The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Chandler Rome Joins the Show Assessing the Astros Quiet Offseason as Texans Prep For Raiders

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Chandler Rome Joins the Show Assessing the Astros Quiet Offseason as Texans Prep For Raiders

This is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. General One in H-town. Good morning, and welcome to a Wednesday edition of the Matt Thomas show at Ross. Today I'm in New Orleans, Louisiana, where tomorrow night the rockets will take on the New Orleans Pelicans. And when I think of New Orleans, I think of one man, not Chris Gordy, but LSU's own, Channel, Rome. Chandler, how the hell are you? I'm very jealous that I'm in Houston, Texas, and you're in New Orleans. That doesn't seem like a fair trade-off.

Now, wait a minute. You tell me every time you go to Vegas, do I get mad at you? I mean, sometimes. Yeah, I do. I actually do. Yeah, you, and then you tell me about all your fancy life. I mean, I live a fancy lifestyle, Chandler. I ain't going to lie.

But the things you send to me, and you can make public what you want, you do quite well for yourself when you're in these towns of debauchery. Well, I mean, while. else am I there? Like, you might as well, you might as well live it up. That's right. Why go to Vegas on the cheap? Yeah, that's right. How are you? You are bouncing around the general manager's meetings and the winter meetings? A good time had by all. Is it basically just a bunch of guys standing around and then you go out and drink till three o'clock in the morning and then see who's talking business and who's not? Yes. That is essentially with both the GM meetings and the winter meetings,

are you? It is a lot of standing around. It's a lot of walking. Like, you, like, you, you you make laps around the lobby, around the resort, wherever the places, wherever the things being held. You just make laps and hope that you run into somebody that you know. And occasionally you do, but yeah, it just becomes a test of wills. Like, do you want to stand around for 13 hours and how much do you want to drink at night and how much do you want to wait until the right people get the right amount of liquored up to start to really hear what's going on? But it's a lot. It's burdensome. It's tiresome. I'm glad I've had a couple days to decompress a little bit. Yeah. And how How's that athletic expense account?

I mean, and somebody says, hey, let's go have a cocktail. I mean, I thought it's got to pick up the tab on that, right? Dinner with Source. That's the greatest designation known to mankind in expense reports. That is the best. Chano's going to hang out with this for a couple of hours, and obviously we'll talk quite a bit about baseball because he's one of the premier baseball writers in his country,

not only locally, but across the country. Well, it makes him a couple other things, including last night. I found myself being old for the very first time. uh normally when we go to a city where there is a casino uh i'm there within 45 minutes uh and especially here in new orleans where i'm literally i can see scissors from my hotel room so um the sign of me being all was last night we got into new orleans fairly late we left uh denver late yesterday went and had dinner on bourbon street and then oh why why'd you go to bourbon street for dinner because i i didn't choose it it was it was chosen by me somebody else in our group

it was fine and then I passed the casino up and went to my room and went to bed I'm serious I don't know if I'm losing my touch

but I've disappointed myself I've disappointed my family and actually my wife's very happy about it because she knows sometimes the things don't do well but I just it was a sign but I will take it this because I'm going to rally

as you would expect me to Chandler at 201 when the shows are worth today I will be across the street hopefully winning and getting Butler service at some point Hey, so what was I going to tell you? Oh, so last time we're at dinner. And in the restaurant, it was not a sports bar.

It was a legitimate New Orleans restaurant. It had about 10 or 11 TVs. All of them were on last night's Montgomery, Alabama Bowl. I think it's the salute to freedom or salute to service bowl. I don't know what the hell it was. It was Troy versus Kennesaw State. And I'm sure you watched quite a bit of that, right? Oh, I was locked in every play.

Yeah, yeah. All right. so no one had the NBA Cup game on and the guys in my party were like hey I'm surprised nobody's got on I said well first of all it's streamed on Amazon and secondly I don't know if New Orleans would be considered a robust NBA city but it made me think about this and I know that the world

of sports including the sport that you cover primarily baseball is going to go to a much heavier streaming package we've seen it already the NBA we're seeing NFL games on Christmas we have the Amazon Prime games on Thursday. But there's a segment of the population that might watch something at a sports bar or a regular bar that's not going to tune into it. And I thought last night was a pretty strange indication that every one of the televisions on in this restaurant we were on had this Montgomery Alabama Bowl.

No one was watching it, but you would think maybe a glimpse of an NBA game would be cool. And I think really the NBA, and look, I love the NBA, I love basketball, I love the Rockets. but the streaming is going to take some viewers out of this and I know that all these different networks are trying to boast about their great viewership numbers and Netflix and Prime and things are up and up and up but there's a huge segment of the population that sports bar or that restaurant crowd that's never going to see these games because they're streamed

and these restaurants are not going to spend extra money to stream games when it's probably a pain the ass when they get those TV those games on TV to begin with I'm not sure that I'm not sure that what happened last night maybe is an indictment on the whole operate because like I think what you said at the beginning that New Orleans is not the NBA destination. I mean, I think if you look at the crowd, you'll see in the blender tonight, I think if you look at the product on the floor,

and I think if you'll look at just, like, the NBA is down the rung of importance in New Orleans. I think if you were in a place where the NBA was more prevalent, was more popular, they would have, like, found a way to get the cup game on television or streaming it. Because I just think New Orleans is, like, checked out on any, NBA anything. And probably sports in general because the saints suck, too. Right. Or, I mean, they're just, they're airing Lane Kiff and infomercials for for 15 hours, which I'd endorse. I would.

So you are an, where did you grow up? I grew up in Baton Rouge. Okay. So as a young Channel of Rome, how often would you run to New Orleans or were you a guy that stayed in Baton Rouge most of the time? As I got older, like when I was growing up, like my family, like we didn't go to New Orleans much. But as I got older, like, yes, like Mardi Gras became more prevalent in my life. Just being able to hop over. I mean, you can make it under an hour if you leave it the right time when you know where you're going. It's less than an hour from Baton Rouge, New Orleans.

So, yes, I seized advantage of that multiple times as I got older. But I wouldn't say it was like an every weekend thing or even an every other weekend thing, maybe like once a month, once every couple months. Were you destined to go to LSU or did you think about the places besides there? you know it was weird um and mad like i mean you've got you've got kids that are around college age like you maybe you can relate to this as a parent but like for me like i wanted to like kind of get away a little bit because i grew up in badroo's right i grew up like in lSU's backyard and so i always had this feeling that like college means you get away right like you you go start a new somewhere else and like you just all new surroundings and then kind of once i started i looked around like i looked at two lane

and I looked at some other places, but, you know, once I kind of got the feeling that, like, I can still, like, start anew while still being in a place I grew up, like, while I can balance both of those things. Like, it became a little bit easier. But I was actually, like, really hesitant to go to LSU at the beginning just because, like, I had this, like, thought in my head that college needed to be, like, you get away, right? Like, you go somewhere new. And I'm, it's the best decision I ever made one LSU.

Like, don't get me wrong. But early in my picking process, my selection process, like, that was. something that just stuck with me and I'm glad I kind of push that to the side a little bit. Well I'll say with three kids, two of which are graduated my oldest went to Texas Tech and loved West Texas. Now West people that go to Tech and either you love it and you can't stay there

long enough or you can't get away fast enough because you're so far from home. I mean nobody's from Lubbock in theory. Everybody's from somewhere else. But my oldest son loved it. My middle son was destined to be an Aggian. That was always going to happen. My daughter was going to chase her volleyball dream. And as a matter of fact, channel you know i didn't send her to lSU's volleyball camp and she did not have a great time so i tried to get the tigers into the thomas family but it was unsuccessful um but my point

on the lSU side is so you have watched this and i and i don't know how big your fandom is i mean i look at your tweets and i i mean you bring up some lSU occasionally but it's not like you in and date with oh i can't wait for us to beat xyz team or i can't wait for this guy so as you are a fan and part-time observer of the college sports and obviously a full-time reporter. How did you think the whole situation with Lane Kiffin is as an alum thinking about this coach who obviously moves along from place to place to place?

He does win, but he does have some, let's basically say some character flaws. What was your take of the entire LSU situation when Lane Kiffin coming there? I thought the lead up to it was just so embarrassing, right? It was just so Louisiana it hurts with the governor doing what the governor did with pushing out the aid like I thought the lead up to it was embarrassing and just poorly handled but I can't complain with the end result I think we should cherish we being the LSU collective we should cherish

the two and a half years Lane Kiffin will be in Baton Rouge because he's going to do this again he's going to do exactly what he just did leaving Ole Miss like he has never left a place amicably he's never left a place normally yeah And I firmly believe when people tell you who they are, listen. And this is who he is. So when Texas fires Sark in two and a half, three years, or when Alabama needs a coach, or when the Cowboys need it, like, he's going to leave.

He's going to get a better offer somewhere else. He's going to go chase what's next for him. And that's fine. I'll relish the two and a half to three and a half years that LSU has him. Because my guess is he's going to win. I mean, he wins. Yeah. I will say this. What has he won? Like, he's won a bunch of regular season games. He has not appeared in a conference championship game. This will be his first playoff appearance, and he will not appear in the playoff. That's the only thing that kind of gives me pause, right? Is that he hasn't won anything. And to make this much hoopla about someone that, quite frankly, at this point in his career, not won anything. It's a little weird, but the hope is that with the resources and the commitment

and the alignment and the money that LSU is going to pour into everything, that that can get them over the top. But who knows? Well, I want to say this. And we do make fun of the state of Louisiana for a variety of things. I don't want to hear about how poor Louisiana is anymore. That's been the... I mean, if the governor is getting intimately involved in this, you know where the money is coming from and how he's going to be paid out. If they, this whole saga has shown me like, if they, if they need to find the money, they can't. If they want to find the money, they can't. All this talk about them, we don't have money.

Like, when they want to do something, when they're motivated, they can find the money. All right. So we got a lot of things to get to as channel is with us until noon. And then I will take it solo between noon and two. As a matter of fact, coming up later in the show around 1.30, Andrew Catalan, who works for CBS Sports, is going to call the Texans and the Raiders game this Sunday on CBS. and he'll join us at about 1.30 this afternoon. We'll talk to him about the game this week that he calls. We will be calling.

And the game he called last week, he did call Philip Rivers return in the Indianapolis-Seattle games. So if you saw that game on CBS this past weekend, I heard the voice. It was Andrew Ceylon. He'll join us. Coming up at 1130 today, we'll have our regular Wednesday feature, shut your ball mass up. But ain't nobody got time for that. This will be where Chandler loses his virginity in this segment because I only got ever called or done anything on this. So I look forward to that.

We will also get to a lot of baseball as, look, the Texans are on the practice field against the Raiders. They're going to kill the Raiders this week, so I'm not going to go to a deep dive. I'm going to cuss and discuss 20 hours of Texans Raiders preview. The NBA did say they were sorry about three calls that were missed last couple nights back in that game against Denver, so we'll get to a little bit of that. The NBA Cup, I think there's a collective Who Cares around America. Charles Barkley said as much just a couple days ago, but I do want to get into some baseball chatter because that's what Chandler's Prime focus is he is the beatwriter for the athletic on the Astros and also covers the sport as a whole.

713-212-5-7-90. If you want to chime in on the conversation today, 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. It's 10-13. It's a Matt Thomas show with Ross. Our friend Channel Rome is stepping in today for a couple of hours. We'll be with us again tomorrow from 10 o'clock until noon. And we look forward to talking with you again.

It's 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. I'm here in New Orleans, and this is Sports Talk 790. because we as degenerates do what we do uh ross and his brother were uh in lake charles yesterday and they made it rain congratulations of both those boys they uh showed me a video of several hundred dollars and bills on their bed which is nice and uh that's what bros do when we go to lake charles or or to los vegas or to new orleans and win if we lose we just kind of tuck and run away and don't talk about our experiences channel rome does done that a few times in his life it is the matt thomas show with ross chanler with us in our

Houston Studios. I'm here in New Orleans. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-21-2-5-7-90. I know that you're a big Quinn-Ewers fan, Chandler, Word coming out this morning, that he will start for the Miami Dolphins this week. So I know no one cares about personal fantasy football issues. I needed Devon A-chain to get, I think I needed 20 points from him on Monday night to get into the Super Bowl of my league.

he scored 17 points and I'm blaming to a tongue of Ilova totally because god he is terrible he's terrible I had like I watch I'm like a very casual NFL follower like I didn't know Pete Carroll was the Raiders coach until last night he won't be very long like I I've I'm I did not know he had gotten that bad like I watched that game beginning to end and I was like first of all like I watched it I was like how are the dolphins still contending for a playoff spot and then like man Tua was that was rough to watch well it's a byproduct

again and we talked about this a little bit with CJ now not that the level of Tua because Tua has been hurt and bad as compared to CJ has been occasionally hurt and occasionally erratic but when you tie a lot of money into a quarterback especially on a second contract

he better be good because if he's not first of all you're sitting there with a guy paying a crazy amount of money and secondly it hampers you to other positions because you spent so much money on one position. And I've always, and Ross and I argue about this, I think there's got to be a way to put some sort of salary cap on a quarterback, but you really can't, because he is the most important player in your team, and you go as far as your quarterback goes. But the discrepancy between the quarterback and say your left tackle or your number one

defensive end or your number one receiver is significant. And Miami, as long as they keep two on the books, and this could go for any NFL team, a lot of the, a lot of the, you know, a lot of money you spend can really hurt you. I mean, Trevor Lawrence makes a lot of money for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and they're good this year. But by and large, they have had issues being good, and he hasn't been great. And so when you have a mid-to-belo-a-verage

quarterback making $35-40, $45 million a year, you're screwed for a long period of time. I'll say this, Devon A-Chane's really good. He's awesome. I have him in my fantasy league, too. I mean, not even just because I had him on, like, I've watched him, like, watching him play. Like, he's, like, he's

very, very good. So, like, that has to help right like he's and like there's still surround like jalen waddles on that team like they've got guys around him that should be yep they've got guys around two that that should that team should be better than it is yeah so yeah there and that thing about me i'm in the playoffs we have a uh we play 15 regular season games and we play two playoff games i'm really scared the death and i got to talk to dr rhodo about this on fron i i don't want to i don't want to litter my team full of players that aren't going to be playing for anything i mean i got a chain going this week which obviously I have to because he's one of the best running backs in the league.

But who's to say they're going to rest him or not trying to get him hurt? I mean, Miami's toast. I mean, it can be for a lot of different people on the NFL. If you've got Jamar Chase of Cincinnati, they're not going to the playoffs. I mean, how much is he going to be vested in the rest of the season? If they're already benching Tua, then like that should just tell you that they're going to, they've moved past the trying to win stage. And it's like, all right, let's evaluate.

Let's see what we got for next year. Let's see who we want to bring back, things like that. Yeah. So at least I'm in the playoffs. I'm happy about that. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. We'll get to more big-picture asteros up.

I know that you reported a few minutes ago that Martín Maldonado is going to the Atlanta Braves as a special assistant. Yeah, good for him. Good for Maldonado, who I know is a polarizing figure among Astros fans and things like that. But this is kind of maybe the first step in his post-playing journey. You know, I think he's long been viewed as a guy that's going to be on a, whether he is a manager or whether he is like a bench coach or something of that effect. Like he's probably like the next, like, because I don't know if you've noticed, Matt, like the way major league managers now are being hired. Like Stephen Vote with the Guardians was, I think, two years out of playing and they hired him as their manager.

He's one back-to-back manager of the years taking the guardians to the playoffs two years in a row. Kurt Suzuki, who retired like two years ago. He's the new manager of the Angels. You're seeing a trend of younger managers that are just off the field, that have just finished playing, that maybe have a year or two under their belt of experience elsewhere. I think Maldonado will be next in line for that. You will hear his name for managerial jobs maybe in the next two or three years. And I think this is just a first step for him to see maybe how,

franchises work from a 10,000 foot view as opposed to being in the clubhouse and a player. I think it's a good first step from. I think it's a I think it's an organization that the Braves are very, very well thought of in the game as a well-run organization that does things the right way that have a good blend of

analytics and feel and I think it's a good spot for him to start his post-playing career. Well, the reality is this and we've seen this probably for about 30 years in Major League Baseball. We're seeing catchers left and right getting managerial jobs. Now, some do work. uh, you know, Mike Sosha, some don't work, Brad Osmus.

Um, so it's, now the owner, but I mean, you guys have been talking about this forever that, that Maldonado can carry himself and that, and let's face it, for all the things that people didn't like Dusty about, Dusty was very, very adamant that Martine got his fair share of playing time. And, uh, I don't know if it's because of the intangibles, certainly wasn't the bat, wasn't his glove work towards end of his career, but there's something comforting about a guy on a field, and this could be for any sport, that can be your unofficial coach while still competing on the field

itself. And it's just the way that Malden, I don't think we did a good job maybe as reporters covering the situation of like articulating like how, what Maldenado, the difference he makes on the field and just the things he sees and the things he can pick up from behind

the plate, the things he's able to maybe control a game in a different way. And those things are sometimes hard to quantify, hard to, like, you can't find a stat for that. You can't find a stat for Maldonado being one of the smartest and saviest players in baseball. Like there's no,

there's no stat on baseball reference for that. But believe me, it matters. Like, it matters when there's comfort from the pitcher. It matters when there's guys on the field that, you know, look,

I don't say this pejoratively, but Martin Maldonah is a reputation in the game. Like he is, like people get kind of nervous when Maldonado is on the field for no other reason than they know how savvy he is. They know things he can pick up. All legal, I'm not saying anything nefarious is going on. But they know the things he does very well.

And he, just his presence can be, I don't want to say a distraction, but his presence can certainly, like, put the fear into some opposing teams that, oh, man, like, we got to be on our stuff. We got to button up everything because this is a guy that if we have anything showing, if we have any sort of weakness or things, he'll find a way to seize advantage of it. All right, that is Channel Rome for the Athletic. He's with us for the next 90 minutes. If you'd like to be a part of the show, come on in and do so at 713-212-5-7-90.

7-1-3-212-5-7-90. We've still got a lot of things to get to, including the Rockets. Got three, I'm sorry, in the NBA yesterday. I'm ad hoc at this point has not been fined. I love that guy, man. Can we talk about that? Let's talk about that later. I love that, dude.

Yeah, I want to go over your quick kind of Astros off-season to this but we'll do it before the top of the hour because I do think it's worthy of it and uh you know look I I get a chance to talk to him every game we do a weekly visit with us he'll be with us on the show tomorrow he doesn't mess around and he is the kind of how do I put this uh there is no filter and I think he has like a budget channeler I don't know if other managers do as well other coaches that like all right I'm I'm making X amount of million dollars per year I'm going to set aside $250,000 for fines because I think that's when he gets it and he knew he was going to get fined or he's going to get fined he knew what he was going to do and um he took out

somebody certainly yesterday 713212 5 790s general from the athletic with us in studio in houston matt thomas with you from new orleans 713 212 5790 we will get to a variety of things including the rockets getting uh the two-minute report yesterday which i don't even know if they should do that because it doesn't make anybody feel any better we will get to the texans and raiders throughout the course of the show, including coming up today at 1.30, Andrew Cattelon from CBS is going to join the show. We have, believe it or not, at 150.

We have shut your bum ass up at 1130. We'll look forward to seeing what Chandlerers are griping about these days. But before we go to the phones, at 713-212-5-7-90. All right, when are we going to get to this infield decongested channel room? I don't know if you will. I don't know. I think I'm going to be one of those reporters that I hate right now. Um, I wouldn't be surprised. I wouldn't be surprised if something gets done before the holidays, before they like shut the office down for the holidays just because, you know, that's, that's kind of been Dana's M.O. Remember they, they signed Christian Walker like around this time last year. And the press conference was the day before Christmas Eve. I remember that. Um, so Dana's got, there's precedent here of Dana wanting to maybe get something done before the holidays. Um, they've got a lot of, and I, no one wants to do.

hear this. They just want to hear like what's going to happen like definitively. I don't think they know yet. I think they have a lot of irons in the fire. I think they're talking to a lot of different teams about a lot of different possibilities on the trade market. As I have reiterated and as basically everyone that covers the team is reiterated, I would imagine that most of their offseason work will come via trade. And so because of that, I mean, it's it's harder to pull off a trade than it is to just sign a guy to a free agent deal. Like if you, if you give the guy what he wants, like you sign the guy and it's done.

When you're negotiating a trade, like the other side can counter and things like that. Like, it's a little more difficult to pull off a trade when you've got another team involved. So I think they are actively discussing trades for starting pitching. And that's been their goal all season. It's been their goal all winter, I should say. they need young controllable starting pitching

that is what they want that is what they're looking for we have talked about the areas that they can trade from this team what happened at the winter meetings didn't really change my viewpoint it only reinforced that I'm just not sure there's going to be enough at bats to go around

if as Joe Espada said at the winter meetings Jose Altovae is playing second base more often than not and if Jordan Alvarez is deaching more often than not I just don't know how you spread enough at bats around to Esauk Paredes and Christian Walker. There's so many questions I've got to ask you. First of foremost, what do we know about Esauk Paredes' hamstring? And I don't know if the Astros has been forthcoming.

They don't have to say anything, honestly, until somebody really ask about it. But, I mean, are we expecting him to be ready to go for the start of spring training and or the start of the season? Every indication that Dana Brown gave us at the winter meetings is that he will be a full go when spring training starts. We did ask whether he'll play in the WBC for Team Mexico. It sounds like that's a little more up in the air. I wouldn't be surprised if just out of an abundance of caution, they don't allow him to do that.

But every, I mean, we ask straight out, will he be ready for spring training? He said they expect him to be a full go when they report to West Palm Beach in February. Okay. That's obviously a good sign because I would think if you are trying to throw him out there as a trade chip that they're going to be, obviously, want to look at some x-rays

and medicals and whatnot. Ben, it feels like to me, and maybe I'm missing a couple of people in the mix, that Zach Cole and Jacob Melton are going to have, not necessarily the bull's eye on them, but, man, a tremendous about pressure on those two young men, especially if and when Jake Myers gets treated. Yeah, I kind of, the way I view this is I kind of listen

to what these guys say more than, you know, just, it's no coincidence that Dana Brown and Joe Espada have spent the last month and a half, unprompted, really hyping up Zach Cole, like really hyping him up without even being asked just, oh yeah, this is a guy that we want to give a long look at. It just shows you that they want to create a way to get him on the team, to have him contribute. And Joe reiterated at the winter meetings a couple weeks ago that his philosophy has not changed. If you're going to carry a young player like that on the team, Joe wants to give him every day at bats. There's, and again, all that smoke being there just reinforces the fact that Jake Myers is probably the most likely guy to get traded because they feel they can backfill that.

They feel they can backfill his production with what they have internally. This is the highest Jake Myers' value will probably ever be. So they need to strike while the iron's hot. And the other thing that I really don't think many people are talking about is like, Zach Cole is also a left-handed hitter. And this team doesn't, I mean, has Jordan Alvarez and that's it. They lost Victor Caratini to free agency. Like, they need the balance. And I think adding another lefty bat in there is certainly something that they're, that intrigues them about why another reason why Zach Cole would make a lot of sense.

All right. Let's go to the phones and we'll talk more about this throughout the course of the next hour and change. But let's say hi to Jim on 7 out of 1040. Jim, good morning. Hey, guys. How you doing? I just wanted to talk about, is it the kid from Chicago we got in the Tucker deal? I can't remember his name, Parades.

Cam Smith. Why in... Camp Smith or Parades? Why in the world... Parades? Okay. Why in the world would we trade a guy that is the most patient hitter, one of the most patient hitters in Major League Baseball,

his contact rate is high, he walks, he works the count, he's just exactly what this lineup needs. Now, I totally trust the Astros on developing mid-range pitching talent. But, you know, I mean, I like the closer kid, but, you know, that contract is questionable. And then, you know, I guess it's a case of trading a guy when he's at his highest point just because Walker at first, he had a bad year. So his trade value is probably hard to move with that price. But I just don't see why we would get rid of Paredes. And the young kid that played right field, I mean, he really regressed.

I think his OPS was in the 500s towards the end of the year. So can he go down if we need him to? And thirdly, I mean, is Altuvae, is this what we're going to get from him? are we seeing just a massive decline or do we think he's going to regroup and I'll hang up and listen thanks guys and enjoy you having Chandler on the show appreciate it there's a lot there it is let's go to again and I'll go start on the Paredes trade front again we're not throwing anybody out there but the realistic expectations are is that it's significantly more easier to trade Jimmy Paredes and it would be the Christian Walker who's got two years left

in a contract who had a subpar first season as an astra. I mean, is anything more simple than that? I mean, I think the most simplistic way to put it is, like, when you're trading someone, like, you want to get the most value back you can get. And ESOC Paredes is 15 times more valuable right now than Christian Walker. Like, the Astros are not making these trades to, like, to cut payroll to, like, weaken. They're trying to make good baseball treats. They're trying to dangle a valuable asset for what a number.

other team has, they view as a valuable asset. So what he's, what, what he said is like perfectly reasonable. Like, why would you trade a guy that was your best hitter for stretches of the season and is exactly what this lineup lacks? Like, I agree. Like, that's perfectly reasonable take. But when you get down to it, if they're not going to run a $300 million payroll, if they're not going to go out and spend exorbitantly in free agency, which this team has never done, There's only so many ways you can improve your club. There's only so many ways you can improve your roster, and this is one of them. And there's just, you know, I get the fan sentiment as, oh, yeah, just dump Walker.

Just dump Christian Walker, like, he didn't, like, pay down some of the deal and just go. Like, they want, like, actual value back in trades. They want to make their team better. They want to, like, enhance their weaknesses on these teams with these trades. And Paratus is one of the few guys on the roster that's, A, realistically, a trade candidate, and B, can help you get that value. back. All right.

Morewood Channel coming up in a minute. 713, 212.5.790. He's with us until 12 new. We will get to the other things about Cam Smith. We will get to the lack of pitching at this point. The Astros roster will be for 2026. What's the depth in the outfield if indeed Jake Myers is gone? Lots of things to get to.

We also shut your bow mess up at 1130. The news at noon and 130, Andrew Cantillon from CBS Sports. We're with us on this show. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. Chandler is back in Houston. I'm at in New Orleans. And this is Sports Talk 790. Our buddy, Channel, roll in from the athletic until 12 o'clock.

We got Shut Your Bowman's up at 1130. Chandler, you know that you can really just open up a can on Shut Your Bumass up. We don't judge you. I'm looking forward to it. Okay. I'm going to go after a coworker at our station for Shut Your Bumass up at 1130 today. So be ready for that. 1051.

We'll talk a little rockets coming up. up the top of the hour. Still waiting to hear a female docker has been fined. The NBA said, I'm sorry, on three different occasions for calls in the final two minutes of the game last night, or two nights ago. He did, the NBA did say that the call against a man Thompson, which was reviewed on the shin to Tim Hardaway slippage was a correct call, but they reviewed it at the site, so there wasn't even a need to review it yet again.

All right. So let's go back to other stuff that we're talking. We're talking about Paredes being a potential trade chip. Is there any buzz of Christian Walker, maybe? if you send some money the other team's direction that Christian would go somewhere else as a possibility? At the winter meetings I was, I kind of

poked around and I was told that the interest the Astros have received is minimal and that's putting it mildly. I think Christian Walker has maybe more value than his stats would lead on. I mean, he had an 800 OPS

in the second half last year. He hit 27 homers. He led the, he led the Astros and home runs. Like, this is not, like, he gets lumped in with Jose Abraeu a lot, and I understand why, but this is not a Jose Abraeu situation where this guy is unplayable, where this guy has just lost it. Like, I mean, he was a really good hitter in the second half of last season.

Now, the problem is the contract. The problem is the contract, and the problem is the age, because it's great that he had a resurgent second half, but like, you do look, he's only going to get older, and that's a lot of money. So I think there are teams that could use him. I think he, I think there is certainly more value there than maybe meets the eye, but Paratus obviously has far more value. And I just don't think teams right now, as we talk on December 17th, I don't think many teams right now are like itching to get Christian Walker. Now, as we get later into the offseason and as maybe some offseason injuries start to present themselves and as maybe got teams that missed out on

some free agents or missed out on some trade targets start to kind of reevaluate where they can get some right-handed thump. Then I think maybe you see a little more interest, but right now I just don't think teams are rushing to that. Also, Ross and I had this long-standing bet. I am

one-for-one on bets. I had the Bregman contract under seven years or whatever it was, and I got a dinner out of that, and he blamed you for that because you gave him the sage advice. But that was a one-year deal. And by way, speaking of Bregman, this stuff about him going Arizona is not a surprise.

He lives, doesn't he still live there in the off season? I believe he does, yeah, and he makes a lot of sense for them. Like that, again, I don't, I don't think he ends up there, but he makes a lot of sense for them. Like, he's, he's exactly what they need. Okay, so give me a, give me a Kyle Tucker update. He, he has been, we're betting on Habachi dinner on this, and he is like, he plays a sound effect.

He's talking about he's going to get the, the finest cuts of meat. I have it under seven and a half years, every one of the reports I've seen from your website and from major other websites too that I consider legitimate have this is a 9-10-year deal but he even admitted he says the longer this goes the more that he's not feeling nearly

as confident and my point is he's definitely worth a super long-term contract but do these teams want to do that with basically the thought of a potential lockout one year away what's the total 7 and a half I have it it's under 7 and a half

oh man that's tough that's a that's a oh no don't Jonathan stop that's a Jonathan's going to he doesn't care he he's getting a free meal out of this channel

regardless of who wins the bet that's a nasty hook that half that seven and a half um I'd cautiously take the over I wouldn't feel great about it but I would cautiously take the over yeah um

everything you know you hear like Kyle is a very reserved guy like he doesn't really like let out hints like you don't really know what's going on in Kyle Tucker's head lot just because that's he's not really um he doesn't give you much that's just how he is and normally he is to get real inside baseball he is represented by an agent and a group that normally does not

leak a lot of stuff so you don't um get maybe the blow by blow that you get from the boris guys or other agencies things like that so he did visit the blue jays spring training complex a couple weeks ago, the Blue Jays who apparently have more money than God to spend now that they made the World Series. That makes a lot of sense. He and George Springer are tight. You know, Miles Straw is with the Blue Jays. I mean, I'm pulling hairs here, but like Kyle Tucker was a groomsman in Miles Straw's wedding. Like their friends, like there's a lot of connections there that would work and they need a corner outfielder because George Springer's not going to stay in the outfield for the entirety of this contract. They probably need a guy to entrench in one of those corner outfield spots

for a while, and the Blue Jays have shown a willingness to spend a ton of money. So I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up there. But how much, if you're an owner and you are going to spend big money, and there are still some teams that do so, Toronto being one of them, why do you want to attach a super mega deal with maybe the economics of baseball changing in one calendar year? I think it really depends on specific owner. I mean, the Blue Jays already gave Dylan C's seven-year deal like a year before a lockout, so they don't seem to really be bothered by it.

You're seeing the Dodgers spend money. They haven't given a long-term deal, but they're spending a bunch of money. And you even saw it, like even the year the lockout happened in 20, I think it was 2022, right? It was the season after the Asher's won the World Series. Like, there was a rush to sign free agency. right before the owners locked the players out.

That was when Corey Seeger got the big deal from the Rangers. That was when Marcus Simeon got the big deal from the Rangers. I think that was when Trey Turner got the big deal from the Phillies. Like there was a rush to sign guys right before the lockout. So I don't think, I think for some owners it will make an impact, but I don't think league-wide. I don't think it's going to be one of these massive deterrents. Now, I'm telling you, that's, I'm talking myself into this because Ross is really, like he wants to get scallops and steak and chicken and he wants to get dessert

and he wants to get the fried rice he doesn't want the steam Chandler this is good this is going to be one for the ages he is so he was so confident and like I again the chalk tells me it's going to be more than seven and a half but just I need a little bit of hope and Tucker's age too that's the thing like he's he's so young just relative to relative to other frames again I would cautiously take the over I don't feel like overly great about it, but you may be in trouble. I haven't cared.

If I said eight and a half years, I've been much happier. All right, let's get, uh, we're going to get a couple thoughts on the rocket, start the next hour. Plus, Gary and Steve want to talk some Astros baseball. We got our buddy channel room with us for another hour, and we got shut your bum ass up at, uh, 1130 here on sports talk. 790. 713, 212.

5, 790. 7.13, 212 5, 790. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Matt here in New Orleans, our friend, Chandlerone Panatholic with us for another hour in our Houston studios and with us again tomorrow from 10 o'clock until noon. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. Rockets right now headed on the practice court here in New Orleans. We'll take on the Pelicans tomorrow night here in the Big Easy.

I'm sure you heard the quotes, Mr. Rome, of... E. May's thoughts about the officials from the game two nights ago? I did. I loved it. I watched the end of that game. That was high... That fourth quarter was high level basketball. That was an incredible

fourth. The first three quarters were very kind of so-so, but that fourth quarter was something. They were just trading haymakers. It was... I was something to watch, and I didn't like that the refs took over late, but it certainly seemed like most of the fouls were warranted. But the whistle

got a, the whistle got heavy toward the end and it really disrupted what was a really high level game on both sides. So to put things to perspective, the NBA in the final two minutes of a game put us out a report of all the calls that were made and also includes any overtimes. Well, obviously we had an overtime game yet or night. And the call with a man Thompson, which was not on the two minute report apparently because it was already reviewed at the site. So they didn't need to do it again. But there were three calls in the final minutes of the game. and overtime that went against the rockets so and I've I've gone back and forth about this I we love transparency so it'd be hypocritical for us not to say we don't appreciate it

but when you see these things it feels like to me if I'm a coach I'm going to get more pissed off if I'm a fan I'm going to further criticize the officials saying that my team got screwed and when they call when last night there were three calls in the game two nights ago that were against the Rockets and home for the Nuggets, in this particular case, it just makes things worse. This may be an unpopular opinion, but... Oh, here we go.

But I like the way this is done. Because I'm in favor of having some form of the human element in every game. Like, I think when ABS comes to baseball next year, I think the challenge system is perfect. You can challenge a couple pitches, like you can challenge pitches

is at a crucial part of the game. It also adds the strategy as to when you're going to use the challenges in the game. But it doesn't mean every pitch is going to be scrutinized by a computer. It means there is still some element of the human element. Same thing here with you can acknowledge and hold referees accountable that, hey, they missed a call here or they missed a call there. But also, like, you don't just get to go to the monitor and everything gets overturned and everything. I like the balance of still having the human element in there because that's how. the game's always been played. That's how basketball's always been. There's always been

ticky tack foul calls since they invented the sport. Same thing with baseball. There's always been you know, you know, pitch strike zones that are inaccurate or inconsistent. So I like it. I get how it can drive fans crazy and I understand, but I think it's a perfect way to hold referees accountable while also keeping the human element very much in the game. Yeah, you know, I've always been team human element but i'm losing faith in the humans channel and that's not just in sports that's in life in general so uh i am like the challenge system in the NBA unlike other sports you only get two and if you have two bad calls you know and even they're having the first quarter or the second quarter and you you know you're right because you get you got ipads on

the bench and the guys can look really quick you got to be careful when to bring and use them because you don't have unlimited ones and and that's where i would want a change that if I could get unlimited ones, that would help. But the problem is you're not going to be able to use tickey-tacky stuff if you're out of challenges. And if you can, if you tick-y-tack everything, you are going to wind up being in a basketball game for three hours. So I don't know where the balance is on this. I do like the ABS that's coming into play. My partner who wanted every single call, I think that would extend the game too much.

The challenges didn't look good. I thought the All-Star game this year with the challenge system was awesome. So I can't wait to see it during the regular season. Yeah, and there's going to be a lot, like, the same strategy you just talked about, like, it'd be fascinating to get Joe a spot, and when we get down to spring training, and they started to talk about this, like, when, like, when are guys allowed to challenge? Because there are going to be teams that are going to put in parameters, like, we're not using a challenge until this inning. Or, like, it'll be very interesting to see how these teams deploy it. And are the catchers allowed to challenge, or only the hitters allowed to challenge? Like, it'll be very interesting to see how teams deploy this and how they were going to use the challenges, because.

because, Matt, you watch it. Like, it's in every sport, right? Like, there's always guys that think every pitch is outside. And, like, if you leave these guys their own devices, you're going to be out of challenges by the second inning. But the reality is, though, and we've got umpire scorecard, Twitter accounts, we've got fan graphs, we've got all sorts of things.

And, again, the views that we are seeing as a general public are different than what the folks are seeing at the majorly baseball offices. But it feels like, Chandler, just since you've covered baseball on a regular basis, we're seeing more and more inaccuracies with home plate umpiring. And we are seeing even team broadcasters lose their mind, which you're not supposed to do that, but we're seeing it. And I do believe it's going to be a conundrum that, and again, all points are created equal in sports. Every at bat counts the same.

And at bat in the seventh inning doesn't count any more than a bat does in the third. But, you know, the tenor of a sport does matter. You want to save things for later. I hate when the Rockets are for that matter, any team challenges in the first quarter, but if it's a three-point play or a four-point shot or two key free throws, in a back-and-forth game, I understand why coach is doing, and sometimes there's things that are so obvious that you have to get a change. But if I'm a manager in baseball, I'm saving it for late. If I'm a coach in the NBA, I'm saving it for late because I do want to have those

in my back pocket if in case the need arises where a critical possession comes into play or in a back is extending the eighth name of a three-three game. Talk about home broadcasters losing their mind. I was worried about Craig on, I was worried about him during the Nuggets game. like he uh Ryan was trying the Ryan was trying to settle it down a little bit but Craig was getting very worked up I was worried yeah yeah I look I look there's nobody that wants a rocket to win more than me but I I I just think you have to be and Craig does a great job but I yeah that wasn't that wasn't meant to be right toward him

but he was he had it with the some of the calls toward the end of that game and see the thing about him is he gets he gets to see it right in front of him like I'm in the second deck of the ball arena so I I don't see it as clearly as he does. So I have to go off a reply like everybody else does. But the point being is that, you know, if you there are so many of my contemporary, my fellow co-workers in the industry,

and this is in all sports, that just bemoan umpiring and refereeing and officiating, it takes away from the enjoyment of the broadcast. It's lazy, too. It's like it's just, yeah. It's a lazy crutch to get, if all you're going to do every day is

blame the umpire or blame the referees, like, it's just lazy. That means you don't know the sport. It means you or aren't nuanced enough to watch the sport and understand that there are other reasons why your team is not. I just don't want to be a cry baby. That's all right. I don't want to make you know. And sometimes there are sometimes.

Right. Sometimes it's warranted. Sometimes it's warranted to bash the umpire or bash the, but it's not every time your team loses or every time something goes against your team. Because what it does, it's like the boy who cry wolf. I mean, you don't you, you want to, if you hear me do a Rockets broadcasts and I am bemoaning the officials, it's probably for a very legit reason. Because

I want to have that in my back pocket. I want to be able to say, all right, this is the time that I need to say, hey, the rockets are getting screwed. Let's go to some folks on the phones. We'll start with Steve and Huffman at 1110 on 7-90. Steve, good morning to you. Matt, my Kenwin friend, how are you? Amazing.

Chandler, I'm just going to say one thing. I've got to move on to what I want to talk to you about. I agree with you. I grew up in the 50s. Let's let it all be natural. I think the call's even out. I don't give a darn what sport it is. Anyway, I've said enough, Matt, we can argue that another day.

I know you probably, your hairs are on the back of your neck when I talked. Okay, here's what I'm thinking. Bregman's still available, right? I know Jim Crane hates to spend money like the Dodgers. Okay, let's just say, play along with me, that Jim Crane says, well, what ams if we got Bregman? And we put him at third and we moved, Parade is the first, and we traded Walker.

and not just trade him, but correct me if I'm wrong, didn't he have really great stats in Dodgers Stadium? I think he darn near beat him last year when we played him there by himself. I know the Dodgers are deep set, but if not the Major League roster, maybe, you know, we're kind of light as far as prospects are concerned in the minors. Maybe we could get some good players on them, like, you know, Alvarez of years ago.

I know I was lucky we had that happen. but I think there's possibilities there of doing something. Maybe not the Dodgers. I think he had great stats at Fenway Park, too, and probably some other parks. So I just want to throw that out and see what you guys think about that web of possibilities. So sign Bregman, put him at third,

move Paredes to first. What are you doing with Carlos Correa? he's on the team now Craig's still playing Craig is back oh that's right yeah yeah it's tough I knew there was something wrong with my

with my flawed thinking there yeah we're not getting rid of Jeremy right right like pay you got paying you too yeah it's tough there's just I have I've spent more time than I would care to admit

trying to find ways in which this setup would work carrying all these guys on the 26-man roster, and I just can't come up with one. And look, all these guys are team guys. I think if Joe went, I think if they do end up doing this and Joe would have to go to them and say, look, some of you guys are not going to play every day. I think they would accept it publicly, but privately, I don't think that would go well. And then you get into the whole thing of Christian Walker's going to make $20 million next year.

Carlos Correa is going to make somewhere around $30 million. Jose Altuve is going to make somewhere around $30 million. and Esoc Paredes is going to make somewhere around $10 million. You're going to have that much money committed to guys that you can't guarantee every day at Bats too. It just doesn't seem like a practical use of resources and it doesn't seem like a practical roster construction. And the reality is this, Chandler, the two guys that will probably get the most playing time are getting it because of contract value, i.e. Christian Walker. and because of legacy, Jose Al-Tube, in my mind, the greatest pastor of all time. But if you were to put a whiteout over their names and look at their stats,

Jose Al-Tupe wouldn't play every day. He just wouldn't. Period. The problem no one wants to really say out loud, and I guess I'll say it out loud, they have a lot of D.Hs on their roster. Like, Yainer Diaz is probably, Yonard Diaz is a D. He will probably end his career as a D.H. Jose Altuva at this point in his career is a designated hitter.

Yoran Alvarez, at this point, we've been told, will be the designated. They have a lot of DHS on their team, and it just doesn't create a lot of flexibility for what you can do defensively, doesn't create a lot of flexibility for how Joe can cycle these guys in and out. And Christian Walker, while he does play defense, he's a first baseman only. He can't play anywhere else. There's just a lot of inflexibility and just not a lot of room to maneuver this around. It's a very inflexible roster. All right, back with more on the phones. Gary and Brian will get to you.

We got Chuchabumass up at 1130. 713-212-5-790. So today's edition of Believe it or not at 150 will be all things about Quinn Ewers. He's going to get the start for the Dolphins this Sunday. And we did it at Quinn Ewers, believe it or not a year ago. So I'm going to use all the questions because they all fit. So if you listen to the Matt Thomas show on January the 15th of 2020, Earlier this year, we did Quinn Ewers, believe or not.

We're doing it again, the exact same question. So go back in your podcast right now. Friend of the show, Chandler, wants me to ask you, Grace, about your thoughts about the favorite new track on the new Taylor Swift album. Which one is your favorite? Fate of Ophelia. It's not even close. Fate of Ophelia is great. Honey is low-key, awesome, too.

It doesn't get talked about much on the album, but it's great. Opelite is just like a banger. if you're out and need something to do it. If you're out in a bar, like it's the song that's going to, I get everyone going at the bar. It's a great banger. I can keep going if you'd like. Rate the record.

If they call them records or what do we call them? Album. Album, excuse me. Because my daughter has seen Taylor in New Orleans, Dallas and Houston. She's moving to Rhode Island to play volleyball, the University of Rhode Island, but she's also hoping to get invited to the

Travis Kelsey Taylor Swift wedding, which I don't know it's going to happen or not. She says the album, generally speaking, is pretty mid as compared to the previous stuff. Let me get your thoughts about it. Yeah, it's, I wouldn't put it, like, her best. It's good. Don't get me

wrong. I think her assessment's right. It's, it's in the middle. Like, there's some good bops. There's some really good writing, but it's also there's some skips. So, it's very much, like, it's very good by her standards, but not, certainly not her best.

all right one more question for me and i'm going to get to gary and brian brian here any whispering of kyle t not kauta of uh hunter brown and or jeremy pania contract negotiations no i i again both of them have scott boris as their agent i will reiterate till i'm blue in the face it's not as if scott boris does not do pre-free agency extensions he did one with lance mccullers he did one with hose al tuveh um both of those guys however made it known to scott that they did not want to leave Houston. I'm not saying that Jeremy Pena and Hunter Brown are not, are not saying that. Yeah. But Scott's not going to do it for, like, the Asher's would have to blow Scott Boris and those two guys out of the water with their contract offers to, for them reasonably to take it. And the Astros are just not, they have never blown anyone away with their contract offers. It's just not what they do. So I think, I think it's more important. and it's incumbent upon them to really

this season really try with Jeremy Pena. They were very close before Jeremy Pena hired Scott Borris and left his former agent. They were very close to an extension. So it shows that they can't at least get there. Because if they don't extend them this season, Matt, I feel like

we're going to be doing the same song and dance we did with Kyle Tucker last winter. We're going to be doing that next winter. Yep. Yeah, this is the two years out is the year that it really he needs to have the serious negotiations or at least conversations. Gary and Spring on 790. Gary, good morning. Hey, good morning. Can you hear me okay?

Yes, sir. Okay. Great show, guys. Good morning there. Mr. Rome, I appreciate the banner here. I called earlier and listening to you a couple of times back. It was like listening to myself talking, but my take on the Astros

is this. The whole team, They don't have, they have very few weaknesses on the position players and the batting and everything. I don't, the only weaknesses that I see is not really weakness. It's just a couple of average positions, and that is left field and catcher, which they can suffice with what they've got. I am so pro. Oh, man, I'm so pro. I forgot his name. Jake Myers in center.

I think he had his best year. He is at his peak for trading, but he plays so good in, uh, uh, uh, center field and he was batting like 300 so i think giving him another year uh i am anti 100% getting rid of the uh first baseman walker he led the team like you stated earlier in home runs rbis and he plays probably the best defensive first base i've ever seen in my life so getting rid of him you're not really going to get anything that's going to be much better than that and all all uh home run hitters rbi leaders they all strike out a lot so and i say keep all of all the in-fielders are all golden-gloves.

I don't see any weaknesses on this team, really, because somebody's going to go down in injuries, and then you've got an all-star to take their place. So I know you can't always do it price-wise and financial-wise, but the only weakness I see in the team is they need a starting pitcher, and I am so pro-blue ball, that young pitcher. I want him in the start lineup, fifth, fourth, third, whatever. I think he's going to be a great asset to the team.

So anyway, I wouldn't change anything unless you've got a superstar coming because you've got some really, really good players, and they're going to have injuries and need all. Okay. Thank you, Gary, for the phone call. Appreciate it. I don't see, unfortunately, I don't see it as simplistic as Gary does. Their top six is really good, right?

Like they've got, they are a front-loaded, They are a top heavy team. They need depth. They need to supplement the roster. Like, this is not a situation where they have to go out and get a superstar. Because if you're an Alvarez plays 140 games next year, like, he's one of the five best hitters in baseball. Like, they've got superstar talent on their team.

They don't need to go out and get that. But they do need, they need depth. This is not, and especially in the rotation, they need more proven established depth. And I think what you worry about is you worry when you're something. top heavy, you worry about, you know, one guy's underperformance or a one stretch where you're missing, one guy can really cripple you. And I think they need to get to a point where they don't get crippled by just one guy going out in the lineup. Yeah, I'm worried about the rotation. I'm worried about the congestion in the infield. I'm worried about outfield depth. I was a, look, your back

end of your rotation is amazing. You're always going to fill in the missing pieces that That's every team, but you're starting rotation after the, I mean, we don't have the answer to this channel. What the hell's Christian, what's Christian Javier going to be in 2026? They need him to be the guy that they gave $64 million to on an extent. They need him to be like the dark horse Cy Young candidate that a lot of people thought he would be before his surgery. And look, the opportunity is there because this, you know, I don't, I think there were way too many expectations put on him last year. because when you have a guy coming off of Tommy John, like the first 10 starts are not going to be great.

Now that he's got a full off season, this will be his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. Like, this is where you usually see the return to form. And I think for them to get where they want to go, they're going to have to have Christian Javier, you know, fulfill that expectation. And where does Lance McCuller's role in this? Is he start? Is he out of the bullpen?

Is he none of the above? These are all things to get to. Let's go to Brian and apparently before we get to shut your bum. may I sup. Hi, Brian. Hey, guys. Hey, Chandler. First of all, love the podcast with you and Tyler. I mainly listen to it on Spotify because I'm driving most of the time, but I love the interplay between you guys.

So I enjoy listening to that when I can. A couple quick questions for you. A name that intrigues me. I don't know if Paredes would get this done alone is a lefty from Kansas City, Cole Reagan. I think he would fulfill that spot in the rotation, left by Framber. He's still got a little team control, not making a ton of money. So I think you can get him for Paredes.

Maybe you have to throw in a Myers or something like that. And another name, I am partial to because I am related down the line to him, second or third cousin. And he's actually done fairly well. He can spot start and relieve is Tyler Kolak. I know he was in the Freddie for Mean Deal and actually had a good second half of the year when he got to Kansas City. And then when it comes to the work stoppage,

I know it's mostly about salary cap. Do you see any budging, say, from the owners or the players and allowing maybe what the NBA has in terms of the current free agents with that team, maybe get a little bit more of a, like, the max contract can be offered, whereas if you're going to go to a different team, they can't offer you as much, maybe to create a little bit more of incentive for these guys to get a little bit more money and stay where they are. And so not sure if you're hearing any of that, if we do, because I do fear it's going to be probably a half a season work stoppage at most, if not longer.

But just curious to see if anything like that has been proposed or if you think it's even something the owners would entertain. But I appreciate and be curious to get your thoughts on like Reagan's or Lugo or maybe more or somebody along those lines. I cannot envision any reality. As we talk on December 17, I kind of envision inner reality where the union. acquiesques to a salary cap or any sort of artificial limit on what can be offered. That is one thing that the baseball union has, that's why they have one of the strongest unions in sports is because they have, they have for forever been so anti-sally cap, so anti-salary for any sort of limitation put on salary.

I cannot see that happening. Now, again, I don't cover it as close as other people do, but could things evolve between now and the negotiation a year from now? Sure. But it's just that is the one thing that players in the union have always been firm about that they are not going to ever in any form agree to a salary cap. Cole Regens is a good name. I will say he's going to cost a lot. Like, Issoc Paratus alone would not get you Cole Regens. Like the royals are going to ask very high on him, as they should.

I mean, he finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 2024. Like this is, when he is on, he is an elite, elite arm. But he is in that, he's in that ilk of what the Asher's are looking for. Cost controlled, durable, has thrown a lot of innings. But it's going to take a lot to get him. You parade is, sure, could he be in the deal? Sure. They're going to need a lot more prospects in that deal.

and I think if we know anything, the Astros are not going to win a bidding war when it comes to prospects. That's just not, their farm system is not in a situation where they can compete with other teams that may be in on Col Reagan's with the Royals.

We've got a lot of great hot stove conversation and Chandler is going to be with us again tomorrow and we'll do some more of this as well. So get ready for those baseball questions in tomorrow, but we're going to let him have the next half hour to just vent. Jonathan, I want you to give a channel some great advice about how to do shut your bum ass up. That's coming up next.

1133 on Sports Talk, 790. You guys know the bit. If you want to attack, crucify, crush someone, tell somebody to shut their bum ass up. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Shut your bum-ass up. Ain't nobody got time for that. That's next here on 790.

And we're going to get in time for me. Ain't nobody getting time. Can't everybody getting time? Can't everybody getting time for it? And we're going to tell some people to shut their bum asses up to 713-212-5-7-90. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Jonathan I will go first at seconds. Chandler, you get a chance to lose your virginity on this segment.

All right, here we go. This is to my coworker Chris Gordy. Yesterday, last night I mentioned, I was in New Orleans. and we went and had dinner and we went to a restaurant that one of my co-workers likes to go to called Old New Orleans Cookery. And look, all to me, there's hundreds of great restaurants here, but it's also 8.30 at night. We were traveling all day, wanting something quick.

I got me an amazing pole boy. It was delicious. It had crawfish. It had a mushroom gravy to it. It was delicious. And I put a photo of it on my Facebook page and also put on my Instagram. Chris Gordy goes in there and goes, why are you eating on bourbon street tourist traps with average food okay that may in fact be accurate

i didn't go to crystal last night okay i went to a place called old new orleans cookery why do people go on your facebook page when you put food on there and they immediately criticize where you went i say and chris gorty shut your bum ass up let me enjoy my meal Shut your bum ass up, man. Well, or you see it on Facebook. Hey, you should have gone here instead. It's much better. Like, if I go to Cafe Dumont tonight, I guarantee you I'm going to get a,

well, there's better Benignets three blocks down the street. The bit is Cafe Dumont is a New Orleans treasured place, okay? It might be tourists. It's fine. But it's known worldwide. And when people go to Cafe Dumont, they get the coffee, they get the route service. You get the cash. You get the Beny's.

There's probably 10 better places. You could speak to public eight of them, Chandler, but I would hope if I put Beny's on my Instagram account tonight, you will not rip the crap on me. So again, Gordy, shut your bum ass up. Shut your bum ass up, man. Jonathan, you're next.

You know, I wanted to bring this up to attention because I went to the mall recently, you know, Christmas shopping and everything like that. And every time you walk past the store, it's like you see something you like, okay, I'm going there. You get two or three people. You need help with that.

You know where you're going. And I kind of. sound like a wet rag, but that is annoying. Ain't nobody got time for you to be sitting there waiting for someone to come in and then bother them. Maybe I just want to look around. Maybe I just want to look around. And the second thing I got is for national sports

media and Joe Clatt always talking down, like yesterday talking, him talking down on the NCAA tournament with March Madness. What's what's going on? And we had Kirk Herb sheet earlier this year almost selling what's going to get more of an engagement

than what's better for the sport. You get what I'm saying? And anybody got time for that, man. Ain't nobody got time for that? Yeah, Joel Klatt said that the NCAA basketball tournament is a travesty, that nobody likes Cinderella. We live for Cinderella's in sports. I don't need my football guys giving me basketball tournament breakdown. And back to your first point, so you're getting mad, Jonathan,

that the people at the mall at the stores come and say, hey, can we help you? Is that what you're trying to say? Y'all don't feel this way? Are you seriously? No. They're doing their job. What are you talking about?

No, right. Rome, help me out. I feel like they are. trying to guilt you into buying something. Thank you. I agree with you because I always feel weird if I'm just going in somewhere to browse and like if I get latched onto a salesperson, it's like I'm going to have to get out of here without buying anything.

And you feel so guilty when you walk away and you don't buy anything. I get exactly where you're coming from John. I got news for both of you. Hey, I'm just looking. Thank you very much. It really solves it most times. But it still feels like they're lingering around you. You know what I mean?

I just walk out. I'm like, I'm going to come back, I guess. I don't know. just cut my whole experience well I had a friend of mine Jonathan that went to go to the bathroom in a high-end store in Los Angeles and he did a number two at the at the store

and the guy called him out for it and my other buddy's name is Larry why not buying a $500 jacket from the guy so the worker called him out for it yes I get this bit I get this bit are you are you pulling my string like this is like a show

I get it. I know. I know. Shut your bum ass up, man. I have two. I have one of each. I'm excited. Go. Matt, you travel a lot, as do I. Yep. I lose more faith in humanity every time I watch people board an airplane. Oh, my God.

It is one of the most frustrating, most exasperating things for me to watch is people walk on an airplane and completely lose any semblance of common sense. This isn't hard, guys. It says on your boarding pass 8E. You go to row 8 and you go into E. And it's they walk on a plane and it's like they can't even fathom that the rows are in chronological order that are in numerical order and that it's ABC, D-E-F. Like people completely lose their minds. It's a awful process and ain't nobody got time for watching people that don't know how to board an airplane.

Ain't nobody got time for that? You know what it is, Jonathan? And I'll back you up on this channel. We ought to have like separate planes for like rookies and veterans. Now I'm not saying that the veterans plant you their first class seats but if you're a veteran traveler and I'm going to

if you don't travel a lot, that's okay too, but you should be with your own group of people that don't travel very much. You can all make the same mistakes. Us vets, we need to get to our seat, put our eyeglasses on, our shades on, put a hat on, and go to sleep. And I'm empathetic to those that have to store their luggage

in the overhead container. I know that takes a little bit of time, but it's like, they get on the plane, and then it's just they lose all sense of common sense. Like, it's not hard. Go to your assigned seat. Get your bag in the overhead container and sit out. Instead, we're standing in the hall, and we're standing in the

aisle, and we're looking at the boarding pass. And we're, oh, like, oh, I just passed eight, and I'm in nine. And it's like, guys, this isn't hard. Like, it's so infuriating. Also, go. I'm going to, I'm going to, this is to some fellow media members, no one in particular, but the one thing I cannot stand on social media from reporters, from people that are covering teams.

If you start a post, if you start anything with I asked, just stop. No one cares that you ask the question. The only people care about is that you got the answer or that the, like, stop trying to insert yourself into what is scrums, into what is like a collective media group doing their job. Like, no one cares. Shut your bum ass up that you asked a question. Like, congratulations. You did the bare minimum for having your credential. You asked a question.

You asked a question. Congratulations. The whole world doesn't need to know it. You don't need to pat yourself on the back. because you asked a question. Oh, man, I know you agree on this. Oh, hell yeah. You know, I also hate the confirmer, too.

I hate confirming people. Like, I got news for you all. And we're peeling the curtain back here. If generally speaking, Adam Schepter or John Heyman or Shams, I'm just going over the national, if they break stories and involves your local team, you probably don't need to confirm it. They're probably getting it right, and you're just late. And by you wait, confirming something is stupid. So if you're a confirmer, shut your bum ass up.

Shut your bum ass up, man. That's media snobber in my part, but I just speak the truth. I just do. All right, Ray and Kevin want to tell some people to shut their bum asses up. Let's get you in at 713212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. Ain't nobody getting time for that. Ain't nobody getting time for that.

Ain't nobody getting time for that. Channel, I was able to find video my friend Larry, and I couldn't get a job at what happened in the store because it was an uncomfortable situation. He's not right for that. He got called out. Not right for that at all. You're young.

It's going to happen. Let's go to the phone. [phone]. Kevin, what's the matter with you at 1151? What's the matter with me is I want to go football. I want to talk about Travis Kelsey's been a huge crybaby and powder for the last two weeks. You know, you said you're going to retire

At the end of season Why don't you just go ahead and retire now Go home to your pop star wife And for that Ain't nobody got time for your declining interviews And shit your bum ass up, man Ain't nobody got time for that Shit your bum ass up, man

I don't know if you noticed this But Travis Kelsey likes a microphone channel Only when he wins When they lose the last two games He doesn't like to speak to the media Yeah, that's funny He's gonna go on a pot I have many thoughts about that

Yeah, like if you're, if you have gotten to that point, if you're finding in front of a microphone when it's convenient to you, you should be able to have enough gumption to stand up when things are going out. Not happening. 713-212-5-790. If you got something you want to tell somebody to shut their bum ass up or anybody got time for that. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Ray is with us on 7-90. Ray, what's the matter with you? All right. It's called the NBA. Ain't nobody got time for your little fake news. mini cup um first of all the nicks are no going to be nowhere at middle last standing team and it's trolling really trolling at its finest to get us to watch this stuff you have to you so you're telling me you have to pay these guys extra money a bonus to play harder and you're already giving them millions of dollars ain't nobody got time for that council the tournament and

let's see what how would a chip fall in June like nobody got time for that yeah yeah Can you explain to me why they do this? What is the benefit of this? They generate some early season buzz. Because look, there's a lot of people that think the NBA doesn't really even start until Christmas. So they thought this in-season tournament would generate some, first of all, generate some early season buzz. Number two would be able to get some players to play in games in November that they might take off because they want to work, they want to reduce their work schedule.

and three, they were able to sell it to TV partners in order to raise more money and create a bigger buzz for these said games. And look, they're paying these players hundreds of thousands of dollars to play already what they're going to be playing for for their salary. And look, last year I was in Vegas, I got caught up in it. But Las Vegas didn't care about it. Las Vegas, in fact, didn't care about it this year. And Las Vegas is not going to be the home of this in-season cup anymore

because they've already taken the semifinals away. They're probably going to take the finals away and put them in different venues next year. So I see what they're trying to do. They've done it. I guess they do it in soccer where they do an in-season tournament to try to generate some stuff in the middle of their year. I mean, I give silver credit for trying,

but I don't think it resonates outside of the directly of the teams that are playing in. I mean, there was a video out there this morning, Chandler of New York Knicks fan outside of Madison Square Garden yesterday saying, hey, everybody, the Knicks won the end-season cup, and there was no one around just walking around. I did see that they're not going to raise a banner in Madison Square Garden commemorating their NBA Cup championship. You can't do that. You just can't.

Now, again, I'm a casual NBA observer. I watch the Rockets. I don't watch a lot of other teams. Like, is that caller right? Are the Knicks any good? They're good. Yeah, I mean, they're good. Jalenbrensen is good.

Carl Anthony Towns is good. Mitchell Robinson was great for them last night. I mean, the east is wide open. I mean, Indiana's hurt. Milwaukee is maybe training Janus. you know yeah they they're Boston's got no no Jason Tate in this year I mean the east is wide open I would think I would think the Knicks are a favorite have the Thunderstone only lost one game they lost two times they lost the San Antonio and

knock it in the semifinal of the in season in the Las Vegas games again maybe because I'm not the person seeking it out maybe if I actually like read some more NBA coverage it would be out there more but it feels like that is gone like underreported and under talked about nationally that a professional that an NBA team started their season 24 and 1. Yep. That's incredible. And our pacing to be better than Golden State of a handful of years ago

and better than the Knicks teams and better than the Bulls teams of the championship run. I got one for you. You and I've never even talked about this. I don't like the BBC. I just don't. It'll be interesting because it's in Houston this year and you'll be able to... I will say this. If you go to a game, if you are in there, like it is lit.

like it is a raucous environment and like it's really like I think it's one of those you have to be there to experience it I understand it's I understand fans get a little weary of it just because of the injury risk obviously the Astros had that happen to them a couple of years ago but I think it can't be understated or it can't be overstated I'll say about how much it means to the players and especially the players from Latin American countries like it is a huge deal and I understand that it's for some people. I understand. I know. I get it, but I'm just, it'll never go away because it is that big of a deal. And the fact, you know, the way it ended last year, I mean, I know they didn't script it this way, but have it end with Otani on the mound, trout at the plate. And that was, it was pretty cool to see it in like that. But I understand the reservations. I understand the people that don't like it. But I would encourage, like if you can get tickets for when it's in Houston,

go, because being there is a whole lot different than watching it on TV. Now, I'm not blaming Altuve's broken hand on the WBC. I am, however, blaming that the WBC is being treated like an very important playoff

game. And frankly, bodies and baseball, arms, legs, bats, aren't ready March 13th, March 14th, to play a 162 grind. I know these athletes are coming into these teams a lot more physically prepared.

Their off-season workouts are more intense. I get all that. Just to say, however, there's a reason why they play them on the spring training games to ramp these guys up. And all of a sudden, ramp them up and then go into this mode where you're playing for your country

and then ramp it back down to go back with your team. I just don't think it does about any good. I just don't. I will say this, and I don't want to say any names, because there's still a lot of that's fluid in the air. There's going to be less astro representation in the WBC than maybe.

Good. Than maybe you think. There are some guys that I thought going into the winter meetings were definitely going to play in the WBC that I found out are either not going to play or very much like on the outside looking in. So I think Carlos Beltrane said at the winter meetings that Carlos Corray is going to play. I think Jainer Diaz is going to play for the DR. I think you'll see some other guys here and there. But Jose Al Tuve for now is still undecided. I think he wants to play.

I think it's just a matter of a medical clearance. But I don't think there's going to be many more, maybe, other than those three guys. You may see a couple other ones, but it's not going to be the huge representation you saw a few years ago. Thank you for the time, friend. We'll do this again tomorrow at 10 o'clock until noon. Yeah, it'll be great. Appreciate it. all right we will have nothing to break down no raiders texans preview no rockets game to get to

maybe we'll get a trade maybe you'll be busy working on train we'll have that tomorrow channel is going to hang out 10 o'clock at the noon with us tomorrow as well all right it's you and me the rest of the way we are going to have andrew canelon from cbs sports he's going to call the texans and raiders game and that it's coming up he'll be with us at one 30 but between now and one 30 it's you and me come on and join the conversation 713 212 5 790 i do love the hot stove leave conversation i think it's always good you want to get into that you want to get in some rockets the NBA said i'm sorry for three calls yesterday uh in the game on monday night against the Denver nuggets uh Texans on the practice

field getting ready for the game sunday with the Raiders 713 212 5790 713 212 5 790 this is the matt thomas show with ross 12 4 in h town our number three underway in the Thomas show with Ross. Ross is collecting his weddings in Lake Charles. Thanks to Channel Rome for dropping by, hanging out with us between 10 o'clock until noon.

Today, he'll do the same thing for us tomorrow. That means it's you and me and Jonathan. Remember, if you don't want to hear SFA talk with Jonathan, you've got to call the show. I can break it down right now. Not really, but, you know.

No, you're not. I don't even know how your basketball team's doing, nor does any particularly care, so don't worry about it. 713-212-5-790. 713-212-5-7-9. Let's get to the news at noon. We'll start with the NFL, the Miami Dolphins, lost Monday night to the Pittsburgh Steelers and sub-40-degree temperatures. Well, that's no surprise the Dolphins losing in cold weather. Quinn Ewers, the former University of Texas quarterback, is going to get the start this week

for the Miami Dolphins as they play Cincinnati. So good luck to Quinn Ewers. Seventh round pick could have stayed at University of Texas one more year. He could have also transferred yet a third time. But instead, he is going to go to the NFL and that's what he did. He has been backing up all year long. And now he gets his start for the Bengals who are out of the playoff contention. Basically, he's going to try to save, I think, Mike McDaniel's career as a coach in Miami at least for one more season. But yeah, the Bengals and Dolphins will play down in South Florida on Sunday.

The New York Knicks last night defeated the San Antonio Spurs. to win the in-season cup and the folks in MSG, the owners of the Knicks, have decided not to put a banner up in the arena after they won the championship. The Lakers and the Bucks have done it. The Knicks have not won a banner

and hung a banner since they won the Eastern Conference in 1999. Very, very smart, because I would think that New York, fan would just lose their mind seeing an in-season cup after not having a banner put in their arena for 26 years. Very smart on that.

Speaking of the NBA Cup, they are not getting the buzz they want in Las Vegas. They are thinking about having semi-final events in home arenas, that meaning the four teams, and that maybe the championship game will be played in historic college venues

like Cameron Indoor or Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. or Rupp Arena or Allen Fieldhouse. I think that's actually a very good idea. Change things up a little bit. Give a city, give a college campus that is a big basketball community chance to host an NBA game of that stature.

I think it's actually a very good idea. Now, a lot of people don't even like this whole idea to begin with, but the reality is anything to gather any sort of in-season buzz in the middle of December when it's college football playoff time and NFL season going on, I'm all for it. So if they do it to like where the rockets could play the bucks at Cameron Indoor, I'd be there and want to enjoy it. Texans are back in the practice field getting ready for Sunday's game

with the hated Las Vegas Raiders. Depending on what book you look at, the Texans remain either 13-5, 14, or 14-a-half point favorite against the Raiders on Sunday. And the NBA yesterday announced their two-minute report. Three calls. in the contest, not including the M.N. Thompson hit from his shin to the body of Tim Hardaway, which allegedly forced him to trip and fall. That was on the list. Three calls late in the

game in the final two minutes in an overtime benefited the Denver Nuggets. So basically, the NBA telling the Rockets, we're sorry. Now, if they really want to be sorry, they should say Emayadoka, I know you attack their officials. We won't worry about defining you, but that's not going to be the case. And I still got the fine at $50,000. You're going to go over on Jonathan on that for 50 G's for coach? You know, I was thinking the fine was going to happen today. So I'm saying like 110.

110? Yeah, 110,000. Yeah. I don't know. 110,000 dollars? I feel like you have to make an example. If you're silver, like, what do you? You have to say something here.

There's no way you just don't do anything. thing, right? I don't know. No, no, no. There's going to be, I mean, as I was telling Chandler last hour, you knew that EMA knew that whatever he was going to say was going to cost him some money. But it basically said, if you didn't hear it, you basically said that the two of the three officials never should have on the court to begin with, and the third got starstruck. I guess the question is how much of it directly goes to the integrity of the NBA by putting

officials in EMA's mind that were not qualified to be on the court. I think the NBA goof, however, I mean, you cannot put two inexperienced officials on the court with a crew chief who's been around a long time and say, okay, well, the old guy, the guy that's been there, done that, it's going to be able to balance up the two guys, or that

it was a man and a woman who haven't done a lot of games. So we're still waiting to find out exactly what's going on. Rockets here in New Orleans are practicing as we speak, and we'll take on the Pelicans tomorrow night at 7 o'clock inside the smoothie king center and that is your news at noon

so I'll ask you this Jonathan we'll ask the folks this too when in this is in all sports when an NBA does their two minute report and does their five minute

you know any two minute any call in the final two minutes plus overtime gets part of this two minute report that they put out the next day when when these leagues say we goofed and we've seen this in football before with timeouts and calls we don't see it very much in baseball because nobody really goes to ask what things happen unless something really really incredible

happen but when you hear a league like the NBA come out and do this and say all right in the final two minutes your call your team did not benefit from said calls does it make you feel better feel the same or does it make you feel worse? Honestly? It makes me matter. Yeah, I was, I'm on the same page. It makes me like, okay, so we couldn't figure it out then, but now you're telling me three days later and then we should have won or they should have won, like, no.

Well, here's the thing. If you do something wrong at your office and you get called down on it, now you could clearly, they can say mistakes happen. Whether you owned up to it or we have evidence of it, maybe nobody's perfect. That includes NBA officials. That includes baseball umpires. It includes football.

Anybody that officiates anything. And in life, nobody's perfect in every part of their job. But sometimes if you make significant goofs, and now the question is going to be is how significant were three missed calls in the late game between the rockets and nuggets. I mean, it sounds pretty big to me. Shouldn't that mean that you don't get the best assignments?

shouldn't that mean you should work less? Shouldn't that mean that you should not be allowed to work? I mean, for instance, if I had two of those officials in the game that are night, make those calls that were wrong, those officials should be working lower-level games, right? Or not working as much? I would agree. I would agree. But I'm going to watch and see where those two officials go in the next week or so.

And if they're calling a game between Oklahoma City and Minnesota, then the NBA just turned a blind eye to it and said, oh, we've got things scheduled anyway. So it's almost like I like the transparency, and I like when you admit when your officials do something wrong, but what are you going to do about it? Are you simply going to say it's human and blank happens? Or are you going to say, well, we're not going to let this happen in a super meaningful game?

We're going to give you a lot of Charlotte games against Washington the rest of the way. Because I need and you need, and this goes for any sport. When the Astros are playing the Seattle Mariners, we should have a really good umpiring crew. When the Texans are playing, say, the Chargers in two weeks, there should be a top flight NFL officiating crew working that game because that game is going to mean something. Now, if you are a professional referee or official, you should be really good at your job regardless of the teams that are in front of you. But human nature is you put your best people on your best games. And that's why I want to see what's going to happen. Are we going to have to see two of those three officials again in the not too distant future?

Because look, the Rockets are going to play some important games coming up. Now, tomorrow night should be a winnable game. New Orleans is one of the worst teams in the NBA. But guess what? That Rockets Nuggets game on Saturday afternoon in Denver is going to mean something. Rockets play on Christmas Day against the Lakers going to mean something. I would hope that these officials would be, man, man, we goofed. And that they should work more Charlotte games.

So we don't have to see them in front of us. So they don't have to send these apologies when they make wrong calls. Now, again, this is not, I'm not trying to sound like bitter Rockets fan or Rockets announcer. Because, again, I'm not going to spend a lot of time, generally speaking, criticizing officials. Because, again, in my mind, it always balances out. But what I am saying is, is that if you are going to take the time, to tell us that the people that you employ for these games

are not doing their job what's the consequence oh golly g shucks oh golly it won't ever happen again i can buy that too we all can do that hey i've made a mistake i won't do it again or are we going to see the NBA really go right we need to put our best people on our best games

on a consistent basis so the chances of making similar type mistakes are going to be less often than with putting younger officials out there that maybe aren't as qualified as some of the older veteran guys are around the NBA. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. On Twitter, it's at SportsMT and at Sports Talk 790.

Andrew Canelon is going to join us here at 1.30. Does New Orleans get a bad from any of you? Or do you think it's one of the most dynamic cities in our country? I think the opinions of that are mixed. We'll put in a minute. We also, if you want to talk some more Astros, like we did earlier today with Channel Rome, that was good stuff. We'll do that tomorrow as well from 10 o'clock until noon.

And again, Andrew Catalan, it's going to call the game on CBS. Going to join us in a little over an hour from now. So please come on and be with us as we take this program until 2 o'clock this afternoon. All things Quinn Ewer is, believe it or not, but first a word for Uptown appliance repair. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, we're going to talk about all the college. college football coaching changes just within the teams that are playing in the college football playoff. I'll read you some numbers about that coming up in about five minutes from now, but it's quite

startling. And there is a sentiment that I hear from college coaches that I think is just blatant hypocrisy. So I'll give you that a little bit. All right. So New Orleans runs mixed with people. In our traveling party with the Rockets, there's about 60 of us, give or take. That's coaches, players, front office people, scouts, video people, medical staff, trainers, equipment people, media, like us broadcasters. So it's not a super big group, but it's a sizable group.

It's got a good sample size. And I would say that probably, and I'm not like going to every one of the players or every one of the coaches, but I would say it's a mixed bag about how New Orleans is treated and whether or not this is a good town to visit or a good town to play games in or a good town just to do anything. You know, I got to be really honest with you. I run hot and cold with New Orleans. The food is generally speaking amazing.

It's one of the best food towns in America. I mean, the food scene here in New Orleans is significantly better than the food scene in, say, Sacramento or Minneapolis or, you know, Cleveland. I don't feel as safe here. I feel like I have to watch my pockets a little bit closer because I think New Orleans, it says generally speaking,

is more crime than the other cities we go to. I feel safer in Oklahoma City than I do feel here. But, I mean, that goes with every city. That's not just New Orleans. And this city does stay open later. I mean, Bourbon Street, you know, 2, 3 o'clock in the morning. the casino's open 24 hours if you want to go get something to eat or go

have a cocktail at 4 o'clock in the morning it probably wouldn't take you very hard to do a long time to figure that out here and I would say generally speaking the people here of New Orleans are very nice so I would say I'm more pro-New Orleans than I am anti-New Orleans but there are a couple of my group

in our group that just like if the Pelicans move somewhere tomorrow they wouldn't care so i'm just curious how how y'all typically feel about new orleans i wouldn't want to live here um but for a place to visit once or twice a year i mean they you know look the super dome is still a majestic facility gets all the big concerts probably probably even the more of them or stadium shows than say energy does my my daughter uh and my wife came here to see taylor swift in new orleans last year so

they do quite well in terms of that there's always something going on it's much more of a celebratory community than say you know downtown indianapples on a rando night but you know i i i don't know how it runs jonathan you've been to new orleans very much in your life actually i've never never i've only been in late charles that's the only part in louisiana i've ever been to really you've ever been to new orleans before never never never been in oxford mississippi been all Well, that doesn't count. No, that doesn't count. Although Oxford's not too far, but no.

Like, yeah, you can't even compare Lake Charles to New Orleans. I mean, New Orleans is one of its kind. But I just don't know what y'all thought about it. If it's, man, I can't wait to go. I don't think I would come here just to do the drinking and debauchery, because you can do that in any town. But if there's a sporting event here, I mean, would you rather go to a bowl game in New Orleans or rather go?

go to a bowl game in Dallas. Would you rather see the Cougars playing the NCAA tournament in New Orleans, or would you rather have them see them playing in Wichita, Kansas? I mean, there's just, yeah, there's just, you know, if someday the SFA was to play somebody decent, you know, you'd want to come see him play here, provided they would play somebody decent. Not in Nacadocious?

I don't know, man. Nacogadoges or New Orleans? Hmm. They got a little bumbling basketball community over there. I don't know. I don't know. All right. I see what you're saying. But I always, I think, frankly, New Orleans gets kind of more criticism than probably should. It's not without its warts.

And clearly, the weather, when it rains here, it floods pretty damn quick because we are below sea level. But, you know, that's, you know, we live in a city, too, that floods pretty quick, too. I would say the reason why I love it so is because it's an easy walk in town. provided you don't get pickpocketed. You can get a beverage whenever you want to, if you are so inclined to do so. The food is really good. I'm not talking about necessarily having us, you know, having too much spicy for it. I'm just saying it's just a good food town, different stuff.

And, you know, as you guys know, I do like to play, go to the casino, so it's right downtown, and it helps out too. So I'm more pro-New Orleans and others, but there's a few in our group that are like, you know what, if the Pelicans became the, I don't know, the Seattle Pelicans. They wouldn't worry about it. 713-212-5-7-9.7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7. I just want to bring that up because I was curious what you all thought because, look, again, I don't think I'd come here specifically just for a trip, but as a sports destination,

like if the Texans for the Saints, I mean, I've been to know Texan Saints came before here. It was pre-season, but a lot of people came. People liked it. Let's go to Ed on 790 at 1230. Hi, Ed, good afternoon to you. Okay, I got a little dispute with you. All right?

A little one? Yeah. Everyone talks about how great the food is in New Orleans. New Orleans is a one-trick pony. They're good for Creole food and seafood. But in general, they're not like, say, a Houston where no matter what you want to eat in Houston, you can find a great restaurant that serves it. That's not the case in New Orleans.

well so you're saying that the italian scene in new orleans is not great the italians are right but i'm not going to new orleans for italian food i would go to new orleans for creole food for cajian food for seafood so if you like that i mean let's be honest we have we the city of houston ed is a wonderful food city but for specialization of cajian food and in creole and seafood i would i would choose new orleans over houston Houston. That's not wrong. That's what I'm saying. But if I said, I said to my significant other, let's go on a food trip. I'm not going to New Orleans. I'm going to go to, well, I'm in Houston, but I may tend to go to Chicago or New York, but I'm not going to go to New Orleans

for general great food. Well, but I wasn't, I was, when I was talking about the food, I was saying that you can get some amazing Cajun food in this community. I wasn't talking about, man, the text mix here is amazing. I don't think anybody was figuring that out. If you love crawfish and shrimp and fish and catfish, this is your heaven. Oysters. No question.

You know, but everyone usually prefaces by New Orleans has great food. All right, so you know what I'll do for you? You know what I'll do for you? And I will say they have great Creole Cajun food. Is that make you feel, is that okay now? Did I get, did I get some points back? We're gravy, baby, now. All right, thank you, Fred.

I appreciate the phone call. All right, and the gravy. Don't forget with the gravy. That's right. Yeah. All right, so now, I will change it. They have great Cajun food, great seafood. And again, you're getting, you know, 40-ounce margaritas for like $8 if you're so inclined to do that.

Let me go to Larry on 7-90. Hello, Larry. Larry Larry is silent quick time out on the program we got a few more you want to get to chime in again I'd sometimes you just go off the beat and path a little bit and we were just again having a pretty intense conversation about the attributes of New Orleans and again I'm more pro than anti I understand it's got its warts but you know what we in Houston have its warts so uh 713 212 790 719719 I do want to get into as Well, coming up in a few minutes about a tremendous amount of hypocrisy in the college football coaching landscape. I'll talk about that, too. Plus at 1.30, Andrew Kennelon from CBS Sports. 1233 on Sports Talk 790. Bill and the curtain back here on the Matt Thomas Show at Ross.

I just took some Harper medicine, Jonathan, just to prevent myself from having Harper and litter tonight. Oh, okay, you're preparing. Okay, okay, okay. I'm going out to a little Cajun restaurant this evening, or whatever it is, Creole, whatever people in New Orleans. I think Cajun is more. Baton Rouge and Creoles more New Orleans. You can get your Louisiana vernacular right. Another thing.

Now, you know, Jonathan, Ross calls me five diamond mat, all right? You're not five diamond mat? No, I'm, I mean, I like a nice hotel. Okay. I only want to stay in five stars. So this morning, I went and got breakfast, and we're going to get to Vince and to Ryan here in just a second.

I went and got me an oatmeal and some bacon. Okay. All right. The chicken was $9. One worth it, but you're paying high in hotel prices. The oatmeal was $15. It was a great oatmeal, but again, oatmeal probably costs them dollar to make, and the profit on that is significant.

So I'm looking, I was looking at the room service menu here. You know how they charge, for room service? They charge you like a delivery fee and a super high tip on that. Right. So you're automatically going to pay for the huge, price increase on the on the service charge they also jack the charge up of the price of the oatmeal and the bacon a couple of dollars what do you mean by a couple of dollars like three four five no I mean if I if I if I wanted to get like this morning I got the bacon and the

oatmeal in the restaurant it cost me $25 minus the tip mine it'd be 20 it'd be $28 if I had it brought to my room and and they were charged i'm looking for the charges on the you know it's not even on the room service men charge they're sheisters yeah just my set my advice to y'all don't ever order room service unless you just cannot get out of your room because you're hung over right that's the only that's the only reason i mean only reason but if you're hungover you probably made some bad decision that last night, so you probably want to go down there, I guess, spend it. So watch me tomorrow and morning.

Shoot you a text of me having breakfast in my room. I hope it doesn't compete. Yeah. I decided I'm not going to have any beverages when I'm at the casino in about an hour and 30 minutes. Oh, you decided that, like, are you sure? Are you for sure? I'm sure. I didn't gamble last night. It's while I'm

old. I mean, you just said Ross and his brother once, so that might have got you a little motivated. They did get him motivated. They were on a hundred dollar bills on their bed see see you can never say never you ever laid on a hundreds of dollars of bills before in your life i wish my wife has it was a good trip something is wrong with you i i i you know what i'm gone for a few days what i'm going to get worse Ryan on 790 and 1240

Ryan good afternoon to you Good afternoon guys This is going to be directed more at Jonathan From what I've gathered You're a younger young man You got a girlfriend Go to New Orleans One time

One time It's a blast We'll do it before hangovers last several days Okay Outside of that I'll never go back after the Bachelor party I had with my brother. It was the most fun we ever had until some guests that one of our buddies picked up on the way back home decided to rob us blind. Everybody except me

because I passed out drunk with my wallet on me, they couldn't get mine. They took $3,300. This is what they stole. Oh. Up until then, though, fantastic. night. Also, if you want good food, Louisiana, I think Lafayette might be better. You know what? I've had food in Lafayette before. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I might be with you on that. Lafayette food really good. Everything else is crap, but the food in Lafayette's good. Ryan, I got a story for you. Not nearly as dramatic as yours, but we came here for the Texan Saints preseason game. My wife and I came with me, we came with me, and we had a few too many beverages, and we were hailing a cab. This is before Uber and Lyft were around, and we got the cab, and we sat down, we were like, where is this guy? You're waiting for him.

Guy gets in the car and says, what are you people doing? We got into somebody's car by accident. It was on a cab driver. Oh, no. That's rough. That's never good. But we walked everywhere because we were just on Bourbon Street. But now you got a, you go to, what is it, Pat O'Reilly's, you go to the restaurant,

heat, you go to all the other fun places that I'm not going to say on the radio for a bachelor party. Oh, man, we were, we were, we were grooving, dude. It was a good time until we woke up for a rote. And we were, we were having to, like, call. I certainly hope. You need to us to even pay to get home. I hope, I certainly hope, Ryan, you did not go to the bustler bar on a, bourbon street no they got better options

yeah they do yeah overrated thanks for the phone call ryan by way any of those places ryan or jonathan that offer strip clubs in you know the hustler club and all that don't don't waste your time yeah yeah i'm after hearing that story man i'm got to leave my wallet thirty two hundred dollars damn that's what i'm gonna be careful here apple pay is a friend you got it you got to be you can't apple pay a stripper can you you know you know I'm not the person to ask, but I guarantee we can find someone to ask that question. I bet you can't.

All right. If you've ever been Vint Mo to Stripper, 713, 212-5-790, 7-1-3-212-5-790. Vince and Michael will get to you guys next, plus the hypocrisy of college coaches. It's 1242 on the Matt Thomas Show here from Nalins on 790.

1248, Matt, here in New Orleans, Ross off the rest of the week. You know, I asked y'all i said is any if you ever venmoed a strip or money and i said call the show at 7132-1-2-5-790 show look and tell the audience what showed up

on this call screener about two minutes ago jonathan uh call col thompson called the show now he's not staying on the line for some reason just saying you never know what you do with the morning show on these radio stations.

I'm not saying Cole Venmoa stripper. I'm just saying that Cole called as soon as I asked for someone to call with a stripper. 713-212-5-7-90. Vince is with us on 7-90. Vince, good afternoon. Hey, good afternoon, guys. Hey, so just real quick on this New Orleans thing. The first time I went to New Orleans was back in the early 80s

and was going to a concert at the Superdome. And so we're driving there and it's raining pretty much. much the whole time I'm driving there pretty hard and we get to our hotels raining at the hotel and so go in the room I throw my suitcase on the on the on bed and I hear a squish the bed was soaking wet so that just gave me this the weirdest feeling I ever since then I just such it I'm you know I had to go back in Orleans a couple of times after that for some business but but here recently a friend of mine moved to

New Orleans, a musician whose dream was always to be a New Orleans musician. He's doing really well there now. And so he had his own show coming up. I went to go see his show. Fantastic. Actually, I brought my wife with me. She had never been. And we had a great time

with the music scene there. The music scene there is incredible. It really is if people like music. But still, the places just give me the creeps. You know, I had to take my wife down bourbon street it's just like just loud music you can't even think you know it's like it's just too crazy too many drunk people too many people trying to make asses out of themselves so i'll yeah again i would not it to me it helps vince when there's something else to do besides

like if you just said let's get in the car and go to new orleans for three or four days and drink and eat i mean you know if that's what you that's what your cup of tea is then you can do that if you like loud crowds. If you'd like, you know, walking the streets and throwing beads at women and them showing their tops, you know, taking their tops off, if that's something that's up of your alley, then that's each of your own. It's just, it's a good place to come if you're going

to do all that, plus you're going to see a concert or a movie or you're meeting your friends or a bachelor party, but, you know, again, and not to say that you get older, you would change your expertise, but you have to kind of know that this is not going to be this isn't a Honolulu, Hawaii,

basically, that's what I'm trying to say. It's got it's got its issues yeah hey but real quick there's a really good breakfast place i could recommend to you mad that you would really like if i can do it over the phone if not sure why not then you message it's called two chicks hold on a second two chicks uh cafe 920 something like that okay very good so it's off like about three or four blocks off of canal street and bourbon street really really really they don't charge 15 dollars for oatmeal do they uh no no no no know and all their stuff is fresh they got it's it's an excellent excellent breakfast spot all right thanks vincent for the phone call appreciate the uh the uh the uh the recommendations

funny i don't you know i put up a photo on my instagram at sports mt if you want to follow me there and on my facebook and i get ridiculed by gordon i didn't go the right restaurants i don't think i've ever i don't and maybe i'm wrong and maybe my friends could say yes I've got evidence to the contrary. If somebody puts a photo up of somewhere they're eating, and that's what Facebook to me should be. It should be about pictures of your kids, destinations. It shouldn't be about politics,

shouldn't be about religion, should be about raising your kids. It shouldn't be to kiss your wife's ass because you've been mean to her and you want to talk around about how awesome she is and you want other people to like it. It should be about simplistic little things that just don't mean anything.

But if I put up some food, what to do occasionally because, I mean, you know, the New Orleans style of food, you're not going to get in Houston and you're not getting Houston-style food in New Orleans. It just is what it is.

Man, Gordy's shaming me. You went to the French court, you went to the beverage Dique. I'm sure there's plenty of other places better than I went to last night. But it was 9 o'clock at night. We were looking for a pole boy. We weren't looking for Chateaumbrillon.

713-212. I'm just a teasing of Congress. 713-21-2.5. 790, 7-13-212-1-2-5-7-90. Texans on the practice field, getting ready for Sunday's game with the Houston Tech, the Las Vegas Raiders. If you thought the Cardinals were bad, the Raiders are worse.

And Pete Carroll is a really good football coach, at least was, obviously with his days with Seattle and before that at USC. I don't know if the team has just got awful, or they're just underperforming to obscene levels. And Gino Smith wouldn't have been my choice to run a football team quarterback-wise. But they're embarrassingly bad. And I've got to think that part of it is, you know, does Pete Carroll have the, you know, when you're over the age of 70, that means you can't be 70 plus and not win football games.

I mean, Mac Brown showed that you could do that at North Carolina after leaving Texas. And Bill Belichick won games, and well, he's at least trying to at North Carolina. but it's low-hanging fruit when your team underperforms and you're trying to grab one last chance of being a coach and you're 70-plus years old and things aren't going well if you're going to the Texans game on Sunday I'd bring something else to do besides watch the game so when all your buddies

and members of the media who get free passes to the game shoot photos of how empty the stadium is it might be for a good reason because you'd rather go see your daughter's Christmas recital or you'd rather go see you'd rather go Christmas shopping for those last second gifts because the Raiders absolutely suck but the Texans can't let themselves down

and can't play down on the competition like they didn't do last week when Arizona came in here and Texans won the game comfortably nothing is a perfect game there could be another night where you know a rater The Raider, tight-in scores a bunch of receiving guards and a bunch of catches and a couple touchdowns. But generally speaking, there's nothing that the Raiders should be doing on Sunday that should scare anybody that's the Texans fan. All right, we got one hour left to go.

What would you like to get into? Rockets basketball playing New Orleans tomorrow night. Did any of you watch the NBA Cup? I'm not being rhetorical. I'm literally asking. Did any of you watch the NBA Cup? I did Matt I'm so proud of you

I just did I just watched the whole game I'll go to the Knicks They're Jordan Clarkson looks pretty I mean they look pretty solid They look pretty well-rounded I'm not gonna lie Here's the bigger question

How good is San Antonio I see I'm not I can answer that question I feel Okay because because I'm afraid someone's going to say And it may not be you I'm afraid someone might say

there may be better than Rockets. And I hope that's not the case. Don't. Me too. Me either. Me either. Don't do it. Don't do it. But record-wise, and again, there's 50-plus games left to go.

San Antonio won a knockout wrong game. They won their semifinal game. And Victor Wenbanyama is coming out the bench for them. We as a fine Houston sports community can simply not allow San Antonio to be better than Houston

in anything. If Oklahoma City is going to win 70 games this year, so be it. If the Lakers are going to win 60 games, okay, fine, I'm used to that. If Minnesota's going to win their games, if Denver's going to win 58 games a year, okay, Yokech is one of the greatest players of all time

looks like. I can live with that. I cannot live with the Spurs beating the Rockets. I watched it for like 10 years with Duncan, Robinson, Genobley, Parker, hell, even Robert Ory.

Houston, I can't. You can't. We've got to put some serious, nasty juju on the San Antonio Spurs. They cannot be better. Final hour of the Matt Thomas show with Ross here in New Orleans, 713-212-5-790. this is the matt thomas show with ross john i just got a text of my buddy we'll keep his name silent on this

said from my from my texter my buddy kirk got mugged by a stripper on charter street and when he tried to get back his cash she pimpslept him slapped? Never in my life have I been pimpslapped. So let's get your interpretation as far as go back to the phones, to go back to the real world of sports. What is the difference between a regular

slap and a pimp slap? Pimp slap, you know, if you want to get technical, you usually got a ring on you and you pimp it's a pimp slap with the back of your hand, straight across the face. Okay, so as compared to a regular slap, which

has probably done in aggression or anger? Yeah, but a pimp slap's more like, it's more degrading. You get what I'm saying? It's more like, uh, it's almost like the same energy as your mom slapping you to put that thing away. Like, do you grab someone from the store or something? No, no, no, no, no.

I disagree. I don't think your mother would pimp slap you. No, no, no, no. I'm saying the energy of a pimp slap, like, to open hand, like open hand slap is like straight aggression, right? Like, so pimp will be more of a, backhanded slap it's back it's backhanded like you know like i'm trying to keep it radio pg but you know what i mean like

no i don't so go ahead and make it make it radio pg 13 just to you know just protect the license like look all right let's say this you're in the parking lot and say matt you messed up my spot or you nick my car and i'm coming to you i'm like yeah you know we started exchanging words and you're like man blank you da da da da i'm gonna open hand slap you That's more like we're starting to get the fight, right? Now, re-run that same scenario, and you start talking back to me, I'm just going to pampslap you and look across the face. Like, what'd you say?

And you're going to be kind of taking it back. Because it's saying, usually you want that ring on you, you know, that's going to hurt a little bit, you know. And I know the story is coming from. You got to add some more details about the story. That's all I got. Oh, okay. Well, I'm not saying no names.

The person as well had to, I think something broken his face, too. it is nose break nah some part of the cheek i think you got a broken cheek when you got up to the pimps left orbital right next his eye oh the orbital bone right by the eye

that doesn't sound good at all look i'm not trying to not tell you to come to new orleans i'm just saying you gotta be careful you've never been pimpsed before mad you never seen that before i've never been pimpslapped i've been slapped i've been slapped but never been pimpslapped that explains a lot pimps what i mean explains a lot

nobody should aspire to be pimpslapped Or slap for that matter. Love you, Matt. Let's go to John before I got to get this collapsing off my chest. John, good afternoon to you. Hey, what's going on? How are you doing? Good.

Good, good, good, man. It's always a pleasure to talk to you, man. So, yeah, believe it or not, my wife and I, since we're on the topic of New Orleans, We're thinking about going to New Orleans on the 28th through the 30th for our anniversary. And, yeah, we're a Christian couple. We're actually going to do some mission work while we're there. And I wanted to know a couple of the – yes, sir.

And I want to know a couple of the things to maybe get into in terms of sites and food and things of that nature. Yes, because I know you do a lot of travel. well i'm going to say right now uh food you're not going to go wrong um you should actually email chris gordy our program director he did he's on he'll be on with me on friday you should call us back friday john because he'll give you the place to go eat because he's he's from here but if you have some free time john you 100% must go to the world war two museum it is okay a and i'm not even a history buff per se i was blown away by it it will take you a full to experience everything at this World War II museum.

It's awesome. It's well worth the price of admission. They have a restaurant there, so you can actually do half the tour in the morning, have some lunch, and then go do their half of the tour. It is well worth the price of mission and well worth your time. There's also an aquarium here. The live music scene is really good, even if you're not necessarily into doing a lot of drinking or debauchery and whatnot.

You can still do that. But there's plenty of stuff to do here for sure. but I 100% recommend the World War II Museum. World War II. Okay, okay. Would that fit into the whole romantic thing that I'm trying to get going with the anniversary? Okay, John, so let's be brutally honest here.

Have you ever tried to get romantic with a woman in a museum before? Well, I've taken my wife out to the museum of art, And then we went and had a nice dinner at Morton this one time before. So, you know, that kind of worked out. You know, it's just, you know. Okay, I'm going to say that if you're going to try to romance or the World War II Museum wouldn't be the thing I'd go to, you can definitely, you can definitely, you can definitely, how do I put this? You guys are not drinking or you are going to have a couple of pops? We literally have never had alcohol in a lot of, I believe it or not.

Is that right? good for you your liver appreciate you um well i got to be brutally honest with you new orleans is a heavy drinking town so i don't know not that i not that i'm going to do a lot of it but i'm just saying that it's usually if you're walking bourbon street you you're usually going to have an alcoholic beverage in your hand that's it's part of going walking from bar to bar to bar to bars are trying different stuff so uh you know what you got to do Yeah, well, not the only reason, but I mean, I guess you could do it sober if you needed to. And if you do that, you know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't drink just for the sake of drinking.

So, John, do me this favor. Are you going to, are you, is the girlfriend or wife? Wifee. Okay. So you're going to try to do New Orleans for the very first time without having any drinks. Okay, you have got to call us back when you get back next week, whenever you guys go or whenever to that for the holidays and tell us how the trip went. okay and again

don't try to get romantic don't try to get it fresh with your wife at the museum that'll be kind of awkward thank you for the phone call friend we appreciate it thank you yeah I didn't know

he wanted to he what he what Jonathan what I think he wants is he wants to know when can he show his love for his girl in a town

that openly I mean how do I put this Gordon's got to know some spots there's no way There's no, you know, but he wants to get romantic in New Orleans. And I'm thinking, you know what,

your hotel room will do just fine. Don't they have those steamboats with the jazz players and all that, you know. I guess you, yeah, they got boat rides. I'm assuming I've never been on a boat ride here, so I can't speak to that. But, I mean, we're right at the Mississippi, so I would assume there's got to be some boat rides of some sort. The steamboats, that might be, I don't know.

I've never been. That's a good idea. John, you hear what Jonathan just said? What matter of fair, Jonathan, you need to hook up with John. Y'all for him to go double date. to know in the norahs yeah and see if you can get romantic on a steamboat i think john's got that i think john's got that i don't know yeah he probably don't want you around all right uh 110 on sports talk 70 we're going back to sports here

by the way quick update from uh the texans on the wednesday practice and again remember it's wednesday it's not the big day the big practice days are frankly thursday and Friday, and if guys are not working out those days, that should be a sign that maybe something's going on with some injuries. But as far as what the Texans are saying, Wex is saying, that he does not see Woody Marks, Camari Lassiter,

Derek Stingley, Trent Brown, Sheldon Rankin's, Al-Zees, Al-Share at the media viewing portion of the Texans. The running backs that are working out today are Jordan, who's got signed of the full roster, Chubb, Agumboale, and Brooks.

So there you go. But apparently Nick Chubb is ready to practice today, which is a good sign. You've got to have some depth, especially at the running back spot. Even though George Jordan had a great game, 105 yards against the Arizona Cardinals this week, you want as much depth as possible. And frankly, of all the running backs,

I need Woody Marks to be at his best because he has been the best blocking running back. He's been a very good running back out of the backfield, and he also inherits fumbles and scores touchdowns. By the way, did you see how the fantasy football world is reacting to Woody Marks's touchdown against the Cardinals, Jonathan, on Sunday? No. So, what's the reaction? The reaction is the official NFL scorecard, and maybe this has changed, and if any of you all have Woody Marks in your fantasy football, let me know.

But apparently, on the play-by-play stat sheet, and what went into the official is that on that, what looked like to be a direct snap, he was actually a best. bad snap that resulted in a fumble that Woody Marks inherited fumbled recovered it and scored a touchdown so when you fumble recover and score off a fumble recovery that's not a rushing attempt

that's not a receiving attempt you get no points for that in fantasy football what yeah now I don't know how many people in y'all's fantasy football leagues are using Woody Mark

I wouldn't think a bunch of you, but you know what, guys are on, you know, guys get hurt. Maybe, I don't know, nobody was on a buy this past week, but you get my drift. So did anybody get screwed on Woody Marks not getting a rushing touchdown? And maybe in, and perhaps some of you, the league has changed it. But I want to say, if I'm going to look it up right now on ESPN, I want to say that ESPN labeled it a fumble recovery touchdown, which would then mean you don't. get, you don't get the points for the touchdown because it wasn't a rushing attempt. Remember rushing touchdowns get you so many points.

Receiving touchdowns get you so many points. Not fumble recoveries don't get you points. I'm going to look at the box score right now. I'm going to NFL.com here. Let's see. What do they say it is? Recap. This is not great radio.

Here it is. Looking, looking, looking, looking. Where is it? I saw the McBride score. I'm looking for the, hell, where is it? It should be a fumble recovery somewhere. When did that happen?

Yeah, here it is. C.J. Stroud, aborted snap. C.J. Stroud fumble, Woody Mark's one-yard fumble recovery. That made it 17-0. I don't think you all get credit for that. And if you all got screwed by that, let me know

and see if the NFL, we should build a case for it. Or maybe you got a bad beat in your fantasy football league because of that. 114 on The Matt Thomas Show with Ross 713212-5-790. Andrew Cattelon from CBS Sports joins us in 15 minutes here on Sports Talk 790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. So there's a story here in New Orleans about LSU and, you know, they're going to play my Cougars and they're going to lose to the Cougars and the Texas Bowl next week.

week and apparently Frank Wilson who is the interim coach as soon as he's done with his game is going to go coach at Ole Miss and that's fine I mean coaches are moving left and right but there's now become this opportunity here real quick for

people in coaching to go you know we got to keep our coaches here we're going to stop watching guys leave jobs before the season is done and so we're watching coordinators getting head coaching jobs and we're seeing position coach is getting coordinating positions.

Every single football coach I have seen with a press conference in the last two weeks has bemoaned the amount of coaches that are moving from team to team and team, like they've been bemoaning the number of players that have been moving from the transfer portal. And all I want to say is I think it's a tremendous amount of hypocrisy. Unless the college football group, whatever that is, group of five, power four, whatever, collectively come together and set timelines for when you can hire and fire coaches, when kids can go to the transfer portal, when they can be plucked out of it,

when coaches can leave to go take other jobs, I don't want to hear about anybody else being, I hear this all the time, our system is broken. It's not working well. So what do people do when they tell me that the system's not working well? You've got one two options. You can either do something about it and try to help legislate change or you can sit back and just watch it happen. And that's what I think, what college football's doing.

We're all getting mad about the transfer portal, an NIL, and how crazy things are going. Well, then do something about it. Go put together a committee, go find a true legitimate college football commissioner, and let's regulate some stuff if it's so terrible. I don't like it, but I'm living with it.

Are you upset that Frank Wilson's going to go take the job at Ole Miss as soon as the game's over with? I'll tell you this. He's a really good recruiter. A lot of ties around Louisiana and the New Orleans area. But I think times have changed now, Matt, that Lane Kiffin, as much as he likes the idea of keeping him, he wants his running back coach in there.

And I dug through the numbers. Lane's had, I don't even remember the guy's name. Kevin Smith is his name. former running back for the Lions. He's been Lane's running backs coach since FAU and every year at Ole Miss. Every year at Ole Miss, they've been top five in the SEC and rushing. LSU was terrible at running the football this year. So as much as you like the guy, the running back coach who can recruit,

give me the running back coach who could actually coach. So, and I think the landscape's changing now. You're not going to, recruiting ties don't matter as much in 2025 as they did in 2015. No, the checkbook does Way more important Exactly All right I'm glad you're in here

Because I'm glad you're Hopefully you were listening So we had a call or John Ask about romantic stuff to do In New Orleans It doesn't involve alcohol And that's a tough ask Would you not say?

Romantic stuff? Yes I mean You can go to a jazz club And drink Coke and water You don't have to drink Sure you could Of course

They do the They do the carriage rides too That's right We talked about the steamboat Can you go on a boat ride down in Mississippi here in New Orleans? I'm sure we can, right? Yeah, the Natchez. All right.

So Robbie says on Twitter, Museum of Fine Arts or the Museum of the Deadliest War in Human History. Which one is more romantic, MT? If someone was trying to give me romance advice, I'd pick in the World War II Museum. I'd tell him to go to the museum. I didn't realize he was trying to make sweet love at this thing. So that's why it was kind of an awkward conversation.

Yeah, talking to 90-year-old war vets about the Pacific Theater, maybe not the most romantic. No. All right, stand by here. Let's see what Paul can help us out here, Gordy. Paul on 790, good afternoon. Good afternoon, and a little bit of my thunder's been stolen, but I had three ideas for going to New Orleans for,

and I've been there many times for work, but also for taking my wife. One was the boat ride, and you can get the boat ride, or sometimes the boat ride has like a dinner cruise on it. You know, so you take a river boat ride with a cruise, okay? the other one was if you're kind of into history and you can take the good and the bad of history the plantation tours and you've got to take the good and the bad what you see but you know it's good to be curious and see what you're seeing not just the gum with the wind look but the real look about what it's like and I find it very educational my my wife kind of anyway she was

not upset by it I thought she would be but anyway and the last one was they have and they're not scary or morbid they have the most incredible cemetery tours in New Orleans that speaks of sweet love if you want to go

and see where Nicholas Cage is going to be buried in that pyramid it's already there and I'm serious they go on for blocks I think it's on St. Charles Street they go on for blocks I don't know I've heard of them before I know you're being completely honest

I'm not kidding. I have never been on a cemetery tour. Paul, thank you for the great advice. Cemetery's kind of freaked me out. Cemetery's kind of freak me out. Yeah, Cadale Street is where a lot of those are. Metery Road meets downtown or uptown New Orleans. So I'm assuming because you're in here in the studio,

you're going to be talking about a place that's not romantic, but a great place to watch a college football game coming up in a couple weeks or from now. I already did that, but I just, I heard you talk about it. I heard you saying that you wanted to, you were talking about the Texas Bowl. We still have not made an official bet on this yet, U of H versus L.S. Friday's show, as long as you don't beg out for some stupid reason, like a white elephant party or something. Well, our five-star right tackle just entered the portal today.

So this is going swimmingly that, you know, I think we might actually be calling Willie Fritz and asking to borrow some players to get through this bowl game. You can't have our players. First of all, your LSU students wouldn't be able to pass one class at U of H. That goes without saying. And number two, you know, we're moving up the power conference list. You guys are staying mid, and that's fine.

Kinders, Texas Bowl.com for tickets if you want a plenty of great seats available for U of H versus LSU, a week from Saturday. By the way, I've been doing this for the Texas Bowl for a lot of years. It's been tough at times with an 815 kick on like a Tuesday or a Wednesday. It's a Saturday this year. That makes it awesome. I mean, you're talking, get out there, tailgate, constant. We're going to be an NRG past midnight. It's going to be in a Sunday.

Are you ready? Are you wearing LSU gear to the press box? Are you going to sit in the stands? I will be a neutral observer. Oh, so you don't want to pay for the tickets. No, I'm fine. I'm just, I'm there covering from a locked-on SEC splash sports talk 790 perspective. I forgot about that.

All right, there it is. Friends, as long as Gordy has nothing else to do in his life, he's going to co-hoves with me Friday 10 o'clock until noon. if there's literally anything else like there is a repeat of steel magnolia's on he will not be on the show but literally nothing else going on in his life

he'll be on with it 10th noon at least i know how to find good food in new orleans oh my god i called you out on it earlier today yeah it's like it's like going guys i went to new york there's this great place in time square you gotta try like no get off the beaten path rob reese crushed you our fellow cage he doesn't know he's been he's been living here too long. He's too disconnected from New Orleans. All right, I'm going to talk to him a real reporter. CBS's Andrew

Catalan's going to join us next here. That's a good get right there, and there, of course, Gordy. That's Gordy. He'll hang out with us Friday, 10 o'clock until noon. Andrew Catalan, CBS next on 790. Matt Thomas show continues with Ross here from New Orleans. Rockets off tonight. Tomorrow night, we'll take on

the Pelicans. We'll have the broadcast for you beginning at 6 o'clock with Rockets Launchpad. I'll have the play by play here at 7 o'clock. Speaking of a play-by-play, one of the most versatile and talented sports broadcasters we have today is joining us on the show. About to call us 200th game, NFL game on CBS. Andrew Canelon with us here on the program. Andrew, it's Matt. It's a pleasure to have you on.

I have a big fan of your work. And by the way, I think Texans fans love when you and SpiroDitas do games because I think Texans have a winning record with you two guys calling action. Well, I appreciate the kind words, and it's great to be with you. And, yeah, it's been a while. I haven't had the Texans this year, so I'm excited to see them. Obviously, I think they're one of the hottest teams in the league right now. For sure. And I'll be brutally honest with you, Andrew, we're not going to spend a whole long time breaking down Texans and Raiders because, let's face it,

you're going to have to probably have some storylines ready for the second half, but that's a different issue for a different time. Let me go back to last week because I begged the local CBS affiliate here in town to broadcast the Indianapolis Seattle game for obvious reasons, because the Colts are still competing with the Texans. FC South. And oh, by the way, Philly Rivers was going to perhaps be on the practice squad. He winds up starting. Take us through last week when you officially got the word that Rivers was going to start. You get the chance to talk to him but the night before. And then as you're calling

the game, did you feel like you were in 2015 all over again? Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it was surreal when he walked into the meeting room in the hotel the night before in Seattle. I called so many of his games over the years and to hear him say I'm back in 2025 was just absolutely wild. And, you know, when we met with him the night before, I was fascinated by his perspective because he was so honest with us. He said, look, I could get hurt on the first play of the game, pop my calf. I might stink out there, throw four interceptions. You know what? None of that bothers me.

He said, I'll never know what could happen if I don't try it. And to me, this was just bonus football. It's an opportunity to play for a coach and an organization that I really respect and love. And why not? Why not give it a try and send that message to his high school football team, which he now coaches, that you'll never know what will happen if you don't give it a shot. So I absolutely love that perspective from Philip. He did not care if he was embarrassed or got hurt.

That was not going to bother him. And then you fast forward to the game the next day. And look, I thought Shane Steichen did a really good job. job of calling plays for Philip. We talked a lot on the broadcast about his inability to really push the ball down the field. Now, maybe that'll change this week. Maybe now that he has a week under his belt, they can kind of, you know, try to stretch it a little bit more.

But I thought he controlled the line of scrimmage and gave them a chance to win, which they almost did. And that's exactly what their organization was looking for. Now they're hoping just to turn the corner and get a couple of wins here coming in. All right. You are doing a little bit of prep on for this Texans team. You know, we always hear the narrative, Andrew, the teams that go 0 and 2 and make the playoffs certain length of time, 0 and 3, which the Texans began,

it's even lesser percentage. Unless things completely crater here, the Texans not only are going to make a playoff spot, but they could win this division. And from what your brief study is about them so far, you'll see them for the first time this year. It goes down to, obviously, the outstanding defense. We're not speaking out of turn here. It's the offense that people still want to know how good they can be.

You obviously have seen the numbers the last few weeks. It is getting steadily better, but you also have seen other teams around the AFC. Can the Texans make a legitimate Super Bowl run if the Texans basically give you an average offensive output the next handful of weeks and obviously come playoff time? Yeah, I mean, I think they can. I have not overwhelmed by what I've seen in the AFC compared to previous years. Now, all these teams, we want to throw Denver, Buffalo, New England, Jacksonville, the Chargers, I think, are a good team. You know, are they gang? You know, it's not like the years past.

We have a dominant team. I mean, you can make a case for all these teams. If I'm a Texans fan, would I like to see the offense play a little bit better? Yeah, I would. Now, they did look good last week, I thought. Obviously, the opponent was not, you know, the 72 dolphins. But at the same time, you know, I think that maybe they're trying to, you know, get their stride a little bit, find some momentum.

CJ's now back in the mix. Jordan was a nice little bonus last week. You know, it sounds like Chubb practiced today. Those are all good signs. But I just think this is the year where, you know, you don't have to be a great team. You just got to get hot at the right time. And it seems like they're headed that way right now, which is a tremendous sign for Domingo and the Texans.

Andrew Cattle on CBS Sports joining us. He'll be on the call this Sunday for the Texans and Raiders at 325. With your schedule and the fact that you've not seen the Texans, you've seen everybody else, you've seen Jacksonville, you've seen Buffalo, you've seen New England, you've seen Denver. And I threw this at Ion Eagle a handful of weeks ago. I'll ask you, because now we're even deeper in the season than we are now today. Who do you like in the AFC?

And I'm asking to make a grandiose prediction, but there's all warts among everybody in this top seven. So you give me the complete package. What do you like the most at this point? Yeah, I mean, I think the best player left is Josh Allen. and for that reason, I think the bills are scary. I feel like they're a team that could win on the road if they don't get home field advantage

or don't get a couple of home games. Their defense, though, is certainly their ward and their weakness. And I don't know if that defense is good enough to overcome, you know, making a run here in the playoffs. A team I've also seen a couple of times now is the Chargers, and they've been so beat up along their offensive line. Obviously, the Texans will see them next weekend. But I think there's a lot of nice pieces there with Los Angeles.

They're not blowing teams out. Again, it's not a dominant team, but there's enough parts where if Herbert can stay healthy and they can put things all together, I'm really fascinated by that game next weekend with the Texans out in L.A. So those are two, but as we said before, you can make a case for any team, and I think the Texans are just as good as both those teams I just mentioned. Andrew, you do the Bills preseason games. You lived in Buffalo for quite a period of time, correct? I went to Syracuse, and I lived in Albany, New York, for quite some time, so not too far down the road.

I was going to say, I don't know how those people in Buffalo do it. They're such diehard fans, and I respect the hell out of them, but that lake affects snow, and that new stadium, which you'll be calling games in next year, open air. What are they thinking up there? I don't get it. Well, first of all, I love doing the preseason games because it's August, so it's a nice time to spend a couple weeks up there. You know, I think that's part of their advantage. That's part of their charm.

You go to a game there, and the tailgating scene is second to none. And, you know, they love that environment. Now, they will have a canopy over a good portion of the seats at this new stadium, so that'll help in terms of, you know, rain and snow. But, yeah, it's going to be cold there, and that's just the way they love it. So, you know, you might see the NFL draft go there, but I don't know if you'll see a Super Bowl there. That might be a little tough.

Probably so. Andrew Catalan, a couple more minutes with us here from CBS. And Andrew does not only the NFL on CBS, he's a huge part of their NCAA tournament. He works with Steve Lapis. I want to say, and I'm a University of Houston alum, and I've gone to games. I called their games many years ago before joining the Rockets. So, as a matter of fact, I flew to San Antonio for the National Championship gaming between a Rockets game. So you working with Steve, first of all, very entertaining.

The accent, though, is incredible for him. Do you have to sometimes catch it and rewind to see what he said and maybe kind of, apprehended like five seconds after he said it? He's the best. We had Houston in the elite eight last year. That was a ball out in Indy and what a performance they put on. And Steve and I have called, man, it's got to be between three and four hundred games together now. I mean, we've been doing this for a long time. As you know, when you have continuity with one person, it makes a huge difference on the air.

So, you know, certainly, and I'm from New Jersey and he's obviously from New York. So I kind of can speak the same language as him, but he's the best. We have a lot of fun together, and I'm looking forward to getting with him here soon after the NFL season ends. Yeah, it's a highly entertaining crew and look forward to you, hopefully calling many University of Houston tournament games. And then after that, you get to go golf and work at the Masters on other CBS events. And we always make fun of golf announcers on a show about how you hate to whisper and nuts. Do you catch yourself leaving the booth, getting in your car, going to the hotel, and ordering food, and having that master's whisper voice still going,

well, I can speak at full throw if I need to. You know, it's funny last week called a 60-yard field goal and then a 50-whatever by Myers, 56-yard field goal late. And I felt it the next day with my voice. I was like, wow, I really kind of blew it out there. And that doesn't usually happen after, you know, a golf tournament. So I love going to New Orleans where you are for the Zurich Classic, but it's definitely a little bit of a different feel than calling an NFL game.

love it just as much, but there's no doubt that it's a different voice, a different tone, and it's really enjoyable. It's a great time, and I'm fortunate to be a part of it with CBS. To wrap it up, let's go back to football. It feels like to me, and I've been telling this to the audience, because look, the Texans have only gone to the divisional play. I've never been an AFC championship game, as you know, but it feels as wide open as possible. And I know that people, some people are bemoaning Kansas City's not in it, and how are we going to live without that? But if I'm Buffalo, I feel good. good if I feel like I've got all healthy Lamar Jackson.

I think Baltimore's got a shot because they've been there and done that. You've got the Chargers you mentioned playing well. The Texans' defenses is obviously Super Bowl caliber-worthy. It feels like to me, Andrew, of all the years you've been working these games, that every week now for the next couple weeks before the end of the season, you're going to have some meaningful matchups, and no one should go into January thinking we're the series favorite to win the AFC. No, no doubt.

I mean, a seven seed in the AFC or NFC, especially the AFC. has a really good chance to make a run and get hot and get in to the Super Bowl. So I think if it's one of those years, you just said, you get into the tournament, you can certainly dream about the Super Bowl. It is realistic. You know, the home field advantage, I don't know how much that will come into play. There's some younger QBs in the AFC outside of, you know, Alan and Jackson, and who knows if the Steelers get in with Rogers.

But I don't know how, you know, other than like maybe Buffalo in the snow, I don't know how big of a deal home field advantage is going to be. I think any one of these teams can go in and get hot and win, and I can't wait to watch. It's going to be a phenomenal playoffs. Pleasure having you on the show. Hope we can bug you once a year. Safe travels to our

community and again, and really enjoy your work and looking forward to your broadcast on Sunday. Thanks for the time. Yeah, right back at you. Thanks so much. All right, Andrew, take care yourself. Andrew Catalan with us from CBS Sports, talented with the NFL, Incidentally tournament, and the Masters and Golf coverage on that

network let's play believe it or not next it's all things about queen ewers and we just found out from our promotions department we are going to add some another bonus prize today to today's edition of believe it or not uh Nate bargazi tickets are going to be available that's the guy that's that's a comedian right Jonathan that doesn't swear I should have never heard of him before yeah he's on the big dumb eyes world tour I want to say that's him how I'm gonna look him up on Google, but I just got this email like two minutes ago, so we're getting, we have tickets to give away. It's all things about Quinn

yours, who's going to start Sunday for the Miami Dolphins in her home game against Cincinnati, the former Texas Longhorn. 713-213-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-5-79. If you want to play, believe or not, it's next here on 790. It was nice visiting with Andrew Cantalon. Very good. You guys wouldn't recognize them, but you'd

recognize the voice. Hopefully you did, and they'll be on that call Sunday for 325. Texans and the Las Vegas Raiders. Tomorrow on the show, we will spend some time with our friend Channel. Rome, we're going to be back in for a couple hours again tomorrow, 10 o'clock until noon, so some more hot stove league conversation to get to. We'll also have, I Just Don't Get it, at 1130. E. May I Doca is going to join the show tomorrow at 1 at 1230.

And I don't know, we got some good prizes. Nate Bargazi, I think he's the hottest comedian in the country. And apparently does not swear or bring up. sexual content. So if you're looking for some family-friendly comedy, we're going to be giving that away here in just a couple minutes, among our other prizes. But first, with five minutes left to go on the show, what should we do? We should play America's fastest growing sports radio game show. We simply call it B, believe it or not, and here's how it works. You'll call 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Today's edition of Believe it or not,

is all things about Quinn Ewers. I'm using the exact same questions we used in January. You don't memorize it. You know you didn't. But I'm going to ask you questions about Quinn Ewers. He is the new quarterback with the Miami Dolphins. The statement's completely utterly accurate. You'll say this. Believe it. If a statement's erroneous, full of bunk and made up,

you'll say this. Two, believe it or not, in a row when you won of four prizes. One, a 790 t-shirt. Two, a pair of tickets to see Nate Bargazi live on the Big Dumb Eyes World Tour on the second show, June 18th of the Toyota Center. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 o'clock, if you don't want them with us. And those tickets are available at ToyotaCenter.com.

We also have, what else we got here? I know we got something else. We have a pair of tickets to see Monster Jam at NRG Stadium on February the 15th. And a pair of tickets to see the toadies. December 29th of the House of Blues. Those sets of tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com. But first, let's play, believe it or not. Let's talk to Kenneth on 790.

Kenneth, you ready to play, believe it or not? Yes, sir. Kenneth, good luck to you. Quinn Yor's major while he was in the University of Texas was health communications. Believe it or not? I believe it. No, it was actually physical culture and sports. Duh.

Davis on 790. Davis, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Quinn Ewer's first division one scholarship offer came from the University of North Texas when he was in the sixth grade. Believe it or not? Believe it or not.

Believe it. Man, y'all didn't listen to the show on January the 15th. Rob on 790. Rob, what was your favorite part of today's 10-2 radio show? I actually enjoyed your last interview. Thank you. In 26 starts at the University of Texas, Quinn Ewer is finished with a 21 and 5 record. Believe it or not.

Believe it. There you go. Believe it. Statement number two for the win. Quinn Ewers cut his mullet off in order to become more marketable at the urging of his NIL agency equity sports. Believe it or not? Not. That is correct.

You just wanted to do it and he wanted to do it. Congratulations. Thanks for the interview, too. Nicely done. Let's go to Paul on 790. Paul, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. it.

Quinn Ewer's girlfriend is a former UT volleyball player, Rela Bimmy, but he does not answer questions about her in interviews citing his privacy, believe it or not. Not? That's right. Not. Statement number two for the win. Quinn Ewers was the first amateur athlete to sign an NIL deal worth $1 million. Believe it or not?

I believe it. Believe it. You should. Congratulations, Paul. Paul's back with it. Paul's one of our better prize holders, winning once every 30 days. Let's go to Carlos in downtown. Carlos on 790, what was your favorite part of today's 10-2 radio show?

The last five minutes of the show. Out of over 250 quarterbacks rated, pro football focus ranked Quinn Ewer's last year as 125th best college passer in 2024. Believe it or not. Believe it? Yes, you should. Congratulations. All right, before I get you out of here, let me tell you about Big City Wings, Delicious Wings,

amazing hamburgers, awesome salads, the chicken sandwiches are to die for, the appetizers, and, of course, the fried Oreas for dessert. They've got a huge, huge menu. And if you're going to watch college hoops, hockey, NBA basketball all week long, you might as well do it at Big City Wings, 14 locations. And today, here's a real doozy. You buy an adult entree at Big City Wings. You're going to get two, I count them two kids meals for free, all from Big City Wings.

So get yourself a 15 pack of wings with fries, maybe tater tots, maybe onion rings, and then the kids can eat for free. So you're really going to do it on a budget tonight at any of the 14 Big City Wing locations. To find the one near you, you simply go to big citywings.com. Thanks to Andrew Catalan. Thanks to Channel Rome. Channel will be with us tomorrow 10 o'clock until noon. Plus again, E. Madoca with us at 1230 as part of a Thursday edition of the Matt Thomas show here from New Orleans.

wish me luck at the casino. I'll talk with you folks tomorrow at 10. Stand by two of my great friends and great broadcasters and entertaining show. That's Clayton and Twetzer. It's the team, and it's next here on Sports Talk 7-00.