It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Much love and many thanks to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. I don't know where you at, but thank you for being here. Thank you to our producer in New York City, Nico Scarlatos.
Thank you to you again for listening. We got a lot to get into on this Thursday, May 29, 2025. Of course, at the end of the show, we'll talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history. But in recent history, last night, we saw the Oklahoma City Thunder advance to the NBA Finals. They handled the Minnesota Timberwolves. Are they going to be joined by the Indiana Pacers? The Pacers have a chance to eliminate the New York Knicks tonight in Madison Square Garden. We're going to talk about the team that, while their season is done, we'll get into the Timberwolves. We'll talk about the team that's going to advance, of course, the Oklahoma City Thunder. We will talk about the New York Knicks and the Pacers.
And then plenty of other news as well. Looks like the Steelers might be picking up an offensive weapon, not named Aaron Rodgers, Pete Rose. Well, unfortunately, we know he's not here with us anymore. But Rob Manfred explained why he is no longer on the commissioners ineligible list. We'll hear from Rob Manfred about that.
A little confusion today about Alexander Ovechkin and when his career is going to end. The Florida Panthers are on their way to a third consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. And then we got some guests who are going to join us as well. Chris Hine is going to come through, talk to us about the Minnesota Timberwolves. And then next hour, Steve McGehee, excuse me, will join us as he covers the Oklahoma City Thunder. Yeah, your Western Conference Finals champs. Patrick Mahomes had some words about the Olympics. I don't know if you should hold your breath on seeing him out there.
And then we've had some other quarterbacks kind of chime into over the past several days. If you want to be a part of the show, this is how you do it. Pay close attention. 888-710-4ISN is the number.
That's 888-710-4ISN. You can find me online everywhere at JR Sport Brief. We got a lot, a lot to get into. So much to do. Hey, Nico, how you doing? You good? Am I allowed to say nervous? Well, my goodness, what the heck are you nervous about? We got game five tonight at the Garden. The Knicks are down 3-1. Are you nervous about tonight?
This should be the most easy going, free flowing, not a care in the world. Knicks should just go out there and ball out. What is there to be nervous of? You're down 3-1. Yeah, but it's just one of those things where it's like you're, you don't want it to end.
It's been such a fun run watching this team and I don't want to see it all come crashing down. Oh, wow. You are, you've been braced for that reality, of course, though, right? You ready for that? Yes, obviously. I am. I am aware that this could be it and I'm mentally preparing myself, but it's still going to be sad regardless.
Okay, all right. There could be worse things. So, if the New York Knicks lose tonight, what the heck are you going to do? Are you going to pout?
You're going to be, well, obviously, you'll be sad. You're going to look to blame somebody? Explain to me. Tell me. I'd probably give the blame first to Tom Thibodeau, but I'm not going to be as harsh as other Knicks fans might be. Oh, boy. What is, he gets blamed for everything, huh? Yeah, it seems that way, huh?
It's a cloudy day. We got to blame Thibodeau. Karl-Anthony Townes's knee hurts. We got to blame Thibodeau. Yeah, we're going to get into Tom Thibodeau next hour. Like, there's nobody else to blame besides the head coach. I don't know. Maybe it's the inability of the players to get up and down the court like the Pacers.
I mean, Tom Thibodeau can't reconstruct a guy's body or athleticism, but I understand, Nico. We'll talk about the New York Knicks, these potential losers with their backs up against the wall. You know what? That game takes place. Tip-off is about two hours from now, and we'll get into that game next hour. Let's talk about the game that took place last night, because I was sitting right here in the studio, minding my damn business, looking at the four walls, these stupid computer screens, looking out the window.
I'm doing all of this stuff. I'm watching this game in the background, and I'm saying to myself, 22 to 7? Like, this is how they're starting the game off, 22 to 7? At one point in time, the Oklahoma City Thunder doubled up on them. It was like, you know, 60 to 30, 62 to 34. They doubled up.
Like, what are we doing out here? I was ready to get this damn game over with. It was a wrap. Minnesota had no juice. Anthony Edwards, the guy that everybody's been discussing, and I told you this yesterday, too, by the way, I'm sick of this conversation. The face of the league this, face of the league that, face of the league this.
Let the guy go to the finals one day, and then let's have a conversation about it. He had another poor outing. This man, Anthony Edwards, this 23-year-old young man, I guess I gotta be accurate when I say it, 19 points, 7 of 18 shooting. He was 1 of 7 from downtown.
Anthony Edwards was ineffective. And we discussed this last week when the series got started. I believed that the Oklahoma City Thunder were going to win this series in six games. And I thought it was because of their size and then the depth of their roster. And without a shadow of a doubt, when you're able to throw out two 7-footers and both of them could move, I'm talking about Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, yeah, it's going to make things difficult for the offense.
And two games ago, we had Anthony Edwards telling everybody, hey, I didn't struggle. I just didn't get off enough shots. I made the right basketball play, which means he passed the ball when there was nothing to do. He didn't force the action.
Well, damn it, you're going to have to start forcing the action. We'll get into Minnesota. Oklahoma City is the team that's moving on. They acquire Shay Gilgus-Alexander in 2019. The guy played one season out in Los Angeles. He re-signs a contract in 2022.
Tells everybody, I don't think there's going to be a whole lot more losing. And three years later, this team wins 68 games. He wins MVP. And the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to the first or their first NBA Finals since 2012, when three Hall of Famers were on the team. Three future MVPs were on the team. A Kevin Durant, a Russell Westbrook hasn't won a championship yet. A James Harden hasn't won a championship yet. But these guys have been MVPs. They are going into the Hall of Fame the day that they are eligible. This is a new era in Oklahoma City.
Could you ask for anything more? Think about Shay Gilgus. He's going to be eligible for a contract extension. Chet Holmgren is still on his rookie deal. Jalen Williams, all these guys are going to get paid.
But for right now, all things considered, the Oklahoma City Thunder, they are doing it on the on the cheap. And this is when you know that Carl, excuse me, not Carl Anthony Towns, I'm thinking about his days with the Wolves. This is when you know Anthony Edwards still has room to grow and to improve.
And he pretty much said so. Look at the other guy on the other side of the court. Minnesota doesn't have long athletic defenders. Minnesota doesn't have guys that could potentially go out there and stop them. The last time I looked, Minnesota has, oh, isn't he the four? Well, he is the four time defensive player of the year in Rudy Gobert.
He can't defend a guard to save his life, huh? Pretty useless for Rudy Gobert. How many picks did they trade him for? All of them?
Six of them? And is he doing anything? Does he have an offensive move besides put back and maybe alley-oop?
The answer is no. But when you look at Shay Gilgus Alexander, the guy can get any shot that he wants. He can control the game anytime, any way that he wants on the offense. And that, along with their defense, the depth of the squad, Jalen Williams, 19 points last night. Chet Holmgren, 22 points last night. Shay Gilgus Alexander, 34 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists. This is why they're on their way to the NBA Finals. Shay Gilgus Alexander, the leader, the MVP.
Damn it, he's probably going to be the NBA Finals MVP. The Canadian, he talked about the team and their chemistry and, man, they just jelled together. They're like peanut butter and jelly, all of y'all. I think that's what makes us really good. We have so much fun being out there together. And I'm sure we all know, when you're having fun with things, you give it your all and you excel at it because you enjoy it. Now, whether that's your job or not, but whatever you have fun with, you excel at, and that's why we've excelled for sure. Nico, you agree, right? Do you agree with that?
Yeah, absolutely. You have fun. You do something and you have fun. Well, sometimes you got to do things you don't want to do. But when you can have fun and get a task done, there's nothing better. Like yard work. Teamwork makes the dream work.
That's one example. Anyway, let's hear from one of his teammates, a guy that Shay Gilgus Alexander helped become an All-Star here in the NBA. Jalen Williams, I told you what he did. 19 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and closing out Minnesota in Game 5. Jalen Williams is like, man, we are we really going to the NBA finals?
What? It feels very surreal. I know that's like a pretty typical word that people say, but that that is what I'm feeling like. I haven't really been able to wrap my head around it. I think just from like this being my third year kind of happened pretty fast.
Yeah, it has to be surreal. I mean, this team is so damn young. I don't want to jump the gun here, but there's a legitimate possibility. Well, I mean, we've already kind of seen it, their growth from last year to this year. I think they're going to win the title. I really do.
I think, come on now. It either be them or the Celtics. The Celtics are hurt. They're nursing their wounds. They're fixing their knees and their Achilles. Indiana, I think, would pose a bigger threat than the New York Knicks right now.
But either way, I think OKC is going to win the title. And given the young talent that they have on their roster, Shay Gilgus Alexander, I don't even believe, has fully entered into his prime. Chet Holmgren, let's be real, this guy hasn't even fully entered into his body yet.
Looks like a baby deer running around out there. We know that at his height and size, 7'1", 7'2", he's real susceptible to injury. And Jalen Williams, as Jesus said, this is his third year.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, they have nowhere to go but up. It's a crazy situation. You think about their head coach, young as well, Mark Degnault.
Last night, he told you that, you know, my guys, they deserve this and we got more to do. They deserve this. They deserve the opportunity that we have now. I couldn't be happier for them because they invest so much in their own games, but they also invest so much in each other and in the team. And I just think it's a really uncommon thing in professional basketball that they've built.
I love this. I love the fact that barring the New York Knicks, hitting us with one of the biggest comebacks in NBA history, I don't think it's going to happen. Even if they win tonight, by the way, I think here's a spoiler. I think the New York Knicks will win tonight. I don't think they're winning the series. Also, we got to figure out if Karl-Anthony Towns is going to be able to play.
With that little knee issue that he has, I love this. The parody in the NBA is such as right now, over the past several years, including this year, we could have another champion for what, like the seventh consecutive season? Or we will. Oklahoma City, I think we'll win. Last year, we had the Celtics. Before that, we had the Denver Nuggets. In 2022, we had the Golden State Warriors. The year before that, Giannis gets the job done against the Phoenix Suns with the Bucs. The Lakers win in the bubble.
The year before that, in 2019, Kawhi Leonard, along with Pascal Siakam. They go out there and they win the championship against the Warriors, who were, let's be real, everybody was hurt. Man, injuries is what whips you down, really.
That's what takes you down. Is this such a young Thunder team? No. The NBA Finals haven't started yet. No, it's not June 5th.
Yes, that is the first day of the NBA Finals. The Thunder are here and they are going nowhere. And I feel even more confident in saying that about the Thunder more than I do about the Celtics and what they did last year.
These guys are a little bit older. Than that squad, which is crazy to even think about. The Celtics already paying money out the backside to keep all of their players together. Injuries, we all know Kristaps Porzingis is an injury waiting to happen. There's a lot with the Celtics. The Thunder, they're fresh, they're new, they're young, they're younger. And they're not going anywhere. This really is the beginning. Shout out to Sam Presti, GM of the century.
OK, this century at least. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. We have so much to get into. You know, let's talk to Steve McGehee. He covers the Thunder for News 9 in Oklahoma City. He'll be here with us next hour to talk about just how this team has grown, how they got put together, what they could do over the next several weeks and what they could do, dammit, over the next several years. Chris Hahn is going to join us, covers the Minnesota Timberwolves.
He'll be here in a few hours from now. I told you next hour, we'll talk about the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers. Pacers are trying to go to the finals. The Knicks are just trying to stay alive. I mentioned some hockey. The Panthers, the Florida Panthers, they're going to their third straight finals, building a little bit of a dynasty there. Cleveland Cavaliers look like they may be willing and ready to make some moves.
Move some guys out of the building to move and progress their roster. We have a lot to get into. There's some quarterbacks who said some interesting things.
Patrick Mahomes has some thoughts about flag football and the Olympics. We got a lot to do. If you want to call me, here's the number. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN.
I'll take a look at the phone lines when we come back on the other side of the break. How do you feel about OKC? Do you think this is a team that is just going to beat whoever the heck comes out of the East? And what are your thoughts on the Minnesota Timberwolves?
Oh, well, that's right. Julius Randle can opt out of his deal. Nas Reed can leave as well. The phone lines are open if you want to give me a holler. We'll talk about the Minnesota Timberwolves. We have so much to do.
Congratulations. This is the start of the show. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. We got one and a half of the NBA Finals that is already set. We find out that the Oklahoma City Thunder are moving on to the Western or excuse me, the NBA Finals are representing the West.
And as a result, there's there's a team that's going home or that has gone home. It's the Minnesota Timberwolves. I didn't feel all that good about the Timberwolves last year because it was Anthony Edwards. And then you had Karl Anthony Towns who at times and we still see right now, despite his knee injury, sometimes he can look like the best player on the court. And in other times, Karl Anthony Towns could just disappear into the background. He's he's non aggressive.
He's not aggressive at times. So I didn't feel good about the Minnesota Timberwolves last year. And then this year, when they get their hands on Julius Randle, pretty much in exchange for Karl Anthony Towns, I didn't I didn't feel good about that either, to be honest, because I'm like, well, damn, Julius Randle can't shoot like Karl Anthony Towns. And it took a while for the Minnesota Timberwolves to figure out any type of rapport earlier on in the season. I remember Anthony Edwards was talking about how how bad they played the early portion of the year. And then Julius Randle went down. He came back. He became more of a facilitator. And the Minnesota Timberwolves went on a run.
Damn it, they just went on a run that ended at the Western Conference Finals. But at the same time, I think we saw the limitations of Julius Randle. He ain't better than Karl Anthony Towns. The reason why he's on the team is because he costs less than Karl Anthony Towns.
And now Julius Randle is a restricted free agent. You don't or he can opt out his contract. You don't think he will? You don't think he's gonna look for a longer term deal? That's one of the reasons he's no longer a New York Nick.
Nas Reed, who won sixth man of the year, not this past season, but last year, Nas Reed is in the same position. He could say, I'm leaving. I got a better contract offer.
I'm getting the hell up on out of here. And then you're stuck with Rudy Gobert. Who wants him? If you see any of the tabloids, it doesn't appear that anybody wants them.
Yeah, stay away from the tabloids. Rudy Gobert is stuck. Dante DiVincenzo is going nowhere.
He just got there. But what does he do? He shoots and plays defense.
He's not asked to do a lot. Minnesota Timberwolves have to figure out how they can improve. And more importantly, they have to figure out how Anthony Edwards can take his game to the next level. Yeah, he could fly through the air. Yeah, he can dunk. Yeah, he could drop almost 30 points a game. Yeah, he can be funny. Yeah, he could be at commercials. Anthony Edwards can do it all.
But he has to learn how to be more of a complete basketball player who can literally take games over at any time and not in spurts. Allah, the guy that we saw on the other end is Shay Gilgas Alexander. Anthony Edwards talking about the game with at one point Oklahoma City Thunder. They almost doubled up on him talking about the game where he had a 22. They had a 22 to 7 lead to start off. Anthony Edwards says, yeah, they destroyed us from beginning until the end. They came ready to play. We didn't.
When you lose a game like this, it's not really too much to break down. They just did what they were supposed to do in one game. Why don't you think you guys came ready to play?
I don't know. They dominated the game from the tip and can't do nothing but tip my hat to those guys. They came ready, man.
So good job by them. Sometimes it's really just a matter of, well, talent is really it. They dominated the game because y'all are not as talented as them. I had a caller last week. He hit me up and he said, Hey, J.R., I yeah, yeah, Oklahoma City Thunder. They might be tall.
They might be athletic. Julius Randall is powerfully strong. You know, a big strong guy, Anthony.
And I'm like, man, fine. We got old ass Mike Conley out there. He can't do he can't do what he used to do in Memphis anymore.
Those days are over. Anthony Edwards was saying how bad and how sad he feels. Because Mike Conley is closer to the end than he is to the beginning.
And listening to Anthony Edwards a couple of games ago, or let me just say the last game, game four. He pretty much said after shooting five or 13, that he did not struggle. He just didn't get the shots. He didn't get enough shots. And I'm like, well, damn it.
That sounds like struggling to me. I was real interested to hear what he was going to say after losing last night. And I give him credit because he stood in front of the media and he said that he's going to do better, that he's going to work harder than he has before. He has had an amazing career. He just came off an Olympic gold medal.
There's no way to go but up for Anthony Edwards. And he pretty much answered, he answered a question. A reporter asked him, how much does it hurt? How does it feel? And he's just like, man, this doesn't hurt. I'm gonna, I'm gonna use this to grow. Listen to what he said. It's exciting.
I don't know. I don't know why people would think it would hurt. I mean, it's exciting for me. I'm 23.
I get to do it a whole bunch of times. I'm hurt more so for myself, for Mike. I came up short for Mike. Like I said, we tried last year. We couldn't get it. We tried again this year. We're going to try again next year. But hurting is a terrible word to use. I'm good.
Well, that's good. And I think it's important to keep his life in perspective that, you know, in a lot of cases, some people really understand that there are things that are bigger than sports, things that are bigger than basketball. I think Anthony Edwards in the game of life, I think for someone 23 years old, he might know the game, the ultimate game or hurt. This is someone who lost his mom. This is someone who lost his grandmother to cancer just so close together. This is someone who had to come up and just use basketball as an escape. I think he knows what hurt and pain feels like. And so if you have things in that type of perspective, this may actually help him grow. He has a perspective on life where he can focus in on basketball and say, hey, I'm just going to move forward and get better. And so, yeah, I think there were a couple of people that I heard today. How could you not hurt?
How could this not be painful? Yeah. And in basketball, this man was eliminated last year in the Western Conference Finals. He ran out of gas against Luka Doncic of all people and didn't have help.
This year has a poor shooting performance throughout the course of the Western Conference Finals. Of course, he doesn't like the result. Of course, he wishes it went another way. But Anthony Edwards, he's going to get better. I fully believe he will. I just don't know if the team around him is going to get better.
The Western Conference is stacked. And even if they return the same roster, there's no guarantee that that we'll see Minnesota in the West Finals again. There's no guarantee. We may have to wait until Anthony Edwards is 30 before he makes a return.
Nothing is guaranteed. The Thunder isn't going anywhere. You think about the Rockets. Who knows what their roster might look like in a few months. I mean, are they going to acquire Kevin Durant? Is Giannis going there?
We have no idea. The Nuggets are certainly looking to fix their roster up. The Golden State Warriors are trying to go for broke as their guys are almost going out of the NBA, them old ass guys. The Grizzlies can never count them out. The Dallas Mavericks, who knows what they will look like. The Suns. Well, I don't even know.
Who knows? The West is already stacked. It's not going to change. And Anthony Edwards, he can get better and better. I just find it a little hard to believe that three consecutive years is just having an idea of what we might see next season, that they're just poof. They're going to be back. Hey, good luck to Anthony Edwards. He'll get better. I don't know if the team is, though.
I don't know about that. I'm surprised that they got this far this year. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network, 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. When we come back, speaking of winning a championship or even getting back, I want to talk about Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes had some words today at Kansas City Chiefs OTA. Patrick Mahomes had some thoughts about playing in the Olympics. Yeah, the flag football Olympics. Nico, what is the official title?
Do we even know? I don't even think they've come out with it yet. I've just been calling it the flag football Olympics as well. The flag football Olympics. Whatever.
You know what's even... Well, I hope they don't do this. Were you here last week when we talked about the drug Olympics? No, I was not. Oh boy. You heard about it, right? No?
I don't think I have, no. There is a gentleman out of Australia who came up with the bright idea of, you know what would make sports better? Drugs. Performance-enhancing drugs. Let's have our own version of the Olympics, but see how far our athletes can push their human bodies. If we treat them like, I don't know, Barry Bonds. If we treat them like, I don't know, who else can we say?
Mark Maguire, Roger Clemens, Lance Armstrong. Yeah, he wants to have the drug Olympics. I don't know if I'm ready for that. You wouldn't watch it?
Why not? I mean, I don't know. What do they have to just prepare for years by taking steroids? Well, they already tested a swimmer and I think he broke a world record.
Unofficially, yes, of course. I mean, I will say there are people out there that wish that baseball would allow it, so. Yeah, just what, have the drug version of Major League Baseball?
I guess so, yeah. Each player, how many years would the players last? Five years before they tear every muscle in their body? Well, I've heard that when you take performance-enhancing drugs, that it actually makes your career last longer. Bruh. It also makes you, you can recover faster, it will break your body down, man, come on. Yeah, that's true. It'll tear you down.
And we got Ack in the building. Ack, how do you feel about a league where the players are allowed to use drugs? Let's use the baseball example.
Does any of that interest you at all? I've always been vehemently against it. See, I always felt for, when baseball went through the steroids scandal, I was always, my heart went out to the guys who didn't do it, who couldn't make the major leagues, but that guy, the guy who did steroids, it put him over the top and in some cases, you know, gave him whether it's a five or six year career and then you got the guy in AAA who just couldn't get over the top because he didn't do it.
Yeah, it stinks. Well, I guess now we got geniuses that say, well, let's pump everybody full of drugs that want some and let's see how many home runs fly, including, I guess, the drug Olympics where these athletes, I guess we can still call them athletes, drug pumped athletes will run and jump and I don't know what the heck else they're going to do, but yeah, people will watch, somebody will watch and I think it's going to take, well, it will take place in Vegas. And so that may say, all that we need to know, you can bet on this.
So why not? It's the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. I'm going to tell you what Patrick Mahomes, what he had to say about the flag football Olympics coming to Los Angeles in 2028. And then we'll also hear from a couple of other quarterbacks who have spoken recently about their jobs, Joe Flacco and whether or not he's going to welcome in the other quarterbacks in the room. And then Will Levis about the quarterback that he had to welcome in the number one overall pick, Cam Ward. We'll talk some QBs on the other side of the break.
It is the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. Man, we talked about some basketball. We'll get into some more, of course it's a NBA finals type of time, Stanley cup finals type of time, Carolina Panthers on their way to a third consecutive Stanley cup finals. And while the NBA and NHL are moving towards their championships, we got a bunch of teams in the NFL right now who are just trying to prepare for a potential championship come next year. It's the off season, OTAs, voluntary workouts.
We got people who are hanging out in Tokyo, Japan, like Miles Garrett. This man just got a gigantic contract with the Cleveland Browns. He's making about 40 plus million dollars a year right now. He just signed a deal. There's some folks who are critical of him for not showing up.
Hey, what type of leader are you? Well, he told you he didn't want to be there. They threw money at him and he signed on the dotted line.
Whoopty freaking do, right? We got other teams that are running around. TJ Watt wants new contract. Trey Hendrickson wants a new deal. And then we got the situation with the quarterbacks.
And then, you know what? Matter of fact, speaking of the Browns with quarterbacks, Joe Flacco spoke yesterday and I found his comments to be absolutely genius. Joe Flacco is a grown man.
You know what? He's not even a grown man. Joe Flacco is a grown ass man. This guy could retire tomorrow and stay at home with his 20 million kids and his wife, and he would be busy as hell. But Joe Flacco was still playing football on a crowded football team with a crowded quarterback room with Shadore Sanders and Dylan Gabriel and Kenny Pickett and Deshaun Watson, I guess, working out on the side somewhere trying to rehab his Achilles.
It is a crowded room. Joe Flacco is the gray beard in the room. And there are some expectations when it comes to old quarterbacks, older quarterbacks as to their expectations. And so Joe Flacco, I think, gave one of the best answers you will ever hear or read when asked whether or not he is a mentor to the young quarterbacks. And he just he found the question.
I want to say Joe Flacco and I want to say trapping, but he knew it was almost like a setup. Listen to what Joe Flacco had to say to talking point. You can kind of like use it like because it's a good question to bait somebody into answering. And either no matter how they answer, it kind of makes the guy that's answering it look bad. If I if I say I don't want to be a mentor, I look bad. If I say I do want to be a mentor, then I look like an idiot that doesn't care about being good and playing football. So it's one of those questions that no matter what I say, you guys can write what you want to write about it.
And there's a lot of questions like that. That's why you end up having to try to avoid them. I tend to try to be honest. And I've said I'm not a mentor.
I play football. And in a quarterback room, there's a lot of times already there's been already a ton of times where there's learning experiences and I have a lot of experience and I can talk on things. And hopefully they listen. But it's not necessarily like my job to like make sure they listen to me. And, you know, hey, like hopefully you have a really good relationship with the guys that are in the room and and you naturally want to do that, you know, but that's yeah, that was a long winded answer.
But that's ultimately why I think you guys ask it. Damn, Joe Flacco is like, y'all are trying to set me up. The next thing I know you're going to go to Chidor Sanders and ask him, well, Joe Flacco says that he's not a mentor. He's the competition.
Chidor Sanders, how do you feel about that? Like that? I mean, if you want some answers, if you want a quote. This is how a lot of this goes.
He's not lying. I guess the media continued asking him questions about being a mentor and at the same time, well, Joe Flacco said enough already. Leave me alone. Here's the thing is like because of what I just said, like you're acting like I wouldn't want to be a mentor. It's like once again, it's not really about that. It's just not the main focus.
I see myself as a guy that can play in this league. So if your main focus was just like, hey, but I'm going to get you ready. You're just not taking care of business. The best way to be a mentor, honestly, is like show people how you go to work.
And like I said, hope that they pick up on that stuff, but not necessarily force them to pick up on the things that you do. Joe Flacco is almost a member of AARP. OK. Joe Flacco is real close to collecting Social Security, not that I think he needs it.
This guy is 40 years old. He could be done tomorrow. He was a couple of seasons ago, he was done. They picked him up off the couch and he helped take this team to the playoffs.
Everybody's like, what? Last year, well, he sucked. This year he's going to suck and then eventually he's going to get pulled for a young quarterback nature of the beast. Can you imagine one day unless Patrick Mahomes bails early one day, Patrick Mahomes get pulled like nobody goes out on top. Nobody. Not even Tom Brady. Tom Brady did not even go out on top. He had an opportunity to do so.
Most people get. The boot, someone who's getting the boot right now, and he knows it. Unfortunately, let's go to another team with a rookie quarterback, except for this guy was taken number one overall. He didn't fall to the fifth round like Chidor. Cam Ward in Tennessee. Cam Ward is in Tennessee and he is battling for the number one spot with Mr. Will Leviss.
Yeah, Will Leviss. Thirteen touchdowns last year, twelve interceptions. This man drove his head coach absolutely crazy. Somebody check on Callahan. We saw this guy on the sideline absolutely losing it. And so Will Leviss, he knows this is eventually going to be Cam Ward's job. And when he spoke to the media, he basically said, anybody in my situation knows that this sucks. Of course, that comment went viral. But then he also had some positive things to say about Cam Ward.
Listen to this. Yeah, he's been great. I mean, I'm here for him wherever I can be. And he's really smart kid. And we've been able to talk a lot about different installs that we've gone through and hearing his perspective and how he sees things. And you know, heck of an athlete, heck of a quarterback, too.
So it's been it's been fun going out there and playing with him. Man, Tennessee Titans had a three and 14 record last year. OK, and it's not all Will Leviss's fault, but a part of it is they did not trust this man with a football.
And why would you? He could throw the football out of the stadium. He just can't throw the football directly to the guy in front of him. Too many funny plays, trying too many funny style stuff and just stop it.
Well, he won't have an opportunity to because Cam Ward is a great opportunity to because Cam Ward is going to take his job. I suck going to work, knowing that the guy next to you, maybe you got somebody like that, that person at work next to you, you've been there trying to get it together. You bring somebody else in, you know, the writing is on the wall. Here's some advice.
Sabotage that person. I'm just joking. Maybe a little bit. Anyway, another quarterback, he doesn't have to worry about his job security. He probably has one of the securest jobs in North America. His name is Patrick Mahomes. No, he doesn't have to worry about who's taking his job.
He doesn't have to worry about his backup. But one thing Patrick Mahomes, well, he was asked about today was whether or not he was going to compete in the twenty twenty eight Olympics. We all learned that flag football will now be approved by well, it was approved by NFL owners for the players to participate. Justin Jefferson said it was a dream not too long ago. Joe Burrell said it'd be great to compete in it. Today, Patrick Mahomes, it sounded like he changed his mind. Initially, he was like, it sounds cool.
Today, he kind of poured cold water on it. Listen to Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, I know it's awesome, honestly, just to be able to showcase the NFL to the whole world through flag football. But I'll probably leave that to the younger guys. I'll be a little old about time that that thing comes around in three years.
He'll be thirty three years old. Leave it. Let down Doucette or Ducat. Let him run around out there. That's the flag football champion of America, the five foot seven flag football. Patrick Mahomes, Nico, are you are you heavily interested in watching flag football in twenty twenty? Are you going to be tuned into that or you just passing on it? I mean, I guess I'll watch.
But like, aren't they just going to blow everyone out? Well, I thought about the competition. I'm like, what countries are we compete like the UK?
Right. Like there's no way these other countries have good football players. I mean, like football meaning American football, not soccer. Well, if they throw well, I don't know if we put we if we give a bunch of guys from Argentina a football and they utilize their footwork to be evasive, they may shock us. No, I mean, I guess it's possible.
You never know. In the Olympics, we always talk about the 1980 miracle on ice. Crazier things have happened. Yeah, you're right. I'm just I'm just heavily concerned. There's just so much juking and cutting like in the NFL. You can brace yourself for a hit. And granted, guys don't want to get hit. But, you know, the hit is inevitable. And so you can use your body to to shield and brace yourself from the contact. I think when you're trying to be evasive with a flag, I think there's and I could be wrong.
There's so much cutting and juking and turning and spinning and sudden movements. I am very concerned that somebody is going to go down and then there's going to be a whole to do and the NFL is going to go, you know what? It was a good idea to expand the game, but let's stick to our international games and let's just avoid this flag football stuff.
That's that's my concern. But Patrick Mahomes, I'm with him. Forget the fact whether or not he was 30 like he is now or he's 33. We don't need to see Patrick Mahomes juking and darting and running around. This guy's make he's going to eventually make a crap ton of more money than he is right now. Thought Dak making 60 was I went until Patrick Mahomes gets his deal.
I don't think it's worth it for a lot of the players. Let the young guys go out there and do it. Mixing the flag football dudes as well.
Go ahead. Patrick Mahomes is trying to win Super Bowl championships. Not Olympic gold medals against nobodies. It's the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We come back. We'll talk about a two teams or two teams trying to win a championship. The Pacers are trying to advance tonight and the Panthers, the Florida Panthers, they've already done so. It's the JR sport re-show Infinity Sports Network. Don't move.
