2.8.24 - JR SportBrief Hour 2

Okay, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever, or I can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. With available H-TRAC all-wheel drive and three-row seating, my whole family can head deep into the wild. Conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai. There's joy in every journey.

2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. I'm Tony and this is the Tony Kornheiser Show. Well, that makes it sound a bit more serious than it really is. So what exactly is the show about?

It's been almost 30 years and I still don't know. Right now we have some of the best voices in football come on to explain to us what we need to know in the college and pro world. And we get weekly picks from a monkey.

Do you really need more than that? I might just tell you about my bunker game with the latest failed entry and my quest to find the best coffee ice cream. No schmutz please. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

It is the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Thursday. Hope you're doing well. I hope you're safe.

I just hope you're doing good. If not, I will try my best to help you out. See you for the next three hours. This is a four-hour show. I get started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. I'm in Atlanta, Georgia. Our super producer and host, Ryan Hickey.

He's holding it down for us on the boards in New York City. And thank you to you wherever you're listening. However you're listening. The free Odyssey app, your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate, Sirius XM Channel 158, and everybody locked in on a smart speaker. You got one in your house? You got Alexa?

You got Google this, Google that? You know, they used to... I don't know if it's a smart speaker. It used to be a kid. Hey, go change the channel.

I don't know if that counts as a smart speaker, but I know that used to count as a remote control. Hey, go pick that up. Change the channel.

All of that stuff. Anyway, ask your smart speaker to play CBS Sports Radio and boom, we pop right on up. And unlike a child, I guess the computers don't talk back. Not yet at least. My Alexa is pretty chatty.

Ask her one thing and she does not shut up. Anyway, we've been hanging out for an hour already. Thank you so, so much to former Pittsburgh Steelers, former All-Pro Chad Brown for coming through to join us. Chad Brown is out in Las Vegas. He believes that these Kansas City Chiefs are going to walk away victors on Sunday night in Super Bowl 58 against the 49ers. He credited both defenses, but I'm in the same boat as him.

I look at Patrick Mahomes and I go, that's the guy. And if Brock Purdy and the 49ers win, God bless them. These are two great teams.

Hopefully the 49ers don't have one of these slow starts like they've had so far here in this postseason. Tonight is a big night right now at this minute, the second in Los Angeles outside of Crypto.com Arena. The Los Angeles Lakers are going to unveil Kobe Bryant's statue. He's going to be joining other legends, obviously Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is currently on stage at the unveiling. Other legends like Shaquille O'Neal.

Think about Jerry West and go on and on. And so that statue will be unveiled shortly as the ceremony is going on. Also out in Las Vegas tonight in about two hours from now, the NFL is going to hold its NFL Honors Awards. And the NFL Honors Awards is basically honoring the best of the best from this past season. We're going to find out who the Offensive Player of the Year is, the Comeback Player of the Year. I think we all know it'll be DeMar Hamlin. And then, of course, the MVP of which Brock Purdy is a finalist. But I am certain that, like most, Lamar Jackson is going to walk away with the award.

And speaking of the NFL, speaking of Vegas, live from Las Vegas. We're going to be joined in about 15 to 20 minutes by Mack Hollins. Mack Hollins, a wide receiver last season, this past season for the Atlanta Falcons.

I believe he is a free agent. Mack is a free spirit. He does not believe in wearing shoes. He does not believe in the weak.

He believes in strengthening the mind. And he also sent me beef jerky. I'm not lying. This afternoon, before I left the studio, you know, they hit me up going, hey, did your food arrive? I'm like, yeah, it did.

Thank you so much. So Mack Hollins coming up in 15 or so minutes. And I can't wait to ask him about the food, get his perspective on the NFL, all these wide receivers balling out, and then figure out what the hell is going on with him and who does he believe is going to win the game. And so we're going to get to some NFL talk in a bit. But we got to get the NBA trade deadline out the way.

No major moves, no gigantic moves, no big names, no big names and new faces and what have you. But we did have some role players moving around. We did have some new New York Knicks. Hey, is that that's that's terrible English, right, Hickey? Some new New York Knicks?

No, I think it's perfect English in this case, right? The Knicks got some they got some depth. The New York Knicks added Boyan Bogdanovich.

The man is dropping 20 points for that crap Pistons team. They got Alec Burks. The New York Knicks added both of them and only had the trade away. Evan Fournier, who don't play, getting rid of Quentin Grimes, who also I mean, he's young and complained about his minutes. And so the New York Knicks have depth. Yeah, right now they're dealing with injury. But the New York Knicks have gotten better with reliable players, with reliable shooting. Guys who aren't going to talk, they're not going to complain.

They have experience. Jalen Brunson dealing with an ankle. Julius Randle dealing with the shoulder.

Oji Ananobi is going to be out a few weeks. He has a spur in his elbow. But when the Knicks are healthy, man, they got they got some ballers. They have some depth and maybe, maybe just maybe Mitchell Robinson will return as well. The Knicks can play with anybody in the East. That includes the Celtics, especially if they're gigantic Latvian and Kristaps Porzingis can't play. And there's a possibility that he may not be able to play. I'm not putting it in the atmosphere.

That's just his history. The Milwaukee Bucks, they add Patrick Beverley. You can go ahead and think about the Phoenix Suns adding Royce O'Neill to their bench. Dallas Mavericks adding some size and scoring in P.J.

Washington. Gordon Hayward moves on from the Charlotte Hornets. He's now a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

But you got to take a look at a team that did the damn thing. It's the New York Knicks. The New York Knicks, I don't want to say have been snake bitten throughout their history. Their last championship came in 1973.

Let's think about that. 1973 was the last time the New York Knicks won a championship. They did not go back to a championship. They did not go back to a finals until 1994. And then after that, they went back in 1999.

They haven't been back since. It's been a lot of misery and a lot of lawsuits and a lot of injuries. I mean, the New York Knicks traded for a guy in Stephon Marbury who went back home and basically had a mental breakdown where he ate Vaseline and cried live on camera. The New York Knicks gave a guy with busted up knees and Alan Houston, a great human being, by the way. They said, hey, here's 100 million dollars. And this is when 100 million dollars was a ridiculous amount of money in the NBA.

I know these guys now making 250, right? The New York Knicks and at least this one worked. They brought on a Latrell Sprewell who choked his coach. At least they went to the finals, right? They signed that Amari Stoudemire, who was no longer wanted by the Suns because they knew his knees were on borrowed time. They had a Carmelo Anthony who, yeah, thank God he came and he could shoot, but they didn't win anything with him.

Lawsuits and sexual harassment, cap space, linsanity. The Knicks over the past 25 years. Knicks have been a joke. Now the Knicks got Jalen Brunson on a discount. He's playing for 100 million dollars. The New York Knicks got Julius Randle on a discount.

He's been an all star when he's not telling the fans, F you. They got a defensive player and Mitchell Robinson who can block shots and rebound when he's healthy. They got Josh Hart, who plays hard. They got Alec Burks, who's been on the Knicks, can play point, can shoot. They got another score in Bogdan, or excuse me, Boyan Bogdanovic. It's too many Bogdanovic's here in the NBA. Anyway, the Knicks got some pieces, man. Ryan, are you excited about this? Oh, fired up.

Let's go. Like there is a real reason not to just be like a homer or an optimist, but a real reason for the first time in a long time to have real optimism with this team. Yeah, it feels almost dirty to discuss. Like, do I need to pinch myself to look at this team and say, wow, the New York Knicks can actually compete, actually compete. For an Eastern Conference championship? What? The New York Knicks can hang in there with any team? They're not bottom dwellers? They're not a joke?

It's, it's almost foreign. Like at this rate, I'm expecting James Dolan to, who could he possibly sue tomorrow, Ryan? Is there somebody that he could sue? Oh boy. I mean, let's see, Carmelo Anthony, maybe Latrell Sprewell, just like, you know, kind of ruin all the good vibes by taking down, you know, former Knicks that are still beloved by the fan base. That's probably, I think, what's going to happen tomorrow. Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, I guess so, right? Well, I mean, Latrell Sprewell is, last I checked, he was a paid employee of Madison.

Yeah, maybe not the best example. So he's not going to, I mean, well, Dolan might, well, I mean, look, if he walks out Charles Oakley, out the building, then I assume that he can do anything. I mean, this man wants to fight with the Liquor Authority of New York. He wants to fight with fans in the building. At least nobody's going to chant at him, sell the team. Not, not right now.

And Leon Rose coming on as the GM. I know he's a ghost. I know he doesn't speak.

I know you don't hear him. But the Knicks look competent. The New York Knicks have their draft picks. They have their assets. They have a veteran team that's that's still young.

They're not old, not by any stretch of the imagination. And it's admirable to look at the Knicks and say they can hang with anybody. The Celtics are at the top of the totem pole.

And after that, yeah, maybe Milwaukee can get it together. And in the Sixers, they're going to have their issues. I know they just added Buddy Hield. He's a great shooter. Excellent shooter from the Pacers. The Knicks, the Knicks are right there.

As I stand here in the studio, I told you the Lakers did not make any moves. And Vanessa Bryant is currently addressing the crowd here as they get ready to unveil Kobe Bryant's statue. All of the people on the stage have spoken. Derek Fisher is there on stage. Phil Jackson on stage. Kareem and it's great to see Kareem. I know he fell.

I had a hip issue over the holidays. It's nice to see him moving around. Kareem is there. Magic Johnson is in attendance. Adam Silver, Paul Gasol sitting front row with Adam Silver. Ron Artest is there.

Magic Johnson is there. And we have no idea. None whatsoever. As of right now, you know what Vanessa is saying, we'll share that with you later on in the show.

But but certainly emotional. I hope that this takes a little bit of the edge off of the fans in Los Angeles tonight. We know the Lakers did not make moves. They don't have enough. The Lakers don't have enough to compete for a championship this year. LeBron James has to be ridiculously disappointed in what the team has done. And some of that is his fault. I mean, it's not just about this year.

It's about previous years and then some of the changes that he wanted to be an advocate for. So it's kind of odd. You think about the New York Knicks, the Los Angeles Lakers, the two biggest media markets in the entire country. And the Knicks are getting a lot of positive country, a lot of positive recognition all over the place right now. But then you go ahead and you take a look at the Lakers.

Yeah, people are disappointed. And as I say that hilariously, Darvin Ham, the head coach of the Lakers, is shown in the crowd with a Kobe hoodie on a Kobe hat. And he is probably one of the most disliked people involved with the Los Angeles Lakers organization right now. I think at this point we are probably only minutes away from the unveiling of Kobe statue. Vanessa Bryant is making her statement. And I can't wait to see what the statue looks like.

I think both Hickey and I agree. It's probably going to be Kobe Bryant taking a jump shot. Probably a fade away with maybe they put some some hands in his face to really illustrate Kobe willing to knock down a shot over anybody. So this should be cool. We'll keep you up to date on that. Later on in the show, we're going to talk to Antonio Daniels. He's going to come through former NBA point guard, lend his perspective as to what has taken place with the trade deadline.

And so we have so much more to do, but we're going to do on the other side of the break. We're going to have a conversation with someone who's in Las Vegas, plays in the NFL, is a wide receiver. Mack Hollins is going to join us. It's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

Don't move. We're going to talk some more Super Bowl. You are listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, the NBA trades on deadline. It came it went earlier today and now everybody is eagerly awaiting the Super Bowl.

It goes down on Sunday night. Can't get here any faster between the Kansas City Chiefs. OK, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever, or I can hop into my all new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. With available H-Track all wheel drive and three row seating.

My whole family can head deep into the wild. Conquer the weekend in the all new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai. There's joy in every journey.

2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. I'm Tony and this is the Tony Kornheiser show. Well, that makes it sound a bit more serious than it really is. So what exactly is the show about? Been almost 30 years and I still don't know. Right now we have some of the best voices in football come on to explain to us what we need to know in the college and pro world. And we get weekly picks from a monkey.

Do you really need more than that? I might just tell you about my bunker game of the latest failed entry in my quest to find the best coffee ice cream. No schmutz, please. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. Chris Chapman's hit podcast was canceled. As you know, my old show, The Chris Chapman Confrontation, was the victim of a little thing called cancel culture.

But he's learned, he's grown and he's ready to win back his audience. I'm back better than ever with The Chris Chapman Do-Over starring Ike Barenholtz. I have a new lady co-host on the pod, Lisa Gilroy. My mic is on. And Neil Casey is the professor. Greetings, my humans. The new hit improv comedy, The Chris Chapman Do-Over, an Odyssey and paper kite production.

Listen on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And those San Francisco 49ers right now joining us on the line is someone who is in Vegas. Someone who's played in Vegas, spent this past season here in Atlanta, Georgia with the Falcons. It's my main man, wide receiver, Mac Hollins. Mac, how are you, man?

I'm doing well. I appreciate you having me on. No doubt about it.

Always a pleasure to chat it up with you. I know people are giving you the looks again, right? You're walking around, no shoes. People are looking at you funny, right? Oh yeah, you know how it is. They keep the bare feet and that wild hair.

They gotta look a couple times. I know, I know. Well listen, man, you are so used to Vegas. We know prior to playing for the Falcons you were in Vegas. What has made Vegas kind of explode as a sports city?

You had a season to experience it. Yeah, I mean, obviously the fan base is gonna be one big factor. You gotta have a fan base that's gonna support whatever team goes there. You know, they had their trials and every team that comes seems to dominate, whether it's the Aces or the Golden Knights. You know, there may be a new team coming to town, but that's undecided yet.

Vegas just seems to be a spot where teams want to go and teams, when they go, they start winning and fans love it. Wideout, Mac Hollins is here with us on CBS Sports Radio. Well, we know we got the big game coming our way this Sunday night out in Las Vegas. From your perspective, when you sit down and watch another game, whatever it may be, what are you honing in on the most? It gets kind of hard to enjoy a game because I'll probably just analyze most of the time, whether it's releases from receivers or, you know, coverages. It's hard to just sit back and just enjoy the game for what it is.

Mac Hollins is here with us, the chair of our sport reshow, CBS Sports Radio. Where do you view this game going? Who do you take? If you had to put it all on the line, who do you think would walk away victorious? It's tough. I don't think it's going to be one sided for sure, but I think the Chiefs, off of experience, will be able to pull it off.

It does matter being, you know, playing in those games. I don't think anybody would believe they were going to make it to the Super Bowl this year. Mid-season they were saying they were the worst offense in football, and now here they are, another Super Bowl contention.

So I lean towards the Chiefs and that experience taking them over the edge in the fourth quarter. Mac, I want to ask you about this past season and what the future might look like for you as well. First of all, how are you feeling? You physically good? You ready?

You set? How are you feeling? Yeah, I feel good. Body feels great. Excited for another opportunity. Just, you know, any opportunity to play another year is a great opportunity.

So I'm excited to train and get back to work again. Well, listen, Mac, you talk about walking around barefoot and people look at you with their hair out. Your approach to the game is different. I would say, and I actually admire your approach to life. Like, you really go out of your way to learn something different. You share it constantly on social media. Where did you pick this up? Did someone inspire you?

Is it someone in your family, a friend? And what are you trying to kind of take over and conquer and learn next? What's the agenda? What's on the agenda? I think education has always been a big thing for me. I'm not like some huge proponent of the schooling system and schooling, this and that.

I think education, finding education, whether it's in books or in experiences or in some other avenue, but educating yourself in new things and different things. So I always try to do something completely different than football. The last thing I'd ever want is to say, how's it going?

My name is Mac Hollins. I am a football player, you know, and nothing else. Like, what else do you do?

And I don't have anything else to say. I want football to be the last thing that I have to say about myself when I'm talking to somebody. So my next avenue I think is, I don't know, farmland or farming or something like that. I've been really into that lately. And that and pilot school is my suit. Okay.

Mac Hollins is here with us, the JR Sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio. You talk about farming. I mean, you can farm quite a bit of this. I got to say thank you, man. I mean, I walked out of this.

Well, I walked out of my house on the way to the studio and I'm like, well, I got a delivery and I got I got beef jerky. Like, thank you, man. I appreciate that. Of course. Of course. I'm glad I got there on time. I gave you something to eat on the way.

Yeah, well, half of it is gone already with the peppercorn and all of that. So fill me in on that. I need more.

How can I get some? Well, what's up? Yeah. So so that's you know, I made that jerky. It is made actually from a GE profile smart indoor smoker. So it's everything you think of from an outdoor smoker. But imagine it just being on your countertop and no smoke. So you still get the pellets, you still get the smoke flavor, but it's all sitting on your countertop.

So Lily took some top round, sliced it real thin, got a quarter of an inch, eighth of an inch, marinated it overnight and then cooked it in there for four or five hours. And everything is on the is on the you can do on the app or you can obviously do it when you're in front of the unit. But you can do it from the app. Leave, go, go eat, go, go to sleep, go take a nap, go watch some TV, go do whatever you want and then come back to it. And it'll tell you, hey, it's reached this temperature is ready and it'll stay warm as long as you want until it's ready for dinnertime. And then you can eat.

So it's great. But yeah, this indoor smart smoker, it's like change change the game for me because all I eat is meat and fruit. So, you know, I order half a cow and now I have easy access to cook with it without having to go stand in the cold or go get covered in smoke. Yeah, well, let me tell you something, Mac, for somebody I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. I'm in the same boat trying to be healthy. And, you know, I try to say, hey, where can I get my protein from?

And you just gave me another potential solution. I can put that in my bag. I can throw it down with my dinner. I appreciate. I really do, Mac. Hey, you got to pick some stuff up here in Atlanta.

I may want to steal yours. It's the best. Mac Collins here with us, the J.R. sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio.

Thank you so much for that information. You know, back to the football side, we have seen such an evolution of the game. I know you came in in 2017.

I know you're a fan as well. It seems like there's so much that that favors the offense and the wide receivers, at least from a fan's perspective. Do you feel that way? I know you got defenders flanking.

You're trying to knock you out. But do you feel that there have been any changes and and how you do your job out on the field? Yeah, I mean, the game has definitely changed since I got in the league and it's going to continue to change. You know, for the future of the game, the inability to adapt in this game is a good way to have your career cut short. Would I love to be able to hit people a certain way or act a certain way? Yeah, of course. But I also love when the other team makes mistakes off of rule changes or things that have changed in the game that benefit our team.

So it goes both ways. Yes, the game has changed and yes, it will continue to change. But you got to just be on your toes and stay ready to dominate whatever the rules are. Well, Mac, we know that the team that you played for last season, the Falcons, their former head coach is now the offensive coordinator, you know, up in Pittsburgh for the Steelers, that being Arthur Smith. For all the Steeler fans out there, what do you believe that that Arthur is going to bring to that offense and that team? Yeah, the run game is big, a good strong run game. And then getting guys involved off of that.

So it'll be exciting to see what they can do and what they can create up there. And for yourself, as you continue to train, what are you adding to your training? Are you doing anything different? And then also for people who are not familiar, I tell you, I would love to walk around barefoot like you, but I'm a punk. Like I'm too far gone.

I can't do it. I'm a punk. I'm gonna get something in my foot and I'm a cry like a you know what. But what are you doing with your training and why is this something that you have adopted? Yeah, so the training has always been barefoot for the last five years. And now the lifestyle of the last two years has been barefoot. But it just has helped me a lot. Just keeping, you know, being strong from the base, being strong from the bottom and then working my way up. You know, there's a lot of knee problems and hip problems in people because their ankles and feet are weak. And they don't have the strength to, you know, control things or move all the way up the ladder that is your body. So training barefoot has helped me tremendously to build that strength back in my feet and have the dexterity to move and let my ankle have some mobility and move how it needs to move.

So it's been it's been great for me. I think more guys are starting to do it. You start seeing more guys training barefoot and see more guys warming up before games barefoot.

There are a lot of a lot of people are domesticated out there, though. You're not the only one. They're too far gone. Can't take the shoes off.

They don't have it in them. Yeah, I can I can get down on a flip flop, maybe a fixed sock at this point. But unless I'm like at the beach or in a house or something, I'm like, it's kind of kind of tough. I don't know. Maybe growing up in the Bronx and Harlem, maybe I saw too many things on the floor. Maybe I'm traumatized. That's that's that. Yeah, that could be that might be it.

Yeah, that's that's possible. Well, Mac, thank you so much for the time. Where can people find out more information and follow you?

Where the hell can I, you know, get this smoker besides stealing it from you? Fill us all out. Yeah, absolutely. First of all, I appreciate the time.

As always, it's always a pleasure to talk with you. But GE Profile on Instagram, GEAppliances.com for the Internet. But then Best Buy is actually three hundred dollars off until Sunday. So you can you can get it for way cheaper than what it usually is. You know, go pick it up and go smoking something for the big game. Don't stand out in that in that cold New York, New York weather. Don't stay inside your house. Set it up and then go enjoy the game while it cooks. You don't have to deal with it.

No smoke, no smell. Just good food. Shout out to Mac Hollins. Mac, appreciate you. Let's talk again in the summer, OK?

Absolutely. You know it. My main man, Mac Hollins, wide receiver in the NFL. Just finished up this past season with the Falcons. Played for the Raiders prior to that.

And let's see what team he joins this upcoming season. I appreciate Mac. I really appreciate him for what he said about education.

He always takes the time to learn something new and he doesn't just learn something new. He's an advocate for sharing that. You know, Mac will have a book club. Mac will spend time with Special Olympics helping them out.

He is he is someone who always takes in information and learns and then he shares it with others. So I appreciate Mac for coming through to join us. It's the J.R. Sportbree show here with you on CBS Sports Radio before we move on. Hey, Ryan, are you are you going to join the barefoot committee? I feel like I can be an honorary member. I love being barefoot when possible. In the grass, I'm all in.

Beach, all in. But in the streets, especially the New York City streets, I'm going to I'm going to pass on that one. So no, no chance that you take your shoes off in the studio right now.

And your socks and then just kind of get on the subway back home. No chance. No chance. Zero. That has athlete's foot written all over it. Well, Mac Mac is in Las Vegas.

Listen to me. He is in Las Vegas. Where are they at?

Not the MGM. Where they at? Mandalay Bay, I think, is Radio Row.

That's right. They're up in Mandalay Bay. It's connected to the convention center and the NFL experience. And there's a million people walking around. It is Las Vegas. He's in a casino. He is walking around Las Vegas barefoot. So you mean to tell me that Mac can walk around Las Vegas barefoot and you've seen all this stuff out on the street there. And you can't walk around New York barefoot. Come on. Not to brag.

I think what he's dealing with in Vegas, the New York City subway hasn't beat you. You talk about seeing some stuff. I saw a manager this week at two thirty in the afternoon coming here. What was he doing? Leaning on the wall, taking a number one in broad daylight, not even trying to hide it.

So I'm going to avoid that and keep my shoes on. Well, you know that that well, you know, you know, Jorge Posada used to urinate on his hands to toughen them up, right? Yes.

And I think a few like Moises Alou I think did that, too. Yes. It toughens up your hands. And, you know, good for the baseball. So good for the baseball, not good for everyday life. I don't think my girlfriend would want to shake my hand.

No, no, no, no. I'm not saying to, you know, number one on your hands, but I'm saying if you walked over a little bit, your feet would be tougher for it. Do I need tough feet? Do you need tough feet? Do you got to callous him up? Well, I mean, unless I'm going unless I'm going into kickboxing.

Right. Like what? I don't need feet.

Like what's that? The thing from the Fantastic Four, that big rock guy, unless I'm trying to like kick the living hell out of people, maybe I don't. Maybe I don't need some feet. But I see a guy like Mack and I go, that guy's tough. But he's walking around every place, barefoot, every place, no socks, bare feet. And he's stronger for it. I mean, I want to be a stronger human being. I said he makes me feel like a punk. I just I can't do it.

And here in Atlanta, all things considered, it's it's relatively clean here. Like I could if I needed to. And I'm not I'm I hope it doesn't happen. But if somebody took the shoes and socks off of my feet when I walked out of the studio. I could survive getting home barefoot. You know, I could do it. I could.

I want to. I want to have stronger feet. I want to have stronger ankles. Why not me?

It sounds like something you're not interested in. I thought you wanted to be a little stronger. I guess I do want to be stronger. I'll go to the gym and I'll lift some weights. I don't need my ankles being stronger.

What was the functionality for that? That's right. You know, you're right. You don't play in the NFL. That's right. Nor do I have aspirations.

You're right. Well, let's ask let's ask Rich Ackerman. Hey, Rich, are you you down with participating in the Barefoot Committee? Like, I got the arthritic toe.

I got to I got to pass. Well, you could do one one shoe on and one shoe off. You know, maybe I try it.

I try it, you know. But how much of it is outdoors? He is he's in the Mandalay Bay barefoot right now. Yeah, but that's indoors. He's he doesn't go outside and put on socks. He doesn't.

He walks. There is an I don't want to call it an iconic image. You know, this isn't this isn't the sailor kissing a lady in Times Square, you know, but there's an image of Mack walking into a game this year flanked by Kyle Pitts, his tight end, his teammate. And it's raining.

It's I believe they're in Carolina. They're getting off of the bus in the rain. Everybody has an umbrella. And Mack is walking from the bus, which is on concrete and asphalt, into the locker room.

And in his teammate, Kyle Pitts is just looking at him like, what's wrong with you? It's it's pouring rain and you're walking on the asphalt out here. It's dirty barefoot. So you think you're going to put on socks or shoes out on the Vegas street?

He's not. My question is, aren't your feet always cold? You know, they say the got to keep the extremities warm. Your feet would always be cold. No, no, I don't think I mean, they're like hands, right? If your hands can be out freely, then why would your feet be cold? Right, I guess.

Yeah, that's the skin is thinner on your hands and your feet. But, you know, I just I don't know. He's tough. It's impressive. It is. He's tough.

I want to try it. I just. I'm a punk.

I can't do it anyway. It's the J.R. sport. Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS.

Someone who is not a punk. He's passed away now. It's Kobe Bryant. They just revealed his statue out in Los Angeles.

I'm going to describe it and tell you about it the best way that I can. We're going to hear some words from Kareem. Kareem was there, along with his wife.

Kobe Bryant statues unveiled. There's so much going on. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief on CBS Sports Radio, the J.R. sport show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you to Mack Hollins, NFL wide receiver, for coming through, taking the time to join us. Next hour, we're going to talk some NBA basketball. Take a look at the trade deadline with former point guard in the league. Current broadcaster Antonio Daniels, eight five five two one two four CBS is the number that's eight five five two one two four CBS in the process.

And while we were talking with Mack Hollins, he's out in Vegas right now. Kobe Bryant statue was unveiled in Los Angeles outside of crypto dot com arena. And I got to tell you, the statue is it's pretty cool. How can I describe it? It is Kobe Bryant standing there. He is wearing his his number eight and he has his finger kind of pointed up towards the sky.

Whether you want to say he's like number one, he's looking forward. It looks like an image of, you know, calling to the bench. You're looking over at the bench and you're kind of point in one.

You're calling somebody over or you're getting ready for a call. And it's just standard. It's not him shooting. So I guess, Hickey, we were wrong on that one, right? We were wrong there. Big time. Swing and a miss. Big, big swing and a miss. I thought it was going to be the scowl, but I thought that that was going to be a little too not not violent, but scathing.

You don't you don't want to have that as an image. And before we we share anything with you from Vanessa Bryant, who unveiled the statue, let's take a listen to Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He described Kobe Bryant as a player.

And this is what he had to say. I like to think of athletes as artists like the painter, a poet, the athlete offers a temporary distraction from the struggles of life, as well as the keen insights that struggles that help lessen the weight we all carry. We battered our hands in amazement as we watched Kobe defy the laws of gravity and movement as he leapt, dodged and pirouetted from one end of the court to the other.

He was a defender's worst nightmare. And that was entertainment. And so we got a little bit more insight now into the Kobe statue. All all five of his championships are at the base of the statue. The base of the statue is inscribed Kobe being Bryant underneath it. And this is all inscribed in gold underneath it.

It says Black Mamba. It has his accomplishments on one side of the base of the other side, has his stats. And the image of Kobe Bryant kind of walking in and having one finger up in the air, having a bandaged index finger up in the air is actually taken from his 81 point game. And so Jalen Rose is also a trend trending on social media right now, I guess, as this will forever be a reminder, I guess etched in stone literally of Kobe Bryant taking Jalen Rose to the woodshed. Kareem continued on and he talked about what Kobe Bryant represented. We learned from him that the limits of what is physically possible can be expanded, given enough effort and enough heart. That was insight.

That was Kobe. The statue is a wonderful contradiction. It captures a person frozen in time, while at the same time acknowledges that the reason there is a statue in the first place is because that person is timeless. We're all here today to honor a man who represents not just extraordinary sports achievement, but also timeless values and inspire us all to try harder to be not just better, but our best. Yeah, it's it's actually a beautiful statue, the more that I see it.

I've actually just retweeted it on X. If you check it out at JR Sport Brief, you could see the statue image of Kobe Bryant and then the inspiration from where they got it. Kobe Bryant's widow, Vanessa Bryant, also took time to speak, and we got a little bit of a surprise that Kobe statue isn't the only one that we will see outside.

Listen to this, because fans all over the world and the city of Angels loved Kobe so much. He will have three statues in front of the arena, also known as the house that Kobe built. One wearing the number eight, one with our beautiful daughter, Gianna, and one wearing the number 24. That's that's cool.

That is cool. The one that he has now is his number eight. Number 24 will be on the way in addition to the one with his daughter, which is how how she stands up and even has the strength to do that and still talk about this. I have no idea what she does privately.

I'm sure it just will always hurt. But publicly, she has carried herself with so much grace. And then when it comes to the statue, let's take a listen to the unveiling. I don't want to reveal too much about the statue before you see it, so I'll leave you with one of my husband's amazing quotes.

Leave the game better than you found it. And when it comes time for you to leave, leave a legend. And that he did. Yeah. And to actually look at the images I shared with you from his 81 point game, walking off one finger in the air, pointing towards the sky, acknowledging the fans, celebrating. To take it a step further, you want to talk about preparation. This is four years after his death, right?

Four years he's been gone now, which is bananas to even think about. Vanessa had some final words before the unveiling, and it had to do with the selection of the statue, the polls, what it looks like. Take a listen to what she had to say. And for the record, Kobe picked the pose you're about to see.

So if anyone has any issues with it. Yeah. What what what can you say after that? Like, what could you possibly say? Like the man is gone.

He picked the stat. Like, of course, he knew that there would be a statue outside a Staples Center. But damn it, what would they do in ruminating one day?

And hey, when I get my statue, what is it going to look like? Like. Hey, Hickey, that he had everything planned out now, didn't he? Preparation. How about that? I was going to say that's the foresight that partly made him one of the greatest players ever.

Yeah, I got to start thinking about, man, I could barely figure out what I want to eat for dinner. It's like, I know I'm great. I'm gonna get me a statue. Good for Kobe Bryant. And it actually is.

It is a beautiful, beautiful statue. We've seen some stinkers of other athletes, but his it's top of the line. It's the J.R. sport ratio here with you on CBS Sports Radio at the top of the hour.

Top of the break on the other side. We'll talk about some of the winners and losers at the NBA trade deadline. We got Antonio Daniels coming our way in about, I don't know, 30 minutes or so. And then we're going to find out live from Vegas who's going to win the NFL MVP.

It's the J.R. sport ratio, CBS Sports Radio. OK, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever, or I can hop into my all new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road with available H track all wheel drive and three row seating. My whole family can head deep into the wild, conquer the weekend in the all new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai. There's joy in every journey.

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