Victor Wembanyama OUT For The Season (Hour 1)

It is! The JR Sportbrief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.

Thank you 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. We got a lot to get into here over the next four hours. Not all of it is good news.

Sorry Victor Winbenyama. We'll get into that in a second. This is when the show gets started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. You can listen on the free Odyssey app, your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate. If you got Sirius XM, it's channel 375.

And if you got a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. I told you we got good news and bad news. The good news is we got the four nations final today. We got the USA versus Canada coming up in two hours.

Hey, how about this? We got a guest who's going to join us. Liam McHugh is going to join us from the NHL on TNT. And then I told you about the bad news. It involves Victor Winbenyama, who is now out for the season. This guy got a blood clot.

It's a shame. You know what to talk about the clot? Because I'm not a doctor.

You know, I need to go to the doctor, but I'm not a doctor. We're going to have one on Dr. David Chow, pro football doc, NFL lead physician for almost 20 years. He's going to come through and join us next hour. Matter of fact, Liam McHugh will be here with us in about 40 minutes.

We have more to get into. Bobby Portis Jr. of the Milwaukee Bucks. He's out too. He's deciding to take the Bucks and he's not hurt.

He's just, well, he's been banned for taking a banned substance. We will get into that. We got a lot of college football programs. We are going to blink and it's going to be time for some spring football action. But we got some teams that are saying, I'm not doing that crap no more. I'm not showing off my players. I'm not showing off my talent for some other team to come through and throw some money at him.

I'm not doing that. Man, we got Sark who's the latest. He's like, man, I'm not highlighting my players to get stolen from me. And speaking of stolen, Carson Beck, he transferred, he just got his car stolen down in Miami.

Welcome to South Florida. And then last night the NBA returned. LeBron James actually played. I had no idea that that man was going to be playing. They called him day to day, game to game.

He didn't want to play any All-Star game, but he played last night and then the Lakers lost. Luka Doncic is still looking kind of rusty out there. What else is new?

He's he's he's in bad condition. The Dallas Mavericks told us about this anyway. Congratulations, Aaron Boone, New York Yankees getting an extension. I know a lot of New York Yankee fans are kind of upset about that right now. Major League Baseball is testing robotic umpires and Bill Belichick is still throwing shade at the New York Jets. What else is new? And of course, at the end of the show, we're going to talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history. It has been February 20th, all day long, and we got a lot to get into. If you want to hit me up, you can 855212, 4227.

That's 855212, 4227. You can find me online, X, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube. Tick tock.

Maybe even Myspace, I don't know. I'm at JR Sportbrief everywhere before I do anything else. Welcome back to our super producer and host, Ryan Hickey in New York City. How are you, man? You good? I am good now, JR.

It's good to talk to you, man. Wow. It's been a long few days of sitting around and essentially sleeping. Did you take my advice and look a toad? I did not. No, I couldn't find any toads. Must be too cold here in New York City to do.

So that's why I was out in like an extra day or two. I couldn't get on the mend fast enough finding a toad. You didn't like look in the sewer for a toad? I tried, you know, I was on my hands and knees in New York City, in the subway system, you know, yelling out where the toads going to, you know, some dark places where they could hide, going by the water. Nothing.

Must be too cold. You go south of Canal Street. I could have helped you. I could have told you where to get a toad, OK?

So that's the problem. I was only uptown. You know, I should have known. I should have went downtown. That's on me.

Sorry about that. Toads, Ninja Turtles, Master Splinter, they all hang out a little bit closer to City Hall. You know what?

If I ever get sick again, that's good to know next time. Ask Eric Adams. He knows where the... He knows a lot of things. He does.

Obviously how much he knows is to stay his ass out of prison. But a different conversation for a different day. Hickey, we've missed so much this week having you here. Obviously the NBA All-Star game on Sunday was a disaster. Had the aftermath of that. A lot of focus on that all week.

Certain elements of NFL players and their contracts, what they're looking for and who might go where. We got the big hockey game that we're going to talk about at the end of this hour and that we'll see in two hours. At least it starts at a decent time, 8 p.m. Eastern.

I hope they start a little closer than that. But this is something I feel real bad about. And you alerted me to it earlier today as I was just kind of running around. You were just like, JR, he's like, he's hurt. I'm like, who's hurt? And you told me when Benyama was hurt. And I go, damn it, what the hell happened? And then Hickey, you gave me an explanation.

I don't know what the hell it is. And then I heard this as well on CBS Sports HQ. Listen to this. Continuing to follow that breaking news out of the NBA, San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wimbenyama is expected to miss the rest of the regular season. The team says Wimby has been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, which was discovered after he returned from the All-Star game this past weekend. The 21 year old, of course, was having a fantastic sophomore season, averaging twenty four points, 11 rebounds, nearly four assists.

He was the front runner for DPOY, and he was also leading the league with three point eight blocks per game. Come. On. Like, can the week get any worse for the NBA? The NBA had to put out that garbage All-Star game on Sunday, which we found out is now the second least watched NBA All-Star game ever, ever. So we had to go from that crap. Then we had to go into all the reasons all week why the NBA All-Star games suck. Then people have suggestions and we have to deal with that. And then why don't the players care?

And they need to do this. And then it went into the face of the league. And Anthony Edwards doesn't give a damn about being the face of the league. And then we we got Victor Wenbanyama right here.

And this is why I like Victor Wenbanyama. He just shows up. He plays. He doesn't come across as an arrogant fill in the blank. He seems a lot more level headed. He seems a little bit more worldly.

I know the guy comes over from France. He's reading a book before the basketball game. He's playing chess in New York City.

He will ride the subway. He just balls out. He's 21 years old. And so we talked about Wenbanyama this week. It's like the worst thing that would ever happen to him before we even got to this whole face of the NBA thing.

Dammit, before Victor Wenbanyama even made it to the NBA and he was being marketed and shoved down our throats via the NBA, their app, their news. The concern always was, I feel, was he going to stay healthy? Was Victor Wenbanyama all seven foot three, seven foot four, seven, five, I guess, and shoes and 20 million foot wingspan? 100 pounds.

I'm exaggerating, but you get my drift. Was this guy going to be able to last in the NBA? In the injury that Victor Wenbanyama has, has nothing to do with what I would fear, nothing to do with his knees and nothing to do with his ankles. It has nothing to do with his feet. It's not his hips.

Look at Victor Wenbanyama and I just go, man, if the wrong person falls into them long ass legs, he's cooked. This guy has a blood clot that they found kind of in his armpit, into his shoulder. He was apparently complaining over shortness of breath. Come on now. He's 21 years old. He plays basketball for a living.

I get it. He's north of seven feet taller. Let me tell you something. People who are seven feet tall, I'm, I'm, I'm around the old guys. I've sat in studios with the Shacks of the world and the Brendan Haywoods and the bigger you are, these guys sweat hickey. These guys sit down in sweat.

They got to turn the studio temperature to like 50 degrees. So these guys aren't breaking a sweat and they ain't doing nothing but sitting there. That mean that their blood got to pump through a lot of body. Their heart has to do a lot of work.

These guys are giants, man. I never really thought about it until you phrased it that way. Like you're right. That's a long way for the blood to go. A lot of extra work for the heart. It never made sense as to why, like you said, bigger people usually, you know, sweat doing little things.

Makes a lot of sense. Just human nature. I'm sitting on the stage and I'm like, damn, why these big guys sweat so much? Just, just being alive. Just sitting there sweating. I'm like, damn. I'm like, I feel I'm comfortable. Okay. Now you got a guy who's seven, three, not even in his, his peak physical form, blocking shots in these numbers that victim women Yama has put up so far this year.

Amazing. 24 points, 11 rebounds, almost four blocks, almost four assists. We haven't seen a player do this in a season since Kareem Abdul Jabbar. And now the San Antonio Spurs, their season is over.

It's done like who cares? And they just, they just picked up, uh, the Aaron Fox from the Sacramento Kings. The whole purpose of the season was to see what the San Antonio Spurs could do moving forward, how they could build. And now there's a legitimate concern whether or not Victor women Yama is even going to be around. Like we don't know the results of what happens with his, his blood clots. We don't know if he'll return, you know, once the season begins again in October, uh, we ha we have no idea. I mean, this is what Chris Paul who just came on to help throw alley oops and help run the team. We know he's not there long.

This guy's basically 40 himself. Uh, Chris Paul, this is what he said earlier today about Victor women Yama being done for the year. First and foremost, I think everybody understands that, you know, basketball is what we do and not who we are, you know, so life and everything is so much more important. But for us, we know losing a big part of our team like that is by committee, you know, and trust me, uh, you, you, you can't replace Vic, you know, I can't stand on a guy's shoulders and block every shot that comes to the rim, you know, and aside from his basketball ability, his charisma and what he brings into the locker room, I think is what we'll miss the most, man. He is so likable.

There's nothing that I look at at one binyama and I go, man, I wish she, what she changed. I don't know. People are like, Oh, he helped cheat, tried to cheat with Chris Paul over the skills challenge on Saturday, man, get out of here. He hasn't done or set a thing where I go, you know what? I don't like this guy or I don't agree with him. And then to watch him play basketball is, is unique.

He's a joy. I mean, think about this and his first two seasons, he's averaging more than 20 points, more than 10 rebounds, more than three blocks. The only players to ever do that in the first two years of their career, Alonzo morning, Shaquille O'Neal, David Robinson, and Hakeem Olajuwon, who yesterday I told you was number two on my list as the greatest international player, the second greatest international player we've had here in the United States and Canada. And I got to tell you something.

Yeah. Shaquille O'Neal was a physical freak in his own regard. You talk about dimensions and what this guy can and can't do that Victor went binyama.

He's in a class of his own, different than Shaq, but he's in a class of his own. And so it really stinks to think about what his future may hold. Chris Bosh, his career ended basically with a blood clot in his leg. He was no longer clear to participate. You know, people are thinking about the blood thinners and what he has to take to go out and play. And they're just like, nope, too risky. This is what you don't want.

You don't want, you don't want nothing traveling to your heart and taking you out. You know, I'm not a doctor, but I know Victor when binyama is going to be taking it easy over the next few weeks, over the next few months. And I hope he's ready to go next season. Brandon Ingram, but different case, a similar body type to Victor when binyama and Victor when binyama might be six and seven inches taller than him. That's crazy to think about a guy who's six, seven, six, eight, six, nine, and Victor when binyama adds more height, tall, thin, lanky, Brandon Ingram, then of the pelicans, now of the Toronto Raptors. He had a blood clot similarly in his shoulder.

He was going for about seven months. And so there could be some positivity. I hope there's some positivity here with Victor when binyama and that there are no long term issues because for the ridiculous hellish week that the NBA has had from Draymond Green ripping the product and more NFL, excuse me, maybe I'm hoping for the NFL, more NBA stars opining that they will participate in next year's slam dunk contest to the crap that we got on Sunday in the actual contest. No LeBron James, no Anthony Edwards, just a face of the league, this face of the league. That has been a bad week for the NBA. And the day that basketball was set to return with the Phoenix Suns and the Spurs playing in Austin, Texas, the return, the homecoming for Kevin Durant to know that Victor when binyama is out for any amount of time is devastating.

Especially for someone who seems like a great guy. You heard Chris Paul talk about how he can't stand on somebody's shoulders and block shots. He talked about how they're going to miss him in the locker room.

Chris Paul continued on and said, man, you know what, JR? He is a good dude. I talk about all the time.

He one of the best humans I ever met, you know, in this league for a long time. So I think for us, we just more than anything, we probably just miss him being around. You know, a lot of us are together more than we're actually with our own families. Right.

So we've become a family. So you keep things in perspective as far as life and what it means. But when the game comes around, like I said, we got a job to do. That's that's a that's a time for us to get everything off of our mind, actually, so that we can compete and play this game that we love. Yeah, it might be lost at this point in time. San Antonio Spurs have gone through it this season. OK. And this has not necessarily anything to do with basketball. There's sub 500 right now competing for playing.

You might as well throw all that out the window. Victor Webin Yama is now out. With a blood clot and only a few games into the season, the San Antonio Spurs head coach, Greg Popovich.

He was gone right at the start of the season after suffering a mild stroke at the beginning of November. And so if you think about what Greg Popovich had to go through with his own personal health scare as a basketball coach in his 70s, been coaching and leading this team now, man, for damn it, going on 30 years. You think about what's going on right now with a future star of the league.

Twenty one years old. This year has sucked for the San Antonio Spurs. And with women Yama out now, this is like the stamp for the NBA.

This week sucked as well. I know Adam Silver kind of just had a big old side and said, damn, I don't know if he drinks, but he probably had one. Hey, good luck to Victor Webin Yama in his recovery. You know, you would think with modern technology and his age, I'm feeling optimistic that he'll return. My injury concern was always about a knee, an ankle, a leg. Didn't think anything, anything about a blood clot.

Good luck to him. You know, next hour, we'll have a conversation with Dr. David Cho. He's going to come through, have a conversation with us, give us some more, you know, medical terms because I am not a doctor. I'm just a guy who sits here and talks about sports with you. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven.

That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. We are going to take a break in about 20 minutes. We're going to talk about this matchup tonight.

The four nations final between USA and Canada. We got Liam McHugh joining us from the NHL on TNT. But before we get to that, I want to tell you about another NBA player. He's going to be out basically for the rest of the season.

He did not suffer an injury. He says he just made a mistake. Don't we all make mistakes? I'll tell you what it is on the other side. I'm just getting started. The J.R. Sportbrief show, the Infinity Sports Network.

Welcome back, Icky. You are listening to the J.R. Sportbrief, the J.R. Sportbrief show 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. Unfortunately, the NBA got news. It did not want the San Antonio Spurs. They got news that they did not want. Victor, when Benyama is going to be out the rest of the season. This man has a blood clot.

You don't want to play around with those. They found it in his armpit, you know, underneath his shoulder. Yeah, he's done for the season. Maybe we'll see him later on this year. Maybe we won't. We'll be joined by Dr. David Chow next hour to kind of get some thoughts on what the deal is with when Benyama, when we might see him and kind of go from there.

So we'll get some expert thoughts from a doctor next hour. I did tell you that Victor, when Benyama isn't the only NBA player who we will not see the rest of the season. Someone who's pretty much gotten pretty close. Is Bobby Portis. Yeah, Bobby Portis.

Nobody's going to wake up and confuse Bobby Portis with Victor when Benyama is not a there's not going to be a human who does that. But Bobby Portis Jr. has been a solid contributor to the Milwaukee Bucks for the past several seasons. This year, he's putting up fourteen points, eight rebounds off of the bench for the Milwaukee Bucks. You might recall Giannis Atteracumpo has been dealing with a calf issue. He is another all star that was not available to play this past Sunday out in San Francisco. And then when you think about Bobby Portis, he's their third best scorer and player behind Giannis Atteracumpo and Damian Lillard. You might recall also that the Milwaukee Bucks just got their hands on Kyle Kuzma, who congratulations decided to get engaged over the All-Star break. Good for him.

I'd say welcome to the club, but I'm not in that marriage club. But here's the deal. Bobby Portis. I don't want to put him in the category of stupid athletes. Well, let's just take a listen to why he was suspended. I want you to tune in right now. WISN 12 news explains what the hell happened to Bobby Portis.

Breaking news is first here at eleven o'clock. The NBA suspending Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr. for twenty five games. Portis tested positive for the drug tramadol, according to the NBA. Tramadol is an opioid used to treat chronic pain.

The suspension without pay starts today. Portis's agent says the Bucks forward made an honest mistake in a statement. Portis's agent, Mark Bartlestein, wrote, quote, Bobby unintentionally took a pain medication called tramadol, thinking he was taking a pain medication called Toradol. Toradol is an approved pain medication that he has used previously and that teams and players use for pain and inflammation at times. End quote.

The agent says tramadol was added to the banned substance list this past spring. Oh, come on now. This is Hickey's simple mistake, right? This is this is like mixing up, I don't know, potato and potato. Right. Tomato, tomato. It's as simple as that.

One R looked like a circle or zero. And oh, see, my brain came and still work right now being sick. And that's that's how you misread the label. You know, it's very easy to do.

Very common, I'm sure. Oh, yeah. Now, what's crazy is, well, Bobby Portis is not appealing the suspension. He's not appealing.

He's accepting his punishment. He's gone for twenty five games. The Milwaukee Bucks only have twenty nine games left in the season. And so by the time he gets back, I don't know, maybe Giannis will be healthy. Maybe Damian Lillard will not be. We have no idea.

I know Kyle Kuzma is now thinking about every single shot that he can now go out there and jack up. It's also been said via his agent, Mark Bertelstein, that his assistant gave him the wrong drug, that there was a prescription. And this is where things get tricky, that there was a prescription. But the assistant is the one who gave him the drugs. Well, I mean, how did that happen?

Like if the prescription has to come from the doctor and the Torah doll is approved. How did it get mixed up? Are we going to blame the pharmacist right now? Are we going to blame the assistant? That Bobby Portis is just he's just taking pills.

He didn't look at the bottle. His assistant just walked over and said, here, take this. And he just took it.

Are you sure this is not trauma doll and this is toward all? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, you sure? Yeah, take it.

And he takes it. What? No, I'm not saying Bobby Portis Jr. is a drug user. He said he had elbow pain.

He's been taking the drugs. OK, fine. None of my business. Not his doctor. But all of a sudden you get the wrong prescription. How?

What's the medical question? Private information that we won't get an answer to. And now Bobby Portis, I don't think they're going to let a suspended guy sit on the bench, right? You got to sit at home, sit in the suite or something. I don't know. I don't even think he's allowed in the arena.

Like, I don't think it's sweet an option. I think it's at home. I'm pretty sure you got to sit at home or he can read the pill bottles before every game. A lot of practice.

You got a lot of practice. He doesn't have to worry about his elbow hurting. He's going to have a lot of time to watch these Milwaukee Bucks try to stay alive.

This is crazy. The Bucks have a record of twenty nine and twenty four. Their fifth in the Eastern Conference. Congratulations to the Pistons. The Bucks are one game ahead of them with a record of twenty nine and twenty six. If you would have told me the Pistons would have been right behind the Milwaukee Bucks at the All-Star break the next year, I'd give a round of applause to the Pistons and I'd look at the Bucks and go, what the hell is going on with y'all? Well, now we know Giannis is hurt and Bobby Portis doesn't know what drugs to take.

What a wild, wild world. I don't have any expectations for the Milwaukee Bucks anyway. My apologies to our listeners in Milwaukee because it feels like somebody is always hurt. And I know they just got rid of Chris Middleton and bringing in Kyle Kuzma is certainly a little bit more stable of an option, a younger option. What is scaring you about the Milwaukee Bucks in their depth? They can certainly scare the living hell.

They can beat anybody. But I'm not going to count on it at all. Good luck. Let's see how long before Giannis just says. You know what, guys? I'm ready to go. Could be sooner than later. It's the J.R. sport show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. And when we come back on the other side, it's time to talk about something that is going to take place tonight.

You know, Giannis is hurt. Team USA is dealing with a multitude of injuries on the hockey side as they go up against Canada in the four nation final. With all the talk about how much the NBA All-Star game and All-Star weekend suck, the NHL has done a tremendous job garnering support and interest in what this finale is going to look like in about 90 minutes from now. Joining us is Liam McHugh from the NHL on TNT. I'm going to ask him about this battle between the USA and Canada. I'm going to ask him about people getting booed and fights and injuries and goaltenders who can't stop a damn thing right now.

And is this something that we can expect to see more into the future? And we're going to talk some hockey. It's the J.R. Sportbrief show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief.

It is the J.R. Sportbrief show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Man, for all the complaining that people have had about the NBA this week, we've had a positive over the past week. And tonight we get a final. The four nations face off is done tonight. We got Team USA.

We got Team Canada. It's going down in Boston to talk about this matchup tonight, how we got here, what we can expect going into the future. We're being joined by someone who helps deliver all the news, information, studio setups at all for the NHL on TNT. We are being joined by Liam McHugh. Liam, thank you for the time. Really appreciate it. Hey, man.

Thanks for having me on. What has made this tournament such a success? I go back to the beginning of this and it's hard to believe that we've gotten to this point with the hype and the anticipation, because when we first came out with this and it was international hockey and it was during the All-Star break, there was a huge segment of fans that were like, oh, this is going to be an exhibition. It's going to be all star pace. It's going to be all star intensity, all star hitting.

Guys aren't going to want to get hurt. This isn't the Olympics and it's going to be a giant waste of time. And we've got a complete 180 with most of those fans. I mean, the intensity is through the roof, whether it's the fans or the players themselves. I think what you've gotten here is the perfect ending to a tournament that has gone way beyond what anyone could have expected in terms of intensity, in terms of level of play.

And there's pride now. And now there are people that were never interested in hockey that have something invested in this game. There is a nation to the north in Canada that right now is on edge because if they lose this game, oh my God, it will feel like a national meltdown if they lose their national sport to us. And I think what you also have here outside of just great athletes performing at the height of their abilities is you have characters and personality and the Kachuk brothers, Matthew and Brady are sort of the perfect American athletes to bring hockey into the spotlight because they look like guys you want to go out and have a beer with. They look like guys that five years from now could retire from the NHL and be in the WWE as like the best tag team. So I think the personality sells the game and those guys are bringing it. And Liam McHugh is joining us here from the NHL on TNC.

You talk about the intensity. You talk about the Kachuk brothers. We saw what the USA went through with Canada. They were beating the living hell out of each other over the weekend. USA, we come out on top three to one and we got all these injuries, the Kachuk's. I mean, are we too beat up? Like how do we stay in this today? It's rough.

I mean, I'm not going to tell you that it isn't there. You know, Canada is healthy now. Kale McGarr, who may be the best defenseman in the world.

And honestly, maybe one of the he's he's extremely young, but you can already say maybe one of the best defenseman ever in the history of the game. He's now healthy for Team Canada. And on our side, our guys are banged up. Charlie McAvoy, who just sent bone rattling hits against Team Canada, you know, knocking Connor McDavid down, setting the tone.

He's out for this game. The Kachuk's aren't 100 percent. Austin Matthews, you know, arguably our best player for Team USA, not 100 percent. But I go back to playoff hockey. You get to the Stanley Cup final and you see the game being played at that high level. There is not a single guy on the ice is healthy.

There just isn't. It is a war for a month and a half to get to that point. These guys are banged up. They are beaten. I think the difference now is they're fully invested. I think there are people that thought, oh, you know, if they're a little bruised, they're not going to play hard in this tournament. They're going to shut it down and get back to the season.

That's not the case. It feels like do or die. It feels like a Stanley Cup game seven.

So, yeah, we're banged up. And I would say the odds favor Canada because the talent is there and they're healthier. But it's Team USA on home ice.

And the one wild card we have is we got kind of hell about the goal. And right now he is the best goalie in the world. So is he has to be the equalizer, especially given what we've seen Bennington do.

He's been kind of up and down. So, I mean, we got the greatest equalizer. No, you would hope so.

And I want to believe that. Right. Because this is a guy who won the best trophy last year for the best goalie in the NHL. If the award was being given out this season right now, he would win it again. I mean, it's pretty rare that he's sustained this level of greatness at a position that, let's be honest, it's probably 60 percent mental, 40 percent physical because guys are so similar.

He has not been good, however, in the playoffs the last two years. And that's when it really counts. So this is the biggest game of his life. And he knows that and everyone else knows that.

So while skill wise, talent wise and ability, he should be the equalizer. And as someone who's pulling from America, I really hope he is. Jordan Bennington is going to be completely comfortable in this situation. Jordan Bennington has won a Stanley Cup. He won it.

Game seven, St. Louis, in that arena in Boston, hostile crowd against the Bruins. He's fine. He's right at home there.

And he likes being the villain. So I don't worry about Jordan Bennington. I think you get what you get from him. He'll give you a chance to win. Hellebuyck has to be good enough to steal a game, probably tonight.

And I want to see if he can step up and make that happen. Liam, you was joining us from the NHL on TNT. Man, you talk about the atmosphere. We saw the, you know, we saw a national anthem get booed. We're not going to boo the Canadian anthem tonight, are we? You think that's going to happen? I really hope not. I think, listen, do I think you're going to hear a smattering of it?

Yeah, I do. I mean, I think people are going to be like, you know, fueled up from partying, you know, beforehand. And you're going to hear it, but I don't think it's going to be overwhelming.

And I really hope it's not. And I know this thing is a political slant to it and it's just become that and it's evolved into that. But these players like, first off, a lot of them play in Canadian cities. A lot of their best friends are Canadian, obviously, because of this game. So while the boo, I think the booing in general fuels them, this idea that the politics behind the booing is fueling them, I think it's pretty absurd. I think these guys are athletes. And like most athletes in any sport, they kind of live in their bubble, but they hear boos. And there is that Jordan feel right where it's like, and I took that personal, right?

You make it about you. You sit there and you hear the boos and they're like, they're booing me right now. They're booing my country. That means they're booing me. And now I'm going to go out there. And in nine seconds into the game, I'm going to have my team start three fights. We're setting the tone here.

So you get fueled. But no, I don't think it's like because of politics or because of tariffs that these guys are playing hard. I mean, let's not kid ourselves. Liam McHugh is here with us from the NHL on TNT. We know Canada has a slight edge, give it their health.

This has been such an amazing tournament, captures everybody's attention. I know you're a Long Island guy. We're going to have the All-Star game at UBS and then we'll, you know, look at the Olympics. What do you what do you think about having this again into the future?

Or is this kind of almost a little bit of a one off? No, I love this. I don't think necessarily you can do it every year. But I like the idea of Olympics every four years and in the two years in between having a World Cup. And this is, to me, just your starter for that, because you'd like to add more countries into it. The problem is, if it's limited to NHL players, you're eliminating some countries there.

I mean, Germany has Leon Dreyseidl, he's phenomenal, but you've done him enough to sell the roster. Clearly, you know, the team of interest is Team Russia, which has enough elite level NHL players that they could form a team. And I think a lot of people would like to watch them play regardless of the political situation. They just want to see these players play best on best. So in the future, my hope is six to 18 tournaments. And I know they've already said they're going to do World Cup in a few years. But my hope is every two years.

And that way, also, there aren't players who miss their windows. It is amazing to me that we are watching McDavid and Austin Matthews, two number one overall picks, two generational talents play in their biggest best on best international game. And they're a decade into their careers. It's too long in between. This can't happen again. I want to see this, but I also don't want it watered down every year. Let's go every two years.

World Cup Olympics. This certainly makes sense. Well, I assume you're a Long Island guy.

You're going to be at UBS. How important is it to have the All-Star game back there? It's been, what, almost 30 years?

Maybe more? I love it, man. You know, I'll always love Long Island. I'll always love the Islanders. There's nothing like seeing those banners, four straight Stanley Cups there. And I want those folks to have something to cheer for.

I really do. We're chasing a playoff spot and it feels like we've stuck in this situation for a few years now, chasing the wildcards and trying to make a move. But let's bring it back. Let's make some noise.

Let's get that place going. You know, because it is an amazing, amazing hockey scene there and the Garden gets all the ball. But that is a tremendous arena that they built there. So I'm pretty bummed for it to come back.

Well, Liam, as we're getting ready to hit the break and get out of here, I'd be remiss not to ask you this. We know that there's so much parity in the NHL. Teams go up, they go down. Are we looking at another championship in Florida? Are the Panthers doing it again? It's hard to imagine picking against them at this point. The Florida Panthers do something that no one does. They play playoff hockey starting in October.

They're in your face. They're giving you the glove right to the face after every whistle. They're starting stacked and starting scrums. No one does that in October. They do that in the playoffs.

They never shut it down. So they're going to be right in the mix. Once again, I wouldn't mind another repeat of last year. It would be awesome to see Florida try to go back to back here.

Three straight trips to the Stanley Cup, two straight wins. But I want to see McDavid again on the biggest stage. You want to see the best player of his generation. See if he can go back missed out on game seven. It looked like he crushed his soul. There's video of him in the locker room after.

My God, I don't think I've ever seen a person that upset. I want to see him get back. I want him back on that stage. So I'm hoping for another rematch. Well, it's good to know that we got some world class hockey going on now here in February.

And we can look forward to June and seeing some more to see who raises Lord Stanley's Cup. Hey, Liam, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you and all of your work and everything with the NHL on TNT? And I know you do more than that.

All right. Now, I'm on Twitter at Liam Underscore McHugh. I'll be tweeting out ridiculous tonight as I watch this. And listen, we're on every Wednesday and now we're on. Now that the NFL is done and on TNT every Sunday, we are back at it this Sunday, starting at twelve thirty p.m. Eastern. And we've got McDavid and Ovechkin to start things off. We've got the Oilers and the Caps.

So that's a fantastic game. Now, football season is done. Come on over to hockey. Hey, let's see. Hey, how many fights are we getting in the first nine seconds in about an hour and change?

How many? Well, I'll tell you what, if you get one, you're getting three. But I don't think you're getting one off the job. But if you're getting one, I mean, they're going to have to like hold the guys back on the bench to make sure this isn't a full out bench clear and brawl.

But I don't think so. I think maybe we get one throughout the night, but I don't think we get one off the job tonight. Well, I'm going to be paying attention. I'll be sitting right here in the studio watching and talking. Liam, thank you for the time.

We'll catch you on down the line. OK. All right. Thanks so much.

Thank you so much. That Liam McHugh host covers all things. The NHL on TNT, the four nation final gets started and a little more than an hour between Canada and the United States of America.

Yeah. The two countries that listen to the show. Shout out to all our listeners in Canada, regardless of the outcome. I love you. Hickey loves you, too. Hickey, you love Canada, right?

We love Canada except for the next three hours. Oh, damn. Hickey. Oh, my goodness. Hickey said that. Not me.

Love Canada all the time. Hickey, they don't start on time. No, they say eight o'clock. J.R. 30 and 30 minutes or 20 minutes. I'll say 20, eight, 20, 20 minutes after.

OK. All right. We'll see. We'll see. It's the J.R. sport re-show on the Infinity Sports Network.

Shout outs to everybody coast to coast, country to country. When we come back, we'll talk more about when Benyamin is injury. We have Dr. David Chow coming through. You know what? Let's talk more hockey because the NBA, I guess they got something to learn. It's the J.R. sport re-show. Don't move.