8.7.24 - JR SportBrief Hour 1

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Downy Rinse and Refresh removes 100% of odor in just one wash. Guaranteed. It is! The JR Sportbrief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Much love and many thanks to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America.

This is when the show gets started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well. I hope you're good. All of that great stuff. 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. And whatever you might be doing, I hope you're good. Hope you've had a great Wednesday.

It is Wednesday, which means I'm going to be hanging out with you for the next four hours. Show gets started 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. If you have Sirius XM, it is channel 158.

And if you've got yourself a smart speaker, all you have to do is ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. It is Wednesday. You know what that means? We got a top six list coming your way in in two hours. It's what I do every Wednesday, a top six list. And today we're going to take a look at some of the biggest underdogs that we've ever seen in the world of sports. Yet we are talking underdogs, people and teams who have overcome odds. Well, they were expected to lose, overcoming it all. I'm going to tell you the the biggest underdog that we have ever seen in the world of sports.

That top six list coming in two hours from now. Also a busy day in the world of sports. We've got baseball action right here in the studio. I see the Yankees are smacking around the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ring. I see the Chicago White Sox won a game last night and they played today a few minutes ago and they lost. At least the losing streak is over.

We'll get into that. No worries. No, no ringing no alarms yet. Brandon Ayuk does not have a new team. He hasn't moved. He hasn't been traded anywhere. Not yet.

But as of this minute, because it changes, it feels like every minute. Brandon Ayuk is still a member of the 49ers. And it appears that the Steelers and the Browns are in on bringing Brandon Ayuk into their organizations. Now, it's just a matter of whether or not Brandon Ayuk wants to come to an agreement with whatever contracts they are offering up.

A matter of fact, we'll get into this momentarily. And then we'll also have a guest who will join us in about 20 minutes. He might be familiar with him here. Andrew Filipponi is going to join us from Pittsburgh, co-host on 93-7 The Fan out in Pittsburgh. He's been breaking a lot of news about this Brandon Ayuk potential trade. Some people have looked at him kind of cross about it.

And as of right now, along the way, really, he has appeared to be right. So Andrew Filipponi will come through and talk some Steelers with us in about 20 minutes. Jim Harbaugh, he's punished.

If this guy goes back to college, he's facing like a one year suspension and probation. We'll get into it. And this has nothing to do with sign stealing, by the way. This has everything possibly to do with a cheeseburger.

I wish I was lying, folks, but I'm not. Jim Harbaugh is an interesting dude. Speaking of interesting, the relationship between Jalen Hurts and his head coach, Nick Sirianni, it has been dissected. It's been chopped up for a team that started 10 and one last year. The Eagles certainly hit the skids at the end of the year. And if things don't work out, Nick Sirianni is going to get the boot. How are things looking in Philadelphia? We will go to Philly and talk about Philly and take a look.

Chicago Bears made their debut on HBO Hard Knocks. Team USA says they are not sleeping on Serbia tomorrow, even though they're about 17 point favorites. They're not taking them lightly.

And if they do, they're going to get their asses whooped. So we got a lot to get into over the next four hours. If you want to participate in the show, it's simple. The phone number is 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. Hanging out with you on this Wednesday, August 7th, 2024. And of course, at the end of the show, I'm going to share with you all a bunch of things that took place this day in sports history.

Ryan Hickey. How you doing? You good?

I am good. I was going to say I'm not doing as well as White Sox fans today. But like you just said, that joy of winning lasted, what, 12 hours? Maybe so. Hope you didn't miss it late last night because that winning streak, if you want to call a one game winning streak a streak, is now gone. And I guess doing better than Steelers fans who now are just kind of waiting for what exactly?

I don't know. But waiting for something. Maybe just me and not a patient person. But man, it's a couple of fan bases that you thought a few hours ago even would have some joy based on the news that they received.

And now all of a sudden it kind of feels like you're in a standstill. Well, at least there's some type of hope for the Steelers. At least there's some type of hope for the Steelers as they move towards the season and they get ready to have their first preseason game this upcoming Friday.

There's a little bit of hope. We'll get into the Steelers. Let's talk about the first team that he mentioned, the Chicago White Sox. Because when this show concluded yesterday, 20 hours ago, the Chicago White Sox. They were kind of teetering on the edge of whether or not they were going to win, whether or not they were going to lose. They had already tied the American League record for 21 consecutive losses. The last game that they won as of last night was July 10th. The Chicago White Sox for baseball, a game that's been going on a long time. Let's be real here.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to take a stick and hit a ball. That's how long baseball's been around. The record, by the way.

1889. The Louisville Colonels, they lost 26 straight games. Last night, the White Sox, in order to not break the American League record and go to 22 games. They had the win. And last night, that's exactly what the White Sox did. They beat Oakland.

The final score last night was five to one. I want you to hear something that Chicago White Sox fans haven't heard since July 10th. If you listen on the radio to NBC Sports Chicago, you haven't heard the end of a game sound like this in a long time.

Take a listen. Everybody deserves a win after this streak. This could do it out to left field coming in that attendee and the streak is over after 21 L's in a row.

The White Sox come to the West Coast and get their first win in a long time. Say it with me. South Side stand up. OK. All right. What else are you going to do? Right. You can't sound too enthusiastic because then you still sound like a loser.

You can't sound too more bound because then you still sound like a loser. And so he hit it right in the middle. He sounded perfectly fine, if you ask me. The Chicago White Sox. There was no massive celebration. There was no exuberance as they left the field. It was business as usual.

And to that, you've got to give them credit. And I mean, what are you going to do? You lose 21 games in a row. You finally win a game. Supposed to act like you won the World Series like that's not going to fly. It said they went into the clubhouse and played soft music in the background.

There was no loud music. It was just like, hey, this is business as usual. And for that, I give him credit. Somebody else who gave him credit is actually someone who knows what it feels like to win.

For the Chicago White Sox, it's their former manager, Ozzie Guillen. He actually called up NBC Sports Chicago. He was excited.

He wasn't in the studio. He called up and he wanted to celebrate. Ozzie's calling. He's back. It's over. It's over. Are you calling because the Sox finally won a game?

Yeah, I know. I just want to call you guys. You want to add some thoughts to the show? Happiness.

We'll see you tomorrow. Is that all you want to say? Happiness? Happiness. We can sleep nice and tight.

Oh, I love it. Everybody in Chicago. Well, the South Side fans, they can they can sleep better at night. And what did they do today? They lost. They lost a few minutes ago. Oakland beat them three to two. So back to their losing ways. What I can now say is that out of their last last night was twenty two games.

Today was twenty three. Hickey, the Chicago White Sox have lost twenty two out of their last twenty three games. Losers.

Wolf. Losers. Losers. At least as of in two days, they're five hundred. That's the bright side, right? They're five hundred in two days.

Yeah, I guess so. In less than twenty four hours, they have a five hundred record. I'm just trying to be optimistic. Their opponent after an off day and a travel day, getting back to Chicago. They got the Cubs. The Cubs will be facing off against the White Sox. Battle of Chicago, North Side versus South Side.

As of this moment, a matter of fact, it's done. The Cubs just beat the Twins. The final score there, eight to two. I have a feeling that the Cubs are not going to take it easy on the Chicago White Sox. And quite frankly, the Chicago White Sox, they just make it easy for everybody. No hope for the White Sox, a team that is going absolutely nowhere. How do you play the Oakland Athletics and end up being more of an embarrassment than they are?

Now, that's pathetic. You're over here losing to a team. At least you beat them.

But you're losing to a team. Where in Oakland yesterday, they had attendance below six thousand. Come on. The Oakland Athletics were trolling the White Sox in Oakland Coliseum, the Oakland Coliseum.

They were playing 22, a song by Taylor Swift. Come on now. This is like a classic case of the pot calling the Kettle Black two loser teams and to the poor individuals in Oakland. I mean, the team is not even going to be there. So you might as well enjoy it while you can.

Good luck to the White Sox over the next bunch of years and good luck to the Oakland A's. Hickey, we might as well. Is it wrong to call this little baseball series the Loser Bowl? Is that appropriate? They should have branded it.

Now, I think it's very fitting. I mean, what else? A's losers in life in general and the White Sox are by far the worst team.

They could still be the worst team you've ever seen. Pathetic. Thank you. Thank you, baseball.

We appreciate the product. Anyway, one thing that I'm getting ready for is NFL football. You know, let's switch over to some optimism with the Steelers.

There certainly should be some optimism. Andrew Filipponi is going to join us in about 10 minutes to talk about the Steelers and the news between yesterday, the weekend, today is that Brandon Aiyuk is on his way to the Steel City. To be a wide receiver opposite George Pickens, to be on the receiving end of passes from Russell Wilson, I assume on occasion, Justin Fields reportedly is just a matter of contract negotiations right now. Reportedly, the Steelers and the 49ers have an exchange, a trade worked out.

It's just up to Brandon Aiyuk. And so, of course, Mike Tomlin, the man who is most skilled at saying a lot, but saying absolutely nothing. He spoke to the media. He was doing interviews.

And let's just say he was playing things pretty close to the vest. Listen to this. A short answer. Hey, Mike, are the Steelers interested in bringing in Brandon Aiyuk? What do you say? Oh, OK, let's just let us speculate.

OK, fine. OK, well, Mike Tomlin, that's what he told the media at a press conference. He also called in to a radio station, WDVE, and Mike Tomlin was coyly asked, Hey, hey, Mike, have you had any early morning phone calls?

You know, maybe calling California and talking to an Aiyuk about a trade. And this is what Mike Tomlin said about that. Oh, OK. All right. Is he is he prepared for stand up comedy? No.

Right. He'd be a bad Mike Tomlin to be a bad comedian. You know what he I think would be great at PR? Just any sort of firm. I mean, maybe the NFL, because God knows they could do some help when it comes to some messaging that they have botched over the years.

You need spit on anything. Mike Tomlin's your guy. What do you want from him? You want him to like work a red carpet or you just want him to you want him to help out Roger Goodell? Roger Goodell.

I don't know. Maybe some, you know, basically, you know, he should do he just be a freelancer and whatever big time company gets in some hot water, you know, has some concerns that they have to answer for. Bring Mike Tomlin in. He won't answer any question, but at least he'll give you some sort of dressed up non answer.

And that way you can kind of get on your merry way instead of worrying about, you know, the wrong PR guy saying the wrong thing and getting yourself even more hot water. No, he needs to work for Rob Manfred. That's what he needs to do. There's a perfect example. Help forget Roger Goodell.

OK. The only question that Roger Goodell doesn't want to answer is about African-American people working at the NFL Network. That question he doesn't want to answer. Rob Manfred, he cannot answer a question straight to save his life. And so if Mike Tomlin is going to help out any commissioner, go go see what the hell Rob Manfred is doing. Hickey, what do you think? Is he watching baseball right now or is he like reading the newspaper?

Oh, definitely the newspaper. Yeah. Do you think he watches baseball like one only when he goes right.

Only when he goes. Yeah. I don't know if he can name like the best player in each team. I don't think so. Wow. Do you do I think Rob Manfred could name the best player in every team?

Yes. One player on each team. One player in each team. I think he'd miss a few. I think he'd miss a few. He's 25 out of 30. 20. 66 percent.

My goodness. I don't think he's watching. He's counting the money that the owners pay him. He's probably sitting down having a dinner right now on Park Avenue. Probably watching Jeopardy and in a restaurant on Park Avenue. Maybe you tell me what restaurants play in jeopardy in. Well, I mean, I hope if you're the commissioner, there's a TV there, you can maybe pull some strings to get what you want on. Yeah.

Watch it. Watching everything but baseball. That I'll agree on. Shout outs to Rob Manfred as one of his teams. Well, two of his premier teams.

One is leaving the city that it's occupied since the 60s. And the other team, well, is now lost 22 out of 23 games. Congratulations to Rob Manfred and almost congratulations to the Steelers. You know what? We're going to take a break when we come back on the other side. We are going straight to the Steel City. We're going to have a chat with Andrew Filipponi, host on 93. Seven, the fan. He has broke a lot of this news surrounding Brandon.

I will get his thoughts on when it will be done, if it will be done, if there are any hang ups. And what the hell is going on with that quarterback situation to the shock of nobody. Russell Wilson has been named QB one, but it doesn't appear that he'll be playing at least so far in the preseason. Andrew Filipponi coming through to talk everything Steelers on the other side of the break.

It's the J.R. sport brief show just getting warmed up. I'm out the bullpen on the Infinity Sports Network. Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again with North sides and bullion is your not so secret ingredient. You can skip the drive through and do dinner at home. Nor taste combos provide a menu of delicious, affordable and well-balanced meals that you can prepare in 30 minutes or less. Visit nor.com to get quick and easy recipe ideas for your home cooked weeknight dinners.

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It's the J.R. Sport Brief show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. There's so many rumors going on and on and on about Brandon Ayuk.

The Steelers have certainly been a talk of the off season, even now through training camp. And to talk about what might happen with Ayuk, what's going on with the quarterbacks, how people are feeling about Mike Tomlin, his extension, the draft and so on and so forth. Joining us right now is someone you might be very familiar with here. His name is Andrew Filippone.

He is a host on 93.7 The Fan out in Pittsburgh. Let's get aboard the Pony Express. Andrew, how are you, man? Hey, I'm good.

It kind of feels like the movie, what is it, 300, where the guy's got the sword drawn and there's like an army of human beings coming at him. And so people are trying to make me feel like that. But I feel good. I'm sure you're going to ask me about the Ayuk stuff. And I'm not changing my story on this.

I think he's going to be a Steeler. I believe that they have a deal pretty much done other than dotting some i's and crossing some t's. And I understand what people in the national media have said. There's even one local reporter who's tried to refute some of the information I have.

But I'll just say this. I would be very, very surprised if the people I've talked to about this story would, A, want to mislead me or, B, would be wrong about things. So maybe there ends up being a last second change of heart or something falls through. But I've been given no indication from what I tweeted a few hours ago that this was done.

I've got no reason to feel differently, even though it feels like every big name NFL insider seems to think that this is not at the finish line yet. Andrew Filipponi is joining us here, the JR Sport Reshow. Andrew, for people who are not familiar, you have certainly been in the news over the past several days. You helped break the news that the Steelers were interested days ago, that they were working on a deal. You never changed your tune. There were some who said that there was no deal, the deal was off.

You never changed your tune. And as you just mentioned, you tweeted out and shared earlier today that this is basically a done deal and that it's just a matter of working out his contract. And so why has your thought process, it hasn't changed over the past few days. Why do you think people are kind of throwing slop at you saying that you're wrong? Well, because I don't think they're talking to the same people I am, and that's fine. And I understand skepticism and cynicism with this stuff because this isn't what I do for a living. What I do is what you do. I'm not paid to break news, but when you've worked in one market for as long as I have, news oftentimes comes to you exactly.

And so I get it. You know, some people want to say this is a clickbait thing on my part, which doesn't really make any sense because I'm not posting an article trying to get people to a website to read about it. I'm not breaking the news on my radio show where I'm saying, hey, listen to me at this time and I'm going to give you the news. I'm just putting out there what I've heard and I trust the people that I'm talking to enough where I'm comfortable doing that. So, you know, I did, I will admit this, you know, very early yesterday afternoon, Adam Schefter went on McAfee show and said that the Steelers were not a landing spot. And when someone with his credentials says that, you no doubt start to question what you've heard and wonder, oh, my God, how could I have possibly gotten this wrong? How is the person that I'm talking to on this so in the dark that doesn't make sense? But then Schefter hours later had to basically retract what he said. And he changed his story to the Steelers were very much in the mix to get Ayuk. So I have not heard anything from the people I've talked to throughout this thing that said, hey, Pony, you've actually now got that information.

Your source screwed you or made you look bad. You've got to do a 180 or offer up a mea culpa. So unless that happens or until that happens, JR, I'm going to stick with what I've been saying the whole time on this one. Andrew Filipponi is joining us from 93.7, the fan in Pittsburgh. Knowing that that you said the Brandon Ayuk is on his way to Pittsburgh. What are some of the potential terms that might get the deal done? Do you mean the money for him or do you mean the compensation for San Francisco in a deal?

Both ways. We know that he's he's what we know. Justin Jefferson is getting thirty five. I think we all know he ain't getting thirty five. And yeah, for 49ers team that's trying to win a Super Bowl right now. I don't think he's he's leaving in both ways. Yeah. So, you know, I had heard that the Patriots offer for him financially was thirty two million dollars a year.

I don't know if anyone else has that, but that's what I had heard a couple of days ago. That's what he had turned down from them. And it was not so much about the money as much as it was.

He just didn't want to play for the Patriots. And he really wants to be a stealer. And I think he's willing to leave some money on the table with that. I would not be at all surprised. In fact, I'm pretty confident saying I think the number with the Steelers is going to be between twenty eight and twenty nine million dollars.

That's that's what I think it will be for him on that front. And then the trade thing is interesting. And I'm not on this part of it. You'll notice a lot of what I'm saying is a little bit of educated speculation based on some of the information that I've heard, because I don't have total clarity on the trade part.

I'm not going to lie to you on that, J.R. I've heard repeatedly that a first round pick is not in there. I heard of some players that the forty niners wanted back that the Steelers didn't want to include in the trade, including wide receiver George Pickens. So I don't have a great answer where I feel like I'm giving you complete confidence on it, but I think there's probably going to be at least a second round pick in there. Maybe a conditional round pick in twenty twenty six, depending on how it does. But you've got to remember the draft is here in Pittsburgh in twenty twenty six. So I don't think it would anything I don't think it would be anything like a first or second and maybe a player. But it's just hard to find players on the Steelers roster that, A, they're willing to give up right now. And B would be guys that the Steelers would deem expendable that would actually fit into the forty niners plans for this year. Andrew Filippone joining us on the J.R. sport brief show. The guy who actually throws the football. I should say the guys. We know that that Russell Wilson is QB one as of right now over Justin Fields.

No shock, no surprise. We don't expect to see Russell Wilson playing on Friday against the Texans. How have things looked, especially with Russell Wilson missing that first day with the Cavs? Well, how things looked with Fields, I think Fields has made I think Fields has made his presence known and I think he's made a good impression. I think early on he was pretty erratic and inconsistent. Missed a lot of easy throws, but also can make throws that leave your jaw on the floor. And I think it was a lot of up and down play early on. I think he's gotten better as he's got grown more comfortable with the offense and working with a lot of first team weapons in practice. So I definitely think there's a curiosity. I definitely think they're intrigued. Now, is it enough where Justin Fields is going to start week one over Russell Wilson?

No, I don't think so. But do I think Fields has done enough where if Wilson isn't good, if he's just average, if the team isn't winning and they're not getting difference making play from quarterback, do I think Mike Tomlin would go to Fields? Yes, I do right now unless he really stinks up the joint in the preseason or there's an injury or some other variable that is not available to me right now. I would say right now Russell Wilson is still the week one starting quarterback.

But when you couple his injury and what Fields has done to open ice in camp, I think that it's a much shorter leash on Wilson now to start the 2024 season. Andrew, Mike Tomlin has been very keen over the past several weeks and months about how his two quarterbacks as well as his new offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith, these are scalded individuals based on the experiences from last year. What do you expect to see from Arthur Smith with this offense? Are we getting some run heavy play?

What do you expect here? Well, I don't think you can afford to do that if you're giving Brandon Iuch $28 million a year or thereabouts. And I think that, like I said to start the interview, I still believe that's going to happen. So if you've got Pickens and Iuch, you've got to be able to throw the ball. And I think that they will.

I think it'll make everybody's life easier. Those guys were big explosive targets last year. Pickens was number one in yards per catch.

Iuch was number two. And so how do the safeties creep in? How do you stack the box when you have that kind of playmaking at wide receiver?

You can't. So I think it's going to turn into a pick your poison situation. And that's why I do think if Russell Wilson cannot take advantage of that, Fields will go in. Because not only will you then have the running backs in the run game to worry about and account for, you're also going to have the playmaking of Fields with his legs to make plays. So I think Arthur Smith, more pressure on him when this deal gets done, when it becomes announced, because right now they have one of the worst receiving cores in the NFL after George Pickens.

They probably have the worst after him. And that will all change when Brandon Iuch becomes a Steeler. Andrew Filippone is joining us from 93-7, the fan in Pittsburgh. For all of the Steeler fans' hopes, I hope that he does Arthur Smith a better job than what he did down here in Atlanta, Georgia. Speaking of a better job, Mike Tomlin got himself a contract extension. Andrew, every time I'm up in Pittsburgh, I'm in an Uber, I'm sitting at a whiskey bar, people are like, ah, I love Mike Tomlin. Somebody else goes, ah, they need to get rid of him.

They need to grow. Have people settled in on the fact that he is there and he's not going anywhere yet? Well, people have made peace with that because the Steelers just don't fire head coaches. They've had three since 1969.

So I think everyone is abreast of that reality. Anybody who's sane and has a brain knows that he's not going to get fired. I understand and I'm probably one of the band leaders for the criticisms he faces because it's been a very long time. It's actually the longest playoff win drought since Chuck Noll took over as head coach, that they haven't won a playoff game in seven years since 2016. And hey, I will give Mike Tomlin credit while giving him a criticism, so this will be backhanded. I think what he's done here this offseason to get not only Brandon Iuch, but Patrick Queen on a less than market value deal and Justin Fields got traded here for only a six round pick because the Bears wanted to do Fields a solid and get him to the team he wanted to play for. And a lot of that had to do with Mike Tomlin, of course.

I think Tomlin's stature in the league and popularity in the league is paying dividends for the Steelers this offseason in terms of player acquisition. However, there are still some unforgivable sins here like Matt Canada being the offensive coordinator for the last two seasons. He had to get fired last year mid-season. He thought Arthur Smith was banned in Atlanta.

I'm going to raise you and say go back and watch Matt Canada's offense with the Steelers. It never made sense. Unlike Smith who had a great Tennessee tenure, this guy was a nomadic college coordinator who got fired after one year at LSU.

So that never made sense. I think Tomlin's had a really hard time with the offensive side of the ball. Randy Feakner before that, I think he was very much behind. Quarterback miscues, keeping Ben around, bringing in Mitch Trubisky, drafting Kenny Pickett in the first round.

So he's got to wear that. But yeah, even though fans are livid with their early exits from the playoffs, lack of postseason success, they know he's not going anywhere. And if and when this IU thing gets done, I do think fans, even his harshest critics, will say Mike Tomlin had a lot to do with it and he deserves to get a pat on the back for it. Well, having said that, Andrew, what do you think is most likely to happen this upcoming season, especially in what is always a loaded AFC North? Well, I think they'll win nine games. I think they'll finish with a winning record. I think that there are teams around them that right now, you know, I'd say I'd lean that the Jets will have a better season than them. I wanted to think the Chargers would have a better season than them with Herbert and Harbaugh there, but that's changed now that IU is coming here. They play Baltimore great.

Lamar Jackson has not played well against the Steelers. And they've even made Joe Burrow look mortal at times, like when they went there and won in week one a couple of years ago. So I think the non-loosing season streak will continue, but the AFC is so good, so much better than the NFC. What ultimately I think happens this year is they have a better team, but I don't think their record and playoff performance will reflect that ultimately.

We'll see at the end of the day based on how they play if those reasons for them not doing better are good enough to rationalize them having what would be eight straight years without a playoff victory. Well, Andrew, I appreciate the time. You've certainly been on the forefront of all of the IU news over the past several days. Where can people follow you nationally, locally, in Pittsburgh? How can they hop aboard the Pony Express for a minute? Well, if they're diehard Steelers fans, there's a chance if somehow this blows up in my face that I will be their least favorite Twitter personality, if I'm not already. And so you can follow me on X at the Pony Express.

Pony spelled P-O-N-I, like the last four letters of my last name. And then I'm on 2-6, 93.7 to fan. Stream it on the Odyssey app.

Listen to it. We're a CBS Sports Radio affiliate. We've had you on for years, JR. We love the work you do. And I appreciate you having me on the show, man.

Thank you. No doubt about it. We'll talk to you real soon about everything going on in the Steel City. Catch you soon, Andrew, OK? Yeah. You bet. See you, JR. No doubt about it. That Andrew Filipponi host afternoons, 93.7 to fan in Pittsburgh.

The Pony Express. Andrew's great. I trust him.

If he's if he trusted enough to put it out, I trust him. I just want it to be over with. Come on now.

Brandon Iyuga has been whining and crying for months now. Just get him out to the Steel City. Let's keep it moving.

It's the JR sport re-show here on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break and we are going to keep things moving. A matter of fact, when we come back, we'll hear from Mike Tomlin. We'll get his word on the quarterback situation out in Pittsburgh. And here's another situation. This is not a good one. The Lions and the Giants, they have gotten in trouble for all of this damn fighting. We'll get into that on the other side. It's the JR sport re-show on the Infinity Sports Network.

Christy Pierce-Rampone here, former member of the U.S. women's national soccer team, three time gold medalist, two time World Cup champion and part of the 99 team that won the Women's World Cup, igniting passion for soccer everywhere. A mom to two teenage girls and quality time together is prime time. We love to cook and I have an obsession, a healthy one of course, with cooking utensils.

Where do I turn? Amazon Prime to get them fast. And when they arrive, where do I turn? To Prime to stream the best cooking shows.

And then for dessert, what do we do? The Rampone team streams. Each of us gets to be the captain and pick the show. Right now we're all over British TV, part of our Prime subscription.

I think a trip to the UK is in the future and of course we'll get all we need for that trip. From workout clothes to raincoats, from plaids to luggage, from travel guides to umbrellas, from streaming to shopping, it's on Prime. Visit Amazon.com slash Prime to get more out of whatever you're into.

That's Amazon.com slash Prime. Listen as Delenia tells us why she chose to vaccinate her daughter. I definitely felt like the pros far outweighed the cons, the diseases that I am protecting my child against. They're still here and at the end of the day, it's my job as a mother to keep my child safe.

Talk to your child's doctor and learn more at WhyVaccines.com. Brought to you by Merck. Doors take us to summers away or winter adventures and afternoon getaways. Your dedicated Fidelity advisor can help you open those doors by working with you on a comprehensive plan to help you reach your wealth's full potential because doors were meant to be opened.

Visit Fidelity.com slash Wealth Investment Minimum Supply Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC member NYSE SIPC. 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 so much to Andrew Filippone for joining us from 93 7 the fan in Pittsburgh. He was our last guest. If you missed it, go ahead. Hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. Andrew Filippone has been leading a lot of the news surrounding Brandon.

Becoming a stealer. It hasn't happened. It hasn't been finalized.

It appears that they have to finish up the contract as per Andrew Filippone. And so we will see whether or not the information that he received is accurate. He wouldn't have shared it if he didn't think that was the case. Now, if you want to dive a little bit deeper, there is a member of the San Francisco 49ers who apparently had a little bit of a slip of the tongue yesterday when speaking about Brandon. Are you his name is Christian McCaffrey. Now, why Christian McCaffrey was having a chat with the NFL Network while nursing a calf injury?

I don't know. I get it. It's Christian McCaffrey. He's supposed to be Superman. He's not playing for the next month.

We won't see him until the regular season starts. I get it. I get it.

But typically, when a player cannot play or is injured or is hurt, they don't talk to the media. Now, I'll say this again. I get it.

It's Christian McCaffrey. But it appears that he had a little bit of an accident when he referred to Brandon Aiyuk as his former teammate. Listen to this question. You know, we do have to ask you just about the situation with Brandon just as a teammate with his not knowing whether he's going to be here or not.

The ramped up conversation reports about a possible trade. How do you guys deal with that in-house? Well, for me, I don't deal with it. You know, that's that's not part of my job. It's not part of my my position.

I think, obviously, as a former teammate or, you know, teammate of his in general, any teammate that you have, you love, you respect them, you want the best for them. Hickey, don't ask me personnel questions about anybody, OK? I have no answers. None. None. None whatsoever.

Current co-worker, former co-worker. Nope. Nope. No answers.

Nope. Don't ask no questions. I like the first part of what he said. He's like, none of this is none of my damn business.

It is not what I get paid to do. But let me offer you up something that I'll make a mistake on saying. And so thank you, Christian McCaffrey, for making a mistake that we could certainly talk about here. And maybe, maybe by the time we're on the air tomorrow, Brandon Aiyuk will have been traded.

Damn it. Maybe over the next three hours while I'm still here on the radio, maybe Brandon Aiyuk will finally be traded. Possibly. We'll find out. We'll see soon enough.

Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven is the number that's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. I mean, as I sat here yesterday, I pretty much said, I think that Brandon Aiyuk is going to stay in San Francisco. And here we are. Twenty four hours later, we spoke to Andrew Filippone from Pittsburgh.

Ninety three seven a fan, he says, according to his source sources. Brandon Aiyuk is going to Pittsburgh. Time will tell.

Time will tell. Speaking of Pittsburgh, one thing we do know for certain, they got Russell Wilson and Justin Fields at quarterback. We will not see Russell Wilson playing against the Texans this upcoming Friday in their first preseason game. But we will see Justin Fields. He'll have an opportunity to run the first team offense. And Mike Tomlin, the man of many words who says absolutely nothing.

He says, you know what? A lot of our decision making when it comes down to the quarterback position. We're going to judge it utilizing practice.

Listen to this. I think everything is an audition. Everything that we do is an audition not only for him, but but for others. Very much is a competition.

What happens in stadium is weighted heavier than what happens in a practice setting because it's more game like. OK. All right. Well, he was talking about Justin Fields. Now it's time to hear from everybody's favorite quarterback. Hey, Russell Wilson, how are you feeling? You're back at practice. You're feeling healthy.

What's going on? Just to be fully in the practice and involved in doing everything. I mean, I've been been involved in doing all the drills and everything for the past, you know, seven, eight days, however many days it's been.

But to be fully in there actually with the team drills and this feels great. I hope that child is crying because they have to hear Russell Wilson. Hickey, is that why they cry? Was that a crying child? Is that some child crying for an autograph? Oh, yeah.

What's the alternative here? Like someone? Yeah, no, that's fair. Maybe already upset about Russ potentially being their week one starter. I get it.

The kid is already feeling miserable about poor. Are you waiting? Yeah. Waiting for that guy. And Mike Tomlin, he continued on about what he is liked about Justin Field so far. I think he just comes to compete every day. He's he's got an awesome competitive spirit. We got a competitive environment and it seems like he's enjoying it.

He's doing a really good job of acclimating himself to it and his teammates and letting his talent show. Uh huh. Well, now things will continue on here. Hopefully not over the next few days. Let's get this over with over the next 24 hours. Let's get Brandon Ayuk out to Pittsburgh and just call it a day.

He said nothing else to see here. Let's just keep it moving. And 49ers can go about their life with Ricky Pearsall. And now the wide receiving group for the Steelers can actually look like a decent group. OK, let's just wait to see what happens there. And speaking of being competitive, you know, that's what Mike Tomlin said.

Everything is a competition. The New York Giants and the Lions. They play a preseason game tomorrow in New Jersey. This is their first preseason game for both teams. And so ahead of that, they've had joint practices all week. And we talked about Daniel Jones getting involved in a fight. And then Malik neighbors, their new wide receiver, Giants wide receiver out of LSU getting into some fights.

And Terry on Arnold and them and going back and forth. We've seen all of that. Well, the coaches have said this is taken away from actual practice time.

It's a waste of time. And the NFL is taking it a step further. Both the Lions and the New York Giants have been fined two hundred thousand dollars each for multiple fights that took place at joint practices. The NFL says, look, if our players are going to get injured, they need to get injured on the field. Not slap box and not smacking each other with guardian caps and no shenanigans during practice.

Multi-billion dollar company for a reason. NFL strong when it comes to the rules. I guess no fun league. It's the J.R. sport.

We show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Speaking of the rules. The new head coach of the Chargers, Jim Harbaugh, the former championship head coach of Michigan. Apparently, Jim Harbaugh doesn't know how to follow the news or the rules, I should say.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Jim Harbaugh knows nothing. We'll get into that.

We'll talk about the Eagles. It's the J.R. sport brief show. The Infinity Sports Network. Don't move. Look around. What do you see? Cars? Lots of them.

And guess what? They're probably on Auto Trader, whether you're into timeless classics or the latest trends. Did somebody say solar powered, eco friendly, vegan leather wrapped, aroma therapy scented, disco ball equipped self-driving car? If you see it on the road, you can likely find it on Auto Trader. Big cars, small cars, blue cars, new cars and used cars, electric cars and one day maybe even flying cars. With millions of options to choose from, buying a car becomes a whole lot easier. See it. Find it.

Auto Trader. Here's why April chose to vaccinate her child. I think actually meeting someone who was not vaccinated and now has a lifelong struggle with a childhood disease really cemented for me that it's super important that we as parents continue to vaccinate our children. Talk to your pediatrician or visit WhyVaccines.com. Brought to you by Merck.

Christy Pierce-Rampone here, former member of the U.S. women's national soccer team, three time gold medalist and two time World Cup champion. I'm mom to two teenage girls and a dog mom, too. All four of them need lots of stuff and we always need it fast. And that's why we use Amazon Prime. When our favorite leash broke, I went right to Prime and with one click, I ordered it again. Not to mention all the great streaming shows I watch with family. From streaming to shopping, it's on Prime. Visit Amazon.com slash Prime to get more out of whatever you're into. Whatever you're into, it's on Prime.