It is the JR Sport Brief 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 had a tremendous weekend. I hope you're well. I hope you're safe. I hope you're all of the good things. I'll be hanging out with you for the next four hours.
This is when the show gets started every weekday, 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. I don't know where you've been. I don't know what you've been doing, but thank you for being here. We got a lot to get into, dammit. We got a lot to discuss.
We got a lot of guests. We got some things to discuss, like Shidora Sanders. He doesn't want to compete, I guess compete.
He doesn't want to show off at the NFL Combine. Big deal, small deal, no deal. I'll tell you in a second. A matter of fact, to talk about this later on in the show, Ryan Konigsberg is going to join us, who covers the Buffaloes out in Denver, in Boulder.
We'll have that conversation. The Lakers are looking good with Luka Doncic and LeBron James. Joel Embiid in the 76s are looking bad.
What else is new? Joel Embiid needs a new body. Giancarlo Stanton needs new elbows. Matthew Stafford. Apparently, this man wants a $50 million contract.
Yeah, let's give a $50 million contract to a 37-year-old quarterback. We'll get into that. New York next played basketball over the weekend, and they lost.
They lost to the Celtics. That was an ugly one yesterday. Hey, we'll have Christian Winfield from the New York Daily News.
He'll come through and join us next hour. There's so much more. Green Bay Packers are sick of the tush push. They want to ban it.
Just because you can't do it doesn't mean that you should want to ban it. We have so much to get into. You want to be a part of the show?
You can. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. You can find me online at JR Sport Brief. Thank you to everybody listening on the free Odyssey app on 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'm here in Atlanta, Georgia. Super producer and host Ryan Hickey is in New York City. Ryan, how are you, man? You had a good weekend?
I did. And I'm proud to say coming off the John Carlos news, as you mentioned, I have two elbows that are working properly. Oh boy. Well, how are your obliques?
I hear Sean Manai is not going to be available. His obliques are not great. Mine, though, are good. Again, this is the benefit of maybe not being in shape or not working out a lot. Can't get hurt if you're not moving around.
I need to take your... My back hurts right now, Hickey. And I'm like, I thought going to the gym is supposed to be preventive maintenance. And I guess not. I guess less gym, more couch time, and maybe that back will feel better. I don't... Is that how it works? You could try it out. I mean, it sounds like if your back is hurting going to the gym, maybe not going to the gym could help.
Worth a try. I'm going to eat donuts and candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'm going to sit on the couch. I'm going to do this for about eight months and I'm going to see how my body reacts.
And then I'll report back to you if I'm still alive. Sounds like a kid's diet. Let me ask this question. Do you know of any young child that has back problems? Kids don't have real bodies. Exactly. Well, I was going to say, I don't know any kids with back problems, so maybe they're doing something right. Maybe we should adopt what they're doing. I like that you're going to be the guinea pig. Kids don't have backs. Okay.
You got to... Look, listen to how much I know about science. How long does it take for a human being to physically mature? What would you say? 20 to 25 years almost and a body's always changing. I mean, but to reach maturity, it takes like what? 20 something years? 22, 23 years? That even maybe for some people even more. You know, Webby's still growing. He's like 20, it feels like so.
Some people could be even longer. Yeah, man. And so nobody under the hickey, nobody under the age of, I don't know, 25 has a back. Okay. Okay.
I guess that's fair. I'm just saying. Have you ever seen a kid play? Kids don't have body problems. They don't have bodies yet.
There's just nothing. Yeah. They run around with reckless abandon.
Yeah. They're flexible. They move. They're like little Wolverines from X-Men.
Like Wolverine gets hurt and he regenerates. He's fine. God bless kids.
They got it easy. Anyway. Jolen B, could you imagine what he looked like as a kid? Did he have crutches when he played basketball?
No, I know. I know he started playing as a teenager, so not exactly. I think he was playing soccer before. Could you see or was he, you know, he was playing volleyball. Maybe all the jumping has screwed this guy's knees up.
It's a, it's a possibility. Anyway, we'll, we'll talk about how broken down Jolen beads body, you know what? Let's not waste time.
We'll, we'll do that in about 15 minutes. I want to get this out the way because on Thursday we get the actual physical partition up, excuse me, physical participation part of the NFL combine. It starts to go down out in Indianapolis. So basically we've heard people call this the underwear Olympics. I've competed in it. I'm not good. I'm not an NFL athlete.
Shout out to the wonderful people at Under Armour who invited me out to, you know, show my athletic prowess. But the point is all these NFL scouts, these executives, the GMs, everybody wants to know how fast you can run, how much you can lift. They want to know if you're stupid.
Thank God, some of these dumb ass or wonder lick things are pretty much done. We've had NFL evaluators and try to understand, or one guy asked a guy, you know, about his mother and like, why are you asking this guy about his mom for his mom going to go out there and complete a pass? Is this guy's mother going to go out there and deflect the pass? Is she going to get a sack? Why are you asking this guy about his mom? Ask the coach about his mother instead.
That's what he should have done. But I digress. There's some good and there's some bad to a process like this for everybody involved. Just like everything in life. It's about balance. Unfortunately, there's a little bit of good. There's a little bit of bad.
And sometimes you got to find your way in the middle. And so this is good for the teams. This is good for the coaches. This is good for the managers. This is good for the general managers, the executives. They want to see your attributes, what you can do. And for the players, well, some of them will do good.
Some of them will do bad. Okay, we can think back to last year, Xavier Worthy goes out there and runs what, a 4-2, 40? Guy's a freak. Hopefully in his second year, he continues to grow as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. I remember years ago, the New York Jets, Vernon Golston.
I remember because I like as miserable as they are. Vernon Golston looked like a WWE character. Looks like an X-man. He looked like something out of Marvel. He sucked as a football player.
Who would have known? Being able to lift a thousand pounds and not being able to get to the quarterback, and not necessarily tied up together. And so you can improve your draft stock, or you could fall.
And year after year after year, we get players who just say, I'm going to go and I'm going to take meetings. I'm going to sit down with the executives. I'm going to sit down with the brass, but I ain't running no cone drill. Forget your three cones. I'm not running no 40.
Forget about that. I'm not trying to show you how accurate I could be with a pass. I'm not trying to show you how high I could jump.
Look at the film. I just came out of college. I'm here at this combine because of what I did in college. Not everybody needs to go ahead and jump through an additional hoop just to show somebody what? I don't know. Not to lessen their stock or boost it.
Some people need it, some don't. And so of course, as we head into this week, people descending upon Indianapolis. I know there's a couple of people who are not happy about that. Nicky, weren't there a bunch of NBA players who hate Indiana, right?
A couple of them? Oh yeah. For last year's All-Star game, right?
Josh Hart hates Indianapolis. Yeah. Oh yes.
He's not been shy about that. But yeah, I think a lot of people were complaining that they're going to go their weekend for the All-Star weekend in the cold and the snow, which I think it did snow last year. Yeah. It's certainly understandable. I got no problem with Indianapolis.
Indiana, it's just a different type of cold out there. I'm not mad at them. But the fact is, Chidor Sanders is not competing, not showing off, not working out at the NFL combine. Chidor Sanders isn't the only guy not competing at the combine. Ashton Gente, who as of last night, he was right here in Atlanta, Georgia, he was watching a Hawks lose to the Pistons. Ashton Gente is not working out at the combine. Abdul Carter, the number one ranked edge rusher from Penn State. This man is not competing at the combine. He's going to work out at his pro day because he's still recovering from his shoulder surgery. And for these three guys, what's the benefit?
Like, what else do you need to see? Hickey at the combine, are they going to let or would they have let Abdul Carter hit like a real live person? No, right? No, no, I don't think so. That'd have been fun.
Nobody can. Great TV. I'd watch. Oh, it would be.
They should line up people that we don't like and just let them hit them. Go ahead, Hickey. Propose somebody. Go for it.
Propose somebody. Oh boy. I just saw so many people come to mind that we don't like. Let me think too. Man.
Jeez. I can't say that name. Let's see.
I'll think of somebody good that won't get me fired, but I'll think of somebody. Ashton Gente. There's no reason to have him out there at the combine. We saw what he can do. Almost 2,500 yards rushing. The next closest guy had 800 yards. I don't know what simulation they got in Indiana, in downtown Indianapolis at whatever the hell they call that.
Hickey, what do they call it? It's still a Lucas oil? Lucas oil stadium. They don't have no simulation in there for running offensive plays as a, as a running back, right? No. Yeah. There's no holes for them to try to pick through and tackles to break.
Yeah. Ashton Gente, this man won the Maxwell award as the best running back in college ball last year. What the hell does Ashton Gente have to prove? Nothing. Why, why should he should go? Why should he go out there in tights and try to prove what we see is the best running back. There was an entire conversation all fall into winter about whether or not he was going to break Barry Sanders' record. Come on now, what does he have to prove?
The answer is nothing. And then we get another guy. His last name isn't Gente. Last name isn't Carter. His last name is one of the most famous names that we've ever seen in football. His last name is Sanders.
Shadore Sanders isn't participating in the combine. Now he's going to show up. He's going to have meetings. He's going to talk. He's going to shake hands. He's going to try to show people that he's a good guy, a cordial guy.
He can look you in the eye when you speak. He's going to do all that ass kissing stuff. Does he need to participate in a combine? Is it necessary for him to compete and work out and show off?
Or does he have something to lose? All things considered, you look at Cam Ward, more of a physical freak, more of a physical specimen. If you're Shadore Sanders, and it's already expected that you're number two, do you want to show that maybe your, your physical skills and traits don't keep you in that spot? Do we want to see a Jalen Milro? If you're, if you're Shadore, do you want to see a Jalen Milro run faster than you?
We all know that guy's a freak. God only knows what he's going to do when it comes to speed, agility. We have no idea, but I can tell you he's more of an athlete than Shadore Sanders. Most of the time with Shadore Sanders, most of the time with Shadore Sanders, we see him running around behind the line of scrimmage, trying to find any space to toss a football. Nobody's going to look at Shadore and go, Oh my God, this is Jaden Daniels. He is not. Nobody's going to look at him and go, Hey, this is Cam Newton. He's not. Nobody's going to look at him and go, this is Lamar Jackson. He's not. We have no idea how he's going to work out in the NFL. He could sink or swim. It doesn't matter what his last name is.
So I got to be honest. I got no problem with him not competing in the combine. None.
Zero. This man is going to get drafted into the NFL anyway. I don't think that there's anything for him to gain. And I know I've seen people go, Oh, well, if Shadore Sanders doesn't do it, he's soft and he doesn't want to compete. And it's not mental toughness.
Come on. He's using what a lot of people have. If they could, he's using clout. He's using his dad. He's using his name. He's using his reputation. And Oh yeah, by the way, let's not act like he was a bum because he's not.
This past season, Colorado turned things around from that first year. This past season, specifically as it relates to Shadore, he threw for 4,100 yards, 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He's hearing that ball up a lot. What is he going to do without Travis Hunter?
We'll find out sooner than later, but given his standing as quarterback one or two, why risk it? Why risk anything? This is a business. You can talk about being a competitor.
You got to be smart as well. Shadore Sanders stands a chance to fall if he doesn't perform to people's specifications. If he's not fast enough, he doesn't jump high enough. If he doesn't accurately pass the ball. If a guy comes out and has a cannon and it's slightly less than his, come on.
There's no need for Shadore to be at the damn compound. Let's be honest at the same time. Picky, would you agree that despite all of the other talents that are in the draft, is he not the most famous name? Oh, by far, by far. Not even the number one prospect. Like there's, there's more for him to lose by participating in this combine than there is for him to gain. It's been said over and over again for months. This is not a strong quarterback class in the draft.
This is not the strong, we've, we've heard all of that. This man wants to get drafted. He wants to secure the highest paycheck that he can and let somebody find out how fast he can run later. It ain't no big deal. Matter of fact, someone who also doesn't believe it's a big deal is LaShawn McCoy. Nicknamed Shady McCoy.
Yeah. Former running back for those Philadelphia Eagles. He was on the facility, the show, the podcast, and he pretty much said, Shador Sanders now throwing out the combine.
No big deal. Was he trying to apply for a job or something? Like they know what he do. They got tape on them and they know who his daddy is. That's the thing though, man. It's like, everybody has so much to say, all these opinions, but the man that did it the best on every level, Deion Sanders, and that's my father, you know, what's best for me.
Listen, I know one thing. If you want a winner, you want a skilled quarterback, you need that gym. You need that gym. You need that gym. You need that gym. You need that gym. You want a skilled quarterback.
You need that gene in his blood. He has the winner. You go get your door, Sandra. Stop playing around. Yeah.
Well, winner at what level? Okay. We know what his daddy did. Now daddy can help get you in the door. Daddy can help hold your hand while you're inside. Daddy can't go out there and work. He can utilize everything that God has given him.
His ability, his skills, his talents, what's in between his ears. He can use all of that, but there's a time daddy can't throw the ball when the game starts. Dad can't tell him what to run. Dad is not going to be in his ear on a headset. This is not high school.
This is not college. And yeah, we went through all of the Deion to Dallas and Deion going to the NFL and coach his son. We went through all of that.
It's not happening, not this year. So I got no problem with your door not working out at the combine. He's been helped with what he got, who he's related to. His work has spoken for itself as well. And eventually he's going to have to stand on his two feet. But between now and the draft, it's not now take advantage of every resource that's in front of you. Every single thing that you can use. And if that means not participating in the workout portion, then don't do it.
Why risk losing money when people are looking at you at number one or number two? Anyway, leave it alone. He's going to compete at his pro day where he's more comfortable up in Boulder. And that should be enough. Marvin Harrison a workout last year. That's another guy with a big famous name. Not everybody needs this combine is for people trying to climb the ranks. People trying to prove something. Sometimes you have to weigh the risk versus the reward.
As simple as that. It's the JR sport re show here with you on the infinity sports network. We are just getting started. You can call me up 855-212-4227.
That's 855-212-4227. I'm looking at a tweet right now that already came in. Somebody says that they don't like when the guys don't participate in the combine shows that they're not tough. I'm like, man, toughness don't have nothing to do with this. It's all about business. It's all about smarts. The phone lines open if you want to give me a holler.
That's 855-212-4227. I told you we got so much more to get into. Matthew Stafford is looking for big money to play quarterbacks somewhere in the NFL. Kirk Cousins is trying to get cut by the Falcons.
I think we've realized that after he threw them underneath the bus. We'll talk about Giancarlo Stanton. We'll talk about the tush push of maybe getting banned.
There's an NFL team that wants to ban it. We'll get into the Lakers. We'll talk about the Knicks.
Matter of fact, when we come back, we'll talk about a team not worth a damn. It's because they're starting center. Well, he might as well play basketball with crutches. His name is Joel Embiid.
You want to talk about weighing risk versus reward. Look at that guy. We'll get into that on the other side of the break.
Happy Monday to you. It's the JR Sport Brief Show, the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief.
It's the JR Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. We open up the show talking about Shadore Sanders and Ashton Gente and Abdul Carter. Three NFL prospects who will not be competing in the physical portions of this week's NFL combine.
And for all three men, where's the upside? Abdul Carter is probably the number one overall prospect in the entire draft. Ashton Gente just had the best season of a running back in college football since some guy named Barry Sanders. And then Shadore Sanders, well, his last name is Sanders, Sanders. And he ain't too shabby himself.
He's projected to be number one or two when it comes down to quarterback selected. So why would you go out there and risk it? I got no problem. You got to take advantage of what's in front of you.
You got to you got to work the system the best way that you can, if you can, the way the system tries to work you. Good on all these guys. If you don't got to work out, if you don't have nothing to gain, if it's too risky, then damn it, don't do it. Yeah, it's a game. It's a business as well. Don't risk it.
855-212-4227. Speaking of risking it, I feel like every time this guy is trying to do his job, he's risking it. His mind, his body, I don't know about his soul, but watching him play basketball. It's just it's an accident waiting to happen. I'm talking about Joel Embiid. Hickey, every time I see Joel Embiid play basketball, it's like watching it's like watching it's like watching a kid run around with scissors like you, you know, something bad is going to happen. You want to get the scissors before there's a catastrophe.
And Joel Embiid going up and down the basketball court. It's just a matter of just a matter of when. I like that analogy because it's almost kind of like with a kid, like you're kind of your eyes are closed, right? Because you don't want to see the danger. Maybe you have one eye kind of poking through.
You're holding your breath constantly. Like you said, it's not an if, it's when. It's crappy, but it's the reality. And Joel Embiid has had an interesting couple of years. Finally wins MVP over Jokic.
Seems like that was his only goal. Then he breaks his face again. And he has bad knees. What else is new? Everything on his body is just always busted up. Then last year, man, he went through some stretches where he was busting ass. He's like, hey, I got you 60 points.
I got you 70 points. It's like, oh, well, his knee hurts. OK, what else is new? His body always hurts. And then Jonathan Kuminga fell on his knee. And then he had to miss some time.
And he came back and he was a bum. And then he went to the Olympics and played for Paris, where he stole him. Picky, is it possible to steal a gold medal? If so, Embiid was the closest right by far for that. Joel Embiid said, Team USA, I get myself a gold medal. Get myself an MVP.
Got myself a gold medal. Why the hell not? So Joel Embiid tried to play basketball over the summertime. He did. I don't I wouldn't I don't think anybody would say he was the deciding factor in Team USA walking away with the gold or the gold.
But he contributed, I think, for like a quarter. And so good for Joel Embiid. And so he plays in quotation marks basketball over the summertime. He shows back up to training camp in October in Philadelphia. And he's telling everybody, he's like, hey, I'm busted up. I don't I don't I don't think I'm going to play back to backs.
People like, what? You just won a gold medal and now you can't play anymore. You're just collecting half a salary. Mind you, the Philadelphia 76ers are committed to paying Joel Embiid for almost four more years.
Two hundred and fifty million dollars. In the last year, his contract, he's scheduled to make 70 mil. By the time we get to twenty twenty eight and twenty twenty nine, Joel Embiid, his best job might be changing light bulbs at the 76ers facility or he may sprain his kneecaps doing that.
And so we've heard all this nonsense for the past several months. His knees not good. He doesn't need to play. He needs to play. He needs to rest.
He needs to sit. The man can't stay healthy. I mean, over the past several games, he's had a lot of problems with his knees. He can't stay healthy. I mean, over the past several games, he's only averaging about 15 points. He can't play in the fourth quarter. It looks like he has a Michelin tire wrapped around his knee.
That's how bad of a condition it is. And it's pathetic. And it's kind of sad watching him try to play basketball, of which he's only done a whopping 19 times this season. Last year, it was 16 games. This sucks for Joel Embiid. And so now, realistically, we've gotten these conversations about whether or not the Sixers need to shut him down. They gave Paul George a big contract. Paul George has been getting injections and injections in his knees. He needs a needle to go play. He hasn't had a year this bad.
Averaging points in the teens like this because he was like a rookie. The 76ers look like a team that's going absolutely nowhere. And then we got news just a couple of hours ago that Joel Embiid is he's out today. The 76ers are trying to figure out whether or not they're ultimately going to shut him down. He's he's checking in with doctors.
Just what are you playing for? The Sixers ain't winning nothing. Joel Embiid needs to take time off. Have whatever surgical procedure he needs. I don't know how many knee surgeries that at this point.
Stop counting. He needs to rest. Maybe go on a diet. I know it sounds crazy to say follow Zion, but everybody's saying Zion lost a crap ton of weight.
Good for him. Joel Embiid just needs to get into shape. Well, sounds impossible. He needs to try to look like the version of himself. I don't know.
Coming out of Kansas. Impossible. I get it. He's 30 years old now, but lose some weight. Have your surgical procedure. Sit your ass at home. Come back and try to play basketball next year.
Not sound like some seven foot gigantic whiner. Come on. Poor Nick Nurse, the head coach of the 76ers. He had to answer some of this crap yesterday. This is the latest update on Joel Embiid.
I want you to listen. You can pretty much apply this to every day of the week for the past several years. I think they're trying to do, you know, all the things that they think are necessary each and every day to try to get it better. I mean, I would agree with you that he's not moving nearly as well as he was.
And we were hoping maybe some conditioning rhythm, that kind of stuff would would get that going. But it doesn't appear that way right now. When has Joel Embiid ever looked healthy? Like for a sustained stretch of time, when has Joel Embiid ever looked good? I mean, when the guy won the MVP award, he played in a whopping 66 games. Come on now. Come on now. In the season, the year before his career high games played was 68 the year before.
Yeah, let me read this off to you. Not remembering, you know, him missing the beginning of his career with foot issues when he finally started to play in 2016. 31 games, 63 games, 64, 51, 51, 68, 66, 39, 19.
He's 30 years old. Is anybody expecting this to get better for Joel Embiid? Joel Embiid isn't expecting this to get better. But he knows his bank account is going to get fatter.
Down more, he screwed himself. Four years, 250 million dollars. Well, this contract is not going to age nicely. His 76ers might as well suck the rest of the season, try to get a draft pick. If it's top six, they get to keep it. You might as well tank at this point. The guy who has to suffer the most is the dude who actually still plays basketball.
That's Tyrese Maxey. As Joel Embiid and Paul George just kind of sit away and rot on the bench. The 76ers are ashamed. They should be ashamed of themselves. 855-212-4227.
That's 855-212-4227. We're going to take a break. When we come back, I'm going to tell you about another athlete just always hurt.
I mean, modern technology, you think you give these guys a shot, maybe you give them a new body part, maybe good to go. We're going to talk about Giancarlo Stanton. And then unfortunately, I got to talk to you about an NBA head coach. He's not in the best of health.
His coaching career might be done. I'll tell you who it is on the other side of the break. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief show on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief.
It is the JR Sport Brief show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Oh, that umbrella he's referring to? Yeah, my guy Eddie downstairs returned it.
You know, you lend stuff to people, you never get it back. Money, tools, an umbrella. Yeah, a guy in the neighborhood is like, Hey, JR need an umbrella. I'm like, I'm going to work. He's like, I need an umbrella. You're going to work.
You'll be dry inside. I'm like, okay. Like, I'll never see that umbrella again when I get out of here.
He gave me my umbrella back. Shout out to my main man, Eddie. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. I need to let you know that this portion of the show is brought to you by Ethos Life, the easy way to get life insurance in 10 minutes, up to $2 million in coverage with no medical exam, just a few health questions.
Get your free quote at checkethos.com. Not available in all states. Before we went to break, and you heard it from Rich Ackerman as well in the news break, that Joel Embiid, it's only a matter of time. His body is basically a ticking time bomb. He's going to need to have another surgical procedure on his knee before he can hope to just be healthy enough to get out onto the court. 19 games played this season. Man, he can't even get through these games.
So they should just shut him down for the year. We know it's February. NBA just finished up its All-Star break.
I don't need to remind you how much of a dump or crap show that was. But at this time of the year, it's also when Major League Baseball gets started in spring training. We got teams and players all over the country, from Arizona down to Florida, who are getting ready. Now the crazy thing is, when we get to February, there's always guys with injuries.
Is it? Before we ever get to the start of the regular season, there's always dudes who are going to go down. Hickey and I mentioned, I think, one or two of them so far. Sean Minaiah with the New York Mets is down with an oblique issue. John Carlos Stanson, despite his hot end to last season and the postseason, where he had seven home runs, he said that John Carlos Stanson hasn't been able to swing a bat in about a month and that he's in danger of starting the regular season in about a month.
He's behind the eight ball. And they're saying he has issues with his elbows, that he has issues with his elbows dating back to last season, where all things considered, he hit 27 home runs and drove in 72 RBIs. Now I don't think anybody is going to confuse John Carlos Stanson with what he did in Miami. I don't think we're going back to that version anytime soon, where he did win an MVP. The New York Yankees said, oh, hell yeah, we'll bring him on.
And he's closer to the end than he is to the beginning. There's about three years left on his contract and the Yankees are trying to get rid of him and wish him sayonara as soon as possible. Despite these postseason numbers, he's never healthy. And so it's been reported that he's no longer in Florida training with the team, that eventually he's going to need some type of imaging done on his elbows. But then the manager of the New York Yankees, Aaron Boone, is just like, hey, he's in New York on personal reasons.
And I don't know his personal reasons, none of my business. It's just a shame that John Carlos Stanson, I'm not going to put him in the Joel Embiid category. Or maybe we can.
There's just always something. John Carlos Stanson could run the bases and just have a twinge in his knee or his calf and be out for like two or three weeks or a month. Hickey, is it fair to compare him and Embiid? These are two MVPs. They played at the top of their game, the top of their sport.
Never healthy. Similar comparison. I know John Carlos about five years older than Embiid, but pretty similar now that I think about it. Yeah, I think Embiid in terms of percentage wise, I'm sure has missed a little bit more action. Half, right? Half?
More? I mean, it's basically half right of the games in his career. So at least John Carlos a little bit healthier, but you are, it does feel like they both are always dealing with something.
To their credit, I guess Embiid's credit, if you will, here for a little bit. He is, he does play through a lot. He's not like kind of a wuss where he, you know, chips a fingernail and he's out for two weeks. He does play through a lot of pain.
So does Stanton as well. They both produce at a high level, but you're right. It feels like every year there's always something these guys are dealing with. They're never healthy. Now it's more of a question again of when they get hurt and how long will they be out for versus, oh man, hopefully this is a good year for him health-wise.
Yeah, they might as well be the same, the same damn guy. It's unfortunate and I don't know. Maybe the athletes are working too hard. Maybe they're not working enough. I'm not a professional athlete and maybe Giancarlo Stanton needs to do more yoga. We heard last year about how much weight he lost.
It's like there's no solution. It's like Giancarlo Stanton tried yoga. Giancarlo Stanton, you know, is not lifting as heavy as he used to. Maybe his body's just crap. It's just what it is.
There's always something. He's probably going to miss the beginning of the season and I'm sure throughout the course of the year, Giancarlo Stanton, some way, somehow, somewhere will miss like a month. That's just, just how it goes. Which leads me to another ridiculous injury before I tell you about something terrible. Icky, how the hell did Dustin May tear his throat eating a salad? How's that?
Is that? We've had some dumbass injuries in the world of sports. Joel Zumaya playing too much Guitar Hero. He had carpal tunnel in his arm. Okay.
All right. That's the excuse that he gave. Glenn Allen Hill broke a table having a nightmare about spiders. Jeff Kent says that he, you know, was it his wrist or hand? He broke it cleaning his motorcycle. We've had guys cut themselves, you know, peeling apples.
Icky, the guy tore his esophagus eating a salad. What would you, what's the phrase to use here for like the opposite of a medical miracle? The opposite of a miracle? Is it something bad? Right? Like a tragedy? Because like sometimes people get healthy or it's like, wow, it was a medical miracle that, that, you know, that person survived or they're able to come out of this or the surgery worked.
Whatever the opposite of that would, that phrase would be, this, that feels like how you would describe Dustin May. Like, I have no idea how that happened. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no idea. If you messaged me and said, JR, I'm going to be out a while. I can't come to work. I tore my throat. Hickey man, I wouldn't even text you back. Well, you said, no, you said you got a torn throat. I guess I'd have to think that went through the guys, a torn throat. I would, I would decide to call you, but I'd be like, how did you, were you swallowing knives? Like how do you tear your esophagus? And if you told me you had a piece of salad lodged in your throat, it's, it's water. Like it's a sharp ass piece of salad. Like what? There's nothing about a leaf filled with water.
What are we doing? Did he chew it? I mean, that was the problem. He did chew. Does he have like teeth that provide or that cut down food that turns them into spears as he's swallowing? This is just bad.
Change your chewing technique. Dustin May earlier today, back on the bump. First time in 648 days. Wow. Because of a torn esophagus.
You can't make this stuff up. He suffered a torn esophagus while out to dinner with his wife and friends and had to be rushed into surgery. Oh my God. A piece of salad got stuck in May's throat. He swallowed some water and attempt to clear it, but that did not work. As soon as the water hit the salad in my throat, just full body on fire, rushed to the emergency room, got a CAT scan, drank some contrast fluid. Contrast fluid did not go to my stomach. It went into my chest. May was rushed into surgery. Procedure was completed at 7 a.m.
Remained in the hospital for another 11 days before being released. The salad just got lodged in my throat a certain way. Instead of going down, it went out. I would have been six feet under that that night. Oh my God.
Hickey, what's the next? Some guy chokes on yogurt. Like, is that nice? I'm saying I'm glad the guy's alive. OK, we see plenty of people, unfortunately, you know, choke and you see and hear these stories.
Hamlet maneuvers save somebody's life. And I'm glad that the man is here. But having your throat torn up because you ate a salad is bad. He's one guy. He said if he never ate another vegetable in his life, I wouldn't blame him at all. I'm happy that he's back.
And at least he took some heat here off of Giancarlo Stanton and Joel Embiid. Hickey will never hear Zion Williamson say that. Never. Never. I don't know if he knows what a salad tastes like. It looks good now. Maybe he does. They say he lost.
He hasn't been this light since his rookie year. Wow. OK. Change to man. All right. OK. And pelicans still suck. But all right. To each his own.
It's the JR Sportbree show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Do yourself a favor. Don't don't die eating the salad.
Salads are supposed to be your friends. We're going to take a break. We come back on the other side of the break. I told you there's a coach. Well, coaching career might be done. I'm going to tell you what is on the other side of the break and then we're going to get into a quarterback. His time in Los Angeles might be done. Matthew Stafford is looking for big money. He's trying to see whether or not the Los Angeles Rams will give it to him. It's the JR Sportbree show coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We have so much more to get into. So don't move.
