It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in and hanging out all over North America on this Friday afternoon, this Friday evening.
It depends on where you live. I'm just happy that you're here. You got a busy Friday. It's March Madness and we have an NFL quarterback who just signed a contract. No, it's not Aaron Rodgers.
I'm going to tell you who it is in a second. The show gets started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. You can always listen on the free Odyssey app, your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate. You got Sirius XM, it's channel 375. And if you got a smart speaker, ask the speaker. Talk to the machine. Yeah, treat it like it's 2025.
Tell it to play the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you to our producer holding it down in New York City. Thank you to Ryan Botcher.
And thank you to you again for listening. I'm going to give you an update on all the scores and information in March Madness. And we have so much to do.
We've already done a lot. Hey, thank you to our guests in the first hour. Scott Doctorman joining us from The Athletic. How about we'll have another guest in about 20 minutes to talk about what McNeese did and what it might do against Purdue. We're going straight to Rhode Island. Jim Gazzolo is going to join us.
He covers all things McNeese for the American Press in St. Charles, Louisiana. And McNeese is a very interesting story from its equipment manager to his head coach who, well, he might be on his way out the door. Here's some other current scores before I tell you what quarterback is just going to be a new face in a new place. At this moment, Florida leads Norfolk State 53 to 32 at halftime. Kentucky, they lead Troy, just went on a little bit of a run. Kentucky leads Troy 33 to 24. It's about 90 seconds to go in the first half. Troy was playing them real close, but Kentucky has given themselves some breathing room.
Uh-oh. New Mexico, they lead Shaka Smart and Marquette 26 to 19. About five minutes to go in the first half. Arizona and Akron, they just got underway. Arizona leads 11 to 8. Next hour, we'll have a UConn and Oklahoma. The other games for the rest of the night, the evening, we have Illinois and Xavier, Michigan State versus Bryant, and then Oregon and Liberty.
We'll keep you up to date on all the basketball news and the games as it continues on. And on the other side of the fence, on the football side, we do have some news. According to Jordan Schultz from Fox, he's reporting that Jamis Winston is finalizing a two-year, $8 million deal with the New York Giants. Yep, that's not Aaron Rodgers. That's Jamis Winston. And so, as it stands, Jamis Winston going to the New York Giants, you would assume that he would be their starting quarterback, unless they also draft a quarterback.
The New York Giants have the third overall pick in next month's draft. Now, the other quarterback they have on the contract, it's the guy who lives like down the block. His mom washes his laundry. She's making him, I don't know. I don't know what the heck. Ryan, what is she making him for dinner? I don't know. She's making him chicken coloreds for dinner and doing his laundry.
He's living a life, making him hot pockets and he's living a good life. Tommy DeVito, that's the other quarterback that the New York Giants currently have on their roster. And so Jamis Winston, you would have to believe he was given, he's been told, I'm almost sure, Joe Douglas told him, you're going to have, say again? Joe Shane. The Joe, Douglas Shane?
What am I missing? Yeah, Shane's the GM prime. Douglas was the Jets guy. Oh, Joe. Oh yeah, Joe Douglas got the boot.
He's already gone fishing. Yeah, Joe Shane is the guy who unfortunately had to be driven through the mud last year. And as all of his embarrassing moves were documented via HBO. Thank you for that, Ryan, mixing up my New York Giants GMs who are getting the boot. You would know that Shane told Winston, you're going to get a chance and an opportunity to go out here and start.
That's it. We're not guaranteeing you a starting job or starting a position, but you'll get the opportunity because it would be crazy still if the New York Giants didn't select a quarterback, at least to develop. And I don't know, is that going to be Chador Sanders?
We'll find out next month. I mean, we've seen crazier things happen here in Atlanta, Georgia. The Falcons are still dealing with the crazy as they gave Kirk Cousins like $60 million guaranteed over the first two years of his contract and still decided to select Michael Pennix Jr. at number eight overall. And now the Falcons are left with a quarterback that they don't want a little smaller of an investment by only giving Jamis Winston $4 million a year. The New York Giants are just they must feel well, this is this is a reactionary move. Aaron Rodgers ain't going to the New York Giants and we've discussed this for weeks. Why would Aaron Rodgers go to the New York Giants unless he just wants to, you know, end his career looking like a crayon? I mean, this is the worst thing possible when you have a future Hall of Famer, you have someone of Aaron Rodgers caliber, somebody who's won four MVPs and you're basically playing connect the dots at the end of their career. Not everybody's going to get that Tom Brady is send off, and even him last season, stunk. But the guy basically left the New England Patriots, went to the Bucks in 2020, won a championship in his first year.
And it's just like, oh, great. Montana wishes that he got this, OK? Aaron Rodgers would look silly in a Giants uniform.
Why? Because he gets to throw the ball to the league neighbors. He wants to save the ass of of Deball and Shane, like, well, why would he want to do that? Like he's done that already back with the New York Jets and it didn't save anybody's behind. Aaron Rodgers told everybody out the gate, hey, if this doesn't work, I know I'm gone. Salah is gone. Everybody's gone. Joe Douglas is gone.
And then Woody Johnson wanted to get rid of all of them, and he did. Why would Aaron Rodgers want a part two of that? On a team that's going to be a part two of the team that has historically been one of the flag bearers of the NFL, but now they stink. And so Aaron Rodgers was actually visiting in Pittsburgh today with the Steelers. We learned earlier in the week that the Minnesota Vikings do not want anything to do with Aaron Rodgers, and so he decided to make a move and visit the Steel City. He has been very open and honest between him and Mike Tomlin about their affinities, a shared affinity for each other. And so today he was at their facility reportedly for several hours.
Good. I wonder if he ran into Cam Hayward. We heard from Cam Hayward earlier in the week. He was sitting around on his Not Just Football podcast and he pretty much was asked, hey, are you going to recruit Aaron Rodgers? And Cam Hayward was just like, man, I ain't going on no darkness retreat. He needs to hurry up and make up his damn mind.
Do you remember this? Listen, I want to play football. I'm tired of talking about the quarterback situation. I'd rather have it done.
I don't know what ends up happening. I'm ready to move on in the free agency. He said, I don't need to go on a darkness retreat. He says, Aaron Rodgers needs to hurry up. Now, is that style said this was the worst was the words that he said, was it going to stop Aaron Rodgers from going to the Steelers?
No, I think it's quite apparent. I'd be shocked at this point if Aaron Rodgers decided to just hang it up. I would like, why are you sitting around taking meetings if, if you were just going to retire, if he was just going to leave, he would have done so by now. The guy did finish the season with the New York Jets with 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
He does have something left in the tank. I think Minnesota would have been great and I would have been mad for him at him for going to Minnesota. Why wouldn't I want to throw the ball at Justin Jefferson and Addison? Why would I want to do that?
We've got reunite with Aaron Jones, who I played with, with the Green Bay Packers. Why would I not want to do that? They don't want them. They don't want the trouble going to go with JJ McCarthy. Now that's well within their right. And now the Pittsburgh Steelers, I think their best option is to move forward and bring in Aaron Rodgers.
That's it. Like what other choices does Aaron Rodgers have every place that he could or would have potentially gone? That door has been shut unless he sits around until August and then who wants to just shotgun a relationship? Like all the places he could have gone, they're finished. He has no choice but to go to the Steelers if he wants to have a legitimate chance of playing for a team that would go to the postseason because it ain't the New York Giants.
God knows that. The Steelers just went out and traded for DK Metcalf. They have George Pickens already on the roster. I know one guy that just left the team, Najee Harris, he's not all that, well he's going to be happy out in Los Angeles playing for the bolts, but I know he's not going to miss the Steelers.
As a matter of fact, this is pretty interesting. Just this week, after signing his contract to receive handoffs from Justin Herbert, Najee Harris was on KCal News and he pretty much said the Steelers are offense since Ben Roethlisberger left. Man, we don't have it. We did not have an identity.
Listen to this. It was just a team where we lost Ben, we lost a lot of O-line. We just didn't know anything on offense really. We didn't have an identity. We had a young guy coming out quarterback.
I was young, the team was young, and I really didn't have nobody to almost learn from the offensive side. I think the veteran guy on that team was like a two, three-year vet. Yeah. The musical chairs game is just about over in the NFL. Almost.
Almost. And by the way, the Pittsburgh Steelers also met with the guy who runs a 4-3, a 40-yard dash in Jalen Monroe. There's nothing to say that the Steelers don't select him. I think the Steelers grab at number 22 of the draft. There's only two guys left, two vets that are worth a damn.
And I'm not talking about the Joe Flockels of the world. He'll end up somewhere being a backup and maybe he goes home and sits on his couch until he gets sick and tired of his kids. We got Russell Wilson who also met with the New York Giants.
And we have Aaron Rodgers. You think about Russell Wilson, how does he feel today? He met with the New York Giants. He met with the Cleveland Browns. Where the hell does Russell Wilson go to continue his career? And then you got Aaron Rodgers, who I guess, and if you're Russell Wilson, would you go back to the Steelers? I guess they would get back together if Aaron Rodgers doesn't go. But at that case, it's just, I don't know, it's like an ugly couple breaking up and deciding to get back together. It's just like, hey, you're ugly. I'm ugly.
We tried it, but let's just go ahead and try it again just so we're not lonely. That'd be a terrible situation for the Steelers. But congratulations to Jameis Winston. He'll get an opportunity in New York. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the starter and then eventually made way for a rookie quarterback.
Maybe it is a Shadore Sanders. More important for Jameis, regardless of how many interceptions he throws, he is going to be gold in New York City. He is already quotable. He goes viral every week, every time he opens up his mouth. Jameis Winston is on the Internet.
I mean, Fox hired him to be their digital correspondent. Jameis may be up in New York. He may never leave. He may retire.
The guy is only 30 years old. Jameis threw 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. This is a very Jameis year. It's like that year in Tampa.
He threw like 33 touchdowns to 30 interceptions. He's going to keep it split down the middle. He might strike gold in New York on TV. Congratulations to Jameis Winston.
Now it's just a matter of seeing who's who's the competition? Is it going to be a rookie? I would think so.
I don't think the Giants would bring in a vet. And Joe Shane and Brian Dabol, it looks like they're going to they're going to get a little bit of wiggle room as they develop this thing out in New York. I think so. I think they're going to they're going to take a rookie.
You know, we'll talk more about this as the show continues on. March Madness is in full swing. March Madness is rolling on right now. This minute. Florida leads Norfolk State 66 to 44.
They just got underway. Five minutes have gone by in the second half. Kentucky. Man, they lead they lead Troy 35 to 27 at the half.
Marquette. They're trailing New Mexico 32 to 27. Almost at the half, about 90 seconds to go.
And then we have Arizona leading Akron 19 to 16. We'll keep you up to date on the games as they continue on. You're listening to the JR Sport Reshow on the Infinity Sports Network. We are going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to have a chat with someone who is covering what I find to be the most interesting story in the entire tournament. Jim Gazzolo is going to join us from the American president in St. Charles, Louisiana. The team that he's covered or he covers and has covered for the past 15 years, McNeese. There's so many stories from the equipment manager who has an NIL deal to their coach who is going to leave.
We're going to talk all things McNeese on the other side with Jim Gazzolo. You're locked into the JR Sport Reshow Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Reshow here with you Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. Waiting on Jim Gazzolo to join us here from the American press down in St. Charles to talk some McNeese Cowboys basketball. I just shot him a text. He said that he is on the way to join us in a second.
So once we have Jim on the line, we'll talk all things Cowboys. To give you a quick update on what we got going on in March Madness right now, this very minute, this very second. Of course, we got a lot in action right now. We have Florida still beating a snot out of Norfolk State 68 to 46. We got Kentucky at halftime beating Troy 35 to 27. At halftime, we have Marquette trailing New Mexico.
This is certainly not a good by any stretch of the imagination. 35 to 22. Arizona leading Akron 25 to 16. And then we got to wait a little while longer for UConn in Oklahoma. I told you I'm waiting on that one.
Expecting that to be a waiting for an embarrassment on that side of things. We got Xavier in Illinois. We got Michigan State versus Bryant to see what Tom Izzo can do coming out of another tournament appearance. We have Oregon taking on Liberty and that'll go ahead and wrap us up for the remainder of today.
I can't believe how much basketball that we've we've had and that we've witnessed here just just over the past two days. And I told you, one of the biggest stories that I've I personally have taken an interest in is McNeese, a team that came out of out of nowhere, out of western Louisiana. And they basically they walk away with their first March Madness victory ever.
After four appearances, they upset Clemson yesterday, 69 to 67. And there are so many crazy stories coming out of McNeese, you know, thinking about their head coach, Will Wade, who formerly was the head coach at LSU. Thinking about their equipment manager, Amir Khan, who is just like a global Internet celebrity right now. This man has, in a crazy sense. One of the he has deals.
With insomnia cookies. This guy has NIL deals with with speaker companies. It tells you the power of social media when you have someone who just is a is a kid, he's the equipment manager, like the cheerleaders out here wearing his socks. He's prime time. He's big time. And I know every year we have we have somebody who steps up that's outside of the game.
That's outside of basketball. Come on. Everybody remembers Sister Jean. Sister Jean, God bless us. One hundred and five years old. I mean, we've stepped into a different place.
Sister Jean Loyola is not here. We're at a completely different space right now. And we're having Amir Khan, who's a student who walks out as deals with tick pick and. College basketball is nice, right? Who would have ever thought that the equipment manager would have himself a deal? And even outside of someone like Will Wade, who's coming on. He's on his way out and he's here with us joining us. He covers McNeese.
He's done so for the past 15 years. Is Jim Gazzolo joining us live from Rhode Island? Jim, how are you doing? Good. How you guys doing? Good. Thank you for the time.
Really appreciate it. We were we're talking about this this crazy story that we've all witnessed to over the past couple of weeks. But this is this isn't anything new to you outside of all of the success. You've covered this team a long time. This has to be the biggest moment in the program history, no? Oh, probably the biggest moment in the school's history. No question about it. No, we saw some bad basketball for 15 years. Trust me, some bad basketball.
So when you when you think about what's going on right now, is everybody able is everybody able to just kind of soak it all in? Because we all see the rumors about Coach Will Wade, you know, potentially moving on to NC State. Is everybody kind of pushed that to the side down in Lake Charles of how they have ignored it? Well, I think they've they've ignored it because they realized he was just a rental anyway. But the thing is, they took him in when no one else would take him in. And he came to us after two hurricanes when no one else would come to us. So there's kind of a mutual thing of he's not going to leave us dry.
We don't think and you know, when he goes, he's going to go and that's what he's done for us now. Jim Gazzolo joining us from the American press covers all things McNeese basketball. When the season started, did you think that this was a possibility for the school? Yeah, I mean, based on what I saw them build on last year, I thought it depended on the seed. They were going to win the conference.
There was no question about it. They have more talent than they had last year. They got to the NCAA tournament. But you really needed the right seed because they can't compete with everybody. There's a certain team they can't compete with. And like Gonzaga last year, an experienced team that with size, McNeese only had one player that had ever been in the NCAA tournament.
He played like five minutes for TCU. This team now he went out and he got some kids that were playing at mid major or they were playing majors that were coming down. And it was kind of can they fit together more? There's more talent here, but are they going to be a better team? So yeah, I thought they had a chance if they got the right draw.
So I thought draw. Well, when you talk about some of that talent that that's come in, America doesn't know who these guys are. I see Reid comes in from Providence and he's dropping points all over the place. Like who are some of the talents that we need to pay attention to as they play against Purdue next? Well, I think the big the big thing is Brandon Murray, who he had at LSU as a freshman is a big-time player. He's played at LSU. He's played at Georgetown. He's put numbers up. Sincere Parker has put numbers up.
He scored about 16 a game last year at St. Louis, which is a nice program. But they're not household names because they weren't on winning programs. So you didn't see them a lot. But they're good players. Now are they Purdue type players? Are they Clemson type players? No.
As individuals, no. Collectively though, they've bought into this mentality of we're kind of here on a redemption tour. Our coach is here on a redemption tour to, you know, he's going to rebuild himself and get out of here.
We're going to rehabilitate ourselves and we're going to look for the portal. So that's kind of accepted. And I think that they've all worked for that goal. Jim Gonzalez joining us from the American Press covers McNeese Cowboys basketball. When you talk about that goal or the talent that they have in, how confident are you that they're going to be able to compete with Purdue tomorrow? They're pretty long and athletic.
I would say Purdue's going to be, you know, Purdue's going to be the favorite. They're going to have to do the same things they did against Clemson, which is come out and play hard right away. Try to jump on them and try to hang on.
That's kind of it. They're going to have to make shots. They did not make shots the other night. Their big three shooters were one for 15 from the floor. They can't do that again. They need production from guys like DJ Richards, Joe Charles, and the player of the year, Javon Garcia, in the league.
He only had two points. You got to get more than that from your stars. But they do have the ability to compete athletically with the backup players, kind of the bench guys that come off the bench. And it's interesting to see they'll probably play more minutes if it's a competitive athletic game. But I think they can compete, whether they can win or not.
I think two in a row would be a little much to ask for. Let me ask you this, Jim. I think even maybe bigger than any of the players and certainly more social media attention than the coach is the manager, Amir Khan. They have nicknamed this guy Aura. Is he as popular of a celebrity right now in Rhode Island as anybody?
More so. He got more media attention at the practice day than anybody. He's been on NBC News tonight. He's been on Good Morning America. He's been on ESPN. He's been all over the Internet. It is an amazing. He's a great kid.
I do a TV show, a local TV show down there once a week on the news. And he was one of the and he was the guest right off the bat after it hit. I did a story on him in the paper and I was like, this is a pretty funny story.
And then you get in and meet him and talk to him. And he's really got a funny story. He's actually a living on campus legend when it comes to intramural sports. And that's the amazing thing.
And so explain, explain, please. Well, he's kind of a shorter guy. But apparently talking to some of the football players that they would have an intramural team that they would coach, their linebacker was an All-American told me, man, that guy, that guy dropped three touchdowns on us in a playoff game.
And then I found out that in a and then he dropped four threes to beat us in a basketball intramural game. Oh, wow. Okay. All right. Okay.
There's a little something for you guys. The Nationals don't know yet. Yeah. When are we going to see some of the action? They're not going to throw them out onto the court, right? I don't think so. But everybody's demanding it, probably.
That's amazing. And so all things considered, he is I mean, it's one thing to be an unknown enough. We've heard his story now for a few weeks.
It's just now taking it to another level. All things considered, he's going to be able to handle all of this. I know he has marketing deals and whatnot. He's going to be fine with this attention, right? Yeah, I think so, because he's a very well-grounded kid. He's a good student. He actually wanted to be a sports journalist when I did the interview with him. And now he says, you know, maybe the coaching thing is in it for me, because we'll wait for the kind of a G.A.
job wherever he goes next year, I hear. But yeah, I think that I think that they can handle it because they're all kind of this vagabond group of guys that have come from different places and blended together. Didn't know each, you know, half of them didn't know each other last year. And they've all kind of blended together in this town that accepted them and said, yeah, come here for a year and we'll see where we go. Hey, it sounds like the modern era of college basketball. Let's just slap everybody together for one year and see what happens. Knowing the success that McNeese has had, not just last year, but this year, and even thinking about a lot of the changes that you just described, that we know are inevitable, is there even a thought to sustaining some of this success into the future?
Or is it just like, you know what, let's just go along for the ride? Is there something to be built off of this into the future? Yeah, there is, because they have because of the hurricanes and that they have the nicest arena in the league. They have a very good and I think they're like fourth or fifth in mid majors in NIL deals. Now some of that is Will Wade, but he has told me, because he loves the town so much, he's told me that he will not abandon McNeese no matter what, and that he will set it up with players. He will always help McNeese players. And I think we're probably, if I'm not mistaken, and I don't read the feelings wrong, I think one of his better assistants at LSU is going to be the next head coach.
So I think that everything will be set up to where there is some sustainability, at what level, I don't know, because you're never going to get the seven footers here. But I think there is on their level, I think it'll be more on a south wind conference dominance level compared to the national thing, but I think they will be able to sustain something. Hey, that's always a good thing. We always get a lot of stories, we get a lot of teams that that hit, they're here today, they're gone tomorrow, we never see from them or hear from them again. Certainly everybody is loving this story of the McNeese Cowboys. Hey Jim, I appreciate the time you joining us here on the Infinity Sports Network.
Where can people follow you and all of your work? Americanpress.com and cbslakecharles.com for the TV show. Jim, enjoy the time up in Rhode Island, have a great time, we'll be paying attention tomorrow. It's an early one, basically a noon start, 12-10, McNeese in action against Purdue. Enjoy the time out there, Jim, okay?
All right, thank you. No doubt about it, that Jim Gazzolo covers all things McNeese. He's been covering the team for the past 15 years. I mean, they have made four appearances in the NCAA tournament. Yesterday was their first victory. They were eliminated in the first round last year.
This year we've seen that they've advanced in knocking off Clemson and they are one hell of a story. We just heard this, I mean their manager is just, he's all over the place. ARA walking around, he got the speaker on his neck, he got marketing deals. What equipment manager, what team manager do you know that has a marketing deal? Welcome to 2025.
The managers I used to know, they used to mop up sweat. There ain't no marketing deal coming with that and we live in a totally completely new era and there's nothing wrong with that. Let's see what McNeese does tomorrow against Purdue. I'll be rooting for them.
I don't know if people's brackets, well they already busted so I guess it doesn't matter at this point. It's the JR Sport Breeze show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. We're going to take a break when we come back. You know, speaking of just trying to hold things together, I hope things work out for McNeese and thank you to Jim for at least laying out the fact that there is a plan for them to have maintained success. I got to talk about a basketball program on the professional side. It's been ripped down and their former owner Mark Cuban is speaking up some more about the Dallas Mavericks. We'll get into that, talk some more college basketball, but right now what else is going on in the world of sports? It's time for a news flash with Rich Ackerman. You're listening to the JR Sport Breeze.
It is the JR Sport Breeze show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much to Jim Gazzolo for joining us, Gazzolo excuse me, joining us from the American press. Covers all things McNeese basketball out of St. Charles, Louisiana.
He thinks McNeese, he'd be surprised if they go out there and knock off Purdue tomorrow. The good thing he says if Will Wade moves on, which is to be expected, pretty much all a shotgun relationship, he said that Will Wade is not going to abandon the city. He is not going to abandon the program. He's going to make sure that things are in place where the city, the school, the program can have continued success.
There's nothing worse than just all the shuffling. It's a business. College basketball is a business like everything else. Like Will Wade has to go ahead and follow the money.
You follow the money, you go out there and you follow the success. I mean, he was at LSU, had some issues out there, ended up further west in Louisiana, almost towards Texas at the border in Lake Charles. And now he's had success here over the past couple of seasons with McNeese, taking them to the tournament last year where they were eliminated in the first round and having some success this year in the first round, they go out and they beat Clemson.
So all the best to the Cowboys as they try to move on. That'll be one of the first games. That is the first game that we'll see tomorrow.
McNeese versus Purdue at 1210 p.m. Hey, also, I need to let you know that this this preview that we got right now is brought to you. This NASCAR preview is sponsored by Weather Guard Truck and Van Equipment. They're just as driven as the hardworking pros they serve. And this weekend down in Miami Homestead, I know there might be some issues out there with the weather, but all things considered, if you want to pay attention to anybody to come away with a victory, it just might be Kyle Larson, who picked up the victory down at Homestead in 2022. And he leads all active drivers with six hundred and twenty six career laps led at Homestead. So if there's anybody who's familiar with having any type of success out there, it would be him. He has six stage wins in his last seven starts.
And then he has a streak of three straight top five starts. This NASCAR race preview is sponsored by Weather Guard Truck and Van Equipment. They're just as driven as the hardworking pros they serve. See what happens over the weekend there. You know, one thing that that I appreciate and I had no idea about this, which is why we had this conversation with James, with Jim, is that there is a plan in place for when Will Wade is gone. So McNeese doesn't just fall off the face of the earth, which is great.
I think that's cool. That's quite the opposite of the Dallas Mavericks, who from the minute that they decided to trade Luka Doncic out from Dallas and North Texas and send him to Southern California, we knew that they were going straight to hell in a handbasket. There was no way that you were going to rely on Anthony Davis. The guy was traded while injured to the Mavericks and basically played one half a basketball before he got hurt again. He hasn't been seen since.
Just on the bench and playing golf while smoking a cigar. And then poor Kyrie Irving, basically the weight of the world on his shoulders carrying this team with nobody else, this guy goes out there and tears his ACL. And then you got Klay Thompson, who at this point is probably like, man, I should have just taken whatever money the Golden State Warriors offer me because he is in purgatory. And so the Dallas Mavericks have just been beat from pillar to post. They've been dragged through the mud because of this decision made by their owner, Patrick Dumont, their general manager, Nico Harrison. And there is there is no logic here. We did not trust Luka Doncic. So we traded him because we didn't want to pay him. But we can't say that. We have to tell lies to the public about their future.
And, you know, we're doing this for good reasons now and later. They're just shoveling the public crap. And nobody's buying it because everybody knows it's just a lie. Well, Mark Cuban sat down with Kirk Henderson and Mark Cuban has started to spill some beans about what happened. Matter of fact, Mark Cuban, one of the first things that he was asked, like, how did you find out about this? Mark Cuban said he was in Florida and he got the text message from Nico Harrison, except for, well, just take a listen to this. And I get a text and it was from our general manager and I thought he was asking me what I thought. And then I realized very quickly he was telling me what happened. And I told him I didn't agree with it and da da da da da and various reasons.
But it wasn't my decision to make. Yeah, he ain't the boss anymore. And that was from the podcast with Tom Segura. That is. That's crazy, because we were told that when Mark Cuban sold his shares of the Dallas Mavericks, that Mark Cuban, that that he was going to be the boss.
And ultimately, that ended up not being the case at all, that they got to a point where they just said, all right, Mark, we trust Nico. You don't have to do anything anymore. And that was it. And what is he going to say? He no longer owns the team.
He has a minority state. And so, yeah, of course, he learned about the trade and didn't agree with it. And there was more. I mean, listen to what else Mark had to say about it. The majority owner, Patrick Dumont, decided that, you know, he was comfortable with Nico Harrison, the general manager and the team he had put together, which is his choice, his choice.
I mean, and he can't totally argue with him because, you know, we went to the finals. Yes. Now I can tell you, you know, but stuff. But yeah, it was his choice and he made his choice. And so. Nothing else. He made his choice.
And what are you going to do? He's the boss. You know, which is crazy. We think about the ownership group that just bought the Boston Celtics for more than six billion dollars. They're going to keep on with Grossbeck as their president and CEO for the next three years.
Now, what does that mean? You think about the Boston Celtics, all things considered between luxury tax and and what they already have to pay in salaries, Tatum and Brown are not cheap. They just gave Tatum the most expensive contract in NBA history.
Like they're paying almost four hundred and fifty to five hundred million dollars just on payroll. And so I have no idea how long they'll be able to keep this team together. God bless them if they can. They better win a championship. They should win a championship this year. But I look at the Celtics and go, man, can they go any higher than what they are? Like eventually, like everything.
Nobody stays on top forever. And so how long is what Grossbeck going to be the president and the CEO of a team that may need a new arena because they don't own the arena, has a ridiculously high payroll and is coming off of two championships? The new owner may be enemy number one when he says, well, we got to start at least slashing some of the salary and the team may not be as complete and as competitive.
I don't know. Maybe it's just Tatum Brown and they start picking up people off the street to play for the Boston Celtics that that very well might be their future. Forget the future. Thinking about the now, this minute, this second, New Mexico and Marquette have been just neck and neck this entire game. New Mexico currently leads 46 to 42 against Marquette. It's about 14 minutes to go here in this game. We're going to take a break when we come back. I'll get you up to date on some of these other scores, some of these active games, talk about some of the things that took place earlier. And of course, at the end of the show, we'll go through a list of things that took place this day in sports history. You're locked into the JR Sportbreeze show on the Infinity Sports Network.
