The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Agents Comments On Texans, Inventing The High Five & Match Game Trial Run

Episode Date: July 13, 2020

Agents Comments On Texans, Inventing The High Five & Match Game Trial Run

Much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 12 o'clock at H-town. What's happening in lunch timers? Good afternoon to you and welcome to a Monday edition of the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. And we don't mess around here on a Monday afternoon. Russell Westbrook, not with the team.

not been there since they left last Thursday. There is a reason why. He tested positive for the coronavirus and is in quarantine. And in fact, just moments ago, released a tweet. And I will read it for you here momentarily. After we welcome you to the show, I'm Matt. Joe George is back in our 790 studios. Producing the show today is Brendan Riley.

And we are with you this afternoon until 3 o'clock. on Twitter at Russ West 44. I tested positive for COVID-19 prior to my team's departure to Orlando. I'm currently feeling well. Quarantine, looking forward to rejoining my teammates when I'm cleared. Thank you all for the well-wishes and continued support. Please get this virus. Seriously, be safe.

Mask up. Hashtag, why not? Well, Joe, it came down to two things. Either he was being a super deven and didn't want to be with his teammates for the long time down in Orlando or he had the Rona. And we figured out that at least for one of the two superstars, the answer is B. Yeah, I'm not surprised.

I think everyone's going to be in Orlando. That should be in Orlando. That can be there. And that's, you know, Hardin's not there. Luke and Bammute is not there yet. And Russell Westbrook's not there. But they're all going to get there soon. This isn't like Spencer Dinwiddie with the Nets

where they made a decision together to not play basketball. But if they were good, he probably would eventually be in Orlando. they'll get there soon. And I'm not, I'm not worried. But I think this is actually, this just shows how much their process works. This shows that they're taking the testing protocols seriously,

that they're doing it the right way. They're trying to make the bubble as safe as it possibly can be. So I think this is just another sign that so far the NBA has got this one right. Well, and again, now the question is, are we to assume the same thing at James Hardden? because him and as you mentioned Lupaamute are not the only two that are not there we did have a rocket Gibroni today

get himself in trouble I saw that Bruno Caboclo fringe rocket would be safe to say very fringy very fringy as fringy as fringy gets uh yeah he decided he wanted to go take a stroll

and was in an area where he should not have been and did not get clearance to leave the bubble or whatever you want to call it. He got caught, and he has been in quarantine for two days, and he is back in quarantine in Orlando at the bubble for eight additional days. So all the work that he did in terms of getting himself ready and individual workouts and self-quarantining and doing all the things and getting tested went out the door. Tim McMahon among four different NBA reporters.

You know how they're so thirsty for sports coverage down in the bubble, those reporters that went? Four different reporters reporting that Bruno Caboclo left the bubble erroneously and now has to sit out for 10 days. That's how boring the bubble is going to be until we start getting games. Yeah, it definitely is. That's all we're going to care about. Even though I will say the new NBA bubble life Twitter account is a great,

great follow because even just watching these guys out of their element playing bags or cornhole or going fishing is highly entertaining because you can tell these guys are already bored out of their minds. Yeah. It's just a start of things. They haven't even played an exhibition game at. They got three like warm up games to go to before they even start the regular season. I think this will be nice and simple. Once the games get going, they will lose their boredom. because in theory think about this Joe they're going to play eight games in about 14 days

they're going to be playing basketball eating sleeping and in and in reversing that order that's it they won't be spending a whole lot of time worried about fishing or who the dj is that night or if they can get on a couple of rock disney world they're going to be focusing on exclusively playing basketball but for now it's a little bit of practice and it's a lot of just sitting around, which I don't understand. Bruno, what is Bruno thinking? They have told these guys five million times what they can and cannot do. So if you were to name any player in the NBA that would not behave themselves,

get themselves ready for the start of this season and get in a quarantine, an extra bonus quarantine, was Bruno Caboccal going to be on the top of your list? No, most of you didn't even know he was there in Orlando. they thought he probably just still wasn't in the NBA even. They probably thought he didn't get invited. That he wasn't on the priority list of basketball players to be in the Orlando bubble. Do you think the NBA even knew he was there? Well, they caught him something.

Oh, hi, Bruno. What's up, man? You're doing all right? Yeah, I'm doing good. I'm just going for a stroll. What do you been doing with yourself? Oh, I play for the Rockets. You do what?

What, excuse me? And you're out here? Go back in your room seeing 10 days. That's the most significant thing that Bruno Caboclo will do in the bubble, I believe, unless the rockets get beset by injuries, is that he is the first person not to behave himself in the NBA bubble. So that's a jeopardy question for the fall of 2021. The answer is, who is Bruno Caboclo?

I would have thought it would have been a much more high-profile guy looking for a little love. I would have thought it would have been a situation where it would have taken, say, I don't know, three or four weeks before somebody didn't behind themselves? Not like three days. Not three or four days? What's that? Yeah. Not good at all.

All right, we've got quite a few things to get to on the radio show today. Do you know who didn't break the story about Bruno Covoxlos, Joe George? Woege. That'd be woege. I hesitate to say the following statement, but I'm going to say it, and then I'm going to move on to about 40 other things. I don't like politics from my athletes. I'm not a huge fan of politics from my entertainers, and I don't think I need politics from my number one NBA InfoSource guy. I was once told by the great Bill Yohman, it's important to stay in your lane.

Woge, you are the best at what you do. Stay in your lane of breaking NBA stories. Do not get in fights over anything with politicians. And if you do, you probably shouldn't drop a lot. F-bomb to him in an email. If you've not heard, he has been suspended by ESPN. Not fired. Joe, there's no way it's ever getting fired.

I mean, Wodege has the most locked-in spot ever. Wows are going to go to shexed. Yeah, I mean, if he commits a crime, it's one thing. But we're talking about, generally speaking, he's going to get away with a lot more than, say, no disrespect, Tim McMahon. Right? Yeah. Woge gets, you know, so whether it's suspension's a day, three days, five days,

I guess everybody's on Woge watch. He's in the bubble. Wait, me, he got suspended in the, and he's in the bubble? Yeah, he's got to be so bored. Oh, my God, he can't, what is it going to do? And the NBA, I saw, I think it was Mark Stein, or someone said the media protocols were different than the player protocols. They didn't get tested beforehand, so they had to quarantine for,

seven to eight days. So what was the suspension? He's locked in a room. He's basically in jail. His Twitter account is deactivated, probably, and he's locked in a room. Does he even reply to this email if he's in normal life? Interesting. Like, if there's sports going on?

No, because part of the email is about the way the NBA has handled the coronavirus and stuff. I just think he's so bored, he had to read it. I don't know. That's a hard one because I know that it will just, very political. Now, what do you have time to write the word F you to a senator? If he's trying to figure out where Anthony Davis is going to play basketball next year? Probably not. But yeah, he's very, very political. Frankly, a lot of ESPN is very, very political.

That's why I go there to get my sports headlines, and when they go to politics, I turn it off. I feel like I have a great disseminating approach to watching my television. I go to my channels that I care about to get the information that I want, and when they start going off on different tangents, I go elsewhere. And that's why this show works, because you guys come here for sports, not for ideology. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Russell Westbrook has a Rona.

At this point, he and James and Luke Bahamuta are not in Orlando. The rest of the team is. We can get to that. We've got a delay in the Astros workout from today, and we do have a name change coming. with the Washington Redskins. We don't know what the name is yet, but it's gone. Also, there is an agent survey from the athletic.

Joe George, if Bill O'Brien has a subscription to the athletic, he's probably going to get rid of it as of about, I don't know, three seconds from now. It does not treat Bill O'Brien particularly fair. Not the athletic, but 30 different agents they talk to around the NFL. And we will get to that. Plus, Pact 12 cancellation of non-conference games. It does affect the University of Houston.

And Bruce Smith with one of the dumbest answers in the history of family feud. And the eyes of Texas, stays the eyes at Texas. We have a lot to get to this afternoon. Plus, the Astros announced a couple of spring training games before their 60 game schedule. So a lot to get to this afternoon. 713-212-5-790. 713-212-5-7-90. Our time is 12-11.

It is the Matt Thomas show with the message here for oops steam cleaning. When your dogs create messes inside your home, you'd like to be able to think you can clean them, but you probably can't. The stains are there. The smells are there as well. Let oops take care of all of that with a phone call to 281-8-2-2-0-561. They only use true steam cleaning. And it's a company that started right here in Houston, and they've grown to a dozen trucks. The trucks have puppies in the side, and they never use contract labor like

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If you're just joining us, where you've been, B, we're damn glad to have you. And you may join us today at 713, 212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Joe George is in for Ross. Ross will be back next Monday. So we look forward to having the whole gang back together And Joe can start sleeping late again Until 2.15, 2.30 every afternoon.

That's not what happens. I'm not Ross. That is true. For a man, I mean, no matter what time he works, He sleeps till the hour before he has to be at work. I feel like at some point he's got to be like oversleeping though at this point, right? Like he's probably slept too much in the last two weeks. Probably so. Yeah, he hasn't been with us since

It's been two weeks plus two days, and then he's on, this is technically a vacation week. The man hasn't worked on a month. I think he hasn't worked since. I think I legit think June 24th. Who's Ross? Yeah, I know exactly. What if he comes back with like a haircut? If you don't know, Ross Verreal has long flowing locks.

Do you think he comes back plus 10, minus 10, or right at the same? Sorry, Ross. I'm going to say plus 10. Yeah, I don't think so, too. single guy by himself probably just order and like food all the time whatever you want drinking like I mean that's what I'd be doing

that's true all right 713212-5790 if you want to be a part of our show this afternoon 713212 570 the Astros we're supposed to work out today noon until 4 that has changed they're not going to have a 4 to 8 workout did you see yesterday and over the weekend that the

pitchers, Brent Strom and the pitching staff, Joe, were not allowed to be at the workouts yesterday because they were awaiting the test of COVID. Yeah, it's interesting because I feel like this is a new wrinkle that's popping up where people are waiting for their test and they're not testing positive, but it's like, I get this feeling about like they're getting like a mixed result. Like they're just, they're not sure about the results they're getting. so they're having to undergo a further test to make sure they're cleared. This is happening in other organizations, even today, it's happening coincidentally in Chicago

where their manager is not at their summer camp for the same exact thing. It's just I can't tell if this is a delay or if this is inaccurate testing and they're waiting to get clarified results. It's still a little bit confusing, I feel like. Yeah, it is. And one day you think that they've got their ducks in her. a row and the next day you think they're completely confused. I have no idea what the hell's going on. I got a scenario for you. Tell me if you could see this happening. Astros play, let's just throw, let's just say the Angels, okay? At 8 o'clock central time, which will be 6 o'clock in the West,

there is confusion about the test and or test results. They call the game on a Monday at 8 and say, until we get everything, we're not playing again. So if that means we have to play a double header on the third game of the series or the second game, we're going to do that. I feel like that even though the schedule is written and typed up and beautiful looks, all the different logos and game times, that we're going to be seeing a pretty fluid calendar situation over the next two months as all these teams try to play baseball.

I think so too. and I know it's going to be a lot of it could be a lot of them but I think we just have to view them as rain delays like that's basically what we're going to I think look at a lot of these now there are huge problems you play 60 games and 66 days

the Astros and the Rockies play four straight days if there are problems for even one or two of those games when the hell do you play those games again like obviously you just wait until the end of the season and if one team's locked to their playoff spot, you don't have to play them. That's correct.

But we could, I think we could totally see a bunch of games being played on the back end at like a neutral site, and you're having, like, random people playing each other. Well, I'll say this. I think there's a reason why they did not schedule double-header games just for the things we're talking about. Because I believe there are going to be some double-header games, not because of weather. Because, well, weather could certainly play a role in it. The Astros, I mean, ironically enough, will be in the part of the country where weather will not be, I don't think a huge issue.

It doesn't rain a lot in California. You have indoor facility in Arizona. You have indoors in Houston and in Arlington. So they're not going to be worried about a lot of rainouts. Now, the Midwest, yeah, I mean, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Minnesota, all these outdoor stadiums, there are going to be some rainouts. So they're really going to be behind the eight ball. Chicago, the White Sox and Cubs ball, obviously, play outside.

The one thing I think that will really throw everybody off will be is if they have to delay a game or a postponement of a game because COVID tests aren't coming in fast and ever accurately. I wonder Matt, if they're wondering if they're upset with themselves and the schedules they made because of the issues they're seeing today. Because if you look at the Astro schedule, they've got all these eight, ten games. If those games were scheduled for four o'clock in the afternoon and then you had the issue that occurred today with the Astros where it was just, they're just pushing everything back, you could in theory do that with games. You have no fans to appease, so who cares?

You take a 4 o'clock game, you make it an 8 o'clock game. Well, I would think it'd be just the opposite. You put the game on it as late as possible, then it gives you every hope and belief that you're going to play that game then. They get everything done in time. Yeah. But the players are allowed to the

ballpark with, I think the rules this year, it said five hours before they're allowed to be there, which is significantly less than normal. So you still have to have everything cleared up for an 8 o'clock start by 3. Yeah, during regular baseball without this, the boys can go in the office at 11 in the morning if they wanted to. I mean, they got to realize for those who they don't know, and most don't, these clubhouses are like many homes for those guys. They can eat any time of the day they really want to.

They have video games. They have batting cages. They have workout areas. There are plenty of places where they can lay down if they want to take a little nap or something. I mean, it is their second. It's like a country club for them. It's their home away from home. And I think they're now basically going to say,

you can't come and go as you please anymore. You have to come when we open up these stadiums. And they have an hour to leave. What's that? They only have an hour? No, that's media members, I think. Media members have to be out of the ballpark within an hour. I think, but I think players have to be out of the ballpark

within like an hour and a half to two hours. It's a tight window there too. Yeah, well, yeah. They're going to, well, first of all, there's no more locker room clubhouse interviews anymore. Everything's done on a Zoom call, and that means, you know, on a particular night, you don't need, you know, they're not going to put nine people on a Zoom. They're going to give you the starting pitcher, the manager, maybe one or two position players, and that's it. The way we get information now from players is going to be dramatically different. Now, to the average person, that's not going to mean much because you don't go in there anyway.

But there might be an interesting story or anecdotal thing that your favorite beat writer, like a McTaggart or Chandler-Rome or Jake Cap, or those guys that are on the ballpark a lot, they're not going to be able to give you because they're not going to be able to have the access, unless those athletes, those players want to have phone conversations with those guys about the kind of stuff. I don't think we'll miss that too much. I mean, we're not going to have time for, because you don't want a six-month marathon of a baseball season. You've got to find things to keep things interesting.

This is 60 games in 66 days. Yeah, baseball is what's interesting this year. That is absolutely right. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. So the workout today was supposed to go noon to 4. It is now going to go 4 o'clock until 8. And it just gives, it's just the feeling I'm getting from reading some of the quotes from the Astros.

these delays are really pushing them and really putting them up against the wall. We started baseball season with in 12 days. Am I right about that? I have to get my calendar out here, but it's a week before the rocket starts. No, 10 days. The Astros' first game is on the 24th. Oh, 11 days. Okay, 11 days.

Week from Friday. Wow. We're almost there, Matt. We're almost there. If they can play, like the last. light, it's, the cave is opened. We are, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Like next Friday, there's going to be a Rockets exhibition game and an Astros actual baseball game.

Yeah. And it's glorious. I call my first Rockets game in 18 days. How are you feeling? I know last week you were a little nervous. Well, I'm not a nerd. I'm just, I'm so out of sorts. I haven't called a basketball game.

since being in Charlotte, North Carolina, the first weekend of March. So, you know, there's always a gap in time between the end of a season and start of a new one. But I'm going from broadcasting a game inside of a lot of NBA arena with 18,000 people. Well, there's Charlotte an N. 18, but you get my drift. To, I think I'm going to be in TOTA center with a headset on watching a game on a big screen TV. So there'll be a little bit of adjustment period. So I'm hoping to do at least one of the warm-up games and then my first real game. will be on the 31st as the Dallas Mavericks and Rockets get after it.

So, yeah, we're down the home stretch. I'm just afraid that you and I, Joe, one day are going to wake up. Astro is supposed to play Arizona at 1 o'clock, and the game's been delayed because we're waiting for test results. Yeah. My obviously concern is just at some point we're going to wake up. They're going to say, yeah, it's canceled again. No, don't say that.

Don't bring a negativity on the show. I'm still very positive they can get the figured out. I think people are freaking out right now because all the stuff that's going on with the Astros and other teams and they're keeping guys from going to Minutemade Park and they're keeping their pitching staff out. Yeah. And I think people are like freaking out about some of the stuff. And I just think they're being extra precautionous while they can be. If you can afford to be precautioned right now, then be precautioned. Yeah, do all this right now.

The last thing you want is these types of issues to push themselves into the regular season because you are going to get in a logjam and you're going to have them to play two doubleheaders in a series or that game you were supposed to play at home against the Rangers is now in Arlington because you've got to make a bad game there. You know what I'm saying? You want to be able to play 30 times at Minamade Park and 30 on the road. The Astros did announce today they're going to play two spring training games, which will be the 20th, which will be a week from today, and then the 21st. they're going to go to Kansas City to play those games.

Two games with the Royals. I don't know if we're broadcasting or not. I'm kind of out of loop on that. But I would hope we would because you know what? We love live baseball on the radio. Yeah, well, we just found out within the last like two hours. Yeah.

So that game with the game, and I don't know of AT&T's broadcasting. They typically don't do a lot of spring training stuff and preseason stuff. So the game with the Royals, a week from tonight, 7 o'clock, and the next one is the following day, the 31st on a Tuesday at 1 o'clock. 713-212-5-790, if you want to join our show today, 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. We finally have a name change in Washington.

What is it? We don't know just yet, but I can tell you that a change is coming. And kind of a half-hearted release today from the Washington NFL team. We'll explain that after I tell you about big city wings. Big City wings has specials every single day of the week. I look on my calendar today. One dollar chicken tenders all day. 34 ounce big brew night as well in any of the eight Big City Wings locations.

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Would you like it regular? Or trapped and screwed. Ha-ha-ha-ha. Keep it trill. This is Michael Brantley. It is. Exclusive coverage. At every game. Sports Talk 790 is your home of Astros baseball. It is 1233 on Sports Talk 790.

Joe George, you're back in our Houston studios. I'm Matt here at Kingwood. Back with you guys, all of us. the gang gets back together all next Monday. Very excited about that. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. So, Joe, we don't have a Redskins anymore.

They're gonzo. I'm pretty sure, Matt, in the statement they released today, it said Redskins four times, so I'm not sure about that. Well, the thing that kind of made me crazy was that, and I'm trying to find it. I'm having a bit of Internet connections. problems here at the office.

So they put out a statement today, and they basically, the most important thing they're worried about is the sponsors. They're not worried about their fan base or what's the right thing to say. Let me see if I can go to their Redskins' Twitter account and see if it's

on there. Yeah, it's out there. Okay, here it is. On July 3rd, we announced the commencement of a thorough review of the team's name. That review has begun an earnest. As part of this process, we want to keep our sponsors, our fans, our community apprised of our thinking as we go forward. Today, we are announcing that we will retire the Redskins name and logo upon completion of this review. Dan Snyder and Coach Rivera are working closely

to develop a new name, a design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition of rich franchise, and inspire our sponsors, fans, and community for the next 100 years. Forget about being just a terrible name. The sponsors have spoken, Joe George. They want to that name gone. Well, so one of their owners, one of their part owners is the CEO of FedEx. And he's the guy who's saying, one of the guys who's saying, you need to change your name. Well, they play at FedEx Field. He has part ownership.

And he's probably one of the most important people besides Dan Snyder involved with the organization. And if that's, if the CEO of FedEx is saying, we got a problem here, then, well, they got a problem. And you're right. Like the fact that they put the sponsors first, I mean, wow. But what it does, and again, I'm not intimate to this at all. I'm watching this from afar like most of you guys are. But when you put the sponsors in your lead into your sentences, it doesn't come across from a humanitarian aspect.

This is coming across from a, well, we're about to get screwed financially if we don't change the name of our team. Yeah, it's definitely how it comes across. because you could have changed it 11 years ago. And didn't Daniel Snyder say over his dead body, basically? Yeah. I mean, they've had plenty of opportunities to change it, and they could have changed it any day now. But they're now finally being pressured by the people that,

frankly, matter most, and that's sponsors. Like, whether fans want to realize that, the players want to realize that, all that really matters is sponsors. Well, here's the funny part is that the Daniel Snyder wants to move the Redskins back into Washington, D.C. proper. and he were FedEx, FedEx Field Business is in Landover, which is one of the communities of Maryland. And I'm a very bad geography guy. It is.

It's in Maryland. Yeah. But I mean, but all that is all, they're all about 45 minutes from each other, right? I mean, that whole little cluster of states, right? Yeah, it's like all right there. I mean, there's a reason why they're, they're close enough to it not being weird that they're called D.C. Yeah. It's not like San Francisco.

Like the 49ers stadium is really nowhere near where it used to be. It's not even like that. No, in fact, the Niners play in Santa Clara, that's a full, like, I'm thinking between San Francisco and Santa Clara with traffic, it's probably a good hour. Yeah, I think this is probably, I think it's a little bit less than that. Yeah, for sure. But they, he definitely wants to go back where RFK Stadium is, not playing RFK Stadium, but play on the land that was at RFK Stadium, which I think is still upright.

I don't think it's been imploded. he wants to implode it and then build another Taj Mahal for his team. He's very, very underwhelming football team. Oh, very overwhelming. What's interesting is there's an ABC reporter.

I don't know if you saw this man out of D.C., but he said a name's Scott Abraham, there's much more going on at Redskins Park than a name change. I'm told by a source there will be some more news that comes out tomorrow other than the name change and it's not good.

I did not get specifics, but get ready, people. It's getting juicy up in D.C. What do you think it is? I'm hoping it's not the end of Alex Smith's career, even though that's my first inclination. Because if they said Dan Snyder was selling the team, then if Dan Snyder was selling the team, they wouldn't be going through all this.

They would sell the team first, and the new person would come in. Well, I hate to be... I'd be brutal with you, but there's no way that Alex Smith is juicy. Maybe they're going to be the Maryland team. maybe they're going to change their name to Maryland. The Maryland something.

They're going to completely change it. That would really upset people. When you say they're going to be some massive... I mean, is there going to be a front office shakeup? You already hired a new coach. You can't fire Ron Rivera this fast. No, he's part of the decisions to change the name. They're including them.

It's incredible. I mean, I think that's great that they're doing it, but... But if I'm Ron Rivera, I mean, I guess I'm honored that I'm being asked, but wouldn't you want to try to improve that blank can of a football franchise you've been for the better part of 10 years? Yes. They haven't been, I'm trying to think.

The last time they had been super relevant was when RG3 was quarterbacking the Redskins in the playoffs and he kept getting hurt over and over and over again and Mike Shanhan didn't care. Yeah, so it was rookie year, and now RG3 is a backup for Lamar Jackson. So it's been a while. And before that, what about before that?

when Clinton Portis and Sean Taylor were just like they were really good or they were fun to watch just because those guys But they weren't going to the championship games in a regular basis, were they? I don't think they knew what they were making the playoffs. I remember at one point Donovan McNabb wasn't he their quarterback? Yeah, he got traded there. Yeah, I think the Texans, the Texans beat them one time. Did they not?

I think so. So the Redskins are, maybe this is just, I know what sounds dumb, but it's just, it's a culture change. But I think they have top-down problems And honestly, if Dan Snyder, their fans probably want him to sell the team. Yeah. And, you know, he did say,

it's not going to be on my clock, which I wonder if, how about this? I wonder if FedEx dude is going to try to buy out Daniel Snyder. And, you know, because he's the one that's been pushing this heavy to get the name of the name change. There was a story last week where pretty much every major owner

besides Snyder wanted out. Three different ones, I think. Yeah, three different ones. So it could be that. They could be like it's, my guess is like there's, it's Alex Smith, it's,

they're going to become the Maryland something and they're never going to have to DC. The part of this about was trying to move them back into Washington, D.C. So they're not going to change their name to the Maryland somethings. Unless they're going to stay out of Landover. Yeah.

They want, the mayor of Washington, in D.C. said you're not coming back to the D.C. area under the named Redskins. The problem is, what do you do with that stadium? It's like, what, 20 years old and it's worth a couple,

I mean, it's out there in the middle of nowhere. We're just going to let the stadium just sit there and rot? It's just tear it down. And oh, man. Stadium's only last like 25 to 30 years now, and they're moving on. Uh-oh.

That's terrible news. I know, but that's what they're doing. You know why. You know why? 2002, what was built? NRG. Mm-hmm. Maybe they'll build a new stadium where they can open the roof and it won't,

and the sun won't shine into the expensive seats. So that way we can have an actual open roof football stadium. And then when the Steelers can come into town, the Texans can wear white and the Steelers can wear black so it's really hot for them. Yeah. And it'll make a huge difference in the game. Yep. All right, speaking of the Texans, the athletic did a survey.

They asked 30 agents a variety of questions. Now, the survey itself is like, I mean, pages and pages and pages. But there were three particular questions that did not make the Texans look particularly good. We'll tell you what those are. And then how would Bill O'Brien react to such a thing? Yeah, they're all by Bill O'Brien. They're all how the Texans run their operation. 713-212-5-790.

7-1-3-212-5-7-90 with a message here for hoops, basketball goals, and sporting equipment. The folks in hoops have built basketball goals in all 50 states and in 12 different countries. They're not a big box sporting goods store. They actually manufacture and sell everything on their premises. There's no middleman, which means you're going to get the bull. best goal at the best price. I want you to call Keith Tate. His name is Keith. Wonderful guys.

Been with us since the beginning of this show here on 790. And I want you to think about calling him and saying, yeah, I've heard Matt talk about your basketball goals. What do you have to meet up for me to offer? Their number is 281-351-9822. 281-282. ProDunkhoops.com is their website to take a look at the different goals available, including their bear system, which is heavy-duty, fully portable, and it's a

perfect for those picky HOAs. 281-351-9822, 281-5822, and online pro-dunkhoops.com. The morning sports show for those who partied in Midtown way too hard last night. The Matt Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790. All right, 1247 on the Matt Thomas show. Tonight is a special Monday night meeting here on 790. I don't know how this is going to work out. It could be absolutely hilarious.

It could also be a blank show. We're going to, instead of doing a normal Monday night meeting, we're going to do the 790 match game. I've created nine match game questions for three contestants, and they're going to be three of our listeners, and they're going to go and they're going to try to match what Adam Clinton, Adam Wexer, Michael Connor, and Chris Gordy have to say on the match game. So we'll have those guys out.

We'll have the three contestants and we're going to play it like you see it on TV with Alec Ballwinner for those of you that are old school Gene Rayburn do it. I will be the host. I have thought of the questions myself and all three of our contestants are going to bring Big City win gift cards just for playing. So if you know and you've ever seen the match game before,

please, please, please check out what could be a potential train wreck tonight on the 790 match game, which will start at about 7.30 this evening. Joe, who's your favorite match game celebrity contestant? Who's on there tonight? No, and you're on the match game of Hall of Fame. Who's your favorite celebrity guesser?

You know, I don't have one of those. I know, I was just throwing that out there. I'll ask you, Brendan, who's your favorite match game celebrity? I couldn't name a single person who's been on that show. Matt, who's yours? You know, Richard Dawson, pound for pound, was pretty damn good. Okay. the new run

Adam Crowell is pretty funny who do you have the most confidence in tonight on the 790 match game uh wex who do you have the least amount of confidence in is it clinton no no no Connor for sure I don't know that's like a three-way toss-up I think because some of the questions are really easy

and some are difficult and that's part of the fun is that sometimes the easy ones get had the worst answers in the world and then sometimes the hardest questions you come up with some of the craziest responses. Speaking of game shows, Brandon, can you get that audio radio,

Bruce Smith? Do you have it available to you? Okay, I told you, Joe, that I don't watch Celebrity Family Feud anymore because it's just double-on-tri-of-sex the whole time. Like, when Grandma's pissed off at Grandpa, she takes off her blank and hits him with it. And, you know, they have to fill out the answer,

answers to what that could be. His her girdle. You know, it's just, it's nothing but sex on family feud. Well, yesterday, apparently it was a bunch of current pro players in the NFL going against a bunch of Hall of Famers, and the Hall of Famers made it of the fast money. And Bruce Smith was in the second position, and all he had to do was answer the questions and Steve Harvey gave him. His teammate got a bunch of points for him, and all he had to get, like, it was like

50 points to win the money for the charity. So here's how the start of fast money for Bruce Smith began and how Steve Harvey couldn't even get all the questions out. If Captain Hook was moonlighting as a handyman, he might replace his hook with what tool? A hammer. Try again. A penis. Tell me the age of kid is too old to sleep with a tent.

What the thing he said? The delayed reaction is. makes it so much better. So let me, for those be donors, not listening. Yeah, why don't you play one more time and just to you you can really comprehend exactly.

And the question is, if Captain Hook, I think it's lost his hook. Here, let's let Steve Harvey say one more time. If Captain Hook was moonlighting as a handyman, he might replace his hook

with what tool? A hammer. Try again. A penis. Tell me the age of kid is too old to sleep with a tent. What the . I've come to learn something after watching a lot of television in the last few weeks. Joe, if you have nothing ever to say, just say penis.

Okay. Is that your advice to young broadcasters getting into the sports play-by-blatt? If you run out of things to say about James Hardin? Yeah. If you are doing a podcast and you're trying to learn and get in our business and you just don't know what to say, just say penis. Okay. I'll write that my notes. He'll talk me a lot about this business.

I think I have. I think I have. Okay. Now to this survey. The athletic, and this is why I like the athletic, because it gives you all the behind-the-scenes stuff that you're not normally accustomed to. They surveyed 30 agents. Now, let's be honest, Joe, let's tell the audience. Agents are largely douchebacks.

Yeah, I think that's pretty accurate. Not all of them, but most of them are douchebacks. Because they have a difficult job. They're having to constantly suck up to their clients. They're power hungry. They control money. They control fame. They control everything except for what the player does on the football field.

I've dealt with probably in my life 10 agents. And I would say nine of the 10 of them are out of control. You know who is the worst agent of them all in terms of trying to deal with them on a regular marketing aspect was David Carr's agent. We tried to get the David Carr show on 740. This is way back when we did Sports Beat. He wanted, are you ready for this? $1,500 for a five-minute visit on the radio show in 2002.

Yikes. And are you ready for this? we couldn't sell a sponsorship to it. If you guys ever hear various interviews of people that are on a regular basis, it's their sponsored by something. A car dealership, a restaurant, energy company, you get it. We could not put a sponsor before or after David Carr's visit. And they wanted $1,500 twice a week for two five-minute visits.

Unreal. And I kept telling the guy, we have to make the money back. Oh, you will because people will be listening. Yeah, but you won't let us sell in and around the time. And he just couldn't understand. I was like, this is going absolutely nowhere. But that was just my, and again, I didn't do a whole lot of agent talking back in the day, but it was awful. So these 30 perceived douchebags were asked by the athletic a variety of questions about how the commissioner is handling his job, COVID, the NFL, labor negotiations,

variety of things. Well, there were three questions that were brought up that will not make Bill O'Brien look particularly good. One, which franchise had the worst offseason? Of the 30 agents that were posed that question, 11 of them said the Houston Texans. The quotes go as following, that trade is still mind-boggling. Getting Hopkins for David Johnson? Uh, yeah. Now, Next quote. Bill O'Brien, there's no way he should be the general manager. Next quote. I just don't understand them whatsoever.

Next quote. They rid themselves of their best player when not forced. Not a good look, Joe George, from 11 douchebags are in the NFL that believe that Bill O'Brien, who he'll have to negotiate with these people eventually, got rid of his best player. I'm shocked. It's that low almost even, though. Yeah. We have a couple more I want to get to, and we'll do that coming up at the top of the hour.

We've got two more. Largely about who's the best got to deal with who's the worst. You get my drift on this. But just to let you think about that. 11 of the 30, more than a third, believe the worst off season in the NFL this off year belongs to your beloved Houston, Texas. More on that. And news on the Rockets and one of the star players testing positive for COVID. It's 1257.

No, make it, just 1256 here on Sports Talk 790. 713-212-5-790 if you want to get in. 7-13-212-5-7-90. This is the Matt Thomas Show. One o'clock on 790, hour number two of three. You may join us in a variety of ways. I know you're out there. You send me all sorts of interesting tweets.

At SportsMT, at Brendan Riley underscore, at Joe George Radio. Joe filling in for Ross this week. Ross will be back next Monday. We'd love to hear from you. I know you've got to have something on your chest. You just want to scream to the top of your lungs. 713-212-5-790.

7-1-3-212-5-7-90. And again, on Twitter, at SportsMT, at Brendan Riley underscore, and at Joe-George Radio. Main headline of the day, Sham Sharania reporting not Woj because Wode is suspended that Russell Westbrook tested positive for Corona. He is currently in quarantine

and hopefully we'll be joining his teammates in the next handful of days. Still no word on Luke Baimutei and frankly, more importantly, James Hardin. We mentioned a survey. First and foremost, Joe George, 11 different agents said that

Bill O'Brien had the worst offseason. You thought it was actually kind of low. Yeah, I just thought it would be higher. I just, it was so bad that all the teams you're going to choose from, I'm surprised there weren't more. I mean, I see it's pretty spread out when you look at it. I know they've got the Patriots with five, but we all knew Brady was leaving. I thought, I thought it was inevitable.

Did we really know that? I mean, I think the deterioration of the relationship is something we all knew, but we didn't know it was. I mean, we thought maybe that the owner would step in the very last second and say, come on, guys, let's have a little kumbaya moment. Yeah. I just, I don't know who the other, besides Tom Brady leaving, I think the Jaguars makes a lot of sense because of their offseason.

They gave up Callas Campbell for nothing. They can't get Yonik and Gokwain Camp. They traded away Nick Foles, even though they just gave him a ton of money. I mean, they're just, but they're tanking. How about the Packers going to get Jordan Love from Utah State when Aaron Rogers still has a lot left in the tank? Yeah, they're weird because I don't know how many holes they had. I mean, they definitely could have given them some more backup,

but I mean, I would have had them higher. I think more, I'm surprised they didn't get more votes too. All right, a couple more questions that are Texan-related. Among general managers or front office leaders, who do you trust the most? Chris Ballard, the general manager of the Colts, has the top spot. That doesn't make me feel good that a general manager is as respected as he is within the AMC South. Okay, that's a problem. Among general managers or front office leaders, who do you trust the least?

The number one category, or the number one answer, is Bill Belichick. Next, John Elway, who has had a very murky run. as the general manager of the Denver Broncos. Who's third? Bill O'Brien. Here's the quote. Just talks outside of both sides of his mouth. I don't believe you word he says.

Joe, that's damning, dude. Yeah. Well, you know it would really prove that. I know it was only like a three-day rumor thing, really, that like Chad Johnson was putting out there, and we all know Deshaun Johnson. Sean Watson reacted to do the tweet about Antonio Brown potentially coming to the Texans. That's completely gone away and it's not going to happen.

It doesn't seem like. But isn't that the ultimate both sides of his mouth move to get rid of Hopkins for a legit headcase? I mean, and that's what I think they're alluding here to is that he's the kind of guy that does that, that trades away DeAndre Hopkins. And then you could see him bring in Antonio Brown. That's not a good quote. That's tough. There's no way Antonio O'Brien should be on this football team. No, no, no, no.

You are asking for drama times 500. And let me tell you something. If Bill O'Brien's going to really be this general manager and head coach bit together, and my guess is, I mean, even though Tim Kelly is technically going to be falling plays, it'll only be a matter of time before he does that too. You cannot be spending a lot of your time trying to appease one of the all-time head cases in the NFL. You just can't. Last one.

Among general managers or front office leaders, who is the toughest negotiator? Patriots five votes. Browns Bingles 2. Bill O'Brien got two votes. Here's the quote. Bill O'Brien is probably in the tough category. Really? He just doesn't know what he's doing.

No idea. He's trying to be a head coach and GM and negotiator all at the same time. Now, I will give just three, well, there was more than three, but about seven or eight, horrific quotes. Now, that could also be the same person giving three of those same quotes, right? Absolutely. Totally possible. Okay. We need to make sure we're presenting both sides of this.

This could be bent agent who just doesn't like Bill O'Brien. But the first quote I gave you about who's had the worst offseason, there were multiple quotes from multiple different scouts or agents. I keep seeing other things. Multiple different agents. There were 11 of them that thought they had the worst offseason. So do I believe that agents know everything? Of course not. Do I believe they're grudge holders?

Yeah. But if you were to look up the word Bill O'Brien first offseason as general manager, what would you see Joe on a Google search? Nothing but one negative head. scratching story after the other. I'm telling you this. If anybody is out there that is

justifying at all, any of the moves that were made, either Bill O'Brien is paying their mortgage or those people are on the Texans payroll. And that's okay. You've got to be on the payroll. It is what it is. But you would be, it would be impossible,

impossible for anybody to buy into the notion that what the Texans have done this offseason has been anything close to being successful, unless they come out of the gates with a fast start, and that DeAndre Haynes has a slow start in Arizona, and that Randall Cobb and Brandon Cooks are good receivers, Will Fuller plays a healthy season,

and David Johnson's the 1,200-yard running back that Bill O'Brien thinks he is. And my only counter would be they didn't address the defense. So the defense is still going to be terrible. Like, you're going to need superhuman JJ Watt to make this defense legit. Yeah, you don't need healthy JJ Watt. You need three-time defensive player in the year, JJ Watt. Yeah, you need Ross Blacklock to become, you know, they need to be saying five weeks into the season, this guy should have been a top five pick.

That's not fair to him. And like, Bill, like, of all the criticizing Bill O'Brien has gotten, I just, I think, I feel like he failed as a general manager to make this team significantly better where it mattered most. I think the offense could be really good this year if everyone's healthy. Even if the defense is healthy. I mean, they overpaid this Eric Murray guy who no one knows anything about. They brought in Jalen Watkins. They're a bunch of special teamers to play safety. I just, I think he, he ignored the most important thing. The offense could be way better. They're going to have to score 30 points of game to win this year. Good luck. Yeah. There's,

they need a consistent pass rush every single week and health is part of that consistency. And they need a legitimate starting safety in the backfield next to Justin Reed. Another quote in here, Matt, that I think people will love. Yeah. I think the world of Director of Player of Personnel, Nick Casario. That's a quote about the Patriots. Oh. So did Jack Easterby. You know, Bill O'Brien has been trying to make this New England South here for a couple of years.

Easterby's not far behind on that, too. I mean, Nick Casario got votes in the number 14 from the athletic. It was among general managers or front office leaders who was the smartest. went Howie Roseman, Bill Belichick, Ballard, Barry Veach, and then in the other categories, Nick Casario makes the list. He's not even a GM. Chris Ballard has been done with the GM of the Colts for a three years somewhere in that range? Yeah, that sounds about right, maybe a little bit longer, but yeah.

And he is getting more respect from agents in three years than a lot of other guys in the NFL of doing it for longer than that, way longer. Look, we did that. He was in a terrible position. He came in. He fixed their offensive line. rebuilt it for Andrew Luck who left. They thought they hit a home run with Jacoby Brissette, and unlike most general managers,

who stick to their guns and stick to the guy he paid, he said, this ain't going to work, so I'm going to go pay Philip Rivers $25 million. And if that doesn't work, I'm going to find someone else to come play quarterback for my team. Chris Ballard is the guy I want. This guy I feel like everyone wants. And that's why we have to really root for Phillip Rivers to have a terrible season in Indianapolis. If he has a resurgence, yikes. Yikes, yikes, yikes.

This division, I mean, it's already going to be tough. I think everyone's pretty much the same. I think Jacksonville is by far the worst team. But the rest of the teams are fighting for division playoff or the last wild card spot. Would that be fair? Definitely. Except Jacksonville. Yeah, especially with the expanded, even with the expanded playoffs, like they're probably fighting for one of the last two spots.

Yeah. I would expect the whoever is in the last wild card spot for the Texans or the Texans or whomever it is to be playing on the Nickelodeon NFL wildcard game. What Jimmy Neutron call on the play by play? Oh, come on. It's got to be Jimmy. Is that who you're going for? Well, who would be, who would it be? I don't know.

SpongeBob. Yeah, SpongeBob would be pretty great. Was Squidward on the sideline? Definitely. Or is Patrick Starr on the sideline? And then Squidward's the analyst. Who owns the Cravy Patty Place?

Mr. Crabs? Yeah, Mr. Crabs. He's got to be doing the NFL halftime report. Definitely. Yeah, we've just once again laid out the assignments for the Nickelodeon wildcard playoff game. It's going to be dude perfect, though, just for the record. Is it really?

I think so. They have a TV show on Nickelodeon. Number of minutes I will watch the Nickelodeon version of the NFL playoff broadcast. I hope the answer is zero. It will be less than zero. I love that. I will try to figure a way to eliminate that channel off of my director. You're just going to call your provider and be like, hey, I need you to cancel this one channel just for one Sunday.

Just between 3.30 and 7, I can tell you right now, even though we're in the month of July, it's probably going to be the Texans playing in that game. And the Saturday afternoon slot, of course. Correct. On Nickelodeon. 112. 790. 713, 212, 5, 790. to join our conversation. How does it feel that agents even think the Texans suck?

Well, maybe not the Texans, but Bill O'Brien. Have the Texans got any good news this week this off season except for the fact that JJ Watts' ultimate tag game is doing fairly well? What's been the best news from the Texans this offseason? Laramie Thompson's deal? Is it? I mean, they overpaid him. Were people running around town, high-fiving each other?

Laramie Tonsul guys getting $22 million. the year, yes. Unless Ross Blacklock becomes this megastar, then we'll say, all right, they know what they're doing, finding players in the second round. 112. 719. 713-212-5-790.

7-1-3-212-5-7-90. The Astros delayed their workout. The Astros also scheduled some spring training games, and we are down to a week and a handful of days until the Astros open up their 2,000. 20 season. 713.

212.790. Good news. It's the Matt Thomas show for lunch. Let that boring brown bag lunch rot in in the employee refrigerator. Oh, what's that smell? The Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. 119

on Sports Talk 790, the Matt Thomas show. 713212-5-790 is how you reach the show today. 7-1-3-212 5-7-90. Russell Westbrook is on the shelf going through his COVID recuperation period. The Astros were supposed to have a workout today between noon and four. I think part of the reason why they canceled noon to four and push it to four to eight

so they can listen to my show this afternoon. So what's going on, George Springer? What's up, George? What's up, Dusty Baker? Dusty, you're my favorite. You know, I was really excited about that hire. I know a lot of people were tentative about it, but I just, I love that. era of Cubs baseball so much that

I was so excited when Dusty got hired here. Like I don't blame him for, I might crack jokes about Pryor and Wood, but I don't blame him for their armed problems at all. You're going to tell him to him when he joins us on a show on a weekly basis here soon? Absolutely. Like, I

love that era. Like, it was, like, that's like my favorite era of baseball growing up was the early 2000s. So, I was so excited when Dusty Baker got here. So here's the thing about Dusty that I'm very excited about

but yet a little bit nervous. He's been around some of the most incredible events in sports history. Yeah. Let me just run through a few without going through any sort of chronological order.

The Bartman game, he was the manager of the Cubs. He managed Barry Bonds. He was going for the all-time home run streak, right? Not street, but all-time home runs. Right?

Yep. He was a player that grounded out to Art Hale for Nolan Ryan's fifth no hitter. We aired that game like two weeks ago. Yeah. Do you know something my wife brought up to me that I think I was told, but I was not 100% sure until she said. I'm like, oh, that sounds familiar. Did he invent the high five?

What? Yeah. No, that's... Did I get hooked? I'm Googling it right now. Google it right now. Okay. For decades, the conventional wisdom has been that the origin of the high five

occurred between Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Dodgers. In Dodgers, Dodgers State on October 2nd, 1997. The last day of the regular season and the sixth inning, Dusty Baker, hit a home run off Astros pitcher, J.R. Richard. What year was that? 79? 77.

77. Okay. I think you said 97 for a second. So Dusty Baker invented the high five? What? Only in 1977? You're telling me the high five has only been around for like 60 years. I thought it had always been around.

Well, here's the thing. I was only five years old in 1977. Neither one of you were on this earth of ours. Not even close. Can somebody verify whether or not you high-five somebody pre-1977? So they only shook hands? I'm talking about in general. No, I know, but if you didn't high-five, what did you do?

Like, so when someone hit a walk-off home run in 1976, they shook hands in the dugout? Forget about the dugout. What did you do when you played on your high school basketball team? And things went well for you on the high school basketball team. But slaps. So did the high five replace the butt slap? Because there's an ESPN short titled The High Five. It is about the start of the High Five.

This says it credits it to Glenn Burke. Yeah, it says Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke high-fived each other. So here's the question. I don't need, I mean, if you're a high-five Dusty, okay, I see. What did you do if you went to high school, in the 1971. And you got an A on your test and your buddy next to you got an A on his test.

What did you do? You didn't slap ass in high school after a great chemistry score. Right? I wouldn't think so. So essentially the high five has been around for 43 years and that's it? So is this going to be your first question to Dustin

when you interview? Well, the reason why I bring this up is when Dusty and I started doing this, I wanted to talk about the current team. But he is like a walking encyclopedia of baseball and really, and the problem is some of the things he's been involved with were terrible. Like, how do you bring up the Bartman catch? You let me ask the question.

What if you're sleeping? I don't sleep. I told you. I mean, I'll be in the gym. How do you bring up the fact that Jeff Cannonberry Bond's despise each other? But see, I think, you know what? James Click has talked about this so many times already. But how that's why Dusty is.

Like, the Astros have such an advantage right now because of the labor issues he's gone through, through the media issues. I mean, Dusty Baker more than any other person, maybe in the history of baseball, can talk to the Astros about being challenged about trash cans and cheating and booing, even though that's not going to happen this year. Because Dusty went through all that stuff. He went through the media debacle with Barry Bonds and the accusation. he's been there, done that. Everything that the Astros could go through this year, shorten training camp, stoppage of season. Right.

Stoppage of the middle of year, yeah. Dusty's been there, done that. He's probably the only manager in baseball. But Dusty, hey, your biggest attractors think that you overuse arms. Is that true? I mean, I don't say it, I don't want to say it to him that way. It's a fair question. I just, I want to hug that, man.

I want to build a, a super strong, I can't hug him because we're not hugging anymore. But I want to high-five Dusty Baker at some point. Wait, okay. So if because of COVID, we're not hugging anymore and we're not really high-fiving anymore. We're basically elbow bumping. So that means Dusty Baker is the all-known expert on how we should now celebrate with each other. So if Dustin event in the high-five, Dusty Baker is the number one source of how you celebrate

with another person. All right. I'm saying it's this. I know he will say he created the high five. You're missing my point, though. And this is where hopefully somebody will help us out here. I think Jim's going to help us out. What did you do pre-1977 when no one high-fied each other?

You mean to tell me, in the world that we lived in, no one knew how to take your hand and slap it across another man's hand and call it something? It took until 1977. It took until disco and polyester suits to make this happen, Joe George? I want to know what American men and women did. You went to the bowling alley. You rolled a strike. Your buddies came back to you and said, great job, Jim.

Give it to me here. Big handshake. You didn't hug. You had to do something. But if you didn't do a high five, what the hell did you do? Jim on 790 at 127. Hi, Jim. Yeah, if you're Marshall Holman bowling,

you stare down the opponent until he just crumbled. But it was back in the day. Back, there was a book called The Bronx Zoo by Sparky Lyle. And it was kind of like a ball for it. They follow the season day by day, a diary. And the World Series against the Dodgers. I remember him mentioning the book How he hated the high five

Because all those Dodgers were walking around Loves and Say and Russell You know high-fiving each other You know they just rubbed them the wrong way And they hated the Dodgers And that was part of it And I think they ended up winning that series But they had a couple of good world series back in the 70s

That's all I got really All right, thank you I appreciate it Yeah I'm looking for the foundation Of what American men did prior to that. But yeah, apparently the Dodgers were big high-fivers. I didn't like the Dodgers as a kid.

I used to hate Fernando Valenzuela. God, I hated him so much because he used to beat the Astros on a regular basis. 128 on the Sports Talk 790. Let me see here. Is this Peach? Peach? Hello?

Hello? What is your name, please? Pete. Pete. Okay, not Peach. Hi, Pete. Hi. I want to let you know what we did before high-fives, and I was around back then.

Please do. I can tell you. I used to slap somebody five, slap me five, which they held their hand out. You just slapped down on their hand, and then you held yours out, and they slapped down on yours. So the high-five just got moved from below your waist to over your head. Oh, now that makes some sense. for the phone call. We'll never call you Peach again. That's exactly what you did.

You see, Joe, it's the placement of the arm in relation to the other person's arm that makes it a high five. We have figured it out. 129 on Sports Talk 790. So, yeah, you and the guys mid-70s, prior to Dusty Baker, around your shoulder blade, nope. You just slot each other on the side. It makes sense.

Give me some skin. Give me some skin, right? I guess, did we overthink this then? Is that what happened there, Matt? We had to have. I guess. Because I would just refute it. I just refit.

Yeah, the five just got moved. It just went high. Yes. That's the term high five. Yeah. It was the low five before, but it was just, or like the middle five. Yeah. I don't want you ever give me a low five under any circumstance, Joe.

No problem. I can. All right. All right. Thank you. A couple of Astros have made to the disable list. We got that. to get to and the NFL has a new mouthguard.

Will it help in helping these guys get on the practice field the next couple of weeks? Matt Thomas show continues at 130 on Sports Talk 790. 713212-5-790 with a message here for Beck and Maston-Bewick GMC. My vehicles, two of the three that are currently in my driveway right now, have come from Beck and Mass and Buick GMC. Why? Because their price is awesome. Their selection is really, really good. I had such a great experience the first time that I thought I'd get another one, repeat business.

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Get 790, get your stroves on the radio. Sports Sox 790. You're home for the Astros. All right, Brandon and Joe, I feel terrible now because if you've listened to show for any length of the time, I've tried to eliminate the high five. What you have? I said. I thought it was just the wave you got rid of. Well, I've always despised the wave.

I always thought it was time to move on for the high five. You know how dances change from decade to decade? Like, we can't be doing the hustle in 2020. Why not? Are you sure you want to do the hustle? No. Have you ever done the hustle before? I don't think so.

Brandon, get the song hustle ready. And then Joe, I want you to dance to it for 30 seconds. You tell me if it was time to move. move on. I mean, there's zero chance that's going to happen right now, so. Nobody can see you do it. There's two people that can see me right on. We're not on AT&T SportsNet yet.

Yet? Well, we're trying. I was like, I've been trying for seven years, but it doesn't mean I haven't stopped. See, the key to the show is got to have the music ready to go. I just, I'm not totally sure if I have the right song here. That's my concern. It's called the hustle. There's not 40 versions of it.

This is it? This is it. I wouldn't have known either. Matt, it's from the 70s. You got to remember. Like, we're from... That's why I said the name of the song. I didn't have you guess.

Wait, how do you do a hustle? Watch the video. The point is this. People don't do the hustle in 2020. But like 70s clothes are coming back. Like, I did ask Justy about wearing polyester back in the name. He was very proud of that. I saw parachute pantsers getting popular.

again. Could you imagine Dusty Baker walking in a club in a polyester suit with this song on in the background, high-fiving everybody? With a toothpick in his mouth? Absolutely. I could. And that's why Dusty might become one of our favorite people in the history of the Matt Thomas show interviews.

Like for here on out, once we get the schedule figured out, I want to ask him what he wants for a theme song. I don't think this is it, but I'm just telling you, Dusty Baker, I guarantee him to you at some point in his life. dance of this song in a nightclub with a blue polyester suit and a toothpick in his mouth. Are you doing the hustle right now? No. Please do 10 seconds of what you think the hustle is.

No, there's no chance. There's always cameras watching. There is no cameras. That's a problem. I didn't know that. The AT&T was doing our show. I'd be there with you. I would do the hustle in front of you.

I'm glad you're not here then, Matt. I don't know if I want to see it. that. All right. Back to, okay, that's enough for the hustle.

Nice, nice pull, Brendan, good job. 713, 212-7-8. We have some Astros,

DL news to get to, but first, let me say how to James and Humble at 139. Hi, James.

Hey, what's going on, Matt? Good, buddy. Hey, hey, I was thinking, you know, you all are talking

about Dusty and bent and a high five. I remember back, like, the early 90s, I don't remember what year, but Akeem

had hurt his finger. I think it was from giving a high five. So after that, he started, like, doing the fist bump. He would, like, use the palm whenever, you know, he'd walk onto the court or something like that would be other players. And we started emulating that, like, in the early 90s.

So I was like, did Akeem invent the fist bump? Did Akeem? That's going to be a Google check on that one. Thanks, James, for the phone call. Do you remember what I'm talking about when it was? No, I don't. I remember. Only I remember about Dream and doing strange things was not being able to drink the water.

during Ramadan. Right, or eat or any of that. But yeah, he had, I think he had hurt his finger. If you, you know, when you go back and look at days, when he comes on, he will basically do a fist bump. He doesn't put his hand out for a high five. But other than that, I had heard some stuff earlier, and they were talking about, you know, if the Astros go, say they go, because they're going to come in high, but they go, like

40 and 8 or something. And what are the chances they would cancel the first? season. Because they ask. 40 and 8, and this gets worse, they would cancel the season if he Yeah, no, I don't believe in those kind of conspiracies. I just don't. Thanks, James,

the phone call. I appreciate it, buddy. Yeah, they're not stopping an Astero season if they go 40 and 8. They're just not. If they're going to stop it, it's because the pandemic's gotten out of control. Do we have any clarification who invented the fist bump? Looks like basketball player Fred Carter. Oh, yeah, former 76er.

Yep. It is attributed to him in the 19th. 70s. So the 70s were just like hot for making things up. We got the fist bump and the high five in the 70s. All right, I'm going to think about something here. Give me about a minute. I want to be able to say I

created something, but it's going to be not true. Ooh, what did Matt create? What did I create? It's not true. That's not true. I could say I could give the okay sign, but that's, I'm not proud of that. Okay, let me ask you a legitimate question here, Matt Thomas. Okay.

I've never, I've listened to a lot. A lot of sports radio in many, many different markets. You are the only sports radio host I've ever heard open a show on Friday saying, Good Morning Strippers. Yep. Did Matt Thomas invent that? No, actually Ross did. Well, you're like his superior, though, so you get credit for it.

Yeah, he never said it. I said it. Okay. But I want to make sure I'm being fair here. A Matt Thomas show creation. Yeah, I want to think of something bigger. What did I create? What's bigger than that?

Could I say that I created the middle finger? Hmm. That feels like that was done back in the 50s. Because people were afraid to say things, but it was just easier to use their hands instead. Well, that one looks like it goes back to 419 BC. The middle finger goes back to 419? That's what it looks like. We're looking at 2,400 years when people were first middle fingering people.

Earlier, the Greeks used the middle finger as an explicit reference to the male. Something. Genet Taylor. So not in the exact same way. We know thumbs up was done by the Fonds. We know that. How about the head nod? Oh, what's up?

Oh, yeah, and there's up or down, right? So you can claim either one. I'll claim, you ready for this? Brandon Gray, calling your part. I will claim the nodding up. It's like, hey, what's going on? Do you have a Wikipedia page? I can change it.

No, no. I never want a Wikipedia page. Well, it says Matt Thomas here. Basketball player for the Toronto Raptors. Thank you. Decatur, Illinois. There you go. Perfect.

That's exactly how we want to keep it. Astros a pair go to the disable list. That's not good news, right? We'll discuss that after I'll tell you about bronze roofing. Hey, bronze roofing invented great roofing capabilities in terms of keeping your roof in tip-top condition. You know, roofs can last you up to 15 years if they're properly maintained. Make sure you are getting a thorough inspection every few years to ensure. sure it's doing its job. You do that by calling bronze roofing at 281-480-9900. 281-480-9-0. If you have a commercial roof,

it's a place of business, residential roof, tile, asphalt, steel, or shingle, bronze is going to have you covered. They'll give you the free estimate within 24 hours in most cases. The number to call again for that free estimate, 281-480-9900, 281-480-8-0-8-0-8-0.8-0.8-4-80. 9,900, online, B-R-A-U-N-S, bronze rooping.com. Matt Thomas, we'd like to thank his parents for only giving him two first names. Because who would listen to Billy Ray Thomas talk about Houston Sports? The Matt Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790. This comes from on Twitter at Bastros.

Dusty Baker's theme song should be Shaft. Tell me this doesn't work, Joe, George. This is a strong, can't. date already. Sports Talk 790 presents 10 minutes with the Astros manager. Dusty Baker.

Oh, this could work. Yeah. A couple astro highlights behind it? Yeah, I think this works. Yeah, when he joins us for the first time for real, we're going to go with this song. And you know what? You could just not tell him you're trying to find something. Oh, I'm not.

And then just, but at some point, you're going to get a reaction out of him. Like he's just going to like, ooh, I love this one. It's my jam. Man, you would believe when I was in his club in 1975. Uh-huh. And it was his two girls. Oh, they were so delightful. And they said, man, you and that polyester suit looks so good tonight.

Dust is like, man, I can not go out. I got to go back to the hotel and get three hits tomorrow from my beloved Dodgers. Yeah. I don't know how things are going to go with the Astros, but we're going to have fun with Dusty Baker. Oh, definitely. And he's in pursuit of what, 2000 wins? He's still searching for that first world series, isn't he? Yeah, he is.

Victory. No, damn angels beat him in 2002, right? Yep, and Steve Barton. He ruined everything. God. And did he ever get close with the Reds? I don't think so. I think they were okay.

And Nationals, too. God, he's been everywhere. Is Dusty Baker the greatest manager in baseball? history without a World Series title? Yeah. I bet you probably is. I mean, probably like the two, like the Andy

Reed of baseball and basketball probably reside in this city right now. We got to get that fixed then in 2020. Yep, let's knock out both of them. If this horrendous year can give us any sort of justice, Mike Dan Tony wins an NBA championship for the Rockets,

and Dusty Baker wins one for the Astros. All right, Jose Orkiti on the disabled list officially. Yordon Alvarez officially on the disabled list. Okay, you know how you always like to have hot takes on your afternoon show between three and six? Yes. Would you like a completely irrational hot take for your show whenever you all do that next? Absolutely.

Neither one of those two players are big impactful players this year for the Astros. At all? At all. How rational is that one? 10. Oh, that's scorching hot, Matt. Let me tell you the reason why. First of all, not every season is the same.

Some guys take step up. Some guys take step back. Some guys who have been healthy all their careers get hurt, right? Some guys that have been injury prone, play a full season and are healthy, i.e. hopefully, Carlos Correa. Yoron Alvarez, his knees were barking in February during spring training. and now he has not taken part in one workout yet, and the season's 11 days away?

Come on. And sophomore slumps are real in baseball. Say it. Irrational hot take. Say it. Matt, the problem is you're starting to convince me that it's a rational hot take. Well, and that's what I'm upsetting me. I mean, I very much hope you're wrong.

But I feel like it's, oh, I think I'm more confident that Yordon is a major factor than Arkiti. You could sell me on the I think any pitcher who's not in camp at this point, I honestly question how effective they're going to be. Well, especially because

you can get, I mean, all Yordon's going to do, he's not playing it. You ready for a 10,000 star No's for Thomas prediction? He is not playing a single inning in the outfield or for his base. Yeah, he'll play none.

He'll just DH all the time. So if there was anybody that could recuperate faster and get back in the lineup, it would be your down. Wait, but they didn't pass the DH. So that means, well, he'll have 50, I guess he'll, is he going to miss 15 games this season? Well, why would you say that? Well, if they didn't pass the DH in the National League, that means every road game, he's going to have to sit.

No, no, no, no, this year everybody's been doing the DH. I thought they didn't. Oh, maybe they did pass. I can't. Yeah, this year, everybody's, yeah. We're all right. Yeah, then he won't. But he's not playing.

No, then he won't play a single game outside the, D.H. spot. Yeah. If Dosty needs to give Bregman a day off but wants him in the lineup, then Yordons get the day off. Yeah. That's exactly right. Okay. So here comes the

irrational hot take. Neither one of these two guys are going to be major counted on threats for the Astros in 2020. I want you to sit and think about that for a second and you tell me how rational that is. That's what I thought. It's like a seven.

And by the way, six and a half on the scale. And by the way, we have seen it when someone in Major League Baseball, the NBA says we can't tell you why they're now here. It's because of COVID, right? Yeah. This is interesting, though, because they're going on the injured list. Which means that they're now, if someone misses because of COVID, they're allowed to come off or on any time. I think that still is going to qualify here. my concern is that

like baseball teams can lie this year and they can lie more than ever if they don't have to tell the public why someone's missing they can just say there's a condition preventing someone from being here you know Dusty they could be lying to us about Alvarez

could there be visa issues knee issues Visa definitely I mean Visa and knees like it's we don't know i've used this example before with like comparing it to hockey in hockey they say you have an upper body or lower body injury at any point in time now this year an astro's pitcher could have a blister and they could just say oh he has a condition that's

preventing him to start today it doesn't mean he has coronavirus but they now have a reason to lie to us yeah honestly i hope both those guys have covid where they can just recuperate no there's no as a lot of people are trying to do. But if it's arthritic knees or if it's sore shoulder or it's something, you don't have time to let them sit and relax. You've got to move on without it because you've got a 66 game season in 60 days. Or a 60 game season in 66 days. Yeah, at this point, Dusty has to, I mean,

you know your rotation is McCullors and Verlanner and Granky. Do you, at this point, Josh James and Don't know and Orkiti are not going to be on your opening day five-man rotation. It's in 11 days. There is no chance they are going to be there at this point

for the first five games of the season. So at some point, we need to figure out who the other two guys are. Well, I tell you what, and we can talk about this as we get closer to it. One of them is going to be a bullpen day. Problem is, this is the worst season to do that and because you're not going to be able to stretch your guys out on your front and your rotation this early to begin with. The Astros Bullpen will be the number one thing to keep an ear and an eye on for the first 20 games of the 2020 season.

You could easily say that with a lot of teams, but especially a team that it needs not one starter, but two. 156 on the Matt Thomas show. Final hour, speaking of COVID, it has hit the rockets. We'll tell you who and what's going on there. We will also tell you that there is a survey out among agents and NFL sport that is not speaking well of the Texans. The Redskins changed their name. The Wojbom. Well, he got a bomb of his own.

It was called a suspension. And a Houston rocket going back to the rockets decided he wanted to leave the bubble. and it's already cost him an extra eight days of quarantine time. That's coming up as all part of the final hour, the Matt Thomas Show, 713, 212, 5, 790. Is the Matt Thomas Show. All right, it is 2 o'clock on the final hour, the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790.

With Joe George, filling in for Ross. Ross be back next Monday. We'll all be back together again. Looking forward to that. Joe George, as we said, filling in. Brandon Riley, the producer, and you are you. If you'd like to be a part of our final hour of this radio program, you could dial into 713-212-5-790.

7-13-212-5-7-90. Astros delayed workout was supposed to go noon to 4 today. They're going to go 4 to 8. Still waiting for the results of the pitchers and pitching coach Brent Stront. When you saw that, did you wig out a little bit, Joe George? Because I did. how does one section of the team get their results sooner or later than the other one? Yeah, it goes back to like the Bregman stuff.

It's just how is this happening? Like how are we getting some results, but not all of them? How did they get all the players and staff except for Alex Bredman? Like it's just it still seems like disorganized chaos. And I felt like we had like three or four days where after Bregman got back to camp, it felt like everything was getting better. and then Sunday comes around, and it's like it's a disaster again. Like, it can't be a problem every time there's a weekend.

Well, it can't be a problem anytime, especially when the live game starts in 11 days. I'm telling you, mark my words, a game will be delayed or postponed because seven or eight players will not have been cleared before first pitch. How long does it take? How long does it take? I don't know. day? No. I think it does.

I think it'll be a mundane kind of Tuesday-Winsey kind of thing. They better hope so because that's not how could you imagine if Yankee was Yankees Nationals? Yeah, opening up on Monday night. What if that came? Thursday.

What did that game got canceled? It was a disaster that would be more than anything else that's happened this baseball season. You know who Buster Only would say would be the fault for that, don't you? Oh, the Astros. correct that would be brutal if yankees nationals or giants dodgers didn't kick off on time oh that's just not acceptable

not good other things going on russell westbrook tested positive for the coronavirus that's why he's not with the team um i i don't have james hardin's number uh joe do you i do not i'd like to know where he is If he has a rona, it's okay. It feels like everybody in America is getting the rona some sort, somehow, some way, right? Yeah. Just tell us. Either that or he just doesn't want to be in the bubble any longer than he has to. You know why?

Because his teammate, Bruno Caboclo, got out of the bubble after being there a couple days and then got put back in the quarantine for eight additional days. When asked around the NBA, was he aware of the situation? And all the people were like, oh, hell yeah, they tell you 100 times. Don't go here. Don't go there. Don't leave here. Bruno, love you.

You're a French Houston Rocket. If you think you're going to play at all, you probably should follow every rule humanly possible, right? Yes. Instead, he now has to have eight days of airplane food. So he'll be back, what, like the 21st? So he'll be back before their first exhibition game. That's right. I mean, he's very lucky that this didn't cost him a chance of playing games.

By the way, do you see what Rajan Rondo said about the facilities where the Celtics, not the Celtics, the Lakers are staying? I did. He called it basically a Motel 6. Well, he can go home, though. He's going to be able to go right out of that bubble if he wants to because he's got, what, two fractured fingers or am I just one? I think it's just a fractured thumb.

It was, what, six to eight weeks? What was your favorite Rajan Arundo in the bubble moment? I guess he could stay if it's, I mean, because there's eight weeks that takes until the end of September. Oh, he's got to stay. But then he wants a ring. No, because they already said they're going to give one to Avery Bradley. Or how about this? He could leave, go recuperate back home in Los Angeles or wherever he's living, and then two weeks prior to when he thinks he's ready to go, jump in and serve the quarantine.

I think they're required. I think they're not allowed to leave ever, no matter what. I think once you're out, you're out. Well, I see, I thought there was a provision where you could leave, but you would be under massive quarantine after that. Yeah, maybe there is. I know it's 10 days, just like Kobokolo's going to go through. All right.

We unfortunately have to address Rajan's lack of sensitivity and extreme tone deafness. Name the last time, Joe George, that Rajan Rano has been to a Motel 6? never correct maybe as a seventh grader yeah it's like a young kid maybe a bunch of guys

are going on an a u trip or something and that was the only hotel or that was a cheap rate yada yada yada raja and rando has no idea what a motel six looks like right in 2020 no in his room i think he

honestly i think he used the you know it's all about angles for like instagram models oh yeah i think he's excluding some of the perks in his room. Did you see what P.J. Tucker brought to the room? He got that new fancy TV?

80 inches. Ooh. And apparently, you ready for this for breaking news? He installed it himself. Nice. I'm hoping the TV that we use to call Rockets games over the TOTA Center is 80 inches. Isn't you going to go a little bigger than that?

Or is 80 you think like right around the sweet spot? I think 80's perfect, don't you think? Yeah. Me staring at an 80-inch television trying to call a rocket. I think I could get away with that. What do we got here in the studio? It was like 55? Not even that big.

Man, 80 inches would be... Do you think I could call that game using TV in our office? Probably answers yes. Not our office, our studio. Yeah, because... Yeah, I think you could. Okay. But PJ Tucker is very proud that he had an 80...

That just shows you the NBA lifestyle. They'll be fine. That he had an 80-inch... television delivered to his room. That seems like honestly the guys are enjoying and kind of adapting. Yeah. And they're playing cornhole and they're going on the fishing trips

and they're making the most of their room. And Dwight Howard's the only one going to any of the functions that they're putting together. Is he by himself? He went to a mixer kind of a thing and he was the only one there. Well, the food may be great then, right?

So he's like so he's like, yeah, let's go check this out. And then there was no one else there. Well, that's too bad. And then Anthony Davis said he went to a, Dwight went to a DJ set. And he was the only one. So, like, the NBA is trying to accommodate these guys,

and they're tweeting like, this DJ ain't it. Well, you know what you do is you find out if that guy's by himself and then you get to play every song you want. Yeah, exactly. He's turning your own personal concert. Yeah, that would be great. Hey, guys, are you all going to go to this DJ thing? We're going to play a bunch of music?

Nah, I'm not at the standing room tonight. You tell everybody that and then you go sneak out by yourself. Yeah. And you have your own private dance floor. You're drinking wine. Maybe you've got a swisher sweet in your mouth and you're dancing to all your favorite songs. Yeah. So far, I've enjoyed it.

I mean, I laughed at the video of JJ Reddick sitting in some kind of pool thing. Shotgun in a beer. Myers Leonard is a monster. And somehow the Disney concierge got him a 12 ounce, Coors Light, not easy to find. and he shotguned the beer, but he did it not with where you put a key in there to open it. He bit into the can

like just a straight monster drinker and share his mouth open or anything? No, people do it all the time. You do? I've never done it. I don't, because I like my teeth and I don't have good insurance like he does.

But it's been fun to watch. Like I said, the NBA Bubble Life Twitter account It's a good follow. They're basically just repurposing everything guys are putting on social media, whether it's pictures or videos. And it seems like they're adapting pretty well. We're on a weekend for some of them.

So basically we're not supposed to feel sorry for them. Definitely not. They're going to be weighted on hand and foot. They're going to get paid to play basketball. And they're a chance to win a championship trophy. And they're protected from the virus more than like the average person. So there's like zero part of me that feels bad for them. And that has been the good news so far.

that everybody once they've gotten down there have not been, I don't think there have any positive tests since then, right? No, all the positive tests have been people who haven't been able to travel. So there's a couple Nuggets players today I saw that haven't made travel yet, including, you know, like Michael Porter Jr. Yeah. There's the Rockets players. And the Eagle Yokich isn't left yet, correct?

I think he's on his way soon. I saw Kauai should be on his way, right, by the middle of the week. And he wasn't COVID. He just had a family thing he had to take care of. So it seems like. so far the bubble's doing its job. Yeah, and that's why I've always said, once you get there, it might be the safest place on Earth for a couple of months.

Well, I argued that the Russell Westbrook thing, like my argument is that this shows the system that they put into place works, that the health protocols that they're putting into place are functioning properly, that they're stopping Russell Westbrook from bringing COVID to the bubble and spreading it so they don't have the disaster that's happening in the MLS right now. They're canceling games left and right. They've had two teams pull out of the tournament of MLL, less is back. So I think

the Russell Westbrook, it shows what the NBA is putting into place is it's working correctly. All right, we're taking a short time out. I got a lot of folks that want to talk. I want to give you guys a platform to do so. 713 212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. We have one line open if you want to

get in. The rest of you at ban, hold, will get to you in a matter of moments. Also, I want to tell you that the NFL has a new mouthguard system in play. We'll tell you about what that is, and whether or not that that's going to allow guys to freely spit and be okay to do so during an NFL season. By the way, Pact 12 canceled its conference-only non-conference games that did affect the University of Houston. So I don't know what UBH is going to do now that Washington State is off their schedule.

212, Matt Thomas Show till 3. We appreciate you very much listening to Sports Talk 790. Lunch timers. This is the Matt Thomas Show. 216. Sports Talk 790. The Matt Thomas show takes you to 3 o'clock today. New mouthguards in the NFL. Details on that shortly. Jake's with us on the Matt Thomas show. Jake, what's going on? Jake?

What do you say? All right. I think Jake's busy having a conversation with somebody else. It's all right. We'll get back to you, Jake. Don't worry. Joe in the Galleria at 216. Hi, Joe. Hey, hi. Hey, Matt. Is it too late to make a comment on Dusty Baker's a high-five? Sure, go ahead. I got one better than that.

Back in the late 50s, he had a friend, a basketball player friend in a high school. He was 6, 7. And, you know, back then, you would put your hand, palms up by your waist, and get a high five. We had this midget called Miguel. There is the smallest midget you ever see in your life.

he asked him for Miguel for a five Miguel had for a five Miguel had to jump and give him a high five back then they called they called it the jumping high five

this is back in 57 58 so that's that's one better on that's the Baker okay Joe I'll take that on an advisement uh Joe back in our 790 studios

Joe that was a guy that was 6-7 person A person B was the smallest midget he'd ever see his life yeah how small was he too small he had to jump up in the ear to give I mean look I'm six I'm five six so if someone six seven tried to give me like put their hand up like I have to jump I wouldn't reach I don't think not right now but Joe's story was trying to beat our our our Dusty Baker story the mid-1970s. So he's saying that that guy created the jumping high-five. That never really took off.

That's a bad dad joke. I caught your dad joke there, Brendan. Never took off. Yeah, Brandon's very part of his young age, but he tells as many, he tells him many dad jokes as per capita than anybody I know. You don't do it enough, given your age, so I'm just trying to fill the role. You know why? Because I am a hipster AF.

Oh, Matt Thomas. Don't do that to yourself. Whatever. Whatever I have to go get Sponged macaroni and cheese from the grocery store. I know. What did they say about my Sour Patch kids? Oh, they called it toddler candy. Toddler candy.

You know, Matt, I see the hipster look. You really got it going with the hair. Yeah, I'm the full package. Let me tell you something. If you've not seen me yet in a zootsuit, suit, top hat, and cane, you don't know what life is like. I might wear it to the office next Monday. You never know. Let's go to Chris and Copperfield at 220.

Hi, Chris. Hey, man. How are you doing, Big Dog? Wonderful. Hey, you know who I am, man. The bad band, remember? Oh, yeah, you're hard to forget, my friend. The bad cover band, dude.

Yes, sir. How are you doing today, sir? Wonderful. Oh, man. You know, all I can say is every day I listen to you and your show and your crew. and your crew, you find some way to put a big smile on my face. Well, thank you. It's very nice you to say that.

It means a lot to be, Chris. Thank you. Well, I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Well, I know. You come across very authentic, and I love that. Thank you. And, you know, everything that everybody's dealing with right now, it's just insane. Everybody's out of whack.

You know, I get it. But, man, you crushed me, man. I was out in my garage. AT&T, no, internet guy. I'm sorry, I don't like saying that word. I don't deal with them anymore. I have an internet person here and installing our internet, and I'm in my garage. Hello?

Man, it was so funny. And I just, I couldn't believe it. I gave us a thought. I'm like, oh, my God, this could go so many different cool directions on his show. And you go, you know, about Dwight Howard that he was showing up at places. and nobody showed up and all that. And then you do it out there that, hey, you could sneak out of your room like you're going to bed and then you go over there,

you could dance to all your favorite songs. That's true. And I was like, I busted a gut laughing so hard because there could go from Luther Vandross to Michael Jackson. I mean, it could go so many different genres on that stuff. And that'll be just cool if you could. could play a little bit of backup music, kind of like what Dwight would like to hear

when he's on the floor by itself. All right, Chris. Thank you very much with the phone call. We had Jake having a conversation with somebody else. We had Joe with the regular midget and the lower level level midget. And we had Chris want me to see if Dwight Howard would like to have some Luther Vandross in his music selection.

Perhaps today's and anything goes Monday. It sure feels like it. All right. Let's segueue to something else. All right, these mouthguards. You've been telling me about these mouth, these are made by the Oakley company, right? Yeah, so the NFL has a partnership with Oakley for visors.

And then they just are, they're sending out this week the, basically the bottom half of the face masks, like the visors they're going to send to the NFL teams are going out this week. And they're all going to go to the Texas. and all the NFL teams and put them on? So they're going to the 32 teams and then it says they're, it's obviously like nothing's official yet,

nor is this design permanent, but they're going to, these are what's going to be tested out first. So they're going to at least see, like, if they can convince NFL players that it's okay to wear these to help protect them. What if they say no? I think then they'll just try to redesign it.

and see if there's a way that they can make it to protect players from in this way and see if they can find some kind of common ground. Shouldn't they have done this like two months ago? Yeah, all these leagues have been terrible at this. They all just... This feels painfully late to the game on this. They all did this. Look at, I mean, in the NBA, it was like three weeks before they announced they were coming back.

They were finally like, oh, we just starting to go. negotiating with Disney. My response was, you haven't done that yet? And then it feels like that's where we're at with the NFL. They're supposed to be in training camp in 12 days, the Texans. 12 days. 12. Like, why haven't you done this yet?

And by the way, you know, I told you how they're not going to play any preseason games. The players don't want to play any. They might lose that battle. They may have to play one. Problem is they're not making any money. Well, they're making television money, right? Yeah. Local TV money.

Because remember, they have two local broadcasts. Yes. But I have heard nothing from the NFL. What is the NFL doing? Are they just being super secretive about their protocols? And about how every player and how every facility is supposed to look and feel and make sure the players are 100% safe and so are the coaches and the staff and whatnot? How in the world are they going to be able to test without any issues when Major League Baseball is having, one problem after the other, just getting results, and those rosters are 25 players.

Yeah. I'm telling you, Joe, if I ever have to say how in the world is this ever going to happen again? I hope it's one of those phrases that we get to kick to the curve permanently. Like, unprecedented times, uncertain times, the new normal. I know, Matt, but it's just all going to restart in a couple months. I mean, the NBA is like, we just were talking about how great the NBA, it seems like they're doing. They're having no cases in the bubble. but how are they supposed to start December 1st?

If they had to go to a bubble now, how can you convince me it's going to be so much better than to not have to be in a bubble? And that's what I think happened to the NFL. I think the NBA wants to start December 1st. They're not going to. Yeah, I agree. I get the feeling it's going to be a December 25th kind of thing, would be my guess.

713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. Let me say hi to Tommy. I want to talk about Russell Westbrook. Hi, Tommy. I just so a quick question. So the situation where Russell Westwood is getting coronavirus is being hard they have, too? They were working out together, yes.

So I know the work stationery, but best case scenario, he should be BLB back on the season starts. I'm correct, but he's a healthy athlete. I'm just making sure I'm not just going to be all right. Yeah, you know what? You just explained it. Thank you, Tommy. Worst case is, this corona puts them in the hospital. Best case is they're down in Orlando sometime this week.

And that's what Mike Dan Tony said is that he expects for Hardin, Westbrook, and Bob Mutte to all be there at around the same time. Now, expecting and then doing are two different things. And maybe he's putting on an overall positive face on this. But at least we know about Russ. Russ did go to his Twitter account today and say, hey, I have it. I've been quarantined. I feel fine. I can't wait to get down to Orlando to see my teammates here in the not too distant future.

So at least that has been resolved. Where James is, no idea. Where Luke Bahmute is, no idea. But my guess is, has been most of the cases with players that have not announced where they have been that there's something COVID-related. And as I said, I'm glad they're just kind of getting it knocked out now so they can hopefully be a hundred 100% for when the season really does begin coming up at the end of the month. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we have a big event tonight on our Monday night meeting. Sports Talk 790, and we'll tell you about that.

We're going to do a little dress rehearsal. Joe, you will be the celebrity, and Brendan, you will be the contestant. And we're going to see how this is going to work tonight. Hopefully it will as we play the first ever 790 match game. We're going to do a little sample testing of it tonight to make sure we get all the kinks taken care of. We'll do that next. 228 here on Sports Talk 790 with a message here for Oops Steam Cleaning. To get your carpets clean the right way, you have to simply get to your phone and call 281 822-0561.

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Anytime. Anywhere. Because I love your home team. LeBroll Rockies. Just tell your smart device. Play Sports Talk 790 on IHart Radio. Playing Sports Talk 790 on IHard Radio. All right, tonight is the debut of the 790 match game.

It'll be on Facebook.com slash Sports Talk 790. Now, unfortunately, Joe will be unable to join us. But Joe, we're going to pretend you're the celebrity for a second, okay? Okay. I'm going to read you a question, and you're going to write an answer down. Brendan is going to be the contestant. And if he matches, if Brendan matches you, Brendan wins a special prize, okay? Okay.

You guys understand, which means, so don't, don't blur out your answer, either one of you, until Joe, you're ready to write your response down, all right? Okay. Here's the question. The Rockets locker room attendant is really good. cruel. Instead of giving James Harden shaving cream for his beard, he gave him blank cream. Okay. Okay. So you, did you write your answer down? Yep. All right. Now, Brandon, here we go. The Rockets locker room attendant is really cruel. Instead of giving James Harden shaving cream for his beard, he gave him blank cream. What's your answer?

Whip cream. Whip cream. Did You match Joe George. No. Oh, what's the answer? I went with itch cream. Itch? What the hell is itch cream? Like the pranking cream.

You've never heard of that? No. Yeah, it's like a cream, like, it's like what prank you would pull on your buddies. Like, you're like 12. Brandon, just for the sake of the game, your answer is significantly better than Joe George. No, it's not.

It's the only cream I could think of. Here are the possible answers. It's cream. Whipping cream, ice cream, sour cream. Oh, sour cream's good. Itching cream? I'm telling you. You said cruel.

You said cruel. So I thought prank. Matt hates everything I do with this stuff. You hate my fantasy five answers. Which I beat you like a drum. I beat you once and the one that mattered most. Yeah, okay, whatever. I'm just saying.

So we try again? All right. Um, you want, you guys want to do one more? Sure. We got this one. Okay. Because I want, y'all, I want people understanding you can actually match somebody on the show. Whip cream was my number two.

Let's see here. Let me, I got to find an old one from back in the day because I don't want to use the questions from tonight. Let's see here. Oh, here we go. You guys ready? Yes. It's a wrestling one. Hulk Hogan's new wrestling moves are really strange.

First he pinned you to the mat Then he blanks your toes All right Joe Okay You got an answer I think so Here we go All right Brendan good luck

Hulk Hogan's new wrestling moves are really strange First he pinned you to the mat Then he blanks your toes Oh this is easy sucks Sox is the answer Absolutely Joe George what do you say Ding ding ding ding match

Nice. Other options? Go ahead. Licks. Tickles? Tickles your toes? Tickles would have been out there. All right.

All right. I'm proud of you guys. You want to pull this off? You want to do one more, are we good? What's going on a hideout? All right. Wait for the email that are coming through here. Let's see.

Let's see. Oh, here we go. Beware Texans fans going to Lambeau Field. In the bathrooms, they don't use toilet paper, they use blank paper. Done. That was fast. Easy. All right, here we go.

Brendan, this is you. Beware Vikings fans going to Lambeau Field and the bathrooms, they don't use toilet paper. They use blank paper. Printer? printer paper I don't know man I like that answer though it's not the worst answer

it's not it's not and remember everybody driving around town thinking about the fact that printer paper is in their ass right now probably isn't great how about sandpaper no no you already gave your answer but the definitive answer is sand

the answer was sand but I like printer paper I like where you're going with this and we need an out of box it's a funny answer. I mean, sandpaper is clearly the right answer, but. Yep. But sandpaper sounds, but printer paper, instead of toilet paper, sounds also miserable. All right. So that's why there's your little sample of what we're going to do tonight. And we're going to have four of our 790 host as the

celebrities. And we're going to have three different local contestants that are our listeners. And they're going to play for big city wings tonight. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to a little more production value to it a little bit, but generally speaking, that's the 790 match game. I think Michael Connor is going to be terrible at this. Michael Connor is going to suck at this game so bad. I mean, you might have to kick him off the call.

Well, I think it'll be, we need one of the four celebrities to be so bad that we're just going to make fun of them religiously. And I believe he'd be the one to go to. All right, so tonight, Facebook.com slash sports talk 790 it's a 790 match game and we're going to play tonight at 730. So what did you think of the PAC 12 getting rid of the non-conference games?

Did you see Brian T. Smith column over the weekend? He thinks this whole conference, this conference only thing is a disaster to begin with. Yeah, I definitely understand because like he was talking about on Friday, like why is Ohio State canceling a bowling green game when they're in the same state versus them going to Rutgers and to Maryland. My only counter argument is you can't, I mean, how do you air these games? You have these, if you didn't have specific networks, I think this, I think it makes way more sense to be regional. But like, how do you decide who gets the Big Ten?

Like, who's going to, what's going to air on the Big Ten network? What's going to air on the ACC network? What's going to air on the, like, the SEC network? And that's the problem of why that doesn't work and why. only playing conference games makes the most sense. I'm not surprised. Now it's inevitable for all the other conferences because the Big Ten did not really affect,

they did not affect the SEC at all. But the Pact 12 does, and it's going to just trickle down. I'm fine with it. I saw Juko push back to spring this weekend, and that's where I think we all are headed to still, but I'm not surprised the Pact 12. of moving this direction.

Well, the original thought would be just to reduce the number of games. I don't even think necessarily has to do with location. It's just if we're going to have a college football season, let's just play the most important ones of the whole mix, right? And the most important games in a college football season are the ones you play inside your own league. Yep. I don't think it's anything to do with travel. I mean, you would think in theory if you play in a conference that your travel is going to be reduced,

but that's just not true anymore. Yeah, it's just not realistic. I mean, the Big Ten goes from Nebraska to Rutgers. Now, and the Big 12 goes from West Virginia all the way throughout the state of Texas and can't. I mean, yeah, I mean, 40 years ago when the SWC was everything in Texas and Arkansas, you get that. But you get unified testing protocols here. And I think that's important to realize is that the Big Ten can utilize their protocols. The Big Ten can decide that if,

all learning is at home and online only, they can decide they still want to play football. They're not going to now be reliant on the PAC 12 and vice versa. This is better for the SEC to know now that USC is not going to potentially allow football to happen because they're going to be e-learning. So they know that now. They can make their own decisions. They can make their own testing protocols. And they can decide when their sport is going to be played.

And the college football committee will have to do. decide who gets to get in and everything like that. Well, I got two things for you. One, Rice plays Houston. Do you think that Rice has the same way of testing that U of H does? There's no uniform protocol system on that, is there? No, I think we're getting this across the board. Like, I don't think Rice will play Houston this year.

I don't either. I think it will be all only conferences across the board. But what if you do this? This is really an opposite of what I'm trying to say here. What if the U of Hs was supposed to play Washington State, but they're not going to, they've canceled that game. What if Texas A&M had a game that weekend that also got canceled? Could Chris Pezman and the athletic director, is it Ross Bjorcker at A&M? Is that who that is?

I believe so. Could those two guys come together and say, hey, let's just do a one-year game, play the game in Kyle Field, and let's just play it. Or let's play the game at TDUC Stadium because unless you and I, being the two respective institutions, agreeing on a testing policy and how to do this. Could you see some impromptu games based off of cancellation of other games? Or are we setting ourselves up for at very most a 10-game college football season? Yeah, I think it's just, I think we're ahead to do a 10-game season. I think, Matt, ideally people would have preferred what you're suggesting,

including the SEC, the Pact 12, University of Houston, Rice. they would have preferred that. But the Big Ten, they just said, screw it. Like, we're making the best decision for us. Like, sorry to everyone else that this affects.

Like, sorry, we're not going to play, Wisconsin's not going to play Notre Dame at Lambo Field this year. It ain't happening. That game's canceled. They didn't care.

And because they didn't care and they decided to do what's best for them, everyone else has to be reactionary now, whether they like it or not. And it impacts everyone. one. It impacts Rice. It impacts Houston. It impacts LSU. It impacts USC.

So I think it's going to be a 10-game season for sure at this point. And here's the bigger question. Okay, so it's going to be 10 games. When does the first game play? Call your shot right this second. October 24th. October 24th, huh?

So the college football playoff, the semifinals are scheduled for January 1st. So if you just go back, the 10 weeks before that with no buy weeks is October 24th. That gives them, what, four months to figure this thing out? That gives them months to figure out testing protocols. That gives them plenty of time. If they're going to go 10 weeks straight, no buy weeks.

October 24th is the latest they can start without changing ESPN schedule for the college football playoff. All right. Mark it down, and if he's right, we will give him all the props he so richly deserved. If he's wrong, ridicule him like we do the rest of the people in America when they make predictions. Final segment, Matt Thomas Show, moments away. Time is 244. Station is Sports Talk 790. 713-212-5-790, 7-1-3-2-790, with a message right now for Shaw's jewelry at the corner of West Gray and Montrose.

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Grand Montrose, Open Monday through Friday 10 to 7, Saturdays 10 to 6. Shaw's Jewelry, West Graham Montrose. Hi, this is former running back of Herschel Walker. You're listening to Matt Thomas in the Sports Talk 790. All right, Brandon, I'll have you pull some audio for me real quick. We got to play again. We were doing the match game earlier. If you missed Bruce Smith, one of the great defensive players in the history of the NFL, Buffalo Bills.

he was on family feud last night, celebrity family feud, and when in doubt, you don't come up with an answer, you come up with a male part of an anatomy, and here is what I'm talking about during last night's fast money bonus game. If Captain Hook was moonlighting as a handyman, he might replace his hook with what tool? A hammer. Try again. A penis. Tell me the age of kids. is too old asleep with a tent. What the .

Joe explained the audience what we decided is an answer for no matter what the category is or question or time of day? Penis. Penis. No matter what. No matter what. James Harden really struggling today?

Penis. Alex Bregman, 0 for 10 his last two games. Number of COVID tests turning positive way north of thousand a day in the last three weeks or so in the set of Texas. Reason for it, Joe?

Petus. Gas price is now approaching a dollar 90 per gallon after being in the 160s for much of the summer. Any thought of a potential reason why? Well, see, Matt, it goes in it. There's all these different reasons, but you know what? You know the one. What is it?

You know it. Go ahead. No, you go ahead. What's one thing that Adam Clinton and Adam what's for share in 3 and 6? Their love for the Rockets. And? I'm not saying anymore.

So Russell Westbrook is not in the bubble, huh? No. Hopefully soon. What's like, is there a concern, like legitimate basketball reasons? Is there a date you have in mind where you get a little nervous, or are you okay even if they have? don't report till like the first game um i would like to have the entire team there by the

three scrimmages so by next friday yeah by we're going to carry those scrimmages here on seven 90s so have we heard anything about the spring training games we're going to carry those two i have not heard yet okay uh yeah so that's your question asked and answered give those guys three days of scrimmages against another team and some practices, they'll be fun. Well, because I feel like they're probably still working out to the best they can. Or Russ is just sleeping. I wonder if James has it, he can tell us, right?

We're not going to be mad at him. No, are we? I just think, like, he hasn't tell us anything, ever. He doesn't. Literally. What do you think James will be like 20 years from now? We won't hear from him ever again. ever again

he'll be one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA that we never hear from I think I think you're going to see James when he walks away he'll be at Rockets games occasionally but it's not going to be like you know like right now every game you go to Dream and Elvin

Hayes are pretty much always there sure James is not going to be like that and you think he'll be like a a record producer awesome like you know like LeBron has already said he's doing team

TV projects. He's doing stuff involving music. He's got his acting career. He's already into phase one of his post-NBA life. Yeah, I just don't see, I think we're just not going to hear from James anymore. I think he'll retire and we'll hear from him when he goes into the Hall of Fame. And when he inducts Russell Westbrook into the Hall of Fame and that's pretty much it. I just don't see it. It's not going to see me an analyst. No, no, no, no, no. I don't see him being in the spotlight at all. Because here's, I mean, it's actually easier to figure out what he's not going to do. Yeah.

Like, you know what, but you know, he's not out of the ordinary but that? I mean, what does Alan Iverson do right now? Yeah, we only see him at games, pretty much. He tried to do the big three thing. Carbone, don't see him. Well, there's a reason for that. Why is that? Because he has a child.

that like, but the girl that was like 16 at the time. Oh, she was 16? Yes. I think. How did I miss that? Younger. I don't know. You don't know that story?

No, I don't. Yeah. You should look it up. I don't think I want to. Carmelon as a kid was someone that, I think it was he was in college and she was not of age. Okay, but that means, well, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not a reason why we have not heard from Carleone in 10 years. Well, I

canceled. Carmelano is canceled. I don't think so. He did ESPN 30 for 30 not that long ago. We played some of the audio. It was terrible. But I mean, we've even heard from certainly people

like Gary Payton did media for a while. Yeah, and he's doing the big three stuff. I mean, you know what, James will probably just playing the big three if it's still around and they're going pretty strong.

Strong is a relative term. I mean, they sell, like I know they sell lower bowl of stadium. but, like, they have decent attendance. They have a decent, they have a good TV partner. You know what the difference is, in all honesty, is that he doesn't have to do anything. Yeah. He's between his, between his shoe endorsement and his NBA contract, if he quit tomorrow, he could go on an island and never come back and no one would worry about him.

Yeah, he's probably just going to worry about seeing how many establishments he can get his jersey retired at. You're talking about NBA arenas, of course. Nope You're talking about Basketball Halls of Fame, if you will. Nope, definitely not. You are talking about among NBA stat categories

like the Naismith Hall of Fame. The NBA Ivory Towers in New York City's we're talking about. No. I'm talking about the weekend activities. They don't do that. They don't retire strip club jerseys. Look, there's a That was a made-up story.

I don't know. if it is because there are strong claims that's true and there are pictures on there. Now they might have just hung, someone else might have hung it up there and taking it down, but there are strong claims that they retired as Jersey. What do you do if your jersey gets retired by a shirt club? Do you go to the ceremony itself?

Do you thank Desiree and Sunshine and Strawberry? No, they're thanking him because he put them through college. It's a thank you ceremony. Then he's doing a civil service then. Exactly. Don't hate him. He's trying to get today's children in the education. There's nothing I hate about James Hardin. Perfect. Thank you, Joe. We'll look forward to hang out with you tomorrow. Thank you to Brendan

Riley for doing a great job and giving grand answers on match game. Reminder tonight, match game, Facebook.com slash Sports Talk 790. We'll start at 7.30 tonight. Please be there. We're going to have some fun. We're going to make fun of people. And remember, we think Michael Conner's answers are going to suck way more than anybody else. Clanton Wexster. They're two of our match game celebrities. They're first up with the A team. And they're up next on Sports Talk 790.