JR SportBrief Hour 4

It is!

The JR Sportbree Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. I hope you're having a tremendous Tuesday. I hope you had a good day, a good afternoon, a good night, a good evening.

Oh, I'm good. I'm having me a good ol' time. Just wrapping up the Super Bowl. Super Bowl, right?

It's done. I was gonna say I wish I was in Kansas City for the parade tomorrow, but that'd be a lie. I'm not a fan of crowds. I'm not a fan of being surrounded by drunks. I'm not a fan of Taylor Swift.

I don't need to hear Travis Kelcey yelling like a lunatic. I do like Patrick Mahomes. I like the Chiefs. I like them. I don't hate them. They're not villains to me.

Not yet, anyway. Either way, I'm gonna be hanging out with you for one more hour. This show, it gets started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. You can listen on the free Odyssey app.

You can listen on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate. Hello to everybody all over the country, all over the nation, all over North America. Hello, Canada. I know somebody's listening in Mexico. A lot of people in Mexico.

Hello, Mexico. Anyway, you can also tune in on Sirius XM, Channel 158. I know we got a bunch of truck drivers.

They don't gotta worry about changing the station or the channel. And then, of course, we got folks listening on a smart speaker. Got one in your house?

Got one at home? Ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. And boom, all your dreams come true. JR Sport Brief. I pop up and you don't gotta do anything. Thank you to super producer and host Ryan Hickey. He's holding it down for us on the boards in New York City. And me?

I'm just holding it down on Peachtree Street here in Atlanta, Georgia. We've had a busy, busy day. A lot to talk about.

Thank you so much. Matt Bertram came through, talked with us about the Super Bowl. He's on his way to the parade in Kansas City.

Must be nice for him. Talked about Andy Reid. Talked about Deshaun Foster, the new head coach of UCLA. We heard from Kyle Shanahan. He spoke today. He gave an update on the answer about, hey, why didn't your players know the overtime rules?

A matter of fact, let's not waste time. Kyle Shanahan, yeah, he did all that explaining the other day. We heard his players say, hey, we didn't know the overtime rules. Kyle Shanahan explained.

Take a listen to this. Not too long ago. We did say, and we told everyone as we were waiting for the coin toss, hey, review everyone with to make sure they're sure before we go out. So we asked the position coach to do that, but I didn't cover it in a meeting on the Super Bowl week.

I don't think that changes anything. We did it with our analytics department. We decided that going into the playoffs. What, you know, I think you guys know how I've explained how I make decisions with that stuff in the past. I take all the information I can get, especially ones I haven't been in, and our analytics felt that was the best way to go. But as you guys know, I don't always just go with that.

I take into account what they say, what they think is right, and then I go off my gut in the heat of battle, and I knew what they felt going into it. And when I think about that during the moments I have to make the decision, I think the type of game it was did match what they felt was the best way to do. It did seem more like a field goal game, and our demons had been out there for a real long time right before that. So I didn't feel at all to override that at the time. Yeah, that still doesn't sound good. Yeah, well, we had to, yeah, I told the position coaches to let the guys know.

Well, nobody told Eric Armstead, right? Or what was he doing? Sucking down water? What was he doing? I don't know. Looking for oxygen? Probably?

Possibly? That was, uh, it's bad. And let's see, let's see how he bounces back, if he gets a chance to. Because Kyle Shanahan was also asked about the idea that he can't win the big one.

Now this excuse, it had to be in stitches. Listen. When you say big games, like, when you say big games, like we've got to win a bunch of big games to get to the Super Bowls. We've won a lot of big games here. We've won a lot of big games to get into playoffs. The fact that we keep getting there shows you guys how many, how much we've been game, win games are big games.

And I think you guys are aware of that. But it's, you know, these two Super Bowls have been tough losing to Kansas City. But to think that if, if we win that, that means I can win a big game. No, that means our team won the Super Bowl.

Um, that's what, that's what I understand. You guys can have any narrative you want, but like the success or the failure, uh, it comes down to one game. And I hope that I can be a part of a team that wins a game at the end of the year. But to say that the Niners can't win a big game, that would be an extremely inaccurate statement. Ah, don't lower yourself as the coach. Now people are asking about you, the leader, man, you, the decision maker. And we ain't talking about the, the championship game. We, you know, the big game is the Super Bowl. Stop it. Kyle Shanahan is, I don't know. Did he ask something to drink?

I have no idea. I'm not saying the man is a drunk, but just, yeah, you, you want to defend yourself, but the words just, they don't make them sound, they don't make them look good. Okay. Don't make them look good. They don't sound good. It just sounds like excuses. And at the same time, you don't lost the Super Bowl, gave up a big lead or not a big lead, but a double digit lead in the Super Bowl again. Like how much whooping do you want to take? People already crapping on you.

So I guess you might as well go out on your shield. Meanwhile, Andy Reid continues to get praised, right? Patrick Mahomes, the praise continues just being showered in from all of them. How about even earlier today on the Jim Rome show, Mitchell Schwartz, he talked about what makes Andy Reid a great head coach.

Listen to this. What makes him so great is he's able to combine a personality and like a human nature to how demanding he is and how much he expects out of people. And it makes for a really fun work environment because he's not someone that, you know, makes sure that everyone's doing everything to these exact natures every single time.

And so you feel like you're given some leash and you're given some room to be yourself. You know, his biggest motto is be yourself, show your personality. He wants, you know, Travis to be who Travis is.

He wants Pat to be who he is. Now, if you go a little bit too far, he's not going to be afraid to rein that back in. And that's where he is so good.

If he's able to let guys express themselves, be themselves, have fun, enjoy every single day. And that's really key. I mean, you want to love going to work every day.

You want to love your job. And he fosters that kind of environment and he makes it really special. Well, that's nice. Yeah. Like when Travis Kelsey had fun shaking him up, almost knocking him over. That was all fun and games.

Anyway, we got to balance things out. We talked so much about Shanahan and we got to talk some greatness here. Hey, let's listen to Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes also had some thoughts and ideas about Andy Reid being great, one of the greatest ever. I mean, he's one of the best coaches of all time. I believe he's the best coach of all time.

I mean, I know he didn't have the trophies yet and I have a lot of respect for some of those great coaches. But the way he's able to navigate every single team he has, continue to continue to have success no matter where he's at. And for me, he brings out the best of me because he lets me be me. I think that's important is he doesn't try to make me anyone else. I don't think I'd be the quarterback that I am if I didn't have Coach Reid being my head coach. And other than that, he wants you to be the best person you can be. And that's something that I think is truly special. It's making me cry a little bit, just a little bit.

Maybe it's the air conditioning here in the studio, possibly. Patrick Mahomes, he gets bigged up too. We know he's great. I told you, in order to have success in the NFL, you typically, you got to have a great quarterback. You got to have a great coach.

Nobody does it by themselves. Like I could have, if I took Tom Brady and threw him on the Lions, what the hell would they be? I don't know. Maybe one Super Bowl? Two? I don't know.

Sounds dirty to even think about, right? Patrick Mahomes, he receives a lot of love as well. Travis Kelce always finding something to scream about. He was on CBS Sports Network, the Super Bowl Pulse game. Travis Kelce just tossing flowers at Mahomes.

Listen. I guess at this point I take it for granted, but I know we're in every single game I've ever played in with him, no matter what the score is, no matter how much time is left. That guy's got magic in his right arm, man. And he just, he found ways to propel us, even with his legs, as you saw today.

Yeah. Well, he's an excellent athlete. He's an excellent quarterback. I think we've seen this.

Someone else who's been able to learn this and witness it firsthand, Marquess Valdez-Scantling. He had some positive words for Mahomes as well. I mean, look at him. Look what he's doing. Six AFC championships or something like that. Three Super Bowls, something like that. You know, he's just doing it, man. And he's the best to play this game right now. And he's just willing his team to Super Bowl after Super Bowl.

All right. I got one more comment of positivity, and then I'm gonna talk to you. And then we're gonna share some words from Tiki Barber. Yeah, former New York Giants running back, former current host on WFAN New York City.

Tiki had some words about the entire overtime. Anyway, let's listen to Warren Moon. Warren Moon joined us. A Hall of Fame quarterback was here with us last night, the JR sport reshore on CBS Sports Radio. And Warren Moon talked about the greatness of Mr. Mahomes. I think it was competitiveness. I think we all know that he's a very physically talented guy as far as being able to throw the football from all different angles with his arm, to be able to run the football and really put pressure on the defense with his legs, scramble, make plays outside the pocket.

But I think it's his competitiveness that really drives him over the top. And you could see on that last drive, he wanted to take that football game over. He dropped back to pass one time and he had no intention of throwing the football. He just took off and ran and got about 15, 20 yards on a scramble because he wanted to do it on his own, if he had to. And that's what he was doing on that drive. I think he was eight for eight in overtime. And then he had a couple of big scrambles. So the thing that I love about him is his competitiveness, and especially at winning time in ball games, that's when he seems to play his best and that's when you want your quarterback playing his best football. Yeah, he's awesome.

To me, he looked like the Terminator out there. And so we're going to have plenty of chances and time and opportunity just to see what they keep on doing into the future. Tomorrow, they celebrate. We've had a lot of drunks at these parades. I mean, even the Las Vegas Aces kind of get kind of lit, right? Klay Thompson almost ran over a lady. Well, he didn't almost he ran over a lady. Tom Brady almost lost the Vince Lombardi trophy in Tampa Bay. He almost lost the trophy because he was drunk. Michael Malone, the head coach of the Denver Nuggets, cursing up a storm last year at the parade.

I feel like I'm going back a ways. J.R. Smith. Remember him?

Yes. Shooting guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers won a championship with LeBron. It seemed like J.R. Smith didn't walk around with a shirt for like three years. Where is he now?

Playing golf in school and college. Hey, Hickey, who's most likely to make a scene tomorrow? Oh, I mean, it's got to be Travis Kelce, right? Yeah. Well, is he? Well, we don't know about the girlfriend, but if the girlfriend is there, he's going to act like a normal human, right?

Normal ish for Travis Kelce standards, which is like still relatively crazy for most people. But if she's there, he has to tone it down. Has to, right? And then when you got to be on your best behavior?

I don't know best behavior. I think I would agree. You definitely see a toned down version where he won't be. Maybe it's less cursing. I mean, I don't know about less drinking. Maybe it's just less on the mic, possibly, although that didn't really seem to change much after the game on Sunday. I think you will get a little bit of a maybe mellowed out Travis Kelce.

But again, I mellowed out Travis Kelce at a championship parade is like, if you were to crank it up, let's say, and your max is a 10, that's probably for your standards, like an eight or nine. Yeah, but these are the opportunities. And I think anybody in a relationship can relate to a certain degree. You know, they have milestones in a relationship. It's celebrating a personal achievement, going on that first trip. Obviously, there's a first date.

Like there's different levels of being in a relationship. And who knows? I don't know. I don't know Taylor Swift from a hole in the wall. I don't know she's going to be there. But the fact is, if she is, you would think, and I don't know, maybe he should just be himself.

I hope he does. But you got to think in the back of his head. He's just like, oh, I'm doing too much. Now I'm a drunk.

And now people are saying this. So everything that he does is so carefully crafted. His career has been carefully crafted to move him into being a celebrity. And so yeah, I would think he's going to be very careful.

You know how he approaches things, but he is a normal guy. He's he's gonna talk about fighting for your right to party. He's gonna drink a beer. And if Taylor Swift is there, who knows she might have a beer too. And there's gonna be a lot of security if she's there.

I have not a damn clue or an idea. 855-212-4CBS. It's 855-212-4CBS. Sean is calling from Arizona. You're on the JR Sport Reshow. Go ahead, Sean. What's going on, JR? Longtime listener.

I love the show. I'm actually about an hour and a half away from Las Vegas. Diehard Raider fan, but I have an idea. And it sucks to say it, but everybody everybody talks about the Chiefs not having weapons for my home. There's a disgruntled wide receiver out in Buffalo. He's gonna be looking for a new contract.

I can't imagine a better combination, especially if he wants to have a shot at an actual championship. So you want, you want the Chiefs? No, I don't want, but I'm just a problem solver in my own right, so I can't help it. I love the game too much.

I'd rather have good games. If you're the Buffalo, so outside of everything going on with his contract, I know his cash for this upcoming season is not guaranteed. The Buffalo Bills got until I think a couple of weeks to figure out what the hell they want to do with him. But if you're the Bills, why in the hell would you flip them to the team that just keeps whooping your ass?

That's assuming that he doesn't do like all the other players that are having contract issues where he sits out. So you take, you take even quarters on the dollar. I don't know, Sean, I don't, I don't know. That's, that's, that's a tough pill to swallow. I know, I know players, and I don't know if Stephon Diggs has that much, quote unquote, juice. I don't know if he's going to do that.

I wouldn't find that to be a realistic. And for the Buffalo Bills who just keep getting smacked out of the postseason by the Chiefs, I, I don't know about that. Man, that's, that's like asking, hey, go out there and kiss your sister, man. That's some tough doing, Sean. Okay.

I don't, I don't doubt that. Like I said, as a Raider fan, I would rather it not happen. But as a problem solver and a fan of the game, that's the only thing I can see that they could really do offensively to make any better.

Well, help me out here. How do you feel about Antonio Pierce? I like what Antonio Pierce has, brings to the game. You know, not only the fact that you take his, his hair, his lineage and his love for the team, but just the change in philosophy for that team in general, going to a defensive mind, uh, coach who brings the energy, that's a player's coach. He does, he, you know, the proof in the pudding, they went out, they got the win against the Chiefs on Christmas day. You know, he, he basically did what, uh, the other interim good two years ago, but better record wise. And I think that he was well deserving. All right.

Let's see if, uh, all the player love and community love works out for him. Sean, thank you for calling from Arizona. Yes, yes, sir.

No problem. As we had that conversation, North Carolina lost again. Syracuse just beat them as the fans stormed the court 86 to 79. Syracuse knocks off the North Carolina Tar Heels, uh, North Carolina, ain't been looking all that good. Most recently, they lost to Clemson, Clemson, excuse me, this time last week, last Tuesday. And before that they lost to Georgia tech. They were able to get a victory over Miami over the weekend. And so North Carolina, as we move a little bit closer to March madness, North Carolina, the Tar Heels, they going up and down and up and down and up and down.

And I know that they're going to be a lot of funny looks at Hubert Davis as to why this team can't run quote unquote in a straight line Syracuse with a massive upset here over North Carolina, 86 to 79. It's the JR sport reshow here with you on CBS sports radio 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS that's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Speaking of hoops Shaquille O'Neal in the news tonight, he's the first player in magic history to get his number retired. Also Shaquille O'Neal he's in the news, or I guess he's relevant for another reason that we discussed tonight. And it involves the New York Knicks. What the hell does Shaq have to do with the Knicks besides pushing around Chris Dudley? We'll explain. It's the JR sport reshow here on CBS sports radio 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS.

Don't move. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio. It's the JR sport reshow here on CBS sports radio.

Man, it's just time flies when you're having fun. I think when it comes to Tiki Barber and his thoughts on the overtime rule, we're probably going to have to get into that tomorrow. As I told you right before the break, I don't know what the heck is going on with North Carolina, the Tar Heels. Syracuse just beat them 86 to 79. All those fans up in the carrier dome, well not all of them, but they certainly went out there and they stormed the court. North Carolina losing to Georgia Tech.

It's just uh yeah well they got to get it together. Hubert Davis gonna start getting them funny looks, real funny looks. Anyway Shaquille O'Neal, point of emphasis right now.

Why? Earlier on in the show, we shared with you that the New York Knicks are protesting a loss last night against the Houston Rockets. The New York Knicks lost to the Rockets.

The final score was 105 to 103. Jalen Brunson was called on a well you got a foul called on him for fouling Justin Holliday who was attempting a three-point shot. Well, you foul a guy attempting a three-point shot, you take three free throws. Unfortunately, the call was incorrect. Justin Holliday knocked down two out of the three shots, the Houston Rockets won, but after the game, the referee admitted the call was incorrect. That Jalen Brunson should not have been called for a foul and the New York Knicks are currently protesting the results.

Now Ryan Hickey, we talked about this and you shared with me the update earlier on in the show. You can protest the conclusion of a game. The referee admitted that they were wrong. You know, basically the New York Knicks, they want a do-over. The New York Knicks want a correction in Hickey.

When is the last time that we've actually had a successful, a successful appeal to restart and finish a game? All the way back, JR, in 2008, featuring the Heat and Hawks in which Shaquille O'Neal in overtime was incorrectly ruled to foul out. The scorekeeper said he had six fouls.

He actually had five fouls. NBA was able to confirm that. The Heat protested and so the next time they visited Atlanta, they replayed the last 51 seconds of overtime. Neither team scored so the Heat lost anyway, but they were able to replay the game because Shaq was incorrectly ruled to have fouled out of a game. The ironic part though, they made this game first happen in December. By the time they visited Atlanta next and the game was replayed at the end, it was March.

Why that's significant? Because the man in question surrounding this entire thing, Shaq, was no longer on the Heat. Traded at the trade deadline to the Suns. So all of that huffing and puffing, the Heat win the challenge, if you will, and then they get to resume the game without the guy that they wanted back in the game because he was traded.

You can't make that up. And so Shaquille O'Neal wasn't even around. He was done. He was on another team wearing a different uniform.

I mean, if you're the NBA, you gotta be like, if you're going to trade him away, the one guy that was ruled out of the game, this game's over then. Yeah. You said this was 2008? 2008.

Wow. That wasn't even the last uniform that Shaq wore. By the time his career finished up, it felt like he was just trying to get to every team to complete the rainbow. Like I remember he was on the Celtics. He was on the Suns. He was on the Cavs for a minute. You know what? I think I saw Shaq, I think I saw Shaq play as a Cavalier.

I think I did. I'd have to look back in the memory bank. I believe I saw, I think I saw him come to Madison Square Garden, but he was, he was done at that point in time. Just what I remember Shaq, obviously for the Lakers. And then when he burst onto the scene, you know, with the Orlando Magic and Shaquille O'Neal is a, he's a force. A matter of fact, the Orlando Magic, they are retiring his number tonight in Orlando.

We know for years, they didn't necessarily, you know, have the greatest or best relationship. You think about Shaq and it automatically always goes to Lakers. The success with, with Kobe right now, Oklahoma Oklahoma City leads Orlando 99 to 85. There's about 10 minutes left in the game.

And so we'll see what happens there. Is they're going to have a nice ceremony to honor Shaquille O'Neal. And you know what, on the other side of the break, we'll actually pop into some words from Charles Barkley on Shaq, getting his Jersey retired. And then Shaquille O'Neal also had a press conference prior to the game. It'll be interesting to hear what he has to say about his former team that people don't really talk about. It's just like, yeah, Shaq started off with the Magic. He whooped people's asses. He went to the finals and they didn't give him enough money. So he went to LA. That's, that's how the story is.

It really is. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS before we do that. And before next segment, we give you what took place this day in sports history. Let's talk to Sam. Sam is calling from Alabama. You're on the JR sport.

We show what's up, Sam. Hey, JR. Hey, before we get into it, big fan of the show. I've been listening to you on my nightly commutes home for about two years now. And really, I wouldn't think of listening to anything else.

JR, my, my girlfriend won't call me anymore because she knows I'm listening to JR. So first time caller, but I wanted to talk about spags and specifically, I wanted, I wanted to talk a little bit about Steve Spagnola. Oh, okay. All right. Steve Spagnola. Okay, sure. Go ahead.

Yes, sir. And Kyle Shanahan and him were in an absolute chess match. And I, I have an idea about spag strategy, call it a conspiracy, but, but I want to know what you think. I think I really think spag told his guys, if the Niners are going to win, Christian McCaffrey has to beat us. Now, let me explain when, when the Niners were on that three game skid early in the season, when they lost the brown Viking Bengals, Christian McCaffrey was, I don't want to say taken out of the game, but he was managed.

So throw that on tape. You say, all right, that's how we beat the Niners. We take Christian McCaffrey out of the game. Obviously teams were unable to do that with consistency down the stretch. But if you throw up that Ravens box score, Christian McCaffrey, a hundred yard game and a touchdown.

All right. But they still lost by two scores. I think spag got his game plan thesis off of that tape and said, he has to beat us.

We're going to contain him, but we're going to key the other weapons. Devo, three catches, three carries. Brandon, IU, three catches, George Kittle, two catches for, I know he had a big catch called back and the injury issues didn't help, but who had to step up? Juwan Jennings with four catches.

Yeah. For a second, I really thought Juwan Jennings was going to be a Super bowl MVP. And not bad to catch him. I mean, I think a little bit different from Tom Brady's ex-wife.

My husband can't throw and catch not at the same time, but I put it to you this way, Sam. I don't remember who the hell said it. It was one of the defenders on the Kansas City Chiefs. And I, I don't want to just kind of dump on Brock Purdy because I liked the guy.

I've been defending him. But there was a defender who pretty much said, we just wanted Brock Purdy to throw the ball. And he almost had to throw the ball 40 times. And by the way, they were leading. So I think you have it right there. Christian McCaffrey had 80 yards on the ground.

He also had 80 yards receiving. Yep. And I think that was all a part of the Spagnola plan because what did it make them? It made them predictable. It made them one-dimensional. It made them have to rely on their ace. And the Niners are best when they play complimentary offensive football. But yeah, I think Spaggs, you know, not verbatim, but probably said to his guys, screw the ace. We're going to take away everything else.

I don't think they can beat us with Christian McCaffrey alone. But anyways, they are. I'll listen to what you have to say, but big fan of the show. Appreciate you. Thank you, Sam. Appreciate you for listening. Much love for Alabama.

Now, look, I don't think it takes a whole lot to go. Hey, we got to try to stop Christian McCaffrey. Debo Samuels, basically a Swiss Army knife here in the NFL. He only had 33 yards on the ground. Debo had three catches for eight yards. Excuse me. He had three carries for eight yards. He only had three receptions for 33 yards.

Not necessarily a recipe for success. 855-212-4CPS. I'm going to get some more of your calls before we have to roll out. Let's take a listen to Shaquille O'Neal on the other side of the break as the Orlando Magic get ready to retire his number. And then I'm going to share with you a pretty violent story of something that took place this day in sports, or if it wasn't violent, at least it was very threatening. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It is the JR Sport Brief show here on CBS Sports Radio. Charles Barkley, what a funny guy. I met Charles Barkley, he said, hey, you know, you look like, who the hell are you telling me I look like? You say I look like Chris Paul, I think he said. Whatever he said. Every interaction has always been a funny one.

Charles Barkley, as nice of a guy as you would imagine when he's not throwing people through windows. 855-212-4CBS. It's 855-212-4CBS. If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, go ahead and Google it. I find it hilarious as we just heard from Pat Boyle of the Los Angeles Lakers are hosting the eight, eight, how many games they've won? The Pistons won eight games. And Anthony Davis and LeBron James are in L.A. going, man, I ain't suiting up against them.

Are you serious? Pistons don't got a damn thing to play for. I'm going to go out there and break a sweat against them. Spare me.

Anyway, also in action, we talked about this before the break. The Thunder are in Orlando to take on the Magic, the Thunder are leading 115, the 98, the Oklahoma City Thunder led by Shay Gilgus Alexander, one of the best teams in the NBA, a young squad. It'll be interesting to see how good they are come postseason time. And the Magic. Well, I think I said this is the Thunder leading 115 to 98, about five minutes left in the Magic have been a nice surprise this year at twenty nine and twenty four, a young roster.

They have a chance to continue to improve. Paula Barcaro is an all star first time. But the big news tonight is that Shaquille O'Neal is getting his jersey retired. The same Shaquille O'Neal, who was drafted number one overall by the Orlando Magic in 1992, the same Shaquille O'Neal, who helped take the Orlando Magic to the finals in 1995. Akim Alajuwon took their lunch and the same Shaquille O'Neal, who extended his career, legendary career with the Los Angeles Lakers. And so Shaquille O'Neal, he spoke prior to the game because they're going to have the ceremony postgame.

I guess they they're going to really take some time on this. Shaq talked about why this jersey retirement is is the biggest and most special of his career. This is what he told his co-workers at TNT. All the ceremonies, this is the most exciting. Let me tell you why. At LSU, I knew it was going to happen because, you know, the dean, Joe Dean at the time said, hey, man, you're one of our greatest players. If you come back and get your degree, you're going to retire your jersey. So I knew it was going to happen. The Lakers are kind of forced it to happen because I wanted my name to be up there. Orlando, me playing here, playing here four years, going to the finals once, going to the ring of ceremony and that being it and nobody else having their jersey tied.

I never thought this day would happen. It means a lot. It's a lot of great players that play here, including you, Vince, Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, T-Mac, Nick, D. Scott.

So, you know, to be the first is definitely an honor. Yeah, it's you didn't know you thought it would eventually come because he helped pretty much put the magic on the map like it. There was nothing else to care about. I know a lot of Shaquille O'Neal is so closely associated now with with the Lakers and Kobe Bryant and the championships you. But young Shaq was a problem. If you didn't see or remember young Shaq.

Yeah, there was an evolution. That man was flying all over the place like a madman. And then by the time he got to Los Angeles and he got bigger, he became the Incredible Hulk. A Shaquille O'Neal just if he was fun to watch a beast. Imagine I can't even say it because it'd be disrespectful. I was going to say imagine if Zion Williamson was seven one and had post moves. But what I always appreciated about Shaq is his touch. Like he was a giant human being. But if you didn't see him play, it wasn't that he was just big or big and strong. He just muscled everybody.

This man was was light on his feet for his size. He was graceful. So he was a combination of power and skill. He wasn't just some gigantic brute. He was ridiculously skilled. And that's what made him so fun to watch.

Despite how great he is. Charles Barkley. He had the show love to Shaquille O'Neal, but he made some some jokes about him and how many jerseys that he wore. Listen to Charles Barkley congratulating Shaq on getting his jersey retired with Orlando. Hey, big.

Congratulations. Wait a minute. Is this the Lakers, Cleveland, Miami, sons of Boston, Kenny, Jersey retirement?

Oh, my bad. Orlando Magic. Hey, big. We love you, man.

It couldn't happen to a better guy. It's well deserved. We proud of you. It's an honor and privilege to work with you every week. We love you and congratulations on the magic retiring your jersey.

Cool stuff. Charles Barkley always got to throw a dig in there, but that's how, you know, people love you when they talk crap to you, you know, back and forth. So congratulations to Shaquille O'Neal. I know that that ceremony is going to be a lot of fun, a lot of jokes. And I'm not expecting, you know, Shaq to get overly emotional here.

But it's going to be interesting how how that whole thing is received. And Penny Hardaway is in attendance without a shadow of a doubt. 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS.

It's 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS. You know, while we are on the subject of of hoops tonight, we learned about or I watched here in the studio, the upset as a Syracuse went out there and beat North Carolina. This is a time of year where where tensions get hot. Everybody starting to jockey for positioning in their conference. People are starting to think about not just the final four, but March Madness. And so if I want to think about this day in sports, something that took place 30 years ago. This is this.

Oh, man, this is head scratching. 30 years ago was 1994. Feels like yesterday, but anyway, 30 years ago was 1994. UMass, Temple. These were two top programs back in 1994, one led by John Chaney with the Owls, the other one still led by a young John Calipari. UMass beat Temple 56 to 55. Mike Williams to the game winner. You know, you think about some of the talent that was out there on the court.

My main man, Eddie Jones, Marcus Canby was out there. And so after the game, John Calipari was accused of, quote unquote, working the officials after the game, like spending a little too much time with them. Well, John Chaney came in and he did not appreciate the fact that he wasn't involved in the conversation involving the refs. And so after the game, John Chaney came in and he interrupted John Calipari's press conference. And he didn't just say, you suck. Why are you talking to the refs? He even threw in a threat.

You might recall this from this day in 1994, February 13th. You see your kids out there pushing and shoving the guys to the hell of a job. You had the best officiating you could ever get here. And for you to ride them, I want to be a part of that. I just got my ass blasted for giving them hell down in West Virginia.

And here you get a hell of a job right here today. Good job. Three class guys. And you pick them out again, single them out. Shut up. Some things never cease to amaze me. Yeah, that was that was 30 years ago.

That's the day before Valentine's Day, the night before Valentine's Day, probably an hour away from Valentine's Day. And John Chaney threatened to kill another coach. Well, God rest his soul. John Chaney is no longer here.

He passed away in 2021 at the age of 89. And well, we know John Calipari, he's still trying to pick up another championship out at Kentucky. You know, following that outburst, threatening to kill another coach, nationally televised, I will kill you. Well, John Chaney was only suspended one game, one game. I don't know.

I know the answer to this. In 1994, we were less less soft than we are today. Hey, Hickey, if one coach went out and threatened another one, told everybody in a press conference that he was going to kill him. How many games does he get? I mean, I feel safe in saying that he probably wouldn't coach again this season. Oh, my you think I'm going to kill you while you're out for the rest of the year? Yeah. Counseling probably gets involved, too. Oh, my God. Counseling.

I mean, look, I got to do a dream on. Do you think that John Chaney went to anger management after he threatened to kill that guy? No, I don't think so.

I don't think that was in the cards for John. They gave him a phone call. They said, hey, you're going to miss a day of work. Just calm your ass down. That's all they did. I'm going to kill you. Unbelievable. Much simpler times, right?

You are what you're right about that. Everybody has to go to crisis counseling and we got to hear about it on a podcast and said, hey, man, I'm I'm going to kill you. God rest his soul. John Chaney, that's I would say that is one of the more famous press conferences that we've ever had, I think, in the world of sports. And we could start thinking about some of the famous ones. We had Mara playoffs, playoffs. We had that and we they are who we thought they are. We've had some iconic lines, but I will kill you. Yeah, that that I don't think we'll be hearing that one anytime soon.

Too much on the line for all the players as well as the coaches. Rest in peace to John Chaney. You've been listening to the J.R. sport. We show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Listen, folks, I'm going to be back with you tomorrow at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. If you missed a minute or a second of this show, it's very simple. All you have to do is hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. We talked about the Chiefs and we talked about the Niners. Kyle Shanahan had more excuses tonight. Thank you so much to our guests in the six o'clock, three o'clock hour for coming through.

Matt Verteram of Sports Illustrated. If you missed it, hit rewind on the free Odyssey app tomorrow. The Kansas City Chiefs have their parade. I guess it should be a lot of fun.

I'm just waiting to see who's drunk and how drunk they are. OK, the J.R. sport we show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. It's a wrap. You can find me everywhere at J.R. Sport Brief.

That's Twitter, Instagram, X, Facebook. Happy Valentine's Eve. Don't get sucked into nothing. Be safe and have fun today and tomorrow, every day. Thank you, Hickey. Don't move here on CBS Sports Radio. Bart Winkler coming up next.