Players-turned-Analysts, Cable Boxes-turned-Streaming Services + Mike DeFabo of The Athletic (Hour 3)

Coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to our producer in New York City, Liam Flynn. Thank you to you for being here. I'll be hanging out with you for the next two hours. This show gets started every weekday, 6pm Eastern, 3 Pacific.

And we have discussed a lot. Thank you so much to Christian Winfield for joining us on the last break. Covers to the New York Knicks for the New York Daily News. We talked about that massive disaster last night in New York City. The Pacers beating the Knicks. Neesmith going off. Halliburton going off. The Knicks going to sleep.

And then how about this? We're about 30 minutes or so away from Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Minnesota Timberwolves looking to hit back tonight and tie up this series at one game apiece. M'Shay Gilgus-Alexander also physically going to receive his MVP award tonight. And that'll be a nice thing. The fans in Oklahoma City can show him some love and he can show off the trophy.

How about this? In about 20 minutes we'll have a chat with Mike DeFabo from The Athletic. Covers all things NFL as well as the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hey, we talked some NFL. We showed some love to Jim Irsay following his passing yesterday at 65 years old.

We talked about families. Ben Johnson on Caleb Williams and his dad. It's like, hey, everything that happened with the Bears before me has nothing to do with me. And then we got some good news on the college football front today. There's no more conference buys. There's no more free passes here in the college football playoff. You don't just win your conference and just get a buy.

It's not going to be just the best teams that will have a chance and an opportunity to advance and earn those buys. Great stuff. Of course, at the end of the show, we'll talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history. Charles Barkley has some interesting comments about Tyrese Halliburton's dad. What? And then I don't know what the hell this is about now.

Maybe if I had on volume in the studio, which I can't do, I'll figure it out. Chris Paul is sitting down with ESPN. He's here on the pregame show. Why the hell is here? Hey, Liam, is there any idea why Chris Paul is here?

I know he's not playing basketball right now, but why the hell is he here? It seems like he's just talking about playing with Shea. Oh, great.

I played one season with Shea. OK, great. Whatever. And so that OK, anyway, that makes him qualified to speak on him. Oh, I guess you're right.

I watched Shea Gilders Alexander play a couple of times. Do you think I could get on the pregame? Maybe you could. I don't think it would have to do with watching him play.

It's a possibility. I mean, well, damn it. They let Draymond on television. Right.

Reggie Miller's on TV. Right. So anybody can make it. You agree?

Disagree? Oh, yeah. I mean, they do let a lot of people on TV and sometimes you scratch your head. How did this guy get on? How did this gal get on? Is there anybody in particular that you say that about?

I was when I was thinking I was going a bit more broad. So like a lot of reality TV. Wait, what? I'm talking about sports broadcast. Talking about sports. Well, yeah. Draymond. I'm not a huge fan of the active players going on because they're either going to say too much or too little.

And I think that's a dangerous two extremes to go down. Yeah. Draymond Green should have got punched in the face by Rudy Gobert at this point in time. A little too late on that one. But why didn't that happen yet? Huh? Yeah, I don't know. It sounds like a Rudy problem. Yeah. It sounds like Rudy has a lot of problems. I don't know. He should just go.

This sounds bad. He should just go back to France. Will he find peace back there? He might. It's very pretty in France.

Yeah, it is. He's just getting a snot beat out of him in every way possible. Two points and three rebounds. Maybe he deserves it. Anyway, Rudy Gobert. Four-time defensive player of the year.

He's in there with Dikembe Mutombo. What are we doing? Maybe that's why Draymond hates his guts. But Draymond hates everybody's guts. What can I say?

It's just something odd. I don't like Draymond. I can't stand Reggie Miller. Who was he pointing out on the broadcast? Was he pointing out Halliburton?

Like, yeah, I see you, man. Was that what he was doing? I missed that part. But possibly. Yeah, there's an image of Reggie Miller.

They got him. This is a video. Oh, yes.

Yes. He was just pointing it. I guess Halliburton was looking at him and he can't he can't be on TV. God, that's my God. That's my God. But he kind of pointed in his direction. And it's like. Isn't that the reason why you don't want someone that closely associated with a team to be a broadcaster on a national stage? Isn't that?

That's like I get he's a little bit older, much older. It's like throwing Walt Clyde Frazier out there to call a basketball game or John Stark. So throwing Stephon Marbury at the desk, is that fair? Yeah, it's one thing if it's the regional at home thing, but even sometimes they get a little biased. But a national broadcasted game is a little I think there needs to be some rule set. You know, this if it's a former player, they weren't able to play or they haven't played on either of the teams playing.

I think there needs to be some guidelines. Yeah, the benefit of sitting in the studio is I didn't hear Reggie Miller last night. I didn't hear him until I got home and watched the end of the game.

And then I had to suffer just like everybody else. I'm just saying. 888-710-4ISN.

That's 888-710-4ISN. I don't think there's a former player as a broadcaster that I that I dislike more than Reggie. Let me see. Anybody on the NFL side? No, there's nobody on the NFL side that stands out to me. Like Greg Olsen is great. When Tom Brady is on, I typically I don't I don't have the volume on, so I've never heard Tom Brady. I've heard Romo used to be good, but now he's not good. He's just all over the place now, I guess.

Anybody else worthwhile calling these games? Oh, Chris, I like Chris Collins, but people hate him on the Internet. Yeah, I don't mind Chris Collins where I think a lot of the hate's unwarranted.

What is it? What's people's problem with him? I don't.

Everybody is going to be criticized, but why don't people like him? Well, they think he talks too much about Mahomes and a random game where Mahomes isn't, you know, not even in the division of either team playing. You know, somebody makes a play.

Oh, well, this reminds me of Patrick Mahomes. Oh, my God. I don't think it's the worst. It's not the worst thing in the world.

Yeah. Chris Collins worth doesn't bother me. I mean, from a baseball perspective, let's see. I don't like the pregame on baseball. I think every baseball pregame show sucks. And I don't only know, is it the TBS one? Oh, listen, it's a Pedro Martinez and big pop.

Like, why do we have a pregame? Who's on Fox? Is it is David Ortiz? Alex Rodriguez? Is Derek Jeter still there? Yeah. Ortiz, Rodriguez, a couple of analysts. Frank Thomas is on the Fox. Oh, the big hurt.

Yes. And then you have Pedro on the TBS one. And I forget what other former players are in there.

It's kind of a revolving door. Curtis Granderson's on the TBS broadcast. He is. I've seen Jimmy Rollins on on these things, too. Yes. Yeah. The work, the worst thing about baseball broadcast baseball has spread itself.

I don't want to say so thin. We got Sunday morning baseball on Roku. Like, what are we doing? Like, how am I supposed to find a baseball game? I don't know where the baseball is coming on. Is it on Roku? Is it on TBS? Does TNT does baseball in the playoffs, right? They probably they probably have some agreement with TBS. Come on, man. We got TNT, TBS.

What am I missing? ESPN? Yeah, Fox, FS1. Sometimes you have a nationally televised Fox game, but then you have an FS1 or FS2 game.

Do they still they still got Friday night on Apple TV, too? Oh, yeah. And each individual Amazon's another one.

Yeah. Each individual team has agreements like the Yankees have an agreement with Amazon Prime Video. So you can't flip channels in between commercials. Imagine paying a subscription and you still have to watch commercials in between innings.

Oh, my God. Well, you you can't you can't flip channels. You just have to go back back, play something, go. It makes no sense.

It's like being in prison. You have to change inputs. And by the time that's done, the first pitch of the next thing is already happening. One day. Somebody has to develop that, right?

Like one day things have to be consolidated in such a way. Remember hitting the remote control button and hitting last? Oh, yeah. That said, you didn't have to hit anything. You just hit last and you went back and forth and it was instantaneous. But now we're we're in so much streaming. You got to go to one app and then you got to open up another app and then you got to go back and then you got to wait for it to open. It drives me crazy when I open up Max to watch a basketball game and I open it up and I go, yeah, I want to watch this game. And they go, what language do you want to watch the game in?

And I'm like, oh, my God, English. And then they go, OK, OK. You want to watch the game in English? What angle or what feed do you want to watch the original feed? Do you want to watch from the ceiling? Do you want to watch to, you know, to rats commentate the game like they have so many options? I just want to watch the game.

Give give me a default and then ask me later if I don't know. It's too much. Would you like to watch the game from the beginning? Oh, my God.

Just watch the game live. I know. Right. Does it have to be that complicated? Like, can we one day get some type of consolidation where you can literally and I guess maybe the answer is no, because this ain't nothing but glorified Internet. Only stupid Apple TV, Roku TV, Amazon Fire Stick or whatever. It's a glorified computer. And so maybe and this is a sad, sad day. Maybe we will never get. Last on a remote control, maybe you will never be able to toggle in between games because you got to click this and open that and flip to this and open that.

Which language do you? It's just spare me. So I'm assuming you've already officially cut the cord. You're done with cable. I'm I'm I have I still have cable.

I don't use it. OK. I use cable so I can access certain things via streaming.

That makes sense. Yes. I don't I don't want cable. I do not want it. I'm paying for it bare bones. I mainly have the Internet, but it's just and I'm forced to basically have cable because they don't let me stream certain things without having cable. It's just.

It's the great American hustle. I need to know how people are watching TV in other countries. I assume people out of more advanced countries that are more advanced.

Maybe you could go out to Singapore. I guess they are. They're streaming everything. But I bet you they don't got to. They don't got to wait for this stuff to load five minutes. Come on now.

Now they could probably change the channels with their eyes just by looking. Yeah. Have you seen how fast the Internet is out there and the technology? Crazy stuff. Yeah.

They don't play in Singapore like we're in the Stone Age in comparison. I'm over here talking about a cable box. Come on.

ESPN is getting ready to offer standalone streaming at the what is it in September. We got to wait later than that. It might get pushed back. Who knows? Come on, man. We live in a screwed up technological world.

Whatever happened today's or just not me, not me, of course, not me. Whatever happens today's a stealing cable. Get that little box.

Put it in your back room. I heard you never had to pay a dime and you got every channel, every movie station imaginable. I remember stars used to be five different channels.

The stars West and East and. Days over now, I don't. You got to buy stars and now you got to buy Paramount and you got to buy Amazon and you buy one. You can't watch the otherwise.

Screw these people, man. Well, the new one now is the the fire stick hacking into the fire stick. Oh, boy. You don't know. You don't know what that is. I don't know what you're talking about.

Just rumblings of heard, you know, people. But apparently you get everything under the sun. And if you want stuff in other countries, too, you got it. Wow. You mean to tell me I get to watch Egyptian wrestling? Yeah, if you want to.

Once you're done watching your pickleball tournament, pickleball. Is that really taking over in America? Was that just a sales job? It is. There are courts being propped up everywhere. Not so much anymore.

But post covid, the last couple of years after covid, it was is huge. And you still see it on TV a lot. What is it on ESPN eight? The Ocho. Yeah, the Ocho. Yeah. A few a few networks every, you know, at 3 a.m. 4 a.m. You wake up early.

You want to see what's on. And you've got a pickleball being played in Port St. Lucie, Florida. I know that Rick Barry is big on the pickleball.

He's huge. Huge pickleball fan. It's fun to play, but I can't watch it.

Oh, I've never played it. I grew up playing tennis. I feel like if I go out and play pickleball, I'm now abandoning my my past.

I'm not doing that. Well, pickleball was invented for tennis players who have bad knees. They couldn't run around the court that much. I got bad knees. So pickleball may be for you. Can I serve? Can you serve in pickleball? You could serve.

It's more of an underhand serve, a light little tap. No, thanks. No, no, thanks. The entire. If I can't annihilate the box, then I don't want to do it.

No, thanks. Yeah, it's tough to do because the the entire size of the court is about, I don't know, maybe like a fifth or a sixth of a tennis court. Oh, wow. OK. Maybe I need to play pickleball then.

I don't know. I feel like I'm cheating, though. I can't do that.

I feel like a cheater. There are there are some I would go I'd play and have fun. But then you got, you know, some old timers next to you. You look at them and you don't know what they're going to do. And they come out, you know, fast serves. Yeah.

Drop shots. I've heard about that. Ryan Hickey has told me he has played pickleball and he's been whooped by old people. Yeah. I don't I don't need that experience in life.

Who needs that? Getting beat by an elderly person in sports is terrible. Well, what's worse, if you get beat by a kid like a 13 year old or an older adult?

I think it's worse to get beat by an old person. It's like what it's like. It's like if it's like YMCA basketball. Like you can be an old person busting ass on a basketball court just based on your skill and in your brain. Like I've seen people walk into the gym and they could cross over this and dribble behind their back and Harlem Globetrot that.

But they can't score. And then you see somebody walk into the gym. You're just like, oh, this is going to be easy money.

And it's just like they take your lunch money. And so I think it'd be worse to be beat by an old person than a young young people are supposed to beat people. You know, old people are not. That's true in sports. So in sports, OK, old people full of wisdom, not disrespecting old people. I'm not one day I hope to be old.

OK. It's the J.R. sport we show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break when we come back. Hey, we're going to talk about somebody who old, old and NFL years. Let's talk about Aaron Rodgers. We want to talk some more NFL. Is he really joining the steals? What the heck is he waiting for? We're going to have a chat with Mike Defabo who covers all things Steelers, covers all things NFL for the athletic.

You're locked in. It's the J.R. sport we show on the Infinity Sports Network. It is the J.R. sport we show on the Infinity Sports Network.

Man, it's it's May, not even July. The NFL is always in the news. The Steelers in the news, especially when they're, I guess, or still waiting on a quarterback. What type of Steelers business is this new Steelers business? Joining us right now to talk about the Steelers is someone who covers them extensively for the athletic. I want to talk to him about Aaron Rodgers. I want to get into their new running back.

I want to talk about them going over to Europe and playing in Ireland. Who's number two now with Pickens gone? Joining us right now is Mike Defabo. Mike, how are you, man? Hey, I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me on the show.

Absolutely. I didn't think we'd be having a chat in May, but here we are. I thought this would be the quiet time.

Mike, come on. I know everyone thought that the Aaron Rodgers saga would have been wrapped up long ago, but right now it continues. And really, as much as things point to Aaron Rodgers signing with the Steelers, until they get that signature on the dotted line, given the unpredictable nature of Aaron Rodgers and how he does things his way on his own timeline, you know, really, who could say what's going to end up happening here? Well, we can assume that he just wants to, I don't know, hang out for a little while until July. If he is to join the team under what circumstances and what timeframe is he showing up right in July 15th, 17th?

What do you think the deal is here? Yeah, well, when we spoke with Mike Tomlin at NFL owners meetings a couple of weeks ago, he said there is no deadline and no timeline for a decision. And the Steelers have been patient throughout this whole experience and all of the things that they have done and said have pointed towards them believing they're going to get Aaron Rodgers.

And some of the strongest comments have come from Art Rooney, the team president and owner, three separate occasions. He said, yeah, I think we're going to get word pretty soon. But I mean, he's been saying that for six weeks now and still nothing has happened. And so now now we're reaching a point where there kind of is a deadline because next Tuesday, the Steelers begin OTAs. They're going to have two weeks of OTAs.

The mandatory minicamp is June 10th through the 12th. And really, you would like your quarterback to be here, especially a new one, because like there's a lot of things that this team has to work out. Aaron Rodgers attempted the second most passes in the league last year. He comes he could potentially be coming to a team that ran the ball fourth most.

How do you marry those two ideas and those philosophies? You know, Aaron Rodgers prefers receivers that are stagnant and he wants to give them hand signals to change the change their route to the line of scrimmage. Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator, prefers pre snap motion and shifts. So, you know, I would think that you would want the quarterback here sooner than later. You would want him working with all of the receivers. But, you know, we'll have to wait and see, because, like, unless he signs within the next couple of days, he's not going to be at OTAs on Tuesday.

Mike DeFabo is here with us from the Athletic. If for whatever reason, Aaron Rodgers doesn't show up, he does not sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I highly doubt that they just go, hey, Mason Rudolph, here's your time. Does this mean that they're calling up the Falcons and looking for Kirk Cousins?

Like, what's the alternative? Well, at this point, that's kind of the unfortunate thing for the Steelers is because Aaron Rodgers has dragged this out so long. A lot of the other options, veteran options on the market have signed elsewhere.

And so really, if you're not going to Aaron Rodgers route, your options are Kirk Cousins or Mason Rudolph. And, you know, I had heard some rumblings at owners meetings a couple of weeks ago that the Steelers would at least consider Kirk Cousins at a certain price tag. The issue is he's due a lot of guaranteed money.

And so the Atlanta Falcons are going to have to eat a considerable chunk of that to make any kind of a trade possible. You also have to look at the way that his season ended. You know, he was really tore down the stretch.

I think he threw nine interceptions against just one touchdown in the final four or five games that he played. So you have to ask yourself, like, what does he have left at this stage of his career? So right now, I guess the Steelers are content playing the waiting game with Aaron Rodgers. But I don't think you could completely rule out a Kirk Cousins trade. But, you know, at this point, I think that they're more content to wait for Aaron Rodgers and hope that he ends up signing here. Well, Mike, did they ever really consider Chidor Sanders? I know we had to wait until this guy got drafted in the fifth round.

He's now with Cleveland. Did they ever really look at him? The Steelers, you know, they did their due diligence in the sense that they invited him to the facility for a pre draft visit. And they did that late in the process where I think that they didn't really expect early on that he was going to be available. And once they realized, oh, man, he really might fall. They did their homework on him. Ultimately, they must have seen what a lot of other teams saw in him. You know, I think I think Chidor could have a great career.

We'll have to wait and see. You know, you could tell that he's been mentored by Tom Brady and that his dad was a great NFL player because of the way that he reads defenses. But you look at his tangibles and arm strength, his mobility, that didn't say first round pick. And I think that that's a big reason why he slid down the board. You know, I had heard that the Steelers had their eye on Will Howard all along. You know, they took him out to dinner. They had they took him out to dinner before his pro day. You know, they had been on his trail. They watched him during the college football playoff where he played his best football. And really, they were targeting the quarterback at some point on day three. And so Will Howard was the guy that they thought they could get.

He ended up sliding later than they thought. They got him in the sixth round. And I think a lot of people had maybe a fourth round grade on him.

So still good value for a guy like that. But he'll be a developmental piece sitting behind whoever the starting two quarterbacks are. You know, I imagine he'll probably start his career with the Steelers quarterback three on the depth chart.

Mike DeFabo here with us covers the Steelers for the Athletic. When you think about someone else that they drafted, Caleb Johnson, we know he's going to be running the football. He's got to share those carries with Jalen Warren as well.

How do you think this this running back situation is going to work now that we got Najee Harris hanging out in California? Yeah, well, it's interesting because Jalen Warren showed a lot through his first couple of seasons. He came into the league as an undrafted guy and he really earned his his stay with the Steelers because he's excellent in pass protection, which made him a great third down back. And it seemed like every time he got the football, he was creating more. And there was a big debate in Pittsburgh, like who's better, Najee or Jalen?

And by the end of it, a lot of people were saying Jalen should be the guy. Last year, he dealt with a couple injuries and wasn't quite as productive in Arthur Smith's scheme. So the Steelers wanted to add to their running back room. And by getting a guy like Caleb Johnson, he really fits like a glove in this offense because Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator, loves outside zone and wasn't even able to do it as much as he wanted because he had Najee Harris. He's more of a gap scheme runner. So Caleb Johnson was very productive and explosive at Iowa in that scheme. So he's familiar with what the Steelers would be asking him to do.

He was very productive in it. He also brings a little bit of a different body type. You know, they've got a lot of guys who are five, eight, five, nine at the running back position, not only Jalen Warren, but also Kenneth Gainwell. So you bring in a bigger, more physical six foot one, two hundred twenty five pound back like Caleb Johnson. Over time, I think he has the potential to be a lead back and carry the load. But I imagine in his first season, it might be more of a running back by committee. Mike Tomlin kind of always likes to make those rookies prove it to him.

And sometimes they have a little bit of a harder path onto the playing field initially. But I think before too long, Arthur Smith's going to fall in love with what this guy can do. And he's going to be a productive player in their system.

Well, Mike, you talk about offense. Who the heck is wide receiver two now that Pickens is gone? They brought in Metcalf. It's like a swap for Metcalf for Pickens. But who's going to be number two?

It's a great question. And it should be a very real concern for the Steelers, because if you remember their season fell apart at the end, they end up losing the final four games and they lost in the playoffs for five consecutive. Well, George Pickens wasn't on the field for the first two of those. His hamstring injury coincided directly with this downturn. And so as much as a lot of people are asking who's the number two wide receiver, which is a very pressing concern. You also have to ask yourself, what if DK gets hurt? Are you comfortable with Calvin Austin, the third or Roman Wilson being your number one wide receiver? And that was a problem last year. So, you know, I think DK Metcalf is more proven and established than George Pickens. I think he provides more upside than Pickens. And behind him, you know, Calvin Austin, he lost his rookie year to a foot injury. And then last year, he really started to emerge. And before that, he was kind of like a just punt returner, maybe a gadget guy that you get the ball in his hands and see if he can create. You know, he started to be more of a well rounded wide receiver, so he'll be in that conversation.

And then really, I think that the the test of the depth of this wide receiver group is going to be determined by how Roman Wilson does in year two. He got injured the very first padded practice of training camp. He hurt his ankle.

It nagged him. He ended up having a hamstring injury later on and essentially red shirted his entire rookie year. So if he comes in year two and he's in great shape and he understands all the offensive concepts and he's ready to hit the ground running, you know, maybe you feel OK about the wide receivers behind DK Metcalf. But if he has another slow season or he struggles to get up to speed quickly, you know, you are going to have the same concerns about wide receiver that we had all throughout last year. And so that's why I think that the Steelers will be wise to add in some form or fashion. You know, I know they've at least considered trade possibilities and there's a couple interesting candidates also available on the open market. So, you know, I think that the Steelers would like to add to that room, but whether they do remains to be seen. Oh, man, the Steelers just sound like they're waiting and waiting on everything.

Hey, Mike, final question for you, man. They're going out to Ireland. You go on the two, you getting a trip?

I am. I'm going to Ireland and I'm really excited about it, actually, because my little sister, she's been living in London for the past decade. And so she's going to come out to the game and I'm going to see her there. And it should be a great event when Mike Tomlin talks about it. He always talks about the late Dan Rooney, who was the ambassador to Ireland, appointed by Barack Obama, President Barack Obama. And so Ireland means a lot to the Rooney family. That's where their roots are. So for them to be able to bring their team over to Ireland and share that experience with a new fan base is something that they're very much looking forward to. And I think that game is going to have a tremendous amount of buzz just because of the fact that the Steelers have become a global brand.

And this will be just another example that we need to see the terrible towels out there. Yeah, most definitely. Hey, Mike, thank you so much, as always, for the time. Tell everybody where they can find you and keep up with you with the athletic, man.

Yeah, absolutely. I keep it nice and easy. You can find me on social media at Mike Defabo and read all my work in the athletic. Hey, Mike, I hope you get some type of a summer off soon.

I know everybody on Aaron Rodgers watch will catch you down the line. You have a great holiday weekend, OK? Yeah, you too. Thanks a lot. All the time that Mike Defabo covers all things Steelers for the athletic and even even overseas, too.

Good for him. Heading out to Ireland. The J.R. sport show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Shay Gilgus Alexander is minutes away, seconds away from receiving his NBA MVP award. We'll find out about what's going to happen tonight. You know what? When we come back, we'll talk about some more quarterbacks because Aaron Rodgers isn't the only quarterback in the news.

We'll get into that. But right now, let's get into everything going on in the world of sports. It's a news flash with Rich Ackerman. It is the J.R. sport show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Yeah, shout outs to Nasir Jones, Nas, Illmatic. Brave hearts. Hey, shut us to Nas.

I love Nas. Anyway, thank you to Mike Defabo for joining us. Courtesy of the athletic.

We're minutes away from the start of the Western Conference Finals game two between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Shay Gilgus Alexander was just awarded with the MVP award. And I'm once again reminded how different the MVP award looks. It has a new like they changed it up like a couple of years ago. It's skinny looking.

I don't know. Give me give me the big brass award, the big heavy one that the players can never lift up. Everybody with the fancy statues, except for Dwayne Wade's, that thing looks like a monstrosity. But everybody is always just trying to redo things. What's wrong with keeping things the same? Like one thing that will never change, like the Lombardi Trophy, I don't think the NFL will switch that up. The Stanley Cup, I don't think that's changing.

The NBA has done some slight adjustments to the Larry O'Brien, but the MVP award? Liam, did you just you've seen it, right? Isn't it? It's too understated. It just. I don't know.

It doesn't do it for me. Not that I'm ever going to win when I have one in my house. It's just a replica, a replica of what? The trophy, if you want and want it on your mantle.

Oh, no, I don't need that. Could you imagine you walked into somebody's house? There's just a normal ass person. They have an MVP trophy on their mantle above the fireplace. Did you see that?

The best guy in the office replacing the water cooler. Oh, man, who's doing that? Don't you think that thing looks the new one looks stupid? Is it just me?

No, it does look stupid. It looks like I don't know if you're familiar with what Skylanders are. I don't know what the hell that is. What is that from Game of Thrones?

Am I right? No, no. So it was a video game, kind of like Pokemon. They've got these mythical characters or whatever. But there was this one frozen dude. Why did the ball wasn't even a sphere, first of all. OK, the in the MVP trophy, it's like it looks like a frozen cut block of ice or something.

It doesn't look official. You lost me at video game characters. I know Bowser. OK. All right. I know Bowser.

Who's another famous? No, I'm talking about bad guys. Oh, bad guys.

OK. Waluigi. He's a he's a bad guy. I thought he was like the evil cousin of Luigi. I know Bowser. I know Goro. How many arms he got four arms, eight arms from Mortal Kombat.

He got four arms. I don't know. No, the bad guys lost anyway. Yeah. The MVP trophy does not look good. It looks like crap. Speaking of crap.

Oh, my God. I just saw this story. We're going to talk some NFL quarterbacks in a second. Thank you again to Mike DeFabo for joining us from the athletic. Everybody in Pittsburgh is just waiting to see what happens with Aaron Rodgers. If you're a Steelers fan, I guess this is what the New York Jets fans felt like, I guess.

Like they had the weight on him. There was so many conversations of the Jets going to get him. Are they going to get Carr now? Derek Carr is retired.

We'll talk some QBs in a second. But I just saw this story. This is absolutely hilarious. The Colorado Rockies are being sued for being bad in twenty, twenty three, a Rockies fan was hit in the eye with a foul ball while at a game for a company event in a suite at Coors Field. So you're in the suite, you get ready, eat a fancy hot dog.

You got charm marks on it. You think it is going to be the best hot dog ever. And you get hit in the head with a foul ball. Now this guy is suing the team. And one of his claims centers around how bad the Rockies are.

OK, the lawsuit cites poor visibility due to the stadium's design, but also says the team's product on the field is so poor that fans are less likely to be focused on the game and more on socializing. Oh, my goodness. This was in two thousand twenty three. This is two years ago.

Wow. Right now, the Rockies definitely aren't good. They are historically bad. And I know that's saying something, given what we saw from the Chicago White Sox last year. The Rockies have a record. Of eight and forty two. Oh, my God.

This is just pathetic. In twenty twenty three, the Rockies. Well, let's just say they weren't too much better. They had a record of fifty nine and one or three. I I don't know if they're making fifty nine wins this year. I don't I don't think so.

How about this? Well, what we got an NBA we got a referee got popped in the face. Scott Foster is bleeding on the court. He got hit in the face following throwing a ball up in the air for a tip. I know there's a lot of NBA players who are just secretly happy right now that a referee got smacked in the face and bled. Look like Lou Dort and Julius Randle are trying to figure out why these two guys made a referee bleed. Are you going to stop?

He's a gamer. Liam, are they going to cheer him as he runs back out onto the court? People can't they can't stand them. That's a good question. Yeah. If it was anybody else, that would be one thing.

But Scott Foster, that's yeah. I mean, he's bleeding out of the nose right now. It was on a jump ball.

Yeah, it is stuffing them up right now. So he's going to breathe out of one nostril while he calls the game. Let's see if he starts throwing out technical fouls as a result. Scott, you know, I think we've moved on to a different era of NBA refs.

You know, I don't I don't know everybody's. They are really trying to stop the bleeding. They have stuffed this man's nose up and he is still bleeding. Now, not only did he get hit on the way down, but he also got kicked in like the stomach. Let's see.

Oh, my goodness. What was Dort doing? I guess not Lou Dort did it. And it's not one of those things where you just go, hey, this guy just this might be your only chance to kick and punch a referee and get away with it.

Well, maybe not. The rules official is on right now. ESPN. Well, so but but they probably discuss on what happens if he can't go, but he's going to go. They're just going to stuff as many forget napkins and towels up his face. They got to make sure he can ref the game unless his nose is broken. And at that point, he can't breathe.

That'd be a different situation. At this point, everybody is just crowding the ref. They're trying to get his blood off of the court. The sidelines while they clean him up.

He looks like he's good to go. OK, are the fans in Oklahoma City? Do they care?

No, it doesn't seem like. Yeah, everybody's on their seats and he's reffing now with a cotton swab or something in his nose. Yeah. I hope he can breathe.

Oh, my goodness. Yeah, he is. What a gamer. He's like he blinked his eyes like, yeah, I'm good.

What you think? I'm I you think I'm a stop roughing because I got kicked in the face or slapped in the face, kicked in the stomach. He's and now if that was Draymond, what would have happened? He would have got he would have got ejected, huh? Oh, if he were the one who who swatted Foster, if Draymond Green hit him in the face and kicked him in the groin by accident. Yeah, it might have been a tech, at least incidental contact with an official or I don't know, unnecessary contact with an official. And then he would have got another tech for arguing.

They would have thrown him out anyway. As Scott Foster and his bloody nose just cost everybody how many minutes? About three minutes of basketball, at least.

Yeah. Anyway, the score right now, Oklahoma City leads six to two. Man, the Minnesota Timberwolves better hope they did. They better do better than what they did last game. As Rudy Gobert is out there with the Butterfingers. Six to five is the game. Hey, who do you think is winning this series, Liam?

We didn't discuss this since you've been here today, really. I like the Oklahoma City Thunder. I think they provide way too many matchup headaches for the Timberwolves.

They could play big, they could play small. I think it's just too much for the Timberwolves to handle. Yeah, I think I think OKC is going to end up winning the championship. You think they're going all the way?

There's a very good chance. I mean, I think they would beat the Pacers. The Knicks fan in me says the Knicks are going to beat them. But even still, I think they're just way too much of a nightmare for the Knicks.

Yeah, it's too much of a nightmare for everybody. It's just Shea Gilgus Alexander is on his way to being one of these guys that won the season MVP and very well might also go out here and win the NBA Finals MVP. And so I don't I don't want to say I'm disappointed, but I I am. I like and enjoy the fact that somebody that hasn't won a championship or in the case of the Knicks haven't won since 73. If somebody new is going to win the title, I just think out of all the teams, the Celtics, if they were healthy, would have put up the best fight in the best matchup.

If we get an NBA Finals between the Boston excuse me, Boston's at home between the Indiana Pacers and the Thunder. I got to be I think the Pacers and the Thunder would be a better match up visually than the Knicks know. Yeah, I think the Knicks would give them a bit of an issue. Do you just from the perspective of if they were to finish yesterday's game, they go they're playing with the pace of Indiana and then they go on that run.

If they just finish it, they stop taking quick shots. I think they could have won that game. And if they do something similar to Oklahoma, now, granted, the Thunder could do it 10 times better than the Knicks could. So I think it just depends on the night if the Thunder have a bad night and the Knicks have a decent night.

I think that's where you start to see it. But everything has to go right for the Knicks. Yeah, I just think the basketball would look better between the Pacers pushing the pace. We see OKC will push the pace as well.

And they got a great defense. I just think it'd be a better match up. I think OKC would run the Knicks just out of the gym. I think the Knicks have too much of a reliance offensively on on Brunson and towns.

And I think, as we saw last night, the variety in the pace of scoring was just ridiculous. We'll see what happens as Oklahoma City is trying to go up 2-0 against the Minnesota Timberwolves as it stands right now. Game one underway.

OKC leads Minnesota 12 to 10. It's the J.R. Sportbree show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. We come back on the other side of the break. We'll talk about everything that has gone on today in the world of sports. College football, NBA, NFL. This day in sports history, we have a lot to do the last hour. The J.R. Sportbree Show. Don't move.