JR SportBrief Hour 4

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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's the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. I am coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you for listening, or thank you for listening.

I don't care where you're at. Everybody listening on the free Odyssey app. People tuned in on, well man, so many ways to listen on your local affiliate. Sirius XM Channel 158, and everybody locked in on a smart speaker. All you have to do, ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. And we got a lot of people with a lot of opinions on this NBA cup.

This NBA end season tournament that's going to start in November, and with a championship game in December. I'm going to get back to the phone lines momentarily. Thank you to super producer and host Dave Shepherd, holding it down from New York City. If you want to talk to me, it's simple. 855-212-4CBS.

It's 855-212-4CBS. A couple of news notes that you might have heard, might have not heard throughout the course of today. Well first, and we'll get to this momentarily as well, Major League Baseball celebrating All-Star break. Tomorrow night, Tuesday night, things go down in Seattle. So we'll see that take place tonight at the Home Run Derby. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., he goes out and wins in the final round against Randia Rosarena, 25-3. And Vladimir Guerrero Jr. joins his dad, Vladimir Guerrero Sr., as Home Run Derby winners.

First father-son duo to win the Home Run Derby. Victor Wabenyama will not be participating in any more Summer League games after that bad or poor showing 9 points on 2 of 13 shooting on Friday night. He comes back on Sunday and drops 27 points on 9 of 14 shooting. Victor Wabenyama will now be fully focusing in on developing his skills and getting his body ready for his rookie season. Bob Huggins says, I never resigned.

It's full of crap. I still want my job at West Virginia. Maybe he doesn't want the job, but maybe he wants the money. Chris Paul finally spoke to the media, officially a member of the Golden State Warriors. Didn't sound too enthusiastic about even having a conversation about coming off of the bench.

Pat Fitzgerald, former head coach at Northwestern. We got more details in regards to the hazing allegations and Northwestern has changed its mind. They're not just suspending him without pay for two weeks.

They are fully giving him the boot. And then we talked about the NBA releasing new information surrounding its in-season tournament and its awarding of the NBA cup. They're going to run this tournament from November to December. They're going to have the final games or the final championship game take place on December 9th. These games are going to take place on Tuesdays and Fridays. Teams are grouped up. They're going to play each other once. They're going to move on to single elimination, eight teams. And the winner of the tournament will take home half a million dollars.

Or I should say each player on the team will take home half a million dollars for winning. And yeah, NBA just trying to juice things up. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. James is calling from Boston. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, James?

All right, thanks for taking my call, JR. I'm gonna get straight to the point. So the move for the NBA, I appreciate Adam Silver's initiative to fix the regular season problem. But I see it as a lose-lose because either it's a complete failure and nobody cares about it. Or if it works, you have guys not caring about games that aren't on Tuesday and Friday. Which in theory, it's good that players care about winning on Tuesday and Friday. Then the rest of the games are meaningless. I don't think so because you still have all of these games that are going to take place from the middle of October, stretching into the spring. And this is only gonna be about a month long. And November 3rd to December 9th, that's kind of a rev-up period for the NBA.

And so I think to go from November to December to January to February to March, I can't imagine the season feeling any different. I mean, that's fair enough. I just think it's like, I question what it means to make some games worth less than others. When they both are worth equal to standings and stats. But then some games are playing for money. Like one night, you're playing for your own money in the NBA cup.

The next night, you're just playing a regular game. So I'd say, in general, I think it's a good idea. But I just question those games and the Wednesday, Thursday, and on the weekends, November through December, it's gonna be rough. But I think it's a good idea. Okay, no doubt about it.

Thank you, James, for calling from Boston. Yeah, I don't think things are gonna be all that lost. I really want to see what the NBA does with the schedule this year. So if I take a look at some of the groups, and by the way, all of these games that have to deal with the NBA cup will be televised. All of them.

Okay, matter of fact, let me correct myself. 14 group play games, two games on each tournament night, and all seven knockout round games will be televised nationally. So the game, the broadcast schedule for the end season tournament, we have to wait.

Until next month to get it. But if you look at some of the groupings and who the teams will play, and how they're gonna have to advance, for instance, group A in the West, Memphis, Phoenix, the Lakers, the Jazz, the Blazers. Group B, the Nuggets, Clippers, Pelicans, Mavericks, Hornets. And so each one of these teams are gonna play each other once. The best teams will advance till we get to the final eight, and then they'll get to a knockout.

And so we have six groups here. And so maybe this will, maybe, you know, pump up some rivalries. And so these teams, I know you're saying that, oh, well, they're only playing for money for a couple of nights. Well, maybe they'll have an incentive to get some revenge on another night. It's not like these teams are foreign to each other. If I look at, at group B in the Eastern Conference, and I look at group B in the Eastern Conference, it's the Bucks, it's the Knicks, the Heat, the Wizards, the Hornets. I mean, hey, I can find reasons dating back to the past, or maybe 20 years ago, why the Knicks and the Heat might hate each other's guts.

Well, now they got a chance to fight each other, beat each other up again. Who knows? 855-212-4CBS. It's 855-212-4CBS. Owen is calling from here in Atlanta. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey, J.R., it's old, man.

You haven't chopped it up since the Hawks' season. How you doing, man? I'm great, man. How are you? Hey, I just wanted to call in and speak with you about a couple of things.

First of all, I want to make two comments, and I want to see what you think about them. The first is the NBA tournament that we're talking about now. It's not going to be...

I guess this is me. It's not exciting because I'm looking at the point that you're risking getting a couple of some important guys hurt if you have this, and I don't wish that upon any of these players, but that's what you might run into here. You might run into... Well, I think from the NBA's perspective, they're going, well, damn it, we need players to actually play before we worry about them getting hurt. What else you got, Oak?

Well, that's true, but that could happen. The other thing that I wanted to talk about was baseball. I don't want to ask you this. The Braves are smoking here in Atlanta. We get no love nationally from ESPN anywhere, and this team is smoking right now. We beat all of the division's first place winners. We're 60 and, what, 29 going into the All-Subway, and the only thing that I see we probably need is some relievers, and we can win the World Series here, but we get no love. Well, I'll put it to you this way, Owen. We talked about this earlier on in the show, and it's the fact that Major League...

I'll put it to you this way. Major League Baseball had its home run derby tonight. Major League Baseball has its All-Star game on Tuesday night. Somebody called us up and said they didn't even know that the home run derby was on, and so I wouldn't be too worried or bothered about the lack of attention paid to the Braves and how good they are. You look at someone like Ronald Acuna Jr., who's having a historical season.

He looks like he's on his way to a 40-40 year. Man, I wouldn't lament the fact because there's a lot of people that ain't paying attention to a lot in baseball, so I think all that matters. Look, if the Braves can walk away with the World Series trophy again at the end of the season and go two out of the last three, I would take that.

Baseball is really struggling on the attention side as well. Hey, oh, I appreciate you, man. Yeah, I'll hit you up live, listen to the show every night, and we'll talk again once.

We'll see each other once again, and we'll talk again before the NBA season starts. No doubt about it. You know where to find me, my man. You take it easy, man.

You take it easy, okay? You too. Thank you, Owen, for calling from right here in Atlanta. Owen, a season ticket holder for the Hawks games.

I see him at every game when I'm in the building, just making my rounds, so thank you so much, Owen, calling here on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, I told you, the home run derby was tonight, and if you want to hear the most exciting moment, and I'm sorry, I'm being a jerk now. I know what Julio Rodriguez did tonight with 41 home runs.

I know that, okay? I know about a father and a son combination winning with Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., matching his dad with a victory. I know about Adley Ruchman going back to the Pacific Northwest and having an exciting first round.

I get all of that. These aren't the super superstar names. These aren't the Hall of Fame names. How many people know Luis Robert?

How many? Come on. The biggest name that stepped out onto the field tonight, literally, and it has nothing to do with baseball but just sports, period, was this guy on ESPN.

Listen to this. Look who it is, Marshawn Lynch. He's got the championship trophy. He was a champion with the Seahawks. Skittles himself, comes over, gives a big hug to Julio Rodriguez.

But Marshawn Lynch looks like he can get in the home run derby. You see the chain he has on? I see the chain. I see the calves. I see the thighs. I see a lot. There's a lot to see. That's coming at you.

I am getting out of the way. Yeah, he's the biggest. Okay, Ken Griffey Jr. was there, but the biggest guy just like really active was Marshawn Lynch showing up. So, I mean, that kind of shows you just the space of where baseball is. So, I wouldn't complain about the Atlanta Braves not getting a lot of attention, because baseball, from a national perspective, is just struggling to get attention. I know even someone like Ronald Acuna Jr., man, he's on his way to being the National League MVP.

It's good to see him fully back and fully healthy. Let me tell you these numbers right now. And nobody bats for average anymore. He has a 3-31 average, 21 home runs. He has 41 stolen bases. He has 55 RBIs. So, let's just do some simple math. If I felt like kind of just flip-flopping him to a second half of the season, that's 40 home runs, more than 100 RBIs, 110 RBIs, and I mean, well, damn, 80 stolen bases?

What world is this? I guess the new bases are helping everybody out. Hey, one of his fellow All-Stars, Spencer Strider, and he just burst onto the scene last year. He had nothing but compliments for Ronald Acuna Jr.

Listen to this. He's the best player I've ever seen. So, I mean, I don't know what else there is to say. I don't think you can really do it justice. I mean, he's the best player in the game right now, and it's just really glad he's on our team.

I don't disagree at all. 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. Sonja, call him from Pittsburgh, PA. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show.

Oh, my gosh. I'm on the radio. I have not called this show in a very long time. How are you doing? I'm excellent. How are you?

Good. I'd like to talk a little bit about baseball. My family and I have known Sean Casey for years. It's so awesome that he's now the hitting coach for the New York Yankees.

What do you think? Yeah, it's kind of out of left field, but kind of not, knowing that Sean Casey and Aaron Boone were teammates on the Cincinnati Reds. Oh, the Cincinnati Reds, yeah. I'm so happy for him. My family and I have known him ever since I was a teenager. Well, I've never met the man.

He sounds like a cool dude to me. My understanding is that he's going to leave his current spot right now with MLB Network to see how he likes to work as a hitting coach. It's a real unique opportunity because this is the first time in 26 years since Brian Cashman has been at the helm, we know in different degrees with the Yankees, that they have fired a hitting coach in Lawson, Dylan Lawson mid-season. And so Sean Casey is going to get his chance. And when he was in his prime, we know that he was a contact hitter. He was going to hit for more than 300 as a career average of 302.

And he was certainly fun to watch with the Reds. So I wish him nothing but the best. Me too.

Me too. All right. Well, thank you, Sonya. Appreciate you. You're welcome. Thank you. You're welcome.

Have a good night. Yeah, that came out of left field. You don't think Sean Casey and go, Hey, New York Yankee.

But here he is. And he's going to be trying to turn around New York Yankees offense, which has just been pathetic. With or without Aaron Judge, they have been terrible. With Aaron Judge, the Yankees collectively have a batting average of 231. That's Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics, just territory.

You don't want to be there. And since Aaron Judge went down with that torn ligament in his toe, 214 team average, one base percentage of 284, second fewest runs scored. Like this ain't that's not the Bronx bombers. Those are the Bronx bombs. And here, let me let me be a jerk for a minute.

Yeah. Congratulations and good luck to Sean Casey. I hope he has better advice for his team than when he faced Randy Johnson.

A few years ago, he spoke to Dan Patrick. And, yeah, Randy Johnson is a different beast. There was only one of those dudes, Sean Casey. Let's just listen to how he felt in the batter's box when I first faced Johnson. Like, yeah, I was I was legitimately scared.

And it was, you know, it was. And I remember I remember like battling to was like, I remember my first about to to like foul foul foul foul. And then next, you know, like Randy Johnson, he's like, I don't know what he was thinking, but he walks up 10 feet from the plate. I'm like, what's he doing?

He grabs the ball, looks at me. I'm like, I just got to get out of here. I think the next picture, like I like choked up, rolled over the second. I was like, thank God.

I'm out of that slider like six eleven ninety three mile an hour slider, 100 miles an hour thrown from behind your big mullet. Just jokes, just jokes. He's going to give better advice than that. Gleyber Torres and Josh Donald say he's going to give better advice, just jokes. Ahmed is calling from Houston. You're on CBS Sports Radio. It's green green. Yeah, I want to have to poison speak on for his baseball.

As we know, there's been a absence of U.S. born Afro-descendants in Major League Baseball. And wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. Ahmed, wait. Yes. You mean to tell me? Well, hold on, Ahmed.

Why are you breathing so hard? That evening. I don't know what you're talking about.

What is that? That's not us. That's you. That ain't me either.

I got a professional microphone in my face. Well, that's not me. I'm not breathing. I don't know what you're talking about. OK, OK, OK, if you if you not OK, whatever you say. Anyway, you mean to tell me? Oh, man, hold on. Hey, Shep, you want to know a secret?

Yeah, I would love to know a secret right about now. Yes. There are less black people in baseball. And to Ahmed's point, he's black. A lot of the black people in baseball are not American.

They're Latino. Did you know that shot? So obviously you have discussed this multiple times, many times on your show. So to Ahmed's point. Yeah. Yeah. So six, six, six percent. Although you gave Griffey Jr. a lot of rightful accolades for really see you for really for really putting his money where his mouth is.

And and being one of the notable not just African-American baseball players, but all time great baseball players and him doing something about it to resurrect and rectify that for hopefully the long term. Yeah, it's going to take a whole lot. Let's try Ahmed again. Hey, Ahmed, you OK? Yeah. Yeah. I'm OK. Now it is. Let's breathe. It wasn't with me.

It was with your phone or your system or. Hey, shut up. How long have you been? You've been doing this a while, right? You and I have been doing this for a long time. Yes.

Me and you probably been doing this combined. I don't know. 20 years. More than that. Yeah.

More than that. Listen, man, I know I know air in a microphone when I hear it. And if it's not coming from your nose or your mouth, where is it coming? Is it coming from?

Let's try this. Is it from your car window, Ahmed? Excuse me. Are you in a car? No, I'm not. Are you in a house? No, I'm outside enjoying the the Houston weather air. Oh, OK. Are you on a you're on a cellular phone? Most people are on these days, right? OK. I don't know what you might be calling from a rotary.

Some people have that. Well, like I say, I never had the problem before, you know, so I don't know. Well, I haven't I haven't I haven't been on hold for two hours either before. OK. You how long were you a hold this time? Two hours. You weren't a hold for two hours.

That's not true. What time is it? You're not a hold for two. Hey, shop. How long have you been here? Like like 20 minutes, right? So I'm seeing. Yeah, I'm seeing about 20, 30 minutes. So we we have had a lot of callers tonight, Ahmed.

So you might have been you might have called and been dropped, but you were not on hold for the whole time for two hours. Two hours. Nobody don't keep nobody a hold for two hours. We actually takes probably more calls than any show across the nation. This would be the one show you would not be on hold for two hours. Two hours. Anyway, I'm going to take a I'm going to take a commercial break so I can breathe.

I promise not to breathe in the microphone and I'll come back and get some more of your calls. It's the J.R. sport re-show CBS Sports Radio. Ahmed to don't go nowhere. Ahmed, you waited two hours.

Wait five more minutes. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief on CBS Sports Radio.

Hey, what's up, J.R.? I agree with you. I like your show because I tend to disagree.

But tonight I agree. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. That's fine. Perfectly fine by me. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We've talked about the home run derby. We've talked about this new NBA in-season tournament.

I mean, earlier on in the show, we went through the good, the bad, the ugly, the terrible. Larry Nassar stabbed up in prison. Pat Fitzgerald fired as head coach of Northwestern football. Talked about Bob Huggins. I didn't quit my job.

I want my job. Just all type of wild stuff. And then I know this. There's so much even tomorrow that that I wanted to discuss tonight. You know, everything going on with Damian Lillard. And today the GM, Joe Cronin, says, we may wait until months to trade him. And I'm I'm not surprised, but so many people talking about how the the Blazers need to show him love and get him to Miami and this. And I'm like, you know, they're paying him a lot of money. That's the love. That's it.

That's the love. The money that they're paying him. But we'll we'll get to that tomorrow.

And then obviously, James Harden still kind of floating around with his trade request to be moved from the 76ers. So there's a lot to get into. I'm going to get back to your calls.

It's eight five five two one two four CVS. Let's go ahead. Ahmed is still here from Houston.

You're on the chair of a sport show. Go ahead, Ahmed. All right. I'm still here.

Yeah, you are live on the radio. Yes. Okay.

All right. I'd like to get back to my point and case in point for us to show that the there's been a disruption in the pipeline. I know what has just took place with the HBCU all star. But there's been approximately 10 years where. Afro descendants, U.S. born Afro descendants were denied the opportunity to play HBCU baseball and to prove my point. Just pull up from the previous seasons before 2008, the team photos, and then look at them from that point to now.

And you will see where it was times within a 10 year period where you couldn't find you found. Well, why would you why would you say yours? Why would it's a conspiracy?

Why would why would why would black Americans? Where have they been denied the opportunity to play baseball? What I'm familiar with and I can sit here and recite all of the statistics and numbers and I can do that. I can tell you about bringing in Latino players. I've had enough conversations with guys like Gary Sheffield to know about, oh, bringing in Latino players on the cheap.

Where has the pipeline been disrupted? And why are you saying that they these players haven't been given the opportunity? With, like I say, with HBCU baseball teams, student athletes, they if they weren't if if they couldn't play there, who else could they play? They definitely didn't go to the power fires and all the PWI, PWI schools.

So that that was an opportunity that they were denied of. And if you look at the, like I say, these team photos prior to when that 10 year span, 10 plus year span, the teams were predominantly black, all black. I know I've been a part of it.

Then you get to the point where you saw it gradually change and it got to where. Yes, I think you can find you may not found three. Well, I think I think it goes deeper and beyond looking at HBCU teams here. Here's what's also factual, which I don't think can can be debated. And this this doesn't take away from from what you find as to issues as to why they are not more African-American representation and MLB, which I find what you say to be true. But I'm not going to pin that on why there are less players. Here's some here's some flat facts here. OK. We talked about this earlier in the show, the popularity of baseball as a pastime. It does not exist. OK. And then I will put you on hold because the breathing is there just there again.

Sorry. The interest in baseball has waned flat and period. I don't care who, what, when and where. Here's something else. The pipeline for anybody to get involved in baseball, if I have to think about the cash and the money, the money that you have to invest into playing baseball versus playing any other sport is is beyond OK. All I need to go outside and play basketball is a ball.

OK, and I can go find other people. I can just shoot around and practice myself. I don't have to pay for equipment. I don't have to travel.

I don't have to go for training. There's a very good reason that a lot of some of the best players that we have coming out of the United States of America happen to play baseball in warm weather, warm weather states and warm weather locales where they can play and practice all year long. So that's a big part of it as well. And that's even less the fact of having to find and identify people to travel and practice and play with. And so I think it goes way beyond HBCUs.

The popularity of baseball has waned. The ease to get involved, the economics to get involved. It's more expensive. And people got other options, man. They really do. And then if I want cash, if I want money and I'm a great athlete, hey, going into baseball ain't it?

You really got to, you really, really got to squeeze. Yeah, at the end of the day, one of these 200, 300, 40 million dollar contracts might be the move. But look at the money that the guys in the NBA is starting to get. It's different. I'm not just going to pin it on HBCUs. I'm not going to go as far to say it's a conspiracy. I don't think so. I just think as an overall, there are a lot of people who aren't as interested in baseball. Are there still plenty? Yes.

But I'm not going to say there's a conspiracy to keep black people out of it. I don't think so, man. 855-212-4CBS. Andrew is calling from Charlotte.

You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. AJ, how are you? Good. Go ahead, Andrew.

Yeah. In the era of load management in the NBA, please help me understand why this in-season tournament that means nothing is good for the game. I just can't. It blows my mind and I cannot understand it. Well, the idea is to kind of juice things up in a different format and to award the winners money.

Whether or not a half million dollars is enough money. We'll see this. These games are also still going to count in the standings.

I can only tell you what what actually is going to take place. OK, I just don't think that much money is enough to incentivize these guys to, you know, want to keep, you know, play extra games. Yeah, I agree with you. I mentioned you have a Kevin Durant who's going to make forty six million dollars this year. You have Yuda Wontanabe at the end of the bench. He's going to be making two million dollars.

I'm sure the extra half mil would be a wonder for Yuda Wontanabe, but he ain't going to be the driving force for the Phoenix Suns winning the NBA Cup. So I agree with you, but I think it's going to take time to see whether or not this actually makes a difference. All right. Thank you, Jerry. Have a good night.

No problem, Andrew. Yeah. Hey, let's put it this way. Is nothing lost with this this tournament? Nothing.

Nothing is lost. Eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. Let's get to some of your calls before we have to roll out.

And then I actually have some positive news. We got an American tennis player busting ass. And he's from America.

He's from right here in Atlanta. It's the JR Sportbrief show on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. I want to thank you for the sports entertainment that you provide for all of us who call your show and listen to your radio show. Call in now at eight five five two one two four CBS. It's the JR Sportbrief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

Hey, you want to find something good or find somebody actually great to root for? We got an American in Wimbledon right now. Yeah, tennis. He kind of came out of nowhere.

He'd been around for a minute. I'm talking about my main man, Chris Eubanks. He went to school here in Atlanta, Georgia Tech, two time NCAA All-American. And he's representing for the Americans right now and in Wimbledon on Monday. He beat Tsitsipas from Greece in five sets. He's going to the quarterfinals. If you've ever seen Chris Eubanks, he looks like he should be out there just swatting shots. He's six foot seven, six, seven on the tennis court.

Man, he got some range going left and right and getting a hold of everything. And he has made his Wimbledon main draw debut. This is only his ninth appearance at any major. He was on the up and up coming out of Spain, winning in Majorca. And now he's ranked number 43 in the world. And so he's going to have a chance to continue on here in Wimbledon on Wednesday, taking on Medvedev. And he spoke to ESPN now that he's advanced to his first quarterfinal. And he just talked about how positive of an experience this has been. Listen, feels surreal.

This feels like a dream come true. Honestly, going coming here from Majorca, didn't really know what to expect and never played that many consistent matches at ATP level, putting together five wins and then coming here and jumping into my first Wimbledon main draw. Kind of tried to take every match, just one match at a time. Just focus on the next opponent and then move on from that to the next opponent, from that to the next opponent. And then it's like you blink your eyes and all of a sudden it's like, wow, I'm in the quarterfinals. This is pretty surreal. Yeah, you never know with tennis. I mean, at 27 years old, you would think that he would really already be in his stride, but maybe he is just now starting to find it. So good luck to him as he takes on Medvedev on Wednesday.

I'm definitely going to be checking that out. Five, five, two, one, two for CBS. Let's get some more of your calls before I roll out. Let's roll into Miami and talk to Ralph.

You're on CBS Sports Radio. Go ahead, Ralph. Quickly. Good morning, Jerry. Thank you for having me on your call.

Really quick, Jerry. You're right. When you say the baseball is not advertised, I could say it is not advertised. I stream mostly. I've seen commercial for basketball, football, even tennis. Sometimes I'm on my streaming TV.

Whatever podcast I'm using is streaming is going to show me a commercial. But to tell you the truth, I was not aware about the all star for the baseball neither because I didn't see no commercial, no preview, nothing to even catch my attention. But speaking of the Indian tournament, I just realized really quick that I was on hold and I managed to understand more of it now. I think based on my opinion, looking at the situation, it could probably be a good thing for the whole basketball, because at the beginning of the season, that tournament is at the beginning of the season and not really deep down where most most injury happened. It's like in the middle of the season or at the end of the season. That's when you lose most of the players, because they get injured around that time. They haven't at the beginning. But I feel like it's up to the players to make it feel like it's going to be important. If the players does not excite the game, they excite the tournament. That's what is going to forecast to be as a failure if the players doesn't bring it on. Yeah, I'm less concerned.

And thank you, Ralph, for calling from Miami. I'm less concerned with the injuries. I mean, these dudes seemingly, they step the wrong way. They get hurt. I mean, we saw Kevin Durant get hurt going up in a layup line. I'm like, well, damn guy.

Now, really? And then we got Anthony Davis. Don't even get me to get started. I know that's a wide gap. Anthony Davis is like in the Hall of Fame of injuries.

But I think you get my point. They get hurt doing anything. Mark is here from Milwaukee. You're on the JR Sport Reef show. Hey, Jeff. You know, I agree with you with the NBA injuries.

I'll be 71 years old in a week. And when I grew up, I've always been a sports fan. Grew up in Milwaukee. So what I knew was Braves baseball.

Hank Aaron, Spahn, you know, Eddie Matthews. The NBA was just coming in. You know, you maybe saw a game on a Sunday and it was always Celtics and Sixers wilt against Russell. And the only rivalry that I feel has ever been relevant in the NBA was really Boston and the Lakers. Maybe you had some East Coast rivalries filling in the Celtics and Bucks and, you know, later on in years. But the one thing I always do like about baseball is this for me to go to a Bucks game is expensive or a Packer game. And I've been a Packer fan my whole life.

I grew up in the glory. Last week, the Brewers were here for an entire week. A couple of games against the Cubs in the afternoon games are they have promotion seniors are half price. So I can go to that game literally and get a great seat for 25, 30 bucks.

Same thing Friday night with the Reds. And it's affordable. I enjoy it. And the one thing I don't like about the NBA is the I don't want to call them prima donnas. But, you know, this guy wants to be traded here and this guy wants to be traded here. And I'm not going to play.

I'm going to sit out. I remember they used to play NBA, you know, in the 60s and 70s, three games and three nights. And they played. And, you know, football kind of the same way.

But I agree with a lot of what you're saying and I really enjoy your platform. And I was very excited to see what happened to Fitzgerald today. I live between Madison. I'm a Badger fan and Evanston.

I've always admired Fitzgerald from a distance. Somebody has to somebody has to pay the price. And it's typically the dude at the top, you know. I knew it started as soon as it started to fester today that I figured this was going to be the wind up. Well, it's been a few days festering from Friday up until now. So I don't think there's any shock, especially with some of the details and accusations that he's been let go. Yeah, but it seemed like more of it started to gush out today. And I knew as soon as it happened, I first heard about it this morning. I didn't hear anything more about it this afternoon.

Then tonight I turned on the radio and I figured, you know, he was gone and he was. So, yeah. Well, thank you. Appreciate you.

Thanks a lot. No doubt about it. You know, man, we got more details over the weekend from the sexual abuse hazing, racial hazing. Just you can only turn your head and say, well, I didn't know for so long, man. You're responsible. Coleman is calling from Georgia.

You're on CBS Sports Radio. Go ahead, Coleman. Quickly. How's it going tonight?

Very well. What's on your mind? Well, I really like your show and I don't know if you remember me. Last year I called from Oregon. You're like, oh, yeah, I've been to Oregon.

It's real pretty. You remember that? No, I don't.

But I have. What's up? Well, anyways, I just wanted to touch up on the Braves and get your thoughts on how they're so successful and how they're going to be successful in the long run.

They're really paid are paying these players to keep them not. Yeah, here it is. Here's an answer. Because I got to do it quickly because I'm up against the I'm not up against the break. I'm up against the point where I got to shut up and leave. So you ready? Yes, sir. It's called a great farm system and paying the players early and getting them on a deal.

Does that make sense? Yes, sir. There you go. He's done an he's done an excellent job at it and the braids the farm system from all of the hitters to bringing up the pitchers.

And I mean, you would think that Soroka and freed going down would fry them. But now you got somebody like Spencer Strider. You got other dudes who aren't even playing like Grissom. So they they have a great system and they're going to be they're going to be whooping ass for a long time. Hey, Coleman, thank you for calling from Georgia. Yes, sir. Bye bye. No doubt about it.

Listen, folks, the JR sport reshow here on CBS Sports Radio. It's about to be over. I got to shut up.

I got to leave. Some of you might be thrilled about that. Some of you might be disappointed.

But either way, I'll be back with you tomorrow, 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. We're going to get into this Damian Lillard thing that's driving me up a wall. We're going to talk about the MLB All-Star game. I hope it's a good one.

And then we'll see what other news breaks between now and then. If you miss me in the interim, you can find me everywhere at JR Sport Brief Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Thank you so much to super producer and host Dave Shepherd. JR Sport Reshow here on CBS Sports Radio. It's a wrap.

But don't move. Amy Lawrence. She's awesome. She's coming up next.

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