It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast 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'm being joined by super producer and host Ryan Hickey.
Thank you so much to Connor. And more importantly, thank you to everybody tuning in and listening to this show. Because if you ain't listening.
There is no show. This is when things get started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. How can you listen outside of the way that you're listening right now on the free Odyssey app on your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate? Sirius XM Channel 158. And if you got yourself a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. We got a lot to do over the next several hours.
First of all, how about this? 20 minutes from now, we're going to be joined by David Sampson. Podcast host CBS Sports HQ host, the former boss man of the Marlins, David Sampson is going to come through and join us later on in the show. Maybe you've missed this.
Maybe not. FX has a whole series about Aaron Hernandez. You know, Bill Belichick is in the news a lot.
Well, damn it. Bill Belichick is just everywhere. He's taken every commercial, every media opportunity. Well, we're going to talk to the man who plays Bill Belichick on this FX series, Norbert Leo Butz. Yeah, we'll get into the mind of Bill Belichick as close as we can be. Speaking of minds, this man is he's been in the news all week, too. I don't know what's going through his brain. Antonio Pierce is in trouble again for something that he did in college. Liking tweets as a head coach of an NFL team wasn't enough. The guys get in trouble for stuff he did at Arizona State. We'll get into that. Lamar Jackson says he doesn't care about your parlay or your gambling.
The New York Mets in about an hour from now, the New York Mets, they're trying to advance past the Brewers and the Brewers are trying to advance past them. Sam Donald got an NFL award. This must be a first. Tyreek Hill says he wants to stay in Miami.
Julius Randall says he wants to stay in Minnesota. Man, you just got there. Stop lying to these people, OK?
Telling these lies. We got Thursday Night Football here in Atlanta right down the block from me. A couple blocks.
A quick jog. We got the Falcons hosting the Buccaneers. There's a lot going on here on this Thursday. If you want to participate in the show, you can do so. The phone number is eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven.
That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. You can also find me. I'm on the Internet.
I'm everywhere at J.R. Sport Brief. Congratulations to Caitlin Clark as well. Officially winning Rookie of the Year. We told you this last week. Who needed to tell anybody anything?
Of course she was going to be Rookie of the Year. One person didn't want to vote for her, but maybe one day we'll find out who that person is right now. We don't know.
And they don't matter. Vicki, how are you doing on this Thursday afternoon? Good. Optimistic. Nervous.
Overall good. Oh, OK. You're talking about the Mets, of course, huh? Seasons on the line.
This is it. Win or go home. I feel like the season has been on the line for the Mets for months now. It has been. They dug themselves out of a hole. Man, was it deep. And you're right. Now this is they've so far survived. And this is where it all comes down to right now.
If you have to put everything that you own, everything that belongs to you, the shirt on your back right now, if you had to give it all up. Would you favor the New York Mets or would you go for the Brewers? Objectively, of course. Yes, I would say the Mets. OK, I do think they win today. All right. OK, we'll see what happens. Good luck to the New York Mets. You know what?
We're going to ask David Sampson about this in about 15 minutes. This whole format, it's better than what we had. I hated that one game elimination.
I hated that. Do you like this better? You know, the best two out of three. You like this better? I like it better than the one game wildcard, for sure.
For sure. Like you said, you play one hundred and sixty two games to play one game. You play a series every single time you play a new team. And then also in the playoffs come into one game, you're done.
I like the fact that it's a three game series. But even the fact that it's all at one location, doesn't that suck some of the juice out of it? I get it. It's a matter of logistics and time. I don't know. Maybe you're wildcard.
Maybe you don't deserve a home game. Is that the thought process? I guess. Yeah. And if you want to expand the playoff, like obviously the baseball has, if you want to make some sort of punishment to where you're still incentivized to win your division or still have the best wildcard record.
I mean, this format does that, right? Where you get home field advantage for all, you know, well, mostly what's been in the last few years, two games. A third game, all three games.
I do like the reward aspect of giving the better team something still to play for when you're allowing more teams into the postseason than you otherwise have in previous years. Yeah, I'll take it. I'll take it. We got the New York Mets. They're in action against the Brewers in Milwaukee.
That'll take place a little more than an hour from now. And I know one thing for sure. The New York Mets don't want to end up like the Houston Astros. I'm sorry.
I know. I know people in Houston that are not going to like what the hell I just said, but that's a fact. At least the Houston Astros have had some success here over the past decade. At least the Houston Astros. I mean, they're just synonymous at this point over the past seven years with the American League Championship Series, because that's where the hell they went. And it was very nice to go on air yesterday and announced to the world that they lost, that the Tigers beat them, that the Houston Astros are going home, that Jose Altuve had to sit in front of the media and tell everybody, oh, yeah, yeah, Alex Bregman, we need him back, that that we need the man that's been here for two World Series championships, that we need our third baseman, that he needs to be back here.
It was nice to see them sent home packing. Nobody wants to see somebody sit at the top forever. The Houston Astros, I mean, the current iteration of what they are, they're looking, looking done. I mean, we got guys like Carlos Correa.
He gone. He flirted with all of these teams. The Astros haven't wanted to spend money. But Jose Altuve, he wants the Astros to spend money to re-sign Alex Bregman.
Take a listen to this. I don't want to get to the idea of thinking about last game with Bregman. Like I said two weeks ago, I'm pretty confident that he's going to be our third baseman next year. We have to. We're not going to be the same organization without him.
So in my mind, there's not a chance that this is the last game. OK. Well, he says he's going to talk to the owner, Mr. Crane, and see if he'll write the check just to go ahead and make it happen so he sticks around. Alex Bregman is one of these Scott Boris clients.
We know what that means. He's going to go shopping or he's going to take a discount. Jose Altuve re-signed with the Astros earlier this year.
He took a discount. OK. And I just got to tell you, throughout all of the changes that they've experienced, I hope they're done. I told you about Carlos Correa. George Springer is gone. I mean, it's been a long time now, but when they were competing, at least Garrett Cole, he was there.
Didn't win, but he was there. And the Astros, I hope they're done. I think they are. Alex Bregman has been a part of this team for nine years. And Jose Altuve believes that there are many more years to come.
Listen to this. Yeah, the guy he is, you know, he means a lot. He gave a lot to this organization. So now it's time for us to, as a team, as an organization, to pay him back and make him stay here. Is that something that you will tell Jim Crane? Yeah, for sure. We got to pay him, pay him back.
Hickey, am I missing something? Has he, like, been playing for free his entire career? I don't think so. At least the last time I checked.
OK, I'm checking right now. This man has career earnings north of one hundred million dollars. What is Jose Altuve talking about? We need to pay him back.
For what? He's been paid every minute he's been there. I know the system to go from the minors to the majors is so much manipulation. It's ridiculous. But Jose Altuve, the guy's gotten paid already.
What are you talking about? We need to pay him back for what he's done. You've got to pay this man for what he's going to continue to produce moving into the future.
And for a guy on the other side or pushing the other side of 30, I mean, let's slow down just a little bit. Nobody told you to take a contract. OK, fine. Houston is where you want to be. Jose Altuve. And I'm sure Alex Bregman.
Yeah, he wants to be in Houston, too. But why the hell are we going to pay guys for what they did in the past? That's just sports stupid. If I got to agree with Bill Belichick on anything. It's time for you to get the boot. It's time for you to go before the boot gets you before your talent is gone. Like, stop it.
Enough of that. Hickey, good for you, at least if the Mets lose tonight. I hope they don't. The Mets, I still think they have a future. They got Vientos. They got Alvarez.
They they have pieces to build with. Jose's not going anywhere. They they they they're not like the Astros.
The Astros have peaked. You are right about that. You are definitely right about that. There is more of a future and a core where Houston, like you said. Yeah, they're aging pretty quickly. And a lot of those core guys for World Series championships are elsewhere.
And now you're seeing maybe another one leaving leaving town. Jose Altuve. It almost sounds desperation just to keep someone else next to him and that he's known everyone else that has contributed in years past is leaving. Yeah, good for him. This man, Jose Altuve is going to be 35. At the start of next season, he's going to be 35 years old.
How the hell he's going to continue to age for a guy who's like five, six and and stocky. I don't know. But they're going to retire his number. They're going to hang it in that silly looking ballpark with the train. Do they still run that train? Does it still run? I think so. Oh, my goodness. You don't like to train?
No. You know what I do miss? When they first built it and it was stupid. I don't know why they had it. Remember, they had that incline in centerfield. That's right. The hell. Yeah.
The guy could run up the hill and bust his ass. I miss that. Like, why are we why are we why are we just building these things on purpose? Like, let's put a let's put rat traps in the outfield, you know, to make things interesting. Let's make baseball like American Gladys.
Like, what's the point of that? You want to bring kids into watching the game or may put a sinkhole in the field? Listen, I think some of these some of these fields, I know all the fields are new.
They're fancy. They got all this great drainage. But if we went back 20 years, I think some of them old fields probably did have some sinkholes in it, man. Wood fences back in the day you used to run through. Good times. Yeah. Let's bring it. Bring back wood fences, hills, make the wall shorter so guys can go flying over the wall. Yeah.
You know what? The hill was stupid. But bring it back.
Why not? And put a hill next to Jose Altuve. Give him a mound to make him tall.
Make things interesting for everybody. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. Greg is here from Michigan. You're on the chair. Our support. Show us up, Greg.
Hey, J.R., Mr. Positive. Thanks for taking my call. Hey, we can put a fork in the Astros. I think they're done. I got to tell you, yesterday I thought about what you said about the Tigers.
Yeah. I think we're going to go far. I mean, don't get me wrong, Cleveland is stacked. They got some great players, but something's happening in Detroit with A.J.
Hinch and beating his former team, the Astros, and what we're believing in. You know, I'd like to bet you a dollar. A dollar? That's all I got. What's that going to do for me? I know. I know. But I just got a feeling that I think everybody in Detroit thinks we're going to win in four. Good. And I know it's a little bit far-fetched, but I'll have my tail between my legs if Cleveland wins in three games.
What do you think it'll be? Not necessary. No, I don't think it'll be a sweep. I don't think it'll be four games. No, not at all.
Or five. No, man. I haven't sat around and figured that part of it out, man. No, let's see what happens. I just feel more confident in Cleveland. You tell me.
You watched a whole hell of a lot more of these Tigers than I did. Yes. Outside of Schubel. Who are you feeling most confident about in that rotation? Oh, my God. Basically, all of them other than Maeda.
Everyone else, the way... You saw that Kenta Maeda? Yeah. No good.
No good. But what he's doing, J.R. Hinch, is that yesterday he had five or six different pitchers, and he knows what they do, and they're all throwing between 95 and 100 miles an hour, and they're pretty doggone good. We've got the new guy off the top of my head. He's 18, 20 years old. They brought him up.
He's a little bit, but he's feisty. We're on fire. We're going crazy. We're getting up after a slide and just going, come on. We can't figure it out, J.R. Everyone's going for the dreams, believing in the magic of the dreams, but the Tiger fans here do not understand what's going on, and we can't figure it out. We just can't. Listen, enjoy the ride. I do see Hinch has certainly put his stake in the ground of Dan Campbell, of following Grit.
Let's see how far Grit can take him, okay? Okay. Love you. Everybody, go for your dreams. Thank you, J.R.
Thank you so much, Greg, from Michigan. Hickey, are you going for your dreams? I hope so. Yeah, definitely. Are you?
Am I going for my... I think so. I don't know. According to him, I don't know. The way Greg says go for your dreams, he makes you feel like a loser, right?
He does. I'm sitting there like, am I doing what I should be doing? According to Greg, probably not. You ask Greg, hey, J.R. Hickey, those guys are losers. I got to tell them every day they need to go for their dreams. Hey, Greg, thank you for the reminder. We appreciate it. It's the J.R. Sportbree Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network.
We're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk to an expert. We're going to talk to someone who ran a Major League Baseball team. Someone who has his own podcast named after him. Someone you can always see on CBS Sports or CBS Sports HQ talking all things baseball. We're going to have a conversation with David Samson.
I'm going to ask him all things baseball, including what the hell is going to happen between these Tigers and these Guardians. It's the J.R. Sportbree Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We are just getting warmed up.
Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbree. It's the J.R. Sportbree Show coast to coast here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We're almost done with the wildcard round of the Major League Baseball postseason. We got one more game. We got the Brewers and we got the Mets.
We have some other matchups that are set. The playoffs are here. This is the best time of the baseball season to talk about what we've seen, what we might see and some of the other issues surrounding Major League Baseball.
It's time to have a chat with the man who used to run the Marlins. Now you can watch and see and listen to him all the time. Nothing personal with David Samson. You can catch him on CBS Sports HQ.
You can catch him all over the place. It's David Samson. David, how are you? I am doing great. How are you?
Very well. Thank you for taking the time to join us. We just had part of this conversation.
Might as well bring you in on it. With the current playoff format, I'm glad they got rid of that one and done single elimination. What are your thoughts on the amount of teams that they now allow in and the atmosphere that this has brought in?
I think it's great. I always wanted expanded playoffs because the more teams in it, both at the deadline and also through September means more fan engagement, more fun, more markets that have hope for their team. And once the playoff tournament starts, we know anything can happen because did anyone have the Rangers beating the Diamondbacks in last year's World Series? Anybody when the playoffs started? I think probably not.
Not at all. And we certainly see that neither of these two teams even got into the playoffs this year. I know the Diamondbacks have their issues with some of the scheduling. But a team that did make it in and they were eliminated yesterday happened to be the Astros. When you take a look at the run that they've been on over the past almost decade, Jose Altuve going to bat for Bregman, are we past their glory years? Is Jose Altuve going to be sitting around out there by himself? I don't know if he's by himself because we have Tucker and Alvarez here pretty good and their starting pitching just was decimated. They had Noma Cullors or Akiti and Christian Javier.
But here's the thing. If I'm the Astros, what a run. Seven straight years in the league championship series. They got a couple rings. It just feels like the dynasty ended yesterday when you look around at the teams and look at the team that beat them. The Tigers are a better team than the Astros, even though the majority of people couldn't name five people on the Tigers team.
But the fact is you'll get to know them through October because they're really good. And if I'm the Astros, I really have to think long and hard about Alex Bregman. I'm ignoring what Altuve said. You know, we don't have to make it happen. We don't have to overpay to get him. And he's represented by Scott Boras.
So I think you have to be careful because when you try to leave your window open too long, you can end up being mediocre for a long time. Former Marlins exec David Sampson is joining us here on the JR Sportbreef show. You mentioned the Tigers. We know that they're going to go out there and take on the Guardians. It's crazy that months ago there were so many conversations about whether Tarek Scubel was going to stick around or whether they needed to trade him.
And lo and behold, here they are advancing. What are your thoughts on what this series is going to look like against Cleveland? Well, God, do I love baseball. The Tigers were sellers at the deadline.
As a matter of fact, the starting pitcher for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the LDS against the Padres, he's Jack Flaherty, a Tiger. The Tigers traded him. And when you think about that the Tigers sold at the deadline and then all of a sudden got better, it really makes owners talk to GMs and say, hey man, what's happening here?
Why are we selling? If we are selling, why is our payroll high when we could have a lower payroll and win the way the Guardians and the Tigers and the Orioles. And so, you know, you look at the Tigers and you look at that matchup against the Guardians, you've got two locked down bullpens.
And maybe you've only heard of one of the players, Emmanuel Classe, who's the best closer in baseball by far, not even close. And you just say to yourself, if you're in that series, please get an early lead. If you get an early lead and turn it over to the bullpen, the likelihood is you're going to win the game. Well, David, we know when you think about the remaining four teams representing the AL, the Yankees are the big bad wolf now. You know, the Astros are gone. They're going to take on Kansas City. We'll see a matchup of, I assume, the MVP runner-up and the MVP after they're going to be judging in wit. What does this mean for the New York Yankees as they stare across at the Royals and then potentially the other guys from the Central Division? Yeah, it's tough, and I'll tell you why. Because the way the media is painting it is that the Yankees now have an easy path once the Astros lost to win the pennant and make it to the World Series.
The problem is you've got to play the games. And like we saw last year when the Diamondbacks swept the big bad Dodgers in three games because Betts and Freeman couldn't get a hit over three games, you say to yourself, if Judge and Soto slump just for like 72 hours, the Yankees could be out of the playoffs. And so it'll be fascinating to watch. And what I would tell fans, Yankee fans, the Royals are good. And even though the Yankees dominated the AL Central this season going 13 and 6, these are different teams now. The Guardians, the Tigers, the Royals, they're just different today than they were yesterday, meaning they've got confidence. They've got the attitude of, hey, you know, we're playing with house money.
Let's go. And those can be very dangerous teams. I was the president of a team like that in 2003, and we rode that attitude all the way to a ring. Now, David, that was that was with the Marlins. Here we are in 2024.
And you kind of alluded to it. Do you believe that most owners that their thought processes is going to change, given the way the playoffs have played out, that everybody has a little bit of a chance? Do you think we'll see some type of salary adjustment as we move forward into the future over the next several years? Well, I think that's going to be more related to revenue and all the stuff that's going on with with media deals. So this is a longer conversation, which I have on nothing personal, but without making your eyes glaze over when the regional sports network, when Diamond went bankrupt and they're getting rid of all these TV deals with all these teams. This is guaranteed revenue that teams thought they'd have going forward. And now they're losing that revenue. And that's going to impact payroll.
There's no question about it. But on the other hand, owners look and they see teams with low payrolls who are smart and doing well with young players. And they say, wait a minute, I don't want to waste money on middle class players or highly paid older players who will not give me a return on my investment.
There's no reason for that. So it is very possible that you'll see a change in behavior for more teams than normal. David Sampson joining us here on the JR Sport Brief Show Coast to Coast. If we flip over to the National League, we got one more wildcard game, one more wildcard matchup between the Mets and the Brewers. What are your thoughts on what we'll see in about 30 minutes from now? Well, statistics would tell you that the Mets are going to win because 88 percent of the time in these two out of three series, the team that wins game one wins the series. The thing is, the majority of those teams, the overwhelming majority of those teams sweep and they win it in two straight the way we saw three of the series end yesterday. On the other hand, the Mets have Quintana going, who I love. He's a solid middle to top of the rotation starter. The Mets have a lineup that is hit or miss, but they've been scoring major amounts of runs recently. And I like the Mets tonight, but I think that the key player for me, two key players and obviously anyone would say this, but Lindor and Alonzo, both of them have to have good games. And Lindor, you can count on like the sunrise, but Alonzo has been more spotty. So, you know, if Alonzo takes an offer and if Quintana cannot get twice through the lineup, I think the Mets will have a problem. And this might be Alonzo's final game as a matter. I hope he shows up. David Sampson is joining us. Speaking of a first game, I know everybody in Los Angeles and California in the hole is looking forward to the Padres and the Dodgers. We're going to see Shohei Ohtani in the postseason for the first time.
What are your thoughts on what this grudge match is going to look like? They're even restricting tickets down in San Diego. That's an old one. It doesn't really work. Teams do it to try to get more of their home fans, local fans at the ballpark. But at the end of the day, you will not stop Dodger fans from coming to Petco Park.
It's not going to happen. But if I'm the Dodgers, I am not happy to play the Padres. The Padres lineup is deeper than the Dodgers lineup. Though, Ohtani is the best offensive player on either team. But the depth, the starting rotation. We have an issue with Joe Musgrove getting hurt yesterday. Elbow tightness. He will not pitch against the Dodgers.
I'm almost positive. Don't be surprised if he's done for the entire postseason. But they still have Dylan Seif and Michael King, who Yankee fans know well. And of course, Yu Darvish, where the Dodgers are going with Jack Flaherty, who we talked about. Then Yamamoto, who's been hurt and really has not pitched deep into games. And then you've got Walker Buehler, a fantastic pitcher, but not anymore.
He's now a middle to bottom, really bottom of the rotation guy. And so if you look at the two teams, then you start getting deep into the bullpen. I'll take the Padres bullpen over the Dodgers any day of the week.
The moves AJ Preller made at the deadline to really bring his bullpen to a level that is just it's hard to get to them late in games with Tanner Scott and Jason Adam and then Suarez, who is just nasty. So for me, I sort of think that the Padres have the advantage, though the Dodgers are favored because they're the Dodgers. You think about the postseason being the team that gets hot and who goes on a run. Who do you feel most confident in in hoisting the commissioners trophy in a couple of weeks? So I have the Mariners beating the Diamondbacks in the World Series. That's my pick. How did that go? That was my preseason pick.
I think I nailed that totally. So given that I don't think that can happen, I'm going with the Phillies now. The Phillies, while we haven't seen them play in a bit, the winner tonight will face the Phillies. They're top of the rotation with Nolan Wheeler. Their lineup oy vey.
Is it hard to get through again? I think their lineup is better than the Yankees lineup. I just think the Phillies and Bryce Harper, they're ready for the next step and they're ready to win the World Series. But so much can happen in the playoffs, which is why we love it so much. Would it be crazy if you and I spoke in a month and the Tigers won it all or the Royals won it all or the Padres won it all?
I don't think that any scenario of us saying, wow, that's not a deserving champion. David, as we wrap things up, you can certainly roll the dice on who's going to walk away with the commissioners trophy. Unfortunately, we learned earlier this week on the passing of Pete Rose. You've been an executive. You're in the media. You know the players. You know everybody. Do you think at some point in time that we're going to see Pete Rose inducted into Cooperstown?
I do not. And I think that, you know, he's on the permanently ineligible list. People have been saying it wrong in the media. He did not receive a lifetime ban. And people say, well, a lifetime ban ends when the lifetime ends. So the ban ends. That's not the case. He's on the permanently ineligible list. And that lasts past your death. And I do not think the current commissioner will remove him from that list. So I think things will stay exactly as they are.
Last question. It was pretty bad last week out in Oakland. It was sad. And the fans called it a funeral to see the A's moving on up to Sacramento, their future likely, I guess, to be Las Vegas when they figure out the financing. Do you think that's going to go as planned? They spent a couple of years in Sacramento.
They occupied the spot at the Tropicana. Do you think that's going to go swimmingly? I will bet you a dollar that they are not in Vegas in two thousand and twenty eight. They need to start building that building February of twenty five, which is like tomorrow, in order to get that building open for the twenty eight season. They have the ability to stay in Sacramento for four years. I don't believe the Vegas deal is done, no matter what you read or what people say. And I do believe that a lot can happen between now and then. So I can't say that I'm positive that they will move to Vegas.
I would actually say the odds are against it. But there was just no way to stay at the Coliseum any longer. Are you saying that there is a chance, maybe in hell, but is there a chance that they end up not back at the Coliseum, but back in Oakland?
Stranger things have happened. John Fisher could wake up tomorrow and sell the team. Baseball owners could say, you know what? The deal that you're proposing in Vegas does not work for us.
You'll be a revenue sharing recipient. Too big a recipient. We don't want that. So, you know, in baseball, weird things happen. You can be winning a game by three runs in the ninth and lose. Not often, but it happens. So I would say that it's sort of a wait to see, as I like to say, because there's so many moving parts still.
I say leave them in Oakland and send the Angels out to Vegas. That's just me, David. That's just me. Hey, where can people follow you and all of your amazing work that we've already alluded to? Fill them in, David.
Oh, thank you. I have a show called Nothing Personal with David Sampson. It's live every morning, 8 a.m., on YouTube. The Nothing Personal with David Sampson YouTube channel. I'm on The Dan Lebitard Show.
You can catch me on CBS Sports HQ. And you can also follow me on Twitter at DavidPSampson, where I like to engage and enjoy meeting people and having fun. I'm really loving, after 18 years running a baseball team, I'm loving my new career.
And Nothing Personal in about a week will be five years old already. So it's really been a lot of fun. I'm very thankful to the audience. And that show started with my mother listening. And now it's a big show that I really love doing and I take the responsibility as you do.
We have platforms and you've got to take it seriously. Absolutely. Time flies when you're having fun. David, always a pleasure. Enjoy the rest of the postseason. We'll talk to you soon, OK?
Thank you so much. Have a great day. You as well, that David Sampson.
Nothing Personal with David Sampson. You just heard him go ahead and check it out. Longer conversation on baseball. It's the J.R. Sportbri Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. 855-212-4227.
That's 855-212-4227. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, we're going to get into Antonio Pierce and some of the trouble that he got into. We're going to talk about Kaitlin Clark.
She has gotten an award. You'll find out about that in a second. And then we're obviously going to preview Thursday Night Football between the Falcons and the Bucks. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief. It's the J.R. Sportbrief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much, former baseball executive with the Marlins, current media personality David Sampson, for coming through and joining us. Talking all things baseball. Anybody can win it. He favors the Phillies. It's all in the World Series, but he says, yeah, anybody can win it.
And he's right. Would you be shocked if anybody won? Not me.
I'm in the same boat. What he did say, one thing he said, I'm not going to say it's shocking, but I hope it comes true. He said he would also not be surprised if the Athletics never moved to Vegas.
Oh, my God. I wish I wish I would pray for it. But I need world peace and I need to win the lottery first. But I would love if it happened. Like tear down a Coliseum, put a brand new stadium on the on the bay and call it a day. Moving back, temporary stop in Sacramento. But the poor team has to play in a minor league ballpark.
What a bleep show that would be. What free agent is going to sign with the A's over the next three years while they playing in Sacramento? Nobody. I got a desperate one. Oh, my God. But no other offers. What type of the postgame spread is going to be like, oh, Ham. You know, dry ham sandwiches. Nothing on it. That looks disgusting. There's nothing on it.
Old piece of lettuce. Dry as could be. Yeah, dry as hell. And they don't even they won't even give you mayo or mustard or nothing.
Just dry. Like, sorry, we don't have condiments. Sorry.
You got to eat this. That's what the Oakland A's are going to be doing for the next four years. Not quite, but almost. It's sad.
I hope they go back. You think you think that's a possibility? Yeah.
Yes. Just because, like I'm with David, I don't think they're going to Vegas like this. There's nothing that seems like this is happening.
Good. The only thing I might I guess I go to then is like, are they really going to go back? Or they would they try somewhere else? Where they going to go? What other city? Come on. I don't know. Do you go to Salt Lake?
You go to Utah? They just got they just got hockey. What else do they Carolina? Like there's like always like Nashville. Like there's been like right. A lot of those cities that have always been kind of been up for expansion.
It is so stupid. Why the angels sitting in Anaheim? Move them. I said it. He and he, Fisher and Moreno both need to sell the team.
That's it. I agree. And he needs to Fisher needs to sell the team. And you need to have an owner who's willing to try to get the team back down to Oakland and just throw them on the water. Like what is so difficult about that? I mean, I'm not a politician. I get it.
Money makes the world go round. Just just leave them in California. Man, what are we doing?
I would love it if the A's eventually went back to Oakland. I just think it's sad that they're just getting I don't want to say jerked around, but they kind of are. It's a shame. This is what baseball is. Crap. Crap, crap, crap.
And speaking of going back, oh, my goodness. You thought the week couldn't get worse for Antonio Pierce? Liking posts on Instagram about his star player playing his final game there. Funny press conferences about being on his way to Detroit and not having any distractions.
Today, we found out. Antonio Pierce, the A's might might go back to Oakland. Very small chance. I know for certain Antonio Pierce is not going back to Arizona State because this man has basically been hit with an eight year show cause order. Basically, if he goes back to Arizona State, he's going to be suspended for you. He's basically going to be on probation.
Why? Because they did an investigation. Remember, Herman Edwards hired him to be the linebackers coach, and then he ended up being the assistant. And ultimately, they said that he violated all type of recruiting rules during covid, that he had no problem trying to, you know, tell the people who work for him to host students and meet them and all of these things that he was not supposed to do and that he was, I don't say bullying, but kind of intimidating people. Hey, go meet that guy.
Hey, go meet this dude. They said that he led and helped initiate contact with 35 potential prospects for the Sun Devils. And it's kind of ironic, hilarious. Back in twenty eighteen, he was there from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty two, then became linebackers coach for the Raiders in twenty eighteen. This is funny. Antonio Pierce, he talked about their recruiting efforts, especially going into California.
Listen to this. I think we're on the brink of greatness. I think what everybody witnessed today was us get some really good football players from California, eight of them. I think it's impressive when we have high school coaches, administrators talk about what we've done in such a short time and how we approach recruiting California.
They've taken notice. But trust me, the schools in L.A., they know we there. They know we there as soon as we get off the plane and they find a way somehow, somewhere to get to the same school we're at.
So you want to talk about some stories? A couple of times we had some stuff following us and look at some other coaches and they're just trailing us. They're trying to figure out what schools we're going to.
So we know we're on the right path where we're at in California. Oh, OK. All right. All righty then. Well, Herman Edwards got fired. Antonio Pierce. He left. And not only did he leave. They said when they did this investigation into this improper recruiting, he was not cooperative, that he was giving false and less misleading information. I mean, if you saw his press conference yesterday, would you really be surprised? And that he also did not want to hand over any of his financial information to help this investigation. And I mean, if you're wealthy like Antonio Pierce, why would you?
He's supposed to show you receipts of sitting down with some kid that he wasn't supposed to. Come on now. I don't want to call this put this in the same category as Harbaugh. At least Harbaugh won a championship at Michigan before he decided to leave and go to the Chargers. But Antonio Pierce, he ain't going back to Arizona State.
Not the same time. I don't know how long he's going to last with the Raiders. One thing I have learned for sure. Hickey, this man, I know he was on Instagram talking to them students, man. I know he was. He was on if he was on Instagram liking photos about Devontae Adams getting the boot. And they got all these these rules about reaching out to students during the covid years. You don't think he was out there Instagram and the kids, hey, we're coming to California.
We'll meet you at eight o'clock. You don't think he was messaging these guys? Oh, he definitely was.
And probably I would assume he would be smart enough to create burner counts for that. Hey, this is Coach Pierce. Don't tell anybody, but be, you know, in your school next week.
Meet me there. This is crazy. You know, I don't know. I don't even know if they had do they have a coaches union in college?
Do you know that? I think I want to say they have some sort of coalition like what? And what world when these coaches are getting all this money? Like, how come the schools can't look at the coaches and just say, hey, man, if you mess up, you're going to have to give some of this money back? Like there has to be a union that says, no, no, no, no, no, no. You can't do that.
Ain't no giving no money back. If you do that, you have no coaches. There has to be an entity because the rate that we have coaches who get in trouble and get suspended and it's just crazy.
I feel like once a month we have a big program, a big name, a big school, a big individual, especially in covid. You got we got a whole story about how Harbaugh bought one of the guys a hamburger. He ate a hamburger for breakfast while sitting down with a recruit. Can things get any weirder than that? Come on.
NCAA is a mess. If I buy you a hamburger the next time we go out, do I get fired? Do I get punished? I hope not.
And you're buying. I won't say a word. Do you get in trouble?
What happens? I don't know. Thankfully, unlike student athletes, we have rights, I guess, or protections. Do we? OK, what about Connor?
Can Connor get us something to eat? Yeah. Oh, definitely.
A new guy is definitely paying for sure. OK. All right. Anyway, thank you, Connor. We appreciate the offer that I offered you to offer us. Thank you. I appreciate that. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network.
We're going to take a break when we come back. Someone who can buy everybody lunch. She just won Rookie of the Year in the WNBA. It's Kaitlyn Clark.
She didn't get every first place vote, though. She got screwed. I'll tell you what happened.
It's the JR Sport Reshow, the Infinity Sports Network. Don't screw yourself. Stick around.
