The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Astros Finalizing Deal With Christian Walker, Do We Say Farewell To Bregman? Texans Take On Chiefs

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Matt Thomas of "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross," Ryan Hollins, former NBA center and Space City Home Network commentator, and Chris Gordy react to breaking news that the Houston Astros and free-agent first baseman Christian Walker are in serious talks and are progressing towards a deal. The Astros' failed pursuit of Nolan Arenado led to a pivot to Christian Walker, which would leave newly acquired Isaac Paredes at third base and most likely shut the door on a reunion with Alex Bregman. Matt, Ryan and Chris also:discuss reports that the Astros are no longer listening to trades concerning Framber Valdezrecap the Rockets defeating the Pelicans 133-113talk with Soren Petro of Sportsradio 810 in Kansas City about the Chiefs hosting the Texanspreview the first round of the college football playoffhave Dr. Roto cure their fantasy football ailments and more on this "Anything Goes Friday."

Launch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. 1002 and H-Town. Good morning. And welcome to a Friday edition of the Matt Thomas show at Ross. This is Sports Talk 790. 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, boom, clip that. I do not shoot the video from in front of me and nothing on my chest do jiggles. in that manner. So it's not a, it's not a proprietary issue. I don't think your views are as high.

Strong hands. Is it going to last eight seconds? I would think that probably so. And then the question is, can you last eight seconds? Do you think some teams go through more adversity than others? Yeah, absolutely. No. What?

You don't have to worry about constantly kissing 17-year-old's ass to tell them how how great they are. I don't remember what the D is for. Oh, she does. Dollice. I bet you're going somewhere else. I know you thought, but you know what? Give me a little credit once in a while.

I'm glad you cleared that up for us all. It is a Friday edition of The Matt Tava Show with Ross. Connor McGovern producing our Friday Open. It is unbelievable for usual. And I'm really happy to have my buddy with me. The television radio analyst for your Houston Rockets on Space City. Also a man that worked with me the last two games on the University of Houston games on ESPN Plus, the one, the only that Ryan Holland's with us today.

Rino! What's up, dude? What's up? I'm good. How are you? I'm great, Matt. I mean, I was panicking in a real tizzy. I know.

About less than three minutes ago. I didn't realize I had no Wi-Fi. I'm connected now. We're good. You sound great. You're in the Sienna Studios of Sports Talk 790. Oh, gosh. We should explain that Ryan used my equipment one time to do his show when he was on the road

because he does some work on Fox Sports. where it's radio on the weekends and the off season, of course, we carry it here. You're number one on Sunday mornings during the off season in Houston, Texas, by the way. Congratulations. That's pretty sweet, that's pretty sweet, Matt. And so you said, I'm going to buy one by a unit, and you're able to do that. So you do this radio freelancing once in a while. I thought, you know what?

Hang out with me for a couple hours. Ross is in New Orleans enjoying his 40th birthday weekend, and you and me are going to hang out and talk about a variety of things, including a deep dive into tonight's Indiana and under day and football game. Is that right? No, probably not. I mean, we could get into it, but just a little bit. Just a little bit.

We could touch on it. Have you seen it, though? It is snowing like a muddha in South Bend right now. Hey man, that's why it's nice to be in Houston. And you know, Matt, like we'll travel somewhere on the East Coast. We got our jackets on our hoodies and everything. You're freezing.

You come off that plane. In Houston, you're like, wow, this is beautiful. This is unbelievable. And I think it's just one of those unique experiences, right? You come home and you're like, this is nice. Wow. I will never, and people get mad about me when I say this.

I live in Minneapolis for three years where I covered the wolves, and you remember them, you used to play for them. Oh, wow. We're doing that this early into the show. Go ahead and explain why I said that. And he said it just like that. He goes, you remember playing in Minneapolis because, let me throw it back to you, Matt. Do you remember me playing in Minneapolis at the exact same time that you were there covering sports?

No, I don't, and I'm sorry for that. I really apologize. So, hey, so he's like, so folks, he's like, Ryan says to me, he says, when were you in Minneapolis? I was in Minneapolis between 2007 and 2009. He goes, I was there too. Oh, you were? I was like, oh, man, I covered you all the time.

You were great. Yeah. Did I sell it well enough or no? Did that that great? Not great. Oh, so the point being is this. When I moved back to Houston in 2010, I told my wife and my family, I told my friends on this radio station that I was never going to bitch about how

hot it would be. Whether it's 107 degrees in the summertime, whether it's 91 in October, whether it's like it's been the last few weeks here, you'll never, ever hear me complain because the weather in Minneapolis, and by the way, they're getting like eight inches of snow today, closing down freeways,

closing down streets, closing on the airports, you never have to shovel rain. You never have to put on layers of clothes. You have to take clothes off when it's super warm, but like we're going to Toronto tomorrow, and you know what the forecast is in Toronto? know what's the forecast it's like 18 degrees going to be up there oh hello that's what i'm saying

that's what i'm saying all right so ryan is a basketball guru as you clearly can hear on when you listen to the broadcast how'd your broadcast go last on in the old space city we had we had some time to kill because the game was frankly a blowout from almost a jump right yeah well okay so did you did you Craig i'm sorry everybody heard it here's i'm going to out you Craig yeah out Without him, Craig, because I didn't, you know, look, as much as I love all of you, and you guys are family to me, I don't go home and listen and rewatch the game I just called. So that's just, so whatever it is, I don't know. I'm going to pretend like you didn't say that, Matt. I'm sorry.

I'm going to, so we're in the broadcast, right? And Craig goes, man, I got this great bull riding story. Look, oh, man, bull riding story. This, on the Bradcras, Matt, this is not like us, you know, eating before the game or on the plane or talking. and he goes, I get this great bull writing story. Man, cool, Craig. Let's go. We want to hear your bull writing story.

And he goes through this whole story. He's in college, and everybody on the broadcast heard it, so I don't mind sharing last night. And then he goes out of nowhere, and he says, yeah, my buddy told me to get on the bull, and I didn't get on the bull. And we go, hold on. Hold on, Craig. You told this entire story about you writing a bull and this bull-riding thing being at your college and your glory days. and you didn't ride the bull. Are you kidding me, Craig?

So yeah, Craig's been in the doghouse, and then on Twitter, people were recommending bull riding places for Craig to go, and he asked me if I'd say, yeah, I'd write a bull. Like, why not? And so now Craig's got to kind of make up for a lost time and write a bull.

No, wait a minute. You're talking about a mechanical bull or a real bull? And that's part of the worst part of his story also. Because he also said that he goes bull riding, story. And we're thinking, wow, okay, you know, most interesting man on the planet. We didn't know that you wrote a real bull, Craig.

Then he goes, mechanical bull, so it gets worse. Then on top of that, yes, he didn't even ride the mechanical bull. Now, I would never ride a real bull, but I would run a mechanical bull for the bit. Sure, I would. You would. You would. So, hey, hold on, hold on. So you're telling, and Vanessa's in on it, too. And Vanessa, apparently, in her college days, Vanessa,

this was on the broadcast, so I'll say it again. Yeah. She wrote a bull and I said hey did you do it on a margarita Monday right so we had a little bit of fun okay so Vanessa's been on a bowl Craig has not been on a bowl and you've not been on a bull is this accurate so I would pencil you know what college girls do crazy stuff so yeah I'd go ahead I would make her the favorite if I was to think I had to guess which one of you would write a mechanical bowl that's fair okay so hold of that you have you ever seen the movie urban cowboy by the way I have not.

You have got to see it. It's about an old bar here in Pasadena called Gillies. It was a legendary bar where Cissy Space, not Cissy Spac. John Travolta and Deborah Winger were this couple, and it revolved around Gillies in a mechanical bowl. It's one of the all-time classic country western movies that featured that made John Travolta beyond Saturday Night Fever a superstar. I'm going to have you watch it. It's about the mechanical bowl for two hours. It's hysterical.

Now, can I get the clarity again? Yes. If we find a mechanical bull place, can we pencil Matt Thomas? Yes. Now, Matt Thomas. There's no chance I'm making it eight seconds, by the way. No chance. My recommendation is that you work on your upper body strength.

I don't think anybody wants to see you flipped off this mechanical bull. There's no chance I stay on it. Okay. You're a good sport. You're a good sport. I will do it. All right. Listen to me, ladies gentlemen.

This, by the way, and you don't know this, Ryan, because I know you listen to the show all the time, but today is Friday, which is an anything goes Friday. And anything goes means that means anybody can call in at 713-212-5-7-90 and get in anything they want to. It can be about sports. It can be about life. It can be about basketball. It can be about the Texans game against Kansas City. It can be about the free kick that we saw on last night's game between Denver and the L.A. Chargers.

It can be about, I don't know, favorite places to eat stir fry in this town. I mean, there's a Habachi. I mean, all sorts of things on anything goes Friday. So I just won't let you know that when people call in it may not be a breakdown of why aren't more teams running zone in the NBA. I'm just throwing that out at you. So just be ready for anything. Okay. I'm in.

You like it. I love it. All right. That's good. But when you say anything goes, I'm a little scared. I'll be honest. Oh, you have to be. Because, again, you're not going to be prepared for some things.

Texans and the Chiefs coming up on Saturday. It's really weird. noon Saturday. Now, not that the college NFL football doesn't get played on Saturdays when they're. the college football regular season is over with. But we do have playoff games. And I think I like playoff games in college football. I think I like the 12th team.

But I'll be honest with you. I don't expect Indiana to play. I mean, they had one opportunity this year to be competitive against Ohio State and they got beat up. I don't think SMU is going to have a real fun time playing in the cold weather and state college against Notre Dame. Excuse me against Penn State. I think the Texas Longhorn. should dispose of a Clemson team, but we'll get into all that. We've got the Texans to get to.

We've got the rockets from last night. It is literally, and anything goes Friday here. On the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ross is off. Our buddy Ryan Hollins is in until noon. Coming up at noon today, we'll have the stripper introduction. We'll have the news at noon. We'll also have Dr. Roto for this at 1 o'clock today.

And we're going to go to Soren Petro, a sports radio host in Kansas City. He's going to join us at 1230 for a perspective on the Chiefs. Plus, we have Hell, yeah, or not at 150. 713-212. 570.719. 713. 212.5790 with the word for set these fine jewelry. The amazing folks at Sethi's fine jewelry want you

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also have bracelets, necklaces, anything diamond. You want to get it 40% off. It's going to happen right now in the Tisha, my friends over at Sethi's fine jewelry. They're located on Voss Road between San Felipe and Westheimer. In that same location for many, many years, Sethi's has taken care of Houstonian's needs for the best jewelry. So if you've got a girlfriend or a wife or a daughter or a grandmother or an aunt or your mother

who deserves something better than a sweater, get her the gift of diamonds at Sethi's fine jewelry. That's Sethi's fine jewelry, Voss Road between San Felipe and Westheimer, 40% off during their holiday sale at Sethis. More Matt Thomas Show. With Ross. Now on Sports Talk 790. Goes up against Shangoon. Comes up short.

Ball tapped up. Here comes Dylan Brooks at a three-on-two. Right side of Jabari. Alley out. And a two-hand finish for Jaylorid. Timeout, New Orleans. It is all Rocketeer the third. 1021.

It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Our buddy Ryan Holland is going to hang out with this until noon today. We're going to get a lot of football towards the back half of the show. A little basketball, especially with us here today. We also want to get into the Texans and a couple of reports on baseball-wise about Alex Brugman,

probably not making his decision about where he wants to play until after the Christmas holidays. These are things we will discuss throughout the course of the next four hours. And anything that goes Friday here on Sports Talk 790. If you want to jump into the conversation, you may do so. At 713-212-5-790,

7-13-212-5-7-90. Ryan, quick impressions about what thought last night. New Orleans was beat up. Rockets took advantage of it and Jalen Green was spectacular. All five starters, in fact, scored in double figures. My biggest concern with the team is the offense, Matt.

And you've got to be ecstatic anytime the rockets hit shots. Now, we've seen this through this rockets, you know, their time, they have those games where they can't miss. And the challenge for Houston moving forward is consistency with the outside shot.

You know the rim is there. You know Shingoon can post up. Obviously, guys don't mind getting in the paint, getting nasty. The offense rebounds are excellent. But at the end of the day, if the three ball is going, now you're talking about Houston competing with the league's best. And generating

those shots is even more important than hitting them because percentages weigh out. If you keep getting good looks, they're going to go down. The Rockets have struggled in times to get good looks. Stay with those good looks. Yeah. Attract the defense. It's a group that's going to have a shot, Matt. They are still the number three spot in the Western Conference.

It did not gain ground on Memphis last night because Memphis would Golden State by 51 points? Did I lose track of that? That I added and subtracted properly? Yeah, yeah. No, no. You're right on point with that. Fifty-one, Ryan?

I mean, did Golden State even bother showing up in the arena? The answer is no. Okay, man, tell me if, am I alone when I think of this? That game against Golden State was, It was epic. Best records is in game in five years in Houston. By far, by far, no question, right? Yeah.

Do you get frustrated with the sense that Golden State goes out and lays these eggs, but they just play championship-level basketball against our guys? Like, they're just locked in and ready to go. And I get the feel like, this is personal. Like, where are this personal street? Because they're going to lay at 51 points. Like, come on, dude. It's disrespectful.

So I'm happy that Rockets won, but I'm just like, be the Golden State that you all. are against the Rockets against everybody else. You know, it's funny to me because people always want to ask me, who do you hate losing to in life? Like people, there's a Dallas-Huston hatred. There is a, you know, if you're a baseball fan of the Astros, you're supposed to hate the Yankees, you're supposed to hate the Rangers.

And I'm not fans of those teams, but it doesn't pain me because all losses to me, I think, are supposed to be created equal in my life. Except when I'm calling Golden State games, because up until that point, where the Rockets won them in that lockout game, they had lost 15 consecutive. games. And the thing that hurts me so much about watching the Rockets lose to Golden State is they do it basically the same way every single time. It's this Steph Curry, either he scores 17 in the fourth quarter, or he hits some incredible bank shot from 29 feet, or he goes to drive the lane and he closes his eyes, flips the ball up high in the air, hits the roof of the building, and it

drops down. They've always figured out these sick, cruel ways to beat the rockets. And that's why I think I took actually too much pleasure in beating them because A, the streak was over with, but B, I really don't like the Warriors. I'm just not because I don't appreciate what Steph does and what Dremont has done and when Clay was there. I just was sick and tired of losing to them. I wanted some sort of satisfaction against Colonna Rockets Warrior game, and it took me basically four years for that to happen.

No, and honestly, you said it right. Give Steph his credit, but it's that they get the Big Brother victories. And the Big Brother victories are, you know, or the Dad victories. I don't want to say Dad Victory. I don't want to go there. You did. But you know what I'm talking about, Matt, where you go into the backyard, right? You're playing against your little brother, and he's getting evades.

And he's bigger, bigger than you, stronger than you, faster than you. But guess what? As the Big Brother, you know you've got that mental edge. You know, at its game point, you're just going to back him all the way underneath the rim and put the ball in the hole. You know, even though, you know, little brother is probably physically better than you. And then a few more times of winning, and you never play him again for the rest of his life. But that's kind of, with all due respect, that was a similar edge that at the end of the day, you felt like Golden State had. So it did, maybe it was a close game.

Maybe you can say, why would they make that call at the end of the game? But from a mental standpoint, oh, yeah, they're not that good. Our guys can beat them. and hey, how about they chill out with all the, you know, their extra shenanigans in the game. And I think that it just builds momentum. But I'm telling you, man, in sports, there's a real mental thing going on with some of these teams. And I do believe that that was there in that matchup. And I think we're seeing it a little bit in the NFL right now.

I mean, look at the way Kansas City, Ryan, has won all those games. It's like, we've done everything we can for 58.5 minutes of football. and they do something incredible in the final 90 seconds and escape with these victories. I don't know if it should be if you're flabbergasted or you show a sign of appreciation that Casey has won all these one-score games over the last two months. Over half their games, if not more, right, have been just the Big Brother wins. And I think that, you know, this weekend coming up in this matchup, if you are the Texans, the first thing you got, no Big Brother wins.

No Big Brother. You're not just, we're not going to fold at the last second. There's not going to be the phantom fumble, like no big brother wins. A block field goal or the crossbar and wins a game or the upright. I mean, yeah. I think you want to, you don't want it to be, and if the Texans win this game, you do not want it to be a three or four point game with five minutes left ago because for some reason, somehow, some way,

Kansas City's been able to win those games. We'll get to more on that. Strange thing happened in the NFL last night. Jack and Montrose, wants to ask about Jalen Green's defense. That's all coming up between now and 2 o'clock. Ryan's with us until 12 noon. We'll get into Dr. Roto with his fantasy football at 1 o'clock.

We'll talk with a member of the KC media team at 1230. But right now it's you, me, it's Ryan. It's 713212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. I want to tell you if you're concerned about your testosterone levels, game day men's health is what you need to be focused on and getting to their website. day, men's health.com

slash Houston. Trust me, this is not an easy conversation for me to have to you, especially if you are worried about your testosterone levels, if your libido is bad, if you've been tired and cranky and not sleeping well and not being able to work out, or at least go on walks and not feel like you're totally fatigued.

Please do me a favor. I know a lot of you are in that 40 plus group. Nothing wrong with getting your T levels checked. Game Day, men'shealth.com slash Houston. They've been successful nationally. They're now with eight locations in the Houston area. Please go see the one nearest you. They're literally all over town with more coming in 2025. Get a free T-level assessment. It won't

cost you a thing. And if your T-levels are low, you can start treatment there with a licensed provider. Game Day, men's health.com. And with any TRT treatment, you will be receiving a free vitamin boost as well. That's from Game Day Men's Health and Game Day, men's health.com slash Houston. 1032 on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ross is off for a couple days. We'll be back with me on Tuesday. We'll be with you Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday of next week with live shows 10 o'clock until 2. Ryan Hollins

from our friends at Space City and the Rockets TV network with us here on the program. And we've got a phone call to talk about a little rockets. If you want to get in anything and Ryan's well-versed in just about every sport because he is a sports fan through it through. And of course, you hear him on the weekends here on Fox Sports Radio during the off-season.

7-13-2-1-2-790. 7-1-3-2-1-2-1-2-1-1-2, 790. Jack is in Montrose. Jack, thanks for waiting. Good morning. Good morning, guys. I was just giving you a quick call to really find out it seems like Jalen Green has been way more engaged in the defensive end of the court as of lately. I know he had all the points last night, but I just want to hear from Ryan on maybe why that is. May you're spot on. Jalen wants to win. You know, he's kind of shown that he can score 40 points in the end. NBA, you know, he can play with the league's best, but this is a group that hadn't won. And for Jalen, he's trying to find his way.

And I think the most important thing to me that I've seen from him mentality-wise is not just that he's trying hard and his best defensively and he's being much more physical than we've seen him be in the past. But when somebody else is rolling or somebody's having a good game, go watch Jalen Green, man. he's celebrating his guys, he's cheering. I feel like he's truly given himself to this team, and the team's going to need his scoring.

But yes, defensively, he's saying, man, I don't want to be that guy that doesn't fit in. And for a while, you know, you'd see like a guy like Jason Tate, Matt, and correct me if I'm wrong. Jay Chant Tate would be diving on the floor, hustling doing all these things, and it's like, well, Jay Sean just playing super hard. He's the only guy out there doing that. And now you've got a whole group of rockets that are playing hard.

So if you're that odd man out, you don't want to be that. So Jalen Green, I want to see Tari Easton and the men and Dillon and all these guys and Fred working hard defensively and then him not doing the same. So that's why you're, you know, a large part of reason, and he may do Oduca obviously, while you're seeing Jaylon Green work his tail off defensively now, man, the effort has really been there. So heads off to you for applauding that and seeing those efforts. Yeah, no, when he was in the game against, I think it was Golden State and it was

Chari and Amin and Jabari and Dylan and they left Jaylen in the game and the Rockets went on a little bit of a run like everyone was seeing it so it's just interesting to see that E. May's given him a little bit of leeway on the defensive side. Well, here's the thing is E. May can forgive a miss shot

he can forgive maybe even a turnover. He ain't going to forgive is defensive assignment miss you know and and that's why you have to appreciate e-may and you know these guys are you know like welcoming the call so hats off to e-may but it that is that is a large part of the rocket success and right now does this team need to score more yeah yeah we're no one is going to deny that but defensively those are the things that are changing houston right now let me ask you yeah let me ask you this because i you know i've been calling NBA games be my, this is my ninth year. And

forgetting about Houston coaches, just coaches in general. It's a players league, Ryan, and you were a part of that players league. When a player checked out on a coach, the coach was looking for work somewhere else. And he may's in his only his third year as an NBA coach. He's not that far removed

from being a player, second year in Houston. I have never seen a coach, and I shouldn't say never. Very few coaches can call out a player and that player and go, you know what, you're right, my bad. How is EMA allowed,

not allowed, but how does EMA effectively get away with being very hard on players when a lot of coaches are on the league if they were to do that, the players would check out. Well, for one, you hit it. Beyond Raffel, Tillman and family have

putting their stamp on EMA and said he's our guy, we trust in you, you know, you have, you know, a full piece of whatever you need to do to get this done. And hey, man, he's had the green light to bench Al P. We'll speak on it. To bench Jalen.

Okay. And when you do that, of course, the agent's probably frustrated. And I'm not speaking from any personal experience. I'm speaking from my experiences. Agents probably frustrated. Players frustrated because you're kind of fighting against, man. I've been able to kind of do my thing. This has been a different style of playing.

I'm speaking from my experience, not from anything I know in the locker room, anything I'm throwing out. But now when you go and then you kind of binds that he's saying, well, man, if I don't play defense, I'm not going to play. If I don't do this, I'm not going to play. If I don't rebound, I'm not going to play. You're going to see guys buy in and they have.

So, Matt, you're hitting it right on the head. But there's that, you know, we've seen it, Matt, there's that ugly baby stage with the patches in the hair and the blitzches all over and the big teeth. You know what I'm saying? You go, oh, that's an ugly baby. And you see, oh, man, that's a beautiful baby. that and we're getting out of that ugly baby stage we'll all do respect don't take my words out of context but that's uh that's really what we're seeing all right well that's that seems fair uh but i again

there are timeouts that he'll call that he will run to the middle of the court and make sure he finds the identifies whether it's a man whether it's alpi whether it's jail i mean nobody is can can avoid the stare down of ima adoka after a defensive lapse oh yeah no no no and here's the thing about e-may too when things are rolling right like if we've seen our guys get into scuffles get into it like e-mate's right in the middle of it like like we've seen dylan gets a deck he may get a tech right behind like you know and and even too this is the thing you may not like it but you got to respect it watch e-mate man all all probably six eight two trying to whatever of them when one of our guys comes to the sideline or something happens he puts his

watch and put his arm around those guys and as a as a player you got to respect that when you make a mistake or you do something, well, he's telling you, like, you didn't work on defense. Or like, hey, you're not making a shot. Like, he's, I need you to do X, Y, and Z. He's telling you those things, so you have to respect what he's saying,

and then you're not in the dark. You don't got to hear from the front office or from your agent. Media. Somebody, yeah. Oh, he's not playing because it is. No, you ain't playing because you ain't doing this, this and this.

And you're hearing it straight from email because so many times I'm not going to call out any coaches. Coaches say, oh, you got to, to find out somewhere else. Why are you not playing? What's going on? Or, you know, oh, you know, there's just no, with all due respect, I'll just say like there's no funny business, Matt. And that's why Houston's

having the success, success that they're having. Yeah, I'm such respect for the way he runs his basketball team. It's refreshing and the results are, you know, winning 67% of the game so far. It's been spectacular. All right, more on basketball throughout the next couple hours, is Ryan's with us still noon. But something happened last night, and we're going to play the audio right now for you.

of something you don't see in the NFL these days. It was the final, well, it was the second to final play of the first half. You had San Diego trying to catch a punt to end the first half. The man who was trying to catch a punt was interfered with a 15-yard interference call against a kick coverage team that allowed this to happen. Terry, what are you seeing here? It is fair catch interference, and it's a 15-yard penalty. We'll get an untimmed down.

and L.A. will have two options. They can either snap the ball or they can do a free kick for a field goal, which we haven't seen in forever. Crazy things are going to happen here. This is within his distance. I mean, he's as long as 59, especially in a free kick situation. Can he bang it through? On its way, it is, yep.

Made history tonight. Yes. Imagine Ryan, if you and I went to, to say like Russia and we were to try to teach a group of young adults the game of football. How would you explain what the hell that was in the first half

last night? You wouldn't. You'd say just forget about what just happened and forget about what just happened. We'll focus on seven points as a touchdown. Isn't it? It was cool but it was really ridiculously

odd how that penalty comes into play. As long as there wasn't another play happening and a penalty like that, you get a free kick. Now, you can't use a T. You don't set it up like a regular field goal. You do have a holder that has his index finger on the football. But what a bizarre, interesting, fun, and people seem to like it on social media in the first half of that game. And I want to help him the charges eventually win that second half and win the football game. Yeah, no, it was a huge play. I think you got to think twice before you interfere with the fair catch. I'm sure the defender did not know the rule when he did it.

But how good is Jim Harbaugh, dude? I'm saying, like, Jim Harbaugh's unbelievable. The Chargers is making over the hump, man. But isn't that saying, isn't that his special team's guide? He's got to know that. And obviously, you got to give him his kudos, his props for knowing that rule, because look, I've been watching football since I was, you know, five, six years old. I've never seen that ever end of half like that.

I'd be surprised if anybody on Denver do that. that that's probably one of those and I'm not mad at them for not doing it right and like like I'd be surprised that somebody on Denver knew what had happened at the moment and you'll know now um that I have my opinion do you think that's good for the game like you said it just looked weird like was that was that good for the NFL I don't think I'm going to let one play decide what is good and what is not good for a league it was just so... No, no, no.

Was that play good for the... Like, the optics. If I'm a fan and I paid my money and I'm a Denver Broncos, I'm just a fan of football, right? Was that good for the NFL? I'm going to say it wasn't bad because, again,

if you have an untimed down and a penalty cannot end a half like that, why don't you give an opportunity for them either to go for a Hail Mary or try to get points? And obviously Cameron Dicker, who is a University of Texas guy, has got a big foot.

he had no line to go over it's not how I would draw it up but I wouldn't say it necessarily hurt the sport last night this is weird that's all if you are a Broncos fan you'd feel oh you're like what are they doing out there this can't be true this can't be happening and it did I listen

I think it is what it is at this point you should have paid attention to whatever the ruleback is and it's silly to interfere on a fair catch in our reality I don't think it's good for game. And then the charges end up winning the game. And you look back, it was definitely a pivotal play. So you want basically nothing fluky. You want no one-time rule that is used once every 30 years determining whether or not a team scores points or not. As an athlete, you want zero fluke. You don't even want the semblance of fluke. Yeah. No, not even close. So it would be better if

you, if they would have, if Herbert would have come out, try to hail Mary to get some points as compared to letting Cameron Dicker try for the three. I don't know. I can kind of see it both ways. I'm just telling you it doesn't happen. I mean, it's never happened in a game I've ever seen in my life. So to say this as a common occurrence would not be fair. How about this? How about this, Matt? How competitive was that kick? There was no competition. There was no competition. I don't want to see anything to do with the NFL that does not compete. There you go. Damn, that's a compelling argument. Now I'm Now I'm thinking about swaying your side of it.

Dang, dude. Like, they couldn't even rush in. It just looked weird. It looked like, like, you know, just practice. Like, there's no way. Now, now, put it this way, if the kick was short, Denver could have grabbed it on the fly and returned it. But it's not, dude, because there's nothing.

There was no pressure. It's, and, like, it was zero pressure. Like, a free throw with nobody on the line is probably more pressure than that. Yeah, I know. That's true. That's true. Is there anything in the NBA that's fluky like that? I can't think of anything that would be super fluky. Now, if you foul somebody before the ball goes into play, it's one shot.

But that doesn't seem fluky. That actually happens probably once or twice a month between teams. I would say the closest thing the NBA had in comparison. And Matt, I'll let you chime in or I'll just ask you a fun fact. You tell me what do the NBA do, the hack-a-shack. Now that, that, but we're not seeing that anymore. Why aren't we seeing that anymore? Because guys are shooting better free throws?

Well, maybe you forgot. So I believe that the NBA made an adjustment that said you can only do it like at the end of halves. Yeah, yeah. It's like the window in which where you can do it is much, much smaller. And you would see teams implore that in random situations. It's actually been a while since you've seen the hack-a-shack. But the NBA did tweak the rules behind it. And it really changed a game.

You know, you don't see it. But it just wasn't good. They tried to hack-a-shack me one time. I never forgot it. And how to go? It did pretty good. I was excited on the free throw line. I got rhythm and made my free throws.

How many did you make? I can't remember. It was the, I'm going to date myself, the Pac-10 tournament at the time. Oh, you are dating yourself. That was,

ooh, you didn't date yourself Pac-12. You dated yourself Pac-10. Yeah, that is true. You are like OG West Coast. They tried to go hack-a-shack-all-me. I was just like, are you kidding me right now?

I was going to hack-a-shack-old me, and I made my free throws. All right, I got to look up the stats on that. All right. Ryan Holland's with us till 12 noon. 713-212-5-790 if you want to jump in. It isn't anything goes Friday here on the radio program. 7-13-212-5-790.

More Matt Thomas Show with Ross. Now on Sports Talk 790. Our buddy, Ryan Hollins, from Space City Network, Rockets analyst with us here until noon today. We'll go to the news at noon, wake the strippers up at 12 noon here on 790 as well. Ryan, we got the Texans and the Chiefs coming up on Saturday tomorrow. noon will be the start time. And I don't know how much you've paid attention during the course of the year.

But these games, this one tomorrow and then the Wednesday Christmas game against Baltimore has been circled on Texans fans' counters for quite some time. Now, yesterday it was announced officially that Pat Mahomes is going to start and play. It's going to be cold. It's going to be a good Kansas team that's got one. lost to its resume so far. They did beat up on Cleveland last week, but frankly, everybody's beating up on Cleveland. For you as just a fan from a distance, Texans go to Kansas City, win this game, even though

that Pat Mahomes is less than 100% with the bum ankle, what does that say for you if you're a observer of the Houston Texans of the national stage tomorrow? It's confidence, Matt. It's confidence. And I think there's no greater time. Here's the thing as a player, and I've been in locker room before, obviously. You can't look at this and say, Pat Mahomes is banged up. We got an advantage.

We can't say, ah, he's not his best self, you know, we can do this, this, and this. Now, you're going to attack him, you're going to see what that ankle looks like, but you've got to assume that ankle's probably been banged up for the last three years, Matt. So if you're the Texans, you go out and focus on what you can do to be your best version. of yourself. But if you get to looking over at Pat Mahon, say, oh, they're banged up, they're not playing their best, you know, this, this, and this, you can put yourself in a real bad way. And the focus is go in the game, make a move, find a way to protect C.J. Stroud, get

your mixing going, and this can be one of the sweetest wins of the year. Yeah, and I do think that for a season where the Texans have not had very few really dominating wow moments. I mean, the Buffalo win in home early in the season was a very impressive win, and you can't take that away from them. But the bills are significantly better today than they were when the Texas and bills played earlier this year. Winning the number of road games they have won this year has been impressive.

But there are still some sour losses. The Tennessee home loss stings to people. The way that you went to Minnesota and got beat up pretty badly. The last second loss at Green Bay and whatnot. I mean, losses are going to be a part of the thing. But for a community of Texans' feelings. fans that say, all right, nine and five is cool, but you're probably in the weakest, if not the second weakest division.

Well, but I think you are in the weakest division in the NFL. Go do something out of character. Go do something that your fan base is going to say, you know what, when January comes around, we're going to win more than just the obligatory one playoff game per year. And not that you can't win and go to the divisional playoffs and go to the championship game if you lose these next two. But there is some hesitation for people to get all in. on a football team that frankly from an

offensive standpoint has regressed. Well, the defense I think has been significantly better than it was a year ago. No, no, you're right. And here's the thing for the Texans in NFL football. One of the biggest thing, you know, stay healthy. Nice having Nico Collins back. Welcome back. But if you get hot at the right

time, all can be forgiven. And you're right, Matt. You know, CJ hadn't had the same year that he's had. He hasn't looked as confident that he's been in the past. But if he gets rolling at the right moment, They find a way to protect them, Matt. You have a real chance at winning a Super Bowl,

and especially if you can be one of those teams that nobody's looking at. But for the Texans, I think, I'm echoing your sentiments, man, this is a team that has to be the best version of themselves. And you don't feel like they've been that. Now, make no mistake, every week is a tough game. You know, there's no gimmies in the NFL, but you have enough on that roster that if you tweak some things, you have a chance to be competitive.

I'm interested to see how D'Amico is going to go after Patrick Mahomes because he is just so unique at just making things happen. You know, Andy Reid doesn't mind simplifying thing. They don't mind relying on the run, and they don't mind winning these low-scoring games. So I think you've got to have the utmost respect for this group, but you've got to go after, man. I think it's just a prime situation to make a statement to the NFL right now. And you know what?

And you were talking about expectation levels. the only expectation levels that the Houston Texans have are with themselves in their locker room and their fan base. Because let's face it, if you look at the NFL landscape, Ryan, you got Lamar Jackson who needs to get to a Super Bowl, right? Would that be fair to say? Yeah, oh, absolutely. You have Buffalo and Josh Allen that needs to get to a Super Bowl

because they have been on the front page of news headlines and games and all the market. They've got to go there. I think those two teams, frankly, have 10 times the pressure that a Texans team does. And for that matter, Kansas City does. I know there's a lot of people that want them to three-peat, but they've already got plenty of Super Bowls.

If they were to lose, it wouldn't be the end of the world of them because they've already celebrated two Lombardi trophies in the last couple of years. I think to me, the pressure when it comes to postseason is squarely on the Colts, on the Ravens and the Bills because they're the ones that have the high-profile stars. CJ's still in a second year. D'Amico just in a second year. Not that they can't win these games, but man

if Lamar fails again in the postseason that's part of his resume he's going to have a tough time shaking nothing that you're saying is wrong like nothing that you're saying is wrong you know and if we compared to basketball I've always said this Lamar Jackson is the closest thing

he's the Janus out to the Coupo Janus went out and got his championship but prior to his championship you know it got to the point nobody cares about another Lamar MVP like we know how dynamic he is, you know, in the regular season. You want to see that in the postseason. You want to see him get over that hump and then you can really, really rave and get excited

about Lamar and what they've done. And obviously, they tooled up with Derek Henry and them. So, no, the Texans don't have that same pressure, Matt, but there's pressure because the Texans went out and got aggressive in free agency. They built around C.J. Stroud, they've said, hey, man, like we don't want to just be a bottom-tier team. We believe, and this is the way you win in the NFL, you get a quarterback on his rookie contract, and then you spend money around him. And then when you got to pay him and you hope he lives to those expectations, you can't expect the same success. That's the way the NFL salary cap is made. So if you are the Texans, with all due respect, that pressure still is there. Now, Matt, you're right. It's not the same

pressure. And when you pay Lamar Jackson, you know you're not going to have the same, you're not going to have the same success. You know you're going to lose a little bit and there's going to be a little bit more on his shoulders. And granted, you know what, that's still a really good ball club over there, you know, in Baltimore. But, you know, this is a golden moment because if you are a Texans fan, you can say the pressure should not be there, go play stress-free football. But hey, easier said than done. Well, again, the next two weeks can build a resume towards there should be a legitimate team competing for an AFC championship, especially if you get at least split between Kansas City and Baltimore. 11 o'clock on Sports Talk 790.

Ryan Hollins was for another hour. If you want to join the conversation, you may do so. On Rockets, on the Astros, there is some word about Breggman. I want to get to. There is some words about Framber Valdez, which are interesting as well. 7-1-3-2-5-7-90, 7-190-7-19. 7-1-3-2-1-5-7-9.

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all with Underdog Fantasy and Underdog Fantasy.com. But please do me a favor and use that promo code, SportsMT. Launch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. 1105 on Sports Talk 790. Our buddy, Ryan Hollins from Rockets Broadcasting and Space City Network is filling in for this hour. We've got the news at noon. We'll wake the strippers up at 12 noon.

At 1230, we'll visit with Soren Petro from Kansas City Radio over his thoughts on the chiefs. Dr. Rodo is going to make his weekly appearance with us at 1 o'clock today. We have non-Florida stories. And today's edition of Hellier or Not is the movie Christmas Vacation. How well do you know your Christmas vacation trivia? That's coming up today at 150. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90.

Rockets last night beat the New Orleans Pelicans. You had the... I keep on to call them San Diego. The Los Angeles Chargers beat the Denver Broncos last night. You are an L.A. guy. What's the percentage of Ram fans compared to Charger fans in Southern California? You've got more RAM fans, you know,

because they were the L.A. Rams before the Rams, the Rams in more recent date when a Super Bowl. So the Chargers thing is kind of weird. Obviously, you went from having like no football for a span to like two teams that are in a really unbelievable stadium there

in Los Angeles. So yeah, there's more Rams love. And I think right now more people go to the games with the opposing teams still. Or just to get into SOFA, honestly, than anything else, Matt. I think the same thing going on with the

Las Vegas. Raiders. We drove by it last week. We were there for the in-season tournament. Those are two amazing facilities. I mean, for Southern California to go from zero to two teams, but again, if you watch a charger game, like last night I watched a little bit of the game when I got back to the house, it felt like there was 50% Bronco fans and 50% Charger fans in the building. Yeah, yeah, no, and that's what you're going to see right now. But, I mean, so far is like, it's nice, like nice, nice. And that's a lot of what you see going on, Matt. Yeah, we had time at the Intuit Dome when the Rockets played the Clippers.

What did you think of that arena? It's going to have to grow on me. I mean, from our standpoint, we're all the way in the nose. Oh, poor you. Poor you. Having a broadcast not from courtside. I feel terrible for you. Not always courtside, but no, you're unbelievable.

We're higher than the cameras. It's the most highest in the league. Hopefully that's addressed, and that's way, way above my pay grade, to be honest. So we'll leave that there. But I think that the best thing that they've done with the Clippers Arena is like it's so open. So I believe they're going to have options to do different things there. They're going to have a chance to pivot left or pivot right. And they're going to make a whole lot of money on concerts.

But it's cool what they've done. It's very hard to broadcast from the nosebleeds. I'll be honest that, you know, like I said, above my paper. Let's get a position sign so you get down on your. your rightful spot on the floor. Well, I'll stay up in my normal perch because that's where I'm used to calling games. Yeah, well, I'm sure Craig would love to be a part of that. He likes writing those petitions, that's for sure.

All right, 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-790. Craig, if you're listening, shout out to you, my friend. We miss you and look forward to seeing you in the plane, Toronto, Toronto. Oh, gosh. You know, Craig and I do a grand one thing, and it's not anti-American. It's just pro-Canada. we think O Canada is a better anthem than the Star-Spangled Banner.

I'm not joining in on this, dude. Why not? I'm not going to be a part of you, too, with this. It's not. O Canada is a wonderful song. I'm not going to start this, man. There's no way. There's no way we get on.

It's 11 o'clock. Okay, Central. And we're going to do this. Okay. Just telling you, if it's easier to sing, it's more, it's a, it's a, it's, I'm just going to say that. I'll leave it at that. man. And I don't even like Canada. I mean, I like going to visit Toronto, but I want to

go out there. Oh, I mean, it's fine. The rate exchange is good, though. Roger, Northwest Side on 790. Roger, good morning. Good morning, Matt. Good morning, Ryan. Hey, so I kind of enjoy watching this growth of this Rockets team. Kind of vaguely reminds me of the old Rockets when we had a bunch of draft picks that didn't quite work out with the Buck Johnson's and the Derek Teobuses and whatnot, but then you start, you got some graphics and kind of hit, like, with Robert Ori, and he traded for Kenny Smith and traded for Otisd. And then, you know, you kind of like just met up. I'm not saying Shang-goor, the Lodge of one, but he does have some nice ground and pound down low.

And, you know, I like the defensive tenacity, and if I ever see a team morphin to what its coach is, it's this team, because, yeah, a book, it does have a struggle handle on this team. That's good to see, especially nowadays with the actors, is more favorite than the coach. I'm not sure why that is, but that's just what we are today, 2024-25. So I just really hope that this growth of this team can carry on to the playoffs, and then we'll see what happens,

see if we can't develop one. And I'd just like to see why I know all the calls, you know, you're not so bad yourself, Matt, and have a good day. Thank you, Roger, for the phone call. You're not so bad yourself, Matt. I know, I'm not so bad myself. I like that. It was backhanded, but I'll still accept it.

Thank you very much. I mean, he is listening to the Matt Thomas show. That's true. That's true. Hey, so when people come up to you and they say, Rockets need a shooter, what is your initial response when you get that from people? One, I don't hear that a lot. I think they're just very kind and nice to talk to.

getting a shooter doesn't just solve the woes of the rockets. Like having one guy, because here's the thing about a shooter. It's what type of shooter, right? And I have to heard Duncan Roberts's name thrown around. If you can't manufacture a shot for the shooter, what good is it to know you have a shooter? So if there's a guy that's a shooter, no one's going to leave him. But now you may give up the offensive rebounds. You may give up the defense.

So I think for the Rockets, if they have someone who can create shots, now you'd be cooking more than just, I don't think the answer is just go get a shooter. Does that make sense, Matt? Well, there's a volume shooter, and then there is just a very effective efficient shooter. Now, every team wants an effective efficient shooter that can get his 15 or 16 points on, say, eight or nine shots as compared to 14 or 15. It's just going to be the argument I get when people ask me this question is, what are you willing to give up? And if it ain't broke, don't fix it. This team is playing about 66% winning basketball. They're top four right now in the Western Conference.

I've got some difficult games coming up in the next few weeks. So we'll have a better determination. They're also in this area where they're all growing up together. And how much would the chemistry change? What would you have to give up? And if you're going to go get, Ryan, that unbelievable. 3.42% from 3-point shooter out there. What are you giving up in return?

Are you giving up a young man, Thompson who's got, you know, basically everything except a long perimeter shot? Are you giving up the intensity and the steals and the defense of Tarisan? Are you giving up the defense and stability of a Jabari Smith? It's going to be what do you have to give up in order to get this guy that you think is going to ultimately turn this team in from, say, maybe a 50-win team to a 55 or 56 win team and a deep playoff run? I don't think there's here's a thing with the Rockins right now

I don't think there's anything that you want to give up like like like you're getting slim pickings you know maybe you can send over some cap and compensation in a draft pick but there's there's slim pickings and I think I don't like the term the old Rockins just need a shooter there's you need a 3 and D guy because if you can't play defense or you can't defend you're likely not going to get minutes and then you end up throwing off the scheme of what

Ime Udoka's doing. So a 3-and-D guy could help a guy who can really defend and can shoot or at least play enough defense. You can't just be a, you know, a cone out there. But, you know, I think there could be a value there, but that's what it's going to have to be. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Our buddy Ryan Hollins with us to the top of the hour. A respected baseball journalist says the Astros

are going to have to wait a while for a decision on Alex Bregman and probably a decision they will not like to hear. We'll tell you more about that in just a moment. 713-212-5-790. It's 7-1-3-212-5-790. I want to tell you about big city wings. Delicious, tasty wings. Delicious opportunities for you to get gift cards. But for every $25 you buy, you get $5 free. I'm in charge of the stockings in my house. And usually that involves lots of gift cards. Your family loves delicious wings and great burgers and sandwiches and salads and delectable desserts and the appetizers. Give them the gift of a big city wings gift card. For every $25 you get, you get a $5 bonus. Please stop by one of those 13 locations. Have lunch, have dinner.

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Time is 1120. Ryan Hollins from Space City. Matt Thomas with you from Sports Talk 790. Of course, the Rockets. 713-212-5-790. We'll wake up the strippers coming up today. at 12 noon. Soren Petro from Kansas City Radio joins us coming up at to 1230. Dr. Roto for his weekly visit at 1 o'clock. We have non-floor stories.

And all things, the movie Christmas Vacation is today's edition of Believe or Not, hell, yeah or not at 150. Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports, he always speaks and when he does, it's measured, but he did have a few measurable comments on the Astros trying to retain Alex Spregman. I see Alex Bregman leaving. The Houston Astros under Jim Crane have not been willing to give these monster contracts. They've been extremely successful. Do not get me wrong.

But why did they trade Tucker? Because they don't want to go to the $300, $400, $500 million range next year when it's going to be a matter of him being a free agent and them having to ante up. Bregman, they've made an offer. It obviously was not sufficient. It was in the 150s. He wants more. I expect some team to give him more. It could be Toronto.

It could be Boston. It could be the Yankees. Although it seems to me the Yankees have made their big push with Freed and now Bellinger as far as a financial commitment is concerned. So I don't know exactly where Bregman's going to end up. Detroit is another possibility reunion with A.J. Hinch. He seems to me, though, a guy that's going to be just fine. Yeah, Ryan, he turned down six years, 156.

And I think in some athletes, and you've been around a lot of them in your life, they have a number in their mind that they go get the number of, one agent in sports, Scott Boris, to say, hey, go get me this. And it feels like the Bregman's going to exhaust all avenues to make sure that at least one team offer him is what I think he, I think he wants to get as closely kin to $200 million before his career is all said and done. You have to, man. And baseball's throwing around money.

So the players are all looking around and it's the trickle-down effect that's saying, man, if I can get a chance to get life-changing money, the security, you have to go out and do that. I think you're going to see more and more of it. And, you know, we've kind of seen the trend through sports when, you know, Mahomes got his mega $300 million deal. You know, everybody's going,

oh, man, we got to get this, this, and this. I want to be somewhere comparable as good as Mahomes is. You know, I think it happens just about every summer in the NBA. There's one guy who becomes the highest paid. So I think, you know, baseball, you're going to see the players going after the money. And there's

no hesitation in you. There's no I think you have to respect and understand that. Yeah, and it sounds like to me there will not be a decision before Christmas, which is probably good to focus on family. I mean, not like he's worried about his next paycheck. Look, and you fought and scratch and claw your way through 10 years in the NBA. You have got a lot of good friends in professional sports that had a chance to get those mega, mega million dollar deals.

Take us through and every athlete is different, Ryan, obviously. but when does an athlete wake up in the morning and go what my agent just told me is good enough or does he have to be careful about what he relies on from his agent to say hey you shouldn't take this offer because I think I can get you something better and again knowing that every athlete is not created equal what's the balance between what your gut tells you

when you wake up in the morning and what the agent does when he texts you to say good morning here's what I'm hearing you're talking pure insanity right now Matt because as a player, your mindset is you're the best on the planet. And then the worst thing that can happen is a guy that you feel like you're better than, and you may be better than you may not be. I don't know whatever you have in your head or your mindset is that you are better and someone has your money.

And that's not a fun place to be in. So we've seen situations where guys that have missed out on a lot of money because sometimes they'll be promised something from an agent, hey, I'm going to get you. you you know double and triple later on hey wait until this money freeze up in my professional opinion know the market know your true value notice i said true value and understand what you can get paid and not get paid and sometimes the money on the table is something that you have to take hey friends the rockets came into that essentially this this off season you know there's nothing that nobody would have batted in batting in eye if alprin shingoon or jalen green

end up being max contract players. And, you know, the Rockets, you know, end up getting very friendly deals. I thought there were great deals for both sides. And, you know, again, out of my jurisdiction, speaking for myself when I say this, but, you know, you got to think about the team. You got to think about where you want to be. There's a lot of, there's a lot of elements that go into play. And sometimes, man, when you have to strike while the iron is hot,

if you have an opportunity to get the most money you can get, you got to be there. But a lot of times you do have. conflicting stories when they come between the agent the player the mindset the front office and you know kind of the delusion from maybe some friends and family and the worst thing matt as you noted you see another guy's contract what do players do man if he got that i need to get this this and this and that happens so much did you ever have a friend and you don't name the person because i don't want you to but would you ever have a friend call you and say my agent got me this I'm going to go for more and you're thinking the back of your mind.

Look, this is a really good deal. You shouldn't turn it down. Yeah, I've had guys all the time come and, you know, sometimes the best advice can come from another veteran or player. People come to be trusted and say, hey, you know, should I hold out? Should I take the deal? Where am I at? My rule of thumb is, you know, if you're a young guy and they put money in front of you,

take it. Take it. You're on the back end of your contract. Maybe you can wiggle. You can negotiate a little bit. And, you know, the money that a player makes shows how valid, valued they are. If he's making, you know, the highest paid player on the team, you ain't going to put the highest paid player on your team on the bench.

That's going to insure minutes. You make less money that makes you tradable. You know, sometimes it's more a matter of respect than just making the money. So, man, there's just a million different ways that you can grasp and approach these things. So, yeah, Matt, no, you're right online when you say that. just my advice is, man, you know, kind of put your ego to the side and go out and make the most money you can make. Hey, when I played, you know, $50 million is a lot. Well, the one thing, Ryan, I think I've noticed from Bregman is he knew this as his last, probably his last big free agent contract.

And he knew in his mind, it still does in his mind, that it probably wasn't going to come from the Astros. And so he had to mentally prepare himself for wearing a different team's gear. And I think when you open yourself up to free agency, you've got to think about every possible place you can go. And that's why I think that there have been so many teams that have shown interest in him. It's because I don't think he's put out there, nor his representation to say, you know what, I can see myself

wearing Yankee gear. I could see myself playing for the Red Sox. I can see myself playing for Detroit or Toronto. He's not limited himself, which then is going to make other teams still very interested, even although this negotiation period's gone for quite some time. Yeah. No, it is a factor. You've got to do

it. And, you know, as a player, you get to two places. You know, do you want the money or do you want to be happy you know and a lot of times those things don't necessarily mix matt you know making the money and being happy unfortunately in sports you know the team that that probably needs you may not be winning you know and it's always nice when you can mix both but a lot of times you may not be able to and then obviously take a look at expectations you know those expectations are a huge things huge thing and having to be there all right 1128 is our time A difficult conversation that Ryan and I are going to have a little bit here.

That will be difficult. Sports radio isn't difficult. I know you've been hearing all this criticism about the NBA and the ratings, right? Yeah. I want to talk about when we come back. Okay. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90.

Ryan Hollins with us to the top of the hour. We'll wake the strippers up at 12 noon. And Soron Petro from Kansas City joins us at 1230 to talk all things about the chiefs. Right now, a message for Uptown Appliance Repair. I know that when a washer dryer goes down, that can be very, very frustrating. I also know that you don't want to spend thousands of dollars getting a brand new one, especially if you've got a relatively new one in your home. You need it repair.

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They are there to help you with microwaves and refrigerators and wash your dryers, even gas outdoor grills that can help you with. Anything in terms of appliances, the folks at Uptown appliance want to work with you. They've got great customer ratings, A plus of the BBB, and I promise you, when you call 281, 758-9-9-78. They'll treat you professionally, and they'll get everything that needs to be fixed in your house done right the first time. 281-78-9-9-78. That's 281-758-9978 for Uptown appliance repair. 1133 on Sports Talk 790. Our buddy Ryan Holland, some Rockets TV, and hanging out with us to the top of the hour. All right, so the thing I fight, Ryan, as a broadcaster of the team and as a radio host, is I love to talk about the NBA. I think it's a great sport.

I'm enjoying it. Rockets are playing well. But there is still a tremendous group of people. All walks, all ages, all demographics, everything, Ryan, that still has this negative stigma about. the NBA. First and foremost, the season doesn't start until Christmas, and then football takes over on Christmas, so now that's not their day. Wait me up on the playoffs start, and all the NBA does is shoot three-point shots. And we're seeing a record number of three-pointers being attempted. We're not seeing the success rate. And then report last week that the NBA ratings,

depending on what report you believe, are anywhere between 18 and 25 percent down over year to year. The NBA Cup ratings were not spectacular this year. A lot of it was because of no LeBron. And Adam Sober basically defendants saying, hey, we're doing great. We're not worried about it. The key people that should be watching games still are. We just line a brand new television deal. We're globally doing great.

So if you run into those circles that say, I don't get into the NBA, I don't watch it on playoff time, or I don't like the style of best because all they do is dunk and shoot threes, what do you say back to those people? Matt, there are two big factors here, and there's a little bit of truth in every single lie. Are you ready for it? I need some help because I have to spend a lot of time talking about this. The first big factor is the way that we quantify our sports,

the way that we watch sports is different. We have never watched sports in the way that we watch it now. A lot of times the consumption comes from highlights. Now a lot of times when these games are pirates, because that's very accessible too. You don't always, you're not always going to be able to find out where these games are coming from. Okay, where they're being seen, how much they're being watched. And the second factor, which may be the most important, and you've heard these rumblings.

And Matt, I really want to hear your intel on this. Are you ready for it? Go. You're going to appreciate him when he's gone. LeBron James has been the face of the league and maybe you don't want to hear it okay for the last what 20 years however long

whatever he is or whatever he isn't he has been must see TV LeBron Ramon James has been must see TV okay and within that you want to see him win you want to see him lose whatever you want to do you want to see him we had Kobe Bryant

we had Michael Jordan we do not know who the next one is going to be. And that is the biggest factor right now. Why, if we can argue that there's legitimacy to some people not watching the NBA, the ratings being down, is because

LeBron is not there. The big drop on the end-season tournament, who are the last season champions, who? LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA is looking for an heir parent. They need an air parent. Forget the NBA the fans are because you talk

about viewership. Matt, now, I want to ask you, who is the next up to take that throne? We see it by committee right now, but we all know you want the hero or you want the villain, but you want somebody to be there, and I don't see who the next guy is yet. All right. Well, let's take a look at the, let's talk about the five best players right now walking the NBA. Okay. And we can argue about maybe five or six. Nicolio Kitch. Yep. Likes playing basketball. He has no interest doing television commercials. He has no interest in going on talk shows. He has no interest in being the face

of the league. Fair? Fair. Yonazantacumpo. Yep. Again, foreign players are going to have a hard time. I don't know if he embraces it. I don't see him on commercials. I don't see him doing a lot of national TV stuff. He just wants to play. He's really good. Who was on our...

Maybe Anthony Edwards, because he got a little bit of badass in him a little bit, a little bit of DGAF, if you know what I mean on that? Oh, Matt. I mean, you know what I'm saying about, I mean, he's a guy that would really have sparkling, I think he's got a pretty sparkling personality. He plays in Minnesota, not necessarily a household city when it comes to Minneapolis to come to NBA basketball.

Shea Gilders-Alexander, a wonderful basketball player, but he plays in Oklahoma City. And if there were 10 guys up against the wall and said pick out who Shea Gilder's Alexander was, to be very hard pressed for most sports fans to pick him out of a group. Okay. Who am I forgetting? Who is a bona fide unbelievable? Oh, Luca Dodgich.

Luca and you're not going to know Jason Tatum in there? I mean, from an athletic standpoint, amazing, but a carry the fly of the league? I don't think so. Mega Matt Thomas, you are not putting the world champion, the reigning champion, Jason Tatum. But my point is that we just went through six guys.

Yeah. And maybe Anthony Edwards would have that it factor that would be a star power when it comes to he is more than just an excellent basketball player. But Minnesota's going to win a championship. No, you're right. There's something. Either it's foreign born. Yonis has the personality. I think he's willing to do the commercials.

But he is foreign born. we are in the USA, we'll be honest there. We hope we don't offend, but we can't sugarcoat. Anthony Edwards just hasn't won, but if he won, he would be there. I think he's must see TV, but he has not won.

In fact, the wolves, and many respects have taken a step backwards. Luca hasn't won also, and he is another foreign-born player. You're right, Matt. You've got to find, and then I think we wouldn't be asking these questions because Jason Tatum

just won and you know they they were a great team you know not to say that you know JT isn't unbelievable because he's a heck of a player but you know we wouldn't if you would know already if he was that guy because he just got a championship it wouldn't be the questions there okay so I you know and as far as Zambay is concerned I'll wrap it up with this they don't care if any ratings are down because they just signed a mega television deal for the next 10 years they're very happy but Matt you got to honor that deal just signing the deal isn't good enough you got to You got to honor.

You got to at least make good on, you know, what you sign. Right? No? Well, I mean, if you wouldn't got 30 NBA owners, are they generally concerned about the television ratings? They've already got the Amazon NBC money coming in. You want to know why they are? You want to know why they are? Because the commissioner's concerned, because he's a man of his word.

And you know what backs that up? The way that the NBA has spurred competition on, the way that Adam Silver has said, hey guys, you ain't getting no award if you don't play. He's challenged these guys. He's looking to the in-season tournament. He's incentivizing competition. Make no mistake there. So Adam Silver is very concerned.

Maybe you can say the coaches don't care. You can maybe say the players don't care. But guess what? The league cares because as they ask for that money, they want to operate in integrity and they want to get more money for those deals. So Matt, it is a fact. You can't just say they don't care. Last thing.

too many threes do you push the NBA three point lineback no you make it shorter I don't know oh no you know I can tell you they're not going to do that no you can't push it back again well what you've seen Matt and you know when we see it in our guys and this is to help the Rockets the NBA game is physical dude the NBA game has gotten more physical

they have you can put your hands on players you could grab them you could rough them up man This is something that we've been seeing, and the Rockets have been one of the teams that's taken advantage and said, okay, EMA's like, oh, we can mix it up. Oh, fair game. And the Rockets have been excellent in those regards. So, you know, that's where I think the commissioner has taken that into factor. And I think whatever the world champion is this year, that's going to be one of those hard-nosed ball clubs.

Because, yes, the three-point shooting is still in the NBA game, but the first. physicality is back. And then if you want to argue against the three-point shooting, who are the two best players in the NBA right now that you mentioned? Maybe we can argue, but we're pretty certain of recent memory, the two best players in NBA right now, who you, the first two names you mentioned.

Yolkich and SGA, maybe? Let's say Yonis. Okay, Yonis, sure. And you may be honorable mention in Bede, but guess what? Those guys are bigs. They ain't smalls. Yep.

those guys are bigs. So as far as the physicality, it's back in the NBA. But man, the league still feels like it's nothing but three-pointers. I disagree with it. I'm just telling you with the average fan-fiz. Ladies and gentlemen, we've got some breaking news here on the show. Connor, that's one. That's two.

You want to go four? Oh, you're going. Now, this is not a five. I'm stopping you right here. According to Ken Rosenthal and Chandler Rome, The Astros and free agent first baseman Christian Walker are in serious talks and are progressing towards a deal. We'll discuss that next. Christian Walker and Astro.

And the best part is he was not offered a qualifying offer, which means they don't have to give up a draft pick or he declined the qualifying offer. So they'll lose the first round pick. They will lose their second and fifth round selections in the 2025 class. Who cares? Details on Christian Walker next. 1144 on Sports Talk 790. 713212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790.

More Matt Thomas show with Ross. Now on Sports Talk 790. There is no explanation for this. It just goes on and on. On and on. It's amazing. He's not even cracking a smile. This defies all logic.

My goodness. Stay in that bubble. Christian Walker, according to Jim Bowden of MLB, Network. Chandler Roman on it as well. Ken Rosenthal. It sounds like what Jim Bowden says,

as long as the Astros and Christian Walker, the physical goes okay. He is now a Houston Astro. Reports were he was looking for a four-year deal. Whether or not that is what the Astros gave him, we do not know there are not particulars being reported at this point. But Christian Walker is your new first baseman.

Isok Peretti's who the Astros got in the Kyle Tucker trade is your new third baseman. And Ryan Hollins, that will officially, I shouldn't say officially, basically closes the door on Alex Spragman possibly coming back to be Houston Astros. So the new Astros infield apparently is set for 2025.

That's huge, man. And you know what it says? It shows you how serious the Astros are about winning. And some were worried kind of with the free agent of the trade rubblings that, you know, was this a group that's going to kind of tear it down and start over? The Astros

said, no, no, no, no. We're gearing up to go after another World Series, man. This is exciting news. Yeah, the numbers for him last year, 251 batting average. He had 26 home runs, drove in 84. His OPS was 803, which is considered good. His OPS Plus, where our friend Rossville are out, if you're 100, you're considered an average player. His OPS Plus was 121.

He's 33 years old. He is a first baseman. His career OPS Plus is 114. His career OPS is 793. and the Astros apparently are going to be grabbing him. Now, I want to make sure I'm clear on the compensation, not that it really matters. If it indeed is true, the Diamondbacks will be owed from the Astros a second and fifth round pick in next year's draft picks, especially in professional baseball or a dime a dozen.

You want them to hit, obviously, because you're replenishing your minor league system. But you don't have to worry about John Singleton playing majority of, first base. You don't have to worry about Isaac Perrette's being the first baseman and trying to figure what you're going to do. A third base. Your infield is set. So it has been an interesting week. Last Friday,

Ryan, they got rid of Kyle Tucker, and that certainly sends shockwaves, letting a guy go with a year left in his contract. You got a third baseman in return. Now you replace it with the first baseman. While again, it's good news because you're not adding another power-hitting guy to a corner infield spot.

Brangman now has one less team that would be going after him. I think the dollars and cents were there. My guess is that Alex Breggman's representation told the Astros, thanks, but no thanks, and now it's going to be down to some other team. So we can now can officially be mentally prepared to

see Alex Brighman wearing a different jersey in 2025. It's a part of the business sometimes. You know, obviously we don't know. Sure, some level of those reports are going to end up coming out. But heads off to the Astros, because a lot of times, man, you can step in a free agency

and while you might say this is not the perfect pick, but you can swing and miss. So to come out with the best defensive-minded, you know, first basement and baseball right now, I think that's huge. And that's something, again, you got an organization that's still very serious about winning, not going into dark ages,

not going to, you know, step backwards, you know, and you got to be excited for the Astros fan base. This is big time. This is great news. Now, again, Jim Bowden saying it's based up of a physical being completed. And again, I don't know much about his history. He is 33 years of age.

He played on, I'm going to take a look at his career numbers here. Just to see what he's done the last few years as my computer tries a refresh here. Six feet 208 throws right place, first base, right-handed, obviously. Let me look at his bio-information here. It's terrible. Mead, look at the Internet while I'm trying to a radio show at the same. Come on, Matt. I know.

This is not good. It's not good. Okay, in 2023, he batted, he had 33 homeruns, 130, 103 RBIs. He's had one, two, two-thirty-plus home-run seasons. He had a 26 home-run year last year with Arizona. He had 29 for the Diamondbacks in 2019. He started his major league career, very short amount of time at Baltimore. But the majority of his career from 2017 to 2025 as a majority.

member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Okay. OPS plus OPS career bat of 793. His high watermark of OPS was 825 in that 2019 season

act and 2003 and OPS of 830 dropped a little bit this year. Played 130 games this past season. The year before that, 157 the year before that 160. So it's been fairly durable as a major leaguer. We'll give you more details on him as we move along

here. Ryan, I appreciate you hanging out with you today. It was fun. A little baseball breaking news in the middle of the show was interesting. You learning about bull riding was interesting. And we did get video of Vanessa, actually on the video, bull riding a couple of years back,

so I hope you got a chance to see that. Where's this video at? It's on my Twitter account. Go look. It's on your Twitter? Let me go look. Yeah, yeah, go look. That's her. Wow. Very talented, right?

She is. Yeah. All right, and please bundle up because you're going to be in Toronto tomorrow. I'm going to freeze our rear ends off. You know this, right? Stir fry? Maybe. I've told the audience before how much you would love the stir fry.

It's what you live for. I do. I do. It's with you, Matt. It's our thing. It's our thing. You are my guy, too. Thank you, Ryan.

We'll see you on the plane tomorrow, friend. Thank you for visiting. All right. That's Ryan Hollins of Space City Network. All right, so we've got a lot to get. The news at noon is going to be chock full of stuff. We got Texans. We had the rockets winning last night, and we had the Astros apparently ridiculously close to grabbing a new first baseman. 1156 is our time. If you want to jump in on not only Christian Walker coming here, but this is it for Bregman. Are y'all mentally ready to him to sign somewhere else now? There's no chance. It's zero percent chance. Brady's at third, Walker at first, provided everything works in the semantics of the contract and whatnot, we're done. That's it.

Alex Breggman is no longer going to wear an asteroid uniform. Let me know how you think about that. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. The news at noon is coming up in a minute. We are going to wake the strippers up. Maybe some more Christian Walker highlights. Do you think on the news at noon, Connor? Would that be a part of the the opening conversation? I can do that. We can do that. We've got to get people ready for it, especially if Robert Ford's going to be calling a lot of those home runs for him. 713-213-5-7-90.

So Christian Walker apparently is super, super close to signing with the Houston Astros to replace whatever combination of first base the Astros had last year, especially after the Jose Abraud situation went so bad. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Lunch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. 1203 in H-town. And welcome to the third hour, the Matt Thomas Show and Ross.

This is Sports Talk 790 when we get to the news at noon. And lots of speculation about the Astros going to get a first baseman with that. The newsroom. Here's Conardy McGovern. Tell Ken Rosenthal and further reported by friend of the station Chandler, Rome, the Astros and Free Agent First Baseman Christian Walker are in serious talks and are progressing toward a deal. According to Jim Bowden, the deal is done pending a physical. A failed pursuit of Nolan Aeronado led to a pivot to Christian Walker,

which would leave newly acquired Isaac Paredes at third base and shut the door on your reunion with Alex Bregman. There it is. Life without Alex Bregman. What do you think, folks? 2-5-7-90, Nolan Aeronado. Apparently, they moved on from that. Esoc Peridio's will play at third base. Christian Walker at first base. Significant power at first base, which you haven't had, really. I mean, Gouriel was a great first baseman,

but he didn't have a whole lot of sock to him. You thought Jose O'Brien was going to give you that kind of home run punch? That did not happen. And John Singleton's a nice player, but he's not a guy you want playing, you know, even half the time at first base. Now, I don't know enough about Christian Walker, except there's the numbers I saw in front of him. Connor, is there anything alarming about him at all? I mean, is he a sieve at first base?

I mean, injury problems don't seem to be a big problem in his major league career. I mean, I haven't seen anything that's outstanding. I just think a lot of people, initial reaction on Twitter, a lot of people are excited. Well, because again, you improve your first base in a slugging position. You've already kind of started to move on from the Bregman's not going to sign here. you can't be left empty-handed, just like they weren't going to be left-handed empty-handed next year if Kyle Tucker would have left. Now, the Astros do have to give a second and fifth round pick to the Diamondbacks.

That's not a great situation to be in because of the fact that the Astros need picks to replenish their draft or their minor league system. But if you still want to be in the win-now category, I'd give up a second and fifth to get a guy that was going to hit a bunch of bombs for me. And that's what he did last year. 33 home runs for Christian Walker last year in Arizona. What else is happening in news? Well, we can stay with the Astros. I mean, Dana Brown said at the winter meetings, he would listen on anybody in regards to possible trades.

We've already seen the Astros tradeaway, Cal Talker to the Chicago Cubs, but what about Framber Valdez? According to Jeff Passon of AISPN, the Astros have no plans to trade their ace and are telling opposing teams that they do not intend to trade Framber Valdez. I'm surprised by this a little bit.

Maybe they're going to try to keep him here long term and a deal that would be more team friendly. Maybe that Framber has told him that he would be willing to renegotiate a deal get a new deal when it becomes a free agent. Or they just want to take their chances and say if they can get more money for him if they were to move him,

perhaps the trade deadline. But I treat it very similar to as if Framber thinks he's worth a certain amount of money and the Astros are not willing to give him, why wouldn't you go get out, go get a good batch of players in return for him now as compared to left empty-handed if he was leaving free agency.

But again, every player is treated differently. The way Kyle Tucker approaches his free agent status is obviously a lot different the way that Framber Beldes perhaps is treating his free agent status. So Framber, at least at this point, not being talked about in trade speculation. I think that could change if the Astros get off to a slow start. Yeah, I mean, if they are underperforming

or falling seven, eight games behind whomever in the American League West, God hope it doesn't happen. But if it does, I could see him being. in July 31st trade. Absolutely. Especially for a team that's looking for starting pitching for the pennant drive. Hopefully it's the Astros doing that and having not have to be sellers because we haven't been to worry about being

a seller in this team since what? 2016. It's been a long time. Jalen Green scored 34 points to lead the Rockets to a 133 to 113 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Jalen had a great third quarter scoring 22 points. Dylan had 26. Alper

and Shangoon had 23 and the Rockets improved to 11 and 3 at home, while the Pelicans stay at the bottom of the Western Conference. All right, Rockets, so the three seed in the Western Conference. They'll take on Toronto on Sunday, Monday again Charlotte, then back to play New Orleans after Christmas. So some winnable games coming up against three teams that you would not consider to be challenging or any sort of supremacy in either the east or the West.

And New Orleans, frankly, is probably the worst team in the Western Conference. So I'll switch back to baseball versus a second. Josh C. producer here on 790 reminded us that Walker has won three gold gloves in a row. So he has great. So you're telling me, guy hits 33 home runs. Actually, 26 last year, 33 the year before that. His OPS above 800 and he's a gold glove winner. Buy second round pick.

By a fifth round pick. We're good. Yeah, we're going to be just fine. And now the question's going to be how long the contract? Because I did read as of about three days ago that Walker was looking for a lengthy deal in the three to four year range, whether or not he gets that or not, the main remains to be seen. That'll be interesting. Okay.

Texans are visiting Kansas City tomorrow to face the Chiefs. Both teams have clinched playoff berths. There was much speculation earlier in the week about Patrick Mahomes's availability after suffering a high ankle sprain against the Cleveland Browns. But head coach Andy Reid confirmed yesterday that Mahomes intends to play. However, Joe Mixon also says he intends to play for the Texans. I think the biggest key to the game will be the play of the offensive line for the Texans that will once again see Titus Howard shift to guard and rookie Blake Fisher at tackle

with struggles all season. Can the offensive line hold off Chris Jones and company to protect C.J. Stroud. How many sacks will Chris Jones get on Saturday? If I put the number at one and a half, you're taking the over or the under? I'll say over. He might get two.

Because the inside, the problem with the Texans O line is mostly the guards and the stunts that they do and the linebacker blitzes, it's going to free up Chris Jones on the inside a lot. Chris Jones can line up anywhere. I got news for you. How many false starts

will the Texans offensive line have tomorrow? I'm going to say cold, loud crowd, I'm going to say just one. I feel like they'll be disciplined in that fact, but they're just going to have misassignments. I like it. Anything else in the news? I mean, we'll talk about the college football playoff.

It's here. It starts tonight with number 10, Indiana at number seven Notre Dame. Tomorrow we got SMU at Penn State, Clemson at Texas, and Tennessee at Ohio State. Any upsets in that first round? I don't think SMU is winning. I don't think Indiana's winning. I don't think Clemson's winning.

I think Tennessee might be able to upset Ohio State. I think that's the one that... And is Ryan Day get fired if they lose this playoff game? No. I think Ryan Day still stays, but I see... I could see Tennessee being Ohio State. You know who's waiting to coach that team is Ryan Vrable, who played at Ohio State in his college football days?

Is that the rumor? It's a decent rumor. Not that I don't think a lot of people down here are worried about the future of Ohio State football, but... Well, Frabel is looking for a job. He is looking for a job. And that, my friends, is the news at noon. All right, by the way, our buddy, Sorum Petrie.

from WHB Radio is going to join us at 1250. We're going to push it back a few minutes because I want you guys to get in on and ladies on the Christian Walker potential signing. Now, McTaggart, Rome, a guy named John FeinSand, I think from MLB is all saying it's, somebody even says it's the 10-yard line. It's ridiculously close. Jim Bowdo of MLB Network says it's a done deal pending a physical. This is all semantics depending on who you believe and who you not believe.

Look, Roman McTaggart are our guys. love them and they're all over it. So, you know what? We'll wait for them to say it's a done, done deal. Because Jim Bond, I don't know if he's a newsbreaker or not. The point being is that, again, you're going to be hearing different things and different people. But everybody is saying it's ridiculously close and it does make sense because the asteros have always had a plan B, especially if they didn't think that Alex Berman was going to come back. You brought Parades in. He could have played first base at Brumman does come back. You could have put him at first base. if Aeronado would have been there.

But the Aeronado stuff is kind of fizzled in the last 24 hours. Christian Walker, potentially your first basement. 33 years of age. 6 foot 208. Swallow of a guy. And last year again

for the Diamondbacks 26 home runs, 251, the batting average OPS of 803. He slugged 468 and an OPS plus of 121. where you learn on this show that an average OPS is 100. So while the batting average is spectacular, when he swings,

he definitely connects and brings in people home to 84 RBIs last year in 120 hits. All right, your thoughts on the new first baseman, and more importantly for some of you that are parting third baseman. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross 713-212-5-790, 7-13-212-2-1-2-5-7-9. Our time is at 1213, or I once again want to tell you about the folks at Big City Wings, where I'm telling you, friends, if you want to get a great stocking stuffer this holiday season, giving the gift of a gift card, works with Big City Wings. For every $25 you get from Big City Wings, I'll throw a $5 bonus in there for you.

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because the delay was so long, was scratched and say so long, Christian Walker. Give me the shooters. There they are. That's his sick, but it's 1-0 Diamondbacks. Now, for the 21st time in 31 games, the Diamondbacks take of the first lead in the game

on that solo home run by Christian Walker. He's two for two. He's got both their hits. Oh, man. Up above the belt of four-scene fastball and he clobbered into left field. Big time pull hitter, Christian Walker. We're setting this team up for the Crawford boxes. They saw the Crawford boxes, Chris Gordon.

I know everything else is changing names around over at Diken Park. Yeah, as far as I know, still the Crawford boxes. Would you call it? I just tweeted out. I call it a short porch. It's not a short porch, technically, because the short porch is what right field is. Because it's like short from the ground. The Crawford boxes are high, but they're in.

I would still call it a short porch. You would? Yeah. Because, again, whenever you hear a home run being hit, especially the first row, the Crawford boxes, what do you always hear? That's the only ballpark in America that would be a home run. Right. Well, you're here just to say hello and mention the Texas Bowl, which we'll get to in a minute here.

but your first blush. I've just put this out on Twitter. Three years, $60 million, according to Bob Nightingale. That is yet again the epitome of an Astros deal. They're going to give you fair compensation. They're just... Jim Crane has told anybody and has given you multiple examples, Gordy, they're just not going to extend people to super long contracts.

That's just how they operate. Look, for all the parties and crews out there who like to say, cheap and all this kind of stuff. Jim Crane's background is running multi-million and billion dollar businesses. He is a very successful businessman with every operation

he's done. I think the big one is what? Shipping or something like that? Logistics, yeah. So he brings that to the baseball mentality. You cannot like it all you want, but the mentality is they're not going to make a long-term deal that is going to handcuff them. And anything that's six, seven, eight, ten, twelve-year deals,

handcuffs your franchise to that player. Again, I feel like I have to reiterate this all the time to people. Baseball deals are fully guaranteed. You don't get out of it. You owe that money. That money is committed and it's done. You can't get out of it. So I like their mentality.

It's constantly saying flexible. Where there's no deal, even when the Jose O'Bray you deal backfires, Matt, you get out of it. And getting out of it, meaning it ends after three years. So to me, I love it. I mean, the Christian Walker, he's old. He's going to be 34. the season begins. He's getting up their age, but his numbers have been good. But you can find 34, 35, 36-year-old first baseman that have been still.

And again, Jose Albreu probably isn't a great example. Well, not an example at all of it. But there are older first baseman that are still carrying. I mean, Paul Goldschmidt's a great example of that. Yeah. I think the bigger story here is like they're willing to, AV, they're willing to go high. They're just not willing to go years. And the agents hate that. The agents want the years. The Scott Borris's, I want you to, you know, I want to see a 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 in that number. Yeah. Sorry, we're not doing that. Yeah.

But I love it. And yes, I was just looking at the spray chart this past year. I just tweeted it out for Esock Paredes and Christian Walker, they love. You would have a field line. I mean, if you were to buy season tickets for the Astros, you're not buying them in the Crawford boxes. You're doing something wrong. Why not? I mean, and again, will it work, time will tell.

But you got to like, you know, the possibility here, those guys sit in a bunch of home runs to the left. And I think there were a lot of people that were very concerned about whether or not they were going to figure out the first base spot. Yes. I just, the biggest thing I had was a sigh of relief that I don't have to watch John's single-taker. And I love John. And John is a good guy. Yes, absolutely.

He did his best last year. He gave you some moments. Right. But that was kind of it. Now, look, if they want to keep him as a bench guy and bouncing back and forth from AAA to Bigley Club, I'm fine with that too. But I just... It's hard to carry a first baseman-only left-handed stick in your... and he can't be a pinch runner.

You're not putting him in the outfield. There's no versatility. But again, if they think he is worth, if he has a nice spring and they want to keep him as the backup first baseman, fine. But you've got a lot of flexibility though now because Parades can play first. Yonner Diaz can play. I mean, you got a lot of roster flexibility now.

All right. So let's take some phone calls. People want to talk about the deal today. And the number one thing I keep seeing on Twitter is, okay, this infield's awesome. But how are you going to justify this outfield? One step at a time. I think it's what the aster's

probably trying to tell you, folks. Let's go to Stephen Huffman on 790. Hi, Steve. Hey, how you doing, Matt? Good. Hey, you just stole my thunder there and now. By the way, I just want to say one thing about Jim Crane. I've been one that's disagreed with the way he does contracts,

but not this time. I think Bregman isn't going to get any better of a deal than Jim Crane's offered him, given what's happening. He's 30, he had surgery in the office. on the elbow, he had to miss some time because of the rest that arm. And I don't know the other teams are going to go any better than what Jim's given him. But anyway, I'm fine with Brady's. My brother-in-law is a big Cub fan in Chicago.

And they hated to see him go up there. You know, the guy has a lot of upsides, the younger player, Christian Walker. I mean, there's no question. I mean, he's played really well the last few years. I think we've sealed up the infield. But please come. me we're not going to start the outfield and McCormick and Myers and

Dubon. I would just kind of dilute things a little bit. What I wanted to ask is this. The other player, I can't remember his name in the Cub deal. He's a top ten prospect. I think he's a third baseman, but you think they could convert

this guy to outfield? Help me who you're talking about. The third baseman. The third baseman. They just got. The number one boss. Smith, right? Yeah, Cam Smith, yeah. Cam Smith, that's the guy's name.

Yeah. Hell of a hitter, a hell of an athlete. I just wonder if they could convert him to the outfield. Dana Brown mentioned that on the conference call last Friday. When he talked with the media on this trade, he said, yeah, he's a third-based prospect, but we think he could play some first. He could play some right field. So I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, he starts the year maybe with the Space Cowboys,

and they play him a little bit right. Yep. I mean, that's a good sign. I mean, they're not, they, you have to understand, Steve, you know that they're not overly comfortable with the outfield that is currently put together out there. Whether they improve it or not by the time the season started. They're not foolish on this. They know that's going to be the first thing they've got to attack. But ultimately, you know, anybody that thinks they could go fill first, third, and the outfield with legitimate, everyday, unbelievable starters in one off season, that's a bit much to ask.

And that's why I think it's a slow process on this. but to get the corner infield positions taken care of for the foreseeable future, I think it was a lot of work done in one-off season. Yeah, well, Jim, if you're listening out there, I apologize for being impatient, wanting to get Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris and everybody. But I know if you were sitting here now, Jim, you'd look at me and say, you've got to be patient, Steve. I know what I'm doing.

Yeah, he'd call you, Steve, too. Thank you for the phone call, Steve. Let's go to Brian and Pearland at 1227. Hi, Brian. Hey, guys. I like this deal. I mean, I know we all, everybody wanted Bregman there. We all want them, good dude, part of the core, won two titles with him. But you gave him one of the largest contracts in Astros history and he said, yeah, thanks, but no thanks, or sat on it and just waited and waited. So I like this deal. Like you said, you're not tied up long term. You're out of the Brayew deal after this year, and the Montero deal in Presley. So three, four year contracts, if it doesn't work out, you're not. You're not. You're out of the Brayue deal after this year. And the Montero deal in Presley. So three, three, if it doesn't work out, you're not. You're not. You're not. not tied in for forever. So looking forward to it.

Let's go. Yeah, I mean, that's all you can say at this point, again, because I don't think you would have liked the Astros. And look, I don't mean to dogg on John Singleton because he's, you know, he's done a lot of things to get back to playing a major league baseball. But John Singleton's on a everyday baseball player. I would never want him hitting lefties under any circumstance.

I just wouldn't. And now you have to worry about that. And just to throw out there, I know Santander was a name that was thrown out there. apparently he's looking for a big money deal. So maybe they're probably out on him, but I'm just looking at some of the other free agents. Jason Hayward had a nice little stint here. I've heard nothing about him.

I haven't heard anything, but like if you can get him on a one-year cheap-o deal, maybe throw him into the mix and then some of the other names out there. He would be basically a fourth out-fiel that you would put in your left-field rotation mix. But I'm just, that's what I'm thinking. Like a guy on a one-year deal, I'm just going to throw these names out there. Witt-Meryfield, Adam Duval, Manuel Margo, Randall Gritchick. These are just guys, I don't know what they're looking for.

But if you can get one of those guys on a one-year deal and just go, hey, three in right field, I'd take any of those guys. This is interesting. I did not anticipate this happening because having Chandler and studio with us yesterday, he's like, man, don't completely sleep on Aeronado. I think we can sleep on Aeronado now that the corner infield spots have been taken care of. 1228, Sports Talk, 790. If you want to get in, 713, 212, 5790, 719. 3-212-5-790. We'll check in in Kansas City in 20 minutes. Something also happening here on New Year's Eve inside NRG Stadium. Speaking of NRG Stadium, yes, we've got the Texas Bowl coming up New Year's Eve, 230 Central. Where are my LSU fans out there? All right, well, maybe not LSU fan. Maybe you're a Baylor fan.

Baylor Bear fans. A lot of those in the area. My mother-in-law, but Baylor Bear fan. You can get out there to the 20204 Kinder's, Texas. Bull. It's LSU and Baylor battling it out on the Grid Iron and NRG. Stadium tickets are on sale now. I know Baylor and LSU both sold out their initial allotments, but there are still tickets available. Plenty of tickets available. Head to Kinders, Texas Bowl.com right now for tickets, suites, group

opportunities and more. Again, tickets going fast. Don't miss this opportunity. Visit Kinders, Texas Bowl. It's K-I-N-D-E-R-S. Texas Bowl.com. Matt Thomas, Ross via Real. It's the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Talk 790.

All right, the big news today, not concerning the Texans or the Rockets, they're in season. It is that Christian Walker apparently is going to sign a three-year deal with the Astros for $60 million. And a lot of folks on Twitter are like, is this Jose Abrae U2.0? First of all, Christian Walker didn't have a significant drop-off in the last couple of months of his previous career with the Diamondbacks. second of all he's an excellent defensive player gold glove winner third i think he's even younger at 33 than when abrayu was when he came here and fourth um i don't know i mean i i would hope not i would i would let me tell you if he is josea brayu 2.0 we're in a really tough spot here for jim crane and anybody with the asteros wanting to spend money on free and so this

kind of has to work but as i brought up a moment ago on twitter this to me is as team friendly as it gets because the Astros have said we will pay our average annual value or just not paying super long-term deals. If you want to comment on the Astros corner infield spots being completely different in next year, as compared to what it is right now, 713-212-5-790, Issaq Predes is your new third baseman, Christian Walker is your new first baseman, and something that my partner, Ross Fielderreal did before he left four. or is it far east or far west adventure? I get the geography next up. Maybe a little bit both.

When he was gone for like two and a half weeks, now he's just in the big easy now. He just called that the big easy. He has something prepared just in case he would not be on the air if Alex Bregman was to move on from the Astros. Now, he is not signed with a team at this point, but the Astros have moved on. They went and tried to get Nolan Aronado away from the Cardinals.

It did not work. they've got a new third basement and now today a new first basement. So I present to you Ross from just a few weeks ago. To Alex Bringman because he is not going to sign here. Now the only question will be is will he sign somewhere while Mr. Villareal is away from this country. Alex. Alex. Alex. Alex F. Bregman. We really appreciate you.

you as a representative of the new era of Houston Astros baseball where we didn't have to watch Bo Porter Bumble through double switches where we didn't have to watch Brad Mills just call everyone special

when they were a replacement level to where you finally got some national recognition. You, Carlos Correa, Dallas, Kyko, Lance McCullors, Jr., Jose Altuve, the foundation. of the new Houston Astros. We will always remember how you could hit 40 home runs

when there was a juiced ball, at least. We will always remember you calling Trevor Bauer Tyler and being brash and young and setting the edge and having an attitude about the new Houston Astros and all the great times you've given us and all the great plays over there at the hot corner. Go ahead, Adele. Why's Ross gets so emotional?

He didn't know about Christian Walker, did he? Two-time All-Star. Gold Glover. Crawford Box shots. Sure, you couldn't hit home runs over 400 feet, but they still went out, and we appreciate you for that. An all-time Astro, great. Well, welcome you back for your orange jacket

to be in the Astros Hall of Fame. Go ahead, and as Marshawn Lynch would say, get your chicken. And we appreciate you. and won't be rooting for you as you play for, insert team. But we'll always love you and respect you. And remember

the greatness of Alex F. Bregman. All right. So if any of you want to say your goodbyes to Bregman, whether he knows he's living or not, he knew. I mean, come on. Call in and let Connor give you, if you have a song you want to put

behind your farewell, we've never mixed callers and music. together in the history of the show, Connor, but today may be your first. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. So if you want to say goodbye to Bregs, and with a song behind it, let us know what that is. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Let's go back on the phones and talk to some folks.

We say hello to Glenn on 790. Glenn, thanks for waiting. Good afternoon. How you doing, guys? Good. Good. So one, I want to know, Ross, what do you do with that you say, the O'Jurzzi, I gave you? He's not here. That was him from about a month ago.

Oh, okay, okay. Well, I think the Walker signing is great, but what about, I've never heard like Ben Gamble. Remember how good he was when he played for us before he got hurt? Ben Gamble? Just a guy, apparently, at this point. That's all I've heard. Okay, I thought he did pretty good when he was with us. I think he got hurt right before the playoffs. I mean, I haven't heard his name mentioned. I heard big word mention, but I haven't heard Ben Gamble. I mean, 32 years old, not considered a prospect, short term. He played a little bit for the Mets, a little bit for the Astros.

I don't know much about him in terms of if he's part of the franchise for next year. I mean, again, small sample size was just fine, but I'm trying to look at his numbers here for the Astros. He batted, let's see, with the Astros after he left the Mets, he was batting let's see he played in

batting average of this is a great 259 I mean it's just fine he's just the guy all right all right but he didn't clutch it for it that's all but no I'm glad with that Walker signing they took aggressive steps and they didn't want to wait for an auto and

Bregman just wanted too much money I mean it's it's we're all for it yeah I mean look at the Astros made an offer and you can say it was underwhelming. It was appropriately spent. It was too much, too little. I don't think I'm going to say it's too little

because these majorly players want the kind of cash. And there was a precedent for what Matt Chapman got for the Giants. And I think he felt that he was more than that. And he's, you know, he may well get it. He just wasn't going to get it in Houston. So the asteros had to go to Plan B. Plan B was Nolan Aronado. And they said, Nolan Aronado said, thanks.

But no, thanks. So Plan C was go get a legitimate first baseman, put parades at third base all along, in case you lost him. and now you've got your corner infield set with a lot of power to left field. 1241 on Sports Talk 790. So again, if you want to join us the next hour and change, we've got Dr. Roto coming up at about 20 minutes.

We have a check-in in Kansas City. But if you want to say your farewell to Alex Bregman, because this would be the sign that he is leaving, let us know what you want to say and what song you want to play behind you as you wish farewell to one of our favorite all-time players in Astros history. 713-212-5-790. 713212-579 if you want to visit with us on Twitter you may do that as well it's at sports mpsports mt and at connor d mcgoverned

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Matt Thomas, we'd like to thank his parents for only giving him two first names. Because who would listen to Billy Ray Thomas talk about Houston sports? The Matt Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790. We appreciate our next guest showing a little flexibility with Christian Walker signing with the Astros today. We had to kind of put that towards the top of the hour. The host of the program, Sports Radio 810 WHB. And Amanda, I don't know, it gets to consume lots of Q39 barbecue as Sorin Petter on the show from Kansas City. Soren, you a Q39 guy?

I love Q39. They great barbecue. Listen, we always say, you know, like 15 and 16 best barbecues in the world are probably here in Kansas City. So you can be 10th best in Kansas City and still be 10th best in the world. But they're definitely right up at the top of the list. I'm going to tell you something right now. I've been to your town multiple times in the last few years for volleyball. Very friendly.

Love the downtown vibe. The barbecue is amazing. The casinos are good. You got a little hidden gem there, and I was just there to watch Houston play Kansas in college football. My first trip ever to Arrowhead. Needless to say, didn't have the same buzz as a Chiefs game. I don't know how many other NFL stadiums you've been to, but do you realize what a gem that facility is, even though it's like 50 years old? It is 50 plus years old.

We do enjoy it, and I think the people and the fans make it even better than what the stadium is. But it's probably living out its final years. There's a lot of talk that they're going to be moving the football team over to the Kansas side in a new domed stadium. So that's – they've got to figure out, are they going to renovate again, or are they going to build a dome stadium? So it's done a great job. It served its purpose. You know, it only had, I think, was it zero playoff win or one playoff, one playoff win before Patrick Mahomes? and it was built in like 19, it opened in like 1974.

It was a bit of a drought before Pac got there. So you're telling me that Bill Kenney did not lead the chiefs of very many poses and wins? Hmm. Okay. No, no Bill Kenny, no Todd Blackledge, no, I mean, like Brady Quinn. I mean, I can go on and on and on with some of the gems that have started. Tyler Palco. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Keep going. Yeah, yeah. It's quite a list. It gets worse from there. I'll match you with Brock Oswater and Davis Mills. Boom.

How about that right there? I'll see your third round pick Brody Croyle who didn't win a game as a startup for the Kansas City Chiefs. Okay. Great guy. Great guy. You win. You win. All right.

Any part of you that does not want Pat Mahomes to play or do you feel like he's got to get in there because of the fact that if he was to miss this week probably doesn't play in week 18, doesn't play in the wall, the division, the first round game, it could be too much of a time layoff between games? I think usually coaches know more about football than we do, right? They usually have a better plan, but I think there are times that they don't see the trees through the forest. One, I think game management's a little bit of it because they only break down tape to games and they only know the games that they've actually managed and coached, so they don't see 12 games a weekend like a lot of fans do. I don't know if their game management is always the best. And I think sometimes how to push through injuries, when to push through injuries, their mindset is if you can play, if you can, you know, and Andy Reyes,

look, he's got to be able to protect himself. He's got to be able to avoid some pressure. If he can do that, he's going to play. That's how we do things. I think that's just being a little bit too easy about it, right? That's the mindset you need to have, and it's maybe the mindset you need to have with everybody save the quarterback, especially when you've got a one-game cushion in the AFC for the one seat,

so you do have a margin of error. And when this guy means so much for your team, he's going to play. I think he's in a lot better shape than maybe it looked like when we came off the field. He has said the injury is not near as bad as when he had two years. to go against the Jags in the playoffs. The fact that he was a full go and practice, I think points to that being the case. But I think it should have been a lot longer discussion, particularly when you have a Christmas day game on Wednesday looming up the other side of this.

I think they should have spent a little more time than they did talking about maybe sitting there. All right. Soren Petro with us from W.HB. Radio in Kansas City. Look, we're not watching your team every week because we're focusing on the team here in town, but there has been a storyline of a lot of last gasp victories. block punts, doinks off the uprights, one-score games. I granted you beat the Chiefs beat the Browns by a couple touchdowns last week. Do you credit that as they're getting lucky every week or that great teams always find interesting

and perhaps sometimes last-second chances to win football games? I am a believer good football team find a way to win close games, bad, and football teams find a way to lose close games. I think there's no doubt that the Chiefs are really good in those situations. They're comfortable. They've played in a lot of them. the games, a lot of close situations. They don't will. They don't usually give you the game the way the Raiders will by

snapping the foot fall into the quarterback's shoulder when he's not ready or the Broncos will by having a guy who can't block it on the left side of their protection for field goals. The Chiefs were close all day before they finally got to the last one. So they don't do that because they're a high quality team. That

being said, yeah, they're a little bit lucky this year. I mean, there's no way around. I think they were probably unlucky last year at this point they were nine and five and getting ready to lose just an absolute dog of a game to the Raiders on Christmas Day. I think they were probably unlucky last year. You know, the frowns they were getting last year, they're getting the kisses this year. They probably should be more in the neighborhood of a three-lost team than a one-lost team.

They're very good. I don't think anybody would try to claim that they're not. But they're not. I mean, I think it's okay to say they're not the best team in the NFL that maybe the bills are better. A healthy Lions team is better. The Eagles might be better right now. But they just have to be the best team on the field on any given. Sunday in the stadium that they're playing.

And last year, they managed to do that. And I think that's going to be the challenge for everyone again this year. Can you be better than them that day in the stadium you're playing? We're going to reconnect with Soren here for just a second, try to get a little bit of a better connections, probably on our end, as you guys know, our equipment sucks. We love our company, but this equipment's terrible. Soren Petro, W.HB, with us here on Sports Talks. I think. Dr. Rodel is going to join us in about seven or eight minutes.

We'll be ready for fantasy football chatter, plus more on the Christian Walker signing coming up in just a couple of seconds. And the Texans and Chiefs will play that game tomorrow at 12 noon. And then the two teams, both the Chiefs and the Texans, we both be playing on Christmas Day as part of that doubleheader. So it's coming from a KC perspective. They are good teams win the lucky games. And the Texans have certainly done that in the last few years, all these one score games, especially this past season. So we will once again try to connect here with Sorin.

We'll try that one more time. Soren, let me ask you about Travis Kelsey. And the numbers just don't bear it out. Is he slowing down? Has the offense not found him? Is it a combination of both? Why his production has dropped off so significantly this year? Yeah, he's slowing down.

He's been slowing down for probably about five years, maybe even six years. I can't remember when the decline started. He's such a smart player. They use him in ways that he can be successful. But I think, you know, everybody finally gets to a point that you can't really run at the, you know, required rate. And I think he's getting there. The yards per catcher down, you know, almost running back level.

and a little over eight and change. I think there's no doubt. Listen, I think it's also fair to wonder. I mean, if you're going to play it into your late age and you're going to be a rock star's boyfriend and be seen all over the globe, people are going to question, you know, is the commitment still there? And I think it's a fair question. I don't have the answer. I don't see his workouts. I don't think anybody has the answer except for Travis Kelsey himself.

But there's no doubt he's not the player he once was. They tried to say, oh, his numbers will be there. They did that for three or four weeks. They don't say it anymore because nobody even bothers to ask it anymore because nobody wonders it anymore. I think everybody has come to grips with the fact that he's not the same player he was and other players. He can still be, you know, he's gone from being a top five wide receiver to being a pretty good tied end. That's still a valuable piece for most clubs. It's a valuable piece for this team, but he's not going to be the guy that single-handedly wins games anymore.

Lastly, before I let you run, we appreciate you, sir, and joining us. The Texans have had a work in progress all season long at the offensive line. the Chiefs front four is pretty dominant at times. What has it been like watching teams with suspect offensive lines going against it front seven in Kansas City? Is that a big asset for Casey going in tomorrow's game? I think it's a nightmare for both teams when their offense turns on the film. I know the Chiefs are worried about their tackle situation against the edges of the Texans. And I'm sure the Texans are very worried about their interior offensive line against Chris Jones.

And whatever numbers you see, you're going to see the sack numbers are down this year from last year. But over the last couple of weeks, they've really started picking up, and that's because Charles Amenahue has come back. And not that it's old Charles Ameahue, but he's a good player. He's a long 6-6, 280-pound player that can play inside, outside, gives the versatility to see Spagnolo's front that he likes. And it allows everybody else to kind of settle back into their role. It gets harder to just double-team Chris Jones on every play. And Chris Jones didn't have any sacks last week, but he really had a lot of pressures, made his presence known, set up a couple of Tershawton sacks, George Carloftus, getting back after the quarterback. So what the Texans are going to see is getting back to being the best version of their past rush last year. They were second in the league in sacked, and that's more the unit that they're going to see them where the rankings are right now.

While the Chiefs have taken on some injuries in a lot of places, they look like they're going to get Hollywood Brown back as well on the offensive side. somebody they haven't had since the first preseason game. But defensively, not only have they got him in and Ahoo back, but he's shaking off a little bit of the rust over the last couple of weeks. And the past rush that they will see is the best one that the Chiefs can throw at them at any point during this year. Lastly, Soren, the Texans are using this game as a measuring stick against who they are against the likes of the operational on teams in the AFC.

The last time the Chiefs, I think, played a super meaningful game against an appointee went, wow, it would have to probably be the Buffalo game. what is the Kansas City mode against a Texans team that would like to gain some popularity among NFL circles and put themselves in a contendership if they were to win this football game against the Chiefs? I don't say it flippantly and the Chiefs approach isn't flippant at all, but it's business as usual. I mean, that's just kind of what they are. It's two-time defending champions with Patrick Mahomes. I think it's a great game.

CJ Stroud to measure himself against Patrick Mahomes. They obviously don't go against each other, but you've got to win these head-to-head games. You want to be the man? you've got to beat the man. A great philosopher once said back in the day. But I think the chiefs know that this is an important one for them to get to the goal they want, which is the number one seat. They need two more wins or a win and a bill's loss along the way to get there. And I think that's how they view this.

And they really want to get it done before they've got to turn around and play a game in five days. So, you know, I think they're used to having the mark on their back, but they see the Texas of the team that's definitely one of the up-and-comers and is one of the ones that they want to make a statement against from the standpoint that we're still the team you need to be. They know every time they lose to somebody, they got to hear about it for a while. They lost to the Bengals in a playoff game last year.

The Bengals never shut up about it. And I think it irked them. And they've handled business against the Bengals ever since. I think they'll have that same kind of mindset against the Texans here. Great hearing your voice, man, Sirwin. Thank you so much for joining me on my show today. Happy holidays, see you and your family. And stay warm this holiday season up in KC.

Yeah, so it's a cool one today. do our best. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays to everyone down there in Houston. Thanks very much, Soren. Sorrent, W.HB. With us here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Dr. Roto is up next final hour of the show. We're going to skip non-flora stories today because I want to get some more Christian Walker chatter going in. So Roto's still 1.30. And then if you want to get a segment of Christian Walker, that is the big headline of today. Christian Walker, a new Houston Astro, a new first baseman. That means Mr. Predes goes to third base. And Mr. Bregman will be looking for a new place to play after.

these decisions were made in the last few days by the Astros. 1258 Sports Talk 790 with a word now for Sethi's fine jewelry. Your last chance to enjoy 40% off fine diamond jewelry is coming up in the next couple of days by stopping by Vosro between San Felipe and Westheimer and visiting with the incredible people at Sethi's fine jewelry. 40% off diamond earrings, diamond bracelets, diamond necklaces, anything diamond, 40% off the holiday sales. Your wife does not want a gift certificate. She's tired of getting a sweater or a blouse or a robe. Give her the gift of diamonds.

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This is the Matt Thomas show. Photo, give me the news. I really don't know what I should do. It is a busy sports day. Christian Walker signing a contract to be the newest member of the Houston Astros. We'll play third base. We'll get to more of that coming up at the bottom of the hour, but we're going to spend the next 20 minutes getting you ready for your plows.

Dr. Roto, this is our, what do they call when something is second to last? Is it penultimate appearance of the season? Oh, my God. An ultimate. Now next Thursday, lock it in. Because everybody's all Friday, so we've got to get you here next Thursday. So put it down, no changing. Nobody's moving anything around.

We're with me next Thursday because it's championship week. Right now it's playoff week for folks in the NFL. We've got to start with, first and foremost, the game that will open up. Well, we had a good omen last time between Denver and the L.A. Chargers. But Houston and Kansas City, if you have Pat Mahomes or anybody as a skilled position player, hesitant to put him in there with Mahomes being less than 100%. Yeah, I don't think so. Not against the Texans' past defense, which we both know has been very underwhelming.

this season. So yeah, I think Mahomes has been a really great spot. DeAndre Hopkins, you know I love a revenge narrative, MT. It doesn't get any better than this one. Kelsey's in play, Pacheco's in play. I think that I'm certainly playing Chiefs for the Texans. Mixon for sure, Niko for sure. Dalton Schultz, great, great spot. The Chiefs are wretched against opposing tight ends. If there was ever a week that Schultz should probably get 10, 12 points. This should be the week. All right. Let's get to the second game on Saturday. Pittsburgh and Baltimore. If Pittsburgh wins, they win the NFC North. Baltimore is at home. They're very good there, but they can't beat the Steelers on a regular basis. How do you see this one sizing up, at least from a fantasy perspective?

Look, the Steelers have issues. Justin Fields is out. And why is Justin Fields interesting? Because sometimes on a fourth and one, they bring it in and he does a running playing gets the one yard. George Pickens is still out. How do you compete against the Ravens? when you don't have your best receiver, and the Ravens are awful at covering receivers. So you're going to play Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin. You're not winning with that. The Ravens have a great matchup. I love Derek Henry this week, and I love Zayfowler's this week.

I always play a lot of single high back there, and flowers eat that coverage up. And you know this time of year, Lamar always plays well. So give me Lamar, give me Henry, give me flowers, give me Mark Andrews. On the other side, maybe Pat Friermouth, but outside of that, I'm not loving it. All right. We had a changing quarterback in Atlanta. First of all, were you shocked? Secondly, what do you expect that on Michael Pennix this week?

Sadly, not shocked. I mean, cousins just looked like he didn't have much mustard on the football anymore. And he was making bad reads. And if they wanted a chance to make the playoffs and how to make a change. Now, here, this is really important. Michael Pennix, and I'm a big Michael Pennix fan, when you're a lefty, the ball comes off your hand differently. So the receivers have to, like, get the timing down.

They've got to look. The laces travel differently. There's a learning curve. Right. Now, the one thing against the Giants, he may not have to throw a ton. So I don't really love most of the skill players this week. I mean, obviously, I like Bejan Robinson, but between London, McLeod, Mooney, I don't think any of these guys are fantasy winners this week. I think they're all fine, but I think moving forward, this is what the Falcons needed.

All right. So with that being said, is there anybody you would push in that's not been playing in recent weeks? or do you kind of, if you've got an line of players, you stay with them? I mean, look, you play Bejan Robinson. You play Drake London. Outside of that, I don't really like Mooney. I don't like McLeod. I don't like Pits. For the Giants, you play Malik neighbors.

And this is going to be a very underwhelming, low-scoring game. I don't think you, this is not the game that's getting into your fantasy finals. 34 degrees in Chicago for the Lions and the Bears to try a rare loss. That's just their second of the season. Do they feel better about themselves that are playing against Chicago who look like a disoriented team last week and their loss. Now this is a game you want for your fantasy playoffs, right?

So Jemir Gibbs is going to get all the the tires he can handle now that Montgomery's out. Sam Leporta is in a terrific smash spot this week. The Bears have been terrible against opposing tight ends. Kittle, McBride, Hawkinson, all did a number on them. I don't love Jameson Williams. I don't love Jared

Gough this week. Amal Raus, St. Brown, should be okay, but not dynamic. For the Bears, I like DeAndre Swift in a revenge narrative spot. And I like DJ more a lot. And I do like Keenan Allen. This game is all about Caleb Williams. Caleb Williams has been terrible.

He really has. He's been terrible. But the Lions don't have a pass rush anymore. They just lost the Lim McNeil. They lost Carlton Davis. They don't have Hutchinson. They've got nobody that you saw on opening day. So I think really,

if Caleb can play well, the Bears might shock. A super intriguing matchup in the NFC East between Philadelphia and Washington. Do the commanders need a signature win? Do they have one in the recent weeks? I mean, nine and five is good, but they're still not grabbing a lot of headlines. A victory against Philadelphia. He would certainly get them some postseason attention.

Look, I think they're going to make the playoffs. They're a much improved team from last year. They've got a great young quarterback. They've got a dynamic number one receiver. Brian Robinson has been great. Well, what do they need? They need a better second receiver, like a T. Higgins type of guy. That would change this team. I think they need to have a better better guys on defense. And I think you're going to see the difference between Philadelphia and Washington come this week. Washington, look, maybe there are 60, maybe there are 70s, but they're not ready to win a Super Bowl yet, right? They're still missing things.

So do I like Jayton Daniels? I do. Do I like Robinson? No, do I like McLaurin? I really don't. I would bet the under and not prop bet all day. It's like 63 and a half yards. I don't think he gets it.

I really like Barclay. I like A.J. Brown. And I like Jalen Hertz. I'm looking at these East Coast teams playing games this week. The Jets game could have some weather. Buffalo could have some weather as well. New England obviously plays in it. The Rams don't.

Are you worried about anybody for L.A. having troubles playing in East Rutherford, even though the Jets are terrible. Oh, no, no. I think the Rams are going to have a good week. Firstly, you know, Pukunakua, Cooper Cup are going to be a lot better than they were last week, especially Cooper Cup. Kieran Williams is going to see 20, 25 touches. So those three guys are absolute starters.

I think this is more of a Garrett Wilson week than it is at Devante Adams week. So, I mean, and Wilson's just been begging for the football. I mean, there's so much dysfunction there. Did you see that article empty that Woody Johnson was looking at Madden ratings when deciding that? I mean, who does that makes Jerry Jones look like a, you know, a Cub Scout. This is a ridiculous stuff here. So I think Rogers pads his stats and tries to get a couple of touchdowns because he's at $498 for his career. So he probably gets to $500.

But look, you play Cooper Cup, you play Pookech, You play Puka Nakuwa, you play Kairn, you play Garrett Wilson, you play Devante Adams. Maybe you play Brise Hall because you probably don't have better options, but he's not a great start. All right, Minnesota at Seattle, are the Vikings giving you fantasy numbers for a team that's 12 and 2? I mean, I don't know. I don't see enough of them. That's what I'm frankly just asking you. Have they been as much of a point value as other teams have been with a similar record?

I would say that Sam Donald, for you probably took him in drafts because most drafts here is probably a free agent. has been a fantasy MVP, just like Baker Mayfield has. Jefferson has been solid, not spectacular. Aaron Jones has been good. T.J. Hockinson's been good. I think Jordan Addison has been a revelation. This guy's a legitimate number two receiver in the NFL. So this game, you know how I always say this is there a had-to-have-it games?

This could be the had-to-have-it game of the late slate. Why? Because Minnesota is terrible against slot receivers. Well, that's good for Jackson-Smith Najibah. Minnesota is not great against number one whiteouts. We haven't seen D.K. Metcalf do something in a while. Kenneth Walker is expected back. So, I mean, I think Gino Smith is in play.

Both receivers are in play. Walker's in play on the other side. Donald for sure. Aaron Jones, both receivers and Hawkinson. This may be the game that you need to have, and I would start all my players in it. All right. Now, your turn to get your questions in for Dr. Roto. It is playoff weekend.

If you want to get your question in, do so now. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Dr. Rodo with us to the bottom of the hour, and then we'll get back to some more Christian Walker. As again, he has signed a new contract, apparently reported three years and $60 million to be the first basement for the Astros in 2025. One-on-one remind you once again that if you're in the fantasy playoffs right now, congratulations.

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It's Underdog Fantasy promo code SportsMT. Matt and Ross return. Return on Sports Talk 790. A lot of folks want to get it. in is the semifinals of fantasy football. Next Thursday, Rod will be with us. Day after Christmas. Got to figure this out.

Got to get you a champion here. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Maddie B. First up for Dr. Roto. Go ahead, Maddie B. Hey, Doc. Last year you helped me to the ship.

I hope you do it again this year. Two questions. First off, quarterback, Jared Goff, Jordan Love, Ortuah, and secondly, one-point-Pee. I need a flex. Jaden Reed or Jonathan Taylor. All right. We're going to go Love and we're going to go Taylor.

I don't trust to it all this week. Off on the road against the Bears, not my favorite spot. But I think Jordan Love is playing really well. The Packers are going to score a ton of points in that game. And Jonathan Taylor just matches up really great against the Titans defense. Should have had a touchdown last week. You let everybody down.

I don't think that happens this week. Thanks, Maddie B. Let's go continue on the phones. Talk to Kenneth and Clear Lake on 7104. Rodo. Go ahead, Kenneth. Hey, Doc. First of all, thanks for the suggestion of Derek Henry at number 10, you know, in the draft. He's obviously worked out really great this year. My question is for the flex position. My lock starts are Brian Thomas Jr. and Joanne Jennings at wide receiver, Chuba Howard,

and obviously Derek Henry at the running back position. So for my flex, I have to decide between Drake London or Garrett Wilson or possibly even Tony Pollard. Yeah, I'm going to go with Wilson. I think that they're going to feed him this week. I think he was angry last week on the sideline complaining. And I think that the Rams don't cover outside receivers particularly well. So I think this is a Wilson week. I'm worried about Drake London.

I'm worried about Michael Pennix. Maybe he only throws the ball, I don't know, 26, 27 times. It feels like a running game to me. So I'm going to go Wilson there. All right. got a couple of folks sending me some emails and whatnot. Which running back into PPR, Stevenson or Ford? Ford all day.

I do not like New England at all. Buffalo is going to run all over New England this week. All right. Malink Neighbors, Jacoby Myers, Jordan Addison, which two of those wide receivers? I am going to go Neighbors in Addison. I am. Neighbors doesn't score a lot, but he gets about 14 to 16 fantasy points. And Addison in the game, what I think should explode, I want a part of Addison.

to. All right. Staying with that, Addison and Neighbors, if you add Chase and Moore to the mix, which one of the four doesn't play? I am playing Chase. I'm playing DJ Moore, and I'm playing neighbors, for sure. All right. Let's go to Mike on 790 for Dr. Roto. Hi, Mike. Hey, Dr. Roto. How you doing? Thanks for all your help, man. I got Malik Navel, Calvin Ridley, Michael Thomas, Jr., I need two of the three, Jerry Golf, or Anthony Richardson. all right so i don't i like richardson i do i like richardson at home i think he's going to have a better week than golf it's not that golf is bad but you can run on the bear so i think this feels like a

jimere gibbs week for me uh in terms of your receivers huh i'm going to go brian thomas because he has been really good as a rookie i mean special so now it's down to ridley versus neighbors two bad teams two bad quarterbacks mason rudolph when he was in there he threw the ball a ton to Ridley. I think that happens again. And to benefit you, Mike, Richardson and Ridley in the same game. If that game gets high scoring, both those guys should benefit.

So I would go with that play. Burrell or Mayfield? Oh, man. I mean, look, Baker has been fantastic and he's got a great start, but I'd never want to be benching Joe Barrow. I just don't want to do it. All right. Let's see what else is on the Twitterverse. Neighbors?

G. Wilson, Bowers, or Tyreek Hill? Two of those four need to start. I'm not going to play Tyreek. I know that sounds crazy. I just don't like the matchup this week. They play a lot of cover three, and Tyreek, that's not what he specializes in. Brock Bowers will be better this week.

Desmond Ritter, we know it's historically awful. A. McConnell is starting. So I think Brock Bowers feels like he's a great play. I'm going to go, wow, neighbors are Wilson. Give me neighbors. I mean, Atlanta's past defense has been bad. And with Wilson, you do worry about Devante Adams. You do worry about Briseau.

Giants, who do you worry about? Nobody. Golf, Stafford, or Daniels at the quarterback spot? Jane Daniels. I think you're looking at a guy. Look, if this was a home game for golf, it's different. On the road and the cold, when they're going to run. Yeah, I don't like Jared on the road as much. Greg and Levingston for

Dr. Roto 1790. Go ahead, Greg. Yeah, Sutton set me back a little bit, but I need one of these London neighbors or Edison. Thank you. Yeah, look, I think a lot of people are coming down for the same three guys. give or take. And I think it's a neighbor's spot. I mean, look, Brian Dable's clinging on to his job.

Neighbors is the best player the Giants have. They're going to feed them the football. And what Atlanta does is they allow guys to catch the football. They don't want them to make big plays, but they let them catch the football. London, a lot going on there. I don't think they throw a lot. And as I said before, Addison is good, but there's a lot of targets there. There's only one neighbors. All right. Let's go to Ray and Katie on 790 for Dr. Roto. Hi, Ray. Hey, Dr. Roto. Can you pick two? of these four, Joanne Jennings, Jerry Judy,

Jacoby Myers, or Hollywood Brown. Traditional PPR. Yeah, I'm going to go with the first two. I'm going to go with Jennings and Judy. I mean, Jerry Judy has been terrific. He really has. And DTR doesn't bother me. I mean, I don't even know if Djoku's going to play. We don't know if Tillman's going to play.

We know Judy's going to play. We know that Cincinnati's defense is bad. Jennings matches up really well against Miami's zone. He's the guy who should have a big week. I don't trust Myers. I mean, Myers is fine, but I don't trust him. I think I'm going to go with Jenny's and Judy. All right. Let's go to Jason and Katie.

Jason, you're on 790. Good afternoon. Hey, Dr. Rito. Thanks a lot. I got two. What received? D.K. Metcalfe, Flowers, or McMillam, and X. Lex, Hubbard, Garendo, or Kendra Miller. All right. I'm going to go Chuba Hubbard

for what I like to call flop lag. It means that he flop last week, but I don't think he's going to flop this week against Arizona. I'm playing Chuba. I'm playing Zay Flowers, and I'm playing Zay Flowers, and I do think, look, McMillan has been a good story. He has been, but is he better than D.K. Metcalf? This feels like a game where if Seattle wants to win, Metcalfe has to be involved. So I'm going to take D.K. Metcalfe and Chuba and Flowers.

All right. Let's continue, Scott and River Oaks for Dr. Roto. They're coming in fast and furious for you, Rodo. Go ahead, Scott. Hey, Dr. Roto. I asked you this once before. This is part of the reason my team is so good. I've struggled with this position all here. Two good options, Burrow or Daniels. Yeah, give me Joe Burrow. So listen, Cleveland allows the most explosive plays in the league.

They play the most man coverage in the league. And you've got Jamar Chase and T. Higgins who dominate man coverage. And Cincinnati still has an outside chance to make the playoffs. Joe Burrow, 300 yards, three touchdowns. Okay. And we go to Tony and Richmond on 790. Hi, Tony. Hi, guys.

So I'm going to preface my question with the guy I'm playing against as Justin Jefferson. I normally would not ask this, but the Steelers usually clamped down on Lamar. would you go with Lamar Jackson or Sam Donald this weekend? Lamar Jackson. The Ravens are supposed to score three touchdowns. Lamar always played. This is when he won his MVP last year. Lamar wasn't an MVP player all year,

but all of a sudden in December, he looked like the next greatest quarterback of all time. I'm going with Lamar. Ravens want this game. They need this game. Last one, Standard League. Patrick Mahomes or Jared Gough this week? Patrick Mahomes all day.

You sound like that's going to be a confident Kansas City victory over Houston. Are you calling that shot too? You can. It's okay. I don't care. Yeah, I do care. I mean, people are texting fans. I think it's going to be a good game, but I don't want to be going up against the homes in Kansas City. If you breathe on them, they're pulling up flag. That's coming from a national perspective right there. Ladies and gentlemen, for the second to last time this season, Dr. Roto's going to give you one player.

It's going to win you some serious points in your playoff. It's Dr. Roto's lock of the week. All right, MC, I'm going to do two things today. First, I'm going to tell you guys to play Jemir Gibbs because he is the ultimate lock this week. He's going to get 20 to 25 touches, 140 yards, probably one touchdown, maybe two. But here's my Christmas play. Maybe this guy does nothing, but if he hits, you can have money for gifts. Ray Davis, Ray Davis from Kentucky, the rookie running back.

I think Buffalo wins this game by, I don't know, 34 to 10. James Cook scores, but Ray Davis, that's a guy to play as well. but Tamir Gibbs is the lock of the week. There you go. Hit it. You my man, your pager is going to go off religiously between now and tomorrow and the weekend. What do we got for you to find people that they need to get a hold of you this week? All right. You find me at DRROTO at X. You find me at Dr. Roto.com and you find me at Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio 8 to 10 a.m.

Eastern on Saturday. Wishing everybody out there are very merry Christmas. Same to you and your family. and we'll talk for the final time this season on Thursday. Thanks again, friend. All the best time, take us. All right. Dr. Rodo with us here weekly on Sports Talk 790.

The Astros have a new first basement. If you haven't heard about him, you're going to hear a couple of us highlights next. 129. It is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-2-790. Now, today's edition of believe it or not, would normally be on Christian Walker, but since we're just running a one-man shop here, I've already picked it out.

It's Christmas vacation, the movie, the greatest Christmas movie of them all. How well do you know the movie? Could win you some prizes coming up in about 20 minutes from now. Right now is a word for Uptown Appliance Repair. I know that if your washer dryer, your microwave, your dishwasher aren't working, you're thinking, I don't have the money to spend on a brand new unit. Why don't you call Uptown Appliance Repair

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That's 281-758-9978. Remember this address is well on the web to get everything fixed at a reasonable price. Uptown Appliance Repair.com, Uptown AppliancesPair.com. The Matt Thomas Show with Ross continues on Sports Talk 790. Thatcher Stadium. There is no explanation for this. It just goes on and on. And all.

It's amazing. He's not even cracking a smile. This defies all logic. My goodness. Stay in that bubble. So Montgomery, because the delay was so long, was scratched and safe so long, Christian Walker. Give me the shooters.

There they are. That's his sixth, and it's one-nothing diamond bags. Now, for the 21st time in 31 games, the Diamondbacks take of the first lead in the game on that solo home run by Christian Walker. He's two for two. He's got both their hits. Oh, man. Up above the belt of four-scene fastball and he clobbered at the left field. And hopefully, Christian Walker will be doing that for the Astros?

Apparently, according to all published reports, three-year contract worth $60 million. So Issoc Perretto's is now going to third base. Christian Walker is at first base, and the Astros don't have to worry about. whether or not Alex Spregman says thanks, but no thanks. Controllable years for Paredes, three years for Walker, and Alex Spregman is essentially done as a member of the Houston Astros.

713-212-5-790. Now, I've offered, if any of you want to say your fond farewells, my toggle on my computer is not working, this is not good. Oh, jeez. If any of you want to say goodbye to Alex Bregman, you are more than welcome to do so right this second. And the bonus part is, if you want to say goodbye to Bregman, is that you can tell Connor your song of your choice

and he will play music behind it. We have never in the history of the Matt Thomas show with Ross ever taken a call by a listener with music behind it. Now you can always go with I Will Remember You, Sarah McLaughlin, right? I think hit the road jack by Ray Charles would be kind of rude. rude. Rosson is pre-recorded one. Someone like you, Adele, that was pretty good.

Yeah. It's so hard to say goodbye. Who sings that? Boys to men. Closing time. Classic. Not a bad song. So if you have a song, you would like to play underneath your farewell.

You got about three minutes here to get in because we've got to believe it or not in here. So I don't know what my song would be. because I not only if I appreciate Alex Spragman as a player, but I appreciate him as a guy that I've covered and been pals with a little bit over the years, it's going to be weird. It is going to be weird that the Astros could not work something out. Not I'm not surprised because, again, I knew for basically a year this was not going to be the long-term forecast for the Astros, especially when they left spring training and not only did not get a deal done,

but apparently the Astros did not really even make an offer until the last few weeks where that was a deal at six years, $156 million. I mean, I had taken it in a heartbeat, but that's a different issue for a different time. What is the, what is the defender? I mean, he gave you World Series. He finished second MVP. He gave you great third base. He was funny.

He did the whirlbarrel things. He was able to smack talk to other teams. He called Trevor Bauer or Tyler Bauer multiple times. You can never get enough respect for that. Always wanted to. to play. What's a really good song for him that would be like, oh, um,

what I guess we're going to spend probably Monday thinking about this a little bit. Alex, uh, Bregman changed his walk-up song in September to George Straits as troubadour, which was kind of like a signaling like a farewell. You can you play it right now? Uh, one second. But didn't it feel like he was saying goodbye anyway when Joe is spotted during the end of the regular season?

pulled him off the field. I mean, it was like the worst kept secret out there. There was, frankly, there were no secrets about this. And I appreciate some Astro fans, especially the Twitter base. It's interesting. Just like, do it. You got to stay here. No, you don't.

I mean, this wasn't, this couldn't have been a shock to many of you. And then the next sign of things after the Astros, apparently we're not willing to get off that six-year-156. They were talking about getting Nolan Aaronnaut from the St. Louis Cardinals. I mean, good baseball teams just can't sit and wait. And that's why they had plan B locked up and apparently for some time. This is the song he played in his final game. Is that what you're telling me here? I'm terrible on walk-up songs.

I couldn't tell you who walk-up songs are various people. This is it here? Yep. Did you tear up on this and that happened? Well, I didn't see it live, so. Oh, I know. I mean, it's going to be pretty emotional. when he comes back, whenever he comes back.

Now, put it this way. If he signs the National League team, there's a 50-fifty shot. He doesn't come back at all. If he stays with, if he goes in America League West team, he's coming back here twice, which I don't think the Rangers, the Mariners, the Angels, or the A's have been discussed as a potential landing spot. But the Yankees have, the Red Sox have, the Tigers have. This is fine.

I mean, it's somewhat catchy. All right. Let's get a phone call. call on before we get to believe it or not. 713. It's how we are not on Farney's, by the way. 713-212-5-7-8. Now, is Jerry have a song he wants to play during his farewell,

or is he just going to just talk? He's got one now. All right, let's put it on. Jerry and Katie. Just hung up. Is this what he's going with? He said he wants, yeah, want to be a baller by Lil Troy, which I think was one of Breggman's other walk-up songs,

but he just hung up on us. Well, Jerry will play this in for you anyway. I wouldn't have considered this to be a farewell song But to each his own It's almost like what you know Everyone says what do you want to your plate at your funeral And there's always songs I'd think about I wouldn't want to be at the ultimate sad time

But I think people would obviously If your family is sad about your passing You wouldn't want to play like a rock band music All right This again was not what I was thinking of But to each his own So we'll save our fond farewells, I think, for officially when Alex decides where he goes. Now the big question is going to be, is he a tiger?

Is he a Red Sox? Is he a Yankee? Sounds like the Red Sox would probably be the top of the list. It'd be troubling to see him, but I could stomach that more than I could if he was the Yankee. That's for sure. All right. Let's play, believe it or not. It is 142 on Sports Talk 790.

It's Hell Gare or not on the Friday edition of the show. It's all things about the movie Christmas Vacation. my favorite Christmas movie and it ain't even close. Connor, your favorite Christmas movie would be what? Oh, good question. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, like the old Claymation movie? Really? That one's a classic.

You know what? You tell it to your girl this weekend. She's going to give, she's going to love on you significantly. Or Home Alone is a classic too, but I like... Oh, Home Alone is good too. The nostalgic feel of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer's. I like a lot. And by the way, I can say this very confidently.

Bruce Willis movies, all of them are not Christmas movies. You heard me. Does Gus want to say goodbye to Bregman real quick? Let's do that before we get out of here and get to the book. Hell yeah or not. Hi, Gus. Did you want to say goodbye to Bregs? Just want to say goodbye to Breg and hello to his orthopedic surgeon.

It's got to fix his elbow. I don't see why nobody's talking about his injury. I think he got fixed. I think he did something in the offseason. and I wouldn't be surprised if he wouldn't. I mean, it looked like it was being held on with a lot of ice and tape, basically, the last few weeks of the season. And he said he wanted to play second base or first base.

So that's why I knew we don't need them. Yeah, thanks for the phone call. All right, hell yeah or not is up next. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. 144. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Final segment coming up.

And we're going to play all things about the movie, Christmas vacation, my favorite all-time Christmas movie. 713-212-5-790. Right now at 144, a word for quality home products of Texas. Your home and the power's going to go out. It's going to be not a question of if but when, and that's where you have to call 713 Quality and visit with the incredible people at Quality Home Products of Texas. They have 14,000 five-star reviews. Can your company that you work deal with can brag about that? probably not because when you get out there and you look around and you think man my neighbor's got a generator i need one because i want to have power in my office i want power in my bedrooms i want my

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Matt and Ross is enhanced for you by Stud RX, a discrete reliable solution for your mail enhancement needs. Lunch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. Fox Sports has put out a projected 2025 Astro's

starting lineup. It might go like this. Jose Ibrayu at second. Excuse me. Hit me. Jose Altuvae at second. Isak Paredes at third. Yoran Alvarez will D.H. and bat third.

Middle three. Christian Walker at first. Yarnier Diaz will catch. Jeremy Payne at short. Maricio Dubon in left. Chas McCormick and right. Jake Myers in center field. I mean, right now as it stands? Not terrible.

Outfield could use a little more pop. Dubai, we know, is basically a singles hitter. Cormickon has home run pop, but it was very inconsistent. It hurt last year, and Jake Myers has one awesome month and then doesn't do much really after that. Top six really good. Abreu, Paredes, Alvarez, Walker, Diaz, Pena, top six. Not a horrible way to get your 2025 Astro starting six out there. Bottom three could be up for grabs.

Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do? We should play America's fastest growing. Sports Radio Game Show Monday through Thursday, we call it a believe it or not, but on Fridays, we call it a hell yeah or not, and here's how it works. You call 713212-570. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Today's edition of Believe it or Not is about my favorite Christmas movie, Christmas Vacation.

I'll read your statement about this movie. This movie is the same as completely utterly accurate. You'll say this. Hell yeah! At the statement, it's erroneous, Philibonkin made up, you will say this. Not. To believe or not, sit around all things about the movie, Christmas vacation. and wins you a prize. What are we playing for today, Connor?

A pair of tickets to see Todies live on December 29th at the House of Blues. A pair of tickets to see sticks with Kevin Cronin of Ario Speedwagon and Don Felder, formerly of the Eagles on the Brotherhood of Rock Tour on June 6 at the Woodens Pavilion and some 790 T-shirts. Oh, excellent prizes here, but first you must play, hell yeah or not. David in Conroll on 790, David, you're ready to play Hell yeah or not? Hell yeah. When the Griswolds go hunting for a Christmas tree, Clark forgot to bring a rope to tie up the tree on top of the car. Hell yeah or not.

Hell yeah. No, he forgot a saw. That was the key. He was digging the tree out. He forgot the saw. Let's go to Roger on 790. Roger, you're ready to play hell yeah or not? Hell yeah.

Eddie's dog's name is Snots. Hell yeah or not. Hell yeah. There you go. Hey, yeah. Statement number two for the wing, Clark's wife, Ellen, has a nickname for him. She always calls him tiger. Hell yeah or not.

Hell no That's right, he calls him Sparky. There you go. Congratulations. Brian on 790, Brian, what was your favorite part of today's radio show? Here in the Christian Walker dude. There you go. When Clark was trapped in the attic, he occupied his time by singing Christmas carols. Hell yeah, or not?

Yeah, he was watching home movies. Statement number two for the win. Clark's initial Christmas bonus was a one-year membership to the Jelly of the Month Club. Hell yeah or not. It's the gift that keeps giving, Clark. Hell yeah. There you go. That's all we're doing.

We're giving gifts. I'm proud of you. Matt on 790, Matt, you're ready to play, hell yeah or not. Hell yeah. Matt, the secret ingredient in Anthony's jello was tuna fish. Hell yeah or not? Hell no.

It was cat food. Statement number two for the win. Clark's sled when, incredibly fast. He used the kitchen lubricant he invented to help with the speed. Hell yeah or not. Hell yeah. There you go. Nice good job.

Yeah, I'm happy you're winning here. You have to watch the movie. It's just a classic. Sam on 790. Sam, you ready to play? Hell yeah or not. Hell yeah. When it was Aunt Bethany's time to say, Grace, she sang instead, God bless America. Hell yeah, or not? Hell yeah. No, she said the Pledge of Allegiance.

Mm-mm-mm-mm-hmm. Wax, where do you put Christmas vacation among your all-time classic movies? It's top three, and I only know one of the other top two. And that would be what? I think I'm going to go with Elf. It's always fun. It's on a lot, but I usually do want to do you in. I've never seen it from start to finish.

Home Alone, probably the other one of the top three. Home Alone, one and two? No, one. Yeah, one's good. One is good. All right. So, what do you got? Is Chandler coming in the day?

I see what's going on with him. He's busy. He will join me today. He will not come in. He'll join me at 2.30. So we're just a little bit away from a little discussion about the serious, serious, serious, serious negotiations. They are in with Christian Walker. Todd Blackledge, who's on the call, the Texans Chiefs game on Saturday, he'll join me at 415.

I like him. He's very good. Very good. Taylor McGregor, who's the Cubs field side reporter, and she's doing sidelines for Clemson UT tomorrow. She'll join us at 415. You got that, Taylor, huh? It's funny. Honestly, ESPN, I think, has five tailors working for them in college football, at least.

Although one of them is a man, Taylor McCargg. Former Rice quarterback. Yes. I was hoping you get a different tailor on. Well, certainly not that Taylor. She's probably at the game, Chiefs, Texans. Is there a different tailor? She does walking bets?

Yeah, I know who it is. I do not shoot the video from in front of me, and nothing on my chest jiggles in that manner. Yeah, I know who she is. Hey, did he make the noon, the 10 o'clock open today? Yeah, that was one of the clips I was it. Okay. At T-Math Sports, maybe? I don't know where Twitter account.

I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you at all. All right. I'm off to Toronto tomorrow and we'll call the Rockets and Raptors on Sunday. Monday I'll be in Charlotte where I'll do the show with Dan Matthews. Up next, it's Wexler and Friends for the A team. Y'all be careful this weekend driving around, and I'll talk to you Sunday from north of the border here on Sports Talk 790.