NFL Expansion on the Horizon? (Hour 4)

It is the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well. I hope you are amazing on this Friday afternoon, Friday evening, depending on where you live.

I'm in Atlanta. Thank you to our super producer holding it down today and yesterday, Ryan Botcher. Thank you to you for listening again on the free Odyssey app, your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate, Sirius XM Channel 158. And if you got a smart speaker, ask it to play the Infinity Sports Network.

It's Sirius XM now 375 all over the place. And we've had a busy Friday getting you all set and ready for all the football action in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs this weekend. We learned that Rocky Sasaki, latest Japanese phenom, is going to be playing for, you guessed it, the Dodgers. Joining Yamamoto, joining Otani. Sasaki just turned 23 years old in November. This guy threw a perfect game in 2022 in Japan. The past four seasons, he's had an ERA of two. He's a prodigy.

The guy can barely buy a drink. Just turned 23 years old. I mean, damn. Anyway, we have so much more to get into. You want to be a part of the show? Easy. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. Right before we went to break, we talked about some changes that could potentially be coming in college football, in the NFL. We had some great guests. Thank you to Wes Reynolds, who joined us from Vson.

We also had Ben Standing join us, covers the commanders for the athletic. And then we talked about the return of Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler is playing tonight, coming off of his seven game suspension, where he lost more than $2 million at halftime in Miami. Denver leads the Heat 67 to 55. Jimmy Butler, eight points. He seems active and interested today. Zero rebounds, zero assists, zero steals, no blocks. He's rolling. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. Ryan, right before we went to break, we talked about Roger Goodell and the expansion of the NFL eventually, probably to 18 games. What are your thoughts on that? Honestly, with how the preseason shapes out, I'm okay with going to 18 games. But I think Joe Burrow on a podcast, of course an athlete spoke on a podcast. He talked about how they can implement a second bye week to help the players just stay healthy. Like maybe it's a universal bye week throughout the season, like an all-star break or something like that. But it would like line up everything to work better where a holiday would line up with the Super Bowl and all that whatnot.

Well, you know what? Let's take a listen again to Roger Goodell. He was on with Bloomberg earlier today and he talked about how 18 games is definitely something they're going to look at and probably eliminating a preseason game.

Here's Goodell. So I think if we continue to focus on the safety, I think 18 is a potential. And as you know, we would take a preseason game away. So we would keep within that 20 game framework. We actually started 14 and six pre-seasons. We went to 16 and four and now 17 and three.

So 18 and two is a logical step. But we would only do that with the players. Only do well, of course, you can only do that with the players.

And I think ultimately they're going to go along with it. The one thing that they may beef about is we're going to play more games and not make more money. But if you think about a lot of the checks that the big time guys are getting, it's easy to look at the guys making 60 mil a year like Dak Prescott and go, hey, man, what are you complaining about? You're making 60 mil.

Just just park it and relax. The NFL will ultimately go to 18 games. I think it's personally unnecessary, but this is a business and people are going to watch and people are going to tune in. People are going to care. And if there is one benefit, if there is one benefit to 18 games, they're going to move the Super Bowl back again. And the Super Bowl is ultimately probably unlikely going to be played right before President's Day.

And so if you want to eat and drink and be merry and be hungover and feel like it is a real holiday after you watch, I don't know, Beyonce or Kendrick Lamar or the Eagles or whoever the hell else is doing the halftime show. Hey, you got a day to relax right after. That's the only positive that I could see in 18 games. Otherwise, I'm not I'm not really a fan. I was good with 16 and then we got 17 and then we're going to get 18.

It's pretty much inevitable. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. If you have any thoughts, do you care? Is this good?

Is it bad? Is the NFL getting greedy? It's a business. We know they're greedy. Let's just start there. We talked about so many of these divisional round matchups. Obviously, the big one, the main event on Sunday night, we have Baltimore and Buffalo.

We had a chat about it earlier on in the show. So much conversation about the snow. What is the snow going to do? What is the freezing?

What are the freezing temperatures in Buffalo going to do when we tune in to Baltimore and Buffalo? Well, this is something the players have been talking about. The coaches have been talking about.

This is what John Harbaugh had to say about playing in single digits. Love to be outside, but we just can't. The fields are too hard and they're too frozen, but we'll get to working. We've had a lot of work in the cold. We've got a lot of work in the wind.

And the elements are part of it. The other thing is going to be the footing on their field. We're thinking about that too. We want to make sure we've got good footing on that field. It's a turf field and it'll be hard and kind of frozen. So we're trying to think about all that. But really what we're thinking about is just executing our plays at the highest level we possibly can. And everybody is really looking forward to this matchup.

It's not a boxing match, obviously. Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen. Lamar Jackson, he was asked what makes Josh Allen so special. And let's just say he was pretty short and sweet and to the point. His uniqueness of just making things happen when plays break down.

Strong arm, can make any throw on the field. Definitely. Okay. All right. No need to be overly enthusiastic about the competition. Josh Allen was asked about Lamar.

Did he have any larger thoughts? Listen to what Josh Allen had to say. You know, absolutely. I think that's why you play this game is to be in moments like these. Our team, we're extremely happy and blessed to be playing and continue playing this game. Again, we're just trying to find a way to go 1-0. Nope.

Simple as that. And we had a lot of callers from Western New York. Shout outs to everybody from Rochester out to Buffalo. I am going with the Ravens in this game.

The conditions, the cold, Derek Henry effect. Yes, Josh Allen is out there as well. But I think this is going to be a very close game. I think it's close to being a pick'em.

I think it is a pick'em type game. But I'm going to go ahead and choose the Ravens. Speaking of snow, the game that precedes it on Sunday between the Rams and the Eagles. The Rams have had to deal with so much travel and evacuations and playing in Arizona and then beating the Vikings and going back to California. Now they have to go to Philly and face off against Saquon Barkley.

We know this is not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination. Philadelphia also expecting three inches of snow on the ground. Saquon Barkley said I'm going to call up with Sean McCoy and I'm going to ask him how he dealt with playing in the snow in Philly.

Okay Saquon, go ahead. Yes, I know all about it. I wouldn't say I know it from watching it. I think once I got here or even watching Shady, his highlights, that's probably one of his most memorable games. So, yeah, I think he had another one in Buffalo too when he played in the snow game. Maybe, not maybe, definitely going to call Shady and just in case we do get some snow.

See what he did because there's no reason, it doesn't make sense how he was able to cut in that snow and you get to see he was on a whole different level. Now Ryan, am I bugging? It's possible that I am.

It's a high possibility. Ryan, outside of what cleats he's wearing and I don't know, maybe he sprayed something on his cleats. I don't know if that's legal or not. What could Saquon Barkley possibly be asking LaShawn McCoy?

Where do you stay warm? I don't know. Something dumb. Just because I think he's doing it just to be nice with the fans. You have to say, oh, I respect an Eagles legend.

So I'll talk to him but nothing will really benefit me. Yeah, I'm looking at that and I'm saying to myself, is this really worth a damn? Saquon Barkley had a chance and an opportunity to break the NFL's all-time rushing record. Yes, I know it's now 17 games. We all know that. How much more advice does Saquon need?

He doesn't need a lot. And I told you about Los Angeles, the Rams. I think Philadelphia is going to not run them out the building. But they obviously have a much more dynamic team on the offensive side of the ball. In Los Angeles, they have to be tired in the morning now, even mentally. You can focus in on the game. It can be a distraction. But they've had a rough go at it. Matthew Stafford, I mean, after playing in Arizona and beating Minnesota and going back to LA, this is what Stafford had to say about going back to Los Angeles after Monday night.

A lot of unknowns, obviously. And luckily we got back here and everybody's doing everything they can to make it as functional of a city as we possibly can. I think they're doing a hell of a job, which is great. And then our mind turns to football straight right away. It's a short week anyway, playing on a Monday night. They've got a full 24-hour jump on us at least.

So try to get your body and your mind ready as quickly as you can. Huge, huge, huge advantage. Huge. Now, we talked about the, well, let's talk about the game that we didn't touch on too much. I think Kansas City is going to take care of Houston. I'm sorry. Is that a surprise to anybody?

Anybody at all? We saw what Houston did. God bless them. Forced Herbert into four interceptions, went out there and beat them. Even with the Chiefs, mainly their starters, having last played on Christmas, we saw they played that last game of the season.

Well, let me correct myself. They really didn't play anybody worth a damn in that last game of the season as Denver destroyed them 38 to nothing. The Chiefs have been rested. They've been relaxing. They've been getting healthy.

They had a first round bye and now they're going to be back in action against Houston. Patrick Mahomes was asked, what the hell did you do on your time off? I just kind of continue to work as far as working in the building, working at practice like I usually do. Obviously, the reps are a little bit different. But at the same time, you can get mental reps and you can get physical reps on the side. And so continue to work with those guys that weren't playing that last Denver game and then preparing your body to go out there and execute in the playoffs.

OK. Mental and physical reps. All right. He's watching film and playing it all over in his head. Now, they're going to try to go out there and destroy this man. They have no chance in hell, if you ask me, of winning unless they are out there driving Patrick Mahomes into the dirt. We know that he can move around. He's not Lamar Jackson. He's not Josh Allen. If you give him space, he'll scramble. But he's not intentionally trying to go forward.

You're going to throw that rock. And when you have Daniel Hunter, a former Viking and Will Anderson, they got a good chance at bringing him down. But this is Mahomes.

This man is like a magician. D'Amico Ryan's former linebacker and now coach of Houston. He says, man, trying to bring Mahomes down, it's easier said than done. It's very hard to get sacks on Patrick. He does a good job of getting the ball out.

They do a good job of getting all five eligibles out as well. And, you know, if the check down is there, he's not afraid to take the short pass. That's what makes him, you know, very unique. Well, we know he's great. He's a magician. Seen this guy sidearm the ball flick.

He's like Magic Johnson with a football in his hands. Not too difficult for me to pick Patrick Mahomes, who's trying to go for three P against the young upstart team and the Texans. We'll see what happens.

But I, I got them. And then there's the other game that we discussed. We have the Lions in Washington. We had a full conversation earlier in the show with Ben standing from the athletic about this. I just believe Washington's time is up. Jaden Daniels will no doubt win Offensive Rookie of the Year. But this is time for the Lions to advance to another NFC championship game. I know it sounds crazy, still sounds crazy, but that's likely of what's going to happen in Dan Campbell.

Old gambling Dan. I don't think we have to worry about fourth down conversions and going for it every single time. I think they'll be able to take care of this game. Dan Campbell says, of course, everybody is coming to try to knock us off.

Listen to him. We know we're going to get everybody's best shot. We know that every week. And it doesn't matter if it's who we've played and what week it is. And our guys understand that.

And I think the most important thing is it doesn't matter where you're at, where you're seeded, how many wins you have. You've got to stay hungry. And our team's hungry. Well, that is the most calm I've heard Dan Campbell in a long time. Can't wait to hear him after the game. Win or lose. I don't think they're going to lose.

Can't wait to hear what he has to say. I got Kansas City beating Houston. I have Baltimore beating Buffalo. I have Detroit beating Washington. I have Philadelphia beating the Rams. And when we think about our championship games, yes, that means Kansas City will take on Baltimore. I see Philadelphia taking on Detroit. I think those are our final four teams when we look ahead to the AFC Conference Championship, the NFC Conference Championship. That's what I'm looking at.

The phone lines are open. If you want to give me a holler, it's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. The Chiefs are trying to make history. You got the Lions here just trying to erase there.

Oh, well, damn it. Most of their history. We got the Eagles trying to look good for Nick Sirianni. And then we have Baltimore and we got Buffalo.

They're just trying to reach Patrick Mahomes and get past him. Let's go ahead and hit the phone lines up now. Matter of fact, before we hit the break, let's see. Who do we have here? We got Donnie. Donnie is calling from South Carolina. You're on the JR Sportbreeze show.

What's up, Donnie? Yeah, I was listening to you talking about the 18 game season and I kind of wondered what your opinion is. Did we get a version of a watered down version of the NFL like the NBA is now? You know, where these players start saying, oh, you know, we need load management. You know, we need a game off. I'm going to see the situation start coming into play. Or do you think I think I think NFL players are tough?

I think inherently when you when you when you play in such a violent sport and you're beating the living hell out of each other. I don't think there's a situation outside of I don't want to play. I'm going to quit, which we've certainly seen that a couple of times this past season. We saw Tyree kill, pull himself out of a game at the end, complain about his contract. We've seen Anthony Richardson, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, tell everybody, I'm tired.

I need to take a break. No, football players are built different. And I think when you condition your body and you get beat up, there ain't no such thing as load management because you're setting yourself up to be hurt. So, yeah, they can expand to 18 games. I think ultimately the NFL players are going to tough it out.

But I don't I don't ever see there being a world where NFL players will try to step into a place of load management. No, Donnie. Yeah. Maybe maybe just more substitutions in game. I mean, back and forth. Well, I think we might see.

Yeah. Well, we see that in certain positions, most certainly a lot of running backs. Not everybody has that one bell cow running back. I mean, even if you take a look at the the Lions, even with injuries, you know, they split. They split carries, even though I think Gibbs is probably the more talented back.

But most teams, I think what we'll see when we get to the end of the season, unfortunately, we might get more of what we see with the Kansas City Chiefs in their final game of the regular season against Denver. They did not care. And, yeah, they're the cream of the crop. But they were more concerned with just resting their players. Now, am I going to call that load management? I'm going to call that being smart because it's a violent game. And that's just the I think the balance of the NFL trying to make more money with players who are just beating the living hell out of each other. I think we're going to have crappy football to start.

I think that's that's the case. And then at the end, if your team is out of it, we won't get more crappy football. Nobody showed up when the Jets beat Miami. There's two teams going nowhere. So I don't think it'll be that big of a deal. But hell, no.

No load management. Thank you so much, Donnie, for calling from South Carolina. It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven.

That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Yeah, you can call me up. Do you have a prediction for any of the games this weekend?

Do you think 18 games in the NFL is a stupid idea? I'm going to get some more of your calls. We have more to get into. And then, you know, Jimmy Butler isn't the only guy making a return in the world of basketball. I'll tell you who is making a return.

I think a lot of people will be happy about this. And then, of course, at the end of the show, we'll talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history. It's the J.R. sport re-show coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We come back, we'll get some more of your calls, more football. We got it all.

Don't move. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief. It is the J.R. sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You want to call me up?

You can. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. We've certainly talked a lot of football ahead of the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. In a few seconds, I'm going to tell you about some interesting returns and a departure in another sport. Before we do that, I need you to think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all of your car care needs.

Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Now, this is not interesting. I told you about the return of Jimmy Butler back with the Miami Heat, put up an entire social media post and said I'm back like he was Michael Jordan, even included a photo of him wearing the number forty five Jordan jersey like Jimmy Butler just needs to end up somewhere and just play basketball and just worry about that. I told you that there was a departure in basketball to the shock of no one. Joel Embiid is out swelling in his knee. He's going to be gone for anywhere from seven to 10 days.

Not a surprise. Nick Nurse, head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers or whatever the hell is left of him. Nick Nurse had to say this about Joel Embiid getting shut down again.

I don't think so. I think I think it's just the same. It like it like plays. We always got to we always got to be see how it reacts the next day.

Whether it's practice or a workout or game. And that's that's it. Nick, is there any thought to maybe just shutting Joel down at this point that I've been told?

No. Well, you might as well be shut down. He said he was going to be shut down before the season started.

I'm not playing in back to backs and he's just he's cooked. They got to pay this man until what? Twenty, twenty seven. You kidding me? I think it goes past that.

All things considered. What a disaster that is. Oh, my goodness. Joel Embiid. Now, here's some good news. All my basketball fans out there, people actually like this guy. Dick Vitale is back. This man has beat cancer for the fourth time and he will be broadcasting tomorrow as Duke takes on Wake Forest. Dickie V is a legend here.

Just period. One of the legendary broadcasters. I think more people now know and remember him as a broadcaster and not as a coach. He's 85 years old and there's nobody like Dickie V coming through with diaper dandies and every cliche that you can just imagine and think of. And we know cancer is just a terrible, terrible disease. And Dickie V, that's a tough man.

Four times having beat cancer. And Dickie V, always a pleasure to listen to. As a matter of fact, let's listen to a few of his his best calls from ESPN. Matter of fact, Dickie V, they're showing him love. They're talking about how great he is. And he's beaten cancer. It's never been about the noise.

It's where that noise came from. His joy in simply being alive. Everybody's ready to go. He's ready to go.

His gift for making the rest of us feel more alive. I'm in the last quarter. There's like four minutes left on the clock. But I'm going to have a lot of overtimes. Don't bet against me.

Yeah, I hope he has I hope he has a million overtimes. He's one of the best broadcasters. Now, Ryan, you may not know this.

I've made it a point because it's true. In a lot of sporting events, I'm not I'm not really sitting around listening to the broadcasters. I might be outside. I might have the radio on while the game is going on. I may turn it up if there's a penalty or something that needs to be explained.

But I'm used to watching a lot of games in person. I don't necessarily need the announcers. But in my lifetime, some of my favorite announcers, all time favorite announcer was Vince Scully. And you got Dickie V, who's a pleasure to listen to on college basketball. Do you have a favorite announcer for these sporting events or any of them? Well, mainstream, I guess you can't go wrong with Mike Breen just because New York here and you hear him everywhere, national and local. So he's probably top of the list.

Iron Eagles also great. Kevin Harlan is amazing for radio. Oh, Kevin Harlan. I mean, some of Kevin Harlan's calls. Was that did somebody dunk and he said he no regard for human life. That was Kevin Harlan, right? Might have been him. I know he did.

He does a lot of the streaking ones on the radio. Oh, well, yeah, there's an idiot. Yeah, there's an idiot.

The city is at the five. This idiot took off his shirt. This idiot's at the 10.

There are five cops following the idiot. Yeah, Kevin. Kevin Harlan is is absolutely great. And it's good to hear and be able to turn on and listen to Dick Vitale tomorrow.

Just classic. I mean, we got to enjoy him while he is here. You know, we all know nothing lasts forever. And so all the best and much love to Dick Vitale and shout outs to everybody out there. Cancer has just affected so many people, including myself and family.

It's just a terrible, terrible disease. I mean, we got Dickie V. This man has more fight. And I know cancer is different than Joel Embiid's knee. Zion Williamson can't put a hamburger down. We got Joel Embiid.

I don't think he knows what a treadmill is. It's just, hey, man, we got to we got to pick and choose. Marco Belletti. Marco, which one of these guys is lazier? Is it Joel Embiid or is it Zion? Zion by a mile. Zion has Joel Embiid. Well, this Joel Embiid won an MVP, right?

Is that what it is? Well, I mean, he's had a few seasons where he's played basically the whole year. I mean, Zion, when does he show up and what are these injuries? They're all I mean, you know, Embiid didn't break a foot like those are things that you can't do anything about. I feel like every time Zion's hurt, what's wrong? This hamstring, this calf. You know, maybe if you get yourself into shape, your hamstring and calf don't pop every time you move. Yeah, those are those are I'm not going to call them every hamstring and quad injury, a fat guy injury. But in the case of Zion's, it is it's just it's a fact.

I saw somebody say the other day and I just had to shake my head. They were like, people keep talking about his his weight. Well, his weight is still, you know, it has an effect on his current conditioning.

He might be in the best shape of his life, but he can still do better. I'm just saying Zion is a just a massive disappointment all all over the place. And Mark, I want to get your thoughts on this. I know you're going to mention it in a moment. The Dodgers are just getting everybody, huh? Just everybody. Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Especially if you're coming over from Japan and they don't have to pay you. That that helps. I think it's it's out of control.

But then even guys who they have to pay. Yeah. You know, it doesn't matter.

I like people are going, oh, well, he's an internet. That's not I was like, hey, it's not my point that he came over from an international pool and he's not making, quote unquote, you know, three hundred million dollars of real money. The fact that the Dodgers and this is the system in baseball and they're operating in the right space. But the other owners don't care.

They don't give a damn. Look, I think and part of it to look the fact that they were able to get Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman on the same roster with the rest of the players is difficult in and of itself. Then you add in the Otani with that ridiculous contract. But because of the deferments, it still allows them to spend money. And then you wind up with the Blake Snell's and the Yamamoto's.

And now the Sasaki is on top of it. I mean, they're smart because obviously this deferment payments and even bring him back now blanket on his name, the left fielder that it bring back some of the deferred payments that they're able to use has really helped them. Now, are they going to pay the piper at some point? They're going to be the Saints where after 15 years, sooner or later, you've got to pay. And if everything falls apart, I don't know.

I really don't have the answer to that. But for right now, they're going to try to stockpile as many championships as they can. And I don't know who the hell is going to stop them with some of the players that they're starting to put together. I mean, you didn't even mention Tyler Glass now. I mean, he always gets hurt.

But when he's out there, the guy is the guy is a bad dude with that curveball. It's just you think about the NFL and you look at the parody that the league has. Yeah, we have our bad teams and bad owners and they just kind of stuck in a rut.

But for the most part, a competent organization can go through a bad period of time. And then if they, you know, do things the right way or strike it rich, you can turn things around like like the Houston Texans did. I mean, people were down on them, you know, when Deshaun was going through his injuries and all the pervert stuff. It's like, hey, I'm not a Texas fan. Well, now they were in the postseason again with a rookie quarterback.

And now he's in the second year back. It's tough to do that in baseball. It's like the bad team stay bad.

They may have one good year and then they're back to being bad because they don't want to pay hello to Miami. And that's the part that sucks, Marco. Yeah. I look baseball is different because, again, you don't have the cap, so you don't have the even playing field. And as much as you do the luxury tax and obviously the Dodgers don't care to pay it. And I don't even know, are they even in the Cohen tax? It feels like with the way they've structured some of the contracts.

They don't even have to pay the highest amount, which I think is one hundred and ten percent, which is ludicrous. But still, they're willing to pay the luxury tax. And then you look at some of the other teams.

I mean, even when you get I mean, it's been a while, but what was it? Ten years ago, when the Pirates finally built something up, we know McCutcheon came up and all those guys. And they had that little bit of a run. They went to the playoffs two or three years.

And that was it. Because now you got to start paying everybody and they're not going to do that. You got to trade them away. Even the Royals, they had that great I mean, they won a World Series, so it winds up being worth it. But eventually those guys had to go. Hosmer had to go. They had to eventually couldn't pay them.

And you have to make you have to make choices. We got four or five really good players that make us contenders every year, but we can only pay one. Well, you can't win like that. And it's unfortunate, but none of these and you give them credit, like the Brewers have been around for now 15 years. They've been consistently good. They can't get over the top. And then they got to turn around and trade their closer and Devin Williams because they know they can't pay him for next year.

You got to get something for him. It's something it's really unfortunate. Yeah, it's but they have a strong union in baseball and a lot of the owners are more concerned. Yeah, everybody wants to win.

But the first the first thing, the first goal is to make money. And then you got a lot of owners who want to hoard the money and not necessarily invest it back into the roster. I mean, look, we know teams, a Yankees, a Mets, a Dodgers.

But we're going to have teams, Toronto, big cities, international cities that that just have funds and resources can can bring in additional revenue and also spend it. It's just unfortunate from a fan perspective that there are just some teams where you just know it's always going to be David versus Goliath. I'm not mad at the Dodgers for playing within the system. It's just a system that everybody in Major League Baseball. Everybody is perfectly OK with it, I think, except for the fans who have to suffer through years. Go go talk to the White Sox. And, yeah, Jerry Reinsdorf is probably past his prime and efficiently running the team.

He wanted to hire Mr. La Russa, who was falling asleep on the bench. It just sucks for the fans. But, hey, people are showing up. Baseball is still making money and the Dodgers are just bringing in whoever the hell they want.

It's just it's nuts. It's the J.R. sport we show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break when we come back.

We're going to wrap things up. I'm going to tell you about a few things that took place this day in sports history. You just heard him. It's time for a newsflash. What else is going on in sports besides the Dodgers getting everybody?

Let's find out. Here's Marco Balletti. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief. It is the J.R. sport we show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven.

That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. In a few seconds, I'm going to share with you a few things that took place this day in sports history. We have quite a few callers who have some thoughts and opinions before we wrap up. Let's go ahead. Give me a thought.

Give me your opinion. I want to try to get on as many people as possible. Go ahead and hit your point. Let's start off with Anthony calling from California. Anthony, you're on the J.R. sport brief show. What's up? Hey, what's up, J.R.? I'm a I'm a diehard Padres fan.

I practice. We watch every game. And, you know, I I don't care much about the Sasaki news because I I'm done with baseball. I mean, I don't fault the Dodgers. I don't think they're doing anything wrong here. I think that, you know, with no salary cap, the Dodgers are taking advantage of the fact that they brought in a credible source said six hundred fifty million last year.

Yeah. And they're spending three or three fifty. Now, I can't say that these other owners are hoarding money because you take the Detroit Tigers. The owner is worth five times, six times what the Dodgers owners worth.

But he only brought in, I believe it was three hundred million. So when you have three hundred fifty million extra to play with, you're able to do a lot more. So these guys go into this to make money.

You know, they're not in there to I mean, some of them might have a love for their team where they want to win championships. But at the end of the day, it's a business. No, absolutely. And well, thank you, Anthony.

Appreciate you. I agree. Now, I will say that there are owners who don't spend. There are owners who sit on money, who don't bother with utilizing revenue sharing. They're just in it to keep the money instead of investing it into the team. But I agree.

I don't fault the Dodgers at all for what they're doing. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Marshall is here from Texas. You're on the JR sport show. Marshall, go ahead, please. Hey, what's up, JR?

This is Marshall. And yeah, I'm a huge Chiefs fan. You know, we got this game coming up tomorrow at three thirty Central time against the Texans. And I just want to I just want to hear from you, JR. How are you feeling about the Chiefs rolling into this game?

And do you think that they have a legitimate shot to three this year? Oh, absolutely. Marshall, we talked about it earlier this hour.

We talked about it last hour. Time is up, I believe, for the Houston Texans, the Kansas City Chiefs. I know the players, the majority of them, they haven't played since that Christmas Day game. Nobody cared about that blow out against the Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm expecting them to win this game.

It might be a slow start. Or when you have some of these explosive players, they have like worthy. You know, it only takes a couple of yards to turn into a big chunk of yards and a touchdown. So I got Kansas City at home and I wouldn't worry. I think that they're going to be back in the Super Bowl unless Baltimore moves them the hell up on out the way. Hey, thank you so much for calling up Marshall from Texas.

I would not worry. Let's go to Brock in California. Brock, you are on the JR sport re-show. What's up, Brock?

Hey, it's Friday. I'm a pottery fan too. And one thing, it'd be nice if they could limit the furrow money. You know, the pottery spent a lot of money a few years ago.

And Moms Park from Colorado, he kind of insulted them and said, hey, why don't you spend all the money when the other teams don't want to pay money. So the ownership is really hypocritical. It's something that needs to be straightened out. Thank you so much.

Appreciate you. And it'll never be straightened out because the only person who can regulate the spending in baseball are the owners. They're the ones who can regulate the spending and the rules. The union will not allow it from the Players Association standpoint. Then I don't think the players, they certainly don't want to change it. They want a free system.

This is advantageous. We got guys making 700 and 700 plus million dollars. Oh, you thought Otani was big until Soto came through.

I mean, major amounts of money. Damon is here from South Carolina. Damon, you're on the JR sport re-show.

Go ahead, Damon, quick. How you doing, JR? I mean, I'm from Virginia, but I was calling to piggyback off of who were your announcers and anything like that. I've been an Eagle fan since 79. I'm going to say Meryl Reese, the Eagles announcer, is someone I would love to hear from. And also because he just died, Bob Uecker or like Chick Hearn.

There are certain guys that their voice is timeless, but I would just like to hear what you had to say about that. But go Birds. Okay. Well, thank you so much, Damon, for calling from Virginia and South Carolina and the Philly fan. What do I think about that?

Everybody's entitled to their opinion. And then, yeah, we certainly do have greats. We got Chick Hearn.

This man has a statue outside of Crypto.com Arena or whatever the hell they call it now and today. I mean, we can go on and on and on about some of the legendary announcers that we've had in sports. I think maybe one time or two over the past several years, I've given a top six list on Wednesdays of some of my favorite announcers. Vince Scully, definitely there. We can go on and on. And yes, great point in bringing up Bob Uecker, who we discussed yesterday, who passed away.

A Brewers legend and entertainment legend. It's the end of the show. And today is January 17th. The year is 2025. And at the end of the show, you know what we do? We go back in time to a few things that took place this day in sports history. So let's do it.

50 years younger and I kick your ass. This day in sports history, January 17th. Let's go back to 1971 because the Baltimore Colts, they beat the Dallas Cowboys 16 to 13 in Super Bowl five. Now, this was an ugly Super Bowl. OK, this game had 11 turnovers. I mean, the winning team, the Colts, they had seven of them. Who has seven turnovers and wins a game?

That's why this one was ugly. This was the first Super Bowl played after the AFL-NFL merger. Let's take a listen, courtesy the NFL, the play that sealed the game. The kick is up and it's long enough. It is good! A 22 yard field goal by Timmy O'Brien. It is good.

He nailed that one and went clear up into the sand. And the Baltimore Colts have won the Super Bowl. That is nice. There goes that dramatic music, of course. Dramatic NFL music. Thank you, NFL. Hey, this is not good.

If you're in St. Louis, my apologies ahead of time. January 17th, 1995, the Rams, they left California for St. Louis. And we know what happened not too long after.

Listen to this. This is Stan Kroenke about the Rams moving to St. Louis. He sounds real excited. Thank you, sports talk. I don't feel very excited, but, you know, I know that you can draw the analogy to sports. I mean, we've got to play the last five minutes of the game here. I mean, we've done well so far, but we've got to continue to work. And this task will not be completed until and if we make a good showing on the PSLs and if we get the vote from the owners.

Oh, my God. Well, they got the vote for the owners. That's Stan Kroenke.

How excited could he be? He sounded miserable. Rams left Los Angeles in 94. They go to St. Louis in 95. We know they win that championship greatest show on turf about five years later. After that, they ended up going back to Los Angeles in 2016. And NFL's green and St. Louis Rams fans.

Well, I think they probably hate the L.A. Rams. Hey, how about this? Ryan, thank you for a great two days. I appreciate you. I appreciate you, too.

No, no doubt. Enjoy the weekend. Enjoy all of the football.

All right. Oh, I hope so. I hope they're good games this week. I hope so. Yeah, we don't need these blowouts like college football playoff.

A lot of blowouts and we'll talk more about the final game on Monday when we get here. Hey, listen, if you've missed the second of the show, hit rewind on the free Odyssey app and then you can go back. Thank you to Wes Reynolds from Vison for joining us to talk some NFL. Thank you to Ben Standing for joining us to talk about the commanders. You can find me online.

I am everywhere at J.R. sport brief. OK, be back with you on Monday, 6 p.m. Eastern, three Pacific. Don't move. Don't leave here on the Infinity Sports Network.

Bart Winkler is coming up next. Please have a wonderful weekend. Be safe. Be well, be cool, be smooth. J.R. sport show is done. Catch you on Monday. Be well. Thank you so much. Ryan Boncher.