As they drop the puck, Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Florida. I dropped the puck on hour number 3 of the JR Sports Brief right here on the Infinity Sports Network. That worked out alright Ryan.
I was going to say pot head, but hockey head. And he's down there for the game. And he showed me a picture of him outside the arena in full Panthers gear with an iguana. And he's holding the iguana by its tail. And I was looking at the picture and I was thinking, what the hell animal is that? Because he texted me and he said, hey check it out, the good luck iguana before the game. And I'm thinking, that thing's too big to be an iguana.
It looks like my friend is holding like a Tyrannosaurus Rex. So I had to go to the old internet to see how big iguanas get in Florida. Male iguanas can grow over 5 feet in length and weigh up to 19 pounds.
Word? I thought these things were tiny little fun creatures. What's our guy, what's the gecko? I guess that's a gecko, gecko, gecko, okay. Is a gecko different from an iguana apparently? Is an iguana like 10 times, 20 times bigger than a gecko? That to me is a small alligator.
That's what my friend is holding. Florida's just a different place man, it just is. It just is. It's a fun place to vacation.
888-710-4ISN is the phone number. Alright, let's talk a little bit of baseball while we're at it. Bunch of games going on as I speak. In the 5th inning, Reds up over the Guardians 4-3. Speaking of Florida, Marlins up over the Pirates. That's a bad baseball game, 1-0 in the 3rd. Phillies just took a lead in the 5th over the Cubs 2-1. Rays and Red Sox locked up at 0's in the 4th. Braves and Brewers just underway. Blue Jays have the early lead over the Cardinals.
And then like I said, a bunch of other games going down tonight. It made me think, earlier this week, Rob Manfred, the commissioner of baseball, came out and said that he is now... He basically said that he was late to the party with Pete Rose and that it is time that he gets reinstated back in baseball.
And so that's what's going on. And Pete Rose is going to get reinstated and then the next thing is going to be Pete Rose. Do we let him in the Hall of Fame right away or does he have to wait a little bit period of time? But we all know the next step is they're going to announce that Pete Rose, finally, ends up in the Hall of Fame. And I don't know if there was anybody that's ever played baseball that cared more about being in the Hall of Fame than Pete Rose. Because Major League Baseball used that as his punishment. They dangled that over his head.
They knew that that was the only care that they had left. Because at that point, Pete Rose had made his money, he had made his name, he had all of his hits. Right? The hit king. More hits than any Major League Baseball player ever. It'd be one thing if he was borderline 3,000 hits. If it's like an Adrian Beltre... Easy for me to say. Adrian Beltre. Like, he's a Hall of Famer but not a lock. He's not the hit king or anything like that.
But then we can start to have the conversation. But it feels like you gotta let your guard down just a little bit considering you're talking about one of the, what, five, ten greatest players to ever pick up a baseball bat. I mean, no player in the history of Major League Baseball ever had more hits than that guy. It's different than we talk about the steroids. Because Pete Rose didn't really cheat the game in the way that these other guys putting stuff into their body did.
They created an imbalance of power, if you will. Now, maybe you're saying, dude, the pitchers were on steroids also so the batters had to do it. And then once some of the other batters do it, even the position players, the middle infielders that never would have thought about it, they had to do it just to keep up.
I understand. The steroids era was a very strange time. It was badass, if I'm being honest. As somebody that's watched baseball my entire life, that summer of 98, that back and forth, right, McGuire and Sosa, like, it sucks for them and their health purposes and all that. But it was kind of fun watching them hit 700-foot home runs every single night, going back and forth. That might have been the most entertaining era of baseball. And I do think that once Pete Rose gets allowed into the Hall of Fame, then it's going to at least open up the conversation for all those steroids era players to end up in the Hall of Fame. I don't think that it's going to be a direct impact. I don't think that people are going to go, oh, if Pete's in, then you've got to let Bonds and McGuire and Sosa and Clemons and all those dudes.
But at least think that it gets the conversation going. Because when it comes to Pete Rose, what did he really do to keep him out of baseball for that long? To be punished as badly as he was, what was his big crime? Well, at the time, his crime was betting on baseball. You weren't supposed to do that as a baseball player or a manager. And maybe they could turn the blind eye if you just bet on other teams or something like that. But then it came out, you know, Pete Rose at times was betting on his own team. I got to be dead honest with you. Besides the fact that it was taboo back then, and now we've all got gambling apps, you can literally be going to the bathroom at the same time you're making a parlay. Like it is the opposite of taboo now. Everybody does it.
Everybody has a fantasy football team. When Pete Rose was doing it back then, had he been betting against his team, then I wouldn't be saying any of this stuff. I'd say throw the book at him.
I'd say, you know, put the guy in prison for a while. He was affecting outcomes and money and livelihoods and all those different things. He was betting on his own team to win.
When I say it out loud, it's like, is there really that big of a deal? Again, back then it was. You weren't supposed to do it. It was against the laws, against the book of baseball. But if we're being real, he was betting on his own team to win. So he was confident enough in his own abilities that he thought that he could win games.
That's his big crime. Up until a couple of years ago, for combat sports, I'm as big of an MMA guy as you're ever going to meet. Up until, I think it was three years ago, Dana White finally said, you know what? Fighters, you can't bet on your own fights. Three years ago, Floyd Mayweather used to always talk about, yeah, I'm going to get the $40 million bag and then I got another $5 million side bet at the Bellagio. Boxers were allowed to bet on themselves. Again, I understand there was a totally different era, totally different day, totally different laws.
But at some point, just like anything in life, when the circumstances change, we as a society have to change with them. So it was baseball's job. Once gambling became not a big deal. Once we knew that there were guys sitting in the stands and gals betting on games. What's going to be the next pitch? Is this guy going to get a home run? The over and under on strikeouts in a game that they're actually sitting at. And this has been the case now for, I'd say six, seven years now for most states. That's when the conversation should have started.
OK, gambling is not that big of a deal. Let's kind of let down our guard for Pete Rose. Pete Rose is getting a little bit older at that point.
He was in his late 60s. And let's just tell him that we're going to reinstate him. And then when he's alive, put him in the Hall of Fame. He's got more hits than anybody else. All he did was gamble on his own team. It was 30 plus years ago.
And here's the part that really like pisses me off. Pete Rose cared. I think there's a lot of guys that once their baseball career is over with, if they're being honest, they made millions of dollars.
They got mansions and they have vacations and nice cars and they can provide for their family. And the Hall of Fame was just kind of icing on the cake. OK, cool, fine.
I'll go for the ceremony out in New York for a weekend and give my speech. But ultimately, yeah, it's cool to get the bus and all that stuff. But that's not really what it's about. In the case of Pete Rose, that is what it became about getting into the Hall of Fame. And I don't know how much he cared about that before they told him that they were going to kick him out of baseball. He was never going to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. It felt kind of like it became his.
I don't know how you want to word it. It became the character they were dangling out in front of him that he knew that he was never going to get. And it feels like baseball knew that also that Pete deserved it, that it was no longer taboo, that he was in poor health. And it feels to me, maybe this isn't what happened, that baseball waited until about five minutes after that guy passed away. And somebody's laughing somewhere going, that guy never got to enjoy knowing that he was going to get reinstated and go into the Hall of Fame.
And now that he's dead, let's put him in. Isn't that funny? That's not funny. Like, what is the matter with baseball? I'm not saying that they had any sort of ill will. Maybe it's just how it worked out. But they screwed this thing up royally.
All they had to do was six, seven, eight years ago have a bunch of people come together and go, hey, is gambling that big of a deal anymore? Well, did he gamble against his team? No. OK, fine.
Let's let our guard down. And again, if he was a borderline Hall of Famer and you had to have those type of conversations, OK, now that he's eligible, is he in? We're talking about Pete Rose here. We're talking about Charlie Hussle. And not for nothing, I've had a couple of personal conversations with Pete Rose. You're probably not going to believe this because I will say he had a little bit of RBF, if you guys know what I mean. He kind of looked like the type of guy that you're going to golf to him and he was going to sound like a jerk like this.
Get away from me, kid. Yo, Pete Rose was a sweet guy. I had him on the radio a couple of times. One time he told me he's like, hey, if you're out in Las Vegas, come stop by where I sign autographs. I stopped by him.
I don't know who I was like. Pete Rose was not the bad dude that he was made out to be. I remember when I did the interview with him. The first thing I thought is, I kind of want to talk to Pete Rose about gambling. But then again, I don't know if Pete Rose is cool with having that conversation only because it probably is a bit of a sore point in his life, the way that it's gone down. And so I kind of hinted at it and I'm like, hey, Pete, do you still... When you're in Vegas, like the sports books, I was dancing around and he's like, kid, I got three parlays going tonight.
I got the overs. Pete Rose, baby. Still Pete Rose. But the fact that he passed away a handful of months ago and now they're going to reinstate and let him in, it's just... Who is Rob Manfred to come out now and say I'm a little bit late? Dude, yeah. Everybody else knew that this guy should have been the Hall except for you.
It's just absolutely crazy. Now, as far as current players go, I'm not sure that we're giving enough love to the duo, to the back and forth greatness that is Otani and Aaron Judge. Because the way I see it, and maybe I'm just a victim of the circumstances that are right in front of me, we could argue both that Aaron Judge is the greatest home run hitter of all time. I mean, call my bluff.
888-710-4ISN is the phone number. Tell me somebody that's a better home run hitter in the history of baseball than Aaron Judge. And if you want to bring up Barry Bonds or Mark Maguire, those dudes, come on, let's have a serious adult conversation here. If you want to bring up dudes from back in the day, come on now, we're talking about Aaron Judge.
And if your argument is, well, we're not sure he's clean, that's fair. You could say the same thing then about Poo Holes and about King Griffey Jr. For my money, when I watch Aaron Judge play baseball, I see a guy in 2025 that's the best home run hitter to ever pick up a baseball bat. And then I look in the National League and I go, as good as Aaron Judge is, he's playing at the same time that the best baseball player, period, is playing.
Am I getting too excited for this one? Am I wrong on either front? Is Aaron Judge not the best home run hitter of all time? Is Shohei Ohtani not the best baseball player of all time? I think the bigger question has to be when it comes to Ohtani, how in the hell did those Angels teams never win?
You got it. Your 3-4-5 for four years was Albert Poo Holes, Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, and you were somehow losing 100 games a season? How?
How does that happen? And most of the time, I'm strongly against these $750 million contracts, these 10-year deals, these Juan Soto, those Alex Rodriguez-type deals. Verlander got one. It feels like almost every single time the deal ends up being a bad one for the team that offered it, except for this Ohtani contract. I mean, that looks like it's paying off right in front of our eyes. We're not only a Shohei Ohtani, he said, already cashed in and won the World Series, but going forward in the next, what is the other contract, for another nine years?
I bet he gets another two or three of these things. If I'm the Dodgers, the first thing that I do when it comes to Ohtani is I call his agent and I call his interpreter and I get Ohtani in the room, not the interpreter that was stealing all the money, that guy's in jail, not that guy, his current interpreter, and I get him all in the room and I say, hey, can you guys tell Shohei that we strongly are against him pitching and we just want him to be a hitter going forward? Something tells me his agent's going to fight back and he's going to talk about his marketability and Shohei's going to say, wait, what did he say? No, I want to be a pitcher and do all these different things.
You're probably not going to win that fight. But if you're the Dodgers, what more can you do than what you did last year, which is win the World Series when Ohtani didn't step on the mound one time? What more can you do than you've done this year than you're leading the division and you're the heavy favorite to win the World Series? I mean, if they go out there again this year and Ohtani doesn't take the mound going forward, we'll see what ends up happening and win the World Series, and now they've got him for two years, two championships, and he never pitches, dead honest, what's the point? Like, sports and life, it's always risk versus reward, and the reward for Shohei Ohtani when he's healthy is you win 105 games and you win the World Series. But if he's hurt, you probably still win the World Series if I'm being honest, like the Dodgers are that loaded, but damn, it's not as easy.
888-710-4ISN is the phone number. I hope, by the way, back to that Hall of Fame argument for just a second, I hope that they do have a conversation with the Stairwoods era players and eventually let those guys in. Because it just feels like a very awkward, hollow part of baseball's history that happened and that was great.
Yeah, the numbers got a little bit skewed, the guys cheated and all that, you know what we need to do now that I think about it? Let's open a separate Hall of Fame, let's put it down in Miami where all the Stairroads users are, and then instead of giving these guys bust, let's give them ass cheeks with a needle going into it. And that'll be the Stairoids Hall of Fame. Right when you walked in, there's the Alex Rodriguez wing that leads you to the Barry Bonds wing, which, like giant head.
You know what, Roger Clemons is there, Poppy, all of them. Down in Miami would be great! No? Yeah?
888-710-4ISN is the phone number. Coming up on the other side, let's get back into the NFL right here on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief.
What's good, welcome back into the show, in for JR tonight, you got me, sports machine Sean Levine on the mic. Am I lying though, or was the steroids era really fun to watch when it comes to baseball? Has it been that fun since? Was it more fun before? No, that was great.
Although there's different levels to the steroids cheating, like, I mean, some of them we just turn a blind eye. Like, Big Poppy? Nah, it's Big Poppy! It's Big Poppy!
You're fine, dude! Andy Pettit? Oh, you apologized?
No big deal. And then you got Sammy Sosa, who it's like, remember when that dude used to, he grabbed the American flag and he would come sprinting out like he was Usain Bolt, right? Like, Energizer Bunny style. And then he also corked his bat on top of the steroids. Like, that guy, the steroids, yeah, they got to him a little bit.
Like, he was willing to do whatever it took. Roger Clemenceau might have been the weirdest, because, I mean, when you talk about baseball highlights, generally, they're the same. It's a home run, it's a double play, it's a stolen base, whatever it is, and then every now and again, you've got that one in a billion. I'm talking about Roger, I'm talking about Randy Johnson hitting a bird with a fastball in a baseball game.
Like, damn, what are the, seriously, what are the odds? Have you ever been to a baseball game at any level? At any stadium? Have you ever been to one of your kids' games, your brothers' games?
Have you ever been to a minor league game or a college game or seen a big league game on the team? Have you ever seen that happen? Have you ever seen a bird even fly across home plate during a baseball game, even if a pitch wasn't thrown? What I'm saying is, what are the odds that a bird flies across the plate in a major league game as the pitch is coming across from Randy frickin' Johnson? Like, that's, there are sports highlights and those are, there are those that are just like, that was unbelievable, except for for the bird. It's just incredible that that happened. How about when Roger Clemens threw the bat at Mike Piazza? You guys remember that? And then afterwards, he lipped something like, I think he was trying to say, I thought it was the ball?
Bro. How many steroids have you taken and where exactly did you shoot those things up to think that when a bat that was broken came your direction, the best thing to do in that situation was to throw the jagged end of the bat at the player? In fact, we probably weren't harsh enough on Roger Clemens for that now that I think about it.
I feel like that was like a story for a minute. The guy took a weapon, a jagged piece of a baseball bat. It'd be one thing if he just completely threw it to the side and accidentally hit like his second baseman.
He just didn't see it coming. He clearly picked up the jagged end of the bat and he threw it at Mike Piazza. Again, even if he did think it was the ball, what, you thought you were playing wiffle ball all of a sudden you could throw the ball at the base runner to get him out? Like, how do we not ban Roger Clemens for a year, two years, five years, kick him out of baseball for that? Okay, I got a little excited there, but he, come on, he threw a bat. It's like he threw it to Scrub, either. He threw it to probably the best catcher of all time. Man, those steroids do funny things to you. Cocaine's a hell of a drug. Oh, man.
888-710-4ISN is the phone number. Let's get back into NFL here before another Sports Flash. I gave you a bunch of NFL win totals that sound like they're way too high.
I got a bunch that are way too low for you all. So let's start with the New York Jets. Have you guys seen the Jets' number this year? To cash your ticket, they gotta win six football games. The Jets' number is five and a half. Now, if your argument is, yeah, sports machine, didn't you watch the Jets last year?
I did. But I actually think that they've upgraded at the quarterback position. And I'm not even saying that I think that Justin Fields is a better quarterback than Aaron Rodgers. I just think that Aaron Rodgers came along with all that baggage and expectation where it just brought a lot of stuff with it. Where once they started losing, it got loud and the fans got pissed and they fired the coach and they fired the general manager. It felt like everything had to go perfect because of Aaron Rodgers.
And then once it didn't, everybody started losing their job and their confidence and that thing just went south real quick. Now, that's not really how it feels in that Jets building. It feels like there's reason for optimism because you wash your hands of the Aaron Rodgers debacle and you bring in a newer, cheaper quarterback.
And to me, there is a lot of upside with Justin Fields. There's no way the Jets are worse this upcoming season than they were last year. They got their coach figured out. I think their defense is better than average. And as long as their quarterback can be the same, I don't see why that team can't win eight or nine games. I was talking a lot of crap on the Bears in the last hour.
I think they're going to be better than the Bears. I wouldn't be surprised if Justin Fields' numbers and win-loss total is better than Caleb Williams. The truth about Justin Fields is he's the great unknown in the NFL. He's one of the greatest enigmas in sports that I can remember. Where most of the time, when you've got a top ten draft pick coming out of a school like Ohio State, at this point in his career, by year five, we know exactly what he is. He's good, he's great, he sucks, he needs a little bit more grooming. In the case of Justin Fields, nobody knows.
I don't think Justin knows. I don't know, you don't know, the Bears don't know, the Steelers don't know, the Jets don't know. But I think that when they put him out there, because of that, the lack of expectation, that's going to allow him to play loose. For the first time in his career, he knows he's going to be the starter with a competent organization. Not that Pittsburgh wasn't a competent organization, especially compared to where he started his career in Chicago, but he was pulled four or five games in last year. Now he's got a much longer leash. The truth is, Justin Fields could go out there this year, win ten games, surprise all of us, and he comes out and says, I told you so.
We really don't know, but I feel very confident that over is five and a half. Speaking of quarterback situations, I'm pretty confident that Pittsburgh hits their number two, which is sitting at eight and a half. I mean, you look at last year, they won ten games in the regular season, with a combination of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
A year before that, you had the combination of Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett. Let's call the Steelers what they are. Defensive organization depends on the running game, and they've got one of the best head coaches, if your goal is to go over.500 and make the playoffs. Now, there's probably a lot of people listening to Pittsburgh right now that are like, yeah, sports machine, you're in Kansas City, Andy reads your guy, it's easy to say that our coach is great, and he hasn't done crap for fifteen years when it comes to actually taking a team deep in the playoffs. I get it, it might be getting a little bit stale, but I would ask a couple of things.
One, can you do better? It's kind of like I asked with the Knicks. If you're going to get rid of Tom Thibodeau, who are you going to bring in that's better? If you're going to get rid of Mike Tomlin, who do you suggest bringing in? Mike McCarthy?
I don't know. And two, this is different when it comes to the quarterback, because I think that Tomlin and that organization think that they got their guy. Now, if their guy was, let's find the closest thing to Ben Roethlisberger in his prime, that's what Aaron Rodgers is. Let's not pretend like Roethlisberger was ever a guy that was throwing the ball 60 yards down the field, having 400 yard games, you know, running for another 85 yards in a touchdown like Lamar Jackson.
He was never that dude. But at this point in Aaron Rodgers' career, he's kind of the same quarterback that Ben Roethlisberger was when he was taking that Steelers team to multiple Super Bowls. He's not going to cost you the game, he can drive the ball down the field enough, veteran savvy, can escape the pocket when he needs to. Again, nobody's going to confuse him with Mike Vick. If Mike Tomlin's goal was, I got to find the closest thing to Ben Roethlisberger, dude, I think you got him and his name is Aaron Rodgers, but I'm here to tell you, that just makes you still the third best team in the division. If you had discount double-check MVP Aaron Rodgers from 10 years ago, then I'd say Baltimore and Cincinnati watch out. But the only thing I can really say about Pittsburgh now they've got Rodgers is, they're better than the Browns in that division, but you didn't say it that much.
888-710-4ISN's the phone number. Let's go out to Baltimore where Brian joins us on the Infinity Sports Network. What up, Brian? How you doing?
Good, what's going on? Well, you know, I wanted to talk about Aaron Judge. I would defend and say Barry Bonds was the greatest of all time for home run hitting. But I just heard you talking about the Ravens, so shout out. Of course, I do agree. Ravens, number one in the division. There's no question about that. Best quarterback, best running back, best defense. I think it's a no-brainer on that one. It is kind of curious to see where Cincinnati ends up, though. Back to the Aaron Judge thing for just a second. Thanks for the phone call, man.
The number is 888-710-4ISN. I don't know what happened there, if that was his daughter, his son, if ADD just kicked in, but something weird happened there. I do think that Aaron Judge at some point has to cash in and win a World Series. I mean, when you play for the New York Yankees and you've got all those retired jerseys in Monument Park and you're going to get compared to, if we're talking about all-time greats, we're talking about Ruth and Mantle and those type of guys, if you're going to ever be included somewhat in that conversation, you have to at least win one ring. And at some point, if not this year, I think Aaron Judge is going to. But if we're just talking about, what's he hitting right now?
Damn close to.400. He's on pace for damn close to 60 home runs. If you want to say Barry Bonds, look at Barry Bonds' splits. Look at Barry Bonds' numbers in Pittsburgh and look at Barry Bonds' numbers when he went to San Francisco. And there were a couple of years. So Bonds kind of went from being like an 18-home run guy to a 25-home run guy to a 30-home run guy to his first couple of years in Frisco, 35, 38, 40, bam, 70, 73.
I think maybe something, I'm not saying, I'm just saying, I think something might have happened there. So to call that guy the greatest home run hitter of all time when you've got a, I think, I think, I think, clean Aaron Judge is putting up similar numbers, it's not even close. And again, I think I know what I'm talking about and Aaron Judge is clean. Let's give that guy some steroids, not that he needs them, the same way that Bonds had them. If Bonds went from being a 30-home run hitter to being a 70-home run hitter, what does a 60-home run hitter go to? Aaron Judge, 85, 90? I don't want to see it, I'm just saying.
888-710-4ISN is the phone number. And by the way, Royals and Yankees going at it right now. They just dropped the puck in the Stanley Cup, Oilers on the road at the Panthers.
So I'll keep you updated on all the sports happenings as the night goes along. Going over some of these football win-losses, I think some of these numbers are way too low, including my Chiefs. 10 and a half? You look at the rest of the division, it's not that good. The Raiders stink, the Chargers maybe? Borderline playoff team like they were last year? To me, the Broncos overachieved. What I'm saying is I wouldn't be surprised if this was a one-bid division again and the Chiefs just beat up on everybody. When's the last time the Chiefs didn't win 10 and a half games? I mean, last year, the Kansas City Chiefs played 16 games that they cared about. Because by week 17, they already had everything wrapped up, so it was all backups. And they won 15 of those 16 games.
Yeah, they looked terrible in the Super Bowl, Philly had their number, and they gave them an old-passionate-fashioned ass-flipping, as Eminem would say. And we think that because Philly did that in one game, that the Chiefs that won 15 of 16 regular season games last year coming in this season aren't going to do it again? They're not going to win 15? Okay, maybe they win 14, or 13, or 12. Fine, they win 11. You still cash your ticket!
As I hit puberty live on national radio, you still cash your ticket! Yeah, the Chiefs are getting to 11 wins, what are we talking about? Another one that I don't think this team is great, but this number is too low. The Dallas Cowboys.
What happened, by the way? It felt like last year heading into the season, the Cowboys were talked about kind of in the same breath with the Philadelphia Eagles. Nobody was talking about D.C., nobody was talking about the Giants at the division, for good reason. D.C. had a rookie quarterback, and the Giants were the Giants. So it was basically heading into the, this time last year, who's going to win the division?
The numbers were about the same. Who can win 11 or 12 games? Can anybody get to the Super Bowl? We were kind of talking about the Cowboys the same way we were the Eagles. The only difference was, this time last year, Dakpah was still looking for a contract, and C.D.
Lynn was still looking for a contract, and eventually they got that figured out. But once they did, nothing else good happened for the Cowboys last year, and everything good happened for the Philadelphia Eagles. Like, if you want to talk about life comes at you fast, if you're a Cowboys fan this time last year, you thought your team could win the division, maybe win a playoff game or two?
Why shouldn't you have thought that? I mean, over the last five years, before last season, the Chiefs won the most games in the regular season. The Cowboys won the second most regular season games.
Like, Mike McCarthy was winning 10, 11 games on the regular. And then last year, Dak got hurt, and the team sucked, and they fired the coach, and all those different things. But I look at the division right now, and I look at a team like the Philadelphia Eagles. Obviously, they're going to rack a bunch of wins. D.C. is going to win a bunch of games. Even if the Cowboys don't win a bunch of games in the division, even if they don't make the playoffs, they're going to win eight. This team's going to win. What'd they win last year when they were all banged up? I think they finished seven and ten, right? They're number seven and a half? That's crazy. Especially because, normally, the Dallas Cowboys, like Kentucky basketball and the Notre Dame football, if you're going to bet on them, you get taxed.
The Lakers, that's how it goes. They're usually up at half a game or a game. Seven and a half?
Looks way too low. I like the overs on Green Bay at nine. I like the overs on Tampa at nine.
And I like the overs on D.C. at nine and a half also. I don't know if they're going to win, what, they win 12 regular season games last year. You'd think the league's going to punch back a little bit year two of Jayden Daniels, so maybe they only win ten. But they're going to definitely cash that ticket.
8-8-8, 7-10-4 ISN is the phone number. I'm putting more football talk in the final hour of the show. Coming up in a little bit, we're going to play a game, Ryan and I, called Get Rid of One. But before that fun, another Sports Flash with Rich Ackerman. You are listening to the JR Sport Brief. No JR tonight.
I'm the sports machine, Sean Levine. And unlike your ex-girlfriend, I can admit when I'm wrong. And I was wrong a couple of times. I said that the Yankees and the Royals were about to start their game and they're not playing a game tonight.
They play tomorrow night, so I was wrong. But to be fair, Ryan, you are wrong also. Remember when you said that you like applesauce?
Yes. That's just wrong. No, I'll say apple cinnamon applesauce. Dude, I don't care. I don't care what they put in your applesauce. I don't care if it's got cinnamon and whipped cream and a $50 bill.
You're an adult, dude. Like, there's no way that stuff tastes good. I will say, though, applesauce over cottage cheese. Oh, that's a given. There are probably some people right now that are getting ready for dinner.
They got their main course in a side of applesauce and cottage cheese. Good for you, but not really. Like, you're a little off. You're an adult.
I'm just saying. If you eat applesauce, fine. I can make the exception. I cannot be friends with somebody.
Like, we must seed our relationship if you eat cottage cheese and you're over the age of 10? What are you doing? It's disgusting.
Give me some beats. Let's play a game. Get rid of one. You know how it works, Ryan.
You got to, well, get rid of one. Adam Sandler said that if Darren Cannery rushes for 2,000 yards, he's going to cast him in his next movie. Adam's saying the movie's got to get rid of one.
Waterboy, Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, The Wedding Singer. What was the basketball movie called? Grown Ups? No. No, the one that just came out on Netflix. Oh, Hustle.
Hustle. That was good too, but didn't make the list. Wedding Singer, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Waterboy.
Get rid of one. I'm going to go The Wedding Singer. You spin me right round, baby, right round. I've seen that movie in full. Really?
Yeah. I've seen the other ones. I don't think I've seen that one in full. I think I've seen that movie in full no fewer than 20 times. Him and Drew Barrymore? That's the one where he gets on the plane and Billy Idol's on the plane, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How'd you not like that scene? It was awesome. Oh, no, it's a great scene, but the rest of the movie, I have no idea what happens. You spin me right round.
I don't know what happened either, but I've seen it 20 times. Let's get rid of, let's get really bit at Billy Madison. It's a good movie and everything. And is Adam Sandler the GOAT actor of sports movies? Or is that Tom Cruise? No, not Tom Cruise. He's only been in a couple. What actor has been in the most sports movies now that I think about it?
Will Ferrell. He's in Talladega Nights. And what was the skating movie called? Oh. Yeah, Blades of Glory. Blades of Glory. There was one other sports movie with Will Ferrell, right? Oh, the semi-pro.
Oh, yeah, yeah. He's good. Kurt. He's from Field of Dreams. Russell Douglas. One of the Kurts. No, no, that's Kevin Costner.
Kevin Costner, that's his name. He's up there because Draft Day. That Draft Day sucked though. That's a great movie. That was somebody else.
Anyway, Draft Day, dude? That's a great movie. What? It's not realistic at all, but it's entertaining.
No, it's not. It's the second worst sports movie I've ever seen behind the LeBron James version of Space Jam. I don't know what happened. Okay, that was a bad movie. Dude, what the hell? And I was really looking forward to that too because I loved the Jordan and the Monstars and I remember being in the theaters with my grandpa and then they were hyping up this new one.
It was LeBron. I don't think I made it to the end of that movie. I didn't know what was going on. And for the record, and I know people are going to hate this take, but I'm going to be honest with you, I didn't love the replacements either with Keanu Reeves. Remember the, what were they called? Something like that. I know it wasn't supposed to be the most realistic movie, but Shane Falco?
I'm good on that one too. I haven't seen that one either. Never seen it? I don't like a lot of sports movies just because half of them are bad.
I'd say more than half. When's the last time, I was saying this the other day, that we got a classic sports movie? Miracle? Classic? Oh. Yeah, like an all-time sports movie. It's been years, decades.
Alright, let's move on. Get rid of one. Pop-a-shot, air hockey, claw machine. Air hockey. Not an air hockey guy? Not an air hockey person.
Just because, pop-a-shot, classic. You're not going around claw machine, you can win something, you're not getting rid of that. So basically it's between skeeball and air hockey. And I'd always considered air hockey to be the more expensive arcade game, so I didn't like it. There was a nail sticking up one time when I was playing skeeball when I was eight years old, and I did what you do for skeeball, I swung my arm and my fingernail, my thumbnail, went right over it, sliced it in half, and, like, if that happened now, you could probably sue and own the entire arcade, like the whole arcade and the mall and the whole city and everything. You know what they gave me?
They gave me a hundred tickets. I'm like bleeding everywhere. And my family was like, oh, this is the greatest day ever! Kind of goes to show you how I grew up. And I still, as I speak to you right now, have a slice down the middle of my nail.
It's been growing that way now for 25 years, dammit. At least you got like three sticky hand things, or two finger, tiny Chinese finger drops. And a couple little army guys and like a pair of dice, yeah. And that's, yeah, and I lost my nail for life over it. I'm not getting rid of the claw machine. Would you believe me if I told you that I think I'm the top one percent of all claw machine players in the world? There definitely is a strategy to the claw machine. Dude, I'm telling you, and I'm not even trying to be funny here, I've been on multiple first dates, there's been a claw machine, I've tried to impress the girl, and it's worked.
Like, well, it didn't impress the girl, but I did get the animal out of the claw machine. I'm not getting rid of that one, I'm getting rid of air hockey too. How about NBA coaches, got to get rid of one, Spolstra, Popovich, Phil Jackson, Pat Riley. Phil Jackson. I'm just going to say, because he's had, I don't know, that's tough, because, that's like, you know what, Spolstra. Phil Jackson, Popovich, getting rid of Spolstra, okay that's fair.
He's won the least. Phil's kind of crazy, although I know where you were going, like he's had Jordan, he's had Kobe, he's had Shaq, he has definitely had, by far, more talent than everybody else. Although Greg Popovich, bro, if you really think about it, Robinson, Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, and then Kawhi Leonard, and now, and I know that he's no longer the coach, but, Wimby, like that's a pretty solid run of Hall of Famers also.
I'll get rid of Pat Riley, and I'll keep Eric Spolstra around. One got to go, baseball movies, we were just talking about them. Major League, Rookie of the Year, Sandlot, League of Their Own. Rookie of the Year.
Ding ding ding, that's got to be it. Yeah dude, Rookie of the Year is one of those movies, as a kid, it's great. You've got to rewatch it a few times during the summer. As an adult, it's kind of like going back and watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Like, kind of strange. Again, as a kid, you enjoy it. Go back and watch both those movies. Next time you're just chilling, you've got an off day at work, you're playing sick, do me a favor. Watch Rookie of the Year, watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and then tell me as an adult that either one of those are good movies, because they're not.
Sorry. It's not even the best baseball kids movie. Little Big League is ten times superior than Rookie of the Year.
Mmm, I don't know if I can agree with that take. That's a good movie. I feel like Little Big League stole a lot of Rookie of the Year's ideas, like they saw the money that was made from that movie, and they were like, let's just tweak it a little bit, not make the kid a pitcher, we'll make him the owner. I do respect, if I remember right, that they didn't win at the end of that movie. Didn't Ken Griffey Jr. rob the kids team from Little Big League, and like, they lost the game? Yeah, they didn't win the championship. That, I appreciate it. Or was it the Wild Card, one of the two?
Was there even a Wild Card back then? Listen to us talking about kids movies here on National Radio. Uh, I'm saying lots of best kids baseball movies, what are you talking about? Uh, Get Rid of One, Vans, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Lincoln Park, Dave Matthews Band. Bye bye, Dave Matthews Band. What? I was seven years old at Madison Square Garden.
Satellite in my eyes. And I had a beer poured on me at Dave Matthews Band, so I've not liked them since. Bro, you had a beer poured on you?
Yes, there was a guy who was hammered behind me, and they poured a beer on me by accident, and it just ruined the entire night, so therefore I do not like Dave Matthews Band. What are you talking about? That's a memory that you have for life.
I was seven. I guess that's a little bit, you know. I knew ants marching, that's it. There you go. That's it. Yeah, I love me, it's my ants marching.
Number 41, all of them. I'm a huge Dave Matthews guy. I'm not getting rid of Lincoln Park. You got beer pouring you to concert and you're complaining? I was at a Pearl Jam concert in 2004 in Alpine Valley, Wisconsin, and there was rain in the forecast. And so me and my boys, we'd had a couple of pops, we were feeling good, smoking some cigars, hanging out in the parking lot, meeting some girls, and I felt like some drops on top of me, and I was like, no big deal, it's raining, but I prepared for it, that's why I got the poncho, baby. Hit my cigar a couple of times, looked back to realize that a gentleman was peeing on me. So I don't want to hear about you getting beer poured on you, oh, at the Dave Matthews concert, got a little natty light on you. I got urine on me.
And I mean like all over me, because I was enjoying it for a while, kind of splashing around, thinking I was playing in the rain, and then I found out that I was, well, I was playing the peas, but I was doing the Pearl Jam concert. Let's get one more in here. Cereal mascots, but you know the deal, get rid of one. The bee from Cheerios, Tony the Tiger, the Trix Rabbit, or Toucan Sam, Fruit Loops. And wrote of the bee from Cheerios.
Yeah, the bee. Just wouldn't stack up. Probably should have had snap, crackle, and pop. When did like insurance companies decide, you know what we're going to do, we're going to have these human mascots. And then for like the last 15 years, that's just what it's been. And then Cereal's decided, you know what, we're going to have these animal mascots.
Like they all have them, right? We didn't even shout out Count Chocula, or... Blueberry, Frankenberry. What's the, yeah, I feel like we're forgetting another big one.
Oh, snap, crackle, and pop. They deserve their respect. It's a tag team, triple threat.
It is, it is, you're right. Three hours down, one more coming up. The final hour of the show will get you all caught up on the hockey. Right now, six minutes left in the first period. Panthers up one to zero.
They got the early goal. Baseball end of the seventh since he's up six to four over Cleveland. Miami four to two in the fifth over Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Philly tied up in the eighth at two apiece. Boston down three to one in the bottom of the eighth, although they've got bases loaded with two down.
We'll keep you updated on the baseball, on the hockey. We'll get back in the NFL. And of course, it is the NBA Finals. Does anybody out there really think the Indy can take this thing and say, oh, I don't know, seven, six? I think it's going to be OKC in five. We'll talk some hoops on the other side with Ryan on the sports machine, Sean Levine, and you on the infinity sports network.
