JR Sport Brief Hour 4

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Additional terms apply. 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. Thank you to everybody locked in all over North America. I'm broadcasting live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuning in on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate. People in DC and Baltimore and Boston here in Atlanta. What's up everybody listening on 92.9 The Game? Shout out to my people down in Florida, Texas, Louisiana. Sorry Alabama. What's up Tennessee? I see you.

Let me relax before people get mad at me. We had a caller from Cupertino. We had a caller from Washington State. Of course we had a caller from Toronto, Canada. We get callers from everywhere. Appreciate you if you're tuning in on Sirius XM Channel 158.

Thank you very much. If you're finding out for the first time today, if you don't follow me at JR Sport Brief, if you don't listen to the radio station, if you don't look at the industry news, the JR Sport Brief show at this time is about to be a wrap. The JR Sport Brief show here on CBS Sports Radio is moving. Starting on January 2nd I will start broadcasting at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, 3 Pacific. Oh yeah, I'm taking prom time with me. I'm taking prom time with me and moving it to drive time. It's fun. I've been here for almost four years.

I'm going to do something a little bit different. Thank you to everybody who hit me up today. If you want to see the fancy message and all that stuff, you can go ahead and look me up at JR Sport Brief on Twitter, X, Facebook, Instagram. If you want to see the long thank you message.

I also said thank you. Last hour live on the air. Tomorrow is going to be my last time in this time slot. After that I'm going to disappear for quite a few days and then I will return on January 2nd in the new slot as I mentioned. Right now I'm being joined by producer Andrew Scarpacci.

He's been holding it down for us and has done a great job this week. Tomorrow, my last show for the year, my last show in this time slot will be tomorrow. Feel free to call me up tonight. Feel free to call me up tomorrow. I don't know, just have some fun. Say whatever the hell is on your mind. I've received so many messages.

At this point, hundreds, maybe thousands on social media, personal messages, what have you. And I'm going to take the next couple of days, the next week to kind of get back to everybody. So thank you again so much for your support in making the JR Sport Brief show here on CBS Sports Radio a success. There is no show without you.

I'm not that arrogant or ignorant enough to think that I'm doing this by myself. If I don't give a good product and you don't receive it and consume it and like it or dislike it, there ain't no show. And so I appreciate you for listening.

Now, having said that, it is Wednesday night going into Thursday morning and every Wednesday night into Thursday morning since I've been here. And even before I got here, starting on YouTube in 2009, I've always delivered to you a top six list. And tonight I gave you my top six list of favorite athletes, my personal list of favorite athletes for twenty twenty three. If you missed last hour, my big thank you. If you missed the top six list of my favorite athletes with the full explanations, you can listen on the free Odyssey app.

You can hit rewind and you'll be all set and ready to go from there. And number six, I gave you Nicola Jokic and number five, I gave you Tom Brady. And number four, I gave you Shohei Ohtani and number three, I gave you LeBron James and number two, I gave you Lionel Messi. And at number one, and I want you to hear this audio momentarily from number one and number one, I gave you Coco Gauff, 19 years old, finally won her first major at the U.S. Open in Queens back in September, beaten Sabalenka, ranked number three in the world. This is a young lady who did not turn pro until twenty eighteen, had to kind of smash through that glass ceiling, has carried herself with grace and elegance. And also, by the way, she made him a lot of money.

She is the world's highest paid female athlete here in twenty twenty three, raking in twenty three million dollars. And it's cool to see Coco Gauff, you know, just just whoop ass like she's not going to say it. Maybe she says it privately because she's 19.

But I'll say it. It's good to see her do this. And then it's also cool to see her carry herself with just she's so mature.

Right. And I don't know, I'm pretty sure at home she's goofy and looking at cartoons and all this other stuff. But when she talks to the media, she's on it. And so when she won the U.S. Open, she spent minutes thanking everybody, being positive. And then she gave us a peek into how competitive she is and what she probably uses to kind of get those competitive juices running. This was Coco Gauff after all the niceties when she won the U.S. Open.

This is from ESPN. Honestly, thank you to the people who didn't believe in me. I mean, like a month ago, I won a 500 title and people said I would stop at that two weeks ago.

I won a thousand title and people were saying that was the biggest it was going to get. So three, three weeks later, I'm here with this trophy right now. So, you know, I tried my best to carry this with grace and I've been doing my best. So honestly, to those who thought we're those who thought we were putting water on my fire, you're really adding gas to it.

And now I'm really burning so bright right now. It's pretty cool. It's awesome to see her do this. And she's not even mature yet.

Not physically mature, not mature as an adult. She's 19 years old. The world is at her fingertips.

It's so cool to see her doing what she's doing. A couple of quick updates on the night. I see the Minnesota Timberwolves, the surprise for the NBA with a record now of 20 and six. They lost to the 76ers.

The final score there, 127 to 113. Joel Embiid decided to lose his mind tonight with 51 points. I told you I got Nikola Jokic at number six on my list. We know Joel Embiid is the dude who walked away with this past season's MVP trophy. And now everybody just has to wait and see whether or not he can do it in the playoffs instead of going out there and choking away.

Maybe when no James Harden, it'll be a little bit easier for him. Also a little bit of an update. I know we talked earlier this week about De'Monte KZ knocking out Michael Pittman Jr. and he was suspended for the rest of the season. Well, he appealed and the NFL is holding up the appeal.

And so we won't see De'Monte KZ for the rest of the season. And we know this. The NFL is just trying to protect its own ass with all of these new rule implementations. And we ain't going backwards. I don't know if it's going to take 20 years, 30 years or what have you, but the NFL is going to be moving towards two hand touch. And I'm exaggerating. But yeah, we're going to see a deterioration with what the defenders can do just to kind of keep the game alive.

Although the game, I think, will be very different. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. Let's get some of your calls in. I want to know who your favorite athlete is for the year 2023. And then I want to ask our producer, Andrew Scarpacci, and get his favorite athlete for the year.

But let's hit the phone lines first. Let's go ahead and talk to Charles here from Jacksonville, Florida. You're on the JR Sportbreeze show. What's up, Charles? Hey, JR. Good to talk to you, man. Likewise. My favorite.

I love your pick, Coco, man. That is a hell of a woman, man. That awesome athlete, you know? Yeah. And my my favorite is Trevor Lawrence. OK. All right.

And I have a. How's this concussion, man? What's going on with that dude? He's still in the protocol.

He's still in there. So it's day by day. Good luck.

Unfortunately, the Jaguars are falling apart right now. I know. But I had an NBA question for you because I'm a neophyte at this.

Yes. This year, I want to follow it, pick a team and kind of root for them. And my sentimental favorite is I'm leaning towards rooting for the Celtics. But I'm since I'm down here in Florida, I'm thinking about cheering on the magic this year.

Do you think they might wind up breaking my heart or. Well, the thing about that. So, yes, the Boston Celtics are closer to a championship. And over the course of time and when I say time, probably for as long as you will be alive, the Boston Celtics are probably going to have a good chance to always compete.

You know, even when they go down, typically they bounce back a few years later and move into championship contention. The Orlando Magic, they have a very young roster right now and they are a team that's on the up and up. I mean, it still sounds crazy to say, but they're they're almost it's still to me, they're a baby in regards to the NBA. And so they don't have the history of a Boston Celtics.

There are too many teams that do outside of the Los Angeles Lakers. But this magic team, they should be good. But, man, don't be surprised if in a few years they hit a bad low. But they should be on the up and up. They might be competitive for, I don't know, years on end.

But a safer bet, yes, as the Celtics. Wow. Thanks, Joe. No problem, Charles. Thank you for calling from Jacksonville, man. And Merry Christmas, buddy. To you as well.

And to all a good night. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS.

Who the hell is your favorite athlete for the year 2023? Let's talk to Bill. Calling from, I think, Virginia.

Hey, Bill, where are you from? Venetia. Where the hell is that? That's near San Francisco. OK. No, I'm like Venetia, Virginia. I don't know.

What the hell? OK. But what's the population out there? Oh, it's five or six thousand at least. OK. Not enough for me to know where the hell it is.

Thank you for educating me, Bill. What's up? Well, JR, my favorite athlete for several years now has been Simone Biles. Oh, nice. Yeah. The most decorated gymnast ever. And now she came back, man. Yes.

It's really surprising, man. That girl's story, you know? So what do you think happens when she gets to Paris?

I don't know. I just I just I just love her and her story, her having to put up with the molestations from the coaches and stuff. She's just gone through a lot.

Well, I mean, even even past that. Yes, she had to deal with that Larry Nassar. And then we start moving on into what was just pretty, pretty terrible. I think how she was treated during her the last Olympics where she called out and people are killing her for for falling out and citing her mental health. It was just it was not it was just pretty bad. I didn't like how people were talking about her, man.

I was no. And she was very brave about that. She was honest. She was honest. You know, you got a bunch of people who ain't ever flipped upside down in their life. You know, getting at her about withdrawing. And it's just like, man, how many people how many people can do what she does on earth?

Not a lot. Let's let's cut the crap here. Thank you, Bill. OK, thank you, JR, for all you do.

I really enjoyed your show tonight. Well, thank you, man. And thank you for educating me on Venetia.

I learned something new. OK, sure thing. All right.

Thank you. I'm going to I'm going to look that up on the map. Venetia. I'm going to know what they're known for.

I want to know what good food is out there. I should have asked him, but it's OK. God knows. The next time I'm in San Francisco, am I going to Venetia?

Probably not. 855-2124 CBS. Everett calling from Columbia, South Carolina.

Who's your favorite athlete for 2023? Everett, go ahead. JR, it's always a blessing to talk with you.

And thanks for taking the call. I'm not a Dallas Cowboys fan, but I I'm very impressed with what Prescott has done this year at quarterback for them. And I think he's come a long way. He's taken a lot of criticism over the last few years. But for some odd reason, I think this may be the year that they make some type of move towards, you know, winning maybe an NFL championship.

I don't know. But I thoroughly enjoy him and watching him play whenever I do have an opportunity to watch on Sundays. But with that being said, I really want to thank you personally. You've made my nights, many nights, my friend. I'm working on a Ph.D. and it's been tough, but I thank the good Lord every night. And I'm going to follow you when you go to your another time slot.

No, it's women. But I want to say this. I want to say a little bit about Brian Gumbel and what he has meant to the African-American athletes and athletes in general.

Oh, over his career. And I hope and pray that you have that same type of charisma that Brian Gumbel carry as a classy human being, not just because he's an African-American, but as a classic human being that brought guys along like Stuart Scott, you know, that's no longer with us. But A.J., J.R., I want to say you're one of the best I've heard and you're very entertaining. And I want to thank you for what you do and, you know, keep up the great work that you do, you and your staff. And I look forward to hearing you on the other side. Well, thank you.

We all can't beat doctors like you. What are you studying your Ph.D. for? What you getting it for? Well, I'm older. I'm a former NBA referee and I've waited late in life to go back to school. And I just felt like as an African-American man, I realized what we're up against every day. I've been around the world three times.

I know what racism is at its very best. And what I want to do is I want the initials don't mean anything behind my name. I'm still dreaming. I still feel like I can make it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, what do you what are you getting your doctorate in?

Well, it's it's a doctor of education with a specialty in athletics and sports and entertainment management. Oh, beautiful. Well, Everett, you know how to reach me, right?

On email? Oh, yes, sir. I do. Yes, sir. And I would love to talk to you, man.

No, no, no, no. Let's let's talk. Shoot shoot me an email on social. Find me on social media and then give me an email. OK, that's J.R. Sportbrief at Gmail.

J.R. Sportbrief 1S, OK? Yeah. You keep up the great work, my friend. God bless you. All right. Thank you, Everett. Have a good holiday. No doubt.

No problem. Yeah, we talk about referees the other day. Next time we talk about referees and to bring them on, ask him about the craziest things anybody's ever said to him. I'm pretty sure he's been called M.F. this and M.F. that.

It comes with the territory now, doesn't it? Now, let's go ahead and I'm going to take more of your calls. It's eight five five two one two four CBS.

But I do want to ask our producer, who's done an excellent job, by the way, Andrew Scarpacci. Hey, man, when when we talk about athletes in the year twenty twenty three, who the hell is your favorite athlete, man? Who do you like? So being that the Yankees are my favorite team in all of sports, I got to go Cy Young winner Garrett Cole.

Oh, yeah. He's a pitcher who actually shows up and earns his money. It's that that's the only reason suck that the Yankees didn't make the playoffs this year, because I would have loved to see him transition that great regular season into the postseason.

But at least now he doesn't have to worry about it. He can finish the year on his great Cy Young and take that into next season. But he's the first Cy Young winner that I remember. Roger Clemens won it the last time the year I was born. So I've been waiting for it all these years.

He finally did it. He's had a shaky career with the Yankees. He's obviously always been really good, but he always has that bad stretch. But this year, from beginning to end, he was the one guy day in and day out the Yankees can rely on.

Yankees were tough to watch this year, but I made sure every fifth day I had that TV on. That's amazing. It's one thing to think about.

Yeah. The year before that, Aaron Judge won American League MVP. I would have said him if this was for twenty two. Yeah, no, but I'm saying it's it's it's rather interesting that in the year prior, Aaron Judge wins MVP. And the next season, Garrett Cole wins Cy Young and they don't make the postseason. So it's like they in the past two seasons, they've had the best pitcher. They've had the best hitter, but it hasn't resulted in squad diddly for the New York Yankees.

Maybe things change in twenty twenty four. I know the Yankees are one of the teams. If you depend on what you read, the Yankees are actually the front runners to bring in this Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Who I've never seen pitch in my life, but by all indications is pretty good. So we'll see what happens there. Hey, good call. And Andrew, thank you so much for your work this week.

It's great stuff, man. Appreciate it. Hope I get to work with you again in the future when it's at 6 p.m. time.

Yeah, no problem. What do you. So what do you need me to do different? You need me to do anything different in the future, like show up the work, not show up. You need me to do anything.

What do you need? I think you've been doing everything perfect, as shown by the promotion on the schedule. Well, thanks.

Look, this guy, this man knows the art of art of moving up to look at you. Well, thank you, Andrew. Appreciate you, man. OK. Anytime. Thank you.

No problem. Eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. We're going to take a break on the other side of the break. I'm going to get some more of your calls. OK. Favorite athletes.

I mean, we've had some interesting names here. I'm going to take some more and then we'll go to the restroom and make some tea. I'm going to sit back down and I'm going to talk to you some more. And then we're going to ask Marco Belletti for his favorite athlete of twenty twenty three. This is my last top six list for the year.

My last top six list in this time slot. We'll take a break and get some more of your calls. It's the JR Sport Brief Show. That means I'm JR on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

JR. I'm a first time caller, longtime listener. I love your freakin show, man. I listen every night. I make my 14 year old listen to your show and he's an addict to keep doing what you're doing.

I'm out. Call in now at eight five five two one two four CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

Yeah. Well, damn it. If your kid is an addict and y'all can listen a little bit earlier now. The JR Sport Brief Show will be broadcasting starting on January 2nd at six p.m. Eastern Time, three Pacific. Tomorrow night will be my last show in this time slot. Eight five five two one two four CBS is eight five five two one two four CBS signed on the dotted line. And so, yes, now I'm moving not to anyplace else.

I'm still here on CBS Sports Radio, but you'll just catch me a few hours earlier. And speaking of signing. It was National Signing Day on Wednesday.

Now, I'm not going to fool anybody. I don't know who the hell these high school kids are. I mean, outside of a few that I know about locally, I don't know who the hell knows all of these high school kids.

It's impossible. I sit around and watch professionals all day and I sit around and I keep up with as much of the top college prospects and schools as possible. But to now get into high school, not my thing. But I do know this being here in Georgia, because we produce so many damn college athletes, football athletes, that we did have a big deal. K.J. Bolden, who's from up the road for me here in Buford, he decided to go represent the Georgia Bulldogs as opposed to Florida State.

My apologies to my friends down in Tallahassee. And so he actually spoke to Eleven Alive. That's our local NBC affiliate here. And he told everybody why he's making a flip, why he's switching over.

And this is what K.J. Bolden had to say. Well, my decision came down to was just the place I feel like will get me to the ultimate goal of playing in the NFL. It's not about the NFL or the facilities for me. It's about relationships and development.

I pray with my family and with the help of my family, I want to start my future off and stay at home. So, you know, I chose the dogs. Go, dogs. Yeah.

Shout out to the Georgia Bulldogs. Yeah, I don't know. All I can say is how many stars is this guy got next to his name?

That's all I could say. And so even today, if you were if you were to hear Kirby Smart, he sounded enthusiastic. But he ain't sound all that enthusiastic because I guess he got to wait a few years, a couple of seasons, at least to evaluate a lot of these prospects. And this is what Kirby Smart had to say about his new recruits. Twenty four of maybe twenty eight or twenty nine guys worked out on our campus with our coaches. Twenty five of twenty eight guys were multi sport athletes. Thirteen different states.

Number one player in maybe four or five different states. But more important than all that is the kind of kids they are. I'm excited to get them to come in and work. OK. Sounds like he's reading off the minutes of a meeting. And that's what they sound like in the back room when they're not talking to the student athletes. This guy does this. This guy does that. We can cut this guy. Don't play this guy.

Put that guy on the bench. And not not too much of a of a heart and soul when you crunch the numbers at coaching. A shout out to everybody who selected a school. I know that there's some student athletes listening right now who are going to be on their way to participating in college programs. And so good on you. Good luck to all the college athletes.

And I hope that you have an amazing experience and get more of it out of them, more out of it than what they're going to give to you. Eight five five two one two four CBS. I gave you a top six list tonight. The final top six list of twenty twenty three. I told you about my favorite athletes at number one.

I told you Coco Garf. Let's hit the phone lines and talk to Travis from Virginia. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Travis? Hey, man.

And respect is big. Travis here. In fact, I will let you know you.

My brother. I've been to now for over a year and I've been in this business for 30 years. I've been working for ESPN and here in the CBS Viacom. And I'm retired now. And you have been a blessing as a black man doing the work that I've been working on side of time.

A rose birthday. And I love you, man. And it makes me happy to call your show. I don't call a lot of other shows if I know that your show, when I finish my job, I call you. Makes me happy because you are special and God has blessed you. And I'm sorry.

I will tell you honestly, I will not be able to call your show at six because I have things going on. But I want to let the Lord bless you so you can be on the level of well-born and corn. How could you deserve that, my brother? You deserve that. Well, thank you. To each his own.

That ain't necessarily a career goal. I just get up and do my own thing. But thank you for the kind words. Thank you, man.

Because I really believe you of that next level do now. As for this Coco golf. Oh, my God.

How can you do this? What the young lady did this year. She won six chips and got the U.S. Open.

But only U.S. Open. And I respect what she did. 19 years old. My personal favorite. I'm a Spurs fan. I'm a big victor, right? But the number one person in mind is Jokic. No one talked about no one else when they wouldn't get chips this year about Jokic.

Jokic wouldn't that finally. Everybody said, oh, he can't win. He can't win. He can't win.

And he finally took the MVP and got the chip and took the Serbia and rode horse. You know. Yeah. Yeah. He's yeah. I had him a number six on the list.

He's so I don't want to say lackadaisical, but he's just so. Hey, I'm go. I'm going to work.

I'm a clock in and clock out of everybody up in the process. And God bless you, man. Merry Christmas.

I thought a good luck on the next level. And I was watching for you, brother. Well, thank you so much, Travis. Appreciate you for calling from Virginia. Eight five five two one two four CBS. Let's go from Virginia. I know it's cold up in Rochester. I haven't been.

Last time I was in Rochester was, I don't know, January. Hey, John, you're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, man?

Hey, Jared. Yeah, it's cold. Now, when I got out of work at 11 tonight, it was 30 degrees. So, you know, not that cold.

Yeah, not too bad. But, you know, but yeah, it was in the 20s last night. But anyways, I want to congratulate you on moving to a new time slot. It's great because I get to listen to you while I'm working now. See, I usually I catch the last hour and a half of your show at the end of my shift. And then I listen to you on the way home.

And then when I get home last couple hours and it's going to be good. You know, congratulations. Well, thanks, John. You got an athlete.

Thank you. Yeah, I got an athlete. Well, you named most of the good ones. But offhand, if I was thinking about it, I like Devin Haney. Boxer, you know, from from the Bay Area, you just be Regis program, I know. Yeah, he moved up in weight. He got another bout. The guy's got like four belts, five belts now.

I don't know. But he's fought a couple defenses this year. He's he's fighting regular and he I think he's going to be some special man.

I think he's going to be he could be one of the great ones, you know? Yeah, I just want to I've you know, well, I just want to know when he fights Javonte Davis. And I feel it's going to be a bunch of more fights until we get it.

But that's that's what I'm looking forward to. Yeah. Listen, man, you take it easy. All right.

Thank you so much for tuning in. I'll catch you in the next year. All right, man. Later.

Peace out. Thank you, John, for calling from Rochester. 855-2124 CBS.

It's 855-2124 CBS. We got Marco Belletti here with us in the studio as well. Marco, when you look back at the year and all the highs and the lows and the goods and the bads from all the athletes, is there one athlete that you've appreciated more than anybody else here in twenty twenty three? You know, you named a lot of them.

And sorry if I missed this, if it possibly happened while I was bouncing around other stations. How about Nathan Avaldi? Double Tommy John surgery. Come back for the second time and leading the Rangers to World Series. His second. I think it was five and oh in the playoffs this year.

True ace of that staff. And I think he's nine and three or something like that. Ten and three in the postseason in his career. Just a guy that he started with the Marlins and he was there was a lot of potential. But then to turn to Tommy John's into this dominant pitcher is remarkable.

How much time he's missed and the fact that he's still an ace of a World Series team. Yeah. You know what?

No, no one. I didn't mention Nathan Avaldi. We didn't have a caller mention Nathan Avaldi. And that's a that's a good point on you because a few seasons ago, I thought he was washed up and done. And to see him doing this, you think about the Rangers going into the season. I found it laughable when Jacob DeGrom signed the deal and was just like, oh, I want to go to a place because we're going to win championships.

And yeah, they won a championship, not with him leading the way. And so I always found that ironic from him. But that's a good call.

Never in my mind did I think I'd hear Nathan Avaldi. So good on you, Marco. I appreciate it. I try to, you know, contribute when I can. Oh, you do.

Yeah. Well, you do amazing stuff, Marco. Who are we kidding here, man? Who are we kidding? Anyways, the JR Sport Breeze show here with you on CBS Sports. Hey, Marco, you you going to be here tomorrow for the news flashes? I'm going to be here, but in a different time slot. So like your new time slot would be perfect for me tomorrow because I'll be on until 830 Eastern. So I won't see. This will be this will be our last time here, Marco. In this time slot.

Yes. And then once you move into your new one, when I fill in for Richard Ackerman, who you'll get to know pretty well. I know Rich. I know Ack.

I know him. So when I fill in for Ack, you'll get me for more of the day. If not, then you'll only get me for one update at 930. So for right now, this is our this is our final update together for 2023. I believe so.

I believe so. Oh, yeah. I ain't going to be here tomorrow. Well, yeah, I'll be here tomorrow.

I will. OK, so tomorrow and then you're not here Friday? No, I ain't here Friday. I'm done.

Well, see, again, I don't know everybody's schedule. I'm here tomorrow and I'm finished. I'm done.

Yeah. Tomorrow I'll be done at 830 Eastern. So I'll be out of here before your show starts. So am I supposed to like shed a tear now or something?

What am I supposed to do? No. I mean, it's only it's only a day and then the week will get back together in January. And I'm pretty sure you're still going to get me for one update every night at 930 Eastern. You're going to get me. You're stuck with me. It's just a question of if you'll get me for three out of the four when I fill in for Ack.

If not, you get me for one out of four. Oh, so I don't have to I don't have to cry over you. Fine. Yeah.

Every night. We'll be still working together. All right. Good. Good stuff.

All right. Anyway, it's time for Marco Belletti. You just heard him. I'm not going nowhere.

Neither is he. It's a newsflash on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, J.R.? 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 J.R.

Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. I'm going to shed a tear. OK, maybe. Maybe not.

I'm not going to shed a tear. But I do want to be clear about this. This is the last top six list of 2023. Hey, Andrew, I said six, right? Help me out. Yep.

OK, I'm making sure. Yeah, this is the last top six list of 2023. This is the last top six list of this time slot. And damn it, the top six has been with me before I even did radio.

It was with me on YouTube in 2009 and was with me on television on SNY in New York. And now it is here with me on CBS Sports Radio, except for this time. It's going to be switching time slots on January 2nd, the J.R. Sport Brief Show.

It's going to start at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, 3 p.m. Pacific. I gave you the top six, my favorite athletes for the year 2023. If you missed the full explanations, the fancy audio and whatnot, you can go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. And you can listen to tonight's show in its entirety.

Here's just a quick recap. And number six, I gave you Nicola Jokic and number five, I gave you Tom Brady. Number four, I gave you Shohei Ohtani. Number three, I gave you LeBron James. Number two, I gave you Lionel Messi.

Number one, I gave you Coco Gauff as my favorite athlete for 2023. I want to try. Everybody on the phone lines, everybody calling me, I want to. You know what? I'm not going to try.

I try all the time. I'm going to get on everybody and I'm going to force you to give me the name, your favorite athlete and why. And then we're going to keep it moving because I want to get on as many people that have been patient. So let's start with Alan in Toronto. And, Alan, let's not take a year and a day. I love you, though.

Go ahead, Alan. Matt Olson, the Atlanta Braves tied the 2019 Minnesota Twins for 307 home runs in a regular season. And Matt Olson was very much a part of it. In fact, he was the most responsible for it. I can understand that Pete Alonso or Aaron Judge or Shoya Tani hit over 40 home runs, I mean, hit over 50 home runs.

But I did not expect Matt Olson to hit 54 home runs this year because he never cracked the 40 home run mark. So I'm going to ask you a question that you didn't answer a few weeks ago. Oh, my gosh. Alan, Alan, Alan, Alan, Alan. Were you surprised? Alan.

Yes, go ahead. Matt Olson is your favorite. Oh, my God. Alan, you're screwing up everybody's time. Matt Olson is your favorite player.

Am I surprised the guy hit 54 home runs? Yes, I am. There you go, Alan. Okay. Okay. I had him penciled in for 30 home runs.

I didn't have him penciled in for anything because I don't sit around predicting people's home runs. Okay. Best of luck in your new time slot.

I'm going to be listening and I'll be challenging you too. Well, thank you. Appreciate you. Have a good night, Alan. Love you.

He doesn't love me back. My soul is crushed. 855-2124 CBS. John is calling from Michigan. What's up, John?

Who's your favorite athlete? Hey, Jay. I'm enjoying your show. Been listening for a while.

First time caller. With the resurgence of the Detroit Lions, I love me some Amanrah St. Brown. He is always there to catch the ball for them when it's time. So that's why I love him. Yeah.

Who would have thought that Jared Goff would be pretty much at the top of a lot of the passing statistical categories, but he is. And a lot of that is because Amanrah St. Brown. There's nothing to take away from that.

So might as well. Thank you, John. Thanks.

Yeah, no problem. Pam is calling from Alabama. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Jalen Milrose, University of Alabama quarterback.

You look at what he done from the first game until now. It is absolutely remarkable. J.R., Merry Christmas, man. Love you. I love you, too, Pam.

Thank you for calling from Alabama. I thought Pam was going to be a woman, but. It was a dude. Hey, it's twenty twenty three. Right.

Do what you want to do in jail and Milrose. Yeah. What a nice bounce back for a dude who got benched a few times and now might be on his way to a national championship. Eight five five two one two four CBS. Rich is calling from. Hey, Rich, where the hell are you calling from? That's Rick, right?

I don't know. Is your name, Rick? Yeah, that's me, Rick, again.

Oh, Rick, where you calling from? Apologize. My choice is Shea Gillis Alexander.

He was Canada's Northern Star Award winner this year, Canada's Athlete of Europe. He's my choice. And I do apologize to you. Thank you. I hope you do well. Your new time's up between 6 p.m. You will.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. You're apologizing to me for what? Well, for all the bad things I've ever done with you in a recent term, I do apologize to you. Hope you do well.

Your new time's up between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS Sports Network. So thank you very much again. Have a nice holiday.

Hope you do well in twenty twenty four. OK, I want to give you plenty of time. Thank you again. Have a good night. Thank you. Thank you, Rick, for calling from.

Yeah, you never done nothing to me, but, you know, suck up other people's time. That's it. Not slow down and take a breath. Breathing is a normal human function. You don't have to rush through every single word. Listen to me.

Take a breath. Eight five five two one two four. CBS John is calling from South Carolina. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, John? Hey, there's John. You're John. Hello.

Yes. Your name is John. What's up? Hey, listen, I enjoy your show and everybody spent a little bit of time and stuff.

You're sharing your voice and stuff. Hey, listen, I'm talking about Mr. Tiger Woods. He up there in the twenty three.

Two thousand twenty three bracket. Right. Well, I mean, it's up to you if he's your favorite athlete for the year and that's your call.

I can understand why. Yeah, the thing is and stuff, you know, he's humble and stuff and he went through a lot of things in his life. So the things is about that and stuff, you know, I like a lot of athletes and stuff like that. And the thing is about this night, everybody have a good heart and everything like that, you know.

And we got to understand to stay humble with everybody in the sports world. So my name is John from North Carolina. And, JR, you've been doing a fabulous job. Well, thank you, John.

I appreciate you for calling from North Carolina. Yeah, Tiger. Is he humble as has Tiger Woods been humbled? He's been humbled by them golf clubs. He's been humbled being chased out his house. He's been humbled by that accident. Even he's been humbled. And now it's nice to see him with his kids. That's the cool part.

I think that's real humbling. Eric is calling from Atlanta. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Go ahead, Eric.

Hey, what's going on, JR? Congrats on your accomplishments, man. I'm going to go out and agree with my guy, Pam, from Alabama.

I'm going to go with Jalen Milro. Perseverance was the key with this guy overcoming all that adversity. So I'm cool with that. And I'll go on record for saying. Your next endeavor, bro, I'm awake and we're waiting for you to do play by play on whatever. Play by play? Yes, sir.

Me? Man, I ain't doing no damn play by play. I ain't trying to do that. You got to, man. No, you do it.

It's time for Joe Buck to move aside and let JR. It's something about guys, something specific about guys whose names begin with that letter J. Well, yeah. Well, don't expect me to do no play by play.

No, no, thank you. I'm going on record, man. In about four years, bro. In about four years. Not likely.

No, don't count on it. Hey, Eric, you be safe, OK? Yes, sir. Likewise. All right.

Shout out to Eric for calling from Atlanta. Man, I don't want to do no play by play. By the way, I've been asked to do play by play.

Years ago, they wanted to, Nice Network wanted to put me in school for play by play. I ain't doing no play by play. Let somebody else talk about it. I like to sit down and watch the game and have a drink. You gonna let me have a drink here on TV? The answer is no. I don't drink here on the radio, but I got a little bit more flexibility.

Right. Anyway, I'll be back with you tomorrow. It'll be my last show for 2023. Tomorrow night will be my last show here in this slot on CBS Sports Radio.

Get ready for a change. The JR Sportbreeze show is coming to 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific time starts starting on January 2nd. Thank you to Andrew Scarpacci.

You've done an amazing job this week. Super producer and host Dave Shepherd will be back with us for the final show tomorrow. It's the JR Sportbreeze show here on CBS Sports Radio. If you want to holler at me, it's simple.

I am at JR Sportbreeze everywhere on social media. Hey, Andrew, who's coming up next? Dave Smith.

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