JR SportBrief Hour 4

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That's betterhelp.com slash positive. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It's the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in all over North America. Thank you to our super producer and host Dave Shepherd holding it down for us in New York City. Thank you to everybody.

Just flat buried. I appreciate y'all. So whether you're tuned in on the free Odyssey app, your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate, Sirius XM 158, I say thank you. We've had a busy Monday. Damn it, we're going to have a busy week. Let's think about everything going on right now in the world of sports. We're getting ready to start the World Series. The Rangers advance against the Astros.

We're going to find out soon enough in less than 24 hours whether it's going to be the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Phillies joining them. They got a game seven on Tuesday. The NBA starts its regular season on Tuesday. The NFL is in full swing. Tonight we see the conclusion of another week as the Minnesota Vikings beat the 49ers in Minneapolis 22 to 17.

It's just a busy time. Hockey is underway. There's a lot going on right now in the world of sports, but let's focus in on some of the winners here.

Just just over the past couple of hours. More recently, congratulations to the Texas Rangers. They are going to the World Series for the first time since 2011. Only a couple of seasons ago, these Texas Rangers lost more than 100 games in a season, and here they are on the way to the World Series.

Adolis Garcia hits two more home runs tonight. He has driven in 20 RBIs this postseason alone. That is one away from a postseason record. He has 15 RBIs or he had 15 RBIs during the league championship series.

That's the most ever. I can now talk about that in the past tense and he was just raking. I told you he hit two home runs today and then he hit one in the eighth. It was almost like an FU home run. Take a listen to this courtesy of the Rangers Radio Network. And the pitch swung on and a high fly ball hit to left field.

This is deep. Back is Brantley at the wall. He's looking up and that ball is history.

It just barely makes it into the Crawford boxes. A two home run game for Adolis Garcia. That was a moonshot. As a moonshot, well damn it, that man made the score 10 to 2. The final score was 11 to 4. Let's listen to the final call courtesy of the Rangers Radio Network.

Well, clerk ready now. 1-2 pitch. Ground ball. Second base.

Simians got it. On to first to Nate Lowe and a hello World Series. The Rangers have won their third American League pennant. They stream out of the dugout and are jumping up and down between the mound and first base. For the first time since 2011, the Rangers are going to the World Series after having six consecutive losing seasons. What an amazing year this has been.

And there's more baseball to be played. What is that guy reading off of a teleprompter? Oh my God. So JR, I know we want to be professional.

I know you are the ultimate professional, but I hate to say this. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Yes. I just want to lean back in my chair while you speak. Hold on a second. All right.

Go ahead. Say it. There is an issue right now of nepotism in our business. The Collinsworth kid did the Notre Dame game and he was pretty bad. No disrespect to the Collinsworth family, but Chris is a Hall of Famer for a reason as a broadcaster. It's why his son does those games, in my opinion. There's a lot of nepotism in our industry. There is no way this guy, Eric Nadal, I think that's his name.

There is no way he doesn't know someone higher up or has some kind of longstanding relationship because he is reading from a telephone book. That is how bad he sounds. It is such an injustice for Adolis Garcia to have the type of series and to have the type of game seven that he had. And then to hear someone is leading a laundry list. I feel like I'm reading, I'm listening to a guy read a grocery store list.

It does such an injustice, JR. He's terrible. Like he's going shopping for eggs and milk?

He's terrible. This is the excitement of milk toasts. I was looking for excitement. I didn't find it.

There's none. I was like, they're going to the world series. They ain't been in more than a decade. And JR, they've never won a world series. They're one of six teams. They were one strike away and David Freese decided to be anything but cold.

He was hot. They're down two runs. He hits that game tying home run. You figure there's going to be some type of fervency and excitement and jubilation. Let's hear part of it again. Let's see if he's excited. Maybe we didn't hear it the first time. Let's try again.

Oh, which one? The final call? Yeah, let's hear it again. Let's see if there's excitement.

Well, clerk ready now. One, two pitch ground ball. Second base.

Simeon's got it. On the first to Nate Lowe and a hello world series. The Rangers have won their third American league pennant.

They stream out of the dugout and are jumping up and down between the mound and first base. All right. That's enough. It is jumping up and down between first base. Yeah.

I mean, we've seen the celebrations, man. You got to see, not that I'm going to tell somebody how to do their job. You paint a picture.

You tell a story. You got to go up. You got to go down. You got to go high.

You got to go low. God bless him. He's doing his thing. So he's in his, I believe he's in his mid seventies. So I don't want to go after the elderly.

Okay. I want to show him some kind of respect and dignity. But, but he's, but he's old.

But you know what? Vince Scully was doing this at 89. Bob Euchre is doing this at 89.

You can be old and still be good. Now. Energetic. Absolutely. I can't, what's the, Oh, I can't stand Mr. Yankee. What's his name?

Oh, John Sterling's 84. Yeah. I mean, Oh, what is it? No, that's a Michael K. Right.

He gives us the, the judgy and blessed. Exactly. Or, but, but JR, but here's the performance. Right. But here's the difference though. Yes.

Can some, I'm not saying I feel this way. Have some argue that John Sterling is shtick, of course, but he's excited, but he's exciting. He's right. He's energetic.

He's, he's lively. Like you can't do a sport unless it's golf on the first hole. You gotta be animated with these broadcasts. Like it's just that simple and shame on the Rangers by the way.

And I'll tell you why, JR, maybe there's some kind of, hold on, slow down. Yes. We got the first one out the way. Now that you, you, you went after the, the Houston, what are the Astros now tell us about the Rangers.

Go ahead. Well, like for this guy to, for this guy to do your final call, like in baseball, what they do is they alternate broadcasters. I don't understand why they didn't do that with Vin Scully. And it seemed to me that that was the gold standard of broadcasting. So apparently baseball wanted to complicate their broadcast for whatever reason, but nonetheless, they do that. They didn't do it with Harry Caray either, but they do it now. This guy Hicks is the other broadcaster. I forget, I forget the first name, but the last name is Hicks.

He's the good one. Why isn't he doing the ninth inning? It makes no sense to me. That's like having Mike Breen and Hubie Brown and saying, Hey, Hubie, you get the fourth quarter Breen. You're stuck in the first and third.

Well, we'd be hearing a lot about the painted area. And that's another guy that I can't believe I'm saying this before an NBA, a hundred years old Jr. He has forgotten more basketball than I'll ever know. How old is Hubie Brown today? 106. He's not, he, no, in all seriousness, he's 90. He needs, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Is Hubie Brown going to do broadcasting this year? Yes. Oh my God. It's keeping them alive.

Let them do it. You know what? 90? Yeah. But here's, here's the thing. No, no, wait a second.

Right. I go to a lot of games. I'm going to, I'm going to, I go to a lot of games. We all know you do. I go to games and I got to walk around and say hello and say hi and shake hands, kiss babies, and then watch the game. And I got to entertain people and talk to sponsors and all this other stuff. Right. When I go to the game, it's a lot.

It's work, right? Hubie Brown is going, he has to travel. He's 90 years old. He has to do all of the pregame preparation. He has to sit there and I'm sure people want to say hi. He doesn't have to engage them in the same way. He has to walk and get to the game early.

He has to be at the arena. I mean, he has to leave and that is not an easy job for anybody to do, let alone somebody who is 90. It's not easy if you are 25 and you're trying to get into the business, let alone a dude who's 90.

And so kudos to Hubie Brown. He is 90 years old doing this. Yeah, he's 90 years old. Here's the crazy part, JR. It's not like he's got a lifetime contract.

Like he's not Coach K or Dick Vitale. He can't. He's 90. Some days are over, lifetime contract.

Fair enough. So you could envision someone maybe sticking out that long like a Supreme Court Justice, but JR, he just signed an extension. He was that good in his late 80s that they said to him, you know what, Hubie?

We think he can go at it in a couple more years. We think he got more in you. That's amazing.

That's amazing. Yeah, he's not, I don't dislike him. He's not one of my favorite. I actually find him amusing because he isn't one of my favorite people. Because of the painted area. Yeah, he's just, he breaks everything down to the T. It's amusing.

It stands out. That's the point. And to your point, the amount of preparation these broadcasters have to do when they're calling the game, and they're not on their schedule. They got to be revolved around the players' schedule, around the coaches' schedule, because they got to talk to all these guys. They got to talk to all these assistant coaches that you never hear about. Like, when they're doing broadcasts, you always hear, like, when we spoke with this coach, this is what he wants us to look for.

When we spoke with this player who's not getting a lot of playing time, this is what's making him so prepared and helping him to stay motivated. But what we don't hear about is all the assistant coaches they have to talk to, all the strength and conditioning coaches they have to talk to, the equipment managers that they have to do. There's so much that goes into broadcast. People were beside themselves when they found out Tony Romo was making 20-something million dollars, and I understand that, but I don't think people realize how hard Tony Romo actually does work, believe it or not.

There's so much that goes into being a game broadcaster. Take a breath, Shep. Take a breath. Sorry, I'm just, I'm just, well, listen, I gotta, I gotta stay inspired, you know.

Hugh V. Brown has inspired me to stay young at 37, so. You're more exciting than the Rangers' broadcasters, so that's all that matters. I'm more excited when I'm asleep than the Rangers' broadcaster. Oh.

They have medicine for those things, I mean, medicine. Apparently, I'm a sleep talker, by the way. Shocker. Somebody, somebody told you, I'm not going to ask no questions. It was my girlfriend. That's a personal thing for you, okay?

Gotcha. I don't need to know that. Gotcha, I'm a sleep talker. I don't want to know what you said, I don't, that's personal.

I don't need to know that I know that, it's too late now, you told me. You're a good friend of mine, J.R., you can hear that stuff. We're talking to the whole country. Well, you know what, I love, I love our audience, I love the fans of the J.R.S.

corporate. You want the whole country to know that you talk in your sleep? I'm not ashamed of it. So what are you saying? Uh, three-point shot made by Steph Curry. Like, what are you rolling over? Oh, LeBron James, triple-double. Like, what are you saying?

LeBron James, with no regard for human life. I mean, maybe I'm trying my Kevin Harlan impersonation. I would hope not. That'd be very aggressive for somebody sleeping.

That's a good point. Although the NBA season, speaking of sleeping, it's not sleeping anymore. It is on, J.R., it is today.

Okay, look at the transition. There you go. All right, well, yeah, the Nuggets will raise their banner. I don't see the Nuggets repeating, so let me just get that out the way. I'll have to explain that, I'm sure, a bunch of times throughout the course of the year.

But for what it stands right now, yeah, it is what it is. Hey, you know what? Let's hear from a winner. Let's hear from Adolis Garcia. Since the Rangers broadcaster was asleep, maybe Garcia had a little bit more energy. After he went four of five with five RBIs and two home runs in this game seven, he spoke to Fox.

Kevin Burkhart put the microphone in his face, and the interaction sounded like this. How did it feel to you, this hot streak? You have the most RBIs for anyone ever in a playoff series. I want to say thank God, thanks to my family, all the fans. This team right here, we are a family, and they push me every day to play hard. And that's why I just made, just adjustment today, just try to don't do too much.

And if it's not for the love of all my teammates, man, this can be possible. Thank you. He ain't try to do too much. He did just enough.

He did a lot. Bruce Bochy just got to the Texas Rangers. Bruce Bochy is, he won all them World Series III of them with the Giants, and now he's trying to pick one up with the Rangers. He spoke on Fox as well after the victory. This is what Bruce Bochy said.

Unbelievable. I tell you what, I couldn't be more honored to manage such a great team like this. I mean, for C.Y. to call me last November, I didn't know if I'd get back in or not. Here I am.

I know how blessed I am, but I can't thank these guys enough. Ray Davis, with his commitment. C.Y., from the get-go, had his vision, and here we are. Boch, you were talking about it. You know, the last regular season series, a lot of teams, it could have hurt them, and it could have gone the other way. It galvanized this team, that trip to Seattle.

How did you do it? How did you come back from that to get and win a pennant? Well, they've done it all year. We've had our streaks.

We've had our injuries. They keep getting up, and you know, you come in here and beat such a great club like Houston, and congrats on their year, but it's great to be wearing the horns in Texas. Bochy Champ, lift it up, Bruce. Yeah, congratulations to these Texas Rangers going to their first World Series since 2011.

He talks about wearing horns and being in Texas. Well, the Astros have carried that mantle for the past seven years for the state of Texas. Dusty Baker holding it down for the past four. Really not necessarily even coming on as a mop-up man, but really having success with the team after the controversy with the sign-stealing. It's been reported that Dusty Baker is on his way out.

It's not official. The athletic is saying that he has told individuals inside the organization that, hey, whenever the season was over, that was going to be it for him. He declined to respond about that after the game, but I mean, he's 74 years old.

Why wouldn't he be considering walking away, especially after getting his first victory as a manager last year? Dusty Baker did speak after the L, and he said, man, even with the loss, we had a good year, man. You know, we've been spoiled around here as far as just winning and winning and winning, and you know, heck, I've been here four years and we've been the two World Series and two Championship Series. I mean, series. I mean, you know, we have nothing to be ashamed of or nothing to hold our head down about. I mean, we're down, you know, but we're not out, and every team damn near in baseball would trade, you know, to have the last four years that we've had.

Absolutely. Go ask the Yankee fans what type of year that they'd like to have. If they would like to switch with the Astros. Dusty Baker, I told you, he was also asked about his future.

That's what Dusty had to say there. Not a lot. I don't know. I haven't had time to evaluate or think about my future because, you know, I'm down the list as far as, you know, like I'm not that kind of dude. I don't want to steal a spotlight or anything from these guys, you know. I mean, you got to savor what we did. You got to think about how we can get better, and then I'll evaluate my situation and in my life. Okay, that's called being a professional.

You ain't taking nobody else's thunder. 855-212-4CBS, Davis here from San Diego. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey JR, I want to thank you for the lead on that. As a pottery fan, there's many daughters I hate, but there's a few that I love, and that's one man that I love and respect the most. I mean, that guy is a class act, and what I'm thinking, he's going to walk away and he's going to enjoy watching his son that he hugged and adored when they, yeah, it's a little tainted World Series, but he loved that kid, and it, I mean, he's just a perfect person.

I mean, he just, he shows humanity to his son, raising him up to love the game, to appreciate the game. I mean, right now, as a pottery fan, we're going to struggle for a manager. Bring Dusty back and bring him to San Diego so he can beat those Dodgers.

Okay, all right. Well, thank you, Dave, for calling from San Diego. Listen, I ain't gonna walk around calling no human being perfect, but all things considered, Dusty Baker is a good guy. He has made, he has made them, them being the Astros as a team.

I don't want to say he's like deodorant, but he's hard to dislike, without a shadow of a doubt. Tim is calling from Boston, you're on the CBS Sports Radio. Hey, J.R. Hi.

How are you? Okay, I just want to make two points. Bruce, Bruce Bochy is pretty close to, if he wins the World Series, he'll tie Joe Torre with four rings, you know that? Yeah, well, he got three already with the, with the Giants, and now he'd be added to another one, yes. Yeah, and, well, Torre's a couple ahead of him, because he, and 0-1, and 0-3, but that's the Yankees, but still, he's, look what he's done, and my second point is, the greatest, I'm Boston, but the greatest clutch hitter in the history of game, I got to give it to, I still, David Ortiz, I still got to give it to him, but I'm impressed with what this kid did tonight, but what David Ortiz has done in clutch hits to win games is, he's incredible. I was watching a biography the other night, the guy's, he's such a nice guy, have you ever met him? David Ortiz?

Yes, I have. I met David Ortiz, I want to say in 2008, when he was really rolling at his peak, he was playing for the Red Sox, and to the shock of probably no one, he's one of the nicest people that I've met, yeah. Yeah, he's very generous with his money, he lives right here in the city, and he gives everything back, and he's, he'll be the last one to let you down, and he's very, very, well, let's forget all that crap. He ain't give me no money, do I need to go to Boston and ask him for some? No, not money, but I'm talking about, he goes to the hospitals and stuff like that. That's nice of him. Well, I'll see if he can give me some money first. Well, thank you, man.

What he did was incredible, but this guy tonight did a great job too, but Bochi's still my man, what he did today, I'm rooting for him now. All right, thank you, Tim, you take it easy, man. All right, bye-bye.

Bye-bye, yeah. That's nice, I like nice things, but let me know when David Ortiz is handing out money, I'll take some. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS, we'll get to more of your calls, we'll also talk about the Monday Night Football game as the Minnesota Vikings pick up a victory against the 49ers, and then basically they put the 49ers into a two-game losing streak. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio, don't move. Thank you, first off, for making my drive from the south side of Atlanta to the north side every night bearable. I always enjoy listening to you, man, intellectual and introspective, I appreciate you. I just started to listen to you about six months ago, man, I love your show.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. Yeah, so there were some big baseball games today, the Rangers beat the Astros to advance to the World Series, the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Phillies 5-1 to force a game 7 on Tuesday, and then yes, we did have football. Monday Night Football did go on as scheduled and planned, as planned in Minneapolis. The Vikings beat the 49ers, the final score there 22-17. This was the Vikings' first home victory on the season, they improved their record to 3-4, keep in mind there is no Justin Jefferson, and so Jordan Addison had two touchdowns on the night, and then in the worst way for the 49ers, they fall to 5-2, and Brock Purdy has two interceptions, including one at the end of the game.

A minute left, they're trying to go on one of those magical game-winning drives, didn't happen. Brock Purdy went out there and threw an interception, and so they lose 22-17, the 49ers do. They're on a two-game losing streak, they lost to the Browns, scored 17 points there as well, the Browns beat them in their prior game 19-17, and the 49ers, they're going to take on the Bengals next, and the Vikings have a chance to even up their season. They got the Packers next up, and so Kyle Shanahan, head coach of the 49ers, he spoke to the media after the game, and he made it very clear, we just sucked. Not much you can do about it, I mean we flat out got beat, and I think right now you got to take it like a man, and we got a game here, and I think tomorrow we wake up, it'll be five days from now, we got a team coming off a bye week, who's been waiting for this for a little bit, and we can't sit here and worry about what's happened before this.

We got to make sure that we do everything from now all the way till Sunday when that game's over, to find a way to beat the Bengals, and then we go into our bye week, and I just looked at our guys right now as we got about five and a half days left, got to focus all on that, and make sure we go in that bye week six and two, not five and three. Now for the Minnesota Vikings, I told you that Jordan Addison stepping up with no Justin Jefferson, 123 yards receiving to go along with two touchdowns, it's big time right there man, and he went down at one point in the game due to cramping, and so Kirk Cousins threw 378 yards, all two of those touchdowns to Jordan Addison. Kirk Cousins speaking after the game, he talked about Jordan Addison, talked about the win, and gave him a lot of credit especially for being a rookie. This game is going to punch you in the gut, and you're going to have things that don't go your way, and that turnover was tough, and you have to just play through it, play through the smoke as my college coach used to say, so you know we were able to do that tonight, and clearly the way Jordan responded, he had a couple tough catches in traffic, the one that very easily could have been interception, the other one the safety was driving, you could tell he made a decision that that's not happening again, and it reflected in the way he played. Yeah, Minnesota Vikings three and four, where they going this season?

I don't know, nowhere probably still, I know Kirk Cousins is going to free agency, so enjoy the ride, this is a Vikings ship on the way to nowhere. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS, Kareem is calling from Cali, what's up Kareem? What's up Jerry, how you doing buddy?

I'm good, go ahead please. Yeah, so I mean tonight's game, it was just really Kirk Cousins, I know earlier Carla was saying how when you were talking about a couple segments ago how he's not in that top tier, and we know he's now, but he will you know come up and step up and have a game as he had tonight, although you know in prime time games he had a reputation of not showing up, I believe coming into this game he was three, three and ten, so he turned it into a nice four and ten, but I think the max stat, and I'll do a little break down the games for the Niners and break it down some of the games over the weekend after the Niner game, and my max stat of the night was just the third down conversions, I mean them guys was nine to thirteen on third down conversions, and any time a team convert like that on third down, which is the money down, can keep drives going, control time of possession, I don't care if you go into that game on seven, you're gonna have a hard time beating that team, so you know and on the other side I think Purdy, you know definitely all the praises that he was getting in the first five weeks of the season, he definitely got to give him some of the blame, especially those two picks that he threw tonight, both of them was uncatchable by the receivers, especially the last one, he threw about five feet over the receiver at the bottom, you know with his second one, that's Jerry, you still got us? Yeah, I'm here. Yo, yeah I'm here, can you hear me? Yeah, I got you, I got you loud and clear, I was saying that that was basically desperation time, and so Brock Purdy, yeah he was, he was trying to win the game, there was one minute left and he was trying to go for it, that's it.

Yeah, it was more, it was more. Kareem, you busy? Am I interrupting you, Kareem? In the first half by Moody, it changed the outcome of the game, and then also once they scored that late touchdown in the second half, in the second quarter, that 60-yarder to Addison, you know, Ward going for the interception there, I felt that, you know, if you just make the tackle to half-end and instead of being down 16-7, we're down 10-7, and that could have been a difference in us, you know, going for a field goal instead of having to have seven to win the game, you know, at the end of the game, yeah. Kareem, without going too deep in the woods of the entire game, yeah okay, everybody gonna lose every now and then, and so let's look at it this, let's look at it this way, the 49ers prior to the last two games, 15 consecutive wins in the regular season, they lost the last two, they got the Bengals coming up, it's still early in the season, they have a record of five and two, I think the 49ers, when it's all said and done, I think they'll still be there at the end of the year competing for a championship, so let's see, okay?

Yeah, definitely, I think they, like you said, JR, they will be there in the thick of it, when it's all said and done, see if we can get a healthy against the Bengals, going into our bye, end up six and two, and then we still got Seattle twice, yeah, definitely got that game against Philly, and we good team, okay Kareem, Kareem, good team problems, don't worry about them, okay? And thank you, Kareem, it's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-2124 CBS, we're going to get to more of your calls before we roll out, hey, there's a guy who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks who signed an extension, I wonder who he is, I'll tell you about him before we roll out. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, JR, man, I want to first by saying I love the show, and thank you for keeping it so real on so many different topics.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to have plenty of time to talk basketball over the next couple of days, the next couple of months. NBA season starts on Tuesday night, we learned on Monday afternoon, Monday evening, that Giannis Atetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks agreed to a three-year, $186 million extension. It includes a player option for the year 2027 to 2028 for Giannis if he should choose to stick in or likely go ahead and sign another contract. And so Giannis is going to be sticking around with Damian Lillard, at least for the duration of Lillard's time in Milwaukee as well.

Plenty of time to get into basketball. I'm going to get some more of your calls before we have to roll out. Let's try to get on as many as possible.

Let's see if you guys can actually listen. I want to try to get on as many people as possible. So go ahead, let me know your thoughts. I'm fine. You don't have to ask me how I'm doing.

I'm absolutely great. We got a lot of callers, a lot of thoughts. Let's do it. 855-212-4CBS. Nat is calling from Atlanta, you're on CBS Sports Radio.

How you doing, JR? I just called to agree with you on the Houston being a dynasty. It's a great accomplishment, I'll grant you that. But so did Buffalo, which is a Super Bowl four years straight, but no one ever considered them a dynasty because they never won. So I know the family is about the same for your show, but that's my only opinion.

Well, thank you so much, Nat. I agree with you, man. I think we got to have higher standards. I think about a dynasty. I'm thinking about a team that actually won the championships. And yeah, it's a hell of an accomplishment. As he just mentioned, the Buffalo Bills went four consecutive times, and they ain't win nothing.

I mean, if I got to think about somebody went four consecutive times and actually won something, I could think about the Islanders, okay, in the 80s. So there's a difference. Like, it's nice to go. It's nice to compete. It's an accomplishment. But did you win? It's simple as that.

855-212-4CBS. I like how he said, the fat lady is about to sing on my show. I didn't know we could still say that. Chef, we could still say the fat lady sing and we could say that?

I don't think so. He did. He did. So if he said it, it's okay, right?

He's not a professional broadcaster. So I can't say nothing about no fat lady sing. I can't say that. Well, you just did.

I did. Anyway, who the hell is this? Hey, Frank is calling from Iowa. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Frank? Yes, how are you doing, JR Sports Read? I'm okay.

What's up? Yeah, I'd like to know, who do you think would be the predominantly or the top eight teams or the eight teams in the playing teams in the Western Conference? Because I think there's four teams that's not that good in the Western Conference. You want me to name the top eight teams in the Western Conference?

Well, yeah, yeah. Who do you think is the top eight teams in the Western Conference in the NBA? How about this? On Wednesday, unless something ridiculous happens, how about instead of thinking about some bottom four teams in the West, how about I just give you a top six list of the best teams in the NBA? Is that better? Yeah, in the Western Conference, right? That'd be fine. No, no, no, no, no. On Wednesday, not the West.

Oh, on Wednesday. Yeah, listen. On Wednesday, I'm going to give a top six list of the teams that I think are the best in the NBA period, okay? What I don't want to do is waste my time thinking about a bunch of bum-ass teams at the bottom of the West. Well, that's true too, right?

Yeah, well, I'll tell you this. We know who the top teams are in the West, and it's just a matter of who stays healthy. We can go ahead and look at Phoenix. We can go ahead and look at Denver.

If you want to go ahead and throw the Los Angeles Lakers in there, you can do that. We know what that is also based on. That's also based on health, and that's what a lot of the league is coming down to anyway this year. Who's healthy? I mean, I don't think Giannis is going to get hurt, but am I going to think it's not going to happen?

I mean, these are things you can't predict, so we'll see. Yeah, I'll chat back with you in a couple of weeks then. Please, Frank, I'll be sitting right here, okay? All right. Thank you for calling from Iowa.

Yeah, man, it's tough. What are the Golden State Warriors going to do? Yeah, they added Chris Paul, but they're small. And what are the Clippers going to do? Are the Clippers going to stay healthy?

I mean, that doesn't even sound right. Clippers and health doesn't even fit together. Are they going to get James Harden?

What type of crap show is that going to look like if they add him? Is Zion going to be healthy enough to play basketball? We already got Luka Doncic not healthy enough to start a season. Draymond not healthy enough to start a season.

It's tough out here. The Thunder are going to be a better team. The Spurs, I don't care what their record is.

I just want to see when Benyama plays. So, you want me to name the top eight teams? And throw the Kings in there. Grizzlies are hurt all those.

Steven Adams not playing this year again. This is just, this is wild stuff. Gary's calling from New Hampshire. What's up, Gary?

You're on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, two things I want to point out. I'll talk fast is one. Whoa, whoa, whoa, Gary, Gary, wait, wait, wait. Don't, don't, don't talk fast. You're talking too fast, so slow down. Okay. Las Vegas is popping the corks in Las Vegas with the baseball.

All the biggies going down, so they're rich in Vegas. Number two, you were talking about Ubi Brown, 90 years old. I love when you talk about him. 10 years ago, he was still on the radio and I told people, he's 80 years old. And people say, he's 80 years old? He's on the radio and TV? I said, yeah.

Like Ramsey or the Portland Trail Blazers used to be on radio and TV. It was quite impressive being old age. But one thing I wanted to bring to your attention, I mean, you remember PJ Carwissimo? Yeah, I choked him in a past life.

Very good. Well, I just want to bring it to people's attention. Let's just say the guy's even 70 years old. Well, I'm not here to talk about age, but PJ Carwissimo, we all know he coached the Seton Hall Pirates, correct? Yes, he did.

Okay. A lot of people don't know this, I bring this to people's attention of success. The guy, when I was 17 years old in 1980, the Big East, Hoya Paranoia of Villanova, it was a great time to watch Big East basketball. And PJ Carwissimo was five to six to seven years in a row, the cellar dweller of the Seton Hall Pirates in last place. And the guy hit success going to the Final Four.

And then he goes into the post to be a professional coach and on TV and radio. Isn't that a great story? That's all I got to say. And thank you. Well, thank you, Gary.

It's a great story. There are a lot of people who do that. And I mean, there are a lot of broadcasters who happen to be coaches. I mean, Jeff Van Gundy, man, he went from the end of a bench. He went from being a point guard in college. And who would have thought that he'd be a broadcaster? Now he goes and he's now a consultant for the Celtics. So listen, man, when you're around the block and you're around, there's a lot of places that you could fit in.

There's a lot of great stories. Tommy's calling from New Orleans, your CBS Sports Radio. JR, good evening.

Good evening, you super producer and host, David Sheppard. I would take Kirk Cousins over Derek Carr any day, any day of the week. Unfortunately, we can't do that because we gave Derek Carr like a truck load of money or something like that. But I would take him any day, any day of the week.

Thank you. Kudos to Dusty Baker. In fact, he's going to retire. One thing that all legends have is his longevity, but he certainly has that in spades. And God bless him on his way out.

Not official as of yet, but it's been reported. But he's 74, JR. I mean, and what else does he have to accomplish? I mean, he's the first ballot, obviously. I'd just like to see, you know, sunset and enjoy the rest of his life.

You don't got to convince me. I think he's done. I'm just letting the public know that he hasn't officially retired.

That's it. Go ahead. And I'd like to, I'd like to let the public know something real quick, if you don't mind. What am I, what am I going to do? Say, no, go ahead.

That's why you're here, right? All right. So I called David's show over the weekend and some coot called in from Toronto and they were discussing a bunch of things and David said that the Rangers would make it. So I got on the phone the next call and I said, David, we got to say bet.

So I was calling to let everybody know that David owes me dinner for the Rangers making the World Series. Okay. All right. Well, thank you, Tommy. Appreciate that.

Thanks. Shep, I have a question for you. Does anybody care? He wanted to call to let everybody know that you owe him dinner. If Tommy ever makes it to New York, I am a man of my word.

I bet there was no chance in hell the Rangers are going to take two games from the Astros in Houston. Apparently I was wrong, like everybody else. So I'll eat it. That's, that's, that's fine. But he called to, he called to let all of us know that? Oh, I mean, Tommy's his own man.

I can't, you know, speak for him. No, I'm just saying I'm like, yeah, call. Oh, just call. Let everybody know.

David Sheppard owes me. Okay. All right. What does that have to do with somebody listening in Portland?

Correct. Because I didn't make that, I didn't make that proclamation. What are we all supposed to do now? Everybody's going to bet you for dinner? Well, I mean, by the way, Chris Russo said he would retire on the spot if the Diamondbacks go to Citizens Bank Park and take two games. So apparently that's the thing these days. Radio hosts just make bets that is so catastrophic and they ended up having to eat it.

Why not? Hey, let's talk to Clarence real fast before we roll out. Go ahead, Clarence from Mississippi, quick. Clarence? Hey JR, what's going on, man?

You still a favorite? Well, thank you, man. You got to go quick, man.

I don't want the show to cut you real. Okay. I don't know who's going to win the NBA Finals. Thank you for calling.

No problem, Clarence. Who's going to win the NBA Finals? Man, it really just depends. It's so early. Like I would think, I would think we're going to look at the Bucks and or the Celtics and then maybe, I don't know. I don't know. What's this funny? Is Bradley Beal going to get hurt?

Is Kevin Durant going to get hurt? I don't know. Ask me in May.

I have a better answer then. I'll give you a top six on Wednesday. I already promised you that. We got that coming. We'll talk some more basketball, especially tomorrow. The Nuggets are going to raise the the banners or the banner. The Texas Rangers are going to try to raise their first banner and win their first World Series. They knock out the Astros today to advance to the World Series. Tomorrow will be fun as well as the Phillies and the Diamondbacks will battle it out to win the National League and then go to the World Series.

So, a lot of fun. I'll be back with you tomorrow 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific. If you missed a minute of tonight's show, you can hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. You can find me.

I'm all over the place. Everywhere on the internet. Every place that you want to complain or talk, I am at JR Sportbrief. Thank you so much to super producer and host Dave Shepherd.

The JR Sportbrief show you on CBS Sports Radio. It's done. It's a wrap. But don't go anywhere. Why? Because Amy Lawrence. She's coming up next. Stay tuned and listen to her because I said so.

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