JR SportBrief Hour 2

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. And I am coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody locked in all over North America, all over the world, I don't know. I think that guy calls us from Bulgaria every now and then. One of my good friends, he listens from Paris, France.

Paris. So wherever you're at, whatever you're doing, I'm glad that you're here. The show gets started every single weeknight at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific. That means I've been here for an hour already. If you've missed the first hour of the show, it sucks for you.

You can always hit rewind on the free Odyssey app and just go ahead and do that. At the same time, thank you to everybody listening live and local on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate. People tuned in on Sirius XM Channel 158. Everybody locked in on a smart speaker or CBS Sports Radio dot com. Whatever you're doing, whatever you're listening from, thank you. I appreciate super producer and host Dave Shephard. He's joining us live from New York City and we've had a busy first hour of the show. I can't consider this to be busy because it's it's pre-season football.

But tonight, there are two games. Congratulations. Shephard, am I going too far by even congratulating them?

Like, there's no congratulations, right? Well, if they make the team and that's what they're really playing for now. So maybe. Oh, not the teams, but the actual the players, right? Right, correct. We had a tie in one of the the preseason games tonight, okay?

So right here in Atlanta, Georgia. Much love to all my folks listening on 92.9 The Game. Falcons and the Bengals. They tied. They tied at 13 all. Meanwhile, the New York Giants, they took on the Panthers and the Giants beat the Panthers 21 to 19. But it's preseason football.

Ain't no big deal, right? Bryce Young played. He had a good game. Bryce Young, a three of six. That's good, right? I guess, right? Daniel Jones, he played eight of nine when it touched down.

It's not bad, not too shabby. And then for the Falcons here, the Falcons, Desmond Ritter played and they played to a tie. But at the same time, it can be an exciting game. But it's like, okay, whatever.

Desmond Ritter, seven of nine with an interception. Great. There's no Joe Burrow, so who cares? And that's just me. So we had an opportunity to talk about preseason to start things off. And that's great. Preseason is supposed to be for players getting their feet wet.

It's supposed to be for young players trying to find their way. And then how about this news? Earlier today, it's hard to believe. This dude was taken number one overall in 2014. It's Ja'Davion Clowney because of a million injuries.

He's still trying to find his way. He's a member of the Baltimore Ravens. Justin Houston is gone. The Baltimore Ravens say, hey, let's bring in a replacement with Ja'Davion Clowney. And all they have to do now at this point is hope that Ja'Davion Clowney stays healthy. Because health ain't his thing, folks.

I'm sorry. No full season since 2017 when he had nine and a half sacks. After that, he had nine sacks. For Cleveland, a couple of seasons ago, he had nine sacks. And he's on the team complaining about them showing love to Miles Garrett. I'm like, come on now. Ja'Davion Clowney, I get it.

You went viral for one of your hits back in college. But have you seen Miles Garrett work out? He's picking up 100-pound dumbbells and doing box jumps. He's dunking basketballs. Man, you can't even stay healthy.

What you complaining about for? And so now he's expected to get some sacks. Everybody loves sacks. He's expected to do that for the Ravens. If Ja'Davion Clowney can actually stay healthy.

Am I crossing my fingers on that? I don't think so. Look, at this point in his life for a dude, how the hell has he been in the league for almost 10 years? That is nuts. Shut up. Does that make sense? I feel like Ja'Davion Clowney just got here and he's 30 years old.

How the hell did we get here? It's funny. To your point, first of all, I remember that hit like it was yesterday where he absolutely blew up that guy's spot. And it seems like that's the biggest hit in college football the last 10, 20 years. But Matthew Stafford, to your point, is now the second oldest quarterback. It seems like yesterday he was playing at Georgia and was the number one overall pick back in 2009. That guy's now the second oldest starting quarterback. He's 35 years old.

That's crazy. He's 35. Cousin's 35. In a couple of months, everybody's favorite quarterback, Russell Wilson, will be 35. Right. Geno Smith is up there in age.

Geno? Was he 32? He's got to be 32 or 33 at this point. To your point, Clowney has the skill. He just can't stay healthy. He did play to some degree those last few years in the shadow of Miles Garrett.

But you don't open up your mouth and publicly complain about it. Well, the problem is he thinks he's still the number one overall pick, Ja'Davion Clowney. Not the guy that's somewhat serviceable if healthy. Yeah, you can't complain. Ja'Davion Clowney went on a whole, oh my God, he's this and that, and they're promoting him, already putting him in the Hall of Fame, and he's better than this. And it's like, man, you don't even stay healthy.

What the hell are you complaining about? Well, at least he's not using his helmet as a weapon. I'll give Ja'Davion Clowney that as opposed to his former teammates.

So he does have the edge in that. Are you talking about Miles Garrett swinging his helmet around at, what is it, Rudolph? Mason Rudolph, yeah, yeah. That was the one time in Baker Mayfield's career you felt like you were listening to a leader in franchise quarterback. Yeah, it's like, yo, Baker, man. And nobody cared.

Nobody really dove into that too much. But look, congratulations to Ja'Davion Clowney. I guess he'll be healthy with the Ravens, I think. I'm going to put him in a eight to nine sack range for the Ravens this year. And the Ravens certainly need the help.

I mean, we talked about this briefly last night. It's the Baltimore Ravens exist to be good, but they don't exist to be good enough to win a championship. But we haven't seen that. Like, like go to the AFC title game and go past that.

But it's hard not. So congratulations to Ja'Davion Clowney. He now has a new job.

Maybe his knees will hold up, but I'm not too sure. It's also nuts that he's 30 years old. He's been here since 2014. Where the hell do they do this at?

In Baltimore, I guess. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. Greg is here from Michigan. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up, Greg? Hey, JR, Mr. Positive.

Hey, thanks for taking my call. Messi, you alluded to it on your Facebook page. And for me, I think he can transcend athletes. Some athletes can transcend a sport that makes you want to look. Will it make soccer popular? It'll give it a surge.

But that's what you need. I got to ask you, is basketball out of the four major sports, does it go football, basketball, baseball, hockey? Or is baseball more popular than basketball?

No. I mean, if I got to think about where things are going, I would go football, and then I would go basketball, and then I go baseball and then hockey. And then the threat there is for MLS to jump in front of hockey. And then also, I think in years, maybe even sit there with baseball.

Okay, yeah, I definitely would agree. And I just wish we would have saw Messi a little bit earlier and brought him to America with the excitement with the World Cup and stuff. The World Cup was riveting. And that left leg of Messi, it's between him or Ronaldo, Messi will come out to be the greatest that's ever played the game. Well, I mean, we got plenty of time.

Sure. Well, the United States, I don't want to say United States soccer, but the MLS wasn't ready for Messi. I mean, while he still or was still in his prime, there would be no reason, no impetus for him to join. It makes almost absolute, well, it makes no sense.

And thank you so much, Greg, for calling from Michigan. We've gotten Messi here in ideal circumstances, non-goals and six games, and now he can make additional money through streaming. You mentioned Major League Baseball, and Major League Baseball is streaming everywhere. It's streaming in so many places that if you look at Major League Baseball, you can't find it.

Like, come on. Major League Baseball has Sunday morning games on Peacock. They have Friday night games on Apple TV. They have Saturday games. I think it's on Fox and on and on. How the hell am I supposed to differentiate or actually find the games? There was a point in time, there was an era where I just knew that baseball was on Fox on Saturday and that was it.

I didn't have to think about buying anything or taking out my wallet. I just watched the game. And so, yeah, Greg, you bring up a good point. The NFL is numero uno. The NBA, especially with its international reach, the NBA is number two. And I'm talking about the interest of sports here in North America, or at least the absorption of it from a business perspective.

And this is without dispute. If I got to look at the revenue generated, NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, and then even right there, Major League Baseball is kind of right there, in some cases higher than basketball, and then you move into the NHL. MLS, Major League Soccer, it's moving in the right direction. It's going to take years, but soccer is growing. Even Messi himself has said soccer is growing here in the United States of America. Lionel Messi, he spoke to all of the folks at Inter Miami, their media. You can hear him in Spanish. CBS Miami, and he talked about the growth of the game.

Listen, you'll hear Samantha Rivera reporting. Today I can tell you that I'm very happy with the decision we made. Not only for the sport and how the team is doing, but for my family, how we live day to day, for how we've been enjoying the city, and this new experience, and the reception from the people. The 36-year-old went on to say how he's truly enjoyed the love he's received from all the fans here, crediting them for making his move here so smooth, especially in a city where there are tons of Latinos. Although, he admits he's still getting used to the heat and humidity. Well, to be honest, I've been on vacation for a month and a half, so it did take me a little bit to get used to the weather for practices and matches.

It is really hot this time of year and very humid, and sometimes you can feel that, but I'm adapting and feel very comfortable now. As for what it would mean for him to win Saturday's League Cup Final against Nashville SC with Inter Miami, he says it would be incredible. It would be impressive. It's really nice how the people from Inter Miami come to every game to encourage and support us.

I haven't played many home matches in this stadium, but it's always been full, and it is a young club that hasn't been around for a long time, but to be able to win our first title would be beautiful for everyone. Man, I stopped giving a damn about what Messi was saying when he said he was on vacation for a month and a half. Oh, you're living a good life. Oh, yeah, yeah, I only make 50, 60 million a year just on my soccer salary, and oh, yeah, I went on vacation for... Hey, Messi, how long were you on vacation? Oh, not just the weekend.

A month and a half? What? So what was he doing?

Sitting on a yacht? I'm sure he was. A month and a half. Hey, Chef, how good is your left foot? Not as good as Lionel Messi's, even if I didn't take him with an application. AJ, I got a question for you, and I know we've had this discussion about Ronald Lacunya Jr. and Shohei Ohtani, and I think you know... Lacunya is amazing. Right, and you know where I'm going with this.

I don't. He is the biggest soccer force we've had maybe in the world ever. Apologies to Pele just because of modern technology. With that being said, if he spoke English, would that catapult him and soccer even more in the States? Does it hurt him to some degree? Because you can't really take away the joy and enthusiasm. You can see it on the field, but I think he could relate to us even more if he were able to speak the language. That's just my humble opinion. So your question is, if Messi spoke English, would it have an even greater impact on what?

Would people be able to relate and connect to him even more? I think in baseball, it hurts to some degree. I still think they're great and they sell out, but Ronald Lacunya Jr. and Shohei Ohtani, I think if they spoke English, fans would be able to connect and get behind them even more so. Well, they speak English, just not publicly. Fair enough.

Fair enough. That's right. I've heard Ohtani say thank you in English. I've seen him curse people out in English. I've never seen that before. The only emotion I've seen from him at the World Baseball Classic is God knows there's no reason to be emotional with the Angels. He'll curse somebody out and it's great. It's great. Yeah. I understand your point and I'm going to answer that on the other side because yeah, especially in baseball, we have star players from Latin America, from South America, they don't always speak English and these are some of the best players in the game and does not speaking English or not communicating to the general public in English, does it harm or hurt them?

Does it harm or hurt the sport? I'm going to answer that on the other side of the break and I'm going to take your calls as well. That's 855-2124 CBS.

That's 855-2124 CBS. I understood Messi. He said, I took a month and a half vacation. If I should be so lucky to even understand what the hell that is and then he's still making God knows how much money a year, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 million dollars.

It's like, oh, it must be bad living Messi's life. I'm going to get to your calls on the other side of the break. I'm going to answer the question about English speaking and professional sports. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I do think you're one of the best people in radio right now, hands down. I've heard everybody. You got the gift and I appreciate, you know, your intelligence and your honesty. Call in now at 855-2124 CBS. Okay, fine. Let's see how intelligent I am. Hey Shep, you asked me prior to the break whether or not I believe someone like Shohei Ohtani or Lionel Messi not communicating to the general public here in North American English harms them or their games.

Which one was it? Harms the level of interest for some people. I don't think so. Because for instance, Messi is world renowned. You know, it's like he doesn't need to open up his mouth to say anything. I have never found, even in his native tongue of Spanish, I haven't found Messi to be talkative. I haven't found him to be gregarious. He's just out there playing football and he's scoring goals and he's minding his business and he's disappearing.

He seems kind of shy even in his older, at least older in football terms, older age. Shohei Ohtani, okay, in the prime of his life, in the prime of his baseball career baseball career right now, he's pitching, he's hitting, he's from Japan, he's playing in the United States of America. I don't know what Ohtani would say to make people more interested, but I think we know this is fact. Yeah, the more people that you can reach and connect with individually, it's going to be better for you, the sport and the league. Now having said that, from their perspective, if I'm Lionel Messi and I'm making 60, 70, 80, 100 million dollars a year to play football in North America, where's the impetus, where's the nudge for him to say, oh my God, I need to learn English?

It doesn't exist. If I'm Shohei Ohtani, I'm doing myself a favor and I'm sure Shohei, he communicates with his teammates without a translator, but when it comes to speaking to the media, he pops out and yeah, translate this, translate that, but if for the money that he's making, why do I need to try to speak English some more? And so I don't think it, does it really make a difference?

I don't think so. That's fair, JR, but I think the thing is with Ohtani and Ronald Lacunya Jr., there's a domestic fan base already with baseball. It's obviously America's pastime.

Football caught up a long time ago in lap them, basketball to some degree as well. How many people even know that Messi's playing in the finals tomorrow? I don't think- The league cup?

Yeah, you do, clearly. Maybe some people in Miami, I don't feel like it's I don't feel like it's getting talked about at all nationally. It's not. It's not even really a part of the MLS schedule.

It's not, but there is a change. People are paying attention to Messi. We wouldn't, let's put it this way, we wouldn't even be discussing soccer or football right now if it wasn't for Messi, if it wasn't for his comments and what he said.

I think, yes, of course, anybody who speaks English here in North America is going to find an audience for them if you're good at what you do. But it's not necessary for all the money that they make. And I don't think, does Shohei Ohtani wake up and go, I need to be an ambassador of the game? Or does Shohei say, hey, I need to make money and maybe you want a world series with these bums?

I don't think he cares. Yeah, that's fair. I also think Shohei Ohtani is certainly younger. So he's better at his respective sport than Lionel Messi is. Not that he's not great still, but I wouldn't say Messi. I mean, you even saw, and I apologize, I think I'm butchering his name, but Mbappe, excuse me.

Yes. I think he's clearly the best player in the world. When you look at Shohei Ohtani and there's nobody close. I think back to individuals, JR, and golf blew up, blew up 20, 25 years ago because Tiger wasn't just greater than everybody else. But he had, now he was reserved, but he still had that staunch, intense, larger than life personality. He was well-spoken. He was articulate. You could, man, he talked about working out with the Navy Seals. There was personality behind him. And I feel like if you're going to truly put and inject this energy and force into the game of soccer, you can't just be a great soccer player all time.

You got to bring a little more. And so I think it's, I don't think that has done him any favors. I think it's still early, especially knowing that the World Cup is going to be here in 2026. For the most part, I think 80, 90% of the games are going to take place in the United States of America.

I know that Canada is going to participate and Mexico will as well, but it's a ramp up. And so if Messi woke up and was just speaking in English, oh hell yeah, of course. What is Messi going to go on Good Morning America is no, and it's not necessary. And if I'm Messi, why do I even want to bother? I'm making money hand over fist either way. And I don't have to talk to anybody. I mean, we can look at Messi's decision to come to the USA and, and know that there's less scrutiny in Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia know that there's less scrutiny in Europe, but to come to America and just kind of quote unquote fit in.

Is that the worst type of life to live? I mean, I don't think Messi is like, Oh my God, I need to be the, the full ambassador of the game that just by showing up and playing, he's an ambassador of the game. He's one of the best of all time. And I, the sport is growing here in the States.

It really is. Is he Messi going to lead the charge and vocalize it? I don't think so, but through his actions and, and maybe through some of his wins and his victories and his trophies, I actually like this to have an in a professional athlete who is letting his actions speak louder than his words. Because by the way, if you've heard from James Harden, he's doing the complete opposite. He's just spouting off at the mouth.

Anytime that he can get eight five five two one two four CBS eight five five two one two four CBS. I'm going to get to your calls on the other side of the side of the break. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio.

You have credit to your profession. You are one of the rare radio personalities that actually balances facts with whatever callers call me with. I'm also called up a purely in Texas.

So purely in Texas lives you. Call in now at eight five five two one two four CBS. It's the JR sport brief show on CBS sports radio eight five five two one two four CBS.

That's eight five five two one two four CBS. The show he'll tiny hits a grand slam tonight. What a what a shocker. International athlete coming out of Japan. Lionel Messi now playing for Inter Miami. Probably the biggest athlete on planet earth representing Argentina, which he won a World Cup and now he's here in America playing for Inter Miami. And the question was posed as to whether or not Lionel Messi or Shohei Ohtani would have a larger effect on their respective sports if they spoke English. And I think the answer is obviously yes. But from their perspective, why would they want to even bother if I can come over to the United States of America and get rich and make money and make more money and more money?

Why am I adding extra stress to myself just to talk to the media? No, thank you. Lionel Messi doesn't need no damn commercials. Shohei Ohtani doesn't need commercials. The only commercial I think I've ever seen Shohei Ohtani in is that video game. And Shep, you know what I'm talking about, right?

Shohei Ohtani was in MLB The Show? Couldn't even tell you. And that's the problem. Oh, damn. Ouch.

Ouch. I saw him in the commercial and I don't I don't I don't think it mattered that he spoke or did not speak English. It's just, hey, everybody knows this is the best player in baseball.

And what is he actually going to say that's going to move the needle for anybody? Nothing. Really?

It sucks. 855-212-4CBS. Sean is here from Oregon. You're on the JR sport reshow. What's up, Sean?

Thanks for taking my call, JR. You know, I see what a lot of these champions are. Some are just yawners. You know, they ain't got person. They got personality potato. You know, it's even like, you know, you look at who's the golfer Tiger Woods. That guy, he don't have big personality. You know, he ain't like Muhammad Ali out there.

Even John Daly. You look at Shohei Ohtani. He ain't one of these big personalities. So when you guys we like guys that have a little bit bigger personality in America. So you come out there and you try to just be political and you say the right thing. You might make it to the top. But here in America, once you get to the top, we like to see it knocked down.

We like to see the little guy with some personality make it up there. Have a great night. All right.

Thank you, Sean, for calling from Oregon. Is that is that true? Shut up. Do you help me out? Help decide. What did he just say to me?

Help. Help me decipher what he said. So basically, Tiger Woods greatness spoke for itself. He didn't need a large personality. He didn't need, you know, the intangibles off the golf course. And he did on a golf course. He was intense and he won and he won young. And he was like, what else?

I don't want to hear him speak like everything he did. He did on the course. So maybe so maybe Tiger Woods isn't the best example of a larger than life personality, although his personality was certainly larger than life in the sheets.

But I digress. But J.R., here's the thing about Tiger Woods. There was a narrative. We knew this kid was a prodigy when we saw him on the Mike Douglas show.

Right. We knew exactly what Tiger Woods was. He was he was the son of Earl Woods. And that was such a close knitted relationship.

And they were attached to the hip. And so what a what an incredible story of Earl Woods being, you know, obviously in the in the Army, serving in the armed forces and then, you know, having that military authority and that kind of tutelage over Tiger Woods, which is why he became so disciplined. And then the Nike commercials that made Tiger larger than life.

So maybe it's not necessarily the individualism of Tiger Woods that made him so popular, but there were a lot of PR machines behind him pushing him out into the general public. And you're not seeing that with Shohei Ohtani. J.R., if you asked your audience right now, tell me one thing about Shohei Ohtani. Other than being the biggest unicorn in the history of the sport, no one would be able to tell you anything.

No one would be able to tell you anything about Lionel Messi outside of being a great left foot in soccer and winning the World Cup recently. I think that's actually cool. I think it's cool to have a Loch Ness monster, a Bigfoot, a fill in the blank in baseball to not have someone who's and this is sports in general, to not have someone who's overexposed or running around thinking about their brand. Look, if Shohei Ohtani wanted to appear in more commercials here in North America, the United States of America, to be more specific, I think Shohei Ohtani could. But it's not necessary for his perspective. Why would he want to? He's making money hand over fist? You want to take him to English class? Well, and to your point, he does sell out in that stadium and on the road.

But the problem is, there's not a general interest in Shohei Ohtani. Say whatever you want about LeBron James, whether he's too political, whether LeBron James is a de facto general manager, wherever he goes. You know what LeBron sounds like, you know his story.

You know he's loyal to a fault. You understand he went to St. Vincent, St. Mary. You know he wants his kid to eventually play with him in the NBA.

You understand the I promise schools. Michael Jordan, Air Jordan. Now, we didn't know too much about Michael. And the media often kept his marriage and his infidelities to the chest, because back then you wanted to protect athletes. But we knew the persona of Michael Jordan. So he wasn't just great in basketball. He was a tremendous public figure, where you saw him on Oprah Winfrey. You saw him doing SNL.

You saw him on The Tonight Show. And so there was so much interest with Michael Jordan. And Lionel Messi, I think, is missing that in soccer. And Shohei Ohtani, yes, the baseball fan is obsessed with him. But outside of that, no one cares who he is. Okay. So on a Messi front, he's the biggest athlete on earth.

For here in the United States of America, I have to agree with you. Yeah. Is an opportunity being missed from the general public to get closer to Messi and understand him more? Yeah. But I think there's value in going, oh my God, what is this?

Shohei Ohtani. And it's almost like I have seen a ghost. I think there's an air about witnessing someone perfect their art form and their craft, and then not talking about it.

You get to a point in a level. So last night, we talk about who should perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. Man, I can think about Beyonce's entire career. And it's crazy to think Beyonce did the Super Bowl halftime show, I think, almost 10 years ago at this point. When Beyonce started, yes, Destiny's Child, she's in a group, and she has to talk and do interviews and such.

As Beyonce has moved forward in her career, like a lot of individual artists, what more is there to discuss when it comes to doing publicity? There's an air about being exclusive, that if you want to hear from me, you have to hear from me through my art, not through an interview, not through a third party. And so there's an air of like walking on air. I think it's dope for Shohei Ohtani to not speak.

I think there's an air of being mysterious. And what is the additional sales factor for Shohei Ohtani to speak to the general public in English? I mean, for Messi, who's already renowned across the world, I don't think there's additional value for him in the United States of America to just speak to speak English. For Messi's perspective, what is Messi going to say? That's going to change my mind about anything.

The answer is probably absolutely nothing. But you're already hooked on him, JR. Well, I mean, he is one of the biggest, not even, I forget the word celebrities. Messi is one of the most famous human beings in the world. I mean, he's one of the most famous human beings on earth.

Period. But, JR, but you're a host that has traveled the world and loves soccer, also known as more football common in other parts of the world. We get that. You've interviewed Pele. You're a rare breed in that context. Even national sports talk show hosts, they're not talking about this guy.

You just have a unique perspective because of your affinity for the sport and your access to it. But that's rare because I don't hear a lot of other hosts talking about Lionel Messi. Oh, he's a global, he's, look, who are some of the most famous people on earth? LeBron, Obama. Earth? Get out of here. LeBron, Obama, Taylor Swift.

Everybody's American? Ronaldo. Ronaldo is one of the- There we go, please. Let's start with the football. No, the footballers.

No, that's my point. The footballers are some of the most famous people on earth. I think LeBron is more recognized than Lionel Messi and Ronaldo though. First of all, he's been around longer, which is- Wait a minute. Yeah.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You think on planet earth that LeBron James is more recognizable than Ronaldo and Messi? I think it helps that, well, again, I'm not going by Instagram followers. If I go by Instagram followers, Ronaldo is the most sought out person on planet earth. But LeBron James has been in the public eye since 2001.

He was on the cover of an SI magazine when he was 16 years old. No. I don't, I mean, people, I mean, listen, soccer, they're more fanatical. They're more fanatical about their team. No, it's the majority, but it's the majority of the planet.

It's the majority of the planet. I get that. LeBron, LeBron is not in, on planet earth, LeBron James is not in the category of Messi and Ronaldo. He's not.

Well, we could say that before 92, JR, but you and I both know when that 92 dream team came out, the biggest athlete in the world, the biggest athlete in the world was not Michael Jordan at that point? No, no, no. Really? No, that's not, that's, that's not, that, that doesn't fit in.

Okay. I mean, whose poster was all over the buildings in Barcelona? It wasn't a soccer player.

But this is, this is the point. We're not talking about Michael Jordan in 92. We're talking about LeBron James in 2023.

Right. But he's built, but he built his popularity off of what that dream team did in 92, specifically MJ. Basketball, basketball has grown all over the world. Without a shadow of a doubt, basketball has grown. We see it even in the highest level of professional basketball in the NBA. Look at the MVPs. We got a dude in Nikola Jokic who shows up and it's just like, I, I won the championship. I did my job. I'm going home.

I don't give a damn about this stuff. We see that. Another dude who won MVP is Joel Embiid. He's from Cameroon via Kansas.

We've seen that. Another dude, Giannis Atetokounmpo, he is Nigerian via Greece. We see the international explosion of basketball. I remember, and I haven't been in India in quite some time. I remember going through India and seeing the kids play basketball in the, the, the yard, you know, driving by on the street, no different than, than what I'd see here.

I'm like, okay, man, we got, I'm, I'm out here in India. We got Indians playing basketball. Basketball is, is growing and it has grown. Yes. But does everybody all over the planet pick up a basketball? No. The answer is no. Does every place for the most part on planet earth kick a ball?

That answer is yes. And, and, and soccer brings so many people together it's, it's easy. People, people who don't speak English, which is okay, is the dominant, I would say the dominant language across the world, the globe. I think we know why.

Colonization, we can go, you know, but the fact is, even if you don't speak English, you can roll up to a stranger in any part of the world and just go Messi or Ronaldo. They're going to have an answer. They're going to know exactly who the hell you're talking about. LeBron James, not in the same ilk.

It doesn't hit. Do people, do people know Michael Jordan? I still say yes, but LeBron, nah, Messi is Messi and Ronaldo.

And even though they're aging now, totally different category. Chris is here from Appleton, Wisconsin, you're on the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up Chris? Hey JR, first off, I want to say thank you very much.

You make my day go better and you make it go faster, especially when I'm dashing at night. Um, also I enjoy your take with Chef every time, but I wanted to address the issue of Messi. Um, with regards to Messi, like you earlier said, he doesn't need to speak English because at the end of the day, I can honestly tell you that most of the global soccer stars in the world don't actually speak English and yet they're very, very popular.

Um, also the fact is that Messi, the only thing you might want him to speak English for over here would probably be for commercial endorphments. But I bet you he don't need that. He's getting money from Saudi Arabia. Exactly. Hold on, Chris. We're going to talk about this on the other side.

Who needs American dollars when you get it from every place else? It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. It's Friday night. Get all your money. It's the JR Sports Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. It's Friday night. Get all your money.