JR SportBrief Hour 1

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

Happy Wednesday evening to you. It is the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm being joined by super producer and host Dave Sheppard. He's coming to you live from New York City. I'm going to be here with you for the next four hours. This is when the show gets started 10 p.m eastern time, 7 p.m pacific.

Let me also say this, I'm here to get you over the hump. Yeah, it's Wednesday night when the hell up on I'm out of here. It's going to be closer to to Thursday morning and so we got a lot to do.

The Philadelphia 76ers are beating the Dallas Mavericks in Philadelphia right now 110 to 103. We're getting closer to the weekend. We're getting closer. My God, this is, we're getting closer to the final four in Houston already.

This whole week has basically flown on by. Lamar Jackson still doesn't have a, well he has a team. He hasn't committed to a team.

He hasn't found a contract. He hasn't found a team that wants him and so what else is new, right? The NFL is basically adjusting their schedule.

I don't know if it's for the better. It's like the NFL just says more and more that they do not give a damn about their players and then of course every single Wednesday night into Thursday morning I bring you a new top six list and tonight to show some love and honor to the final four getting ready to go on. We're going to give you a top six list of some of the biggest underdogs that we have seen and witnessed in sports history. This is going to be a combination of players.

It's going to be a combination of teams and so if they were an underdog there's a good chance that they might, keyword, might make the list. If you want to holler at us it's simple. The phone number is as follows 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. I'm all over the internet everywhere at JR Sport Brief. I put a little teaser up about the list. You can see the photo on Twitter or Instagram at JR Sport Brief but before we do anything the NFL season isn't until later this year. They got their draft in about a month. The season isn't until later this year. March Madness is going to conclude over the weekend into Monday but in less than 24 hours you don't have to wait any longer for the 2023 major league baseball season.

It is upon us. I don't know if you treat baseball like Christmas or New Year's Day but I guess you could say this is uh this is the eve of the MLB season and what a season this is going to be because for the first time in its damn history 100 and I think 120 years just about longer than that major league baseball has switched up some rules. Baseball is a sacred game right?

Sacred. You don't change it. You don't extend or change the dimensions. You don't move the mound back. You raise it. You bring it higher. You lower it.

You don't change the distance between the base paths. Baseball is a sacred game. It's not there for change until people stop watching. Until there's less action. Until there's less action.

Until the game starts to cannibalize itself and loses a younger audience. The dimensions did not change but baseball has started to implement some rules that will change the game forever. Baseball got a time of folks.

Baseball in essence has a shot clock, a pitch clock. Baseball didn't change the dimensions of the actual field but baseball did change the bases. Bases are bigger. Used to be 15 square inches.

Now they are 18 square inches. If you are running, diving, sliding, you got a better chance of getting your fingertips on that base. It should increase action. It should increase stolen bases. And the pitch clock, well, pitch clock has been tried out in the minors. The pitch clock was just implemented into spring training.

And from the data that everybody received last year with all the information that everybody got their hands on just this past spring training which ended yesterday, thank God. Felt like spring training was going on forever. Major league baseball games were shortened from about three hours long on average to two and a half hours long on average.

That sounds almost dirty and impossible to say. If you think about the length of some of these damn baseball games over the years, clock yourself in for three hours plus. The game kept going and going and going.

And going and going and going some more. Two and a half hours is ridiculous. It's about the length of an NBA game.

Game starts at 7, 7.30. You out of there. You're done. I don't know. 9.30, 10 o'clock. You're cooked.

Wow. Pitchers are getting used to the clock. Batters are getting used to being told you gotta be in the batter's box by eight seconds. And we've had some balls called and we've had some strikes called and we've seen it all.

We saw a game end because a guy was outside the box. And so everybody's getting used to this. Max Scherzer, future hall of famer, all star of this, World Series champion that. Max Scherzer, Cy Young-ness multiple times. Max Scherzer talked about how conscious and how aware he is now with this pitch clock.

When are you conscious of the clock? Every pitch. I mean, you are looking at this at every pitch.

So that's just reality. That's why I said I'm never going to get called on it. So if you have any problems, you got to look at the umpire and be able to get anything. So you can't, I mean, there isn't a moment that you can take your eye off of it. I mean, I got a violation on me earlier in spring training because I took my, you know, I took my eye off the clock one time. You know, I thought I was, you know, operating normally and, you know, I didn't.

So from that, I learned from that one mistake. And I mean, you have to, it's on the forefront of your mind, every single pitch. So that's, I mean, that's why, you know, that's why I sit there and say, like, give the umpire discretion and turn it off.

Oh, he wants discretion. Well, get over it, man. And I know Max Scherzer is a big old wig.

He's a big wig here in Major League Baseball with the Players Association. It's too late for that, man. The pitch clock is here. Everybody's going to have to get used to it. Manager Alex Cora, he recently talked about the pitch clock and he said, yeah, I like it. It's been great. I love it, to be honest. Why I say that?

Because I want to be home in sooner rather than later. I think it's a better product for the fan base, for the fans. You know, I can tell you from experience right now with my kids, you know, they're playing soccer, they're playing baseball, they're doing gymnastics.

And in order is 1A, 1B, 3. And it's baseball. And they love it. They like it, but they take round balls and then you go in the back of the line and it takes forever. You know, I hate to say it because, you know, I want them to love the game.

They love it, whatever, but I would love them to play it. But this is where we at, you know, and there's sports out there that, you know, they're more fun because there's not dead time. Oh my God, the manager of the Red Sox said that. There are sports more fun than the one I manage because there's not so much dead time.

Wow. The manager of the Red Sox said that. Former championship manager said that.

He said he loves the fact that the games are shorter because he has a chance to go home and see his family and his kids. Yeah, we need to cut the crap out about baseball. We need to stop the nonsense of, oh man, oh, it's fine the way it is. Yeah, for you, game ain't just for you.

This is a business. They don't have no future customers like Alex Cora's kids. Then the game is cooked into the future. It's not about you and what you like. Everything needs some change. And so I'm fine with it. I would have been cool with the way baseball was, but you know what?

It ain't my damn business. I can tell you one thing I did hate, the lack of action. I did hate that.

I hated the lack of fundamentals in the game. I hated the fact that baseball had to ban the shift just to try to have batters who pull the ball because they can't hit it the other way actually get some hits. That's the part that stinks that we got to a world where baseball players, not everybody used to do it, but we have too many guys that can't like spread the ball out over the field.

They can't spray the ball all over the damn place. And so they were taken advantage of by the shift. And because the players did not get better, they had to put a rule in to try to fix it. That's not to say that we don't see outfielders now moved around into a shift because it only applies to the infield.

And so, yeah, some of these rule changes are kind of lazy and some of them are necessary, but you know what? Life goes on. They'll play the damn game. The game will be the same.

It's as barbaric and as simple as simple can be. Throw ball, hit ball. If you can't do that, go find something else to do. And so the MLB season starts tomorrow and I'm here for it. I'm here for the future disasters. I'm here for the arguments. I'm here for the pitch clock violations.

And there's going to be some, there's going to be some type of controversy that we haven't even thought of yet, but it's all here. The baseball season is back and I'm thrilled for it. You think about some of the changes and not rule changes. Think about some of the roster changes that we've gotten over the past several months. Remember Carlos Correa? Was he going from the Twins to the Giants?

No. Ankle concerns, right? Is he going from the Giants to the Mets? No, we're not giving you 375 million.

We're not giving you a billion trillion dollars because it says your ankle sucks. Oh, so where's Carlos Correa go? He goes back to Minnesota. Yeah, sorry guys. You guys weren't my, my last choice. I just, I'm back where I need to be.

Thank you, Minnesota. Now you got paid less. So many shortstops moved around. Trey Turner, former Washington national, former Dodger. Trey Turner is now he's in Philadelphia, $300 million over 11 years. The San Diego Padres, they got more money than anybody got money. They gave Xander Bogarts an 11 year deal, $280 million. How much money they going to try to pay Soto? I don't know if he'll stay, but the way they handing out money, why the hell not? New York Mets, handing out money. You heard from Max Scherzer about the pitch clock. They're giving this dude like 40 plus million. Hey, Justin Verlander, come here. You just want to Cy Young?

You're 40 years old. Who cares? We're going to give you $40 million too. Steve Cohen is worth $17 to $18 billion. Who's worried about him, right? Jacob DeGrom is a ranger. Wilson Contreras goes from the Cubs to the Cards. And Aaron Judge. So many thoughts about where Aaron Judge was going to go. Hit 62 home runs.

Broke an American League home run record. Is he going to California home? Is he going to play for the Giants? Is he going to San Diego, which offered him a gigantic contract?

Aaron Judge decided to stay with the New York Yankees. Are the Houston Astros? Are they coming back to win another championship? Can the Yankees finally get past them? How long out of the season are the New York Mets and the Braves just going to beat the living hell out of each other?

We have no idea. Is Mike Trout going to stay healthy? Does Otani win the MVP? Bryce Harper, when does he come back from his injury to maybe move the Braves and the Mets out the way? Lightning can't strike twice now, can it, in back-to-back years? The Blue Jays going to surprise people? All of their pitching? Their young bats? There's a lot of questions. There's a lot of interesting factors here for this MLB season.

Well, Otani, if he's healthy, looks like he'll be on his way to an MVP. But I'll tell you this much. Baseball is going to be a big deal.

I'll tell you this much. Baseball is going to be full of controversy this year, full of adjustments, full of personalities. It's just a matter of whether the personalities get the attention that they deserve. Is America going to find out more about Otani or Judge? Is Trout going to be healthy? Is Acuna going to be healthy? Or is this going to be another season that kind of just flies under the radar in the general public?

We have no idea. It's the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio the night before the 2023 MLB season gets underway. We got baseball between tomorrow and October.

162 games plus. The big difference this year? We got a clock. I'm excited for the season. I'm excited to see who wins. I'm excited to see who loses, probably still the Pirates. And I'm excited for a little bit of change. And I'm excited to have on baseball as some background noise as I go ahead with my life. Even though I'll only have baseball for about 30 minutes less than normal. I'm still here for it. It's the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio 855-212 for CBS.

Hit me up. What are your thoughts on this upcoming season? Are you excited to see how things work with the new rule changes? Are you excited about the clock? And are you excited for more action?

Is the the banning of the shift in the infield going to work knowing that you could move around outfielders? There's so many questions about this season. Let's talk about it.

It's 855-212 for CBS. There's some additional news here with the MLB season. And then how about this? Speaking of returning and coming back, there is a seven-foot scorer for the Phoenix Suns that hasn't been seen in 10 days. His name is Kevin Durant. He's back as well.

We're just getting started. It's the JR Sport Reshow, CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. JR wants to hear from you. Call him now at 855-212 for CBS.

That's 855-212-4227. It's the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio. The MLB season starts tomorrow. Get set.

Get ready. 162 games is pretty much on the damn way. We do have the rule changes. The larger bases, the pitch clock, the batter, got to be in the box in eight seconds of the pitcher being in the damn box. We know that the shift has been eliminated. And so baseball has some new parameters here.

Something else that I want to share with you. This is reported by Jeff Passan right when we started the show. This is about the minors. The Major League Baseball Players Association has come to the first collective bargaining agreement for minor leaguers. It's a five-year deal. These minor leaguers are going to get two times the amount of cash that they were initially paid, which is a whole lot of nothing. It's a split deal. $180,000 in the minors. There's a lot of numbers here.

We'll get through this. I know minor leaguers for the most part were paid crap. And I ain't talking about prospects that were going to be heading on to the major leagues.

You had a lot of minor leaguers who were just trying to make ends meet. I don't know if this is going to make a dent, but there is a deal in place and we'll share more details as they become available. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS.

Get your thoughts on this upcoming season. Let's go ahead and talk to Adam. He's calling from Toronto. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Adam? Hey, JR.

I really appreciate you taking my call, man. Look, when baseball first announced these rules coming, I kind of freaked out because I'm a huge diehard Blue Jays fan. I was like, why are they touching baseball?

It's perfect the way it is. And then I sat down and watched the first spring training game this year and I thought, this is amazing. I mean, just how much faster it is, how much more in your face it is. People come up to me all the time, I'm only 23, and they're like, man, how do you watch baseball? It's so boring.

I go, oh, I know. It's extremely boring, but I love it. I just think that we're going to look back in a couple of weeks, JR, and we're going to realize it's the best thing baseball's ever done because we live in this generation that if something's not happening every 15 seconds, nobody cares, right? All these other leagues, the NHL, the NBA, the NFL, they all adjust their rules and they all adapt.

Baseball's the only game that has stayed the exact same for 100 years. And just watching my first spring training game, I'm so happy that they've implemented these rules. And I'm really looking forward to the bigger bases as well because I think the art of stealing bases has gone away. And I think that if you put more base stealing and I actually enjoy the shift ban and I'm really excited to watch this upcoming season, man. I am too, Adam.

Thank you so much for calling from Toronto. I mean, maybe we'll get back to a place where we have a stolen base leader with, I don't know, 60 to 100 stolen bases. It used to be even more than that for the top base stealers. And now you got guys stealing out 30, 40 bases, and that's supposed to be a lot. That's, that's pitiful because the baseball teams have taken the approach of, oh, it's too risky for him to run. Oh my God, if he runs, he's going to get thrown out. It's not worth it. The stats say opposite.

Let's have the guys just go out there and play, damn it. 855-212-4CBS. Dawg is here from North Carolina. What's going on, Dawg? I got to put you on hold. Your phone sucks. Sorry about that.

You came in sounding like the Terminator. We don't need that. Let's try again momentarily if you can get things to work. In the meantime, let's talk to Jared. Jared is calling from Alabama.

You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Jared? Hey, JR. What's going on, man? How are you?

Man, I'm doing well. Hey, I apologize if you've already talked about this, but if you haven't, man, here we are the night before, and Trevor Bauer will not be on the mound in MLB, at least in 2023 for USA or in America. Man, do you think that he makes it in Japan? Are you surprised that a team does not want him pitching, I mean, anything, give him a chance this year? And do you think that we're going to see him in the MLB in 2024? Personally, I hope not, but I wanted to get your thoughts. Oh, hell no.

I don't think so. I'm glad, for whatever reason, Trevor Bauer, I know for sure we mentioned him at some point over the last two weeks. I'm glad he's not in baseball.

I'm glad that not a damn team wants him. It was apparent, even throughout his suspension when he was eligible to return, that his own teammates did not want him. You can look at his tweets and his messages and how grating he was and rebellious for no reason. There aren't too many people I do not know or have never met that I will be critical of, but Trevor Bauer, there seems to be a lot of indications, even prior to this issue of sexual assault that he denied and says everything was consensual. His behavior towards fans and towards people online and just his know-it-all-ism and all, he was a complete jackass. And so he's in Japan, and he's quote-unquote paying the price, and if Trevor Bauer never comes back to baseball, I could give a damn if I ever see him or hear about him again in life. He just sounds like a terrible human.

Hey, Jalen, I agree, man. I don't think he will be back in the MLB. I also don't see him pitching in Japan for 10 years, so I have no idea what's going to happen. Well, if he wants to throw a damn baseball, he might have to stick around out there for 10 years. Or, you know what, if he is pitching at a high level and he gets older and people feel that he will shut the hell up when he comes back, you know, you can never close the door. But I got no problem if I never hear from him. I just think he's a nasty person. Yeah, I'm with you.

Well, we'll see what happens. Hey, Jalen, thanks for the call, brother. Thank you, Jared.

Be well and be safe. My next-door neighbor down in Alabama. Nah, man.

I named a lot of stars. Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, you know, think about Trey Turner and Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Justin Verlander, Scherzer. I don't care how old those guys are. I'd rather see what they got left in the tank than look at Trevor Bauer. I'm glad he's gone, man. And I hope he never comes back.

I'm sorry if I sound like a jerk, but that's a piece of trash human being right there. Good for him. He can go pitching the World Baseball Classic for some country that I've never heard of. Good luck to Trevor Bauer and whatever the hell he's doing.

Enjoy Japan. 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. It's 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. Doug is here from South Carolina. You're on the JR Sport re-show. What's up, Doug?

Hey, just wanted to say I agree with you on Trevor Bauer for sure, but it's me and my buddies and new conversations we've had and just food for thought and think what your opinion on this marks you to Clemson. He is trying to take over right now and I mean they could pay him 4.2, 4.3 million. I get it. He's building a program making dog of it.

That's two and a half times what he's making. What do you think about that? I think it'll be a cold day in the hell before that man leaves out there for just Clemson.

That's pretty random, man. That man has been there for the better part of 30 years, okay? Hey, Shep, are you going to coach Clemson instead? I think I'm going to stick around with you, JR, if I'm being honest with you. Mark Few's got a Hall of Fame big coming pretty soon.

Yeah, I don't know why. Mark Few is not moving from the Pacific Northwest to up the road for me and Clemson. That's not happening. You and your friends could sit around and think about it, but that's one gigantic pipe dream.

You can just throw that idea out of the window. By the way, do we even know what Mark Few's voice sounds like? You want to talk about a low-key, great college basketball coach.

He fits that T to the ultimate. Good. He should give Trevor Bauer some advice. He's got that right. Be quiet. It's the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS.

It's 855-212-4CBS. Speaking of someone not going anywhere, Mark Few ain't leaving Gonzaga, and I can also give you an update on an NFL quarterback. It doesn't seem that he's going anywhere either because every day is a new team that doesn't want him. I'm talking about Lamar Jackson. I'll give you an update there. I'll leave the phone lines open. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Yes, sir. I'm a goat farmer. I don't know if you know this or not, but goat farmers have the most powerful curse in all of sports. You can ask the Chicago Cubs about that one.

Oh, my God. The billy goat? Yeah, the billy goat. That's the real thing, man. That billy goat was a season ticket holder.

He didn't deserve none of that smoke, and they ended up giving it to him. You see how the Chicago Cubs found out. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. Oh, man.

I remember. The goat farmer is actually from Florida. He hasn't hit me up. I'm here in Atlanta. He ain't hit me up about no goat yet. I love goat meat.

I do. Anyway, congratulations to those Cubs. I mean, the championship was, let's see, it was three years or four. The championship was about seven years ago by now, but yeah, they're still in the process of rebuilding.

I don't know what they're doing. I guess they're still tearing things down in Chicago. Somebody asked me today, hey, JR, when are you coming back to Chicago? I said, when it's above 80 degrees. I think the last time I was in Chicago was maybe June, July. Had an amazing time. Don't look for me in Chicago now unless I absolutely need to go.

Definitely not to see no damn Cubs. It's the JR Sport Reshow, CBS Sports Radio 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to tell you about Lamar Jackson in a few minutes, give you an update there. Not much of an update, but he has been very active on Twitter, dating back to when we were live on the air last night.

So I'll give you an update there. We opened up the show today talking about the Major League Baseball season. It gets underway tomorrow. And, you know, are you excited? Do you care? Are you interested in the rules, etc.? Dawg is back from North Carolina.

Hopefully he doesn't sound like Optimus Prime or the Terminator. Let's try again. Dawg, you're on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you for calling from North Carolina. Hey, I appreciate you, man.

And you're right, my phone is trash, bruh. But I was just wanting to know, man, is it, I don't know too many of the rules, but I know the new stuff. If, say like they got them on, got somebody on first base, got somebody on first base, and the pitch clock start, and the guy is trying to steal the base, how many times do he get the pitch out? Or do the clock start over? No, the clock?

Or what? Yes, you get, you have two chances to throw over. You get two pick-off attempts, which is not a lot. And so this is really, or it should really encourage stolen bases, because if you are the guy on first base, you can pretty much say, oh man, I got him on two times, and now I'm just going to go.

Or you might be stuck depending on your speed. But the pitcher with a pitcher, excuse me, the pitcher with a batter or runner on base, not a batter, with a runner on base, the clock now goes up to 20 seconds with a runner on base. So if nobody is on base, the pitcher has 15 seconds to get that damn ball to the catcher.

If there is a runner on base, he has 20 seconds, and then he has two chances to go ahead and throw over. Okay, okay. I appreciate you, man. I got a change too. Zach used to, I used to have my, or had your number in my speed dial, and Zach, I've officially switched it to JR. Why the hell did you change, man?

Why are you doing that? It's the same station. I know, but JR, you my dude now. You a top dog, man. Let us all be your dude, dog, okay? I appreciate you, man. I got you, brother. All right. Thank you, dog, for calling from North Carolina.

Thank you so much. Marty is here from Louisiana. You're on the JR Sportbreeze Show. What's up, Marty? JR, how you doing, man?

What's up? Good. You know, down here in Louisiana, everybody, especially in the South, are Astros fans, right? Because, I mean, we don't have a professional team here, so everybody tends to pull for the Astros. And, of course, if you have a championship team, you have, you know, a tendency to want to follow them more.

But my thoughts are, I'm wondering if rule changes can really change the dynamic of how, let's say, the younger generation might view the game. Bingo. Because everything is so embellished in life for them, they get on their phone playing games or whatever they may do, they have to see it sort of in an embellished light, you know? I don't know if I'm making a lot of sense. No, no, you make all the sense in the world, and I have this conversation privately with people in baseball. I had this conversation with someone who was at the Braves a few days ago. Here's the deal.

Marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing. You can change the rules to the game to shorten the game. I don't think lopping off 30 minutes is going to appeal to someone who is 20 or 15 or 8 years old. They ain't going to care either way.

There's not too much of a difference between two and a half and three hours. Really, let's be honest, for anybody but me who's going to leave the game anyway because I don't want to sit in traffic on the way out, what baseball is ultimately going to need to do, it doesn't matter how long the game is, they have to market their stars. They have to take these action clips from the stolen bases, from the home runs. They have to put them in a fun way and present them on TikTok.

They have to present them on Instagram, and if they don't do that, this is what a lot of people don't understand. It's not about marketing the game. It's not about selling the game. It's not about the game.

It's about taking moments from the game and making them fun and cool for people to give a damn. Let's be real here. In a way, what matters is to the NFL, just say for young people, maybe some older. Well, let me tell you, hey, there's basketball on every night from October until June.

There's NBA basketball. To be honest, I don't know how many young people in the average age of an NBA viewer is 40 years old. I don't know how many 40-year-olds are sitting down watching every game for two and a half hours, but you know what they are doing? They're looking at the clips on Instagram. They're looking at the clips on TikTok. They're sharing the highlights. I love the game that way, too, in a lot of ways.

Yes. Baseball is not my favorite sport, although my kids played it and they were good and I got to watch them. I still play ball and all that, but it's exactly what you're saying.

I do it, too. This is what it is, Marty. You know what? If I look at the NFL, there ain't no dust on the NFL. The NFL is in America like every Sunday. It's like a holiday. Everybody is waiting for the highlights. Everybody is waiting for the big plays.

You know what the NFL has done? It's marketed that way. The NBA is cool.

It's young. It's progressive. It's exciting. There's more scoring.

There's dunks. It's all this excitement. They have marketed themselves that way. Baseball has marketed itself as dusty and old. Do you think they just don't know how to do it?

Well, I think it's the people in charge. Baseball has made so much money historically over time because of the amount of games that they've been able to play. It's 162 games versus 82 for the NBA versus now the 17 for the NFL. Baseball makes money by opening up their stadiums almost every single day for almost three quarters of the year and then that is massive television inventory. They make tons and tons of money but this is the problem with any business. There was a point in time where I could have opened up an electronics store and I could have sold VCRs because everybody freaking needed one but the minute nobody needed a VCR, my ass is going out of business, okay? I'm not putting baseball out of business.

It will never go anywhere but the popularity, the amount of money that is spent on the game, there's gonna come a point in time on the chart where the money that is made, the revenue, doesn't match up with the audience and when that happens, if it does, it's going to be a massive oblique moment that for the most part, these are things that they need to take advantage of now while they know there is a problem but you want to know something? While the money is always flowing and while people can bathe in the money and know that judgment day or deed day is coming, you know, people ignore it. It's like me telling you an asteroid is coming and you say, oh, well, it's only a hundred years away and you're like, oh, well, I'm just gonna enjoy my life now.

Yeah, but your grandkids, you don't give a rat's ass about them so that's, it's a pretty stark comparison but that's, that's what it is. Hey, Marty, thank you so much. Thank you, man.

Take care. No doubt. Yeah, no, that's, it comes to a head eventually. There's gonna come a point in time where not enough people care about baseball to support the revenue.

That's it. They'll always be able to make money. They'll always be able to have cash.

Yeah, sure, but when does it slow down? That's not how any business works. Don't get fooled here.

It ain't how nothing works. I'm sorry, Shep, did you say something? Oh, no, JR, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I'm just, the question I would have for you and anybody listening would be this, JR, is if you talk about baseball, like, and we, we have, we have talked about this ad nauseum on the show. We can think back to individuals that were bigger than the sport, that transcended the game.

Chicks dig the long ball. Automatically, you know, Smolt, Glavin, Maddox. You talk about Griffey and the video game and then Bonds, whether he was cheating or not, we know about Balco, but he was a larger than life, must see, sit in front of the TV, can't miss, watch appointment television. There's Aaron Judge had a great season, but JR, I don't know if there's anybody playing this day, even Showtime Otani, where they transcend the game the way that those guys did in the 90s, the early 2000s. And JR, you know the last time an MLB player hosted Saturday Night Live?

I don't know. It was probably Derek Jeter and David Cone and David Wells. That was over 20 years ago. The NFL has tight ends and they got defensive ends hosting the SNL for God's sakes. Like there's nobody in today's game that truly transcends the sport where if you see them outside of a baseball uniform in a public venue, you know who that said player is.

Well, outside of, of probably maybe Aaron Judge now, you know, there's so many more options now as well. And that's all sports that hasn't helped baseball. This is the key word. Pastime. Pastime. Major League Baseball was a pastime because you could either go eat dirt in your backyard or you could stay inside and watch baseball. Nowadays, you can crack open your phone and you can watch the damn world go by. There's so many entertainment options.

I love baseball. It's unfortunate that to always talk about the game, it comes back to its future. And even that fact isn't, isn't the most exciting of circumstances. It is, it's rather dire.

It's scary. And they know this, but there is too much money on the table and they don't care. Baseball's own economics are, are fragile. You have Rob Manfred who looks at the spending of the New York Mets and looks at the disparity between the New York Mets and a team like the Pittsburgh Pirates and he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, there is a problem.

Well, yeah, no bleep. And so what do you think if that's the case internally and they don't do anything to fix their own internal economics, what do you, what do you think baseball thinks about the outside? It's like every business. It's just a bunch of fat cats making money that don't want to change anything because they're worried about their own ass and their own paycheck.

Get somebody else to do it is their thought. It's the JR sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio on the other side of the break. We're going to talk about some football changes and Lamar here on CBS Sports Radio. 1.4 seconds left to champions for the fourth time. Search for NCAA March Madness right here in the Odyssey app to get started.