It is the JR Sportbree Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Happy Monday, I'll be hanging out with you for the next two hours.
This show gets started every weekday 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. Thank you so much to former NBA player Carlos Boozer coming by to have a chat with us about the NBA playoffs, the NBA play-in, Cooper Flag, Duke, his twin sons who are just on their way to Duke. Thank you, Carlos Boozer. We had a great chat as well. Thank you so much for coming by Wes Reynolds who hosts the Long Shots Podcast on Vson. He came through to talk with us about Rory McIlroy. So if you missed that conversation with Carlos, you missed that conversation with Wes, you can go ahead and hit rewind on the free Audacy app.
A-U-D-A-C-Y. You can come on through and you can start the show from the beginning. You can hit pause, you can do whatever. Thank you to everybody listening on their local Infinity Sports Network affiliate. If you got Sirius XM, you can tune in on channel 375.
And if you have a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. I'm in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm being joined by super producer and host Ryan Hickey.
He is in New York City. And we talked about Nico Iamaliyava. Tennessee said, oh, no, we're not paying you. Go find somewhere else to play college ball. Hey, we talked about the WNBA draft.
Paige Becker selected number one overall by the Dallas Wings. And we got so much more to get into. We talked about the crappy playing games that the NBA are going to serve up.
And then we also talked about this at the beginning of the show. We had another coach fire today. In Mike Butenholzer. Yeah, the same Mike Butenholzer who led the Milwaukee Bucks to a championship in 2021. And he was ultimately fired from that squad. And now the same Butenholzer who coached the Phoenix Suns this year, even though he coached the team with absolutely no depth.
And then he got fired. And this is just a completely different world when it comes to coaching in the NBA. The Phoenix Suns have gone through three coaches in three seasons. Monty Williams, a former coach of the year. Frank Vogel, NBA championship coach. He had the Lakers with the best defense when they won in the bubble, okay?
I know some people don't want to count that, but just let's relax just a little bit. And now you're getting rid of coach Butenholzer, who I just told you is accolades. He's a former coach of the year himself. Two-time coach of the year. NBA champ with the Bucks.
Now he doesn't have a job. It used to be in the NBA. You got fired if you sucked. You got fired if the star player didn't want you. But it was very rare that all of this would take place in a year.
Are you kidding me? The Phoenix Suns, they were 10 and 18 since the All-Star break. When Kevin Durant didn't play, they were 3 and 17. They wanted to trade Bradley Beal, but Bradley Beal did not go anywhere. He didn't want to waive his no trade clause. They wanted to trade Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant also didn't want to go anywhere. And so they kept him. He doesn't have a no trade clause, but why are you going to trade Kevin Durant to a team? Why would the team be so close to Kevin Durant? To a team? Why would the team bring on a guy who didn't want to be there?
So ultimately, somebody has to take the fall. And that's coach Bütenholzer. And in hilarious fashion, maybe not hilarious, maybe the writing was already on the wall. Bütenholzer spoke yesterday at the conclusion of this season, just hours before he was about to get the boot, hours before he was going to be fired.
And he basically said, yeah, this season sucked. You know, a season like this is not easy for anybody. I'm human.
You know, I think I had high expectations and, you know, there's a level of frustration, but I'm just like everybody else. You know, we want to be better. We need to be better. So regardless of, you know, anybody's circumstances or where they come from or what they're coming back to, we got to be better. They fired him.
There's no we better. They fired him. And good for him. He has four years and $40 million left on his contract. Matt Ishbia, the owner of the Phoenix Suns, this guy has so much money. He's like, yeah, I'll pay Monty Williams not to work. And by the way, Monty Williams, let's keep in mind, he ended up in Detroit.
He didn't even want that job. I'm going to pay Frank Vogel not to work. I'm going to pay Mike Boonholzer not to work.
Matt Ishbia, he treats this NBA thing. He treats this like it's Christmas, like this is charity. Like he's giving away money.
At what point in time is he going to learn? He wanted to make a big splash. He acquired Kevin Durant.
He wanted to make a bigger splash. He said, oh, let's add Bradley Beal to the team. The team sucks.
They're top heavy. They got nobody at the bottom of the roster, nobody in the middle of the roster to actually help them succeed. And it's not just coach Boonholzer. Last week, we learned that Michael Malone, he's done. We heard more from Josh Kroenke that all of a sudden, oh, well, this firing was months in the making. Michael Malone winning a championship with the Denver Nuggets. They got him the hell up on out of there. We think back earlier in the season.
How about this? Mike Brown fired by the Kings. D'Aaron Fox was still on the team at this point. They fired him and then he still got traded. Nick Nurse, man, Philadelphia didn't fire him.
Could you imagine? No, Joel Embiid, nobody's playing for Philadelphia. They tried to lose on purpose. Nick Nurse won a championship in Toronto in 2019. They fired him. Frank Vogel, I just told you about winning a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers.
He was fired in 2022. When you have superstar players making forty five and fifty and fifty five and sixty million dollars a year, upwards of almost 70 mil a year. Can't fire the players. He's going to go out there and fire the coach.
And it's not fair, but life isn't fair. And I guess if you're a coach and you can make ten million dollars a year, it's not too bad to sit on your backside. Because a star player didn't want to hear you like the NBA. Is going to need market.
Correction it is because there's no way that you can have this much stability. And this many owners shelling out money and players dictating what they want and don't want. Nicola Jokic said last week, I didn't have any say. He said they basically told me Michael Malone was done.
And that's just what it is. I don't work here. I just work here. I'm not the boss. I just work here. I asked the same question to Carlos Boozer when he joined us last hour.
Just brass tacks. Are NBA coaches important at all or are they just guys standing around waiting to be fired? This is what Carlos Boozer had to say. Ultimately, they didn't have the year they wanted to have. So they probably wanted to move on to the new voice in that locker room. There's going to be a lot of changes in Phoenix. So seeing where they're going in that direction and what they do with that team. But there's a couple guys that got let go. You saw what happened in Denver as well. The GM and the head coach Malone got let go.
It's that time of the year where ownership and management are evaluating their team and seeing who they want to leave the group going in the future. Okay. That's spoken by someone who's never coached in the league.
Okay. Carlos Boozer, a multiple time All-Star, long career, got himself a gold medal and then coaching his sons, watching his sons go out to Duke. Let's hear from Steve Kerr.
Why? Because Steve Kerr, he has experience at every level of basketball. There was a point in time where Steve Kerr was running the Phoenix Suns. We know about Steve Kerr on television. We know about Steve Kerr and his multiple NBA championships. We know about Steve Kerr as a four-time champ and leading and having to coach Steph Curry and Durant. Steve Kerr has done it all. And Steve Kerr was asked about coaches being expendable and why everybody's getting fired.
This is what Steve Kerr had to say. One thing that's happened is most teams are now owned by billionaires, big corporations. And so we're all more expendable. There's so much money in the business now. And there's pluses and minuses to that.
We're all making bigger salaries than we were five years ago, but we're all much more vulnerable because I don't think a lot of the owners are that concerned with firing a guy and paying him off to go away. Hickey, wrong business, huh? Wrong business.
Or the best one, really. I'm saying me, me and you. Oh, we like what we're doing versus coaching. I agree.
Oh, my God. What he just said. They're being fired and paid to just go away. Make my day if I get 40 million dollars out the door. And if you're somebody like Steve Kerr, you think he'll ever be fired or he'll just quit? He'll just quit one day, right? Yeah, I think he would just quit. Maybe he walks off like, you know, Steph, Draymond, Steve all kind of walk off together.
Yeah, that makes the most sense. Because you think think about this. Is there any coach in the NBA that would not get Greg Popovich is his own boss, and unfortunately, this man is recovering from health issues. We don't even know if he's going to coach.
I know Eric Spulstra has a long term deal. You think about Pat Riley being 80. I don't think Pat Riley is going to shake up the apple cart. Eric Spulstra probably has the best job security in the entire NBA.
Everybody else. I don't think there's another coach like Tom Thibodeau. If things don't work out for the New York Knicks this year and there's any type of embarrassment as closely knit as he is to to to Jalen Brunson and his dad, Rick, like I could I could live with me. I could see Coach Thibodeau getting fired and the New York Knicks decide to hire someone like Michael Malone. I could see that.
I hope it comes to fruition. Oh damn. You don't like Coach Thibodeau and his minutes? I mean it's not even that per se. I think his in-game coaching can be better, but also it's like the Knicks there are not many moves they can make to get over the hump. So if they get bounced on the second round, which they probably will in a non-competitive series, which it probably will be, you got to make some change and with the draft picks that they have given away for Cad and Mikkel Bridges, not many changes you can make to the roster got to be the coaching staff.
Has to be. Man, I'm looking at this list of coaches Hickey. Everybody can get fired.
Everybody. The last five coaches who won a title are fired. It's crazy. Chauncey Billups just did get a contract extension from the Portland Trailblazers. Listen to this list and then and then even for the the Memphis Grizzlies. They fired their heads they fired their head coach as well. These guys can all get Quinn Snyder of the Hawks. He can get the boot. Joe Mazzulla at any point and especially with new ownership, Joe Mazzulla can get fired.
I don't care. Jordy Fernandez, head coach of Brooklyn, whatever. Charles Lee of the Hornets, who cares? Billy Donovan.
Hickey, how the hell is he even? Do the Bulls know that they're playing? What's Joey Ronz? Is he worried about the White Sox?
I guess maybe he is Teflon because of, yeah, just bad ownership. Kenny Atkinson has already been fired from the Brooklyn Nets. He's coaching the Cavs.
They fired him. He didn't even get a chance to coach Durant. We got Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks. I think Jason Kidd will quit at some point over the next year. We have David Adelman, who's the new head coach of the Denver Nuggets now that Malone has been fired.
JB Bickerstaff with the Pistons. Yeah, he can get fired. Steve Kerr, not getting fired, but one day he's just going to leave.
It's early with the Rockets. He has time, but we know that he likes things on the side. He may get fired.
Maybe he learned his lesson. Rick Carlisle. Hickey, he's still coach of the Pacers. What does he do? I haven't heard from him in a while. Hey, they made the Easter conference finals last year.
The back of the playoffs this year is a five seed. He's not done anything right now to get himself fired. I feel like Rick Carlisle, he does a lot of complaining. I think he's about do. He's going to give us one good quote here in the postseason.
I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, he is one for a good complaint. And Ty Lue isn't getting fired. Good for him. J.J. Reddick is not getting fired. LeBron is not going to let it happen. Memphis Grizzlies new coach Tumas, Isalo, who knows?
I don't know. Eric Spulcher never going anywhere. Doc Rivers could get fired tomorrow by the Bucks.
Minnesota Timberwool. They still got Chris Hickey. The last time I saw Chris Finch, remember he broke his leg last year or something like that.
They had him sitting behind the bench. He can get fired. Willie Green is coaching the Pelicans.
What a sad job that is. Likely to get fired. Tom Thibodeau can get fired.
Mark De Nolle of the OKC. If they don't have success this year or next, they'll fire him. Jamal Mosey, the Magic, can get fired. Nick Nurse, already been fired, probably get fired again. My God, Doug Christie. Am I supposed to think he's going to coach the Kings forever?
No. Toronto Raptors, who cares who their coach is? Darko Rajovic. Walt Hardy is coaching the Jazz, can get fired. Brian Keefe, coaching the Wizards, can get fired. Hickey, everybody can get fired except for Spulcher. Yeah, the NBA head coach, by far the most volatile head coach position in all sports.
No doubt about it. You say NBA most volatile. The NFL, can you put the NFL in there? They give you a couple of years. Like the NBA, you don't give it a year right now. And at least the NFL, you have success, you stay like it's very rare to see like a Jim Harbaugh situation where you win and they still let you go. You win, you're there and they'll put up with whoever you want. NBA, you win a title. Two years later, you can take your team to the playoffs. The Nuggets are top four seed.
Doesn't matter. Hit the bricks, Michael Malone. Yeah, we've moved on into a different era of um, this is, I think this is beyond player.
This is still player empowerment. And like Steve Kerr said it, everybody makes so much money. The owners, they'll eat the salary.
Like Matt Ishby came from the finance world. He's like, but what's $10 million a year? I guess from his perspective, Hickey all in, he's like, listen, I got to pay my entire roster.
I don't know. 200, $300 million. What's $10 million for a coach to not, I don't know. We don't have the stalwart coaches anymore. We're not going to have that guy that's sticking around because the players move. I don't know if the collective bargaining agreement will change things.
I think we've already seen how player movement can be hindered. I don't know if guys are just going to ask to be traded, but it's just, you're screwed. Like when your entire tenure is connected to a player, like a Zion Williamson, like a Bradley Beal, like the owners will never fire themselves.
They can't. They're going to fire David Griffin who ran the pelicans today. They're going to fire Mike Budenholzer who he said he didn't connect with the guys in Phoenix. Well, they didn't play. None of these guys play. They didn't play together.
And then when Kevin Durant was actually out there on the court, they had a record of 33 and 29. That's, that's not all that exciting. Like this is a lot of it. It's Ishbia's fault. You can't blame anybody else. Can't blame James Jones.
He still has a job. The owners are the ones to blame. They're the ones with the money.
And if they go and pay, then so be it. Can't buy a championship. I think a lot of people are, look, the Brooklyn, Hickey, everybody that's tried this has failed. Mikhail Prokhorov with the Brooklyn Nets tried to buy a championship from the day he showed up. At one point in time, the Brooklyn Nets had Darren Williams. They had Brook Lopez, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. That was the, that was their team.
Yeah, it sounds nice on paper. You got a couple of Hall of Famers and multiple time All-Stars. Brook Lopez is still out here playing. You would think that that team would just go and light the world on fire. They were old. And the Brooklyn Nets, they mortgaged their entire future to go get that title when Mikhail Prokhorov showed up.
And what happened? The Brooklyn Nets didn't win a title. All those draft picks that went to Boston turned into Tatum and Brown. It got the Boston Celtics a championship. The Phoenix Suns. Matt Ishbia buys the team, brings in Kevin Durant, brings in Bradley Beal. All those draft picks, gone out the window. And now they got to trade one or both of them just so they can try to rebuild around Devin Booker.
Like sometimes, man, you, you got to take the slow build and the slow approach instead of just trying to bring in the hot new toy for the Christmas season. The Suns screwed themselves. It ain't because of Buehlenholzer. And it's not because of none of these miserable ass players who are never healthy enough to go out there. Hi, Bradley Beal. It's the owner's fault.
But of course, he can never take the blame. I wonder what that exit interview is going to sound like. I wonder how that goes.
And how about this? We discussed it last week. James Jones, for now, he still has a job. He didn't get fired. Operative word.
Words. For now. For now. Yeah. He's next.
He will definitely be next. The NBA. It pays.
It pays to be fired. It's the JR Sport Breeze Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break.
We come back. We're not going to talk about somebody who got, got fired. We're going to talk about someone who is, I don't know, I guess this is a promotion?
This man is going to be known as Captain America next year. I'll explain on the other side of the break. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. You're locked in to the JR Sport Breeze Show on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Breeze.
It is the JR Sport Breeze Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. NBA coaches, they may get fired all over the place. We have a couple of individuals who are being honored. We got people being named captains. We got the jerseys that are about to be retired.
I mean, this is, I don't want to say this is uncharted territory. Let's get, let's get the captain out of the way first. Aaron Judge has been named a captain, been named the captain for Team USA Baseball next year at the World Baseball Classic. Aaron Judge is having another ridiculous year. The baseball season just started. He already has more home runs than everybody at 6. He already leads Major League Baseball and RBIs with 20. It's early in the season. We know he has a batting average of 357. Every time Aaron Judge is playing baseball, he's just like a man amongst boys.
He's just brutalizing the competition. And so in 2023, Team USA lost the title game to Japan. I remember that. It's Shohei Ohtani. He struck out Freddie Freeman. Last time Team USA won this World Baseball Classic was in 2017. And the next year, the final for the World Baseball Classic is going to take place in Miami.
They're going to have games in Houston, Miami, Tokyo, and then also Puerto Rico. The manager is Mark DeRosa, and the pitching coach is Andy Pettit. And now Aaron Judge can be the captain. This was all announced earlier today. Aaron Judge says, of course I'm happy to be the captain.
This is great stuff. It's something special, you know, getting a chance to represent our country. You know, I kind of said earlier this morning, just thinking about all the brave men and women that have fought for this country and, you know, laid their lives down for us to get a chance to go out here and especially me get a chance to go out here and play a game. You know, it's, uh, it's a pretty, pretty humbling experience. So it's just happy to represent the US and, you know, happy to be your captain.
That's nice. Did he sound less enthusiastic at the end? He's like, whatever. Does he ever sound enthusiastic though? I've heard him sound happy. I mean, he's not Derek Jeter levels of, you know, miserable. He's not that far away though. Well, he's pretty close. Like he doesn't say anything. He has no personality, which is fine. You don't have to, but he's not out there, you know, giving you funny bits and quotes and showing his personality.
And I think so. I think he has a lot of fun in the dugout. I think when he's over and in right field, he does a lot of interactions. Well, I've sat in right field and I've seen him interact. I think he is when he talks to the media is just, there's nothing. He doesn't give you anything, but I think he has more of a public personality than Derek Jeter did. But at least in terms of press covers, like what he said today, like that's who he is. It's like out of the norm or he's less enthusiastic than he normally is.
That's just to me, another average ho-hum press conference by Aaron Judge. Yeah. I'm just happy to be your captain, I guess. Okay. Thanks. Okay. I won't think about the world baseball classic until it actually starts next year.
How about that? Aaron Boone, he has a lot of personality when he's cursing and yelling at the umpires. Aaron Boone says Aaron Judge, he's the best option to be Team USA captain. Look, I think it's the perfect face to be the captain of Team USA. So I know he's, he's really excited about it.
And so I think it'll be a great thing. Hickey, maybe is everybody on the Yankees miserable? Is that what it's being? I thought now that they had beards, they're supposed to be happy. I guess that didn't help. Oh my God.
I hope they have more enthusiasm next year. What do I know? I don't know. They're going to play Japan again? Hickey, is it bad for me to say I'm picking Japan? No, no, no, no. No. If you were rooting for Japan, different story. Picking them to win? No, that's fair game. No, no, no, no.
I'm not doing it. I only root for the New York Jets to lose when they need to. I'm not going to root against the United States of America. You're going to root for the Hawks then for the playing tournament or no? No, I'm not stupid, Hickey. I'm not rooting for, no. So you're smart. Okay. Yeah, I'm not rooting for nobody who has no chance to win. Come on now.
That's fair. I could see Hickey Yamamoto, Sasaki. They could just throw the whole Dodgers team out there, whole Dodgers team out there, Hickey.
And they could just beat Team USA themselves, man. What are we doing? I mean, as Otani, I'm assuming he'll pitch too, right? Yeah, he's going to pitch and he's going to hit. Not good. Oh man. Well, you got a Monica on the Cubs? Come on, man.
Yeah, they're pretty good. What are we going to do? We're going to find out where Verlander's arm is at and Chris Sale and Scherzer. I heard Scherzer has a thumb issue. It's just... Scherzer's going to try for like the 500th time for a comeback?
I don't know, man. He got to get his thumb checked out. I'm like, it's April, bro.
His first start of the year, he got hurt. Come on. It's like, man, is it your back?
Is it your knee? Like, go home. At this point, go home. Like, what are you trying to do?
You want to get to 300 wins? It's not happening. Just forget about it, man. It's crazy.
You guys will be out here trying every and anything. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. Hank is here from Wisconsin. You're on the JR Sport Reshow.
What's up, Hank? Hey, man. You were talking about buying championships in the NBA before, and I was just curious if you consider Durant. Durant going to the Golden State Warriors back in, I don't even remember what year it was. Is that like buying a championship? And also, do you consider buying a championship like what LeBron did like in Cleveland when, you know, they went out and they didn't necessarily buy Kevin Love or anything. They did have to go and pay, you know. No, no, no, not at all.
Listen, man. We've had super teams, if you want to call them whatever the hell you want to call them, in the NBA for a very long time. What happened with Kevin Durant was a unique circumstance where the NBA salary cap opened the hell up and the Golden State Warriors were able to afford him and he went there.
It's all things considered. Yeah, you could say that's buying a championship. The Warriors were able to bring in a guy who they didn't necessarily need to win another two championships. Yeah, the Warriors bought themselves a championship. But to put that in maybe in the same category of LeBron James, this man was begging and trying to get people to go to Cleveland for the longest time.
So I'm not putting that in the same space. But in order to win, you of course, you need talented players. I don't care if you're looking at the Celtics of the 80s, the Lakers of the 80s, the Chicago Bulls of the 90s. We can look at the Dallas Mavericks team, that one. They didn't have big time stars outside of Dirk. You can look at the Detroit Pistons. They had a bunch of all stars. Nobody was looking at these guys and going, Oh my God, Hall of Famers outside of Ben Wallace. But yes, you need a bunch of talent to go out there and win.
But what doesn't work is when you try to microwave the success. There's a big difference between the Golden State Warriors already being champs and adding Kevin Durant and having a big hotshot owner who comes in and says, I already have Devin Booker. I need Durant now because I can do it.
I need Bradley Beal now. And then you don't have nobody else on the team. Like, that's what I say. Buying a championship doesn't work.
When you try to microwave it, you're stupid. The Golden State Warriors were already a championship team before Durant got there. OK, I agree.
I totally agree. And you can see, like, as the effects of like what happened with the Bucks last couple of years, they tried to switch it up and get Dame and whatnot. And they didn't necessarily buy him either. But yeah, but there's but I know I'm not there's a difference. I'm not going to call talent acquisition just buying a championship.
That's not it. When I when I look at guys who and thank you so much, Hank, for calling from Wisconsin, if I'm thinking about buying titles, I'm not looking at a team that already had championship success. I'm not looking at a team that's that's already set and ready together. I'm not mad at the New York Knicks.
Come on, man. They don't look all that close to a championship. But just this past summer, how many guys did they bring in? They brought in Mikelle Bridges.
They brought in Karl-Anthony Towns. I'm not going to call that the Knicks are trying to buy a championship. Every team is going to try to acquire talent like flat period. If I bring in more talent, I have a better chance to win. I think we all know that. What I'm saying is when you have these owners who come in like a Mikel Prokhorov, all right, like what we've seen here with Matt Ishbia, when they show up in on day one, they just they just thought we need a star.
I need another star. And they have mortgaged their futures just by trying to buy a title right out of the gate. Hey, we just talked about Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees right across the river with the New York Mets. Steve Cohen owns the Mets. There were people beating this guy up from day one. He says, yeah, I want to try to win now. I want to win a championship in the next five years and I want to still build a team to compete for the long run. People were beating him up because he brought in Verlander and Scherzer.
He tried to win immediately, but then also have some legs on into the future. All this guy's done is throw money into the team and people are still complaining. You got Soto on the squad now. You got Lindor on the team. These guys are in long term deals.
And one of the guys, what does he make it? 750? 765. I shorted him 15.
My God, 765. Like you can try to throw money at a situation. The New York Mets threw money at early at a situation.
It didn't work. And this guy's still spending money. OK. Luckily, in baseball, they have a different economic system. In the NBA, you're handcuffed.
You're cooked. There's a difference between paying Kevin Durant to help you win more championships versus bringing on Kevin Durant, an older Kevin Durant and a washed up Bradley Beal. And you have nobody else on the roster. The Golden State Warriors of 2016. This team is not. A whole hell of a team is empty. Me and Hickey could play on the back end of this bench.
It's pretty bad. It's the J.R. Sportbri Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Listen, people, the NFL Draft preview is sponsored by Ego. Tools that deliver exceed the power and performance of gas without the noise, fuss and fumes for any outdoor challenge. Count on Ego tools to deliver the power, performance and innovation you need.
Ego power beyond belief. Derek Carr's shoulder injury was revealed on Friday. Many teams are expecting the Saints to go out there and get a new quarterback. The latest mock draft from CBS Sports has the Saints trading up from number nine to number five to get Chador Sanders.
It appears that this latest QB injury will add a major wrinkle to what happens in the first round of the NFL Draft next week. We are going to take a break when we come back. I told you that we had some folks who are being honored.
Yes, Aaron Judge will be a captain for Team USA Baseball in Colorado, specifically with Chador and Travis Hunter. They're being honored in a different way. I'll fill you in on the other side of the break. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbri.
No, not until you. But it's nice. Thank you. It is the J.R. Sportbri Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I need you to think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all of your car care needs.
Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Before we went to break, all these guys getting fired and dumped. I want to say prematurely, but I guess maybe not. Guys like Coach Budenholzer and Michael Malone. We talked about some folks who've been honored.
Aaron Judge is going to be captain for Team USA's Baseball next year at the World Baseball Classic. And then about 30 minutes ago. Colorado, the Buffaloes, they shared some news where they're actually going to be honoring guys who just left the team. They're going to be drafted into the NFL next week. How about this? Chador Sanders and Travis Hunter will have their numbers retired at Colorado.
Wow. Well, they're Colorado is not wasting any time. There are only four other men who've had their numbers retired for Colorado. Byron White, College Football Hall of Fame. This man was also an associate justice on the Supreme Court.
What a resume that is. Joe Romick, who was also a genius at Colorado. We got Bobby Anderson. And then God rest his soul, this man won a Heisman as well, running back Rashan Salam. He won a Heisman for the Buffaloes as well in the 90s.
And so now we have two additions. Chador Sanders and Travis Hunter. I'm a little bit surprised at how soon.
They're going to be honored with a ceremony this Saturday during the spring game for Colorado. And I guess when the coach might as well be your dad, I guess these things can happen a little bit easier. Obviously, I'm referring to Deion Sanders. I'm just a little surprised that, hey, this didn't take place, I don't know, a year or two down the line.
Now I understand. We all know what Travis Hunter just did. Just won himself a Heisman. We take a look at what Chador Sanders did. He broke plenty of records at Colorado and was also named the top quarterback of the year. If Deion wasn't there, I would be like, oh, OK, this is kind of aggressive. But Deion Sanders is there. I guess they figured to might as well get this one out the way.
Hickey haven't said that. A little surprising, no? I'm shocked, honestly.
Right out of the gate? That and also, like, I feel like when you retire a number like, I mean, they've only been there for two years. At least Chador, excuse me, at least Travis Hunter won a Heisman. So that's something. But like, I just I don't you don't see many schools do anything rightfully so of putting a or retiring a number for winning nine games, for going to the Alamo Bowl.
Usually it's some of the most memorable historic achievements in a university's history is usually, you know, by a player or two that their numbers are tired. Is this Colorado turning it around is enough? Is this a celebration for Deion? Yes. Yes. Yes. This is what it is. Here we go.
Listen to this. Chador Sanders, he has set over 100 school records. Career passing touchdowns, passer rating completion percentage. He threw for a seventy three hundred yards, sixty four touchdowns. And 13 interceptions. Hickey, I'm not all that mad at it's just a retirement of the number and the debt the guy's dad is the coach. I mean, what are we? We can't beat him up like Travis.
Yes. I'm not even mad at Chador getting his number retired. Neither one of these guys would have had their number retired specifically as it relates to now.
If Deion wasn't there. Well, what else are we going to do? But shouldn't be then just a bigger than just that, like whoever's the coach and in control, we're going to retire the best player anytime I'm here. Like. There's so much I don't think, especially for college football, because so many teams go back so long.
Don't you need to have some sort of reverence for history? Not just willy nilly. My son played great. We're retiring the number two. Again, at least Travis Hunter won a Heisman, so he's in a rare air there in general. So he has some sort of hardware you can always look back on. I just I.
It's a package deal, man. I mean, this is what this whole thing was, and I think there's been such an impact. On the school, on the university, on Boulder, that they're just they're going to bend over backwards, so I'm not I'm not all that up in arms about it. A matter of fact, let's listen to this. Joel Klatt was on up in Adams earlier today, and he says that Chador was the biggest reason why Colorado went from one team or the well being a one win team to a top twenty five. Listen to this. Chador was actually the key wasn't Travis and it wasn't coach, but it was Chador.
Why did they turn around to a nine win team in a top twenty five team two years after being a one win team that lost by an average of almost thirty points? Chador Sanders. Yeah, he's just out there flinging a rock around. Yeah, I think it's a package deal and he is no big deal. Do you like does anybody you think people in Colorado are mad? No, no, I don't think they're mad. Again, I would agree in the sense of like what the attention they're getting.
They're happy for it, but it's like, OK, let me ask you this. OK, you go to a Colorado game ten years from now, you see the number two on the stadium somewhere. I ask you, OK, defining moment. What do you remember Chador Sanders like? What's the memory that comes to mind? Him and his dad brought relevancy back to the program.
Where's the wind we're looking at? Of all men as a program changing one? Yeah, that it doesn't exist, but that's not the it's about the relevancy of the program and the money that they've generated and the interest that they that's where it is. But OK, but what if OK, what if that's not good enough?
No, because if it's short lived, what's the point? Oh, hickey. I'm not just a bad guy here, but it's like if Dion leaves and let's say two years and Colorado goes back into the hole and there's just a four or five year blip in the last 30 years to a Colorado football is relevant and relevant not because they're winning on the field, just really because of who the coaches and a player or two.
Like what is it all? We met in Colorado and we celebrate the good times. Come on and you can celebrate the good times by welcoming them back.
And always kind of remembering those days. Do you have to retire a jersey with some of the legends like you just said? I don't think so. I'm not mad at it.
The worst things in the house. If the people and I don't think the people in Colorado are mad or upset about it. I'm not pitching to fit. They're just stupid numbers up on the wall like you. You are 100% correct. There's no defining moment. They didn't do it. They brought relevancy and excitement back to the program.
Like all they do is spit out the numbers about enrollment and the money that they make and the interest that they have. And it is it's it's it's special in college football. It's certainly unique in college football. Then it has Dion Sanders written all over it. I mean, well, naturally, the shadow came from his loins and then Travis Hunter came along for the ride coming out of Jackson State and also coming out of right here in local Atlanta, Georgia. I think this is unique. I don't think we got like less hickey like. I mean, of course not.
Tennessee, they told Nico Iamalia, but they gave him the boot. This isn't I don't think this is this is very unique. I think it's something worth honoring what I have done it in like the week before the draft. No, I think we're going to save this for a season or two down the line. I don't know that I also agree with. Definitely agree with you there. Well, let's just do it before they get drafted. Right. Feels rushed.
It does make it a bigger deal. Hey, it's going to be televised on Saturday. Maybe Dion wants to do it while he's still there to your point, OK? Is he never going to go back to Colorado once he leaves?
That said, he's not allowed to go back. Let's let's do it before I'm not the coach and I have less juice. Might as well.
It's the JR Sport Preshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll get more into this on the other side of the break. There's a lot going on. And then should door. It appears that he has a workout coming this week. We'll talk about it. Don't move.
