It is. The JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Come to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Home of tonight's MLB All-Star Game. I'm in Atlanta, Georgia, not at the stadium.
Thank you so much to our producer in New York City, holding things down, Ryan Botcher. Thank you to you for being tuned in and locked in wherever you might be. You'll be here in Georgia with me, you could be in New York. You could be in California, you could be in Alaska, you could be in Hawaii, you could be in Canada.
So wherever you're at in North America, Thank you for being here. This is when the show gets started every weekday, six PM Eastern three Pacific. We have a lot to get into. Of course we're going to talk about the MLB All Star game. Of course, we're going to talk about the home run derby that took place last night.
We had another New York jet who got paid today. Garrett Wilson got paid yesterday. Sauce Gartner got a check today. Trey Smith. He got paid by the Kansas City Chiefs to help keep.
Patrick Mahomes upright. Kirby Smart at SEC Media Day says there are too many players who are out here getting paid. They don't want to work hard, they're just making money. Arch Manning says relax on the Heisman talk. We got the Robo Umps making their debut at the Major League Baseball All Star Game tonight.
We got LeBron James showed up for another Bronnie James. Good game. yesterday at NBA Summer League, and so we got a lot to get into. Baseball potentially in the Olympics in LA. Looks like the NFL players might have some company from Major League Baseball.
Shaquille O'Neal is ready to punch RG3 in the face. I will tell you why. And of course, at the end of the show. We'll talk about a few things that took place this day. in sports history.
It has been July 15th all day long. And if you want to listen to this show, well, however you're listening now is one way. You can tune in on your local affiliate, SiriusSexM three seventy five, of course the free Odyssey app, and if you have a smart speaker, ask the speaker. Talk to the machine. Demand that it play.
The Infinity Sports Network.
Next hour, we're going to have a great chat with Kyle Glazer from Foul Territory TV. And we're going to get into everything going on this baseball season. in everything that we can, should, and potentially expect. Later on today. A lot to get into.
You want to be a part of the show? You can do that. 888-388. A seven ten. 4ISN is the number.
That's 888. Seven ten. Four. I S N You can find me on the Internet, I exist everywhere. Eh.
JR Sport Brief. What a full show Who would have thought we would have had New York Jets getting paid back to back days and this in the midst of everything going on with Major League Baseball an all star And Shaq, I don't want to say coming through with a delight, but Shaq saying he wants to punch RG3 in the face. I'm like, whoa, okay. That's one guy you do not want hitting you in the face.
Okay, but anyway, we we'll get into that. later on in the show. When we were here last night as we rolled out, The Major League Baseball home run derby was still rolling on. and finished at just about the time that I thought about an hour after we had finished up. And all things considered, it's one thing to sit down in a studio and watch a sporting event without all the intricacies and the details.
It's a just a little tougher. to keep track of. But then when you watch after the fact you just go Man, this is just a complete Crap show And I'm using crap in place of another word. It's like Major League Baseball woke up and said, Let's just fling ideas and thoughts up against the wall. and just try to see what sticks.
By now I'm sure you know. Cal Raleigh, who has thirty eight home runs for the Seattle Mariners. he won the Derby. As we discussed last night on the air, as Ryan Botcher brought up, he he had to advance past the first round due to a tie breaker with Brent Rooker of the Athletics. because he hit a home run one foot longer.
I mean, what are we saying? Not even a foot, half a foot, a couple of inches. And so he advanced. He ultimately won. Take a listen to this.
This is the final call from ESPN of Cal Raleigh winning the home run derby. No, it will not get out. The Dominican dominance comes to an end. The Big Duffer is your home run derby champion for 2025. Damn.
Now, Bacha, they call him the big dumper because his backside is his backside, right? It is his posterior.
Okay, wow. All right.
Well, here we are in the world of Major League Baseball.
Well he won. He became well, he becomes the first guy to do this as a Seattle Mariner. to win a home run derby. This is what Cal Rowley had to say about joining Griffey. Obviously, I know him.
He's been around in Seattle a little bit.
So, getting to talk with him, you know, get some advice. And uh now I get to share that uh title with him as, you know, Mariners to Wino Derby, which is pretty cool. He joins Ken Griffey Junior Wins the home run derby. Is out here switch hitting last night and hitting on both sides of the plate and His dad is tossing to him, his brother is catching, It was a family affair for him. Congratulations and and and good.
But I told you he had to actually advance. He had to move forward and he got a little bit of help. By actually uh getting into uh Well, not not a swing-off. He advanced due to a tiebreaker. Because he had won a home run further than the guy.
Brent Rooker. by an inch. In the first round, they each had seventeen home runs. But he had one home run longer than an inch. And so people online were like, wait a minute.
The fixed is absolutely N Take a listen. To just what Cal Rowley had to say about this, uh, well, before we get that, this is what he had to say about beating Brent Rooker by an inch. My goodness gracious, that's close. I mean, you know, like. It's just crazy, you know, an inch off and I'm not even in the you know, Final Four, which is c you know, amazing.
So, uh, I guess I got lucky there. Oh, he he guessed he got r well, let me tell you, someone who didn't feel lucky Is the guy who lost because Brent Rooker he felt like he got cheated.
Okay, he felt like hey, I'm out here and I I tied with a guy. I ba he beat me by an inch on a home run ball. Went four hundred and seventy feet for both of them. But he got him by an inch. Listen to what Brent Brooker had to say.
Yeah, I think I only had thirty eight balls in my crate. I think we were short at two two balls in there. I think I I was uh I didn't get I didn't get two pitches that I think I uh was Um, allotted, I guess. Yeah, he was told that, Hey, you can take two pitches and they well, they they Took him out of his crate. Who cares?
I mean, it's a it's a home run derby. This is not the championship. This is not the end of the world. We had a full on discussion about this yesterday. How the Major League Baseball home run derby might as well have gone the way of Well, it is going the way of the Slam Dunk contest.
Man, we had Jazz Chisholm who couldn't crack more than three. Asked why afterwards he well, jus just to listen to what Jazz had to say. about why he sucked In the home run, Darby. If I got more than 20 homers by the half next year, I do it again. And actually try to hit homers every swing instead of, you know?
Trying to keep my swing? No, it's not that I wasn't trying to hit homers, I was trying to keep my swing and hit homers instead of just trying to hit everything in the air. I was trying to keep my line drive swing and hit homers. But, you know, it gets better.
Okay. Why why enter into the home run derby? If you're not just trying to hit home runs, I get it.
Well, you want to maintain your normal swing, but come on, man. What are we doing here? You got one guy who's trying to hit home runs, but just trying to hit him like he would normally do in a game, not trying to jack him out. We had O'Neil Cruz, God bless him. This man hit our home run five hundred and thirteen feet.
The longest home run that we've seen. Not in Coors Field since Aaron Judge. This is about 10 years. That's a long way to hit a home run. And then even at the end.
As Cal Raleigh had to beat Junior Caminero, In the finals, he beat him 18 home runs to 15. There was a kid in the outfield, the child of somebody who works for the Braves. Who basically tried to snatch a home run, and he did. The umpires had to go, no, no, no, you can't rob the guy. That is.
A home run. Uh listen to this. This was on ESPN. We think one of the Shaggers may have just stolen a home run. It's Ryan Sandberg all over again.
Vlad Jr. is pointing out to left field Ellie de la Cruz. Oh, someone's going to have to escort that kid out of the board. Aren't there? Oh, they're spinning the fingers.
Fernando Tatis Jr. wants a challenge. Camonero took the timeout. They're showing the replay on the board in the stadium, and so everyone's going crazy. No freaking way.
No way. Oh, yay! What are you doing? Look at the kid on the bottom. Andrew Jones in left center field.
Oh, no. Oh, his life is. Oh, buddy. You got one job. Not that.
Yeah, you got one job, not not that. I mean it's gonna happen. And so last night was a wacky night. We got conspiracy theories about Major League Baseball just trying to. Trying to make sure that Cal Raleigh ultimately wins the home run derby.
advancing him because he hit a home run one inch further than another guy. We got a kid who's robbing home runs. The kid, to his own defense, pretty much said that. Hey, uh, well, I didn't realize the fence was there.
Well, it it's it can be tough. I mean, if you're not used to running around an outfield, yeah, you you could be tricked. Players feel that they were robbed and A guy hit a home run five hundred and thirteen feet. This was just real complicated last night. And even when I got off air and was able to watch a little bit more and watch with a little bit more intention, It seemed like a crap show.
Oh, yeah. And then you had Jazz Chisholm, who just decided to say, Yeah, I was trying to hit home runs, but I wasn't trying to jack them out. I wanted to maintain my normal swing.
Well, next year, just don't. Don't come into the damn. Home run, Derby, if you're not willin' to go all out. Let's just do that. Bacher, did you get a chance to see any of this when we ended the show yesterday?
I did not. I got to watch basically the first. two matchups of the semifinals and then I couldn't 'cause I was stuck in train traffic for an hour and thank goodness I didn't because it didn't seem that interesting. Yeah, there was nothing interesting about the home run derby. And it was ridiculously confusing.
I don't think I will not put, and I get it, it's. It's a competition. It's no different than a three-point contest, the slam dunk contest. People want to see dudes hit home runs. We had a whole commercial about it.
Thank you, mister Glavin. Thank you, mister Maddox, about chicks. digging the long ball. I can't hit a home run. I can't hit a home run to save my life.
But these guys can. But last night it was just it was too much. Too many rules, too many adjustments, too many intricacies, and It just. It was sloppy. I'll put it to you this way.
There were people who were felt that the The g The competition was overanalyzed. And they think about Berman going back to ESPN, where all he did was go back, back, back, back, back, back, back. And that's what you got. I don't need to know about launch angle and stat cast and Did he hit the ball? Did it go over the fence?
Did it go far? Where did it land? Who won? Like sometimes we just make things a little too complicated. It's amazing.
Baseball is such a beautiful. yet simple game. We know it's a a game about numbers and stats and it's a game of inches and w we know all the cliches. But sometimes in the time and era that we live in, And we tend to make things a little bit more complicated than they need to be. Hitting a damn ball over a fence.
It should not be that complicated. It's a crown of winner. And ultimately, A home run derby champion. Congratulations to Cal Raleigh. I'll be real interested to see.
what he does and how he performs The rest of the season. Because hitting 38 home runs and then goin' into last night and hittin' what, another almost fifty? I hope his catch her body.
Well, he's a catcher. It is his body. I hope he holds up for the rest of the season, okay? Let me just go ahead and put it that way. We got a lot to get into.
It's the JR Sport Re Show here with you, coast to coast, on the Infinity Sports Network. Hey, next hour, we're going to be joined by Kyle Glaser, covers all things baseball for Foul Territory TV. We're going to get into the Robo-Omps. Yeah, you might have seen him in the minor leagues. Yeah, you might have seen the Robo umps in spring training.
But tonight they make their debut. in an all-star game. And Rob Manfret. He talks about the Robo umps. He says that it's nice to actually keep the real umps.
And then he also defends adding Jacob Mizurowski to tonight's All-Star game. We'll get into LeBron popping up. Summer League, Paul George hurt again. Absolutely ridiculous. Major League Baseball players, some of them make tons of money, some of them don't.
Either way, they don't want a salary cap. Baseball might be in the Olympics for 2028. Looks like we got Caitlin Clark in a three-point shootout for this upcoming WNBA All-Star weekend. Shaq is ready to punch RG3. And then we got another New York Jet.
who just got paid. We got a Kansas City Chief who just got paid. We got Arch Manning saying, Hey, relax on the Heisman talk. We got Kirby Smart saying, Hey man, these players are paid too much.
So we got a lot to get into. Baseball, basketball, football, college, the NFL. We got it all covered. 888-710-4ISN is the number. Did you enjoy the home run derby last night?
Did you care? Is the home run derby washed up like the slam dunk contest? Not quite, but I think it's getting there. I'll take your calls on the other side of the break. We'll get into these contracts that were given out to some of these NFL players and even the contract that was not.
Hello, Terry McLaurin. You're locked into the JR Sport Reef Show on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, coast to coast. On the infinity.
Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN is the number. That's 888-710-48. 4ISN. We we just talked about Just that uh slapped together home run derby last night.
A guy like Jash Chisholm not really out there trying. We had the champion who advanced past the first round via an interesting tie breaker rule because he had a ball, of course, only one inch further than the other guy.
Okay, I don't know. Maybe that's maybe that's real, maybe it's not. It is an exhibition. It is a home run, Derby. I don't know, maybe next year it'd be nice if we get some uh larger stars Some bigger names to go out there and participate.
And we get it. We know tonight you do have the stars that are out on the field right here in Truis Park, not too far from me. right outside of Atlanta, Georgia. And um We'll see what happens with the big stars tonight. 888-710-4ISN.
888-710-48. for ISN. Ultimately, that home run derby last night was confusing as hell. Not the best. uh showing.
I'm gonna get to the phone lines and then I do want to talk to you about A someone who got paid, I guess, because they are the best. Uh but let's talk to Dave in Tampa first. Hey, Dave, you're on the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up? Oh, JR, I never thought I'd be talking baseball with you because I'm a basketball and football guy.
But let me have a little bit of fun and make fun of baseball. JR, you're the guy I want to talk to. Why do you know a guy does a home run, so the next inning or inning later, they have to hit the batter. Why do they have to Put batters on the base. And my favorite thing is, JR, making fun of baseball is when the bench is empty.
Oh, you haven't seen some of these guys really throw hands? I know you've seen it in the past. The baseball might be one of the sports where you can actually get a couple hits in, man. I know it's not the 80s or the 70s, but. Every now and then you see a little bit of a brew ha ha.
They're not as as recent or as frequent I should say as they've been in the past, but this is not exactly the NBA where they get into the pushing Olympics. For JR, I was lucky enough to be in thirteen year olds playing the Little League Baseball, watching Pete Rose. I think he stood in the second base and Tommy Burleson. They stood up at the second base and threw punches. Yeah.
Well, you're not going to have it's 2025. We're not going to have that. I mean, if you want to see people really, really throwing hands, you need to tune into a hockey game, okay?
Well, Jay Harner, I'm half jokingly writing a book called Machuism and All Its Isms. I play football and basketball. When I see these guys run up and just stare each other down, you know, they're 6'3, 220 pounds, and they're all flexing and yelling at each other. I'm like, oh boy, I'm scared.
Well There's a whole lot more money on the line now than there was in the past. You you would agree with and understand that, right? I don't think it's all that difficult to comprehend. Baseball This infrequent. Like we saw what took place and last night uh Shohei Otani, you know, joking About getting hit a couple days ago, a couple weeks ago, saying, hey, you know, it still hurts.
Like that's how you get back at somebody in baseball. You hit each other.
Okay, I I'll take that. What you don't want to do is obviously aim At anybody above the shoulders, you want to get somebody in the backside, maybe get them in the ribs, but that's how you get back at somebody. I mean, every now and then you'll see some pushing and shoving, but it's not what it it used to be. And then in the case of basketball, it's it's just prohibited. Nobody's trying to lose.
A quarter million dollars, you know, a million dollars, half a million dollars, because they wanted to be out there, you know, pushing and shoving. I got no problem. Like what do we want the we want the baseball players whooping each other's asses out here too? Botcher, do you got a problem with the You know, baseball regulating itself. It's fine.
It's fine. It's just. It's one that's intentionally done with no backfire. that's where you see the suspensions get handed down. But I have no issue with the way they do it.
It's just old fashioned Gritty baseball. And most of the time, yeah, they they get you with some get back by they they hit you. As simple as that. And some it for whatever reason. And it's not so much about And I I got no problem with this too.
If a guy is lighting you up, And you have just said, you know, enough is enough? I got no problem with the pitcher hitting him in the backside. Like we got options now. You can decide to pitch around the guy. You can intentionally walk him, which is, I just still find mad that we don't see the full pitches thrown anymore.
You can hit the guy. I'm fine with it. It's baseball. If a guy hits you, then hit the guy back. Hit the other guy.
And that's why teams are hesitant to go out there and just start a war where I hit your best player because he's beaten me up. And now, you know, I don't want my guy getting hit. It's it's it's a base, but it's nothing new, man. It's not like tonight we're gonna see people just getting hit. Guys are trying to have fun tonight.
Tron a half on. Show off. Maybe won an award. Get their batter two, get their inning pitched or inning or two out there, and they're trying to go home. All right.
I don't know what uh Dave is upset about, but uh This is what baseball has been for a very long time. That's what we'll see in about 90 minutes from now. But earlier today, We had another New York jet. Get paid. Listen to this.
Courtesy of CBS Sports HQ. More breaking news from the Jets. Today, after locking up Garrett Wilson, they have signed Sauce Gardner to a four-year extension. It's worth just over $120 million according to multiple reports. He now becomes the league's highest-paid corner at just over $30 million a year.
He was a Jets' first-round draft pick back in the 22 NFL draft, the defensive rookie of the year. On the other side, Garrett Wilson was the offensive rookie of the year, and now both of them are locked up for years to come. in mean green. Yeah, they got Sauce Gardner out of Cincinnati, and he had that great first season. Last year, all things considered, and and cornerbacks are tough to Kind of evaluate when it comes down to stats because you can have a cornerback who doesn't even get the ball thrown his way.
And he doesn't accumulate all of these fancy interceptions and passes deflected because they don't even throw the rock his way. But Sauce Gardner really did. Have a tough year. You know, the knock on a lot of of corners is physicality and tackling. And last year, he had 50 tackles, one interception, nine passes defense.
He's been in the league since 2022. He's not somebody out there that's going to pick you off all the damn time. Matter of fact, he only has four currents. Career interceptions, and he made it a point to say. That last year was not his best year, that he does need to go out there and do a better job at trying to force turnovers.
I don't know if that means he needs to take more risks, but he did talk to Pat McAfee a few weeks ago. And Sauce Gardner says Yeah, I've gained some weight, I'm stronger, I feel more dynamic. He says like a lot of athletes. This is the best off season. of his professional career.
Man, I'm not gonna lie, like this offseason has been like by far my best offseason. I've been like, I just left LA from training with my trainer Akil and Like I just feel I feel great, you know, I'm sitting about 200 pounds right now and I don't think I've ever really played. that heavy, but it's like the more weight that I done put on, the more muscle, like the more explosive and the faster I become. All right, well now we have to see it translate. on to the football field with the New York Jets, especially Given this is a new team moving into a new direction, a new head coach, how Sauce Gardner fits in.
Well, he's going to fit in. for the next several years this contract has him locked up. Until 20 30. And as you just heard in the clip as well, Garrett Wilson is going to be sticking around with the New York Jets four years, $130 million.
So Sauce Gardner now the highest paid corner in the game. and let's just say Jet fans are gonna tell him about it. when he gives up a touch down, when he misses a tackle. I hope he prepares, because uh His attitude might change. We've seen that a lot.
in New York.
Well maybe he stays the same, but the criticism and the money Yeah, it comes with a lot of expectations.
Somebody else that got paid, I don't think there will be as much.
Well I think there'll be as much scrutiny unless he's allowing Patrick Mahomes to get sacked. Trace Smith. Got a contract to day as well. Here we are again. with CBS Sports HQ.
Breaking news from the NFL. The Kansas City Chiefs are signing guard Trey Smith to a four-year deal worth $94 billion. 70 of that is guaranteed for him. That is the latest has been confirmed by our NFL insider Jonathan Jones. Smith and the Chiefs, they pushed it almost to the deadline.
They had until 4 o'clock today to get a deal done after the team put the franchise tag on him back in March.
So instead of $23.4 billion for one year, he now becomes the highest paid guard in the league. Yeah, not just the highest paid guard in the league, he's the highest paid guard that the NFL. has ever C Kansas City Chiefs hit him with the franchise tag back in February. A lot of people were shocked, surprised. How the hell are you doing this?
And ultimately, yeah, they had until today to work out a long-term deal, and that is exactly what they did. And if you have to think about the Kansas City Chiefs' offensive line last year, They got guards playing At tackle, dudes playing out of position. Patrick Mahomes goes to the Super Bowl and gets sacked six times by the Eagles. When Patrick Mahomes goes to the Super Bowl and loses, you can ask the Buccaneers as well. This guy has been running.
Four. His Life.
So, Patrick Mahomes, maybe a little bit of help. They signed more. They drafted Josh Simmons, seemingly getting a little bit of a deal and a discount because of his injuries coming out of college. They hope one of these guys can go out there and play left tackle. But if Mahomes has to run for his life I I think we we know how that ends.
This guy cannot be Superman. Forever.
Okay. Anyway, eight eighty eight. 710-4ISN. That's 888-710-48. For ISN.
We're going to take a break. We talked about two NFL players who just got new contracts. We're going to talk about a player on the other side. who has not gotten a New Deal. He was at a car dealership today shooting a commercial.
I know that didn't pay like the NFL does. And then he told everybody what was on his mind. about how he wants to get paid, when he wants to get paid, and how frustrated he currently is. With his current circumstances. I'll tell you on the other side, 888-710-4ISN.
It's the JR Sport Reshow on the Infinity Sports Network. And right now, it is time for a news flash. Here he is. It's Marco. Boletti.
You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Oh yeah, we've talked about the Major League Baseball All-Star game. We talked about the home run derby from last night. And we talked about NFL players who are getting paid.
and Trey Smith from the Chiefs. Sauce Gardner from the New York Jets.
Well, yesterday we saw Garrett Wilson get paid from the New York Jets. and you just heard Marco Belletti share with you. One of the top wide receivers in the NFL. He's mad. that he's not getting paid.
Turn McLaurin He's making about $15 million this upcoming season. Three year sixty eight million dollar contract As it stands right now, Entering into the final year of his deal, He's looking at his production. He's looking at some of the contracts that have been given out to some of the top whiteouts in the league. These guys are now making $30 to $35 million per. Go ahead and up the end.
You look at a guy like Chase, he's sitting at like 40. Ter McLaurin is at the point of going.
Well What about me? And he does happen to be older than quite a few of those guys. But he's looking at this going, Hey, if I just look at my production, What? About Me. He's going to be thirty years old.
at the start of the season. This man was selected out of the Ohio State University in the third round back in 2019. This past season, when Washington went 12-5, Jaden Daniels looked like one of the best quarterbacks in the entire game, despite being a rookie. Terry McLaurin called. Mm-hmm.
More than one thousand yards and thirteen touchdowns. And so of course it's it's a call for him now to say I want my money. It's a it's natural for him to go. Based on my production over the past several seasons, I need to get paid. This man is hauled in.
more than one thousand yards Every season the past five seasons except for his rookie year. This past season, a career high 13 touchdowns, not a shock and surprise now that he actually got himself. A good quarterback. And so to day, As he was shooting a commercial at a local car dealership, because, of course, why not? Termic Lawrence took some time to let everybody know.
In the D M V? that he is not happy, with his deal. This is what he had to say about his beef. with the commanders as it relates to his contract. Yeah, I've been pretty frustrated, I'm not going to lie.
Everything that has transpired up until this point has just been disappointing and frustrating. I wanted to continue my career here. Created my life here. You know, my wife and I have bought our first home here.
So, this has been somewhere where I've always wanted to be. And just to see how things have played out has been disappointing. Obviously, I understand everything's a business, but at the same time, I want to put myself in a position where I'm valued and I feel appreciated and things like that. And, you know, unfortunately, that hasn't. transpired the way I wanted to.
Yeah, that that's how respect goes in the world of sports. Teams show their respect. By writing checks. And I ultimately believe that he'll He'll get a contract. They'll they'll come to an agreement.
Now, are they going to come to an agreement before training camp? That's to be seen. Are we going to have Terry McLaurin, who has always come across as one of the most team-first guys in the NFL, especially for a star? You don't hear anything about Terry McLaurin being a Diva. The guys never complained about the rotating Revolving door of quarterbacks that he's had in and out of Washington, the guy just shows up to work.
and he bawls out. He's the antithesis of being a Deva, wide receiver. And now you think about it. Washington has brought on Debo Samuel.
Okay. You still have a younger guy and a Luke McCaffrey. You would expect some of the running backs to put in some work as well. Not you, Austin Eckler. I don't ever expect you to be healthy.
But then Jaden Daniels picks up a big load of the offense as well. But Terry McLaurin, even with Debo Samuel on the team, will presumably still be THE NUMBER ONE Option. Terror McLaughlin continued on and said, You know what? I know training camp is coming up soon. But we need to get this deal done now.
There has to be some active discussions. I mean, like I said, we haven't talked in over a month and obviously with Camp Around the Corner, like it's becoming a little bit of crunch time. And obviously, you want to be in a position where you're Building to what we did last year, and Jaden and I continue to build along with the offense. And that's the thing: like, before I took a step back, it was things were going great on the field. And the connection and the offense and the energy was just amazing.
And so, to see where it was then and where it's at now is definitely disappointing.
So, I don't necessarily know what happens next, but without any progressive discussion, it's kind of hard to see how I step on the field. Yeah, well Rookies report to training camp in Washington. In a couple of days, the eighteenth, three days from now. Veterans like Terry McLaurin They report a week from now next Wednesday. I wouldn't be surprised if he's a holdout.
He said he also has the support of his his rookie quarterback, Jaden Daniels, who obviously knows how important he is. He was the number one target for him last year. And so I'm not prepared to say that Washington has a major problem. But Washington has to figure out. How much money They want to go ahead and pay this man.
as we move closer to the season, especially given His age? We'll find that out sooner than later. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. Speaking of people sour about money.
I don't know if I necessarily want to put this in the same category. But even with all the uh the baseball festivities going on here, over the past several days in Atlanta. We do know that SEC Media Day is underway. Media Days plural with an S. And so today We had an opportunity to hear from someone who, thank God, is familiar with winning a championship, not from last year.
It's Kirby Smart. And thank God he didn't have to really go on a diatribe about why his players. Drive between Atlanta and Athens like speed demons. But he did say that he took an issue. with some of the finances that are well, financial issues that are plaguing College Athletics.
Kirby smiled as just like listen. We got so much money flowing around right now That guys don't want to work. Guys don't want to develop. They'd promised a bag, they'd promised money And so they quit, like a lot of people. You know money is coming, and you don't have to work for it.
Do you work as hard? You know, I'll give the best example, boxing. Man, when you come from boxing, you gettin' punched in the head, you coming from the dirt, you're trying to make the best out of it, you got no money, this is how you gonna pay the bills. You work. When you start making money, It's hard and difficult to keep that same ferociousness.
It's hard to keep that same dedication when you go from sleeping on a dirty mattress. to some of the best, finest sheets and thread counts on on planet earth. That's just the reality. Kirby Smart feels the same way about these athletes. that are are currently Coming into college football.
Like they want money. They don't necessarily want to develop. Listen to what Kirby Smart had to say about that. Why is it important to identify it now? Because the culture in college football is slowly changing.
You've got to remember, I was part of a nine-year program and a nine-year run that was one of the greatest ever in college football.
Okay, and now I'm at a place that's doing it right and competing in a really high level. I've seen what it looks like to have fire, passion, and energy. And I've seen guys that were really hungry. I go back to a Dante Hightower, Rolando McLean, a Julio Jones, a Trent Richardson, a Mark Ingram, all the way to Roquan Smith, to Nolan Smith, to Jordan Davis, to George Pickens, to Jake Fromm, to guys that played in our program, DeAndre Swift. You know what they had?
They had a love for the game and fire, passion, and energy. That's not the same as it used to be. You can say what you want, but there's people more in college football today, especially in the SEC, that are comfortable with where they are. This is a pretty good life. I'm earning 200K a year.
I'm very comfortable. And you don't reach your goals being comfortable. You don't attain great success. None of those people I mentioned before were ever comfortable. They were aiming at something.
They had a goal. They wanted to go achieve it. What you see now is, like, where's the drive and energy and enthusiasm?
Well, we want people that have it. We're going to seek it. We're going to try to go find it. And if we can just do that 1% better than everybody else, it gives us an opportunity to be ahead. Yeah, but I guess everybody has a different goal, right?
I I assume everybody in college football, the goal isn't it'd be nice to make it to the NFL, but I think realistically a lot of guys are just there to say, Can I get school paid for? Can I make some money? Of course at the top of the totem ball you want to make the NFL. If you're not making any money and everybody's on a on a level playing field, the the goal is to make the league. to get paid.
But I think now that we have money in college football, college athletics, I don't think the goal for everybody is to just go to the league. And I don't think there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, if you are a guy, if you are an athlete, and you can, you know, secure yourself an an education as much as one you want, And then you can also be paid? Hey, that's what the market says. I'm not mad at anybody trying to work this system.
Kirby Smart is 100% correct, but I'm not going to fault any one of these student athletes, or whatever the hell we want to call them nowadays, for taking advantage on both sides. Why not? I mean, the players have been worked. They've they're the ones who've been screwed for decades now. Unable to make money and have a job and start a career while they're playing athletics or because they're basically working for you for free.
Come on now Kirby Smart didn't stop there. He basically said, If you don't have that passion, If you're not willing to improve, Then don't come, It's in the University of Georgia. If you don't love the game, don't come to Georgia. If you don't want to be coached and you don't want to be coached hard, don't come to Georgia. I just want you to love the game.
And the guys that do that, they tend to, like, we'll coach them to go the right direction. I just need them to do it with a lot of passion and energy every day. And sometimes you don't get that in college football now. Yeah, you don't. Different strokes with different folks.
Now he's not blaming anybody. Do you blame the student athlete for that? Do you blame the coaches? Do you blame the NCAA? I I blame the system.
I blame the NCAA. Because there's no reason why the players for long, long before today. Or yesterday, or last year, the year before. There's no reason that the players should have not have or shouldn't have had A piece of a pie. And now Heh.
The pie's been blown up and everybody's kinda just reaching and grabbing uh with no full structure. That's the part that sucks. And even Kirby Smart has had to adjust some of his uh His strategies for acquiring players, really taking a look at high school as opposed to just hopping into the transfer portal. Look, if you can recruit great here in Georgia and the South, then God bless you. But as we've seen in Clemson, same thing here with Georgia.
Every now and then you you gonna have to take a swing. And if you want to keep up with the current landscape of college football, Then you're gonna have to go into the portal. You're gonna have to pay. And I guess if Kirby Smart doesn't like it, he can do what Nick Sabin just did. Quit.
Go home. Do television. Lament the fact that these student athletes are no longer just the student athletes. They're trying to get paid. There's nothing wrong with that.
Blame the NC. AA. It's the Chair of our Sport Re Show here with you Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN is the number. That's 888-710-4ISN.
We have so much to get into as we continue on with the show. Kyle Glazer is going to join us from Foul Territory TV. We'll talk all things baseball, all-star break, and beyond. We're going to talk about LeBron. He popped up to watch Bronny play at Summer League last night.
And then the All-Star game is now a little more than an hour away. We got the debut of the RoboOmps big time. We'll get into it: the Gerald Sport Reshow, Infinity Sports Network. Mm-hmm.
