JR SportBrief Hour 1

It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Happy Friday. I hope you're good. I hope you're well. I hope you're safe. I hope your families are good. I hope whatever the hell it is that you're doing, you're good. That's it. I'm good. Thank you so much to 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 for listening. This is when the show gets started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. You can always listen on the free Odyssey app. You can lock in on your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate. You got Sirius XM at Channel 158. You got yourself a smart speaker.

You ask it to play the Infinity Sports Network. I'm going to be rolling with you for the next four hours. So if you're rolling on the road, you're rolling to vacation, you're rolling from work, you're rolling to work, you're rolling to the club. I don't know where you're rolling. Roll with us. You want to contact us?

You can do that too. The phone number here is 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. You can also find me online. I am everywhere. I will say it again. I am everywhere on the internet.

I am at JR Sport Brief. Friday, Friday, Friday. Oh, we got some big news. Jalen Brunson takes a massive discount to stay with the New York Knicks.

I will tell you what the numbers are momentarily. No discounts here. We got a big old guest. Well, we got plenty of big guests. How about in another 20 minutes? And Paul Skeens is officially going to be starting for the National League in the All-Star game next week. And so we're going to have a conversation with Jared Diamond, who covers all things Major League Baseball for the Wall Street Journal. He's going to come through and join us in about 20 minutes. So we'll get to some baseball. The SPs were last night. Next hour, we have a big guest.

This is one of the most, you know what? He is one of the most accomplished U.S. soccer players of all time. Clint Dempsey is going to come through and join us next hour. I know there's been a lot of talk, a lot of conversations about Team USA Soccer, and they fired their coach and Greg Berhalter. Who better to talk to than someone who tied with Landon Donovan has scored the most goals in U.S. men's national team history?

Yes, Clint Dempsey is going to join us next hour. That's going to be a lot of fun. And, you know, speaking of the SPs, there was a lot of history made last night at the SPs as they honored women. They honored women and women in sports. And Serena Williams was your host. Well, we have a trailblazing woman who's going to join us later on in the show.

This may not necessarily be something you're familiar with, but I learned about it and said, oh, no, this is a must for me. Emma Jane Wilson is a jockey. You heard me correctly. She is a jockey. And later on, when we talk to her, I'm going to tell you how much money she's made. She has made more money than any jockey that's been out here.

Woman, it's ridiculous. I was my mind was blown. So we got a lot of big guests. Clint Dempsey next hour later in the show. Emma Jane Wilson, Jared Diamond from The Wall Street Journal coming through in about 15 minutes. We got a lot to discuss.

First of all, super producer and host Ryan Hickey. How the hell are you? Outstanding. Outstanding.

J.R., by far outstanding today. Oh, I think I know why you tell everybody. I think I know. But tell everybody why you feel outstanding. Go ahead. Today, this Jaylen Brunson contract news. I can official say my 30 years on this earth.

This is the most optimistic realistically I've ever been for the Knicks. Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah. That. Yeah. It's kind of mind boggling.

And so for anyone who I don't know, hasn't been on the Internet or whatever for the past hour, 40 minutes or whatever. Jaylen Brunson, the star of the New York Knicks, the man who was selected in the second round by the Dallas Mavericks, was expected to be nothing but a career backup. Jaylen Brunson signed an extension with the Knicks for years. One hundred and fifty six million dollars. OK, that's still a lot of money, right?

Now, there's more. If he waited until the end of next season. Jaylen Brunson could have signed a five year two hundred sixty nine million dollar contract.

Let me say that again. He signed one hundred and fifty six million. He left two hundred and sixty nine million alone. He basically saved the New York Knicks one hundred and thirteen million dollars. Is Jaylen Brunson on drugs? Is he a great basketball player?

Yes, the answer is yes. He was an all star, all NBA this year. He's a great basketball player.

He has this man tripped and hit his head. It's rare. I don't in the world when you could make that type of money that you just say. I'll pass.

I'm good. You know what, when people use the and I get it, the guys retired, people used to say, well, Tom Brady used to leave money on the table. Tom Brady was married to a supermodel who was making buckets of money more than him.

If you could even imagine that Tom Brady was late in his career, Tom Brady just got a three hundred plus million dollar contract to look at football games and talk about it. OK, I don't think Jaylen Brunson has a three hundred four hundred million dollar contract in his future to talk about basketball. I also don't think Jaylen Brunson is dating a global supermodel. I don't think he is. If he would, I think I'd know. He's married to a woman, I think. Anyway, he did. He got married, not a supermodel. Here's the deal.

Here are the facts. Yeah, he left money on the table. The New York Knicks can continue to add pieces as the salary cap grows higher. Jaylen Brunson has talked about even after the elimination at the hand of the Indiana Pacers, where his hand was broken. Julius Randle's shoulder was broken. Mitchell Robinson's leg was broken. Everybody and their mother on the Knicks, they were all broken. Oji Anunobi, his elbows broken.

Everybody was broken. Jaylen Brunson, he rode until the wheels fell off. Obviously, his dad is an assistant coach on the Knicks. Obviously, Thibodeau, if you didn't know this, Thibodeau coached Jaylen Brunson's dad.

This is all in the family. The president of the New York Knicks, Leon Rose, represented all of them pretty much before he became the president of the New York Knicks. This is family business in New York right now.

This is a perfect combination. This is so crazy that it's easy to ignore the owner of the New York Knicks, who's an interesting fellow, and Jim James Dolan. He hired he hired the right guy in Leon Rose, and things have actually worked out for the New York Knicks, as Hickey just said, for the better part of the past 30 years in a way that we have never seen before. Okay, Jaylen Brunson, after the Knicks were eliminated by the Pacers, he said this. He said the New York Knickerbockers are a special team.

Listen to this. This team is special in a way that I can't really explain. The way we just fought, the way we just didn't use excuses, and we just kept finding ways and to the best of our abilities, and that was just our mindset, and I just love the fact that we have that mindset. I appreciate the fact that the guy just plays. I appreciate the fact that somebody like Jaylen Brunson, this man wakes up, he busts ass on a basketball court, and he goes home. There's no funny social media messages. Even he has a podcast with his teammate Josh Hart, but it's fun.

No trash, no garbage. He's just pretty relaxed and chill. This guy was up, I think, at Dykeman.

You're not familiar with Dykeman. He was at a street basketball tournament in New York City, North or Harlem the other day. Just chilling, relaxing.

It's not every day that NBA players just hang outside. He was with his dad. I think his mom was there. He's just chilling, watching the guys play ball. Stood up, raised his hand, said, yeah, I love y'all, and sat back down.

People appreciate that. I told you about his podcast. How can I even forget? He's reunited with his teammates that he won championships with. This man won two championships at Villanova, okay? Already had Dante DiVicenzo and Josh Hart. The New York Knicks just traded from a Kale Bridges. You don't think they'll be able to pay him? They brought him over from Brooklyn. Two years, $50 million left on his contract. The New York Knicks just signed OG Anenobi to a five-year, $212 million contract. The New York Knicks got to spend a lot of money, and Jalen Brunson just saved them. I told you this man is not afraid to hang out with the fans in New York City.

I'll tell you this, he might be. And people like Carmelo, but people are like, man, do something else besides score and rebound. Help us win something. Carmelo didn't do it.

There were other elements of his game that were missing. Jalen Brunson, he is the most popular Nick since Carmelo Anthony. Jalen Brunson is probably the most beloved Nick. I'd say this with no problem.

I believe since Charles Oakley. And I think the love is, I think the love is mutual. Also after the elimination, Jalen Brunson, he talked about how the Knicks fans have been amazing. They have been nothing but amazing to myself, to this team, to my family. And that's really cool.

And so just so thankful for them. Hickey, you're in New York. I'm from New York.

There is a New York is is a is a different place. The fans in New York are different. They can be abrasive. They can be impatient. They can be sometimes, I believe, overly optimistic. But one thing that the fans in New York are are passionate.

They appreciate people who go out and ball and and work hard. That's it. Can you work hard? I bust my ass all day. I had to get all day. I had to get on the train, the subway. My my subway was late.

You know, I don't know. Somebody ran over my foot. The taxi stunk in the morning time. You know, my food was late.

My boss ticked me off. It ain't easy living in New York and to sit down in the nighttime in the evening and watch a basketball game. All you could ask for is for a bunch of dudes, a bunch of millionaires to go out there and play hard. And in New York, if you play hard, there's a reason why Charles Oakley was beloved. That wasn't because he was the best player on the New York Knicks. Charles Oakley was beloved because he went out there and he played harder than everybody. Jalen Brunson, most times the smallest guy on the court.

He plays harder, has to play harder than everybody. And Hickey, he's appreciated for it, man. That he is. I mean, you said it like I think New Yorkers more than anything appreciate a guy that doesn't complain, just goes out there every day, gives you everything he has. Obviously, we want to see you win clearly. Right. But like appreciate that individual effort, I think is paramount for at least I mean, a lot of fans everywhere.

But I think that's appreciated here in New York, New York especially. And like I think this move on top of the two years we've seen so far, I mean, barring anything drastic and unexpected, as long as what we've seen in the past continues in the future, I feel like this move cements the fact that number 11 will be in the rafters one day of MSG. If Jalen Brunson continues what he's doing, and all things considered, given his size, he's been pretty durable. You know, little knickknack injuries or breaking hand in the postseason.

Okay, we see. He's a legend. He's a living, walking legend. And he's been a Nick for two years. The fact that I could I could even have a conversation and say that he's the most beloved Nick ever and skip over the past.

Oh, man, 30 years. That says a lot. This says a lot, unfortunately, about the New York Knicks and where they've been. But it says a lot about what he's brought to the organization, something they haven't had since the 90s.

And that stability. Patrick Ewing was the linchpin of the New York Knicks in the 80s into the 90s, the mid late 80s into the 90s. Patrick Ewing wasn't always appreciated. He wasn't always loved. Patrick Ewing wasn't some big old warm, fuzzy teddy bear all the time. I think in hindsight, he was appreciated. He left it all out there. But Jalen Brunson, the small guy, the relatable guy, the guy. The dude barely cracked six feet. He's a legend in New York.

He hasn't even won anything, if they can ever win anything. My God. Yeah.

Forget rafters, man. I don't know. In New York City, the Nick fans, they'd explode. But let me tell you this. I asked you if the man might have bumped his head. He left one hundred and thirteen million dollars on the table. That's not to say he wouldn't get hurt.

And hopefully that is not the case. Understand this in twenty twenty eight, four years from now, he could still sign a new contract. Four years, three hundred twenty three million dollars or in twenty twenty nine, he could sign a contract for four hundred and eighteen million dollars. So Jalen Brunson, a man who was not a first round pick, had to get to where he is coming out of the second round. The Dallas Mavericks didn't want him. He's playing the long game and he's doing something that he's used to doing here in his NBA career. He's making a lot of money. He ain't po.

Not with the O.R., he ain't po. It looks like he's playing the long game in regards to his money. Jalen Brunson, four year contract extension with the New York Knicks, leaving one hundred and thirteen million dollars on the table for the Knicks to continue to add pieces and have roster flexibility.

Where do they do that at? LeBron James just saved the Lakers three million dollars. Come on.

That's a billionaire. Congratulations to the New York Knicks, Jalen Brunson and their fans. The Knicks are going to be competing for quite some time. It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We got a lot to do. I told you U.S. soccer legend Clint Dempsey is going to come through and join us next hour. We're going to talk to one of the most successful female athletes in the world.

Emma Jane Wilson is going to join us later on in the show. But when we come back on the other side, you know, Jalen Brunson had to fight for where he is. Second round pick had to wait for his money. We're going to have a conversation with Jared Diamond from the Wall Street Journal covers Major League Baseball. I want to talk to him about a phenom, the anti Brunson, a guy named Paul Skeans, who's going to start for the National League. The J.R. sport re-show here with you on the Infinity. We're just getting warmed up.

It's the J.R. sport re-show. Right before we went to break, I talked about Jalen Brunson. This New York Knicks leaving a whole lot of money on the table to ensure future roster flexibility. That's a lot for a guy who was selected in the second round of the NBA draft.

Typically, you want to go out there and get all the money that you can. But right now, I want to talk about an individual who was expected to be amazing. And damn it, he already is.

I'm talking about somebody who went from LSU and the draft and he's already in the big leagues. His name is Paul Skeans. And then I also want to talk about the All-Star game. I want to talk about the trade deadline and to discuss it all right now.

We're being joined by Jared Diamond from the Wall Street Journal. Hey, Jared, how are you? I'm doing all right. How are you? I'm excellent. Thank you for taking the time to join us. I hope you're doing better than it has shown online. I hope so.

Finally feeling a little bit better, but it was a difficult week and I'm glad to have something other than COVID to talk about with you. I know. Well, thank you for that. Well, let's talk about the man who was named a starter for the National League. Let's talk about Paul Skeans. Any shock or surprise based on where he was exactly a year ago to right now? There has to be a little surprise, right? What say you? No one could have expected this.

You just couldn't have it. As great as he was in college and as huge of a prospect as he was, you never imagine someone's going to go from being drafted essentially a year ago to starting in the All-Star game. That just does not happen even for giant prospects, right? He's a huge prospect. There's been other huge prospects. You think back to say Stephen Strasburg who kind of came up with similar hype and he was very, very good out of the gate, but nothing like what we've seen out of Paul Skeans. And honestly, I'm a little surprised pleasantly so that he's actually getting the starting job on the All-Star game on Tuesday. It was clearly the right decision, but baseball doesn't always make good decisions.

That's correct. Baseball doesn't always make the decision. Baseball, by the way, doesn't always make the right decisions. And speaking of decisions, a lot of controversy yesterday after he was pulled seven innings of no-hit ball, 99 pitches. As a manager, Shelton was saying that he was getting tired. He's gassed.

As Skeans says, kind of, yeah, I was feeling a little tired. What are your thoughts on that? I didn't have a problem with him getting pulled, especially when you think about preservation of his body and his arm through a whole year. Hey, look, it's so frustrating as fans to witness something like that. And it's not the first time we've seen time and time again in recent years pitchers pull out of games with no hitters because of pitch counts and an effort to preserve their arms or whatever it is.

The one thing that you just mentioned is the one thing that sort of makes me more okay with it. And that's Paul Skeans acknowledging that maybe he was starting to get a little tired. And maybe he's just saying that to protect his manager.

Who knows? But let's take him at his word. If he really is coming off the mound and saying, yeah, I am starting to feel a little tired, you kind of have no choice but to take him out of the game. At that point, I do believe that these pitch counts and things like this are often overblown and we don't really know very much about what makes pitchers arms sort of explode the way they do. But one thing we do know is that fatigue is a major factor.

So if he was tired, I guess you have no choice. Without a shadow of a doubt, Jared Diamond is joining us from the Wall Street Journal. As we pull up into the weekend and we get to the celebrity game down in Texas and they do the home run derby, what else should we really look forward to over All-Star weekend down in Arlington? Well, I am curious to see what they're doing with this skills competition concept and the sort of auditioning this year after the Futures game.

I don't know what kind of impact it's going to have, but I like that they're trying different things, right? In all sports, the All-Star game is a concept of kind of lost some of its luster. I think that's absolutely true in baseball because of things like interleague play and the like, right? I think we all sort of know that the All-Star game isn't what it used to be, so I like that baseball is trying to find ways to spice it up. And really what this should all be about is showcasing the incredible talent that baseball has scattered across the sport. Paul Skeen starting on Tuesday is one great example of that, but if there's other ways, other things they could do besides just the home run derby moving forward, I think that would be great and something baseball needs to continue sort of looking into. And then of course we have the big event. You have the home run derby, right?

Pete Alonso is back in it going to try to win it for like the millionth time. There's just so many great players in the game right now and this really is, it should be an opportunity to showcase them and you just kind of hope that baseball does it the way they should. Well Jaret, there are more than 30 first-time All-Stars by the time we pull up to the game on Tuesday. What do you feel that this is indicative of when it comes to baseball and its future? Are some of these guys one and done?

Do you think there's some continuity or what are your thoughts? I think what we're seeing is this is, I wouldn't want, I don't want to say a changing of the guard moment, but it definitely is a situation where, you know, the great stars of the last x number of years are reaching the end, right? I mean Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout and all these guys that we have loved to watch for the last however many years, they're still around and some of them are still very good, but they're not necessarily the stars anymore and there are, there is sort of this new crop of players coming up that everyone's going to see now, right? Especially, for instance, some of these guys in Baltimore, right? Like Gunnar Henderson who, you know, probably is going to be leading off for the American League, Adlai Rutschman as well for Baltimore playing in that game.

I just think that this is a moment where like it's a youth movement. There's so many great young players in baseball and the future is sort of here and the All-Star rosters are indicative of that. Yeah, I mean, you talk about the Orioles, even Jordan Westberg had to wait for Devers to go down before he got his chance.

You know, earlier in the week, we really took some time to talk about Elie De La Cruz. He's one of my favorite players to watch in the league right now. Is there a player that's going to be participating in the All-Star game that you think is a hidden gem? Okay, everybody's going to be focused on Skeans.

It's going to be his knight. He'd probably go out there and strike out the side on non-pitches, but is there someone that isn't garnering the attention that should? Well, there's a few guys and, you know, I guess you'll have to tell me what constitutes sort of a hidden gem, right? Obviously, Bobby Witt Jr. is not starting the game. He plays in Kansas City, right, where you just don't get a lot of attention in general and I think it's time for everyone to realize who hasn't already that Bobby Witt Jr. is an absolute superstar and he's not starting the game.

He probably would be in any other year if not for Gunnar Henderson. So that's one guy. I think people know who he is.

So here are maybe some guys that people don't know as well. Terese Scubel on the Tigers, left-handed pitcher. He's probably been the best pitcher in baseball this season, or at least in the American League. You've probably never heard of him because he's on the Tigers.

Emmanuel Classe on Cleveland. He's the Cleveland closer, not his first rodeo in the All-Star game, but this guy has been absolutely insane this season. He has an 0.83 ERA. There's a case to be made that he is your Cy Young winner at this point and not Scubel.

It's one of those two guys. So I'm looking forward to seeing him pitch. And look, you mentioned Elliot De La Cruz. My goodness, I'm not sure there's a more electric player in all of baseball, at least talent-wise. The guy's absolutely incredible, the things he could do. He's so big, he's so strong, he throws the ball like 98 miles an hour across the infield.

So much fun, so much fun to watch. Jared Diamond joining us from the Wall Street Journal. Well, once we get past all of the fun of next week, it's going to be a little bit of pain for a few of the players as they are going to get shipped off to places that they may not want to go. The trade deadline is July 30th.

Who do you think are some top candidates that are likely to be moved and who are some teams that are looking to be buyers? It's very, very strange this year, at this moment. It's very strange. And the reason for that is because there are a lot of buyers and not a lot of sellers.

And in some ways, that's by design, right? By adding the third wild card like baseball did, suddenly there's a lot more teams that sort of believe they're in contention, right? And like, you just heard today, the Tampa Bay Rays, who have not played very well, by all might be selling based on how they played.

And they're like, no, we think we're going to make a run of the playoffs. We could be buyers. So it's going to be a very, very good market. If you are a seller, you can command the world. One team I think is going to definitely be selling is Toronto.

They have pieces. Are you going to see someone like Beau Bechet, though? Will Vladimir Guerrero be traded, right? I think the Blue Jays sort of whole situation kind of fall in the park this year enough that you think that maybe they're going to want to fall over. The Cubs have been a big disappointment as well. It makes you wonder if perhaps Cody Bellinger becomes available. That's what I never would have said at the start of the season when everyone thought he was going to be the number three hitter on a potential division-winning team. So it's going to be a big disappointment.

But they've been bad enough that you kind of wonder if they're going to go another direction. A couple other quick names. Jazz Chisholm of the Marlins. You know, he's not a superstar, but he's a good player and he's a guy you'd like to have on your team.

He's available. Garrett Crochet is another, an all-star pitcher for the White Sox, left-handed pitcher. The White Sox are terrible.

I expect to see him go as well. Jarrett, you think about the Dodgers losing to the Phillies. You think about the Astros on an upswing. Think about the Yankees on a current downswing. The Braves have had some surprises on the pitching staff with some injuries with the bats. What teams do you think are in pole position to be successful in October, or are we going to get another big old surprise?

Well, look, the answer is probably what you just said there. We've got a big old surprise because that is the definition of baseball. It's just impossible to project what's going to happen. The postseason is such a weird crapshoot. But look, as we sit here today on July 12th, the Phillies have clearly been the best team in baseball. I don't think anyone would possibly disagree with that. They've basically been the best team from wire to wire.

And they also are very experienced, right? They were in the World Series in 2022. They went to game seven of the NFCS just last year.

I think everyone was stunned. They didn't end up in the World Series the second straight year last season. And now they're coming back again with the absolute best team in baseball.

So they're going to be the favorites, at least that we sit here now, sort of moving forward. The Dodgers have been very good. Some of the other teams you mentioned, I think the Orioles also have been great. But the Phillies, they seem like the team to beat because it's a combination of talent and experience. The Orioles are great, but they've been in the playoffs precisely one time with this group. They got swept. And that was that, right? So there's something to be said about you kind of have to prove you could do it in October before we really take you seriously.

The Phillies certainly have that. Hey, Jared, I appreciate you taking the time to drop all the insight, everything from some of our young stars to the All-Star game, the deadline, the postseason, the stretch run. Where can people follow you and all of your work with The Wall Street Journal?

On Twitter, X, whatever you're calling it these days, at Jared Diamond or, of course, just on WSJ.com. That's the best place to find all my work. Thank you, Jared. I appreciate the time, man. You feel better. I'm happy that you're on upswing, OK?

Thanks a lot. No doubt about it. That Jared Diamond from The Wall Street Journal covers all things Major League Baseball. Pretty amazing. Still mind blowing to me that you have an All-Star game with 30 plus first timers. That is absolutely amazing.

The phone lines are open. It's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. You want to give me a holler? Feel free.

Knock yourself out. You know, Major League Baseball might have a lot of young players that are on the upswing. We're going to take a break when we come back on the other side. I want to tell you about an old guy who's pretty much putting a stamp on his career in one aspect. And he's saying I'm done.

And then there's a team that's apparently done. We'll talk about that. You got to get rid of this old Backstreet Boys T-shirt. Tell me why. Because it stinks, boys. Tell me why. I've watched it so many times, but the odor will come out.

Tell me why. No, you tell me why I can't get rid of this odor. Have you tried Downy Rinse and Refresh? It doesn't just cover up odors. It helps remove them. Wow, it worked, guys. Yeah. Downy Rinse and Refresh removes more odor in one wash than the leading value detergent in three washes.

Find it wherever you buy laundry products. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief.

The J.R. Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you to Jared Diamond from the World Street Journal for joining us in the last break as we took a look at Major League Baseball. The All-Star Game is next week. The Home Run Derby is next week. The Futures Game is next week. The Celebrity Game is next week. I'm assuming they're still going to do that. It used to be T-Mobile carpet that they used to do.

Make everybody walk. I think that's one of the only times I've seen Shohei Ohtani out of uniform is walking a pink or red carpet to the All-Star Game because I'm sure they made him do it. All the stars are going to line up. So thank you again to Jared Diamond for coming through and chatting it up with us about all things baseball, especially Paul Skeans. And in a few seconds, I want to share with you the audio as he found out that he will be starting the All-Star Game for the National League. And then before we went to break. Yeah, Paul Skeans might be getting started right now.

I told you there's an athlete who said he is winding things down. We'll get into that maybe now in a few minutes at the top of the hour, but we'll get there. Don't worry. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. Eric, he's calling us from Ohio. Eric, you're on the JR Sport Reshow. What's up? Hey, how's it going, man? I'm very well.

Eric, how are you? Good. So initially I called in because Jose Ramirez took the exact same deal Brunson did and left about $100 million on the table.

And then I heard the guy from Wall Street Journal. I wonder why the Guardians get all the hate. Like, the Guardians were not mentioned as contenders, yet they have the best bullpen in the league, their top five in offense, and have repeatedly had the best record in baseball. Like, I don't understand why nobody has any faith in the Guardians. Oh, by the way, they have five All-Stars and probably the best leadoff header in baseball. I just, I don't get it. What do the Guardians have to do to get some national attention besides what's his name ripping us and saying he doesn't buy the Guardians?

Well, let me ask you. When you start going into, well, to Jared's credit, you understand how things went last year with the World Series. We had two teams in both the Rangers and Diamondbacks that nobody expected to be there. You think about the Dodgers and all the money that they spent over the past decade.

They've even upped that. You can count one World Series there. The New York Yankees have one of the biggest budgets ever.

The New York Yankees are kind of scratching and scrambling right now. And so my question to you is, why do you care? I mean, as long as the results are there at the end, what does it matter to you whether or not Jared or me or Joe Blow, you know, bigs up the Guardians as long as they continue doing what they're doing? I mean, I guess that's fair. Like, I mean, if the Guardians win, who really cares what everybody else thinks? It just, it's just unusual to me that the Guardians can be top slot for so long and people talk about Baltimore or the Yankees or the Dodgers. The Yankees and the Dodgers I get. It's big market baseball. Well, when it comes to when it comes to when it comes to the Orioles, their offense is stacked.

Now, I'm going to give you my answer, OK, specifically about the Guardians. And this is how I look at every single team in baseball. When you get into the postseason and yeah, you got to get hot, whoever the hell it is, they have to get hot. I want to know, I want to know who you talk about the bullpen, but who are the dudes that are going to start the game that you feel comfortable about?

Who are the guys with the that's that's point number one. Point number two, when it comes down to the bats, when the offense is going to start to slow down and can slow down, who is the most outside of we know about Ramirez and then you can look at Naylor, like, am I scared of Jimenez? Like that's that's the thing.

It becomes difficult to generate the runs. And so, look, if you got somebody else besides Bobby, who in comparison to the best of the best of the best, I mean, is he going to be I would say in a wild card matchup, just given the odds, he might be in most cases the second best starter, you know, on whoever he's opposing. Would you say so? I would agree with that, but let me push back a little bit. When the Guardians pushed the Yankees to five games two years ago in the divisional round, we had the best pitching staff in all of baseball. We couldn't hit the ball over the wall. Now we have an offense and a mediocre pitching.

I mean, you got like we definitely need a pitcher come the trade deadline. Yeah. So you're not pushing back. You're agreeing with me.

Yeah. So that I mean, how can how can you knock a team for adapting from losing to the Yankees in the divisional round? No, I'm not.

No, let's slow down, Eric. There's nobody's knocking a team for adapting. That is your interpretation.

And that is that is wholly inaccurate. I ain't talking about two years ago. I don't care about two years ago. I don't care about last year. I'm talking about last year. I'm talking about how the Guardians are constructed today and right now. If you were to ask me right now, given what I know, what I see, what I can see, what I'm available to see, if we wanted to take your scenario and I wanted to take the Yankees again and pit them up against the Guardians, I would think and I don't know, it's a crapshoot.

You never know. I mean, damn it. If I have to take a Garrett Cole and throw him on the mound and say, hey, here's game one.

And I got to find, I don't know, Luis Hill or Roedon, like it's starting pitching. And forget your team. I want to be very clear here.

I'm not knocking anybody for adapting. That'd be a dumb ass thing to say. The point is, I don't care what team it is unless you can put two dudes at minimum on the mound that you can say, I can ride this guy. I can ride this guy. I can have faith in him that he can give me six or seven.

He's going to be the best dude in this game. It's tough, man. And whether that guy gets hot or whether that guy is a proven commodity, if you don't have confidence in that, why aren't people talking about the Guardians? Because unless we see who that guy is or that next guy or that next guy, it's one of those things where, hey, let's just see it happen. And I'll tell you again, in the case last year of the Arizona Diamondbacks and then also the Rangers, we saw things happen.

So I wish your guardians nothing but the best of luck. It's the same thing that Jared said. Hickey, I just I get it from a fan's perspective. I'm still a fan. I get it. I talk about this. I stand in front of a microphone.

For the life of me, I still don't get it. Why fans get upset or bothered or agitated when they feel that their team doesn't get what does it matter? You want to hear about your team all day on the radio and you want your team to get their asses kicked? Like, what does it matter if your team is playing? Well, people will talk about it. And if people don't feel that they're going to be worth a damn, people won't. I mean, fine satisfaction at the end, but it's just like, oh, nobody's talking about my national meet.

Well, the national media has to has to cover what the majority of people are interested in. Like Guardians is like, OK, hit me up in October if they're beating people up. Help me, Hickey.

Help me. I think a few things. Number one, I get Eric's frustration. I mean, I'll say it for myself, even as someone in the industry, like I it makes me feel better as a fan if the national media is talking about my team in a positive way, because it almost in a way it sounds stupid. But I think in a way, it almost validates of, OK, like not only we just doing this in the dark, but now people are recognizing and realizing, oh, this team is really good. I think there is still is like a frustration of like if no one's mentioning you, like what else do we have to do?

I do get it from Eric's perspective. What I'll also say to him is part of getting that recognition and getting that attention is doing it in the postseason, right? Like coming through winning big games, winning big series. And we are getting further and further away from that 2016 run where if you want to get the Guardians in the same conversation as I know the Orioles have not done anything yet with this young core, but let's say the Dodgers and the Yankees, the Phillies get it done in October when it's go to the ALCS, you know, beat the Yankees, beat the Orioles. Like you want people to talk about you win big games and that will happen in October. This to the first part of what you said, it's like getting a sticker in kindergarten. Hey, come on.

I know I look I'm not proud of it, but it is true. If my if my teams are being talked about in a positive way nationally, I can't help it. It makes me feel better.

It does. But if they're being ignored, what is it? There's so many teams. I mean, pick a league, 30 teams, 30 teams, approximately 30 teams in every major league.

If the team is being ignored, you feel like a redheaded stepchild. Well, I guess it is for the latest example. Brandon Nemo is on a hot streak for the Mets.

Any time now he does something well, I keep thinking myself, well, should be an All-Star. No. Does it matter? No. Are the Mets winning games because him?

Yes, that's what should matter. But I'm taking joy in his success. Also, at the same time, thinking, well, he got screwed.

He didn't get the recognition he deserved. I can't help it. Hickey, I'm going to find Grimace in a New York Mets hat and I'm going to have him deliver a sticker right to the studio. Deal? Deal. Oh, I can't wait to meet Grimace.

I'm going to have Grimace give Nemo a sticker to a star, of course. Of course. The J.R. Sport Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We have U.S. soccer legend Clint Dempsey. He's going to join us next hour. We're going to take a break when we come back. You know what? We'll hear Paul Skeens get his love. We'll talk more Brunson and I'll tell you about the player who's winding a part of his career down. It's the J.R. Sport Brief Show. The Infinity Sports Network.