call it, depending on where you're from. We have our own sports. There are a multitude of sports. Soccer is the global sport. Football is the global sport.

It's not the sport for the United States of America. I think I'm talking for the most part to people in America right now. I'm talking to my friends in Canada.

I'm talking to my friends all over the USA. It's not at the top of the totem pole. Soccer is growing. It is, you know, where it stands in the United States of America in 30 and 40 years. Man, it's going to be there. It's not going anywhere. It's going to continue to grow by leaps and bounds. But it's not there yet.

And even in another 30, 40, 50 years, it's still going to be dominated by every other inch and corner of the planet. You know, I have walked through through I don't even know if I want to call it an alley. I have walked through slums in India and have spoken to young boys and young girls who don't speak English. But we can talk about football. Who's your favorite player?

Messi, Ronaldo. I can have a conversation with someone who doesn't even speak the same language as me just by talking about a player's name. It's not the same here for some of our athletes that people don't. People may know Tom Brady, but the rest of the world don't know who this man is like a Messi or Ronaldo. And so we get that. That doesn't take away how terrible some of these situations are, scenarios, man.

It doesn't. Iran is going through a whole uprising that has nothing to do with football. And unfortunately, their own players are being threatened because of it. You better support us publicly during the World Cup.

Otherwise you will have hell to pay when you come home. Whoa. Could you imagine? I don't know.

LeBron, Kobe, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, you know, going out to Barcelona. And if you don't win, we're going to put you in prison. Could you imagine that? It's unfathomable.

But for certain countries, that possibility exists. It's a reality. Man, we got referees here.

Oh, yeah, it's nice. The referee blows the game. Hey, ref, you suck.

Maybe you got some trash thrown at you. Could you imagine being a referee with a blown call? And having your family kidnapped? It sounds crazy, right?

People actually deal with this. I ain't joking. 855-212-4CBS. Steve is calling from Ohio. Yo, JR, what's up, dude? I tell you what, man. I try to keep my politics to the side, even though it seems to be really driving this conversation tonight. But I do have one question for you, if you don't mind.

Are you there? No. Oh, my goodness. Too late. That went well. You got spooked? What'd he do?

What'd he, like, be? Oh, the conversation is going to politics. He's not used to hosts that actually listen. Well, he said he's not used to a host that actually listens.

No, because he was shocked that he was actually getting that many words out at once. Oh, okay. He doesn't understand you.

He can actually listen to callers and then answer. I try. I try.

The ones who don't just come through and try to bombard and things of that nature. He barred into you being Beetlejuice? Yeah.

Is this JR? No, I'm Santa Claus. It's December 24th, and I'm coming down your chimney. Here I am.

Where are my cookies? This is a political conversation. No, listen, man. I don't I don't I don't sit around and go, well, this is political.

Let me not touch it. I talk about sports and I talk about the reality of sports. I talk about human beings.

For me, they know separation between some guy building a stadium and the guy who plays in it. If that's a little bit too political for you, then that's that's your business. I don't I don't find it to be that way. I look at people and I look at human beings first. I could give a rat's ass whether somebody is like blue or red or purple or pink or in between or supports this or that. I support people. I support humans. I support right over wrong. I am not a perfect human being, not my damn self.

Not by a long shot. But I don't give a damn about people's politics, man. I really don't care about people first. Eight, five, five, two, one, two, four. CBS Dom is calling from San Diego. Hey, Dom, you're live. What's up? How are you doing? I'm good.

Go ahead. First of all, thank you for calling it football. That is the term for it anyway. It depends on where you're from. That doesn't matter either. But go ahead.

OK, cool. Yeah. No, the United States national team. I know it's it's growing. They're looking they're looking better. They got a good talent pool now.

Good. A young core players. They look solid defensively and in the midfield. But going forward, they lack so much. And as I've watched every United and I'm not even a U.S. men's national team fan, but I've watched every single game because I'm interested in this talent pool that they have.

And going forward, just lack. And it's just boring to watch them. Especially today, when when when Tim where I mean, where whale left the pitch and policy got hurt going forward, they offered me nothing. And whales in Iran are not the strongest teams. The Netherlands have a pretty, pretty decent squad. So we'll see how the deal. Yeah, the defense's is crazy.

And thank you, Don, for calling from San Diego. Yes, the United States of America has has work to do. You know, most of the times you think about any sport that is being represented by the United States of America, they end up on top. Is it basketball? We're the best.

Is it baseball? We're the best. Nobody else plays our football. If you have to think about hockey, you think about Canada. But the United States of America is always competitive as well.

You think about racing. We tend to be competitive. There's nothing in regards to the world of athletics for sports that that we play and fully participate in that the United States of America typically doesn't go out there and kick ass for sports that we really give our all to. Soccer is not our sport. The United States of America has been trying to get involved. I mean, damn it. They had Jurgen Klinsmann come in who was a German just to come through and and hopefully impart some wisdom on this squad.

Didn't work out. It's going to take years before the United States of America catches up on a global and national level. So there's no expectation for them to win the World Cup if they should do so. It would be one hell of a surprise. One hell of a surprise. They're in the middle of things, man. I think we know that if you watching or if you're watching the USA, you're you're hoping for an upset. That's it. Rick is calling from Toronto.

Go ahead, Rick. OK, thank you for taking my call again, JR. Yeah, we play football in Canada. Last Saturday, LaBelle played Saskatchewan Huskies in the Le Vanier Cup in Canada. Thank you, CBC. That's better than what CTV and Bell Media did. They had the Grey Cup on TSN. We had to pay for it. Hey, Rick, talk to talk to all of us in North America right now, not just to Canada.

Go ahead. OK, basically, Canada is an upper country. Indigenous people have been treated badly. We had to change the team in Edmonton because it was a politically incorrect team. The teams now call Elks instead of that offensive name to indigenous Inuit people.

I think it's a dirty thing. Our country will be eliminated on Thursday, December 1st in the World Cup against Morocco. Thank you for those players in Canada for playing in the World Cup. Thank you to the Davis Cup team that won recently in Canada.

We had never won there. Thank you very much, Canada, for everything. But it's sad. US, thank you.

You're doing what you're going to make. I don't know what you're going to get to get to Netherlands. Hopefully, I know that all the people who passed away from all those workers in Qatar or Qatar or whatever they call it. And hopefully, in the future, I know they're going to have it in Canada, too. Unfortunately, the filter issue in the NFL, in our country, too, is an issue. Because soccer players have contracts that say, you cannot play in filter, you have to play in grass.

Hopefully, the NFL will fix that, too. Thank you for having us united. Thank you, Rick.

He shoved about a million words in one loose-leaf-sized piece of paper. Jose Cola from San Diego. Go ahead, Jose. Hey, JR. How you doing? I'm good. Thank you for slowing down. Go ahead.

No problem. I've got two points. The first point is, I think, out of all the journalists and reporters that I have heard from sports interviews, I think soccer journalists are one of the worst, if not the worst, journalists on the planet Earth. Because, one, they always try and get a headline for something that really doesn't pertain to either the player or the coach. You see it all the time. Coaches getting asked about different players that aren't on their team, about Greg Berhalter and stuff that really doesn't pertain to him.

So, it's nothing new in the soccer world for reporters to try and get a headline out of players. And the second point that I have is, I like the fact that you're talking about soccer growing in the United States, and I think that the biggest problem to soccer not growing to where it could be, is the fact that there's a massive barrier of entry when trying to actually play the game at the youth level. Whereas, I think, you have basketball fields and football fields all over the place. I wouldn't agree with that.

So, there's two things here. Your first point about media being antagonizing, that is very normal. I will agree with you that it goes to another level. I think that most Americans don't necessarily know or realize or understand when you think about what goes on in the Premier League. When we think about transfers and rumors, it is tabloids in a whole different world.

It is like TMZ times a million just for, you know, imagine every day there's a new rumor for LeBron, and there's no free agency. It's just a whole different world. So, I certainly understand that. I think that is different. People being antagonized, I agree with you, can go to an extreme. But there's a massive difference with what took place today, or yesterday, when the Iranian journalist badgered the American player Tyler. That's not common. I mean, the World Cup doing that is very different.

And your second point here, as you talk about the access, I think it's access due to interest. One of the reasons why I believe soccer, football is played the way it is all around the world, you don't need nothing to play it. Like, I've seen people play the sport, and you've seen it, too, on dirt patches everywhere on planet Earth, and you don't need anything. I've seen people play with tattered balls. I've seen people play with rolled-up balls.

People make their own soccer balls and they're kicking it. So I don't think it's because of lack of resources here in the United States of America. I don't think it's because of lack of resources to play. It's not like it's hockey or it's golf or baseball.

You need a million people. I think it's interest. And as the interest grows here, I think, and we see this, the sport will continue to do so. MLS is in its place. Look, I remember in New York, and thank you, Jose, for calling from San Diego, man, the Cosmos, the Metro Stars, New York Red Bull, NYCFC, things have grown and they continue to do so. I'm going to take more of your calls.

855-212-4CBS. How about this? Yeah, we're talking about football, we're talking about soccer, and damn it, I'm enjoying myself. I'm talking to you on the other side here on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R.

Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. First off, I just want to say mad respect for your show. You always got a lot of good points. I agree with a lot of things you say. I just want to say I love your show. Me and my grandpa listen to it every night. I needed a J.R. fix tonight and I'm glad you're on.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. We're talking about the World Cup. The good, the bad, the ugly, the everything in between about what's currently taking place in Qatar. United States of America, they went over Iran today. I say Iran, otherwise that journalist will come look for me and try to whoop my ass. And now they go on to face the Netherlands this upcoming Saturday. So if you want to watch some football, you want to root for the USA, tune in.

It's coming your way. 10 a.m. Eastern, 7 a.m. Pacific. United States of America, they win, they move on, they lose, they come back home.

And at least people will give them a round of applause and not threats for jail, for losing. 855-212-4CBS. We have a lot of callers on, folks. So in the interest of trying to get everybody on, please be succinct. You don't have to ask me how I'm doing. I'm doing great. Just make your point.

Try to do it quickly and be awesome about it. Alex is calling from Miami. You're on CBS Sports Radio.

They are really quick. Just want to see what you think about this back. I feel like like ballistic is kind of like a Landon Donovan back in the day. And I'm not sure why or what this rain is about, but I feel like Landon Donovan never got his fair shake. He was left off the World Cup roster when he was, I guess, priming. I mean, the fact is, he comes to the Major League Soccer and he wins some championships and stuff. So, you know, what happened there?

What? Why did he never make that roster? My understanding and I could be wrong.

And if someone has an answer, by all means, please call me up and correct me. I believe he had an issue with the current coach at the time who was a German and wanted to take a different approach. And we see this quite a bit. There was I can't remember who it is exactly right now, but they actually I was reading about this. There are quite a few players who beef with their managers in their own countries and they get left off. That was I mean, that was a great roster. Altidore played overseas.

Oh, Josie? I don't know if I don't know if I'd go as far to call them great. If I have to think about in comparison to some of the other countries and what they produce, I don't know if I'd go that far. But it was it was a better squad. I think it was like a more complete squad. Well, it was more complete when he was a part of it. Well, thank you, Alex.

We got a squad right now who's in the group of 16 knockout rounds. I'm not going to shortchange them and they continue to grow here. Patrick is calling from San Francisco. You're on CBS Sports Radio.

Hey, J.R., thanks for taking my call. Just wanted to make one quick point. The problem, I think, with soccer in the U.S. and why we don't see the success with the men's national team that we that we should is that there is an underdeveloped pipeline to get the most talented players to the highest stages. So it's I've got a couple of buddies who played at a really high level and they've told me that you don't really see that big of a difference in the talent level between like a D1 game and an MLS game here in the U.S. And I think that it's also very political and for the guys who get a chance to go overseas and play. So I think we're seeing that pipeline develop and it's becoming more common for guys to go overseas and play over there. But what we really need here is like a much better way to get the guys who are talented and get them over there so they can get the training, the exposure that is available there, but not here.

Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, even if you think about someone like Christian Polisic and I'm trying not to go too deep into the weeds here, but we have a lot of American players and this is this is the same for highly touted guys all over the world. You have the major league, which is the Premier League. People want to go to the Premier League.

A lot of times they might start off young in the Bundesliga, which is the German, the German league, and then they get outbid and then they end up, you know, playing in the Premier League. And so it's a huge pipeline. If we think about it in the reverse. And thank you so much, Patrick, for calling from San Francisco. Look at look at the NBA.

I think that's the best. I think that's probably the best indicator for a global sport that we play here in the United States of America dominated by Americans. Look at the influx of overseas players that currently play in the NBA. Luka Doncic was a professional overseas as a teenager before he was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks. Think about how many players want to come into the NBA because it's the top league. Do we send guys out to play in Slovenia? No. If you have to go out there to play professionally, you do because you probably can't play in the NBA.

It's the same. Think about now think about that reversed with football or soccer on a global scale. Most people are trying to play in the French league. They want to be in La Liga and Serie A. They want to be in the Premier League. They want to be at the top of the top, except for all of the talent is coming from all over the world. This is a sport that they prioritize in most places is number one. It's tough and you're trying to get an American out there. Americans are competing on a global scale to only fit on a finite amount of teams.

That also has a relegation system. I'm going a little deep right here. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. Going to take a break. Get to more of your calls before we roll out. You're listening to the J.R.

Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. God bless you, J.R. I'm a huge follower, supporter and listener of your show. I've 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 J.R. Sport Brief. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. You can follow me on Twitter at JRSportBrief.

Same for Instagram. I want to tell you about my amazing time in Baltimore, but we have so many callers here wanting to talk about the World Cup that we're going to have to do that tomorrow. In addition to every single thing here, we're talking about now. We're going to get a top six tomorrow, but let's get to the phone lines before we roll out. 855-212-4CBS.

J.T. is calling from Harrisburg, PA. What's on your mind, J.T.? Hey, thanks for having me. I just want to thank you for exposing some of the things that are going on in the Arab countries, and that's the norm over there. So for you to bring this to light is like you're blowing the roof off of things over there. So that's why the one person, when he admitted the 400 deaths, he knew that that wasn't even a third of possibly how many people have died over there.

And most of them come into the country through underground slavery work groups called TCNs, which is Third Country Nationals. So, yeah, you guys are blowing the roof off of this, and hopefully others listen to it, even though it's late in the morning. You know, thanks for what you're doing. And if you want to get more information on this, you can have my number off the air. And I can tell you more information on this.

No, I think I know all I need to know, J.T. I appreciate you, man. All right. Thank you.

Thank you as well. It's not always that damn late. We got people on the West Coast listening. Chris is calling from New Hampshire.

You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, Jerry, how you doing? Good, man. Go ahead. Good.

I appreciate the call. So I know that they're trying to push this whole world copy of the United States, and they're trying to do it worldwide. And I think a hard push right now, but I don't think it's going to happen because if you watch it, you see the countries that are controlling what's going on with the games. And half of these if it was owned like the NFL was owned by certain people, then there would actually be fair soccer games going on.

And I watched in the World Cup, Thanksgiving, I sit down with my family and all watching it. And it's like it's not even half of the stuff that's going on in soccer isn't even close. We played England. We didn't even get a shot on goal. Like, really? Like, we have a good team. So to me, I don't even think like the World Cup is going to make it. They're trying to get into the United States.

They're trying to get into the commercialized situation. And it's not going to happen. Okay. Well, just to be clear, and thank you, Chris, for calling from New Hampshire, the World Cup was last year in the United States in 1994. So it did happen. It did take place. It's set to be here four years from now.

And I think everybody involved wants to make money. So unless there's some political issue that happens to take place between now and then, which is possible, I'm not necessarily worried about that. Anthony is calling you on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, J.R., how are you doing? Good, man. Go ahead.

Real quick. I just want to say just positive vibes. I love what I see from both Canada and the United States as far as developmental development in soccer. I'm seeing I'm starting to see the investment, man. I really am starting to see these kids get more involved. I have two kids of my own that's involved in soccer as well.

And you know what? It's a safe sport and I think it will catch fire, man. I seriously do.

And I hope it does, because it's a great sport. It is. It is.

I agree with you, man. I love it. Let's see if it does catch fire.

I believe it's going to be continued slow growth, but it's moving forward in a fast way. I detailed some of the teams that we have. Alex from Boston, go ahead. I have one thing to say about the Iran reporter. If you want to ask about politics, he's on the wrong place and the wrong time. Those guys are professional soccer players and they ask something about the game, right?

Not politics. And I appreciate it to accept my call. Love your show. Thank you, J.R. Thank you, Alex from Boston. Sean is calling from Oregon. Go ahead, Sean.

Hey, J.R. You know, I've been watching this soccer casually and I haven't heard anything like what you just told me tonight. That's real disturbing. I can't believe that that's going on. And that's just, you know, I've been in construction all my life. And I've been frustrated with safety policies and everything like that, regulations. But I'm thankful for them.

That makes me even more thankful right now. And I hope somehow these people are able to get some kind of laws against humanity and maybe sue some of these contractors that didn't somehow. Shanghai's slave labor is here's an unfortunate update. And thank you, Sean, for calling from Oregon. There have been labor rules that have been changed.

Unfortunately, a lot of these rules have taken place after these stadiums have already been built. Abby is here from D.C. Hello. Hey, Abby, go ahead. First, thank you for covering the World Cup.

That's great. I love the game of soccer or football everywhere else. I did want to ask you, I came into your show late, so I heard you say something about bribery to get into Qatar.

But I that's something I want to I want to focus on. How much bribery was there? I mean, nobody they shouldn't put the players through play in this heat. Well, the players, they've actually moved. The World Cup typically takes place in the summertime. The Qatar after almost four years after they secured the bid, they moved it to November. There were a series of issues from Qatar's infrastructure to the heat, to the ability to host the games that would lead you to think and believe that this the country, which is big as Connecticut, isn't fit to host it. There are videotaped just issues of FIFA officials being bribed. This is something that gets voted on year after year when you think about the next iteration of where it takes place.

And I cannot I cannot share with you all of it in the next four minutes. But there is tons and tons of evidence. There are tons of indictments.

There's there's tons. You know, this corruption is rife all over the world, especially when you think about sports, international sports and how Qatar got the World Cup. And similar to Russia is almost in the same boat, Abby. Right.

That's you know, it's just it's so sickening to think about it. I had a friend who worked there, CIA, and he used to pronounce it cutter. Well, there's listen, there's actually a New York Times article on how you pronounce it. And that's also something. Thank you, Abby. Appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you.

George from Cleveland. You'll get the last word. Hey, how you doing? I appreciate all the talk here with the World Cup. And I just got a little bit of thought on that.

I'm looking at your show. I think organically, you know, the U.S. really doesn't have a culture. We've never really been brought up with like other countries, for example, that that's all they have.

Correct. We've got we've got the pleasure of having the football, the baseball and the hockey and things like that for many, many years. And then, you know, then you have other countries that are very passionate about it. And that's all they really have. So, you know, organically, I think, you know, like you said, it's going to take 40, 50 years, but I still think even with that much time going on by, you know, soccer or football, if you will.

My family's from Costa Rica. So, you know, everybody has a little bit of thought. Now, you mentioned something. Well, George, you're running out of time, man. Can you do it in 10 seconds? Probably not.

Yeah, I can look up, you know, as far as passionate. You don't go back to the country. Look what happened. 94 World Cup. I think his name was Escobaros, you know, from Colombia. Yes.

He got his own goal, goes back to Colombia and then murdered him. Yeah. Well, thank you, George.

He actually did it in 10 seconds. George is not lying. Hey, Shep, you get the final word because you're here.

Go ahead. I would just say for someone, JR, that's not familiar with the with the with the bribery and the regulations and the procedures and really the history of the World Cup. It's amazing that my biggest takeaway, JR, is it's amazing that so many people have an interest in the sport who live in this country because it's just not talked about on a national scale. So so good for you for bringing this topic up. And it just sounds like there's a lot of shading that's going on. And I think I'm putting that mildly.

Oh, tons. Unfortunately, all over the world. I hope that we don't get any further horror stories here with this World Cup.

And if you can sit down and enjoy the soccer, I certainly hope that is the case. Thank you, Shep, for another amazing night. Thank you to everybody for listening all across North America. We will be back with you tomorrow, starting at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I'm going to bring you a new top six list.

I'm going to tell you about the amazing trip I had to Baltimore, Maryland with Special Olympics. You can find me online at JR Sport Brief. That is on Twitter.

That is on Instagram. But don't move here on CBS Sports Radio because Amy Lawrence, she's coming up next. Be safe, be well, be cool. If you're feeling down and having trouble getting up in the morning, here's a tip. Brush your teeth.

That's it. Often when we wake up, our brains go into planning mode, which leads to overthinking and stress before our head even leaves the pillow. Something simple like brushing your teeth can break that cycle and jumpstart your day. This tip was brought to you by BetterHelp Online Therapy, which connects you with a licensed therapist via video, phone or online chat.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10 percent on your first month. If you're feeling down and having trouble getting up in the morning, here's a tip. Brush your teeth.

That's it. Often when we wake up, our brains go into planning mode, which leads to overthinking and stress before our head even leaves the pillow. Something simple like brushing your teeth can break that cycle and jumpstart your day. This tip was brought to you by BetterHelp Online Therapy, which connects you with a licensed therapist via video, phone or online chat.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10 percent on your first month. If you're feeling down and having trouble getting up in the morning, here's a tip. Brush your teeth.

That's it. Often when we wake up, our brains go into planning mode, which leads to overthinking and stress before our head even leaves the pillow. Something simple like brushing your teeth can break that cycle and jumpstart your day. This tip was brought to you by BetterHelp Online Therapy, which connects you with a licensed therapist via video, phone or online chat. Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10 percent on your first month.