JR SportBrief Hour 2

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Shop in store or visit Ashley.com today. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. It is the J.R. Sportbrief show here on CBS Sports Radio. Coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Super producer and host, Dave Shepherd.

He's holding it down in New York City. You can listen on the Free Odyssey app. You can listen on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate. You can listen on Sirius XM Channel 158. You can listen on a smart speaker. I don't care how you listen. I'm just glad you're tuned in.

I get started every single weeknight, 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific. I've been here for one hour already and of course, we talked about Damian Lillard and his trade. The Milwaukee Bucks are probably the best team in the East if they're healthy. Probably say the same thing about the Celtics if Chris Staps Porzingis is healthy. I can't say anything about the Sixers. I mean, they're probably going to be a disaster with James Harden and the Miami Heat.

They're going to compete, but likely to take a step back. Anyway, this is very important, folks. In about 15 to 20 minutes from now, Magic Johnson is going to join us.

Shep, tell them. Yeah, Magic Johnson, I know JR had an opportunity to sit down with arguably the greatest athlete of the 1980s. I know people argue in favor of Wayne Gretzky, Joe Montana. To me, when you talk about the 1980s being a time where the NBA Finals, again, was on tape delay. You got the start of the NBA Finals at 1130 p.m. Eastern time.

I know Larry Bird has a lot to do with the influx and popularity and growth of the game, but I believe the guy spearheading that was actually Magic Johnson. And so, yeah. We're going to talk to Magic.

We got him coming up in 15 to 20 minutes. Oh, yeah. And Shep, my voice is still like hot crap. So I didn't know how long you wanted me to take that.

Because I didn't know if that was tossing to me for a short back and forth. I just kept going. My voice is conking out. I got a terrible coughing spell. I know, man. I know you sound good. The funny thing is, though, you sound good. Yeah, I sound better than last week.

That I did. I had no voice going towards last week. But now here I am, I got a voice and I'm still, I can't, I talk and I, you know, because you talk and you talk and you talk.

I inhale, I breathe air to speak. You know, just so it's my voice is irritated. So it's just, it's a terrible situation, but we got no problems, no issues. Magic Johnson will be here with us in about 15 to 20 minutes. We'll hear from Magic. We got a top six list coming an hour from now. Don't worry about it.

I don't care how my voice sounds. We're going to bring you the top six list. And in all the conversations about Damian Lillard and in honor of Magic, we're going to talk about the best floor generals in the NBA right now.

And in particular, I'm saying floor generals and not point guards because the point guard position has changed. And Magic, by the way, has some interesting comments about the guy who said he's the best point guard in the NBA. And that's Steph Curry. So I'm going to ask Magic about that. And he has a very interesting response.

So we talked about the Bucks. Congratulations again to Ronald. Chef, you tell him about Acuna while I cough to death.

Tell him. So, so J.R. is not coughing to death. Everybody didn't have no fear. So Ronald Acuna Jr., obviously, there's never been anyone in the history of the sport to go for 40 home runs and 60 stolen bases. All he has done is go for 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases.

Now, I hear people clamoring right now, J.R., and they're saying, well, the bags are a little bigger. Well, you know what? I don't see anyone else doing what Ronald Acuna Jr. is doing this season. And so you talk about a guy who's... Guy went 40, 60, and then he went 40, 70. He stole it. He stole a base. And then in overtime, in extra innings, and then Ozzie Albies pretty much hit him in.

He drove him in. He's 25. What, 25 what? He's 25 years old, J.R. Yeah, he's...

It's insane. He's the best overall player in baseball. He is.

Well, there might be some people in California, at least temporarily, that might take issue with that statement. No, right now. Oh, okay, okay, with Otani shelved out. Yeah, he is. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, right now. But, but, but, but, if healthy, we know Otani, it's a game set match. Yeah, because Otani's a Swiss Army knife.

He's doing everything. It may not be for a while. I know his agent wants to come out and tell you otherwise, but what they have to do is they have to protect him. I get that.

I get that. But it's about a long-term investment because, you know, he might have to retire early. I mean, there was a guy in Washington that won a World Series that had to retire early because he over-relied too much on his natural athleticism. And ultimately, he was gone from the game in his mid-30s.

That was obviously Steven Strasburg. So I hope his agent understands that. That guy has nerve damage. He's terrible. The normal everyday things in life he can't do anymore.

It's not good for him. Anyway, the Braves beat the Cubs 6-5. Let's listen to that 70th stolen base from Acuna. Tune in.

Listen, Valley Sports. Ronald goes. There it is. He did it. A 40-70 season and a season unlike any other in Major League Baseball history for Ronald Acuna Jr. Take the base and take a bow, number 13. I got to give it to him.

Yeah, that's pretty impressive. Yeah, that was tonight as the Braves beat the Cubs 6-5. Acuna for the year.

A batting average of 336, 41 home runs, 103 RBIs to go along with 70 stolen bases. Can we please just give him the MVP award today? 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. Hey, Chef, who do we have here? We got a... We got a lot of people, JR. So the person who has been waiting on hold the longest, Carlton, who wants to defend Joe Namath and he's calling from Maryland.

We're still talking about Joe Namath from last night? The problem is, a lot of times during your show, our show, JR, is the lines get full. So many people that want to have their opinions be heard, they can't do that, unfortunately.

So he saves it for the next day? Well, no, because we only have six lines. So they literally can't get through. So they're trying to call, but they can't get through.

Right. So I got to talk to them. Okay, sure. Carlton from Maryland, you're on CBS Sports Radio. Go ahead.

Yes. Last night's show, I want to talk about that Joe Namath thing. There was a guy that called who kind of ridiculed you guys and said that he watched the game, watched that Super Bowl No.

3. Yeah, John from Florida. We remember. Right. That guy is crazy.

I'm 65. I was 10 watching that game and watched that whole season. Namath is the reason that they was there.

He was paid $400,000 and he also made an impact on the AFL, which kind of pushed them over the line. And then they merged with the NFL in 1970. Another guy called about the documentary and he was saying that Namath played real bad and that those guys should have won multiple championships. So 1966, the Packers beat the Chiefs. Jets wasn't better than the Packers. 67, the Packers beat the Raiders. They wasn't better than the Packers. They won it in 68. 69, the Chiefs won it. They wasn't better than the Chiefs because the Chiefs had like about at least four or five.

All the favorites on their team. You go into the 70s with the Cowboys, the Dolphins, and the Stevens. I don't know what those guys were talking about last night. Joe Namath was broken by then, Carlton.

Yeah, thank you. He was broken by that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They didn't have a clue last night. I don't know what they watched. I don't know. Well, I got a simple call, Carlton.

Let's save us some time here. Joe Namath stole the guy's girlfriend. Okay, problem solved. Hey, man, I think that happened. Man, I'm through, but Carlton still loves the Raiders. He still loves the Wizards, but guess who else I love from Maryland? Did you refer to yourself in the third person? Yes.

The Baltimore Orioles. I think you missed that comment, but yes. All right.

I'm sure you're from Maryland. Not a shock. Man, I'm gone, JR. Okay, thank you.

All right. He referred to himself in the third person and then the first person, and I don't know if he was talking to himself, me, or I guess he realized again he was talking to the whole country. Hey, listen, we're talking a lot about Ronald Acuna Jr., and it's fitting because the guy who ultimately I remember putting up bags after stealing all kinds was Ricky Henderson, and there wasn't a better person who did that than Ricky Henderson. Oh, Ricky.

Maybe that's thematic. All he did was say Ricky. Ricky this, Ricky that, Ricky this. Underrated, though. Underrated. He doesn't get talked about among the all-time greats the way that guys like Johnny Bench do today.

Why do you think that is? Because he was a little... I don't think... Maybe if he played so long, he never gave himself the opportunity to be honored. If, yeah. He played for so many teams.

Sure. And then he was a little eccentric. Not in a bad way, but just... Right. He was on his own universe. Right, but for a sport that is so huge and immense on numbers and history, his numbers blow every other player out of the water. When you look at what he was able to do from runs, lead off home runs, obviously stolen bases, he broke Lou Brock's record and then like extended it by 600 stolen bases.

So, and he never gets talked about in the same light as even like a Derek Jeter. Well, I think there's a couple of things. One, the team that he spent the majority of his career with is a complete dumpster fire.

Okay? That's the Oakland Athletics. And I don't know if I would look at them as a team that has enough history where they would take the time to go ahead and honor him. And he... Did he ever officially retire? I actually think he did not pull a Larry Fitzgerald and at some point announced his retirement, yes. Yeah, and he's not visible. When was the last time you saw Ricky Henderson?

It's been a minute. I mean, I think JR, correct me if I'm wrong, what I understand about Ricky Henderson and we saw with Eddie Murray to a large degree as well, somewhat with Barry Bonds, although those guys are a little before Bonds. I feel like a lot of black baseball players who came up in the 60s and the 70s and the early 80s to some degree, they had a very acerbic tense relationship with the media and they didn't trust them.

And so you felt like as soon as their playing careers were done, they weren't going to give the media anything. It's why we never hear from Eddie Murray. Eddie Murray is the third player in the history of the sport, JR, you know this, to go for 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. He joined Aaron and Willie Mays and nobody ever talks about the guy. Probably the next generation, JR, the people younger than us, they probably don't even know who Eddie Murray is. Yeah, but I don't think it has so much to do with, you think it has to do with being black?

If you look at, I mean, I think... Post, like post career? Yeah, I mean, Albert Bell should have got a lot more Hall of Fame votes than he did and we never hear from that guy. And I think the commonality to me is they didn't trust the media, they felt like their voice was not being completely heard or represented.

We can ask Gary Shuffield about that. Well, Balco certainly had to do with his restrictions in terms of the amount of people that praised him and ultimately decided and elected not to put him in the Hall of Fame. But JR, yes, I absolutely, and I think baseball, JR, baseball of all sports, the media specifically, they're the most old school. It's why it's incredulous to me that guys like Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, there were individuals that did not put those guys on the Hall of Fame ballot.

That's crazy to me. That doesn't happen in another sport. Michael Jordan's unanimous.

Emma Smith's unanimous. Only in baseball could they not vote those guys in unanimously. Yeah, that's called racism. But in the case of Ricky Henderson, I don't know if I'd put him in that same category. And I'm not talking about we don't see him, like we don't see him at all.

I'm not talking about sitting down and doing kumbaya's. We don't see Ricky Henderson at all. He's not popping up at that dump. And that's why I said I think a lot more of it has to do with the fact that he played for the Oakland A's and the A's more recently have just been a disaster. I mean, how can you honor the man when you can't even get people to show up?

How can you honor the man and you're getting ready to move the whole team to Vegas? And I think that plays a big part. I wouldn't put him in the same category of, oh, my God, he hated the media and the media hated him. I just think he was in his own world. And for as long as he played, it wasn't like, hey, I'm leaving, I'm gone. You know, if we look at Miguel Cabrera right now, every place and every town and every city that he goes to, he's being lauded like they are showering him with gifts and he's going on a full tour.

Like Ricky Henderson ain't getting no tour. This dude played into his 40s and it's just like, damn, Ricky's still out there. He's still here. Right. And then when he stopped playing, you didn't you didn't never really even notice it because there was no hey, guys, I'm leaving.

Yeah. It was just like, hey, I'm still trying to play. And so he just kind of just drifted away. It's interesting, because obviously he did play for the A's a total of 14 years and that was spread out. But the second team that he had the biggest stint with was the Yankees and he played for them for five years.

And that is not a cup of coffee. And so you're going from the Oakland A's to now the most story franchise in all of professional sports, at least North American professional sports. When he was there, the Yankees weren't all that good.

Well, they are. Well, they they they hold Mattingly in high regard. I mean, Don Mattingly, I mean, we understand that he didn't have a single playoff series.

He's still held like royalty in this town. What does it have to do with Ricky Henderson? But he was there on a bad team where George Stormbrenner was being a jerk.

I get all that. But Ricky Henderson had a significantly better career than Don Mattingly. I know Mattingly won an MVP, but obviously the back and injuries got the better of his career. But Ricky Henderson was a lot more important to baseball than Don Mattingly was.

And he happened to don the uniform for five years. So why do the Yankees do nothing with it? Not to the Yankees, man, because he's not he's not a Yankee. That's it. All right.

Come on. This guy, this dude played for the New York Mets as well. Like he's not for all the teams that he played for. He's mostly remembered as an Oakland day. And yes, he was a New York Yankee, but it'd be a different story or category if he had full success. Yankees, they revere a lot of their homegrown dudes. And that's not that's not where Ricky was, unfortunately. So it'd be nice to see a Ricky get a little bit more love and a little bit of attention.

And quite frankly, maybe maybe he doesn't want it. But congratulations again to Ronald Acuna Jr. tonight. First dude in history, only dude in Major League Baseball history to say, hey, I got you 40 home runs.

He has 41 total. And tonight he stole his 70th base. He stole a base. It led to a run. It was the winning run. Congratulations to the Braves as they beat the Cubs six to five. Let's see what they can do in the postseason with all of those bats that they have in that lineup. And let's see how the pitching, pardon the pun, pitches in as well. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio eight five five two one two four CBS.

That's eight five five two one two four CBS. We are going to take a break. And when we come back on other side of the break, it's a conversation that I had earlier today with Magic Johnson.

It's a good cause that he's working on for health. And we're going to talk some basketball. We're going to talk some point guards. Magic Johnson on the other side is the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the JR Sport Brief Show right here with you on CBS Sports Radio. And I told you we're going to talk some basketball, but we're also going to talk some health.

And right now we have one, two individuals who are most certainly qualified to do a whole lot more than that. We're being joined by Dr. Leonard Friedland. This man is an expert in RSV and vaccines, also a vice president, GSK, GSK vaccines, and also someone who has been an advocate for health, also an NBA champion, basketball player, legend all over the world, entrepreneur.

It's Magic Johnson. How are you guys doing? Yeah, we're good. Yeah. Awesome to hear.

Now, now, Magic, let me start with you, man. We know you've been a health advocate pretty much your entire life in the public eye. What's the deal with RSV? What's the sideline RSV campaign?

Why are you participating? Well, JR, teaming up with GSK and finding out a lot of information about RSV. Actually, my good friend Dr. Lin has educated me on this disease. And so when I think about all the things I need to know about RSV has come from him.

And so I'm so lucky to have him. But also what we want people to do is educate themselves, JR, because when you think about 60 and over, it's really important that you know everything possible that you can about RSV. And I'm going to let really Dr. Lin, my partner, go into the real information about it, because it's really important, JR, that everybody 60 years and over really understand RSV. Please, doctor, go on ahead.

Yeah. Hi, JR, and thanks for having me today. Magic, it's always great working with you because your whole life has been about health and wellness. And it really fits in so great with this campaign, which is about bringing discussion about RSV center court, to use the basketball analogy. And the reason we want this conversation to happen is that RSV is a very common, contagious respiratory virus that affects people of all ages. And we get infected with RSV many times throughout our lives. But RSV tends to cause more severe disease in the very, very young and in the adult population, particularly adults over the age of 60, for which both Magic and I, we fall right into that demographic. Now, the reason it's important is that of adults over the age of 60, you can get RSV.

It typically is a common respiratory type of cold, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, maybe a little bit of wheezing. However, it can get more severe, especially as we get older, and especially in adults over the age of 60 who have underlying medical conditions of their heart and lung in particular. So asthma, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease put people at increased risk. And of adults over 65, JR, 177,000 are hospitalized in the United States every year. And of those, 14,000 will die from RSV. So that's why we want this conversation to happen, because then what can you do about it?

It's one thing if you have knowledge, but what can you do? And this year, for the very first time, the first RSV season ever, we now have vaccination options for people over 60. The Centers for Disease Control is recommending that people over 60 have a discussion about RSV vaccination with the health care provider and then make a decision.

So for adults over age 60, especially those with underlying heart and lung disease, have that discussion with your health care provider. And a lot of that information is on SidelineRSV.com, our campaign. Magic and I have had the opportunity to meet a few times and shoot some videos which talk about all of this. It's a great way to learn and have some fun learning, but then take action and have that discussion. And Magic keeps highlighting for me, which I think is so important, is not only have that knowledge for yourself, but talk to your parents, your grandparents, your friends and neighbors so that everybody can benefit all across the United States, every segment of our society. Everybody should have the opportunity for prevention. Dr. Leonard Friedland is here with us, CBS Sports Radio, the JR Sportbreeze show, in addition to the legend Magic Johnson. Magic, this is something you've dedicated your whole life to.

Now we have Sideline RSV. What else are some of your goals as you continue on in life? You've been so successful in business and athletics and helping people out.

What are some of your other goals you want to take advantage of? Well, I think, you know, JR, just understanding that to promote health and wellness, to make sure that people are eating healthy, making sure they're exercising, making sure their mental health, they're in line in terms of they know if they need help or not. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need help.

Make sure that, you know, you're taking care of yourself each and every day, mentally and physically. And so that's what I'm all about. That's what I'm going to be about. We had a great day yesterday. We went right into a community, a YMCA, and had probably a couple hundred seniors, 60 and over, and we were really able to help them yesterday.

That made me feel so good and made Dr. Lim feel so good as well. And they really had great questions, and they're all going to learn about RSV. And so GSK and the two of us are doing a wonderful job of teaming up and really getting the word out about RSV. So that's what I'm doing, JR. Really, it's not just about RSV. It's about HIV and AIDS. It's about a lot of things that I'm about.

But right now, RSV is at the top on my list. Dr. Leonard Friedland, Magic Johnson joining us here. CBS Sports Radio, the JR Sport Brief Show.

You're doing and running this campaign out of New York. I can't leave out the fact that there's a giant point guard in New York playing in Brooklyn right now who says he is ready to go. We haven't seen him shoot. He says that he's healthy. What are your thoughts on Ben Simmons and what we might expect from him, if anything? JR, I hope that he's back to being Ben Simmons that was an All-Star, that was a dominant figure in the game of the NBA.

And I think that he's saying all the right things. So can he be healthy? Can he play a full season? And if he can, then the Brooklyn Nets are going to be a very good team. He can do everything on the basketball court. The only thing we haven't seen him do is shoot well from the outside. But other than that, he's been a dominant basketball player.

And I hope that he can get back because it would be good for him, but also to those who also have been through something, right, been through a challenge in their life. So everybody's going to be looking at Ben Simmons and saying, hey, if he can do this, turn it around. This is going to not only be good for him, but also for the league. Magic, you talk about shooting. There's no better shooter than Steph Curry.

We heard this dude about a month ago. Steph said that I'm the best point guard. And I have to say to myself, you're a shooting guard. You shoot the ball.

What are your thoughts on how positions have changed? I think about him as a shooter, not a facilitator. Yeah, yeah, well, I think that, you know, as people have asked me all day today, he said he's the best point guard.

What do you say? And I said, well, the numbers have to just bear that out, J.R. You know, does he have more than five championships? Does he have more than three league MVPs? Does he have more than three finals MVPs?

Does he have is he has more assists? I'm the all-time leader in assists in the playoffs. I'm also the all-time leader in triple doubles. I'm also second all-time in the playoffs in double doubles. I'm fourth in steals all-time in the playoffs.

So you have to remember all those things. And so I think that, you know, I never say I'm the best at anything. I just let the numbers speak for it. And so I'm happy for Steph because Steph has changed the game of basketball with his shooting, also with his personality, too.

He's an astute businessman as well and a good person. Magic Johnson is here with us. In addition, Dr. Leonard Freeman, I want to ask you guys this in conclusion, especially as we see so many athletes that go down due to injury.

Is it a matter of being bigger, faster, stronger? I feel like ACL tears are the new sprained ankle. What do you guys both think? Well, I think that, you know, injuries are going to happen. There's nothing you can do about it. You know, I think that players are bigger and stronger and faster today. Also, the medicine is better, too. You know, and so but, you know, injuries are just a part of the game. There's nothing you can do to prevent it. But you try to stretch, you try to stay healthy, you try to be in the best condition possible. But we've seen the best condition athletes still get hurt.

So I don't know if there's anything you can do. Well, you know, Jay, I think it's also, you know, what you can do in the background to keep yourself healthy because other things will happen. Magic and I were yesterday with a person who had RSV who was in her early 70s and was talking about how when she went through this illness, it stopped her life for about two months.

She had to miss things. And so throughout our lives, even if you're, you know, a high caliber sports player, you don't want to get a respiratory infection or a GI infection or something that just throws you off when that happens. So I think we can always work on our background to keep ourselves, you know, at that level that we are, except there will be some things that take us up and down. But the stronger we are and the healthier we are, the better. I like to think of vaccination, just to come back to my area of expertise, as immune fitness. What we can do to keep our immune systems fit will help us in our other fitness as well.

And that's why I think this conversation is so important. We want to keep ourselves healthy. We want to live our lives to the best. We want to give back to our communities. And we'll do that when we ourselves are healthy as well. Tell us on the way out, guys, how can people get involved with sidelining RSV?

Well, they can go to www.sidelineRSV.com. And there's a lot of videos with Dr. Lin and myself and a lot of information. Did I miss anything, Dr. Lin? Absolutely. You didn't miss anything other than to reinforce that it's all about taking responsibility for ourselves. And ownership. Absolutely.

And so here's a great way to get information, but then do something with it. Have the discussion, bring that, we call it, bring it to the center court, and then move it forward and take action. Thank you so much. We've been joined by Dr. Leonard Friedland and Magic Johnson.

Here's the JR Sport Reshow, CBS Sports Radio. Thank you, guys, for sharing the information. Thank you. Well, thank you, Magic, for coming through and dropping that information to help people out with their health.

And thank you for also talking point guards. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I'm a new listener, but a long time radio personality over the years, and you're just enlightening. I'm trying, man.

That's it. I'm just trying to be enlightening. Hey, thank you so much to Dr. Friedland. Thank you to Magic Johnson as well for joining us in the prior break. You know, Magic is really he's dedicated his life through his own experiences, obviously, to empowering others. And he's doing so in the health space. And so kudos to him. I mean, obviously, there's so much that he's doing currently.

A minority owner here with the Washington commanders. And it's just it's cool how he has just taken the majority of his life and given back. And so thank you to Magic Johnson for joining us. And also so amazing to hear him just refer to Steph Curry there. I kind of asked him, hey, man, what do you think about him even qualifying as being a point guard? And Magic went straight to, well, just let's let's listen to my stats and numbers. I'm like, you right, man.

Ain't nothing taken away from that. And so in honor of everything that Magic Johnson just shared with us and so many of the conversations of Damian Lillard now being a member of the Milwaukee Bucks for tonight's top six list, when we get to the top of the hour, I want to talk about the current crop. I don't even know if I want to call them point guards because I think that might get confusing. I want to talk about some of the best floor generals in the NBA right now. Who has the basketball? Who's best at setting people up?

Who's best at initiating and running an offense? And so I got that top six list for you at the top of the hour. We got a lot of callers here right now that I want to get on the board. And so let's not waste any time in doing that before we get to the top six at the top of the hour. It's eight five five two one two four CBS.

That's eight five five two one two four CBS. If you've missed the interview with Magic Johnson, you can just go ahead and hit rewind if you're listening on the free Odyssey app. And if you don't have the Odyssey app, do yourself a favor. Download it. It's free.

Free ninety nine. Let's go ahead and go to Alabama. Let's talk to Leland. You're on CBS Sports Radio. OK, Leland got abducted by aliens. Let's talk to Greg from Michigan.

You're on CBS Sports Radio. Go ahead, Greg. Hey, J.R., Mr. Positive.

Oh, my God. I got to tell you, you talk about Magic Johnson and doing things for the world. I'm talking to him right now. Agents of inclusion, everybody love you for bringing magic to talk about stuff. You're the only sports show that I know of that goes out of your way to talk about things that help the world become a better place. You don't realize how fantastic you are. I believe in you. The world believes in you. Keep doing what you're doing.

Very eclectic show today. Don't even know where to begin. But I'm glad that you brought that about with Magic telling stuff. Hey, you're great. But I think I'm a little bit greater and in a very nice way. I've got to ask you and I know who's going to be one of your generals and it's my favorite baller. So I won't say his name, but I've got a feeling you might mention him. Are my Lions going to beat Green Bay?

I'm a big fella. It's a possibility. It's it'll be a close game tomorrow, I believe. Are you going to watch it?

I mean, he's sitting here on the air watching it. Absolutely. The best way that I can. Yeah. Very good, sir. Hey, love you.

Everybody go for your dreams. JR, you're the best. Shep, you're the best. Bye, you guys. Thank you, Greg. Thank you.

Appreciate you. Yeah. Shep, do I have a choice? I mean, I got a choice to do anything, but I got no choice. I got to watch the game. Well, listen, I mean, we're actually getting good Thursday Night Football.

That's not always the case. So let's take this blessing while we can, you know? Yeah, we'll be talking about the game tomorrow.

Of course, I'm going to be watching it. 855-212 for CBS. Brandon is here from New Mexico. You are CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Brandon? Hey, thanks for taking my call, JR. Sure.

What's going on? Well, I live in Oakland for a real long time. You see Ricky play all the time.

So anyway, you're going to be surprised. Ricky is one of them. What do you call it? He's one of the special coaches for the Aviators, which is the A's triple A team. A special coach means he pops up like once in spring training or something?

Yeah. Well, see, Ricky loves the game of baseball and that's how he played the game. So I wouldn't be surprised if Ricky's there every day, you know what I mean? Like first one showing up at the park, that's Ricky. He's a special coach.

They don't have a name for it. I've heard that. But that was, I know he was doing that in 2019. He's still doing that five years later?

As far as I know. OK, so here's a better question, Brandon. When is the last time that you've seen Ricky Henderson with your own two eyes? Oh, gosh, man. Back in the Moneyball days, maybe. Oh, my God. So he could be coach and he couldn't be. We have no idea where this man is.

Well, I know for a fact he was, but I. Yeah. Yeah. Brandon and Jerry, I'm scoping the Internet.

I'm not seeing anything past 2020 for Ricky Henderson. Really? Maybe he's not alive anymore. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Come on now, Brandon.

You don't want to joke about those. What if I said you're not going to be here in five minutes? That'd be disrespectful of me now, wouldn't it? Well, you'd save me a lot of problems.

Oh, well, damn. Well, what's your problem, Brandon? What's going on? Let's talk about radio for the country to listen.

What's your problems? Oh, it's just like that. Well, I live in Albuquerque, man.

Come on. You've heard about this stuff in New Mexico with our government. You're going to tell me about drugs?

Not well. I mean, that's everywhere. It's bad, though.

It's bad. You're sitting on the streets doing drugs and the cops don't even care. Hold on a second, Brandon. Hey, Shep, what do we do for this guy? Do we send him, like, what do we do to make him feel better? What do we do? I mean, okay, so I'm a little biased, but I would say, Brandon, you obviously have a good mind on your shoulders. You can talk sports.

Just keep listening to us, man. You said if he was gone in five minutes, it'd save him a lot of problems. That's sad. No, I understand that. I do think that's said in jest and tongue in cheek.

Of course. I think Brandon sounds like a pretty upbeat guy, if you ask me. And the guy knows sports, man. So, Brandon, keep calling the show every night, man. I don't know if we've spoken to you that much. Do you need a hug, Brandon? I do, JR. I do. Yeah. We all need a hug every day, man.

You're right. You know how many hugs I got today, Brandon? A lot. I didn't get not a damn hug. Did you get a hug today, Brandon? I did not. We're going to give each other a virtual hug right now, JR. Hey, well, hold on a sec.

We're not done yet. Hey, Shep, did you get a hug today? Did somebody hug you?

Yeah, but I have a home-core advantage. I have a living girlfriend, so it's inevitable. It's something I'm doing special. Hey, Brandon, me and you, we alone over here. This guy got a whole girlfriend, this guy here. He's got life made, I guess, huh?

Yeah, we got to get like Shep. No, gentlemen, trust me, you'd rather be alone than be stuck with somebody. So it all is a matter of who you choose to be with. And I also have a dog, so I get two hugs every day.

So I'm a real cheater here. Can a dog really hug a human? Without question. They can jump on you. Can they really hug you?

Without question, JR. Yes, they do. And they love it. They do.

They live for it. All right. I've never experienced. I've had dogs jumping on me. I've never been.

Well, when you come to New York, you'll meet like me. I don't want your dog hugging me. Come on, man. Your dog is going to hug me?

How? I thought that was a kind offer, JR. I mean, you can go after me, but not George. No, George is a pit bull, so he's a great athlete. He's got good hind legs.

And do you jump up and give you a hug? And the pit bull's the sweetest dog out there, man. Oh, my God, Brandon, you have no idea.

Biggest misconception out there. I have one, though. I know.

I have a female. She's so sweet. Wait, wait, wait a minute. Your dog didn't give you a hug today, Brandon? No, she did.

She always does. Wait, wait, wait, wait. You said you didn't get a hug. And so here I am. I don't want to talk to you no more. You got a hug.

Shep got a hug from his dog and his girlfriend. And I got nothing. I got misery all day. Yeah, you're too busy interviewing some guy named Magic Johnson.

We really feel bad for you, JR. It wasn't in person? He didn't give me no hugs? He would hug you if it was in person.

Yeah, he would have, but it wasn't. Well, now I'm miserable. Well, Brandon, you go on with your wonderful night, okay? All right, thanks, man. I'll head on back to Door Dashing, man.

All right, make that money. Send me some food. Manny's here from Flushing. Go ahead, Manny, quick. What's up, Jay? How you doing, man?

I'm good. You got to go quick, bro. Yes, yo, I got some news for you. Your boy James Harvey was at a party tonight, and he did the 10th strike on Daryl Morey. Oh, I saw it. Was that from last night? He said Daryl Morey.

They put it on one of the boards at a party. It read, Daryl Morey's a liar, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, man.

I also heard he's not going to show up to work, so... Oh, well, it's his money, not mine. You're right, you're right. He's an interesting fellow. Well, Manny, you have a good night, okay? Oh, well, you too, my man. You keep up the good work. Thank you. No doubt about it.

And James Harden, he... I don't... Is he paying for hugs? Is that what it's called when you go to the strip club? Hey, Shep, well, you haven't been, right? I've never been to a strip club, thank God. Thank God? Oh, man. Some people, sometimes they pay for more than hugs. I don't need to pay for more than hugs.

I get a natural charm and conviction. Well, look at that. Got it made.

Got it made. It's the J.R. Sportbree show here on CBS Sports Radio. There ain't going to be no hugs on the other side of the break. What will be on the other side of the break is a new top six list as we talk about some of the best floor generals and distributors in the NBA today. Thank you, Magic Johnson, for the chat and inspiration. Don't move.

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