JR SportBrief Hour 1

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It is the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Wednesday night to you. Hope you had a great Wednesday. I hope you got over the hump, and if you didn't, I'll help you out. I'm gonna be hanging out with you for the next four hours.

This is when I get started. 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I am coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Super producer and host Dave Sheppard.

He's coming to you live from New York City, and we are being broadcast everywhere. Shout outs to everybody here in Georgia with me. People out West in California, the Midwest, the states.

Further in the South, what's up Florida, Northeast, New England, and all of my wonderful friends in Canada, and even the people somehow someway who managed to listen out in Europe. Good for you. Congratulations. This is when I get started. 10 Eastern, 7 Pacific.

You can always lock in on the free Odyssey app. You can stay tuned in and locked in on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate. Sirius XM Channel 158, and shout outs to everybody tuned in on a smart speaker where all you have to do is ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. We got a busy night.

SPs are going on right now in Los Angeles, California. LeBron James is standing on a stage. He looks like he's saying something very, very important. He has a lot of, hey Shep, is it possible to have sternness in your face? Not really, right? No?

Sure it is. Yeah, he looks, it's conviction. He's saying something important, so we'll share whatever LeBron is saying with you later on in the show when he wraps up speaking. At the same time, we've already had some impactful moments. Liam Hendrix from the Chicago White Sox came back from cancer. He got an award and spoke.

Damara Hamlin, the crew that helped save his life, they were awarded an ESPY award, and so this has been a an impactful SPs as it typically is every single year, and so we'll share all these words with you as the show continues on. At the same time, it's not just the SPs tonight that are garnering so much attention. Of course, I'm going to capture your attention with a new top six list. It's what I do every single Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and we're going to talk about cities that deserve pro sports, and so that top six list is going to come your way two hours from now. Plenty of other news that have come down in the world of sports. Saquon Barkley, it looks like we don't really have an update on his contract situation with the New York Giants, but we're getting closer to the deadline, and apparently he might not show up for work if he doesn't get a deal. Speaking of a deal, Kyrie Irving presented an award earlier this evening at the SPs, and he has a new deal with a shoe company, and they happen to be out of China, and so we'll talk about that.

Quite ironic when you think about some of Kyrie's past comments regarding China, and now he has a shoe deal straight from the Far East. We'll get into that. So there's a lot to do. If you want to talk to me, it's simple. The phone number here at CBS Sports Radio is 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS.

You can also find me everywhere on social media. That is at JR Sport Brief, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all that good stuff. And speaking of deals, before we get into the SPs talk and conversation, this is also a deal that went down, and this was a deal that was not wanted, particularly from one side. We found out earlier today that the New York Jets are going to be featured on HBO's Hard Knocks here in the year 2023. It was only a few weeks ago, it was only about a month ago, that their head coach Rob Salah basically said, we do not want to be a part of Hard Knocks.

We want nothing to do with the series. It's a distraction, but it doesn't matter what the New York Jets want. The New York Jets were eligible to appear on Hard Knocks, and the NFL said, it's you. And let's be real, why wouldn't the New York Jets be attractive for Hard Knocks? They picked up Aaron Rodgers.

They're probably and more likely going to be, I don't want to say a you-know-what show, a crap show, but they're going to be an interesting one. They're probably going to be the most drama-filled NFL team for the course of the season, especially as Aaron Rodgers gears up for what might be the final year, two years of his career, with a brand new team. With a team that has an amazing defense, which is expected to do some damage, and dare I say, ultimately compete for a Super Bowl. The New York Jets, they were last featured on Hard Knocks in 2010. The Jets went to the AFC Championship Game the following season.

That's the last time they made it to the damn playoffs, and I hate to remind New York Jets fans of this, they got the longest drought not making the playoffs. It's been 12 years, and so a lot of, what may I call it, a lot of pressure on the New York Jets to get to the postseason and actually do some damage, and a lot of interest in how Aaron Rodgers fits in with the Jets. A lot of interest as to how Aaron Rodgers fits in and communicates with the media. We know Aaron Rodgers went on his own Welcome to New York tour. He's out at Taylor Swift concerts at MetLife Stadium. He's checking out the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, taking photos with Carmelo Anthony, hanging out with Chris Rock, going on or attending events with Defensive Rookie of the Year from the New York Jets, Sauce Gartner. Everybody wants to know what Aaron Rodgers is going to do, and now he's going to have a camera in his face. This should be a lot of fun.

It was only about a month ago, the newest New York Jet, I guess I can say newest New York Jet, Aaron Rodgers. He was sitting around at a psychedelics conference, and he basically said everybody who's critical of me, they need to be taking psychedelic drugs. Listen to this guy. All these bums who want to, you know, come after me online about my experience and stuff, they've never tried it. They're the perfect people for it. We need to get these people taking it. You know, it's gonna be hard to cancel me because, you know, the previous year, 26 test downs, four interceptions.

We had a good season. ayahuasca, 48 touchdowns, five interceptions, MVP. What are you going to say?

Hey, isn't that the type of guy that needs to be followed around with a camera at all times? I'd love to see it. Hey Shep, are you going to now try the ayahuasca? According to Aaron Rodgers, it can produce or it can increase productivity. What do you say?

I would say Aaron Rodgers is the last person I listen to on basically the cover of everything. Oh, well, I've never taken the ayahuasca, Shep. Right. But my understanding, it's just juice from a plant in a forest.

It makes you feel good. I think Aaron is glad that we're talking about ayahuasca, if I'm being honest with you, JR, because we're not talking about the demise of Aaron Rodgers as a packer and him basically bowing out in the regular season. I think he wants the conversation on something other than his abysmal play in that finale. I don't think so. I don't think he cares.

I think he was hurt the majority of last season. Hey Shep, he's right. Maybe you need to try some of the ayahuasca, man.

Listen, I mean, I know you and I would play better in week 18, but that's a whole nother discussion we can get into. I'll have some ship to you. You might be one of the bums he's talking about, Shep. No, you and I are not bums in any way, shape or form. Okay. I didn't say me. I said you.

I'm not either. Okay. Well, let's see.

Maybe you'll get some of the ayahuasca. So, hey, look, prepare yourselves for more Aaron Rodgers isms. Prepare yourselves.

Get ready for it because let's be clear. There's no Rex Ryan here to give you a good quote. There's no Rex Ryan here to get you going.

I mean, if I got to think about one of the the all-time HBO hard knocks quotes, it's Rex Ryan trying to hype his squad up back in 2010 and just take a listen to this guy. Let's make sure we play like the New York Jets and not some slap team. That's what I want to see tomorrow.

Do we understand what the I want to see tomorrow? Let's go eat a damn snack. Well, of course it ended with a reference to food because that's who Rex Ryan is. And then everybody certainly got up. You heard the chairs move around and Russell and everybody went to get a snack because that's what Rex Ryan said to do.

And that's not the only standout moment that I remember from HBO's hard knocks. Antonio Cromartie, he's a great guy. He's a great guy. I got a couple of friends in common with Antonio Cromartie. Antonio Cromartie also has at this point, what year are we in?

2023. I think he has 14 children with eight different women. Antonio Cromartie has been busy even back in 2010.

I mean, do you remember this? He was basically asked, hey, Antonio, you know your kid's names and this is what he said. Yeah, Alonzo, who was five. I have, um, Caris, who was three. I have my, my junior was just three. I have a, my daughter who just turned three as of yesterday. Um, I have another son named Tyler that's, uh, he turns three in December. I got another, uh, daughter that was born October 16th named London. Another daughter was born named Leilani, who's, uh, two years old. And, uh, I have my newborn with my wife.

Her name is Jersey. Hey Shep, did you, did you lose count? I think he did too. He lost count? I don't, I don't even, I stopped counting.

I'm like, man, if he has a difficult time counting, how am I supposed to know? I think at one point in time, he was paying about $350 a year in, uh, in support. And shout outs to Antonio Cromartie. And this is what we're going to get with Hard Knocks. We're going to find out about Quinnin Williams and his, his contract situation.

Is he going to show up? It was 13 years ago where Darrell Rivas was looking for a new contract. And that was one of the storylines in Hard Knocks. Mark Sanchez was running around with his, his hair. I mean, I guess that's the most interesting thing about Mark Sanchez. It certainly wasn't his play as a quarterback. Rex Ryan looking for snacks.

And this year, get Aaron Rodgers talking about Ayahuasca. This year, we get Sauce Gardner, just, uh, I guess becoming an even bigger star in the NFL coming off of the defensive player of the year award. Quinnin Williams and his contract. Rob Salah. People have been very critical about Rob Salah, especially when it comes to the development this past season or lack of development with Zach Wilson.

Rob Salah will be under a microscope. Zach Wilson is still on the New York Jets. I know it may seem foreign now that Aaron Rodgers is in town, but Zach Wilson is still there. And what is he going to be doing? Carrying Aaron Rodgers bags? Or is he going to be, I don't know, licking the bottom of his boot?

I have no idea, but he is still on the team. And so the New York Jets have plenty of storylines this upcoming season. And people want to know, are the New York Jets going to fly or the New York Jets going to do what they've done for the past, I don't know, 12, 13 years and not even get off the ground. The New York Jets were the best option for HBO's Hard Knocks because everybody loves a good dumpster fire. And just maybe this year, maybe this season, the New York Jets or Aaron Rodgers can help put that dumpster fire out.

Or he might just add to it with his ayahuasca. I have no idea. Congratulations to the New York Jets.

They got something that they did not want. They're going to be featured on Hard Knocks. It's going to be fun to watch, folks. Training camp starts for a lot of teams next week.

It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We are just getting started. We're going to talk about the Espys. You'll hear from LeBron and Patrick Mahomes and Liam Hendrickson and Angel Reese. We got a lot to do. I'll give you a top six list two hours from now. We're going to take a look at some sports cities. So matter of fact, just some cities in North America that deserve professional sports. We got some rule changes coming your way in the NBA.

We'll talk about Kyrie Irving and his new shoe deal that doesn't come from the United States of America. We got a lot to do. We're just getting started. 855-212-4CBS. It's 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show.

Don't move. JR wants to hear from you. Call him now at 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4227.

The JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. You just heard the phone number. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We open up the show talking about hard knocks. The NFL is basically mandated that the New York Jets are the feature, the feature team for this upcoming season. And so we're going to have weeks of the New York Jets under the microscope for HBO. And so if you want to give me a holler, please do.

This is 855-212-4CBS. Are you looking forward to the New York Jets being featured on hard knocks? Was there a better option to highlight? I mean, there weren't but only so many teams that would have been eligible in the first place. But given Aaron Rodgers joining the New York Jets and the lack of just a playoff appearance since 2012, I think the New York Jets are, they're the best option, I believe. And I'm looking forward to seeing this year's hard knocks. The New York Jets haven't been there, been on hard knocks, I should say, since 2010. And you know what?

They're not the only New York team that's, I don't want to say in the midst of a little bit of drama, but this is certainly a story that you want to pay attention to. It's Saquon Barkley. You know, he's 26 years old. He's one of the most dynamic running backs in the game. He's coming off of injury. Well, he came off of injury last year full time.

Rushed for 1,300 yards, 10 touchdowns. But injuries, whether it's his knee, whether it's his ankle, it's been a problem before that bounce back season. And so the New York Giants, they haven't been keen on just throwing a whole bag of money at him, even though he was selected number two overall in 2018. That was Dave Gettleman who brought him in.

This is a whole new regime. And he needed to prove that A, he was healthy, and that B, he could still compete at the same high level after he tore his ACL. And that he did. And so now that he had an amazing season, helping the New York Giants go nine and seven, helping them to go to the postseason, Daniel Jones got his money. Four years, $160 million. And the New York Giants, they didn't come to a long-term deal with Saquon Barkley.

They have until Monday to do that. And it's been reported that if they don't come to terms on a long-term deal, that Saquon Barkley might not show up to work. That he might skip the season. That he will not possibly play on that $10 million franchise tag. Is it a big risk?

Yeah, it is. The last running back, star running back we saw do that was Le'Veon Bell. He went to the New York Jets and he basically collapsed his career unto itself. I would think Saquon Barkley has a little bit more value and belief in himself. Having said that, it was about a month ago that Saquon Barkley talked about the latest with his contract.

But I think at the end of the day, we really break it down and break it down and look at it as a whole. It's no rush. It's no rush. We still have time. There's still time on the table to get to July 17th. July 17th is not tomorrow. It's not in the week.

We still have time. That's how I look at it. I guess that's the naive way to look at it. I could be completely wrong. But for me, that's how I look at it.

I trust my team and hopefully I trust the Giants and get some of them. Okay. That was about a month ago. July 17th is Monday. This is Wednesday night. So let's already act like this, this night is done. Let's pretend that it's basically Thursday.

He got three business days to try to get something done. Not get it. It's the NFL.

Saturday, Sunday. It doesn't matter too much. But still, you are up against it right now. Saquon Barkley has already made it clear. He's not trying to, or has not been trying to reset the market for running backs. And we know running backs at this point, they've been devalued. Christian McCaffrey, highest paid running back average per year, making $16 million. And I mean, it seems like the Carolina Panthers at that time gave him his money and then he got hurt. High ankle sprained his way onto the injured list.

Okay. Alvin Kamara making $15 million a year. Making $15 million a year. Alvin Kamara, it looks like Alvin Kamara could just wake up and possibly face a suspension with that plea deal he had to accept in Vegas. Derek Henry is making 12. Nick Chubb is making 12. Mixon is making 12.

Aaron Jones is making 11 and a half. Where do you think Saquon fits in? If I'm Saquon, I want just as much as Derek Henry, if not a little bit more.

I want that $14 million per year. And Saquon, it looks like he might be willing to sit out just so he gets his money. I don't advise sitting out for the whole season. I think that that'd be a pretty bad idea, but he has leverage. The New York Giants have leverage. If he ain't out there, I don't care who the New York Giants picked up in the passing game with Waller. They going to be in for a tough run with no Saquon Barkley.

So I think, I believe, they'll get a deal done between now and the deadline on Monday. That's some more New York drama between the Jets and the Giants. Go ahead and pick it. 855-2124 CBS. It's 855-2124 CBS.

Let's go to Pittsburgh, home of the Steelers. Hey, Jeff, you're on CBS Sports Radio. What's going on? Hi, how are you doing tonight? I'm amazing.

How are you? Good. I just wanted to point out something that's kind of amazing to me, is you watch the Wilmington, the ball girls. They're more disciplined than the tennis players. That's a, that's a random, that's a random observation, but humor me, continue. No, just, if you, if you actually watch them next time and watch it, you'll be amazed.

So you're, it's like a, it's like a drill team going. Okay, so is there any particular player that you're referring to? We know unfortunately no, not a player.

I'm saying the ball girl. Wait a minute. Wait, wait, hold, hold on, Jeff.

I'll put you on hold for a second. Hey, chef, help me out here. And I'm not asking you for your interpretation. I'm asking you about what he literally said. Is this man telling me that the players, the actual tennis players are not disciplined and that the ball girls are more disciplined? Is that what he just said to me? And that's exactly what he just said to you. Okay. Yeah. So, but when I asked him about a particular player, he didn't name one. He could not specify one person and he said, no, you should. Yeah. I, I, okay, no, no, no, say no more. Let's, let's ask him.

Jeff, I think I, I think I understand now, but help me out. What player are you referring to? Who? I'm not talking about any players. I'm just saying how disciplined they are.

How disciplined the players are. No, the, the ball girls are. They, all right, Jeff, I'm going to let you go. Thank you. Hey, chef, that's a new one.

So that's not exactly what was really related to me. I'm not asking you about that, but that's a new one. Yeah.

That's just, that's just the buffoon call. The night is what that is. Is it? It is. For the night? It is a, you cannot get, you cannot sink lower than what Jeff from Pittsburgh just uttered your wage. They are.

I think that might be like all time, all time worst. Oh, okay. I didn't know you were going there. Not just tonight.

He's talking about the discipline of the ball girls, right? I mean, that's just, that's just insulting. Hey, listen, I love Pittsburgh. One of my favorite places to eat is in Pittsburgh. I love to have a drink. I love to have a meal. What that man and shout outs to everybody listening in Pittsburgh.

What, what do y'all, what do y'all got? Is there, did something happen today, chef? I mean, all the wildfires in Canada, is the air still coming down? Like what is the, the air is clear in New York today, right? Well, listen, it is.

I mean, you haven't heard about Mike Tomlin not being below 500 for a 16 year head coaching career for once, right? So that's, that's news out of Pittsburgh. Yeah. What I'm going to have to do when we hit the break, I'm going to have to figure out whether or not there's some type of, you know, natural disaster. Is there air quality alert?

You know, Hey, if you're in Pittsburgh, you should feel, you should feel embarrassed by, by what that gentleman just said. I don't know. Maybe he's on that same stuff that Aaron Rodgers is on.

I have no idea. Anyway, it's the JR sport brief show here with you on CBS sports radio 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. We've talked about the New York jets. We've talked about Saquon Barkley and the New York giants. There's a guy from the New York metropolitan area who used to play for Brooklyn who now plays for Dallas.

You know, Saquon wants a new contract. This guy just got a basketball contract and now he has a shoe deal. His name is Kyrie Irving. We know Nike dropped him. Wait till I tell you what new company picked him up. It's Kyrie Irving.

So it's not going to be conventional. I'll let you know on the other side of the break. The phone lines are open. Speaking of contracts, we'll get into Damian Lillard. It kind of bothers me, everything going on with him. We got a lot to do, including the SPs.

They're still rolling along. It's the JR sport brief show on CBS sports radio. You are listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio.

You are listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. Thank you, first off, for making my drive from the south side of Atlanta to the north side every night bearable. I always enjoy listening to you, man.

Intellectual and introspective. I appreciate you. I just started to listen to you about six months ago.

Man, I love your show. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR sport brief show here with you on CBS sports radio. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We've talked about the New York Jets being featured on Hard Knocks this season. We talked about Saquon Barkley and his contract. In a few moments, I want to talk to you about Kyrie Irving and his new shoe deal.

We know that Kyrie got dropped by Nike, and then he picked up a contract with a brand that I'd say most of us are not familiar with. But before I do that, before we went to break, someone called up our last caller, and he just wanted to talk about the ball girls from Wimbledon. Congratulations to him. Whatever he paid attention to, that wasn't the only thing that went down at Wimbledon.

We talked about this a few nights ago. Chris Eubanks, who happens to be here from Atlanta, Georgia, went to Georgia Tech, NCAA athlete. He went pretty damn far here in Wimbledon, but he came up short here. Daniil Medvedev, he brought him down, come from behind, five set win. They're going to go ahead to the finals, so it looked like Chris Eubanks was on his way, but he came up short, and who knows, hopefully this continues to inspire him, and it's not the last that we've seen of this six foot seven beast reaching for everything on a tennis court. And so afterwards, you know, Chris Eubanks, Wimbledon is taking place on ESPN, and when it was all said and done, Chris Eubanks, he got a lot of love on his way off of the court.

Listen to this. This man is going to get a huge ovation when he leaves his court one. Good for you, Christopher Eubanks. I'm happy to say that we'll be seeing and hearing a lot more from this man. Well, there's another American that got close, but not close enough.

This is just what it is. Like, it seemed like last year that maybe a Francis Tiafoe out of Maryland could come through and do some damage, and now it's Chris Eubanks. We've been waiting a long time. It's been a long time since Sampras, Andre Agassi, you just heard McEnroe brothers, John. It's been a long time, and I guess similarly to baseball, and I know we had a caller who just said it's a conspiracy, particularly with African-American representation in baseball, but I guess there's not a lot of interest, just flat period, in Americans to just pick up and play tennis. It, like baseball, requires a lot of money. It requires travel.

You got to move around to play. It's a lot to just end up in Florida at one of the top training schools to become one of the best in the country, let alone one of the best in the world, and I'm still looking at the clock, and I think I'll be waiting a little bit longer. Chris Eubanks, 27 years old. You would think that he's currently in his prime, and let's see how long, you know, he kind of sits up top here in the rankings.

I know heading into the tournament, he was ranked as high as he's ever been at number 43. Let's see what he does. Now, speaking of contracts, we talked about Saquon Barkley's contract and the fact that he may not show up to work if he doesn't get a long-term deal, may not be willing to stick around and play on the franchise tag. Kyrie Irving, Kyrie Irving, we know he got a new deal with the Dallas Mavericks, of which he should be thrilled about. Three years, $126 million. Dallas Mavericks basically had no choice after acquiring him from the Brooklyn Nets.

It was like, hey, you can either keep him with Luka or you can just tick Luka off that he has absolutely no help, and this is a waste of time for everybody. Kyrie and Luka Doncic will not work. It won't.

I'm sorry. They don't have enough talent. I don't care about bringing in Rashawn Holmes. I don't care what they did.

They don't have enough to work with. Now, having said that, Kyrie Irving didn't just pick up this new deal with the Dallas Mavericks. Kyrie Irving also has a brand new shoe deal. You might recall, after he tweeted out information on that film last year that drove a lot of people up the wall, justifiably so with the anti-Semitic remarks, he got dropped by Nike. He was reportedly making approximately $11 million per year from Nike. Nike said, no mas, no thank you.

And for the rest of the season, Kyrie Irving wore shoes that either covered up Nike's logo or just wore whatever the hell he wanted to, but now he has a new deal and he had to go to China to get it. I want you to take a listen to this. This is an announcement from Kyrie Irving.

Listen. I think my answer has come to fruition today. I'm excited, literally sitting in my room, in my office, in my notebook, just figuring out who's going to help bring this vision to life and the self holds value that's priceless. My virtues, my morals, my skill set, all align with thyself.

And with thyself is where I find true inner peace. I am Kyrie Irving. I am the newest addition to the Anza family and together we are going to fly. Anza. Kyrie Irving has a five-year deal shoe deal with Anza. Now I've heard of Anza.

Maybe it's because I keep up with stuff like this. It's a Chinese brand, similar to Li Ning. I don't know if Li Ning is still pushing out shoes. Some past Anza athletes have included Kevin Garnett on his way out of the NBA and more recently, Klay Thompson. Now Shep, have you ever wore a pair of Anza shoes?

I have no idea what Anza was before that clip, JR. Damn. Yeah, that's a lot of folks. Yes.

It's a lot of people. And we don't know the financial terms of Kyrie Irving's deal with Anza, but Kyrie Irving is not only going to have a new shoe, a new endorsement deal. He's also been labeled with the role of chief creative officer for Anza. And so with that, he's going to be tasked with potentially giving other basketball players contracts with the brand. He's going to be able to bring in artists and musicians and environmentalists to work with Anza, designers, humanitarians.

He's the chief creative officer. So they gave him a fancy title with an additional, I guess whatever the check is, to make Kyrie Irving feel good. Now, the irony here is that it was only a few years ago where Kyrie Irving, amongst everything going on with Daryl Morey and Stan with Hong Kong, et cetera, that Kyrie Irving had to debate whether or not he wanted to participate in a preseason game out in China because of those comments.

Ultimately he did, didn't play too much because he had a facial injury. But is it, is it really hypocrisy? Like people want to scream and shout and yell so much about, well, you say you want to do this. And the NBA says this about black people, but then the NBA does this in China. Like it's a, it's a global economy. Like the NBA, like any business would be ridiculous to, to just kind of throw anybody out the window. And I would go ahead and put like Kyrie Irving in that, that, that same position. And so I know people will be up in arms about him signing this contract and this deal with ANTA, but get over it. Let Kyrie Irving make his money. I mean, who knew how much money he was going to make when he told the Brooklyn Nets he wanted out. And now he has a three year, $126 million deal from the Mavs and let's see how long this deal lasts with ANTA. I have a feeling Kyrie will be done in Dallas with three years.

Then he will be with ANTA. Congratulations. Shep, we gotta, we gotta get you a pair. Okay.

I'd appreciate that chair. Maybe we could finally get a great American tennis player then. Uh, I mean, that's the secret. What does that, what does, how does that, what's that have to do with you getting Chinese shoes? No, I was just, I was just making a joke because to your point, it's amazing. We've had such a lack in Darth of tennis, American greats specifically on the male side. And yet maybe these, these shoes might be the secret. It was, it was a joke.

I thought it would be funnier than how it came out. If we gave an American, I think Americans are wearing Chinese shoes and it's not working out. Damn right.

Well, at least the shoes are probably made in China. Anyway, eight five five two one two four CBS that's eight five five two one two four CBS Thomas. He's calling from Maryland. You're on the JR sport brief show.

Hi, how are you doing? I've been teaching tennis for over 50 years. I had neurosurgery and the neurosurgeon ruined my left arm. So I had to switch the pickleball and now I invented a new sport called kid pickleball.com. But I know exactly why Christopher Eubanks is going to be the next great American player. I taught with the coach that coach Eubanks when he was a junior, he was a helicopter pilot and he used physics to teach Eubanks how to play. I'll tell you, do you want to know exactly why Eubanks is going to be the next number one player?

No, I got a question for you first. Why did it take him so long at 27 to kind of reach this point? Because his coaching was bad. He didn't go back to his original coach by the name of Chuck Thomas. He got an inferior coach.

If he went back to his original coach, whose name is Chuck Tomlin, who invented the congruent tennis model, then then he would have been. But right now, so now, so now, so now, so now, so stop talking, dammit. Okay. Sorry.

Thank you. Trying to do things in an orderly fashion here. So now tell us, tell me why he is going to continue to improve. Because he went back to Chuck Tomlin. Okay.

It's just the coach. Okay. All right.

And Chuck Tomlin teaches the congruent tennis model, which means a shorter backswing and, and teaching people how to hit a draw and a fade in tennis. Okay. Well, thank you, Thomas.

We'll see if it, if it holds true, if he becomes the best. Well, I don't, well, no, no, Thomas. Well, listen, Thomas, I look, I don't, I'm not, I'm, I don't care about the, the predictions or I heard it here first. If you want to impress me with something, then you come through and tell me the Powerball numbers. Okay.

36, 42. Yeah. Thomas, I don't, I don't trust you that much. Look, if, if Chris Eubanks can become the next great American tennis player, then good on him. He got stopped today. What, what am I going to think Medvedev stopped him today? Am I going to think, you know, by the time that the U S open comes in a, about a month and a half up in Queens, New York, am I supposed to think that he's going to be, I don't know, Djokovic? Do, can I sign up for that?

Let me know. He's 27 years old. If you want to tell me that his coach is going to make the biggest difference, then, oh yeah, possibly.

He got a bunch of Americans that he needs to jump. Let's start there first before we start putting him at the top. And please believe, I won't remember you said it. I don't even remember your name.

I, you're not even here anymore. Shep, what was his name? Well, I don't know, but technically it's Thomas from Maryland. Oh, it was Thomas. Okay.

Yeah. I, I'm, I remember you. I remember the conversation, but Thomas, uh, you know, probably in the next five minutes, I, I won't remember you specifically. It's the JR sport brief show here with you on CBS sports radio. Hey, congratulations to Chris Eubanks for even getting this far. It looked like he was ready to start. I don't want to say winding down his career, but he was certainly thinking about his next stop in life.

I think part of it might have been media. It's the JR sport brief show, CBS sports radio. Speaking of news, next stops, Kyrie Irving did not go anywhere to play basketball. He's going to be staying in Dallas.

He did have to go to China to get his new contract. And Damian Lillard, we know this Damian Lillard wants his own deal, a deal that will take him out of town because his money is basically already guaranteed. We're going to talk about Damian Lillard. We're going to talk about the SB awards. We're going to hear from some of the winners. We're going to get into a top six list. We got a lot to do the JR sport.

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