The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - D'antoni Still Not Cleared, Players Missing Astros Camp & Sports Memories

Episode Date: July 8, 2020

Larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 12 o'clock in H-town. What's happening, luncht timers? Good afternoon to you, and welcome to a Wednesday edition. Is it Wednesday? I lose track of these days again.

I think it is Wednesday. It is Wednesday. Hey, hi, Joe, George. Thanks for fixing it for me early on. Have we ever made more mistakes about what day the week it is in the last? six months we ever had our entire life. No. That's me. That's all I do is miss the days.

They all run together. But fortunately, we have sports coming up in a couple of weeks. I just got my NBA Rockets radio schedule, so I'll be doing four of the eight games. I'm very much looking forward to that coming up at the end of the month. And Astros are starting up soon. We heard James Click earlier today on the Sean Salisbury show, and if you missed some of that, We'll play some of the best portions of that on the show today. Aaron Reese from the Athletics is going to stop by at 130 to give us an update on what he thinks the Texans are thinking, and Deshaun Watson is thinking now that Pat Mahomes is an insanely rich player.

Joe, if I've ever been able to teach you anything about our business, one of the things I wanted to always preach upon you is that athletes lie. In fact, the average person lies three times a day. Do you remember when DeAndre Hopkins said all those things about all the, things about Bill O'Brien he didn't like, and he told that to Michael Irvin, and then DeAndre Hopkins kind of slow-plated and said, you know, I don't think, me and Bill O'Brien got along just fine. I loved my time there, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Yep, I remember that. And I called complete BS on that. That was a scenario where Michael Irvin went on national television and said things that I think DeAndre Hopkins did not want repeated on the air. and he was trying to do damage control. And I called BS then, and I'm calling what I'm seeing now from DeAndre. Hold on, I've got to clear my throat. Excuse me.

All right, there we go, much better. And what I'm seeing now from DeAndre as the real DeAndre Hopkins. Joe George, DeAndre Hopkins despises Bill O'Brien, hates him. him doesn't respect him because every once in a while there's a little needling that comes from dionry hopkins through you know social media yeah case of point these guys don't just say what they want they sub tweet they sub tweet i sub tweet a few times a year ago and i felt like a dirty whore doing it was a year ago do you want to just confess who you're sub tweeting about I don't remember, but I made my...

Look at you trying to get me in trouble. I know, I'm sorry. That's okay. So what I decided to do after a while, I'm like, you know what? I cannot be hypocritical. I cannot crush athletes for sub-tweeting when I'm doing it myself. So I think it's been probably... And I'm telling you, this is like an honor system kind of thing.

I think I don't think I've ever... I don't think I've sub-tweeted anybody in a long period of time. Doesn't mean I don't want to. doesn't mean I don't want to run to Twitter as soon as possible and type something up. Like I see stupid stuff all the time from like media people that I just want to just sub-tweet the hell out of them. But I just, you know what? I'm a grown-ass man and I can, I just let it go.

Meanwhile, DeAndre Hopkins likes to sub-tweet. Yesterday, 239, a day after DeAndre Hopkins gets his big contract, DeAndre Hopkins goes to Twitter and says, for reasons why Mahomes deserves that. Zero doubts, he will win more Super Bowls. As a kids would say Joe George at his shade thrown, correct? Very much so. Very, very much so.

So why did he come and try to clear the air after what Michael Irvin said when you knew he meant every word of it? Okay, what if it's not a shot at Bill O'Brien? What if it's the defense and JJ and Rack? And I don't know the fact that they were trash in that game. And I know they helped early on. Special teams helped early on. Defense made some big plays.

But they had a 24-0 lead. And the offense, yeah, the offense didn't, could have helped more. But I don't know, maybe it's a little bit of the defense, too. Well, that would be pure speculation in our part, right? And we have no evidence one way to the other. Yeah, definitely. But the first thing I thought of when seeing DeAndre was, let's go right after the coach that had that 24-0 leading. How about this?

If you're an Arizona Cardinal fan, are you happy that DeAndre Hopkins is already proclaiming the Chiefs are going to win more Super Bowls? I mean, if I'm DeAndre Ha, if I'm an Arizona Cardinal fan, I'm like, man, you're going to make sure, even though it's completely false. you better hope that DeAndre Hopkins that never allows the Kansas City Chiefs to win a Super Bowl that it should be Arizona winning Super Bowl after Super Bowl after Super Bowl. I know it's a pipe dream,

but point being is that it's really bizarre how another player from another team would basically saying, yeah, y'all can get some more Super Bowls out of this. Yeah, I didn't think about it that way. It is kind of weird. But he's just acknowledging the facts, though.

And I guess thing. Like they, like, his argument could just be like, well, they're going to win the Super Bowl unless we see him. That would be his argument. Ah, see, he'll save that tweet for it up for later on, right? Yeah. When people, like, if people start criticizing them or next time he does a sit down with the Arizona media, if some schmuck is like, DeAndre, fans are upset that you said the Chiefs are going to win a lot of Super Bowls, then that's what he'll respond with. I got you. I got you. All right. So we mentioned today that we're going to get to. an update on what the Texans could be thinking with Aaron Reese coming up at 130. Also today, the interview with the James Click, part of that from this morning, Sean Salisbury Show. Other than that, it's kind of the calm before the storm.

Some of the NBA teams have made it to Orlando. Did you see some of the food items are getting? Yeah, it looks like Firefest, but a little bit better. It looks like food you want. would get on a long-distance flight to Europe. Yeah. Everyone says the NBA just made a deal with Delta, and Delta supply the food for the first couple days.

Well, you know, Delta flies 90% of the charters in the NBA. Oh, I didn't know that. Yep. Yeah, probably all but about four or five teams. Rockets are not one of them, per se, and that may be changing. But, yeah, Delta has got a deal where they charter almost, almost every NBA team.

So basically, think about this for a second. You're going to Orlando. You've got all these amazing restaurants at Walt Disney World that apparently will be opening up eventually to you. But right now, you are in quarantine. Not only do you not get to eat that food, but you're eating airplane food for a week straight. That's got to be, think about it.

That's got to be those little cheddar cheese. Peas blocks. Yeah. Salad. Watermelon. Nuts. It looks like a bread roll. Pita chips.

These grown ass men, Joe George, they're not accustomed to this. Well, Mark Stein, I don't know how he knows this. Maybe it was in the protocols, and we just, the players didn't read it, because that wouldn't be shocking. But Mark Stein claimed that the food's only like this for 48 hours until all the teams arrive.

So, like, maybe just the restaurants aren't open yet? Yeah, that's got to be it. And so all the teams get there? Right. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, here's the thing. So, like, they don't want them. They don't want them to leave the room.

They're all going to have to quarantine first. So unless the Walt Disney World restaurants have got this amazing food service going or they're, you know, they're a room, every, every NBA player that's there, this is probably the way they're going to have to go. Yeah, so this is the quarantine food for the first 48 hours. So this is what the Rockets will eat for two days when they get there. And then this is also, you know how they have the rule, Matt, where if you leave the bubble, then you have to get the nose jab COVID test where they touch your brain.

Right. This is another level of don't leave the bubble. This is, if you leave the bubble, this is what you're eating for 10 days. Damn. It's just strategy here. They're going to be introduced to this like, lavish lifestyle after 48 hours, video games, concerts,

great food, basketball. They're going to be living their best life. Yes. And they're going to say, hey, you leave the bubble. You're going back to that. You're going back to airplane food and terrible hotel television. Yes. Only like five channels.

We're taking away your premium channels. Not even Disney Plus for you. No. No Hulu for you. It would be only Disney Plus. Oh. I would just make a, guess saying that, but they have their own Netflix. What if they said no Wi-Fi?

What if they're like, if you break the bubble, you lose Wi-Fi access in your room. So you're basically saying for the next three months, you'll have all the Disney Plus you want, Wi-Fi, Netflix, video games, ping-pong. The only thing we can't give you is sex. Well, if you make it past the first round of the playoffs, you can get that? Motivation. But do you bring the wife or do you bring the sidepiece with you? That's a tough question.

I'm still wondering if anyone's going to try to figure out how to bring both. Well, a former NBA player once told me, the key to bringing a sidepiece on the road with you is getting her her own room. Because just in case the wife shows up as a surprise visit, she'll go to that room, and then if you need to go see your sidepiece, you go to the girl's sidepiece room or your wife will never know that your wife will never know that she's there.

But she can't surprise you. Like, you have to be allowed into the bubble. That's right. That's I'm saying. The whole surprise thing, is not a factor. So how do you, here's a great question. How do you get side pieces in the NBA bubble? It's really simple, Matt. Oh, you have an answer? Yeah. You tell your wife, I love you so much, but I can't risk your health in this bubble. I'll see you at October after I won an NBA championship.

You don't bring the wife. You only bring the side piece. So let me ask you is, when you fill out the form, you go to the first round of the playoffs, and you're allowed to bring like three close members of your family. Yeah. You want your mom there? Nope. Dad, nope. Sister, no. Brother, no.

And then what do you, do you put like... Cousin? Do you lie about who it is? Yeah. Can you adopt an adult? How about you put on their close family friend? Like, she's not really my family, but it's like she is. Yes.

Or like brother and sister. Or you just, you put a ring on it for like a week and then take it back. No, you're not doing that. You're not proposing to somebody. there for a week, especially if they're already married. This is just about sex. That's all it is. These are things we think about as we get ready for the NBA season.

I'll tell you, the NBA players have thought long and hard about this, but they'll figure it out. There's no way in the world that there's 22, okay, how many teams have been in the playoffs? 20s. 60. Oh, 22 in the bubble. Yeah. 16 teams will have. So once a playoffs start, the girls can come.

No, no, after the first round. So, eight teams. Oh, my God. How are these guys going to handle it? They're just going to play basketball. It's a business trip. Have you met young successful athletes? Yes.

And they like action. But do they like winning more? That's the great debate today on the Matt Thomas show. Winning a championship, I guarantee you an NBA crown as long as you don't have sex for six weeks. Could today's NBA player do it? 713-21. I'm kidding.

7-13-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. DeAndre Hopkins throws shade on the Texans or just Bill O'Brien or the defense. Do you go good for him or do you go, you know what, DeAndre, enough's enough. You're now in Arizona. You're in a happier place. And you've got a great young quarterback and you've got some great receivers around you. Do you think he should continue to throw the sub-tweets towards the Texans?

Or is enough enough? 713-212-5-790 with a message for Big City Wings. Hey, this week is the last week for crawfish at Big City Wings. Five pounds for $25 at any of the eight Big City Wing locations. Again, this is it, the last week for Crawfish. And it's been a huge successful season. The crawfish have been amazing. My wife's a huge fan of it.

And if you love crawfish, get over to Big City before time runs out. Also being Wednesday, it's $8 burger Wednesdays, which means any of their hamburgers with a side, cost you just $8. Plus whiskey Wednesday specials at any of the eight Big City Wing locations. To find the one near you, you go to bigcitywings.com. Big CityWings.com. Big on wings, big on sports, big on delivery, takeout, curbside drop off to. To find the one near you, you go to Big CityWings.com. big citywings.com, big on wings, big on sports, big on delivery, takeout, curbside

drop off to. BigCitywings.com. Remember last week for crawfish, five pounds, $25. This is Craig Vigio. Vigio. Back to Matt Thomas on Sports Talk, 790. Oh, we're having some fun. You're home with the Stroes.

1220 on the Matt Thomas show, Rockets Leave for Orlando tomorrow. And how about this? Mike D'Antone has yet to be cleared to go. Alvin Gentry, the coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, just got cleared today. What the hell are they doing? Mike hasn't been hiding anywhere. I think the Pelicans left today, right? So they, what, cleared them before you got on the plane?

Yeah. I mean, maybe that's what they're waiting for. Maybe they're just, Mike Danone's not officially cleared until he takes one last. COVID test. And if he doesn't pass, then he's never going to the bubble. But like the other guys, like if they don't, if they, if they test negative, I mean, are positive.

Yeah. Like, just use Hardin. Hardin test positive. He's just going to stay in Houston. And then once he has his negative test, he'll fly to Orlando and he'll join the bubble. I'm wondering if it's different for Dentone. And if he test positive

before they get on the flight, if he's not going to be allowed to come at all. That would suck. I think that's what, That's just, it's the only explanation I've been able to think of. I've been thinking about this all morning, Max, because I was so annoyed when I saw the tweet. How are we not cleared the guy yet? What are they doing?

They must, they, they, but again, and again, I think age is a very, very sensitive thing because as we talked about yesterday, there are 17-year-olds that are getting it, there are 47-year-olds that are getting it, there are 67-year-olds that are getting it, right? This, this virus has no age parameters. parameters. And Mike Dantone, first of all, looks good for his age, right? Do you think he looks like he's 69? Nah, not really.

Yeah, I mean, and again, he could have a lot of things going on in his life that we don't know about. But all I know is that man drinks coffee in the morning and plays words with friends in the lobby on game days and gets naps in and talks to me. So he lives a pretty good life. I'm just, I'm really puzzled by why they are waiting to the very. I guess it's because he's going to take the next test today or tomorrow before they leave. And then if he passes that, then, okay, it's okay, you can go. Do you think he's at one shot and done? If he gets a positive tomorrow, he can't go at all?

It kind of feels like it. Because the risk would be so much higher for him medically if he gets it. So maybe they wouldn't want him to come at all and potentially be exposed to it again? I just, I don't know. The NBA's handling of this to me is baffling that all these people are being cleared. I mean, Matt, they've got people flying in from other countries that are cleared, but they can't clear Mike Dan Tony. They can't clear Alvin Gentry.

They can't clear Greg Popovich. Because Popp hasn't been cleared yet, has he? I'm assuming he has. I think they already left. Oh, that's right. They did get there. They were one of the first teams that were there. Yeah, I think they were, I thought they flew out yesterday.

Imagine how cranky he is just sitting in his room. I'm honestly shocked he's going. I thought Pop was going to, was going to not participate. Because he's got a lot of assistant coaches that have filled in for him in the past. Yeah, I just, it's felt like a very, um, pop thing to do to say, I don't believe in this, that we shouldn't be playing basketball right now. Yeah. Like, I don't think Steve Kerr would have gone.

No, I think he would have. Look, if Golden State was eligible, they would have gone. I mean, I don't think Steve Kerr would have, I mean, no, I would disagree. I think Steve Kerr would have gone. He probably would have hemden hauled about it, but he would have gone. Yeah, that makes sense. All right, 713-212-5-790 if you'd like to get in. 7-1-3-212-5-790.

On Twitter, it's at SportsMT, at Joe George Radio, and at Brendan Riley underscore. We're going to coming up at the bottom of the hour, let you hear what James Click had to say the Astros general manager. We are down to, what, about 17 days before the start of the season? A little less than that now? Are we going to be, what is it going to be like for the first week of competition? You know, there's always this question of, will hitters be ahead of the game? Will pitchers be ahead?

We don't know because we don't see many of these workouts. There's no real spring training games to speak up to get them ready. You can't really stretch guys out. My guess is you're going to see offense way ahead of the game. You're going to see pitching changes way more than you ever would see at this part, even though they'll still have the minimum of three batter requirement. You're going to be very, very hard-pressed to see any starters going, say, longer than six innings. And frankly, one of the Astor starters in Lance McCullors hasn't thrown a pitch in a major league game in over a year.

So to expect him to be able to go a guy that's going to go deep into games, I think at this point would be a little, it may be asking too much. So right now, the Astros rotation has Verlander, Granky, McCullors, and then is it to be determined to be determined? Yeah, because the other two guys aren't in camp yet, right? Orkidy's not there. Josh James is not there.

So who's starting? Frammer Valdez? Yeah. And you need five guys. Is it forest time already? No. Baptize this kid. Please.

Baptize him by fire this season. I'm over. I'm over. Are you sure he's ever really going to pitch for the Astros? That's my point. Baptize him by fire. Let's see what the kid's got. Whether he's in the rotation or the pen,

it's time for this kid to get to the majors and see what he's doing. What do you think it is with him? Do you think he just doesn't have the internal fire to be an awesome pitcher. Well, he cheated, right? Yes. And he got suspended.

Yeah. And then he got hurt. His weight fluctuates all over the place. I don't know what he weighs now. He's constantly getting hurt or he got suspended for what? Sterewards? Some sort of. Some sort of substance.

So if I'm James Click, I don't pitch him because I'm trying to trade him. And you put him out there and he's terrible. He has no value. He has value if he's hiding out at U of H. where I'm at the point. Just baptized this kid by fire and see if he's... It feels like the aster's had a few of these in the last couple of years, right?

Of these first round picks that you thought were going to be front-end rotation guys, and they have turned out to be nothing, right? Yeah, I think, is it fair to look back at Jeff Luno's legacy and say he can't develop pitching and can't draft pitching well? he knocked it out of the park with all the hitters he brought in. Correa, Breggman. Now, McCullors is a hit. So McCullors is one hit out of your, what, five major prospects?

I mean, I know Aiken. Who are the two? Who was the guy that got drafted twice in the first round that's not out of baseball? Markipal. Markipel. And then there's the other kid that was hurt all the time. that the Astros didn't even sign. What's his name?

Well, it's Brady Aiken, right? Brady. That's why they got Bregman. So that one worked out for the Astros. But, I mean, he didn't, where's the youth in the pitching? It was never here. It was all older guys.

It's been Kichel and Miley and all these guys. Well, it's also, it's been those guys that were, you were spending cheap money to go catch a guy to catch, you know, gets his second fire. You know, like Charlie Morton was coming. off of injury when he joined the Astros. I mean, so I think Luno showed he can, when we look back at it, can

evaluate major league prospects or guys that have been in the majors that he can help fix, but he did such an incredible job with the core of the lineup that they ignored or just flopped on the pitching staff besides McCullors, it feels like.

Well, I mean, honestly, if there's something that's going to hold the Astros back, it's going to be there a lack of starting pitching. That's not breaking any new rules here on this one. I mean, when you are sitting here less than three weeks away from the start of the regular season, and you have no idea who your fourth and fifth starters are because of, and even if they were healthy, you wouldn't.

I mean, her kiddie showed signs of, you know, brilliance last year. Josh James would show you signs of brilliance. And then also, Josh James would also walk five guys in two and two-thirds innings. And I'm, and I like those guys. I mean, Josh, really good guy. I agree. I mean, I think if those guys are healthy, I think I'm very confident in the Astros rotation. But this is the reality of a 60-game season.

If you're hurt or you've got COVID and you're missing time, I mean, you can't ramp up. If you miss 10 days for COVID and then you can come back. Oh, those guys already behind the eight ball right now, aren't they? Yeah. I mean, how are they going to catch up if all of a sudden tomorrow they jumped on a plane? Because I'm assuming if they both have COVID, which we're presuming that they do, that they're not doing any sort of baseball activities. And there's no way in the world that you would get a pitcher ready to go

to throw major league pitching in a game of any sort of substance in terms of length in basically three weeks. So if that's what McCullors is at, right? They're three weeks spring training and all these guys to get ready. But they've been pitching the whole time. So it would really depend on what work they did before. I think it's Josh James. is one of them's family issues, one's a condition, that's why they're not here.

So, I mean, if they're in camp next week, maybe you have them ready by, you know, maybe it's the first second week of August and you only miss 15 games. So, I mean, if they're in camp next week, maybe you have them ready by, you know, maybe it's the first second week of August and you only miss 15 games, but that's still 15 out of 60. You know what's going to happen? I'm ready to make a small prediction right now. We're going to see the Astros have to use a bullpen game once a week. Definitely.

Especially with the expanded rosters early on. It makes a lot of sense. Yeah. And the only negative on that is that Will Harris is now wearing Washington Nationals gear and Joe Smith isn't there with the team. So there are going to be some names that we are going to have to learn pretty damn quick because they would have never normally been on this even on the radar for the Astros, if not for all the things going on with

this COVID and guys not being at camp so far. 1230 on the Matt Thomas show, 713-212-5-790 is how you get into the show if you'd like. And I'm going to throw a variety of things out. We haven't had a lot of call or action because I don't think you guys are really just running the phones, which is okay. But sometimes I do like to hear from you. And I just want to know. know what is of the biggest concern for the Astros?

Does not, does two-fifths of your starting rotation being undetermined right now at this juncture concern you at all? I think it's a fair question to bring up. I think it's a fair question to bring up on the Texan side of things about DeAndre Hopkins. And is his constant needling of the Texans and or Bill O'Brien well-deserved? Or is it time to move on? Anything you want to get to. Those are just some of things. And why isn't Mike D'Antony been cleared by the NBA yet?

The protocols in this are incredible. So these are some of things we're getting to. Plus a visit with James, click the Astros General Manager, straight ahead. So we got a busy show between now and 3 o'clock. 713-212-790, 7-1-3-212-5-790. With a message here for bronze roofing. Taking care of your roof, especially if you have a home that is, say, 15 years or older, is very, very important. And that's why I would love for you to get with the folks at bronze roofing.

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Eric Gordon here. Listen to Rockets Radio on your smart speaker. Just as. Alexa, play Sports Talk 790 on I-Heart Radio. This is your home for Houston Rockets basketball. Sports Talk 790. And the NBA restart will be beginning on the 31st. will take on the Dallas Mavericks. It'll be an 8 o'clock start time here on Sports Talk 7. Those are one of the four games that I'll be broadcasting. Craig will do the other four,

and then we will split up the playoffs first round as well. So looking forward to getting back and doing that. I may have to start doing some more simulation. I haven't called an NBA game Joe Georgians March. I think I've forgotten how to do it. We should just get one of those. Why don't you guys play video games? What's the difference between the off season and no?

I don't know. Just because your schedule got all messed up? Yeah, it is really whack. We're supposed to be in summertime, right? I mean, we can definitely, Ross and I can play NBA 2K in the lounge downstairs once you guys are all back up here in studio. And you can do some play-by-play. We can live-stream it. Okay, we need to do something.

I've got to get the reps back. You go seven-game series. 94-95 Rockets versus 93 Bulls? 97 Bulls? Yeah. Seven-game series? me versus Ross. 94 rockets.

Here's what we do. 94 rockets because I want Vernon on Jordan. Okay. And, yeah, against 97 Bulls. All right. We could do some different things.

I guess we could change it up. We could do like a, we could do a LeBron Miami Heat team versus a Kobe Shack Lakers team. That would be a good, that would be a fun game to play and call.

By the way, we need to celebrate, I mean, that celebrates too strong of a term. Oh. We need to honor what happened 10 years ago today what happened 10 years ago today i will tell you in 10 minutes oh what a tease it's a real radio right there i feel like i feel like my entire life is a tease

it's to my kids kids you want to go out to dinner tonight yeah dad what are we going you clean your room and you'll find out is that the is that how you do it to get things done does you just tease everything yeah well my wife's been teasing me for over 25 years so that's a you problem All right, so 10 years ago today, something rather incredulous happened in sports. We'll tell you what that is in a little bit. Right now, Sean Salsbury, every Wednesday here on this radio station visits with James Click the Astros general manager. And I take the best chunk of that conversation. We play it for you guys here on the shows.

We get ready for the start of the baseball season, which is a couple weeks away. And Sean and James today started talking about how the guys are handling the responsibility of trying to get ready. for a baseball season while at the same time worrying about families and worrying about whether not they're going to contract the COVID. Incredibly seriously. It's hard to kind of sum up, you know, the way that these guys are handling it. But, you know, you watch them go through the protocols every day. You watch them have the conversations that they have.

You watch them talk to each other about what they're going to do away from the park. That's the main conversation right now is, you know, There are, you know, obviously, we don't know where this virus can get in, and we're going to do everything we can to protect the guys at the park. That's why we have all the cleaning procedures. That's why we have the screening. That's why we have everything there. So the most of the thing to me is the way that the guys are talking about

how they're going to carry themselves and conduct themselves when they're not at the ballpark. Yes, 100%. And, you know what, these guys are all adults, and Major Baseball has put together an education package for all of us to learn what we can do based on what we know about the virus to keep ourselves as safe as possible. And these guys are taking it really seriously. James, are you concerned at all when we see around? And I know everybody's trying their best to keep everybody safe.

But there's got to be concern. I know fans and media and recently with Oakland haven't even really getting started with theirs. It's a competitive disadvantage for them. Washington shutting theirs down. Some delayed tests for you guys and getting results in certain places that people are, that there's some concern. should we be concerned about how long some of the testing's taken? And with two and a half weeks to go, I mean, we can't really have a whole lot of chaos when it comes to start in the season.

Yeah. Look, I mean, obviously, you know, we cancel our practice on Monday. But the fact of the matter is that we think that the process is getting ironed out. And the middle conversations that I've had with it about everybody who measures baseball that's involved, that are more confident that I'm getting, that this is going to get off the ground. I think we all knew there was going to be a little turbulence trying to get this thing going.

You're talking about just a massive logistical lift, the number of tests that we have to conduct, the coordination of getting them from 30 major league cities to the lab in a timely fashion. Fortunately, I have an owner who's pretty good at the logistics business, so he's got some good idea about how we could help have and do this a little better. Starting now with a couple weeks to go before we start as you look at your starting pitching staff. And Dusty and Brett Strom will make decisions on the field.

How is it starting to shape up and how you see it from your vantage point about the pitching staff once we get by Verlander and Grecky? We have the luxury of having a lot of very exciting young arms. And I think that we all knew that the depth of the pitching staff would be tested this season. That's part of the reason that we have a 30-man roster for the first. two weeks of the season is because with such a short rampant, it's going to take a little time for these guys to get ready to go. That said, you know, everything that I've seen of these guys, you know, you mentioned Burlander and Granky, obviously those are two horses at the front.

McCullors has been very impressive, staying in shape. You know, I mean, honestly, on Monday, when the workout got cancer, and I was walking around the neighborhood late that afternoon and ran into him playing catch with brother, just trying to stay in shape and keep going. So we've got a lot of good options. Obviously, Arkiti has shown really well in the past. Josh James should be here very soon. We got pretty over the off season.

You're talking about guys like Framberville Day. So we've got a lot of good options, and I think we're going to need all of them, just the way that this season is shaping up and all the hooters are going to have to jump through. How big a deal is it going to be not to have fans in the stance if we don't have them at all this year? It's a really good question. I don't think any of us really have an experience with this.

I mean, outside of those three games in Baltimore or a couple of years, go, there's not that much experience out there about playing in empty ballparks. And it feels cavernous in there sometimes when you get in there for these YBPs or these workouts, and, you know, there's 40,000 MPCs. But these guys have adapted to different situations throughout their entire careers. And that's part of being a major league baseball player is constantly adapting and constantly adjusting your game. So it'll be weird, no question.

But these guys are pros and they're going to get used to it. and, you know, hopefully they don't have to get used it for too long. Update on Yordon in his appearance. Yeah, Yordon is still away from the ballpark with a condition that prevents him from playing and, you know, by lead guidelines, like all we can say about it. But you do expect him to be back when the season starts? It's difficult for us to comment on the timeline for the reasons I laid out. I really wish I could, but unfortunately that's kind of where we have to draw the line.

And look at it the schedule. You feel pretty good about it? Yeah. You know, the schedule is always going to have up and downs, and it's always going to be easy to say, you know, here's a stretch of 16 out of 22 on the road, or here's a stretch of, you know, 16 out of 22 at home or whatever. There's always going to be ups and downs. We knew that we were going to have a little bit longer plane flights and a little bit more difficult travel than some of the other teams, but that's just the realities of the location that we're in. And, you know, fortunately, you get a pretty nice plane and it takes off what we want to. And so the travel will be something. We'll have to get used to it.

But, you know, the schedule is what we thought it was going to be. It's going to be exciting to put ourselves up against teams like the Dodgers early on and get a feel for where we are. What do we need to work on? What's working and what needs to be addressed? Are you a day baseball lover or night? If I said, would you rather have more day baseball games or less? What would your answer be?

Oh, that's a good one. I like the day baseball because it allows me to share it with my kids. You know, when these games started at 8 o'clock and, you know, they're at 11, you know, my kids are young enough, but they need to be in bed long before that. So that's always frustrating to me, you know, having to put in the bed in the second or third inning. We had a family tradition, you know, when I was with the race, but there would need to be in bed long before that. So that's always frustrating to me, you know, having to put in the bed in the second or third inning. We had a family tradition, you know, when I was with the race, that there was a bunch of families that we would all go to the Sunday afternoon games.

And it was just an amazing experience to share that with your friends and watch your kids and your friends' kids learn to love the game of baseball together. And for me, that's just easier on a day game. But, you know, I'm happy either way, but speaking purely from a fan's perspective, just as a father, I would mean slightly towards a day game just for that reason. All right, that again, So James, click the Astros General Manager. Joe, I was looking at the Astros schedule.

Wouldn't this be a great year to go on a road trip? Look at all these cool West Coast places they get to go. Yeah, it would be awesome. You can go out there for like a week and go to California and hit a bunch of different things up. How about this? July 31st to August 9th. You could do an Angels trip, which is L.A., Arizona and Oakland. Well, you wouldn't want to stay in Oakland.

Yeah, I'll pass on Oakland. You just go to the game when you go right back to San Francisco. So I just, if anything, the best, now they're traveling, the Astros and Rangers are traveling as much as anybody else in Major League Baseball. They're the number one and two for obvious reasons. But from in terms of really great venues, like this trip to Colorado and San Diego, oh, man, we need fans back in stands. We can do a little roadie.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to happen at 2020. Oh, well. 1246, it is the Matt Thomas show. we celebrate one of the most infamous sports events in history next after i tell you about oops steam cleaning 281 8220561 is a number you can reach to get a hold of the folks at oops steam cleaning 281 822 0561 you call them tell my sent you in and uh they're going to come and they're going to come and they're going to look at your house and they're going to find all the different trouble spots if you have dogs and cats that like messes in the house the folks at oops will find them and clean them

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And this fall, man, this is very tough. And this fall, I'm going to take my town to South Beach and join the Miami League. Ten years ago, Joe George, that. that ridiculous television production led by Jim Gray quote unquote benefiting the boys and girls clubs of South Beach or whoever it was Ohio that sticks in the craw

of a lot of sports fans was that the first sign that LeBron wasn't like when you are the goat or you're close to being the goat a lot of things you can do you may say may turn a few people a law but because you're so awesome

like for instance Michael Jordan is a son of a bitch right I mean we can't we can't argue that right he's just so competitive that you just the way that he would talk to people the way that he would motivate or attack or you know his competition

it just came with the territory but LeBron was this happy go lucky NBA player playing in Cleveland you know the hometown kid goes home Cleveland's basketballs is relevant for the first time and forever

and then that showed up it's crazy think back like just how different it could have gone that story because they put out that doc or whatever ESPN did or whoever lasts like two weeks and it included the part in there where James Dolan used something something from the Sopranos

and the pitch was terrible and the Knicks were LeBron's number one choice but Dolan botched it so bad LeBron didn't even take a second meeting. Just history alone on that. How different it is. Well, my point is, was that the first time that LeBron faced legitimate criticism

about how he handled himself? He was just like a young kid before that. He was just a good basketball player. He never, there was nothing too critic size about LeBron. Didn't people say he gave up on Cleveland in that Orlando series? I feel like they did. Wait a minute. How could it be 10 years ago? I thought I was in Minneapolis when this went down. Is it really 10 years ago today? It feels like it was even longer than that.

Yeah, it was 10 years ago. July 8th, 2010. So I was in Houston. Okay. I saw I was in doing shows in Minneapolis when that went down. Okay, so he, so here is a thing. I don't think anybody begrudges him leaving or did at the time. They just hated the way that he did it. Yeah, you think if he didn't do the whole decision and just left, like they wouldn't have burned his jerseys and things like that? What would have been the right way from the do?

Would it have been to go on a Cleveland TV station? I mean, they would have been mad at him too. I mean, he's probably thinking, I'm Dan if I do, Dan, if I don't. Or how about just sign the contract and left? Woj break the story for Yahoo Sports at the time. Oh, so let the Woj bomb do all the heavy lifting. Well, that's what happened with Kevin Durant? What did Kevin Durant do this year?

Him and Kyrie intended to go to Brooklyn. They did nothing. I still don't think it's the decision, though. I think it's the rally. Not one, not two, not three, not four. Everything about that sucked, basically. The rally is, to me, is the heel turn to use a wrestling terminology. Yeah, but we don't mind heel turns.

But he went from somebody that was beloved by everybody in the league, even though he was on your opponent's team, to everything that he did from here on out, especially when it comes to social media, is now dissected more. And I wonder if he would have avoided the decision and not done it, would we have had nearly the disseminating eye on things that he says and does? I mean, when he said, he wrote the piece for what,

Players Tribune. No, for Sports Illustrated, said, I'm coming home. It was handled very differently. It was awesome. People loved it. And maybe, like, that was a maturity moment for him where he realized he made a mistake with the decision. All I know, Matt, is I hate this topic because it reminds me of why I hate Chris Bussard. Because he is the worst.

He went on ESPN. I'm embarrassed that he's in our industry. I know. And it's, he's just terrible. He went on ESP and said, my sauce is. say Chris Bosch and LeBron James are joining Derek Crows in Chicago and then it didn't happen. Well, he's also, for those of, you may not have been a huge at the time,

but he was also the, even when Dwight Howard said he was coming to the Rockets, he said, no, I'm still 50-50 to he's going to the Rockets. Yeah, I remember that. That never, ever. Was he the one that was falsely reporting the DeAndre Jordan stuff too? And like, so. Yes, when Mark Cuban's calling him out. He said Mark Cuban was driving around Dallas or driving around Houston,

try to find DeAndre. So embarrassing. All right. Second hour of the Matt Thomas show. We're going to check in on the Texans and a half an hour with Aaron Reeves from the Athletic. Want to tell you first how you can win your purchase from the Shell Federal Credit Union. Are you already a member with Shell FCU? Did you hear me talk about them and how good they are and what offers they can give to you?

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All right, 103 here on the Matt Thomas Show. This is our number two of three. Joe George is in for Ross. and we look forward to having you guys with us today, either through Twitter, at SportsMT, at Brendan Riley underscore, at Joe George Radio, or on the telephone lines if you'd like to come in and talk to us. About three or four things we've brought up in the first hour of the show. 713-212-5-7-90 is how you reach the program.

If you'd like to get in, trust me, you're more than welcome. I don't bite. Joe may bite, but I don't. 713-212-5-790 7-1-3-212-5-790. We brought up the first topic at 12 o'clock about DeAndre Hopkins sub-tweeting yet again about the Texans. And Joe thinks it maybe is more on the defense, maybe more towards the overall team. I think it's a direct shot once again at Bill O'Brien. Does it bother you one way the other than he's doing this, or do you know what?

He's still pissed off, and I wouldn't blame him. honestly he's kind of just like an annoyance in my side at this point i just i don't care anymore i don't know map i'm supposed to feel that way but i know i'm i'm still mad at bill o'brien that he traded hopkins but hop just doesn't matter it just it doesn't register to me at all i don't i don't care on all honesty maybe i will because like is he's going to change your view you know this don't he's going to be my number one target and fan fantasy football this year for the wide receiver position. I think him and Kyle Murray are going to be awesome.

You're going to be watching. Because if the NFL season starts on time, which I don't believe it's going to, that first Sunday ticket, you know, everybody gets it for free the first week, and Arizona's going to be playing. And you're going to be bouncing around between games. You're going to go to the Red Zone channel, and you're going to see DeAndre Hopkins score a second touchdown for Arizona's first game. And you're going to be really pissed off.

That's what's going to hit again. Especially if the $500 million quarterback beats the Texans by like 40 points the day before, like three days before. Well, I mean, isn't the line 10 points right now in the game, at least? At least 10. Are you kidding me? The first game at Arrowhead Stadium since they win their first Super Bowl with the superstar half a billion dollar quarterback? that bad boy could be over with by like half time. You know what?

It has never happened. The NFL and NBC might flex out the first week in the schedule game. I wouldn't be surprised at the Texans win. If everything goes according to plan with the schedule. You have to explain this. See, it's weird because there's no fans, so I don't know if they're going to do the ceremony. It's like normally I would factor that in because...

Oh, that's true. Typically that opening night, the team who won the Super Bowl, they don't win all the time because they've got the ceremony and all this stuff and they're getting rings and they come out flat. The fans are crazy, but like it's just not that I feel like it's 50-50 if that team does well. Well, then it would actually help towards Kansas City then, right? I know, but not. I know. I just, I like forgot there weren't going to be fans there for a second. Yeah.

By the way, Adam Schaefter from ESPN mentioned a few minutes ago on a tweet. that the Baltimore Ravens are, if they're going to have fans this season, are planning to have capacity at 14,000 people. 14,000. And I'm assuming that where they play is probably, most NFL teams are between 65 and 75. They're about 71,000. So it's a little bit less than 20%.

So I wonder, you know what, I hope the Texans, when they eventually decide to announce it like the Ravens have, tell us exactly how they're going to separate the people. Do you do four people a row? Do you skip an entire section? Do you use the entire stadium? Because here's the thing. If you are using the entire stadium,

you're still having to staff the people up there because you're going to make sure everybody behaves themselves, right? Yeah. It's tough because they're already, what, they're already getting rid of the first seven to eight rows. Yep. Corporate sponsors will be on there. sponsors on TARPS.

Yep. So, I mean, yeah, I think it's totally reasonable. I don't think anyone's going to be, like, if we go to NRG for a game, Matt, I don't think we're going to be at the fan level of the press box, which if you don't know, is at, like, the top of the stadium where they look like ants on the field. Right. I don't think they're going to sell tickets up that high, but they might get close. If they're really going to spread people, I mean, you can spread out 14,000 fans.

across different sections. And I mean, you could basically sell a package of tickets and say, hey, if you want to go to a game with 10 people, you're going to get section 105 and no one's going to be in 106 and 107. That's how much they could spread people out. That makes a lot of sense. And on top of that, who's going to watch over people staying in their right sections? I think it's going to be

They're gonna have to it's gonna be like intense security You know when I first moved to Houston I could go to an Astros game and I could sit I could buy to sit at the top Of the ballpark right But the security was so lax and the fans Are so minimal five years ago Compared to what they are now that I could walk anywhere

And I could sit I could get into the anywhere but the cropper boxes Basically and like behind home plate I could get into the bleacher like anywhere I wanted And even though it would look like that at a Texans game, I think the security is going to be like what we see at an Astros game now and even a Texan's game now.

I'm guessing where there's going to be more security guards and they're going to be watching you. And how about this? And how about this, Joe? They're also going to put bars over seats where you physically couldn't sit down in a particular area. Yeah, and that kind of helps. That

even eliminates some of the need for the extra security members then. If you just Because if you use, if you use tape, people will just cut the tape and half and sit down. I couldn't, I know it sounds crazy. Couldn't they just take the seats out? I know it's a lot of work.

And I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna feel real bad for those Texans employees, so you gotta take all those seats up. I mean, but couldn't they just take them out? Why wouldn't they? I mean, logistically, be paying the ass. I mean, those seats have been in there since 2002, right? But you don't have to do it once

and then put them back at the end of the season. What a bizarre look that would be to see an NFL stadium with 45,000 seats gone. Oh, that would be so weird. Especially because there would be fans in the other seats. That is so weird. Hey, construction crew of NRG Stadium. We got a big project. You don't know about this yet.

But we're going to take the capacity of NRG Stadium, and we're going to start it. Normally we're at 72,000. we're going to bump it down to 18.5. And we're going to get rid of 50,000 seats. I mean, my point would be this. If you're going to do that, Joe, you might not just get rid of the seats for good. And then when it's time to the stadium gets amped up again,

just put brand new seats in. Yeah, like refurbish it? Yeah. Why not? So at RG is like the same capacity. It looks like as where the Ravens play. So, I mean, maybe that's what we're looking at here in Houston, too. 14,000.

It says less than 14,000, which means it could be like 10. Now, wait a minute. How is Texans Karen going to handle this? Not going to be happy. Because she's been going to games since 2002, with exception of, well, the three games she missed in 2002 and then the five games she missed in 03. No, stop, stop, Matt. We changed it yesterday, didn't we? What?

Didn't we go through this whole segment yesterday? Didn't we change it to Tammy? Oh, Texans Tammy. But Texans Tammy doesn't go to every game. You're right. Only Texans Karen does. There are different levels. Here's what I figured about Texans.

Texans Karen tells you she she's been to every game, but really, if we were to take attendance, she only goes to about 40% of the games. She goes to two games a year, but she tells everybody she goes to all eight. By the way, we have a listener. Her name is Ashley listening to us that was very happy that we didn't call

the Astro Ashley Astro Ashley. I saw that. I saw we got in Eleanor. And I was like, no, Eleanor is the name of the greatest car and one of the most underrated car movies of all time gone in 60 seconds. It cannot be Texans Eleanor. Yeah, Texans.

And first of all, we're looking for names of people that actually get named. There's not a kid run around. It's seven years old. Her name is Eleanor. It's just not happening. At least I hope not. It sucks for that kid. 113.

2.12-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. Bottom of the hour, we'll talk with Aaron Reese of the Athletic. He is on the Texans beat. see exactly how the Texan should handle now that Pat Mahomes contract is out there. 713-2125-790 with a message here for the delicious cold refreshing Coors Light. I hope that you party to responsibly this weekend, whether you were barbecuing or hanging out with your close family members or maybe going out and having a couple of burgers or barbecue,

whatever the case would be, and you want to enjoy cold, crisp, refreshing, made-to-chill there, and it's got to be Coors Light. Do yourself a favor. stop by your favorite liquor store, stop by the grocery store, whatever you need to do, and pick up a 12-pack of Coors Light, and it will make the summer go, especially when it's so ridiculously hot like it has been in the last a couple of weeks. It's made to chill, delicious, cold, refreshing.

And remember, when the mountains are blue, that means your can is at peak refreshment. That's Coors Light made to chill. On the trail, it's hard. And it drops it down with a left-hand hammer. This is Coach Dan Tonin. Matt Thomas is a great guy, and I always listen to the radio show. On mute.

What a shot. All right. Rockets, Vic. You misunderstood. I call out Texans Karen because she only goes to two games a year, but she tells all of her friends, she goes to all of them. Tammy's okay because Tammy admits she only goes to two games a year. You got that right? Yeah.

Texans Tammy only goes to two games a year but she's very excited about those she she circles Jacksonville on the schedule because that's when her boss will let her have the tickets of the game Texans Tammy is always at Jaguars Texans always always always Just a quick interesting note off our last conversation Matt I can still buy tickets anywhere I want

For a Houston Texans game So they're still taking your money money on Ticketmaster. Okay. And it says you get a refund. I don't think you get the fees back, which sucks. But you can still at the moment buy seats anywhere. I'm just surprised by that.

Because they're still allowing that. Because the Texans need people to say thanks but no thanks to this year. Because what they don't want to do is they don't want to piss off their clientele that, you know, if the stadium is being reduced to say 15,000 seats this year. Yeah. You're going to have to tell 35,000 people you're not going. exactly so like why are you selling your tickets right now but it's the NFL like mirage they're trying to put up where they're trying to pretend like everything's okay and everything's business as usual and it's not because it's going to piss people off like I I intend on being at the Vikings game

my cousin my cousin's woman Austin he's a Vikings fan like we're going to go to that game yeah we have tickets for it yeah I'm just like waiting for the day to get an email from Ticketmaster to be like, yeah, here's your money back. Well, let me ask you this. So who gets preferential treatment? The season ticket holder or the guy that buys the one ticket? Well, the season ticket holders have to be given preferential treatment. Have to be.

Yes. But they're going to be given the option to not have their PSLs this year, but to keep them for next year. We saw that. What was that last week? They made that last week. Yeah, I already bought them because it's... How can you blame it? They don't sell single game tickets right now.

Yeah, you do on Ticketmaster. but are those somebody else's seats no the whole stadium's available to choose from really yeah well that seems kind of warped well i mean the season starts in two in a month training camps in 20 but in reality though but in the reality you bought tickets that weren't season tickets yeah they just so they're open to the public so you're not sitting in somebody else's seats so why wouldn't you be able to use your seats exactly so like how are they going to make that determination They're just going to give everyone their money back and be like, or is it going to be a wrap,

but like, hey, my guess is what will happen is it's going to be like, hey, you bought tickets. Yeah, but you're going to be in a raffle now to see if you get to keep them. It's almost like you can use miles to upgrade your flight. You know, let's say you're going to like to Hawaii and you buy a coach ticket. United will let you use miles. to upgrade, but they don't let you know if the seats are available up until like a day or two before the flight.

Which sucks, because if you have the miles, you should be able to use them in order to upgrade your ticket the moment you pay. But the folks at United want to sell those tickets before they give up the miles for you to go sit up there. So basically, so the NFL is holding on to your money. is what they're doing, right? Yeah, I mean, I bought tickets for that, and then I bought tickets for Bears Texans in Chicago in December.

So, and I don't even intend on going to that now. I'm just going to sell them. Wait, but why wouldn't you? You fly to Chicago for $90 a round trip? I saw the day. I know, but I just, I think we're going to go back for Christmas, too. So it's like three, it's like two weeks before Christmas. So I thought my parents were coming here for Christmas when I bought them.

Who would be the starting quarterback for the Bears that game? Mitch ERISC. They're going to fall on the sword on him this year. No, my prediction is that Mitch is going to start. They'll bench him. Nick Foles will come in and Foles will get hurt. Mitch will get the job back and then they'll draft a quarterback next year. And that just reeks of four and twelve, doesn't it?

Eight and eight. Oh. I would love for them to be four and twelve. You kidding me? You want them to bottom out. You're like Christmas morning. Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Trey Lance. By the way

Trevor Lawrence Are you going to be sure that you want Trevor Lawrence Especially when he doesn't play football this year? Yeah, I'm totally good with taking sunshine Come on Okay But I want Actually, I want

I think the most interesting prospect is This Trey Lance kid I'm hoping I'm getting his name right even But he's a quarterback at the same school That Carson Wentz came from He threw zero interceptions last year Daniel Jeremiah went on a podcast on the ringer And said he's the number one quarterback prospect next year

Well, so did Carson Wins three years ago, and how'd that turn out? He's been, he almost won an MVP. But he can't stay healthy, though. I know, but that doesn't, that's not like a North Dakota state problem. That's a Carson Wins problem. Well, but if Carson Wins was healthy, he'd be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Yes, and if I ran faster in a big arm, I'd be one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL too. Yeah, but he's actually.

If I was athletic, I wouldn't be talking to you. I'd be throwing touchdown passes in the NFL. No, Matt, you'd be retired by now. That's right. Hall of Fame. Yeah. I mean, I'd almost be at retirement at this point.

I'm 28. Oh, my gosh. The NFL life, the athlete light is so different. They retire before they're 30. Some of most of these guys. Well, it's because they have all this money.

Yeah. Jealous. Yeah. By the way, this morning they were talking on ESPN's first take. Do you think Pat Mahomes finishes out his contract in Kansas City? He's got 12 years left.

I mean, the odds would be. be the answer to be no, because whoever stays with one team for more than a decade. Well, we went over the Matt the other day. The four quarterbacks who have signed 10-year-plus contracts are Vic, McNabb, Bledso, Farrv. None of them finished their careers. None of them even got close, I don't think. Besides, like, McDab was there for a while until Vic got the job.

Farv was in Green Bay only for like four or five more years where Rodgers took over, right? I mean, these guys, no, I think there's... Way less of a chance he lasts. Well, the number one argument is, well, that Tom Brady didn't finish New England, but also Tom Brady was in New England for a very long time. Yeah, so Mahomes could finish the contract and then still play. I mean, if Pat Mahomes is going to be in the NFL quarterbacking for 15 years, that's not out of the ordinary.

We've seen a lot of quarterbacks that do it for 15 years. I mean, he's going to be 34 when this contract's in. Yeah, I mean. No, 36. If he's Drew Brees or Tom Brady, he could have 10. Or Philip Rivers for that matter. He could have 10 years left. He could get another 10-year contract after this.

Well, let's not get credit. No, I know, but he's so young. Like, Farr was drafted and started in 91. He got his contract in 2001-2002 from the Packers. Like, I mean, Mahomes is getting this right away. The easier bet is to say, will Pat Mahomes finish his contract? The answer I think would be yes. Does he finish his NFL career in Kansas City?

the easier answer would be no to that. Yeah, just because we've seen, you know, Manning and Brady, if Manning and Brady and Montana and these guys are not finishing their career in one city, and feel like in Rivers and Bree, it's like all... Like, how freaky is it going to be for, to see Philip Rivers throwing for Indianapolis? That's going to be weird. I've always liked him. So is the Brady one.

I mean, we got used to Manning. Yeah, we did. But Brady and Rivers, both changing teams, is weird. and it's going to really probably further cement the legacies of Tom and of Bill Belichick because the easy narrative has been with Belichick he doesn't win without Tom Brady

and Tom Brady would be you know is all the success he had later in his life was it because Bill Belichick put him in the best position to win and will a new coaching staff and a new philosophy put Tom Brady in the the best position to win. He's got more offensive targets

in Tampa and he's had in New England in years, right? Can't argue that. Significantly more. But if Belichick turns Cam around again, I mean, I know health was a factor, but people are out on... They chose Teddy Bridgewater over Cam Newton, Matt ruled in with the Panthers.

And come on. This guy got a $700,000 contract. He got like $750,000 and Pavan home's got $500 million. Yeah. He's an MVP and went to a Super Bowl. The word on the streets must be he just can't move anymore. But if Belichick wins with him,

but watch him do it. Watch him get a Super Bowl with Cam this year. Don't. Shut up. Give me Cam Newton and Belichick first, Brady and the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay. No, I'm good. I'm good. No, thank you.

You don't think, why not? You don't think. It would be the most insufferable Super Bowl ever. It would be the most interesting Super Bowl we have had in a long time. Cam Newton and Bill Belichick in Tampa Bay against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And by the way, the game is in? Tampa.

Like, we've never had a team. We've never had a team win a Super Bowl in their home stadium. All right, you've sold me on it. All right. I still need you to determine if you're doing the Super Bowl shuffle, though. Oh, we've not solidified that bet, have we? No, we can do it later. We will.

All right. Aaron Reese from the Athletic will join us next to the Matt Thomas show. Will the Sean be feasting off of the Texans offer here in the not too distant future? How aggressive do you think they'll be now that we know that Pat Mahomes has his deal in place? 713212-5-790, 7-1-3-212-5-790 with a message here for Cronberg's flags and flagpoles. If you are a business, if you help run a PTA, and if your school needs a banner or a flag, get with the folks at Cronberg's flags and flagpoles. I'm telling you, gang, you will love the experience of working with a Houston-based company that will take care of all.

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133 on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show. We are happy to be joined here by a gentleman that joins us throughout the course of the football season. Hopefully he'll do that again, provided we actually have a football season. Aaron Reese is with us from the athletic, and Aaron J. Reese is his Twitter account. Great information. Good behinds the scene stuff on your beloved Houston Texans. Aaron, your initial reaction when you heard that Pat Mahomes was a half-billion-dollar man. The very first thing I thought of is, Sean's got to be loving this. Yeah, honestly, I thought he kind of deserved more money,

which I know sounds crazy, but I guess that's not quite my initial reaction. My initial reaction is a half-billion, it's a insane amount of money, but when you actually look at the way the contract is set up and stuff and all that, like, I think he could have probably pushed for more money because what is the, there probably is no price that Chiefs wouldn't pay for him, right? I mean, or any team for that matter. He's a transcendent talent and stuff.

And so I thought he could have made a little more money. He obviously opted for kind of establishing a floor of a half million dollars over the next 12 years, which is not bad. But, yeah, and from a Texan's perspective, I think obviously it informs what happens now with Deshaun Watson, although I don't think the contract will look quite the same. Yeah, originally we had seen he was hoping to get three years, maybe four. Do you think the long term of the deal with Pat makes Deshaun think twice about that? Maybe he'd go for a little bit of a longer deal, especially if there's a lot of guaranteed money involved in it?

Yeah, I mean, I think it's interesting. You know, like I think this applies to Dag Prescott, too. Like, you know, on one hand, I think Mahomes did raise the kind of average annual value. floor now, right? It's probably at 40 million at least, and he's going to make 45 million per year with the wife of the deal or whatever. But a lot of people said it's kind of like two deals, the 40 million or 40 million and 50 million on average, first five and back five. So, you know, I think it raised kind of the average annual value and it obviously, and so in that sense, it helps the quarterbacks. But the other sense, like the length of the contract, I think,

helps the teams negotiating from position of, well, like the market setting guy, the top quarterback, he agreed to this 10-year-long deal. So I, I don't imagine that Watson will want a 10-year-long deal, but I do think it does give the Texans a little more leverage than saying, you know, three years, how about you do four instead? Or five, maybe. So, you know, I think there's something to that, but I don't know if Watson's going to be too influenced by the idea of Mahomes signing this mega deal, so he needs to sign for the same amount of time. I think he's kind of in a position where he has more to accomplish and the ability to kind of leverage himself and make more money. If he is able to win a Super Bowl or anything or win an MVP or something like that after new TV, you might come in a few years.

Do you think there's anything that is holding back the Texans at all? I mean, they've never said anything anything but publicly about how much they love him and they appreciate him and they think he's a franchise and is so good. Is there any hesitancy you think in the organization for really signing? Is there anything that he's got to still prove to Bob, not Bob, to Cal, to Bill and the Jack to say, all right, we're going to put a lot of guarantee money in this guy's piggy bank for the next handful of years? No, I don't think so. I mean, I think he's going to get paid. They're going to sign him to do a contract. I mean, it's just a matter of when, basically, and what the final terms end up looking like. But, I mean, you know, they've accomplished the hardest and most important task in the sport and finding a quarterback. So you kind of, you have to pay him and then you move on from there. I think, you know, whatever they pay them in a few years, it could look like a bargain because, you know, these guys are constantly resigning and setting new standards and stuff. But what's interesting with Mahomes is, you know, is if he's going to have kind of blocked

or set the ceiling for a while. No one's going to be able to pass him for a while and what that kind of does with the market. But no, I think they know they're going to pay him. It's just a matter of what the final numbers end up being. But he's their guy. Aaron Reese with us in the Athletic here on the Matt Thomas show. Aaron, is there anything that scares you about, in theory,

such a large part of the salary cap being tied up into J.J. Watt, Laramie Tunsel, and then ultimately to Sean, or is that just par for the course with most NFL teams? No, for sure. I mean, it's definitely a consideration. I mean, Bill Bryan himself would tell you it was a consideration as to why they didn't sign DeAnder Hopkins. And I think, and I think that's really kind of in the problem with the Texans plan is that at the end of the end of the quarterback, and that's worthwhile if the quarterback ends up becoming a franchise guy. They found that guy. That's great. But then you have to, you have to kind of rebuild your cupboard of picks by trading back potentially after you trade up to get a franchise guy. They found that guy. That's great. But then you have to kind of rebuild your cupboard of picks by trading back, potentially, after you trade up to get a quarterback one year.

But they didn't do that. Instead, they, you know, they traded more first-round picks, more premium picks to get Larry Tunsel. And so, you know, you've got the quarterback, and you've got a guy who's going to protect them, and you need that. You need a lot of tackle is really important, considering how long-lop-lawful-down to the ball. But you're not put in a position where you don't really have a lot of picks to supplement that talent and kind of built on the margins. I should have given you more time to answer this, but I'm going to just throw up one at you.

Who is the best value right now in the Houston Texans? Is it Deshaun, because he's planning out that rookie contract, or is there somebody else, maybe I should exclude rookie deals? Who's the best value in the team right now? All right. Well, if we're excluding rookie deals, that's hard. Let me think. I mean, I guess, you know, it sounds crazy, but I would kind of say, I think you could argue for any cooks.

just for this year. I think his cap hit on the Texans is only about $8 million because the Rams are paying a lot of it. And I, you know, I'm, I am optimistic that Brandon Cooks will be pretty good in Houston. I mean, I think you could look at a lot of the numbers that would indicate his problems or more a result of kind of everything around him falling apart with the Rams. And now he's going to be paired with, you know, one of the best deep ball throwers in the league in Watson and a guy who also is going to buy time and let his guys get open deep. So I think I think Cook has potential to have a really, really good season here in Houston. and if he does so, he'll do it at a relatively low cost.

Because, and that's why I think the Brandon Cook's acquisition is going to make a lot more sense is because the Rams are picking up a lot of it. And if he's good, you keep him around for next year. I think he's, what, $12 million next year? That's still pretty good value for a guy that would be one of your main go-to threat. So, again, it's still a lot of money for a guy that's got concussion issues. But of all the things that have been done, I think the one that I at least hold out the most optimism is that Brandon Cooks might be the best acquisition of all of them so far

and this is what has turned to be a very busy off season for the team. Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, I think Cobb, you could look at the rest of the market, and they probably overpaid for Randall Cobb. I think, you know, Eric Murray will see what he offers. They'll get to play more than he's probably ever played anywhere else, but I don't think anyone's getting too excited about that move, and it wasn't a super expensive move for them.

So I think Cook's kind of probably the one that does make sense. The one thing I would say is, you know, you said if he's good, he could come back next year. I think if he's not good, and then they end up getting rid of him after one year, there would be no dead money left on their cap and no guarantees left for him. So it wouldn't be a problem from a cap perspective, but it would

look pretty damning, I think, to trade what was it, the 57th pick, second round pick, and a really deep wide receiver draft for basically one year of Brandy Cooks. And I say that even those, what rookie wide receivers tend not to produce a lot, still like, I mean, this is not a, this is not kind of

a one-year thing for the Texans. Sean Watson is still on his rookie deal. He's still in his mid-20s. I mean, I think you've got to be playing the long game a little more than they're playing now. And that will be interesting to see how kind of that unfolds in the future as they navigate this continued problem, not having picks and having expensive players. And that's the thing, Aaron, I wanted to bring up, is that if you're going to spend crazy amounts of money on a handful of players that take up at least a half of your salary cap, you've got to get value from your draft picks because they're on the cheap. They're on rookie contracts. They don't make the

multi-millions of dollars. Don't you feel like with all the draft picks have been given up that the Texans are playing a very, very dangerous game that every one of their free agent acquisitions has to be good. Every one of their

remaining draft picks have to work out because they're not going to be able to rely on first, second, third round guys on rookie deals because frankly don't have those picks available to them. No, I think you're absolutely right. You know, I look at just one example of this, right, is if you look at the defense, you know, in the pass rush. So they haven't really added any pass rushers through for agency.

This is a unit that obviously looked pretty terrible once JJ Watt was gone. I think you have to at least consider the idea that you're not going to have J.J. Watts for a full season again. I mean, just past history hasn't played more than eight games in the past four years. So basically what the Texans are relying on for this unit to be better is that Ross Blacklock is going to be impactful as a rookie despite not having any off-season training practices. Charles Amending, he was going to take a step up in a second year, and Jacob Martin, who was a rotational rusher, is probably going to play more and presumably be better than he was the last year.

I think all those things are possible, but like you're saying, I mean, that's kind of a lot of those things, a lot of rides in all three of those things happening, and I think the chances that all three happening are pretty low. Last question for you. and you work with a lot of people in the NFL circles. Are you a little alarmed at the lack of we're coming together, we're going to make this happen, the protocols.

I know there's been a manual. There was a visit yesterday with all the coaches in the NFL. It feels like they are up against the clock, and I don't feel any panic coming from them. And the rest of the sports world certainly is right now. Yeah, no, I definitely agree with you. I think it's, you know, they continue to say things are going to run on time. We'll see.

I mean, I think I've kind of thought for a while that how stuff unfolds with baseball would be pretty informative of how things would happen with football, just because it's, you know, similarly not in a bubble environment and stuff like the NBA. And obviously, there's even more players and whatnot. So, you know, I mean, I think it is interesting. You know, speaking of this, Randall Cobb, just yesterday, I think he was tweeting that there's, you know, there's so many more kind of questions and answers about this stuff right now. And he doesn't see any way that camp happens on time. And I think that's kind of a lot of people are just in a wait-in-sea mode, and the NFL continues to act like everything is just okay, but I think we can just look at the numbers around us,

and it's not okay, right? And if we had to shut down all these sports at the very beginning of the coronavirus, now things are worse than they were going to bring them back. It doesn't really make a ton of sense. All right, well, leave it at that, Aaron. Thank you very much, my friend, for the time. We really appreciate it. Look forward to your insights throughout the course of the football season,

whenever there is. Thanks again, Aaron, for the time. Yeah, I really appreciate it. All right. I think I just, I can't hear Aaron for the last second. I apologize, and hopefully he got, I think we got him. Thank you very much. 144 on Sports Talk 790.

Brandon Riley and Joe George are having a fantastic conversation in the background, but that's all right. Funny things can happen on microphone sometimes. We'll come back and tell you about Pat Mahomes and things he can't do. That's right. Pat Mahomes can certainly throw the football for Kansas City. would have been on microphone sometimes. We'll come back and tell you about Pat Mahomes and things he can't do. That's right.

Pat Mahomes can certainly throw the football for Kansas City. What he can't do is pretty detail. He'll let you hear him tell you personally what he has been told. He won't be able to do now that he is a super, super rich quarterback. 144 on the Matt Thomas show of the message here for TGS Insurance. If you'd like to save some significant dollars on your home policy, please do me a huge favor and text the word money, M-O-N-E-Y, to 23-23-23-23- and get with the folks at TGS Insurance.

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But it starts with you getting that outstanding coverage was something you hadn't really thought about. And that's improving your home policy. Text money, M-O-N-E-1-2-23-23, M-O-N-E-Y to 23, 23, 23, 23, and start saving big on your home policy right now with TGS insurance. Daniel House. How are you? Hey, it's Daniel House. Matt Thomas continues now on Sports Talk 790. When I originally read this tweet, I got really alarmed, but I don't think I feel nearly as bad,

but it is still a little bit of breaking news. This comes from Chandler-Rome. Alex Bregman nodded today's workout because the results of a COVID-19 test directly tied to his participation have not been received. Breggman is, quote, fine, a source said. So it sounds like Joe. that the results just didn't get Houston in time for him to actually partake

in practice today. It sounds like his results. I was reading the story that Chandler wrote and it just says that his results are not in yet so he basically can't practice. This just adds on to the what does the ML be doing here?

Like how do they not have this right still? You can't blame July 4th holiday. Can't. No, and like you can't. What if Furland are supposed to go on the mound, but they don't have his results. He can't pitch? And then you're throwing together a bullpen day?

And that goes for the Astros and the Yankees and the Cubs and every team. It's not okay. That is not okay. This is... You're not going to be able to figure out the lineups from one day or the next. No, and I don't know what the Astros are doing. I read an article yesterday and Matt that the Cubs are so annoyed with MLB that they have... secure their own testing site with one of the local hospitals,

the Astros need to do the same thing. The Astros need to have a backup plan in case the MLBs plan falls through again. Does that mean double swabbing in the noses and all that? So one test goes to Salt Lake City and one stays in Houston? I think that's what the Cubs are going to do. And they're basically like they're not going to have the other one run the test unless they're not getting the results back from Salt Lake. What a disaster.

I never thought this would be the problem, Matt. You know, it's crazy. We talked all along about what would stop baseball from playing or what would be the issues? And it was money and greed and ownership and Rod Brandtrand. The normal stuff. And pandemic. I never thought it would be because they can't get the actual results of their tests. I really need an explanation.

And I feel like I'm a broken record on this. every major league city has good to great medical facilities right i mean i i don't know if cincinnati's got great medical care i'm assuming it's a big metropolitan city so it's going to have good at you know health care i'm going to assume that phoenix does i'm going to assume that milwaukee does every tell me why again is it because it's a bulk discount rate i think the problem becomes taking away from the public now. Because like, so you know, I went through the testing process. Yes.

When I took my test, they told me three to five days to get my results. Call on day four, if you don't have them. Called on day four. They said, yeah, it's going to be five to nine days. I was like, what? And then now- Did you pay for that, though? No, it was, well, my insurance paid for it.

So, and there's plenty of stories. now about how here and other places it's taking 10 plus days to get COVID results. You might have beat the thing about the time normal people are getting the results back. So if now a Houston Medical Center was now taking all the

Asher's Texan and Texans results or tests, it would back up the normal public more. And that's where I think the problem is of why they have to go this other route for the most part. Yeah, this is a logistical

problem that Major League Baseball is going through. Positive tests, Joe, are going to happen, unfortunately. We're going to get more, and it's going to be with people that we do respect and love and watch to see them play. But you're pulling guys off the practice in these summer training camp things because of logistical issues. What are they flying spirit with the results up there? Are they using FedEx ground? I mean, somebody please explain to me how this is continuing to happen. You're a multi-billion dollar industry that is relying on 700 people to get your sport going again.

What's 3,750, maybe, or 800. Do you see the Joey Gallo thing that came out today? In 10 days, he has two positive tests and two negative tests. And they're not coming in order. it's not like he went positive positive negative negative it's like a mixed bag so they're not even sure how accurate they are I mean I just I don't know like I don't know how you even clear a guy like Joey Gallo to get on the field now even though he just had a negative test the protocol says if he gets one more he's allowed to come back

but he's had two positive so what if the tests are all wrong and that's how you get an outbreak and that's how baseball gets canceled. This is not going well for them. I don't want to throw a question out at you, but I'm going to. Are we going to see a full 60 game schedule? Don't even answer it. Don't even answer it. Let's get the final hour started at the Matt Thomas show in a matter of moment.

713-212-5-790. I don't want you to answer that question. Houston, I'd love for you guys to call the show today. If you don't want to call, I get it. But that's the question that I'm thinking about now, now that Alex Spragman couldn't partake in practice today because of the lack of the results. And it's not going to be just him. It's going to be somebody else.

It's going to be a day where Verlander's got to throw or Granky's supposed to throw and he's supposed to take a test and then on the results. I want to know what the pathway between Houston and Salt Lake is causing such problems. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-790. Final hour. Matt Thomas Show next on Sports Talk 790. This is the Matt Thomas Show. All right, final hour, the Matt Thomas show begins right now here on Sports Talk 790.

The time is 2 o'clock, and Alex Breckman did not work out today because he's waiting for his results. Did you see who threw batting practice today, Joe George? Obviously, James Click and Dusty Baker were listening to you earlier today. Forrest Whitley. Forrest Whitley threw. I always had a huge brain fart there and I was not sure who to say But

You guessed right Beautiful nicely done I saw Granky through yesterday Yeah For us today Yep Well I mean Click's got to see what he's got

I mean that's You know part of the challenge of the season is For the Astros Is James Click doesn't even have the opportunity To say The Astros are The best team in 162 game season I can focus on the minor league teams

baseball to make trades. He doesn't even have. He can't even watch his own guys. How much time has he going to spend at Corpus Christi? Oh, or how about how much time he's going to spend at U of H? Yeah, like, I don't know. Like, I mean, what are these, I don't even know what's, like, what they're going to be doing. There's me live streaming so James can just like check in and see how the workouts are going.

Or can you zoom a practice? They're going to have to. I mean, if the Yankees can air their practices on television, The Astros can definitely zoom a practice. Yeah, the Astros are the Yankees and their cable TV channel. It shows you how powerful they are. They're going to do broadcasts of their inner squad workouts. Meanwhile, the Oakland A's, who don't have a radio station, don't have a stadium they paid rent on.

I guess that, I don't know. Have they been paying rent lately? I don't know. We haven't got that story in a while. Maybe they just missed the one-month payment. Yeah, what is Oakland going to say? The A's are going to say, what happens? paying rent, sorry, suckas.

Ooh, I guess you'll be leaving us. You and your 9,000 fans. The A's will say, okay, bye. But they have nowhere to go. The A's need to, I mean, Oakland just doesn't need to have pro sports. It's just

not an area that just can let out. I mean, and it's not like the city of Oakland, the East Bay has got a lot of great parts of it, too. It's got a huge segment of the population for anybody that knows that part of the country. it's just Oakland's just not a desirable place to put a pro sports franchise. I mean, look at the Warriors.

Like they, even they left. They built their stadium somewhere else. Yeah, on the other side. It was way more expensive. Yeah. Yeah, where do the Oakland days go? Nashville. They're not going to Nashville.

Well, no, Dave Browsky, the former Red Sox GM, he just joined an LLC group in Nashville that their hope is to expand or, get someone to relocate there. Nashville, I think Nashville is the next stop. You really think so. If you were to name a city to get it, see, I think Portland's the next one. Yeah, but see, the problem with Portland,

Charlotte, and Buffalo is that they have three of the most successful minor league teams attendance-wise. Okay. So I think it would be tough to be like, these are our best, most successful minor league franchises. going to get rid of them. Absolutely, wouldn't a heartbeat.

To make more money for Major League Baseball, of course. Yeah. I think it's Nashville. I think Nashville is like the hotspot. I don't really know enough about a Nashville to tell you. I mean, obviously, the Predators do okay. The Titans have been successful. But I don't know if it's a really great.

I mean, it's still to me Nashville just just a big college town. But, I mean, really, it's like the music capital of the world. No. I mean What are you asking for Dolly Part to buy 20% of the team? No, I just,

people are moving to Nashville left and right. They are? Who's moving Nashville? I wonder who these people are. People my age. Like, that's like the number one,

one of the number one spots people are going to. And whether it's people want to start music careers or just be in a fun city, like it's, it is super popular. And their teams do great.

They have a ton of support. Predators games look unreal when they've got a packed house. Yeah. Titans games, they do really well, and they've been terrible at times, or just mediocre. Yeah, the Tennessee Titans have been the epitome of mediocrity, right?

Is there not a more average NFL team the last decade? Well, maybe with exception of the Texas. Sorry. I don't mean to take a sled at our own city. But it's like the two most probably mediocre teams where they hover between seven and nine,

and 9 and 7, 10, and 6 the most are probably the Titans and the Texans. Yeah, you know what it just shows you is that the AFC South just sucks. Yep. But I really do think Nashville is the next spot for baseball. See, I just don't know if it can, I mean, because here's the thing. You're asking for that community to put 40,000 people in the stands 80 times a year. Is there enough people in that region? I guess people from Memphis would go over there, right?

Definitely. But I would still think Nashville is like huge Braves country But again, if you have your own team, you can certainly move your allegiance It would certainly make the American League West kind of funky travel-wise Yeah, I think they have to do some realignment again Is there anything we can do to get the Astros out of the American League West? You know, I wonder if the Those charts where they're talking about like the teams that are flying the most miles

And the Astros and the Rangers are pretty much at the top of the list They are by far I wonder if this changes their perspective in some ways about that. Like if realignment were to happen at some point, like, could you see something? But even then, like, where are you going to put them? Like, even the central doesn't make sense. No, no, the central makes more sense. I just, there's just not enough teams west of the Mississippi.

That's the problem. Now, if you're going to do, if you're going to do two five team divisions and call them west, the Houston Astros are one of the 10 further most western teams in baseball. You know how the NFC East is stupid with the Dallas Cowboys in it? Yeah. And there's a bunch of teams that are west of them that are not in the NFC East. I mean, so that's just because Jerry Jones didn't want to move the schedule around. I'm saying there's nowhere else to go.

There's no team in San Francisco that's playing in the National League Central. Well, the thing that would make the most sense is, is if the MLB were to expand by two teams gradually, and you go to four divisions, four teams and four divisions, and then you could realign the, you could put like the Royals, the Astros, the Rangers,

and someone else in a division. And like a diamondbacks. Yeah, the only way the Astros, I think we're destined for West for the rest of our lives. Yeah, I think they'll be in the West unless there's, if they were to break up the divisions that I, and do some pretty heavy realignment. Heavy realignment, but even so, you're still not going to have enough teams for like

Arizona and for like Denver to have a close regional rival. There's always going to be, there's always going to be like one or two teams. I feel like that have to, like the Astros or the Rangers have to be in the West. I feel like. Yeah. These are issues we'll discuss someday when we're really, really bored as compared to the when we're just normally boarder now. 208 on Sports Talk 790.

713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Deshawn Jackson, do you see the quotes that he had, the anti-Semitic remarks? Yeah, the fake quotes that he put out, yeah. Yeah. He's apologized, and we are a forgiving society. Are we not, Joe George?

Today? Just generally speaking. I would say no. Okay. Not anymore. So not only did he have anti-Semitic remarks, but the owner of his team is Jewish. And then to double back on it,

Stephen Jackson, a former NBA player, comes out and basically says, I know what he meant. He's okay to say what he said. Yeah, I got a problem with it because I think there's a double standard within sports right now about standing up for what's right and what's wrong. And I think Deshawn Jackson and LeBron James's reaction to Darrell Morey's comments are the perfect example.

That if it doesn't benefit what they stand for, that they don't talk. Because people should be crushing Deshawn Jackson. LeBron James, people in the NBA, people in the NFL. There should be a real conversation about Deshaun Jackson, but for some reason they're choosing not to, hate is hate. it's not okay. And that's why, honestly, I don't get into that much on this show, and it might be a detriment,

but that's just how I feel is that there is so much hatred that if I could do a radio show for two to three hours every day with athletes saying horrifically offensive things to a different group of people every single day. The only reason why I brought this up today is that, for the most part, as you just said, Deshaun Jackson is getting very little blowback on this. And I'm telling you, if the rolls are reversed,

it would be a much, much different situation. Yeah, I don't think the Eagles are going to, the Eagles in the NFL, though, are going to have a hard time of really doing anything to him. Because they let, you know, they let another Eagles wide receiver once upon a time. That's right, Roddy Cooper. Get away with a lot of bad stuff. I mean, he's on video saying the N-word.

The N-word, yeah. And I think he got fined. And look, I am all for apologies. I'm not ready to destroy someone's life based off of, you know, a comment that is made because sometimes people just speak erroneously. And people don't think before they write or they say something. And that's, again, a byproduct if we can't run to our Twitter and our Instagram

fast enough. But I think, relatively speaking, Deshaun's pretty damn lucky that he has not received a greater amount of criticism that I think other athletes who would have also gone after other groups would have received. And the fact that Stephen Jackson

has come in and basically defended what he said is just, I think, pouring gasoline on the fire. We have got to as a society you know we're we're all being very very aware of what we're what we're thinking and we want to say and what we want to believe and what what is right and we want to get rid of hatred and hurt and racism in society but man every other day there's somebody saying something new

and that's why frankly to me and this may be a callous thing for me to say i don't get into much of that on this show because we're just spinning an or or a hamster inside of a wheel right? No, I agree. I mean, I'm not, I don't want to talk about it. Like, a ton, it's important to talk about stuff when it happens, but I could imagine spending, there are radio shows I've listened to that I still listen to that they'll spend the whole, their whole three or four hours on it.

I can't do it. I can't do that. Because, you know what, it's not doing any good. We've had the horrific George Floyd murder and all the things that came with that less than a month ago and we've got Deshawn Jackson saying

anti-Semitic things I mean it didn't even take a month after when all we're supposed to be doing is trying to be nicer to each other and that's what comes out yeah and I think part of my and you know the other thing just on this for me that bothers me

is I know ESPN it's like it's their brand and they can take whatever stance they want on stuff I don't like how they pick and choose too. I mean, like, whatever you think about as political beliefs, I miss Kurt Schilling covering baseball. Like, I like Kurt as a baseball analyst.

I didn't like the other stuff. Yeah, the thing is, that's what I can do. I can separate people's political views from what they're supposed to be doing. But ESPMS have thought that he's so divisive. But Stephen Jackson backing up Deshaun Jackson on this, like they're not going to do anything. What show is he on? Is he even on shows?

Well, he does the jump all the time. Well, not as much because during COVID. Yeah. All right. And again, I don't want to get any more than that. I just want to just bring that up and to say that we're just spinning. We're going around and around. We're not making any difference, and that's unfortunate.

People want to have open and honest conversations, and I'm all for that. I'm willing to listen. But it takes everybody listening. And right now, Deshaun Jackson is not listening. Let me tell you about what's happening with the Shell Federal Credit Union. Right now, if you get an auto loan with them, you're going to enjoy $250 in cashback. These auto rates that I've been telling you about for several months now are as low as 1.99% APR for both new vehicles, use vehicles, and refinance vehicles. While you're visiting with the Shell FCU folks, you can ask about 90 days of deferred payments, and there's also two skip a pays every year.

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It's back. Hey, it's the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Wow! 218 on Sports Talk 790. Have you been seeing this guy, Barrett Salis, tweet about describe your worst moment ever in the most boring way you can, or I'm paraphrasing? Yeah, I saw it, yeah.

So I did it. Oh, you did? Yeah. It's not going to resonate with you or Brendan, unfortunately. Because I'm like either one of you were born at the time when it happened. But I did respond to it. And

if you guys know what I'm talking about, I think you'll understand. Wittenberg took a shot. It was short. Charles put the ball in the basket to win game. Does that resonate with you at all? Faisalima Jemma. 83 national championship game.

Mine would be... Doing your most boring. It's got to be really boring. And then, Brendan, you're next after this. In the most boring way possible, Rose grabs knee. Is that boring? That's it? What else do I need?

Crying in pain? barely wanted to walk at his kids' graduation. But couldn't. That's what he said. Won't be able to walk his daughter down the aisle? Even though he's playing great basketball again. But I don't know. That is your worst sports moment ever?

I mean, bears trade up. I don't know. That's better. That's what I was thinking. But Derek is like, that's the one for me. All right. Let me give me one of my, I'll give me another one that I was thinking about. And then you guys, and then, Brendan, you come up with one.

Here's mine. Late night game in Portland. Pass goes a Lillard. Make shot. Rockets head home. I know what I mean. I know exactly what you're talking about. God, that's one of the greatest basketball shots a whole time.

No, it wasn't. Shut your... I know. But it was so. good, man. It was not so good. Pretend it's the Mavericks for like three seconds. It was a great play by Lillard. Great play. Why would I care?

It was a Mavericks? Oh, you mean against Portland? Yeah, I see what you're going on with that. But yeah, I understand your pain. I did the post-game show that night. Oh, I know. I got another one here. Go ahead. Weird dude catches baseball.

Oh, Steve Bartman. Nice. Oh, some guy. wearing headphones, first row, Wrigley Field catches foul ball. Moises Mad. Moises,

what a weirdo. Dude, he used to pee on himself. I know. My dad, we, unlike part of, like,

behind Wrigley, there's this section where the players where they park their cars and fans can go and get autographs after the game.

And we were back there when Moises was on the team and he was walking around doing autographs. And my dad was like, hey, don't ask for his autograph. And I was like, why?

He goes, he piece on his hands. Now, wait a minute. He does watch his hands. I don't care. I'm glad. You may to tell me, if Moises Sulu walked in the studio right now, you would not shake his hand. Absolutely not. That's a lie. No way. Well, he doesn't play baseball anymore because he did it for grip. So I think you could assume he doesn't do it anymore.

Let me tell you something. But we don't shake hands anymore. Shaking hands is dead. Oh, okay, fist bumping. elbows? I think Bose is the way to go. At least until there's a vaccine. All right, Brenda, give me your most worst sports memory

and the most boring way you could tell it. So I don't know if mine's big enough that you guys will remember it. Go ahead. Mine is just officials pick up flag after awarding 15 yards. Officials pick up flag. Calvin Johnson, the catch? Brandon Pedigrew against the Cowboys.

Oh, okay. Or how about... I was thinking that Calvin Johnson. to catch against the Bears. Not a memory, but how about Portsmouth Spartans moved to Detroit? That's over my head a little bit. It's the founding of the Detroit Lions. How about this one?

I got with one. Barry Sanders escapes numerous tackles, gets in the end zone, then retires. Okay. Wide receiver stops playing football early. Man tito catfish. I mean, that's not a sports memory. but I associate that with the Notre Dame lost Alabama in the national championship game when they got spanked. It's actually a pretty good exercise when you think about it.

How do you undersell the worst moment of your life as a sports fan? And it's weird too because you can't do it with the Astros for all those years they're awful because there's not a moment. Like those more, like that doesn't count. You can't be like Astros sucked for years. That doesn't, that's not the same thing. No, no, we're talking about it usually a singular moment. Like before the Astros won their World Series, and look, 04 was disappointing as they lost the Cardinals,

but they came back in 1 in 05. I mean, 05 would be an easy one would be, Lidge goes to finish things off, Pooholz balls, eventually lands. Now, the Astros would go on to win that series, but ultimately having to use Roy Oswald in the game 6 as compared to using them in game 1 against the White Sox, I made a big difference. For me, going back old school, a little bit on the Astros is 86.

Game that never would end, Jesse Orozco strikes out Kevin Bass. Orozco throws his glove high up in the air as the Mets won game six at the Astrodome. So it's kind of an interesting little exercise. I think it's actually funny. You know it's a good one for you, Brendan, too? I feel like it would be, I don't know how to describe it. That's the hardest part. He touched first base

The perfect game that got messed up for the Tigers When he touched first And they call them safe Oh yeah And he was The guy was up by like a foot and a half How about this one? This is from Christy Bowl 300

She gives the score Orders have big lead Give it up If we lived in Utah We would just say Michael Jordan Yeah And James Or Brian Russell slips

Supposedly Here's one from Buffalo Grammar. Scott Foster was born, Rockets Luce. I mean, 0 for 27? That's not good. That's a tough one. But it can't be. It's not, if you're in anywhere between my age and younger to your age, Matt, like, that can't be at the top of the worst list for Houston sports.

No, no, no, no, no. I mean, I feel like I have a pretty good frame of reference on this. in the last 25 years, the worst is the Oilers. The worst is Lillard shot. Trying what else? I mean, you lose, sir. Look, losing to the nationals sucked, but the nationals were a really good baseball team.

There was no shame in losing to, you know, the best team in the National League in a seven-game series. It just sucked how it kind of ended. Yeah. But there was no shame in it. And there wasn't like a moment. Oh, there wasn't one moment. Will Harris.

It's like, I feel like if the, if the Altova walkoff happened to the Astros and Aaron Judge hit it, it'd be different. But that national series, I don't know, no wins at home. Here's from ER. ER limits AJ Hinch exits dug out You remove starting pitcher from game Grinky leaves game over

Man this is hitting a nerve Oh man oh bad How about Mike Fire Speaks Oh I'm trying to think of a creative Something Something with trash cans obviously No we're not doing that

Well you said we're sports Memories That's true But it gave but it was such a good memory How about this one? trash can hit, Astros hit ball well. Yeah, that's still a good memory, though. It's got to be more related to the firing of AJ, I feel like.

Man, I hope the AJ haters come out, you know, get over it eventually. I think he'll manage it. I really, I think I was on the record with you, Matt. I thought he was going to manage next year. I think that's out the window now just because I don't think there'll be a, I can't imagine there being a high turnover. Right. For MLB managers with such.

short season, so maybe we have to wait one more year. But I think AJ still be back into baseball. I'm telling you, folks, as I've said this, numerous times, it's easy to root for people that you like, and I like AJ Hinch. And I'm so disappointed that he has taken the brunt of the reason why the Astros lost game seven. Maybe fair. Doesn't mean I have to like it, right?

228. Matt Thomas show you a half hour left to go. If you would like to help us with a few of your sports. memories and you have to tell it to us in the most boring fashion on Twitter at SportsMT at Joe George Radio at Brendan Riley underscore or you can dial in it 713 212-5-790 7-13-212-5-790 with a message here for Shaw's Jewelry I'm so happy to be speaking for Shaw's Jewelry they are a Houston institution same location same intersection different building since 1966 the corner of West

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Now number one for podcasting. I-Hard! Talk 790. Product with a Grand Slam! Home of your Astros. William Pringle 9 on Twitter. Jackie Smith drops touchdown pass in Super Bowl. That's got to hurt Dallas Cowboy fans.

I think that's a little too descriptive. Probably. Frank Wright comes in for injured Jim Kelly. That certainly hurt. Yeah, I think you have to make these really, really good. You've got to be as boring as possible. Like, how about this one? Bill Buckner, ball goes through legs, they play game seven next day.

Too descriptive. You think so? Yeah. What do you say? Just ball through legs. Yeah, it'd be boring. Oh, okay. So not even really mention people's name in proper context.

Yeah, you've just got to be as least descriptive and boring as possible. So can't even mention names then, huh? Mm-hmm. Okay. So it would be like butt-chin trades player. Owner gives keys to franchise to Help me out with this one Owner

Gives power hungry coach more power Coach promoted Coach promoted's good Yeah man we got to like We got shorten your words a little bit I know you said you want to do some broadcasts To tighten things up so we got I know

You got too many words right now That's what our This feels like a game show we could play it does. Name something that happened in, like here, stay with me on this. You have to name an event in life and you have to describe it in as few words as possible. And then guess what? And then we guess what it is.

We could do that. We could do that like, I mean, isn't that kind of like the match game a little bit? I know it's not the exact same one. No, no, no, no. Well, then why don't you, look, Matt, you want to be a game show host. I do. At some point, the Monday night meetings are going to return. They are soon, hopefully.

And when they return, let's just create our own game. By the way, I have, because I've been bored, I now have nine amazing match game questions that we're going to play on them on the Monday night meeting. And they are so, because I think I'm funny, so I think they're hysterical. And they're all going to have something Houston related to them, or at least sports related to them. But let's stay with it. Okay. Oh, now Wexer's jumping in on this one. Wilson hits Grounder to Buckner.

Ah, that's using proper names, but it doesn't really give away the most of what the essence of that was. Yeah, but it's boring. Christy connects on 32-yard field goal. Boring. Yeah. March Maddis canceled. Oh. Rudy Gobert touches everything.

By the way, maybe we're talking about liars earlier. Remember how I call. I don't know if you were worth this, but Ross and I were arguing about this. I called BS on Donovan Mitchell saying that everything was cool between him and Rudy Gobert. Yeah, I was with you guys when we were talking about this. And I'm like, uh-uh, he's pissed. They're still really not over it. You know that?

No, Gobert's getting traded this off-season. Let me ask you this. If they didn't trade him, which I think they're going to, are you absolutely sure Donovan Mitchell is going to be, it's going to stay in Utah for the his NBA career? No, because why would I want to stay in Utah? I live there. I mean, they got to build something around him

for him to want to stay, and that's the problem. I don't think Rudy Gober is a piece to win a championship with. Here is what he is. He is an outstanding defensive player, but he is regressed in his offensive skills. So how do you build around a five who can't even attack the basket even just a little bit? Well, if you ask Darrell Moore, you trade him.

to Atlanta I think that's what's going to happen to go bear I think they're going to move on and they'll get they're just going to want to get something that fits in today's more modern NBA because you've got to build around Donovan from to stay they got to start winning

they got to win a playoff series where he's going to bounce fast. They're not winning the playoffs series this year no exactly so that's going to be three straight first round exits for them so why would he stay? I mean if I'm Donovan Mitchell like what am I going to stay there for. I'm going to stay in an area where most of my fellow

league members would say is not a great place to play. Hard to get afraid. For sure. Yeah, because of their fans. No, because of just what Salt Lake City is. It's just nothing but white people. And their fans aren't great. No, they love their fans. Yeah, but they're not great to opposing players. Yeah, but that doesn't make any difference to a frame. If you're a Utah jazz fan, if you're a player for the jazz, they love it. right?

Yeah. I just... I think the culture of Salt Lake City makes it just about impossible to get a free agent to come play there. I almost wonder if it's easier to trade Donovan because of the return you would get and still use Gobert as one of your key pieces.

No, you couldn't get away with that. They'd kill them there in Salt Lake. Donna Mitchell is the brightest thing that Utah's had since probably what? I mean, would you say Stockton Malone? since Darren Williams Darren Williams Because Darren had some like really great years

He did So I had breakfast And Darren Williams The year he got drafted When he was in Utah That's my guy His wife is a

Sex is an understatement Ten plus 11 and a half All right I mean Just You know when somebody says That's an attractive girl

That's girl next door She's just sexy period. That's all I'll say. I think I'll look up at her while I talk to Cedric here on Sports Talk 790 at 2.39. Cedric, good afternoon. What do you got for a worse memory? Tell us as boring as possible the way as you can.

All right. I missed a playoff win after four free throws were missed in a row. Oh. Okay, let's do this then. Rockets win. Free throws missed? Yep, never saw the overtime anything. I cut the TV off, and to this day, I haven't watched it on YouTube.

Are you a Magic fan? No, I was a Rocket fan. I thought we had lost when he got the rebound and was going to shoot the mosquitoes. I thought the game was over. I cut TV off. Cedric, why would you turn the television off for an NBA finals game? Because, okay, we were down three. It was only a couple seconds left.

I was like, there's no way that guy's going to miss three free throws, you know. I mean, four three throws in a row. But no way we're going to miss. You know, I'm so upset I couldn't see y'all. Didn't find out until later on that night that we had won. I cannot believe you would have done that. Yes. That takes huge.

That's huge stones against. give up. I mean, you, you, you walked around in your life for several hours, not knowing the end result? Matter of fact, somebody called me after the game, wanted to talk about the game. I hung up in their face. I don't know how about that click, you know, thinking we had lost. That's funny. Cedric, thank you for the memory, my man. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right, buddy. Here's the definitive one. This is from Joe Treve.

Hamstring tear. Two words. For which one? Now, wait a minute. How many hamstring tears were talking about? Will Fuller or Chris Ball. No. Do you think anybody's worried about Will Fuller's hamstring tear? That's true.

Texans Tammy. So how would you describe the Chiefs' comeback as a most boring way possible? Texans had early lead. Yeah. That's it, right? Okay. Here's one from Wex. Montana eats chicken soup at halftime.

Damn. That hits. Let's see. Legend. Oh, I got one. Go ahead. Boilers leave. Oh!

It's boring. No, no, no. Here's what you do. Oilers don't get new stadium. You could just say Bud Adams. Hmm. Yeah. Bud doesn't get new stadium.

We can incorporate Bud Adams and the McNair's and just say professional football ownership because there's a lot of bad memories because of them that incorporates Bill O'Brien becoming Bill the oilers leaving

the wrong team name chosen the wrong helmet color chosen the white helmet song chosen wrong singer chosen it's football time in Houston baby no it's not it is you you know what you're the worst because you

You think this is actually growing on you a little bit. It's not. I know how much it bothers you in Klan. Something makes me like want to like a little bit. All right. Final. Bud doesn't get stadium. That's actually what that one really hits.

Bud doesn't get new stadium. We know what happens after that. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-790-243. It is the Matt Tavaugh's show. I feel like we've depressed the. audience for the last half hour. Alex Bregman spoke

to print media. We'll let you not hear, we'll repeat what he said to the print about why he wasn't at practice today. That's up next and get you ready for the A-Team at Sports Talk 7. 90 with a message here for Beck and Maston Buick GMC. I have purchased, not one vehicle from Beck and

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In his career here in Houston. Of sorts. The Matt Thomas Show. All right, real quick, this comes from Alex Breggman to the print reporters. He says, I would love nothing more to be with my teammates, but I'm told the results of my test are still pending. So on a precaution, I remained at home for the day. I look forward to having the issue resolved as soon as possible to rejoin my teammates tomorrow. By the way, Joe George, we have a gentleman named Tackett Aaron, who doesn't follow me on Twitter.

He should. but he doesn't. He has come up with, I believe, the winning, boring action of the worst thing it's ever happened. Chance of rain this weekend. Hits home, does it not? It does. Chance of rain this weekend. You know what's a good one, though?

And I still love the irony. And I wonder to this day if the Mets did it on purpose. But I love Astros beat Harvey. If you're looking at, like, good one, like something good, like the fact that, that Matt Harvey was on the mound for the first game back in Minute Made against the Astros was great. Do you know I almost caught a home run ball in that game from George Springer? Really? You were caught one before? No, I've caught foul balls, but never a home run.

I have one at home from Etro. It's like the coolest thing I've ever happened. Like, I caught a home run from Eitro is awesome. Where was it? At Riggily. And you threw it back? No. No.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No way. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's each row. You mean single, sloppy hitter? Yeah. Wait a minute. Wrigley Field is where the rule is you throw the home run back.

That's where it started. You throw back like the Cardinals home runs. No, no, no. Yeah, you don't throw back each row. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go on Chicago Sports Radio, and I'm going to out you. What's what they have to say? What's wrong with it?

It's Etro. It's like Itro, Griffy. I'm not throwing those back. If Aaron Judge, if I caught Aaron Judge one today, I would throw it back. If I call it Mike Trout. If I caught Mike Trout, because he's one of the greatest players of all time. But the rule is a rule. You catch a ball at Wrigley Field and you throw it back. No, not if it's a special player.

Oh, so do you then take 15 minutes of decide what's special and what's not? No, you make a gut reaction. And Matt, they don't throw back home runs. on. These people in the bleachers in any stadium, they buy a $50 baseball at the gift shop and they throw that one back.

So why would I throw a fake baseball back? That's dumb. Are you sure that everybody in Chicago I feel like I need to, again, I'm going to start going on WGN and some other stations up there and tell them, say, I got a friend of mine lives in Houston that caught an Ichero ball and he didn't throw it back. Did you get any grief

for not throwing it back? I was a kid. Oh, this is even before that. then. I was in like third grade. I mean, not probably not, but like, I couldn't tell you the last time E. E.R.O. played it Wrigley. I was young, though. Oh, see, then you're not even, so you're telling me, okay, so what about if adult Joe George caught a home run? Depends how many my beers I've had. It's a different conversation. Yeah, so I was, uh, the Mets and the Astros put a double header, and, uh, I got tickets in the Crawford boxes. And, uh, I forgot who I was with. I don't think it was with my family. I don't think so. And the guy,

over my left shoulder, the ball's coming. By the way, and I've not been in the outfield a lot of my life to see these things, when there's a home run ball coming your way, it's not just flying along beautifully. It's not gliding along. It's coming pretty damn fast, especially at left field at Minutemate Park, where it's what, 315, 320 somewhere in that range.

And I'm like, it's coming my way, it's coming my way, I'm better prepare for it, and if the very last second, it came off to the left a little bit. I didn't even touch it. I was still one row back, and he caught it on the fly, and we celebrated and there was a video of me just going crazy for this guy because he caught a home run ball it's awesome i i think the crawford boxes are the best seats in baseball they don't disappoint that's for sure i just they're so good it it's such a unique perspective because there's there's

outfield to your left that's in play like that's you only can get that in foul territory there's such a little room for that too it just seems like it's going to be like the only place, and I'm sure there's no other ballparks where you can be in play and out of play almost at the exact same time. Yeah, it's had a lot of confusing home runs over there, that's for sure. Foy, wrap things up. Let's say how to Ernie on 790. Ernie, what do you have today? Hey, guys, I had a couple more to add on for the one-liners. Yeah. My first one is Beast Mode Denied the Rock. Say it one more time?

Beast Mode Denied the Rock. Come on, guys. Seahawks. The handoff. And they didn't get him the ball. And Russell Wilson threw a pick. I got you. I got you.

I got you. Oh, no. You actually go, Ernie, you could go, Pete Carroll went with a different play. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's good. You could just say Pete Carroll with one yard. My first.

There you go. Yeah. Go ahead. Well, about my first ever heartbreak. My first ever heartbreak in the 80s. Astros deny triple play. Ooh, I don't know that one. Run rule.

Oh, okay. You don't know the play? No, I don't. Chalmership? Oh, an 80, okay. A line drive back to Vern Rule. Oh, that's right. Okay, I got you.

That's a little bit before my time, but I got you. Hey, Ernie, thank you for the phone call. I appreciate it. We all have them. I'm going to have to say we got 10 seconds left from the show. I think chance of rain in the forecast is probably the best. one. A lot of good ones. Making horrible life memories, saying them as boring as possible. Speaking of not boring, Adam Wexer and Adam Clanton certainly aren't. They're combined to come up

and make the A team. They're up next. Thank you, Joe. We'll talk you guys in a couple days. Back with you tomorrow, 12 noon here on Sports Talk 7.9.