JR Sport Brief Hour 1

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Additional terms apply must be 21 plus to purchase alcohol where available. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You could be in your car. You could be on the highway, the byways, the hospital. I don't know where you at, but thank you for listening. I'm gonna be hanging out with you for the next four hours. This is when I get started.

10pm Eastern, 7pm Pacific. I hope you've had a wonderful day. I hope you're having a great evening. If you're not, I'm sorry, I'll try my best to go ahead and help you out. Thank you to our producer holding it down in New York City, Andrew Scarpacci.

Real simple. Hey folks, it's good to be back here with you on a Tuesday night and what a Tuesday night it is right now in one of the best cities I'd say in America, one of my favorite cities on planet Earth, New Orleans, because we have something special going on in New Orleans right now. John Marant is back. He's taking on the Pelicans and John Marant is balling out like he ain't never left.

34 points right now, eight assists and six rebounds. And we might see a John Marant game winning shot. Well, damn it. There we have it. The game is over. How about that?

1.15 to 1.13. John Marant returns and without a shadow of a doubt, the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Pelicans. John Marant, game winning layup, calls it a wrap. We're going to play that for you.

We'll play for you the game winning layup and I'm sure we're going to have that interview as well. We're going to get into that as John Marant has returned and he basically says, I'm back. Unfortunately for him, Memphis sucks. They had six wins heading into tonight.

Now they have seven. As John Marant walks around on the court, people in New Orleans kind of just staring at him. And tonight he looked like a crazy man.

Go into the basket. He has proven to everybody once again that he is one of the best guards, one of the most explosive players in the league. And we're finding out why Nike decided to stick with him to go out there and sell his shoes. So we're going to talk about John Marant and his return. We'll get into that once we get the the interview from him and and kind of go from there. There's so much more that we need to get into. John Marant not the only basketball player, you know, with a lot of attention on him today. Kaitlyn Clark, Angel Reese named athletes of the year by the sporting news. It's pretty interesting.

This man was named coach of the year by Washington. We had a conversation last night about the NFL and whether or not it's going soft if it's going in the wrong direction. And then obviously we got the Eagles who we had to talk about last night who are just crap in the bed at the worst possible time.

Yeah, and I see right now my friend Stephanie ready having a conversation with John Marant. We'll get that to you guys shortly. If you want to holler at me here on CBS Sports Radio, it's simple. The phone number is 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. You can also get a hold of me. I'm everywhere online on the internet. I am at JR Sport Brief.

I want to talk to our producer real fast, Andrew Scarpacci. How are you, man? You doing good? Doing great. Big news to start the show. Can't have it any better. I know.

How about that? Did you have money on John Marant tonight to do anything? Not necessarily, but it was definitely exciting to watch him go out there and take it by storm. Looks like he's right back where he's left off. Yeah, the only question now for the Memphis Grizzlies is how far they can, you know, kind of take things the rest of this year. I mean, they got Bismack Biambo, you know, starting at center. There's no Steven Adams this year with the busted up knee. Desmond Bain has had to carry a lot of the load.

We know Dylan Brooks, he is gone. They basically sent him out to Houston. They didn't want him anymore after all that crap that he talked and now we'll have to see, you know, how far John Marant can take them on their back. Memphis now has a record of 7 and 19.

I don't know. Are they going to start going on a 10 point or 10 game winning streak? I have no idea, but let's see what they can do with John Marant, one of the most explosive players in the NBA. And now we just see if he can stay out of trouble.

Anyway, John Marant, I guess he's on the up and up. And I want to get this the hell up on out the way because this is what we had to discuss last night. And it's nice to know that as of right now. Hey, Andrew, we don't have no technical difficulties, right? We're good. Everything seems to be fine. We can get the callers back in line, have it a bit more engaging and definitely get them right back. So I don't have to talk into a microphone like I'm talking to myself, right? Nope, the regular board and everything seems to be working just fine today. Yeah, we just kicked the computers a few times and everything works. So yes, if you want to holler at us, it's simple 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Let's get this out the way. One of my favorite things to do following a loss, not a win, but a loss is to tune into one of my favorite radio stations here in North America, WIP. Yes, WIP for anyone who is not familiar is the local big time sports talk radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

My good friend Hugh Douglas holds it down in the mid days and I just listen all day. Well, not all day. I don't have all day, but I tune in, I pop in because I want to know what people are saying because people in Philadelphia can be they can be brutal. It's the place of my birth, my birth only. If I stuck in Philadelphia, maybe I'd be just as mean as they are. Somehow I drifted up to New York.

But either way, I want to know what the deal is. I listen to WIP just to hear how miserable people are, because for whatever reason, I think I know the answer. People in the Northeast can be pretty miserable.

I'd say everything you can go ahead and count Baltimore up to Philadelphia into New York into Boston. We got some world class angry people. Maybe it's the weather.

Maybe it's the population density. But you won't find anything uglier or angrier than when their football team loses. And that's what happened last night. And we talked about it here on CBS Sports Radio, or at least I talked about it.

You didn't talk back to me because the phones didn't work. But either way, the Eagles lost 20 to 17. We saw them blow the game against the Seattle Seahawks up in Seattle.

And now. These Eagles on a three game losing streak. They were at the end of the season.

They were looking hot. They started 10 and one. They were winning all these games by the skin of their teeth. They could barely take a lead at halftime there. They're winning barely by touchdowns. These games were too close. And then they lost to Drew Locke.

I get it. Not even Geno Smith, but Drew Locke. They had Drew Locke throwing a rock around like he was. I don't know, Aaron Rodgers with one of those those Hail Marys. And so after getting blown out by the 49ers, after getting blown out by the Dallas Cowboys.

The Eagles lose to Drew Locke and the Seahawks. Come on, man. And there was nothing more telling last night than the comments made by Jalen Hurts.

We'll get into it momentarily. Jalen Hurts had his two rushing touchdowns. He came into the game feeling sick. The man had to travel separately from the rest of his teammates just so he passed.

Nothing on anybody else. But then he threw two big interceptions at the end of the game to Julian Love. And that was all she wrote. And so, of course, Jalen Hurts was asked about, you know, his play. But then he also brought it up about the team. He started talking about their commitment to winning.

Listen to what Jalen Hurts said. I've been talking about execution all year. Been on the same page.

Everyone been on the same page. We didn't execute. I don't think we're we're we're committed enough. You know, you know, just just got to turn it around, you know. You know, it's a challenge that we have to embrace. Just continue to see it through.

What do you mean by that? Commitment. I don't know that I had a dictionary on me now. Excuse me. I don't know how else to say.

Shots fired, right? You don't know how else to say it. Commitment. It's what some people don't have to their partners, their wives, their spouses, their husbands.

Commitment. That's called shots fired. He doesn't need a dictionary. He doesn't need a thesaurus to let everybody know he's calling somebody out. He might be calling out a group on the team. I don't know who he's calling out, but the man didn't mince words. And by the way, Jalen Hurts, he got more clout than the head coach.

I'm sorry, he does. Nick Sirianni, his first press conference ever. I know people forget about it because they just went to the Super Bowl. Nick Sirianni was a dude who was stumbling all over his damn words when he first got the job. He's gotten the pass for the most part because of their success. But ultimately, right now, he's facing some adversity and at least he's smart enough to stand up there and take the blame.

Listen to this. Really wanted to be able to get up two scores on them. But, you know, obviously we weren't able to. I thought the defense was hanging in there and playing and doing and doing some really nice things. And we just needed to pull away in that game and we did it. You know, some uncharacteristic things situationally, fundamentally.

And anytime you have uncharacteristic things, situationally and fundamentally, that's got to go to me first. He's always trying to just say a whole lot of nothing. I mean, that's what a lot of these head coaches do. He didn't necessarily address kind of the switch over of the defensive coordinator going from Sean Desai, who has basically taken over here in his first year, to Matt Patricia.

Didn't really dive into that. But I said this last night. Have the Eagles kind of picked the worst time to fall into the toilet?

The answer is yes. This is the worst time of the year. You start off 10 and 1 and you're going by, barely getting by these games. What you want to do is build up high. You want to reach the peak.

You want to go over the top. You want to get on a hot streak on the way into the playoffs. You want to take control of the NFC East. You want to make sure that you go ahead and get home field advantage against anybody except for, I don't know, the 49ers. You don't want to be playing on the road.

You don't want to have to play in every playoff round or go ahead and have success. And that's what these Eagles might have to do now. 10 and 1.

So now 10 and 4. A three game losing streak. But if you want to find the bright side for the Eagles, they take on the New York Giants. They take on the Arizona Cardinals. And am I going to be stupid enough to say, oh my God, they're going to win all three games?

I'm not that dumb. I'm going to say they'll go 2 and 1. Maybe the Giants will take one of these games.

But I'll tell you this. If they can't get hot. If the defense can't pick it up. If Jalen Hurts can't stop turning the ball over. He's tied for the league lead with 17. He has as many turnovers as a guy who has been benched now. And Josh Dobbs.

Poor dude. Anyway, if they don't stop turning the ball over. If they don't take command of these games. They're cooked. I don't know who they're going to look at or who they're going to face in the postseason.

Doesn't matter. They ain't going to get past the 49ers playing like this. Unless Brock Purdy goes down with another elbow injury. But who's wishing injuries on anybody? Not me. Hey, good luck to the Eagles.

I have not completely closed the door on them in having some type of success. But when it comes to the NFC. Yeah, it's pretty clear to everybody. Eagles ain't it. It's the 49ers.

Newsflash. It's the JR Sportbree Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We are just getting started. If you want to holler at me, it's 855-212-4CBS. It's 855-212-4CBS.

As a matter of fact, we already got somebody who wants to talk to us. It is Trevor calling from Reno out in Nevada. I love Reno. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, gambling man?

Man, first of all, thank you. Good to hear that somebody appreciates Reno. Beside Reno 911. No, I like the lake. I like the gambling and the airport.

I like it out in Reno, man. Absolutely. So I'm going to go straight to the point. John Moran, I am so glad that he's back. I'm a Warriors fan, but just a fan of sports. I just hope that Moran has learned his lesson because he has so much talent. Can you speak to the psychology of when players are so big but they just can't seem to stay out of trouble? Is that a youth thing?

I'm rooting for him, but he's got to change a little bit, and I hope he does. You've been young at one point in your life before, right? Yes, sir. Now imagine being 23 years old and having a quarter of a billion dollars at your disposal. It's good money. Who are you telling?

Now imagine being young and still being stupid and having a quarter of a billion dollars at your disposal. I really hope that this is a learning experience. Absolutely. Some people can be real stupid.

Some people actually really have problems. I can't imagine them making the same mistake or mistakes again. Am I going to completely absolve him into the future and say, oh man, he's going to keep his nose clean? I'm not prepared to do that because I don't have a crystal ball. I'd be a little surprised if we ever saw this dude waving a gun in public. Maybe he does something else stupid like punch an adult this time instead of a 17-year-old.

We'll find out sooner than later, okay? Yes, sir. I think as long as he stays on track, he's one of the best players out there and very entertaining to watch. Without a shadow of a doubt, I mean given his size, and thank you Trevor for calling from Reno.

Have a great holiday. John Moran, especially given his size, he's a ridiculous athlete and he's one of the most exciting players in the league. Every time he goes to the basket, I'm like, damn, I fear for this guy's life. I mean Zion Williamson goes to the basket and people bounce off of him. LeBron James goes to the basket and no one can slow him down. John Moran goes to the basket and he's like a whirling dervish that no one can stop. He can out jump everybody. He can out spin everybody.

He's faster than everybody. And I say to myself, damn it, this guy's just going to fall off the face of the earth. He's going to get hurt one day.

I can't imagine it working out for him, but hey, it works. He's 24 and now John Moran is back. As a matter of fact, what we're going to do is take a break. I'm going to get some more of your calls. It's 855-2124 CBS.

It's 855-2124 CBS. We're going to spend more time on the NFL, in particular the NFC. Because we're going to talk about the best team in the NFC, not name the 49ers. We're going to talk about Jamar Chase, give you a little bit of a health update on him. It doesn't look all that good for CJ Stroud. We're going to talk about Yamamoto.

It looks like he might, maybe, potentially be going to the New York Yankees. We'll discuss Kaitlyn Clark and Andrew Reese, the sporting news athletes of the year. And when we come back from break, we're going to hear that John Moran game-winning layup. And in John Moran, he just spoke to TNT as well. We'll hear him after the game.

And I know Gilbert Arenas, yes, Gilbert Arenas, someone also familiar with guns, he had some advice for John Moran. And so we'll play that for you as well. I'm just getting warmed up.

I am just getting started on this Tuesday night. You are locked in to the JR Sportbrief show on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. I just want to convince you, man, kind of what the other caller said. Patient of a cent. And, man, I just respect so much how professional you are. And, man, just, you know, mature. You know, I mean, you're getting the tag, but yet you took the high ground.

You know, just stay professional and stay being a good man. So I just need you on that. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. This is the JR Sportbrief show here on CBS Sports Radio.

I've only been here for 23 minutes and nobody attacked me. It's old, old stuff, old stuff. Anyway, John Moran has only been back for one game. And he's already made his mark here in the NBA, coming off of his 25-game suspension, following the other eight-game suspension for waving around guns. John Moran comes back with a vengeance tonight. The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Pelicans down in New Orleans, the final score 115 to 113. John Moran finishes with 34 points, eight assists, and six rebounds, including the game winner that he basically dove straight to the basket, acrobatic layup, and that was all she wrote. And Memphis had an opportunity to celebrate, not a lot to celebrate about this season.

They've now improved their record to 7-19. And I want you to hear this game-winning layup from John Moran. This is courtesy of the Grizzlies Radio Network. Ball into the backcourt for Moran. Eight seconds, seven seconds. Jones waits beyond the three-point line. Four seconds, three seconds. Moran into the lane, spins, hangs, floats.

It's good. Zeros on the clock. Moran wins the game.

It is returned. Twenty-five games later, the Grizzlies have shown they are going to make a charge back into the Western Conference picture. Wow. Yeah, they won a game. Let me see if I can count the losses here. One, two, three, four, five. That's five consecutive losses before tonight's victory. And if I can do more math, that's six.

Carry the one. They have lost six out of their last seven games before John Moran just hit that game winner. Yeah, the Grizzlies suck. Steven Adams is gone. Old crazy dude, trash-talking Dylan Brooks is gone.

He's now getting fined out in Houston even if the referees deserve to get cursed out. Yeah, Memphis stinks. I don't know what type of turnaround they're going to have. John Moran is going to have to try and carry them to.500 and hope that that makes a difference out in the West. And I mean, you can think about a couple of other teams potentially having some injuries.

I'm not counting them out completely, but they are on an uphill climb and they're not good enough to compete to win a damn thing. After the game, after that game winner you just heard, John Moran was on TNT with Stephanie Reddy. And I want you to take a listen to this. Tune in. Welcome back to the NBA. You were a little winded down the stretch.

That's to be expected. How did you cope with that? I'm a dog. I'm a dog. I put work in day out. I've been playing work in, man. I ain't play a game in eight months. Had a lot of time, you know, learned myself. A lot of hard days, you know, where I went through it. But, you know, basketball is, you know, my life, what I love, therapeutic for me. And I'm just, you know, excited to be back.

All right. Walk us through that last play. Call 12. I really didn't want coach to call the time out. That's what I told him.

Yeah, that's the play I wanted to run right there. They believe in me. I actually wanted to go to the trip in the post. They told me no. So I had to deliver for them. What does this do for your team? We just saw how your teammates responded to you. My guys, my brothers, you know, we put in the work together.

Hard practices, life practices, treatment, flights. You know, we spent a lot of time together through this process. They helped me out a lot. You know, just saying positive things to me. Told me, you know, stay true, keep working. And, you know, it shows right there with them, you know, believing in me. And it shows, you know, how excited everybody is for me to be back. What a return to action. Thanks for stopping. Nice job. Yes, sir. Hey, happy birthday, Ma.

I'm on the way home. Not a bad birthday present for his mother. His dad was happening – well, what a shock, right? His dad was sitting courtside for his son's return. Let's see if his dad kind of changed a little bit of his fun, happy-go-lucky attitude as well. Ja Morant is back, 34 points in his return.

The Memphis Grizzlies beat New Orleans 115 to 113. This man comes off of a suspension and lights it up. He'll be in action again on Thursday, his home debut against Indiana. And then he'll be right here in Atlanta. Saturday night, I'll be checking out Ja Morant.

Pretty funny. When he returned from his initial suspension last year, I had a chance to watch him. He made his debut here in Atlanta. And this will be his second road game. I know State Farm Arena here in Atlanta will be packed to see him. And last time, it was packed with kids. I wonder if it's going to have that same effect.

I think it will two nights before Christmas. 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS, that's 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. Let's go to Rachel calling from Hamilton, Canada. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Rachel? Hey, Jayar. I'd like to ask a question and then before you answer, I'll tell you why I'm asking it. Why are we hyping up Ja Morant? Do we not remember that he was slashing guns and struck a lot?

Like, aren't athletes also supposed to be? Are you there? Yeah, you wanted to talk. You called me. What's up? Oh, my goodness.

What the heck is wrong with her? She's like, why are we hyping up Ja Morant? Because this is a sports show? He plays basketball. He's one of the most influential basketball players in the country. Did I give him a Nobel Peace Prize?

Did I do something wrong here? I talked about the guy playing basketball. Was he an idiot?

Yeah. For all the crap that he did earlier this year, we talked about that too. What am I supposed to do, ignore him? Nike's not ignoring him. NBA's not ignoring him. The basketball world is not ignoring him.

So what am I supposed to do, ignore him? Are we hyping him up? I'm telling you what he did. He lit it up tonight. The box score tells you why people care. If he was some scrub off the street, we wouldn't be talking about him.

If he wasn't making a quarter billion dollars, we wouldn't be talking about him. Call me back. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Greg is here from Michigan. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, Jay.

Our Mr. Positive got to like what John did today. He's Superman. He's a baller shot caller. He jumps over people. I believe I think, if I could answer the young lady's question, you're right.

You're talking about his sports prowess, his acumen, and how well he plays the ball, basketball. And I just feel that I sense he's contrite. It sounds like in his voice that he's remorseful. And we do in America, young lady Rachel, we give second chances and maybe third chances.

And hopefully people can learn from their mistakes. And JR, you're spot on as always. You're the best. Love ya. And Agents of Inclusion is coming when? Well, stay tuned, Greg.

We'll see. You betcha. Love ya. Be good to yourself. You too, Greg.

Thank you for calling from Michigan. I don't know if that was a little jab there. Here in America, we give people second chances. I didn't say that.

That's what he said. I ain't got no beef with Canada. I love Canada. Big fan of Toronto or Montreal. I love it.

Never been to Vancouver, but I'm sure I'd love Vancouver as well. And speaking of second chances, man, I don't know if this guy necessarily got a second chance. He was the first NBA Gun King, if I want to call it that. It's Gilbert Arenas. I mean, Gilbert Arenas, we remember what happened with Gilbert.

Had a little bit of a gambling debt that he wanted his cash with Gervaris Crittenton. And Gilbert Arenas brought a gun into the locker room and he was ultimately suspended indefinitely. And he got a second chance.

He's just a little washed up. And it was something that Gilbert Arenas actually acknowledged. And he was on his own podcast, his own show. Yes, every athlete has one. Gilbert Arenas show.

And Gilbert had advice for John Morant with his comeback. Take a listen to this. Just grow with every experience that you're going to encounter. But realize that there's people out there that's trying to take it from you. And you've really got to understand that. I mean, what you did was on the Internet. And you see how much it cost you. You see how easily your whole life could be taken out of your hands. And when I did it, I was 28. So three knee surgeries.

It was easy for me to be sushed away. Right now, you're in a position where they can't. Right. But eventually you start getting older, you get an injury. You know, this right here will be the end. This would have been the end if he was 32, 33.

John Morant is 24 years old. Nike has heavily invested in him. Probably the next signature face of Nike. And tonight he comes back and he drops 34 points, including a game winner in his return. Marco Belletti, what are the odds here that he does something nutty again? I mean, he might punch like an adult in the face, but he can't go three for three on waving guns.

Like over the next 10 years, I won't see a gun in his hand, right? You know, I would love to say yes, but I didn't think we'd see the second one as quickly as we did and as stupidly as it was. So I can't count anything out here.

Damn. Well, then it wasn't his excuse a little bit. It was a it was a water gun. Wasn't that the excuse the second time?

Yeah, which were lighter. Yeah, but something like that. Does that make it better or worse? Because then you're fooling around with it.

Yeah. Then you're fooling around and thinking you're funny. So you haven't learned anything. So no, I can't sit here and say, well, you you've learned. I don't know what he's learned.

And I don't know if 25 games makes him truly learn. I honestly have no idea. You would think the first time would be a slap in the face to make you wake up. And the second one was in some ways worse because you were making light of how serious the situation was. And you had no concept of what it meant. So I don't know.

I honestly don't know. Yeah, I mean, he got a laundry list. We didn't even get into the the laser pointer in the back of the Pacers game. We didn't dive deep into the punching of the 17 year old at his house. I'm probably over mall instance.

No, I was at Foot Locker. I mean, that's that's a that's a sheet right now, man. Like, slow down. I don't think he wants to lose that money. I think that might be the one thing that slows him down is if he goes three for three on another major incident.

He might be losing some of that cash. You're right. Here's the thing, though. And this is where you want you wonder now he's back and you see the talent. We know what it is. It's undisputed, right? So you see the first night he comes back.

Thirty four gets the game winner come from behind. What's to say after two, three, four weeks of doing that, that it doesn't just automatically go right back into the rut. So we don't know if he really took a step back and understood everything or if it's just once he gets into the habit of playing. And goes back to being as good as he is.

And everybody talks about him again, that he just goes back to some of the same bad habits that he had before. I mean, time will tell. It's just hard for me to truly believe that you learned everything in the blink of an eye.

It's hard to believe. I'm going to hold out hope that like everybody, that maybe he can learn. He's had to have learned something.

Whether or not he decides to apply it is, I mean, two different things. So I hope that we don't have to hear anything else negative about Ja Morant. But given prior history, something might come up sooner than later.

I certainly hope not. It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Ja Morant has climbed up. He got smacked down and now he's on a come up again. We're going to take a break.

I'm going to get some more of your calls on the other side. And then I want to tell you about an NFL player who's from New Jersey. Is he getting smacked down right now?

Is he going to Hollywood? We're going to talk about an incident, if I can call it that, with Tommy DeVito. Yes, the New York Giants superstar Italian quarterback who's come the hell up on out of nowhere. It's the J.R. sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio.

And right now it's a news flash. You just heard his voice with Marco Belletti. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief on CBS Sports Radio. First of all, I just want to say I've been listening to your show for the last few months and I really enjoyed listening to you speak. So thanks for taking my call.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the J.R. sport brief show here on CBS Sports Radio. We talked about John Marrant making his triumphant return. I guess it is triumphant, right?

34 points, 25 game suspension, a game-winning shot. Sounds triumphant to me. Let's see if he can go ahead and keep up on the positive vibes. When we get to the top of the hour, we're going to talk about more positive vibes as it relates to a pair of female basketball players who have been given or bestowed upon them an amazing award. And so I'll share that with you at the top of the hour. But let's get into some negativity real fast.

And even this had a positive ending. It's Tommy DeVito. Yeah, you had no idea who the hell this guy was a couple of weeks ago.

And maybe you don't know who the hell I'm talking about right now. He's the quarterback, the starting quarterback for the New York Giants. He's made five starts for the New York Giants. He's had to come on board since Daniel Jones went down with that blown out knee. He's had to take over since Tyrod Taylor went down.

And now Tyrod Taylor is back and is still running out. Tommy DeVito. He's 25 years old. He went to Syracuse. He went to Illinois as well.

Nobody knew who the hell he was besides his parents. And then we got all these stories about how Tommy DeVito lives with his mom. He grew up 10 minutes from MetLife Stadium. So he's living at home right now and playing for the Giants. And it's just like, man, what a what a hell of a story that is.

And being from New Jersey in the New York City metropolitan area where there is a large Italian-American population, huge. Tommy DeVito was getting love. Until he started not getting love. So outside of losing this past Sunday to the Saints, it was an ugly game. Tommy DeVito.

Saints got the Saints smashed the Giants 24 to 6. DeVito got sacked seven times. He should probably be receiving a massage right now. We got word there's some pizzeria up in New Jersey that when Tommy DeVito was on this run, et cetera, that they booked him to come to the pizzeria and that they were going to pay him $10,000. Right. OK, not bad.

Nice come up. The guy's a hometown local hero. And now he's come in and $10,000 to show up and eat somebody's crappy pizza. Although I don't know if the pizza is crappy.

I'm just being a jerk. And then the pizza guy after the loss to the Saints, he basically said that Tommy DeVito's agent, after Tommy DeVito actually won a football game against Green Bay on Monday night, said that he decided to double the fee and said, you need to pay $20,000 if you want Tommy to show up to your pizzeria. And a guy put him on blast. The pizzeria owner said, hey, I'm Italian, too. I appreciate people who stand by their words. And then Tommy DeVito's agent basically said, we never agreed to anything. And then the pizza man said, oh, we agreed in principle.

I'm Italian. I don't like people who break their word. And then Tommy DeVito showed up anyway because it's bad PR. And this is the negative aspect of, you know, being shot to stardom.

Everybody got their hand out. I'm sure the agent was looking for money and he didn't deny or dispute that he was now requesting $20,000. He was saying that there was no agreement on paper. Now, you know damn well they probably had an agreement verbally. And he reneged. He decided to back up out of it because he could make some more money for Mr. Tommy DeVito, the star. And these are the worst things that happened.

Tommy DeVito is here today and could potentially be gone tomorrow. And this is the type of crap you got to deal with. That's why it's smart at the beginning, man. Just deal with football. You don't need no nonsense, no garbage popping up, no beef in a community with a local pizzeria owner.

Nobody needs all of that. But can we be surprised? I mean, Tommy DeVito's agent, people were making fun of how he looks. He looked like he he just came out of Goodfellas. But the fact is, his agent played football.

He did played wide receiver, not in the NFL in college. And now we got to think about his agent maybe just doing a little too much. Possibly. Anyway, Sean Stellato, his agent. Are we surprised that he's bigging up his guy this much? This is the same dude that was on TV basically hoping that his guy takes the job from Daniel Jones. Remember this from up in Adams?

Listen. Yeah, my dream is for him to be the starting quarterback and get a long-term deal with the New York Giants. I have no doubt he can win this job. He's won the locker room. The coaches, I believe, in the face of the fans think he's the second coming of, you know, the Sopranos back at 20 something years ago. Just in terms of that aura and that that passion and that blue collar underdog approach, because he relates to that fan base. So I think he can win that job. I have no doubt about it. I mean, Daniel Jones, a hell of a quarterback, too.

So got to just continue to take it one day at a time. One, you know, one practice time, one game at a time. But I know he's ready for any challenge that's going to come his way. He's prepared his entire life.

Don't forget, this is a kid that went up against two and Trevor Lawrence at the open out in Oregon and was the MVP of that camp. I let the man play football. Stop it. No more interviews, man. No more trying to take money from the community for local pizzeria appearances. And good for Tommy DeVito immediately defusing the situation. Tuesday is an off day in the NFL. Most teams Tuesday is the off day and good on him for showing up and not charging a dime. Just the stupidness. It's really a bad distraction. Good luck to Tommy DeVito the rest of the way.

Hopefully he can avoid the nonsense. 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS. It's 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS. Marcus here from Nova Scotia. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey there. I just wanted to talk about Ben Johnson for a bit.

I'm obviously, like many other people, I'm just so impressed with how he's run the Lions offense. I know you don't like making predictions, so I promise I'm not going to ask you for a prediction. No, go for it.

As long as it's not a stupid request, go for it. Fair enough. I guess it's kind of a prediction. I have two teams as possible landing spots for him. I do think Ben Johnson will be a coach. If not next year, very soon a head coach.

I think he should be. My two teams. First, my apologies to Matt Eberfluss, but he still has a job for now, but Chicago Bears. And the other team is the Los Angeles Chargers. Yeah.

Yeah, well, it wasn't difficult for me to think about bum-ass teams that would probably either got rid of their coach already or looking for one. So that's not a difficult thing to do. Sure. I just want to say one more thing. Oh, I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to interrupt you. Well, first of all, we give second and third chances in Canada. That's for Greg in Michigan. And also, I will show up to any pizzeria for free pizza. I don't expect any invitations. Thank you, JR. You're welcome, Mark.

Thank you for calling from Nova Scotia. Yeah, I don't have a problem making a prediction there. I can't tell you where Ben Johnson is going to end up as head coach. When he said Ben Johnson, at first I thought about the boxer and then I thought about the Jamaican racer or sprinter. And I go, oh, yeah, Ben Johnson, the OC for the Lions, who's still trying to figure out how to work in Jamison Williams, kind of into that wide receiver rotation there, get him some more passes his way. I don't know where he going to end up.

I mean, for everything that we've discussed with the Chargers, you can go ahead and take a look at Bill Belichick. We don't know what Matt Eberfluss or what's going to happen with him. We don't know what's going to happen with Justin Fields. I'm sure we're going to have additional openings. We don't know full time what's going to be the case out in Carolina. And who knows, maybe Ben Johnson sticks around. Maybe he's going to wait for a better opportunity. Maybe ends up with Justin Herbert.

That wouldn't be the worst of things now, would it? It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, we're going to talk some positivity, right? Isn't this how we want to end the year on a positive note? We're going to take a look at two athletes, not one, but two athletes who have been named the Sporting News Athletes of the Year. I'm going to tell you about them on the other side. You figure out if they're more deserving than that award Dion got a few weeks ago.

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