JR Interview with Magic Johnson

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Shop in store or visit Ashley.com today. It's the JR Sport Brief Show right here with you on CBS Sports Radio. When I told you we're going to talk some basketball, but we're also going to talk some health.

And right now we have on 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 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, 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. And 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 healthcare 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 healthcare 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. You know, he can do everything on the basketball court. You know, 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. Like you shoot, you shoot the ball.

What are your thoughts on like how positions have changed? I think about him as a shooter, as a 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 there. You know, does he have more than five championship? 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 a stoop 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. It'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 it'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 she 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. I think we can always work on our background to keep ourselves, you know, at that level that we are, except there'll 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 fitnesses 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.

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