It is the JR Sportbreeze show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.
Thank you to everybody tuned in, locked in all over North America. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well. I hope you are amazing.
I'm in Atlanta. Thank you to our producer in New York City. Thank you to Nico Scarlatos. And thank you to you for listening. On the free Odyssey app, on your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate, Sirius XM channel 375.
If you've got a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. We've had a busy, busy show. We talked about the rumors of interest between Giannis Atetokounmpo and the Toronto Raptors. Thank you so much to Christian Winfield for joining us.
Covers the New York Daily News or covers the Knicks for the New York Daily News. We talked about their future. We discussed the future of the Detroit Lions. They're all pro Pro Bowl center.
Frank Ragnow has decided to retire after a history of foot and leg issues. And we talked about whether or not the other Lions still on an upswing. We talked about Deion Sanders defending his son Chador and his draft preparation. And we even talked about the Pacers. We got time to get into the Pacers taking on. Well, who's coming up next?
Well, the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals. So we got a whole lot more to do as the show continues on. You can call up 888-710-4ISN is the number. That's 888-710-4ISN. You can find me online. I am everywhere at JR Sport Brief, as we just discussed with Christian Winfield. There is a lot going on in New York City right now that the Knicks have been eliminated. And I do want to get into another coach who now that we've crossed over into June, there's a lot going on with a football coach in North Carolina. And so I do want to talk to you about Coach Belichick and how his standing at North Carolina might have changed. Maybe.
Possibly. And then we'll talk some NBA Finals as well. We have a new athlete on the cover of Madden for this year. We got David Ortiz sticking up for the Boston Red Sox.
Current star in Rafael Devers. Of course, at the end of the show, we'll talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history. The number again, 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN.
You can find me online. I am at JR Sport Brief. Right before we went to break, we talked about Tom Thibodeau, who's always criticized in the NBA. And not just from, you know, Knicks fans. He's criticized by everybody, whether it's Charles Barkley or Shaq about his use or lack of using the bench or fans. People still think that he ruined Derrick Rose's career. I'm like, give Tom Thibodeau a break.
He's not responsible for it all. In Derrick Rose's case, his body, his style of play, it was not going to be conducive to a long NBA career. And so Tom Thibodeau, I think, is definitely going to be sticking around with the New York Knicks. And I think Knicks fans are just going to have to get used to it. And I think if they do get some more depth, I think he will certainly go out there and he will employ it.
We'll see what he does. Speaking of coaches, Bill Belichick is the next coach, the current coach at North Carolina. We know for reasons, awful reasons, that Bill Belichick is certainly been in the news because of his... Nico, how old is his, is she 23? I think 24. How old is Jordan Hudson, right? Is that a name?
Yes. How old is she? She is 24.
She's 24. OK. Yeah, Bill Belichick has been, he's had a busy offseason. Let's just go ahead and put it that way. From the CBS Sports interview or CBS Morning Show interview, which she reportedly controlled all the way down to her being a part of the program and answering emails or working in a professional space or personal space with Bill Belichick. He's been criticized in a way that he has never been criticized before. And for a man who built his entire tenure in New England in regards to controlling the narrative, controlling the story, things are out of hand with Bill Belichick. And when he signed his contract with North Carolina to pretty much take over, he pretty much had to tell everybody that he wasn't going to just wake up and go back to the NFL. I want you to hear what Bill Belichick had to say during his introductory press conference. Bill, what do you say to people that fear that if you do succeed here, that you might leave for the NFL again in a year or two?
Yeah, I didn't come here to leave. Bill Belichick said, I didn't come here to leave. He talked about how being at North Carolina was a dream and thinking about his dad and coaching at the college level. Well, the reality is Bill Belichick is at the college level because nobody wanted him in the pros. And last hour we talked about another coach in Deion Sanders.
And one of the reasons that his son probably fell in the draft, I think one of the factors definitely was his dad was Deion. People didn't know whether or not he was going to be a distraction alongside a rookie quarterback, even if Deion would be a far. And so now we have Bill Belichick, who hasn't even coached a game yet for North Carolina. He has been a distraction, like there's been more conversations about his girlfriend and less about the actual football on the field. Who's going to be quarterback?
Nobody cares. And so we just passed a big day when it comes down to the tenure of Bill Belichick and North Carolina. His buyout that he signed in order to wake up and walk out and leave, his buyout dropped on June 1st, yesterday, Sunday, from $10 million to $1 million. So if Bill Belichick wanted to leave North Carolina, he would only own the school $1 million as opposed to the original $10 million. And so Bill Belichick has a good deal of leverage here if and should he wants to leave.
But let's also think about this. He's not leaving for an NFL team because an NFL team didn't want him. All the jobs have now been taken. And so where the hell would he have gone right now where he's paying $1 million?
The answer is nowhere. There are a lot of conversations as to what would happen if we got to June 1st. All the jobs are gone. I think there's a reason that the day was June 1st. Because if Belichick left between now and I don't know, February, March, you'd have to pay that $10 million.
That's that's now gone. I just don't think that until they actually get to the football or and his girlfriend kind of falls back into the background that things in North Carolina will just be about football. I don't expect it. You know, we talked about Deion Sanders and the conversation surrounding Chidor.
And when is it going to be about football? Is Deion going to fall back so people could just focus in on Chidor? I don't think so. And I think in the case of Bill Belichick, do we have a better chance of his girlfriend kind of disappearing into the back?
Possibly. But I don't think the stories are going to stop. So a major day here for Bill Belichick yesterday, his buyout dropped from $10 million to $1 million. Where's Bill Belichick going?
Nowhere. I don't think he's going anywhere. If he goes anywhere, possibly, maybe down the aisle.
I don't know. I saw that rumor. If Niko, if Bill Belichick marries this young lady, he is well within his right to do whatever the heck he wants personally. Is that now not just a bigger distraction now? You would think, I mean, especially if she's going to be around the team facilities quite a bit, which I know she was during the spring practices.
That's where my issue is. What? Like her being at the field while they're practicing, like that cannot be happening.
These are college kids that need to be focused on football. They don't need some 24-year-old model walking around the practice field. Oh, you're correct. I forgot she is a model.
You're right. She's a beauty queen. Didn't she come in like second or third in Miss Rhode Island or something recently? Yeah, I think something like that. I was just looking at her Instagram page because I was looking at her posting pictures with her and Bill and she was posting some stuff about her at a pageant. Oh my goodness.
Yeah. You want, it's just, this is, I don't, I guess this is ironic that Bill Belichick just never wanted to answer a question. Never wanted to talk about anything but football. Didn't want to talk about the past game.
Wanted to go ahead and think about the next game. And here he is at North Carolina. He is yet to coach a game. We're a couple of months away from this man actually coaching a football game.
And the majority of the conversations are surrounding his girlfriend. I mean he put out a book and I guess who could have even thought that there would be these conversations surrounding his relationship. But I wonder if Bill Belichick would have decided to not do the book at all if he knew that this type of reaction would come out of it. And so now that we've crossed June 1st, if Bill Belichick wanted to bail, here, take your $1 million and leave me alone. And I don't even think Bill Belichick would do that at this point because if this man just says, you know what guys, I'm going to leave. And I'm not going to leave to go to an NFL team.
I'm not going to another college program. Ain't nobody starting a cycle joining a team, college team in June to be the head coach. It'd be a disaster I think for his legacy if Bill Belichick just decided to up and leave because of all of this controversy, all the news surrounding him and his 24-year-old girlfriend. So Bill Belichick is going to coach in North Carolina. Is he going to be out there beating up on Clemson? I highly doubt it.
Is it going to happen in a few years? I still highly doubt it. I think he will be okay. But this story is going to, it's not going anywhere. Maybe Bill Belichick's best thing, I'm not trying to take a dump on the guy's personal life. Maybe the best thing is if Bill Belichick is not with her. I don't know. Distraction, done.
Don't have to talk about it anymore. And we'll see what happens in that regard. Nico, you think Bill is going to have success in North Carolina? I don't think it'll be right away.
I mean, I know he's been very active in the transfer portal, but I don't think any of the players he got were that great. So I'm sure it'll take a couple years. But I think in the future there's a chance. The only problem is we don't know how long Bill is going to be there. I mean, he's already in his, what, his 70s? So he can't coach for that much longer. Well, I mean, he can.
He can. You think about Bill Belichick, he's 73 years old. He just turned 73, so I'm not going to give him the complete boot just because of his age. I think at 73 you can still coach. I think he and Pete Carroll, Pete Carroll is 73 years old as well. He's still kicking in a major way in the NFL.
Just got a new job with the Raiders back with Geno Smith in Las Vegas. And so, yeah, but is Bill Belichick going to be around for the next eight years? Probably not. And I don't think, I don't think that's the goal. I think that North Carolina wanted to bring Bill Belichick in to help turn the program around. Definitely bring attention.
Have them make money. See if he can be, they can be built up into a competitive space in this new NIL. Bill is coming right out of the NFL. One of the most successful coaches ever behind Shula and Hallis.
Nobody has more wins outside of Bill Belichick. And so I think it was strategic from North Carolina to bring in Bill Belichick. I just, who could have ever thought that we'd be talking about a head coach and his girlfriend?
I have, well, I mean, there was a time that Phil Jackson was dating Jeannie Buss. But I think at that point he was already, already gone. So, yeah, the last thing you want is a distraction from your coach. And that's what Bill Belichick has been serving up. Not the best of situations. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. We're going to take a break when we come back on the other side. Not a distraction. We're going to move from the field. We're going to go to the hardwood. We're going to talk some basketball. Because, yeah, we talked to Christian Winfield about the team that lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. That's the New York Knicks. The team that won, the Pacers, they're on their way to the Finals to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. We have SGA, who was traded from, well, Los Angeles and now OKC winning a title. We have Tyrese Halliburton. This man went from Sacramento to the Pacers.
He's helped lead the Pacers to an NBA title. We're going to talk about SGA and Halliburton on the other side of the break. Yeah, we got to wait a couple of days until the NBA Finals really gets underway.
But we can start talking about their major stars on the other side of the break. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. You're locked in to the JR Sportbreeze Show Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. It is the JR Sportbreeze Show here with you Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN.
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That's 888-710-4ISN. Right before we went to break, we talked about Bill Belichick. His buyout has now dropped from $10 million to $1 million. We talked about Coach Tom Thibodeau. We talked about Coach Deion Sanders. We've got a little bit of a theme tonight when it comes down to coaches. When I think about two basketball teams that we'll see this upcoming Thursday, there's a little bit of a theme too. You've got to look at the coaches.
One for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Mark Dagnall. And then you look at the coach of the Indiana Pacers, representing the East, and Rick Carlisle. Rick Carlisle has been here. He's seen this.
He's done it. He's won a championship with the Dallas Mavericks. He's completely changed his thought process from being a control freak to letting these Pacers just get up and down the court. And then you have Mark Dagnall who just quote on quote, you know, he got to the party.
I would say most casual NBA fans, I'd say most NBA fans wouldn't know Mark Dagnall if he just walked on down the block. And so we're going to have one of these matchups this upcoming Thursday. Well, starting on Thursday in the NBA Finals where we have an established coach.
And we have a young up and coming coach who has basically arrived at this point in time. And so now that the finals is set, now that the Pacers beat the Knicks on Saturday, Mark Dagnall talked about Rick Carlisle and he bigged them up. I mean, why wouldn't you?
You want to fatten them up before you slaughter them. Listen to this. He's just got an unbelievable life in basketball. When you look at all the things he's experienced in his playing career and then in his assistant coaching career and his head coaching career, he's forgotten more about the game than most of us have seen.
So I have a lot of respect for him. Yeah, Rick Carlisle was an assistant under Larry Bird. I remember Rick Carlisle sitting at the end of the bench before moving up and getting his own chance and his own opportunity and now letting Halliburton run up and down the court. This is going to be a track meet between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. We know exactly what is going to take place. This is not going to be no New York Knicks just trying to keep track. I think we're going to have some big ebbs. We're going to have some massive flows. You think about the defense of this Oklahoma City Thunder squad from Chet Holmgren.
This man lifts his arms up in the air. And what more defense do you need to play? You think about Isaiah Hartenstein.
This man gets the job done as well. They can also help facilitate on offense. This is going to be a fun series.
And if you think about Oklahoma City, I feel like all season long it's just been about fun. Post season press conferences. There's like 20 of them standing around. Well not 20, 15. It's all fun.
Like you can't have one interview without the entire team being there. It's all fun. And they genuinely seem to enjoy each other. I mean you got SGA who turns 27 in July. This guy was the 11th pick in 2018 out of Kentucky. The Clippers traded him because Kawhi Leonard basically said, I will come and join the Clippers but I have to be with Paul George.
I'm not playing with this guy. Nothing against him. I want Paul George. This man has been a three time All-Star. Is now an MVP. Was a Western Conference Finals MVP. Very well might be the NBA Finals MVP. Shay Gilgus-Alexander is basically checking all the boxes on the way to a championship. I mean he helped make Jalen Williams an All-Star.
They won 68 games. And Isaiah Hartenstein who just got to the team last year, was on the New York Knicks last season. He basically says that we are the prime example of what a team is and what a team can do. I think the greatest quality of this team is that we do everything together.
I think me and Stars are off the court. We're really a together team. We support each other. If you're playing a lot of minutes, if you're not playing a lot of minutes, I think that's what makes us special is we're very supportive of each other.
And then when it gets on the court, we're kind of like, we're always connected. Well, I hope Isaiah Hartenstein, Niko, does he sound happier when they're actually hanging out? He sounds happier than that, right? He sounds kind of miserable talking to the media.
Yeah, I would hope so. That was a very monotone answer from him. I mean, obviously what he was saying made it sound like they're very happy, but he didn't sound happy. Yeah, I'm saying, man, I've never heard someone sound so unhappy talking about being happy than I've ever heard him. I don't know. Somebody tell Isaiah Hartenstein, like blink three times if they're not, you know, holding you hostage or keeping you there. Isaiah Hartenstein is sounding rather miserable.
I guess we're going to have to see him raise up the Larry O'Brien trophy if we want to hear him happy. I don't know. Maybe an OKC right now. It is strictly business.
The scene with the NBA finals in 2012, they lost to the Miami Heat this time in 2025. It's crazy how fast Tom flies. They're trying to get the job done. And Jalen Williams, let's see if he sounds happier. He says, yeah, we got to take on the Pacers. It's it's not going to be easy.
Mark made a really good point. Like they are feeling the exact same we same way we feel. You know what I mean? Like they've had to win three series. We've had to win three series. So they're coming extremely confident. We're coming in confident.
So it should be really fun. But yeah, that drives their their thing, I think, just like their pace. And, you know, you kind of saw it just wear down the Knicks a little bit.
Here's a difference. OK, they might have won three series. Y'all might have won three series. OKC has just been bludgeoning the teams. OK, they swept the Grizzlies in the first round. The Nuggets. OK, they went to seven games with the Nuggets. They just had a gentleman sweep against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They beat them four to one. I'm going to give the Pacers and here's the prediction.
Here it is. I'm going to give the Pacers one game. That's it.
Maybe two. Maybe they get to six. I just think that anything that the Oklahoma City Thunder or excuse me, anything the Pacers can do, the Thunder can do it better. I think they can get up the court better.
I think they have obviously the better score and SGA Halliburton. I wouldn't necessarily call him a natural score. He can go out there and get it. But it's more so his job to facilitate, I think, the size and versatility of the Thunder and their defense and Hartenstein and also having Holmgren there. I think OKC is going to walk away champions and their fans could wear all of their colorful shirts to the games.
I'm not going to call this a Kate walk. I think because of the nature of the up and down of both teams. But the defense of OKC, we may have some lows.
We may have some some kind of dark spots here. But I think that that OKC is ultimately going to walk away as champs. And I think myself, I thought we would be looking at the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder. No, not not not the case at all. We got a team here in OKC who's going to take on a Pacers team who nobody expected to be here.
A matter of fact, and thank you, Nico, for the info. The Thunder won both of their regular season meetings. One is December 26, 120 to 114. A lot of the Pacers were still injured there.
A 132 they beat them 111 on March 29. It's the end of the season and people are thinking about rest and, you know, get into the postseason at that point. But as we enter into this NBA final starting on Thursday. The Thunder are the biggest favorite to win an NBA finals since the 2018 Golden State Warriors who met the Cavaliers and promptly swept them. And so I don't think you you're going to get rich by making a bet here unless you're going to go out there, you know, bet everything on the Pacers.
I would not advise going out there and doing that. And then you have the battle of I don't want to say the big city, but small cities. You know, maybe they're big cities right now in the basketball world, but nobody's going to look at OKC in Indiana as being a ratings bonanza. We have SGA and Tyrese Halliburton. This might be good for a basketball fan.
Anybody will watch any game. There's no Steph Curry here. There's no Kevin Durant. There's no LeBron James. Even in the case of Luka Doncic is a big name.
You know, Jokic has become a big name over the past several years. This is almost a coronation, I believe. This will be a coronation of Shea Gilgus Alexander. This is going to be the hey, welcome. The newest star who just won MVP won a finals MVP. And I think he's going to be catapulted just into a completely different space and a completely different era. And everybody wants to have that conversation. Face of the league.
This Paul George said it was Halliburton. I don't know what Paul George is smoking, but SGA is moving into superstar space. He might be an all star. He might be all star for years. He might be an MVP.
But this man is moving into a superstar space and I think he's going to go ahead and add a finals MVP to his trophy case as well. Nico Thunder, Pacers. Who do you think is winning this series, man? I'm definitely taking the Thunder and trying to take my bias out of it.
Tyrese Halliburton, though, is very high on my enemy list in the sports world. So I am going to heavily be rooting for the Thunder. Even taking out the bias, though, I think it goes no more than five. Like you said, maybe six.
But I wouldn't I wouldn't bet that. I think five is the most likely scenario here for the Thunder. Yeah, this isn't this isn't a matchup that has the most juice. You really have to be dug in as a basketball fan to say, I want to watch, you know, OKC and the Pacers. I think a good portion of the country, casual fans, they're they're not going to tune in because the names and the name brand recognition is not there.
I mean, maybe I'm missing something. I know Shay Gilgus-Alexander has been in some some Skims commercials selling, I guess, Kim Kardashian's underwear. But there's a far comparison, far off, far away between the Currys of the world, the Lebron's and and the SGA's and Halliburton. Halliburton for playing in Indianapolis. Kaitlyn Clark, he is not. We'll definitely be watching the series as it starts this upcoming Thursday. It's the J.R. Sportbreeze Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. We're going to take a break when we come back. We're going to talk.
We're going to talk some football. Saquon Barkley had a little bit of an announcement to make today. And David Ortiz, he had a proclamation to make about Rafael Devers, the man who didn't want to play first and didn't necessarily want to move, is making all this money and just wants to do things his way.
David Ortiz says, leave him alone. We'll get into all of this on the other side of the break. We have so much more to do. It is the J.R. Sportbreeze Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Hey, we just talked about the upcoming NBA Finals matchup that we will see between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. We got Jay Gilgas Alexander.
We got Tyrese Halliburton. And I explained to you that Jay Gilgas Alexander is stepping into a new space in his career where he is. He's not just an MVP. He's not just a Western Conference Finals MVP.
Jay Gilgas Alexander is moving into a space where he's ultimately, I think he's going to win the whole thing. I think he's going to move into the space of being a superstar on the NFL side or just sports in general. I don't think anything says superstardom in the world of sports more than, well, being on the cover of a video game. And Madden is one of the most iconic sports games and franchises. Forget sports games. It's one of the most iconic sports franchises, period. And Saquon Barkley decided to share some news with us earlier today.
I want you to take a listen to this video that he posted on his social media. This last season has been everything. It happened a year that we were able to have as a team win the Super Bowl three iconic moments.
It starts from imagination, being a kid, having those moments, playing video games and saying, why can't I do it in real life? Yeah, this man Saquon Barkley is on the cover of Madden 2026. And Nico, I know we talked about this last week. When it comes down to superstitions, you're a little superstitious when it comes down to your teams, right? I'm on the opposite. I do not care. Yeah, I'm not too crazy, but I do have some that I that I work with. And I think that, well, you said if you wear a particular jersey, you wear it the next time and stuff of that nature, right? Yeah, exactly. So you know about the Madden curse, right?
Of course. So-called Madden curse. Anybody who's played Madden and the game has been around now for more than 25 years, okay? There have been a lot of cover athletes who've had a couple of issues when they've been on the cover of Madden.
So Saquon Barkley will be on the cover for 2026. And they have that iconic image. It looks like they have two covers because why the hell not? You know, I guess make people buy the game twice if you're not downloading a video game.
I don't know. But anyway, they have that iconic image where Saquon is doing that backwards hurdle from last season. And they have another one that's more of a side profile of his face with his helmet on. Well, Saquon, I know he got the new contract, so maybe he's not worried too much about what's going to take place or what's happening. Last season, Christian McCaffrey was on the cover. This man was riddled with injuries, his achilles, his legs, his calves. You know, he's having to answer questions about his durability and, you know, how healthy he is for this upcoming season.
You think about that. If we go back even further in time, Dante Culpepper was on the cover of Madden. Yes, former quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. This guy had a season-ending knee injury after he was featured on the cover of Madden 2002. Okay, Michael Vick was on the cover of Madden. And we know Michael Vick in any video game, specifically Madden, he's a cheat code until this guy broke his leg after being on the cover in 2004.
We can go on and on and on. Troy Palamalu was on the cover, missed the majority of the season almost 15 years ago. Peyton Hillis was voted on the cover of Madden. It was just kind of ridiculous that he even made it as a running back. People were like, why Peyton Hillis? He missed some time. Rob Gronkowski was on the cover.
He got hurt. And so does the Madden curse exist? If you're the Philadelphia Eagles, I'm not getting all that involved in the curses and whatnot. This team just won a championship.
They'll probably be favored to go out there and win it again, representing the NFC. I'm not worried about the Madden curse for Saquon Barkley, especially after he is now the highest paid running back in the entire game. It's crazy how things could change in a year. It was just last offseason that Saquon was trying to figure out whether or not the New York Giants were going to have him back. And we flipped the script here, and he's now the highest paid in the game, is coming off of a championship. And it's tough. Nico, dare I ask you, you're a Giants fan, right?
Yes, sir. Were you one of those folks who you couldn't stand Saquon at the time? How did you feel with that whole thing going down? Yeah, I was very upset with Saquon Barkley and his decision to go to the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, I know that it's been reported that the Giants were the ones that did not respect him, and whatever side you want to take, that's fine. I would actually argue that it was the right move for the Giants to let Saquon Barkley go. My issue is that he didn't have to go to a division rival. There were other teams that also wanted running backs. I mean, Green Bay signed Josh Jacobs, Baltimore signed Derrick Henry, Houston signed Joe Mixon.
You're telling me those teams weren't also offering Saquon Barkley a contract? So, you mean to tell me the New York Giants didn't want Saquon Barkley, and then you were upset that he went to a division rival? I mean, is there loyalty in that regard?
Why should there be loyalty? No, I mean, but it just didn't have to become such a bigger thing. Like, we would have been fine, you know, watching him go off into the sunset with another team, and I think he should be able to understand that the Giants just, where the franchise is, were not in the right place to be paying a running back more than $10 million. I mean, this is a team that has one playoff appearance in the last seven years, so I don't think he should have taken offense to the fact that the Giants wanted to move on.
Yeah, but you took offense to the fact that he went to the Eagles. Like, it's a business, and so the New York Giants didn't want him. He had a chance to get paid and win a championship, and it worked out. It seems like he made the right business decision to me.
I think at that point you have to cut off emotional ties. I don't think Saquon ever wanted to leave. He pretty much said as much, and the decision was made for him.
I get it. The Giants shouldn't have paid a running back. They had so many holes that they needed to go out there and fill in the first place, but I'm not going to fault Saquon for, you know, going to Philadelphia.
And who was? Didn't Joe Shane get beat up a little bit after they won the championship? Didn't he have some type of comment about how he's happy for Saquon? Obviously not the Eagles, but didn't he say something to that effect on my way off beat? Yeah, and then there was also the whole thing that happened where the Giants were on the offseason hard knocks, and owner John Mara is in one of the episodes saying, I'm going to lose sleep at night if Saquon goes to Philly. So it was just a whole bad situation for the Giants with the fact that it was caught on camera.
He goes to the division rival and wins the Super Bowl. But that for me is actually what kind of gave me some closure where I agree with what you said. It was kind of like, now I view it as he made the right decision, so I can't fault him too much for it. But at the time when he first signed, I was like, oh, now I got to play him twice a year and watch him beat my team up.
Yeah, it's tough. Well, you ain't rooting for no Madden curse, though, are you? You ain't going that far. No, I'm not too into the Madden curse. I mean, we've seen, obviously the odds are rare, but we've seen occasions where it's fine. I mean, Tom Brady, Mahomes, Josh Allen have all been on the cover and they seem to be doing pretty okay for themselves.
Yeah, but here's something else on a little separate of a side note. I heard Madden stinks now. I heard they basically run out the same game every year.
I mean, after all this development, how much can you even improve it? Have you played it? I haven't played the game and I don't want to put a number out. It's been a long time. It's been a couple of decades since I sat down and played Madden, man. So it's funny, it actually for a very long time was probably my favorite video game until last year was the first year that I did not buy it. But that's because I bought the college football EA Sports game and I've now moved on to that. So I think the stale taste of what Madden offers, to your point, is an issue because there were so many new features in college football that weren't in Madden. So they do need to work on that.
So it was better off. How better can you improve graphics? You can't add in a different storyline. So has the game not peaked? It's been out for like three decades now. Well I think they have improved the graphics, but there's in the game features that they want that people want that haven't been added.
I don't know exactly what they are, but the graphics are cool, but the graphics were already nice to begin with, so people don't care about the improvement of the graphics. Listen, man. Sign me up. Have you ever played NBA Jam? I was more of a 2K guy. I mean, I've sprinkled in it, but... Where did you play NBA? You had it on a Nintendo. Where did you play it? On an emulator? The 2K games I've always had on my PlayStation. No, no, not 2K. I'm talking about NBA Jam.
Like, 2-on-2, Patrick Ewing, Akeem. Have you ever picked that up? Yeah, my dad has an old system that we used to whip up, but this was years ago when I was a kid, so I haven't done it in a while. Yeah, listen, man. Sign me up for four buttons and a directional pad. These video games that they have, man, it's too complicated. I played NBA 2K in the pandemic, because what the hell else are you going to do, right?
And so thank you, thank you very much to the wonderful people at 2K Sports. I sure as hell didn't buy a copy. They sent me a copy to play, and I guess I'm doing the opposite of what they would have requested. It was just too complicated. Like, for me to stand there and shoot free throws was just like, you gotta... It was impossible. It's like, I'm standing here with Steph Curry, and shouldn't it be easy for me to knock down a free throw with Steph Curry?
And the answer is no. And so, I mean, there's just too many buttons and too many moves. Look, man, I used to fire up NBA Jam, and it was very, very simple for me to go up and down the court and shoot a three or attempt a dunk or a layup. I don't need to start busting out the dream shake to, you know, feel like I'm having a good time winning with Akeem Olajuwon. So, I loved NBA Jam. That was my favorite, I'd say, sports video game ever. What else is in there? NFL can't do blitz anymore.
That's too violent. What else is out there? MLB The Show is pretty good. Is that still good? Yeah, I actually have fun playing MLB The Show. I do a lot of Diamond Dynasty, so it's cool.
You know, getting a lot of the throwback old players back in the game, which is a lot of fun. Wait, wait, wait. What the heck is that? Diamond Di... What do you play with? You don't play with Pete Rose. He's not in the game, huh? No, yeah.
Unfortunately, there are not many Pete Rose cards in the game, but Diamond Dynasty is kind of similar to, like, Ultimate Team, which is what it is in Madden. And you just do all these missions and get, like, these really good players, and then you get to play other people online. Yeah, I don't know what that... I don't know what that stuff is. I don't... You're talking about Diamond Di...
I don't know what the heck that is. I'll tell you this. Years ago, I've never played a video game online until I plugged in Mario Kart for the Wii when it was new, which is also crazy.
This is probably now 20 years ago. And I played racing. And a guy came by, and he basically destroyed me in go-karts.
And I'm like, you know what? Playing video games online is not for me. I'm good playing in my own house.
Friends come over, sit down and play. But no, my days are over. They've been done. And I don't have time. I wish I did, but I don't. If I did, I'd be playing NBA Jam and not Madden. The games take too long.
You gotta plug them in, and now you gotta worry about injuries. We're in a very, very different space right now when it comes to sports games. I don't... I couldn't even tell you it was good right now. 888-710-4ISN is the number.
That's 888-710-4ISN. Here's a simple question for you. What is the best sports video game of all time? Like, if you had to crank up a sports video game, what would you be out there playing?
Mine? NBA Jam. I don't know if Mario Kart with Mario and Luigi. I don't know if that's a sports game. 2K?
A little too complicated for me right now. Give me NBA Jam. I'm trying to think of what the heck else is out there. Madden used to be good. I certainly love MLB The Show. We're in a different space.
I haven't played that in a long time. David is calling from LA. David, you're on the JR Sportbreeze show. What's up? Hey, JR. Thanks for taking my call.
So, couple things here. Firstly, the Madden curse thing doesn't exist, doesn't not exist. I mean, that really depends on who you talk to, how superstitious they feel about it. But there are explanations for why some of these players tend to decline once they graze the cover of Madden. Especially the running back. Because, you know, typically running backs may get onto the cover after they have a star, stellar, phenomenal season. But, we can't expect running backs to duplicate those kinds of seasons year after year after year. So, you know, we'll see what happens this year with Saquon. Obviously, as an Eagles fan, I'd like to believe that he's going to avoid the curse. But, you know, we'll see.
It's always up there. Let me tell you this, David. We're up against a great guy.
I'll put you on hold here. They're paying that guy a lot of money to stay healthy and show up. And so, the last team that wants to hear about a curse on anything is this team right now.
Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles. That'll be kind of wild if he goes down. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We come back, we'll talk more curses, get some more of your calls. The JR Sport Reshow. Don't move.
