The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - MERRY CHRISTMAS! Rockets Fall to Clippers & Face the Lakers Tonight!

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Rockets Fall to Clippers & Face the Lakers Tonight!

This is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. 10-1 in H-Town. Good morning, and welcome to a Christmas Eve edition of the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. I'm here from the normally warm, sunny, climate-controlled city, known as Los Angeles, California, today. Rain, wind, cold, flooding, tornadoes on the way. Ross, happy Christmas Eve. Tornadoes, for real? Yeah. In California? That's what I'm saying. What the hell's going on out here? I know. I don't know what's going on. Wow. Mud slides. Fantastic. Good gracious. And the rocket's lost again. Well, at least it was to a really good team, right?

I mean, they have all these Future Hall of Famers and got a really good record. Well, they do have Future Hall of Famers on that. That's what I'm saying? I mean, you know, I imagine they, what's their record? They got to be at least 5, 10 games above 500.

Three seed in the West. You're talking about the Clippers? Yeah. I almost want to call in sick, but I can't do that because I'm not sick. I mean, if I'm going to call in sick, I might as will be sick, right? You're calling pissed.

I bet he may have done. I mean, he's going to be pissed when he joins us at 1230 today. Yeah, I imagine so. As I was telling somebody from the staff this morning when I went to go get to coffee downstairs, I can look, road trips can be losing road trips. I mean, that's going to happen. And if you're taking on the Denver's, the Minnesotas,

maybe you're up east and you're playing the Knicks and you follow that up with a game against Philadelphia or Boston, and who's performing up to expectations. I mean, you know, blank's going to happen. And then maybe you haven't won off where you lose to a team that you're not supposed to lose to. Back to backs, three games in four days, yada, yada, yada. I mean, there's all sorts of scenarios.

Because, again, it's hard to be a 70-win basketball team. I think Oklahoma City is finding that out right now because the Spurs beat him again. But, Rosson, this trip, first of all, has... I forgot what you look like, number one. I forgot what my wife looks like, which is the most important thing. I think my kids of all age. I think my kids, I think I've got grandchildren I've not met.

But the losses to New Orleans giving up 25. Loss to Sacramento, up 14. And then last night, it was a good first quarter and a little bit of the second. And then Kauai Leonard's like, you know what? I feel spry. I'm going to put a 40 burger on you. And that bad boy was done. by the start of the fourth quarter.

Yeah, early on the season, we were telling ourselves, well, you know, all the losses are to really good teams, and the games they could have won. Then we're like, okay, they lost some bad teams. They're all close. Over time, this was neither. This was neither. Not a good team and not a close one.

So I'm trying to figure it out. My Twitter feed is like, Matt, what the F's going on? I'm like, I don't know. I mean, is it coming down to a lack of defense? defensive intensity. That feels like that's the overriding theme, and we'll obviously ask you me when he joins us in a couple of hours about that. Is the pressure too much

with a man running point? Are they really in need, dire need of a true point guard? Are they missing a guy with some moxie like Dylan Brooks? They will get in your face. Now sometimes it'll hurt you because he's going to get technical files and get to scrapes, but

is the team settling, defense, I mean, it felt like to me that, and again, I didn't listen to everything that you may have said in this post game last night, but it felt like to me this was about not giving a professional effort on the defensive side. Yeah, I think it's mostly boils down to defense because the shooting percentages, even in these games they've been losing, have been pretty good. It's just the opposing shooting percentage. Last night, you got 55% and 54% from three for the Clippers as well. Chris Dunn, I mean, if Chris Dunn's going to beat you, you got some issues, bro.

James Harden with a nice 13 free throw attempts. He doesn't miss. I think he missed, what, one yesterday? You know, Kauai Leonard has missed two free throws this entire season? I did not know that. Yeah, he was going into the game last night, he was 92 for 94. Wow. I mean, that's automatic.

When you put those two jabonis at the free throw line, that's giving them points. Because there's nothing you can't defend that. Maybe they're off a little bit once in a while, but in, Kauai's case, that's not the case. And then Kauai was hitting every mid-range jumper, found a man. Oh, it was aggravating. Oh, so freaking aggravating. Now, again, still a lot of the season left to go.

Things can change. Defensive intensity can ratchet up. Look, we were feeling really bad about how the Rockets played in that game against New Orleans that came back to win in Denver. That was a nice victory. But, you know, I thought the Rockets really weren't going to have a good chance. because the clippers have massively underperformed

and B, the guy that kept them alive in that game in Houston a few weeks back he'd say it's a Zubat is out with a bad ankle. Yeah, it felt like an easy one.

I think I said they were going to easily cover the seven and a half in my gut feelings. This was, this was, you don't want to call it a gimmie because as we keep saying

even, I mean, Kauai Leonard is going to the Hall of Fame. James Hardin is going to the Hall of Fame. Yeah. They have good players in their team, but you're supposed to be better. Yeah, I can't put my finger on it.

Because everybody's, you know, again, fans are coming to me, and I'm like, what I'm watching is the Clippers knocked down threes on the ring. I mean, Nick Petun's knocking down. I mean, it was, I don't even know if I want to say it was a hot, I mean, it was certainly a hot shooting night for the clips, and the Rockets got super cool from three in the second half. That's it. I mean, if you look at the number one stat that separated the game between the two teams,

it was the Clippers were making their threes and the Rockets were not. But it was the extra pass. It was the open look. I'd have to look and see if how many of the Rockets' three-point shots were contested, how many shots were period, where, I mean, were there, how many, how many Clipper looks were open last night from anywhere on the floor, forgetting about the three-point shot? You know, as I said before, you used the free throw line to your advantage,

and that's what the Clippers did. I mean, I'd like to say, you know, again, this Rockets team, at least since EMA has taken over, has not been afraid of playing on the road. I mean, the first year, when the team went 41 and 41, it was a really good team in home and Lousine in a row. But that was a young basketball team trying to get through its whatever it was going to be. Last year, we didn't care about going on the road. We won big games. One games in Boston. One games in New York.

I mean, this is a team that just won a game earlier this week in Denver, or whatever way. I'm losing track of where I am these days. Yes, in Denver. Yeah. They're only winning their last four games. How do you beat Denver on the road and you lose to the Clippers, Kings, and Pelicans? It makes absolutely, and by the way, you went overtime with Denver. Yeah, it's true.

And that loss, in the first one. Yeah. I don't need a heavy side, because that's not good radio. I mean, I'm, but I'm a lot of heavy science sports, everybody. I don't know what to do. Well, you just hope they get better. man. I don't think there's much you can do. It's true.

But what did you think about Alpian and KD not playing the fourth quarter last night? Message being sent or flag being raised or a little bit of both? What do you think? Both. I mean, maybe that could be it. Maybe they're just road weary.

I mean, we talked with coach about this when the trip started about preparing the guys for such a long trip, making sure they're taking care of their bodies and all that stuff. just to let you know I've gained about four pounds on this trip so far oh that's it that's good I was going to say five but it sounds

the four sounds a lot less than five for some reason mix in a salad Maddie come on well I had to do a McRib every meal I had fruit this morning I sit away from the omelets and hash browns and toast today you know what breakfast is sneaky man

you can go real bad at breakfast you get the French toast and the omelets and the greasy Hasht browns and the bacon going? I mean, imagine having pancakes and eggs every morning. That's not the way God said have breakfast. So yesterday, I had an omelet made and brought to the room, which I don't want to talk about the cost. And that's a different issue for a different time.

Arm and leg. Well, I've got those still left. When you pay an arm and leg, what do you tip? That's right. And then I went with like a muffin at lunchtime, and then I had a regular dinner at the arena. So, but, yeah, it's, I don't know about, I'm worried about the cost. I'm just, Matt, I'm thinking of myself, Matt, make better decisions.

But then all, but, you know, I can't put my, I can't put my food items on an Instagram post. If I don't, if I make bad, if I make good food decisions. That's true. Nobody wants to see that, yeah. Yeah, they want to see eggs, Benedict. Look at this, healthy, leafy green salad. You're not getting any likes. Oh, nobody wants to see.

We've got to post barbecue. Oh, my, that's exactly right. By the way, my wife got barbecue for the kids and then tonight, Christmas Eve dinner. Oh, really? Yeah. I can't tell you what the name of it is because I forgot, but apparently she waited over an hour for it, so I thought you'd be pleased about that. Okay, I'm not

pleased. I mean, she's going to a quality place, Matt. That's true. All right, on the radio show today, Eddie Nunez, athletic director of University Houston's going to stop by at 11 o'clock. We'll talk to him about Cougars in the Texas Bowl. He's on the Texas Bowl committee, so I'm kind of curious about how that worked out, especially with the Cougars got the invite.

We have shut your bum ass up at 1130 today. doing a more friendlier edition of shut your your bum ass up how do we to decide on this? You can choose to be naughty or nice. Hmm, all right. I have to attack somebody who I was playing blackjack with, so you'll be happy about that. Now, is it not playing properly,

or did something else happen besides that? Don't get away too much. Just tune in 1130. That includes all you, Houston. Hey, 10 o'clockers. You know what I'm thinking about you. you guys today we love you we really love you wish there are more of you but we love you matter of fact you what you all need to do this year is tell a hundred people about the 10 o'clock

hour yeah you know what about the whole show tell a friend that's that's our christmas president from you tell a friend about the show yeah it's a free gift you can listen together you can bond over it hey did you hear what matt said did you have the latest thing the latest matt terrible food opinion mm-hmm i mean i'll like except that from both the show. That's fine. E. Mae Doke at

1230. Ross, you have the Rotten 5 at 1250 today. Wink, wink. 1 o'clock, Dr. Roto. Let me tell you about

our fantasy football championship. Not that any of you care, but who cares? The Christmas Eve. So you know ESPN does its preview, right? Yes.

That's how you're going to do. Which is often wrong. It is. The scoring numbers. I am projected. to score 123.08. Mm-hmm.

My opponent projected to score 123.21. I can't, I don't, I don't know if I can handle losing by 0.13 for a championship. That's not going to play out like that. If I'm going to lose, Rossi, I want to lose by like 9, 10, 11 points.

Let's see, you've got Gibbs. Minnesota's a tough matchup. Oh, Drake, May against the Jets, you're chilling. Yeah, but he didn't play 4. That's going to be 40. T against Arizona, that's good. Zayflowers. I think Buffalo gives up tight-in points. Now, I'm putting the Chargers defense in against the Texans.

What's your other choice? My other choice is I could go Packers against Baltimore. Is Lamar Jackson playing? He had a back injury. I don't know. You might want to do that because it might be Snoop Huntley season over there. Let me tell you something right now. It's why we have Roto on this week. I'm going to be brutally honest with you all.

I'm asking Roto about five minutes of questions. Oh. Oh, this guy, your opponent is starting Debo? Oh, you're fine. Are you sure? Yeah, you got this. Don't give me false hope. Ooh, Bijon and Chase Brown is going to be tough.

See? And Mike Evans has been going off. A.J. Brown is dud. Dak is going, Dak against the worst past defense. Oh, holy. See, I know. That's why I came to you for realistic talk on this.

Ooh. Okay. Honestly, this is about a toss. up. You have the stronger up and down roster, but DAC, we have six point touchdown. Somebody in their, a commissioner in their infinite wisdom randomly changes to six points. I don't want to name any names.

So you, you could be at a deficit. Dak could easily drop 40. All right. Rockets talk today. Texans, Chargers talk for Saturday. We have a major college that their NIL fund ran out. And the guy, and the

player is like, I'm leaving the school and I'm going to sue you, but the money you owe me. I'm surprised we've not heard more, frankly, more about this. Fan behavior. One team says the fan was fine. The NFL says we're going to take a look at this. You got a lot to get to. You 10 o'clockers, come on and join us at 713-212-5-7-90.

We're here all the way to 2 o'clock. We're actually working today. A team, not so much. 7-1-3. Wait, what? I know. We're going to Christmas. We're doing four full hours.

How many are they doing? Zero. but I cannot give Wex crap because I'm going to. I'm leaving for New York next Wednesday, and he's going to do a couple hours for the show. Okay, but Adam Planton's fair game. Oh, my God, yes. All right, good. Yeah, it's easy.

713-212-5-790. And oh, by the way, we're going to have to attack Craig Ackerman for a food take. As a matter of fact, we'll do that next here on the program. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Come on, 10 o'clock, I want to hear from you. 713-212-5-790 I know the song I would not have guessed

Kelly Clarkson Oh look at this guy Did I get it right? Yes Oh nice So if you're going to listen to listen to Chris's music, which for me is today and tomorrow only, and that's it.

Are you going to want to go with the new artists that are doing it to give you the uptempo version of songs, or do you want to go with traditional old school Bing Crosby, stuff like that? I think a mix is good, number one. Number two, I am certainly partial to the old

school, especially the old soul stuff. Yeah, and that King Cole, if you will. Mm-hmm. Jackson 5, Arreitha, Frank. Franklin. When is a kid of Lamar's Christmas album coming out? I don't know that he's going to make a Christmas album.

He's not really that kind of artist. But if he did, it would be amazing, and it would melt everybody's hearts. I just don't, he's not that kind of guy. All right. We had a lot to get to. Okay, a couple things. I need a ruling.

Okay. Just in general. Christmas sweaters. Yes. My take is agree or disagree. if you're wearing a Christmas sweater you are just trying to seek attention

they look atrocious you want people to pay attention to you you want people to say hey look how dorky it look isn't this funny no we're not laughing with you we are directly laughing at you and I don't want to be laughed at

sure at no so I mean I think when it first came back it was funny and maybe now they've kind of jumped the shark because i would say i don't even know what would you say maybe 10 years ago somewhere around there maybe seven eight years ago the the the ugly christmas sweater came back in vogue because right in the 80s everyone was unironically wearing terrible ugly christmas sweaters because that's just what we did right the reason why i brought this up is

because jeff saturday is on get up right now or whatever the show is on i'm watching in the espion and he's got this grinch uh sweater on that he's not doing it because he wants to be a fashion he's doing it because he look hey look at me i mean more i mean maybe he just thinks it's funny or it's good i mean i think uh gordy's got an ed ogeron one that i find funny hmm gordy in the studio today that's impressive oh i didn't see him today but no i don't think so anybody in the office today was i think uh i don't think man it's christmas eve matt we're working i know we are i think we're the ones i mean we're off the well the we're off the regular show tomorrow and friday you and i are working

Jonathan producing our show today. Oh, my gosh. The young man needs a Christmas bonus. Well, he's going to get some money when I get back to town. Don't worry. Same. All right. Second ruling.

And I don't know if you've caught this or not, but on the TV broadcast, they were talking about, you know, Craig's got a worse pal than I do. It's, there's no if ands or buts about it. That's true. Okay. That doesn't mean yours is good, but Craig's is worse. Yeah. We're not trying to play me. Matt's good because I'm who I am.

I'm going to stay true to who I am. I'm going to be a fraud. That's good, Matt. To thine own self, be true. Thank you. So we were talking today about types of dressings he likes. He does not like ranch. He does not like blue cheese.

He does not like creamy Italian. He likes two different types of dressing. One is a vinaigrette and his preferred, which we've been, and we've been traveling together for 10 years now, his preferred type of dressing is honey mustard. well we're at dinner the other night Vanessa's telling Craig you know there's mayonnaise in honey mustard

he flipped the F out so now he said he's done with honey mustard oh my gosh I told him I said Craig you've loved honey mustard like his whole life

your whole life that is one of your two choices of salad dressing. If you like it, don't worry about it. Just eat it. For instance, I told them one time I had dinner with a former colleague of ours, Rantzorline, and we had spiced hot pimento cheese. I'm not a pimento cheese guy, but it was paramed, it was heated, it had pita chips,

and I enjoyed it. So I'm not eating pimento cheese on a regular, but for the dish that I had it on, it was quite delicious. I didn't go Oh my God I'm eating pimento cheese I've got to stop this now It was a horrific He was like

I'm done with it I'm like done with it You've been eating in all your life Why are you worried about it So I just want to give you an example That if you think my palettes bad There are many worse than mine What was his response?

I don't like mayonnaise Okay but he That is interesting You know what the kids call that Mental Gymnastics You were jumping through all these hoops to convince yourself what a what i'm i'm not a kid i'm just calling a stupidity the damn dressing and craig is probably listening right now well he he flew the right eye back

from a los angeles last time okay maybe in this car right now Craig Craig Craig if you're listening go ahead and Google cognitive dissonance that's a big word how how do you eat something your whole life and then that is interesting to me you know what maybe it's Craig's brain we need to donated it's i i was dumbfounded by it that it i honestly am not it i've seen behavior like that before where you find out something is you know i don't know uh made somewhere you didn't think i thought this was made in america and it was made in china and i don't like it anymore or whatever right right i mean i don't like all of but if there was something that I had a dish and I liked

and I ate it and I was like, oh, this is really good, it's adding flavor and texture to it, then I would probably continue to eat it. I wouldn't, I wouldn't bias it because I didn't like something generally speaking. I just, these are the things we do when the Rockets go one and four in a road trip, Ross. Well, I mean, we can get full breakdown of the game if you want.

Well, that's the E. Mae Doeke in two hours. How crankies he's going to be one to ten? I mean, he's never going to, like, he's never jovial with us? He's normally a rock. to five. I think he's going to be a seven. Yeah, to his credit, and I'll give you, I said, hey, do you, you know, because his son is here with him, and I said, hey, do you want to take a week off?

Because we've taken some weeks off before, during holidays, I know what time you want to do it. I think, okay. So, massive credit to him. That's why I have so much respect for him as a basketball coach. All right, 1030 here on the Matt Thomas show at Ross. 713, 21, 2, 2, 5, 790, if you want to chime in. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-21-2-5-7-90. We are playing all your Christmas hits today.

We're talking Honeymuster. We're talking about the Rockets, one-and-four road trips so far after losing last night of the Clippers. We've got the Texans against the Chargers. Saturday, we've got a quagmire here in Southern California, which people are losing their minds over. And we have a departure, a loss in the world of Houston news

that we will obviously get to as well. Plus, your conversation piece and we've got Eddie Nunez I thought of director at U of H

joining us in one half hour 713212-5-790 7-1-3-212-5-7-90 I'm here in Los Angeles Ross is it back in Houston

we will say this multiple times Happy holidays Merry Christmas Please spend time with your family and friends Please wish the rock it's nothing but the very best tomorrow night against the Lakers

and then we come home and the Cleveland Cavaliers wait for us on Saturday night. Ross, I've got a poll question up. You wear ugly Christmas sweaters. The answers are, you betcha or all hellnall. So you can put your vote in there if you want. I mean, I don't think I own any. I've worn one time.

We live in Minneapolis and my wife and I both wore ugly sweaters and we won a combo contact. Oh, nice. It was an ugly sweater contest. Yeah, it was. It went and it was atrocious. What year was that? You know what? I bet I can find the photo of me, 2008, maybe. Oh, okay. So maybe, yeah, the ugly sweaters have come back

longer than I thought. So there's the poll question. All right, Eddie Nunea is going to join us in 20 minutes. You may join us right now at 713-212-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. Brent's in the Galleria on the Matt Thomas Show at Ross. Happy Holidays. Brent, what's going on? Not much, M.T. and Ross, thank you for taking my call. I just wanted to say, real quick, no to the ugly Christmas sweaters.

It's just not for me, anybody else. I really don't care, but no to that. Greatest Christmas album of all time, and it's so good. It's haunting. Johnny Mathis, 1958. Absolutely incredible. My grandmother used to play it religiously during this time of year. and greatest christmas movement at all time die hard forget about it

all right hang up on this guy Brent Brent we'll have a little talk later Brent but finish your point All right as far as the Texans are concerned The defense is starting to show cracks And the offense well we obviously know the issues that they have So they don't have any hope going to the playoffs They'll maybe win a division round game or a wild card game

and then probably losing division around like they always do. The Rockets, I've had more WTF moments over the past five games, and I think I've had in a long time. And the reason being when you bring in the acquisition that they brought in, the expectation, KD said this the other night in an interview, are super high. So even though they're not the champs, they're going to get every other team's best every single night. And blowing leaves, that just can't happen.

But hopefully they'll get it figured out. And then last but not, or a couple things, last about least, Merry Christmas to you guys. And then I'm a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. And this time of year can be really heavy for a lot of people. And I just want to let everybody know out there that if you or if you know that somebody's struggling to reach out to them. Or if you're struggling yourself, there is a way out. There are people that you can reach out to in this time of year to help you get through that time. And so hopefully everybody has a blessed and safe holiday.

And thank you for taking my call. Brian, thank you very much. Oh, thanks, Brian. True award's never spoken. Thank you very much for that. Keep that on, baby. One day at a time. Except.

Die hard. When did this come into vogue? Speaking of when things came into vogue. Okay. The easiest way to defend this is would you put several children in front of a television or a movie theater

age between 8 and 13 years old would you put Diehard in front of their eyes during Christmas time to say hey everybody let's sit back have some cocoa some eggnog

maybe some Christmas cookies and watch something to celebrate the holiday season you would under no circumstance put Die Hard in that mix you just wouldn't it ain't a Christmas movie period end of story yeah AI says it became a prominent phenomenon around 2007

yeah it was released in July and then the the count the what about ism argument for these people is well what about Miracle on 34th Street that was in 1947 because like the studio head didn't like the movie so he released it later every other Christmas movie came out around Christmas Time. Home alone. Curse's vacation. Elf. Whatever we can think of. Plains, trains, and automobiles. It's not a Christmas movie. And I guess, you know what? I think they're just trolling us, Matt. Like, they like that we get all riled up about it. So that's part of it. It's a troll thing. It's to be smart. It's like, it's kind of like the ugly sweater thing. Like, yeah, we want a little bit of attention. We're going to call this a Christmas movie. So it is what it is. But yes, it is not a Christmas movie. I'm with you, Matt. This is one of the great debates we actually agree on. Yeah.

And we've been talking about this for 15 years. Yeah, at least. And we never can change somebody's mind about this. No. How can they ever change our mind about this? No, they know. They know. It's like when Aggie fans tries to call Texas Little Brother

and talk about how they're the heritage brand of Texas. Deep down, deep in the deep, deep, deep down, they know. Yeah. They know. Again, think about this. everybody's in their PJs everybody's getting ready to go to bed in a couple of hours

and wake up because Santa Claus you're going to sit you're going to put some music out in the background you're going to put die hard on I don't think so home alone yes home alone two sure Elmo and three probably not

probably not that went straight to DVD or the kids would say straight to the VCR well the one counter argument to that would be bad Santa is a Christmas movie but and you're not going to put that when the kids are I love Bad Santa by the way that's in my top five I've never seen it what oh Matt

it is unabashedly raunchy and I mean crosses every line you can think of sounds perfect I know that's what I'm saying you would love it every line you can think of to cross it crosses with a raunchy

humor but I don't care you're brought up the distribution dates I don't care when movies get out it's the it's the movie it's it's the theme it's the storyline it's a summer blockbuster it's a summer action blockbuster no but yeah go ahead and it's purely coincidental i'm sorry it's that it's during christmas time you could have all that stuff happening on july 19th period done with this let me tell you about let me tell you about the things i'm going to my grave with okay go ahead

one the macrib is america sandwich oh god he's this bad die hard is on a christmas movie and three texas biggest rival is a and m i'm going with that to my grave 1045 on sports talk 790

matt ross and jonathan with you 713 212 5790 713 212 570 you see the spurs beat the thunder by 20 points last night that's good and bad the thunder are beatable but the spurs are really good

so and then they're bit stealing off of the Minnesota Vikings at the end of the game do you see that oh yes I did you know what we gotta come out for San Antonio for this we're doing it next on 790 wearing a Christmas sweater has a 5446 lead

which I'm stunned by that's on the Twitter poll question at SportsMT I have some bad news about the Twitter poll I put out What is yours? Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? And? It's 5347 right now. Yes.

I'm going to vote on it. I'm going to go vote from the 790 account. You should. It's my vote. It's my vote. I mean, I don't get to vote on my poll. It's just, I'm just taking my vote. We're not going to give up on this.

We're going to get America change. By the way, I just came up with a great point. Great point, Ross. I'm very humble, too. Yeah. Die Hard with a vengeance is a diehard sequel and that does not mention Christmas. What, Home Alone 3 or I imagine is around Christmas. Right.

Home Alone 2 is about Christmas. Yeah. Where do you have a sequel of a Christmas movie that doesn't surround around Christmas? Never. Just a rando day. uh okay real quick rest in peace neil frank if there's anybody that's living in houston for any length of time especially what 20 25 years ago yeah he passed away this morning at the age of 94 oh wow may he rest i mean he was yeah one of the goats one of the all-time goats

he was working for the national hurricane center and then channel 11 would put him on a lot in the 80s just say hey mr frank i know you live in miami can you help us out here in houston and channel 11 as soon as hurricanes pass said hey why don't you come work in houston as a weather guy five six and ten we'll give you a lot of money and make you a star and he was beloved he i mean i cannot find anybody that said a bad word about dr neil frank and he was the guy that you turned on when absolutely fan so uh one of the all-time legend uh may he rest in peace Dr. Neil Frank Patton. We've had a tough year.

We lost Dave Ward, too. I mean, two iconic news people in our Houston area. Oh, no. It's up to 61.39. Don't worry. I'm going to go vote here in just a minute. All right.

So the Spurs last night beat the Thunder for the second time. Then, after the game, Victor Wimbanyama's like, hey, let's start this new tradition. I have this drum at mid-court. and I want you to spread your hands out and I want you to clap I want, have you seen the video of this

by the way? I watched so it was sent to me by I think you I watched like a few seconds of it and I was so disgusted I turned it off first of all look when you do something for the first time it's going to it's going to take a wall

for people to catch on to something but it was he explained it awkwardly the fans couldn't figure it out and it's a blatant rip-off of what they do in Minnesota where by the way they do the skull properly they do the hands at the same time the skull clap and then it's also a brayton

I mean a rip off of Sacramento lighting the beam everybody's ripping everybody off like people still on the radio shows in this marketplace still our stuff all the time and we're just used to it that's true we're acclimated to that I mean we are the heritage show at Houston Sports Radio Matt that is correct so

they're going to do that now in San Francisco it's going to piss me off because now everybody that I follow or on the 4U tab when the Spurs win a home game they're going to do this and then if the Rockets lose to San Antonio in San Antonio

I'm going to see it personally and then if the Rockets play the Spurs in a playoff series and San Antonio wins a game in San Antonio I'm going to watch that again well it's very easy beat them everybody in the NBA

Let's beat the Spurs. Go Spurs, go down. Let me tell you some. I can live with the Thunder. I can even live with the Lakers. I can live in Minnesota. I cannot have San Antonio better than a rocket. I know.

It's for mental health state. I can't have this. Especially the way Wimby reacted when he wasn't going to be a rocket. Oh. So how long are they going to keep training wheels on him, by the way? If I'm them, the rest of the same. season the rest of his career well I mean

he's playing 23 25 minutes not yeah not starting and playing about 25 minutes a game yeah since his calf strain I would do it I would do it I mean he had the thrombosis last year you can't argue with the results and the reality is guys north of seven feet are injury

prone every single one of them are every single one of them are who's been that real quick before I get to Eddie Nunez Rossi who's the healthiest Rossi, who's the healthiest seven-footer ever to play in the NBA? Is it Kareem? Kareem? What about Robert? How tall was Robert Parrish?

Big Chief played a ton of games in minutes. Yeah, Big Chief was big. But think about the seven-footers that we've talked about in the last 25 years. Samson, injury-prone. Yal Ming injury-prone. Sean Bradley injury-prone. Yeah, like over 7-2-ish. Robert Parrish was 7-1.

As I look it up. Kareem, I believe, was like 7-2 or 3, right? Yeah, but he's 7-2. Crees issues, I want to say, were more towards the end of his career. Yeah, I'm saying, no. He didn't. It's not really healthy for the prime? He played 74 games in 1989, his last year.

Oh, my God. He did the games played his last several years. 74, 80, 78, 79, 79, 80, 70, like he was playing. He was the healthiest 7-foot-2 north in the history of the NBA. Bill Walton, foot problems. Yoming, foot problems. ashamed to beat skill problems ashamed to beat never should have been drafted

ashamed to beat should be serving me my coffee at starbucks by the way you see louisville they beat they won the boker raton bowl yesterday and the trophy had beans in it and they're eating it out of it oh that's disgusting and i mean they get everybody's trying everybody's copy the pop tarts bowl right it's a bit

or it was the mayo bowl i guess was the original they were the dunkin mayo on everyone yes you look you got to get your 15 seconds if you're spending all this money. Well, I mean, they're getting more... Who would have ever brought the Boker-Ratombo under any circumstance? It used to be 15 minutes of fame, but now I'm calling it 15 seconds.

All right. Let's talk to Eddie Nunez next. 1058. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ross, you work on Believe it or not today while I talked to Eddie. Is that cool with you? I'm working on the Rotten 5.

Oh, the Rotten. I'm working on the Rockets Lodgepad. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. It is the Matt Thomas Show. It is, 11.02 on Sports Talk 7.90, the Matt Thomas show with Ross. I'm here in Los Angeles. Last night, the Rockets lost in the Clippers. I'll take on the Lakers on Christmas Day. And then two days after that, it'll be the Texas Bowl inside NRG Stadium for an 815 kick. And to join us to talk about that. And among other things, is the athletic director of the University of Houston.

Eddie Nunez. Eddie, thanks for joining us this morning. The number one most important question is, Die Hard, a Christmas movie, yes or no? I would probably lean on not, but I know a lot of people do because the day it came out and everything else. I'm more of the classics, you know, give me a good Christmas story or something like that. But I am a little disappointed. I thought you would at least have some Christmas music leading into it or some holiday music, something, you know, going on. Oh, don't worry, we're playing it all year, all show long. So as soon as you hang up, listen to the show between now and two o'clock, we'll take care of it.

Hey, first of all, I'm so willing on the show yesterday, and I just love that man. And look, I've been very fortunate with my relationship with the University of Houston as a student, as an alum, it's a broadcaster, to be around some great coaches. I don't know what to say in the words. What are truly classy person he is, he can coach, he can recruit, he plays by the rules when the rules constantly change. he talked about yesterday that all the kids a lot of the kids are from Texas and Louisiana Edd you're willing is it 10 or 15 years ago we couldn't get kids from Texas and Louisiana

because the facilities weren't up to speed and the product was not good and the conference wasn't great and so it's all coming full circle now and it's a great time to be a Houston Cougar fan especially with Coach Fritz for running things Yeah no you hit the nail on the head I mean he's someone who first of all has seen it at so many different levels but he understands the importance of Texas, having spent a lot of his career here in the state of Texas,

he understands the importance, the caliber of athletes, and if we're able, which he is, to be able to put all this together with those young men, we can have something special. And you said it right, it's alignment. It's aligning everything perfectly because for us to be able to do it, you know, being in the Big 12 and having success and everything else, we know we can win and we can win at a high level here, but you need the right leader and to have somebody who's not just done it at every level in one but understand that this is bigger than just football this is bigger than everything else it's about the city and everything else it resonates across the board with all our sports

Eddie you are on the Texas Bowl committee I don't know if that was kind of a job that you got because they asked you to or it's part of beer I thought of director of responsibilities but how intriguing was that process did you have to take yourself out of something because of the fact that the Cougars are trying to figure out which bowl game to go to? So, yeah, you know, it's an unusual process. I was part of the New Mexico Bowl when I was in at the University of New Mexico, and a little bit different than this one. This one a little bit more hands-on,

and you're involved in understanding all the details, how the teams are selected and everything else. So, yeah, I had to listen to the good, the bad end, the ugly, why, you know, we would possibly not be someone that they would consider as strong and some others and everything else. And you have to sit there and you have to bite your tongue and you have to understand. Sometimes we put ourselves in a position where those realities are true.

But on the other side, I also know what we can bring to the table. So I did have an opportunity to present what I felt was important for the group to know. And as I said before, we wanted to stay in the state of Texas. And we knew that possibly going to San Antonio or here. And if the possibility presented itself here, we were going to be not just all in we wanted that chance to be able to have our fans come and experience the holidays together with us and so interesting experience i i was able to say what i needed to say and i'm just glad for for david fletcher and the whole the whole board

everybody just giving us a chance well it was nice to see that the bowl ticket allotment was sold very very quickly tickets are still on sale for the game because we want to fill as many seats up as possible yeah what was it like like eddie to determine the opponent on that because obviously you're trying to sell the university of houston but the cc connection and trying to figure out okay does lSU want to come back to houston and oh by the way lSU and houston are going to open up the 27th season in that same building yeah that was discussed and part of it was um you know with the SEC the way they do their their bowl appointments they basically appoint who goes where and so they had conversations

the SEC within themselves about what teams would be on the on the possible selection process. When we saw LSU on there, of course, everybody said, we know they'd draw well. I had talked to their AD, who's a dear friend, and he and I spoke, and he said, look, if we have the chance to go there, we're going to go there.

Our fans love it. You know, yes, we play you guys in a year later, you know, but it's well worth it, especially as they're transitioning right now with everything else. It just really lines up better for them than anything else. So they were really excited to be a part of this. And as I told them, for me, it has another layer to it. But I also understand that we want to make this a sea of red.

Like you said, there's plenty of tickets available. We want all our fans to keep going to the NRG, to the Texas Bowl website, get those tickets. Let's make this a sea of red. Let's make it loud. Let's show not just the city of Houston, but America, that Cougar football is back. and it's not just back for this year. It's back to sustain success for a long time to come. Eddie, one piece of business.

Do I need to get caught up to speed on private equity or just let you guys handle that at this point? Listen, I think one of the biggest things is a lot of that information that came out was premature, and like most news article, they wanted to get it out as soon as possible when they heard about it. There's a lot of discussions still having. happening. Nothing is right at the finish line. There's, there's different parts of this private

equity that may suit well for us, but it's not that big 500 million people read about this or that. You know, there's, we have to make sure that we put our best, you know, the best opportunity for our institution, first and foremost. And borrowing money is, it sounds good at times, but it's also, we're taking, we're borrowing money. It's a loan. And so we have to understand if that make sense. If it works for us, is there other ways? Is there companies internally, I say internally in our city, in our state that might have better understanding of who we are and make it a better opportunity for us? So we are actively looking at everything with private equity with all those investors and everything else because we have to, we have to do our due diligence. But the one that

the bolt that was expressed about the conference, excuse me, that one does have some validity, but it's still not anywhere close to the finish line. last question about that is it going to be possible to get 16 schools on the same page when it comes to private equity depends on what you're asking for not every school um needs the loan not every school can do that our state has different requirements when it comes to taking loans and so i don't see it working um perfectly that's what you saw with the big 10 um and so what happened when the first iteration of So I would say the likelihood of making one of those things truly possible makes it really hard because you're dealing with private schools, state schools, different states.

There's a lot of factors that go into it. We all want the ability to generate more revenue to help us be great, but it takes a little time. Can I before forget, I'd love to make sure our fans know, December 26, Tom's Watch Bar downtown. We're taking over the Tom's Watch Bar. Come on down. We're going to have a Cougar event there. want all our fans to come out. It's going to be at 5.30, and then on the 27th, the day of the game, of course, we have

a tailgate there starting at 4.30 in the blue lot. Come on out. Let's make sure that we can do it right for our Couges, but more than anything else, thank you for this past year. I want to wish everybody a wonderful holidays and look forward to seeing them at the bowl game. Yes, go to the game. Saturday night. My kids are going.

I bought tickets yesterday, as a matter of fact. The Thomas, now I've got a Rockets game, so I won't be able to be there, but the Thomas family is going to be representing. So just go and root the hell against LSU. I know you used to work there, but, I mean, it's easy to make fun of Tigers. Oh, yeah, listen, I love my time there. It was great for the family and I, but there's no love right now that's all about the coogs, and let's go and take care of business, show them who we really are. So I'm all in, let's make it happen.

All right, last question. The basketball squad, all they're doing is running around the country beating up on these top 25 opponents. I love the non-conference scheduling. I know that folks would like to see some more home games at Fortita Center, but the world of the college basketball works a little bit differently, and you still, at the end of the day, are trying to build your resume for the March Madness. Yeah, it's part of this new landscape that we're dealing with.

I will tell you that this is also given us a little bit of light about what we want to do for the future. Coach Sampson actually mentioned to me about a week ago that we really want to try to do more home-and-homes with some power opponents at our place. make it impactful, make it desirable. But right now, because of the way the nuances are, we had to take advantage of these games on the road,

and some teams don't want to come here. But I know he'll have somebody in here, and we look forward to it, but it is part of building a resume. And our guys took care of business against Arkansas, and now we're here getting ready for. We've got one more game before conference, and hope to see everybody there also on the 28th in the Fertita Center.

Eddie, happy holidays, you and your family. Thank you for the time and the best of luck on Saturday against those tigers. Sounds great. Thank you. You got it. Eddie Nunez, the Vice President, Intercollegiate Athletics. Athletic Director at the University of Houston joining us here on Sports Talk. 790. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, it is a, I believe, a Christmas-friendly edition of...

Shut your bum ass up? I mean, how about please be quiet or good tidings to all? We'll figure out what we're going to call it. It's 1113. Matt Thomas Show with Ross. I'm here in Los Angeles. 713-212-5-7-90. Rocking around the Christmas tree at the Christmas party.

You know what? I was going to have to think about who sang this version of it. Ross, I'm going to go is who is Reba McIntyre. Am I right about that? It's, you know, this is a tricky one. You know the original that we know, right? Brenda Lee, right? Yes, this is also Brenda Lee,

but I think it's like an older Brindalee or something. Sounds like an older live version, maybe. Man, I swore that was Reuben McIntyre. Yeah, I think it's older Brindalee. Like 60-year-old, Brenda Lee? Yeah, maybe. It doesn't sound, it's definitely not the original, original.

Yeah, all right. How's our poll question coming on? How's your poll question about that hurt? I don't even want to look. It doesn't matter. You people are wrong. You know, it's crazy that very few times you and I are on the same page about something. Yes.

All right, I'm going to check my question about the Christmas sweaters. Let's take a look here. You wear ugly Christmas sweaters. Oh, look at all hell no, coming in strong. 62%. No, you bet you're 38%. Why did you go with the... the, the Midwestern, you betcha.

Because that's what Midwest orcs do. Oh, you bet you there, Matt. By the way, I went to my 4U tab. Okay. There is a woman. Oh, yeah, I knew it. There we go. Well, okay.

I'm going to go with her name is Karen. Does that make sense to you? Okay. There's somebody shooting a video of her. It's about four minutes long. I don't want to, we can't obviously care, because I don't want to carry four minutes of Karen. but there is a woman who has two cats that she wants to put underneath her seat and Alaska Airlines not letting her do it.

Okay. And she's losing her mind. I'll tell her to shut her bum ass up. So I guess, I mean, if you're transporting cats, can't you, I mean, I guess you'd have to pay to put them in the cargo section, right? I mean, air-conditioned cargo section. Yeah, you're supposed to. Now everybody's got their emotional support. Marmot

trying to get on the planes with that I think there was somebody getting on with a great Dane but this is the problem if you have like real bad anxiety problems

and you know like I understand but there are people who this is just how the world works unfortunately who take advantage you don't have any sort of issues

but they want to be on the plane with their dog so then they get them the emotional support you know a help dog or whatever certification don't get me started

well I'm again I only listed about 30 seconds of it because she's losing her mind and the gate agent's slightly I'm just wondering if she's trying to be cheap about it where they said well if you want to put your cats underneath it'll be $75 a pop which again people have money

but I'm assuming that if you're on an airplane going somewhere that you've got enough money to obviously pay for yourself and bags and whatnot was she moving? Was she traveling with her cats? Yeah. The last thing I heard her say is I don't live here I live in Oregon

and then I had to stop because where was she going to show? do you know where they were going no but alaska airlines is primarily a western seattle or yeah yeah i mean i i'd say i when i went to seattle i took alaska airlines it was nice it's fine i flew from l-a-sam just go on alaska one time so and that's uh and i believe alaska has service out of houston so shout out to you alaska yeah i just said i flew there to seattle oh okay i was i was thinking you were in seattle when you did that that's okay all right uh we have uh non-stop baby we know that's

a hole. It is a hall. That is a long flight. The Portland flight for us it takes forever, too. I do want to go back to the Oregon coast, so maybe I'll fly some Alaska. It's beautiful out there, Matthew. Highly suggest it. They have a good casino north of Portland. Do they? Yeah. I don't know if you notice this or not lost. Strip clubs per capita. If there's a casino, I'm going to find it.

Yeah, you've got a problem. And by the way, Hollywood Park, which is across the street from where the Intuit dome is they have their own form of blackjack it's called no bus blackjack it is a scam oh really yes the goal is to get to 22

not 21 huh and you're not competing against the house you're competing against people at your table that's weird how do they make money the house they take an anti oh my no no sir

no sir no sir That's what I'm saying. So in theory, you can never bus. So let's say you've got 14 and you're trying to go to 22 and you get a 10. It's 24. You're going to lose to anybody closer at the table to 22 than you are and you're going to beat anybody that's higher than 24. I'm confused.

You know what? It doesn't matter. Just don't play it. Just don't play it. Just don't play it. That's why I'm not going there. James and Klein on 7-108. James, what do you got today?

Yeah, shout out to Western Kentucky for being Southern Mississippi last night in the New Orleans Bowl. Woo! Go hill-toppers. Oh, is that when they had tops on their helmet? I couldn't figure that out. The hilltoppers?

I had no idea why they had tops on their helmet, but nevertheless, they did win. So shout out. You've been having some egg-k-k-k-k, James? No, I don't. should have some egg dog but no habit but it just you know i was watching the rockets game last night and i was going yay they're doing good and then i realized they weren't the team in red they were the team in black i was kind of far away from the tv and i'm used to seeing the rockets in red

i'm thinking man they're shooting pretty good and then and i realized those are the clippers those aren't the rockets so it was kind of confusing for me but i'm kind of old anyhow anyhow merry christmas to you guys and thanks for putting me on the radio thank you very christmas james I think he's been having a couple of cups of Christmas cheer. Let me tell you, that's back dangnog hits about right, about 1126 central time, does it not? Have a cup of cheer, baby. It is like pitch black out here. This is so weird being in California with palm trees moving up and down, windy.

Yeah, are you okay? What are the winds at? What are the MPS is on there? How many knots? Would you like to know? Yeah, I would. Let me take a look here. That's why I asked.

I'm in technically Beverly Hills. So let's take a look at current conditions. Hourly winds are out of the south-south east at 13 miles an hour. Oh, that's not bad. I would not think so. Yeah, I would agree with you. But it's like it's 7 o'clock at night here. It's pretty dark.

Go look at your weather channel app. Look at the radar. It's a mess. You're going to be fine. You don't leave your hotel in room anyway, so it's going to be like a regular trip for you. Well, I was going to go for a walk, but forget that through that

put a raincoat when do I travel with a raincoat why wouldn't you who does that nobody travels with rain coats unless you're going

somewhere knowing it's going to rain for sure I always travel with the raincoat that is a lie you know why because you weren't

nothing inside of that when I'm going camping you know you are you know what you are you are Mr. raincoat and nothing else I know how you're doing

I know how you roll that's not true if you're Going out in the rain, make sure you're wearing your rubber boots, Maddie. You know, it never rains in Southern California, but girl, they'll only warn you. When it pours, man, it pours. And you have flowers in your hair? That's if you're only in here in San Francisco.

Oh, okay. Okay, a holiday, I don't know how this is going to work. We could have zero people calling, we could have seven. Yeah, we'll see. How was this, how were the freeways, Jonathan, getting to work? today. A piece of cake? That's a piece of mood today. I'm not going to lie. Rossi, how's a sales pit today?

Uh, I've been bustling. Mm, it's good. I'm happy to hear that. That was not the answer. I was thinking it was going to happen, but I'm glad you're telling the truth. Hey, it's Coachudan. Hear every Rockets game on Sports Talk 790. And on the I-Heart Radio app, home of your

Rockets. Ain't nobody getting tap. Hey, nobody getting tap. Hey, everybody getting time for it. Hey, everybody getting time for it. Hey, everybody getting time for it. Hey, everybody getting time for day. 713-212-5-790.

It is a Christmas Eve edition of, Shh, please be quiet. Summer down? Tell me more. I do have time for that. Yeah. you know what calling and tell us everything by the way

I've got my text locked and loaded for somebody who sends me a happy Merry Christmas text tomorrow and that's it What if I send it to you right now? You won't get it until tomorrow. All right What's your name? Don't give up my number.

All right. So I was looking forward to hearing your story until I saw your tweet about the blackjack Yes. So without any further ado Why until? I mean that's a for sure

shadowing as they say. Ladies gentlemen, we present to you at 713-212-5-790. Please tell me more or shut your bum ass up. You direct it. We're going for the next half hour on this. Ross, tell us about your life and what you'd like to tell someone. All right, so I'm sitting at the blackjack table and playing three to two. I'm playing third base, and I get a 12 versus a dealer three.

Yeah. Now a lot of people don't know this, man, but you know it's correct. Yeah, I do. That's a hit for me. That is. It's a hit for me. And the book says it. and Mr. Blackjack backs that up.

The book says to hit, so I hit. Unfortunately, I pull like a three or something to give me a 15, and then the dealer gets a 21. There is this older lady had to be at least 80 years old. She makes a sarcastic comment to actually my brother, funny enough. I don't think she knew he was my brother. Like, basically something like to the effect of, I wish he would play right.

so we could all win. And so I hear her saying that, and I'm like actually hitting a two versus a three is correct. And she says, no, it's not. No, it's not. Son, I've been playing blackjack longer than you've been alive. No, it's not. No, it's not.

And so I pull it up on my phone. I try to show her on my phone. She won't look at my phone. She's like, nope, I don't need to see it. Don't need to see it. It's not right. I was like, all right, whatever. And that's fine.

You know what? You think I'm playing wrong. You want to be combative. It's okay. however Real quick Before you finish How many people

With the table You your brother The blue hair And what else Probably two Two other people I think it's full What does it fit

Six Yeah It was a full table Okay There was one person In between us two And then my brother Was to her right

I was on third base Okay So I tell the girl Next to me I show her too And she's like I believe you I believe you

She was keeping calm And cool or whatever Nobody was too contentious But anyways The lady's like No no no I don't need to see it I don't need to see it

I don't need to see it I'm like all right whatever. Then literally two hands later, Matthew, she gets a 13 against a 10 and she stays. Oh my God.

She goes, I don't bust. I don't bust. So I was going to let it fly. My brother goes, you're supposed to hit that. She goes, I don't bust. So I'm sitting there saying if you're going to criticize me for correct strategy, I don't want to hear from you playing the incorrect strategy. You play your money, I will play my money.

Old lady at the blackjack table, ain't nobody got time for you being a hypocrite and wrong twice and making sarcastic comments about me playing correctly. So shut your bum ass up. Ain't nobody got time for that. Shut your bum ass up, man. See, I don't believe in violence, but I'd slap the bitch. I'm okay with you playing your... Look, you want to stay on a 13, you don't like to bust.

You know what it is, what it is. That's fine. You want to criticize me. It's stupid. It's wrong. Ridiculously bad. You want to hand out your money to the casino. That's fine.

But don't come at me for playing correctly. You got to do one or the other. You either got to play it all right or you got to play it all wrong. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Okay. Shut you by mass. I do not like when people shit your bum ass up man

hit 16 when they're supposed to it bothers me but you have a low percentage of winning regardless so I kind of get it I don't like it I would do it myself people are loss of verse I get it but I can live with that

I can't live with 13 against a 10 or 15 and she stayed on 13 and she kept on do it she was staying on 14s and 13s and she kept going I don't bust I don't bust I'll let the dealer bust and the dealer had 20, by the way. Yeah. So how did you end your conversation with her?

Have a nice day. Do you tell her go F off? I think she got up. She lost like all her money and got up. And then she went to the 6 to 5. I was like, all right. She was betting about 50 bucks a hand and she would do in two hands. I mean, so I understand she was upset.

She was getting crushed. Yeah. All right. Mine's real quick. I'm going to, you know, it's a season of giving. And I'd like to give myself some nice warm weather. here in California, it's 60 degrees, raining and windy. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Ain't nobody got time for that? I can tell the weather people who shut their brum myself, but they're just, you know, oh, by the way, guess what all the TV stations are doing? Oh, full, oh, yeah. Full, blue coverage. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so, John, then what do you got in your, uh, in your back pocket this week? I'll do the more polite side.

Oh, good. Good. everybody that's on the older side it's okay to go to the people that check you out you don't have to do the self-checkout you don't have to do it

all right that's for pros that's for ranked all right you know what I'm saying you don't like get out the way like if you don't know

what you're doing it's okay to go to the side put your stuff on a little belt and you know have a nice conversation ain't nobody got time

for you especially this holiday season ain't nobody got time for that be in the way man like I'm not trying to sit with three other people waiting in line

for a self-checkout come on now I despise self-checkout. I would rather pay 10% more for my goods than avoid, then go to the self-checkout. Because first of all, the QR code or whatever that thing is, it only scans about 40% of the time. You wind up either getting overcharged or double-charged, and then you have to go, and you bag it. And then at the end of the day, the woman has come over and help you anyway because you can't find, a particular item it's it's the biggest waste of time in the grocery slash target slash walmart

industry that's because you're a casual guy see this is exactly this is exactly my point and or you have a lot of items matt has a family so i imagine you got a lot of stuff too usually right matt uh uh yeah uh now granted i while i may be anti self-scan i am pro delivery of the groceries i am pro picking up the the groceries i don't like that i like to pick my i normally get produce and I like to pick my own. Yeah, I'm not adverse to it, but I'm just saying I do enjoy when my wife says, hey, I'm going to go pick up the groceries. And because the thing, with women, and we do it the same thing, too. If we're hungry, oh, then we wind up spending about $25 more. If you go to the internet and pick out your items, you're probably going to be more

responsible with it. Don't go on an empty stomach for sure. Yeah. And by the way, did you see that Instacart got found out? They were putting a bunch of different prices of different goods to try to see, like using AI to figure out what's the maximum they could get for eggs and stuff? No way. Shut your bum ass up, but ain't nobody got time for that, Instacart? Ain't nobody got time for that? Gouging groceries. Shit your bum ass up, man.

Like, I'm cooking on our family Christmas is going to be on the 27th. No, the 28th, because we get home on the 26th. We have a game on the 27th, so the 28th is a Sunday. Yeah. And I'm doing it,

but I'm going to buy a, I'm doing breakfast. We're doing eggs, pancakes, bacon, sauces, that kind of thing. There's nothing fruit plate. That's about it. So chorizo? I mean, we have chorizo fans in the family, but I'm not one of them. It's too greasy. Chorizo de San Manuel.

Just do it. Where should I go get it, Ross? Not right now. You don't care where I get it. Just say that. I don't care right now. I don't care right now. We'll see what happens to come Q1.

You're such a fraud. Oh, I learned from the best. You did learn for the best. Okay, I got one more quick. Quickly. Did you see the college football playoff first round ratings? Yes, I did. Zero surprise.

15 mil for Alabama OU. 15 mil for Miami A&M. Six mil for Ole Miss Tulane. 4.4 mil for the James Madison blowout. Ain't nobody got time for these automatic qualifiers in the college football playoffs. Nobody wants to watch that crap. Everybody got time for that?

They really don't. You're right about it. that we're going to have to go to 16 teams to let them in or keep it at 12 and not allow the the cute the group of 5 in that is the reality of it

yeah because old miss look my great friend Todd graffin needs a voice of the new Orleans bellicons he's like matt my two lane green wave they're going to let you down they're going to make this competitive and it was over in the first half and maybe

the first 12 minutes of the James Madison game was semi-competitive. And neither team had their head coach, right? No, because the Tulane coach is at Florida now, and where's GMU's coach? As UCLA maybe or something like that? Who knows? Yeah, exactly. But that's going to happen. I mean, you go to these small

programs and you make the playoffs, it means you've got a good coach and you're going to get hired away. Yeah, I want to be a coach. I want to stay at JMU the rest of my life. No, you don't. Matter of fact, you want to go to three schools with the next four years and it's getting as far away from GMU as possible. Like that SFA coach has another good year. He'd be No. He'll move up somewhere where they actually use all the letters of the alphabet.

713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. 11-47. If you have something, just checking if you're all out there, if you want to tell somebody to shut their bum-ass up, or maybe wish them a very merry, happy Christmas, and happy New Year. 7-13-212-5-7-90. It's a Matt Thomas show. with Ross here on Sports Talk 790. Have yourself a merry little Christmas. I know this singer.

Let your heart be light. Go ahead. I'm going to say Judy Garland for the win. It's correct. Yes. I don't know this one, but it's good. I just responded to your text. Oh, did you?

You're laughing to yourself. I find myself amusing. Oh, wow. Yeah, this is good. You'll give you a little recap. Thank you. Is that, is that your, that's what you're going to send everybody? I'm going to send, I'm going to send an example right now.

I'm going to put it on Twitter, let you all see it. So if you all text me Merry Christmas, you know what you're getting back. You're getting a nice long explanation from me. You're so proud of yourself. Oh, look, I'm punched drunk, I'm road weary. You're fine. You've been in the same city for two days, right? Three?

Yeah, but I mean, I've been all over this country losing games of crappy opponents. Hmm. Serenity now, Ross, serenity now. Deep breaths, Matthew. And then we're home for two whole games, and then we go back on the road to New York, which is interesting. We're going to be in New York City on New Year's Eve,

and we have been mulling over whether or not to go to Times Square, and decisions have been made not to do so. I think there was a December swoon last year, wasn't there? Or was that February going into the All-Star break? No, yeah, they lost four. four out of five in December last year. This is par for the course. Oh, no.

No, I'm looking at this year. I'm stupid. Well, back in 1989, when the Rockets were in the Midwest Division playing the Utah Jazz six times. Yeah, they lost six in a row going into the All-Star break last year.

That'd be fine, Matt. All right. Yeah, you're not upset with me then I'm not going to go to Times Square for New Year's Eve. I don't care. It seems like a waste. Not a way. It seems like one thing, something you do once and then never do again.

And it's probably a giant hassle. Like Marty Grawled, New Orleans, which I've still never done. Yeah. I guess you got to get on a balcony. Can you get in a balcony in Times Square? I would think we could have some connections where we'd be in a nice hotel or something on a rooftop club. Because if you're drinking bruskeys and liquor and whatnot, you're going to have to go to the bathroom.

Well, that's what I'm saying. Do people bring diapers? Because if you get a good. spot near the ball the apple i should say don't you not want to give that up probably just saying plus if it's cold you want to eat or it just feels like there's too much again 23 year old matt okay why not yeah older me i don't know i'm not gonna do it no no all right oh we're coming up on the news at noon

okay thank god oh anything else you want anything else you want to say as far as shut your bum ass up Matt or anything you do have time for uh did you have something else or you know you're done mad at that lady lecturing me and then playing wrong

you can't lecture someone and then play wrong I can't that she's going to let the dealer bust does she not know the dealer has 20 like 60% of the time for some reason oh my god it's terrible absolutely terrible oh rossie i'd have swore at her you probably would have

you know what i would have said to her i said enjoy this christmas maybe you're last it might be maybe that's why she was playing so much money she got up playing about a huntsky hand at some points yeah Yeah. All right. Let's do a quick check of the poll questions today.

My poll question was Christmas sweaters. Let's see here. You bet you 30. Oh, look at this. 39%. You bet you 61%? Oh, hell no. That makes me happy.

Your poll question is about Christmas. It's about whether or not die hard as a Christmas movie. 58 to 42 right now. Yes. Okay. we're getting trolled it's fine this is a troll job we tried we're gonna continue to fight this until we cannot fight anymore it is what it is 713 212 5 790 713 212 5 790 710 we have the news at noon coming up next coming up in 30 minutes we'll talk to e-may-a-doke i'm sure he's going to be in

just a sweet mood after watching the rockets lose the clippers last night 713 212 5790 This is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. Trouble 3 on Sports Talk 790. It is our three of a four-hour get together. We call the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. 713-212-5-790. If you're out and about, doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, I suggest set these fine jewelry on VALSROB between Sanford Lake Bay and West Timber.

Right now we present to you at 124, The News. All right, E-May Duck is going to join us in a half an hour. I'm sure you'll hear the best of this conversation tomorrow during Rocket's launch pad. Yeah, I'll take care of you. Normally you only run about five, six minutes on Christmas Day. You know what? I think you guys deserve the full conversation. You know what?

You're going to ask three questions, too. But be polite. That's fine. You may want to come to the phone and crush your throat. I think I'm always polite. And even when I ask questions that need to be asked, he doesn't care. That's what I love about Coachie Doaker.

You can ask him anything. He doesn't care. He's not going to hate man you like the, and say, and he's not going to throw at the end of his answer. I think I know a little bit about baseball, as a certain manager did to me once. Rhybys with the Rusty Raker. Busty Raker.

Is that a porn star ever heard of Busty Raker? That's one of your top five faves, right? She's on the four U-Tab. All right. Ross, get the details of what happened last in Los Angeles. How about we let you give the details? Rockets are going to empty the benches here. 525 remaining down 20.

We will not see Shingoon or Durant the fourth here. Mid-range, Kauai, got two more. 38 now for Kauai Leonard at 1186. Timeout to the Rockets. Rockets are five minutes away from going one and four on this 6-game road trip. with one more to go. Leonard has buried him the night. 38, 8, and 5.

You would end up with 41 points. How about 29 from James Harden? He was 12 of 13 from the free throw line. 55% from the field for the Los Angeles Clippers. Rockets do not get it done. A 128 to 108 loss. And as you just said there, Matthew, one and four on this six-game road trip.

is tomorrow night's game. Oh, oh. Important for the Rockets to win. Yes, it is important for the Rockets to win. Be nice to bounce back. Your two and a half point favorites on the road on Christmas Day against the Lakers. By the way, are not playing good defense.

J.J. Renek is calling up the team for their defensive efforts after they've lost back-to-back games. Yeah, 133108. They lost last night to the Lakers. 132. Sun's in Feeney. Do you know who's getting under the skin

of LeBron James? you get one guess and one guess only uh calling gillespie no dylan brooks i mean is come on mowack no i just said it who's dylan brooks dylan is like intentionally just trying to eff with the second greatest player in the history of the nb that's shocking i mean he's got huge stones to give him credit for that for sure uh what's going look at donches is hurt that he turned he turned he had a thigh contusion i thought or something going on. Yeah, okay.

I'll get the injury report a little bit later today, but by the way, the input is going to start. When do you get that injury report? Asking for a friend. I mean, I'll send it to you later. We'll make it up. It's fine.

We'll figure it out. Are you going to use digital? Are you going to use AI for this broadcast? Yeah, I might. And then elsewhere, Matt, actually, we have to go to our Los Angeles Weather Bureau Bureau for more news at noon. Yes, we're getting the weather report

from Matt. We're out to Matt in Los Angeles. How's the weather out there, Matt? Well, thank you very much, Ross. There's, yeah, there's a few sprinkles going on here in the Los Angeles area. Localized flooding as possible.

Every TV station is abandoning their edition of the Ricky Lake show and Sally Jesse Raphael and Jerry Springer and Judge Judy because they've got to give you hours and hours of weather coverage for a few sprinkles here in Los Angeles. Back to you.

Oh, thank. Be careful. I see a puddle over there, Matt. Thank you. All right. Thank you. There's the weather report from Los Angeles. Not going great out there in Southern California. I think Matt Thomas said he's expecting seven inches in L.A. So, hey, can we play

even though it's on a Christmas song, it never rains in Southern California coming back in the break? I guess. We've played it before, have we not? Probably. is it is it one of those terrible folky songs well jonathan is going you know jonathan and i are building this really good

friendship oh is that true because we are playing these hokey songs as you would like to call them uh-huh and he's like it's a banger it's much more it's much better than i thought it would be this young man is being corrupted by you this is not good Jonathan be ready it never rains in southern california it's a bump song we're coming back with

and i want an honest assessment of the song when we come back all right elsewhere the news at noon did you see the practice report from the Texans yesterday, Matt. It's rather lengthy, but it's always a Wednesday, so I don't get a right. Well, it's a two, right, because they play on Saturday, so it's effectively a Wednesday, but it is

a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, rather than a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday like normal. Yesterday, get ready for the D&P list. All right, I've got to take deep breath here. Go. Danico Autry, knee, Trent Brown, ankle slash knee, Arionte Ursary, Thumb,

Jake Hanson, Chess, Dylan Horton, hip, Carmary Lasseter, Sheldon Rankin's knee, Derek Stingley, Jr. oblique. All DNP for the Houston Texans. Limited practice. Aziz al-Shahir, ankle slash knee, Ajani Carter, hamstring, Dalton Schultz, knee, Austin Brinkman, knee, Jamal Hill, wrist, Woody Marks, ankle, Dorell Taylor, ankle, Justin Watson, calf.

I'm sorry, last four of those are full practice. Well, I'll tell you what. If Wax was doing a show today, he'd have his entire show built off of that. but he's not D&Ps for the Chargers Keenan Allen Kamani Vidal I'm trying to see who else is notable

and Justin Herbert was a full practice with his left hand injury oh Brad Dupre was limited I'll tell you what I know Herbert gets a lot of grief and the lack of post season success and remember how bad he was against Texans yeah the guy's got as we had it with a reporter on Chris Hayre yesterday

he has a broken hand in his plan I mean, we do need to give him his flowers for that, for sure. Yeah, and he's having a pretty good season overall as well. Yep. By the, by the D.K. Metcalfe of the Pittsburgh Steelers, his two-game suspension was upheld. It's going to cost him $555,000. And the Detroit Lions did an internal survey about whether or not the fan broke a code of conduct.

And it was deemed yesterday that the kid that, not maybe young adult whatever he was that a kid but they saw I saw a video posted by Ian Rappaport of him saying that was the that's the goal folks yes it's kind of tough to hear if that was

really him it the audio doesn't sound one to one honestly right so the lion said no harm no foul the NFL's like we're going to take a look at it ourselves so this is not done because a Metcalf is obviously appealing with suspension

mm-hmm all right Look, Ross, we don't need to reinvent the wheel on this. Go to the game, sit in your chair, stand up, cheer, cheer or boo. That's it. Don't call out players and try to start mess. And then have your brother record because you think it's fun. Yeah. And if you're a player, DK, if there's an issue, get somebody, kick the guy out of the building.

You have to keep your cool, too. Stay away from it. You're never going to win. Mm-hmm. All right, a couple of quick and more, a couple of few news items, Matt. Raiders have placed Brock Bowers on IR. Did you know? Coming up this weekend, we'll mention this on the Rotten Five.

It is the Fernando Mendoza Bowl. The Raiders versus the Giants. Two win teams, the stoppable force, the movable object, the two worst teams in football. Who can tank harder find out this weekend in the NFL? By the way, Brock Bauer is a proud member of Thomas Sports Enterprise. Yes, that's right. That's true. So there you go.

Brock Bauer is apparently playing with a knee injury all year long. He is going to sit. How about it? Do the Texans ever stop any tight ends? I'm just asking for a friend. Not really. So who is the best tight end right now that the Texans could place in a playoff? I really don't know the answer.

I'm just curious if we need to start doing some research on this. Let me think. Hunter Henry No Broncos don't have a good tied-in situation Pete Friermuth Me

the old Kincaid and Dawson Nox See I'm so happy Britain's strange Head-ins through here like that Britain's strange For the Jaguars is decent If there's anybody that knows

about a good tight end It's sports RV That's what I'm just telling you right now Okay And now one more quick news item at The Spurs Destroy the Oklahoma City the Thunder.

1.30 to 1.10. Great. Victor Wimbaniama talking about a rivalry budding between he, Shea Gilgis, Alexander, and the Thunder. But Victor Wembaugham is saying, I feel like saying it's a rival to be a weird thing because it's something that builds naturally.

But we're definitely getting closer. So Spurs v. Thunder. It's supposed to be the Rockets in the Thunder. It's the rivalry. But the spurs are looking good, Maddie. They've won eight in a row now, is it? Or seven? And it's beaten the thunder twice in the last two weeks.

They've won seven in a row, two of those against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Yeah, not great. All right, it never rains in California, one of the all-time 1968 bangers. Oh, God. We'll have Jonathan rate the record next. 713-212-5-Sav-Avani. Also, E. May, Adonka, to join us in about 15 minutes here on Matt, Tom. a show at ross seven one three two one two five seven ninety seven one three two one two five a seven ninety

this clearly isn't the version i was thinking of but that's okay this is great you know the rest of me this ain't bad All right, we'll try this again at 1 o'clock. Or 12.50. Well, Matt, I think you would dispute that it never rains in Southern California. Yeah, it's really windy AF right now. But I found this interesting, by the way, while writing, believe it or not, LA slash Southern California weather. Oh, yeah.

Going back to since records began in 1877, there are 19 different days on the calendar that have never had rain ever. that's a believe it yes isn't that crazy they're only in June July August September but go ahead Do you want to change a number to a higher number or lower number? No I think it's sad I think it's good enough

Okay I just think it's a good fact maybe it's a gimmy That's a free one That's a free one for you Never rain in the history of records on certain days All right That would never happen in Houston We will play the late 60s early 70s jam

A little later in the show Who sings that version of the song? That was Tony Tony, Tone. T-O-N-I, T-O-N-E. Did I get it right? But ring the, what is the spelling bee bell? Oh, T-O-N-Y.

Oh. T-O-N-I, T-O-N-E. Jonathan, you don't know this. Many years ago we did. We used to do rapping spelling bee where they would give me an artist and have to try to spell their name. In general, he'd be wrong.

We had to bring it back this. summer if the aster's are struggling. I don't say it. Don't say it. You said you listened to you might to tell the truth, right? I did. Lewis on 790, good afternoon to you. MT and RV, happy holidays to you guys.

Same to you. Hey, Matt, I got a question since you watch all the games and stuff like that. And I'm not frustrated with the Rockets at this point. I'm just kind of can't figure out where the defense has gone. So I want to ask you a hypothetical. With Dorian Finney Smith coming back, if there's a trade to be made where we could actually get a real point card, would you think they would consider trading Tari Eason,

considering he's going to be unsigned going into the summer? I just think we need somebody at the end. end of games to, and I know that's what Duran is for, but I think he's handling the ball way too much. I think we're looking for him at the end way too much. I really don't like Sangoon with the ball in his hands at the end of the game. I just want more of a Fred Van Fleet type of person, so I want to get y'all's thoughts on it, and happy holidays, guys. Thank you very much. Ross help me out Taris is a

restricted free agent at the end of the year Yes So that carries over to the new team If he was to go if he was to get moved correct I believe so Yeah again there are nuances to contract that I don't know But that seems to be pretty easy You know

Again not that Rafael Stone is going to give me Intelligence on what he's thinking But if this thing kind of just continues to settle the way that it is and the team is probably playing where it is about six, seven games above 500 there could be two trains of thought

and we'll never know the true public perception of this one is that Fred's injury would be too much to overcome that maybe nothing could be done to fix it for this year that's one train of thought or the second train of thought

we can't ruin a good season for a men, a good season for Alpern, a good season for Katie, we need somebody to help us run point to get a man away from the basketball and let him do some other things in the dunker spot, which he's been so good at, that maybe we should go all in. The problem is, are they, do you make trades because you're going to get a little bit closer or can you make a trade with a player that's out there that's going to get you over the hump? And that hump is, by the way, Oklahoma City.

It's that hump is Minnesota. That hump is Denver. it could be the Lakers and maybe even the San Antonio Spurs. Yeah, that's what Rafael Stone is going to have to ask himself and how close are we to a championship? How close do we want to get to a championship? And what is it going to cost us? Because the reality is this.

Katie is 37. Katie has got two-year extension. What was it? He signed a two-year deal out of this year, right? I think something like that. And Katie, I think, wants to play until he's in his mid-40s. Now, to expect Kevin Durant to do what he's doing now already did five years ago for the Rockets just

isn't in the grand scheme of things it's you know father time is always undefeated but if this is a this is not a one and done you have young players you'll have Fred Van Bleepack you will still have opera in Jankoon you will have Jabari Smith you will have a men Thompson

so even if things don't turn out the way that you wanted to this year it's not like you're thinking oh my God now I'm going to blow the whole thing up the question is going to be for Rafael Ross is do we just play this thing out to see how it goes not interrupting our grand scheme which is using you know

smart contracts and using our draft picks or do you go do we say hey we need one more player whether it's an outside threat whether it's a point guard my guess is presumed would be you want somebody as a ball handler and if is there anybody out there that would automatically get this team dramatically better when it comes to running its offense and it's going on right now and you I don't have the answer to that question. No. And they just have very, very little wiggle room when it comes to the second apron, I guess. Yeah.

And if they like Tari's. And, you know, look, Tari's had a really good season so far except for the injury, obviously. And that is part of the requirement there. But, you know, what can you get in return if you were to move Tari, knowing that the team that picks him up, he's not guaranteed to stay there? We see that in baseball all the time. Yeah, I don't even know. Could he, well, is he eligible? Could he sign an extension?

Could you be like a sign-in-trade type of deal where he signs an extension and then gets traded? I don't know. Yeah. I got to go. I got to check the CBA. Well, you didn't do that. You know, as you're knocking back, your turkey and you're dressing tomorrow and your tamales. Why don't you die?

I'll come over the CBA. I wouldn't do that. K.J. and Biscuit, we're going to hang with you guys in a couple of minutes. Stand by. We'll talk to you after we talked to email, the head coach the Rockets. He's with us next. Our time is 1228. It's Matt Ross here in Los Angeles on Sports Talk 790.

Rains in Southern California. But it is. 1234 Sports Talk 790. We're going to spend 10 minutes with the head coach of the Houston Rockets, EMA, Adonka. Matt and Ross, with you here on 790. EMA, thanks for joining us. I hope we're going to have some better conversation. We're about to have the next handful of minutes, but things have not gone so far well

also for on this trip, one and four. Some really tough losses, some late games. And then last night, boy, the clippers just hit everything on the floor. You're going to meet with a team and a half an hour to go over some films. So would you like to give us a sneak preview of the conversation you may be having with the boys? Yeah, it's really, you know, getting back to who we are as a team. You know, we, last night, probably the worst, worst game of the year in a lot of aspects. But when you look at things big picture-wise, we gave them away.

And you're going to have some poor nights, but that's why losing the Denver game with a foul at the end, losing New Orleans with a foul and giving up a lead against Sacramento. That's why those ones sing even more because nights like last night are going to happen. But our main thing is trying to keep it simple and get back to our identity. You've got a veteran group that has won a lot of basketball games in the last year and a half. Kevin's obviously got to distinguish NBA career. I don't think that these athletes, especially the ones you have, have a little bit of that here we go again am I right right about that

and if they do have some of that how do you as a coach get past that no I think it's simplifying things and not trying to overcomplicate like I said are some of the things we've done over last few years we haven't slippage in those areas the simple things and like we don't have the proper effort or

attention to detail with the game plan we start with that first and foremost and so for us it's like I said getting back to that had a good win against Denver two games ago and very competitive games against quality teams and so you don't forget that but at the same time even if you win those overtime games you know that doesn't gloss over the areas we need to improve in and so win or lose you know you still look at the good and the bad in those games and plenty of things we could have done to not be in those positions especially giving up big

leads against new Orleans and Sacramento email there's a certain level of respect that goes with every NBA team even though the wins and losses are going to be obviously different based on who you play every single night. Is it especially aggravating that some of these losses have come to teams that have really gotten off the bad starts? Yeah, I would say that. I mean, you look at the Clippers

and they're probably, their records not indicative of their talent. Obviously, you've got Leonard and Harden, that's two really Hall of Fame players there. But, so you respect that and understand that they've not come out with the proper effort on their part. And so that was the part that was probably most frustrating

last night is that, you know, we get a nine point lead and you know we make three four plays in a row undisciplined going for gamble steals and fouls and let them right back in the game where they've they've faltered at times this year when you've gotten them into those predicaments but we helped them get back into it and then it flipped the other way but yeah overall i would say the sacramentos and new Orleans those guys teams are going to start to play better and new Orleans has but we were doing some really good things and got stagnant offensively undisciplined defensively and then like i said the fouls at the end are the thing that stand out the most.

You mentioned a bit of the lack of discipline defensively. What do you attribute to that? Do you think there is just a little bit of fatigue or tiredness or overall laziness? What would you say that you would attribute that to? I mean, we do have to get back to playing harder than we have been lately. You know, that's been, like I said, our identity last two years and you don't want to forget what brought you success. And so you stick with that as you're trying to improve and implement some things. offensively with some new players in new positions and so we can always rely on that whether you

make shots or not and we were doing that this year you know earlier in the season regardless of the lumps we took offensively as we're you know putting our men at the point or different guys in different positions we could still rely on that and the last few we definitely haven't done that hence the overtime games in the late game valley rocket tech coach ima doka with us here on sports talk 790 and what do you do as a coach when it's like sometimes last night especially. Kauai Leonard was just knocking down crazy shots. James Hardin was knocking down contested shots and they

just go in. Is that something you just kind of try to brush away or do you ever say that to the guys like, hey, good defense there and there was just nothing we could do, better offense? No, there are some times where you play really good defense and guys are talented so they make shots, but

it's doing your work ahead of time, doing your work early and keeping guys out of certain positions. And one thing we had pride ourself on all year was holding teams and players far below their average. We put us that up, you know, five games ago where we held pretty much everybody well below their average. And so for those guys get loose, especially after we played them, you know, recently

and guarded them really well, you know, to give up 15 or 13 fritos to harden. It means we're not being disciplined. We're reaching and we're fouling. You know, we gave them only five Fritos last game. And so you're going to see two guys tomorrow, Donchish leads the league in Fritos, Austin Reese's top five. And so being disciplined there and not fouling on certain shots is a big key. And that's what gets hardening those guys in their rhythm.

Eme, you did not play Kevin or Alping the fourth quarter of the game last night. I don't think Kevin is a lip service guy. Certainly doesn't come across to me that way. When asked about why he didn't play, he says, like, he trusts you with that. Was there a conversation had in the middle of the game? I don't know if it was like, it's not your night or, hey, I want to let everybody know that, you know, nobody is sacred from guaranteed playing time, especially if things aren't going well.

No, we gave them an extended run in the third. We, you know, didn't take them out of the regular time and to try to get back in the game, and it didn't go that way. So I tried to inject some energy and juice into the game and put some guys in that hadn't played as much. And, you know, you look at a 15-point deficit with about eight, nine minutes ago, we cut that down to seven. We're, you know, in the next three minutes, we give ourselves a chance.

but it didn't go that way. It went the opposite. If it did, we could have put our guys back in and gave herself a chance, but not a lot of energy, like I said, or physicality in the game in general and wanted to give some other guys a look to try to spark us. You did get the win against Denver, and you now have talked about this before on this trip so far. You've played them three times.

It's a team they very well could play in the playoffs. You have two three-point losses and a nice win back. Does that give you the – I know we can play against the upper. echelon teams that isn't the question mark it's about trying to give it the full throttle effort and not letting those losses to second tier teams pile up yeah i mean you know i got to do a better job of getting us motivated against everybody i think um you know certain matchups guys get up for but um you know you don't you don't have the areas of

slippage that we had in those two games against new Orleans sack if you're properly motivated or you know continue to do the right things that we got to that we did to get the lead. And so for us, it's not even about Denver or whoever, Lakers or whoever tomorrow. It's really focused on us, getting back to what we've done well to start the season and over last few years what we built. And so that is, you know, we shouldn't look at anybody's record. It's more about continuing to work on our things and taking them one as they come. And I don't think we're looking ahead to anybody. Specifically, we need to write our ship by ourselves. here's somebody who's been playing and coaching in this league for 25 plus years

and do you feel like even the the bad teams are more talented and dangerous than they maybe ever have been because the clippers have a couple of hall of famers even though they don't as you said a little bit better than their record the the kings and the pelicans have some good players too is that just me being a recency bias or do you think that even the bad teams are more talented than they have been in years past well I'd say definitely in the West you're not going to have many easy nights even the teams that you know are struggling record wise

like you said have talented guys all over place and you know a sack is missing Sabonis and Levine and guys like that but you got the Rosen every night you guys that are taking advantage of opportunity when guys are out and so in general I don't think you can look at record every team in the NBA obviously can beat you

and it's up to us to be disciplined to do the right things and not take the approach of guys being out looking at a record. It's more so focused on what we're trying to build the right habits and continue to head toward that path. And so for us, we definitely shouldn't be looking at records.

Take it, like I said, a game at a time and focus on getting back to what we did well. All right, to wrap up on a much letter note, does your son know what he's getting tomorrow, or is it a secret at this point? Well, he's 14. He did his own shopping, so he can

act as surprised when he gets it, but he picked everything itself. sounds like our kids are being raised exact same way thank you i may for the time uh happy holidays you and your family look forward to catch up with you later tonight and good luck tomorrow against the lakers appreciate it same to you guys okay thank you emma douga with us here on sports talk 790 let's go on the phones next biscuit wants talking about the rockets if you want to talk about anything that umay had to say uh 1244 is a time 713 212 5 790 719 713 2125.790. Dr. Roto's coming up in 17 minutes. He'll take us for the fastest 30 minutes

of the week. It'll be the final 30 minutes for Dr. Roto this season. It's championship weekend in fantasy football. 1244 on Sports Talk 790. They've gone bad. Hey, they draw flies. Ooh, it's Ross's rotten five. This don't smell quite right. It takes no talent to give you the five best teams in the NFL. Who are the worst? We present to you, Ross, and his rotten five. Thank you, Matthew.

Let's go ahead and start this bad boy off with number five. The New York football jets. They continued their nightmare season with perhaps the most embarrassing loss of the year. They lost 29 to 6 to Tyler Shuck and the New Orleans Saints who have been Rotten five all year long. Yikes. Of course, Nimitz legend, Aaron Glenn, hasn't had a lot to work with. Their quarterback was Brady Cook. Breece Hall's continued his setback season.

Their number one wide receiver has been Colts castaway A.D. Mitchell. So not a whole lot to work with. And, of course, all their good defensive pieces traded away at the deadline. Add that all up, the Jets only have three victories on the year. They have lost five of their last six games. Probably going to end up as seven of the last eight. They finish the season, home versus the Patriots. L, then at the Bills, L.

Right now, Jets, fifth worst team in the NFL. They can't stop a nose, bleak. All right, moving along to number four. You know, you have to give it to the Tennessee Titans. I thought they were going to finish the season number one on the Rodin 5 all year long, but they've actually scratched together some good performances recently. Okay, they beat Shador Sanders and the Cleveland Browns. Okay, they beat Gardner Minchu and his backup.

Chris Ollado Coon and the Kansas City Chiefs. Cam Ward actually looking pretty good. Maybe the Arrow is trending upward for the Tennessee Titans. They do have a winnable game coming up this week. They are two and a half point dogs at home versus the visiting Saints. Three point or fewer home dogs, always dangerous. As of right now, though, Titans, fourth worst team in the NFL. I mean, we're keeping a buck right now.

We're doing a lot better, Cam. So you don't get so down on yourself. All right. Moving along to the Cleveland Browns. Okay, it was a close loss of the bills. Josh Allen wasn't very good against that Cleveland Brown's defense, which is still fighting hard. But Browns could not get it done. Shador Sanders, not having a great day.

Quinn Sean Chutkin's going down with an injury. Doesn't have any great receivers to work with anyways, although Harold Fanon Jr. is looking like a pretty good tight end talent. Nonetheless, Browns continue to pile up the losses. They only have three wins on the year. They finish the season against divisional opponents. Steelers probably an L. We'll see if the Bengals are even trying in the last week of the season.

and they have lost four in a row, seven of their last eight. Cleveland Browns, the third worst team in the NFL. You are a factory of sadness. I know, all right. Let's keep it going. We're getting down and dirty now. The New York football giants, I mean, what a horrible season they have had. Got their coach fired, of course, early on.

Now only two wins on the season. Jackson Dart against the Minnesota Vikings this past weekend did not complete a pass until there was under two minutes left. in the second quarter, and it was a two-yard completion to Wondell Robinson. I mean, completely overmatched against Brian Flores and the Minnesota Vikings defense. If they do end up with the number one pick, which they could, they are playing the Raiders this weekend. Giants are going to have some serious questions to answer about whether or not they feel like Jackson Dart is the guy. Either way, they do have that big game coming up against the Las Vegas Raiders,

and they will finish out the season with a loss against the Cowboys. Right now, though, New York Football Giants, second worst team. in the NFL. Oh, no, it's bad. It's real bad. And let's go down to the team that almost beat the Houston Texans on the road. Well, still, they are the worst team in the NFL. Congratulations, though, to the Raiders.

They at least gave the Texans a run for their money. Bottom line, though, they lost. They only have two wins on the season. Ashton Gentie starring over the weekend. Maybe a bright spot there. Defense, though, not good enough. Gino Smith continues to be a disaster through that pick six. It's time to get Pete Carroll out of the building and wheel him to the old folks' homes.

He is not a good head coach. Raiders do have the Fernando Mendoza Bowl. Is that what we're calling it? With the Giants this weekend, we'll see what happens. Are we really going to call it that? Sure, why not? We'll see, but Gino Smith definitely not the guy. Brock Bowers placed on IR.

They are in full tank mode. They're looking to lose this one and remain the absolute worst team in the NFL, the Las Vegas Raiders. This sucks more than anything that I've ever fucked before. And that's your Routin 5. Can I take a slight jab at the NFL? Yes. Okay.

You got three games tomorrow. You have two more on Saturday. You have a Sunday night. You have a Monday night. Not giving you a great sleight of Sunday games. CBS has three noon games. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Seattle, Carolina, New Orleans, Tennessee. If you wanted to watch the late game, it's the Giants at Las Vegas.

That's it from CBS. I don't. We're getting Pittsburgh, Cleveland. Fox, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, okay, that's good for us. New England Jets, no, Tampa Bay, Miami, no, Arizona Cincinnati, no. That's it for them. And the late game is Philadelphia Buffalo, so that's good for them. They got at least a decent late game.

But if you're spreading these games out over all these days, if I'm CBS, I'm pissed. Seriously. Even with Seattle and Carolina being good, they don't draw eyeballs. They're not must-see TV. In fact, CBS even knows that. Most of the country is getting Pittsburgh.

in Cleveland because the Steelers are more recognizable. And they've got Aaron Rogers. I'm done. I'd rather watch Seahawks Panthers for sure. Yeah. So I'll be red zone on that bad boy for sure. Let's go to a phone call. Let's talk to Biscuit on 790. Biscuit at

1256. We've got Dr. Roto coming up very shortly. Go ahead, Biscuit. Biscuit. Hello. All right. Let's try KJ. KJ, you're on 790. Go ahead, KJ.

Real quick, fellas, I know you're up against it as usual love to show. I love the conversation with E.M. Real quick, I want to bring him a point about Dylan Brooks and Dominique Wilkins. I remember when Dylan Brooks to me, Matt, did you see email? Do you remember E.M. as a player? Very little bit. Not much. I remember, I know he played floating around the lead, but his prime years were with the San Antonio Spurs.

That's right. And he made to me, was a stronger version of Chuck, Chuck A's. Well, Chuck A's, Chuck Aves were in attitude. Wasn't a very good player. It was a role player. He'd give you about seven points a game, a couple of boards. But he had a tenacity about him that Popovic loved. And I thought that the Rockies made that connection when they got Dylan Brooks.

Because to me, Dylan Brooks had the same. mentality that he was an extension of E-May on the court, but he was a better player than E-May as a player. And I seriously think this team from an identity standpoint is suffering from the loss of Dillon Brooks. You don't have anybody that's

starting line up with the exception of Thompson and this defense is compromised with him having to be more integral in the ball-handling duties from a defense's standpoint. Shigone is a lead defender. Javari isn't a good defender. We already, I don't know what we're getting out of Kogi. He's up and down.

and there's no defense in this lineup, and we're scoring, but we're not stopping guys, and that's the issue with the team. Number two, I said this, and this is in hindsight, I remember Dominic Wilkes and those Latter-Hawks teams, and he had some good players with them, Spud, Doc Rivers was an all-star, Kevin Willis was getting 16 rebounds a game, Dominique was scoring 30 points, but they could not win, and that is what I see with Kevin Durant. I sent this part as getting him. he's going to put up phenomenal numbers.

25 to 30 a game. On occasion, he'll stumble into a couple of boxbacks, but he's not a good defender, and he doesn't equate to winning basketball. We don't have a good record against winning teams, and now we're consistently losing to subpar teams. Hopefully I'm proven wrong over the course of the season, but I see this playing out the same way I've seen

the current career play out, with the exception of him going to a ready-made team. He's going to put up phenomenal numbers, but he's either going to barely make the playoff, if he makes them at all, and he's not going to, he's a, he's a taller version of James Harton, phenomenal score, but he doesn't equate to winning basketball. Good regular season player may even have a winning record, but his style of play in collection with the other players around him doesn't equate to winning basketball.

I don't want to hang over to see what you guys got to say. We will save this for after Dr. Roto. We've got to get to him. You're wrong. I'll just do two quick words. You're wrong. I just, I think we're looking. it short sample size here i i just do that's my initial answer dr rhodo up next let's get our fantasy football

championships underway sports talk 790 have to be made and i've got trade proposals for lying my way my first round pick turned out to be a big flop i don't know which wide reason receiver I need to drive. Ooh, Dr. Roto, give me the news. I really don't know what I should do. My quarterback keeps getting sacked. I've got a bad case of fantasy blues. It is the final and fastest 30 minutes in Major Market Radio for the one, the only Dr. Roto

here on sports talks. I've been on a good doctor. Happy holidays to you and the family. Most importantly, we might have like nine listeners because it's Christmas Eve and people are out shopping or actually spending quality family time. So I'm going to take the first 10 minutes and just talking about my fantasy football team. Are you okay with that? Yeah. Did you make the finals? I did. All right. Wow. So here we go. When was the last Houston Toro championship empty? That was about three years ago and you're alive. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, when made the championship. Sorry, he's never won it.

Shut up. Oh, we're definitely going to get you to victory. No, no, you don't have to. Jamar Chase had a 50-point game on the week 17 or 16, whatever it was, and I lost that game because Jamar Chase went ballistic. All right, here we go. Drake May, no issue, correct? Yes.

No issue whatsoever. And actually. Jimer Gibbs. No issue. Hold on one second. Going to be a really good game for May because a lot of those Patriot receivers, digs, Hollins, Henry, all. have huge incentives.

So if these guys catch passes, they're getting paid, they are throwing empty. Yes. Jemir Gibbs, no issues, correct? No issues. Devon A. Chan. Please, no issues. I mean,

it's a little slight issues because the bucks are decent and viewers didn't throw to him a ton, but we're starting him. We love him. We're playing him. All right. Keenan Allen, I'm not going to play. Did not practice yesterday, but he is nothing more than about the fifth target for Herbert, so I'm not worried about that. Okay?

Yeah, we're getting T. Higgins locked in that lineup. I'm going T. Higgins? I'm going Zay Flowers. Okay. Were there more guys? Of course, there's more.

Dallas Goddard might tie in to over Kelsey. Yes or no? Yes. Yes, for sure. R.J. Harvey is my flex. Yes or no? Oh, yeah, for sure. The Broncos need this game and want this game.

Parvies look great. All right. My two defense I can choose. Wait, wait, hold on. Do you have another receiver option besides Zay Flowers? I have Keenan Allen. That's it. And Jerry Judy.

I guess we're going Zay Flowers, but just know there's a chance Lamar. Lamar is like 50-50 right now, but I think he plays, but, you know, we've got to play Zay. Okay. Judy, not going to, I can't, I don't trust him. Yeah, no, me either. All right. Now, here comes the dicey part a little bit. No, the only thing I'm really worried about.

Chargers defense against amid Houston Texans offense, or I can go Packers at home against Baltimore on defense. What do you think? I think I like the Chargers, because I can't imagine that the Texans aren't going to let up like three sacks. So if you get three sacks, maybe you get a fumble, maybe you get a pick. It's not going to be generational. Can you make any ads or drops? I could, of course.

Is there a defense out there I should grab? I mean, I don't know who's out there in your league, but I mean, the Saints play the Titans. That's an interesting one. Saints and Giants are both available. The Giants are interesting. The Giants against the Raiders? Raiders' offensive lines bad, really bad. I'm okay with the Giants.

What I would do is I would drop the Packers, pick up the Giants, and then stew on the Chargers' Giants. Giants' Charger game, I mean, Giants' Raider game, loser gets the number one pick in draft so okay i don't i just did it i just did it i just picked up the new york giants defense all right so i'm going to probably okay shut up this is for this is important stuff here i'm giving information out there y'all be quiet i'm going to text you about chargers or giants and we're going to have this conversation sunday morning yeah you got it i'm there well let's run the algorithm dot saturday because the charge last thing Saturday. Last thing.

I got RICO Doddle and Travis Kelsey both on my bench. That's correct, right, compared to what I have also? What else is out there? Kelsey can't play. Kelsey can't play. Yeah, I mean, got a guy who's basically a third stringer in there. I'm literally playing that guy because in one of my

leagues, I'm down to Josh Johnson or Ola Kadoon. I mean, this is brutal. But, yeah, we can't play Chelsea. And Rico Dottle, mix, as you talked about last week. Yeah, not over Harvey, not over H.N., not over Gibbs. Okay. Look at you. You got a real shot, MT.

Do you know how insufferable I'll be if I win this, by the way? This is why he can't win. That's funny stuff. That's why we love Dr. Rottles. He's got the best squad. He should win. Yeah, but could and should have. Even Ross is giving you props.

Even Ross is giving you. Yeah, I think he's doing it. He's trying to It's kind of whole praise. You should win. You have the best squad. God. All right. Let's get to what has turned out to be a pretty lousy slate of Christmas Day games. I am going against Dak Prescott. How will Dallas do against the commanders on Thursday? Pretty darn good. I mean, DAC to Lamb feels like it's going to be a winner. I don't think Dak gets about 250 yards, probably gets about two touchdowns. You can run on the commanders. The big problem here is this. We need, you need, Josh Johnson, not to suck.

Because if they just get blown out, and now all of a sudden, Dak is putting up, you know, it's 35 points, that could get ugly. So we just need Washington to be able to sustain some drives. But I like Dak. I like Lamb. I like Jake Ferguson. I think he goes, this is not a Pickens week. Last week was the Pickens, you know, rehabilitation week. I like McLaurin.

And Debo Samuel has incentives in his contract, too. I think they're going to try to get him the football. All right. Detroit is his prolific offense, yet they say. still lose games. They've got a slimmer, a slim, I should say, a slim chance of making the playoffs. How will they do against Minnesota in Minneapolis?

Well, they're going to crush them. I mean, Max Brosmer is not a real NFL quarterback. That's a mess. Justin Jefferson has incentives. They want him to do well, but it's going to be really hard. Gibbs is a great, great play. I mean, St. Brown is fine. I would keep it tight in this game.

I'd keep it Gough. I'd keep it St. Brown. James and Williams and Gibbs just like that. But on the other side, I'd make it Justin Jefferson and Aaron Jones. Aaron Jones, I think Vegas has him about 73 and a half yards because Jordan Mason's not even going to be there. So I think those are the only two Vikings you play with any confidence. All right. If you are playing a championship weekend or consolation round, 713-212-5-790, 7-1-3-212-5-790. Last, probably the best of the weekend games will be Houston at the Los Angeles Chargers.

That Sunday night game between Chicago, San Francisco is going to be awesome. too but let's get to the Texans how the look the Chargers were scoring at ease against Dallas's defense that they're atrocious Texans defense much better who's sitting who is playing between the Chargers and Texans Saturday night here in LA it should be a really great game they really should be a great game I think the difference though is that Dallas really didn't pressure Herbert he was able to run at will he was throwing the ball deep he won't be able to do any of those things against the Texans, right? And the Texans just need one win, one win to get the job done. So I think Herbert's been a struggle. I got to be honest with you. I think Herbert's going to struggle. I think there's a defensive game. I agree with you. I don't want Keenan Allen. I mean, Hampton's not a great start. Herbert's not a great start. Lad's not a great start. These are all guys who should probably get you the lower range of their fantasy points. So maybe Ladd McConkey's getting you 10. Maybe Hampton's getting 8 to 12. I don't think you're winning with any chart. Chargers. On the other side, I don't know if you're winning with any Texans either.

I mean, is Stroud going to throw up 20 points against the Chargers defense? I don't think so. Maybe Woody Marks is interesting if he plays. Nico Collins is the one guy I probably would play with any sort of confidence. I think this is a game you don't want to have many of your players in because it's just not going to end well. These teams are too good defensively, and I think you see a game in the very low 20s. And lastly, the Niners looked awesome at Indianapolis. scoring at ease, or will they do it against Chicago Sunday night? They will.

So the Bears have a lot of flaws, and to be honest with you, the Bears have been very lucky this year. Now, I don't want to say, look, sometimes it's being good and sometimes it's lucky. There have been games that the Bears have won that they shouldn't have won. I mean, even that Packer game, crazy things have happened. Not going to happen this week against San Francisco. First of all, San Francisco is going to throw the ball deep, and that's where the bears can be beaten. Whether it's Ricky Pearsall, Juan Jennings, DeMarcus Robinson, Brock Purdy looked great. Great. Christian McCaffrey is a great start. The Bears have been okay against the run, but McCaffrey still should get about 20 fantasy points. This game is really about George Kittle. You know, George, how healthy is he? Hopefully he's out there. If not, Jake Tongis is definitely somebody, if we remember him earlier in the season, he's been really good. On the other side of the football, Swift is in play, Monong guy's in play. Caleb Williams did a really good job at the end of that game. But for the first three quarters, he was super, super, super.

super mid, right? I mean, he didn't have a touchdown pass. It's like 140 yards, but he's very mobile, right? Caleb Williams keeps, plays alive with his legs. So he may have one touchdown, but if a dunzee's out and burdens out, I think this is a mess of a game for the Bears. I really like the San Francisco. All right. On the phones next, 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-5-790. The final 15 minutes of this season with Dr. Roto is next here on Sports Talk 790. All right, here we go on the phones. Dr. Roto is happy.

You appreciate you listening. Let's get the many of you in as we can because we're running out of time here for a championship for weekend in the NFL's fantasy football world. We'll start with Justin for Dr. Roto. Justin, go ahead, please. Hey, Dr. Roto. This is for my flex position. I know you said a second ago you don't really like Hampton, but I also have Bonangai.

and Johnnings, which would you go with? Great question. I kind of like Joanne Jennings. I'm not sure Pierce All plays. 49ers are going to put up at least three touchdowns, maybe four. Just think that the Texans are going to hold Hampton. They are, and Hampton was really good last week, but remember, that was against Dallas. So I'm going to go Joanne Jennings.

I feel pretty good about that one. Thanks for the phone call. Let's go to Dave on 790 for Dr. Roto. Go ahead, Dave. Uh, hello, Dr. Roto, uh, uh, uh, this is, uh, our last call here. And thank you for the, for the, for the entire season. Uh, quarterback, uh, running back and flex. Uh, a quarterback is Josh Allen for Judeo Sanders, running back, Woody Marks for either, uh, George Kittle, uh, the flex position, uh, either, uh, uh, George Kittle or Woody Marks, thanks. Okay. All right, you got it.

So I'm going to go Josh Allen. I think Josh, I mean, look, the Eagles are a tough defense, but when they put the Bill's Eagles game at 4 o'clock, you know they want that game to be a good one. Woody Marks, I believe, plays. I think, I don't know if he's going to have a great start this week, so be careful with that one. Same thing with George Kittle.

He left that game injured. So I think he plays. It's the late game. He won't know, but here's what I would do. pick up Jake Tongass in case Kittles out, you can play Tongus, T-O-N-G-E-S. He's a pretty good backup tight end.

If you need him, you can use them. Let's go to Jay in spring. That's 790 for Dr. Roto. Go ahead, Jay. All right, happy holiday, fellas. This is for the flex position. I got three-tiles, Downs, Darryswood Downs,

or Devonzey Smith. Downs was in a good matchup last week. I don't know whether he does again what he did, but it's not a terrible play. I mean, it looked like Philip Rivers used them a ton. I don't like Devontas Smith too much. So I think it comes down to

the Jets and Breece Hall. The problem with Breece Hall, when you have Brady Cook there, it's not going to be a winner. They're not going to score a lot of points. I told you. Patriots are going to hammer them. Drake May is going to throw at least three touchdowns this week. I'll make M.T. very happy.

So I think if you think the Colts are going to play well and they're going to have to, I think Josh Downs is certainly in play. Philip Rivers went to him a ton against San Francisco. He's going to have to use him against the Jaguars as well. Woodrow for Dr. Roto 117. Honey. Woodrow, what can we do for you?

Merry Christmas, dear fellas. I've got Giovante Williams or Crosky Merits. I've got Christian Watson or Jalen Coker. and would you all play Texans or Saints at D this week? All right, great questions. I'm going to go Giovante over Bill Krosky Merritt. I'm going to play Koker because I'm not sure Watson's healthy. If Watson plays, I have no problem with you starting him.

He's a better start than Koker. But just know this, that they're going to have, Bryce Young is going to have to throw the ball a little bit against Seattle because Seattle is going to stop that running game. So in terms of the defense, I don't love the Texans. I mean, look, I always like the Texans defense. Texans or big team? So, I mean, are they going to do something against Justin Herbert? Yeah, they're going to attack them three or four times. They're going to get a pick. So I would, I mean, certainly keep the Texans defense. All right. Let's go to Jimmy and Tomball for Roto. Hi, Jimmy. Hey, guys. Merry Christmas, everyone. Love the show. Glad you are live on Christmas Eve. This is fun. Hey, Dr. Roto, I got a flex spot in my Super Bowl and not a lot of good choices. I'm going to see who you recommended. John Metchie on the Texas.

Kareem Hutz, who he really fell off, and Jordan Addison. Yeah, I mean, you don't have, no offense, you don't have the greatest choices. Here's what, can you make pickups, Jimmy? Is it too late? Jimmy's gone. All right, here's what Jimmy is, hopefully Jimmy's still around. It's Christmas Eve. Two things, Jimmy, one, I like Michael Mayer.

Michael Mayer is going to start a tight end for the Raiders. Brock Bowers was put on the IR today. don't know whether any of your matchups are terrific. I probably would go with Addison over Metchie and Hunt. If you can make a pickup and mayors out there because he probably would be, that's who I would go get. All right. Two more calls to get to before we get to

the final lock of the season. Matt and Katie on 7-90. Go ahead, Matt. Hey, Doc. First question is quarterback, either Burrow or Purdy. And then secondly, I got a real conundrumat tied end. I have Kittle. I also have Ferguson who goes tomorrow. Would you play Ferguson or wait for Kittle or perhaps pick up

Mayor or Tongass? Yeah, these are great. First of all, I love Joe Borough. Joe Borough is going to have a week. I mean, he had one last week. I think he's going to have another one this week. As much as I like Purdy, I'm playing Joe Burrell all the way. That's a really smart question that you're asking. I think Ferguson is a fine play.

He's not great. He doesn't get a lot of yards after catch. So I think he's probably 10 points. What I probably would do is I pick up Tongis, right? And this way I have the San Francisco guy. If it's Kiddle, you play Kittle. If kiddell's out, you play Tongis. I don't hate Michael Mayer. I like him more than those other guys that the other caller had. Ferguson's 10 points, but we want more than that. It's our fantasy championship. So I think I'm going to go get the 49ers guys. All right. And Greg, the last

caller of the year for Dr. Roto. Hi, Greg. Hey, how we doing? I just got a couple. Dowdell, Michael Carter or Gainwell and the Texas D or the Rams defense. Yeah, both defenses are in play. I'll go Texans. I think Justin Herbert's going to struggle a little bit. Your other question is dicey. It really is.

If the Ravens lose, the Steelers don't need the game. And we don't even know who's going to be the starting running back. Gainwell may only get a few carries, so I'm worried about that. Michael Carter, that game is a 53 and a half spot. so you know he's going to be involved. I like him a little bit. Rico Dowdell is the best player in a really bad matchup against Seattle. I'm not sure Carolina scores more than two touchdowns and two field goals.

So if you're willing to be risky, go with Carter. If you want to be safe, go with Rico. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to win a fantasy championship. We're going to have one player we're going to go to. It's Dr. Roto's lock of the championship. MT what do they call a deja vu all over again Jamar Chase baby

this is the Jamar Chase week oh yes the dude is putting up I don't know one 160 and two touchdowns you play in DFS get them in your lineups you want to do a little prop betting get it all in on Chase Cincinnati at home against Arizona

what a mess Jamar Chase all the way that is your lock of the championship can we say a Super Bowl, Roto, we're going to just call them championships. Fantasy Super Bowl. I can do whatever you want. Friend, it's been always a pleasure. Congratulations on your son's success at a great

Houston Institution of Rice University. Happy holidays to you and the entire Roto family, and we will talk again next August. Can't wait. I'm seeing happy holidays to you, Ross, and all the guys and everybody out there. Thanks for listening. Can't wait to be back next year. There it is. The one and only Dr. Roto. By the way, Rolito, real quick, where can they find you between this weekend on satellite? Absolutely. You can find me on Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio Saturday morning, 6 to 9 a.m. Eastern. I'm sorry, 6.9 a.m. Central. And then, of course, you can find me over at Dr. Roto.com and on Twitter at D.R.R.O.T.O. Thanks again, Rodo. We really appreciate it.

your nose Yule-tide carols being sung by choir And folks dressed up like Eskimos Everybody knows

Does Mariah Carey Ross know that you didn't pick her song? She's fine catching them checks Help to make the season bright You're going to disagree with me? No, because, you know, I'm not a huge fan of the genre as it is.

You should have asked Rod Ryan. Oh, really? What's that was a... It was a Green Day Christmas? Smashing pumpkins, singing Ron Rod Rudolph. Right. I'm surprised I could even say smashing pumpkins. I think I'm pretty much tapped out.

Red Hot Chili Peppers? Did Stained Make a Christmas album? Who? What? Stained? Who thought of the name of that band? Stained. That's really odd.

I digress. Jonathan, agree and disagree. Nat King Cole. Christmas song. The definitive. The definitive one. Christmas jam. I think I'd agree.

I think I agree, honestly. It just makes you feel nice and warm inside. It encapsulates Christmas. soft, it's got strings and the the keyboard. Nat King freaking Cole. Isn't it crazy though that Mariah Carrie thinks her song is the greatest

Christmas song? Every year you see a story being printed out about that she's got the number one song of all time. I think it's I don't feel like it's that one's more divisive. I think there's people who hate that song. I just think it's her PR firm saying, you know what, let's make

Moray Carey relevant for once a year. And it's a jam. I love the song. Oh, I like it too. Yeah, boy, you really can't. I mean, anything, Nat King Cole, if Nat King Cole wanted to sing, Oh, Canada, I'd listen to it.

He probably did a great version of it somewhere. Yeah. All right. Okay, you and I can't argue about this. I don't think we can. It's perfect. I think white Christmas, Bing Crosby's on the list.

Mara Carey's on the list. Now, you know, I like Little Dermar Boy. It's my personal favorite song, but I think I'm in the minority in it. I know you are. Especially the Bing Crosby David Bowie version? Like, what are you doing? Now, Annie Lennox has done some Christmas music. That's pretty good, actually.

So I'm just, uh, Bruce Springsteen. No, thank you. I do like simply having a wonderful Christmas time by the Paul McCartney. I know you do. I know that's divisive as well. It sucks. Promise. People that love McCartney think the song sucks. I'm not one of them, because he's my hero, among many. Does Elton John have a definitive Christmas song? Does he even do Christmas music?

I don't think he did. Billy Joel's not known as a Christmas crooner. No, I guess he had some, though, I think. Jackson 5 have done it first you mentioned. Jackson 5 classic. The Temptations Christmas album is my favorite. Somebody was saying their favorite Christmas album earlier. Was that yesterday?

My favorite is the Temptations or the Motown Christmas album. Okay. So tomorrow you're going to be largely at home with family, correct? Yes. Will you turn Christmas music on or will you only have an eye when you're bumping around the car? No, we put Christmas music on. We normally make sure we listen to the Temptations Christmas album, if not at the very least.

It is a must for the Temptations Silent Night. Wow. That's the Jane. I need to go listen to that because I'm a big temptations fan, so. All right. We just were able to give you the rundown. Oh, we can come back with it. No.

It's got a long intro, though. Oh, there we go. Play it right now. Yeah. We've got to play our song that's honor the today's edition of Hell, believe it or not. Oh, I forgot about that. It was the night before Christmas Oh, my God.

Get your hands away from that speaks. Not even a mouse. Silent night. Yeah. You ain't going to argue about the lyrics. Oh, listen to that backup. Holy smokes. I wonder if Gladys Knight and the Pips have some good Christmas James,

don't you think they would have something good? Yeah. Little Bill Weather's Christmas would be good, too. May he rest? The Otis only did two songs. Merry Christmas, Baby, and White Christmas. They're both kind of slower, but very good. The Ray Charles Christmas album's incredible.

Oh, Ray Charles. Heck, could do it, yeah. What about the four tops? This is a family jam right here. This is a jam right here. So the entire family, everybody in your family likes this, even your nieces and nephews. Yes.

Okay, well, it's good. They're being raised right. That's good for you. All right. Today's edition of Believe it or not, nothing to do with Christmas. That's something to do with what is the Quagmire. meeting sprinkles here in Los Angeles.

I just flip the channels, Rossi. There are about nine TV stations on right now, local. Seven of them are in full weather coverage. That makes sense. All right. And the definitive Southern California Rain Song is coming up. I guess there's only one definitive Southern California Rain Song. If you want to play, believe it or not, it's 713-212-5-790.

713-212-5-790 it's our final believe it or not before we played the best of which will be coming up on Monday right is that we're going on on Mondays the best of believe it or not for the year yes 7-1-3-212-5-790 7-19 7-1 3212-5-790 believe it or not all things about southern California and weather 145 on sports talk 790 those planes don't fly anymore didn't think before deciding what to do all that talk of opportunities tv breaks and movies blank truth sure sure and true Seems it never rains in Southern California. All right, Jonathan, is this a jam? Yes or no? No. Tony, Sunny is a lot.

It's something better than this. I would certainly think so in terms of the beat. Man it poor. you just what you're you're great mad and i appreciate you and i hope you have a merry christmas what did i do i didn't do anything wrong did i say something wrong no uh oh

we're not going to have our our friday intro for this week and the following week we're going to have good stuff banked in for a while huh should have made jonathan do it today Ross is going to do his big one-day work week next week. Woo! After two days this, or I did three days this one,

I'm four, five. Because I forgot I'm working Rockets tomorrow and Saturday. Yeah, but he made doke's interview is going to carry 90%. I'm still going to do postgame on Christmas night. Let me take something. How many calls are we getting? Oh, on Christmas night? Ooh.

You know what? Get liquored up on some eggnog. Call me Rockets wrap tomorrow. Yeah. You'll have an egg. extra opportunity to go as long as you want to. Oh, we've got to go hurry up because we're going to get out a certain time. Yeah, really.

Five minutes to go on the show. Let's do we do. All right, you know the game. 7-13-21-1-2-5-790. 7-1-3-1-2-5-7-9. Category today is all things about Southern California weather. What are you playing for, John? I don't even know what's in the vault here.

Let's see here. I think it's to Everclear tickets. Oh, tickets to see Everclear. I don't even know any of their songs, but I'm sure it's wonderful. 7-13-21-2-2-5. 7.90. Let's go to John on 790. John, you're ready to play, believe it or not? John.

Not there. All right, let's move on. Oh, well, it's going now. Rubin on 7.90. Ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. The last instance of snow recorded on Christmas Day in Los Angeles was back in 1956. Believe it or not? Not. No, never been snow on Christmas in L.A.

Statement number two for the way in Los Angeles. Angeles average is between 9 and 10 inches of rain per year. Believe it or not? Believe it. No, it's 14 to 18. Duh. George on 7.90. Ready to play, believe it or not?

I'm ready, Matt. Merry Christmas and Happy onica, Ross. Happy Hanukkah, Ross. The official climate classification of Los Angeles is Mediterranean semi-arid. Believe it or not. not that's a believe it belive it

duh Larry on 7 are you ready to play believe it or not believe it since records began there are 19 days on the calendar that have never ever had rain in Los Angeles 19 believe it or not Believe it

Believe it Statement number two for the win Los Angeles weather is pleasant because it sits in the Los Angeles basin or it's low pressure tracks the Pacific jet stream. Believe it or not? Not. Correct. Congratulations, then. Happy part of their day, Larry.

K-So on 790. You're ready to play, believe it or not? Merry Christmas. Thanks for all the last. Thank you, friend. The highest temperature ever recorded LAX, 110 degrees. September the 26th, 1963. Believe it or not? Believe it. There you go. Statement number two for the wind. Tornadoes are actually fairly common. in the Los Angeles area, with over 45 being recorded in the area

since 1950. Believe it or not? Not. That's a believe it. Oh, Chili. Last one. Ryan on 7.90, Ryan, you're ready to play, believe it or not?

Hell yeah, believe it. The last freeze in Los Angeles, January 1979. Believe it or not? I'm going to say not. Yeah, you should have said, believe it. Rossi, wish everybody Happy Holidays. Merry Christmas.

Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. And listen to the Rockets wrap tomorrow night after the Rockets be the Lakers. I just said it. I ain't scared. You don't have to. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Up next.

Not the team. Something of dribble. Slackers. Now. Thank you.