The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Anything Goes Friday! Kawhi Trade Talk, LeBron Likes Voice Memos

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

Anything Goes Friday! Kawhi Trade Talk, LeBron Likes Voice Memos 

This is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. 10-1 at H-Town. Good morning and welcome to a Friday edition of the Matt Thomas Show and Ross. This is Sports Talk 790. Did you get my VINBall account and I've not seen any deposits from you lately? What's going on with that? I'm not giving you any money, you money, brother. I'm going to take some money this weekend.

At least that I get my mind I'm going to 2. You know what? I hope you play 6 to 5 all weekend. No, no, no. I have budgeted for 3-2. Apparently we're getting some bad recon from Las Vegas and Ross is about to give up out of the city.

Although... I'll just never go there again. Although... I don't care. I mean, what's in Vegas right now that I can't get in New Orleans? Or Lake Charles, for that matter. Or Lake Charles. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. They used to have sports betting, and so I had to go there to sports bet. I don't have to do that on now. And I don't even have to sports bet. I can get better odds on Cal Sheet. Use Code 7-9. When you use that code 7-90, you get great odds.

You get 20 for 20. I understand it. And by the way, you're not in the minority because they lose about 10% a business per year. It's a soulless hellhole. It's a soulless hellhole. But, dude,

what's the comp on this? I still like going. Everything's more. Dude, I'm looking at things to go, okay, so Matt Thomas and I are going to Vegas. going to be there for Monday, Tuesday's show. You leave tonight? Yeah. I leave tomorrow morning. So we're going to be there for a few days. I'm looking for things to do. I'm looking at, I was like, oh, you know what? What's playing at the Sphere this weekend? Well, it's Kenny Chesney, I think, tonight.

Which I have zero interest in. Our producer, Josh C, that does our rockets and Astros games, he's going to see Kenny Chessie tonight. I mean, congratulations to all the Chesney acts. We're going out to see Kenny Chesney. May I interrupt for one quick second. Go ahead. Keith Urban just released. What the hell does it? this have to do? I'm going to get in and get out. Keith Urban just released an album of yacht rock songs and it's fantastic.

You ever telling a story, Jonathan? And then somebody interrupts you with something completely unrelated. No, Keith Urban and Chesson. Why did you have to? No, that doesn't have anything to do with Vegas. And it happens a lot in 10 to 2 Monday through Friday. Yeah, and it's like, I'm telling a story.

We don't have to talk about this unrelated thing that you're bringing up. I'm going to meet myself for the next four minutes. You know, write that down for 1130. I will. All right. So I'm trying to look at things to do. Oh, what's at the sphere? Kenny Chesniaks are happy tonight. And then it's a Wizard of Oz.

Rapparound coverage, 3D, or whatever. I'm like, oh, that seems interesting. It's like $200 to go see a 100-year-old movie at the Las Vegas sphere. And then I'm like, hey, you know what? We saw Beatles Love, Matt, and Circto Soleil. It was great. You can speak. It's fine. Okay.

Just don't like tell another story about, I don't know. I don't bring up the Beatles at all. What you had for dinner last night. Okay, yeah, you don't have to bring up a story about Paul and John back in the day. So it's like, yeah, Beatles' love was fantastic. I love seeing Cirque de Soleil. I'm like, oh, you know, I literally Googled what is the best Cirque de Soleil in Vegas. And most people say, oh, which is at the Bellagia.

And I've seen that too. I'm going to look at that. Good tickets for that are like $300. Yeah. To go see people hop around in a puddle of water? Why is everything so much more expensive? I was like, I'll drop 100, maybe $150. They want $300 for tickets to owe.

Not every seat in the building in the building. No, the lowest ones are $200. Okay. You got two issues going for you there. Admin fees are like $20 a ticket. Yeah, well, that's going to happen in any concert in the world, much less Las Vegas. You're stupid. Here's your issue.

It's summertime. Vegas is busy. Yes. Despite it's going to be 112 degrees there. People still go. You've got a big, big fight there tomorrow night, which we're going to go watch at a sports bar because I try to get his tickets. And that was over 1,000. Oh, yeah, we're going to go to the, we're going to be in the book.

Whatever, we'll figure something out. But I bet the book's going to be busy. Maybe at Four Queens. And the Binions book, I heard they got a new Magnavox TV. They're introducing something called a VCR. They're going to record the fight. Yeah, they're going to. I love downtown.

And Four Queens is actually going to have it uncolor. Really? Yes. Most of its kind. Most of their sporting events are in black and white. So, you know, it is what it is. Hey, I love the Four Queens. Okay, so you got Vegas is still a destination,

and though it's not as popular as it used to be. Terrible. Remember, people are going there, and they're not worrying about gambling. They're just worried about being at the pools of the hotel. Like, I can't afford to gamble. And so, yeah, I wish I could give you some better news, but I'm not surprised at anything you just said.

Now, I have been to the sphere one time. Sphere. Sphere. Sphere. Okay. One time. Yeah, I'd go see the Eagles. greatest concert venue in my entire life.

And my guess is if I was a Wizard of Oz, a hollick, I would love it. How many of those are out there? Who's dressing up as tin man and heading to the sphere? Because it's playing for like a month straight. There's no way. There's the market for it then. There's no way it's full.

Who the hell? And you know what? Shame on you people. It's a hundred-year-old movie. I mean, now, look, you want to go drop acid and go ahead in the sphere? I guess I get it. There's a Grateful Dead tribute band that fills up the sphere. Grateful Dead tribute band.

I think it's what it is. I don't think it's obviously not literally the Grateful Dead, but there's been Grateful Dead there. Grateful Dead something, whether it's a musical or that's a tribute or something has filled up the sphere more than anything else. Yeah, but they're losing. They're hemorrhaging money. The sphere is. It lost money the day it was built. Yeah.

It was built. The cost of it was a billion dollars more than they thought. Now, look, there's been overruns in construction before, but not. a billion, but it is. And I'm giving me my sports MT recommend. It is the greatest concert venue in America. Now, I have not been to Red Rocks. I would love to see a concert there.

Yes. I have been to a lot of arenas around this country that host sporting events that do concerts. Some are better than others. TOTUS Center actually is pretty good for when it comes acoustics of other places that are not. But if you're going to, I spent $21515 to see the Eagles, and I would have paid $515. It was that good of a concert, plus the whole venue was unbelievably amazing. So I'm sorry that you're not a Chesniite. Is that what they call each other?

I said Chesniac, but I made that. Whatever, I don't know. But the Eagles are going to be there for more concerts coming up this fall. So I would actually go back, but I don't have made a schedule. I would go see the Eagles. I mean, yeah, even though. I mean, yeah. It's a quasi-bele.

It's a quasi-eat. They're in their 80s and only like a few of their songs. Yeah. But, yeah, I'm looking right now. Okay, Ticketmaster's got the, it's like the worst seats in the house are 109 bucks of Oz and that's before taxes and fees. Probably like 155%. To watch a movie.

The front area, 300, 300 bucks. Now, my guess is again, if you and I were giving free tickets, we walked in and we sat down, we'd be like, this is amazing. Oh, I'll go. for free. I know. If a free, give me three. Maddie, come on now.

Well, yeah. I don't want to be a third wheel. It's fine. I mean, I don't have any connections at the sphere. Well, let's go. Come on, man. What else do we get you for? I get you summer league games.

We go to summer league? I might. On Sunday? Are they, when the Rockets are playing Monday, tomorrow, and they don't play again until Tuesday, and we leave on Tuesday. Oh, I think you said they play Monday. I got the right to me.

I got bad information. I mean, honestly, look, I I wish I was going for the summer league to see like, I mean, Bruce Thornton's the headliner. What time do they play tomorrow? 530 LV time. Oh, so you're in soccer mode. Maybe, yeah, I'll be, yeah, 6 o'clock is Argentina, Switzerland.

2 o'clock is Norway, England. Yeah, I'm in war cup mode. Yeah, you're in war cup mode. And I fucking don't blame you, but I feel like... It's the quarters. I've never been to the Las Vegas Summer League before, so I'm kind of losing my virginity there. So you want to watch like Bruce Thornton and J.D. Davidson and the boys.

Don't forget Deshaun Nix. He's still there? No, he's not. Yeah. Are you serious? Or am I? Are they going to put his number in the right? after is it summer league? That's really rude. Deshawn Nix,

Summer League legend. The number is going to be up there next to Donatus Modi Unis? Remember? Oh my God. This guy from Lithuania just scored 25 in the summer league. He's going to dominate. What's his name? Donatus Modi Yunis.

I actually want to say, can we put Isaiah Hartnstein in that group too? Maybe. I think we can. Hardinstein was crushing it. Yeah. I think there's been some Summer League Hall of Famers. Absolutely.

Maybe Dation just gets it for most years of consecutive service, but I don't know. He's the legend pick. All right. If you haven't noticed, it's that anything goes Friday here on the Matt Thomas show at Ross. Let's go. Are you okay? I just want to check. Microphone works.

Sounds great. All right. I just want to make sure. Microphone sounded great on all those drops. I know I did. No access machine. All right. Literally.

I know. I'm sorry. You know what I'm sorry. That was unnecessary shot. 1130. So I got to do one. You got one. Jonathan, you probably have to apologize to your girl's family for multiple things you did.

I was a saint. Yeah, you probably like spilled the garbage can or some said some kind of inappropriate thing. How many meals did you get caught sneaking in the room at 1 a.m? Oh, that's definite. The stairs are too squeaky. Oh, you tried. Okay. How many meals are you trying to spider man up there?

You're trying to repel up the stairs? Let me ask me this. How many meals did you guys go out to while you were gone? He's got his battering. We went out to four, four, five. And how did you handle the paying for your end of the meals? They wouldn't let me. Really?

Yeah. They must really like you. That's what I said. You know, I had a good trip, guys. I was surprised. Nice. That's great. I'm happy for them.

Now, I'll say this. I, when I was dating Kim, same thing would happen to me. We'd go on a couple of family trips. Now, we had to stay in separate bedrooms, allegedly. And so, and he would ask, I would say, can I buy this meal? And they wouldn't let me. you're in a good spot. So from one man's experience the other,

I think you're in a good situation. You're supposed to offer, I mean, it's kind of dumb. You're supposed to offer like twice and then you're like, all right, I'm good. Did you offer any point? No, guys, please.

Anytime, anytime my girl went something, I'm paying for her, right? Oh, I see. It was a family thing. So you guys did have some alone time as well? Yes, yes, yes. Good, okay.

All right, now we've got that all taken care of. All right, it's anything goes Friday, literally anything you want to get to. Yeah. Look, to be honest with you, today's show, And all next week will be on anything goes weak. It's the leanest week in sports.

Mm-hmm. Because we've got an all-star game that, generally speaking, nobody cares about. We'll get in the Summer League Scouting report from you, though. I'll be on the show with a full breakdown. We may even have Wool done on the Summer League coach. That's the assistant coach for the Rockets. Oh, okay. That's cool. It's like the former Falcons running back?

Well done? That's Warwick Dunn. Oh, I'm sorry. Not a bad pull from your part, though. Could have said Buccaneers, too. Apparently Warwick Dunn is one of the nicest human beings alive. Yeah. All he did is took all of his money and built homes for people that were financially disadvantaged.

Including Deshaun Watson. Yes. Right? Yeah. And I'm sure Deshaun probably owes him and I'm sorry. And Deshaun was asking for a massage table in the house. Which was odd. All right.

That's another sorry. Set that one down. All right. So it's old smoky week next week on the show. Oh, hell yeah. Matt, you're going to smoke a brisket finally? No, we're going to give away five more next week. Resumase thin for Mr. Texas.

did and back me up on I don't need to smoke a no you didn't do it and I didn't say I said ever but on a Tuesday this guy was like yeah go out there smoke a brisket dude it's Tuesday I just got home from work I'm not going to spend the next 12 hours outside the sweltering heat smoking a brisket that I can have ready at 7 a.m. I shut your bum ass up. I had your back on the principle of what he was trying to say I have a friend of up we have jobs I have a friend of mine you know this friend and you're friends with them too get your unemployed ass next to the smoker that's fine who brags about his briskets And I look and he puts them on his on his ex account and they look terrible. Well, it's about the taste.

I mean, I don't know. I never know his house to have his brisket, but you haven't tasted his meat. No, I look at the thing and I'm like, I don't eat that meat. You're saying the meat doesn't look good. Can we go to break? We can. It's anything goes Friday. 713, 212.

Let me show you some pictures on my brisket? No. I'm done with looking at your meat. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. It is Matt. It's Ross. It's Jonathan.

and anything goes Friday on 790. Hanging in the window in the evening on a Friday night and a shining through the wind right high. Summer breeze. And then you get one of the most successful country singers

of all time to do an album and update these songs. Keith Urban crushing this today. A little summer breeze. Seals and Crofts originally. Keith Urban now. I see Jonathan Biven do it.

I love this. This is such good news. I'm not even a big Keith Urban fan, but this sounds great. Ross is silent during this entire adventure. I mean, it's fine. So you were, I watched, I was watching Today Show today. As compared to today's show yesterday. That'd be weird.

Yeah. Keith Evern goes on a boat. You know, you can go from Manhattan to, the Statue of Liberty. You write a ferry over, right? He got on a ferry and started singing these songs. People didn't even know what was happening. Okay. I just think that's cool.

I love surprise concerts. Oh, man, okay. Well, like the Beatles on the rooftop? Well, actually, Paul McCartney has gone to British pubs before when I used to live in Minneapolis before Prince passed away. They're like, man, this guy covering Beatles

kind of worn out. That's how you interpret it. That's fine. Prince, you guys don't know this back in this. He did this before I even moved there, but I think he did it. When did Prince pass away? 2010-ish? Okay, so it's, I was, no, that was, 2015-ish?

When did Prince die? Look at it up Brooklyn. Point being, it's 2016-ish. Okay, so. April 21st. I remember one time I was in Minneapolis. The place where he was discovered was this bar called First Ave. First Ave.

It's right across from, if you didn't have been to games of the Target Center, it's literally across streets, downtown Minneapolis. and there are hundreds of bands that have performed there that have become mutual famous. And that's where Prince was basically discovered, I think. Okay. He gets in there one night, doesn't tell anybody. Word travels fast because social media was starting to really become popular during the time. They had to close the bar down, the fire department had to come in because there were thousands of people that were trying to jam themselves into this bar because Prince was doing this impromptu concert.

Yeah, Dave Chappelle was playing, we're not playing, you know, he was on open mic night at Rudyard's here in Houston. a few years ago. Just test the stuff out? Yeah, I think. And so, like, Rudyard's is a comedy place around here. It's also a bar and a whatever. Mm-hmm.

They have a comedy club up there. And he just showed up there one night. Stuff like that happens. Yeah, it's crazy. I've never been a witness to something like that, but I would love that. Yeah, that would be seriously. You just having a couple of pops and all of a sudden,

hey, you two is in here and want us try the new material out. They have a new album out, too. I'm not a YouTube fan, but I'm, yeah. Really? Yeah. Is Bono still wear his sunglasses inside? I don't know, but they just put a video out this week. Oh, really?

I don't know. Again, I'm not a YouTube person, but I have a lot of friends that are just YouTubeolics, lose their mind over it. Really? Yeah, that's what I say. I mean, it's good. It's like really getting into foreigner or something. Okay. Hey, you do you, Jack.

R.O. Speedwagon, yes! Yeah. Although R.O. Speedwagon did get a little bit of a bump when they were in, what's that show? Ozark I was watching for a while. so they were a huge part of one of the seasons. Oh, okay. Oh, they were on the show? They were literally the band was.

They were like running drugs? Precisely. For real? Yes. They were money laundering and everything. I don't want to give me of spoilers. Yeah, it is. But that show's been gone for a while.

What is the rule, by the way, on that? Ten years. I was going to say five. Ten years for a movie? Okay. Five for a show. Let me ask you this. If anybody wanted to get into a deep dive of House of,

Game of Thrones? how would you feel about talking about Game of Thrones right now? It's been a while. Yeah, maybe you're right. Maybe it's maybe five years. When did that go off air? Should I get into the Game of Thrones? I tried.

I don't say about the ending and now I'm like, Ross guilted me into it and I gave it. No, I did not. No, I think you did. Yeah, you did. Yeah, you didn't like it. I gave it four episodes, which I thought was a good college try.

Yeah, I mean four episodes, yeah. And here is a part of it, though. One of the women, the woman in the show isn't very, very sexy. There's like a bunch of women in the show who were very... But the mother of dragons. Oh, Calaci.

Yes. I introduced her, Jonathan, at a Rockets game, not knowing who she was. Yeah, when he was on PA. I was doing the PA for the Rockets at the time, and it got... It went super, super viral. It goes viral like every couple years. Yes. If not every couple...

Of me introducing her. And I was like, okay, so now... So then combo that with Ross, like, dude, you got to watch it. If you can get past the language, it's a... It's a soap opera. And I just... And I try it, and I just couldn't get past it. Yeah, it's a little too dense for Matt Thomas.

In retrospect, I shouldn't have... it's very dense Jonathan because people have read the books like literally I was reading an article after every episode I'm reading like a thousand word article about explaining everything that's happening so you have to get way into it it's very dense and then the last couple of seasons are bad because they ran out of source material because George R. Martin was supposed to write another book and then he never did so they're like oh geez what do we do uh let's make this like Fast and the Furious on Dragons so it wasn't great I'm trying to pull up the ratings for like the last several seasons on i if you could pull up like the i mdb ratings it the first six seasons or so it is the best you look at the budget it looks like a movie with the cg i with the sets with the actors with the acting with the costuming with the script writing it's the perfect show for six seasons and then it's bad for two it got a four rating on f on the last season yeah that's how house of cards those for me. Do you see a house of cards? I thought that's good. Also.

First four seasons were on the edge of your seat. Awesome. The last two, I couldn't get rid of them fast enough. So if you want to invest in what is, to me, the greatest show of all time for like six seasons, and then absolute crap?

Because we invested in, Amy and Ivanov watched Breaking Bad recently and just binge watch the whole thing. That was amazing. But I hated the ending of it, though. So I don't know. Breaking people who think, the short list for Best shows of all time would be Sopranos Wire, Breaking Bad. And the Brady Bunch.

Not the Brady Bunch. That's a little further back. Not Sanford and Son. Sorry, Matt. That's Jefferson. Season 7 and 8. Actually, if you look at the episode ratings, they're actually pretty good on IMDB. But the last three episodes are a five and a half of five nine and a four.

So if you want to invest in what's the greatest show of all time until it's not, it's up to you. All right, Brian McTaggart's going to join us on the road. Really? We have to play Willie Nelson. Is he in Ireland? Where is he this year? No, he's on the way to Arlington. Oh, okay.

So have that ready for the 11 o'clock open, Jonathan. He, first of all, loves country music, and secondly, he's going to, he'll appreciate that. And he's going to be on his way to Arlington to cover the Astros and Rangers. The Silver Boot Series continues, Rossi. We'll talk to Jason and Katie after that. He'll join us next. Here it is Matt and Ross at 713-212-2-5-79.

713212-5-790 It is if anything goes Friday on the Matt Thomas show with Ross We will, a few more things We've got to lay out for you. 11 o'clock Brian McTaggart 1130, we're going to say our sorries for the week. We'll wake the strippers up today at noon

And Jonathan, let's once again back up what we said yesterday on the show at 1.30 today with non-flora stories. It'll be the grossest non-floor story Maybe in the history of non-Florist stories at 1.30? For sure. There's no doubt. I'm going to read What is the current champion in the non-flora stories?

All of Fame. Really? And you will trump that. Okay. I'm pretty sure you're going to trump it. So it's a very discouraging, discouraging. It's a very alarming, troubling, disturbing non-flora story from Sports RV, who, by the way, called dibs.

Yeah. I was like, this is a great story. Somebody else is going to see this. Oh, yeah. It's making its rounds. Let's go to Jason and Katie at 1035 on anything goes Friday. Jason, good morning. Good morning, Mr. Texas and Ross and Johnson.

Man, look, last Friday I had to work. Most people were off, y'all were off, Dan was off. At 7 o'clock in the morning, I'm listening to 790, and these guys are on, and they were talking about Summer League basketball and all this stuff, how it's going to start and everything, and I'm like, what? the hell. Who cares about that? And they're, you know, they're the national guys. And anyway, he changes the subject

real quick, and he goes, well, let's talk some baseball, but who cares about baseball? I've never even watched a nine-emning baseball game. And I'm like, what? Who in the hell is this? And then the other guy goes, yeah, I've never watched a nine-game baseball game either. Baseball sucks. And then they started talking about

Buster Posey saying something about gay pride day and nothing. And then I'm like, I got to cut this off. This sucks. But I waited because I'm like, I've got to figure out who these guys are. And it's Buck and Jason on Fox Sports Radio. The two stupidest people I've ever heard in my entire life. And if I ever turn 790 on again, hear that crap, I might change to the other damn station.

I don't want to do it. But I'm telling you what. That was bad, man. That was bad. Cook you a brisket, Mr. Matt. See you. Was that a drive-by? Cook you a brisket?

Yeah, cook you a brisket, Maddie. He's agreeing with us. All right, so a few things. First of all, thank you for calling me my appropriate name. That means a lot to me. He said he had his tongue in his cheek. Number two, when we are live, 6A to 7P, Monday through Friday, except for the occasional holidays.

I don't believe they said they never watched a night-end-based. I got to say, if we went back and found the audio, I would highly doubt that any of that was said. Okay. We love you for thank you, but I think you were either mishearing or trying to embellish or whatever, something, but I don't believe they'd be the case. So that's number two on that. Number three is, again, we two take very few days off, non-vacation-wise, for holidays, and it's Thanksgiving, that's Christmas. So the de facto is... A 250th birthday of our nation.

Exactly. So the default is national programming. So if the national programming sucks. which it does during the week normally when it's like during the year. I mean, that's why we don't carry it. Out of our control. They're in L.A. So then those national people that normally suck need time off, then you're going to get people that super suck.

So that's what you got. And I'm not going to apologize for it because I want to have an occasional holiday once in a while. Yeah, don't turn us off because the national program. No. So, all right. So you want to, I'll see if Jason wants to follow back here. All right. Jason, we love you, by the way.

but we do not believe those guys said they've never watched a nine-eating baseball game. We just don't believe you. Jason. Is he but dialing us? Jonathan. Oh, this is Matt. This is Matt. Oh, they both said that.

They both said, he said, I'm embarrassed to say this on a national radio show, but I've never watched a 9-80. But he even said that when I worked for ESPN, I told him I don't like baseball. And they said, oh, it's okay. Just report the facts. It's true. Find the audio. It happened at 7-10, around 70. I mean, you give me the time.

If they admitted that, Jason, then they should be fired. They should be. I couldn't believe I heard that. He said, he even said, before he said, he goes, I probably shouldn't say this on a national radio show, but I've never watched a nine-ending baseball game. And I go, did you just say that? That's terrible. And then I'm like, I said, you know what? I'm waiting a second.

I got to find this guy's name. His name is Buck Rising and Jason. rising it sounds like a porn name I know I know but I'm dead here look look up the audio I couldn't believe he said that and I couldn't change the channel that I've never listened to one more word of this

I don't ask you know what thank you again for the phone call have a good weekend uh just look we don't do it very often we don't put a lot of national stuff on we put on at night and we put it on on holidays we'd love to be able to fulfill 24 hours of live programming but Houston doesn't really dictate

that it doesn't I can name two cities that maybe have overnight sports talk live, maybe. New York being one of them, but there's also 25 teams up there. New York? On WFAN 66.

What's the deal with Francisco Lindo? You know, Juan Soto can't carry Francisco Lindo's jock. You can't carry Daryl's Jock. Where's Lainey Dijkster right now? Richard Todd was the greatest Jets quarterback proved me wrong. Hey, Mets are

four of their last five. Mets are hot. Tegers are hot. You know it's not hot. Everybody in the American League West. Did Seattle lose again yesterday? I knew they were down. Yes. So let's take a look at the old American League

West standings. In first place, at 47 and 46, the Texas Rangers. Embarrassing. Seattle is at 47. and 47. They got swept in Miami. Fish are playing well. I like saying the name. I just like saying fish. The fish are 52 and 42 of the payroll of $19,000.

Your beloved Astros are in third place. Three games under 500 and two back. Sweet. And in the wild card standings, thank you very much Cleveland for beating Minnesota yesterday. The Astros are only a game out of the last one. Game of a game. a half out of the last wild card spot. Optimism reigns supreme. Yay.

You don't believe it, do you? That's fine. It's just hard to get excited about because they're not very good. What's getting excited these days? Yeah, tell us. Trading on Kalshi. Oh, are we going to do that? No, I don't know.

I don't know. I mean, it is exciting to do that, right? We'll tell you about it in 30 minutes. By the way, Jonathan, I'm sure this is happening at your house. The daughter and her girlfriend came over yesterday. a bunch of them in my office watching Love Island. This thing is taking over the nation. It's taking over the nation. I was telling you all.

And so let me tell you, when I went in there, and now, Peacock, you can hit a pause button, right? Because everything can get pause. I said, I need to ask you a quick question. And she about lost her damn mind. It was yesterday it was Family Day, too? Yes. I don't even know what that means,

but it was, I could not even interrupt her. So imagine Matt Thomas and, you know, come to the villa and like, Talk about her behavior about she was there. And the dynamic. Hmm. Well, what are they doing in the round? They're slutting around, I imagine.

Yes, it's a dating show trying to find love, basically. Now, do they have penicillin on this island? But why was she not going to let me hit the pause button so I could ask her a couple of quick things. Because you've got to watch it then and there because they got to be live? If you go on social media, it's going to get ruined. And she's got her phone in her hand the whole time. So, yeah, that makes kind of make sense. Terry, get off the phone.

It was 10 o'clock at night. One of them was, I want to say, I love you. I'm going to be going to Vegas tomorrow. I'll see you in a few days, but shouldn't have time for that. I got to stay off my phone. I've got direct TV streams like two minutes behind. Thanks, guys. Jerks.

Yeah. The struggles of 2026. I know. I should watch it, though. That's a good try. It's in my genre. I don't know if I'm going to have time to do it, though. I will never spend a second.

I wouldn't say a second. If it's on somewhere, I will never watch a full episode of that ever. older generation, y'all like The Bachelor and the Bachelor. I don't want you to do that. I'm sorry. Let me give you my resume. Really quick, Jonathan, before we get the break. One year of Survivor. One year of Bachelorette. One year of Bachelor.

Zero episodes of Big Brother. Big Brother looks like you just need to be hit across the head because you're so stupid watching that show. No, 90-day fiancé. None of that other crap. My mom and sister watched some of that. Oh, one or two years of American. 600-pound life. so I saw a little bit of that.

Back in the day, I used to watch, it was real world enrolled rules. That was like a teenager I would watch that. When it was new and cool and now, I don't even know, do they still make real world? Oh, I know what you're talking about. Yeah. Okay, it's MTV's real. That's like the original OG. They would just get a bunch of strangers in a house and then like give them a job and then they would all fight with each other and hook up.

Like that's the OG. Oh, yeah. They created a show to create drama. Like Real Housewives. They put these women together because they were going to hate each other. They would basically hire like the, the most volatile personalities they can find and then put them in a house together.

Oh, no, they still do that. You know, blue faces, baby mama, I forgot her name. Oh, God. Yeah, they still do that. Yeah, it says they're still going. 33 seasons. I've never watched one year of Down Under, I guess,

when they're on the boat and they're all having sex, working with people. Yeah. No, I'm just, that's not a huge reality TV. Now, I've watched more Hell's Kitchen because I love Gordon Ramsey. Probably Real World Austin was the last one I watched. It looks like that was 2000.

My was the real world San Francisco. That was funny. That dude from Boston came up and he was like trying to party and act all hard on 6th Street. He got knocked out. Like, welcome to Texas, pal. You want to start acting up. In Texas, you're going to get humbled real quick. On 6th Street, we acted a fool.

I was so proud. They out from Boston. Yeah, you want to come up and run up on me? And then he got knocked out. They got a fractured face. So nice. Keep an Austin weird, bitch. Is that what he said? Okay. All right. You want to get old boss in loudmouth on the streets of Texas.

You better watch out, pal. 713-212-790. Brian McTagher is going to add some sports to this radio program in 15 minutes here on 790. So we always discuss how much we love Gordy because he helps us out with a lot of things. And I don't worry. I didn't see him today, but he must be in the remote I heart studios. I think Friday's a lot. He works from home.

Good for him. But he's very busy. But he's working. Yeah, of course. point. He's always listening. He found the audio of our caller talking about the Fox Sports Radio host on July 3rd, which is a week and go yesterday talking about baseball. Here's the clip. I will occasionally watch Summer League. Yeah.

I like basketball. I like basketball. It's basketball. And if you give me a choice between regular season baseball and Summer League basketball, I'm going to pick Summer League. Even in what is supposed to be a new era of Major League baseball with different levels of excitement and better pace of play, and you are still out on baseball over summer basketball. How long have they had the rule changes for pace of play in baseball? But over the last few years, it's been a demonstrable difference.

I will be honest, Buck. You know me, I'm never a baseball guy. But over the course of the last couple of years, I find myself watching a lot more of it because it moves. It moves. It's interesting. It's better. I'm sure that's true. I don't know that I've ever, I mean, I probably shouldn't admit that it's on a nationally,

the broadcast sports talk program, but I don't know that I've ever watched a full baseball game in my life. Look, when I got to ESPN, very true story, I'm not afraid to throw myself under the bus. When I got my first offer there, I went to the bosses and I said, I'm concerned about covering baseball because I've never watched a nine-inning baseball game on TV. It just doesn't hold my interest. I'm familiar with it. I study the storylines, but I'm familiar with it.

And they famously came back and they're like, yeah, that's not going to be a big deal. just make sure you're up on the big stories. And to this day, that's kind of the way the sport is covered. I mean, the only thing I know about Major League Baseball right now is that Tony Vitello, who used to be the coach of the Vols and won a college world series at Tennessee is with the Giants. I have no idea how the Giants are doing. I assume not well. It hasn't gone swimmingly for him.

I would. So those are, that's not Jason. It's Jason Fitz. I don't think that's him. That's the how about a fresca guy, right? Because that didn't sound like him. No, no. That's definitely not a fresco guy.

That's Jason Smith. Oh, Jason, I'm getting to see. I don't really listen. So it's Jason Fitz the assumption. You know a dude's name is Buck Rising. Again, it sounds like a poor name. Jason, we've got to give you an apology, man. That's crazy.

You know what? An early, I'm sorry. Because I would never have thought that wasn't a filling guys or something? Yeah, it was a holiday show. They were filling guys. Those guys are not regularly on. I don't even know who Buck Rising is. Nashville.

It sounds like he's a college football honk. You know, when you are in a, here is Buck Rising. He is, yeah, he's a college football dude. He gets in the weeds on SEC crap. He works in, he works in Nashville. Weekends with Jason, yeah, it was a weekend show, Jason Fitz on Sparks Sports Radio. And these guys were the weekend guys filling in during the week. He's never watched a nine-inning baseball game ever

There's a lot of Titans in here I'm looking at his Twitter account, a lot of Titan stuff Now again, when you don't live in a baseball town And never have, you're going to check out on that That's true Like for instance, when I lived in Minneapolis-St. Paul, I paid attention to the wild And I didn't pay attention to big picture NHL

But I paid attention to the wild And to watch a full wild game Okay But if I, but now that I'm back in Houston We don't have NHL hockey just yet may hit down the road. I've not watched a full-length game since then. That's good.

Except for that Stanley Cup that went to double overtime because I was bored. Okay. I don't know if, you know what? I will say, I don't know that I've watched a full wire-to-wire hockey game ever. Except for going to an arrows game when I was a kid. You didn't even know. I was in the- But that's not true job. I was in the concourse eating caramel popcorn.

If you came on this show and said, I have not watched a full-length baseball game, people would tune us out immediately. Like, wait a what are you doing here? Maybe one of the candidate you were. U.S. games I watched wire to wire close. Maybe not even though. I'm still not totally clear what icing is. Don't explain it. It's fine.

I can't tell you. Okay. Good. See, now we're going to get this clip and they're going to play it. No, I would just say that I would never admit that. I don't think I would admit that. But I kind of somewhat get it because, again, he's not in a major league baseball market.

And I don't know what Buck grew up or what he did in his life, but if you're in, if you're in Nashville, are talking 80% SEC football, 20% Titans. And maybe a scosh thought about the Predators. Baseball's not for everyone. Every sport is not for everyone. Soccer is not for everyone.

No, but I've seen a full soccer game. I've seen many of full soccer. I've seen many of full soccer this month. I've had my entire life. Did you see the ratings? Doing good? The ratings are insane. Doing good.

It's like 40. Here we go. USA, Belgium. 50 million viewers combined on Fox and Telemundo. Yeah It's most watched non-NFL sports event In the United States Since the 94 Winter Olympics

A secret person just said this guy Buck is a nothing honk I didn't say that this guy You said he's an SEC honk I think And then they're saying he's a nothing honk Yes But he's definitely an SEC honk Because he's got a lot of But again

If you live in that part of the country You're an SEC honk by By default, aren't you? Really fascinating I promise a payoff on this For somebody on Twitter Yesterday broke the Jacob Toby, the announcer for the Spurs,

got fired yesterday for having an affair. I guess that would be an affair. Yeah, you have a girlfriend. You still have an affair, right? I guess. Cheating? Cheating. You were cheating on your his girl who got a hold of his Instagram and told the whole

world, not only was he cheating on her, but he was cheating on her with, he was cheating on her with the sister of a Spurs player, Lindy Waters. And they want to know my reaction to it was. and it's really mixed around this country. It's gotten kind of life of its own. There's half people that are saying, you can't fire somebody for having sex. Nothing illegal was done.

It was not even a marriage. Now, granted, you should be cheating on even a girlfriend, but there was nothing legally binding these two people together. Another one was NBA players cheat all the time and they don't lose their job because of it. Why is this TV announced? or losing his job. And the question becomes,

one, is it because he's embarrassing the organization? Or is he doing it because Lindy Waters said, I'm not playing for you. And this guy is announcing my games is having relations with my sister. And by the way, the sister's like, this was consensual. This was not against her will.

So I somewhat see both sides of it. I can just tell you that, unfortunately, in our industry, any sort of media, you do have a morals clause. It may not be expressing. put in there, but if you look at your contracts, you can probably see anything that would deem embarrassing to the company.

Reputational harm. Reputational injury, I believe. Something like that. If you and I got a DUI, we may not be fired, but that would be embarrassing to the station. It would perhaps cause a suspension. Or maybe nobody will find out and get covered up. On that note, let's get to Brian McTaggart,

who's hopefully driving the speed limit on his way to Arlington. He'll join us next. on Sports Talk 790. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. On the road again. Just can't wait to get on the road again. I'm going to Brian McTaggart for... I'm going to say 25 years at least, maybe longer.

Now, I was gone for five, but we'd hang out and have lunch when he would cover the Astros with the twins back in the day. But now he's with us every Friday or every Thursday. but Friday, today, he is on the road, headed to Arlington, Texas for a big, big, lone star series. Brian McTaggart, first of all, good to hear your voice. We missed you last week when you were in, that was two weeks ago in Europe. Where are you right now as we speak? I'm your Madison Buckees correspondent right now.

I'm in the parking lot of the Buckees just pulled off. I'm going to get a snack, go to the restroom, and get on down the road. All right. My wife and I typically argue about the cost of what do you do at Buckees. We have, she said the average person spends $60 there at Buckees. And I'm like, I don't think that's the case, but let's go ahead and play the prices McTaggart. What are you buying for the next 10 minutes after you finish our conversation here? I'll definitely get a fountain drink, probably a Coke zero.

And then, you know, I like the ice. That'll last me. that'll last me to maybe course of can. Okay. And I'll probably get like maybe the pecans they have there that are under the heat lamp that have like. Oh, they're so good. They're so good. Those will last me a little while.

And that's probably it. Don't need gas. So yeah, that's probably it. Way under 60 bucks. All right. And you have the IHeart Radio app on which you'll be listening to us as you make your way to Arlington, which is the perfect way to spend a road trip on 45. Oh, yeah.

It makes it go really fast. Everyone download that. Download And your phone You already got it Yeah everybody's already got it I think last time I went I got the candied pecans

And a drink as well And so that was well under 60 bucks Matt So how do you like these sauces and a stick there At the old bucksies? Oh no you know what I got an XXL brisket sandwich That's still under six A lot. That's a lot of meat of the XXL

Yeah I know Yeah he likes extra meat So Brian you saw Spencer Arogati The frustration level is starting to grow not only with him but this entire starting pitching staff. Why, in your mind, is it regression back to the norm? Is there something he's doing?

Because, again, second to last start, he was really good at coming out of July, but it was terrible against the nationals. What's going on with him? Well, he said that it was very, very humid there. And he said that he had really hard time. His arms were really wet, hard time gripping the ball. But he also said, hey, this is no excuse. Foster Griffin didn't have that problem, you know, on the other side.

he shut him down. So I think he's searching for answers. You know, I thought maybe he had turned the corner or found it with his first start in the month of July. But, you know, the walks were just killers. I mean, he walked five guys, walked the leadoff hitter to start the game. And then, you know, walks five guys, which is a career. He might have walked six. I can't remember.

I think it was six. But three of those guys came around the score. Those are just killers. He just did not have the command. And yeah, I think frustration level is really high with him. probably for the Astros too, because the way he pitched in May, you're like, okay, you know, we feel really good about this, but it was a pretty bad weekend of starting, a week of starting pitching in Washington.

Neither starter finished five innings, and that's not a recipe for success. So they, the starting rotation, that stayed a lot of a while, but they really need these guys to start going a little deeper in the games. It starts tonight with Hunter Brown. He's your race. You need him to pitch six innings tonight at least. There is one blessing in disguise, tags. You don't need a sick starter this entire month between the off days and the All-Star break.

You don't have really five at this point. And every time we have Joe on our show and you see him more than we do and we talk to him every Tuesday, I can hear it in his voice. The left field spot's been a frustration all year long. I think he likes the guys personally. He thinks they've all got the good stuff that can be Major League rotation guy after rotation guy. But Burroughs got sent down, tongue got tired, Emi is more down than up, Arrogati's troubles. This has got to be a frustrating moment for anybody that's in a managerial

position trying to navigate it. Plus, you've got a bunch of guys coming back off of injuries that don't have any sort of really good bull to board stuff to say, you know what, we're going to come up here and take these guys' spots and make this a better rotation. Yeah, you're exactly right. I mean, they went out and got all this pitching depth in the offseason, And most of it has not worked out. I mean, you know, a couple of those guys got DFA, WIS, you know, Tangs on the IL. We all know the ups and downs of EMI. I mean, Lambert's been the bright spot, you know, and thank God for him if you're the Astros.

But, you know, maybe Blanco, I don't know who's going to start Sunday. And my guess is probably Blanco is going to come off the IL and start. I mean, he was a really, really good pitcher for them in 2024. for. But as we've seen these past few years, these guys who have been out with long-term injuries when they come back, they just haven't had it. Louis-Garcius, Jose Arcides, McCullors, so not saying that Blanco will be that guy, but it's got to be frustrating for Joe just because they went out. Their number one thing in the offseason was add pitching depth, add pitching depth. And most of these guys have not worked out. And now you got, now you're down to four

starters and you have some options for that fifth starter but it's it's not ideal you need the guys who are already in the rotation who you thought you could count on to pick it up a little bit and and then you're going to have to have somebody at the end of the rotation pull their end of the rope as well so yeah they're in a tough spot pitching wise yeah and with that and the deadline coming up in a couple of weeks brian i mean you could use a starter you could use a stud starter but not that you could get one. You could use maybe a reliever. And of course, we know we've talked about outfield bat. How hard do you think Dana Brown goes after those needs? And if you could, just put them in order of how likely you think trades are to happen with those categories.

Yeah, I think outfield bat's still number one. I mean, their production in the outfield day to day, especially in left field, center field, has not been good. They could use just the lineup is so short, especially with Jeremy Payne, of being out, it just really drops off dramatically after the fifth spot. They could use another proven bat. I think you can get that done even on a rental. Starting pitching is going to be a little bit harder just because everyone wants starting pitching and the price is going to be pretty high. So, I mean, you know, they're not going to be in the market for scubble. I mean, that's just not going to happen. I mean, just with the money and the amount of prospects they would have to give

up, that's just not going to happen. But maybe there's another. other, you know, mid-rotation starter somewhere they can get, again, that's going to be a high price. You know, I think we're leavers on there as well, but I still think the left-handed bat is their biggest need just because you're talking day-to-day in the lineup. They could, they just have so many holes. They could plug one of those holes if they get a lefty bat. Talking with Brian McTaggart here on Sports Talk 790. And Brian, it feels like every year there's some team around baseball that buys the deadline,

and everybody else is like, what are they doing? What makes them think their contenders? I'm almost kind of getting that vibe here in Houston with the Astros. I mean, are they truly one or two pieces away? I know the standings say that they're close, but the team doesn't feel like they're close. Yeah, well, that's the thing.

I mean, they've played, I mean, they played poorly all year, except, you know, for maybe the last couple of months, they played better. You look at the roster, you're like, it's not good. You watch them day to day and you're like, is this a good team? I don't think so.

And then they're a game and a half out of first place. Every other team is in the same boat. So somebody's going to have to step up and make a move. So, you know, if you're the asterers, you're like, well, I mean, with this roster where we're at, like, if we had a piece or two, we could make, you know, we can jump these guys and be better. It seems like everyone around the country than the national guys want them to sell. Like, you know, they need a trade, a hater. They need to trade this guy and this guy. but that's just not what the Astros are thinking.

They think they're in it, and they are. I mean, hey, they sweep the Rangers. They could hit the All-Star game in first place. I mean, it's not implausible. And so, you know, I understand why they want to go out and think they're buyers because they're right there. And there's a lot of teams in the same boat. Tags, who's going to start on Sunday?

And how do you envision the rotation coming out of the All-Star break? I guess Blanco is going to start. I'm not 100% sure. I guess Javier is still a possibility, although he pitched a couple of in relief on Wednesday. So not sure there. I think out of the All-Star break, you kind of do what you do right here

with Hunter Brown pitching on Friday out of the break. Peter Lambert on Saturday, and I guess whoever pitches Sunday pitches Sunday, maybe give Araggetti a little bit of a blow there and try to figure out what's going on or the same with EMI. You kick that can down the road a little bit and hope extended rest.

He can come back stronger. But I think you have to open the second half with your two best starting pitchers. And right now that's Hunter Brown and Peter Lambert. Do you think Burroughs and or Myers, two separate positions, are down in Sugar Land for a long time? Do you think it's going to be injury related?

Do you think there could be trade related to this? I mean, what are those guys thinking right now as they are been in the major leagues, 85% of this season and now they're spending time in Sugarland, Texas. Yeah, I mean, Burroughs is going to have to go down there and make a few starts and show that he can throw strikes and keep the ball in the ballpark. I mean, it's that simple. So I don't think he comes back anytime soon unless there's injuries. Same with Myers. I mean, he's going to have to perform down there. I mean, but, you know, I think at the trade deadline, if they add an outfielder, you know, it's going to be a lot harder for, you know, Myers to be back up here, especially if they get a guy that can play center field. But I think Myers saw the writing on the wall in the offseason when they tried to trade him.

And they really couldn't trade him. I mean, they had a couple of deals for him. They could have made that they're probably kicking themselves that they didn't make at this point because now he's in the minor leagues. But I think some people were surprised he went sent down. But I think that he probably knew the riding was on the wall. He hadn't been swinging the bat very well, hitting what, 210 or whatever. But so he's, again, he's going to have to go down there. And this roster could look very different in three weeks.

weeks, you know, when the trade deadline is over, if they make two or three deals, you know, we could see, you know, a lot of shuffling in the outfield and the rotation as well. So it's going to be very, very interesting because they could either be in first place at the trade deadline or they could be in third place and, you know, five or six out in the wild card. So every day, it seems like the momentum shifts with this team on whether you think they're going to be in it or do you think they're not really looking like a contender? Last question before we get you those bucky nuggets. So, Dave, Dana Brown is on a lame duck situation.

This will be his trade deadline because obviously they've not made any decisions to move on from him. If you're him, how do you balance wise general manager move from I can go get somebody, but I might have to overpay and why do I care if I overpay if I'm not coming back next year? Does that make any sense to you? Yeah. Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, I guess if I'm in his shoes, I'm doing everything I can to try to work. win this year. And then if it works, great. Then maybe at the end of the year, if you made a little bit of a run and you got in the playoffs and maybe you save your job that way. I mean, I don't think

he's in a position to look too far down the road and try to build this roster for future years. If I'm him, I don't have a contract for next year. This is a, I'm focusing on everything that's right in front of me and trying to win now. So I'm going to make the deals and make this team better. Hey, and if I'm the GM next year, that means we did some good things and then we'll deal with at that at that point. Save travels, my friend. We'll talk to you next Thursday as we get ready for the second half of the season.

All right, sounds good. Thanks, guys. Thank you, Brian McTaggart, MLB.com in Arlington. Actually, in, where is that, Buckees? That's in Madisonville. I wish it was the, the Buckees was a little further down. Kind of split the trip 50-50. Madison's a good spot.

I still think you get a lot of heavy lifting. You get the one in Innes after that. I think he said you normally get to both. When you get to Ennis, you're a... Yeah, no, but I think some people hit both. I think McTaggart's one of those. Like a bathroom breakin' like? Like a Buckiesholic.

Is he? Okay. Yeah. What is this? You got to do Woody's Dentis, I feel like. Ooh, I went to Woody's last time. Excellent, by the way. He's in the Beaver Club.

Sneaky good Woody's, by the way. Oh, yeah. Didn't you get crushed on social media? Some people crushed before. Mr. Texas likes to go to all the places on the trip to from. Who are you talking about? Me. Everywhere out of this time.

No, you're not Mr. Texas, though. That's fine. That's because you go to a gas station. That doesn't make you Mr. Texas. But I traveled the, The streets in and around 45 and Highway 90 on the way up there. I hope you donate your brain to science.

Okay. Was I right, though, about asking about how Dana's going to approach us if he's doing this to keep his job? Everything's looking like a disaster. Yeah, you throw away the prospects and try to win now. Sure. Mike Burroughs, disaster. Ryan Weiss, disaster. Tatsu Emi, disaster right now.

Highway tongue was good and now. And now he's hurt and in AAA. Yeah. Great job. All right. Levin's actually not technically in AAA. He was just, it was now. Oh, that's right. The option was rescinded. He had a wink, wink, my knee hurts, guys. Give me eight knee sprain.

It worked. Wink, wink, wink. It worked. 713, 21, 212, 790. 713, 212, 570. The Ross Villarreal segment known as, I'm sorry. He'll take up the first. That's not true. He'll take the first 25 minutes and then Roth and I will take the last five. Are you sure? Look at him reading. He knows he knows. He gets the list. He's mad at Ross. I love a 22 on Sports Talk. 7.9. We got a few things to get too, and again, we appreciate Ryan McTacker being with us here. The Texans had a workout

scheduled a couple days ago, Sports Harvey. Go on. With an NFL player that's got a little bit of a current checkered I was saying checkered pass, but it's a current checkered present. He's got an open case. He's out on bail,

isn't he? Yeah. So let me, I want to pull up the complete story. Oh, the good news is the judge ruled he's not getting a GPS tracker as a condition of his release. So that's why he's out working out. Mentioning who the his is. Terry on Arnold.

Detroit, former Detroit Lion. Yes. Cornerback. Cornerback. C.B. Yeah, turned himself in. Yeah, he was a first, er, he was a high pick

out of Alabama. Yeah, first round pick. 2024. So very recent. I mean, this is spry, prime potential of his career, maybe even being better than he was before. He's out on a million dollar bond.

Okay. because of the case I believe it's like robbery and kidnapping and stuff like that stuff like that yes I mean I think when you're robbing folks and you say everybody stay here that's technically kidnapping

nobody move everybody stay here by the literal law that's kidnapping because that's happened things is what happened to OJ he was trying to get back some stuff he got robbed he was going for street justice arm robbery and kidnapping

I mean that's a double dip right there so there are four teams that are interested in either visiting with him or already have visited with him. One of those four who's already conducted the workout and the visit, the Houston Texans. Wow. We don't get this a lot in these parts and we haven't for 24 years. The McNair family, generally speaking, has told its general managers don't find unsavory people.

Will that be fair to say? Now, that's not always been the case. For instance, Joe Mixon did punch that woman in the subway many, many years ago in college. Yes. And that was certainly a very... The subway restaurant. Yeah.

I got confused. That's true. It took me a second. I was like... At the subway... He was on the A train punching people? He was getting the Italian BLT. Yeah, he hit her with the cold cut combo.

Yes, sir, he did. Boom. He went and got in steak and cheese. Okay. So we have... You can't say boo and then smile and laugh, Jonathan. No, you're laughing.

Rescend your boo. Rescend it. No need for an apologize for that in six minutes. Diggs, Stefan Diggs, currently is in legal trouble. But that didn't happen on Texan's watch. He was just a diva. He wasn't, it was nothing criminal, but there's some stuff going on with him with,

I guess, a male friendship gone wrong. Would that be fair to say on that in Stefan Diggs? Okay. Yeah, that's, I don't really want to get too deep into that, so to speak. Okay. But this young man is, this is severe stuff. This is felony charges. Now, that has to go up the totem pole on this.

That has to be Cal, excuse me, that has to be Nick going to Hannah directly. I would imagine. I mean, because there's the long-standing McNair policy is we don't like criminals on our team. Or unsavory characters. Every team's got them, some more than others. Nick Sabin literally wrote a letter, the judge, saying how great of a person, Terry on Arnold is.

So, maybe Nick Saban can make an appeal to Hannah. There is innocence before guilt. Yes. Innocent before proven guilty? Yeah. You just trying to get his stuff back, Matt. Now, again, I don't. I'm not going to do a deep dive on this.

Okay. It obviously looks very severe. If can felony charges come into play on this? This is not a mistaken identity. This is not a miscommunication. This is not a, this was, they went in there and found, I mean, a kind of long story about what exactly went on. Doesn't mean it happened. We've seen people, you know, being accused of crimes before and then not committed them.

But it is interesting that a guy that almost was put on ankle bracelet watch is now getting a look at by the Houston, Texas. you know what if he's a free man i don't i don't see what the big deal is yeah i don't you know other things are different like obviously murder beating of a of a woman stuff like that like a chronic problem person who's going to cause problems in your locker room and then it's also going to like commit more crimes as he's in your organization that that can be problematic and there are lines to draw there. Teams that are inquired. I'd like to know more, obviously.

The Colts, Jets, Seahawks, and Texans. My guess is Nick Saban has something to do with this. Maybe. Probably called a few people and said, hey, maybe he called 32 different people, 31 other teams and said, hey, this kid is misunderstood,

not misunderstood, but there is some things that are not accurate with this. You need to be on the forefront of this and saying this guy is not guilty. this is a miscommunication or just a wrong accusation and that he's a good guy that you're going to want on your football team. That's how I kind of see it. He's trying to get his stuff back.

Apparently, allegedly. So then John McLean tweets and says, Unbelievable, if you read the athletics, extraordinarily deep dive into what Arnold and his friends are accused of doing. Oh, okay. I'm going to go read it now. Uh-oh. Yeah, see, I mean, like I said, I'd like to know more.

To me, it wasn't about the individual. It was more about the fact the Texans don't ever do. do this. Right. Usually their code of conduct is like we ain't got time for that. So we'll see. Again, I can't speak to this because he's not been found guilty of this. But it sounds like if John McClain were the athletic article and John's got a decent brain on his shoulders, he's probably going, uh-oh, this is probably something that maybe the Texans should not get themselves involved in. It is 1128 on Sports Talk 790. 713-212-5-790.

7-1-3-212-5-7-90. To say, I'm sorry. So sorry. You've got some apologies to make. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90 is the phone number. 713-212-125 790 any misgivings we know you've had some issues you know how you have some reasons to apologize Matt continues to apologize for all of us for calling himself mr texas it's a disrespect to this great state that we live in

i will start ross brought up the show at 10 o'clock today wanted to bring up a very little anecdotal thing about kenny chesney and i went to keith urbans album sorry thank you matt so i want to apologize for that um Let's see what else. I want to apologize in advance to the people that irritate me at the airport today. I'm so sorry. Really? Yeah. It's been pretty smooth the last few times I went.

You haven't seen them airports in America now. You go to Robbie? No. I go to, I go to Bintra-Bentra. See, that's where you're running in a problem. I go to Bintra-Bentabentel. You, Rob. Or who?

Yeah, but that was weird. What, Vinter-Bont-Bentel? You say Bush. You're going to the bush. I'm going to Bush. Yeah. I'll go to IAH. I'm team hobby. I'm team hobby.

I would be team hobby, but it's a lot farther from my house. I know. They're both really far for me, so. Yeah, it's true. I choose hobbies. I love your two evils. Yeah. All right. If you want to apologize for something, 713, 212-579. I apologize for my Keith Urban reference.

What else did I do this week? That would be apologetic. I think I'm good. Okay. Get your list out. Thank you, Mac Brown. Let's go. Let's see. Nine minutes. security at Hobby right now.

Okay, I'll give you... I'm usually in and out of there. I love it. I'll give you the... Small... I got an update on the United States, but how the security is in Intercontinental. Let's take a look here.

Okay. Let's see. Terminal E, 13 minutes, terminal C, 11 minutes. Okay. It's not bad. It's not bad. That's fine. This is Terminal A, 6 minutes. Pre-checked three minutes.

Oh, I'm pre-checked. That's good. All right. John, what are you apologizing for this week? You know, I think I should apologize for yesterday. Matt Thomas, our beloved Matt Thomas, was talking about him going on a Texas burger. And Ross called him out. Once was the last time you went.

And, you know, just trying to help Matt out. He was like, you know, a couple years. And I was like, oh, okay. Oh, this is funny. Did you have hair then? And, you know, it was a genuine question. It was a genuine question. Yeah.

And I see now that, you know, maybe that was something you keep in the, you keep it. You keep it a ball. Yeah. I love the bald head, my Thomas. Okay, so right. Hit the sound. We're going to, let's get it knocked out here. Here we go.

Oh, well. Play it. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I would like to apologize to Terry in Ohio. You should. We took his call yesterday and then we kind of forgot what he said. And we know we were like talking about what happened on the TV.

Yeah, we were talking about Shahdi. We completely ignored him. Yeah. For 40 seconds, just left him on the air. Yeah. So he was rambling on a bunch of stuff. And we were like, uh-huh. Uh-huh.

And we weren't only paying attention to what he said. Mm-hmm. So I want to say Terry in Ohio, we apologize. I'm not giving any money, you money, grubber.

I like that. That's a good one right there. That is a good one. That is so pretty of me. I'm so proud of himself right now. I'm sorry, that was so funny to me. Yeah,

I will apologize for making the Deshawn Watson massage table joke earlier. Oh, sorry. Sorry to Deshaun and the Watson family. I got a hot take for you. What?

He'll be there, most successful quarterback this year. They ain't got no choice. Okay, yeah, I guess. Yeah, they got like five guys that get Chaturre Sanders there. Five guys and burgers and fries? They're all, could be working at five guys. By the way, underrated, a little pricey, but still delicious.

I have another apology I have to issue. Yeah, go ahead. For years, I have been rallying many of you around a certain center fielder who attended the University of Nebraska. Ooh, this is going to be painful for him. I started and founded this fan club. Yeah. Because we believed in Jake Myers.

We love his five-star catches. We love his helmet falling off every time he swings the bat and every time he runs the bases and every time he breathes on the field. We love the leatherty flashes and the occasional home run and the inability to hit low and away breaking stuff. and I've been his champion and I've rallied many of you to believe in Jake and he got sent to AAA

and I'm sorry that things are down right now but we will rise again like a Phoenix out of the ashes and Jake Myers will come back and he will dominate the major leagues but I'm sorry for having so many of you believe and we're going through some dark times right now

Jonathan, does he even believe what he just said? Sadly, I don't think he does. You gotta believe, baby. I told you the hot streak's coming. All right, I'm going to say this. To a much smaller extent, I told you guys about two weeks ago, I was bullish on Burroughs. And I apologize for that.

But I also think that the Sugar Land Space apartment complex that handles all the space cowboys have two new tenants. They should be thanking the Astros for Scylors for Sucydney. such a wise decision to bring those two guys down. Okay. Oh, by the way, just a quick baseball note. Jacob, Mizorosk, Ms. I should say. Mr. Hunter 104.

Versus 104 versus Paul Skeens Sunday on Peacock. Got picked up national TV. It'd be a good game. Sort of national TV. Oh, wait. Get the under on there? No. You know what?

You and I will bet that game on Sunday, and I will take the, whatever it is. I'm betting the over. Okay, I'll bet you. Because here's the thing. Who played last week? It goes Hunter Brown versus the pitcher of the month for... Who did they ask for us to play last week? Mike Quayar, I think.

No, it's not Mike White Kid. I'm going to look it up now because I'm drawing a blank. You talk first. Mention your Instagram account. Oh, I would love that. Thank you. And put it anything lately in? You're right.

Well, you're sorry for that. I'm going to make a video today. Try to get that done before we get out here by two. What's something we can spout hot takes on about for three minutes? We'll figure something out. Yeah, we'll figure something. out. Yeah, you know what? Follow me at SportsRV. You know what? I'm trying to build my media career.

I'm trying to grow. I'm trying to get my full name on a show one day. So if you want to follow me at Sports RV, that'd be great. I would really appreciate it. I will follow you back between now and the end of 1 o'clock. You follow me now. I'll follow you back. It was Hunter Brown versus Drew Mass. Rasmussen. It was the raised pitcher of the month. The game was

Rasmussen. I think he got shelled yesterday against Yankees. So whatever that game is you just talked about, I'm taking the over. Let's go. All right. Remind me. I'll put all, uh, we don't do We'll be in Vegas. We can jump it up a little bit. 50?

Yeah. It's a little price of it. Oh. Who's getting juice? What? Nobody's getting juice. We're going to split. We're going to split the difference.

Okay. Duh. Now one side may be juiced a little. We'll figure it out. We get there. Gosh. Will you bet on WNBA games while you're there? I might.

Are they playing right now? Yeah, I think so. I got the Caitlin Clark over. Can you bet Summerlake games? I got Caitlin Clark over fist thrown at her. Oh. Number of women angry at Caitlin Clark. I get the over on that

whatever that number is. Okay. Just players. 713-212-5-790. There's nobody in Houston that needs to apologize for anything they've done this week. They're liars. Very hard to believe. You're liars and frauds. You should apologize for saying you don't have to apologize.

Yeah, we're a friendly show. I mean, maybe you call the 10th inning with stupid-ass takes. I make fun of you there, but not here. That's true. I will not apologize for that same douche that calls every week that wants Joe's Spotify or 40s a week. Oh, God, this takes are terrible.

Yeah, we're used to it. I apologize for Houston. I'd have a better sport takes over 12 years of winning baseball, right? Mm-hmm. Don't you think? Got a text from a friend of mine that Wydd lives in Seattle. I'll keep his name anonymity because he's walking to a meeting and don't want to expose him for who he is. Says he wants to apologize for comparing the Belgian women to the Rocket Summer League roster.

After a few beers, they were more like the second quarter of a preseason roster. Hmm. I'm confused. He texted me and said, I said, what's the comp of the Belgian women out there? And he goes, it looks like it's a Rocket Summer League roster.

Belgian women are attractive? That's what he's saying. I guess I don't even know. Who's the hottest Belgian woman? Do we have a hot Belgian woman? Jihadis not from Belgium, is she? Some athletes. Belgian?

I don't know. Okay. Did you say Lauren Shahati's not Belgian? No, she's not Belgian, is she? Maybe her maiden name is. What's a good Belgian last name? I don't know. Something French.

There's no Belgian language. Oh, okay. I guess I should have a pretty good, better feel of what's going on with the world of who speaks what. Oh, Audrey Hepburn was born in Belgium, apparently. Oh, okay. Thanks for that. Audrey Hepburn, uh, dead within the last 10 years? I'd say before that probably

And she was born in Brussels Oh Jean-Claude Van Damme How about can we do Belgian or not I believe or not today? I guess Do you want to get into a deep dive? Audrey Hepburn was born in Brussels Died in Switzerland

Okay Wasn't she like royalty or something? I can't answer that Okay Maybe you should look that up for Belgium Believe it or not That's good We're good

I'm skipping I'm skipping And believe or not, vacation mode. What? We're not going on vacation. Yeah, you can do it. I'll do it. The show must go on.

Monday and Tuesday will be in Las Vegas. We may sound like we're on vacation, but we're not. Okay. That's 8 a.m. start times, Pacific Time. Pray for us. Liquid IV is my friend. That's going to be rough. Let's talk to Jimmy.

Always good for a good apology here on Sports Talk 790. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. and my caller screen is not working properly, so I'm going to have one of you two put that up there. Hi, Jimmy, thanks for holding. Hey, Matt, I'm not actually calling, because I think you need to demand an apology from one of the atoms.

I think it was Westford the other day. I mean, Planton, he came on. It was the day you were out. And Ross was with him, too. And he just crapped all over you. Yeah, I know. But Ross defended you, and I was proud of him for that. What were we talking about?

thought you should. One of the days this week, Grant came on, and you were with him. It might have been last week, and he just crashed all over, Matt Thomas. Yeah. I'm used to it. What was the topic, though? I mean, was it warranted?

Sometimes criticism warranted, and sometimes it's not. Just no reason. Hey, you know, why is Matt not here? And it shows just all the normal stuff. No particular. So, anyway, I think you should demand an apology from him. Ross, thanks for standing up for Matt. Thank you.

Thank you, Ross. Yeah, I know. Thank you, Jimmy. Well, Jimmy, put this way. Why don't you call... I'm so sorry. Why don't you call the 10th inning show when Adam does one? Oh, he'll do one.

I think he's got one scheduled next month. I'll have to try that because he don't answer calls during the day. Thanks, Jimmy. Who the hell was that? I have no... Man, Art. I is... Our equipment is just so low.

So below par. It just is. The phones crap out, or was that Jimmy's phone? Is he calling people the voice changer? Welcome to hell. Oh, you're playing, it's the drop off RCS? No, I'm sorry, but I guess the... Do it again.

It's a very good. Yeah, I want to hear it. I'm so... Oh, now it works. That one's regular. That one's not. I can't I can't

We're in the sixth biggest media market in this country Oh it's not top five With seven million potential listeners That's what we give you That's exactly We're saying we're sorry Let me see if mine's working You better shut up

I'm going to beat your ass That works Okay let's try a few more of these Russell Wilson is a sexy quarterback Just making sure you done? I just got to make, come more. I want to see him completely naked for seven to 12 minutes.

Just making sure these work. Stand up, turn around, so I can take a picture of your ass. Okay. See what happens when you guys do not call and partake in this show? It gives Ross more ammunition to apologize for more things that he's done. I'm just making sure these work. You know what? Let's go ahead and put mail mail in there.

That'll be all right. Are you done? There is no tongue involved in anything. I do. Dang, no tongue met. That's old. Don't worry about the birth control later. Okay. We need somebody to call.

If you want to call about the NHL to Houston, I'll even take that at this point. Less of Ross. Jameson! That was the classic meltdown. All right, Brian, we usually ask you to be succinct, but I want you to take your time today. This goes as long as you want, Brian. Good morning to you. No, I got it.

I want to apologize to you guys on. behalf of the listeners here, you know, IHeart Media is in the business of cutting talent. We'll use that extra money and buy you guys some quality equipment for a change. I don't know how much Cole Thompson was making, but they could win out on some new equipment. So Matt, Ross, Jonathan, I'm sorry you guys work. Well, you know, Gordy could put in some of his huge salary and get you guys some better

equipment as well. So I'm sorry you guys have to work with Sunstandard equipment. I love IHeart Media. They're the great. I love high heart media. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here. We love you so much. We'll never ever be let down

anything you've decided to do. If you'd like to support our station, please support our great sponsors as well. We have great sponsors that need you to use the code 790 on Calci. If your appliances don't work, go to Uptown Repliance Repair. Go to brunch on the curb. Tell them Ross sent you.

If you need a credit union, go to the Shell Federal Credit Union. Our computer is possessed by the devil. You'd want to get your house painted. You must use Sartreau. All right, that one's normal. Big city wings. Big city wings. Big city, big city.

go right now. Hold on. I think Geo got on. I'm sorry. Let's get him in here real quick. Geo is always contributing great. Geo, let me tell you, pound for pound, Gio does not let us down. Now, the other Gio is a priorto, right? This is the good Gio. Right, yeah, yeah. All right.

Good Gio. What are you apologizing for? All right, Matt. Even though it's very hilarious and it cracks me up, I just want to apologize for you, man. Fray Ross and and Jonathan, always teaming up on you, man. I'm sorry, man.

man, but it makes my day, but I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. Wait a minute. John has got his back sometimes. It's only when Matt's being ridiculous. Geo called Matt astronaut. I'm not... Juggernaut, Thomas.

Juggernaut. There's different than a juggernaut and astronaut. Oh, that's right. His head. But that was about the... That was about your head, Matt. That wasn't a compliment. Go Google.

Look, Google Juggernaut X-Men, Matt. I'm not doing that. Let me do it for you. I'm going to wake the strippers up. Here's juggernaut. Oh, my God. Gio. Say you're sorry, Gio.

We only team up on Matt when Matt's being ridiculous. I like Jonathan as a tiebreaker. He goes to Matt sometimes. By the way, I have a new idea for next week. We'll do a Fantasy 5. And I believe this is, we should do music these days. Or you're Belgian women. We've done women before, plenty of them.

Let's do this. And I think Jonathan can definitely jump in this. because Jonathan likes all different types. Five duet groups from five different decades. What do you mean? Like, wham? No, well, I mean, that would be a group. I'm talking about duets.

Two different people sing. Duet songs. Duet songs. So songs only. Songs only. Okay. You got to go from five different decades. What do you think?

So if I take a decade, it's gone for everyone? No, no. You can't take two 1960s ones. I can't take three from 2000. Oh, okay. You have five decades. Okay. I think I won the last fantasy five.

Do I get to go first? Yes, you get to go first. So next Friday is the return to the fantasy five. And Jonathan, you get the first vote, by the way. I thought about this in a show. You know, you always ask me what I'm doing when I'm thinking in the shower. I was thinking about doing the fantasy five with you guys. Yeah.

This is, never mind. And Jonathan, you get the first vote. Good. So next Friday, get out of shower, Matt. Let's go. Or it's. What are you doing in there? Or it's, when do you want me to come in?

We'll wake to strippers up next on 7-9. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. In H-Town, it's hour three of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. This is Sports Talk 790. I'm not seeing any deposits from you lately. What's going on with that? I'm not giving you any money, money, brother. Bless this show.

Model A, shout out to Brian Bogus Sevick, making his first ever appearance on a Friday open. Yeah, can I hear that again? That's a classic. Play that again. It was big, it was hard, it was more down than side to side, which is always a good time. Oh, man. We are so immature. We are so immature.

Can you email that to me so I can text it to Bogie? Yeah, send it to him. I don't think he realized what he said. He's part of our family now. whether he wants to be or not. 12.8. And it is anything that goes Friday on the bad Thomas Show Ross. We've got, if you miss our visit with Brian McTaggart an hour goes really good.

Brian McTaggart. Once we get past the bucky stuff. Yes. We'll run a good portion of that at 120 today. How do you feel about the bohemian garlic jerky? It's quite delicious. Anything with garlic is fine. I'd put garlic on my Cheerios if I could.

That's a little weird. I love garlic. Fresh, minced garlic. Any kind of garlic. Garlic salt, garlic that's in the glass jar, just put it in there. Here's a little pro tip for you, picking a garlic bulb folks. You want to make sure, obviously, it's not rotted, so take a look at it, make sure it looks good, and then you pinch it. And if the cloves are hard, then they will be more flavorful.

If they're soft, don't get one of those. My favorite steakhouse in Las Vegas, a strip house, has the garlic cloves on top of the steak. Oh, I do that too. You can chop off the top, just put a little olive oil in, bake it at 400 degrees for about. 30 minutes. Oh. That's the last time I'm, when I, you know, when I showed you those pictures of my meat, I used the, the roasted garlic on that.

I put the roasted garlic on my meat. And thus it turned out beautiful. Oh, so good. Tender. Delicious. Juicy. Mm-hmm. Cut it with a fork.

I kind of wish I would have bought more. 1299 for the prime ribby is a great deal. Probably should have frozen a restaurant. That's what I'm saying. I should have bought some more and froze it. Let's give it the news at noon, please. God bless. You wanted to freezer me?

You give me crap about cheeks being frozen. You want to freeze your meat. That's fine. I'm freezing a steak. You're freezing a hamster. Dead one. You're comparing those two? Well, the steak is dead too.

But it's also edible. It's also USDA inspected. Did the USDA inspect your dead hamster? All right. Anyways, welcome back to the show. Well, yesterday, Matt, in World Cup action, You had France beating Morocco 2-0-0.

Killion-imbape, Matthew, your golden boot pick. Now, it was the chalk pick. But still. I kind of wish it wasn't because that really made me sound smart when it comes to soccer, but I picked it. It's okay. Kiliambapes is the chalk. He's still only like 40% to win the golden boots.

So, I mean, they have to advance. They have to keep winning, and he has to keep scoring. But he has been spectacular in this World Cup. Tied with Leo Messey. Eight goals apiece for the golden boots. They scored two goals within six minutes. Killian Mbapé and Usman Dembele as the Frenchmen have advanced to the semifinals. They will take on the winner of today's match.

That's at 2 o'clock. Spain versus Belgium. Spain holding as minus 165 favorites in this one. Over under two and a half, Matthew. I will take the over in the two and a half. Okay. And if you would like to trade on that, you may do so on couch. Absolutely. K-A-L-S-H-I.

I'll put a couple bucks on the under against you. Spain defense has been really good. I think they have been the best, fewest X-G allowed in the tournament, Spain. So I might be feeling a little under today. Excellent. All right. Anywho, elsewhere in the news, Terri-on Arnold, working out for NFL teams as a Florida judge has ruled.

He will not have to wear a GPS tracker. the Houston Texans, the New York Jets, the Seattle Seahawks, the Indianapolis Colts, among teams who have inquired about Terry and Arnold, who of course got mixed up with felony charges and then was subsequently cut by the Detroit Lions. Now Matthew, as due diligence for this show, I have subsequently scanned the athletic article on Terry on Arnold and what's going on. And what did you find out? Here's the gist of it.

He stayed in an Airbnb in Florida. he was partying with some friends. He had a bunch of money in a bag because he was going to play roulette and blackjack. They had a couple of firearms. He had an $80,000 chain stolen as well. They suspected it was stolen by some people he had hired as a driver who were in Miami.

So he had his friends lure the driver back to an apartment where they thought he was going to... Separate apartment. He thought he was going to... Right. Hook up with a woman. Turns out, boom. Couple of dudes come out of the closets with firearms saying, hey, where's our stuff?

Then they held them at gunpoint. They were interrogating, pistol whipping them, and then eventually let them go. And it turns out that they were not the people that stole the stuff. Or they're maintaining their innocence. So Terrient Arnold and his cronies, Taryn Arnold wasn't in there pistol whipping people.

He wasn't involved. But he hired the people to do it. Right. And it was his friends too, right? He was his friends, as far as we know. But so, Terry and Arnold, I don't know if he has plausible deniability on this or what. So the friends were apparently interrogating these dudes who maintained their innocence. They did not steal the money and the chain and the bag and all that stuff.

Do the friends who were pistol whipping this guy were they saying that Arnold told us to do this? That hasn't come out yet. But they've all, they're all being charged. The women are being charged. The guys are being charged and Terry Arnold is being charged. Okay, if you're a water carrier fake media member in Houston, just be careful how much you water you carry for this. That's all I'm saying.

But it is interesting that Nick Saban came to the kid's defense. Maybe because Arnold said, hey, this is being interpreted wrong. I didn't involve with this. They did this and it was not under my orders. Terry and Orrano was apparently there, but not in the apartment. Okay. Yeah, you know, we can't be judge and jury on this. It's not fair, but man, it sounds terrible.

But just again, those of you that are fake media members that have YouTube channels. Oh, God, will you relax? Be careful how much water you carry for the Texans on this. They haven't done anything. He's looking at 15. There's people already typing out things and saying this, Bravo to the Texans for giving this guy a champ. Who said that?

I'm not going to say. Go ahead and name names you want to. He's out of the business and I'm happy for it. Go on. That's your news at noon. Oh, that's it? Nothing else? We got two, do we got NBA juicy news?

What's the juicy news? It was yesterday, but it's still juicy. Okay. Kauai Leonard trade from the Clippers to Toronto. Oh, Joakovich and Sinners on? What do we do? Okay, I'm going to say you're sorry for interrupting. What?

Sinners whooping his butt. That's a shame. Oh, they're not in the third set. Sinner. I only root against Djokovic because I don't want him to get even more grand slams than Nadal, who is, he's my goat, but I understand Djokovic is probably the real goat. She's the goat.

713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. We have, at this point, Kauai Leonard, still a clipper. Okay. We'll explain what's going on with that. 1215, Sports Talk, 790. So the NBA yesterday,

and this again, I know our audience pretty well, and look, the Astros didn't play yesterday, and we will get in some more on the Astros, obviously. Brian would take it earlier. But I like to look at it, at case and points in sports and see what the

what the results are whether it involves a Houston team or not. The Toronto Raptors made a move to a sign or trade away, get Coil Leonard back to Toronto and you're just like, okay, so what? I mean Leonard's been hurt a lot, but the last couple of years

he's been healthy and has been still one of the best pure scores in the NBA, right? Fair to say? I would say he's not automatic inside 15 feet, but he's pretty damn close. When he plays and he's healthy, he goes, he's one of the most unstoppable players even to this NBA with as much tread on his tires. Well, there was a controversy about how Steve Ballmer, the owner of the Clippers, was paying him so maybe some extra side money.

Yes. There were a marketing agreement that really never existed. It was just a way to go around the salary cap to pay Kauai more money. And the NBA, quote unquote, was going through this long, exhaustive investigation to see exactly. what was going on, whether this company was legit, whether Kauai really did anything for it, or it was just them just trying to pay some extra money. Okay. And this investigation, Ross, has gone on with six months, probably.

Somewhere in that range. I think they were saying 10 months or something like that. It's been long. So the Clippers last week put together a deal to trade him to Toronto. Mm-hmm. And I don't know if the NBA whispered something in Toronto's ear, or Toronto had cold feet or whatever the case may be, but the NBA announcing yesterday,

and the Toronto Raptors announcing the exact same thing, that the trade between those two teams for said player has been upheld for a while, held up, subject to whether or not the NBA is going to do anything more to this deal. What they could do is, first of all, they're definitely going to find the Los Angeles clippers, okay? Or do they take draft picks or other things?

I don't know. But my guess is a heavy fine that's coming their way. Something doesn't smell right in this situation. Secondly, they could suspend Kauai and Leonard for saying, you are taking this money that was not towards the salary cap. This is illegal. This is a, not money laundering, but circumventing the system. And they could suspend them for 10 games, 20, 40 in the entire season.

Who knows? Yeah. They could also, part C, they could say that your contract is null and void, meaning you are a street free agent right now as we speak. And you're thinking, well, they get to choose where he wants to go. Well, the problem is a lot of teams already have their salaries tied up in money. You just can't offer Kauai Leonard $40 million because you've got $40 million sitting in the back for a rainy day fund. So that's the three scenarios that are in play.

How much will the Clippers owner get fined? will Coile Leonard be suspended for his actions? Will the trade be allowed to go through? And then lastly, if it doesn't get through, will they say the contract you are currently under will be null and board and you are making zero money as we speak as of July 10, 2026. There are enough people, Rossi, and I found this out within the last 48 hours.

There are enough teams in the NBA that don't believe he's going to be deemed affirmation. agent, but are preparing for that possibility. So he probably will lose a lot of money on this because he's got a huge contract still, right? What is it? I guess I need to look up what a Kauai's contract is remaining. So his whole contract would become Nolan Void and he'd become a free agent? That's one of the possibilities, not the likelihood, but it's a possibility.

Okay. That's crazy. because the contract is you know deemed you know I guess as a punishment invalidated yeah invalidated so let me look here where his contract status

is contract remember follow me on Instagram at SportsMT if you follow me I'll give you a shoutout between now and two o'clock I can't guarantee a follow back but I can guarantee you a shoutout

I will follow you back and shout you out at Sports RV my shoutouts actually mean them just a little bit more. Why? A deeper voice. Okay. Yes. It's because you were born that way. Congratulations. All right. We're all proud of you. Uh, well, you know, it's only got one year left in his contract. So it's $50 million. So I guess it's not that big. So if they voted that out, it wouldn't be that big of a deal, right? So put it this way. He's going to cost some money this year. Okay. He's going to go to a new contract regardless next year, but he's got to go to

play in Toronto for $50 million. So they void that, makes it open. So that would then mean you would have anybody that would have money available in the cap to go try to get him. Okay. My answer is if Kauai Leonard is available and the lead deems that contract null and void, is there any harm in kicking the tires and going to get Kaui Lennon no matter what team you love and follow? I don't know. I would do it in a heartbeat. Yeah, I would.

But how do you can't even make that. Can you even, in the event of avoided contract, you'd have to be signing and trading because you don't have any cap. space if you're the rockets. I'm talking about 18. What if you have $6 million in cab space? What if you got 11? What if you have, can you have a mid-level exception? You could, obviously. I mean, there's all sorts of different little nuances

here. Do you have a disgraced player exception? I don't know. I didn't know what was going on. What's his uncle's name? Uncle Tom? Not Uncle Tom. Uncle Dennis? Uncle Dennis. Uncle Dennis, not good. Uncle Dennis, not

authorized to negotiate contracts. By the way, I think Uncle Dennis' career is a negotiator for anybody in the NBA is going to be ending after this. Well, why is it on very well? Couldn't he played ignorance on this? Couldn't he say Uncle Dennis sign this for me? I guess, but he was out there doing stuff for aspiration. What was he supposed to be planting trees and getting $40 million? He had to know something wasn't right.

He had to know. Maybe he can plausibly deny, but he had to know. Okay, so if that is true, do you bring that character on, is his character so bad? that other teams would be like I'm good. It's basketball. He took money. Yeah, I was going to say, that's what I'm thinking. If a bunch of teams think that

they wouldn't have a guy like that around, they'll be 50 hundred teams, I'll be like, I'll figure out a way to scrab up, you know, scrounge up four or five million dollars. We're much more forgiving of white collar crimes. I think it's fair. I think it's fair. You could be president.

Yeah, I think it's absolutely fair. That if Kauai is deemed to be a free agent, his contract is voided. You will have, it will be a, I guess a circus, right? I would be the, I would call it.

A runaround? Well, I mean, I don't even know how much he's going to play. He's had this degenerative knee issues. How many games did he play the last several years? I saw him last year. He was really good. He's on the floor, yeah,

he's dropping 40 a game. He's great. When he's out there. In Port Toronto. I mean, you're getting him back. Let bygons be bygones. You left them to go,

go play for the clippers. I'm actually surprised I see he played 65 games last year. That's more than I thought. 37 the year before, 68, 52. No, I think IP is what you would call him

still to this day. He's injury prone, yeah, because he's got, they literally diagnose him with a generative leg issue. But when he plays, though, damn he is good. Hmm.

His nicknames on basketball reference include Fun guy? Fun guy? And the Terminator. Do you know how I first got to know Kowai Leonard before he was, I mean, obviously, he's a good basketball player.

Wasn't he the one that used to always have a bunch of Rocco Roranah coupons in his car that he used to have? Yeah, he drove around that. He was saving all his money. He was driving like an old Ford Bronco or something like that. Yeah, some old, old... He was saving all of his money. Yeah.

Good for him. And then he would go to Rocco Roran and ask for Takedos and then said, do you have a coupon? He goes, wait a minute, I got 40 coupons in the back. He was a coupon hoarder. Yeah. Good for him. Now, if he used to go back to Toronto,

you go to Tim Hortons and get some Putin. Do they have Putin at Tim Hortons? No, but I don't know what you're talking about it. Because I know that Putin is very, very popular in Canada. Okay, well, it's probably not good for it. I don't think his nutritionist is recommending Putin.

Tell me again what's in boonin. Isn't it cheese curds and gravy and fries? Can I say, I don't know. Does that really sound delicious to you? I'd give it a shot. Do you like gravy? in small doses

I don't want I don't want my meat covered in gravy Lots of it You get a chicken fried steak smothered in gravy I don't smother it I usually get on the side I like to dip it in Oh you are definitely not Mr. Texas

Oh my God Why don't I want something Smothered in something That doesn't sound good Gravy? This gravy is one of the most delicious things on the planet Gravy's delicious but I want to be able to taste my meat

The chicken fried steak the cutlet if you will I don't want to be tasting gravy I want the whole thing Okay French fries, cheese, cheese curds top with hot brown beef and chicken stock gravy. It emerged from

San Tre de Quebec. Okay, next year, the Rockets by the Raptors, I'm going to have some puttin when I get there, and I will shoot a video of it. Yeah, get us a video of you getting some putteen. And then you can call me Mr. North America

because I'll take care of not only the Texas. That'd be good. Because anything but Mr. Texas, you can be literally anything but Mr. Texas. That's what you're least qualified to be. I don't know. Mr. North America, okay. Although you haven't been in Mexico in 30 years.

I was telling my wife about that trip to Mexico City because apparently it was the same city that I had went to to see the Ours play. They must have refurbished it, right? I think they did something to it and then they did some more, yeah. I think it's had a couple of refurbishments lately. Because it looks majestic now.

It's beautiful. You didn't like it then? No, it was old rundown, the traffic was horrendous, and then we went on the field before the Guinness when the older spoke the Cowboys. The traffic's still horrendous. George Toma, who was the sod god at the time. Were you in a, were you having problems with the outdoors? altitude because you're a little heftier in those days too

with hair I definitely had hair I'm just asked I was just curious because it's like a lot of people talk about You're saying fat people have difficult times in high elevations Duh I mean by what I mean as you know they talk about it when you go to Denver

you go to mile high yeah you got to you know you go play the nuggets You gotta be ready to get up and down the court That's what I just asking But fat people don't do that I was asking if the altitude affected you It affected me when I went to Medellijin Did it? Yeah I was a little

really going up a hill. I was like, I can't do this right now. You had a cigarette in your mouth too. That didn't help. No, it was well. 1231 on Sports Talk 790. As promised, I owe some shoutouts for those great listeners that are following me on Instagram. Shout out to you, Jose. Bazinga.

Garcia John. Katie Fort Ben Foodies. What's up? Katie Ford, Ben. What's up? Dude, where's my? You get a cash and forever Astro fans. Shout out to all one, two, three, seven of you for following me on Instagram here in the last few minutes. Thank you very much. Continue to enjoy the experience that is. I am the gift that keeps on giving.

America, Apple Pie, Mom, SportsMT and Instagram. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Nothing but enjoyment all the way through. Shout out to you. May I give you a super hot take before we talk to our friend Yankees, Keith, who always gives us hot takes? Okay. So we have on one of our two screens in our office here. the Wimbledon going on at the semifinals.

And I'm not thought deep about this, but I'm going to go ahead and say it. The most physically grueling sport for one individual is the sport of tennis. Wait a second. You're just stealing my bit from like the last couple years. Okay.

That wasn't meant to be done that way. You need speed. You need power. Endurance. You need stamina and endurance. You need hand-eye coordination. You need mental toughness. in there. It's basically, you're not in a cage, obviously, but you're in a mental cage.

It's you and it's me. You have like 20 different ways you can try to serve the ball. And then there's 20 different ways you can try to return the ball. The cat and mouse back and forth game for five hours, not only the physical energy that you are expending, the mental energy that it takes to get through that five hours, it's insane. I think they're arguably the best individual athletes on the planet. Like what I said just a second ago. I've been saying this for years. I'm pet. It's probably seeping in through your subconscious.

So let me tell you, track and field is super intense because you have to, you have sprint and you've got no room for air. You can't make adjustments in the fly. There you go. Shout out to you, Jonathan. But it's not five hours of walking in. And you don't do it on a daily basis where you're Wimbledon. You've been there for three weeks and you played nine matches or whatever it is. You know what I mean?

The margins are thin. I mean, you could marathon running would be screwed to get you from 6'4 to like a 6-6 and a set. Yeah, marathons are excruciating, cross-country running, skiing, but you're also not doing that again. Three times it always. There's no hand-eye coordination. No. You add in all the elements that it takes. Tennis athletes are insane.

So let me ask, I'll say this, and we're getting a key threat after this. Under the category of, I just don't get it, I don't get why I have not enjoyed tennis more. I don't know either. I would love tennis. I would have to say probably the reason why is I only have so many hours in the day and that I can't. can't watch every sport that I have to have a life beyond sports. And if I loved everything, I would have no time to love anything non-sports related. You wouldn't have time for those lifetime movies.

Or the blackjack intricacies that I'm going to use to win this weekend. Or the old episodes of... Match game. Or good times. Yeah. Number two, I did watch... I do believe the lack of United States dominant players probably has affected me as. well. I watched way more when it was

Sampris and Agassi and then a little bit of Andy Roddick and stuff like that. Also, the prime of Nadal and Federer and Djokovic I watched a lot more. Now, the center and Alcarez is the budding rivalry right now. Someone's saying tour de friends, by the way, might be the most grueling sport.

What is that? Tour de France. That's, yeah, as far as mentally grueling, but you know, it doesn't take, I mean, I wouldn't say that takes hand-eye coordination either. And I don't talk about grueling. We're just talking about overall, like, check every box. Yeah. Like, of course, decathlon is, is, you know, takes all those types of things.

Because, put this way, you're going to play Wimbledon here. And my guess is, in another 10 days, there's another tournament where you start all over from scratch again. You have to do this all over again. Well, they're going to play today in the semis, and then they're going to play on Sunday for the finals. So you can go three hours here. You get a day of rest, which you're going to back on the court, at least swinging. And you're going to play for the whole thing coming up. I don't know. I like it. But I will say this. As a young person, person. I, the McEnroe, Connors, Beyond Borg, Boris Becker, Andy Rodick to a very lesser extent,

Yvonne, Yvonne Lendell, that was my wheelhouse. This new generation, which you speak, Evan, it's not even new, it's 20 years now. I don't really know who they are. Not that I don't appreciate them, I just haven't done it. Like every sport, the tennis is faster, stronger, I don't want to say more intense, but whatever you want to call it. It's a higher level of tennis than it ever has been, in my opinion. I've been watching since I played in high school and I was a huge Pete Sampras fan in the 90s. So, I mean, I've been watching tennis for 30 years. And I would say these guys are just insane, the shot making, the skill.

Like I said, the hand-eye coordination. Now, you don't only do you need top speed, you need quickness, quickness of mind. It's, I don't know, man. It's just crazy. I'm always in awe of how good these guys are. I'm going to give myself a predicament here. Okay. If I was offered a ticket to the Wimbledon men's final,

or women's final for that matter, because women's Senate's been good too. Mm-hmm. Or I got a ticket to the World Cup final. I know what your answer would be. The Wimbledon final or the Wembleden World Cup final? Now, World Cup is every four years. Wimbledon's every year.

So let me try to rephrase this to a... Please tell me you're picking World Cup final. I probably would take World Cup. Okay. I got one for you. Sunday at the Masters or Wimbledon Final. As much as I like golf, I probably would go to the Wimbledon Final. No way. I think so.

I'm not for sure. Here's the deal. Here's the deal. The Masters is the more prestigious event. But it's like, oh, it's Xander Shafely and I don't know, Brian Kim. You're following 14 or 16 guys. Yeah. It's like, am I, or do I want to see likely would be like, I don't know,

no sinner in Alcaraz or something like that. I could also pencil myself in an aiming corner and not move and not see the all reaction. Where if I'm at a seat inside at Wimbledon, I'm watching the two best at it at one championship. Yeah. And him, quiet please.

Quiet please. First serve. The first service. Yeah, I would, man, because I do want to go to the Masters. I've never been. But I think I'd rather go to the gentleman's championship. I think. And I'm not even a tennis fan. I don't know.

There's something I thought about it. I was just watching them going, Danny's guys are athletes, and they're all by themselves, and they have 20,000 people staring at them. Yeah. By themselves. Two dudes.

All right, speaking of two dudes, let's talk to our friend Keith on 790 at 1244. Hi, Keith. Hey, how are y'all doing? Happy Friday. Same to you. I'm calling about the state of baseball. It's good.

No, I don't agree. You're wrong. You're flat out wrong. Okay. If I make it to August 23rd, I'll be 74. God love you. I'll be honest. I met you this year.

You looked more like 68, so congratulations. Well, thanks, man. I really appreciate it. You're welcome. Listen, I watched the Yankees a few days ago. I've been watching them every year. One day they struck out 17 times. The next day they did the same thing.

17 strikeouts. The third day, they did 15 strikeouts. That's unbelievable. That's horrible. And the problem is, if you look at the batting averages for all these teams, I think the Yankees, we're in second place, and we won 50 games. But we have a badden average probably of 240. That's horrible. And you know why? because I've been saying the same thing for years calling y'all show for years. They never eliminated the shift. Yeah, they did. No, they didn't.

That's a lot. You can't shift on the other side of the second base anymore. Yeah, the shift is gone. I don't care what y'all say. I've watched the game every day. There's a dude behind second base every point. Yeah, you can stand behind there. You can't go on the other side.

That's a shift. Well, maybe you weren't watching five years ago before the rule change. where you could have like six guys on one side. They changed the rule. You could go like that in the 1970s. They were just, they just didn't figure it out. I guarantee you I watch more baseball than y'all did.

Okay, well, then you're watching or are you paying attention? I'm paying attention to more baseball than you. If you're watching, are you watching and you're mowing the lawn? You said baseball is bad. Baseball's got the highest ratings ever had before. Biggest stadiums, new television contract. Now, this lockout is going to destroy a lot of that.

but right now baseball is as healthy as it's ever been. What are you talking about? This is not true. How about this? What's the highest batting average for the highest, for the highest rated hitting team? I don't know. It doesn't matter.

We're not doing batting averages. It's in 1948. Yeah. I'm watching baseball games and finding myself thoroughly enjoying them. Oh, the Brooklyn Excelsia is a hitting 307 this year, Matthew. Oh, what a wonderful time at the ball yard. Bump. Hey, everybody, it's Mel Allen.

and this is This Weekend Baseball. It's a different time. Yeah, come on now. Let's get with the time. 74-year-old. We love you, Keith, by the way. That's okay. Yeah, you look great.

Yeah, you look great. Your girlfriend, Jesus, I don't know what you're doing, but you're overmatched. The games are changed. Scott Rorokes, we'll get to you coming back in a minute. More shout-out. Hookline and Clementine. Shout out to you. You're now a part of the SportsMT Instagram family.

Jared Morris. Hello, my friend. TK Chin, hello to you. You're also part of the SportsMT Instagram family. Thank you very much. You were so easy. Yes. So easy.

I almost says thank you. It's all I want to say? No, I knew once I started promoting my Instagram, you'd do the same, and I'm trying to help grow the show that way. So, I mean, you're just so predictable. I actually told Jonathan, I was like, watch this. I'm going to start promoting my Instagram, and he's going to, so he never mentions his, but he's going to start mentioning his.

I'm going to tell you the real reason why. You're not going to believe me. I don't care. It's because Twitter's gotten so nasty. Mm-hmm. And that it is, everyone has said, Instagram, not going to be nasty too, but it's not as nasty. So, Instagram people are nicer. If I've, if I, if I, if I jumped aboard your bandwagon and went on the train with you, so be it.

At Sports RV on Instagram, folks. I would appreciate a follow. And I will follow you back. Follow sports RV. He'll follow you back. And he will show you a various food. items. Sometimes. I'll take a few photos when I'm in Vegas. I do

reviews of barbecue, which I've done as well. And various restaurants, I think some Houston restaurants I've reviewed as well. Have we gone to a barbecue place yet that the food was terrible like this place? No, because I've been suggesting him. I'm here to help you, Matt. Let's go find. Let's go on. Expand your horizons.

Let's go find a terrible place. From grocery store ribs. I'm trying to help you out. Don't get me started. They were good, though. It's just too expensive. Scott on 790. Hi, Scott. Matt Ross, this is almost kind of spooky. I feel like every time, a lot of times when I call in, you'll almost set up what I want to talk about a little bit.

Grocery store ribs? No, following you guys on Instagram. So this is the origin of the call here. So a big shout out to Ross. I followed Ross on Instagram for a while, and he's nice enough. Every time I send him some wonky sports thing, we can get into, you know, commentary on it every once in a while.

So that was actually the reason. for my call, I wanted to see if Matt might help settle a friendly debate that we had a little while back. So it was about the state of soccer in the United States. Now Matt, I know that's not your

area of expertise. Not my area of expertise either. But the conversation we were having was surrounding after U.S. lost to Belgium was I was up to you. And I don't think we totally disagreed. I think we disagreed on the outcome. So Ross, if you remember the conversation, you want to explain your side.

go ahead. But I was saying if we could find a way, which I don't know how you would do this, and I don't think it's humanly possible. But if in the United States, if we could find our best athletes to play soccer at a young age, I think over time, and that became their main sport, I think over time, we would become the best soccer nation in the world. When I watched the game the other day, and again, I'm not an expert, but I felt like there's a lot of, was not one player on our team that had anywhere near the athletic ability, and in my argument, I used the example of Derek Stingley.

I thought Derek Stingley has more of an athletic skill set by, not even close, than anyone on our current team. They're country club athletes. I mean, I'm not saying they're not, you know, high-level pros, but they've obviously built a high career for themselves. But our best athletes are not playing soccer, period. Whether they will, whether they won't,

I don't know, could we get them to, Probably not. But if we did, could find a way, I think we would become the best soccer nation in the world. Matt, do you, based off that premise alone, do you agree? Does that make sense, Ross, if you had a follow up on that? Let's say the answer for the top of the hour. So let's do this. Ask your single question and then hang up.

What's your single question? Yeah. Go ahead. Are you asking me? Yes, Scott. What is your question? What is the question? So the question is, if we found a way to get more youth involvement with our top-tier athletes in the United States, would we become, would that make a difference to where we would become World Cup championship caliber country?

We'll answer that question in a moment. How about that? That's what we call professional radio teas. Mr. Brian McTagher conversation. It's 20 minutes away as well. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Next week on the show, Monday, Tuesday, Ross and I'll be in Vegas. We're going for fun, but I'm also going to go to the Summer League game on Saturday, looking forward to that. And we just need to look good away. Maddie's Summer League report.

Yeah. I think we'll try to get Will done on, one of the Rockets' assistants. Either join us Monday or Tuesday. Wonderful. Just kind of get a thought of what's going on and what happens. And, you know, Bruce Thornton is the key, right? I mean, if there's anybody that's going to probably have a decent spot of making the 15-man-active roster. All eyes on Bruce Thornton.

Yeah. And if you're an Aaron Holiday fan, I wouldn't be worried about his future. I mean, I guess I would be because he's not going to be here. All right. So the question was brought up about if, and I don't mean to paraphrase, but if the United States had a better group of athletes that were playing soccer. If they invested in it, then they would dominate the world of soccer. They would be the best team in the world. Okay.

Can I give you my five-second answer and they'll let you have the rest of the time? Sure. If we invest in more, my guess is we would find ourselves in a World Cup semi-final, final once in a while, maybe win one in the next 12 to 16 years. But dominate, no chance, no way, no-how, never going to happen. Yeah, I think, I mean, if we waved a magic wand and every single great athlete in America got involved in soccer and made it their number one sport, maybe. but there's no guarantees

because he brought up the example of Derek Stingley. How far can Derek Singley kick a ball? How hard can he kick a ball? I brought up the example who what is the, why is it escaping me now? The name of the Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey. Brandon Aubrey was a washout professional kicker

and a soccer player so obviously he can kick the ball hard and fast and he's like the greatest kicker in history. Yeah. So hey maybe Darul Gungbo Wale would be good, I guess we can point to him. but how hard can you kick the ball? How fast can you kick the ball?

How accurately can you kick the ball? How can you pass the ball? It's a different skill set than just saying, oh, we used Miles Garrett and I don't know, Russell Westbrook and put LeBron James in goal. There's no six foot nine goalkeepers because they can't get to the shots that are low and in the corners. He would just get kicked through the five hole every time. And then the bottom corners, guys would exploit him.

So I think it's American arrogance, and that's how we are. It's kind of our blessing and our curse. Our greatest attribute is how confident we are, but sometimes there can be an American arrogance to say, oh, if we invested, oh, if we invested our athletes, and yeah, we would dominate. That's like you go out to the court, and you're like, oh, if I'd have tried,

I would have won if we would have tried. You just say you didn't try. And there has been a lot of more athletes since 1994. The World Cup came and the launching the M. and the teams have gotten better. But there is no guarantee that there is somebody out there just because they're more athletic

than the other guys that are on the team right now means they would be better soccer players. The greatest soccer player of all time is a 5-foot-7 dude out of Argentina who had hormone deficiency growing up. He's the greatest of all time because he's the most accurate passer. He's got a creative mind.

He sees everything five seconds ahead that's what it takes. So just to say, oh, we put some guys who run fast and jump high out there and we're going to win, no. You need some jumping ability. You need some top-in speed. You need some acceleration. But the combination of all that with the accuracy of the kicking and the passing and the creativity and the stamina for running up in 90. Miles Garrett would be gassed in 30 minutes in a soccer game because he's not built to run 90 minutes.

Those giant muscles need oxygen. And weren't trained to run for 90 minutes. Let me make a point here because I get what you're saying is the point, and they keep making comparisons to football players, right? But I think more so where he's trying to get at is if these high-end athletic players with all this athletic genes, right, getting passed down, we see these NBA players put their kids right into the NBA circuit, AAU to be professional NBA players or professional basketball players,

if you put those same athletic kids and you let them blossom in a sport like soccer and have those big clubs like AAU and you, And same thing for track. You have AAU and USA track and field. You put them in there. We will have those athletes. We do have that stock of genes. If we're going to say, you know, being biological, we have all that.

Just because, say, Miles Garrett, they're trying. We're all trained to lift weight. When you see somebody, a big kid, like, all right, you know, you're going to do this, can be lifting this and this and that. You have, you can do the same thing with soccer. Yes, we don't, we don't have the skill set, but we do have what it takes. We just don't, we don't have the training for it. We don't have the facilities like you're saying.

That's what I'm saying, though, because I'm not saying it's not possible. I'm not going to sit here and tell you, well, America is as good as it's going to be. No, we could be better. But to say it, to assume we would dominate, to assume we would be automatically number one in the world, I think that's not fair.

I think that's a big assumption. To say, oh, yeah, we'd be number one if we tried. Maybe. Brazil's been doing this for a long time. And honestly, there's nothing that stopped us from trying to be the best. I think that's a very good point Nobody's saying oh we can't spend money in time on soccer No we spend lots of money in time

Yeah you sports are playing it left right The kids are the ones deciding it Not the parents You're waving a magic wand And putting a lot of the best athletes on a team And putting your best 11 You're telling me we're telling me There's no doubt in your mind

We'd be better than France I'm telling you I'm not guaranteeing that You're telling me you're Bikilin Mbabe And all those players You're automatically going to be better I don't know, Jack. I got in Bopin Mania, by the way. Just let you all know.

Okay. Thank you, Bob, for waiting. You're on 790 at 110. Well, Mr. Thomas, and I call you that out of total respect, I owe you a giant, giant apology. During the playoff NBA, I couldn't understand how you rooted for a team outside of Texas. But after I hung up, I realized how much I hated. team and that's a Michigan Wolverines. I don't care if they played the

blind squad, I'd want them to get beat. That's how much I hate them. But I understand now more after thinking that you were right. You know, there's no reason not to dislike a team. So he's except my apology. You know what, Bob? Thank you so much.

Bob, have a wonderful weekend. He cleanses his palate right there. That's been weighing on him for a lot of month and a half now. Well, that was a Friday apology. Yeah. Bob, thank you very much. And you did it 110, which is okay.

Thank you so much, Bob. Have a great weekend. All right, let's do this. We're going to take a time out, let you hear from Brian McTaggart. And then we have now in Florida stories. Mine involves a fast food restaurant in Oklahoma. Ross, you want to give away a tease for 20 minutes from now? How do you want to explain yours?

It's a really good story. And can I just say one more thing on the soccer thing? I'm not saying that we wouldn't be good or better. I'm just saying it's not guaranteed we would be the best. Okay, that's all. There it is. John, where's your non-flora story from? I'm still looking.

All right. I know what yours is, though, and these are some... You saw mine? You saw mine? I will give you, by the way, I will give you the story that was the all-time non-flora story that's going to be dethroned after today. We caught up with Brian McTaggart on his way to Arlington.

He'll be on the scene for MLB.com, covering the Astros and the Rangers, which starts tonight. Well, the on-deck show at 6 o'clock. I think Dan Matthews has that under his control. And Ross and I had a chance to visit with Brian on the way up to Big D to talk about what he saw, what we all saw and heard with Spencer Arrediote and the continued struggles that he had on Wednesday in Washington. Well, he said that it was very, very humid there. He said that he had really hard time. His arms were really wet, hard time gripping the ball. But he also said, hey, this is no excuse. Foster Griffin didn't have that problem.

You know, on the other side, he shut him down. So I think he's searching for answers. You know, I thought maybe he turned the corner or found it with its first start in the month of July. But, you know, the walks were just killers. I mean, he walked five guys, walked the leadoff hitter to start the game. And then, you know, walks five guys, which is a career. He might have walked six. I can't remember.

I think it was six. But three of those guys came around the score. Those are just killers. He just did not have the command. And I think frustration level is really high with him, probably for the Astros too, because the way he pitched in May, you're like, okay, you know, we feel really good about this. But it was a pretty bad weekend of starting, a week of starting pitching in Washington. Neither starter finished five innings, and that's not a recipe for success.

So the starting rotation that stayed a while, but they really need these guys to start going a little deeper in a game. It starts tonight with Hunter Brown. He's your race. You need him to pitch six innings tonight at least. There is one blessing in disguise, tags. You don't need a sick starter this entire month between the off days and the All-Star break. You don't have really five at this point. And every time we have Joe on our show and you see him more than we do, and we talk to him every Tuesday,

I can hear it in his voice. The left field spot's been a frustration all year long. I think he likes the guys personally. He thinks they've all got the good stuff that can be major league rotation guy after rotation guy. But Burroughs got sent down, tongue got tired, Emi is more down than up, Erigeti's troubles. This has got to be a frustrating moment for anybody that's in a managerial position trying to navigate it. Plus, you've got a bunch of guys coming back off of injuries that don't have any sort of really good bull to board stuff to say,

you know what, we're going to come up here and take these guys spots and make this a better rotation. Yeah, you're exactly right. I mean, they went out and got all this pitching depth in the offseason, and most of it has not worked out. I mean, you know, a couple of those guys got DFA, Weiss, you know, Tangs on the IL. We all know the ups and downs of EMI. I mean, Lambert's been the bright spot, you know, and thank God for him if you're the Astros.

But, you know, maybe Blanco, I don't know who's going to start Sunday, and my guess is probably Blanco is going to come off the I. and start. I mean, he was a really, really good picture for them in 2024. But as we've seen these past few years, these guys who have been out with long-term injuries when they come back, they just haven't had it. Luis Garcia, Jose Arcides, McCullors. So, you know, not saying that Blanco will be that guy, but it's got to be frustrating for Joe just because they went out. Their number one thing in the offseason was add pitching depth, add pitching depth. And most of these guys have not worked out. And now you got, now you're down to four-starter.

and you have some options for that fifth starter, but it's not ideal. You need the guys who are already in the rotation who you thought you could count on to pick it up a little bit, and then you're going to have to have somebody at the end of the rotation pull their end of the rope as well. So, yeah, they're in a tough spot pitching-wise. Yeah, and with that, and the deadline coming up in a couple of weeks, Brian,

I mean, you could use a starter. You could use a stud starter, but not that you could get one. You could use maybe a reliever, and of course we know we've talked about outfield bat. How hard do you think Dana Brown goes after those needs? And if you could, just put them in order of how likely you think trades are to happen with those categories. Yeah, I think outfield bat's still number one. I mean, their production in the outfield day to day, especially in left field, center field, has not been good.

They could use just the lineup is so short, especially with Jeremy Pena being out, it just really drives. drops off dramatically after the fifth spot. They could use another proven bat. I think you can get that done even on a rental. Starting pitching is going to be a little bit harder just because everyone wants starting pitching and the price is going to be pretty high. So, I mean, you know, they're not going to be in the market for scuba. I mean, that's just not going to happen.

I mean, just with the money and the amount of prospects they would have to give up, that's just not going to happen. But maybe there's another, you know, mid-referral. rotation starter somewhere they can get again that's going to be a high price you know i think relievers on there as well but um i still think the left-handed bat is their biggest need just because you're talking day to day in the lineup they could they just have so many holes they could plug one of those holes if they if they get a lefty bat talking with brian mctaggart here on sports talk 790 and brian it feels like every year we there's some team around baseball that buys in the deadline

and everybody else is like what are they doing what what makes them think their contenders I'm almost kind of getting that vibe with here in Houston with the Astros. I mean, are they truly one or two pieces away? I know the standings say that they're close, but the team doesn't feel like they're close. Yeah, well, that's the thing. I mean, they've played, I mean, they played poorly all year, except, you know, for this, maybe the last couple of months, they played better. You look at the roster, you're like, it's not good.

You watch them day to day, and you're like, is this a good team? don't think so. And then they're a game and a half out of first place. Every other team's in the same boat. So somebody's going to have to step up and make a move. So, you know, if you're the Asterers, you're like, well, I mean, with this roster where we're at, like, if we had a piece or two, we could, you know, we could jump these guys and be better. It seems like everyone around the country than the national guys want them to sell. Like, you know, they need a trade a hater. They need to trade this guy and this guy. But that's just not what the Asteros are thinking they think they're in it and they are they're i mean hey they sweep the rangers they

could hit the all-star game in first place i mean it's not it's not implausible and so um it's you know that's you know i understand why they want to go out and and think they're buyers because uh they're right there and there's a lot of teams in the same boat tags who's going to start on sunday and uh how do you envision the rotation coming out of the all-star break i guess blog co uh is going to start. I'm not 100% sure. I guess Javier is still a possibility, although he pitched a couple in relief on Wednesday. So not sure there. I think out of the All-Star break, you kind of do what you do right here with Hunter Brown pitching on Friday out of the break. Peter Lambert on Saturday, and I guess whoever pitches Sunday pitches Sunday, you know, maybe give Arigetti

a little bit of a blow there and try to, you know, figure out what's going on. Or, you know, the same with EMI. You kick that can down the road a little bit and hope a, you know, extended rest, he can come back stronger. But I think you have to open the second half with your two best starting pitchers. And right now that's Hunter Brown and Peter Lambert. Do you think Burroughs and or Myers, two separate positions, are down in Sugar Land for a long time?

Do you think it's going to be injury related? Do you think there could be trade related to this? I mean, what are those guys thinking right now as they are been in the major leagues, 85% of this season, and now they're spending time in Sugarland, Texas? Yeah, I mean, Burroughs is going to have to go down there and make a few starts and show that he could throw strikes and keep the ball in the ballpark. I mean, it's that simple. So I don't think he comes back anytime soon unless there's injuries.

Same with Myers. I mean, he's going to have to perform down there. I mean, but, you know, I think at the trade deadline, if they add an outfielder, you know, it's going to be a lot harder for, you know, Myers to be back up here, especially if they get a guy that can play center field. So, but I think Myers saw the writing on the wall in the offseason when they, you know, it's going to be able to. they tried to trade him and they really couldn't trade them. I mean, they had a couple of deals for him. They could have made that they're probably, you know, kicking themselves that they didn't make at this point because now he's in the minor leagues. But I think some people were surprised he went sent down.

But I think that, you know, he probably knew the riding was on the wall. He hadn't been swinging the bat very well hitting what, 210 or whatever. But so he's, again, he's going to have to go down there. And this roster could look very different in three weeks, you know, when the trade deadline is over. If they make two or three deals, you know, we could see, you know, a lot of shuffling in the outfield and the rotation as well. So it's going to be very, very interesting because they could either be in first place at the trade deadline or they could be in third place and, you know, five or six out in the wild card. So every day, it seems like the momentum shifts with this team on whether do you think they're going to be in it or whether you think they're not really looking like a contender. All right.

That is Brian McTaggart with us every Thursday, typically, but he was traveling yesterday. So he'll be with us next Thursday as we get ready for the second half. half of the season. All right. We have a definitive, grossest non-Florida story. We may have a new one after today. Non-Florida stories, not safe for, I don't know, not safe for work. It's not that way. It's disturbing. The most disturbing potential edition of non-Florida stories is up next. 128 on Sports Talk 790. stories that occur outside the state of Florida and share them with the people of Houston.

It's time for non-knowality. Jonathan, we're going to let Ross be the headliner because here's how it's going to work. I'm going to read my story. You read yours. I will read you the grossest story in the history of non-Florida stories. And then Ross will read his and we'll decide between the two of us, Ross, and Jonathan and myself, whether we have a new champion

of the all-time grossest non-floor story. I will start mine in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, gentlemen. Oh, really? No, Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Broken Bow. Same difference, right?

Is that like the sister town of Broken Arrow? I think so? But they're definitely a Broken Arrow, right? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Yep. An Arby's manager in Oklahoma was about to close up the shop.

Arby's in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Broken Bow, Broken Bow. I'm sorry, Broken Bow. she was mad because somebody wanted to order something late. A mother showed up at the fast food spot right before it was about to close. Ordered four roast beef sandwiches for $10, which by the way is a great value at Barbies. What did the fast food manager do? She spat in the roast beef sandwiches.

Oh my God. So that sounds, obviously that just sounds disgusting, but what could you get out of it? Well, come to find out you can get herpes. Oh. What? Yeah, Miss Church, a married mother and bartender from McCurtain County was allegedly targeted by manager Amanda Hendricks on an Arby's and Broken Bow after she got off work. Church said she ordered the four roast beef sandwiches for $10. Hendricks, the manager caught on video spitting into the sandwiches and giving the food to church and the drive-thru.

This is, what's wrong with you? Quote unquote from Mrs. Church. It was taking a little bit of time. I thought they were mad at me because it was about to close. According to Church, she and Hendricks knew each other because Broken Bow is a small town, but they didn't have any bad blood between them. Church said after eating her food, she experienced a flare-up on her lip and later visited a doctor who diagnosed her with herpes.

Ward then got around that Hendricks allegedly told people she spit in church's sandwiches that night, so she contacted police. She was arrested and charged with felony poisoning with intent to injured. Jeez. This is so, well, I can't cuss. The end of the sentence was, I love Arby's, not anymore. Miss Church telling local NBC affiliate KJRH.

So I'm going to tell you this as a former fast food employee. Okay. If you're ordering food late at night when restaurants are about to close, which now restaurants are closing now, like the McDonald's of the world, the Burger Kings are closing at 2 AM. So you really got to be right at the 158 mark

on that. Just be especially nice because they're going to mess with your food if you're not. I mean, I mean, Uber nice. If they say to you on the drive-thru, what'd you say again? You just say, I'm sorry. I'm not a spoken clearly. Here's my order again. Be super

polite. Matter of fact, I didn't even throw them a couple of extra bones. Oh, I'm all so nice. Yeah, I gave, you know what? Yeah, I gave a woman at the Rackiner Rocks the other day. She's very polite. Very nice. One down here around San Felipe? It was in Hillcroft? No, Westime and Hillcroft.

Okay. I'm just telling you, the later you go. Those people take forever, by the way. The greatest San Felipe. The greater chance you've got to get a little herpes action in your roast beef. You go take a nap before you get your food. Okay. That's my non-floor story.

Jonathan, you're next. Okay, well, mine is nothing like this, guys. This is in California. Somebody's just looking for love. You know, I've been on this love thing. Who hasn't been? So, Catalina. I can't really, I'm butchering her name, I apologize, but she spent her time in eight months and $5,000

so she can find a potential suitor. Okay, you may ask why it was $5,000. She was putting up billboards along U.S. Highway 101 with her photo and a link to her website so they can submit dating applications for her. No. It means taxi ads, websites, no, along with wardrobe, makeup, video shoots, and related equipment. And she got a lot of responses, didn't she? 4,000 dating applications between September 25 and May 26.

That's actually not money well spent, actually, if you think about it. Apparently, she found love and has a boyfriend now, and he's kind, intelligent, and attracted from a San Francisco Bay Area. And has four felonies under his belt. She said it's all the reasonable. Was you ever dated pretty low for San Francisco? Let me ask you, would you ever date a woman off of a billboard? No. I don't think so weird.

That's so weird. She's been five grand. Okay. That's what non-full of her story. I liked it. Good work, my friend. Thank you, Jonathan. All right.

So, Jonathan, this was an OG story that, benefit of fact, this is 2021. This is how long we've been doing none of Florida stories. It's been a good run. A woman, this is the one that's the all-time champion right now that's about to be defeated, I think. A woman described her horror as she said she woke up in her apartment by blood, dripping from her ceiling under her face after her upstairs neighbor had died. Anna Cardenas of El Paso says she woke about 4 o'clock in the morning after hearing a dripping noise when she thought it was rain.

Cardinas then saw blood which was dripping from her ceiling had splattered into the walls of her apartment, her face, her body, and bed after being propelled by her ceiling fan. For those that don't know, the woman had a woman above her live in an apartment that died and she was about six days dead. and the body was... How did she die? She's seeping blood everywhere. Natural causes, it says. That doesn't seem right.

His blood starts leaking out everywhere? I guess if you're like liver exploded or something, I don't know. She had to get a doctor in on this. Police of the neighbor had been decomposing for about five to six days, following her death of natural. Yeah, I think you win still for most disgusting. Carninas says she's been staying in a hotel since the incident

and it appealed to her apartment management team for compensation for her damage. property. She told the apartment complex, I told that my bed is covered in blood and they told me they're sorry, but the insurance won't pay it. Adding to the, she did not have renters insurance.

So there you go. She had set four years ago, five years ago, she had set up a go fund me account to help pay for the damages to her apartment. So that right there was the OG number one grossest non-Florida story. We have a new contender and the man to present that to you is Sports RV. Hello, folks. Let me tell you about a place called Fort Wayne, Indiana.

That's where on May 6th, the Fort Wayne Fire Department investigated a fire at a detached garage. Around the same time, police were responding to a reported stabbing. Property owners of the garage said a neighbor woke them up to alert them to the fire. then the owners noticed a family member, 36-year-old Christopher Pieden was missing. Meantime, Fort Wayne police encountered a stabbing victim who turned out to be the missing Piedin, according to court documents,

where he was taken to the hospital and claimed he'd been stabbed in downtown Fort Wayne. He also mentioned that he had been threatened the day before. However, eventually, Mr. Pieden wanted to come clean and told investigators he was dishonest and he wanted to be

truthful and thus he revealed the true cause of the fire. Piedin said he went to the garage and then harmed himself by cutting off his penis with a kitchen knife according to court documents.

He told investigators he then poured gasoline on it and then, quote, set it on fire on the floor of the garage just inside the door where he walked away until he then encountered police. Court documents indicate that the investigators collected evidence from the garage, including a red plastic gas container, four lighters, and a kitchen knife. No word on whether the member has been recovered. Piedon is charged with arson, which is a level four felony, and a hearing is scheduled for next week, according to court records. He just walked off afterwards.

He just... Peden lost his Peter, and then he just walked off, apparently. Can I be brutally honest with you, folks? My lower half of my body is tingling in the worst way right now. Excuse me? We don't need to know about your tingles. I just told you. Well, Peter, no, he don't got no. No tingle no more, I guess.

Got no tingle and no dingin. Can I ask a stupid question? No dingle, no tingle. Can you be a man with a living without a penis? What do you mean? Well, how are you supposed to go-go? You probably got a... You hook up a straw?

I don't know. Where does the straw begin and end? Where did the two... You got to get a catheter. So you walk around the rest of your life with a catheter. A catheter and a setter and a set. That's all you get. Can you get a prosthesis?

See, that's why my body is tingling right now. This is so disgusting. Okay, so Jonathan, I made my vote. Your story is grosser than mine. That's so nasty. Why would you set it on fire? I think both of these stories with the other one. The herpes, the R.B sandwich, and it's disgusting.

Could you ever think about somebody spitting in your food and getting herpes out of it? I would, I think I would be in a stasis. Yeah, you got to cry. right? You have that for a life? Yes, correct. Yeah, you can treat it, but you don't... It's treatable to where you can't... I think you'll be without symptoms, but you have to be on treatment your whole life. You're going to tell you're about to kiss me and I got herpes on my lip. That sounds great. Yeah, how does your girlfriend take that one?

Yeah, baby, I swear it was the Arby's. Yeah, I'm not cheating on you. See, I thought the Arby's story was tame, although, again, the herpes is not great, but... Blood C... from an apartment. Pretty nasty. Or a man cutting off his penis and lighting it on fire.

You were sober doing this? There was no... I don't know. He doesn't say that. I just think it's pretty funny. His name is Piedon. P-E-D-E-N, by the way. Right?

Yeah, I have friends that are last named Peden. Ask him if they're related. I don't think I'm going to. They haven't been Fort Wayne. And do you have your lower extremities? And do you tingle down there? Tinkle. You know how you get...

They get like a... never mind you want to ask this off here or just go not well have you ever heard of ghost limbs no I have I know he's like go ahead answer go ahead and say your statement I'm good all right let's believe it or not next

I live to make Jonathan put his head in his hands I'm cringing so bad to bed this is definitely the worst one this might be the cringiest of all the non-flournors we've ever done and that we're not trying to do it intentionally it's just that the bit kind of writes itself sometimes. 713-212-5-7-90. Believe it or not, we're playing for Iron Maiden, Not Iron Maiden. Motley crew tickets. How many we got left there, Jonathan?

He's checking the vault right now. I think we got two. Two pairs of Motley crew tickets for September the 11th at Woodlands Pavilion. If you want to play, it's all things about, what is at Las Vegas, right? The city of Las Vegas. Yes. The Sin City. 713-212-5-790 7-13-212-5-790

I do have a poll question up on my Twitter account at SportsMT, worst non-Florida story You have three options You have getting herpes at Arbys Dead neighbor blood spat Or cutting off penis Then I put the fire emoji So far 100% of the votes have the cutting off the penis

Usually cutting off genitalia is going to probably do it Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do? Monday through Thursday, we play America's fastest growing sports radio game show. We call it those days, believe it or not. But on Fridays, we call it a hell yeah or not. If here's how it works. You call 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Today's edition of Believe or Not, it's all things about Las Vegas, where Ross and I will originate our shows Monday and Tuesday from Sin City. I read you a statement about Las Vegas statement completely utterly accurate. You'll say

this. Hell yeah! If the statement's erroneous full of bunk and made up, you will say this. Not too hell yeah or not to roll when you prepare tickets to see Motley Crew in September the 11th with their friends, Tesla and others at the Woodlands Pavilion. Tickets are on sale at Ticketmaster.com.

If we run out of those, we're playing for 790 T-shirts, correct? Josh. Jonathan? And next week we're playing with For Old Smoky. so be ready for that here on 790. Let's play hell yeah or not. Let's go to Matt on 790.

Matt, you're ready to play hell yeah or not? Hell yeah. The first settlers of Las Vegas were Mormons, and they settled there back in 1855. Hell yeah, or not? Not. That's a hell yeah. A lot of Western states

settling on Mormons there. Statement number two won't get to you and said we'll go to Lance on 790. Lance, you're ready to play hell yeah or not? Hell yeah. Las Vegas is Spanish for the desert. Hell yeah or not. Not.

That's right. It's the meadows. You knew that. Statement number two for the wind. Las Vegas is located in the basin floor of the Sonoran Desert. Hell yeah or not. Hell yeah. No, the Mojave.

Come on, man. That's elementary, my dear Betsy. Carrie on 790, Carrie, your favorite part of today's 10 to 2 radio show. Oh, I love the banter between you and Ross. I love it. Thank you, friend. Las Vegas has over 150,000 hotel rooms, which is more than any other United States City.

Hell yeah or not. Hell yeah. That's correct. Statement number two for the win with the addition of an extension antenna in 2019. The Trump International Tower is the tallest building in Las Vegas. Hell yeah or not? Not. That's right.

It's a source. Stratosphere. Congratulations. Happy to see that. Mark on 790. Mark, you ready to play Hell, yeah or not? Hell yeah. For 2003, Las Vegas finished fifth in murder rate just behind Oakland, California, and just ahead of Flint, Michigan. Hell yeah or not. Hell yeah. No, it's actually a safer city.

You wouldn't know that, but thank you for playing. Let's go to Terry and Laporte on 7thani. Terry, you're ready to play Hell yeah or not. Terry? Hell yeah. Terry, since the release of the 1995 film casino, the Las Vegas Municipal Council has denied permits for any mafia-related movie filming within city limits. Hell yeah or not? Not.

That's right. They'll let anybody do a movie there. Statement number two for the win. Although Sin City is the most popular nickname for Las Vegas, its official nickname is the entertainment capital of the world. Hell yeah or not. Hell yeah. No, it's got no official nickname, but thank you for playing. We're good.

These are good. All right, Carrie, good for you. Good for Ross. All right, folks, we're going to be with you Monday and Tuesday from Las Vegas, 8 a.m. Pacific time. So if we're a little punch drunk in the first hour of the show, you'll understand why. Vote on my poll question about the worst.

Oh, non-foro story of the weekend. Have a great weekend. And up next, Adam Wexler and Friends for the T. Right here on Sports Talk 7-9. Yes!