The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Arenado Blocks Trade To Astros, Texans' Mixon & Chiefs' Mahomes Both To Play, Chandler Rome CO-HOSTS

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Matt Thomas of "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross" and Chandler Rome, Astros beat writer at The Athletic, react to St. Louis Cardinals star third baseman Nolan Arenado invoking his no-trade clause to block a deal that would have sent him to the Astros. Matt and Chandler also:predict the future of Alex Bregman, who is currently in free agencydiscuss running back Joe Mixon and quarterback Patrick Mahomes both intending to play for their respective teams in Saturday's matchup between the Texans and Chiefstalk with head coach Ime Udoka about the Rockets returning to the Toyota Center following elimination from the NBA Cupreview the NFL's worst teams in "Connor's Rotten Five"say "I Just Don't Get It" and more.

Launch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. 102 and H-Town. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Matt Thomas show with Ross, the Thursday edition here on Sports Talk 790. For those of you who don't know who I am, I'm Matt. I've missed the last three days. The guy named Ross, it's his birthday today,

and he said, you know what, I'm going to drive to New Orleans and watch out for urination in various spots throughout that great city. The food's great, gambling's amazing, but there's still lots of defecation. And on that note, we bring in. Louisiana. Are you a New Orleans native? Where were you born? No, Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge. Okay, so I can rip on New Orleans with no problem.

I mean, New Orleans is one of my favorite cities in the world. But sure, you can go ahead and rip it. That's fine. New Orleans, Pelicans are in town that I. You're going to be there? This is, by the way, it's Chandlerone to my left. Hi. Nice to be here. I'm honored. Because, you know, as many people in this market that are insiders and that have and that have sources. I know. And that are on top of everything. I know. I'm just honored that you picked me.

I know. I mean, I've had a choice of about 15 people that call themselves insiders and 10 fake media members that have always wanted to get on the radio that brag that they're doing their own YouTube channels, but that's a different issue for a different time. I wanted to get to a guy. And by the way, we have a segment coming up at 1130 today. I don't know if you're familiar with it's called I just don't get it. And people on Twitter are like, I cannot wait for Chandler to think about what he's going to tell the audience for I just don't get it. For that is a segment where there's something in your life channel. It could be travel. It could be life. It could be the streets and freeways. It could be romance.

It could be anything that you just don't get. And we try to help you with that. So I'm giving you a 90-minute head start for something in life you just don't get. Yeah, I'll have to. I'm going to spend the next hour, like, formulating through. I've got a lot. I've got a lot. I know.

I got to distill it down to the ones that I really want to talk about. I feel like this could be a therapy session for you. Because when you said, yeah, I'll come in and work with you all on this day. We appreciate it. He's going to be with us until two. like you said, I do want to get a lot of Texans chiefs preview in, and we will do that. Maybe the Texans, it'll be good for the Texans. They can see what an actual contender looks like.

Oh. Maybe it'll rub off on him. What if, what if a certain Pat Mahomes does not play? It's probably good for him because this dirty ads defense would probably concuss him. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm.

Dirty team. Sheesh. Man, don't mince words. That's why I brought you in here today. We got Amy Addoca coming up at 1230. You mean nice to him? You don't even have to ask a question. You don't want to.

You can let me handle that one? I'll let the authority. Okay, I got you. Yeah, rockets are taking on the New Orleans Pelicans tonight. Does Baton Rouge claim the Pelicans? Who does claim the Pelicans at this point? I don't think New Orleans does. Does Zion even claim the Pelicans?

No, no. He's not playing, isn't it? No, no. Brandon's not playing the night. Jose Alvarado, who likes to get in fights with Dylan Brooks is not playing the It's just, they're awful. They've got one road win this year. I think they're like 5 and 21.

It's bad. Yeah, so they're going to tear it down, right? Or do they have the capability to do it? Who knows? You know what? I barely can pay attention to my own team. I got to make sure I'm not worried about Pelican talk, although I can get some people in if wanted to, but that's a different issue.

Hey, we are with you today until 2 o'clock. We can we do with the Rockets coming up tonight? Emi Adoko will be with us at 1230. I just don't get at 1130. And then, Connor, you've got the rotten five today at 1.30 as Ross is off today. Ross is 40 years old today. Doesn't look a day over 30. Well, do you think he's young?

I think the gray ages him. I don't think. He doesn't look 40. No, he doesn't. He looks good for 40. I'll get in that. So he is in New Orleans and hopefully he has a great time and look forward to getting him back with us. I believe he and I are working together next on Tuesday, Christmas Eve. All right.

Baseball is your forte. You are a major star at the athletic. You are the reason why. And I told this to Sam Amick, too, who was the NBA writer. I said, you two are the only reasons why I read the paper, but the website. By the way, I got a Sacramento Bee last week. I was in California with the Rockets. You know what?

Newspapers? I don't even realize this because I haven't picked up a chronicle in forever. They're like three pages now. Your industry, not your journalism. The internet is where it's at. But man, the print. When I was a kid, Chandler? I mean, you just big sections, long sports pages, 9, 10, 11 pages.

Now it's like you get sports classified the weather and a little politics on one little small section. Yeah, it's tough because, look, I mean, I work at a website now, but the New York Times owns us. So, like, I mean, we are owned by a newspaper. Yeah. And it sucks because, like, I grew up, like, that's part of the allure of getting into this business. Like, you want to see your name in print. Like, you want to see your name immortalized, like, for, like, you know, when the Astros won the World Series, like, I have, like, a framed, you know, I didn't want to frame one of the posters of, like, the three posters at the Chronicle sold, what I framed was like the first edition

newspaper that had my first edition game story from game six in it. Like that to me is a lot more valuable than just like some poster print. So like there is something about that that like is nostalgic to me and that I really, really enjoy. And yeah, it is tough. It's tough to watch it just just slowly dwindling. Heck, it's even the New York Times. Like, I mean, the New York Times runs some of our stuff in it because we are the New York,

New York Times is sports section now and it's like sometimes when my stuff will run in I'll get a copy of the New York Times and even when I get to New York Times it's like man it's thin like it's not

it's not as robust it's not as not as many pages a lot of stuff condensed in the little areas now and that's just the way the media is going and the way that you know print journalism unfortunately tends to be going but I have a lot of friends that work in the Houston Chronicle

I worked there for seven years was great. Who's left there? They all do a very nice job. Yes, and that's what I wanted to say, like, please support them. Yeah. Like, even if it's, even if you say you don't pick up the paper, like, it doesn't cost much of subscribe there. Like, you know, subscribe there. It's 99 cents a month, I think. Like, help them out. Like, they're, they're good people that do good work over there. Yeah, I, I subscribe to the digital on that because it's, first of all, it's just, when you're, wherever you go, you can go get whatever you need to get. And so, yeah, I would 100% agree,

because they are a legit news source, they do work hard. And not that we're going to spend a lot of time discussing the journalism industry, but I will say this. When I was a kid, I don't like to you go to the, when I was a kid card,

you had multiple columnists who weren't afraid to say things. You had beat reporters with every team that traveled, and you had feature stories, you had enterprising stories, you had reporters that would go chase things down and find little stories. And part of today's media, and really for about the last 15 years,

is as soon as you have something you want to say, you run to your Twitter account so you can get out there first so you don't get beat by somebody else. But that's such a, that's such a warped way to do the business. Yeah. Like, Twitter doesn't pay my bills. Like, and I mean, people would be surprised. Like, of, there's probably 70% of things I hear and that I know are true that I never, never ends up on Twitter, never ends up in what I write. Right. Because the quickest way to get someone to stop talking to you is every time they tell you something, they turn around and it's on Twitter for two minutes later, attributed to a source. Like, it ruins the personal relationship you're trying to cultivate with these people. And it also just, it's, to them, it signals that you're being used.

Yeah. And for me, it's like, you know, you can use this information to blossom into a bigger, more fleshed out story as opposed to just, oh, I heard, I heard that they made a call on this. Or I heard that they're considering this. Like, no, like, why don't you look into that and then, form a more fully fleshed out story than just running with everything you have. Yeah. And I'll say this. I'm an athletic subscriber because I mentioned, I love behind the scene stuff. I don't need to know Astro scored three in the fourth, four in the fifth, and two in the six and won the game.

I can get that from Twitter. I can get it because I'm watching the games myself. I love the behind the scene stuff. I love just the background behind things. And so not that they're athletics paying for this time, but if you've, you've, you are so inclined for real sports journalism. Again, The Chronicles, fantastic. The Beatriders are a great job, but the athletic is my go-to.

I'm a big sports media fan as well. Andrew Marchand does a really good job for them. So, yeah, keep that alive. It's a good part in journalism. All right, so you are well-versed, obviously, with the local baseball team, but we're going to open up to a variety of things today, so not necessarily we're going to hold it to four hours of baseball because, frankly, we're just still in a waiting period.

I will say this to open things up. The Aeronado stuff was very interesting. The athletic kind of, and as I'm talking to you as a collective group, basically saying that while there may be some truth, the Aeronado stuff being rejected at this point, that may not be the end game. How do you want to phrase it without obviously knowing everything that's going on between Aeronado and the Asteros?

I think our headline phrased it well. And there were headlines of this ilk on a lot of other outlets. You know, this is just for now. Like, I think a lot of people read the initial hit and we're like, oh, he rejected a trade to the asterisk. Right. And it's done. Like, it is not done. I think there is still a pretty, I don't want to put a number on it, but I'd say there's still a pretty substantial chance that Nolan Aeronado does end up here.

But there's a lot of moving parts. It's a very fluid situation. And there's a lot of stuff that, you know, I think. from what I understand, you know, Nolan Aeronado wants to wait the market out a little bit, maybe see where Alex Bregman goes, maybe see if other teams have interest. But I think two things are false. The notion that Nolan Aeronado does not want to play in Houston, that is false. Like, he would play here, and I think he would be amenable to playing here. This is not a situation where he looked at this and said, oh, I don't want to play there.

And then the other thing is that, you know, as Katie Wu wrote this morning and is what I heard all weekend, you know, this thing was agreed to. This thing was done. This thing was on the one yard line, as Katie quoted a source in her story this morning. And at the end of the day, Nolan Aeronado has the, he has the autonomy here. Like he can direct. When you have a no trade clause, you can direct where you want to go. And I think it was one of those things where he wanted to see, he wants to see. to see more of the market develop.

It's not a, it's not so much, I don't want to play in Houston. It's a, let's wait and see. Let's see if other teams are interested, and then we'll go from there. All right, Chandler's with us today until 2 o'clock. We will get into the Texans getting ready for the game against the Chiefs. It sounds like Pat Mahomes is going to play. Will Joe Mixen be able to go? We'll get to some of that.

Also, a lot of stuff while I was gone the last handful of days about the falling NBA ratings, Commissioner Adam Silver's response to it, a lot of national pundits getting involved with it. And to be truthful, I'm totally biased. I'm a Rockets play-by-play voice. I love the NBA. So what I may say, I would hope you would take some credence in it.

But again, I'm vested in it. So maybe I'm going to have a little bit of a different perspective than the average person does. So we'll get Chandler's thoughts on that as well. Again, we've got to just don't get 1130. We've got EMAIDOCA at 1230 and the Rotten Five with Connor today at 130. Who are the best five NFL teams? That takes absolutely no ability. Who are the five worst?

That's what Conner's got for you. 713-212-5-79. If you want to chime in, all things with Channel Rome today on the radio program, 7-13-212-5-7-90. Word right now for Big City Wings. If you're looking for a stocking stuffer, how about going to get some gift cards at Big City Wings?

For every $25 you buy from Big City Wings, they'll give you a $5 bonus for yourself. So 25 gets you $30, 50, get you $60, and so on and so on. Delicious wings, amazing sandwiches. And today being Thursday, it's buy one, get one free boneless. 10 bonus, get you 10 more bonus on the side as well.

So it's a buy one, get one free boneless, plus those gift cards, plus an opportunity to relax, watch them NFL football tonight. If you want to do so, there's the NBA's back in action with the Rockets, all that with big screen TVs, drink specials, and amazing food,

and those gift cards. 13 Houston locations. Finally one near you, you go to big citywings.com. That's bigcitywings.com. Matt Thomas, Ross Villarreal. It's the Matt Thomas show with Ross on Sports Talk 790. 1020 on Sports Talk 790.

It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ross is off until Tuesday. Happy birthday to him. And the channel Rome from the athletic going with us today until 2 o'clock. Tomorrow, Ryan Hollins are going to spend a couple hours with us from 10 o'clock until 12. Roto normally with us on Thursdays. We're moving him to tomorrow at 1 o'clock. and we'll look forward to hearing from him

and getting you ready for a busy NFL weekend plus college football playoffs. Your beloved LSU Tigers not involved? Do I have to shill for the Houston, Texas Bowl? I mean, you can. I really don't want to. Yeah, you don't have to.

I mean... What's the last time you showed for something? You don't come across as a shiller. I'm not a shiller. Oh, I love the show. I'm not going to show for this four-lost team that's going to bring it to JV squad up here. Yeah, a lot of guys are saying thanks, but no thanks.

Yeah, as they should. Who would want to come up here and play at 2.30 on New Year's Eve and a half full stadium? What if it's, I don't know, Gordy's going to come promote it in a little bit, so don't ruin his joy over here when he comes in, so. Connor, where'd Mizzou end up? Are you all even a bowl? We're in the Music City Bowl against Iowa, Monday, which is the day before New Year's Eve. What's the total on that one?

like 12? Oh, I don't know. I'm going to be working a lot of games going on, so. Mazoo and Iowa. Will you give us frequent updates on that game as the show goes along? Yeah, I'm going to turn one of the TVs on here onto the game. So if I zone out for a second, that's why. Okay. All right. My team's

not in a bowl game, but we're going to be in a deep NCAA tournament run after last night's impressive win over Toledo. Oh, Kelvin really bolstering the schedule there. Though I will say, you got to buy some game. I will give you guys credit. You have played already, I think, the two best

teams in college basketball, Alabama and Auburn. They are really good. I mean, I watched Alabama last night. I almost lose to North Dakota, so maybe we should separate the discussion. But, I mean, Alabama is legit. Like, I watched them run North Carolina out of North Carolina's own gym. Yeah,

they're good. And then Auburn went to Maui and just mauled everyone. Yeah, Auburn gets in a fight on the plane, and they have to turn around and go back to Auburn. then they go back to Houston. They still beat the Cougars at Toyota Center. By the way, in today's edition of Don't Bet on College Basketball, the line last night was 29 and a half.

On Toledo? Cougars were up 32, and one of the wing players for Toledo at the buzzer hits a three-pointer. Cougars by 29. So you were on the call. I was. Did you have an emotional, visceral reaction to that? Did you pull a Brent Musburger? No, that's actually Al Michaels Forte is what that is.

I thought it was Brent Musberg. No, it's really Al. Although Brent probably did it too, but Al Al likes two things, talking about point spreads and making sure he gets his face on camera six, seven times per game. He's earned that. At this point in his career, he's earned that. He's a legend.

But the problem is that the prime of Al Michaels, to me, was about 40 years. 40 amazing years of broadcasting. These last two, he's just turning a grumpy 80-year-old. And, I mean, we saw it with Bob Costas in the playoffs this year. Yeah, not going to happen anymore.

and he retired shortly thereafter, so you wonder how much that impacted it. Well, Al Michaels is going to be back on Amazon, apparently on a year-to-year basis. I'm sure he's being well compensated. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Let's go talk to some people.

We'll talk to Gil and Hockley first at 1023 on 790. Gil, good morning to you. Good morning. So which one of y'all worked at the Chronicle? Chandler did. Chandler, how was it? I'm pretty good, huh? I loved it.

I have no. Yeah, I worked up. I worked there for, I'm sorry, I worked there for 28 years. So put all my kids through school and did great. What department did you work in? Yeah, I was a sports writer. I covered the Astros. Oh, okay, what years?

I was there. I began in 2018, and then I went to the athletic at the beginning of the 2020-season. Oh, cool. All right, yeah, I had some good things. Two little duds that ended up being, you know, they promised us we could always park at the grass. garage was great during the Astros game. You could, you know, after I left there after 28 years,

we'd always park in the garage and walk to the stadium. And then there's the paper. We always were promised a paper for the rest of our lives. Well, that, for some reason, that didn't work out. But other than that, it was a great place to work. Zero complaints. You will never hear me say a bad word about the Houston Chronicle. Yeah.

I've got a few friends that worked there. Younger, a lot younger than me that they kept. But, yeah, good times. Good to hear that somebody actually worked up. besides me. Oh, I know a lot of people, but you know. I understand. Thanks, Gil, for the phone call. If you're in a Chronicle alum, 713-212-5-790, 7-1-3-212-5-7-90.

You know, maybe you guys were at an office party, didn't even realize it? I can count on one hand the number of times I went into the Chronicle's office just because of travel and everything. So I'm not sure that we probably ever cross paths, but I hope he gets his paper. I hope he's still getting his lifetime paper. We need to give a couple of shoutouts. Well, I can do one officially.

Karen Warren, long-time photographer for The Chronicle's retiring. One of one, the absolute goat. First of all, awesome person. Second of all, hell of a photographer. She's the only photojournalist on the Astros Media Wall of Honor. And in my opinion, she should be the only photo journalist ever on the Astros Media Wall of Honor. She is incredibly, incredibly talented. So good at her job.

She's not retiring, per se. She's still going to freelance. She's still going to be around Houston, which is everyone's win, just to have Karen's personality and just her bubbly spirit around. For sure. I mean, I think a lot of people don't understand. Like, she has taken many of the iconic images that you see of this Astro's Golden Run and some before that, like, I'd wager 95% of them were taken by Karen Warren.

And she's, I can say, I have nothing but good things to say about Karen. and just was exquisite to work with, one of the easiest photographers I've ever had to work. Because sometimes that can be a difficult relationship because photographers are looking for one thing. Reporters are looking for another thing, and sometimes it can be tough to jive. Karen was, and still is, like, incredible.

Best photographer ever worked with hands down. Yeah, we should not say retiring. She's just going to be moving on to some other things. And we were talking about earlier, the industry has changing. There are going to be some more changes coming up in the next couple of weeks. All right, real quick to Aeronado, what do you know about him?

Now, granted, we're not assuming, well, at this point, he's not an astro, and we don't know where that is, and the end game on that, but what do we know about Aeronado, except the fact is OPS is slightly under 800. He's a couple of years older than Bregman, he's got a shorter contract, but from a defensive standpoint, you're not, if he was to come here, and again, it's very much an if, you wouldn't be losing a tremendous amount of third base. He is the greatest third baseman of this generation, won 10 consecutive gold gloves.

The first year he did not win a gold glove in his career was 2023. Until then, he had won a gold glove 10 straight years. He is the best third baseman around. And I say that as Alex Bregman, you know, just obviously won his first gold glove. The way I see it, the way I, why I think this intrigues the Astros, it would only be a three-year commitment. Whereas if you're going to resign Bregman, you're looking at probably a seven, ten, ten, eight-year commitment. That's what he wants, and that's what, you know, the Asher's have never done anything like that. It would only be a three-year commitment. If Framber Valdez remains on this

team, your two best pitchers next year, Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown generate more ground balls than any pitchers in baseball. You want the left side of your infield to be airtight. And you put Nolan Aronado at third base, Jeremy Pena, who has won a gold glove before. I know last year had that couple weeks stretch where he was terrible defensively, but all in all is an above average defensive shortstop. You put those two guys on the left side of your infield, you're set. And then you can move Isok Paredes to first base. Issoc Paredes, he's kind of, he's not great at third base, but he's not bad either.

He's a better first baseman defensively than anything you have on your roster right now. So it strengthens your infield. You hope with Aeronado, if it does happen, you hope that, the short porch and left field helps. But again, we said this about Jose Abraeu when Jose Abraeu came in that, oh, the Crawford boxes are going to help and it didn't. I know people's first reaction to looking at this is it's Josea Brayu all over again, because the decline is there.

It is not as precipitous, maybe the decline is what Jose Abraeu was. And I would argue that Arnato brings a ton of value defensively that Josea Brayu didn't. But it'd be a tough sell. It'd be a tough sell, especially now that this story is out there, that he's, reject he has he's rejected a trade here doesn't mean he's not going to approve it at some point but but you know what people will be forgiving chanler because he can say because the question will be asked why did you say no initialing and then ultimately the reasons will come out or some a semblance of some of the truth on it and then you know when you start to kind of look at what Alex bregman has done in the past two seasons

compared to what nolan aranato's done nolan aranano since 2023 slash 269, 320, 426. Alex Bregman, in that same time frame, 261, 341, 446. Not too much of a drop-off. And look, Alex Bregman, there's a lot he brings in terms of leadership, in terms of clubhouse kind of glue guy, and Nolan Arnato has a lot of those qualities, too. He's been thought of as a great clubhouse guy,

one of those veteran leaders that everyone kind of galvanizes around. So that could help this as well. But when you look at the offense, like you're really not taking that much of a drop off from your presumed past third baseman to maybe your presumed future third baseman. You know what you've done really well because I spill water on that spot too. I mean, it only got all over my phone. So hopefully this trade doesn't happen in my phone. Oh, my gosh. If we don't hear from channel like at 1130 to the end of the show, he means something has gone down.

All right. 1030 is our time. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. We're going to get to the NFL. We'll come back for a little bit because there is a conjecture out there. I'm looking at a headline on Fox right now. Should Texans want Patrick Mahomes to play? We'll answer that coming back. 1031 Sports Talk 7-9 with a word for Sethi's fine jewelry.

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Voss Road between San Felipe and Westheimer. Back to Matt. Thomas and Ross Villarreal. On Sports Talk 790. Time is 1037. We will mix in a lot of baseball because that's what Chandler's beat is from the athletic, but he's also well-versed in a variety of other things,

including the other local sports teams. Texans in Kansas City on Saturday. Again, there's so much disingenuous material in sports in general. The Texans playing this game short week. Okay, I get it. games are one. And I'm not saying that you have to protect the NBA brand, but playing on a Wednesday this late in the season when guys are trying to get themselves mentally and physically ready for perhaps a postseason, you knew that the NFL was not going to put dog games on on this Wednesday. I think

it's atrocious, frankly. But, I mean, if you want to be that upper echelon of team, if you want to be that team that is nationally relevant, you got to take some of these hits. And I mean, they're playing the Ravens, right? On Christmas. On Christmas, yeah. Like, I mean, the Ravens are that. The Ravens are one of those upper echel on NFL teams, it's like one of the national brands. Like, if you want to be that, if you want to be in the national conscience, if you want C.J. Stroud to be more than just a local phenomenon.

If you want to get on the national landscape, then you've got to take those hits sometimes. And Beyonce's coming. That's true. And it's funny, the local TV station that has broadcasting the game. Because those don't know, if you don't have Netflix, don't worry, you're going to be able to see Wednesday's game. It's going to be on Channel 11, but they're like making fun of it.

Like, hey, you want to worry about streaming issues and blurbs and the buffering? Catch us here. So, yeah, if you don't have Netflix, don't worry the game will be on. But point being is that it's Wednesday games after a Saturday, short week, I get it late season. But damn, I guess $10 million for two games is some money you can't refuse. I guess so. And it doesn't help you. They're two opponents.

Like you're going chiefs to Ravens? That's tough. Yeah. That's tough. But you're to your point. When you play a first-place schedule and you are a team that wants national publicity, you have to play games. I mean, there are, you know, Kansas City is loaded up on Sunday night, Monday night games and strange travel and whatnot. All right.

So the big issue around the country, at least those that care about this game, and we'll get more into it, obviously, in the next 36 hours, is if you're the chiefs, are you being eligible? eloquent by saying he's participating. Are you dodging it? Are you trying to set something up? Should he play? It is a short week. It is an ankle sprain. You got bigger fish to fry.

Are you worried about Buffalo maybe topping you and losing this game and maybe the bills, and again, the chief still look like to me to be the number one scene in the AFC. But if you're Kansas City, what's the big value in playing this game? In playing this game or playing Patrick Mahomes in this game? Playing Patrick Mahomes in this game.

I mean, if I'm always under the... the, I'm always of the opinion that if a guy's healthy enough to play, you play it. If Patrick Mahomes is healthy, if he can, if they are confident that he can move without re-injuring himself or putting himself in peril for remainder of the season, like you play him. Like, he has a responsibility as the face of the NFL. Yeah. Um, one of the faces of the NFL. If he's healthy enough to play, and he's practiced the last two days, like, if he's healthy enough to play, you should play. And I think the chiefs should heed that and also do it because, I mean, they could have found ways to lessen the blow, right? They could have, oh, he's limited or, oh, he didn't practice yesterday or today.

Really set this up. But the fact that they keep practicing him, if he's healthy, he should play. Also, I think timing is an issue here, too, Channa, because if he doesn't play this week, then he plays next week. And the chiefs have nothing to play for in week 18. you'd probably skip him there but then you have the number one seed in the AFC that would be missing three weeks

over the next month and you don't want and I don't know if the word Rusty is the word I'd be going with but it would not be there would be a good flow for him going back on the football field trying to win a playoff game

when he's hardly playing in the month right and when you're around I mean you're around athletes all the time they've got this they've got this desire that they want to be out there no matter what but this is not a situation

where I have not been around an athlete that's just going to be like oh like my my ankle hurts a little bit. I'm not going to go out there. Especially with a game like this against a good team. You know there's something in the homes that wants to show that like, look, I can do stuff against this defense.

That no one's been able to do anything against. And he's smart quarterback too. He's not going to put himself in dangerous way, I don't think. Unless the pass rush, granted, the pass rush for the Texans this past week was very good against Miami. It can be excellent when it wants to be. Yeah, I mean, I think

he'll be smart. Yeah. And I mean, I think the play calling around him should be smart too. They shouldn't put too much on his play. I think his supporting cast is going to have to do what it does best. Support him. Because that is the last thing you want to happen. You don't want to send this guy out there and then call 15 quarterback runs. I don't even know if you call 15 quarterback runs in the NFL anymore.

But you don't want to make this guy do things that would put him in harm's way. If he's healthy, if they've deemed him healthy, he needs to play. So the reality is this. If you're the Texans, this is the time of year we've been talking about really since September. No, I mean, excuse me, plenty of disrespect to Jacksonville, plenty of disrespect to Tennessee. You have these two games that are going to show what I believe to be this fan base to be not spoiled, but has intent to get all in on a 9 and 5 football team. And that's bizarre to say, but it's a reality.

A lot of one-score games, a lot of games. that should have been blowouts that were not. The offensive line has been a disaster. Been in bed of the last couple weeks. CJ's been really good this year, but compared to last year, not as good. You kind of want to sink your teeth into a couple of games ago. You know what?

We're going to be playing late January because I think the overriding factor, and I had a Twitter poll question about this is a lot of people still think at the end of the day it's going to be a one-and-done football team in the playoffs. If they win the wild-car game, which they normally do, they'll have trouble going against an operational on team. And one of those operational on teams, they could be very well-facing. round two could either be Kansas City or Baltimore.

I went to the Dolphins game. And I turned to my cousin. I went with my cousin. I turned to him, I think it was 20 to 6 at one point. And I said, this is the most unconvincing 20 to 6 I think I've ever seen. They just don't look right. Like the defense is really good. Yes.

Like make no mistake. And Stingley's playing out of his mind right now. Oh, my goodness, yes. And I mean, a special team. But you look at how they scored their touchdowns. They got set up by a fake punt. that was executed beautifully. They got a pick.

I got them down in the plus territory on the five or ten yard line. They punched that in. But the offense just has no rhythm. It has no flow. Ground game's been gone for a while. Right. And then Mixon gets hurt. I mean, obviously he came back into play.

But I mean, you kind of, when you saw him slow to get up, you kind of saw the season flash before your eyes, I think. Because if this team, I think the one thing we have seen, if this team can't establish the run, if this team can't get mixing goal, if Mixon isn't a focal point of their offense and this offense can't move the football. Yeah. I mean, they have Nico Collins who has been very, very good for them. But otherwise, they've just, they've not found consistent ways to get Tang Del involved.

They've not found, they've just not found that rhythm that they can get in offensively. And by now, you wonder if they ever are. I mean, they just had the by week. They came out of the by week and looked no better offensively. This may just be what they are. This may just be a team that is going to rely on its defense, have to make some plays in special teams, and they're going to need C.J. Stroud to make a couple heroic plays to keep this offensively. Reality is they're going to force turnovers in short fields.

And they've got to get gimmicky. They've got a gimmicky. It's just the reality. Because the vaunted offense we thought we would see coming out of training camp just has never really been there this year. The exception may be of the game against New England. The Patriots are terrible. Right. So you can win it. I should say this.

You can win a playoff game with it. I don't know if you want to get into a high-scoring, mono-mono-scoring fest with Kansas City or Baltimore as teams. And for that matter, Pittsburgh's defense may not allow you to get in that situation. 1045. It is Channel Roan, Matt Thomas with you here on the Matt Thomas Show at Ross. 7-13-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-79. We return to the phones coming up in a minute.

And in 45 minutes, what don't you get? Literally, what don't you get? Sports Talk 790. The Matt Thomas show with Ross continues on Sports Talk 790. 1050 Sports Talk 790. The Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ross is celebrating a birthday today. Happy birthday to him.

His friends and family are headed off to New Orleans. And he will be there and be there back with us on Tuesday. I will be here with Ryan Holland's tomorrow and Dr. Roto. and we're going to check in in Kansas City. And then Monday, the two of us will work. Dan Matthews is on Monday, and then Tuesday, he and I will be with us for our Christmas Eve show, the only day of the year.

Now, Connor, did you guys play Chris's music on the show this week? Every day that you were here. I figured you're going to do that. I was going to say the one day we play Christmas music is the 24th, but I was listening. Ross's orders. I know. He pulls rank around these parts.

He has his name on the show now. He does. It was part of his contract. Well, well. anything you can do to retain top talent. Yes. And with that we do here on the station, we retain the top talent for sure. 713-212-5-790.

Dwayne El Paso on 790. Good morning, Dwayne. Good morning, guys. I got a comment to make first about the pitching problem that, according to Matt Davis was reported. And I got a question for Mr. Chandlerone. Okay, the way I read it was that the time that most of these pitchers are getting injured are during the months of February to March, where they're going into these baseball schools

to learn about speed and learn about different pitches. Now, if they're doing all this to continue, the young pitchers are getting hurt, and the older pitchers as well are getting hurt. Would it be a good idea for the Major League Baseball teams to cut down to 11 pitchers a year with both starters and relievers? And also, would that help them from being injured so much? And the other thing I got a comment was about the Aronado trade. there are six teams that he wants to go to, but those six teams already have third basements to play with. And they're not looking for third baseman.

But the thing is, is that if that's the deal with these teams and they're waiting for him to come up and say, this is who I want to play with, if there's no room for him on that team, will they pick him up? And that's all I want to just say. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you, Dway. Okay. So a couple things. The Aeronado thing.

The six teams thing is a little bit overblown. The way that was reported, it was six teams that he told the Cardinals that he would be willing to waive his no trade clause for. Like you said, there are some of those teams that have third baseman, but the Yankees were on that reported list. They have Jazz Chisholm at third base, or they did in the playoffs. He's a natural second base. If they traded for Nolan Aeronado, they would move Jazz Chisholm to second, Nolan Aeronado would play third. Same thing for if the Yankees sign Alex Bregman.

It would be the exact same situation. From what I've come to learn in reporting, it sounds like Nolan Aeronaut, Boston very much intrigues Nolan Aeronado. And Boston is on his list. The Red Sox can move Rafael Devers to first base. Raphael Devers is their current third baseman. They can move him to first base. And it was the same thing if they sign.

But if they signed Bregman, I have a feeling he would play second base for the Red Sox. Really? Because there's been some, not conflicting reporting, but there's been some talk that Raphael Devers doesn't want to move to first base. At least not right now. And Alex Corr said at the winter meetings that as of now, he's their third basement. So I think they would probably, as a gesture to Raphael Devers, who's the highest paid player on their team, $330 million contract. I think if Bregman comes in, he would probably play second to at least start his Red Sox career, if this were to happen. And then they would talk about maybe transitioning Devers to first, moving Bregman to third, and there you go.

So, you know, it really, they can make room, I guess is what I'm saying. Like, if you trade for Nolan Aeronado, like he's the kind of guy, especially defensively, like you make a spot for him. Like you can create space. Like some of these teams that have third baseman, like the Dodgers are one of the teams that intrigues him as well. The Dodgers have Max Muncie at third base. As far as I know, the Dodgers are not looking to trade for Nolan Aronado. But like if they did, Max Muncie can play some different positions. They could trade Max Muncie.

Like, again, you could make it work. But the most seamless fit really is the Astros. I mean, if Nolan Aronado wants to keep winning, I know I say that as the Astros just traded their best player. there's no real better spot to come in. The ballpark's conducive to his swing. They have a glaring hole at third base, and this is a team that's been to the playoffs eight straight years. To me, the Asher's make pretty logical sense for Nolan Aronado.

And then I kind of understood the pitching question. The only thing I'll say is they'll never go down roster limit because that contracts jobs. And the union would never go for that. The players would never go for that. The players are never going to go for anything that restricts how many jobs are available. And I think the thing that Major League Baseball study showed was that as we are, as the industry as a whole is chasing velocity at a younger age, that's when a lot of these arm issues are starting to percolate. And it's a tough cycle to break because what do big league teams want?

What do professional organizations look for? What do colleges now look for? They look for kids that can throw 96. And if you're not throwing mid to low 90s by the time you're 13, 14, then what does your recruitment process look like? How do scouts view you? Like, it's a tough cycle that Major League Baseball finds itself in, but it's something they have to address because, I mean, we saw it, you know, beginning of last year, Spencer

Strider goes out, Yuri Perez goes out, and then, you know, in our neck of the woods, Christian Javier goes out. Josea Kidi goes out. It is a tough, tough conundrum that Major League Baseball face. And there's no, there is no easy answer. There's no easy answer for how MLB confronts this. But at least they are doing the study and at least they've got some data to prove, all right, here's where we start. And here's where the genesis of this stuff is. As far as what to do about it, that is way above my pay grade. Now, I'm not a passing fan, but he had an article, I guess, out talking about researching on arms. Did you read it yet? And is it worthy of a reason?

Jeff Passon, he literally wrote the book called The Arm. It's a great book if you've never read it. It literally, it dives into the rise of arm injuries. It goes into how they are trying to protect the arm. And he wrote it about 10 years ago. It is a fantastic book. I know you said, you know, a fan of his, he's really good at his job. And he's really good.

This is something, as he said, he's devoted almost half of his career to figuring out how to save the arm. You know what the biggest problem is the human body wasn't meant to throw it at the velocity that is being asked of kids between the ages of 11 and 36 years old? Right. That's the reality. But the fact that it is done at such a young age. And the fact that in the last 20 or so years, we've moved towards searching for velocity for kids that are 13, 14 years old when in the past, you know, you had kids playing eight different sports. You had, I mean, if you had an 11-year-old son, you'd put him, he'd play baseball in the summer, he'd play football in the winter, he'd play basketball. Now we're specializing, we're training so much, and there's so much desire to throw as hard as you can, as early as you can, that it really does, it really does impact what comes later for these athletes.

10.58 on Sports Talk 790. We've got, I just don't get it coming up in one half hour for something in your life. You just don't understand. We want to hear from you. Chandler with us from the Athletic on the Astros beat. By the way, today's edition of Believe it or not, it's all things about Rome. Chandler, Italy, others. I was going to ask some things about you, but I think I know you pretty well to at least make up some things and tell some truths.

This terrifies me. Okay, we're going to give you one right now. You are a Swifty. Believe it. There you go. That's a freebie that you got today. So that's going to be one of the questions today. Channel Rome is a Swifty, believe it or not.

10.58, Sports Talk 790 with a word here for Underdog Fantasy. We've got Thursday night football tonight. We've got a full slate of NBA games. You're going to be watching them because you're bored. You've missed sports the last couple of days. You've got college football bowl games in play. How about getting with the folks at Underdog and taking your passion for sports, your passion for fantasy, and making some serious cash?

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Fantasy and the promo code sports M.T. Launch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. 1103, Sports Talk, 7.90, channel, Rome from The Athletic is with us. We've talked a lot of baseball. We'll continue to do that. We'll also mix in

some football. And I also, we'll do this probably in the next segment. I want you to think about, and I don't even know you that well. Are you an NBA guy? Do you enjoy it? Really? I mean, the New Orleans Hornets came to New Orleans when I was like eight or nine.

And by that point, I kind of set my fandom. So honestly, I didn't grow up with it. I didn't grow up watching the NBA. When I get tickets to Rockets games, like, I will go and I enjoy watching it. But it's not something I'm going to seek out if I'm just having an evening at home. And I'll be honest, I did a lot of honey-does Christmas shopping the last three days. I did the U of H game yesterday on ESPN with Ryan Hollins. And so I've not been, I just been glancing at Twitter like you do when you normally are out of not working.

working and man the NBA is getting a lot of heat because the ratings and david and adam silver is defending it so we'll get to that next number but i want i want to get a general conversation going in 1120 about you know are these NBA ratings drops legit is adam silver covering his eyes on this does it really matter what the ratings are we'll get to all that coming up in a few minutes 713 212 570 so the nolan aeronado news yesterday which was tempered a little bit of later in the day. If Alex Breggman's looking at his Twitter account, what's he seeing? What's he seeing? What's he looking at?

What's his reaction, in your opinion? I'm not sure how you look at this. I'm not sure how you look at the Astros being this aggressive for Nolan Aronado, for having, as the athletic has reported, having a deal on the one-yard line to acquire him. I'm not sure how you look at that any other way than they have moved on, that they have decided that Alex Breggman is not. not going to be their third baseman next year.

Now, who knows? Jim Crane could wake up tomorrow morning and say, you know what, I'm fine spending $200 million. Like, let's go, let's go give him $200 million. Let's get it back. Let's run it back. That would, A, go against everything this franchise has ever done under his ownership tenure. And B, would run counter to kind of how they're proceeding this offseason. Like, you just traded Kyle Tucker away, but you're going to sign Alex Bregman for $200 million.

You're shopping Ryan Presley and trying to move his $15 million, but you're going to go sign Alex Bregg. It doesn't make sense. And I think, you know, the shorter term of control over Aeronado is really what intrigues them. Because, look, I think Nolan's a little bit of a better defender than Alex Breggman, but you're splitting hairs. They're still really, and we talked about in the first hour, like, their offensive productions not that far off the past two seasons. So I don't know how you can interpret their legitimate interest in Aronado as anything more than they've kind of resigned themselves to the fact that Alex Bregman's going to be playing elsewhere. Because if I'm him, let's just, let's be honest. If I'm him and I see that story out the last few days, I'm like, okay, well, you know what?

I don't want to take another phone call from you, Astros. You've been telling the whole world how close that we're not giving up, but yet you're at the quote, unquote one yard line with going to get another third basement. That doesn't sound consistent to me. Now, again, you shouldn't listen to the media because everybody's going to have rumors and whatnot. But it doesn't make sense that you would be that close and yet still telling the whole world, we're not done with talking to Alex. I think it's important to note, too, that like general managers, when they're asked about this stuff,

like they are forbidden by the CBA from saying we're out because that that infringes on a guy's market. Like that is like the union will get mad And the union will file a grievance against you If you say we are not pursuing this player Then that impacts a player's market to the point where the So one less team to go for Right. Dana has to say this stuff.

Like like the biggest priority, big priority Like they said that about Correa. They said that about Springer. Well hell a year ago was about Cal Tucker And I remember going on the radio saying folks He's supposed to say that. Right. But there was how did I know the moment.

I'm not saying I'm the only one, but the arbitration loss pissed off Kyle Tucker. I don't know to what level. But he knows he had that plus the fact that he was looking for the super mega deal, which the Astros don't give out. The writing was on the wall for this no matter what Dana had to say a year ago about Kyle. And I will add too. And I prefaced this with they did not trade Kyle Tucker because of this.

They did not trade Kyle Tucker because they beat him in arbitration. But there were some people were off put about how the Astros message the shin contusion fracture last year because I mean by the end of it people thought Kyle Tucker missed three months with a shin bruise and that makes him look soft and there were some people in his orbit that were off put by that that I'm not saying that again that is not why they traded him

that is not that is not even the top five of the realm of why they traded him but I'm just saying that existed too there was some there were a lot of disagreements as to how the Astros was messaged that. I think the number one reason, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, was he's looking for seven, eight years at obscene money. And again, he's a five-tool guy, probably going to be able to get it. He knew the Astros weren't going to be the one to do it.

The Astros basically had said, look, we're not going to let, getting a draft pick, a compensatory draft pick for Kyle Tucker, this wouldn't have been of any good value. They're not at the, they're no longer at the point of their franchise where they can do that. Yeah. Short of Jim Crane wanting to run a $300 million payroll, which I don't say. see that happening anytime soon. All right. So Ross and I have a long-standing bet on Breggman. And you know about this bet. Six years, we go Dutch for lunch.

Five or less, I win. Seven or more he wins. Now, you've been on Team Ross on all this throughout this entire thing. Are you still willing to, if you were to jump into this bet, which you're not going to, that Alex Breggman's going to get a seven-year deal? I'm still on Team Ross, but I may be starting to shift more to Dutch. Dutch sounds good. I'll accept the Dutch. I don't think he gets anything less than six. I think at the end of the day, he will get a seven or eight-year deal somewhere,

but I don't think he gets anything less than six. All right, let's talk to some people. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Let's talk to Brad and 70. With Channel Rome, I'm Matt Thomas. Brad, good morning. Good morning. Can you give me some insight into what there's thought process for the outfield?

The band or the Astros Outfield? to be a hell Phil. Okay, you asked. I didn't make sure we were clarifying. I'm sorry. I'm just teasing you. I'm just teasing you. I think Chas McCormick's your opening day right fielder.

Jake Myers is going to play in center. And left field, they're going to have a kind of a revolving door. Whether it's Maricio Dubon, whether it's Taylor Tremel, whether it's Jordan Alvarez sometimes. Jacob Melton will factor in their former top prospect. He's now their number two prospect behind Cam Smith. I think Jacob Melton, if Jacob Melton comes to camp and he really shows out, I think there's a chance he breaks camp with the team. He's 25 years old. I mean, he's a prospect still, but at some point he's got to like, I mean, he's an older prospect.

Right. Like, he's got to put up or shut up at some point. Yeah. I don't get the sense right now that they are really invested in trying to find another outfielder. Now they could scour the trade market. I mean, we just said they're shopping Ryan Presley. who knows about Framber Valdez. I don't think they're going to trade Framber Valdez,

but they get blown away with an offer. Who knows? I think there's maybe some candidates out there via trade, but I get the feeling that as of right now, they were, you know, if the Nolan-Aeronauto trade would have gone through and if it still could go through, I feel like that was going to be maybe the extent

of their big, big maneuvering. I like to sit over-unders. Over under on number of games, Jordan Alvarez plays in left field. I'm going to give you the number of 35. You're taking the over or under on that? So he played, I believe he played 49 last year. I didn't have to check the numbers. But I'd probably go under, but not by much.

I'd probably say he gets out there about 30 times. Yeah, because he likes to do it. He does. He likes to do it, but, I mean, at some point, they've got to keep him healthy. Yeah. And it should be noted, too, that he didn't injure himself last year playing left field. He injured himself trying to stretch a single to a double

and he slid. So the notion that he got hurt last year playing left field is not true, but it's also like he's not a good left field. He's got a... He's average. He's got a nice arm. I mean, he's gunned a few guys out at the plate, but a lot of those were a lot of third base coaches that just thought they could run all over him because they

see the other matches. Well, shorter porches, he can play minute made, he can go to Fenway, but I wouldn't put him in Baltimore, Cleveland, or Detroit. Some places like that. All right, 713, 212-5-790, 7-190. 7-190.7-90. Channel Romans with us. We've got to just don't get it coming up at the bottom of the hour.

We'll go talk to Brian and Paraly. I'm also going to get a thought or two from you folks out there about this, and I don't even know if it's really hit at top of your mind in sports, but at least it has for me about the ratings drops in the NBA and the commissioner out of himself. We're good. Everything's going great. I'm not worried about it. 713-212-5-790.

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Shell Federal Credit Union. For more details, go to shellfcU.org. That's shellfcU.org for the Shell Federal Credit Union for the best rates on auto loans. More Matt Thomas Show with Ross. Now on Sports Talk 790. All right, a lot of baseball folks, I want to talk to your channel, but real quick, NBA ratings, depending on what you read, are down about 28%. Depending on network time, that kind of thing.

Adam Sober is like, look, our game is great, global, streaming efforts, things change. People's television habits are what? We're not concerned. I mean, it was a blatant, we ain't scared about this. And frankly, if you're him, you just signed a multi-billion dollar deal with Amazon and with NBC, you ain't scared. The one thing I thought was interesting, and I'm not a huge pregame postgame connoisseur guy, but I do like inside the NBA. I think Chuck and Shaq and Kenny, well, they don't provide much analysis or entertaining. They're funny people.

They fight. They laugh. They've got funny liners. The memes are funny. It's just a really funny, lighthearted show. But if I'm going for analysis, I ain't going there. Jason McIntyre, who is on the Colin Coward show, and Jason's very polarizing.

And I don't know much about him. I don't, just because I don't follow other people like that. But he said one of the reasons why the league that is struggles is because its main talking piece, is whatever they call them, talking heads, rip the league. He says, look, when you go on and watch inside the NBA, they're not talking about how great a particular players. They're talking about how this team sucks or this player sucks. and this player sucks. And they used the most recent example was the rockets were on TNT a week ago.

And I didn't see because I was calling the game. But they beat the Golden State Warriors to advance the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas. Acted like they won the NBA championship. Summerdown now over there. It was fun. Of course, Las Vegas wasn't as fun. The casino was fun, but the other stuff wasn't as fun. But the reality is the clip the next day was Charles Barkley ripping on how bad the rockets were. And look, the Rockets know who they are. They're very defensive-minded. They hustle. They get offensive rebounds.

But the one thing they're having a problem with, and this will be nothing that be a shocker, they're having a difficult time shooting. It's not a great shooting team. If they're going to go to the next level, they've got to become better shooters, whether it's currently the guys on the roster or they make moves. But my McIntyre's point was, I just watched this Golden State Rockets game, which had a very climactic end to it. and Charles Barkley, five minutes later, comes on and says,

a rocket's only going to play basketball. Do you think that the talking heads at NBA, I don't know how much you watch it, but do they rip the league more than, say, the NFL talking heads do or the baseball talking heads do? I'll never be in favor of censoring anyone. Like, Charles Barkley, does he work for the league? No, he does not.

Okay. But my point is, it shouldn't. There needs to be a balance. And I would say if, and again, I don't know McIntyre very well. I know that a lot of my friends don't think much of him. But you can, if you went and got a transcript of a postgame show, they are very harsh on everybody. Right.

I don't think it should be one of these things like they have to have the NBA's best interest in mind. Like, they don't work for the league. No. Like, they should be able to speak their mind. If Charles Barkley thinks that the Rockets are a tough watch, then like, sorry. Like, he should be able to say it. if Charles Barkley thinks that other players in the NBA aren't good

like I get it. It doesn't drive it's not the greatest marketing tool. You don't need to be mouthpieces. I don't want that at all. I don't want them for my shows and I tune off shows that don't do that. But if you watched a college game day, they'd be critical of USC.

They could be very polite about Indiana. I mean, again, you don't have to necessarily be a marketing tool. But does those guys because they are old school tend to go, well, back in my day, this would never survive. I think the NBA's got to find a way. And baseball has this problem, too, and I think baseball's doing a better job. They've got to find a way to get the casual fan to watch. Because look, there are people that love the rockets that will watch no matter what Charles Barkley says.

They're going to watch, if anything, they're going to watch to try to tweet at him or say at him, like, you're wrong. Like, Fred Van Vleet just hit 10 threes in a game, like we can shoot. They've got to do a better job of getting the person like me who is like, yeah, you know, I'm vaguely interested in the NBA. But I'm not going to make it a priority. And that's why I'm asking you this, because you and I are different on that. Right. Yeah. They've got to do something for me that's like, they've got to make me want to watch.

And I don't know if this cup thing, and we're jumping segments here because this was going to be part of my, I just don't get it. Sure. Save it then. Like, what is this cup thing? Like, why did we stop the season for this? Well, the games still count. They're not like separate. The games do count on the standings.

But the winner gets nothing. The winner gets money and a trip to Vegas, which like these guys can do on any off day if they really want it. I didn't give you money, but that's a different issue. Like, they get no, correct me if I'm wrong. Who won the thing? The Bucks? The Bucks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The four teams that went to Las Vegas all got money. Do the bucks get any? advantage when it comes to playoffs, when it comes to standings, when it comes to anything in this? Then why are we doing this? To generate interest in a set of November games. Okay, so I applaud that then

because they're trying to get interest. They're trying to get the casual fan that's not going to be watching in November. But it's done a poor job to me of marketing it because to me, like, to me, like, I had to ask Danielle Lerner, shout out to Daniel of the Houston Cron. I had to ask her, like, what is the point of this? And she literally said money and a trophy.

And I was like, okay, well... They're doing it because that's what other international sports do. They stop their seasons in between. Now, the difference is, is that these games count against the 82 games you play. So, okay, so the games do mean something. Yes. But the winner, like, the winner doesn't get anything. Like, aside from money, the winner gets no advantage.

No. Like, the bucks can't, like... You're not guaranteed a playoff spot because of this, right? or playoff spot buy like anything right right right so it to me it's just like what what are we what are we doing all right say the rest of it just don't get it i was hoping to we're hoping to peek into your personal life on something you don't get but if you want to keep it sports that's good we can we got we got more plenty of time 713 212 5 790 713 212 5 790 Brian's in pearland on the matt thomas show of ross Brian good morning

good morning matt welcome back thank you channel it's a it's a pleasure to talk to you i love your podcast that you just started with the after the Tucker trade. I really enjoy that. I most especially love your outbursts. Just come out of nowhere on Twitter. Say when you're on just crushes one and goes up or tank.

Just the random holly ass that you might drop out of nowhere. You seem like the most mild-mannered guy. And then just to drop that, just I find it comical and hysterical. But I always enjoy that. But just curious to see, in terms of the negotiations, this year. How much does the payroll flexibility for next year with Montereo coming off the books and maybe Presley being gone as well? And I know arbitration will eat into

a little bit of that with the rise in salaries. And then even Montero coming up the books. How much flexibility may that give them? Possibly to raise a little bit of an offer to Breggman saying, hey, we can backload this a little bit. Next year, give you a little bit more or any other free agent out there that they're looking at if they're not able to get, say, and Aronado, but maybe you could go after a Christian Walker or that type of name to come in and play first. I appreciate the kind words, Brian. That's Crush City Territory, part of the Fowel Territory family of podcasts.

We'll record it. You're doing a podcast now? Oh, yeah. Jesus. Everyone in their mother's on a podcast. We'll record another one tonight covering all aspects of the Nolan Aronado situation, and it will post tomorrow morning. Crush City Territory, part of the Fowel Territory Network. You owe me some money on that, by the way.

I do. No, because Crush City, I created that and I got nothing for it. Are you going to blame Reed, Ryan? Duh. So to answer your question, my understanding is that they are hesitant to go over the CBT this year. That is my understanding, but that was my understanding last year, and they gave Josh Hater $95 million, kind of out of nowhere. My understanding from people I've talked to is that Jim Crane is willing to exceed the CBT, but only for a move that he deems would really kind of put them over the top.

Like cement them as a bona fide championship World Series contender. It didn't work out this way, but the Josh Hater move at the time last year fit that. You had a three-headed monster at the back of the bullpen. You had a team around him that you felt confident in. That move kind of sufficed. This team would have to do a lot more things, especially in the wake of trading Tucker. This team would have to do a lot more to get itself in that position where they want to make that big splash. Now, getting rid of Tucker's projected arbitration salary, you're right now, right at about 24 million.

under the first competitive balance tax threshold. So they've still got some room to move and they could still do a couple things, but it's not a ton. And if the Aronado thing does come to pass, then that'll eat into a chunk of that. The more fascinating thing

is what you brought up about next season. So the Abraeu money will come off the books. The Montero money will come off the books. If they don't trade Ryan Presley, the Ryan Presley money will come off the books. And if they don't trade Framber Valdez, the projected arbitration salary for Framer Valdez, which will be about $18 million, is projected to come off the books.

In total, that's about $65 million that they're going to have coming off the books next year. It would set them up in theory to splurgeon free agency. They would have money to spend. They would have places they could allocate and they could go out and make some splashes. The problem is this team doesn't do that. That's never how this team has operated. They don't build their teams through free agency. They build it through trades.

They build it through homegrown guys, and they build it through extensions. This has never been a team that's gone out there and really, really been a competitor at the top of the free agent market. The hater deal last year was out of character. And then the couple of times they have been competitive at the top of the free agent market was Jose Abrae. And I'm not sure. you never want to get gun-shy after that because look sometimes these deals just don't work and it's not like the ashers were the only team interested in Jose Abra. They had other smart teams that were also interested in him. So it wasn't as if the Asher's were the only suitor for this guy.

But I do wonder whether how much that crippled them going forward and given Crane's reluctance to run a Dodgers Mets Yankees style payroll, which we'll never see that from him. but given the reluctance that this team has always had to build through free agency, like I do wonder if all that money coming off the books even matters. Because, like, they've shown what they are. They've shown, like, this decade kind of how they choose to do business. Like, they don't guarantee more than $150 million. They don't go longer than six years. And very rarely are they at the top of the market in free agency.

The most fascinating thing is which one of those things will be the first. first thing that they pivot from. What'll be, what'll be the, what'll be one of those things that they say, you know what, like the market's changing. Our franchise, the state of the franchise is changing. Like, we've got to do something different. As channel Rome, I'm Matt Thomas. We are going to do a little, just don't get it up next. Something in your life you just don't get. Let us know. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-5-790. Jason-1-1. Jason-9. Jason-1. Jason-9. We'll get that as well. 7-1-3-212-5-790. If there's something in your life, You just don't get.

What is it? 713-212-5-7-90. I want to tell you about Uptown appliance repair. Ice makers aren't working. Our washer dryer at the house right now is not working. That's not great when all the kids are home. You need them repaired at a fair price. You're going to call 281-758-9978.

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Do worry to see if we comprehend The things that may confuse our friends It's young and Connor Montgomery You're going first this week You got a lot of things going on You've got a new relationship You're trying to buy gifts You're trying to work on this radio station

Trying to handle this radio program With the rotating host the last few weeks Simple question for you And for everyone that wants to join us at 713212-5-790 7-1-3-212-5-790 Connor what don't you get? I don't get why people think

It's okay to keep your shoes on when you're visiting my home. My old apartment, my parents' house, it's got carpet. I don't understand why people don't want to leave their shoes on at the door. Just don't be tracking outside gunk into my house. I'm wearing shoes inside somebody else's place. I just don't get it. If I ask you to take off your shoes or you see me taking off your shoes, you should do the same. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

So you're in the feet? No, I just don't wear your outdoor shoes. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. If I come to your house, How am I supposed to know that you, I'm supposed to take my shoes off? Because I take out, because I'm taking mine off.

Well, but wait a minute. If you come to the door and your shoes are off, I don't know what, I don't know that. You have to, you should put up a sign or something. Please take your shoes off. I'm going to say, I just don't get it either. I don't get you giving a shoe problems to people. I, I think it's impolite. Like, I think you're imposing.

If like you walk into somebody else's house, just take your shoes off. Like, I, I, what if I'm there for five minutes? Well, that's different. Well, how am I supposed to be staying here? Coming out and hanging out or whatever, and you got your shoes and you're walking on carpet. Look, I have friends that will ask me to take my shoes off when I enter their house, and I do that. If they ask me, I'm perfectly fine with it. But just to, that's not some common thing that I would just walk into another person's house and just take my shoes off.

Exactly. Connor, I, I'm, so what's the problem with me asking for somebody to take their shoes off? Do you just know there's no problem? You just have to say it. Right. The way you said it was like, you. You portrayed it as like everyone that enters your house to just know. Yeah, how are we supposed to know?

Oh, I just think it's a common thing. No, it's a no, it's not a common thing. I just don't get it in. I think it should be. What? This is crazy. Don't be tracking your outside. Oh, my God.

I just think you're in the feet. No, definitely not. Hmm. I'm not into dirty shoes in my house. I just, I don't get how you would think that people would know to take their shoes off. I just don't get that. that. Okay. So if you over go to

Connor's house, Chandler, take your shoes off or he's going to give you a stink eyes, what is it going to give you? I'm going to get his wrath on drive time radio. All right. All right, so you gave us a little teaser. What don't you get, Chandlerone? So I, since I already talked about the NBA Cup, I don't get the NBA Cup. I think it's, like, if you're not going to give them any advantage for the rest of the season, then why run it? I don't get, when I get into an Uber

and when I get into a lift, when the driver asks me what directions they should take, I don't get this. Like, I am paying you to drive me. And 96% of the time, when I get into an Uber, I am in a place that I don't reside,

I'm traveling. How the hell should I know? Like, this is your job is to drive me somewhere. I'm paying you to drive me. Yes. I would like you to know the directions. Yes. Take me,

ever route your app guide you. Don't ask me where you should turn, where, what, what traffic you should, like, no, like, I, this is not part of my description as a passenger. Like, I am just here to be taken to where I ask to be taken. Why can't the map's app help that person out? Right. Like, that's what I would, that's what I would tell them, just like, whatever way he says is the quickest. Like, you should not, I don't get Uber drivers that ask me what directions they should. Do you know when I get an Uber, nine times at a 10? I get in the back seat, I buckle up, and I close my eyes. I don't care if how long, I mean, I don't want you driving way out of the city for me,

but I kind of trust that person. Oh, I do too. I 98% of the time I have my AirPods in, so I don't have to have conversation. And I get in the back, and I tell them hello, they ask how the flight was, and said it was great, and then that's the extent of the conversation. Yeah, I'm not a big talker either. Now, once in a while, if they ask what I'm doing in town, whatever. All right, yeah, I don't get that either.

I'm glad with you. Mine is revolving around part of my trip to Las Vegas. I had time to get a professional massage, not a Deshawn massage, but a professional one. And I was at this very high-end hotel where the average price of this massage was going to be significantly higher than it would be if you went to a neighborhood place. Not only a city neighborhood place, but a dis-neighborate place. I believe massages Chandler should be the quietest thing on earth. soft music, towels,

hot rocks, just a place to decompress. My massage therapist in Las Vegas would not shut up. Yeah, I don't get that. Asking me where I'm from, what I'm doing,

and when I drop the, I'm here with the rockets to do the radio, that opened up a new Pandora's box of things. That's where you aired. You've got to make up a... Maybe I got to do it. I make up a job when I'm because I usually say I'm a writer and then oh what do you write and then you keep going down I usually just say oh I'm in town on business and they ask for what oh engineering and no one wants to hear about an engineer I'm going to construction I believe me I've got I've got it down packed as to I fake a job every time I have to talk to a concierge like anybody anybody that when I'm on the road yes because I don't want to because the minute you say I'm here right I'm a baseball

all they want to talk about. All right, so, Connor, we gave us our tune that we don't get. You agree with us on this? I get the NBA Cup. I get what they're trying to do. The Uber thing, I guess, yeah, you should just know where to go, follow the GPS. And then I wasn't listening to the last week. Yeah, that's funny.

You don't listen to the show. I was getting a massage in Las Vegas, and she just, she being the woman that was a massage therapist, was talking my head off. Oh, yeah, that's weird. I want 60 minutes of peace and quiet I want my head down that little area that you know the little open hole there you just go and boom

clip that yeah I was afraid as soon as I said that especially when By the way have we got anything for Chandler for tomorrow we got we clip anything yet I'll find some stuff we got two hours to make this happen make this happen especially when

Tillman Fertita's probably paying her a lot of money to give you a massage no no no it was not in his hotel well no you're still probably expensing it I hope you know I can't expense massages why not Tellman makes enough money. I will say this.

I did very well at the blackjack table that I was able to do two things. I went and saw the Eagles at the sphere and I paid in cash for that. And I was able to get the massage because I did so well at the blackjack table. What's your, this could dovetail into I just don't get it. What is your blackjack table etiquette as far as sitting with someone that doesn't know what they're doing? You clearly don't listen to this show. I mean, I do. I bitch and moan about the ineptitude of the, I was at a $50 table.

So do you get up and leave? No, I shot them down. down. I say, let me help you. Okay. And the one guy who had a really hot girl, I told her I'd help her and he was not overly pleased with that. She goes, he goes, I got this, I'll help her out. And he was hitting on 14s against a four and I about lost my mind. Yeah, I just get up and leave. I should do that. If I, if I'm there for four or five hands and it becomes abundantly clear that this person's either too inebriated or too ignorant to understand how to play the game, then I just like it. And the dealer's, Most of the time they get it. Most of the time they empathize with you. And I'm trustworthy of my own playing ability. I'll play at third base because I feel like I'm the last line of defense. And I can do that.

But I, oh my God, I was playing 50 bucks a hand, which I can afford it. But it's still, it's a little pressure than I would have wanted to. But it was a Saturday night in Las Vegas. And I kind of had to play. I didn't want to go to other. I didn't want to go to circus circus and play for $5 a hand. So, because then Lord knows who the hell you're playing with at that point. You're a Fremont Street guy?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. We love Los Vegas. Love downtown. of downtown Vegas. Yeah, yeah. All right, that's this week's edition. I just don't get it. So if you're a massage therapist,

shh. If you're a blackjack player, listen to us veterans, and if you go to Connors' house, take your shoes off. 713, 21, 212, 5, 790. We have the news at noon coming up at about 17 minutes.

We've also got more phone calls. Jason and Noah will get to you in a matter of moment. 713-212-5-79. 7-1-3-2-790. Our time is 1145. And again, if you want to be with us, we've got EMAID doca coming up at 1230 today. Right now, once again, a fine word for big city wings.

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If you're looking for a place to eat, go to big citywings.com on your phone and find a location near you and enjoy a delicious entree with a side and a beverage soft drink for $10. All at Big City Wings. Big on wings, big on sports, and big on gift cards. For every $25 you buy, you get a $5 bonus. All from Big City Wings and Big CityWings.com. This is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross on Sports Talk 790. Still ahead. The news at New with Connor.

E-May-Doka-1230 Conner's Rotten 5 at 1-30 Believe it or not, all things about Rome Chandler, the city, other radio host get to know all things about Rome coming up today at 150. What are we playing for?

Got nice prizes in the prize ball? I haven't been around for the last few days. Yeah, we got plenty of stuff to give away today. I'll tell you about that later. All right. Oh, that's what we call a forward teeth. Either that he wasn't ready for me to throw that at him. 713-212-5-7-90.

Let's go to Jason and Katie on 790 at 11-52. Jason, good morning. Hey, guys, good morning. Quick question. Do we know the players that were offered in the Aironaut trade? I know they didn't drop any names. I was kind of curious on who was the offer there. And another thing is, I know in the past we've been linked to Luis Roberts.

I don't know if they have had any ongoing conversations, kind of wondering if the white. White Sox had any interest in any of our prospects, like a Melton or a Walker Yonnik and Bryce Matthews, maybe like a Louis-Bias type of deal. And Chandler, do you think in your honest opinion that Dana Brown is a qualified GM or is he a glorified scout? Because, you know, whenever a click left, I just feel like these have gone downhill. I know Crane and Crane brought in Jeff to oversee some things. And, you know, those are Brayu contracts and those Montero contracts.

So, like, they put us back a little further than we actually thought at the time it was going to. So I appreciate you guys, man. I'll hang up and listen. Thank you. All right. I guess I'll go last first. I think Dana has been, Dana got put in a really difficult situation. A situation that veteran baseball executives would have difficulty navigating.

Just the payroll problems, the contracts that were on the books before he got here. some of Jim Crane's philosophies, as we've talked about. You know, obviously, you know, Dana Brown came in here wanting to extend a bunch of guys, wanting, you know, he was very, very forward that he wanted to get a lot of these guys locked up like they did in Atlanta. And you've seen that the result of that has been two extensions. One to Jose Altuve, that was pretty easy to get done. And then the other one to Christian Javier, which to this point is not aged well. Because he had Tommy John surgery last year and probably won't pitch much, if at all,

this year. It's a difficult situation. I think you look at the Kikuchi trade. I know a lot of fans still have very strong opinions of that, but the Astros don't make the playoffs last year. If they don't acquire you say Kikuchi. You don't want Jake Bloss four innings every fifth day. It would have killed this entire pitching staff. I mean, it wasn't even just that. It was that they unlocked you say Kikuchi and he pitched 10 times and you won nine of those games. And the one game you didn't win was the meaningless game against the Mariners in the last game of the regular season. So, and you know, look, I will say this, and I've written this a couple times.

You mentioned, you know, James Click, who was here, it was pretty obvious that his relationship with Jim Crane was frayed, that they had personality differences, they didn't have a good relationship. The fact that during Dana Brown's tenure, they have now traded Kyle Tucker, they have signed Josh Hader to the largest free agent deal in team history. They have traded for you sake of coochy at the deadline. They have gone over the competitive balance tax. To me, that shows at least in some respects that Dana has got Jim's ear.

Dana has, they have, they have some level of trust that Jim has allowed Dana to execute some moves that quite frankly go against a lot of how this team has been built the last 10 years, none more evident than the Tucker trade. The fact that this was allowed to happen, the fact that, you know, Jim Crane, who has said from a ton of times, this team will never rebuild as long as I'm the owner, when you trade Kyle Tucker on paper,

that looks like you're rebuilding. And the fact that that was allowed to happen and the fact that Jim apparently trusted Dana enough to execute that move to me signals, that they've got a pretty good working relationship but that Jim trusts Dana a little bit more than maybe he's trusted people in the past. Can you, Chandler-Rone, the reporter, self-avioate yourself

when it comes to, this is Jim telling Dana, I want something done as compared to Dana saying, we need to do something, Jim, I need you to sign off on this. Do you think Jim Crane would have willingly parted with Kyle Tucker? I think if Dana went to him and said he doesn't want to play here, you've given me the authority, you've given me the lack of authority to give up seven-year deals. We've got to get rid of him now before we get nothing in return. There you go.

I think, you know, trading Kyle Tucker. Josh Hader. Was that in Dana Brown's DNA DNA to give him a five-year, $85 million dollar contract? By Jim's own admission, Josh Hater was on Jim's radar the previous season. Look, I think you can't, that can't be discussed enough that Jim Crane coveted Blake Snell and Josh Hader at the trade deadline at 2022, or 2023. I'm losing my years. But 2023 trade deadline, he coveted Blake Snell, Josh Hater. You don't do the biggest deal in franchise history.

You don't do the biggest free agent deal in franchise history without ownership input. Like, Jim, yes, like Jim had to approve that. And Jim had to give the thumbs up on that. And, you know, it would seem like it was a collaborative process. It doesn't seem like, you know, more forward-thinking progressive teams probably aren't spending $95 million on a reliever. But Josh Hader is the best, I mean, he was, I mean, he is and was the best reliever available at the point. He was one of the best relievers in baseball at that point. That was going to be the market price for him.

And it was a little bit of an irrational contract, but I'll bring you back to something that Andrew Friedman runs the Dodgers. he has said this time and time again and it's the truest thing in the world and it's something that I don't think the Astros or their fans really have embraced. If you are rational on every free agent, you'll finish second on every free agent. Because it's way easier to justify,

oh, I can't spend that money on that guy. Right. A rational deal for Josh Hader is probably not five for 95. But you know what? The Astros are like, we want this guy, we covet him, we think he's the missing piece, so they probably sprung in the fifth year.

And think about this. The moment the deal was made, and you were busy writing, but it was a bring in the seventh, Preslin the eighth, Hayter in the ninth, good luck. If you get just the seventh inning,

no one's going to score runoff this team of the bullpen. The best laid plans. Yeah, all right, real quick, for the top of the hour on the news at noon, we go to Noah and Nacadoches on 790.

Noah, thanks for holding. Good morning. Hello, guys. So I got kind of a few questions, but I'm not going to try to, so basically go too long. But I know that Chandler was asked, and he didn't answer because it's fine,

because the guy kind of rambled a little bit and not say that rudely. But what was the return, potentially, that you could see for Aeronado? I know that the Astros were only getting like $5 million, I think. Katie Wu out of St. Louis said that the Astros were only going to have the Cardinals cover like $5 million,

so it seems like they would have to give up a little bit more. And then after this, I have one more question, just really quickly. So to be completely honest, I don't know. I don't know what players were talked about, but I will give you a little bit of a parallel. It's not an exact parallel, but look at the Yankees Bellinger trade.

The Cubs are paying $5 million in that deal, just like Katie and I have reported that the Astros would do in this deal. And the return was one reliever. It was a reliever with Big League service time and Cody Poteet, but not an entrenched reliever by any means. but it should be noted

Cody Bellinger only has one guaranteed year of control left. I think he has a player option for 26. So because Aeronado has three years, I think the ask would be a little bit more. But again, I don't, it's not going to be maybe the prospect hall that everyone thinks. It's not going to be like elite guys, not that the Asher's have a ton of elite prospects.

But I think it'd be more major league ready guys that maybe they have surplus on or just, it would not be like the big prospects. Okay, awesome. And then just the second part of my question is, it's just like, I don't understand, you know, just why they aren't, you know, I mean, like, you never know. Like, I know, I think Passon said himself, and I'm paraphrasing heavy, but, you know, like, there's only so much we know that actually, like,

even the top reporters know about what is actually going on. But I just don't get why they're not going after your court infielders as heavily, like, you know, somebody like ProFar or Winker or Kepler, or even somebody like a Randall Gritchick, who, you know, was on like a Little League team in Houston. You know, he's a Houston guy, went to Lamar Coltonsolided High School. So I just don't understand that. Why they're not. You mean corner outfielders? Because you said corner infielders. Yes. Okay, corner outfielders. I mean, I mean, they could, yeah, yeah, I mean, they could do that. But I think they'd be more, they'd want to do something more of like a non-roster invite to spring training with a chance to make the club out of camp.

Like, I think they trust, and whether this is founded or not, whatever, but I think they're going to trust that Chas McCormick and Jake Myers can maybe have a rebound. But they're going to get some veteran help. They're going to get some guys in here on minor league deals or short-term one-year, cheap deals to come in spring training, show out and provide. some competition, but I don't think they're going to go mess with like the Santander. I could be wrong, but I don't see them as like Santander, like the big time corner outfielders. I don't see them get involved here. Thanks, Nolan for the phone call. The news at noon is up next. We're halfway down on this Thursday edition of the Matt Thomas show with Ross Channel Room filling in today for Ross 713-213-2-5-190.

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You can get the energy that you've been missing out for the last few months. Game Day, men'shealth.com slash Houston. That's game day, men's health.com slash Houston. Lunch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. 4-06 on Sports Talk 7. On 8, time now for us to figure out the headlines of the day. We go to Connor in the newsroom for the news at noon.

Hey, Matt. All right. Are you going to go regular voice or you're going to go news anchor voice? I won't do something as ridiculous as Ross, but I'll put on a little something. All right, what you got? We have updates from Texans practice as they prepare to face the Kansas City Chiefs on the road. Wide receiver John Mechie remains out of practice with a shoulder injury. But Joe Mixon is practicing for the third day in a row, according to friend of the station, Aaron Wilson.

Mixon was a limited participant at practice yesterday, but he told media early in the week that he expects to play on Saturday. And he should. The Texan should get after him. He should treat him like he's 100% healthy, win this football game, and get some positive mojo back. Not that I don't think that locker room is in a situation where they're worried about themselves, but they know, Conner, Chandler. They know they're a team that has been meh for about three months. AFC South champs. Nah.

You didn't like the hats and the T-shirts that they got? No, I did not. Did you buy one, by the way? I don't know, Call and Hannan send a new one? No, Cal and Hannah don't send me treats. They send other members of media treats. But that's fine. I don't need treats from them.

I like treats, but I don't need it from them. No one does. Well, some do. Oh, some live for it. Some can, you know, put it on their YouTube show. Continue on, sir. staying with the Texans taking on the Chiefs all eyes are on Patrick Mahomes who sustained a high ankle sprain last week It appears that Mahomes will be able to start Saturday

But the chiefs feel confident in Carson Wentz's ability to win a game Mahomes was a full participant in practice yesterday We'll have to wait and see if Mahomes plays on Saturday But Texans defensive tackle Tim Settle has a message for the two-time MVP quarterback ahead of Saturday's game This is the top team in the league right now By the NFL but it's nothing You know, I definitely see this O-line. It definitely has its leap holes and it definitely has their struggles.

But, you know, I feel like that we can take advantage of that. You know, we got an elite D-line. You know, I feel like Pat's a little banged up. So I don't know if he's going to play or not. But I hope he's mobile enough because we're coming in Arrowhead. You guys plan to get after that? Yeah, for sure. Pat better make a good decision.

I ain't making no threats. I'm making promises. Pat better make a good decision. I am making no threats. Tim Settle. Wait, this is Tim Settle doing this? Who is Tim Settle?

He's been all right. He's played a while this year. Get the Neil Hunter or Will Anderson. I mean, my God. What are you sure that's Tim Settle that said that? Tim Settle who no one knew who he was six, six months ago. And I would say, definitely, Darlene does not have any idea who Tim Settle is under zero circumstances.

He's coming after Mahomes. Mahomes has the fear of God. I don't know. I don't know if I'd be afraid of Tim said I want to come after me and now he's a big man. He's had a good season, but let's slow down this. You know what? I don't know. Bulletin more material is a little overrated, to be honest with you. Do you think the Chiefs care? Like, you think Patrick Mahomes cares? No. They get this every week. Every week. And every week they win by hooker by crew.

They went off doinked field goals. They went off of missed field goals. They went off of last second plays. They went off of passing. interference calls. Amy Reid is not putting up Tim Settle quotes in the Chief's locker. I can guarantee you that. Also, quick note, why receiver Marquis Hollywood Brown will make his Chiefs debut on Saturday, so the Chief's getting another receiver threat back against the Texans. I know you guys mentioned it earlier in the show, but let's revisit the St. Louis Cardinals star third baseman Nolan Aronado,

invoking his no trade clause to block a deal that would have sent him to the Astros. The Astros attempt to land Aronado after they traded outfield or Kyle Tucker to the Chicago, Chicago Cubs and Alex Bregman, probably leaving in free agency. I got a question for your channel, Rome. If Aronado does indeed not come here and keeps this no tray, whatever it is, and the Astros don't sign Bregman, who's a starting third basement in 2025? I thought we had him in first base. Well, that's only if they get a, that's only if Arnato comes. Or they resign Bregman.

But, I mean, as of right now, like, if you made me bet right now, I'd say Issoc Paredes is your opening day third baseman. And how we feel about that? has a swing Taylor for Minutemate Park He's, yeah, a hole hitter, right? Big time. Diken Park, whatever it's called now. Defense isn't, like, it's not bad, but it's not great. You're always going to take a step back from Alex Bregman, the reigning gold glove winner.

Not with Nolan Aeronado, but anyone else you brought in, you were going to take a step back defensively. But he is certainly not a bad third baseman, but he's not a lead. I think the Twitter feed of his. This pull heading home runs is circulated. I think I've received it from like 20 different people. It's why they want, I mean, they really, really, really wanted him at the trade deal. Like, really wanted him.

How old is he? He, well, he's got three years of team control left. Oh, that's that's all that matters. Yeah, that's all that matters is that he's got three years of team control left, but he's 25. So he's a young guy has been around the league a little bit, played for A.J. Henson, Detroit, played with the race and was with the Cubs for the last two months. By the way, are we, and I brought this up many moons ago. I thought a sneaky destination for Breggman would be Detroit.

Are we still thinking about that? That's a possibility? I still think it's a possibility. I think they're going to wait around for the market. I don't know that they want to pay them $200 million, but I think they're sneaky in. I would not be surprised at all the fans up there. So Yankees, Red Sox, Astros, Tigers.

Do you want to put them one to four? Most likely to least likely? Most likely to least likely. I'd go Red Sox, Tigers, Astros, Yankees. Okay. What else we got, Connor? The NBA announced that the Houston Rockets Center, Alpern-Shangoon,

was one of five players selected to the Emirates NBA Cup All-Termint team. So congrats to Al-Pi. The Rockets returned to the Toyota Center tonight for their first game back since losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the semifinals of the NBA Cup. For New Orleans, Jordan Hawkins, it was upgraded to questionable on Wednesday's official injury report.

five Pelican players listed as out, including Jose Alvarado, Brendan Ingram, and Zion Williamson. Yep. Williamson averages 23 a game, Ingram 22 a game, Alvarado 11 off the bench. Should have fun tonight. Should be a quick one. Reed Shepard, make it in the game.

We're going to get him in a minute. We've got to get his mojo back. Typical rookie woes. He's a second pick on the draft. Third. There's got to be higher expectations. Well, I would, you know, get that shot going. and he's only unfortunately shooting 30% from the three-point range.

Well, he fits right in with the rest of the... Oh, that's enough. You hear, now the Surly Rome is in play here. That's why we brought him in here for this kind of stuff. All right, anything off the beaten path? Are we done today? I guess we'll just go outside the market. We've got college football playoff this weekend,

but in other college football news, a federal judge in Tennessee granted an injunction that allows Vanderbilt, quarterback Diego Pavia, to pursue another year of eligibility. Basically, it's a new precedent being set for college football where years in junior college do not count towards years of NCAA eligibility. Huh? Why?

Pavia sued the NCAA in November and claimed that the organization's rule that counts towards a player's time in junior college towards overall years of NCAA eligibility is a violation of antitrust law that was unfairly limiting his ability to make money from NIL, according to... Oh, so NIL came into play. Yes. It's tough news for LSU because they go to Vanderbilt next year. By the way, did you see that story about the Texas Tech wide receipts? leaving Lubbock to go play for A&M.

I don't know if it's a true tweet or not, but the demands this kid has is unbelievable. How much are you guys paying the A&M quarterback that couldn't see the field? Okay, he played, and he's now a Cougar, so he's going to be great. How much you guys paying him? I'm sure he's being compensated very well

for his future performances. Does it feel weird? You know what, is it to feel weird that you had to go get like the Aggies third stream? No, he missed Houston. He missed the... He was 20 minutes away. Not really.

Now he's even closer. You know, I was just school with his dad. Oh, really? Yeah. Which just shows you my age, but that's a different issue for a different time. Nice guy? I don't really remember him. I mean, he was two years older than I was, so...

He was our first college football player that played college football from May Creek. He was class of 80. He was class of 90. Did he go to U.H? He was Sam Houston. Oh. Him and Steve Sparks. That's right.

legendary athletic department there at same houston got a brand new football coach they're playing d1 now Steve sparks Walker walker walker yonic there's though i think they win like multiple national bowling championships and he realized bowling was a champion it was a in symbol a sport and the tie it all in hayden was nesky the the the last piece of the kyle tucker trade with the same houston state how was his press conference or availability um he did it in his car in the woodlands after he finished playing golf seem like a nice guy though. Can't wait to meet him. Yeah, I'm sure you will get many opportunities to do so.

I've already booked the trip to West Palm. 1216, it is the news at noon. E-Medoka coming up in 15 minutes here on Sports Talk, 790. 7-13-212-5-790 is how you reach a show if you want to get in. 7-13-212-5-7-90. I want to tell you about quality home products of Texas. I want you to get a Generac standby generator because you don't want your power to go out

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Back to Matt Thomas and Ross Villarreal on Sports Talk 790. 1222 on Sports Talk, 7.90, Matt and the Chandler Roman today for Ross. Tomorrow we'll have Ryan Holland's going to hang out with us for a couple of hours. We'll also have Dr. Roto. And a member of the Kansas City media will join us to talk about all things Chiefs versus Texans, which will be Saturday in Kansas City. To the phones ago, Jesse and the Galleria before we hear from EMA Adoka coming up in about 10 minutes.

Jesse, good afternoon. Thanks for holding. Good afternoon. Thanks to take my call. for Chandler, I wanted to ask, the fact that the Astros had a trade in place for Aeronado, doesn't that pretty much confirm that they've moved on from Bregman and that any talk of them being in on Bregman is more sort of a piece of fans, and I'll hang up and listen? The short answer is yes.

I don't see how you can interpret that any other way. like now maybe if the aranado thing really does fall apart if he really doesn't want to come here like maybe they make a little bit of a renewed effort but i've heard nothing that would give i've heard nothing that would tell me that there is a serious serious pursuit of him ongoing now i think they're always going to be involved i think they're always going to check in but i i can't see them increasing their offer like i that has never been how they have operated under Jim Crane. And I think this is just, I think for one, including Esauk Paratus in the Kyle Tucker deal,

was first sign, was sign enough that, you know, that they needed a third basement and they got one. So, like, they have a fallback plan if the Aronado thing doesn't work out. But the Aranato trade, the fact that they had it agreed to between the front offices, I don't know how you can interpret it any other way than that they have moved on. That they know that the pursuit of Bregman is done. So the report was six at 156. That's a little bit more than what Chapman got from the Giants, but not significantly more. Chapman got, I believe, six for 150.

So, I mean, it's not. Yeah, not much. I think it's a million dollars more a year. So is that gut feeling from the Astroson? ownership group is that the metrics is that the analytics department that's or is that just Dana going here's what we saw Matt Chapman signed for here's how we compare Chapman to what we've got here now what do you think that magical 6156 number came up of and was that just a this is our final offer or we might have a little wigger room especially if we find out that another team is

in and that you call us and say hey can you match well when Correa I mean they did the same thing with Correa. The offer got leaked. I believe it was 5 for 160. That was the lockout winter and, you know, Correa didn't sign before the lockout. They came back after the lockout and he went to the twins for the short term with the opt-outs. And he said that they never heard from the Astros after the 5 for 160. Like they didn't change her offer. So this is how they've done this in the past. I think the offer is what they feel he's worth. The Astros would very much appreciate me saying into this microphone that they offered him the largest contract in franchise history because they did. That is the largest contract in franchise history.

They offered him the largest contract in franchise history. But again, anyone that knew, that had any remote, intricate knowledge of this knew that he wasn't going to take that offer. Like, not at all. It was a good offer from the Astros perspective because, like I said, they can say, we offered him the biggest deal in franchise history. you know, we offered him more than Matt Chapman got. That was the baseline.

Realistically, though, if they had any realistic intentions of resigning Alex Bregman, that was not a legitimate offer. Is it not legitimate because he's worthy of more than that, or is it because he felt like the market could give him more than that? You're worth what someone's going to pay you. You're worth what a team will pay. Like, I don't, when I hear what I heard 6156, and this goes back by three or four weeks, actually. I didn't think that was a crime. I didn't think that was a low ball offer. Now, was I thinking that wasn't going to be enough?

Absolutely. But when I, look, I'm not here to defend or attack anybody when it comes to these things. We have to treat each individual offer and report you have separately. But when I heard 6156, I thought that's a lot of money to put in for a guy. And I love Bregman. I mean, I love him on a personal level, beyond his professional level. But it felt like to me that was a really good, competitive offer and that it would be up to a team like the Yankees or the Red Sox or the Tigers or

anybody else that was like, you know what, we're going to slightly overpay because we need a third baseman. We talked about that last hour, Chandler. We see teams all the time overpay. And I think I think if that was the bar, all Alex is looking for is someone to say, you know what, that may be what you're worth, but we're going to find at least one team that thinks you're worthy of that. And if it winds up being a bad deal towards the end of his career, so be it. You see, I disagree that it was a competitive offer. Because again, like, they were never going to take that. Like, and I'm going to go back to the Andrew Friedman thing I said earlier.

Like, if you're rational about every free agent, you will finish second on every free agent. Yes, was it more than Matt Chapman got? Sure. Look at what Willie Adamas got. Alex Bregman is a better player than Willie Adamas. Like, that is not even debatable. I know Willie Adomis is a year younger than him. He is a better.

player than Willie Adomas. And Willie Adomas got $182 million over seven years. So the question that becomes if you're going to overspend on players in every organization, well, relatively speaking, organizations that do spend money, they're always going to do it. How many times can you get away with it and not hurt your economic long-term viability and your competitive, who you are as a baseball team? If you have three or four bad deals like that, you're going to be screwed. Can you do it once or twice every couple of years?

And maybe, I'm not saying direct or indirect. but maybe the money that was spent on Josh Hader was the, we're going to overspend to get a guy, we can't do that every single year. Sure. And the Astros, and they're right, too. Like, Jim Crane has talked about this. Like, they have data that, and I mean, it's publicly available.

It's not like it's proprietary, but like that these deals of seven, eight, nine years do not age well. And they're right about that, that a majority of these deals are not going to age well on the back end. But you do have to weigh, too, like, what you're getting on the front. end and how that is going to impact the present. And, you know, I just, it's tough to criticize the philosophy when they've gone to the playoffs eight consecutive years and been to the ALCS seven of those years. Like, it's not as if this philosophy is like bad. I mean, they've done just fine.

But now they're getting to a reckoning where the market is never been more player-friendly because of the amount of money being out there, the teams that are willing to spend for a ton of years, and the state that the franchise is in now of the farm system, of the payroll situation that they have. As a fan, and we've got to get to email here a second, as a fan, not every single deal, but most of the deals that have come and gone,

the players that have left, the asteros keep winning. And I think there are some people that are afraid that if Bragman leaves, This is the first sign of the significant drop-off. I don't know. But didn't we heard that with Correa and swing? That's what I'm saying.

It's every single year, it hasn't bitten them. But I would argue that that is a difficult thing to maintain. That is right. And I think that's what we're all waiting for is when does the first major free agent leave that ultimately does make you a team that you're not as good as you were two or three years ago? Because I'm just going to tell you, Jeremy Pena is an outlier. Like, you don't usually have guys like that waiting in the wings to replace a franchise cornerstone. And this team still, since George Springer has left, has not figured out center field.

Yeah. All right. EMA Doka joins us next here and then we'll get to more phone calls from you folks as well. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. I want to tell you about the Shell Federal Credit Union. If you are looking for an opportunity to win some Christmas cash, you can win up to $1,000 between now and the end of this month by using your shell.

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and you might win a $1,000 bonus. from the Shell Federal Credit Union online at ShellfcU.org. 1235 on Sports Talk 790. We are awaiting EMAIDOK to join us here in a couple of minutes. Maybe he's making a big move. You never know. They could use a shooter. They could use a shooter.

How does that work? Is it like, again, I don't follow the NBA much. Is it like the MLB trade deadline? Do they have a deadline? They have a deadline, yeah. Is it as frenzy to the MLB deadline or not really? There are some people, and I might include myself in this, I have as much fun on trade deadline

in sports than I do about some time during the regular season because there's so much anticipation or so much speculation their free agency period in July is as exciting as it gets. Right, that's why I asked if the trade deadline

had any cachet because it does. Most of the stuff gets done in free agency. Right. Now you've got some contracts that can't be traded. Like friends, I don't think Alpi and Jalen can't be traded

until next year because that's when the new contract will kick in. But there's all sorts of a lot of minutia about it. Not saying that Alpian and Jalen would be traded, but my point is that you have some players that can't be and it can be because of contract situations. So, yeah, I think it's fantastic. And the NBA does a really good job.

In fact, the NFL actually had quite a few trades this off seat, before the trade deadline, which is atypical for them. Nick Casario said it was a waste of time, right? He did. He did not want an offensive alignment. And, you know, you've got to pray for health here. Can you and Green is back. Oh, great.

All right, let's, uh, we talk, is email ready to go? I think he was trying to call email right now. Uh, we've got, believe it or not today, all things about, uh, Rome. And you're a part of the summit of these already. So you've ever been a part of a trivia contest? You're about to happen here in about an hour and a half. The prizes better be. Oh, they're going to be amazing.

They better be very, very good. I mean, I think it's, I think it's an autograph, photo of you. I think it's part of it. It's all good. All right. All right. Let's take a few minutes to talk to E. I'ma doka, head coach of your Houston Rockets, Rockets,

and Pelicans tonight inside Toyota Center coach. It's Matt. Thanks for joining me. Congratulations on the NBA Cup. I know that their end result. But losing the semifinal game is not what you wanted to Oklahoma City. But what do you take away from the experience of not only playing those games, but the knockout win against Golden State and just being around the LV atmosphere for a few days?

I think it was great for our team, especially a bunch of young guys that haven't had a playoff experience or at times meaningful games. It was good to have those high pressure situations. You know, the atmosphere was different somewhat like an all-star game slash playoff game. And so that's great for guys to experience that for the first time. But the pressure of winner go home, you know, guys haven't had that since, you know, NCAA if they've been in college at all. But it was great for our guys experience-wise. I think an achievement for us obviously fell a little bit short,

but the achievement and experience will help us out down the row. And the fact is, and I don't know if it's fair or not, but when you play these extra games, you're playing against the upper or echelon games and they do count towards your standings. Is there anything of adjustment you would make to this NBA Cup if they were to ask your opinion about who you play, how you play in the event itself? Well, I'd say for me, I enjoy it. I think it takes away some of the monotony of the early season.

You know, it gives us something to go after. But like you said, they all count except for if you make the championship game. But still high-seeding teams, teams that are in front of us. And obviously, Golden State and OK, C or two of the best in the Western Conference. And so a good test for us across the board. What was it like, especially for some of the younger guys, to face, I mean, you're going to wind up playing Golden State five times. You're going to have another game with Oklahoma City you already had. Now you get two more so with them.

What's their take of this experience? Because let's face it, Tari, Amin, you know, Jalen for the most part, have not played in these types of meaningful games. Did you see something from an energy standpoint from a focus that maybe you wouldn't have known? normally seen in a regular, say November or December, a regular season game? Yeah, I would say they saw the atmosphere and the environment. Obviously, you want to win the cup and, you know, not only financial reasons, but ragging rights and all the stuff,

especially in the second year. So I think our guys got extra motivated for it. You could see Golden State and some of the teams that didn't make it, how disappointed they were. So understanding that it's a big deal to guys already. And so for them, it was a great experience. like I said, you know, a must-win game against a team that's had some success against us. Golden State and a high-pressure game here to get that win at home was great.

And then obviously our first half against O'KC was pretty good. And then we kind of lost it in the second half. But saw some things that worked well for them, a team that we could see down the road as well. So like I said, any time you can play those high-level teams in the conference gives us great experience and exposure and chance to feel that pressure of a playoff atmosphere. Highlight the time off games. I know you play a bunch of games in a very short period of time. the little stretch. Your injury report

is rather lengthy tonight. How's Tari, Alpi, and Stephen Adams right now? They felt okay this morning. It'll be a game time thing and you know, went through some stuff and shoot around this morning. So Stephen, the swelling went down pretty significantly in the ankle, so we're hopeful with him and Tari.

It's a weird thing with some guys. The more time you get off at times, the more achy they get, it feels like. And so you know, that pattern got broken a little bit with the in-season tournament, but back to regular season games now. And the rest was needed, but we're ready to get back after tonight. This New Orleans team is,

I mean, you can't even scout them because they're missing three key cogs. You do not want to have any sort of let down because you have been playing all these excellent teams to play a New Orleans squad that's 5 and 22. That has to be probably part of your message before tonight's game. Absolutely. This is a classic

trap game, you know, guys missing. But they obviously got Desonte Murray back, McCollum back. You know, Murphy, some really good shooters. And they're And so they have some great defenders, Herb Jones as well. And so still a very good team on paper they've had a ton of injuries. So it had not a lot of continuity, but we know they're still dangerous. And so for us, you know, after a lengthy break, team with some guys missing, that's all the stages for a letdown.

But we're trying to avoid that, obviously, and get back to what we're doing and continue to build throughout the season. So that was a message to the guys today was a lock-in focus on what we need to accomplish. And the cup is behind us. Let's get back to conference basketball. A couple of questions before I let you run asked from listeners. One about Cam Wentmore, his time down at the RGV. He's back with you now.

What experiences has he told you about that time down there? And is there a possibility for him, especially if you've got some guys that are less than 100% getting a little bit of playing timing the next week or so? Yeah, for Cam, I think it was a great experience. Much needed. He needed live game reps where he wasn't

getting as many minutes or not in the rotation at times with us. So for a young guy that needs to develop and continue to grow as the games pile on and the practices lesson. He needed to get that live game action. And so it was great for him to get down there, get some work in, kind of reiterate the points that we want him to work on while he's here with us. And obviously with guys in now, he was obviously in the rotation to start of the season.

So have a ton of confidence in him. It's, you know, a log jam at that position. So he's trying to find extra minutes for Tari. I'm in and these guys, it's going to trickle down to some of those guys. But obviously confident in him. We've seen what he can do when he's locked in. focused and if the opportunity presents itself, we have all the confidence putting them in and seeing them work. You know, I've seen it firsthand. Your interpersonal communication with your players is exemplary.

And I'm curious what conversations you've had with Reed in particular, a couple of DMPs for him the last week or so. He has not been able to find his shot right now at the NBA level. What are your takeaways from him? What is he addressed with you? And I'm sure he wants to get back in your rotation as soon as possible. Yeah, with Reed, it's a matter of getting an opportunity to get out there and play a the minute and get some reps in. And for him, he's a young guy that's, you know, going through a lot of things for the first time.

Teams are really focused on him when he comes in the game. His reputation has kind of perceived himself. So third pick and the shooter and all those things and the accolades he has. So guys are guarding him tight. Our thing is stay confident, learn from every experience and take advantage of all the opportunities you get. And so for him, we're a guy that we're not worried about Reed at all. He'll figure it out when he does at his own time. But the chance to get him opportunity and reps out there is big for him every time he gets the game.

game action and so want to get him back in the mix obviously very confident in him as well as a young guy but you know those high pressure um one-off situations the end season tournament you know we felt comfortable with another lineup and that doesn't take anything away from read it's more so to the depth of our team and what we liked against golden state and okay c specifically how much pickleball did you play the last 48 hours uh two and a half hours yesterday so uh got a good amount in me and Rafael. Played some pros and got dominated. Wait a minute.

Who'd you all play? Can you say? I don't even know. Honestly, it was some Rofel's guys, and they're pickleball pros, and it got ugly quick. What? Come on now. We're not pros.

Yeah, but I mean, you guys are, you and Rofel always partners? Most of the time, yeah. Yes, that's what we do. The chemistry is okay, I'm assuming, yes? I guess. We were a little dejected after, but we'll bounce back next time.

Very good. Thanks, Coach. We'll see at the arena later tonight. All right. Thank you guys. All right. You made him. Emaidoka with us here. Those guys are pickleballaholics. Have you ever played? No. It's like the one fad I haven't gotten into. You know where it got super popular was for everybody in the bubble because they were playing at Walt Disney World and they couldn't go anywhere. And so... Because to me, it's only cropped up in the last like year, year and a half. Yeah, I first heard about it

And ironically enough, you know who Scott Foster is and one of the officials in the NBA? He ran the pickleball league for everybody down in the bubble. He is the OG of pickleball. And Scott Fawler, that's the one that none of the Rockets fans like.

Nobody likes Scott Foster. Okay. But so he he like was the kingpin of the, he ran the leagues. Yeah. And that's where everybody in the NBA became fans because, I mean, if you've seen EMA, you could probably run a full court and have a zero problem playing a full game of tennis, but this pickleball thing is, they're infatuated by it.

I would not want to cross EMA in a dark alley at any point. Man, he's my guy. He is, you would, for someone who appreciates a good quote, he may, he's very monotone, but his, when he wants to tell you something and pass the message along, he does it. A couple times like I've been this year to watch them play, he, he gets on him, man. Like, he, I was, okay, so I went to the season opener. the uh which was not a oh charlotte yikes not a good showing

right he tore them apart yeah like and look normally you don't see that at the professional very few coaches can get away with it you don't see it really at any level of you don't see it in public much at the professional level of really any sport right and to watch him i remember there was once i think shingoon like had a tough

defensive possession or something he called a timeout and he met shingoon like before shingoon even got to the bend and just tore him a new, and I appreciate that. And I appreciate it more that, like, he's gotten to the point with this team where he knows they can take it. Yeah. Like, that speaks about- Because very few coaches in the NBA, and I don't know if it's the same thing in Major League Baseball. Very few coaches in the NBA can get away with that because it is such a players league.

Yeah. All right. 1246, we've got another hour and change left. Coming up at 1.30, we're going to find out who the five worst teams are in the NFL. And Connor will have the rotten five. All things about Rome on. today's edition, believe or not. 1247 on Sports Talk 790.

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I'm indifferent. I don't loathe it, but it's not going to be what I choose to listen to. The man that's normally in your chair despises it and makes fun of it. So you can't make up a genre. I said, you know what, I didn't make it up. He also likes soccer. Oh, what a terrible existence. All right.

Twitter follower, Max 6 says that we are doing too much of the Bregman Love Fest, so we will move on to some other things for this segment. I don't realize it was a love fest. We're just talking baseball. We've got a lot of things going on. He wants lots of Texans Chiefs preview. I don't know if anybody – and he's right. Nobody else in the marketplace doing it, so we might as well do it.

I have a question. And I brought this up in the opening segment, and I wasn't, like, being facetious. Like, do you think this is a dirty team? I'm going to say that the Al Jaya hit was really dirty. And I was frankly disappointed with the number of people that refused to accept that. I thought the hit last week wasn't as dirty. I think it was more of a football play. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong body.

The Al-Shahir was, and it doesn't mean that I'm anti-A-Z al-Ziz Al-Shahir. it doesn't mean that he shouldn't be punished and get back on the football field and do what he's doing. We got kind of call a situation as we see it. And the situation was that was a dirty hit involving a quarterback and the league has made no bones about it that they have, they want to protect their quarterbacks. Dirty play yes, dirty team no. I mean, they've now gone two weeks in a row where an opponent has gotten carted off the field due to an illegal hit. that's tough to overcome, in my opinion. I don't know.

Maybe you're looking at it through a microscope. I would think if we went and spent a time watching every single game, every single week, it may not have been the last two weeks, Chandler, but there probably have been some times that the Carolina Panthers have been caught up in this, the New York Jets. I mean, I'm just throwing teams out there. Right, and this is a part of, like, you have to play with an edge. Like, you can't play passive football.

And, like, I don't think they're teaching. And D'Amico Ryan's, like, I don't think he's. teaching his guys to do stuff like this. Was Sean Payton's Saints teams when he was on the bounty gate? Was that a dirty football team? Absolutely. Yes. They encourage dirtiness. Right.

I don't think, to your point, I don't think Damiko is going, we've got to do whatever we can to knock players out of the game. It's just a tough look, though. I don't disagree. Two weeks in a row, it's a tough. And I'll agree. I was at the game. I was at the Dolphins game.

That hit happened right in front of me. Tua did not put the ball in a great spot. like he didn't help his receiver out, but I mean, that's a tough look. I'll be honest with you, having not seen the game first, because I was in Las Vegas, kind of watching on the red zone, it appeared to me that most of the national pundits that were watching these games were saying that it was, sometimes quarterbacks can put their rod receivers out there, and that's exactly what happened.

But I guess coming off of the heels of what happened in Jacksonville. But I think you're smart enough. I think people are smart enough to realize what was a dirty hit and what was a situation. where a football play happened where receivers when it was in a tough spot. So I'm going to give me an answer question. If I thought they were dirty, I would tell you. The Alshare your hit was dirty.

Should have been suspended. I don't know if three games was probably a bit too much. One game would have been fine to me, two, I could understand. I was thinking he was going to get three with an amended down to two or one. Didn't happen. Message sent. NFL teams are showing that film to players defensively all around the NFL.

Yeah. And look, I don't, I don't think they're dirty. I just think seeing that two weeks in our two games in or not two weeks they had a buy a week between. Seeing that two games in a rose a little jarring. I mean, as especially as the NFL is like increased its desire for player safety. It's become such

at the forefront. But see as you say that though, increasing desire they're putting the Houston Texans out there three games in 11 days. Yeah. That's not the increasing desire for player safety. That's opening yourself up for bad fundamentals for fatigue for that split second of, hey, I'm not going to,

I'm going to be able to avoid this guy's head and not be able to think about it because, again, you're just out there just trying to grind through a third game in 11 days. Dirty or not, that defense is legit. Like, they are really good. And look, Stingley has been playing out of his mind. The pass rush was good last week. I mean, no Petri out there as a loss. No Alsharhear was out there as a loss.

The Texas defense is saving this team's baking collectively. Because the offense just looks, is uneven the term I wouldn't want to use? I don't know. You tell me. They have no flow. Like they can't ever get in a rhythm. It looks like they'll have a couple nice, productive plays. They'll get ahead of the chains.

They'll get ahead of schedule. And most of the time, it's mistakes too. Like John Metchie dropped a touchdown against the Dolphins. He was wide open. And CJ put the ball pretty much where you need. needed it to be and Metschi drops a touchdown. There's penalty. Dang Delos just hasn't been the same player as he was.

They haven't found ways to get him involved. There's untimely penalties, the offensive line. I mean, we've been over what's the problem there. And I mean, you do wonder, too, like, they don't have Stefan Diggs. Like, he's not out there. I wonder how much that's impacting it. But I don't know that if Stefan Diggs is healthy. I don't know that things are much different.

What would be healthy is a, as an offensive line. is performing up to expectations and not moving guys left and right and not committing penalties. That's why, you know what, Channel, honestly, you can fix a lot of your ills by going to Kansas City and winning this week. Kansas City has lived and died by these last second games, just like the Texans have to a certain extent, not to the level of Kansas City has. But go win up there. And if Mahomes is less than 100 percent, oh well, got guys in the NFL in week 15 and 16 are less than 100 percent. Right. I mean, the Texans are playing with a bunch of guys that are, I mean, they're not going to have Alshayir.

They're not going to have Petrie. I mean, you can talk about all the, obviously, Mahomes is like the king of kings, but like, it's not like the Texans aren't dealing with injury stuff too. Joe Mixon got hurt last game. Like, he may not be 100%. Right. So it's not one of these things where I think they should, if they go up there and win, they should feel proud of it. Like, I don't think it's like you put an asterisk by it. But I will say this, if they lose and they lose to Baltimore, it will not cure the ill.

of what people think is a team that's going to be won and done come playoff time. Yeah, I just wonder, at the end of the day, it comes down to matchups, right? It depends on who you get in the playoffs, but can they win? Can this team win more than one playoff game with being relying on its defense

to put its offense in an advantageous position and hoping Kaimi Fairbairn has a great night? Well, you've relied on him. Anytime the field goal kick is between 50 and 55 yards, you have no trepidation of putting him out there. Right. So I guess you wonder, like, can this formula sustain when it gets to playoff time? And, again, so much of it's dependent on matchups.

Like, if they, I don't know the bracket, I don't know who they would match up against, but, like, if they match up against the team that, you know, it'd be Baltimore right now. That's tough. Like, I don't know that this formula can beat that Baltimore team. And let's face it, as much as Lamar gets all this MVP conversation over and over again, the postseason has been mid at best, and he needs to have a great postseason. And I can't imagine being a Raven fan if they come here to Houston and lose that football game. So you're going to have a very determined Baltimore team coming in, regardless of how the regular season game goes on Christmas.

Final hour, the Matt Thomas show with Ross, Channel Rome with us on our 60 minutes. All things about Rome for, believe it or not, rotten five coming up at the bottom of the hour. 713-1-2-5-790. If you want to jump in, 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Lunch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. Thank you again to Channel Rome for hanging out with us today. With us for another hour.

We got, believe it or not, today, all things about Rome. And there are a couple of questions about Chandler in there. I brought this up to Brian McTaggart. And I'm curious what your thoughts are. Scott Boris. You've been in the same room with him. I don't know how many, not necessarily off-the-record conversations, but informal. just for those of us that don't get to be a part of that life,

what's he like being the most powerful sports representative agent? I mean, when you think of there's basically two or three on the all-time list, and he's along with Lee Steinberg has got to be there. Who else is we in that list? Drew Rosenhouse. Just those three right there, basically. Yeah, and I'd wager that Scott is head and shoulders above them. I think you won't.

walk down the street, people know who Scott Boris is. I think Scott Boris and Drew Rosenhouse are probably neck and neck as far as like the most known agents just across. And Drew does about 25 times more interviews, so he's maybe more popular. Yeah, Drew talks a little bit,

but Scott, look, Scott will make himself available. Scott loves Scott loves making himself available, getting himself in front of the camera. I think I guess I can only speak for Houston, for Astros fans. I think Asher's fans maybe have a warped view of what Scott Boris is and what his job is. Like, he works for the players.

And, like, the players tell him what they want to do. Now, does Scott have his preferences of how he would prefer his clients to handle? Sure. Like, he would prefer all of his clients to test free agency. He does not do a ton of extensions because he believes in getting his clients out to the open market and getting the highest value possible. However, the Astros employ two players that are represented by Scott Boris that got pre-free agency extensions done in Lance McCullors and Jose Altuve.

So at the end of the day, he does what his players want. Lance McCullors approached him and said, I want to do this. Whether Scott agreed or disagreed with him, whether Scott would have advised him to do it is irrelevant. Lance McCuller said he wanted this happen. And it happened. Same thing with Jose Altuve. Jose Altuve could have been a free agent this year as well. He went to Scott Bores and said, I don't want to play anywhere else.

Like make it work. Make it work with the Astros, and that's what they did. You know, the puns and the play on words are, I enjoy them. It breaks up the monotony of the offseason. But, you know, Scott, as someone that's never negotiated with him, like, I don't know what he's like to deal with from an owner's perspective, from a GM's perspective, but I will say this. I think Scott is very good at getting to the owners.

Because at the end of the day, a lot of these deals that are being done, that Scott gets done, these big deals, like, I'm going to tell you right, David Stearns is the president of baseball operations for the Mets, basically their GM. David Stearns was not who he went to for the Juan Soto deal. Like, David Stearns does not have the autonomy to spend $765 million of, money that's not his. That's Steve Coe.

And let's put it this way. Sometimes GMs can be turned off by that. Yes. I would be turned off by that if I was in charge of negotiating things and they said, no, Channel Rome's your boss. Channel Rome signs the checks. With all due respect, Matt, I want to talk to the channel. We'll get you involved when we need to get you involved.

Now, then it gets to how the team dynamics work. How much did David Stearns and Steve Cohen talk about, all right, like, this is what we'd be comfortable with with Soto. Like, we want this guy, blah, blah, blah. Like, a lot of it's more dependent on how well do the owner and his baseball, and his or her baseball operations departments work together to point to the point where when Scott does get involved, they've got a unified front. Right.

They've got a unified, like, we like this guy. Here's what we think he's worth. Here's what my baseball ops guys think he's worth. And we'll go from there. You know, it's funny to me, I have. And because I'm around athletes and I've been most of my life, I'm not awestruck by athletes. I'm all struck by athletes that I grew up as a kid watching. I mean, I'll be brutally honest.

When Reggie Jackson first was a Houston Astro executive, I loved Reggie Jackson. I mean, I bought his candy bars. I loved him when he was the Yankees. I loved, I mean, Mr. October was Mr. October. Now, unfortunately, I got to know a little bit about him and some of that shine is off, but that's neither here nor there. I'm fascinated by the business aspect of things. I'm fascinated by the media side of things. And I would just love to peek into Scott Boris's world for a while.

He grabs all his clients. He's got obviously an amazing infrastructure. He has to when you have this many players that frankly want love and intention. And so I'm curious how he spreads himself out or how big his group is that allows him to get the number of, I mean, Hunter Brown made the decision to go. join him now because he knows Hunter Brown in a few years is going to want that big paycheck and Hunter Brown reads the room and says this agent I have now

may be good but I'm looking for great. Yeah and look to to the other side of it like Scott's not for everyone. There's some players that you know don't want that want an agent that want an agency that is more that that is a little less chaotic not chaotic

as you're not fighting for time. You're not fighting for time. Right you're not fighting for attention. Yeah yeah. Like Scott Boris has his laundry list of clients is extensive and this is not to insinuate that he doesn't pay attention he's got enough people on his staff right, they're layers and he's got enough of an infrastructure where everyone is going to feel attended to

and that their needs are met and that they feel like they matter but Scott Boris is one guy like he can only do so much and there are some players that prefer an agency where it's a little more, it's a little more condensed. It's like going to a big college to compare to a small school. Right, right. And there are, you know, I know players that, you know, for example, Aaron Judge, like,

you couldn't name Aaron Judge's agents because they're the same agents he's had since he was at Fresno State. Like, got him, got him way at the beginning of his career, and he's just stuck with him. Like, and a little thing that people, that fans, you saw it with Hunter Brown, but like, the amount of agent poaching that goes on in baseball is fascinating. And it is an extensive thing. And no agent can claim the high ground because they all do it. Like every single, I can't, I don't have it on authority,

but I mean, it's conventional wisdom that do you know how many times Scott Boris probably tried to poach Aaron Judge? Do you know how many times other agencies, whether it's Excel, whether it's CAA, guys that tried to get these guys, like, it happens all the time. And a lot of it is, you know, what do you prefer? As a player, what do you want? Do you want the Boris Corps who their reputation is, it perceives itself as being immaculate as far as getting you paid and doing what they ask? Or do you want an agency that you maybe can be more of the star?

because let's face it, if you go to Boris Corps, like there's a lot of good players on that roster already. And maybe if you're at a smaller agency, you can be their number one focus. And that's not to insinuate that Scott's clients or that Scott's people don't pay attention to his clients. There's just a ton of them. And you're going to have to not necessarily wait your turn,

but understand that right now on the top of Scott's mind is making sure his most high-profile client At this point, Alex Brugman gets his deal done. And let's also be fair, too, that, like, Scott Boris got, for example, Tyler O'Neill. Tyler O'Neill got a very nice deal from the Baltimore Royals. He's a Scott Boris client. They got that done before, I believe, before he got the Juan Soto deal done. So, like, it's not as if they just ignore you.

It's not as if you're just, like, cast to the side. You know, you can multitask, and like we said, Scott has a huge infrastructure of people that work for, of agents that work for him, of representatives that work for him. But, you know, I'm curious as to where, and again, I wasn't around for this, but I know the Beltron stuff way back when really soured some Astros, sowered some Astros fans toward him, but Absolutely. I mean, I really think you've got to stop viewing him as a, as a boogeyman. Like, he's not the boogeyman.

No, I think, I think Jose being under him has helped. McCullors being under him has helped but extension yeah 713-212-5-790 7-1-3-212-5-790 the rotten 5-5-7-90 the rotten 5-7-Rome coming up in the next segment more with channel Rome I'm Matt Thomas and we appreciate

listening to sports talk 790 7-1 3212 5-790 that's 7-1 3212 5-7-90 message here for uptown appliance repair If you've got a refrigerator that's not cooling properly, your ice maker's not producing ice. You've got your washer and dryer that's turning on and all every 15 minutes. That's what my own's going through. Then you got to call uptown appliance repair, and they're going to take wonderful care of you.

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Sub-zero refrigerators that aren't sub-zero. Get them fixed today with Uptown Appliance Repair. 281-758-9978. That's 281-758-9978 or online at Uptownappliancerepair.com. Back to Matt Thomas and Ross Villarreal. on Sports Talk 790. I know the questions are about Patrick. He worked out this week full, and we'll most likely end up playing. We'll just see how things worked out today.

All right, so there it is. No more debate. Patrick Mahomes will be the starting quarterback. Saturday afternoon on NBC and Peacock. Protect himself. protect his ankles and head with this Texans defense. Okay, you're, you're, don't incite. They're, well, Anderson's going to try to hurt him.

That's what, that's what defensive ends do. Right. Again, and I have no problem with it. Like, don't be, don't be dirty. Do it legally. But like, if he's going to go out there and he's going to play, like, you do what you got to do to win the game. And that's one of the things I've had to kind of discuss with Ross a little bit,

is that, you know, the offensive line is being maligned and it should be. But how many times in an NFL, game, do the quarterbacks go, man, I've just, I've had too much time to throw. Pressure is a part of it. And that's where CJ is going to have to develop in the next year of his progression of his career as a quarterback is when the pocket collapses, and it's in collapsing a lot more than it has, certainly last year, set your feet, be ready to be ahead and go. And I think some of the hesitation for him this year, some of the overthrowes is because he's not been able to have the full delivery that he had last year and that the seams

that he had, the lanes that he had are just not nearly as long or frankly there. He's seeing ghosts. He's seeing ghosts. And I think it's what happens to every NFL quarterback who gets hit a bunch in the first half of the season. You just can't erase that until you feel like you got a new group of guys in front of you. And it's not like he was, it's not like he was untouched last year. I mean, he missed, he missed what? Every quarterback gets touched.

Yeah. He missed two games last year. It's not like he went through his rookie year and was like Scott free and had zero pressure put on him. Like, I mean, he missed a couple games. He got hit him. around, but like this year, I guess because it was so drastic and so quick. Like, I mean, we knew after what, week three, we were like, oh, man, like they're going to struggle to protect him.

Right. And it just hasn't gotten any better. And look, I was, I was disappointed that Nick Casero did not make a move for some sort of offensive lineman, which, you know, you put on Twitter disappointed that didn't happen. And people were like, oh, you didn't know what the market was. I said, you know, the market was that there were people being traded all the time. I mean, the market is you keep your franchise player upright. Like, I don't care.

Like, if you, if there is even... If you've overpay, so what? If there is even a something that can make you a modicum better. If there's even a little bit of enhancement, you can... There wasn't a single tackle that was available by any team? I find that incredibly hard to believe. Right. And again, I'm...

The next offensive line I analyze will be the first. So I don't want to speak out a term, but it's just like... At that point, they had tried everything. By the trade deadline, they had, right, they had tried everything they had internally. And they knew at that point that this was probably not going to be a in-season fix. Like, it was going to have to wait until the off-season. But, again, you can't, I struggle to believe that there was not something out there that could have made them better. Let's go to Central Florida.

Talk to Sal. I don't want to get the screen set up here properly. Sal is, you may have to punch this up here. let's take a look. This is a great radio. Sal on 7. Honey. Hi, Sal. Hey, Matt. Welcome back. Thank you. And Chandler, you enjoy your work on MLB, especially liked it when you were on with Chris Russo.

Mad Dog's the best. Yeah, too bad they ran them off. But anyway. They didn't run him off. He ran off himself, I think. Did they not? I don't know. I think one of the shows he was on was part of MLB Network's restructuring, but I think he's still on there and involved a little bit. Yeah. Yeah.

As far as a comment on Mr. Bregman, I know it's always going to come down to money, but there are some things to be said about living in the Northeast. First of all, the cost of living. They have state income taxes and all of those places. And especially in New York, they play 162 one-game seasons. Every day is life and death. If Regman gets off to one of his slow starts like he did in Houston, it will not be peaceful for him wherever he goes with his family or wherever he goes with the press.

So, I mean, like I said, it's going to come down to money, but all those things should be taken into consideration, especially how friendly Houston has been to him during his whole career. I'll say this. Was last year, when they started 12 and 24 last year, and things were spiraling, and he was off to, of his many, many bad starts in his career, this was the worst. Was that not the same

thing last year? I mean, middle of May, we're thinking, this thing is like off the rails and like we were going, kind of going to the... I never heard the term buy and sell so much in May that I had heard in the previous seven years. Right. So, I guess what I'm saying is like, he is

used to that. Like, he just had that happen to him and he climbed out of it and had a very, very good last four months of the season. Now, as you mentioned, like, New York is not Houston. Like, everyone still loved, they were, they were criticizing how he was playing, but everyone still loved Alex Bregman here, even though he was off to a slow start. There are very few people that I think would embrace playing in New York more than Alex Bregman.

I think he's built for that. I think he just, I think he's honestly knowing Breg's a little bit, he's built for any city. He could be laid back California. He could be intense New York, Boston. he could be a heartland America, Kansas City, St. Louis, if you wanted to. His demeanor is going to play well in him now where he goes. And look, there are some people in the Astros Clubhouse that I would not say that about. He is not one of them. I think he is built to play, and he can play in big market, small market. I mean, you've seen him already.

Like, I mean, he's been getting booed vehemently for the last six years everywhere he goes. And it hasn't really impacted him. Yeah. I think he'd be fine in a big, I really do. I think he'd be completely fine in a big market. Sal, did you have a Texan comment? Yeah, yeah. We don't get too many of the Texans games unless they play the Florida teams,

and of course I've seen the last two. And honestly, when I lived in Houston years ago, I had season tickets for the Oilers. And with the penalties and the inopportune miscues that they have, sometimes they remind me of the Jerry Glanville Oilers. And I mean, I don't know how many people were around when that went on, but some of these guys, the things that they're doing, it's hard for me to remember plays where guys make these miscues

at the most inopportune time of a game. And a lot of these things can be prevented. And I don't think that I would never equate Ryan's with Glanville, but I don't know what's going on with the lack of concentration, or whatever they're doing. You know what? That was a... And thank you, Sal, for the phone call.

I can tell you, I lived through the Glanville days. That was an undisciplined football team. That had a renegade coach that tried to get too cute. Domingo Ryan's is a fundamentally sound football coach. I don't... There's nothing gimmicky about what he tries to put out there every week. I would not call this team disciplined, though. I think they do some stupid stuff.

Oh, yeah. The personal fouls, the offensive, the illegal formation, the fall starts, that's not, that's not disappointed. I looked last night to prep, I did show prep last night. God love you. Their top half of the league in penalty yards, their top half of, and look,

not every penalty is created equal. Like sometimes... Well, past interferences are subjective. Right. But of those, I should have looked more like how many are illegal formation. Well, Laramie Tensel has got like 10 false starts this year. Right, and is that on Domeco Ryans, or is that on

the highest paid left tackle in football? That, I think most of it goes to the the left tackle, but there's also got to be something that has going to be done in the film room that says what are you catching in here? That's why I'm scared in death about this week. If there's any team you want us fundamentally sound

discipline, a team as possible, going to a place like Kansas City, cold weather and presuming, and oh by the way, raucous crowd, that doesn't set itself up well for the Texas. And you know, a lot of the stuff in this when they were having their struggles in the second half of games,

like they weren't scoring offensive touchdowns, They weren't putting teams away. Part of that, a lot of their undoing was self-inflicted. It was penalties. It was boneheaded plays that weren't penalties that didn't get flagged, but just was stuff that you just knew that, like, a disciplined team doesn't do this. Yeah, the penalties have been way over the top this year. But that was, there's a difference between being disciplined and being a renegade.

And I thought that the older teams of those years, this is predating you, were renegades that were. trying to get too cute. 1.30 is our time. We're back with more phone calls and the Rotten 5. This is Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas. Ross Villarreal. It's the Matt Thomas show with Ross on Sports Talk 790. You are in for a treat, Connor,

because you're going to now have an opportunity for Chandler to listen to your Rotten 5. Ross is usually Ross's bit, but he's celebrating his 40th birthday today. 40 looks like he's 39 in New Orleans Benets by the way Cafe Dumont still enjoy

but I found just as good as places and throughout New Orleans Oh yeah I mean it's a tourist trap You can get Benets Anywhere

Just as good of Benets anywhere else Like a lot of other places in New Orleans I know What's the most New Orleans thing about you Do you turn your voice

On New Orleans accent like Gordie does When he gets to New Orleans I mean if I've had a few pops Then Yeah I've had a few pops and I mean I can I can I can get a little Cajun Can you imagine Connor can we have a Cajun off between Gordy and Chandler when that might be outstanding radio

That would be kind of funny Oh wait you play that New Orleans jazz in the background Okay God say it right New Orleans Nolins get him New Orleans have you clipped the wrong for tomorrow by the way No I'll have to go back and listen to this one part you're gonna spend you're not gonna go out with your girl tonight until you find a clip I'm forbidden. Forbidden.

All right. Ladies and gentlemen, it takes absolutely no ability to tell you the five best teams are in the NFL. It takes somebody special to tell you who the five worst are. We present to you, Connor McGovern's edition of The Rotten Five. They've gone bad. Hey, they draw flies. Ooh, it's Ross's Rotten Five. This don't smell quite right.

Except it's Connor's Rotten Five. I've answered the calls on social media. You're welcome. I've returned to the Rotten 5. The Patriots suffered their fourth straight loss against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday and sit at 3 to 11 on the season. The Patriots were averaging 12.4 points per game

through the first five games of the season. Since week six, when rookie quarterback Drake May took over the starting job from Jacoby Berset and a loss against the Texans, the Patriots are adding 19.5 points per game. A slight improvement, but the number three overall pick in last year's draft seems to be the only bright spot on this team.

The Patriots have the bills, the chargers, and then the bills again. Head coach Gerard Mayo is not doing well in New England during the post-Billichick era. The Patriots should just focus on whether they should draft an offensive lineman to protect Drake May or a receiver to catch passes from him this offseason. But right now, they are the fifth worst team in the NFL. Get rid for Kansas City. That's what I'm doing. No, Bill.

The Texans are getting ready for the Kansas City. You're coaching college football now in North Carolina. By the way, that makes me sick. He is such a fish out of water. He's this faux excitement for, coaching 18-year-olds, I don't buy it. Is no one looking at the contract and how this is going to work? His buyout drops to $1 million after next season.

Yeah, so it's basically a one-and-done. If North Carolina is competent this year, if they win eight games, some NFL team's going to hire. Absolutely. Or if he goes 2 and 10. No, no, no. I don't think it. If he, they have to go 8 and 4, 7 and 5, 8, and 4.

Because they were terrible this year. Like, go 7 and 5, 8, and 4, some NFL teams can hire. Make your prediction. What they're going to do next year? Not even knowing their schedule. North Carolina? Yeah. They have Max Johnson, who was former LSU quarterback, son of Brad Johnson. I'm going to say they go 7 and 5.

Is that a success? Probably so, right? For them, yeah. All right. Continue on. Every time I think about putting the Tennessee Titans on this list, I hesitate because I can't believe the Texans lost to them. But I have to do it. The Titans belong on this list following a 37 to 27-27 loss to the Bengals.

We saw a brief improvement from Will Levis, but he crashed hard on Sunday. throwing three interceptions, including a pick six, his fourth of the year. Mason Rudolph had to come in and more than double Levis's total yardage, but he also threw an interception in the red zone, killing any chance of a comeback. The Titans planned to start Rudolph against the Colts this Sunday, so the Will Love's experiment might be over. Matt Thomas Sports Enterprises is not happening.

Head coach Brian Callahan was hired for his acumen with the quarterback position, but that's not paying off. The Titans sit at 3 and 11. Their biggest bright spot is rookie defensive end Devandre's sweat. If the season ends today, the Titans would have the third overall pick, but the Texans don't mind if their AFC rivals continue to be bad. The Tennessee Titans are the fourth worst team in the NFL. It's like deja vu.

It's not twice in a row, shooting ourselves in the foot. So, Connor, how much longer can I be bullish on Will Levis? Or should I just give up? I think it's over. I'm going with Mason Rudolph. God. I don't know if there's any bouncing back. I was so proud when he was like he had that three touchdown game.

I was so happy for him. And ever since then, it's been disaster. Yeah, I'm sorry, Matt. I think it's over. But speaking of the AFC South, let's just say hi to the Jacksonville Jaguars. At least the Texans were able to beat them twice this season. But the Jaguars, without Trevor Lawrence, fell 32 to 25 to a bad New York Jets team. Mack Jones might have been walking around with a little bit more swagger,

trash talking players, hitting the spin move to pick up a first down. But losing to the Jets and throwing two deep ball interceptions in the process does not give you good aura, as the kids would say. Head coach Doug Pedersen might already be packing his bags because his time in Jacksonville is probably coming to a close. Trevor Lawrence hasn't been healthy for the past two seasons, so we'll just have to wait and see if he's good enough to lead the Jaguars to the playoffs. We just know what's not happening this season.

The Jaguars are 3 and 11 and are the third worst team in the NFL. You can't have a newcomer come in and steal a show. Oh, look at you stealing Ross's soundbites. I'm proud of you. Good for you. And yeah, Jaguars later, there's no show to steal. No matter who's starting at quarterback, the Las Vegas Raiders just keep finding ways to lose. their 15 and 9 defeats the Atlanta Falcons marked their 10th consecutive loss, giving them the longest losing streak in the NFL.

I wonder how many people turned off their TVs when an attempted trick play turned into a sack during their opening drive. The Desmond Ritter revenge game did not go as planned. On top of quarterback issues, Vegas is probably the worst, or no, it is the worst rushing team in the NFL. The Raiders tried to battle back in Sunday's game, but left yards and points on the field with self-inflicted mistakes. The only thing interested, interesting left about the Raiders is that Brock Bowers is closing in on Mike Dicka's 63-year-old record for rookie tight-end receiving yards. The Raiders could very well hold the first overall pick. We'll check back in in the offseason because right now the Raiders are the second worst team in the NFL. They're Raiders!

I don't know if things could be worse right now for the New York Giants. I mean, fans are making their voices heard as another plane circled MetLife Stadium hours before Sunday's 35 to 14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens with a banner reading, Mr. Mara, enough, we won't stop until you fire everyone. Mr. Mara being the Giants co-owner. The same thing happened the week prior before the 14-to-olem loss to the New Orleans Saints with a plain sign reading, Mr. Mara, enough. Please fix this dumpster fire. The Giants have lost nine straight games and are one more MetLife Stadium defeat away

from the NFL's first 0-9 home record. The Giants and the Raiders are in a race for the bottom, battling it out for the number one pick. Good news for Giants fans, they have a tougher schedule. so some more losses are coming your way, especially with a quarterback carousel going on. I mean, Daniel Jones is gone. Tommy DeVito was knocked out of Sunday's game with a concussion.

Mizzou legend Drew Locke is walking around with a walking boot. So I guess the fate of the Giants' hands is in the, the fate of the Giants is in the hands of Tim Boyle, who was on the Texans preseason squad. The Giants need a quarterback that can feed rookie receiver Malik Neighbors. I think a new coaching staff in front offices coming. The New York Giants are the absolute worst team in. the NFL.

He sucks. I mean, he doesn't like normal suck. He's super sucks. And that's your own five. Look at you with this, all this production value. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. Who's your NFL team? You're Saints guy?

I don't really, I do fantasy, so I just kind of follow players. I made it a point. I was not a Saints fan growing up because Aaron Brooks was a quarterback when I was growing up. And then they got Drew Brees, like right when I got in high school and I said, I'm not going to be a bandwagner. I said, I haven't been a fan my whole life.

I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon now. I like to see them doing well, because I have a lot of friends and family that are Saints fans, but it does not emotionally affect me one way or the other if they want to lose. What emotionally affects you? We should do a separate podcast. What makes a Chandler tick? That's too long.

You get a lot of issues, don't you? That's too long of a diatribe to go on. Okay, well, we'll save it for a podcast. All right, up next, how well do you know Rome's? Chandler Rome? There is a Jim Rome question on there. And Rome, Italy. All of that coming up today, unbelievable or not.

What are you playing for, Connor? What's in the prize vault today? We got a pair of tickets to see TOTES. We also got a pair of tickets to see sticks with some special guests, including members of ARO Speedwagon and the Eagles. The Eagles? I saw the Eagles in Vegas last week. Don Felder, formerly of the Eagles.

Yeah, it doesn't count. It sounds like a 55-year-old white man's dream. Me? Or that band? That ticket. That entire package. package sticks, REO Speedwagon and the E. I like REO Speedwagon.

I'm not a sticks fan. They're fine. Yeah. You know, everyone in their songs sounds the same. If I get a free ticket, I'd go. You want to go see the Toadies? The who?

The Toadies. I don't know they're out of here. I'm good. All right, believe it or not, all things in there are some channel and wrong questions in there, so be ready for that. If you want to play 713-212-5-790,

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And when you get there, whether it's the app or the website, Underdog Fantasy.com, and I want you use the promo code SportsMT. That gets the ball rolling, sports MT. They can give you a free pick. They're going to give you adjusted projections so you can have a better chance of winning, and they're going to give you a profit boost as well. There's lots of different options for you to choose from. It's an easy to navigate website. In fact, you can win up to 1,000 times your money just by choosing a higher or lower. And also, they have an underdog double flex option.

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and use that promo code SportsMT. Good news. It's the Matt Thomas Show for lunch. Let that boring brown bag lunch rot in the employee refrigerator. Oh, what's that smell? The Matt Thomas Show on. Sports Talk 790. All right.

Before I let you run, Chandler, what are you going to be doing in the next week or so? Staring at your phone, seeing what a certain third basement does? Two certain third baseman. Who knows? That's right. That's right. We have both Aaron Otto and Bray. I mean, I don't know.

I'm going to drive back to Louisiana on Monday to enjoy the holidays. But before then, I will text people that won't text me back. And that's half of reporting. I always text you back. Yeah, but do you have information as to where... No. As to what the Asher's are going to do next? No.

Okay. But I just want to text you anyway. By the way, you're my group of five excellent texters. Really? Yeah. Ross is not in the group of five, terrible. He is awful. I respect a good texter.

My rule should be if you don't text me back within two hours, your phone gets locked until you return my text. I mean, look, there's some time, like, I was at the winter meetings last week, and, like, I had friends text me during the winter meetings that I still haven't gotten back to. but that's part of like you're just working all day. Right. But like if I'm not at the winter, if I'm not like working or at a game, like at least two hours is like the maximum. Thank you.

Yeah. Bless you. Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do? We should play America's fastest growing sports radio game show. We simply call it believe it or not. If here's how it works. You call 713-212-5-790.

7-13-212-5-790. Today's topic, all things about Rome. I'll read your statement about Rome, variety of Rome. Statements completely utterly accurate. You'll say this. Believe it. If the statement's erroneous full of bunk and made up, you'll say this.

Not. Two, believe it or not, some things about Rome's, when you're playing for today. A pair of tickets to see Toadies live, December 29th at the House of Blues. A pair of tickets to see sticks with Kevin Cronin, Vario Speedwacken, and Don Felder, formerly of the Eagles on the Brotherhood of Rock Tour on June 6 at the Willans Pavilion and some 790 T-shirts.

Let's play, believe it or not. Let's go to Jimmy on 790. Jimmy, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Yes. Jimmy, the metro population of Rome, Italy, is 4.4 million. Believe it or not? Not. Yeah, it is.

I may not have that right available to you. Duh. John in downtown, John, in 790, what was your fair part of today's radio show? I just got back shopping. Yeah, fair enough. The number of miles from Houston to Rome is approximately 5,000, 790. Believe it or not. Not.

It is also true. Man, this is a quick Wikipedia check on that one. Patrick on 7.90, you ready to play Believe it or not? Believe it. Patrick, when someone gets sideways with Channel Rome on Twitter, his favorite response is Cry Kid. Believe it or not? Believe it. Oh, my God. This is awful.

That's Brian McTaggart. I would never bit steal Brian McTaggart. But you'd bit steal, though. Never Brian McTaggartag. Okay, fair enough. 713-212-790. Two lines are available if you want to get in. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90.

Paul on 7-90, ready to play, believe it or not? Yeah, I've got to break this bad chain. Chandler is a Swifty. Believe it or not? Well, believe it or not, I heard that. The answer is, I believe it. There you go. So happy for you.

Statement number two for the win. Chandler was a member of the Sigma New Fraternity while at LSU. Believe it or not. Oh, I didn't hear that. but I'll say believe it. There you go. Congratulations. This week ends.

I think you don't come across the Frank guy. Really? Everyone says the complete opposite. That's because I'm trying to think of you differently than others. Yeah, everyone says the complete opposite. No one is surprised when I tell them I was in a fraternity. Did you go for multiple fraternies or just so you're a Sigma New guy from the start? I mean, you don't pledge multiple ones.

That's the one I pledged. They just loved you. Yeah, that's the one I pledged. All right. Ruben on 790. Rubin, you're ready to play? believe it or not. You know it.

Ruben Chandler's favorite visiting MLB Stadium is Dodger Stadium. Believe it or not. I'm going to go with Believe it. No, he likes 18 Park in San Francisco. That guy was upset. All right, we've got nobody else to play.

713, 2,12. I got three more questions here. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. There's one I really want to get on here and this one. Waiting for the next person to call in. Come on now. This sucks.

We're on a delay here. Let me tell you about quality home products of Texas where we wait for the people to come in. 713212.5.790. QualitytX.com is a great website you can go to to find out more information about getting yourself a quality, generic standby generator from quality home products of Texas. 77,000 satisfied customers, 14,000 five-star reviews. Financing options are available. all to you by going to 713 quality and getting that standby generator from quality home products at Texas. That's 713 quality, quality parts, quality life, quality lifestyle, all from quality home products of Texas at 713 quality.

Andy on 790, you ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Jim Rome's Midday show was pulled off a competitor's radio station because of the sustained success of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Believe it or not? Not. Believe it. That kind of hurts. That's a stab to the heart.

That hurts. Neil on 790, ready to play, believe it or not? Yep. There is a Rome, Texas. It's spelled R-H-O-M-E. Believe it or not? Not. Believe it.

What a disaster this has been. Nick on 7-90, ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Rome's U.S. sister city is Chicago. Believe it or not? Believe it. No, there's no sister city. Let's get out of here.

Up next, Adam Wexler and friends. It's the A team. Talk to you tomorrow. We'll wake the strippers up at noon. So it starts at 10 o'clock with Wex and me for Rockets at 7 on 790.