6.3.24 -JR SportBrief Hour 1

Instacart knows nothing gets between you and the game. That's why they make ordering from your couch easy. Stock up today and get all your groceries for the week delivered in as fast as 30 minutes, without missing a minute of the game. You have 47 new voicemails. Download the app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last.

Minimum $10 per order. Additional terms apply. 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-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. Presented by T-Mobile, the official wireless partner of Odyssey Sports. With an awesome network and great savings, there's never been a better time to join T-Mobile.

Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today. It is! The JR Sportbrief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you so much to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. I don't know where you're at, but I hope you're safe, I hope you're well, I hope you're good with whatever you got going on. Thank you so much to our super producer and host Ryan Hickey.

He's holding it down for us on the boards in New York City. I hope you had a tremendous weekend. Hope you had a good Monday. I'm going to be with you for the next four hours. I'm just going to have me some fun. Man, what a weekend we've had. The Stanley Cup Finals are set. We got the Oilers, we got the Panthers. Kaitlyn Clark is getting shoved around like a, I don't know what gets shoved around, like a kid, right? Like a child. Justin Jefferson is getting the big, big bucks. Congratulations. $35 million a year for a wide receiver. Not too shabby.

Tommy Pham was ready to fight everybody on a Sunday. It's crazy. Today we learned that Larry Allen, Hall of Famer of the NFL, he passed away.

Darren Waller is putting out songs. The Giants think he's going to quit. It's just, it's been a wild, wild weekend. And then, how about this? Yeah, there's no NBA basketball until Thursday. Yeah, we got quite some time, don't we, right? NBA Finals starts on Thursday. The Stanley Cup Finals, that starts on Saturday. And I don't know, what the heck do we do between now and then?

I have no idea. I guess pay attention to baseball. Oh yeah, there's a baseball player who might be banned for life.

He's insignificant, but we'll talk about him. They tell you don't gamble on your own sport. Don't do it. It's dangerous.

It'll get you a ban. You can go hang out with Pete Rose. You can get some advice from Pete Rose. Anyway, if you want to talk to me here on the Infinity Sports Network, it's 855-212-4227.

It's 855-212-4227. If you're on the internet, that nasty, nasty internet, all the angry, anonymous people, I'm there too. Not angry, not anonymous. I am at JR Sport Break. That's Twitter and Facebook and X and Instagram. All of this stuff is where you can find me.

And if you follow me, you will already know about a few of the things that we'll discuss. We also have some guests that are going to come through and chat it up with us in about 20 minutes because everybody's worried about Kaitlyn Clark. People are getting in trouble today. Pat McAfee called her a white bee and he meant it in a positive way.

You never call a woman a bee and it's positive, so he got in trouble. It's just wild. Scott Agnes is going to join us. He covers the Indiana Fever and he's going to join us in about 20 minutes.

Later on in the show we have some other guests. RJ Choppy is going to join us from 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. Dallas has been a real centerpiece in the sports world.

Obviously the Dallas Cowboys. I told you about the unfortunate passing of Larry Allen. We know that the Rangers won the World Series last year.

The Stars got close to making it to the final and then also of course we know that on Thursday the Dallas Mavericks are going to be going for another championship. So RJ Choppy is going to come through and chop it up with us and then Ben Lieber is going to come through later on in the show in the final hour to have a chat about Justin Jefferson and his new contract with the Minnesota Vikings. Ben Lieber doing a lot out in the Twin Cities, especially on K-Fan. 100.3. So we got a full show for you, but before I do or say anything else.

Super producer and host Ryan Hickey. How you doing man? You good? I'm good.

I'm good. The last few days were very enjoyable. Got to go see some college friends in Ocean City, Maryland. Nice.

And last night got to go see Kaitlin Clark in the Flush, which is very cool. Uh-oh. And she was one of ten and got, what, they beat the mess out of her and now she got an earache? Yeah.

Yeah. Got an earache. Did not finish the game. I mean, without looking at the box score, I'm going to assume the worst game since high school. Maybe the worst game she's ever had. One of ten.

One from seven from three. At least we got to see the only three she made, so. She had three points. I'm going to guess this was probably the worst game of her life. She scored three points, shot one to ten, and had to exit the game with a busted up ear. As a team, loses by 40.

Oh my God. 104 to 68 was the final score in Brooklyn. Now, she's played there, what has it been, once or twice already? This was the second time. She came back around Mother's Day, I want to say, early in the season, and now this is visit number two.

I think the last one, I'm pretty sure, to Brooklyn. Yeah, I think so. At least everybody in Brooklyn, you included, you saw her, she stunk, but the Liberty won. That's what people want, right? But you want to see the opposing star light your team up, but you still want your team to win.

Isn't that how this works? Yeah, I guess. I was definitely the minority in terms of going there to watch Kaitlyn Clark herself and her light it up. There was a lot of Liberty fans in the house, sold out. A lot of fans looking to see their team dominate, and they got their wish. And nobody said anything nasty about her, right?

New Yorkers are civilized. I know there's a lot of sarcasm behind that. Surprisingly, there was no vitriol. Now again, maybe she's missing shots and made it easy, but there's no booing. Even when she missed shots, there was no cheering.

She was just another player. Definitely not what I expected. It is wild. And I guess we can't be surprised, like how much the vitriol has kind of ratcheted up here. It's gone up another notch surrounding Kaitlyn Clark. And so we had the game on Saturday, which was just, people don't even care about the game. And it's all Kaitlyn Clark, OK? Before they got beat up last night, yesterday against the Liberty, as Hickey said he was there, everybody knows about the game on Saturday against the Chicago Sky.

And they beat the Sky, I think the score was 71-70. Kaitlyn Clark is known in that game. She threw an elbow to this girl, or woman, Kennedy Carter.

Kennedy Carter, we saw her load up, call her what looked like a B, and then shoved her to the ground. Whether or not you think it's a flop, it really doesn't matter, it was a cheap shot. And there's going to be a lot of those.

Like, this is what happens in basketball, this is what happens with young players. But I think what's made it worse was the press conference right after. And I put it on social media. I said Kennedy Carter's reaction was soft, like she was asked about it. And it's just like, I'm not, I ain't taking no Kaitlyn Clark questions. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. If you gonna do something, go out there and back it up.

Don't run away from it, don't hide from it. It was just, uh, it was cheap. A matter of fact, take a listen to this interaction, and then at the end, you'll hear her own coach, Teresa Weatherspoon, a WNBA basketball legend, just kind of co-sign. This was from Saturday. Kennedy, on the play before bumping in with Kaitlyn, it seemed like she turned to you a little bit after the fever score. I didn't even know Kaitlyn Clark questions. Did she say anything to you? I don't know what she's saying. What'd you say to her?

I didn't say anything. Come on. And then Teresa Weatherspoon, like, come on, what are we doing here? Why are you backing it up? In the entire weekend, Kennedy Carter was online on social media, just doubling down. She's like, hey, what does she bring to the game besides shooting threes? Kennedy Carter's putting up Instagram stories, like with her feet up in the air, like, oh, I love the hate on my dead aunt.

Like this or this woman, if you haven't heard, she's she's had issues here in Atlanta. She wanted to fight one of her own teammates out in Los Angeles. They bumped her conduct detrimental to the team. And so she's not necessarily a Mother Teresa out here. She got a little bit of a mean streak to her.

And so Teresa Weatherspoon, I guess it took two days for everybody to go, hey, this is being handled wrong. Teresa Weatherspoon, the coach said, physical play, intensity and a competitive spirit are hallmarks of Chicago sky basketball. Kennedy got caught up in the heat of the moment in an effort to win the game.

She and I have discussed what happened and that it was not appropriate, nor is it what we do or who we are. Kennedy understands that there are better ways to handle situations on the court and she will learn from this as we all will. As a team, we'll grow together, continue to work hard. A positive example for competitors, fans and partners, head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. That's nice.

That would have been great if it came out right away. But what are we doing? Everybody knows that Kaitlyn Clark and even Andrew Reese got smacked out of the air by Alyssa Thomas a couple of weeks ago. Like younger players are going to get smacked, but nobody garners as much attention as Kaitlyn Clark.

And so now here we are. Kaitlyn Clark has one or two things to do. She can just suck it up and keep on going and bust ass on a basketball court.

That's the best option. Or she can shrivel up. I don't think she's going to shrivel up. I think that Kaitlyn Clark is just going to go out there and try to ball out. I mean, who's helping her out? None of her teammates. Nobody went to Kennedy Carter and said, what are you doing? You can't shove the quote unquote golden goose.

You can't do that. Fever head coach Kristi Sods, she's proud of how Kaitlyn Clark has handled all of the physicality. We're just going to keep sending these possessions to the league and these plays and hopefully they'll start taking a better look at some of the things that we see happening or we think is happening. Just more happy that Kaitlyn handled it the way she did. She, you know, it's tough, you know, to keep getting hammered the way she does and to not get rewarded with free throws or, you know, just a foul call. She's, she's continuing to fight through that. And that's what, you know, appreciate that from her. Really, really proud of her for doing that. And she, she ain't complaining like Luka Doncic. She's not whining and crying. Oh, they beat me up. I mean, she got a lot of technicals.

Yeah. But she hasn't responded to the negativity. She just shows up and plays basketball. Oh yeah, Kaitlyn Clark, she, she ain't squeaky clean.

She got a little bit of a fire in her, but she hasn't won. She has every reason to say, hey, that you know what, what she did was dirty. She has every reason to say, keep my name out your mouth. She has every reason to say it and she doesn't do anything but go out there and play ball.

I mean, this is pretty much the extent, this is what Kaitlyn Clark had to say about what took place with Kennedy Carter and the physical play she's encountered so far in the league. Just let them hit you. Be what it is. Don't want to get inside your head and know it's coming. I think at this point, like, I know I'm going to take a couple hard shots a game and that's what it is. It doesn't, I'm trying not to let it bother me. And you know, just, just stay in the game and saying what's important because usually it's the second person that gets caught when if you retaliate or something.

So just trying to stay in the game and focus on my team and focus on what's important. Yeah. That's, that's, that's the extent of it.

You know what I would actually like? I would like for it to get back to basketball, but if it was all basketball, it wouldn't be for what it is today. I don't know if Kaitlyn Clark and, or an Angel Reese would have the same type of profile if they didn't have their spat, if they didn't have their beef. And they said that there's no beef, but there was one on a basketball court.

I don't know if, if, if America didn't eat this up about the, the good, the good one, the bad one, the good guy, the bad lady. I don't know if we'd be here if it wasn't for what took place more than a year ago, but Kaitlyn Clark is where she is. People are watching because of how she plays basketball. And we knew that there was going to be a transition period, but now that she's gotten beat up, now that she got goon by a Kennedy Carter and none of her own teammates are going to goon anybody back. Can we just see her play? I expect hard fouls. At this point, I just want the basketball. I don't want to hear, you know, Pat McAfee calling her a tough white B. I don't need to hear women and men.

Hickey, this is crazy. Like there's, like there are women who cover the league. They're mad at some of the men and some of the men are saying, well, like we are in the twilight zone just because of this lady and how she plays basketball. And let's be real. There's, there's a lot of jealousy.

There's a lot of animosity. And what is she doing? She hasn't done or said anything but play ball. Exactly.

Which is almost what makes it so weird. She's not controversial. She's not saying anything that gets people upset. People, I don't know how there's so much negativity for just a, she's a great basketball player, period. She's going through right now, but she got her fame because she was one of the best we've ever seen.

And now it's just gotten so far off the rails where it's just like people are diving into these waters, saying ridiculous things, getting other people in trouble, getting other people mad, getting themselves in trouble. It is honestly, she's played what? I think 11 games so far. The season's not even 20 days old.

11 games. It's exhausting. And I'm over a lot of this stupidity.

It is. I just, I just want to see the basketball at this point. I think a lot of people just want to see the basketball.

And a lot of this is driven by the players and their reactions. That's it. And I get it. I can understand the dirty play, but you know, doubling down on being dirty like Kennedy Carter did? You're doing too much. Theresa Weatherspoon, not chopping it down right out of the gate. That's, that's doing too much.

That was an error. Celebrating after they knocked her down. That's, that's doing too much. I just want to see the ladies play basketball. That's it.

Is she going to score 30 and drop a million threes? That's all I care about. Like all other nonsense, knock it off. It's basketball. Enjoy it.

Watch it. And let's keep it moving. Things will got to be so damn nasty. I'm rooting for her.

I want to see the success. It was fun watching the Steph Curry. It's fun watching the Kaitlyn Clark. It was fun watching a Michael Jordan. It was fun looking at a LeBron James. It's fun.

As much as I couldn't stand him looking at a Tom Brady. You want to see the best of the best compete. And when it gets down to it, put the nonsense to the side. I hope the quote unquote initiation of Kaitlyn Clark is done. I hope that we've seen the worst.

I'm just not confident that we have. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We got so much to get into and to discuss. I told you we'll get into the Stanley Cup Finals. We'll talk some NBA playoff action. We got an MLB player who decided to gamble allegedly on a team that he was on while he was on the injured list. Tommy Pham is ready to beat people up.

Justin Jefferson gets the largest contract that a guy who's not a quarterback has ever got in the game. We have so much to do. Just getting warmed up. Scott Agnes is going to join us on the other side. He covers the Indiana Pacers and the Fever.

We'll get his first hand thoughts on what's going on with the Fever and Kaitlyn Clark. Congratulations. Happy Monday.

It's the JR Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Look around. You can find cars like these on Auto Trader. New cars, used cars, electric cars, maybe even flying cars. Okay, no flying cars, but as soon as they get invented, they'll be on Auto Trader. Just you wait.

Auto Trader. Temp check. What kind of summer are we having this year? A family road trip summer? A beach bump summer?

Or a wake me when the sun sets summer? With Instacart, choose your own adventure and skip the shopping side quests. Where available, you can get ice cream delivered to your hotel, sunscreen to the pool, or cold brew to your bed. Well, store in as fast as 30 minutes.

Wherever you find yourself this summer, you can get the goods. Download Instacart for free delivery on your first three orders. Offer valid for a limited time. Minimum $10 per order. Excludes restaurants.

Additional terms and fees apply. Tired of sifting through countless supplements? Unsure of what's actually effective? Introducing Legion, the choice of over 800,000 discerning fitness enthusiasts. With all natural products, clinically effective ingredients, doses, and hassle-free money back guarantee, you can achieve your fitness goals without the unnecessary guesswork. Say goodbye to wasted efforts and hello to results with Legion.

You don't need supplements to build muscle, lose fat, or get healthy, but the right ones can help. Visit LegionAthletics.com. Go to LegionAthletics.com to get 20% off your order now. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We got a Stanley Cup Finals to look forward to. We got an NBA Finals to look forward to.

Man, baseball is getting ready to take center stage at least for the summer, right? NFL OTAs, but the biggest story in the country, especially in sports, period, is Kaitlyn Clark dominating the airwaves here, radio, television, wherever you go. And so to talk about what's going on with Kaitlyn Clark, the fever, how they get past this, when can we get back to the basketball, joining us is someone who covers the paces, who covers the fever on a consistent basis. It's Scott Agnes. Scott, thank you for taking the time to join us.

Yeah, my pleasure. You're right, though. This is all everybody's talking about right now, and so it's been a lot of fun, although some of the conversation obviously has steered towards a dark place at some point. It has. It has.

It is kinda crazy. Well, listen, Scott, you're on the scene. You've seen the integration from the minute that she was drafted.

We knew it was gonna happen. It's taken place. She's played 11 games. She's had her ups. She's had her downs. And of course, we had the ugly incident on Saturday, which is now we received almost, I guess, a semi-apology from Teresa Weatherspoon.

Comments from Angel Reese about 40 minutes ago about how this spotlight is here. People are tuning in because of her, too. Where do things stand currently in Indy when it comes down to Kaitlyn Clark and the Fever?

How do they block this out? What's the latest? Yeah, so the main thing right now is finally the team is getting a break. They've played 11 games in 20 days, just an outrageous schedule by the WNBA and its league partners, though you can somewhat understand it, too. Because all these networks want to showcase Kaitlyn and this Fever team. But make no mistake, it is because of Kaitlyn.

This team was so bad the last couple years. That's the reason they were able to draft a Leah Boston and then draft Kaitlyn. And then she brings in her audience and a whole new audience of viewers just liking women's basketball and what she did at Iowa and what that rookie class did as well. And so in part of that now, the Fever have been featured in all these games, JR.

It's been fascinating. Rebecca Lobo of ESPN a couple days ago, previewing that game with the Sky, was asked about the league. And she was like, yeah, I've only been on broadcasts of Fever games this season because of the front-loaded TV network stuff and the fact how much they want to spotlight Kaitlyn. So for the team right now, hopefully they've tuned everything out and are at the pool right now and doing whatever they want. Players last night in New York we're talking are just ready to sleep in.

On the other side of that, I think we're probably all ready to get back to basketball because the conversation has steered far wide right of anything but basketball. Scott Agnes covers the Fever. The Fever are back in action this Friday in Washington, D.C. Kaitlyn Clark, you know, she has every right in the world to kind of complain at every press conference. And I know she got a bunch of texts. She has every right to complain, but she hasn't.

What is she saying? What is the team saying internally about the treatment? Yeah, internally that the team's been very frustrated, not just this week, but the last several weeks about the way in which she is not getting calls and it goes beyond that cheap shot by Kennedy Carter.

We, I think, all can agree that was not a basketball move and should have been a flagrant foul in the moment. But it goes beyond that, just the physicality in which opponents are playing. Fans that maybe haven't watched would be surprised that opponents, every opponent, are picking up her full court, like 94 feet, as if this is a playoff game.

Instead it's, you know, game six of the season right now. So the intensity level is ramped up. I think every single game she's getting the best shot from opponents and the individual players. They don't want to be the team that she lights up for 40. And so she's getting the attention to detail. And more than that, and a quality note, is she's selling out arenas. The Fever have already had more fans come through and watch home games and five home games than they did all last season. And several teams she's played against at LA, at Vegas, have set franchise records for their largest attended games.

Connecticut had their first or their largest sellout going back 20 years since their first game in Connecticut since moving there. And so that truly is the Caitlinomics or the Caitlin Clark effect, whatever you'd like to describe it as. Scott, when you talk about more of the basketball, Aaliyah Boston last year, Caitlin Clark this year, when you talk about what's going on on the court, and I see the games and I look at the box scores. I see the turnovers. What's going on on the basketball side? Are they getting used to her? Are they kind of hanging back?

What's wrong? The biggest thing is lack of practice time. They just haven't had much time to bold and shape together. I think they've probably had one real practice since training camp several weeks ago. So that, in addition to getting some break and sleeping in, is what they're looking forward to this week and having a real schedule now.

Because now things lighten up and they have two and three days between games, whereas they're coming off a week right here where they just played two sets of back-to-back games in a week. And so, yeah, you're seeing the turnovers are probably high, mostly due to her making those throw-ahead passes or quick whips of the ball. And teammates just unfamiliar, not used to having a teammate that is able to deliver those passes. And also, to be fair, she's gambled a little bit more than she probably should here in the early onset, and the defenders have done a nice job of applying pressure and blitzing her on the wings. And they're obviously more athletic and are lengthier. And so a couple times each game she's having trouble throwing it over and making that pass that ordinarily would easily clear through.

So, I think more than anything in time, that'll clean up a little bit. And then on top of that, just the lack of being on the same wavelength, I think, with teammates, which will always come in time. They've barely been together a month now, though. Scott Agnes covers the Fever and the Pacers out in Indy. Do you think, ultimately, this was a mistake by the WNBA to front-load their games? I mean, they played 11 games, and we have some other squads. I don't think they've even really cracked six. Yeah, you talk about the Aces.

Probably the most interesting team as a group, no doubt, back-to-back champs, they've played only six games. And I think a compromise would have been better. You can totally understand this. You need to showcase Kaitlyn, who constantly brings ratings no matter what you do. She had the best-selling draft jersey of all time, Fanatic says.

The draft was the most watched 5x any previous draft in year-over-year. So you can understand that, but I think you're right. They did set her up and the team up for failure here in the early going by the lack of practice time. And it seems like every other night you turn on the TV, there is a fever. And it's like, alright, that's detrimental to what they're trying to do here.

And the other context I should add in this conversation is the entire schedule is bumped up and more condensed within 90 days because of the Olympic break, which they lose about three weeks of the season. Scott Agnes is here with us. When you talk about the team and what they need to do moving forward, there's a lot that's been said about no one standing up for her on that play, following that play on Saturday. Do you feel that? Are her own teammates handling her with kid gloves? It's obvious a lot of the league is jealous. Do you sense that there could be some of that inside as well?

Yeah, that's the thing I'm curious about. Mostly just because you need somebody to step up. Maybe everybody's too nice out there. Or maybe they're walking a little bit on eggshells.

My biggest thought in all this is everybody's concern with their own well-being and trying to make it. This is a group that was at the bottom of the WNBA in the last several years. Really, the fever has not been relevant since 2016, since Tamika Catchings retired. And so you've got a lot of individuals trying to prove it.

Now, some certainly have been proven. Kelsey Mitchell, a top overall pick. She's been with the franchise the longest, I think seven years now.

Certainly not her. But Katie Lou Samuelson trying to get back in the WNBA after being on maternity leave all last year. Aliyah Boston, as good as she is, she hasn't established herself yet in the WNBA.

She has one year under her belt. So who's going to be that nasty player? Here in Indiana, I joke that the Pacers signed James Johnson to be the team's security guard in addition to providing that leadership.

I don't want to discount that, but at the same time, there is a reason year after year he's voted in those polls as the guy you least want to mess with. And so when the Pacers went into Milwaukee and you had Bobby Portis and you had Gameball Gate with Giannis Andetokounmpo, after all of that, they signed James Johnson. And guess what?

Nobody messed with Tyrese or the Pacers. It feels like the fever maybe could benefit from something like that. If I was the fever, and I mean this in all seriousness, I would bring James Johnson into the team this week if he's still in town and talk about that leadership and teamwork.

And how, hey, if she's feeling uncomfortable, you all should feel uncomfortable. You're in this together. That would be cool. Either that or they signed a Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter. I mean, that's a possibility too, Scott.

Why not? There's something like that, but there's no doubt something like that needs to change. And it was good for me, I think, to finally see the GM, Lynn Dunn, and Coach Christy Sides be a little bit more outspoken. They had kind of toed the line.

And if anything, I would have liked to see it earlier and away from Twitter as well. I asked Christy Sides a couple times and she'd turn, hey, I don't want to get fined here. It's like, that's all well and good, but maybe you should.

I know it's much different money than the NBA. I totally understand that. Yet at the same time, if your job is connected to Kaitlyn Clark, you better stay with it and do all you can to make sure you protect her or else she's not going to last with this physicality for the rest of the season, playing at this rate. So I'd like to see them as well, in addition to the players, be more outspoken and in support of what I'm already calling the franchise. Well, Scott, do you think that there's a concern from Coach that she may not be long for the job? I can understand why that could be a thought, and certainly a lot of people online, that's what they're talking about, but I think we have to give her a fair share and fair opportunity. And right now, just because of the schedule, I don't think it's fair to judge what we've seen out there. But I can understand where she's feeling that, and certainly all the fans of Kaitlyn Clark directly correlating to, hey, bring in Lisa Bluder, her Iowa coach doesn't have a job, she retired, but it's like, yeah, she hasn't coached in the pros either, but she would have that familiarity. So I could understand that sentiment, but I think you've got to give this head coach, at least through the season, to see what they can do with this group. And Scott, you know, having seen Kaitlyn Clark here, we've seen her with a 30-point game, we saw her unfortunately with the injury yesterday to her ear, three points. Where do you think she stacks up-wise?

Basketball. I mean, we don't know what the end of the season is going to look like with three years, but there are massive expectations. What are your thoughts on what she's been able to do so far and where she could go? Yeah, so far I think they're just trying to figure it out, and I think it has mostly been encouraging. Obviously, Sunday at New York, several different things went wrong, and mostly they were just saying, hey, their legs are tired, they were exhausted, and the entire team played that way. But Kaitlyn individually had her worst individual performance going back to her freshman year in college. So it was just a trying one that, sadly for the Fever, because of the physicality, left both number one picks, Kaitlyn and Aaliyah Boston, in the locker room basically to finish games with injury.

So if that doesn't speak to the Fever season, to the start of the season, I don't know what does. But with Kaitlyn, I think the game will slow down for her a little bit. I think she's done a great job adapting to the physicality, not calling it out, not being whiny, not saying where are the calls, even though I think she has deserved more calls than she has gotten to this point.

And I think she's handled it very nicely in terms of when asked about the Kennedy-Carter incident. She goes, hey, look, it wasn't a basketball play, but I tried to move on, and guess what? I went down, I made the free throw, and remember they won by one point, so that mattered. But I think the growing pains have showed for everybody on this roster. It's not a great team yet, but I think it's something that if they have a good, productive practice time here over the next couple of weeks, then they can settle in, and I think we'll have a much better idea of what this team actually looks like for the season. Hey, Scott, one more question for you. I know you cover the fever, you also cover the Pacers.

How's Halliburton doing? We saw him at the game. Is he going to be ready for Paris? Are those hamstrings going to be okay? Yeah, that's the plan, but I don't think fans truly understood how much of a different player he was since that hamstring in January, where he was truly playing at a first-team, all-MBA level. And then after that, one thing led to the next, and that triggered the sore back, then he rolled the ankle, and so now it's all about just laying low, getting rest here over the next month. He's about to go on a vacation, I believe, and that's exactly what he needs. Remember, he's been playing since Team USA World Cup in late July, early August last year, and if you want to go back to the Kaitlyn Clark thing, there was no break for those women that are coming off the college basketball season. All the way from September going right into the WNBA season, so that's got to be exhausting not only for Kaitlyn, but that entire roster. Yeah, listen man, fresh legs!

You've got to have them. We'll see what happens. We'll see what Halliburton does in Paris, and we'll certainly much sooner see what Kaitlyn Clark does as they get back into action, the Fever do against Washington this Friday. Hey Scott, I appreciate you taking the time. Where can people follow you and your great work with the Pacers and the Fever? Yeah, so I'm at fieldhousefiles.com, and because of Kaitlyn, a lot of action on my Fieldhouse Files YouTube page, if you just search Scott Agnes, basically all those press conferences.

The comments, as the kids would say, are lit with hundreds of people describing every which decision and move by the coaches, by the officials. It's a wild place right now, but I appreciate having me on. No doubt about it.

We'll catch you soon, Scott. Hopefully it's a better conversation than some of this hate that she's received, you know? Yeah, for sure.

I've got to feel for her, being a rookie and not only having to figure out the league, but being thrusted into this, you know, I don't know, this conversation, this discourse that she has no control over whatsoever has got to make things even more difficult. Most definitely. Well Scott, we'll catch you on down the line, and safe travels, enjoy the basketball, okay? Okay. Appreciate it. Thank you. That's Scott Agnes.

Covers the fever and the pacers. It's the JR Sport Reef Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. If you want to call me, you can. It's 855-212-4227. I'm taking your calls.

855-212-4227. It's crazy. We're going to take a break. When we come back, I told you that Angel Reese, she spoke less than an hour ago, right when we started the show, and it seems like she's throwing more fuel onto the fire and keeping this burning. And I guess, I can't say they're fighting words, but she's putting her foot down. And then we also had Tommy Pham yesterday. Yeah, Major League Baseball outfielder.

He had some fighting words as well. We're going to get into that. We're going to talk about Justin Jefferson's contract. We're going to take a look at what's going on in the NHL. Medela is your reward. Medela, the mark of the fighting. Prick responsibly.

Beer imported by Crown & Port, Chicago, Illinois. Imagine the softest sheets you've ever felt. Now, imagine them getting even softer over time. That's what you'll feel with Bowling Branches organic cotton sheets. In a recent customer survey, 96% replied that Bowling Branches sheets get softer with every wash. Start getting your best night's sleep in these sheets that get softer and softer for years to come.

Try their sheets with a 30-night guarantee, plus 15% off your first order at bowlingbranch.com code ODYSSEY. Exclusions apply. See site for details. Hi, I'm PJ Vogt, here to tell you about my podcast called Search Engine, voted one of the best new podcasts by Time Magazine, Vogue, and The Economist. We answer fascinating questions about business, tech, and history. Questions like, who should be in charge of artificial intelligence?

Or, how did ADHD medication get so popular so fast? Listen and follow Search Engine with PJ Vogt and Odyssey Podcast, available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Or a… trip.

Either way, go to TravelTexas.com slash get your own for the only trip to Texas that matters. Yours. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network.

Thank you so much to Scott Agnes for joining us. In our last break, he covers the Indiana Fever and the Pacers, as Kaitlyn Clark has just blown up every airwave possible. And I told you that Angel Reese has spoken. By the way, she played on Saturday in that game with Kennedy Carter. And then Angel Reese decided not to talk to the media afterwards.

She was fined $1,000. Like, come on. That's the part that I don't like.

Like, if you're going to be able to talk, then back it up. It's simple. It's really that simple.

Just go answer for yourself. Well, it took her two days. And she did.

As a matter of fact, this is what Angel Reese had to say about an hour ago. Listen. It all started from the National Championship game and I've been dealing with this for two years now. And understanding, like, yeah, negative things have probably been said about me, but honestly, I'll take that because look where women's basketball is. People are talking about women's basketball, but you never would think that we'd be talking about women's basketball.

People are pulling up to games. We got celebrities coming to games, sold out arenas, like, just because of one single game. And just looking at that, like, I'll take that role. I'll take the bad guy role and I'll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates.

And if I want to be that, and I know I'll go down in history, I'll look back in 20 years and be like, yeah, the reason why we watching women's basketball is not just because of one person. It's because of me too. And I want y'all to realize that. Ugh. This is what you call DTM. Doing too much.

Doing too much. You know what? There's truth in a part of what she said. Okay?

We all know that this blew up in the National Championship. We got a good guy, we got a bad guy. And she's right about that. But what she's done over time, and I can't knock her, she's a young lady, she's navigating all of this for the first time. Like, you can't say you're cool being a villain and then remind us about it, you know, every two months. You know, you can't skip it. If you're going to embrace the role, then just embrace it.

And at least stand up and be accountable for it. Like, that's it. And the last portion of what she said just reeks of jealousy.

It does. I need y'all to recognize that a lot of people are showing up as a result of you two exploding. And yeah, Kaitlyn Clark in a lot of cases became a sympathetic figure, but she also lit up the record books. Lit it up in a way that people have never seen before. I mean, it has more points than anybody in college basketball, male or female.

Like, she played the game in a way that I've never seen a college woman play it before. Give her that much credit. Like, you're not going to win a fight with the media trying to enforce people to accept you. It's not going to happen. You want to be the bad guy and then you want to cry about it later. You can't have it both ways.

You can't. And so if you're just going to play ball, just play ball. If you're going to be in Sports Illustrated, be in Sports Illustrated. But don't complain.

Because if you ask for the attention and you get it, whether it's positive or negative, that's a part of the gig. Count the money. It's in your bank account.

It's a part of the gig. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. Brent is calling from Illinois. You're on the JR Sportbreeze show. What's up, Brent? Hello, JR. How are you doing? I'm okay. How are you? What's on your mind? JR, I've been thinking about you all weekend about Atlanta's water main break. I think about you and your neighbors. How are you doing with all this?

I'm okay. My neighbors suck, okay? They got a big ol' hole in front of their house. They got two big ol' holes on the end of their blocks. Yeah, so my neighbors are shot.

People are having to buy hotels and all types of stuff. But hey, I'm lucky for once. Oh, good for you, JR. It sounds like you had a positive weekend with all the chaos, so I'm always thinking of you, JR. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Do you have anything else to chime in on besides my water?

Uh, no. Yeah, I'm just always thinking of you and I'm glad you talked about it. Thank you. Oh, thank you, Brent. I appreciate that. Thank you, Brent, for calling from Illinois.

Hickey, that was nice. He actually cared, right? About my water from Illinois. I feel bad. I mean, Brent was thinking about you more than I was. I didn't even ask you so far today about the water main break and if you were impacted whatsoever. So thank you, Brent, for being caring. And making you look bad?

And also making me look bad or maybe checking myself to make sure I gotta be a better friend going forward here. Oh, no, it's okay. It's actually a couple blocks from here.

It's right, ironically, how about this? It's directly across the street from the Federal Reserve and then there's another one that's down the block from there, blew out of bars, windows, and then there's another one a little bit further down. They fix and pave these streets and fix everything up, but they don't fix what's underneath there. I don't know. I don't work for watershed management, but for all the construction work and all of the crap, you would think that they'd get the pipes fixed.

They did all this fancy artwork installation, construction outside the Federal Reserve, and it's like, hey, did y'all ever think about fixing the pipes under there first? I guess the answer's no. Well, there we have it.

That's your call, learning a lesson the hard way. Yeah, nope, nobody learns. Don't they say that there's no money unless things are getting broken, right?

Now how it works? I've never heard that, but thinking about it, it does make sense. Yeah, listen, I've lived, wait a minute, when I lived in New York, how many roads and streets do you see that get paved, right? The road gets paved, and then it gets painted, and it's a brand new street that they've built. And then like six months later, they end up digging it up and putting a plate down, and then fixing the street again. It's like wash, rinse, and repeat. It's just like, why don't you fix the infrastructure under the street instead of just fixing the pavement? But I guess somebody always has to get paved. It's like going to the doctor, Hickey.

It's like they gotta give you some drugs because they need you to come back with a new problem next time. Oh, now we're getting deep. Yeah. Isn't that what Barry Bonds did?

That's not what he did, right? Barry Bonds, he was also jealous of Mark Maguire and Sammy Sosa, so if I gotta make one plus one equal two, does that mean Angel Reese is going to be on Roy soon? Is that happening? Like if everybody's jealous of Kaitlin Clark, then I don't, well I guess all they're going to do is just hit the poor woman.

I don't know. Anyway, I wish I could get back to basketball. That would be very, very nice. Ugh, what a world. I need my acknowledgement too. Don't, don't, don't say that. Stop. Then go, go get it on the basketball court.

Or do you gotta run your gums to get it? Anyway. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Everybody getting ready to fight. Who's happy? I'm happy.

I'm trying to be. On the other side of the break, you know what? I know who's happy. Justin Jefferson is happy. This man got a lot of money.

$35 million to be a wide receiver. We'll talk about Justin Jefferson on the other side. He's happy. And you know what? We'll also hear from somebody who's not happy.

It's all about balance, right? We'll hear from Tommy Pham, Major League Baseball player ready to punch people in the mouth. We'll talk about it.

It's the JR Sport Reshow on the Infinity Sports Network. Don't move. You could spend the weekend doing the same old whatever. Or you could conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for more details. Hyundai.

There's joy in every journey. Call from Mom. Answer it.

Call Silence. Instacart knows nothing gets between you and the game. That's why they make ordering from your couch easy. Stock up today and get all your groceries for the week delivered in as fast as 30 minutes without missing a minute of the game. You have 47 new voicemails. Download the app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order.

Additional term supply. If your day sounds like we need to report ASAP. You deserve Medela. If you've persevered through. You deserve this rich golden lager with a crisp and refreshing taste. Or if you overcame. You deserve this ice cold reward. Medela. Remarkable. Fight. Drink responsibly. Beer imported by Crown Airport, Chicago, Illinois.