JR SportBrief Hour 1

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But let's face it, they rarely stick. Well, Peloton's got a gift for you. Get up to $200 off accessories like non-slip grip dumbbells, cycling shoes, heart rate monitors and more with the purchase of a Peloton Bike, Bike Plus or Tread. Don't wait, get this offer before it ends on December 25. Visit OnePeloton.com. All access membership separate offer ends December 25.

Cannot be combined with other offers. See additional terms at OnePeloton.com. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio.

That's right, this is CBS Sports Radio and you are locked in to the J.R. Sportbrief show. I'm coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios. Whether you're looking to purchase a new home or refinance yours, Rocket Mortgage can help you get there. For home loan solutions that fit your life, it is very, very simple.

Rocket can. Happy Wednesday night to you. I hope you had a good Wednesday. Hope you had a good day. I hope you're having a great night, a great evening. I'm going to be hanging out here with you for the next four hours.

This is when I get started. 10 p.m. Eastern time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I'm on Pacific time right now. I'm hanging out with all the wonderful people in Portland, Oregon. Damian Lillard is not here.

He's currently in San Antonio helping the Portland Trailblazers beat up the San Antonio Spurs, but I digress. I'm here. And on the other side of the country, I'm being joined by super producer and host, Dave Shepherd. And damn it, we got a good show lined up for you tonight. If you want to know what we're going to talk about, if you follow me on social media, you will already know. I tweeted out. It's at JR Sport Brief. We told everybody this last night.

Well, you should know this by now. Every single Wednesday night I bring you a new top six list. Tonight will be no different. In honor of Mike Leach, inspired by Mike Leach, we're going to talk about some of the most quotable coaches ever. You think about coaches across the board. It doesn't matter if they're in the NFL, NBA, MLB. It doesn't matter what the league or sport.

We have some coaches in the world of sports that when you put a camera in front of them, when you put a microphone in front of them, you're going to walk away hearing something that you have never heard before. And so that top six list is coming up two hours from now. You don't want to miss it. Later on in the show, I'm going to share with you why I was here today in Portland, Oregon. Oh yeah, I'm all over the place. Yesterday, Phoenix, Arizona. Today, Portland, Oregon. I'm enjoying the Pacific Northwest. Hey Shep, you ever been up here in Portland? I have not, no.

Not in Portland specifically. It's beautiful. You want to know the slogan? Do you know what it is? It's not Rip City, is it? No, that's for the Blazers.

Got you. So apparently I do not. Yeah, Portland, their slogan for the city is keep Portland weird. Go figure. Oh, you're speechless. I'm just saying that's what they said.

I didn't make it up. Keep Portland weird. And by walking around just a little bit, I will co-sign. The sound of the universe there? Yes, Beaverton.

Yes. I stopped. I was actually, I went through Beaverton earlier today.

But as an overall, I can't co-sign. That Portland as a metropolitan area is weird. And they should keep it weird. I got no complaints. Shout out to everybody here in Portland as we have continued on with our Media for the Movement Tour.

Just highlighting and helping out folks and letting everyone know that folks with intellectual disabilities, they're people just like everybody else and they deserve to be treated as such. We'll talk more about that later on in the show. Draymond Green, when we were live on the air last night, he revealed that he was threatened by a fan. Are you surprised it was Draymond Green?

Probably not. We mentioned briefly about Carlos Correa, that gigantic deal he got from the San Francisco Giants. I had people asking me about that all day today. Why the Giants gave him that money? Why they gave him that deal?

And I'm sure we have people who have some thoughts and comments as well. LeBron James and his son. Carmelo Anthony and his son. As a matter of fact, LeBron and both of his sons were in action playing basketball a couple of nights ago.

Nationally televised game. Good idea. Bad idea. No big deal. We'll get into it.

Last night we talked about this briefly as well. Alex Ovechkin, only the third man ever in NHL history to score 800 goals. He's coming for the top spot. He's coming for Wayne Gretzky's spot. Does America know who Alex Ovechkin is? We'll get there. Speaking of knowing who anybody is and whether or not people even care about this, I missed the majority of this game today because it took place during a session at Pacific University here in Oregon.

Shout outs to everybody at Pacific University. I missed part of the World Cup. And sure, yeah, it's not the Super Bowl. It's not the Final Four. It's not the NBA Finals.

But I love it. It's competition. It's competition on a global scale. You get a chance to see countries go out there and try to beat the living daylights out of the other squad. And sure, it's not physical, so they're not literally trying to beat the daylights out of other people if you want that.

Tune into boxing. But in the World Cup, you get a little bit of everything. You get the athleticism. You get the drama. You get the storytelling.

You get the emotions. I mean, we saw Ronaldo. He's walking off of the pitch last week and he's crying.

That's it. We are unlikely to see Ronaldo ever play again for Portugal in the World Cup. He has more caps, more appearances than anyone who's ever participated for the team, and it's emotional for the guy.

All of his accomplishments, club level, team level, international level. When you represent your country for a lot of these dudes, it doesn't get any higher. We don't have that in American sports. The Major League Baseball came up with the World Baseball Classic. Who cares? Shep, I don't even – when was the last World Baseball Classic? Do you know? Could not even begin to tell you.

Oh my God. Who won the last one? I could pick three – America, Japan? Did Dominican Republic win it?

Puerto Rico? Who cares? I don't know. Every time they hype it up, this time they said, you know, Mike Trout is going to play.

Is he going to be healthy? Who cares? Harper, Bryce is going to be available to play in the stupid ML – what do they call it, Shep? I already forgot the name of it. The Ulster game? No, no, no. World Baseball Classic.

I already forgot the name of it. Oh, because I was about to say, because Trout's not used to playing in games that matter. Oh, damn. Ouch. I'm being real about that. Whoa, the playoffs, this team doesn't go.

Don't. There's no NFL international competition because nobody else plays NFL football but us. What are we going to do, have a mixed All-Star game? NFL players versus rugby?

Not going to happen. Like soccer is the world's game. Everybody plays soccer, football. It don't matter where you are on the planet, people are kicking a ball. And so after 32 teams, we finally have the championship lined up because I missed it today. I saw the first goal, because it happened within the first five minutes, France beat Morocco, the first African nation to make it to the final four of the World Cup. And by the way, if you're not familiar, France just won the last World Cup four years ago.

They did it. And who are they going to take on? Argentina. Argentina, they went out there and beat Croatia yesterday three to nothing, so we have a final. We got South America. We got Europe. We got France. We got Argentina led by somebody named Messi.

We're going to talk about Messi in a second. But if you want to understand the pageantry of the World Cup, if you want to understand how important it is and the history behind it, I want you to pay close attention to how regal this final call was, courtesy of Fox Soccer. This is today when France eliminated Morocco. Salouhi around the corner, a 20-year-old substitute walking it in, and it's going to be to the top of the box, deflected, cleared off the line. World Cup final. Kelly to Mape in France. Lionel Messi in Argentina.

We'll see you Sunday. Well, Morocco's journey ends here, but it was a heroic one that inspired not just a nation, but millions around the world, but ultimately undone by a French masterclass championship pedigree. France versus Argentina.

Messi versus Mbappe. Bring it on. Ooh. Everything sounds so deep. The storytelling so poetic in the world of soccer.

Some of the voices, especially when you bring them over from the United Kingdom and the UK, it just makes it sound so much more important. France, Argentina, young Mbappe, Messi. It's going to be fun. And by the way, Mbappe and Messi, they're teammates. On PSG, they both play for the French squad, making all the money. Messi's been around forever. If you don't know Messi, this guy's nickname is the little flea.

How can I describe it? If you know soccer or football, you might know two recent players, Ronaldo and Messi. Ronaldo is like LeBron James. He's old. He's big. He's powerful.

He's strong. That's Ronaldo. Ronaldo's like LeBron. And then you got Messi. Messi's like Steph Curry.

Steph Curry bouncing all over the place, knocking down threes, running through screens. Messi's nickname is the little flea. He's a small guy.

This man actually had a growth hormone disorder as a child. As you hear, he's from Argentina. He plays in Europe. He plays in France. He debuted as a professional in 2004.

He's 35 years old right now. He signed to Barcelona at the age of 13. He has seven Ballon d'Or. What's a Ballon d'Or? It's the world's greatest player for that year.

He has seven of them, a record. And the one thing that Messi does not have is a World Cup title. People look at him and compare him to Diego Maradona. Unfortunately, Diego Maradona is no longer here with us. You know, one of his issues and problems was a little bit too much of the party stuff. Yes, he took too much of the party stuff.

And he's gone. And so Messi's always compared to him. It doesn't matter what Messi does, what Messi wins, how many goals he scores. You're not Diego Maradona. You haven't won a World Cup. The last time that Argentina won was 1986 with that Diego Maradona character leading the way.

And a hand of God. It's heartbreaking for Messi. In 2014, Messi, he got close.

They lost to Germany. Messi's never heard the end of it. At 35 years old, this is probably going to be Messi's last World Cup. He's going to take on France on Sunday at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, 7 Pacific.

If you want some stories, if you don't like soccer, if you don't like football, this is the matchup to watch. Mbappe is his teammate. He's whooping ass. He helped France win the last World Cup. He helped them beat Croatia 3 to nothing. He's a global star. He's going to be around for another 10 years. Messi is about on his way out the door. All we hear are rumors about how Messi is going to come over to the United States of America. He's going to play for Miami. We get rumors that Ronaldo, at the end of his career, he's not going to go play in Saudi Arabia. This is the final of the World Cup. The United States of America is not here.

Why? Because we suck. We send our athletes to play different sports. We don't have the highest level of competition. It's no different than comparing the NBA to the EuroLeague. Yeah, it's a high level of competition. It's not the NBA.

We got catching up to do as a country in the United States of America. And so when France takes on Argentina in the final on Sunday morning, 10 o'clock, I'm watching that game before football comes on. I hope they go to penalty kicks. I hope nobody gets kicked out. I hope the referees are not crooked. France has an opportunity and a chance here to be the first country to go back to back with World Cup victories since Brazil did it in 1958 and 1962.

That is a long, long time ago. France, Argentina, I'm going to watch. I know a lot of people don't. I know a lot of people are waiting on the NFL playoff race to kind of take shape. I know a lot of people are watching NBA basketball. I know a lot of people are waiting on all of the ball games to take place. I know a lot of people are watching college basketball.

And we've had a lot of conversations about the World Cup. Did it turn you off because of the situation in Qatar? Did it turn you off because of the unfortunate passing of Grant Wall? Did it turn you off because of some of the human rights crises that took place in building these stadiums? Did it turn you off because Qatar basically bought their way to a World Cup?

We can all pick and choose what we want to be outraged about. But to all of my listeners here in North America, all over the country, I got news for you. The World Cup is going to take place right here. 2026. After the champ is crowned on Sunday, the next time we see World Cup soccer, it's going to take place right here on North American soil.

Not just the United States of America, Mexico, Canada. Everybody's going to participate. Kansas City, Dallas, New York, Santa Clara, Seattle.

I can go on. Miami. We got World Cup football coming to our side of the globe.

I think we can do a little bit better in regards to, you know, human rights. I don't think anyone, a couple thousand people have to die building our stadiums. They're already there.

Taxpayers pay for them most of the time. But I'm excited for the World Cup final. I'm actually disappointed that it's over. The World Cup came and left. Maybe when we bring it back this way to North America, to the United States of America, maybe people will be more hyped about it. I'm looking forward to the final. And now we can finally put to rest this nonsense that has taken place in Qatar. Let's focus in on the final.

Let's not forget the unfortunate people who died and put their lives on the line to just make less than a buck to build these stadiums. And let's bring the damn World Cup to North America. I'm ready for both. The final and four years from now.

It's the J.R. Sportbree show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're just getting started. We're going to continue talking about soccer, the World Cup. We're going to talk about our football here in North America. We'll talk about basketball.

I told you I'm going to bring you a top six list. We're just getting warmed up. It's a simple question if you want to call me though. It's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Now that the World Cup is coming to a close. Do you care? Are you going to watch France and Argentina?

Or has the World Cup just floated by for you? We'll talk about it. It's the J.R. Sportbree show here on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbree on CBS Sports Radio. J.R. wants to hear from you. Call him now at 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4227. Right before we went to break, we talked about the World Cup. The final is all set. We're going to get France and Argentina on Sunday. Messi trying to win his first World Cup. Weight of the world on his shoulders trying to live up to the World Cup legend of Diego Maradona. And France is trying to go back to back. The first team to win back to back World Cup since Brazil did it at the end of the 50s and the early 60s. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. You know, the matter of interest here in the United States of America will be interesting. Especially that the United States is no longer participating.

Knocked out by the Netherlands two weeks ago. But we got a lot of people who are internationally inclined. I personally know a lot of people who are interested in FIFA and the World Cup and its athletes because of video games. Realistically, people have played FIFA and have gotten sucked into the world of soccer, the world of football.

And if you follow the game, you'll know it's on a whole different level. The fans are on a whole different level. They're not sitting down like it's church. They're not sitting down throwing back popcorn. They're not sitting down, you know, entertaining.

This is life or death. Tickets are passed down by generations and, you know, crowds, supporters and fans and opposing fans separated by attack dogs. Dogs with muzzles, flares, weapons. Look, I've seen some violent things take place just all over the United States of America at sporting events. Don't dare go into the parking lot between the Dodgers and the Giants. Somebody's going to get their ass whooped. You better be careful. And so violence in sports is real and it's no different when it comes down to the World Cup. And a matter of fact, this is kind of wild.

I learned this today. Hey, Shep, you know, you know, Clipper Darrow, right? From the Clippers, the big fan who wears the red and blue suit. Is he OK? No, he got knocked out by a security guard. No, Clipper Darrow? He got knocked out by a security guard.

I mean, what? I mean, was this James Dolan saying, you know, let me show you how it's done in New York kind of thing? And they thought it was Oakley? Might as well be. Clipper Darrow was in a concourse of, I guess we can call it, are we safe to call it Crypto.com Arena for now? Maybe. I think we're safe.

And maybe Crypto.com will go out of business in three months. But before it does, Clipper Darrow was exiting a game and he was in a concourse and a gentleman asked him to kindly go the other way. And he kind of put his forearm up into Clipper Darrow's neck and face area. And Clipper Darrow slapped his arm away. And then this dude proceeded to cold cock him. And this guy has been fired. Clipper Darrow had to go to the hospital. He's talking about he has headaches and the like.

It's tricky. He might as well be the Clippers mascot. Why do the Clippers have a bird as a mascot? Do you know that? Do you know why that is? I do not. I guess you'll do anything to make the NBA Finals, which they have not done so in 50 years.

So whatever works, unfortunately it's not working. I think the bird is supposed to honor Steve Ballmer, I think? He doesn't have enough in this world? Well, between him and Steve Cohen, one got the Mets, one got the Clippers, and I don't own anything. Got some catching up to do. 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. Generio calling from Indiana. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, how are you? I'm amazing. What's up? I'm amazing too. I'm enjoying this World Cup, man.

It's great. I'm a big Mape fan, and the brother is doing it like an old Pele. Matter of fact, I'm a poet, and I made a poem called Mistletoe, and it's dedicated to Mape. What's his name?

Who? Mape. Okay, go ahead. Okay, all right. Mape, go ahead.

Yeah. Mape or Mape. You know, it's French. I'm from Detroit.

It's like Detroit. The pronunciation might not be great, but I know who it is. We'll just get to the poem. Go ahead.

Oh, I don't have the poem with me because it's kind of long. Oh, my God. I was just calling in to let you know I'm enjoying the Cup, and I'm very pro-France. France got a lot of brothers, the Noor brothers.

That's what I call them, and that's what I'm about. You remind me of a young Pele, but I wasn't, of course, born then, but I know about soccer. I helped coach. Well, thank you. Thank you, Generio, for calling from Indiana. He called to tell us about his soccer poem that is too long to recite here on the air.

So in that regard, I will appreciate him and thank him for not subjecting us to his long-ass poem. 855-212-4CBS. Let's go to Henry. Henry's calling up from New York. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Henry? Hi, Jay.

I'm a first-time caller, but I'm calling with the, I guess you could say the other end of the spectrum. I hate soccer with a passion. Oh, no. And I'm really glad that the U.S. did lose so they could get that off of my TV and stop advertising it so much. Damn, what a grinch. What did soccer do to you?

It did do. I just, I'm an athlete. I'm also a vet, you know, and I come from a family of athletes, some collegiate athletes. I got a grandson playing college football, so I played college and, you know, so we're athletes. Soccer is at the bottom of my totem pole as far as being a manly sport.

What? Manly sport? Manly?

I just cannot stand soccer. Wait, wait, wait. No, no, but that's fine. What is a manly sport? I'm more into more of a physical type of sport, and I'm not saying that any sport you play, let me, and I don't really want to get on here and really get into all the logistics.

I just want to get on here. No, you might as well. No, we don't need to tiptoe around it. You said soccer is not manly.

I knew you would go through that. But the point I'm making is that, yeah, there's some bumping and pushing and stuff that's going on. Concussions, bruises, pain?

Go ahead. Well, you get broken bones doing this, I can get out here and roller skate and slip up and fall and tear ACL or something. You know, so I can get hurt coming out of my house and slip up and get hurt. So it's not about the injuries. It's not about, I'm just saying, how the sport is played.

You've got grown men running around kicking a little ball. That to me is the boringest thing I've ever seen. You can't touch anything.

You can't do anything. It's skillful. I would watch anything. It's skillful to see them, you know, throwing a little ball and being able to do little tricks with a ball in their feet. That to me is not manly at all. And I can't understand for the life of me. I can't understand how that is a world sport. And I know I got people in other parts of this world that I argue with about it. They and the rest of the world love it.

I am so glad that it's not a major sport here in U.S. And I hope it never becomes a major sport. But you understand, you understand we as a country, the United States of America are in the minority there. You understand that, right? I understand it. That's why I say I can't understand how the world loves it. So let me ask you, I get it.

Let me ask you this question. So baseball, for the most part, and now you can't even run into the catcher, is a non-contact. I don't like baseball either. So would you say that baseball is also not a manly sport? Exactly. I used to make a big argument about baseball, but soccer, baseball is my second worst sport.

Soccer is at the bottom. Okay, so stop. We get it.

I get it. Okay, stop. Okay, fine. Basketball certainly has its physicality, not as much as it used to be with the post play and hands, etc. Is basketball third on the list of physicality?

No, no. Basketball is one of my favorites. I played that in college, junior college. It's very manly. Basketball is very manly.

I didn't say it was very manly. I said, you know, there's contact. And I got hurt a lot. I got my face broken. I got, you know, meniscus problems, you know. So I got my injuries now. Well, let's keep going.

Okay, okay. Your injuries, I'm glad you're here. I played basketball growing up and I played tennis. So did I play tennis? Is tennis not manly? Because I played it, there's no contact. I mean, it's not about, it's not so much about, it's how the game is played. Tennis, you know, I played a little tennis.

I wasn't good at it, so I gave it up. But I just, it's, I don't know the proper words to use. You got little men, you got, I shouldn't say little men. Little men? Some of these guys are 6'5".

Bro, what? Yeah, Messi, he's small. I'm not saying that, I'm saying you got men running around in shorts kicking a little ball. That's what I meant to say, little ball. I just don't see that as exciting to me.

It's not exciting. Listen, man, we have guys in soccer football, and he's older now, a guy's like 40, maybe older now, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. You maybe never heard of him. This guy is 6'5".

He is built like a truck. And then you have guys like Messi who are much smaller, who don't even necessarily even crack, you know, 5'7", 5'8". And so there's a disparity. And then even in soccer, man, let me tell you, and I'm not asking for a response, I'm just letting you know. They're out there tackling, man. They get yellow cards, they get red cards because of the physicality, because of the fouls. They have to line up for the penalties, they have to get into position. Man, some of these dudes are built and they are strong as hell to get their positioning.

You know, maybe it's a matter of you haven't seen enough or you haven't watched it. I'm just letting you know, Henry. To say that soccer is not a manly sport, I think you need to reevaluate it because I wouldn't go out there and play because I ain't trying to get pushed around. Yeah, I just don't like the sport.

Like I said, you can get hurt at doing almost anything. And any sport, you can go out there and get fouls and stuff on and do things that you're not supposed to be doing. Because they're playing with their feet. Yeah, and forgive me for anybody, I don't want to offend any soccer lovers that's out there. I didn't mean to say little men, I meant to say little ball.

That's what I was trying to get at and men came out of my mouth. It's okay, little men, little ball, it's just a bunch of little guys playing a pansy sport. Hey Henry, I appreciate you, man. Okay, alright. Thank you Henry for calling from New York. Hey listen, did you hear Henry? If you like soccer, do you play soccer?

You do it in the backyard, the park, did you do it at a professional level? I got news for you. You're not manly.

And maybe that's a compliment if you're not a man, if you're a woman. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS. This man said soccer is not manly. I'm going to get some more of your calls on the other side. We'll talk about Alex Ovechkin, we'll get into coaches, and I'm going to get to your calls first. This is the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. First of all, I just want to start off by saying I respect you a lot and I love your show and everything that you do, so I just wanted to say mad love and love everything that you do.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. Henry from New York done ticked off the world. Hi Henry, I still like you Henry, don't worry about it. Henry said that he hates soccer. He hates the World Cup.

He doesn't hope that the World Cup ever grows here in the United States of America. Because it's not a manly sport. Just a bunch of guys running around playing with a little ball with their feet. Like have you seen the tackles? Have you seen the concussions? Have you seen the fouls? Have you seen the penalties?

Have you seen these guys moving to hell and the other guy out the way? To say soccer or football is not a manly sport is like, have you played it? I mean I've run out there a little bit as a kid, as a teenager, every now and then as an adult, but I'm too lazy to be running back and forth. That's why I stand up and sit and talk for a living. I don't got to move too far. It's a great workout for me to just run my mouth.

Great exercise. We got a lot of people who feel that way. They don't like football. They don't like soccer and that's fine. It's not for everybody. You don't have to like everything. People think American football sucks and I can understand why they would think so.

Different strokes with different folks. But as we approach the World Cup on Sunday, France, Argentina, I'm gonna watch and I'm gonna have a good old time. Maybe I think by Sunday I'm still in Portland and everybody in Portland, everybody in the Pacific Northwest, they love soccer up here. We've been talking about the Timbers, the Sounders, we've been talking about the Rock, they love it here. I should be back in Atlanta by Sunday. I should find somewhere to watch the game.

Argentina, France, I'm gonna tune in. We got a lot of callers here with a lot of opinions. Yeah, it's CBS Sports Radio.

We talking about the world's game. I can do it. The JR Sport Brief Show. 855-2124 CBS. Andy is calling from Ohio. I wonder what Andy thinks. Is this a manly sport or not? Hey Andy, you're on CBS Sports Radio.

Well JR, I'm a first time caller to your show and first I appreciate all the patience you show with us callers but I had to laugh there at the break thinking about Henry, the last caller. Because I used to be a soccer mocker my entire life. I live just outside Columbus, Ohio. I've never given a second thought to going to a Columbus Crew game. Oh, big time. I was in Columbus last year.

What's that? I said I was in Columbus last year. There's a lot of love for the crew out there. Oh, there is.

There is. But I have been a soccer mocker my whole life. But unlike Henry, I've been afforded the opportunity to watch all these games that Fox has had on with excellent commentary, pregame from former U.S. soccer players. And I have a new appreciation for how outstanding these elite international players on the elite international teams are. It's been truly a joy to learn a little bit more about the sport and see how good they really are.

OK, well thank you Andy for calling from Ohio. He used to be a soccer mocker. I like that phrase. We should put that on a T-shirt for him. Former soccer mocker. I bet you if he went to a stadium, if he went to a game, he'd get all the beer.

They'd love him. Changing his mind on a beautiful game. Brian is calling from Knoxville, Tennessee. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up Brian?

Hey JR. What's up? I was just wanting to agree with him. I'm kind of on the fence about soccer, but also as an athlete, I've learned to respect the sport and learn more about it before I make a judgment like Henry does. But my problems with soccer are the excitement of it. For one, those guys are in better shape than most athletes that play the American sport, the top three sports. I promise you they're in better shape than those guys. Oh yeah, baseball.

They're definitely manly. But another thing, the rules of the penalty kicks at the end, I'm not a big fan of that. Settling the game after a 90 minute brawl. So they go to, it's extra time, we call it overtime, they play extra, they play more time after that. I know they got the extra time as well, but they still, if they don't get it there then they go to the PK.

The penalty kick, it's exciting. Imagine having like a three point shootout or free throws. Imagine this. Imagine if instead of NBA overtime, imagine if you took the worst free throw shooter. Imagine if the coach was able to pick the worst free throw shooter from each team and vice versa and put him at the line.

And that was the determining factor. Penalty kicks are exciting, man. I agree, they're very exciting. But to settle a long, fought out, hard game like that, it's just not my thing. What else are they going to do? Playing until they die?

You're right, you're right. I agree with that too. There's not much other thing they can do. But they could make it more exciting and score more.

I think they ought to take away the offside rule as well. Aw, cherry picking? And have some breakaways like basketball, you know?

Have a guy that'll cherry pick it. But we don't have that in our sports. We have rules that kind of set us up. Hockey's like that too. Well yeah, hockey's like that. And basketball, they don't always enforce it. You do have the three and five second to keep dudes just from standing around in the paint ready to just snatch the ball up. And so even in baseball, it might be a defensive strategy, baseball is getting rid of the shift.

I know a different space, but you can't just have dudes hanging out by the net. That takes away from the game. Well, and I understand that, but to not be able to go past another guy that's one foot from you when you're trying to break away, to me it would make it more exciting. When you're watching a game and it's one to one, one to nothing, that's my problem with soccer. There's not enough scoring for me.

The field's huge and they kick the ball around and around and around. So it's just not exciting. It's a great game.

The strategies are good. I totally respect the athletic when they ask me. I have nothing against it.

But it's just not my cup of tea because it's just not that exciting. All right. Thank you, Brian, for calling from Knoxville. Daniel's calling from San Diego.

Go ahead, Daniel. Hey, JR. Big time listener. Been listening to you for a while. I called in a couple of weeks ago when the World Cup first started and I told you I kind of fall asleep to it. But in reality, what I meant to say is that I work nights, so I try and watch as many games as I can because I'm a huge soccer fan, but I'll fall asleep to them because it's actually kind of soothing, to be honest. But I grew up playing soccer my whole life since the age of three until I was 24 in college. And it's a rough sport. I had friends always tell me it was a sissy sport. It was funny. And then they'd see me with my tornadoes gel when I was 16, or I'd tell them a story about some kid dislocating his elbow in a game somehow, which I feel to this day don't understand how he did it. I had friends in college who couldn't play anymore after like one season because they had too many concussions. So, yeah, what people say that it's a sissy sport.

I mean, they should probably try and go out there and play it first. Okay. Now I hear you, Daniel.

Thank you for calling from Sandy. You have more? You got to go quick.

Oh, I got more. Yeah, I was just saying, like, America needs to step it up. Like, we really need to step it up and send our players overseas to get better, like, strategies. I don't know. Well, we gotta we gotta get more guys who are willing to go out there and actually play from the youth level and get them exposed to the top level.

So USA can do better. It's the JR Sport we show you on CBS Sports Radio. I'll take more of your calls. We're going to talk about a different goal when we come back as well. Don't move.

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