The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Endless Home Run Derby Recap, Hear From Current/Former Astros at ASG. Fox’s All Time Astros Line Up

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Endless Home Run Derby Recap, Hear From Current/Former Astros at ASG. Fox’s All Time Astros Line Up

Good morning and welcome to a Tuesday edition of the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 790. Hope all of you are in good spirits. Looking forward to visiting with you for the next four hours where we will do a deep dive, Ross, of the home run derby from yesterday and an intense position by position. Batting order in the batting order for tonight's midsummer classic. How intense of a home run derby? every breakdown? From the jump all the way to its completion?

I just letting that breathe so it can be clipped to go, all right, sure. So you want to talk about Big Dumber? Wait a minute. You clipped me within the first minute of the show? That's got to be some kind of record. I mean, I didn't clip it. I just said I was letting him breathe just in case. Just in case I wanted to write it down over here.

Just in case he's writing it down and going to clip it later. Yes, Matthew. Go ahead. Yeah, we had Jonathan clipped yesterday. if he got himself on that. Hopefully. I don't know. He's probably being biased. Yeah, no, I got myself. Come on. All right. I'm going to give you a little, there you go. I'm going to give yourself a little, myself a little conundrum here. We here are a sports radio show for the most part. Now, we're not 100% sports. We will go off the beaten track occasionally. It's a four-hour show.

We're on 20 hours a week. And as great as we love football, basketball, baseball, occasional golf, occasional soccer, we're going to deviate. But would it being the lightest sports week of the if there's anything sports related we do need to at least acknowledge it and last night was the home run derby and so i'm with my wife and my daughter's at volleyball camps so my wife and i are having you know a husband and a wife time so we went to had dinner in a restaurant last night and i said let's go back to the hotel and watch the home run derby and she's like okay and we both sat there for about 15 minutes and not that we would ever have like an intense intense conversation about homerun derby on this show, or for that matter, any show in the history

have ever done a radio show. But it just, and Ross, I don't want to be, get off my long guy, past your prime. It's not awful. I guess if I was in the crowd, which I was when the Astero's host of the All-Star game, and Lance Burton was hitting all those homeruns on right-hand side, it was very cool and fun to see him do it. Well, not that many. Maybe if there was... No, actually, he finished second, I think, in that year.

Oh, did he? Yeah. Maybe I'm thinking of Bagwell. His Bagwell was always out in the first round. Oh, okay. You're bringing up old stuff. Just like playoffs. Which makes Al Tube the greatest astro of him all.

Team game. Thank you for... He hit 191 when they won the World Series in 2022. Great job, Outtubei. Yeah, but he's also done some grazing things in the... Absolutely. Absolutely. In the divisional series.

He's got like 800... Let's get back to it. Let's focus, Ross. Focus. Look, huge. trying to give you off, give you in a different argument there. So, we watched it, and we weren't like booing and hissing, and obviously there was no Astro involved in it.

But after about 50 minutes, and I don't ever want to say I was bored, but I was bored. Well, yeah, it's guys swinging a bat. It's basically watching glorified BP. I mean, there's just not a whole lot of drama to it, to me. they can do whatever they want. You can put as much lipstick on the pig as you want, but it just boils down to the guys taking BP. For instance, in 2000,

you can obviously marvel at the distance and you can obviously marvel at how many home runs a particular player hits in a row, and that's interesting stuff. Brent Rooker was marveling at Cal Raleigh's distance. Yeah, and the big dumper, who was the home run leader all year long, wins the home run derby.

so that kind of fits the agenda. But to me, it didn't separate itself from the home run derby of 1999 or 2009 or 2014 or 2020 or 2000. It's just about the same thing. And I think really the home run derby is really made for those that actually get to the stadium and have a chance to catch a home run or to be in the crowd where it's just kind of a little bit of a buzz before the big event, which is obviously tonight.

So I just want to say, Ross, because I am a sports talk host, and I do want to give everything a try in my life. Not everything. Not everything. Olives will not be one of them. Not soccer or cricket or rugby. I've done soccer. I wore a USA flag at that bar down Richmond, so don't judge me.

And I will be Team America World Cup next year. You and I'll be going to all these. Yeah, but if you want to watch good soccer, you can't watch the United States. You're watching the U.S. is like, man, soccer sucks. Yeah, it does when the United States plays it. Yeah. So I just to me was bored.

So I brought up the poll question today, and we know we love poll questions. How much of the All-Star game did you watch? And again, my sample size is not going to be what yours could be. Wouldn't be what Jonathan's is. Everybody's fan base and those that follow you are different. 64% of the people that voted on my poll question said they watched none of it 26% some of it and 10% said all of it I am in the sum of it category

and I didn't even watch the very end I did put on SportsCenter about an hour later to see who had won but that's about as far as it went for me so I just wanted to be open and honest with you because I do believe being truthful to your audience is very very important Well, I'm glad you brought that up, Matt, because I guess I have to be truthful for the audience. I didn't watch a second of it. But in my hours of show preparation, I did watch the extended highlights.

As you know, Matt, in this business, extended highlights are your friend. It can catch you up quickly. So I didn't watch it. I didn't have any interest. And I was like, ah, we're going to talk about it, I'm sure. So I'll watch the extended highlights. And you did. Yes.

And your takeaway from it was? I nodded off by the second half of the extended highlights. It's only 11 minutes. Yeah. I mean, it's... I don't want to say, look, I don't think we're good off our long, guy. I don't think we're past our... I don't even know if Gen Xers find a home run derby cool.

I don't think anybody does. Well, Gen X, aren't you, Gen X? I'll say, Matt, you're Gen X, huh? You're in Gen Z years. I'm a millennial. I'm an elder millennial, I think. Okay, and then Middle to late, you are Gen Z?

Yeah, I'm Gen Z, yeah. He's early, he's early Some Gen Z's are up to like 26, 27, right? It stops at 1998, so 27 is the last, like the first year of Gen Z I think. Okay, so were Gen Ziers watching this last night? I don't think so. I was just say, this used to be a bigger deal

growing up and I feel like now it's just a glorified, like you said, a glorified batting practice. Yeah, it's like, I don't find it that interesting. So the question is, and it's the same problem that the NBA has. The slam dunk used to be really cool. The three-point shot used to be really cool. And then they put in stars, the skills challenge, and then they did a variety of things.

The Pro Bowl tries to reinvent itself. It feels like every single year. Do we just accept it as part of the sports passage to say, these events are going on? They're heavily sponsored. So it's on our TV. If we watch it, we watch it. If we don't, we don't.

because I don't want to spend a significant period of time trying to reinvent the wheel. I mean, you could obviously add some layers to baseball, but what would it be? I think kind of what you mentioned with the dunk contest used to be a big deal. It was like Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins and like Dr. Jay. And it was like, now some of it got, you know, the creativity. You kind of can only do so many things when you're dunk in a basketball. but also the star power is not there as much. Who was the biggest star in the home run derby last night?

Cow Raleigh and it wouldn't even close. Okay. What kind of cachet does, like, okay, people who follow baseball know he's having a great season, but like the average person know who Kyle Rale is? No chance. No, and when you say he's the big dumper, you automatically go to a different level of connotation on that. Okay, yeah, James Wood. I mean, okay, who's the second biggest star?

The guy from the Yankees movie? See, Jonathan doesn't even know his name. Jazz, jazz, I hit three home runs Chisholm. Jazz Chisholm. He was doing the ground ball derby yesterday. I mean, maybe do you just let, you know, ladle it with stars? You just fill it up and just like a slay-dunk? Yeah, what motivation do they have, unless it's going to be like a big cash prize?

What did Cal Rally get for first place? I don't even know. Well, his dad's got to get Tommy John. Besides the iced out chain. Wait, his dad got hurt? Wait, was he pitching to him or somebody was pitching to it? I mean, I knew that, but I didn't know you're making a joke or if he actually got hurt. No, I don't think he got hurt.

It wasn't in the extended highlights. The only thing I'm looking forward to, and I know that you have evidence to the contrary, but I'm praying that Cal Raleigh bats 146 with three home runs the second half of the season. That'd be nice. I will say this. He's not going to finish with 70 home runs. I just, there's no way.

He's got, catchers slow down, right? Do we have data to back that up? Or am I just making that up? You know what? You can make it up. We make up data on the show. Okay, you're right.

Catchers slow down, my definitive proof, the study I've done for months. Catchers slow down in the second half of the season. He's not going to, there's no way. 38 home runs already. He's got to slow down. Yeah.

Well, first of all, if he doesn't, if he continues to heat up, The Astros are going to have the Mariners chasing after them all the entire second half of the year. Well, they might do that anyway, depending on how healthy they get. All right. On the radio show today, our man Dan Matthews, I mean, thank God we don't, I heard it's not allowed overtime because if that was the case, Dan Matthews would be really, really rich today. He's doing the four hours of the show on Salisbury show. Yes.

He goes to All-Star Monday where he's, he goes to All-Star Monday where he's, would be really, really rich today. He talks to Scott Boris. He talks to Alex Bregman. He talks to Jeremy Pena. He talks to Alex Bregman. He talks to Hunter Brown. I mean, the man was all over the place. And we appreciate him.

We do. And again, remember, please don't claim that as hourly wages because you want to get paid for that. Just letting you know. We will hear from all those people that he talked about or talked to yesterday. We'll have that on the show today. Also on the radio show today, we will have gut feelings at 1130. at noon. Ross's NFL rewind at 120, believe it or not today at 150.

And I see that our friends at ESPN went to list radio Rossi, like everybody does this week. Their list was the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL according to NFL coaches, executives, and personnel people.

Your favorite NFL quarterback is not on that list. Is that an outrage? Lamar Jackson's not on the list? Your second favorite quarterback is not on that list. we will discuss. Also, Fox Sports puts out their all-astro's team of all time. We forgot to mention that late on Friday.

We'll address that. I think we teased talking about it and they never did. Well, listen, we pay off a tease four days later. Other shows pay off within 15 minutes. We take four days to pay off on our teas. 713-212-5-790 is how you reach a show today. Did you watch the All-Star game? Did you enjoy the All-Star game?

or was it just background noise? And I think Major League Baseball doesn't care with its background noise or not. If the television's on, you've got a punch his chance of looking at some of their advertisements. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-2-2-790. Back to Ross here on 790.

Rossi, congratulations to the big dumper. Not only did he win yesterday, he got that chain or whatever for on his neck, and he also got a million dollars for winning the home-run derby. Now, see, shouldn't they... I feel like they should be saying that, or advertising that?

Or I don't know if I missed it. Was it said a lot during the broadcast? Well, two different people that did watch it yesterday sent me notes. It said they talked about it. Okay. That's good. I watched with the sound down. Carl Ravich to me is fingernails on a chalkboard.

Oh, I thought you were going to say, like, mid. I didn't know you're going to go that far. I just, ESPN, baseball to me, had John Miller for the law. longest time and then it had Dan Shulman and they were excellent and this is, he's, me, yeah, mid, is what I would say.

Okay. I think he's fine. Yeah, I would say not replacement level. He's just okay. Well, I mean, is replacement level better than okay or worse than okay? ESPN replacement level.

So if you make ESPN, you're pretty good, right? I don't mean he's like, you know, it should be a double A or something. Oh, my God. He's making probably eight times what I'm making, so I've got to give him that props. I mean, there's legitimately 25 local broadcasters that would do a better job than Carl Ravich was. Oh, you think so?

Carl Ravich is an excellent, he's an excellent studio a in host and whatnot. Yeah, I would agree with that. But play-by-play is not his forte. It's just not. We used to hate, you know, it's funny. I saw people getting nostalgic for Chris Berman. Berman, right. And screaming, back, back, back, back.

But we used to make fun of that when it was happening. Well, it's almost like you hate something when you currently see it, but when it's gone, you kind of miss it. I remember, I probably still, I think I might have. So we would make fun of it, and we made clips out of it many moons ago back in the day. I mean, I remember when ESPN first got the baseball package, he would do, you know, they used to double-headers on Tuesday night, and he would always go to California or the West Coast to do his, the play-by-play of the second game. And I always thought it was cool that Chris Berman, who was working out of Bristol, Connecticut,

was flying all the way across the country to do a Giants Cardinals game. And you always call it the Hotel California Tour. I thought Chris Berman when I was younger was funny and interesting. And I wouldn't say hip, but he added to the broadcast. And I think just like anybody's act can grow kind of thin. I thought the backpack, back, back, back kind of got old. Back, back, back, back, back, back. This one is way back.

It is. Back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back, and wake on. Yeah, I mean, a little bit of that is fine, but if you hear it 34 times in a 30-minute stretch, it's kind of a little much. These are moonshots. At least he's got some energy. Ravits certainly didn't have any energy. And just like Chris Berman, Chris Berman, the best thing he ever did was host, uh, prime time. Splish, splash, we were taking it back.

We were rolling our eyes when that was happening. And now people are, oh, man, we need bourbon bag. And now we kind of miss it. I don't miss it. Kind of. I don't miss it. But when he used to host NFL primetime to the 6 o'clock highlight show, before you got to the Sunday night game, that was appointment watching.

Because he did a great job of the highlights that he would run through it. Hey, could go. He would do his Howard Kosell impersonation. and then when there was ever any NFL player, he'd ask Tom Jackson where that player was from and Tom Jackson said he's from, like Ernest Givens. Yeah, it was fun back of the day.

It was fun back in the day. So I'm trying to think, is there any broadcasting you do miss? I don't miss Vital golf and basketball games. Oh, gosh. I miss John Miller. Is he still doing it? No, he's going to do some more games. I mean, he's, you know, thankfully he's cleared through a couple of cancer treatments.

Okay. but he's got to be 83, 84 years old. So, I mean, I don't think he's going to do it. Jim Nans in the final four? It was good times. It was good times. I miss that. I thought I think I and Eagle does a great job too.

He does. He's great. I'll miss Bill Raptory when he leaves because he screams onions and he screams when defense go, man, man, man, yeah, he's good. I feel like I'm a human sound effect here for the first 24 minutes of the show here. Yeah. It's fine.

It's fine. Well, speaking of broadcasters, directing to Ross, we had a car and say such a bum ass up for talking about the USA soccer team. A car dog, man. I try to let that out. Okay, well,

they're not that good. What do you want me to say? If you want me to lie, I guess I can. We do lie on this show. I mean, they're top 20 in the world. But top 20 for the United States, top 20 is not acceptable. Okay, so I want you to get me prepared for this next.

Is it next year, right? Yes. So if we, because, of course, we are the United States, Yeah, we can say we For United States, absolutely. If we finish If we finish 16th, how are we supposed to feel about this?

Not surprised? I mean, so the, I think the, well, they expanded the format. I'm not exactly sure the format. Generally, 16 teams make the knockout rounds, and then it's a turn, it's like a 16-d tournament. It's a sweet 16.

I don't know exactly what's happening with the big expansion. If it's like that or if it's something else, if there's buys, I honestly haven't looked at the format. But, yeah, I guess they should make the final 16 of whatever they do. And if they don't, that would be a disappointment. If they make it further, that'd be gravy.

But if they don't make it at all, we should probably close a sport. I don't think they will. It's just, you know, America's best athletes don't choose soccer. A conversation piece that we've had on sports radio for 30 years. Yes. Maybe we've got to get the NIL money up. That's what's going to fix things. NIL would help.

And then as we said, with Title IX, a lot of schools got rid of their men's soccer program. So if you're aspiring to get a scholarship, I mean, you can't even do that. And then they also don't have these teams are not investing in the youth because, for example, teams in Europe, they have youth academies. They start kids at like five years old, and then they go and sign them and they build them up. They literally like house them. They have like campuses where their whole life is soccer. and they spend a lot of money investing in it because it bears fruit as far as these academies. Every big soccer club has an academy where they spend tons of money on developing talent and coaching and all

that type of stuff. That system is just nowhere and that's not in place at all here in the United States. We have that system in place called the YMCA. What are you talking about? Yeah, not exactly. I don't think going to LaMassia in Barcelona is a little different than going to the YMCA in Topeka, Kansas. Okay. IMG Academy is trying to change the sport one day.

Yeah, the same thing. I mean, the ecosystem for development is way better in basketball, baseball, football, than for soccer. Yep. All right, 1027, it is the Matt Thomas show of Ross. We mentioned Dan Matthews was busy getting all the players at the Meaty Day yesterday, Bregman and Hunter. He actually did we put Scott Boris soundbites in the system too?

I think so. Scott was very polite. He said, Dana, holler at your boy. That's what he said. It's like, Dana, when I send you text, you don't say new phone, who this? Well, he was during the Bregman negotiations. He certainly was, and he won't have a few years, too. Two more of his clients.

I'll stick with my gut feeling. Hunter Brown will be signed. Should I put in my tweet drafts, what was your favorite general? No, don't do that. What was your favorite Hunter Brown as an Astro moment? I mean, you can put any drafts if you want. Drafts. Please, God, no,

no Astro draft pick signs of the Boris agency. These are issues we have. 1028, Matt Thomas Show at Ross. 713-212-5-790. We'll hear from what's happening in the ATL next here on 790. It's 1032. It is a Matt Thomas show with Ross. In one hour from now, we're going to ask

you to give us your gut feelings on sports. That's a prediction segment. And we want you to get those ready, and it'll be an hour for now. If you want to talk to us about anything you want to, and revolving around the Home Run Derby from last night, the game tonight. And really, why don't we do this, Ross? Why don't we put the BS meter out there at 1 to 5 with these sound bites, if it's even working?

Five being complete BS, one being pretty much, truthful and honest. How about that? Sure. Now, just because we call BS on something we hear doesn't mean they're bad people. It just means that the situation presented itself to be not overly forthcoming and honest. Would that be, is that okay? If you're saying a high-powered sports agent wouldn't be completely honest with the public? Or for that matter, a player or a politician or anybody.

I mean, again, the average person lies four times a day. If you're not lying, you're not living your best life. What? Being completely honest can hurt you. The truth will set you free, Matt. No. Lying sometimes feels easy is a lot easier. Is this what you told your children when they were young?

Now, listen to me. My wife just left the room, okay? Oh, my God. I love for... What's your wife and kids want to hear from you? I'm sitting in this clip. No, you're... Okay, you know what? Forget what I said.

I'll tell you. Okay, you know what I'm saying. Lying is okay. general deceit is not okay. All right. Lies are okay. As long as they're not hurtful. You say when you catch your kids sneaking out of the house,

does that what they say? No, but I'm saying like if this dress made me look fat, what are you going to say? You're going to lie? You're going to tell the truth. You're going to lie. No, what you say is you want the husband answer or do you want my answer? You say, no, your fatness makes you look fat.

For instance, Joceth, you tell your girl, hey, putting five things of ranch dressing on the salad, That's turn on normal. Maybe I love you. No, he doesn't tell her it's normal. There's no way. No, I'll be honest. I'll be sure.

That's disgusting. You guys are doing this. See? Okay. So you see what I'm saying? No. You telling her the truth makes her mad at you. You saying it's perfectly normal to put five range dressings on your salad.

It's going to probably help you out, even though it's complete bold-faced lying. You know what? I want to disagree with Matt, but he's... I'm 100% right. Lying is okay. It does save me. Meaning is not okay. Lying is okay.

There's a difference. Now, I feel like the lying goes to scale, though. I feel like there's one of ten lies. Like, you know, like... Can we play this Scott Boris soundbites? Play, here, here. Speaking of lying, here comes from Scott Boris. Take it away, Ross.

Yes, here's Scott Boris. Pretty funny. He thinks it's a pretty smart idea to add Jeremy Pena as a client. Leadership and, you know, in the Houston system, and being around Bregman and Correa, you know, Tucker, all that group to play in a World Series, your rookie year. They have that kind of experience. And then you have the adaptability to the league.

And what Jeremy's done is that he's taken a swing modification, his execution. Really, so he's learned how to optimize himself in the game. And we're starting to see that player. now take fold. And so obviously a lot about where Houston's at in this game is because of Jeremy's, you know, elevation in both leadership and skill. And that's nice to see. Okay.

The B.S. scale is zero because that was all the truth there. Mm-hmm. But I'm always looking for the inside the quote or inside the number, so to speak. Uh-huh. Houston's moving up is because of, quote, unquote, my client, swing change and approach and change, and now you're going to pay him for it eventually. Let's go.

He mentioned a lot of players that left, by the way. He's like, yeah, he's learning from Correa, Bregman. You know these guys that you didn't sign Astros? Okay, Ross, I'm going to lay it out right now. If you were a betting man and I gave you Pena stays in a plus 150 and he leaves at a minus 175. What are you taking?

Minus 175 for Pena to leave? Hold on. I'm calling my bank. Maybe I should go a little higher. I got approved. Uh, yeah. I just put down everything I own. That's value I can't pass up, Matthew.

Okay. I think because of his age as well, he's got a few years left. He's 27, so he'll be probably 30-ish before he hits free agency if they don't lock him up now. And, I mean, it could happen. But I just, based on the history, I would be surprised. Based on the agent that he signed, I would be a little bit surprised. but it could get done because he does have a couple years left. What is it?

The next year and the year after? Yes. Just throwing it out there. All right. Continue on. All right. Scott Morris. Some more from All-Star Weekend to thanks to Dan Matthews. Well, re-uping Pena, he says that's up to the Houston Astros.

I just leave those discussions to them and let them know that we certainly listen to anything they have to say and we deliver it to Jeremy and he's the decision maker and he decides what's good or how he wants to evaluate and what his intentions are going forward so we're always open

to that. All right, that's five on the BS meter right there. If the BS meter had an alarm system it'd be going off. Five out of five? Five? Six out of five. I didn't know what the scale was. Yeah, six out of five. Seven out of five.

Oh, it's the scale has broken. We leave it up to the player. Well, of course you do. We leave it. No, they do leave it up to them. They want to meet our numbers, then that's cool. If they don't, we're going to move on. I'm going to find you somebody that's going to meet our numbers, and you're going to thank me later.

Yeah. Jeremy, I hope you enjoy San Francisco in April. Or wherever you're going to go. I would also guess that he's not under, like, you know, he's not under severe, familial, you know, financial stress. His father played Major League Baseball. And I think that can factor in for some players who want to take the money early on as well. So I just, my gut feeling is that Jeremy Pena is going to hit free agency.

All right. Continue on. All right. Also, a key client that Scott Boris has would be one Hunter Brown. Here's what he had to say. Well, Hunter Brown is, of course, a special talent. Hunter is a true number one ability. You know, I like players like Hunter that, like Scoobel, they came unexpectedly in a system. They weren't high draft picks.

And to their favor, they've learned so much. And they had to learn to be who they are. Their arm strength is, you know, his arm strength is, elite and his discipline for conditioning, studying, all those things are what you see in number ones. So he has the, he really has the ability and also the character

to be someone that's very special in this game for a long time. Oh, he's done. Terrick Scoople. He used the holy name of Scoobel. He's like, he's going to bring it for a long time. Long time, Scottie B says. We're screwed. We're screwed.

Oh, man. That's great. No, it's not great. It's terrible. Well, talk to your boy, Jimmy C. He can cut the check and he doesn't want to. He's about to,

he's in a lawsuit with Dr. McClain. I'll be able to grab him after the lawsuits all set. He is still? They're going back to court. Oh, my gosh. Sorry about it today, yeah. I miss that.

I was all over the whole TV network thing and everything. So it is what it is. You left us out in the lurch, this TV network. Well, so our advice to you, Ted 42 on July the 15th, I would make sure that you would not buy a plethora of brown and pain your jersey. Buy one to enjoy for the next couple of years. I'm when it wears out and it's been washed a bunch of times and the letter starts to fall off, it'll be no great loss.

Who is, if you're looking to invest in an Astro's jersey, who is the safest to buy? That has to be, it's on the current roster right now? Yeah, I would say, and like not counting El Tuva. El Tuva you can wear until you can wear that to your grave. I would probably go,

would Bryce Matthews be on the top of that list? Not the first two games, notwithstanding. Work in progress. Work in progress. How about this kid of the, they drafted the other day from the Pacific Northwest? Oh, Xavier Nions or whatever his name is?

Xavier Nions. They just drafted the guy. There's no guarantee if first-round picks even going to make the majors. Well, I'm just saying. Hector Nairis keeps coming back. I mean, to get that one. Jet Lowry, he's due for one more comeback. I think so.

Cam Smith. It's got to be. Oh, that's easy. Got to be Cam Smith. If you're going to buy an Asterisk jersey, I would not buy a Zach Shirt. one, I wouldn't buy that, no. Taylor Tremel, you may have been able to get good value on, but again,

you're not going to wear it a whole lot. You can get that at Fan Fest in a year or two. Yeah. For a discount. Okay, Cam Smith is one. Bryce Matthews, two. Spencer Arrogatti, three. Javier's locked up for a while, right? Yeah, we've got to get him back out there. You can't wear a jersey.

Guys are not pitching. Jake Myers is actually under control for a couple more years. Oh, Jake Myers wouldn't. Jake Myers seems like a guy he would take the nice offer because he's very, unless he's mad at the medical staff. I mean, that's the only thing would be the issue. He rushed him back from a shoulder and a calf.

Why don't you sign here? Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. My body twice. Allegedly. Allegedly. And it's only once.

1044 on Sports Talk 790. Some news out of Las Vegas yesterday that got the world going crazy. Had to get curtailed a little bit. We'll tell you what that is in a moment. 713, 212-5-7-9. If you want to join us, 7-13-21-21-2-5-7-0. Gut feelings at 1130 here on Sports Talk 790.

1049. Matt and Ross with you on Sports Talk 790. I can tell you that a couple of days ago, Ross and I were bringing up something. I don't know what the conversation was. We brought up the game of Uno. Do you remember why we brought that up a couple days ago? Oh, we were talking about House Rules. We were talking about Italian rules.

right in the table right come on man let him set up the topic Jonathan Jonathan that's on me I did no that's like

I come that's on me completely like that's that I can't even I have no excuse I know that I knew that too John

and then I'm letting him set it up that's completely my bad all right everybody forget what Jonathan just said as I lead into this topic no we were talking about it at Talier Brewing because we were talking about

house rules. Oh, about whether you have to say Uno when you have one card left and you have say Uno when you have zero cards left. Thanks, Jonathan, for fast forwarding the story which we're going to probably do during the segment. We're going to do it anyway. So apparently there's a bunch of... Is there any movies you want to spoil for us

while we're here, Jonathan? Yeah, I want you to tell the whole audience how Superman ended. Okay? Go ahead and you knock that out. We love you, Jonathan. We're just kidding. We love you. That's great. No, no. I love that year. So there are Uno Club rooms opening up sports RV. No. Yep.

They were going to put one at the Palms Casino Resort. Very much like a poker room. You would ante up to play Uno. And if you want Uno, you would be playing against the house. You'd be playing against people that would be playing Uno with you. That feels stupid. And that's fine. But, you know, again, you're always trying to reinvent yourself.

So the palms made this big deal out of it saying, hey, we're going to build an Uno room, we're going to put it on the casino floor, and then they had to kind of take a backtrack on that and say, hey, we're not going to do it just yet because casino security is not ready for it. But apparently these Uno clubs are popping up everywhere, and I did not even know this. Me either. You can play Uno, apparently in bars, in large. Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, and they're going to Austin this August. When is, I just don't get it?

So, do you know that Uno had a Facebook page? I mean, a game that has been around for 50 years. Yeah, why wouldn't they have a Facebook page? Everything's got a Facebook page. It wrote a letter to you, a card game wrote to you and said, hey, Uno fans, a rumor has come to our attention that there will be Uno tables at the casino floors in Las Vegas. Sounds wild, huh? We hate to be the bearer of it.

bad news, but the casino floor isn't ready for us yet. We've been told that while we do have tight, they do have tight security, it's not robust enough for Uno at this time. This isn't a reverse card. What a plan on words there. While we get this sorted out, the Uno Social Club is rolling out to bars in L.A., New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and August, in Austin this August. Stay Wild, sign the Uno team.

I mean, I've done some Kino in Vegas before. I've done the, what is it where you put money on a number and the big, the wheel spins one time and if it lands you went on that. I've done a little bit of roulette. This is different than roulette. I know. I'm messing with you. The dollar bills everywhere.

I don't know what is that game called? It's roulette with dollars instead of numbers. Yeah. But generally speaking, I am 95% blackjack and 5% craps. Okay. Apparently it's just called the big six wheel or the money wheel. I don't know if I'm going to run to Vegas. Hey, let's go hang out you, me, your brother, my family, I'll bring the boys.

And we've got to find an uno table while we're there. Now, how are they making money off of this if we're all playing each other? Now, poker, they rake. Let's say you put $100 in a pot. Well, different casinos will cap it at $4 or $5 or whatever. So they're making $4.5 a hand. You play about $20, $25 a hand. Every table they're running is making them about $100 an hour.

I would say that's what my guess is an ante to play per hand, would be my guess. Why would I want to play Uno with a bunch of strangers and lose money and put an anti up in a game that is, it's not 100% skill, but it's like, I could lose to an 8-year-old and Uno. It's like 98%, 99% scale. And someone can sabotage you. I mean, no, luck, luck. You sabotage? Oh. You can't think about it.

You kill collude. Yeah, because Matt could get mad. He's losing and just give you like two plus fours and you lose two. And then they don't win the money. No, what he didn't have any. I'm saying in instance, like if Matt is up to lose and he knows you right next to he's not going to save you so you get the money, right? Yeah, you're right, Matt's not going to save me. Yeah, I'm just, I'm just feeling like that's not something I would play.

Yeah, I don't know. You play war in Vegas. The hell I'm playing war in Vegas. I played war one time. I was at the Mandalay Bay. We were there a little early before the Lion King show started. I had like 20 minutes to kill. And I put down $100.

I lost it in five hands. said, I'm never playing this again. I lost every single hand. It's like, I'm never playing war against. Would you play Go Fish in Vegas with an ante? I don't even remember how to play Go Fish. You got any fives? Go fish.

And then what? Yeah, you get your pairs in the game. You try to get rid of all your cards through pairs. Yeah. Win the game. All right. I'm just throwing it out there that the Uno hysteria for playing Uno in Las Vegas has to be slowed down just a little bit.

I didn't realize there was a hysteria to begin with, but it was quite the race. on the on the on the on the on the Vegas streets if you will apparently it is speaking to the Vegas streets David Aldridge reporting today the NBA board of governors will meet in Las Vegas expansion will be among the discussion agendas on the item uh items on the agenda the league's new media rights deal Ross may be slowing momentum to add two new teams uh-oh that you know what they're saying what are they saying you don't want to split at 32 ways we'll split 30 ways.

Of course. Now, the only way that would change is if you got the two new cities for expansion teams to pay outrageously high expansion fees to cover up the loss, or maybe you would tell the two new teams, you can't jump into the TV rights pie until you're five years in the league. I mean, there's always ways around things like that. Uh-huh. Got to keep your money. The only way, yeah, the only way I could see two teams going in has always been, hey, there's

more money for you. But maybe the league would go to the TV partners and say, hey, we need some more money so you can get on in markets like Seattle and Las Vegas. I don't think the, let me tell you, Amazon's probably going, we've already given you enough money. We're not giving you anymore. If you want to make some money out of these expansion teams, you need to charge a hellously high expansion fee.

hell of the WMBA's charging $250 million. What could an NBA team charge for an expansion fee? Yeah, they didn't we, weren't we talking about WNBA expansion fees recently? And it was something. 250? Yeah, okay. And think about this, if you're Seattle,

and you've been dying for the Supersonics ever since they left for Oklahoma City, and you don't get an expansion team this go-around, do you basically tell the NBA to shut their bum ass up and just move on? No, they've been. saying that for 30 years, or not 30, but you know what I'm saying, 20 or whatever this. Don't you get just tired of hoping

and dreaming you're going to get basketball back in your town again? I don't think everybody's losing sleep over it. I don't know. Sonic fan was really pissed off the Thunder won the championship. Well, life is hard. Just like we were mad when the Titans went to the Super Bowl. I was rooting for them.

I can't do that. I know. I was young, and I liked Steve McNair, and I liked Eddie George and Frank Whitechek and Derek Mason and the boys. Blaine Bishop. Now this hurts when you even bring up those names. It's probably shouldn't bring up Jeff Fisher's name. Who I liked, by the way, as a coach. I did very good.

I like Jeff Fisher. All right. We heard from Scott Boris. We're going to hear from some of the players from MLB Media Day in Atlanta yesterday. Our Dan Matthews, again, a guy is putting in 80 hours. work ross and will only get paid for approximately twenty-nine and a half we appreciate his grind i respect the grind of a dan matthews

we respect the grime way more important than our grime our grind 713-212 570 we got gut feelings coming up we'll hear from bregman and brown and pain anybody else involving and even Kyle Tucker had a couple of things to say we'll get to him next 713

212-5790 that 713 212 5790 110 This is our number two. Well, Matt Thomas Show with Ross, nice to have all of you with us with Sports RV. Jonathan, our producer. I'm Matt, and we look forward to having you with us all the way until 2 o'clock this afternoon.

It's 713-212-5-790. That's 7-13-212-5-7-90. Open lines are available. We'll get to gut feelings at the bottom of the hour. Remember, if Brad calls, we won't take his call as long as there are people. in front of him. But if he's only one that calls, then he's going to have to go on. So you have to understand these things.

713, 5-7-1-2-5-790, 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Ross, the win-totals for Major League Baseball are out for the second half of the season. Do you know what the Astros win total was before the start of the 2025 regular season? 86.5?

86 and a half is correct. Yes. Would would you like to know what the current number would be in the 2025 season. 92. 2.5. Okay, you must have seen the email. I have not.

Jonathan sees me on camera. I'm not looking at anything. Yes. All right. He's clear. He's clear. Would you like even better news? Yes. The Seattle

Mariners, a just and win total for the second half, is um, 80. What was it previously? 79.5. 85.5. 86.5. Which means the Astros, according to Vegas,

if you so believe if you're putting two and two together, the Astros will win the America League West by six games. Okay. I'm in. The Yankees win total. You've already put your name on it, by the way. They are division champs. I did.

Yankees win total went up three. from 88 and a half to 91.5. The Detroit Tigers went from 83.5 win total to 96.5. That's a 13 game difference. And there's nobody else. So what Vegas is believing, and again, it's only one thing, but Vegas believes the Houston Astros will be the number two seed in the American League playoffs.

I would take it right now. Let's go. I'm in. Top two. That's the goal, right? second half goal. Well, get healthy is one. And the other one is, pray. Get healthy? Did the first part work?

Yeah, I think if one will lead to two, Matt. It's like the dominoes falling in the place. Okay. By the way, we will have on tomorrow's show. I gave Ross some homework. Oh, yeah. Well, I knew you were going to do it today. I'm ready.

No, you're not. tomorrow on the radio show. I didn't respond to this. Sorry. Let me give it a heart. We're not going to get an intense breakdown of the All-Star game. Just a hunch. Tomorrow on the show, we're going to do, or do you want to do it Thursday. Should I give you a couple days of work on this? Yeah, we can talk about, we'll talk about ABS for four hours tomorrow.

Oh, let's do Thursday then. On Thursday's show, Specialist Radio topic. Ross and I will come together of a list of 10 athletes, not coaches, not general managers, not owners, athletes that play for the Texans, the Rockets, the Astros, I'll include the Cougars. Ross, there might be a Rice Owl. I don't know if there's one of the mix on that.

No. But I figured the three professional sports teams and the Cougars, who have to be the 10 most important players, the second half of the 2025 calendar. Okay. I think it would be good. We'll do that on Thursday.

So if it's an NBA player, it wouldn't really matter because we're going to 2025 calendar. Yeah, I mean, you can you can slice it dice any way you want to. Okay. But I'm assuming if you're going to put a rocket on there, which are going to be some rockets,

I would presume you'd think the entire season. Okay. I'm just asking for, Now, if you're putting an Astor on there, you're talking about the rest of this season. If you're putting a Texan on the list, which I'm sure you're going to do that as well, you're talking about the entire 25. So I would say the upcoming seasons for the professional teams, and the same thing for the Cougars. So that'll be on Thursday's radio show here on Sports Talk Summit. The two need to be the top 10 players to compete and help their team.

It could be intangibles. It could be leadership. It could be performance. it could be health, it could be a variety of things. And we'll do that on Thursday. All right, let's get to Rossi. What Kyle Tucker have to say about his time wearing a Chicago Cub uniform at tonight's All-Star?

Well, you know, Matt, he's so very articulate and talkative is Kyle Tucker. I mean, he just talks more than anyone. Here's what he had to say about the trade not being much as a surprise. You never know how things are going to go in this kind of business. side of baseball. But obviously, I think I landed with a really good team and organization. We've had a phenomenal first half, so looking to continue to do the same in the second. Thanks, Kyle. Appreciate you, Kyle. Well, it says trade wasn't much of surprise. That is how it's labeled.

He didn't really say that, but I imagine he, he... So who's, is that a Gordy slug? That. What? I appreciate all the hard work Chris Gordy does for this station. Thank you, Chris Gordy for your service. Thank you, Chris. He's terrible slugger, but it's still a great employee.

Great, number one, team sports talk 790. Chris Gordy, please don't leave. Don't under any circumstance. Don't let Matt bully you out of here. I'm not bullying him in it. I want to understand where he is. You bullied people for years. Continue.

Also, Kyle Tucker is not shocked that the Astros continue to win. I mean, they've got good players, and I think a lot of guys have stepped up and, you know, contributed in their own way to help them win games. I mean, pitching staff and, you know, a few guys on position player's side, you know, kind of got injured and been out for a little while, but they've continued to play well. Obviously, they're doing something right over there. Okay.

He's like, yeah, they don't need me. Well, I'm going to get paid, so it's all good. Yeah, I sure is hell don't need you because I need to get paid, and I wasn't going to stay. Third bite from Kyle Tucker, does he think he'll get over seven and a half years on his next contract. Okay, maybe we don't have that. What is our bet on that?

Is that fast casual? Oh, no, sir. Oh, it's Habachi. You upgraded it. You requested the upgrade to Habachi. He's going to run your bill. Because after Alex Breitman was getting no market, you wanted to upgrade. All right, we have to make one small adjustment.

What? You're not getting fried rice. You're going to get the white rice. No. I'm getting fired. I'll pay the $4, cheap. No, no, no. Jeez.

I got you, Ross, over here. I got you. We're upgrading. to Malay-Fignon. No, or not, you're getting relaps. Oh, sir. I'll think of some scowl. Oh, okay.

Ribby and scallops? I'm in. You're getting bocchi chicken is what you're getting. No, no, sir. In a child's menu. No, sir. Let me tell you the child's portions that a botchy girl are just fine.

I'm sure they are, but they ain't for me. Actually, man, I'm going, I'm going Ryan Holland style on you. I'm getting two hundred. Oh, no, double soup, double rice. Oh, Lord. It's going to cost me $100 just for your plate. By the way, I did a little scouting on our barbecue place for going to on Thursday. It's not expensive.

Two meat plates, like 20 bucks. I can live with that. Yeah, it's not bad. And we're getting a three meat plate, though. And we're going to share a beef rib, Jonathan, because grown-ass men can share ribs. Yeah, it's two and a half pounds. I'm so glad y'all can share a nice, big beef rib. You know, I hope you'll have, you know.

I hope that's a delicious for you guys. You're going to be jelly. All right, Ross, what did Mr. Bregman have to say yesterday, too? I don't know. I want to talk more about this. I think we should, there's going to be three of us. I think we should share two,

three meat plates. What do you think? That's fine. We'll do it. Whatever. That's my plan. Anyways, how I was going to get to the...

Yeah, I was going to get to the... This is like some of the best brisket on the planet. You were so weird. I'll have some of it. I'm not saying... We're going to kick you out of Texas of what we're going to do. I don't want a blanket.

I want some variety. I want ribs, sausage, little turkey. I'm good. No, you would rather have barbecue turkey than barbecue barbecue brisket. I'd rather have C sausage or D ribs You want to see some sausage

And D ribs Let me tell you I want to gna a rib and we'll be just fine All right Alex, Brangman When we come back Oh yeah when we come back Look at this breaking on time Because Alex

You know I'm trying to be better about that I appreciate you You are getting back on that Alex is always going to say the right things And I'm sure he's very complimentary towards what's happening with the Astros. And he's got to be very complimentary of the fact that Raphael Devers is a San Francisco giant, and the Red Sox are

facing a lot of pressure to pay some people in the off season. 7-13-212-5-790. 7-1-3-21-2-5-7-90. I miss Reggie. He was awesome. Had fun, interesting things to say. Having a great season with the Red Sox. Would he have duplicated that here?

Don't know. Now, the loss of him has been similar a little bit because of the fact that Esock Preddies has been so good this year, not only with his bat, but his defensive work has been phenomenal. He will not be a part of all-star festivities today, even though he got called up late to do that because of some family issues. But Bregman's still wearing a Red Sox jersey after being a huge part of what this team has been the last seven or eight years. It's still to me sports are an adjustment. Yeah, I can. agree with that. It's, uh, we, we like

Eastak Parade is what he's doing, but Alex Bregman will, he will always be an Asher, and we'll welcome him back with open arms when he puts on his orange jacket to get into the Astros Hall of Fame. Do you think he gets a bigger, now, not that anybody happened to catch the meters of applause, but will he get the biggest applause of anybody that's come back before? I would think so. There was sectors of the fan base that were like, oh, he's money hungry. They, they gave him a

offer and he didn't want to accept it. What was it? 618 or not even 618. It was 1.6156 or something like that, whatever it was? That was Detroit's offer that he turned down. And what was the Astros? 6150? Somewhere, yeah, it was about $6 million difference, yeah. Somewhere in that range. I can't recall. I mean, of the players that left, I don't think George Springer ever wanted to come back.

I think Kyle Tucker wasn't going to even listen to an offer. No. Carlos would have probably stayed if the money was really, really good, but it wasn't. I think he had his eyes on being Yankee since he got here. Yeah, I mean. Now he's in Minneapolis. Aren't they all money hungry at the end of the day? Aren't we all money hungry at the end of the day?

I think Carlos, remember he like hired some media company to represent him as well? I think he had ideas of being a multimedia star. It wasn't his wife a huge driving force behind that too? Maybe. And Daniela? Yeah, all right. So let's go to Bregman and see what he had to say. This was an Atlanta.

Yes, Alex Bregman. Well, talking about the offseason, says he didn't rule out the Astros return even after the Kyle Tucker slash ESOC Piraeus trade. I didn't really know I didn't really know what was really going to happen during free agency but I feel like

yeah until until the end he thought he was going to come back man on the BS meter that's a 5 out of 5 right I keep forgetting how big this year yeah 5 out of 5 that's right yeah it's a 5 out of 5

I mean love your Braggs but come on he knew he knew that's okay he's in a good spot in Boston making 40 mil he'll opt out and get a big deal or at least that's what he wants we'll see if it happens

mark it wasn't where he thought it was last offseason i wonder if it will be this upcoming offseason the only thing i can think against it would be is he's a year older i mean you know the clock always wins the father time always wins the crown jewel of the uh of the free agent class is kyle tucker right now with uh vlad grero signed the long-term deal with toronto I'm trying to think of anybody else that's right on the, yeah, I would think Kyle Tucker is free agent one. And I'm sure there'll be a list that will come out closer to the end of the season, but yeah, he's got to be the number one guy I thought of,

especially if the Cubs win the Central and they're making the playoffs and he has a good postseason. Oh, he'll do quite well. Hopefully it'll be in the seven-year range. Yeah, I'm pulling up this article from MLB.com from, well, it's from a few months ago, but they say they have Jim of the Class Kyle Tucker. And then Dylan C. Z. Zach Gowan, Framber Valdez, of course.

Oh, Framber might be, if Framber finishes with, can he get the 15 wins? He's at 10. Oh, yeah. If he gets the 15, he's going to be in a really good spot to be maybe the number one pitcher. Yeah, I would think so. Dylan C's is having a really good season. It is a little weird yesterday, so Dan Matthews out from our staff is in Atlanta, and he's running through all these players he's talking to him, like, gone, gone, gone, gone.

I mean, and the Astros still keep winning. It's crazy. It is. At some point, you're going to have to feel the brunt of losing these players. Wait, I lie. Dillon Cis isn't having that great of a season. I was getting, I think I got him confused with, for some reason I always get him confused with Carlos Ordon.

As most people do. I don't know why. All right, anything else from Bregman before we move along? Sure. Alex Bregman? He's happy for Hunter Brown's success. Of course, we know the story between them, too, those two with him telling him to add the sinker,

and he's been pretty good ever since. It's awesome. Hunter's a great friend of mine, obviously, incredible competitor on the mountain. Having a heck of a year, he's in the Cy Young race. And it's fun to watch him pitch, and fun to see him do so well. Yeah, I love being his teammate, and always rooting for him.

So nice. B.S. Meeter, zero. It's the truth. Yeah. He did the truth. We also have Hunter Brown talking about Breggman's advice. If you'd like that, Matthew. Let's go. He definitely helped. You know, I still had to throw the ball over the plate. But, yeah, Breggie's man, you know, it meant a lot that he's a guy that with all the things that he's done, you know,

it takes time to care about his teammates and try and help you out. Is that Hunter trying to take a little? He's probably like, all right, yeah, guys, let's not talking about this. like I have to throw the ball over the plate. There's a little bit of that Hunter Brown red ass at the beginning there, Matthew? He definitely helped. You know, I still had to throw the ball over the plate. But, yeah, Reggie's man.

You know, what he's saying is enough's enough. Yeah. I mean, guys, he helped me out. I'm throwing strikes. It's my arm that I'm worrying about Tommy John, not Alex Brighman's arm. I don't think it was meant to be. red ass, but it certainly came across his red ass. He was, it was polite red ass.

Yeah. It's like when people call and say, hey, man, Matt Thomas show Ross is really great. Ross has a nice dynamic. You guys, I'm like, yeah, that's fine, but I still have to do the show every day too. You know what I mean? I don't need, I don't, I don't, we, you only want to give so many compliments. You're right. Like when people

say Ross makes the show, I mean, that's just, that's rude. That's not true, you know? Yeah. It's overblown. Nobody wants to hear that. When the caller calls and says, you know, Ross, you try hard when Matt's gone and that's nice. Yeah, that's, that's rude too, I guess, but should I not, should I not try hard? I don't know.

I would certainly hope you would continue to work hard, even though. All right. 713, 2,1, 2, 1, 2, 570. 7.1.3, 212570. We need some gut feelings, Ross. We need people to come out with some sports predictions. Whether it be about the All-Star game, whether it be about the asterous second half of the season, whether it be about, let's see, how old.

hurt the thumb is of Kevin Durant. Sounds like nothing's too bad on that. And we'll get to all your predictions if you want. Remember, if our buddy Brad calls, we will take his phone call. But he doesn't get on until everybody else gets through. So if you would like to avoid Brad under all circumstances, 713212-5-790, 7-1-3-212-5-790, it is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross here on Sports Talk 790

and gut feelings is next. Listen up, girls and boys. This has been so appealing. Because Ross and Matt Thomas. Yo, they got a good feeling. This is their gut feeling on the Matt Thomas show. 713-212-5-790. If you want to jump in and get your gut feelings in,

7-1-3-212-5-7-90, 7-1-2-2-5-7-90, your gut feelings are coming up after Ross tells us we did last week on gut feelings. Well, I'm glad you asked, Matt, and I certainly am not stalling while having internet issues. That's the music, by the way. I don't hear the music. What happened to music? I hear it. It's just when you're on remote.

It's a little lower. It's harder to hear. Studio headphones are a little bit better. Okay. Now I'm ready. Wow, you had a bevy of gut feelings last week, Matt. How did I do? I don't remember one of that.

You have Jordan Alvarez back by. September 1st. Yeah, that feels like a little hanging fruit on that one. You have Jeremy Pinyan not playing in the All-Star game, but Frumber will. L. You said Frumber and Hunter and Hater will all throw in the All-Star game. L. L. L. probably Hater will throw.

No? I bet not either. I don't think we're going to see any Astros at all. That's okay, Matt. I'm embarrassed by how bad those are And then you had You had Janice opening the season as a Milwaukee buck Still feel good about that

I had Hunter Brown with the As we recall The quality start plus Six innings of one run ball I think it was it Five innings of five run ball or something like that I mean, we didn't make light of it because we don't do that here on the show. Oh, whatever. That's fine.

I'll be while I'm watching. Don't you worry. Revenge is a dish best serve cold. Mm-hmm. I said Cam Whitmore will never be an NBA star. Okay. TBD on that. And I said by the end of the year, the Texans offensive line will rank 25th or better. Via pro football focus, who has them 32nd right now.

All right, so hold on to that. I will. You remember Jonathan's right? Cooper Hummel. Three hits. He had three strikeouts. That's something. Has he had a hit since that prediction?

I don't know that he has. It's all Matt. Yeah, that's true. I just made a point that you took a 145 career hitter and made him a three-hit star. Hey, he's hit 183 this year for the Astros. Anyways. He was hitting zero for the Baltimore Orioles.

Let's see. I'm trying to pull up his game logs. No, he doesn't have a hit since Tuesday. Oh. If there's every such a thing as a curse, Jonathan Allen, you just gave him one. He's 0 for 13 with 10. Oh, my God.

Tend's tracking. counts. Over 13 with 10 struckouts. All right. All right. Here we got. I'm ready. I got two gut feelings. One basketball, one baseball. Okay, great.

Number one, Bryce Matthews gets his first major league hit this weekend in Seattle. Okay. I would hope he did. Does? Well, I mean, they're going to Arizona after that. It'd be a little easier to get it in Arizona than they would be and get it in Seattle. I don't know. Who knows?

But, I mean, there's no guarantees. a whole lot. That's true. I mean, I would hope you're right. I'm just going to put it that way. All right, I'm going with Bryce Matthews base hit in Seattle of some sort. All right. Number two,

I alluded to this at the very last portion of the 10 o'clock hour. I think we're going to skip expansion for a while in the NBA, and I never thought that was ever going to be a possibility. I think there's enough people and enough of the rich owners that do not want to split this new television deal up

no matter what the expansion fee is. They're going to be set to make billions of dollars on this new TV deal, and they don't want to share it. So they're not going to. The easiest way not to share it is not to expand. So I'm sorry Seattle in Las Vegas. I think you were supposed to get a team under most circumstances you were going to. But this TV deal is making a lot of people really, really rich, and they do not want to share set excitement of that money. So thus, the NBA, I think, stays at 30 teams.

Does an expansion overall, I guess maybe long-term make the value of the league go higher? I thought, because I thought the story a while ago was Adam Silver saying the owners do want expansion. I don't know, because if you get footprints in Seattle and Las Vegas, and I don't know. I mean, I don't know how all the economics have it worked. Well, unless there is a kicker to say if ratings go up to a certain level, we give you more money. I have not heard that. It doesn't mean that can't be part of the deal. But my guess is this money has been allocated by these networks

and that it's been segued properly year after year after year for each of the next 10 years. My thought is probably there isn't a whole lot of maneuverability or if you exceed our expectations, we're going to give you more money. Okay. So, I mean, again, all is it got feeling to me. Okay. Continue. What do you got?

National League Comfortably beats the American League. They're both at a minus 110. Yeah, I'll say comfortably. A non-save situation. How about that? What is that again?

Non-save situation. Comfortably. So three runs or more? National League? That lineup is nasty. Wow. I didn't realize you at such a lot. By the way,

how long are... Kyle Tucker is batting 7th for the national league today. Yeah. Exactly. I saw that on Twitter. That's why I'm making this gut feeling. Now, of course, how long are those guys

going to be in? Who knows? That's right. I'm going to flip it around on you. Okay. We're going to extras tonight. Oh, stop. Yep. Okay.

You hurt me. Okay. Anything else from you? I'm trying to think. of an ABS related one. Can I just say it's everything is going to go smoothly and everyone's going to love it? That's what I said yesterday during

Tell the Truth. And people love it. I think it'll be there in 2026 as well. I think you're right. Some late breaking news, Texas has landed the number one linebacker in the country. Your thoughts, Matt? Some kid some kid named Tudor Ackinson

from Georgia. Loganville, Georgia. Loganville, Georgia. He chose the Longhorns over Georgia, among others. He's the highest rated linebacker prospect. Texas has landed in this deep Syracusean area. And apparently my guess is he's going to be making

$6, 7 million dollars. Good for him. Knock it out. Yeah, I mean, I ain't mad at it. By the way, did you see that the clearinghouse started rejecting a bunch of NIL deals? And you who got mad about that? Who? The power four schools. Texas Tech. Yeah. They're like, wait a bit. You're telling me

we can't do it? That hell we can't. Yeah, it's stupid. It is stupid. How can you arbitrarily make up what the value of players is? Yes. So that's why they're going to say you're going to tell us no, guess what?

We're going to give his uncle $3.9 million. It's going to work out beautifully. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how that goes. Jonathan, what do you got? I got one and one only guttling. Okay. August 27th, the Houston Cougars will lose to the lumberjacks.

That's ridiculous. And I will come on this show and have the greatest time of my life. That's all I have to say, guys. If the SFA Jacks lose, your wife will not, your girlfriend will not have any ranch dressing on any

salads for 45 days. Deal. I would shake your hand. Does she know this yet? Jonathan, don't do this. Don't do this. Jonathan, don't do this. Okay.

Okay, look. Jonathan, SFA's non-conference schedule last year was playing a school that we didn't even know existed out of an office building in Sugarland last year. Remember that, Ross? Like 93 to sick or something like that? Trust me, I know. Jonathan. Oh, so young. We're trying to.

over he says. This is the thing. Matt, you're going to you're going to be dumbfounded when they went and you're going to be on air like Cougar Matt will be no more. Cougar Matt will be no more. Are you losing oxygen in the studio?

Seriously. Are you a little lightheaded right now at this point? Lightheaded and giving you the truth. Exactly. That doesn't make any sense. I like it. You poor, poor stupid kid. Oh, hey.

Come on. I mean, we love you, Jonathan. You've been here a lot longer we thought you were going to be. And for that, we congratulate you. But my God. I might even get tickets and go. Oh, yeah. I will get you tickets.

I want you to be in first-hand when your team gets dropped 59 to 3 or something like that. Oh, my God, please. We did not open to start the season by bringing you in. You're coming to get your ass kicked. I'm just saying. Listen to me, Jacks. Listen to me, SFA Jacks. You know it.

your school knows it your finance department knows it we're paying you to be our bitch for three and a half hours I didn't stutter SFA you're our bitch I'm trying to find a line guys

it's off the board right now of course it is nobody would have their right mind would put together a line by the way Texas three point dogs at Ohio State I'm taking the money line. Longhorns plus the points is my lock at a week.

I'm putting that in my gut feelings. On a recorded line. Longhorns plus three. What's up? All right. I don't know. Longhers money line. Oh, geez.

Bill, what is in your gut? I'm afraid to even ask. Man, I have a gut feeling that Joe Biden, I mean, Evan Hayes would not be around, but Houston Coole radio. That dude, the only thing, He said all day is, yep. Wow.

Yep. Wow. I'm like, dude, take something else. That's my guy. That's my guy. If he'll be alone. See, get out of here. I'm not letting it go on.

I am friends with one of the 75 greatest players in the history of the NBA. And Elijah Wong calls me voice, and he's also a top 75. Now, Clyde doesn't know my name, but that's fine. No, actually, I think Clyde does know my name. Rossi, I got three of the top 75 players in the history of the NBA that know my name. and you will not besmirch any of them on this radio show for any circumstance. Well, maybe you won't, but I will. Elvin Hayes is horrible on the color for the University of Use of Gookers.

I mean, I'm sorry. It is what it is. Gut feelings continue. 713212-5-790. Gut feelings continue here on Sports Talk 790 with the news of noon coming up. No show is spotted this week because he's getting some rest. Good for him. We'll have NFL rewind at 120. We have a list the NFL put out, Ross, that Texans fans are not going to like.

We'll talk about that at 1220 today. Okay. Have the Texans fan liked any offseason lists that have come out? Yeah, the offensive line apparently sucks. This list we're going to talk about at 1220 is not very good. And we have an Astros all-time team. We'll discuss at 1230. I got some beef with that list.

Okay. We got a lot of list to get to today. It's all this week here. Let's go, baby. On the Matt Thomas show with Ross. All right, listen to me very carefully. We have one caller in front of Brad. Oh, please call him.

After that, we're talking to Brad. Please, please call him. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Gary in spring. Gary, what's in your gut this week? Hey, guys. My gut's telling me that the people that go to these baseball games,

the Astros, the Dodgers, whoever it may be. I think that my gut tells me that it's probably the parents that work hard and spend hard money on these games, that they'll be the ones that will decide whether they want to do the wave, whether they want their children to do the wave, and I don't think he is going to look in the Matt Thomas feelings of the wave book to decide whether they should do the wave or not. So just leave it up to the parents and let it go.

Probably should have taken Brad before that, huh? I mean, honestly. Man, he gave you a shut your old bum ass up on a Tuesday. Aggressive one. Thanks, Gary. Oof. You know what? I'm going to talk to Brad.

Brad, I want to apologize to you. Brad, we should have taken your call before Gary. I apologize for that. What's in your gut this week, Brad? Well, you know what? You should have taken to all your things. I mean, I know there's not that many. Compared to some of these people that want to talk smack on the

line, but never come to your shows. I know. What's up with that? Yeah. What up with that? Anyway, food for thought. Anyway, yeah, I tried to tell you, Cam Whitmore, I'm going opposite of Ross. Unless a defensive-minded coach comes into the Washington Wizards, I think he's going to, like,

blossom. They're going to leave him wide open. He's going to be shooting three-pointers galore. He's going to be hitting 20-point plus per average. until a defensive-minded coach comes in there and puts a halt on him to start learning defense. But if not, he's going to be 20 to 30 points a game. Anyway, that's my one. I also have another one, but you'll never be able to know what happens.

I believe that the second round pick that the Astros didn't get, whoever it would be. And I know the other team is not going to pick a different player. that I'll believe, and I predict, whoever it will be, will have better stats than Walker when he came to the Astros. Not before when he was at the Diamondbacks. And I'm going to go further on Walker. I'm going to say he goes down the same lane that the other first base and went. And next year, if he does his same crap, they put him in the minors,

and then when he fails, they cut him. That's my prediction. Thanks, Brad. That's all we can handle. That's all we can do. That's enough. I don't know how you can write any of that down, but go ahead. I wrote some of it.

I wrote some of it. Now, Bray, you accepted that assignment. Christian Walker won't have to do that. I wonder if he would. Okay, we don't have to want to get there anyways. But there's a difference. He said 20 to 30 points per game. Matt, that's a huge difference.

I said he's not going to be a star player. Jalen Green averaged 21 points per game last year. I don't consider him a star player. Cam Whitmore can average 20 points per game on volume scoring. I just don't think he's going to be like at all. He's not this blossoming star in the waiting. I just don't think so. There are 20 points scores in the NBA that are not stars.

Right. They're just scorers. I mean, and look, I like Jalen Green, but you could probably put Jalen Green in that category. Is Jalen Green a star? No. Jalen Green scores 20 points a game. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

I'm my gut feeling is because he was saying I'm going the opposite of Ross and he's going to average 20 points per game. Well, that's not a star. I'm saying he's not like a future star. Yeah, he's not going to be, when you say a future star to me, that means a perennial all-star team player. Yeah. Or a potential all-pro, six man of the year, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I mean, I go on and on and on that. So whose call was worse? Gary or Brats? I thought Gary was great. Gary made a lot of great. It was not great. Gary made a lot of good points. Would you let the parents decide if they want to do the wave?

That's my gut. What kind of stupid-ass call was that? It's for the children. It's for the children. Let me tell you something, parents. If you are letting your children to the wave, you're not raising them right. I should call Child Protective Services on you. Oh, your children did the wave.

Oh, hell. I don't know. I didn't I raise wave children. None of your children ever once did the wave in an Astros game. They do the wave when Carly's playing volleyball. I'm disgusted by it. Okay. You know what you should do. Why am I changing my accent about 50 times? I don't know how you're talking like this, man. What are old Gary sounds like he's from the heart of base. He's hurt my throat to talk like this. I don't know why we're going sling blade on it, but it's great.

I don't know why we're doing anything. Some calls it a Kaiser blade. I call it a, wait, I calls it a sling. blade. You know, I'm going to sound like the members of the Dukes ahead. Good, good, get, good, get, you. Gary said, shut your bum ass up on a Tuesday. I'm going to tell Gary to shut his bum ass up tomorrow. He was the one, and didn't he call you a fool or something?

You guys, call me a bunch of names of years. You guys kissed and made up, too. Yeah. Now you guys got beef again. I'm done. Gary's tired of your act. You're done kissing the world. Once you're on my S side, you're done.

Oh, you should let the parent. Thanks, Gary. Appreciate the parental 101. commentary from you. Lord. Brian is with us at 1155 on 7.90. Hello, Brian. I apologize.

I did not beat Brad in today. Fellas, how y'all doing? Come on, Brian. Wonderful. All right, let's see. I missed on Tyler Reddick last week out there in Sonoma, California. But congratulations to

Shane Van Gisberg and tying a record for three road course race wins in and I think the Monster Mile up here in Dover, Delaware. Oh, that could be anybody, but I'm going to go with Ty Dillon on this one. Is he just making up, are you just making up names at this point? I haven't heard of these people. Yeah, you are. No, sir. No, sir.

Look it up. Ty Dillon. Thanks for the phone call, Brian. You know what I did during Brian was breaking down the NASCAR weekly? I was looking at Jennifer Love Hewitt on Facebook. Stick. there's nothing wrong with that Matthew just saying

okay how do you feel about grown men being named Ty as compared to a short name for Tyler right indifferent to it I don't have an opinion one way to go well you always have strong opinions on people going by

Jackie or Jack or Matt or Matthew what name is shorter that is worse than when it's longer like I very rarely call my son Cam he's Cameron to me but I people Oh, you do? You don't call him Cam? Occasionally, but not very often. I call him Cam. I call him Cam Sizzle.

I call him a heavy indictment in my checkbook, but that's a different issue for a different time. Think about it. Name a person's name that is better longer than it is shorter. Matthew? Cooper. I don't want to be called Coop. Hell no. Yeah, Tyler instead of Ty. People call me John, but not Jonathan. I don't like that. What about Johnny? You like that? That's the worst. I can't stand that.

Like, it's like a negative connotation. Come on, Johnny. Like, no, no, don't talk about that. Come on a little Johnny. Johnny, a negative connotation. This is how many will say it. All right. So if I'm talking to you, Matt, I'm like, come on, Maddie. Let's go. Like, no. I call him Maddie in a term of endearingment. I'm not going to call you. I don't know. I don't like that.

I'm not offended by Maddie. I'm offended by Matthew. It means I'm being scolded by my mother. That's usually when I call you Matthew. Yes. Matthew. Stop yelling at Gary Matthew. Well, I'm Gary. I have dumbass takes and I called the show once a week. Oh, thanks, Gary. I don't think he said that.

I think he did. That's how I interpreted the phone call. I think Gary was making a lot of good points. I appreciate Gary. Thank you for calling. You know what, Gary, you're always welcome to call the show. Even though you're at your takes rascal ass. Maybe you guys can kiss up and make up. He called in and I'm sorry. I'm trying to remember what was the original thing you all fought about. One of his other dumb stupid takes. It was the, uh, was it a joke with the cross-country club? Was that him? You know what I'm talking about?

No. You don't move that matter when he was like, I saw your wife. You don't start calling you Mr. Buzzkill. Oh, my God. See, guys, I try to help him get their old brains working. Mr. Breaking Segments down before they get started. It was an honest mistake. That was great.

That's what that was. All right. We'll figure it out. The news that news is coming up next. With Ross. 12.5 in H-Town. What's happening in luncht timers? Good afternoon to you. This is our number three of the Matt Thomas show with Ross, and we do this every single day at this time.

We present to you the news at noon. And with that, we present to you the Bryant Gumble of Sports News in Houston, Rossville, or yeah. Yes, Matt. This is why, why does it sound like Kermit doing Bryant Gumble? I don't know. Why is Garrett Cole doing an update? I don't know. I've still got Tommy John.

All right. Let's see. The All-Star break is happening. The Home Run Derby was won by Big Dumper, Cow Rally. Matt, why do they call him Big Dumper? No comment. All right, we'll move on from that

because we got some great audio from Dan Matthews on the morning show, of course, with Sean Salisbury. he was out there at All-Star Week in Atlanta. The boys he and Gordy are out there for SEC Media Days and All-Star Week. Some good audio here. Let's start with what we played earlier. Scott Boris talking about Jeremy Payne being re-upped.

He says it's up to the Astros. I just leave those discussions to them and let them know that we certainly listen to anything they have to say. and we deliver it to Jeremy and he's the decision maker and he decides what's good or how he wants to evaluate and what his intentions are going forward. So we're always open to that.

Believe him or not. It's like, it's up to Jeremy. I'm not worried about it. We're just having some conversations and it's up to the Astros. Lies. Lies, lies. Oh, man, that's pretty funny.

Remember, he's an attorney, so it worked out well for him. He's an agent, yeah. I mean, come on. And you don't, he got a step on a few necks to get rise to the ranks that he has. But anyways, wish. By the way, those of you playing at home, big dump or nickname is because he's got his large rear hand. Okay. He, never mind.

Moving on, were somebody texting you? Or why did you throw that in there? I went and Googled it. Oh, you? Oh, okay. I thought you knew. Well, I mean, I presume, but I just wanted to make sure, you know, AI doesn't lie to me. So AI often lies when I research, believe it or not.

I get misinformation from there constantly. Just saying. Anyways, speaking of Jeremy Pena, he also spoke with Dan Matthews because he was at All-Star Week as well. Here's what he had to say about his overall. all health. I felt good. I felt good. It was a lot better than I expected.

Yeah, I feel like we're taking steps in the right direction. So we'll see. We'll see how it goes. But we're definitely in the right direction. He's stepping in the right direction. August 15th. August 15th? No, before.

Under. August 9th. August 6th. I can't remember what gut feeling was a couple of weeks ago. August 1st. I think I said August 1st. Now, that might be optimistic. We'll see. But it's just the research that I did looking around baseball, Matt.

About four to six weeks for rib injuries. Okay. But also, you do have to add in that he is a shortstop and he's going to be diving around. He has to kind of contort. As Jeff Bagel was pointing on in the broadcast, everybody loved it, Matt. Shortstop's kind of got to contort their bodies and dive around a little bit more than, say, if he were playing, I don't know, first base. By the way, you know how Jeff Bagwell took the heat from TV from Astrofan yesterday and Sunday. Yes.

Apparently ESPN2 had the alternate version of the Home Run Derby on their broadcast. Oh, was it the McAfee version or whatever? It was the McAfee version, and Pat McAfee is getting roasted. Yeah, I didn't watch that. That's... I mean... The kids love Pat McAfee. McAfee is fun on game day, but he doesn't start.

of a whole lot of purpose anywhere else. Why is ESPN shoving the same five people down our throat? Guess what we're going to do? We're not going to watch it. Imagine if we put Adam Clanton on 6-8 of 7 p. on this radio station every single day. Well, this is the deal, Matt. They've laid

everybody off. They got like five employees left. They've got to put them on everything. Okay, so maybe it becomes a client in Radio 790 ultimately. Yeah, for his large salary. Yeah, like sometimes they lay people off and that three-hour show becomes a four-hour show. 7-13-212-5-790.

7-1-3-21-2-5-7-9-0. All right, Matt. Did you see the Twins' fourth round pick? Jason Wrights. What's that? He's big. 6 foot 11, 215 pounds. With a fastball that gets into the upper 90.

if he were to make the majors, he would be the tallest ever in major league history. I'm assuming Rainey Johnson was 610, I'm assuming, right? Yes, but if you're telling me it's the biggest ever, that would be,

I mean, what was Randy Johnson's height? I thought Randy Johnson was 610. This article I have is listing Bailey OBA at 6'9. Yeah, right now Johnson was 6'10. 10 when he played. Yeah, I'm going to go with that. 6-11 throwing mid-n-night. He's a lefty, not throwing mid-90s?

Oh, this says upper 90s. My scouting report from, well, s-i.com. What round was he selected in? The fourth round. So if he's that damn good, why wasn't he selected in rounds one, two, or three? Maybe they're worried about his long-term health. I don't know. Maybe he's not that good. He's 6'11, man. I mean, he would be, what's a nicer way to say freak of nature? an outlier. You know, I feel bad.

I shouldn't say terrible, but I feel bad for some people, most people that are like 6, 10, and above. I've talked to this before. Every time Ryan Hounds and I go out to eat, I've gone out to dinner with Ryan probably 25 times, maybe even more. Every single time,

nobody asks him his name, nobody asks him where he'd like to sit, or what do you want to drink or eat? It's the first question of the mouth is how tall are you? He should just wear a sign. He played in the NBA, made millions of dollars, and now he, I'm sure, slept with thousands of attractive women. Oh, it's horrible.

He's the worst. Do you guys should ask him? I mean when he slept? No. I was saved for his memoir. Got it. Anything else on the news at noon? One more thing.

Victor Wemidiyama, speaking of outliers, has been cleared to return from his blood-caught issues. according to the French newspaper Le Keep He says I am officially cleared to return Victor Wimbunyama So there you go

You did miss the number one headline of the day The most important thing No we talked about Big Dumber The Buccaneers are wearing their retro 1976 jerseys this year For one of their games Oh we got the NFL rewind coming up

Yeah but it's such a good story Can be mentioned once this hour Oh, sir, it's middle of July. We're saving everything we can for the NFL rewind. Speaking of that, NFL has a new list out. They did list radio on ESPN. We can do a list radio here on the Matt Thomas Show at Ross. We'll have it for you next.

It involves the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL. Is C.J. Stroud on that list. We'll discuss it next. 1213 on Sports Talk 790. 1219, Sports Talk 790. It is the official list week in television and radio. although Ross think we've been pretty good. We've handled ourselves pretty well the last day and a half, right?

You're doing great, man. How's beautiful Rhode Island? Can I tell you something? Yes. How about I get us a house up here? You come up here, we do the summer shows up here. Okay. You're paying for this and airfare, yes?

Yeah, I mean, I don't think I don't give you a huge per diem, but I can give you something. I can make it on like 20 bucks a day. not here you can't ooh no romino do do do do do some ramen and chicken brass I'll be a right

that's true it is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to in my entire life my daughter is never going to come home I got one year left with her

and then she's like dad see ya see you later she's gonna be Robert fording me that's rough I'm sorry Matt that would be the last that would be the last one leaving right

well two leave Yeah. Yeah, I'll have, I'll be an empty nester at that point, hopefully. See, I wasn't going to go. I was going to go that far. I said, hopefully, Ross. I was definitely, I said, hopefully. I was trying to backpedal.

But, yeah, if you ever have thought about going somewhere, like, there's parts of the United States I've never been to. I've never been to South Carolina. It's like the Hilton Head area, you know, Charleston. Yes. I've never been even further north here in New England states. I'd like to do that. I'd like to go to like to Montana, Wyoming, that kind of stuff hang out there. That's good.

Just try different places. Yes. But if you have ever thought about the New England area, this Rhode Island, you could make a Rhode Island Boston week trip and have the time of your life. It is unbelievably beautiful. It's 83 degrees here right now. It is un, it's just perfect. Yeah, but how's she going to be doing in December? That's her issue.

She's busy playing volleyball. I don't care. Somertime. up here. All right. So this morning I was having breakfast downstairs here at the hotel, and the list came out of according to executives, coaches, and scouts in the NFL. This is an NFL. This is an NFL.com story. Top 10 quarterbacks are out for the 2025 season. Now this is again, very subjective. These are opinions. None of this is based on facts or stats. It's just off of the ranking, the eye test. Aggregated ratings. Correct.

At number 10, Tampa Bay's Baker Mayfield. Had a good couple of seasons. Number nine, you're defending Super Bowl champion quarterback Jalen Hertz. That today got a lot of people upset on the TV show. People like to hate on Jalen Hertz. Okay, yes, he is on the most talented roster in football, but he's still going to make plays. Yeah, quarterbacks have to make plays. even the two quarterbacks

that get talked about as being not great quarterbacks Brad Johnson had to make place for the bucks to win Trent Dillford That was a lot of pick sixes for Trent Delfour Okay maybe Fred Johnson I'm with you for sure He's actually had a pretty good season People forget

Joe Flacko had to make place for the Ravens When they want to serve out Absolutely You have to have good quarterbacks Number eight Jared golf of the Detroit Lions That feels a little low Jared Goff feels low.

Yes. Well, I think people put them a lot in the same category as Jalen Hertz. One of the greatest offensive lines, a lot of weapons around, and kind of a system guy. But they woke up scoring 45 points a game. That's my point. Number seven. Justin Herbert of the Chargers over Jared Goff.

I could flip-flop those easily. We're talking about the Justin Herbert who threw four picks in the wild card game, correct? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Number six, Matthew Stafford. I could build an argument for golf over Stafford at six and move golf to six. I wouldn't. I think Stafford's the better overall, QB.

Okay. Number five, Jaydon Daniels of the Washington Commanders. That's crazy. High praise for a rookie season. I'm not saying he doesn't belong. But one season, you're putting them ahead of Super Bowl winner, Matt Stafford, Super Bowl winner, Jalen Hertz. Now a team game, of course. But guys who've put in real good seasons multiple times, like Justin Herbert, like, man, I love his talent.

And he could very well merit this consideration, but I'm not going to put him there now. Number four, Lamar Jackson. Ooh, that feels low to me, actually. And again, these are the top 10 NFL question. quarterback's according to NFL.com, according to executives, coaches, and scouts. Number three, Joe Burrow. Let that marinate for a second. Number two, Josh Allen, and number one, Patrick Mahomes.

Who was number 11 on this list? Now, they didn't have a top 11 unless they had a top 10, but they said, next man up or honorable mention it was C.J. Stroud of the Texans at number 11. Okay, so they had him 11th. Yeah. That's good. And then they have Jordan Love down there too.

Yes. I feel like, okay, Mahomes is one and then two, three, four, you can almost put him, you can make an argument for all of them to be number two. You know what, two, three, and four, do you know what two and four have in common? They've not taken their team to the Super Bowl. Even Joe Burrell took the Bengals of Super Bowl. And Joe Burroughs by far had the worst offensive line of those three teams. Yeah, but he also gets the best wide receivers.

Absolutely. I mean, he's chucking it to Jamar Chase and the boys. Yeah. Jane Daniels, to me, is high. Stafford is a little high. Herbert's a little high. Golf's a little low. Hurts a little low.

And Baker Mayfield. I guess the question is Baker Mayfield or C.J. Stride. If you took, if you ran around and found 50 executives, now the answer is what we know the answer. is. The answer is that Baker Mayfield. Is Baker Mayfield legitimately right now as we speak at 1226 on the 15th of July a better NFL quarterback than C.J.

Stroud. If you had to pick one to win a game, who are you going with? I would say, ooh, to win a game? And maybe there's different primers. Baker's had some good offensive coordinators and some good weapons there as well. Still got Mike Evans in the primevis career.

I mean, yeah, Mike Evans, Godwin. Got a good running game. Great uniforms. I don't know if that's helping them on the field, but I get your point. CJ Stroud's going to get there. You can't deny Baker, I mean, making the playoffs. Did CJ Stroud have such a bad season last year that we're sugar-coating some of this? Because how do you drop him from this electrifying, like he was Jane Daniels a whole year ago? We did this last year and we were reviewing some lists and some have him like as high as five. Mm-hmm.

So let's take a look at ourselves. Self-avaluation is important. What dropped him from a top-six quarterback to now being considered the 11th best quarterback? A bad year, more interceptions. I mean, he was so sharp. What was his ratio his first year? It was like 23 to 3 or 23 to 5 or something like that?

But isn't that the offensive? lines fault or are these executives saying that the quarterback's got to handle some of this responsibility? Joe Burroughs had bad offense. He's had bad offensive lines his whole career. Yeah, he went from 23 and 5 to 20 and 12. And we talked

about this last season. There is a lot of history for guys who hit the ground running in their first year starting, Matt Ryan, Dak Prescott, others to where sometimes they are so polished and good there maybe isn't as much room for growth as

think, like they're closer to their ceiling. And that's what we have to figure out with C.J. Stroud. Was his first year, basically him getting pretty close to his ceiling? Because remember, Dak Prescott was like, oh my God, this guy's going to win like three Super Bowls. His first year, they were incredible. Jack Prescott is a scary

yet accurate example. If C.J. Stroud has the same kind of career as Dak Prescott, this team's not going to the Super Bowl. This team is going to spend a lot of money on a quarterback that's not going to live up to it.

I don't think C.J. Shroud of mine making $60 million a year. CJ's not going to mind it. But how many Dallas Cowboy fans are winging out about the amount of money that Doc Prescott is? I'm not trying to will that on to him. I'm saying that I'm just giving you guys a comp. If Dak Prescott was so awesome coming out of his first year and has either maintained or slightly regressed,

and again, a lot of that is because of injuries. injury, you don't want, put it this way. Here's a declarative statement. You want more for C.J. Stroud than a Dack Prescott career, even though the finances have made him one of the richest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. Is that okay with that? You okay with that? Yes.

And right now, I mean, being 11th is really good, but it's way closer than being top five. If the offensive line can be better than 30 seconds. In this defense, you can win. You can make an AFC championship with the 11th best quarterback. If the defense is that good. Oh, they've been plenty. Yeah, Joe Flackle, when was Joe, and I don't mean to keep going to them? That's 2012, I think of, yeah.

I mean, Joe Flackle was never a top 10 quarterback with the Ravens. He had a great postseason. He did throw on a single, I think he threw one interception and threw like 12 or 13 touchdowns. Yeah, you can win with the 11th best. Like, we'll, you know, we'll do this. We'll take a quick break. I want to come back and look at the last 10 super. Super Bowl winners, 10-15 Super Bowl winners.

There's got to be a mid in the group there somewhere. Nick Foles? Yeah, that's a great example. He was great in those playoffs, too. I mean, and C.J. Shrodd can absolutely get hot for several games in a row. He's better than, he's better than Nick Foles. He's better than Joe Flacco. Yeah.

At his best. All right, so we got that to get to. If you want to chew on the fact that C.J. Strata, is this a sign of disrespect? I don't know. This is, again, just. Do I think C.J. Stroud is having a tough time sleeping tonight because he was named the 11th best quarterback? I don't think so. But motivation.

It shows you again. Exactly. 713-212-5-7-90. 7-1-3-21-5-79 if you want to discuss that. We also have an all-time Astros list where Ross has some beef with it or a slight tinge of, are you sure? Is that what you want to go with? You're going to go full-on beef? Ross has full-on beef.

1230. Sports Talk 790. 1235. Sports Talk 790. Matt and Ross with you. We are here until 2 o'clock today. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90.

All right, so Fox Sports, because they're looking to kill time as well, have created an all-time greats list of a lineup. And Fox did this five days ago. We teased it Ross on Thursday. We pay off on our teas. It does take several days in between to do it, but we do payoff on it. It's a latent payoff. We put it on Layaway

I'll go in no particular order I do want to build a little bit of drama towards the end on some of these okay so stay with me on this All time manager is A.J. Hinch That's fair. Okay. All time D.H.

Jose Al Tuve. Okay. This is where the beef is. Ooh, we're all right. Okay, let's hold on. Let me run through the rest first. All time catcher, Brad Osmus. Or is a former coworker,

He used to call him, Brad. Tony Usabio, Erasure. Sorry, go ahead. My former coworker would say you'd call him Brad Awesimus. All right. All-time relief pitcher, Billy Wagner. No problem there. No.

All-time third baseman, Alex Pregman. No problem there. All-time shortstop, Carlos Correa. All-time first-bacement, Jeff Bagwell. All-time second-baseman Craig Bigio. In your outfield has Jose Cruz, Cesar, Sedanian. and Lance Berkman

and your all-time starting pitcher Roy Oswald where my friend in your mind is the beef a designated hitter Jose Al Tuve is not a designated hitter okay that's a cop out this is cop-out stuff I have to

side with Fox on this okay you cannot have split second basement No, you get. The best years of Craig Bigio were as a second basement. Yes, they were.

Make a decision, get off the fence. This is cop-out BS. He's not a DH. And I'm just saying, if we had a choice between Yornaud Alvarez and Jose Al-Tuvae. I love Jose Al-Tuvae, but I love Yornaud Arvarez. He's also the designated hitter. Under my rationale, I have Jose as the greatest all-time astro. You didn't put him ahead of Biggio.

I would have to do it if you did not have a DH. I'm saying if you're going to put him in there, you've got to squeeze out Altuvaer Bigio. Because my D. You have to have them both on a list. You have to figure out a way. And you know what it is? Maybe Ross, all the puzzle pieces of great all-time teams are just not that easy to put together. No, they're not.

There are teams with, I'm sure, they have multiple great all-time first baseman or third baseman or whatever. We could probably find a list. rather quickly. I'll give you a list. Okay. If you want, and this is not an apples to apples,

but if you're doing a San Francisco 49ers list, the greatest quarterback, is it Joe Montana or is it Steve Young? Joe Montana?

Make a decision. Oh, no, you know what? I'm putting Steve Young at tight end. Yeah, because I want to squeeze them baller because I can't make a decision,

I'm weak, and I'm going to sit on the fence. So Steve Young's at tight end. What's up? you have one running back at the University of Texas. Rick and Williams or Earl Campbell. Well, everybody knows it's Jamal Charles. Okay.

I'm just kidding. I'm going to defend Fox on this, understanding what you're saying, but it ain't cut and dry. What have you been telling me for years, Matt? In a franchise, it's been around since the 60s. No, sir. This is we.

Yes, sir. No, it's not. Is what are you been telling me for years? Have an opinion, Ross. Have an opinion. opinion. Well, make a decision, Matt. Craig B. All right. My decision is this.

My decision is this. The greatest astro has to be on the list. So if you're taking a D.H. out, Al-Tube is the second basement. But you cannot have a Hall of Famer and one of your top three Astros or top four

Astros all your all-time. Now on your list, it's just not possible. Okay. No, it's not okay. It's not possible. Career OPS. Yordon Alvarez 959. He's my DH. As of right now, by O, he hasn't had his decline yet.

But as of right now, he's the highest in Astros history in OPS Plus. He's my designated. You know what? Let's take, let's kick, let's put him in and kick Lance Berkman out. Oh, you know what? You put Jose Al-Tube and left. I'll accept that because he actually plays left. Are we going to, can what, do you want to bounce Jose Cruz? By the way, Lance Berkman's OPEC career OPS is like 930, 30, something.

All right, we're bouncing Jose Cruz, then. Are we bouncing Cesar Sardano? And who are you putting in right? No, they just treat him as Africa. Cruz in the second half his career played left field exclusively. So, they had to wiggle this thing up a little bit.

They just did. And I'm a wiggler. I can't leave, I can't leave the highest OPS plus in Astros history out of the lineup being Yordon Alvarez. Okay. So let's get off this Bisio Al-Tubei. Al-Tube and L.

But Birkman's a better hitter. You're kicking one of the outfielder's out. Honestly, a better fielder. But I can't put Lansett right. I'm certainly not putting him in center. You're going to fall over the hell again. All right. I'm going to have to kick Cesar Cedino off the list.

He's the best defensive center fielder in Astros history. Okay. But let's like a look at, I mean, this is obviously. I don't know. I don't really have the contact. He wasn't he a multiple time goal Glover and center? I'm about to get you. He's 74 years.

There's still a lot, by the way. Oh, he's 74. Yeah, I can't put him in the field. No, I wouldn't want to do that. That wouldn't be fair to him. Five-time gold glovers. Woo! I don't know, Matt.

199 home runs, 285 batting average. 123 Ops plus is pretty good. Jose Altova's career is 128. OPS is 790. Yeah, but I'm going hair-adjusting plus. Ross, he played 11 years for the Astros. Jesus, we can't kick any of these people out. His OPS as an Astro went from 790, 690, 921, 913, 7.

I mean, his OPSs weren't spectacular. Yeah, but you go to the plus. It was a lighter hitting era. Yeah. His OPS plus as an Astro was 129. Jose Altuve's career is 128. Just saying. Okay, then you know what we're going to do then?

I'm going to lay it right to you. No, no. You want to create this big argument with me? Yeah. Make your two changes. I want you to say it out loud and say it proud. There's no guessing of what you're thinking. Yordons my DH.

Over and kicking out whom? Go ahead. I'm waiting. Jose Cruz out. Altuvae in left, Berkman and right. That's okay. I thought you're going to say something crazier.

Cheo, though. Oh, man. I see Chial. I could put Bigio. and right or left and then Jose at second. Actually, if I'm going to move Bigeo, I'm probably booning him to catch her if I was going to do anything. His work in the outfield was below way below average.

That's getting creative. Yeah, but we're moving Al-Tuvae in the outfield. Okay, Al-Tuva at second. But the best of Craig Bizio was at second base. That's true. Craig and Jose, here's a bit. Jose Al-Tube and Craig Bizio need to be on the roster in the all-time group. And putting Jose in left field is almost a slight towards Elsa.

Like, we can't really put you at second base because it's Craig Bizio, because you're still playing, and Craig's already a Hall of Famer. We don't want to irritate Craig on this. You're going to have to... Go ahead. Any beef with Roy starting? Roy is who I would pick. Royalswell to me.

He's second and wins behind one of the Necros. If Nolan Ryan had more runs. support, you probably could have an argument for Nolan over Roy. Ten years. Team was largely not good. He was two playoff appearances, I want

to say, in those ten years. ERA was really small, huge strikeout count. Didn't get any run support. Yeah, Roy was ten, but Nolan was nine, wouldn't he? Yeah, I don't know. These are great arguments.

Yeah. I'm going, Roy, though. Just be got. I'm nostalgic for like that. I got you. 1712-790. 713-212-5-7-90. Man, Jose. I love Cruz. Sorry, Cheo.

Cheo's great. We got to tell Cheo. We got to tell him. I'm not going to tell him anything. That's some bad news. I'm going to have to tell them. I want to give you guys a gift. It's my Instagram account at SportsMT.

It'll give you great photos of my life. It's something you can send a friends and go, man. That's a pretty cool guy. At SportsMT, follow me on Instagram. You will not be disappointed. What photos are we sending to people that people are going to say, man, Matt's a great guy? Various NBA arenas I go to.

What else I have on there? Vegas. Spam calls? Spam calls? A lot of rocket stuff. It's good stuff. I follow at SportsMT. It's great stuff on Instagram.

Follow me, and there might even be a picture of you somewhere in this man. By the way, we have our court. In our court, we hung up some new banners last week at our court, our volleyball court in our house. And the Matt Thomas showed Ross banner is up. Vince got your name on it. So how about that? Oh, wow, finally. I didn't get photo credits on this picture on Instagram of you and Joe Espada.

This is terrible. Let me go back and edit. So yeah, do yourself a favor. If you want your blood pressure to go down and your 401k to go up, you follow me on Instagram at SportsMT. And you know what we'll do, Ross? We'll have a party once a hit, let's see what we're going to hit. If I can get to 3,000, we'll have a party.

Okay. I'm at 2739 right now. I'm 20 away from 1,000 at Sports RV. Okay. At SportsMT is faster to three is much better. No, no. If you'd rather have time to put sports RV and that's fine. Look, you can follow me and mute me right after.

I don't care. At Sports RV on Instagram. That's what I normally do, so that's easy. Let's see. Okay. Oh, real fast from Twitter, Pollard's Vision says, you have to account for the 70s and 80s

or the time of dominant pitchers. Nobody put up huge numbers. Then also those guys played half their careers in the dome for half their games, not minute-made. Does an OPS Plus adjust to that at all? Yes, that's why I was telling you that I think the OPS Plus of... Who were we talking about? Cesar Cedinao was 129 as an Astero,

while Jose Al-Tuvius is 128 as an Astero. Boy, that's not Same much. That's a good numbers. We had to make the tough decision. We had to kick Jose off. Cruz, that is. Yeah.

Or you could... I wouldn't call it. How many years did Bizio play a catcher? Four or five or something like that? Well, he started at what, 87. And I think he moved to... About 1992, maybe? Four or five years?

pulling it up. Where is this? And he wasn't a bad catcher. They didn't do it because there was some phenom waiting behind it. They did it because they wanted to prolong his career. Yeah, 92. He moved to second. Yeah, you're an athlete.

We need you to be playing out there more. And that's part of the reason why Craig Bizzio was so awesome is because Craig, not only did he just, he not only did he do it, he embraced it, and he went to spring training early and he worked with Mac Galante about being a good infielder. Four-time gold glover. And I'm sure there have been other players that have moved positions that won gold gloves.

But not in my lifetime as a sports announcer have I ever thought about a player that absolutely did more to change who he was defensively than what he did going from catcher to second base. And by the way, shame on Seaton Hall for keeping him to be a catcher to begin with.

Shame on Seaton Hall? I didn't think I was going to hear that today. You hear that Dana Brown? You should have told your coach back then you guys were roomed. This could be part of Dana Brown's fault. We don't know. No, Dana Brown would have seen the light, put it in the right spot. I really do think now in 2025.

If you're an athlete, if you're Craig Bischo and you're 14 years old, 15 years old, you're not catching. Not to say that catchers can't be good athletes. Not to say the catchers can't be thin and be able to go, but you aren't you putting a certain type of athlete behind the dish a little bit of a bigger guy a little bit of a guy that's never going to be known for foot speed and whatnot like a guy with a big dumper are you disappointed i had to go to a i to confirm that by the way i thought you would have known that well i just want to make sure because it's such a boorish name i think it's funny

imagine if you were called i mean i don't know do you think he's embarrassed You think he's going to get like a He's going to start doing Spots for like Mozimic? No, I think he's going to do commercials for like Boon Jarro

No, no Like Minimegated What do you mean? Oh, constipation Yeah Oh, right This is a big dumper here

Oh no If you're stuck Depends He's going to do depends FiberCon He could do that It's a big duffer here for Meta Musil. This is Cal Raleigh here for grape nuts.

He said, cash that check, baby. He cashed a million dollar check yesterday. You won a home run derby for a cool Millie. That's good. I didn't even hear that. I feel like it should have been hyped up better. But people were saying it was happening at the broadcast. I did just watch the extended highlights.

I had the sound down. I couldn't even tell it. Oh, okay. I did put the closed captioning up. That ball is deep. repeat over and over again. That one is far. Oh, my God.

Can you believe how far that went? And that one is gone. But somebody in Cal's life had to stop this a little earlier than now he's stuck with it for the rest of his life. Like is he, when he's 59 years old and he's walking around with his grandkids or maybe he's on his wife's on a vacation, they go, what's up, dump? Do you want to be a big dumper the rest of your life? No? Unless it makes you money. You think he's going to make some money off of that nickname? I guess he could.

We just named like eight possibilities. Maybe if I got a nickname, I get an endorsement out of it. You do, Peach Basket. Well, then let's get some money. If you're going to call me Peach Basket, which is the worst name I've ever heard of my entire life, then I need to get something out of it. Let's get you introduced. You know what? I was also watching UFC unboxing this weekend.

They need... Michael Buffer is in his 80s. Terrible. His fastball is late. I was already rejected. Zach Grinky-esque. We got to get you in there. I think you do a great job, Matt.

I went to a high-ranking employee at the UFC, and he said, we've already got our guys. But thanks for asking. Man, I'm busy enough as it is. I can't be going to Vegas every month. Oh, God, that would sound good, though. Yeah, you can't be going from Vegas every month for six-figure checks. Sounds horrible.

Ooh, that's a bad idea. All right. Final hour of the Matt Thomas show. Ross, what is today's edition of Believe it or not? Oh, how about this? I got one. Home run derby winners. How about either Home Run Derby winners, that's Googleable,

or strange nicknames, and is this really, is this person's nickname really worth it? Yeah, we can go like the 1940s and whatnot. Oh, yeah. We have 57 more minutes to go on this edition of the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. We thank you very much for spending part of your Tuesday with us tomorrow. We'll talk to Brian Bogusevic. We will talk to you about people telling them to shut their bumasses up.

And Rossi will do a complete rundown of tonight's all-star game. Matter of fact, we might even read the entire box score from tonight's game. Just over and over and over again? Yeah, just repeat it until it sizzles. Okay. Question of the day on my Twitter account. How much of the home run derby did you watch? 400 votes.

That's a pretty decent amount, right? It's a great sample size. 63% of you said none of it 28% some of it 9% said all of it By the way they're showing on Sports Center a bless your heart dog You can buy today

What? A bless your heart dog Bless your heart dog It's like a plush dog or corn dog Fried wrapped up in Cheetos and fruity pebbles That's a destroy your heart dog Oh that's disgusting I try it

There's not a cardiologist on the planet that's calling that a bless your heart dog. So the Sports Center has MLB All-Star and comes with interesting food options. Having Tim Kirkshan on to discuss the food options. Ross, you do a pretty good Tim Kirkson. No, I don't think so. Yeah, you do. You do a great lot. Bless your heart dog, but your cardiologist doesn't want you to have it.

It's a fruity pebble hot dog. Are you having a stroke? You know what? Is Tim Kirkson scro-not Scooby? Shaggy? Oh, the batter is made of Cheetos and fruity pebbles? Yeah. I'd give it a shot. I was saying, I wouldn't be bad.

I mean, look, I like to go to the Texas State Fair and try all the deep-fried crap they have there, so, you know. One of the things I lived in Minnesota for three years, they would always have, you know, food items to reinvent. And that was always half the fun was just going to see what they were going to try. Yeah, the bless your heart dog, five hours ago, was one of the lead topics on the ESPN website. It's that time of year. Rolled in hot Cheetos and fruity pebbles. It'll be served in Section 141. So if you're in Section 141, hopefully a bathroom is not too far away.

I would imagine the facilities are nearby. Other food items. Yes or no on this, for a go to the phones. Yes. Peach cobbler nachos. What are the nacho chips made of? Bonuelos. Here's what it is.

They're probably the deep fried tortilla chips, dusted in cinnamon sugar, my guess, right? Yeah. Then top with a fruit cobbler compote. I would actually eat that. Berea hot dogs, yes or no? Bidia. Whatever, same difference.

Say it, Matt. Come on. Bedia. Oh, look at this guy. Oh, that was bad. Bidia hot dogs. Bidia hot dogs. that's funny how that became such a trend. Isn't it just like gravy?

Like, like, oh, you? It's like cons, it's, yeah, it's, it's consommate. It's a soup, yeah. It's like a beef soup that people made into, like, beef soup tacos where they do the shredded beef and you dip it in a media. It's really tasty. Like, we had some Bedia fries at Big City Wings. Delicious, but, I mean, Bedia is just, it's a sauce. It's a dip.

One more thing. Okay. fried green tomato sliders Yes or no Fried green tomatoes sliders Mm-hmm No I mean fried green tomatoes are okay

But I don't also want them on a bun Yeah I would That's too much That doesn't sound like a sandwich item to me Mm-hmm I'm gonna send this photo of this Bless Your Heart Dog It's a long dog

Wrapped up in hot Cheetos And fruity pebbles It looks good I'd eat it All right To the phones we go 713-212-5-790 Let's see here

Brian and Pearland at 101 Hi Brian Good afternoon gentlemen And kudos to you guys for slugging through what I know you guys hate at the longest week of the year Until you get back to the actual meaningful Astros games Oh let me tell you something We got it all set up we have a big list on Thursday we're going to do

We are so excited about that And then tomorrow we got shut your bum ass We may do shut your bum ass up Brian for an entire hour. That's how good we're going to have it. I might be, I might be must listen to your radio there. There you go. I don't know. I don't know if you're, I've been up to Rhode Island, really pretty up.

I don't know how big of a tennis fan you are, but the International Tennis Hall of Fame is out there well worth going through. It's very interesting, very neat, especially there's a lot of old school, like, mid-90s player stuff up there, Graf, Agassie, Michael Chang, Currier. There's some of their stuff. So well worth going. So I had to work an event up there years ago. And it was a pretty neat little trip. So just if you're... Well, I anticipate, thank you, Brian. I anticipate coming up here probably, I don't know, seven or eight times the next four to five years. So I will definitely make that one of the stops. I'm just going to tell you

this in all honesty. If you've never been up here, now people don't think of Rhode Island. I mean, not top of mind. It's, first of all, it's ridiculously, beautiful. Second of all, the people are very nice. It's what you think, it's the heart of New England is what it is. And it's just gorgeous. Now, granted, as somebody said earlier, January and February could be a bear, but the people are nice.

The food is amazing. Ross, I've already had three lobster rolls already since I've been here and every one of them been amazing. Connecticut style? Or what's the other? Main style? Is that the two? I can't remember.

Yeah. I got mine Connecticut style cold with mayonnaise, but the butter seems to be a little more popular up here. right i thought you're i thought cold was the main style yeah whatever whatever maybe i'm flipping up but i like cold with uh with my with my main style is cold with mayonnaise tossed in mayonnaise and celery and other seasonings and the bun whatever they call that bun it's like it's like a half texas toast half like uh almost like a potato roll or like a uh yeah i think it's a combination texas toast and like a um those Hawaiian rolls you get the grocery store

I'm sorry Brian for taking up your time We're just talking food on the show No worries hey now I'm getting hungry again I don't know But no it's really neat Matt I think you would enjoy it It's at least You know

Back out there's a lot of cool stuff in there On Beecho Matt You're a few years older than me But I don't know if you remember the number he had originally When he came up to the Astros for one season He was not number seven Do you happen to remember what that what his jersey number was.

I do not. He was number four when he started off as a catcher. I think it was one season only. He was number four. But no, I think I watched a little bit of O'Neill Cruz's second at bat, I guess, because everybody kept talking about these 500-plus-foot home runs he was hitting. So I wanted to see at least him hit, and it was a little underwhelming, and then I turned it back off.

But I wish there was something they could do for the home run derby, just to spice it up. I know one thing I would love to see. which will never happen because of liability and you'd kill people, would be give them one swing with an aluminum bat and just see how far they could hit it. But you'd have to either do it ahead of time when nobody's in there and record it just to see how far they can hit it or something like that.

But I would love to, I think it would be cool to give them one swing when they used to do that golden ball, give them one swing with an aluminum bat and just see what happens. But you'd be killing people. You'd have to get the kids off the field. you would have to do it in front of an empty stadium because anybody gets hit with a metal bat's going to hit them in the head and concuss and die.

If you like that part of the game. Get the children off the field first. But no, enjoying up there, Matt. It is really pretty. I will give you that. A friend of mine that I used to work with down here is the new GM. They just opened up a new soccer stadium up there. But it's really pretty right on the water.

But, yeah, the Tennis Hall of Fame, Matt, if you're looking for something to do. Let me tell you, Brian, as God is my witness, and thank you for the call. I will go there before my daughter's time playing volleyball is here and sudden done. Ross,

I feel like I got to take you on some of these vacations. Yeah, not a vacation. Not in winter. Not in winter. Isn't volleyball season in winter? Well, it's fall.

I mean, it's going to be like the temperature today is 83. The low is going to be in the upper 60s. Okay. I don't want to hit it. If it hits under 30, I'm out. No,

the volleyball season will be done. Okay. I told you the volleyball game is much strong. than you for many reasons beyond the competition itself. I don't know how many times I've given you the subtle hints about that. Okay. All right, 113 on Sports Talk 790. 713-212-5-790.

We will tell you what Scott Boris had to say coming up in about 10 minutes from now, but as we do every Tuesday on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross, the man who said, Matt, no one talks NFL football in Houston, Texas. So we deserve to do it on this show. Our audience deserves the opportunity to hear the latest headlines. And for that, it's Sports RVs NFL Rewind. Thank you, Matt. I appreciate it.

We've got a lot to get to here. On the NFL Rewind on the Matt Thomas show. With Ross. With Ross. That's right. By the way, thanks to those new followers on Instagram. Appreciate you all very much. How many followers did you get?

You want the God's Honest Truth? Yes. Probably not that many. I mean, I could use some more. I got a few at Sports RV. I am 17 away from 1,000. I only got, let me see here. Hold up. Let me take a look.

Oh, that's good. I think I got, let's see here. This is not great radio. Probably five or six, maybe. Could use a few more at SportsMT. Great job, Matt. Time now for the NFL replay. Okay, well, let's start with

The story that I was going to pull up, here it is. Okay. Matt, did you... You delay long enough? Yes. We mentioned this earlier, Matt. The iconic 1976 cramicle jerseys are coming back for the Buccaneers 5th season. They will wear it in their debut against the New York Jets on the season opener, September 21st.

That first home game, I think. That's what it is. You maintain that this is their... The best jerseys in NFL history? And I would say it's probably in the top three in the history of the NFL. The orange tops. Now, they're going to wear white tops it looks like with the orange number. I would go orange top with the white number and the white pants.

Well, it is list radio week. What's best? Columbia Blue Houston News. Nope. Number one uniform of all time is the Buccaneers. Number two, and I went to go see. I went to the Patriots Hall of Fame on Sunday. Do you know I went there?

Oh, you did. Are you going to the tennis Hall of Fame? I can only do one Hall of Fame at one time here. Well, you're not there now. I'm busy doing a show right now. I can't go right now unless you let me off early. You're off at 40 minutes. You ain't doing nothing the rest of the day.

All right. Number two, all time, is the Patriots helmet where the Patriot is spiking, not spiking, hiking the ball. Hmm. I don't like those. Number three, the white-on-white, Columbia Blue Oilers uniforms. There I said it. Man, I prefer the blue tops. You going white-on-white?

I love white-on-white. All right. The Washington commanders are retired. hiring Art Monks number 81. Of course, they were the Redskins when he played. They also have Art Monk already in the Ring of Fame. All-time franchise leader in receptions and receiving yards. Over 12,000 receiving yards.

Art Monk getting his number retired. As you know, Matt, that is rarer in the NFL than other sports. Yes. The Texans have never retired a number, correct? No. And I don't think they're going to be going to be. going to do that either. I think they're going to just go with a wall of honor. The ring of honor, yeah.

Ring of honor, yeah. Which right now it's just a Johnson and Watt, yes? Yes? And McNair. Well, yeah. Next will be Janice McNair. Okay, next player will be Shane Lechler.

No. Arienne Foster? No. Gary Kubiak? Nope. We're at the wait. DeAndre Hopkins? Nope.

Okay. No, the next two, the next, the next person to get into the wall, the hall of honor, ring of honor will be Janice McNair. Okay. But the next player will be. Which is a little weird because you created your own franchise. I mean, what if you were in the executive offices of the Texans and you said, hey, I want to nominate Hannah McNair and somebody said, no, I don't think so.

Imagine how well that would work out for a depp employee? They say, nah, we're good, Hannah. was Hannah nominating herself Will Hannah get in? Who gets in first? Hannah or Janice? Why? Okay, I don't need to be rude,

but Janice was just bequeathed the team by her husband. Yeah, but I'm sure she had to give the blessing of go by this team. I don't think she said. And then it was she kind of owned the team for a couple years, but it was basically in the shadows, and then now the team is controlled by Cal McNair. Correct.

After their lawsuits with the broskeys. Yeah. I don't know if Kerry McNair wants Janice in there. I don't think he's going to make it in the All of him. Kerry's not getting in. No. Carrie's like the hell of Calg ever gets in.

Correct. If you own a team, should you nominate yourself into the Hall of Honor? Well, somebody's got to. It's true. And again, I want to meet that person and says, nah, that person's got to wait a few more years. All right, Matt. Moving along on the NFL Rewind.

We went through the offensive line rankings last week. Texans 32nd. Pro football focus is going through every position group in the NFL, but we're going to talk about defensive line. If you had to guess, where are the Texans as far as defensive line? I will give you a hint. They are in the top 10. They are number six. Number four. Really? The Texans defensive line.

Pittsburgh Steelers, of course, with all the talent over there, are number one, followed by the Eagles. then the Giants, then the Texans. Led by DeNeil Hunter and Will Anderson, of course, Tim Settle with a breakout year as far as a pass rusher last year. So Texans, fourth in defensive line,

according to our friends over at Pro Football Focus. This is excellent news. Look, defensive line on an issue. Lineback and core is going to be better. Secondary is locked and loaded. Ross, this team defensively, it's good enough to go to the Super Bowl. That's not a hyperbole, right?

That's a fair assessment, yes? I would say yes. I think they're going to be one of the top five defenses in football, for sure. Not for sure. But that doesn't, again, nobody ever wins it on just once half of the ball, unless you're the 2,000 Baltimore Ravens. Yes, but you have C. I mean, C.J. Stroud, I think that,

I don't think the offense is going to be terrible. He's better than Trent Delfare or Brad Johnson or even Joe Flackard. You've got receivers. You've got a running back. You've got a mid-tight end. And then you have an offensive line that's got some work to do. All right. Well, actually, real quickly, let's go ahead and do it.

Secondary rankings, I'll give you a hint. They are in the top 10 of Texans. Number eight. Number four again. Wow. People loving on this Texans defense. You hear that? With Sting, Lasser, C.J. Gardner. Well, let's go do linebackers real quick, Matt.

Your hand is there in the top 30. I'm going to put them at 28th. 23rd. Oh, okay. So still, I mean, if you're going to be strong somewhere, you'd probably want it to be up front and in the secondary. Well, with Aziz-A-Radim's going to be pretty good. To-O-To-O-EJ-Speed, Christian Harris will see if he can get put in a full season.

23rd. Aziz Al-Shaheir. Yes. I said that, but that's okay. I was impressive that you said to A-Toa so nicely. It's fun to say. Wouldn't you think if you're a play? It's kind of fun.

You have fun ones you like to say as a play-by-play man? No question. For example. Mamu Shvili. Oh, Sandur Mamukhal Shvili? Love that one. Yonazant de Gumpo? Fun or not fun?

Not so much. Okay. Not so much. KD. Easy. DFS. DFS. D.F.S. D.F.

Oh, you're going to be dropping KD for three all season long. I can't wait. Katie left corner, three-pointer, yes, it's a 23 to one run and the rockets are on top of the lawyers by 19. I'm going to cut you saying Katie for three and hit it like DJ's hitting sirens. Exactly. All right. Speaking of Katie, we have a little interesting information about Katie's impact on the rockets before he even played a game. One more thing, Joanne Jennings has requested a trade from the San Francisco 49ers.

Matt, your thoughts. And the number one question for people around Houston is who's Joanne Jennings? Oh, come on. Now, see, this... John Jennings... No, Joanne Jennings had some big games last year. He was good for them. Okay.

Especially when Brandon Ayuk and Debo Samuel were getting hurt. He had some huge games. Okay, fantasy players would know who he was. Yes. So the average Joe's not going to know who is. Well, he wants either more than the seven-milly he's making or he wants a trade. Why would you bring this up in middle of July when training camp and rosters are already basically lined and, salary caps are already budgeted and whatnot.

Seems a little late for Joanne. When you feel like you do that like in January of 19th? Maybe you just get back from vacation. All right. Quick, a thought or two from what Scott Borough said yesterday in Atlanta. Plus, Katie's already making an impact on the rockets before even stepping on the floor in a rocket uniform. Our friend ATX-Obo girl says she's a big Pittsburgh dealer fan, Ross.

Fuomato Mafaala. Ooh, I've never tried that one before. What's his first name? Do we even know? Dave. Dave Fulamatu Ma'afala. Wait, it's actually Chris. You were close.

What about Kaimi Fairbairns full name? Remember that one? I mean, you don't remember. I'm trying to think of... It's like John Christian, this and this is a lot. Yeah, here it is. Yeah, we're just going to do it, so... John Christian, Kaimi,

Ahulamala Mecca, Ike Okem Kuham Pua'a, Fairbairn. How about Thanasus Tentacompo? That's a fun one. Yeah. Yeah, my favorite right now is got to be, or Jonas Valenciunis is it a good one. That's a fun one.

And then, Sandro Mamu Kellechevili, who's moved to the Eastern Conference. I only have to call his name like one hand. I know that doesn't Ackerman, he likes to itches, like Yolkovic. I mean, not Yolkvich, yeah, Yolkvich, Dunchich. See, I don't like those because they confuse me sometimes. Yovich, Yokic, Jitch, I'm not a big fan of. Bogdanovich.

A nice story on ESPN right now of Texans doing a make-a-wish for a kid and meeting all the Texans players. Oh, wow. That's a nice story. Yeah, very nice. That's some good news. Yeah. And make a wish.

What a, and apparently this kid chose CJ Strauss. C.J. Strauss has taken him around a golf cart. This is really cool. So y'all get home tonight and watch that. Rossi, let's get to a couple of Scott Boris soundbites just to put this into people's minds and thoughts about the future of two of our great astro players. Yes, some things from Scott Boris is from Dan Matthews.

He is out in Atlanta for All-Star Week and SEC Media Days. Scott Boris on the Astros re-upping his great client, Jeremy Pena. He says it is up to them. I just leave those discussions to them. and let them know that we certainly listen to anything they have to say. And we deliver it to Jeremy, and he's the decision maker. And he decides what's good or how he wants to evaluate and what his intentions are going forward. So we're always open to that.

It's like, yeah, I'm not doing anything. Very hands-off, Scott Morris. That is Scott being very polite to Dan. but it's a complete utter lie 100% lie that's up to Jeremy he's his very hands-off he's a very hands-off agent

when Jeremy went over to Scott Scott said I got you I'll do all the heavy lifting you think you just sent him a bunch of like money emojis yes you'll do what is you'll do as I say you will sign why I get because I'm not

I'm not going to let word travel that the Baltimore Orioles offered you $15 million more. No way in hell. Mm-hmm. Unless the athlete is a one-off, and the Astros have two of them. Two one-offs. Two one-offs. But not a bunch of them are out there.

There are very few Scott Boris one-offs. I will say only one of them took a team-friendly deal. That McCullors deal, when that happened, a lot of people were saying, are you so sure about this with his injury history? Mm-hmm. So maybe Jose Al-Tube is the exclusive one-off. And he is a different breed. I mean, we've talked about how nice and how gracious he is as a person

and how, you know, he's not all about the money. And he went out to set out to prove that and did. Yep. All right. That's why he's the greatest astro of all time. According to many. I would say more people agree with you than not. All right.

Continue on. I will continue on, Matt. More from Scott Boris. Talking about how great Hunter Brown is and invoking one of the other best. pitchers in baseball. Hunter is a true number one ability. You know I like players like Hunter that like Scoobel they they came unexpectedly in a system they weren't high draft picks and and to their favor they've learned so much and they had to learn to be who they are. Their arm strength is, you know, his arm strength is elite

and his discipline for conditioning, studying, all those things are what you see in number ones. And so he has the, he really has the ability and also the character to be someone that's very special in this game for a long time. Oh, we're scared. Bye. Bye, Hunter.

We'll see you. Hey. This is... What if I told you, starting next year, not starting this year, starting next year, every player with one year left in his contract that the Astros do not renegotiate, they need to trade. Would you be okay with that? Look how the Kyle Tucker situation has worked out.

Yeah, you're not going to win every trade like that, though, I don't think. No, you're not. But you're better than a compensatory pick. Hunter's got three years left. I think you've come. to him this off season and try to get something. I think you can come to a deal. Jeremy Payne has only got two more years left.

I think he's going to be aggressive in both guys. You got to be aggressive with both. I just feel like it's more realistic. The more years someone has left and the way that the payroll is to where you can pay him the bigger money down the road

and get like a higher overall AV or something competitive what he would hit in a free agent market. but I mean we're talking I'm talking three years plus like four or five if not more he's 26 well worth his while yes

all right real quick before we get to believe it or not what's the category today is it what is it what is it have you figured it out? We're still doing believe it or not yeah we are nine minutes from now the prize orders are looking for prizes we're going to help them out don't worry it's Googled

all right fanatics top five highest selling NBA Jersey since July 7th. Can you name the five? I can name the one. I saw this tweet. I saw the tweet, but I only remember who's number one. Okay. Can you give me the, and I'll give you some hints. Okay, one being Kevin Durant. That is correct. If you're Houston Rockets, yes. The rest, I'm going to guess, Steph Curry? Cooper Flagg.

Two. Cooper Flagg. Three. Okay. LeBron James, huh? No. Okay. Does not make the top five. Yeah, okay. um shay gildes four okay this right in a row here by the way this is good well i said lebron but so we got durant one curry two flag three don't you jones just got to be in there dotches is five elli leaker dodges not dallas maverick retro Kevin durant

boy he still has huge star power dude he just does absolutely more eyeballs will be on the rockets and they have the past couple years That's just a fact. Which means more games will be nationally broadcast, which means you're not going to want to hear the national perspective. You're going to hear my perspective on a radio-only game. Well, you should get more calls of the night. Oh, I should be on SportsCenter all night all the time, right?

I would agree with that. Let's go. Let's go. By the final results are in on the Twitter question today. On the All-Star game, Home Run Derby last night, 62% of you know, none of it, 28, some of it, and 10% all of it. my guess is the numbers will skew a little bit more towards some of it for tonight's all-star game i mean i'll watch a little bit of it right it's kind of a you have to kind of see it don't you i'm gonna yeah i want to watch the challenge system at least for a little bit oh that's gonna be fun if it was what time is the game my guess when in doubt seven o'clock i'm watching everything is a central time zone seven o'clock superman i'm watching superman early afternoon are you really who you going with by yourself it's none of your business okay that's fine those last thing went to a movie by yourself

Oh, man. It's been a while, but I'm not opposed. I almost did it this weekend. There was a movie showing at the art museum that I wanted to see, but I just didn't make time. Two things I'm not afraid to do. Eat by myself and watch movies by myself. It's relaxing. Yeah.

Last time I ate by myself was probably, I don't know, a couple times in the last month. Yeah. ESPN says 7 o'clock for first pitch. Okay. So probably like 7.15. Yeah, that's my guess. All right. Believe it or not, next, highly Googledable.

Let's do it right now. 144 Sports Talk 790. 149 on Sports Talk 790. Congratulations, Ross to Thomas Sports Enterprises client, Sauce Gardner. New Deal. Staying with the New York Jetterpolitans and a four-year contract worth $120.4 million.

Wow. Is A-A-V-A-V-E-E-B, excuse me, is $100,000 more than the Texans Derek Stingley Jr. Of course. But only one. of them made first team all pro this year this last year. Yeah, one of them did it before that, and one of them was the defensive rookie of the year. So I'm just going to put that in there.

That's okay. I mean, if you're only as good as your last season, Sauce Garder, not as good as Derek Stingley. Remains bullish on that. So I just want to give you an update on that. Yeah, you should. He's very good. He just did make first team all pro like Derek Stanley did.

A couple of the notes, Union Chief Tony Clark tells Bob Nightingale on a salary cap, quote, this is not about competitive balance this is about institutionalized collusion yikes yikes wait Tony was Tony Clark said that who said that Tony Clark told it to Bob Nightingale hmm

actually we have audio of that Matt go ahead oh wait my shit your bum ass up man yeah help me out I believe the collective bargaining is done after next season if I'm right on that I think 2026 would be the last year before this

before the owners could lock out the players? Hmm. There's never going to be a salary cap, right? The players are just too, they're too powerful. The only way you get a salary cap of some sort is if you reduce the number of years that they can become a free agent. It takes them six years now.

Yeah. Yeah, you'd have to make it down like three. You'd have to severely limit it, but then the smaller market teams aren't going to be for that. Yeah, the players' collective barring agreement with the owners ends December of 2006. So I tell you, Jim Crane's not going to be for that. 2006, Ross, we'll be going to spring training with the Astros. In 2027, we will not be going to spring training with the Astros.

I would agree that there could be some labor strife coming. I think there's going to be a lot of labor strife coming. One more thing, latest college football polls, betting odds are out, the favorite to win the national championship in 2025 as of 10 minutes ago the University of Texas Longhorners are 6 to 1 favorite slightly over Georgia and Ohio State. I just did.

It's making me nervous. Let's go Texas. Five minutes left to call on the show. What should we do? We should play America's fastest growing sports radio game show. We simply call it Believe it or not, and here's how it works. You'll call 713-212-5-790.

7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Today's edition, believe it or not, is all things about player nicknames in honor of the Big Dumpur, who won the Home Run Derby yesterday. I'll read you a player in his nickname. If it's really his nickname, you'll say this. Believe it. If it's not, you'll say this.

Not. Two believe it or nots in a row. Win your prize. What are you playing for today, Jonathan? We've got a pair of tickets to see Rick Springfield, John Wade, Wang Chung, and Paul Young, on the I Want My 80s tour Friday, July 18th at the Woodlands Pavilion. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com.

And then all the callers start dropping. 713212-790. Bill, what's your favorite Wang Chung song? Hypnotice. Bobby the Dayton Dandy Door. Bobby the Dayton Dandy Door. Believe it or not. That Wayne Chon song was Poundy Express, my bad.

Believe it. No, sorry. You don't know. Everybody ain't a date. Reggie on 790. Reggie, what was your favorite part of today's 10-2 radio show? The fact that you have a sports agency, why are you still at 790? That's what I'm talking about.

Thank you, Reggie. You're welcome. Thomas Sports Enterprise accepting new clients daily. Steady Eddie Matthews. Believe it or not? Believe it. No. He was good, but he wasn't always dead.

Joseph on 790. Joseph, ready to play, believe it or not? You better believe it. Chuck the Hoosier-Hammer Klein. Believe it or not? No. That's a believe it. Wait, Rosson. He's still going here.

Listen to me. The 80s music is good. You can call in plenty of spots open. 7-1-3-21-2-5-790. 7-13-21-2-1-2-5-7-90. 5.7. Everybody loves a little couple of Rick Springfield songs. I mean, his set only lasts about five minutes. Jesse's girl and don't talk to strangers. I can't, I think,

any other songs besides that. Robert on 790. Robert, you ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Augie, Skeeter, Galen. Believe it or not? Believe it. No. 713. Sorry, Matt.

2-1-2. We could have planning here. He's in here. He can play. These are about the prizes. You must not like the prizes. Why would you not want to go see great 80s bands? All five of them.

You'd be out of there in a couple hours. They're just going to play everybody Wang Chung tonight five times in a row. I would Wang Chung tonight if I could. Can't Wang Chung at my age, but that's a different issue for a different time. Wang Chung. That's a dance move? It's a song. And a band.

and a band. Jonathan, everybody had fun tonight. It's actually kind of a jam. It's a catchy 80s tune. Like walking on sunshine. Matt on 790, Matt,

was your favorite part of today's 10-2 radio show. Oh, the whole damn thing. Wade, the chicken man, Boggs. Believe it or not. Believe it. That is correct.

Name number two for the win. Don, the Big D. Driesdale. Believe it or not. not it is Ross

we're done the 80s concert didn't move the needle today but this can who wasn't this somebody's radio show intro on kTRH maybe well when I used to intern

for Jerry True Piano back in the 90s he used this song two men who loved DeWang and Chung are Adam Klein and Adam Wexer They're up with the A team. Everybody have fun tonight.

Everybody Wang Chung tonight here on Sports Talk 7-night.