JR SportBrief Hour 1

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You heard the fancy voice man say it. I'm JR. 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'm coming to you live and proudly from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody locked in all over North America. I don't care where you're at. You could be in the back of an office, you could be in a restaurant, a hotel, a hospital.

You could be holding it down and if you're holding it down, you know what I mean. I'm just glad that I got your ear. Thank you to every person listening on the free Odyssey app, tuned in on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate, Sirius XM Channel 158 and everybody locked in on a smart speaker.

Thank you very much. Our super producer and host Dave Shepherd is coming to you live from New York City and we appreciate him too. Listen, a busy show tonight. An unusual time for the sports calendar.

Baseball back in action tomorrow. No NBA. We're on the precipice of NFL training camps getting underway. Congratulations to the New York Jets, Quinnen Williams. He doesn't have to worry about his contract being a central point of hard knocks as the New York Jets have given him a 96 million dollar contract with 66 million dollars guaranteed.

Good for him. But it's unusual time because there's no sports tonight. No NHL, no NBA, no NFL, no MLB, nothing. It's just us hanging out and this is where I'll be. So what are we going to do over the next four hours? There's still plenty of sports to talk about. There's still plenty of news to take a look at. There's plenty of things to dissect.

There's plenty of conversations to be had. How about this? Are we in for the final days of Shohei Ohtani as a member of the Los Angeles Angels? Are we looking at the final days of this man in an Angels uniform?

C.C. Sabathia says he is the greatest baseball player that he has ever seen with his own two eyes. And if I were the Angels, I'd be moving on.

You all suck. What are you keeping him around for? He's going to leave anyway.

We'll get into Shohei Ohtani. Speaking of leaving, we heard from LeBron James that he is not going anywhere. He said that on the ESPYs and now we can rest assured that we have at minimum one more year of LeBron James.

But what does that mean? Are we going to see two more years of LeBron, three more years of LeBron? How much time? I think I heard Kendrick Perkins say if he accepted a role like Eudonis Haslam, we could see LeBron until 50. Yeah, that'd be easy because that means he would be on the bench. I don't think we'll see LeBron doing that. Speaking of the bench, James Harden wants to find his way to another bench.

James Harden wants to switch teams like most people change underwear, I guess every day. Kirby Smart needs to get control of his Georgia Bulldogs. It's like they have so many issues with these dudes auto racing. And then you got Jalen Carter on the other end of a lawsuit because of his racing issue earlier this year following their championship parade out in Athens, Georgia. And then as I mentioned, Major League Baseball is going to be back in action tomorrow.

But Major League Baseball coming off of its All-Star game didn't necessarily get the best of news. So a lot that we're going to talk about if you follow me on Twitter and Facebook at JR Sport Brief, you would already know all of these things that we're going to discuss. And if you want to talk to me, it's simple. We got a phone number. It's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Shep, how are you this evening? You good? I'm exhausted, JR. How are you? Oh, man.

Well, I'm sorry. We need a five hour or a coffee? We need other people to step up. That's what we need.

Oh, well, damn. Do I need to sign? Well, not a coffee or five hour.

You need to send an email? Well, there needs to be a consensus around here in general where people understand where if they are hired, they need to step up and do their part. I'm being 1000% honest right now. You and I do a lot here. And there's a lot of people, yes. And there are a lot of people here that do a lot here. Everyone, everybody needs to get that memo.

That's how I'm doing. Okay. Ain't nothing I can add to that.

Nothing. Shep said it all. Shep has spoken. It's Shep wisdom. All right, Shep. Well, let me know if I need to send an email or make a trip to New York, okay?

We're good. It's a generational thing, JR. Okay.

Could be. Speaking of a generational thing. Hey, Shep, you a fan of television? Like you sit around and watch TV? Yeah. I mean, I'm old school.

Okay. I mean, JR, to me, when I think of television and I think of baseball, there's two things that stand out. I didn't ask you, what do you watch? I mean, what do you watch on TV? So that's, yeah.

So for me, obviously sporting events is the big thing. One of the greatest, and this is not to tee you up or anything, but it does kind of relate to what you're talking about. I still remember to this day, 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway. Oh, with Ted Williams?

Yes. And that, with the late, great Tim McCarver basically losing any sort of speech and he just, he couldn't get anything out of it. So, you know, emotional and just absolutely powerful. And we don't get those kinds of moments anymore. That doesn't really translate because we're so busy. Because Barry Bonds is angry and he's not elderly yet. So that's partially one reason. Yeah. Look, that was before they froze Ted Williams. So I get that and I hear you.

So here's the deal. I asked Shep if he watches television because the Major League Baseball All-Star ratings are in, and they're not good. We know on Tuesday night, the National League beat the American League 3-2. Elias Diaz hit that two-run home run in the eighth inning to help put the National League on top.

And then he walks away with the MVP. We saw some great defensive plays. We saw some home runs. We had players that were miked up.

It was a good presentation and it was ultimately a good game. Here are the numbers. Seven million people watched the All-Star game on FOX. Last year at Dodger Stadium, you know, this year, the All-Star game took place in Seattle. Seven and a half million people watched at Dodger Stadium last year.

So do the math. That's half a million people less this year who tuned in to the All-Star game. And if you want to start looking at the cities that really tuned in and watched the All-Star game, Seattle, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Philly. Those are the top five markets that tuned in. Without a shadow of a doubt, Atlanta, not a surprise. One million All-Stars representing the Braves on the National League team.

Eight All-Stars. Seattle, of course, Seattle would tune in to the All-Star game. This is the home market. People want to see what's going on locally.

And so here's something else. The Home Run Derby, which wasn't on broadcast television, the Home Run Derby was on ESPN. The Home Run Derby had six million people tuning in.

So let's think about that. For the actual game, more widely distributed, over the air, quote unquote, on Fox. Seven million people. The Home Run Derby, quote unquote, on cable, ESPN, had six million people watch. And even the Home Run Derby numbers were down.

Seven million people last year, six million people this year. And even despite that, the Home Run Derby has been the most watched ESPN event of the summer. And is this an indicator of people's interest in baseball?

A little bit, I think. Overall, and this is what I asked Shep, I said, do you watch TV? He said, sports. How many people are watching television? People are streaming and sitting down and they're not, they're watching Netflix and Hulu.

I don't know how many people are really taking time to say, I'm going to watch TV because it's not the only option. We can go back to All-Star Games from 20 and 30 years ago. Tuesday night, seven million people watched. We would have more than half watched that.

I'm talking about, or more than double, I should say. 14 to 20 million people tuning into the All-Star Game. We had seven million people tune in on Tuesday. Now, despite these poor or low numbers, and television ratings are just diminished and falling off of a cliff, just everywhere, it doesn't matter if it's sports, baseball, NFL, MLB, or like, I couldn't tell you what comes on NBC. I couldn't tell you one sitcom on NBC right now. You asked me that 20 years ago, I'd say Law & Order. I think it came on NBC.

I'd say Friends. I knew that for sure came on NBC. I can't tell you what comes on television at all. And so here's some other All-Star Game ratings from this year. Tuesday, Major League Baseball, seven million people on Fox. The NFL Pro Bowl Games, six million people on ABC, ESPN. The NBA, their All-Star Game, only two million people. Their All-Star Game, only four and a half million people on cable between TNT and TBS. And so numbers are just low everywhere. And despite the low number, Major League Baseball's All-Star Game attracted the most viewership.

It's tough. Like, there are more people watching streaming services than tuning into television. People's viewing habits have changed.

I don't think you're going to get too many young people who just wake up and say, I'm going to turn the TV on. What are they looking at? They're turning on a Roku box. They're going into Apple TV. They're watching television shows on YouTube.

Yeah, YouTube. They don't know about TGIF. They don't know about M.A.S.H. They don't know about Seinfeld and Friends. They don't know what a sitcom is. They know TikTok.

And it's even for older people too. If you're not watching TikTok, you're probably watching Netflix. Man, there's so many shows on.

It's something for everybody. And so Shep, he watches sports. Me?

I'm not sure. Me? I don't watch anything. I see sports on the background while I'm here on air.

I'll hear the news in the background. I probably spend more time listening to stuff and sitting in front of the computer than watching the television set. And so, yeah, you know, everybody, and it's true, I'm not hiding from this fact, we can put a couple of stakes in the coffin for the popularity of baseball without a shadow of a doubt. But when you want to take a look at the ratings, that's not exclusive to Major League Baseball.

Viewing habits are fractured everywhere. This is not the 70s. This is not the 80s.

This is not, hey, this is not the 90s. You don't only have television, the radio, the newspaper, and the movies. You got a cell phone. You got a computer that will open up the whole world to whatever you want to watch, however you want to watch it. Damn it, you can watch an entire 10-part series, an entire season of a show in 10 hours and never have to move, never have to change a channel.

You can open up YouTube and go clip after clip after clip. You can be hypnotized by TikTok. And people have feelings about TikTok and the people who own it. But baseball, don't feel bad. Don't feel bad that the ratings are terrible. Don't feel bad that almost just as many people, almost more people watched, or just as many watched the home run derby as the actual All-Star game.

Maybe if they had some real All-Stars running around, it'd make a difference. Sorry. But the fact of the matter is, viewership is down everywhere and not just for baseball. Don't feel bad. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Are you shocked about this? Are you surprised? You can't be.

TV habits, viewing habits, they've been changing for a very long time. I'm gonna get to your calls on this on the other side of the break. We're gonna get talking about the New York Yankees and their hitting coach, who used to play for Cincinnati. We're gonna get into Kirby Smart and James Harden and LeBron and the commanders.

Are they still gonna get sold? We'll get into Messi. He's finally here in America.

He's gonna be playing soon. Shohei Ohtani, NBA flopping, LeBron James. But we're gonna take your calls on this whole TV viewing habit situation and whether or not baseball should be worried.

The answer is yes, but not because the ratings are low. It's the JR Sport Reshow. Happy Thursday night here on 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 Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Major League Baseball, they continue on with their season. Coming after the All-Star break, everybody's back in action on Friday night. And so tonight is an unusual night.

You think about the major professional sports leagues here in the United States of America. Nobody's in action. But I am.

I'm always in action. Okay, please believe it. The phone lines are open. It's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Before the break, I told you about the actual ratings for the All-Star game for Major League Baseball that took place on Tuesday night. Seven million people watched on Fox. Seven and a half million people watched the game last year.

And if you want to do a little bit deeper of a dive, about over the past five years, the numbers have just continued to set record lows. And not really a surprise, because ultimately, a television viewing is fractured. Or just not even television.

People's viewing habits are fractured, whether they're on Hulu or Netflix or TikTok. Just numbers are down across the board because traditional television is not the only game in town. And so baseball has taken some measures over the past several months, or I should say over the past year, and even in the minors, several years to try to improve their own television product.

Attendance is up. You can look at the time of games going down. Major League Baseball is still making plenty of money, but we can even look at one of their own issues with Diamond Sports Group, which was an entire company based on people sitting down watching baseball games, and they went out of business. Because the fact is, or they went bankrupt, people aren't sitting down and watching games and paying for cable. People are cutting the cord.

And so baseball, like everyone else, is still going to have to try to find, identify, and hold their audience. 855-212-4CBS. KC is calling from North Carolina. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey, what's going on JR and Chip?

Appreciate, let me get on. So basically, I was just thinking, apart from COVID and people being stuck inside, and then now it's summertime. People are trying to go out and be with the family and go to the beach to travel. You don't have time to sit there and watch, you know, a game. And then a lot, I think politics played a big part into it, to where it pushed people away from watching certain sports, no matter their beliefs or whatever. I'm not going to judge anybody, but I think that pushed a lot away.

And then there was... Baseball? No, not just baseball, sports in general or the channel. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah.

So whatever channel it would be on, just like NBC with Bob Costas on, like you said, you could name a show that's on NBC now. I can't either. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Okay. Hey, but besides that, what the hell is your favorite show? My favorite show? Now.

Now. Ooh, man, I don't watch too much. Yeah, well, that's the point. Hey, KC, thank you for calling from North Carolina, man. I appreciate you, brother. No doubt about it. See, he don't know.

He don't watch TV either. So JR, so you do know there's a remake. I know a lot of people aren't familiar with this, just because it's... A remake of what? Of Law & Order, with Sam Waterston back in his previous role as Jack McCoy.

Yeah. Well, hey, I never watched Law & Order. I just know it existed.

Fair enough. I've maybe seen one or two episodes in the background at somebody else's house. You telling me Law & Order is a remake? I feel like Law & Order has been on TV for like 40 years. So it started in 90. It went off the airwaves in 2010.

Nobody noticed. Fair enough. And then they brought it back. Now, it has not done well ratings-wise.

That's obviously very linear to what you're talking about with MLB Baseball. But that is a show, and the one show that everyone doesn't know that's still on NBC, even though he laughs all the time, is The Tonight Show. People, I think, are still aware. Oh, well, I'm not talking about that. Gotcha. I'm not talking like sitcoms.

Fair enough. They're like, and as far as I know, because I don't know, and I believe this is factual, I feel like there's like eight different versions of Law & Order, okay? It hasn't gone anywhere.

Law & Order this, Law & Order Special Victims Unit, Law & Order that, Law & Order Cat. So we're still here. Juwan is calling from Lubbock, Texas. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Juwan? Okay, Juwan went to bed. Bob is calling from Michigan.

What's up, Bob? This is a topic I'd really like to touch on, you know, not just ratings, but media habits and money. This kind of ties into, remember a couple weeks ago, you wanted to watch a soccer game, but it's on some weird channel you would have had to pay money for?

You wouldn't do it? Oh, it wasn't, yeah, well, that's just about anything. I think that was a Yankees game.

Oh, oh. Yeah, it wasn't a soccer match. That was a Yankees game that I refused to give money for some stinking Apple TV.

Yes, correct. Yeah, well, there's getting to be less and less free TV, you know. Up here in Northern Michigan, we lost Westwood 1, so we don't get the Thursday night games. You know, I haven't had a TV in about 14 years. I've never had cable, and I get all my sports from the radio, but there's going to be less and less radio.

You could not have found the All-Star game on the radio last year, I mean, last night, but in the old days, that's what would be the kind of thing that would be on the radio. Sure. Well, listen, man, you got to get the free Odyssey app. Do you have it? I don't know what that is.

Odyssey app. Crap, okay. No, this is how you can listen to me. Do you have a cellular phone?

Oh, no, I've never had a cell phone or iPhone. I don't even have an answer machine. You live in a good life, Bob. You live in a good life. I was in the right window. I didn't have to get involved.

You know, I just retired, but I go down to the library, and they have a computer I could use for free. Monday morning, I watch the NFL highlights, about a 15-minute condensation of the game. Simple life. And on Sundays, I listen to the CBS Sports Breakdown, you know. This is good. I like this. I need to come live with you, man.

It reminds me of 1997. Hey, listen, when you go to the library, are the librarians, are they attractive? No, they're just faces out of the crowd. Oh, okay. But what's funny, it's a brand new library in a tiny little village.

I'm usually the only patron. Wow. It's like my office. Does it have glass? Is it like glass library, or is it like bricks? It used to be an elementary school.

They enlarged the kindergarten room into a modern library. Wow. Listen, Bob, I haven't used the Dewey Decimal System in a long time, but I may need to brush up on it and hang out with you, okay? I'd be glad to have you. Good talking to you. Thank you. All the time, Bob.

Thank you for calling from Michigan. The good old Dewey Decimal System. I miss it.

Shep, when's the last time you used the Dewey Decimal System? How do you say never in Spanish? Oh, wow. Never-uary. That's pretty good. Yeah, never-uary. So let's go to Baltimore.

They have their own language in Baltimore. Let's talk to Leroy. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Leroy? What's going on, hon? Oh, hey, I'm not a librarian. Watch your mouth.

Go ahead. So Baltimore language, yeah. So I heard you say a comment that attendance is up and things, you know, will not expect good. Well, during the All-Star game, before the All-Star game, Bob Menfred had a, you know, a press conference, and he said attendance is up 8%, viewership is up, and he's all happy. Yeah, fool's gold.

What's that? I said fool's gold. Right, because it's factual, but I can dress up numbers to be anything, you know. I got numbers in front of me right now. So in 2022, last year, 64 million people attended MLB games, okay? So if we're up 8% of that, let's go to 64 million. The last 20 years, 70 million people plus have been going to games, and it's died down in 18, to 69, 19, and 64, COVID year 21.

Yeah, so you got nowhere to go but up when you'd already fallen, yeah. Exactly, but he made such a big deal out of this. Well, he's supposed to be, he's supposed to be a salesman. He's a bad one, but he's a salesman, and so you can't dispute, yes, okay, the numbers and the viewership are up, but it's fool's gold, because if I run around and ask, you know, younger people, are you interested? I know by happenstance, by trying to give away tickets, look, I can go to whatever Braves game I want. I can give away tickets to Braves games, but you want to know something? Ain't too many younger people want them. They don't want them.

They want to go, they want to take a selfie, they want to eat the free food and the sweet, and they want to leave. That's just it, and so, no, I understand, yes? What really kicks me off, JR, is he's given a press conference in front of all his reporters, so-called media, and nobody questions him on this. No, because it's, I think a lot of people in the room, when you do this and you're covering it for a living, you have that understanding, and so you're not trying to make it a story. A lot of the reporters go into the room, and they're thinking about what they can walk out of that room with that's going to make them stand out, and having a conversation or back and forth with Rob Manfred about, hey, bruh, but the numbers have been down for the past, I don't know, decade, and now you're telling us about how they're going up minimally?

That's not going to garner you a story or favor, and so a lot of the reporters, in all honesty, they got to, they're doing this all year long during the season, and they got to pick their battles, and I don't think that is one that they would pick in that instance, because, let's be real, everybody worth a damn, whether you're a fan or whether you happen to be a member of the media, we know that baseball is, it's clawing, I think it's a great sport, I love it, but it's clawing. Hey Leroy, thank you, man, I got to keep it moving. Thanks, buddy.

No doubt about it. 855-2124 CBS, let's go from Baltimore to San Diego, you're on the JR Sport Reef Show, Joseph, go ahead. Hey, what's going on?

Sorry, I'm driving right now. And like a lot of people, go ahead. Yeah, but I got to say, I think a big component of it is the streaming, same thing we hear it day in day out, but I mean, last year, or last season, I was able to watch any Padre game on DirecTV, now it moved to another streaming device that's going to watch it. The All-Star game, I have the channel, DirecTV threw up some code saying like, oh, due to some rights, we can't air the game. So yeah, I think that's a big part, but you know, that's a small fraction of it. Yeah, I think that's a separate issue, but I agree with you 100%. I think someone brought it up a few nights ago that Major League Baseball has diluted its overall product by all of the systems of which, or distributors that they provide games.

Whether it's Apple, or Peacock, or TBS, or ESPN, like Major League Baseball, yeah, they're making 10 billion dollars a year, but what good is it if people can't find and identify your product? Hey Joseph, do you want to know how many Sunday morning MLB Peacock games I've watched this season? How many? Zero. Zero.

None of them. I haven't, and let me tell you, I love the Yankees, I love the Braves, I haven't watched any of them, because the last thing I'm thinking about is a baseball game at, I don't know, 10 30 11 in the morning. Not really interesting. Hey Joseph, thank you man, appreciate you. Thank you, yeah, great show, have a great night.

You as well. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, speaking of the New York Yankees, they have a new hitting coach, and Sean Casey, formerly of the Cincinnati Reds, he was introduced, and he was a broadcaster.

He was on Major League Baseball TV, MLB Network, and he says that his new job is going to help him with the New York Yankees and their bats, and the Yankees bats can certainly use it. I'm going to get some more of your calls on the other side of the line, and I'm going to get some more of your calls on the other side of the break. We're going to hear from Sean Casey, we'll talk about James Harden and all that other stuff. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Long time listening, first time caller, love your show.

I like how you spit the truth. I love your show, I got a great show, you're the bomb ticketing man, thank you. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Thursday night to you. Talked about the Major League Baseball All-Star ratings being at a low, another low, and it's, yeah baseball has its issues, but we know that television viewing habits or viewing habits in general are just fractured. They're just crap all over the place. I'm going to get back to your calls momentarily.

855-212-4CBS. Something else that has been fractured has been the New York Yankees offense. The New York Yankees, we know that they are known historically as the Bronx Bombers. They've been portions throughout their history where you would look at a New York Yankees lineup and refer to the Yankees as a murderer's row. In this year, the New York Yankees offense, both with and without Aaron Judge, there ain't been no Bronx Bombers.

They have not been a murderer's row. The New York Yankees offense has just been crap. Okay, it's actually embarrassing to sit down and watch the New York Yankees try and score some runs. Garrett Cole just started the All-Star game for the American League this past Tuesday night and you would think that he actually had some run support. He actually thought he was going to get some run support out of the one inning that he pitched. He doesn't get none of that with the New York Yankees.

How about this? With or without Aaron Judge, the Yankees got a 231 batting average for the season. They're hanging out with the Detroit Lions in the Oakland AAA Athletics at the bottom dead last in the majors. The New York Yankees are 26th in on-base percentage and 29th in hits. The New York Yankees offensive philosophy for years has been to go out and get high OBP players, high on-base percentage players. But we know the game of baseball, they don't care about the hits, etc., strikeouts.

Can you get on base? The Yankees can't even do that. And so they fired Dylan Lawson, who got the job before the season, and they hired someone who happens to be a Cincinnati Red, or was a Cincinnati Red, and Sean Casey, who had an over 300 career batting average, was a great contact hitter, multiple-time All-Star, and more recently, he was a broadcaster on MLB Network. I would turn on the TV and there's Sean Casey. I'd be on the radio or listening to the radio and there's Sean Casey. And Aaron Boone used to play with Sean Casey with the Cincinnati Reds, and now Sean Casey is going to go the rest of this season and see if he can help the Yankees turn their offense around.

New York Yankees, high pressure, pressure cooker of an environment. Sean Casey said, me, my time working on television, is going to help me out here. Listen to this.

Well, you know what? I think this is where, for me, MLB Network has helped a lot too. When you're on air with Brian Kenney, you're like, man, I got to know Babbitt, War. I got to know all the new terminology and all the analytics. I do understand the analytics. Also, too, I think sometimes it gets lost that we think that the term analytics is a new thing. It's not. It's just stats. Absolutely.

Just more complicated stats. And Sean Casey continued on, you're going to be the Yankees hitting coach. Well, you've seen the Yankees.

What have you noticed about them? You know, I just, you know, one thing I see right now is I see some tension. You know, I see some, I know, I know in this game when you struggle, you know, the anxiety kind of creeps in a little bit and you're chasing a little bit more.

You know, you're chasing a little bit keeps in a little bit and you're chasing a little bit more. Maybe you're swinging earlier than you would like because you kind of want to, you know, do so well. You know, Joey Gallo is no longer a New York Yankee, and this guy is still basically in witness protection. How does it feel to be the New York Yankees hitting coach?

How are you feeling? I was a player for 12 years. There's not one moment where you don't think, man, I'd love to be in the pinstripes. Like the history, you know, the story franchise, all the players to have this opportunity, this unique opportunity for a second half on a team that I feel like is, he has a great shot to win the World Series and also to have a shot to win a World Series ring myself.

I mean, that's the ultimate goal when you're in this industry is to win a World Series ring. Hey, look, there's a lot of people that don't want to be a New York Yankee. There's a lot of people who don't want to play in New York City. And you know what?

I can't blame them. A lot of markets to play in and New York ain't the end all be all. 855-2124 CBS. That's 855-2124 CBS. Let's go to another great city. Let's go to Dallas, Texas and talk to David. You're on the JR Sportbrief. Show us up, David.

There are two things. First of all, the broadcast of the night, I won't give Fox a lot of credit. They really did it as much as they could with an all-star game broadcast. I love the shot whenever they put Big Poppy Cheater and A-Rod down on the third baseline eating popcorn together.

That was really cool. Second thing, baseball, you're talking about two nails in its death or whatever earlier. Baseball is much healthier than anybody realizes and baseball is not going anywhere. Baseball is only going to grow. They're helping the game now by putting in the pitch clock, doing some things like that. But also, baseball has one huge advantage that a lot of these other sports don't have. They don't have to go head to head with the NFL for the majority of their season. And also, baseball, everybody plays it growing up.

Well, here's the thing. What I said was an exaggeration. So don't take me literally when I say that baseball getting two extra nails in the coffin because yes, is baseball, well let me clarify for you. Baseball is not what it was and I agree with you. Baseball is not going anywhere. I don't think there will be a time in a day where as long as people have arms and legs and can swing a stick and swing at a ball, somebody's going to be playing baseball, okay? And so I agree with you there. Now, having said that, baseball is not in no healthy position, man. I don't know who the hell told you that. Yes, baseball as a game. They have recently changed their rules to chop down and change time.

They've gone from three hours to two and a half hours. But that ain't making the game healthier. It's like the lifeblood of anything else. I don't know where you've been. Everybody doesn't grow up playing baseball, man.

No, that's not the case. Well, where are they growing up not playing baseball? Because even to this day with all the kids off the electronics, you still see tons of kids playing baseball. That's why the park, the little league fields are always cool. David, there are tons of kids playing baseball.

Yes, correct. But if we only want to think about the United States of America, there are plenty of kids all over the country who don't pick up a bat to play. And more importantly than picking up a bat or ball, there are less kids who are sitting down and watching the games. And it's like anything. David, the reality is you ain't living forever. Hate to be morbid.

And neither am I. OK? Your grandkids, my kids, there ain't no guarantee, and it certainly doesn't look like it, that if you don't have a line of consumers ready to consume your product as you get older and spend the cash and spend the money, the business goes away. Baseball is not going away. But we have seen it already over the past 20 and 30 years. The interest in baseball is not what it used to be. Are there plenty of kids and young people who still participate, who are in travel teams, who go and play in the dirts and the fields in high school?

Yes, but people have so many more options all across the country. I love baseball. I love baseball. I grew up in New York City. OK, I could go down to Washington Heights and I could have sat and watched Manny Ramirez play ball in the Bronx or the Heights.

I never swung no bat. I could easily go downstairs and I could pick up a basketball and just shoot it. I played basketball. Damn it, in my neighborhood we had a baseball field.

People barely used it. I could go outside and play tennis up against the wall. It was easier for me to do that than to go and play baseball. And so to say, everybody plays baseball growing up. Where? I'm here in Atlanta, Georgia. Where are people everywhere playing baseball?

I see people playing football. I see it at the high school as culture. It really depends on where you are, what's going on in your neighborhood, and that's it. But what's going on in your neck of the woods isn't necessarily indicative of what's going on all over the country.

And baseball has to pick up a younger audience. Flat, period, simple. Every stat, every number, every key indicator, KPI, key performance indicator, everything would tell you that. Simple. It's the JR Sport Reef Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Speaking of simple, is James Harden a simple 10? He still wants to leave? Is he a kid?

Does he know he's getting paid millions of dollars to play basketball? I'm going to get some more of your calls. I'm going to give you this update on James Harden. We'll talk about the commanders. There's a lot to do. CBS Sports Radio.

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