JR SportBrief Hour 1

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Find a retailer near you, that's Serta.com. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It is the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Tuesday night to you. I hope you had a good Tuesday. I hope you had a good day. I hope you had a good afternoon. I hope you're having a great evening. I hope that you ultimately have a good night. Either way, I'm going to be here for the next four hours.

This is when I get started. 10 p.m. Eastern time, 7 p.m. Pacific. And so whether you're out on the West Coast or whether you're on the East Coast, I'm just glad that you're here. You've got people listening all over North America. Me, today, and most nights when I'm not traveling, I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm being joined by super producer and host Dave Sheppard. He's coming to you live from New York City over the next four hours.

What are we going to discuss? Maybe it's a shock. I don't know if this is a shock right now. The Las Vegas Golden Knights are one period away from winning the Stanley Cup trophy, the championship. OK, right now they are beating up, smacking, destroying the Florida Panthers six to one. The second period just ended and the Knights are up six to one. Ain't no coming back from this.

I'm sorry. Florida might as well just pack their bags. They should leave. Maybe they should gamble, drink their pain away before they go back to Florida.

But no. For a franchise that just got started in 2017. Las Vegas Golden Knights, man, they doing it big time. They're about to be Stanley Cup champs.

Give it about 20 minutes, maybe 25 minutes and it'll be done. So sucks for everybody down in South Florida that there will be no champion. Sorry. Blame the Miami Heat, blame the Panthers, two teams that weren't expected to be in their respective championships.

But I digress. I'll let you know when that game goes final. We all know about the one that went final last night, the Denver Nuggets walking away with their first NBA championship. Next hour, we're going to talk to a Denver Nuggets legend between him and Alex English. They pretty much owned every scoring, every record imaginable with the Nuggets until, I don't know, Carmelo and then this this Nikola Jokic guy came along. And if he doesn't decide to quit tomorrow, Nikola Jokic is going to own these records.

But Dan Issel is going to join us next hour. They nicknamed this guy the horse because he always played. He's in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Nuggets have retired his number and he not only played for the Nuggets, he coached the Nuggets and he is recently reconnected with the team. And I want to ask him one big guy about another big guy in Jokic.

I want to ask him about just the durability, lack of durability by some of the players. And then I want to ask him about, you know, some of his time coaching when he, as an eighth seed with the Nuggets, beat the Sonics, the number one seed in 1994. And I'm going to ask him about the parade. I want to know if Dan is going to go to the parade and watch the the active Nuggets go outside and get drunk.

And so we'll talk to Dan Issel next hour. Josh Allen, Josh Allen spoke to the media today. No Stefan Diggs here in an offseason camp for the Buffalo Bills. Odell practicing, starting to ramp things up with the Baltimore Ravens.

That should be fun. DeAndre Hopkins scheduled to meet with the New England Patriots. George, or excuse me, not George. If George Steinbrenner put out a statement from the grave, that would be quite eerie. His son, Hal Steinbrenner, not happy with the soon to be former Oakland A's owner, John Fisher.

Not happy that he's basically bleeding the team out on his way to Vegas. So we got a lot to do, a lot to get into. If you want to talk to me here, it's real simple. It's eight five five two one two four CBS.

That's eight five five two one two four CBS. You can also find me online everywhere. That is at JR Sport Brief. That's at JR Sport Brief everywhere on social media. Hey Shep, I see Wayne Gretzky here in between the second and the third period. He actually looks happy, maybe because he knows that this is the end of it for him. JR, first of all, always good to hear from you, my guy.

Always great to be with you, and that is exactly why he is happy. There's something about these game fives, man. Not really an exciting NBA final or Stanley Cup final. Yeah, well, I mean, well, right? What?

Yeah, well, yeah, touche. Getting more action with the Subway series. Let's be honest. Oh, the Yankees and the Mets. Yeah, the Yankees. Well, I mean, they're going back and forth, beating each other up.

It's seven to six Yankees right now, and the New York Mets are threatening. And we can blame. I guess we can blame South Florida like there was no expectation for the Miami Heat to go to the finals. There was no expectation for the Panthers to end up in the Stanley Cup finals, beating the Bruins. This wasn't. This wasn't supposed to be, and so at least everybody in South Florida went on a ride, and I'm pretty sure everybody's looking forward to later on this year when the Miami Dolphins step back onto the field.

And then you have to hope from there that to a tongue of Aloha is healthy. So a lot of hope, not too much excitement in South Florida last night. But I really must absolutely have to bring this up because last night, Nikola Jokic won a championship. Nikola Jokic is now looked upon and not looked upon. He is one of the best basketball players that the NBA has ever seen.

When the NBA decides to do their top 100 players over the last 100 years, Nikola Jokic will be on the list. He's one of the best big men that we have ever seen. And so he gets the championship. He gets the accolades last night, but then he doesn't seem all that interested. The man just won a finals MVP. The man just won a a championship here. He won back to back MVPs prior to this season. He's an exclusive company with some of the greatest dudes of all time, and he just seems like he doesn't want to do anything but go home. I mean, after he won the championship, CBS did a great job showing and listening. I want you to listen, but they showcased how, I don't know, bored with winning he was. So Nikola Jokic, he spoke to the NBA right after, and then he sat at his press conference, and then he pretty much is just like, yeah, I just want to go home. Listen to this. Nuggets can finally call themselves NBA champions.

And now you are an NBA champion, Nikola. How does that feel? It's good.

It's good. When the job is done, you can go home now. I'm curious what you are feeling right now, and if you're looking forward to a parade coming up in Denver. When is parade? When is parade?

Thursday. No, I need to go home. Okay. Okay.

We won it, but I think it's not the most important thing in the world still. There is a bunch of things that I like to do. I mean, probably that's a normal thing. Nobody likes his job, or maybe they do. They're lying. Oh my God. Okay, so I get it.

I understand it. This is Nikola Jokic. We have never, as far as I know, have heard a basketball player say such a thing, and we know this. There are plenty of basketball players in the NBA who don't love it, who treat the game like a job.

They don't necessarily are head over heels in love with the game. Jokic said it. He called it a job, and yes, it's a job. Does he love it?

I mean, that should have been the follow-up question. Nikola Jokic is now one of the best players that the NBA has ever seen, and for him, it's just a job, and I can't blame him. Being here in the United States of America, it's not home. Home is back in Serbia, and he wants to go back.

He spoke to NBA TV afterwards, and he gave a little bit more reason why he wants to just fast forward the parade and get home. It has to do with horses. Listen to this. Week or two look like for you now. You got a parade coming up here on Thursdays.

How soon till you're back in sophomore? I need to do it on Sundays. I have my horse racing. I was going to get to that.

The horse racing. Maybe. I don't know how we're going to arrive. Thursday, Friday, maybe. Would you make it?

I don't know. Maybe you can have enough time to squeeze it in. I'm going to ask Josh to give me a plane. I think he'll definitely let you get the team playing. I think you deserve that. You deserve a little more than that. I did it on TV. I'm going to finish by putting him under the pressure.

Yes, I did. I don't feel bad at all. Nikola Jokic put Josh Kroenke, the owner's son who runs the team, under the pressure.

I appreciate that. And Nikola Jokic is certainly, he's an interesting star. Does he love basketball? Is he ready to go home? I think that's obvious. But does he just view it as a job? And if he does, I don't care.

I just want to joy and watch it. I said this last week. I wouldn't be surprised if Nikola Jokic woke up in a few years and just said, all right, I'm done.

I'm out. I mean, he's going to collect his money in the last year of his contract, which I believe might be 20, 27, 28. This guy's going to make $61 million. Stick around five more years and then leave and bail when he's still in his early 30s. I don't see Nikola Jokic saying, I want to do this in perpetuity.

I want to stick around and do this and do this forever. And when you think about the machine that the NBA is, it markets its stars. Nikola Jokic is the complete opposite. And for as many other jerks that we have running around making noise for no reason, hi Kyrie Irving. Hey guys, don't talk about me.

I'm on Twitter right now and Instagram to tell you not to talk about me on Twitter and Instagram. He's come across as a loser. You know, when you have so many me first players in the NBA, where you got to look at somebody like James Harden, who threw all of the rockets under the bus, basically said everybody in the locker room sucks. I need to get out of here, quit on the team. I prefer Nikola Jokic say, hey, I don't give a damn about no parade.

I want to go home. I prefer that than, than, than some of the selfish players that the NBA does have. And to, to probably, you know, what, what most people would consider to be a fact or inaccurate, most of the dudes in the NBA are not selfish. You know, what's they understand where they fit in, in a pecking order, not everybody, but the majority of the players do because everybody in the NBA at some point in life before they got to the NBA, they were the guy. And so when you get to the NBA, it's a dog eat dog world.

You got to eat some humble pie. And then you really start to see who's at the top of the pecking order. And then you get dudes who start to grow arrogant. They start smelling themselves.

They start getting the money and their attitudes start to change. You can market the hell out of Steph Curry. LeBron James goes without saying.

Television is on boom. There's LeBron. Selling what? I don't know, but there he is. Same thing with Curry. Giannis Atetokounmpo.

Okay. You want to talk about an international player? Giannis is in a Google camera phone, Pixel commercial talking about hot dogs. I mean, come on. The NBA is full of personalities and they've done an excellent job selling them when it comes to Nikola Jokic.

What's the sales job? What commercial is he going to film in the off season? Where are we going to see him pop up now that he's attained even more fame and more attention? I think the answer almost nowhere. I don't think we'll see Nikola Jokic until he comes back from Serbia. I don't know.

And in September, maybe not October, it'll be too late by then. Congratulations to Nikola Jokic. He's a quiet superstar. This NBA thing is just a job for him. It's just work. He's one of the greatest to ever do it. He doesn't care about the awards and he doesn't care about the trophies and the accolades.

It's just a job. He wants to go home to his pool. He wants to ride his horses. And he wants the stupid parade to be over with. I guess Nikola Jokic will be the guy or he won't be the Denver Nugget who goes out there and gets drunk. And when I think a little harder about this, Jokic doesn't even care about the parade in Denver. If I'm a fan, I'm going, if the superstar player doesn't even want to be there, why do I want to go?

Right? The fans been waiting for a long time. So Nikola Jokic might not care, but everybody in Denver, the way they were partying with Aaron Gordon in the street last night, they certainly should. And so, yeah, the NBA got plenty of dudes to sell against. Jokic isn't one of them.

And you know what? You don't even have to go too far back to think about another star who you can't sell. Even though he ended up in a Drake music video, even though I think I've seen him maybe in a commercial here or there, and it's all because he's boring as hell. It's Kawhi Leonard. If you thought Nikola Jokic, not wanting to go to his own team's parade, was pretty boring. I want to remind you about this interaction between Kawhi Leonard and a reporter before he won a championship with Toronto. Listen to the question to Kawhi and listen to Kawhi's response. Kawhi, Jonathan Cho, Dia TV. If the Raptors win the NBA title, what do you think this will mean for Canada and the Toronto Raptors?

You've already won with the San Antonio Spurs. You've seen the way it impacted that community. What do you think this will do for Canada? I'm really not sure. I guess you really have to ask somebody on the street or one of our fans. I don't know. Why are you asking me what this will mean for Canada? I just play here. I don't live here. I'm from California. I don't know what this will mean for anybody in Canada.

Ask somebody on the street. We need what we need. It's Kawhi Leonard to answer the question. It's Kawhi Leonard to interview Nikola Jokic. The world needs that.

It'll be the driest thing ever, but it'll be fun to watch. Nikola Jokic, how do you feel about his approach? Does his just laissez-faire attitude? Does his, I don't want to call it ambivalence, but does his reluctantness to engage, does it bother you? Nikola Jokic basically just said, hey, I'm showing up to do this and it's just a job. Are you less engaged? Are you less connected as a fan to someone who's just clocking in the work? The fact is a lot of athletes do it. Jokic just said it publicly after winning a championship. Me? I don't care. We got enough crybabies out here.

At least the man went out there and admitted what a lot of people want. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. The phone lines are open. That's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. So much to get into. I told you, Dan Issel, Nuggets legend, Basketball Hall of Famer coming up next hour. Josh Allen, everybody's looking for Stefan Diggs. Odell finally putting in more work in Baltimore. DeAndre gonna check in with the Patriots.

Jimmy Butler had no excuses. Shannon Sharp, he's done on Undisputed. We're not done here.

We're just getting started. It's the JR Sport Brief Show, CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

JR wants to hear from you. Call him now at 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4227. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Before we went to break, I told you about just how relaxed Nikola Jokic is. I don't know if relaxed is the word.

He doesn't care about the fluff. He was asked about the parade and he's just like, when is the parade? Like Thursday. It's like, oh my god.

It's like three days from now. I want to go home. Like you go home on Friday. He's like, oh man.

It's like, damn bruh, can it be any worse? And he said, hey, I'm just doing my job. He says, who do you know who loves their job? He says, they're lying. And so Nikola Jokic is just, he's just clocking into work and ready to clock out and just to get his money. I'm not mad at the man. It's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. I also want to share with you some news that we learned surrounding Kyrie Irving. I mentioned him in the prior break. He's the complete opposite of Nikola Jokic.

Someone who will always seek out the spotlight whether he knows what the hell he's talking about or not. I want to share some news there with you and then give you some information as it relates to the NBA and its playoff ratings. Some good, some not so good. But let's go to Manny. He's calling from Flushing.

You're on CBS Sports Radio, the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up, Manny? Oh, doing well, my brother. How you doing, man? I'm good. Thank you.

What's going on? Good, man. I want to give a huge special shout out to Jeff Green. By the way, my pops is a huge Hoyer fan back in the day during the 80s. I mean, whoever thought that Jeff Green, but I think it was about a decade ago, his career, his playing career, his life was almost ended because of some heart situation. And look at him now. He's a champion. I mean, shout out to him.

Yeah, absolutely. Jeff Green had open heart surgery, I want to say in 2011, 2012. And he has been in the league for 16 seasons. He's played on 11 teams. He was on that Cavs team that got swept a few years ago by the Golden State Warriors. And now, after all of this, he's finally a champion. Nobody could take that away from him. Yeah, I agree.

And I think he's one of two players. He and KD are the last two players, active players who actually played for the Sonics before they left Seattle for OKC. And damn it, NBA, please get a damn team in Seattle. I can't wait. Yeah, I think sooner than later.

Thank you so much, Manny, for calling from Flushing. Yeah, I don't know how long it's going to take for the NBA to bring a team back to Seattle. Seattle, I think, certainly deserves it. I know the Kraken are up there now with the NHL. The NHL has really hit expansion.

You got the Kraken. You got the Las Vegas Golden Knights, which are about 13 minutes away from winning their first Stanley Cup. The fans there are just sitting on their hands at this point in time. The Golden Knights are leading six to one. After the end of the second period, the fans were just chanting, we want the cup.

We want the cup. And they are, oh, did they score again? Nope.

OK. Hey, Chef, are they done? No, right? They're going to get one more goal? Probably. Likely. You know what?

They might get two more goals. This is a bloodbath, JR. Yeah, I shared online that at this point, they should just allow some of the fans onto the ice and just let them take some shots, man, because this is a wrap. You might as well get some fan participation going.

But for Manny's point about the Seattle SuperSonics, yeah, I don't know how long it's going to take. It's all about the cash. All the cash. It's all about the cash. All about the money. Once you start adding another franchise and another team, that divvies up the pie again. And so the owners have to want it. They have to be comfortable with what they've made.

They have to be comfortable with the revenue jump because nobody wants their pockets hurt. But when you look at how all of these sports are growing and their valuations, we see that the Ottawa Senators, the first NHL team to be sold for north of a billion dollars, like there's major money at stake. So just wait.

Take your time. Just know and understand this, the Seattle SuperSonics, one day they will be back in the league. And I think the fact that Oklahoma City has nothing to do with the Sonics and a lot of their history pretty much ignored. I'm confident that Seattle will get a franchise sooner than later. 855-2124 CBS.

That's 855-2124 CBS. You know, I mentioned to you Kyrie Irving. Shams Sharnia reported today, and it doesn't seem like huge news, that the Miami Heat, prior to Kyrie being traded down to the Dallas Mavericks, the Miami Heat were interested in bringing Kyrie in to Miami. Now, is that a shock to anybody?

No, I wouldn't say so at all. I think at the end of the day, you have this man here and he is one of the most talented guards in the league. And you just have to figure out whether or not he's worth the attention, let's put it that way, that he comes with. For all of his don't pay me attention and tweets and messages and switch live streams, he's one of the most dynamic players in the league. And the Miami Heat, I told you last night, they're a winning organization. And I don't think there'd be any harm in them trying to bring him in to win a championship and then call it a wrap. I mean, he's the type of dude that they would have certainly appreciated having on the team last night when they couldn't score worth a damn. 89 points they put up against Denver, and they were playing from behind the whole game. So whether or not they try to go out there and grab him again, I don't necessarily believe that.

Half season rental, maybe so. But if Miami wants to get back to a finals, I think we've seen their limitations over the past few years. They need some scoring, and I don't think it comes at the hands of Tyler Herro. Speaking of scoring, guess who scored again?

I'm sorry? Speaking of scoring, guess who scored again? Oh, the Knights did it again, huh? The seven ones they are. Well, what is it, like 10 minutes left in the game?

11.38. We might have 10 when it's all said and done. This is ridiculous.

Well, they can't embarrass him that much. You got to call off the dogs at some point. Hey, everybody in Vegas is, I don't think it's too, is it too late for me? Yeah, it's too late for me to catch a flight. 855-212-4CBS. John is calling from Arkansas. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey, what's up, bud? What's up?

So in Arkansas, I am a Denver transplant, born and raised in Denver. And I'm glad you brought up Kyrie because, you know, I would say more than just boring. I would say humble is Jokic. And I would rather have that over Kyrie any day.

Any day. He's got priorities with family. That's cool. He did it for the city. He talks about the city all the time.

He represents and does a lot for the city. So I'm good with it. OK, sounds good. I'm mad at you. Thank you, John, for calling from Arkansas.

I'd rather have somebody show up to work without distraction. Oh, the Florida Panthers scored. Yay. It lessens the blow. 7-2.

Good for them. 855-212-4CBS. Mark is here from Nova Scotia. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show.

Hey, JR. I just wanted to, I'm basically going to say exactly what John just said, I guess. Yeah, I would absolutely rather have a player like Jokic who just goes out there and does his damn job and doesn't complain. I think the NBA obviously does need marketable players. Like you said, any sport needs the LeBron James types and Steph Curry and that. But I think that Jokic type is a good balance, kind of like a yin and yang thing for the NBA.

So I think you need that balance. And I just love it. Jokic cracks me up, man. He just cracks me up. Yeah, I want to see what he does do, if anything, over the next several years now that his profile has grown. Is it still going to be absolutely nothing or are we going to see Jokic make fun of the fact that he's just kind of affable and kind of floating and just in his own space and his own world? I mean, even Tim Duncan, you look back 20 years ago, you know, everything that he did, all of his commercials, they were, they were pretty straightforward.

It made fun of the fact that he was just, just a simple dude. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. On the other side of the break, I'm going to give you an update on the NBA and its ratings here for the playoffs. And then I want to talk to you about another legend who's trying to just, I don't want to say he's slowing down.

He definitely isn't, but he has no interest in the world's biggest sporting event. I'll explain on the other side of the break. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I really, really respect you, man. I don't always agree with you, but you are really, really good at your job. Smart, well-spoken guy. And I respect how you listen to people, even if they have different opinions than you.

And you seem like one of the rare people in your industry who's willing to hear things and potentially change your mind. So I love that. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

You know, some things you can't make up. Literally right now, seconds ago, the Las Vegas Golden Knights scored again. Florida was able to put up two goals and at this point nobody cares what happens.

It's eight to three. It's about six minutes left here in the game and the Vegas Knights are just lighting it up. I have to see who has the hat trick, but all of the hands are basically picking up hats off of the ice right now as the Vegas Knights are now up eight to three.

And that last goal appeared to be, yes it was, an empty netter. And why not? You might as well just go for broke if you happen to be the Panthers. Ain't nothing else to go out there and play for.

I'm sorry Shep? Oh, he goes by the name of, I thought you knew what it was, Mark Stone, who's been playing pretty well these playoff finals. That was him with the hat trick. He's unbelievable, man. I don't know, you know, he's not going to get the attention that, you know, an NBA superstar would, but he's been like, he's been lights out. You know, Kachuk's gotten a lot of the attention. He has not been great in the Stanley Cup final, as you know, JR. Well, he's hurt. Well, I mean, he, he's punching people in the face. Yeah, but someone said he self-sabotaged himself in the first couple games of this series.

Yeah, well, not, not too shabby when you're just decking folks, but yeah, it's about six minutes. The Las Vegas Golden Knights are going to walk away with a Stanley Cup championship for a franchise that's only been in existence since 2017. 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. Also a hilarious, absolutely hilarious event. The New York Yankees and the Mets can, can never play without something happening. And so the New York Yankees hold on at Citi Field in Queens, home of the New York Mets, and they beat them 7-6. What was absolutely hilarious was that Mets reliever, Drew Smith, he comes in from the bullpen. Before he even throws a pitch, his hands are checked and he's thrown out of the game. The umpires have a whole ass meeting with the New York Mets infield surrounding him. They look at his hand and before he throws a pitch, they say, you're out the game. They threw him out. And so he's going to be suspended 10 games and the New York Mets are going to be without a pitcher who didn't even throw a pitch. They didn't say, hey man, wash your hands. They didn't say any of that.

He came into the bullpen or came out of the bullpen, stepped onto the mound and they gave him the boot. It's always something. The New York Mets are just cursed, screwed. They are not favored by God.

They are just, there's always something going on with them. 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. Dawg is calling from North Carolina. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up, Dawg? What's up, my brother? Hey, hope y'all having a great night, man. My comment was, I just want to big up my guy, man.

I'm from Concorde, which is like 20 miles from Charlotte, right outside of Charlotte. I want to big up my guy, Ish Smith, man, for not giving up on his dream. And dude played for 13 teams and he finally got him a championship.

So, I hope they give him the key to the city and all the royal treatment. The last time we got this close, it was Natron and me in football. But I appreciate you taking my call, my brother. Y'all have a good night.

Thank you, Dawg, for calling from North Carolina. Yeah, you got Ish Smith who was undrafted and went to Wake. And yeah, he's been one of those guys that has just been in the league for a long time. 13 years already.

He doesn't seem like it, but he's been around for a very, very long time. You know, speaking of how terrible the Mets are, well, not terrible, they are. How they can never catch a break. I told you about Drew Smith being ejected before he even had a chance or an opportunity to throw a pitch. And this is comical for baseball. I mean, they're checking guy's hands, rubbing hands, touching hands, and the umpire emphatically threw him out. I want you to hear this first from the New York Yankees Radio Network on WFAN.

Listen to this. Well, we have a little thing on the field. I think they just threw Drew Smith out of the game who's coming in from the pen. He came in from the pen, showed his hands, and then everyone was there from the Mets, including Buck Showalter. And you might be right. Obviously, they saw something on his hands.

And you know what? Smith is leaving the field. Now let's listen to the Mets version from their radio network, WR. Mets reliever, Drew Smith, as he came to the mound and getting ready to deliver his warm-up tosses, it was determined by the umpires that he had some sticky stuff. And whatever that was the product of, Smith has been tossed from this game without having thrown a pitch.

That's fun stuff. Whatever the sticky stuff is, we don't know what the sticky stuff is on his hands. Thank you, Howie Rose, but he had sticky stuff. And we have to get him the hell out of the game. He came out to start the seventh inning, they looked at his hands, and then they said, goodbye. Foreign substance ejections come with an automatic 10-game suspension. You might remember, Max Scherzer, he was suspended back on April 19th when your old is Max Scherzer.

That's called a vacation. And then the New York Yankees, their own pitcher, Domingo Herrmann, he was ejected back in May, so last month. And both of them, both Scherzer and Herrmann, they served 10 games suspension. So, hey, baseball is going baseball.

Let's throw out our players before they even go out there and have an opportunity to play. Scott is calling from Columbia, South Carolina. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey, will we ever find out what they saw, what they found? And, you know, I've always wondered, I've watched baseball, I'm 60-something years old for many years, and I guess they're looking for foreign substances, but I've always wondered why they check the pitchers after every inning. What, did they put something on while they were on the mound and nobody saw them? I never understood why they check their hands after the inning is over.

Can you explain that to me? Yes, there's a concern that a pitcher may have a substance on their cap, the bill of the cap, behind the cap, behind their belt. I mean, we have seen players, sometimes you've seen guys have something on the other side of their glove, on the other side of their hand, so there are always ways, and you don't see it all the time, but the pitchers, they find a way.

Like, they readjust their belt and they may have some grip on the other side of the belt, man. So, Max Scherzer, hilariously, when the MLB really started to check for foreign substances a few years ago, like, I think it was him, he had an umpire in his hair. Like, the umpire was in his hair checking out his hair, and then there was another instance of a player, they were out there just, he just took his belt off and was like, hey man, I don't got nothing in my pants, I'm just out here, man.

So, everybody always looking for a leg up. Baseball is going baseball, man. I don't know if the umpires, I don't want to say strip searching the players is entertaining, but it's always something with baseball.

It can't always just be on the game, it has to be on the cheating, but for a very long time, baseball embraced all of the cheating. Whatever gets people to watch, I guess. And speaking of watching, we got some ratings news when it comes down to the NBA Finals and then the NBA playoffs as an overall. So, if you want to take a look at the NBA Finals, there was a slight decrease from what we got last year. So, 11.6 million viewers on average watched the NBA Finals last season between the Warriors and the Celtics, and about 12.5 million people. So, if you want to round it for simplicity, 11.5 versus 12.5, you got about a million more people who watched the NBA Finals last year. Not necessarily a shock, Golden State Warriors much more of a famous team.

You see about everything that they've done over the past five to ten years in growing that squad. And we know the Boston Celtics are just one of the legacy franchises, not just in the NBA, but in professional sports here in North America. And so, the finals numbers might have been down from last year, but as an overall, the NBA Finals, or excuse me, the NBA playoffs, it's the most watched playoffs in five years.

An average of five and a half million viewers per game during the NBA playoffs in whole. And so, yeah, we knew not having the Lakers go out and play the Celtics was gonna go out there and have a hit, but we still have plenty of people who watched. And now that Nikola Jokic is more of a household name and people are familiar with him, the Nuggets, Jamal Murray, et cetera, they're gonna have even more exposure in the regular season next year. And I would think just going all the way into the post season, let's see if they could do it again. Speaking of the post season, they're now less than two minutes left here in this game. In this game, I'm referring to the Las Vegas Golden Knights, less than two minutes away from hoisting their first Stanley Cup.

They've been around since 2017. They made an appearance early on, pretty much when they burst onto the scene, they didn't walk away with the cup. And you don't gotta wait for the third time.

The second time is gonna be the charm. And this is the right city for anybody to go ahead and celebrate in. They play at T-Mobile Arena. They basically go around the corner and they are on the strip. As the Vegas Knights, this is an annihilation, eight to three.

Just go ahead and please let the bleeding stop. Get Carolina, or excuse me, get the Panthers, the Florida Panthers, back onto a plane and then just send them down to Florida. They can go ahead and lick their wounds with the Miami Heat. What started off as two teams maybe upsetting and representing for South Florida.

They both go out with just a whimper. The Heat and the Panthers, the Vegas Knights. By the time we come back from break, they're gonna be Stanley Cup champions. We'll talk about that on the other side of the break. We'll get into Shannon Sharpe, Jay Monahan. We have a conversation with Nuggets legend Dan Issel.

We got a lot to do here on CBS Sports Radio, the JR Sportbree show. Don't move. And therapy is a great place to start. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online who can help you find that balance and stick to it. Visit betterhelp.com positive to get 10% off your first month.

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