JR SportBrief Hour 4

Getting to know yourself can be a lifelong process, especially since you're always growing and changing. Therapy is all about deepening that self-awareness, because sometimes you don't know what you really want until you talk things through. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online who can take you on that journey of self-discovery from wherever you are. Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive today to get 10% off your first month.

That's BetterHELP.com slash positive. Goalie gummies get you so close to your goals you can actually taste them. The trick? Simply start with bite-sized steps, like Goalie's apple cider vinegar gummies with added B vitamins for daily health. Or Goalie Ashwagandha gummies to help you relax, restore, and unwind. Mmm, tastes like wellness just got a whole lot better.

And when goals taste this good, it's easy to achieve them. Goalie, taste your goals. Learn more at Goalie.com today. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio.

It's the J.R. Sportbrief show on CBS Sports Radio. I am here with you for one more hour. Thank you to everybody who's been locked down for hour number one, number two, number three. I get started every single weeknight. Shout out to my folks on the West Coast. I get started at 7 p.m. Pacific. All my folks on the East Coast. I get started at 10 p.m. Eastern time. You can always listen on the free Odyssey app. Get every second, every minute.

You can hit rewind if you missed anything. Much love to everybody on our many CBS Sports Radio affiliates. All my friends in Pittsburgh, all my friends in San Diego, Oregon, Seattle, Houston, Dallas. My people here in Atlanta on 92.9 The Game. My people down in Miami, North Carolina, Chicago, Detroit.

I can go on and on. What's up, Idaho? Just Toronto, Canada.

Honolulu. The show is on all over the damn place. Thank you so much for just making the show happen.

I appreciate you. I'm being joined by super producer and host Dave Shepherd. If you want to talk to us, it's real simple. It's eight five five two one two four CBS.

It's eight five five two one two four CBS. We've been talking about the NFL combine. It's underway in Indianapolis. You have coaches, you have future prospects, you have general managers. It's like a convention.

It's like a scene and be seen. And ultimately, everybody's trying to improve their team. Everybody's trying to make a team and some players more than others.

We've learned we got guys like Jalen Carter from the Bulldogs right down the road from me here in Athens. He ain't going to participate. He's going to meet with folks. But he's not expected to lift anything.

Show how big and strong he is. Of other guys who are going to run the gamut, they're going to go out there and improve their draft stock. Because they're not Jalen Carter, they're not expected to be a top three draft pick, maybe top one. Most of the dudes selected are going to be happy just to get a chance. To be in the NFL, let alone make a roster and and haul in millions and millions of dollars. Most of the guys who get drafted, that's not going to be the case.

Most of them will be here tomorrow or here today and gone maybe next year or sooner than that. Won't even make the team. And so it's tough. The NFL combine is good for them. But is it absolutely necessary across the board?

I would say the answer is no, especially when you have pro days. It's going to be advantageous to some. But the process of it, Demorris Smith of the NFL Players Association, he's the executive director. He said, he said, no, I want you to take a listen to this. And then I want to share with you some comments.

And we played it last hour. And I think some people have listening comprehension issues. I want to share with you some comments about a valuation before the combine at the Super Bowl made by Deion Sanders in relation to what he looks for in a prospect. But this is Demorris Smith about the NFL combine. I think the first thing we do is not assume you need a combine. I mean, why should we start trying to enhance the combine system?

I mean, think about it. The NCAA and the NFL structure a combine during what should be every football player's what? Last semester in college, who decided that it was a good idea to take your son and have him exclusively try out for the NFL's exclusive way of getting into the league, for the most part, unless you're a free agent player.

You have to be invited to the combine as soon as you show up. You have to waive all of your medical rights and you not only have to sit there and endure embarrassing questions. And I think that's horrible.

And I don't want to do any of that. But would you want your son to spend hours inside of an MRI and then be evaluated by 32 separate team doctors who are, by the way, are only doing it for one reason. What's the reason? To decrease your your draft value. So instead of trying to think about whether we enhance combine process, what would you want for our sons? Yeah, I understand his point. I don't think the the combine is necessary.

I don't think it's going to go anywhere because it's a it's a moneymaker. But we've heard plenty of disaster stories, you know, coaches asking prospects about their mother, asking them if you had to kill somebody, where would you bury the body? Like these are questions that that you're being asked at a job interview. And if those questions are being asked, you can't be surprised at what Deion Sanders said a couple of weeks ago at the Super Bowl and speaking with with Rich Eisen. And I find his comments to just be.

Just just be just terrible. I think they're ignorant. I think they're basic. I think that they're they're so basic of comments that it escapes Deion Sanders about the impact that it could have on potential prospects who hear this. For people who who think, oh, well, I come from this background or this environment and that's all I can go out there and achieve.

This is ignorant as hell. Take a listen to Deion Sanders. The backs are different. Yeah, we want mother, father, you know, dual parent. We want that kid to be three, five and up because he's got to be smart. Not bad decisions off the field at all because he has to be a leader of men is so many different attributes. And what we look for physical, I mean, offensive line.

My defense line was totally opposite. What do you mean? Single mama trying to get it? He's on free lunch. I mean, like, I mean, I'm talking about just trying to make it.

He trying to rescue mama like mama barely made the flight. Well, you know, I had a guy call me from Houston and go, oh, you didn't say he didn't say the defensive line had to be stupid. Did you just hear what he said? He didn't have to say, I need him to have a nothing GPA. He said, I need them to be complete opposite. What's the what's the complete opposite of somebody with a three five? What's the complete opposite?

He didn't have to go through everything. He insinuated what he wants. And I think to look at someone in their background and to establish what they are more likely or less likely capable of. Is ignorant as hell. And there are human beings who hear that, and that's a major problem. We got enough of that garbage in life. People being told that they cannot do something because of where they come from.

And then we have plenty of people who come from a great situation or great space or privilege, and they just go out there and crap the bed. I don't care if it's about football or whether it's the next door neighbor, like that's garbage. I'm actually surprised that he said something like that. I know he has found himself to to do a lot of great speaking and he's had to defend himself. And many people who look at Dion and go, oh, well, this is what he's done is great or what he's not is that this he's a polarizing figure.

That of what he just said. Was garbage. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Todd is calling from Buffalo. Hi, JR. Nice to talk to you. Thank you for taking my call. Sure.

Actually, I totally agree with what you're saying. I don't know if it's my age, but actually, my birthday's on Saturday. I turned 54 years old. So, you know, I'm older than Tom Brady, so I kind of feel old in a way. But, you know, it's like it's like watching like the three hours of pregame show on a Sunday. I tell I get past the first 30 minutes.

I want to bomb it. It's that it's like about what you wear when you show up at these quarterbacks. They want to see GQ and what suits they wear and all this bling bling. And it's just it's just it's totally taken the sport in general and just throwing it out through dogs. It's my opinion.

OK, thank you, Todd, for calling from Buffalo. Well, I think that sports I think that sports in a hole is a lot of sports. That is nothing but a fashion show right now.

I don't think that's exclusive to QBs. Robbie is calling from Jacksonville. You're on the JR sport brief show. Hey, Joe, what's going on tonight? I'm good.

What's up, Robbie? Not much, man. So I agree with you on the combine. I mean, obviously, you know, it helps some players who are trying, you know, just help their stock. I mean, I saw something the other day like Tennessee's punter is going to the combine. And I'm just like, you know, that that's probably a little bit unneeded.

But and then with Dion, I'm just like, yeah, it doesn't surprise me, man, because I think when he first got there, he told the entire team to hit the portal. And, you know, it's pretty ignorant. Right. And then on top of that, the guy who is who literally didn't know what the word ignorance means. You know, that's baffling. Oh, the guy from Houston who said that a generalization in a stereotype. You made it sound like it was two on two different planets, right?

It did. He just he had no idea what you were even saying. It's like, is he hearing the same thing? It's it's wild. And then the last thing, man, is the guy from San Diego. I can't remember his name, but what a dumbass. Oh, from our number one. Yes, sir. Oh, well, well, thank you, Robbie.

You've been hanging out the whole show. I appreciate you. Yes, sir.

And that's it, man. I hope you guys have a good night. You as well, Robbie.

Thank you for calling from Jacksonville. Shep, I forgot. What did that dumbass say in the first hour of the show? He said, God, it was sorry to even bring this up.

I think it was Matt from San Diego. Right. That's why you remember his name. Oh, he said he said Aaron Rodgers called Tiger by his first name.

No, no, no. He said I know what he said. I'll say it.

He said that Aaron Rodgers is washed up. And that's like, OK, here we go. That's that's that's that's kind of baseline. OK, fine. That's not accurate.

The baseline. And then the next thing he wanted to say was Aaron Rodgers needs to go where that that black golfer went who should have died in the car. I'm like, you dumbass piece of crap. Like you need a hug. Nobody loved you your whole life. You really got to be in a terrible position to come out and say such a statement.

You don't got to like Tiger Woods. But to write to say that he needed to perish in a car accident. Hey, do we got that black?

We got him like sent to the the abyss of phone calls. So, so, so full disclosure that we what I love about your show, JR, is you do you every once in a while will take black calls because sometimes people just have bad days. And so other shows will block them. But we don't we don't judge them by other shows. We judge them by your show.

But we can unequivocally say he will never call the show again. Good. Yes. Yeah. We don't need to hear that.

Also somehow got in a conservative argument about how conservatives are the only group and base that tell the truth. I thought that was rather interesting. Yeah, just you probably poo food over that. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't care about none of that crap. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Let's go to Chicago and talk to Eric. You're on the JR sport brief show. Hey, JR, man.

Great show, man. I wanted to comment about Dion to comment. Yes, it was definitely stereotypical.

Basically, what he basically is doing is profiling. And and so. I'm sorry. No, you're live.

I didn't say anything or go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. What what he's doing is profiling. And OK, I'm I'm not saying that profiling is totally wrong. But when he was laughing and everything is making fun of the situation because I get I get that, you know, maybe the percentages are higher that if someone is is coming from a single home or whatever, they're hungry. But but the way he presented it, it was like he was laughing at a a tough situation and being what is it? Insensitive. You know, I don't know if you remember years ago, Reggie White was making a comment about different ethnicity. Oh, and he got annihilated for it.

And he got. But but I don't believe that Reggie Wright was trying to be insulting. I think he just presented it wrong because there are characteristics that you can't deny, whether it be Hispanic, low color or poor. But it's the way you present.

I don't I don't even think it's so much about how you present it. And this is why I say his statements were ignorant. Because a lot of people will hold on to to what he said and believe it the way through. And people then don't get that chance or opportunity because it's been told over and over and over again. And as a result, you have a group of people who feel that they won't get the chance because they've been told it over and over and over again.

People know what they're exposed to. If you have somebody like Deion Sanders sitting in that seat. Just saying that, you know, the defensive linemen are going to be better off. I'm going to have better defensive linemen if they are poor, if they're stupid, if they are hungry to get out of their circumstances.

That's going to be my best defensive lineman. Man, you don't you don't think that people subconsciously and consciously take that in? Like that crap. Yeah, that's the definition of ignorance to think that someone is is less capable of doing something than someone else because of their circumstances. It makes all the sense in the world to say that somebody might have an added motivation. There's a difference between what you're saying.

I hear what you're saying, J.R., and I will say this also. It didn't it didn't his son come from a broken home? That would go for his own peace. He's not married. Exactly. His son is a quarterback.

So I guess he wouldn't he wouldn't qualify for Deion's team. Well, well, we see he has a job, right? Nepotism. Well, thank you, Eric. All right. Thank you.

No doubt. It's it's it's terrible. I gave my example. If you missed what I said last hour about Loretta Claiborne. Who couldn't walk, speak until she was four years old, went to school. You can't do this. Can't do that. Can't do this. Had six brothers and sisters. You can't do this.

What's from a single mom? You can't do this. Can't do this. Can't do this.

Can't do this. There are a lot of people who who overcome that. There are a lot of people who quit.

Just because they're told that they can't do it. If we didn't have comments like what what Deion Sanders just said. And it's not an overall about football or just grabbing folks sort of order.

Oh, go to I got to go get it. I think we'd be better as a damn society if we put them labels on folks. Jason is here from Seattle.

You're on the JR sport brief show. Hey, man, I got to say, man, I thought what Deion said wasn't really that offensive, to be quite honest with you. I mean, when you listen to what he said, you know, his tone changed, his demeanor changed.

Everyone laughed and context has to matter still when we're having conversations. Deion does a great job with these young men wanting them to be better men than maybe some of the circumstances they came from. And sometimes I feel like we lose the fact that context matters because we are so quick just to take one thing that a person says. And maybe it doesn't make us feel so good and label them as something else or label their comments as something else. When really, you know, I don't think that's what Deion meant at all, brother. I think Deion was just been Deion and the showman and and that's why that's why the statements are ignorant. I don't doubt his intentions with any of the students or the young men.

I don't doubt the intentions and I don't expect anybody to go ahead and and be perfect. But when you have a microphone in front of your face, you're telling me about context. Context matters. I'm not Deion Sanders. I spend more time talking, speaking publicly than Deion Sanders does.

I'm not Deion Sanders. I have less wiggle room left or right to make a statement that I do publicly and talk to more than 100 people per night, five nights a week. I understand nuance. I understand context. I understand the power of words, whether I'm sitting here on the radio to 300 markets, whether I'm speaking at Notre Dame or whether I'm speaking in Fordham or to students here in Atlanta, Georgia. Words matter.

You said it. Context. It don't matter the context.

There's a time and a place. It don't matter what he does separately. You got to have balance in how you present something. So what he does and his intention. Great. Admirable.

A coach building up. Great. Keep that same consistency when you're speaking publicly.

You can be a showman. I don't think there would have been anything wrong with his statement. If he just said, I want my students, I want my recruits to have a drive to want it. But when you start labeling the defensive linemen, you need them dumb.

You need them struggling. They're more likely to have success. I think that is just a poor choice of words.

I think it's ignorant. And I think the trickle down for people who hear that who are in bad circumstances. You talk about context.

Hey, if I'm in that group, a category, I can either be motivated. But you know what? More often than not, there are a lot of people who hear those comments and they got no hope for nothing. J.R., you know what, man? I'm glad you brought this up. You know, in this country, speech matters. Words matter. I agree with you, man. But the beautiful thing about it is people get to have, you know, they get to say whatever they want to say in this country. People get the joke. I don't think those kids, the ones that people think that Dion is referring to, that they're so sensitive that we can't think that they don't know the context between a joke and Dion being a showman or Dion just, you know, meaning something with malicious intent.

I mean, I want to get those kids paid for the benefit of the doubt. I mean, hold on, I'll let you speak. I'll let you speak, J.R. I didn't interrupt you, man. And I didn't even agree with part of what you said, man. I mean, we've gotten to a point in society where any little thing that anybody says that makes anybody feel uncomfortable, man, it becomes something that is bigger than it should be. Dion was being Dion.

Dion was being Dion. And who he is as a person outweighs that one statement. Jason, I'm saying you're repeating yourself. And now I am slowing you down because I'm the one controlling the show.

I got to go to break soon. And so I want to I want to make this clear. This is not about everybody.

This is not about, quote unquote, America and where the country is coming from. Dion has a fire hose. Dion has influence. And when he says something like that, it empowers people who are not Dion to say the same type of things.

And that's where the trickle down is. It's not about Dion. And Dion said this. And so now the kids are stupid or not stupid enough to feel insulted or feel sad or understand a joke. It's that there are people who are not Dion who may not think it's a joke, who listen to what he says, and it trickles down.

That's my point. And Jason, I appreciate you for calling. Appreciate you. Thanks for letting me speak, brother.

No doubt about it. It's the J.R. Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio.

You know, there's a lot of things that get lost in translation. We're going to take a break. I'll leave the phone lines open. I want to tell you about some some jokes made by Giannis Lutetokounmpo about some other dudes in the NBA here on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R.

Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I appreciate you being the show for the people. I stumbled on your show one night and I've been listening to it for about two months now. I drive trucks at night and I appreciate that.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. I appreciate you, too. All the truck drivers, everybody making it happen, moving products and goods and just all types of things all over the country.

Thank you. Shep, you appreciate the truck drivers, too, right? Without question, man, and their bad backs prematurely. Oh, they got stretches.

It's important. Stretch. Do you stretch today?

I stretch, but I'm not sitting in an 18-wheeler for 18 hours at a time. So God bless those men and women that are doing the jobs that most people aren't willing to do on their best day. Yeah. They're making all that money, too.

They make a lot of money, Shep. Yeah, did Dion say anything today, by the way? I don't know. I know who said something last night. Well, it wasn't Dion didn't make his comments today. No, I know, but I figured there was some kind of apology, but God knows he runs that place and he's probably going to be the governor of California sooner than later.

No, there will be this- Colorado, I should say. No, I don't even think there's a need for an apology, because what does it matter? Like he said what he believes, which is fine, it's in his right, as well as it's in my right to think what he said is ignorant. It's people have to understand the power of their words, and it doesn't matter if he was joking or, you know, what he wanted to convey or what he did not say. What he said, unfortunately, is one of the reasons we got a lot of folks in the country who's big in football who just they feel they feel locked out and kicked down.

They feel like they have to be a certain way because someone says that this is how you do it, or this is how you have success, and that's not wholly accurate. But someone who did speak recently, and we talked about this last night, was Giannis Atetokounmpo. He was hosting, and tonight the Milwaukee Bucks were in Brooklyn. They beat up on the Brooklyn Nets. Not beat up, but they beat them, no surprise, to continue on their winning streak.

I think they're up to 15 games, I think, now. And so Giannis had a night off, and it went viral over the last 24 hours that Giannis was just kind of, you know, destroying some NBA stars. How about this?

I want you to hear this. Giannis on The Daily Show. He was reading off jokes about some of his contemporaries, someone else who's an MVP like him. Nikola Jokic, this is Giannis on The Daily Show from last night.

Joker, how are you going to make it through the finals where you look like you can barely make it through a Burger King drive-thru? Okay. Alright, he called Nikola Jokic fat. Okay, we get it.

Sure. The joke that got everybody going last night was more so around Kevin Durant. Hasan Minhaj is hosting The Daily Show right now, and he's sitting there with him, and they're going at these jokes. The part that everybody heard was Giannis destroying Kevin Durant. The part that a lot of people did not hear, including what we played on the show last night, was the part that showed Giannis was actually just having fun.

He actually showed love. Take a listen to the entire joke and the praise. You keep joining super teams to win the NBA title.

How about we work out together sometimes so I can teach you how to carry your own team? Oh! You know what I'm saying? I like that one.

It was a little simpler. KD, where's the camera? KD, you're one of the best scorers to ever play this game. I respect your game. You know, you've lived by example for 15 years, so you were my favorite player growing up. I hate this!

Entertain me! So, Hasan Minhaj is the guy screaming, I hate this! That's The Daily Show host. And so the point is, Hasan Minhaj wanted Giannis to just, the whole skit, the whole segment was about how Giannis is such a nice and warm guy that we actually needed him to say some mean and nasty things. He couldn't bear himself to do it, so he insulted Kevin Durant and then talked about how great he is and how much he's his favorite player. They got the LeBron James. Giannis didn't even get out the insult. He just went straight into how amazing LeBron is. Giannis is good, unless he's trying to knock over a guy with a ladder. But anyway, Giannis was joking about Durant, right? Like, Giannis said that, hey, if you want to learn how to lead a team, come see me. You don't have to join a super team.

And then he's like, hey, but I love you, I love you, I love you. Was that really a joke? Because when Giannis won his first title, he pretty much said the same thing, holding the MVP trophy and the Larry O'Brien trophy. And Giannis didn't sound like he was joking at all about winning it and doing it the hard way.

Listen. Obviously, I wanted to get the job done. But that's my stubborn side. It's easy to go somewhere and go and win a championship with somebody else. It's easy.

I could go, I don't want to put anybody on the spot, but I could go to a super team and just do my part and win a championship. Still won. But this is the hard way to do it, and this is the way. And we did it. We did it. We did it, man. And he kissed the trophy.

I don't want to put anybody on the spot, but I didn't have to go join a super team. Whoa, who you talking about? Always a little bit of truth in the jokes, right? There were some people looking for a response from Kevin Durant today. No response came through on Twitter like Kevin Durant's going to respond to Charles Barkley on Twitter. He's not going to get in the back and forth with Giannis.

And the whole segment was supposed to be supposed to be. Supposed to be a joke. I think Kevin Durant could take a joke. Nikolay Jokic, what does he care? This man is averaging a triple double and maybe he'll be on his way to another MVP and maybe some success in the playoffs. Somebody help out Nikolay Jokic.

He's like shooting more than 60 percent from the field and about 40 plus from downtown. It's nuts. Shub, did you say something?

No, no, I didn't actually. But I will say to that point, JR, Nikolay Jokic hasn't shot less than 50 percent in a game in more than three months. It's unreal.

No, he don't make no sense. And Giannis just called him fat. Let's hear that joke one more time. Joker, how are you going to make it through the finals where you look like you can barely make it through a Burger King drive through? That might be the NBA's three time MVP. And he's also the dude that got selected basically last, almost last in the NBA All-Star game. Ain't nothing fancy or sexy about what he does, but he gets the job done, man. He's a freak. He makes no sense. It's the JR Sportbrief show here on CBS Sports Radio eight five five two one two four CBS. It's eight five five two one two four CBS. He doesn't get the respect that he deserves.

Damian Lillard doesn't get the respect that he deserves. Take some of your calls before we roll out. You're listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio.

Hey JR, how's it going? I love listening to your show. I drink a brewski and listen to you every night after work. Helps me unwind.

Call in now at eight five five two one two four CBS. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with a beer. Go ahead, have a beer. Have two beers. Please do it safely. Don't do it in your damn car. Don't don't do that, please. It's dangerous.

Not just for you, but for others. We talked about a lot tonight. And we went through the NFL Combine and we talked about some of the comments and commentary made by some of the GMs.

I think the biggest news that came from a general manager today or coach was from Brian Guttenkunst. He gave more of a hard line stance without being certain. He didn't come out and say, yeah, we're trying to get rid of Aaron Rodgers.

We want to see love. But he kind of came close. This is Brian Guttenkunst on Jordan Love. And if he's ready to play quarterback. If he's ready to play, I think he's ready to be an NFL starting quarterback. He's worked really hard. He's done a lot of progression. I know he's really eager to have that. And I think that's the next step in his progression is to play.

OK, well, damn, Brian, what about Aaron Rodgers? You you want this guy back? Yeah, I think, you know, those discussions have to happen and making sure that it's the right fit.

But obviously we know the kind of player that Aaron is. And, you know, once we had those conversations, we'll be able to move forward with a lot more to say. Just let's listen to the listen to how he answered at the beginning.

Listen to the pause and the listen to that part again. Yeah, I think, you know, that those discussions have to happen and making sure that it's OK. Yeah, I think those conversations have to happen. Yeah, I think, you know, you don't know what the hell he wants. Someone who does know what he wants.

Well, not really. Rand Carson, the new general manager for the Titans. Tell me if he sounds excited about wanting Ryan Tannehill. Hey, is Ryan Tannehill going to be back with the team? Ryan is under contract.

You know, I know you guys, I just want to speak freely for a moment. You know, I know everybody wants to make a big deal, you know, out of the quarterback position and whether he will or won't be here. But you guys just have to accept the fact that Ryan is under contract, you know, for us.

And right now he's a Titan and he will be a Titan. Well, that that that's exciting now, isn't it? He's as excited about Ryan Tannehill returning as he is of just standing around and reading the dictionary. I can't wait.

I can't wait until tomorrow. Right. We're going to have more quotes from more coaches saying saying nonsense. We talked about Taylor Lewan. He's he's released from those same Titans and he's just dropping his stuff off in garbage bags in the front of his house. We discussed Derek Carr. Derek Carr is also in Indianapolis, scheduled to be. You're going to meet with everybody and their mother trying to get a job. I wonder if they're going to ask him questions about, you know, his mama and his father.

I wonder. Marcus Mariota got the boot. Quinn Snyder lost. Nikola Jokic is just getting fat jokes. Chef, can we hear Giannis call him fat again on The Daily Show? Joker, how are you going to make it through the finals where you look like you can barely make it through a Burger King drive through?

Yeah, I'd be OK. Nah, I wouldn't. Giannis is good at telling jokes. When he's just not reading them off of a.

A teleprompter on The Daily Show. So, so J.R., so there's I'm almost positive about this. He did the same thing with Joker that he did with K.D., where obviously he reads something that is scripted for him. And he told him he loved him. Exactly.

And he did that for Joker. Exactly. Yeah. But the whole point of the segment was he's such a nice guy and he showed these guys love.

Yeah. He is one of the nicest people. And you've you've actually met him. You've had him on that. You've had him on your YouTube show. No, I didn't have him on my YouTube show. I thought I thought you did.

No. The first time I met Giannis, I met his. So a friend of mine used to run the Nigerian basketball team.

Right. Obviously, Giannis and his family, they're Nigerian by Greece. So I knew his dad and I met his mom and I met his brothers and I met Giannis.

The first time I met Giannis was at NBA All-Star weekend. I don't know how many years ago this was. A long time ago. How long has he been in the league now? He was a rookie in 2013. 2013. So I probably met him in 2014.

Almost 10 years ago. And he was at like a Lids or Foot Locker on Canal Street in New Orleans. And he was doing like a signing. And I was there because I knew his family and or his dad.

And my friend ran the Nigerian team. And so I stopped by. And there was nobody there. Because other people are trying to see Derek Rose and Lebron and everybody else. And it's just like. Right. Who's showing up to see Giannis or Teta Kumpo?

People. People don't even know how to say his name. I mean, he wasn't. I mean, he was the 15th overall pick. I understand he wasn't lottery bound, but he was he was something special to be in the very beginning. Oh, but to start his career off, there were glimpses.

Yeah. But the hype surrounding him wasn't what it was. You know, so he was there. And when I got there, there was maybe I missed the boat.

There was nobody there. That's crazy. And the first thing that and this is All-Star weekend.

So ain't nobody trying to see the 15th overall pick in the draft when Lebron James and Carmelo are down the block. You know, so the first thing that Giannis said to me was just like, hey, hey, I, I know you like you do. I never met you before. He's like, I watch you on YouTube. I was like, get the hell out of. He's like, yeah. I was like, well, if he's saying that, he does. Because there was no other way in hell that Giannis or Teta Kumpo would know who I am.

And so that was a pretty cool experience. I know, unfortunately, over the past couple of years, he's he's lost his his dad. So I don't have any relation with with Giannis anymore after meeting him and his dad after he passed away. But, yeah, he's a good dude. God bless Giannis.

He's already now nine years later, one of the greatest players that the NBA has ever seen. I know I have to get this in here. The Navy Federal Credit Union Defensive Player of the Week is sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union, who proudly serves the armed forces, DOD veterans and their families. Their members are the mission.

You can learn more at Navy federal dot org. This defensive player of the week. I'm sorry, he's a loser.

I'm sorry, he's a loser. And I'm going to call him the defensive player of the week, even though he got his ass whooped tonight. His name is Anthony Davis. He blocked five shots. More importantly, he was dunked on savagely. He couldn't block that one. So I feel sorry for him. I'm just going to give him the award.

Defensive player of the week because I can do what I feel like. Good luck to the Los Angeles Lakers. They got they got no hope. Shep, are they going to the playoffs? No. Are they getting into the play in? Maybe. It doesn't matter anyway.

They're not going to win. Are we going to see LeBron? I mean, you don't know. I don't know. Do you think we're going to see LeBron back this year?

Yes. What, with like two games left? He, JR, as much as much crap as he gets for not being old school, he actually is in the sense that he will play if he can.

And I've always give him credit for that. Even in your 20, he'll he'll be behind that montage and that belief system. So he'll be LeBron James is going to go out there with a if his foot is broken. He can't go play played with. He played with it for two quarters. Yeah, well, that's you know, you hyped. Right. And in the day later, if his foot is broken a day later, you know, it's everything is worn off and things swell up. You know, it's just how it goes. I was going to say you ever got put up.

You ever been punched in the face on the phone for that trap again? Just remember this, though. He missed the playoffs last year. He missed the playing game last year.

He's not doing that two times in a row. Well, look, if he ain't got no foot, he can't play. I want to see LeBron play. I want to see the Lakers in the playoffs, but it looks like they're going to be ass.

They lose another one tonight, unfortunately, to the Grizzlies. The JR sport re-show here on CBS Sports Radio is a wrap. We'll be back tomorrow, 10 p.m. Eastern, Southern Pacific.

The Amy Lawrence show is up next. Thank you so much. You all have a good night. Be safe. Be well. Be cool. An epic conclusion.

FX's Snowfall, the final season, all new Wednesdays on FX stream on Hulu. Kevin Matt talks with Matt Hardy. There's nothing like a wrestling fan, you know, for better or for worse. How do you handle that, though? We're talking about people talking about your family, what they don't know about your family or your brother or you. How does one handle that from a day to day basis? Something I joke about with the young bucks all the time. I said, if you would vanity search Matt Hardy on Twitter, I said, after you got through 100 plows, you want to quit the business and never, never be seen again. It's just you just learn to deal with it. You know what I mean?