The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Mike D'Antoni, Anger Scale For Astros, Watson & Hopkins Get Paid, Aaron Reiss

Episode Date: September 8, 2020

So much larger than life Yeah Lunch timers Is the Matt Thomas show Lunch timers Everybody's getting paid Not getting paid But I'm getting paid

But I don't get a fresh pay Ross I've seen your paycheck You are not getting paid I do great. Joe George, I've never seen your paycheck, but I'm going to assume you're also not getting paid. It's definitely worse than Rosses. Okay, one of the three of us is getting paid, but so too is DeAndre Hopkins.

Yes. So too is J.D. Clowny. We're the Greg Mance of 790. We didn't get cut. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, you guys are not on the practice squad. You're on the full 53 man. Okay.

I mean, you're not starting, but you're on the 53 man. Let's see. Duke had your first. fours on. Who else are going to be? Oh, no. I could joke could be more of a Ross Blacklock. He's kind of a rookie for us.

Yeah, but he's getting first, he's getting second round dollars. Yeah, that's true. Are you getting second round dollars? Ross Blacklock wasn't that a first round pick. As I'm saying, second round dollars. Am I getting second round dollars or am I getting like fifth round dollars? You're a street free agent.

Sorry, Brian. You're a street free agent. I'm not even AJ McCarran. He actually makes a lot. Did we come after you? No, it's okay. Were you picked up off the scrap heap? Uh, no.

Were you? No, I quit. It was a trade, right? Oh, you quit? I quit. Oh, so you were a free agent signing then? Yeah, I was an acquisition. Oh, forget what I said.

Was it one of those, you can't fire me, I quit? No, no. No, I quit. You can't fire me, I quit. I know who's not quitting, Matt, Deshawn Watson. No, he's not. He's very happy. We've had to play this the entire show, except for Mike Dantone who joins us 1230.

You know, not enough OJ's in the regular rotation, Matt. I wouldn't disagree. Used to be my girl. Perhaps a love train, if you will. Back to R&B Fridays eventually. Good afternoon, everybody. This is a Matt Thomas show, 1203 on Sports Talk 7.

Anyway, that's Ross. And you just heard Joe George, who's filling in for Brendan. Is Brendan at a Detroit Lions fantasy camp or something? Is that the reason why he took some time off? I mean, if he is, he's getting ready for that week one loss. Yeah, he's hanging out. Is it Detroit, Chicago, trash talk already?

NFC North Smack Talk. No other station in town gives it to you because they know, nobody cares. Nor should they, yes. Boy, that Windy City podcast, yours must be crushing it these days. Oh, it's back, Matt. You know, that's what we were talking about not feeling like football because there's no, there was no Hall of Fame game and you get week one and nobody really plays and then build, build, build, build.

The fantasy draft, I had two fantasy drafts the last week. Now I feel like I'm ready for football. That's really what's gotten me ready. I would have loved a tremendous slate of college football this weekend. Now, we got some. It just wasn't tremendous. Arkansas State Memphis. scoring zero points?

Didn't really enthrall you? They were at home, and they lost 51 to 3. I think. I lost track at 51 to 3. Is that bad? I mean, it's not good. So those are two opponents of Cougars will both be playing this year.

What do you mean? What are you laughing for? Tough schedule. It is a tough schedule. Yeah. When's the grudge match against Temple? Like the Saturday, the Saturday primetime game,

was it Tennessee? No, it was it Memphis versus Arkansas State? I'm trying to think what the Markey Saturday night game was. I forgot what it was. I know yesterday was BYU Navy, and I just, after about five minutes, I'm like, I'm done with this. The marquee, as you would say, Matthew, is a relative term. I don't even know, which one, I don't even remember.

Was it the Army game, Army Middles and Tennessee? There, I didn't see any of that. I know that on Twitter, apparently Middle Tennessee State coach is the worst coach ever. Well, they lost 42 to zero. He can't be that great. Yeah, apparently they were in the Army Red Zone with like a minute left to go in the second quarter. and just basically ran the clock out. Yeah, 55 to 30 BYU over Navy.

That's right. They eventually scored three points. Yikes. All right. We have a very busy show today. This is, and I mentioned this on the, in the Titter, Twitter Tee's. I never said Titter before on the show. And probably hopefully never will again.

I'm letting that one fly over. Good. It's what you should do. This could be an awesome week for Houston Sports or the beginning of the end of sports. as we know it in Houston sports. Oh, no, what? Well, let's talk. I wasn't going to open up with the Astros,

but just to push my point along. I'm sorry, never heard of them. They've lost five consecutive games. The Mariners have won six in a row. So the quick math on that is the Astros have lost five games in the standings to the Mariners in what? Less than a week? And today, the...

The Astros play the Oakland days in a double header of which they are going to be the home team in one of the games. That doesn't make any difference. They've played four games Ross at Oakland Coliseum this year, and they have not won a single one of them. They were shut out for the first time this season yesterday, 6 to nothing. They had seven singles in the game. All right. So the Astros lead for the second play spot in the American League West. And again, if you don't know this year in baseball, the top two teams in every division make the playoffs.

the remaining two spots of the eight go to the two best records, and the Astros will not have that, I don't believe. The Astros lead for the second place spot in the West is down to two games over the sucky Seattle Mariners. They don't suck nearly as much of the Astros do right now, and it's painful. Yesterday, and I know this is going to be the most taboo thing I've said about the Astros in a long period of time,

but doing the post-game show yesterday in a game where they lost 6-0-0, what was 3-0 most of the way until Sice-kney-ne, up three in the ninth or the eighth inning and out of sight of mine. But they were down to nothing and the game was over because it only got seven singles. It reminded me, Rossi, of doing 2014 Astros post-game shows.

Because let's be the, it's not because this team is 2014 bad. They've got injuries that are crushing their baseball team. Now, there is some good news today. Can we get the hallelujah chorus ready? Joe to start firing off because once it's there, I'll play it and it'll automatically get you in a better mood. Justin Verlainter probably isn't going to throw this year.

We've had a rookie of the year, Yaron Alvarez, playing a total of two games. So you're saying to yourself, Matt, don't ever speak of 2014 again. I won't because Alex Breggman's playing today. Sorry, Josh Reddick. Yes. Everything's going to be okay now. Are you sure? The bullpin and the starting pitching is going to be perfect now that Alex Bregman's back.

Right. The reason why I said 2014, because the 2014 Astros could hit the ball a little bit. They just couldn't pitch. And then on days where they could pitch, then they didn't get any hits. And they've lost five consecutive games. They're only a game above 500. That Angel series is one of the most brutal things I can ever remember in baseball. Yeah, because they scored a boltload of runs and couldn't get anybody out.

I mean, giving up the lead in the Lassadbat, time after time, after time, after time, under time. All right. So that's the first thing. That's the first layer. Layer number two is the Rockets take on the Los Angeles Lakers in game three of their series tonight, which will have Mike Dan Tony join us in 20 minutes here on Sports Talk 790. We love coach. Yes.

Not afraid to jab at me once in a while. Oh, I can't wait. It's almost like you look forward to the jab. I think you look forward to the jab. Well, I just like our relationship. Because you always set him up. I do, but I always get one little small age punch in there. It makes me feel better, too.

So you've got the Rockets and Lakers playing. And then Thursday night, Prime Time, Chiefs, Raiders, all that money being spent on all those players on both sides. Two highest paid quarterbacks in football? Two highest paid quarterbacks? backs, an obscene amount of money being spent on one running back,

wearing Texans gear, who was third team for Arizona last year. It was in your keeper league now on your team, so you're going to have the root form hard. In one of the leagues. I have questions, do I start him? That's why I need Roto on Wednesday. Probably, yeah. Yeah, I mean, my guess is... Texans are going to be down 21.

He's going to be catching a lot of passes out of backfield. He'll be a PPR running back like you wouldn't believe, right? Exactly. Yeah, you're all good. So, Rossi, let's describe the week for the audience, and let's have the audience chime in on this as well. Okay. Is this going to be a awesome week for all the, because you got all three going? Or is it going to be an Uber sobering week?

Thursday will be an Astros day game, right? It's like a two something. And then you have, yeah, it's a 240 first pitch. That is nice. And then you have Rockets and Astros, Rockets and Texans playing just about the same time. So you've got to get two TVs going. Oh, for sure. Or maybe head to big six.

City wings. Four even better, sure. Man, Thursday's going to be a day. I like that. That's nice. So we're off early. I got Rockets duty, so I can't get day drunk. Yeah, I'm trying to think the last time all three teams in the city, Houston,

played on the exact same day. Was it last year in October, right? Or no. Could be a Rockets pre-season game? Oh, no. The Rockets are regular season started in late October. They started this regular season earlier. It might have been last year.

Are you sure? No. Okay. I mean, it's possible. Right. But I don't remember all three teams ever playing all in the same day. So it might be time to maybe knock off a little early on Thursday. Well, you got to listen to $7.90 and then go daydering.

You put $7.90 on your porch. Yeah. All right. So we got a lot to get to today. Brangman is back. DeAndre Hopkins has a brand new deal. We'll tell you about that with. Not us with Arizona.

Papa's got a brand new bag. DeShon Watson has a new deal with Houston. Aaron Reese on the Texans coming up at 130 from the Athletic. We'll join us. J.D. Clonney's got a new deal with Tennessee. And we're going to try to today, boys, between now and three o'clock, not discuss Odell Beckham, Jr. That is the goal.

Why not? I think he's going to have a bounce back year for the Cleveland Browns. He's dealing with a groin injury last year. I think his groin is going to be in perfect health this year, and he's going to be great. You notice the silence between Joe and myself right now? I don't know. What are you all talking about?

I don't want to talk about it. Crisp route running. I don't want to talk about it. This show is not going to stoop the level of talking about O'Dell, Beckham, Jr. and the Browns. Hmm. Okay. Not going to happen. You don't want to dump on them?

Yeah. Why would you do that? I don't want to poo-poo the situation. Not going to do it. We've already gone to 12 minutes. We can go another 247. Believe it or not, we've got two great guests. There's no chance.

Yeah, he had a crappy year last year, but he's going to bounce back. 713-212-5-790. An Odell Beckham free edition of the Matt Thomas show. This is Sports Talk 790. This is Cougars head coach Dana Holerson. Matt's kind of like Shasta without putting on a costume. He's a big old... The Matt Thomas show continues on Sports Talk 790.

1218 on Sports Talk 790. It is a Monday edition of the Matt Thomas show. We are very thankful that you've taken some of your time to visit with us today. Easiest way to get a hold of us two different ways, either through the phones at 713-212-5-790. That's 7-1-3-212-5-790. Also on Twitter at SportsMT, at SportsRV, and at Joe George Radio. Joe Philan for the next couple of days. All right. So the theme obviously is one of the busiest sports weeks we've had around here in a long time.

We've got an Astros doubleheader today. We have rockets against the Lakers in game three of the series. We have football preparations for Kansas City on Thursday. And Ross was exactly right. It finally feels like we've got something to kind of grasp at. There's been no issues with really the COVID testing in the NFL. If there have been, they've kept it quiet. It's been really, really good.

We've got college football going, some of it, which kind of gives us a nice little appetizer for the main course. We have Deshawn Watson, and you and I both messed up on this. We both thought it would take until next season for them to get his dollars, and they took care of him. Yeah, once it got so late into the season, I mean, I think you asked the question maybe even last week. If we thought it was going to be done, I was like, well, there's only a week left. I'm going to guess no. And then Zach Honeyham had gotten paid. So I didn't see exactly how many numbers of how that was affecting the cap, perhaps not at all.

maybe most of the guarantee is coming next year. But yeah, I didn't think it was going to be done. But I wouldn't say it's the most shocking news we'd ever heard. All right. So he's going to play it as normal amount for this year, which is his fourth year of his contract. The team picked up the fifth option, year option. So he'll be playing at that fifth year dollar. And then the four-year extension kicks in after that.

It's $160 million, potentially. 111 of it is guaranteed over four years that keeps him as a Houston Texan through 2025, which would then put him at, what would it be about late 20s at that? point, maybe 30. It's good. Yeah. So not only is he getting a boatload of money comparable to, not equal to, but comparable to the money that Pat Mahomes is making, but it also gives him an opportunity to go get

another contract if he is as successful today as he will be five years from now. Frankly, I want him to be better, right? I mean, Deshaun is fantastic. Yes. I'm glad he got his money. He seems like a salt with the earth guy. He's a guy you can easily root for. I'm just ready for him to take the next step.

I think everybody is and I think Bill O'Brien is. And now this to me also signals, I mean, this is kind of set as far as the Bill O'Brien regime. He traded for and paid his left tackle. He has now paid a quarterback that he didn't want Rick Smith to trade up for, but that's okay. Everything is set now. He's got to go out there and win. He's the coach.

He's the GM. He's locked up his quarterback. He's locked up his left tackle. He's traded for this running back and these wide receivers and draft a lot of these guys who are on both sides of the ball. So now it's time for the Texas to go out there and one. That's pretty much all the. The biggest storylines of all of them are all tied up.

All right, I'm going to give you and see, and you guys can either call BS or hey, that makes sense. All right, you ready for this? I think the Texans and Rockets models are eerily similar right now in the Win Now category. Rockets have got a lot of money invested in James, in Russ, and in Eric Gordon. I mean, that's a lot of money tied up in those three players.

A lot of money. A lot of money. The Texans have a lot of money tied into JJ, Zach, Deshawn, Whitney, David Johnson, Zach Martin, probably not going to break the bank. But I mean, still a lot of- He's overpaid, quite frankly. Kimey's overpaid for his position. You have no draft picks next year, first and second round.

What if everything goes haywire and this team goes 4 and 12 this year? What can you do to fix it immediately, except what? Cut players, correct? Because you're going to be... Because think about it, the cap's going to be down this year because there's no revenue coming in from the stadiums in theory. And then there may be some fans there, but ultimately it won't be 70,000 fans. You tell me, aren't they built for now?

Yes. They have to win now because you don't... Like, the Rockets don't use the draft. The Rockets don't have a lot of flexibility in their salary cap because of the money that it's being spent on the three guys that has talked about. I think they're very similar in terms of their patterns, is that they're thinking this is the roster we have to have.

Now, again, Deshawn's money doesn't kick in for a couple of years, but it's still a lot of money. And with no draft picks, you are going to have to basically be very, very wise on how you spend any remaining money that you have, or you're going to have to cut players or you're going to make trades in order to make sure you get into the cap,

because again, the cap's going to go down next year. I'll make even another different sports analogy. Yeah, it's when you trade away your draft capital, it's like trading away prospects in baseball. You do that like the Astros did in the last several years when you're in win now mode. And that's what everything signaled last year. When you're trading away multiple first round picks, you don't really have any top three picks where you're missing a ton of them over the next couple of years. Right. That's you saying we're going in win now mode.

When you're planning for the future, those first round picks are worth their weight in gold. So for him to, for Bill O'Brien to be trading those away, yeah, absolutely. year was supposed to be a we're going all in. Same thing for this year because you don't have, we talked about in the draft. We don't know what we're going to talk about because the Texans don't pick forever. Yeah, we're not. It's going to be like. 790 is your unofficial home of Texans football.

We are not having a draft party next year. That will keep her tradition of year after year after year not having a draft party. Yes. Because you just don't, I mean. Yeah, if you're not having draft parties, if you're not drafting until the third round, you can't have a draft party. You're in all-in mode. Yeah.

Rocket, same thing. When's the next time the Rockets have a first pick? 2050? You know, last year's Rocket's draft party was Let's unveil the uniforms. I was there. Yeah. And it was cool.

When's the next time anyone in Houston has a first-round pick? I mean, I guess in two years. It's going to be a minute. But no one will be the first-round pick in 2021. It'll be the Ash was in 2022, right? Or I guess the Texans, too. They're back on their first-round picks. No first, no seconds next year.

Rockets, no first next year. no first next year. Astros, no first, no second next year. So the next time the city of Houston will see one of their own first round picks will be at the earliest 2020. And you know what?

I will make this promise. I don't program the station or run the operations of it, but I will say this. We are as you're unofficial home of Texas football. We'll have a draft party in 2022. What if Bill O'Brien's traded everything away at that point? Well, that's a good point.

Yeah. Okay, forget what I said. Maybe we'll have a draft party in 2020. All right. Other big news beyond the DeAndre Hopkins signing is Deshaun Watson has himself a new deal. Two years for an extra, this is beyond the contract he's on now. 54.5. You mean DeAndre Hopkins. Downside.

Yondry Hopkins, two years extension beyond what he already has. $54.5 million potentially guaranteed of 42.75. It makes him the highest paid non-quarterback ever. First blush. overpay. But if he grabs 15 touchdown passes and supplants Larry Fitzgerald as one of the main go-through threats with Arizona and, you know, and grabs 50 hundred yards in receiving, nobody will care. Yeah. I think the fact that it's just two more years is what that makes it kind of not an overpay because it's not a long-term commitment, I think. Four years. That's four years total. But two of the years is a

guaranteed, right? No, two of the years he's already got. They're adding two more to it. See, that's the same thing to have him to Sean. This is very confusing. Oh, yeah. Deshawn has two years before his new deal kicks in. DeAndre has got two years

before his two years kick in. Okay. So you're paying down the road is what you're paying for. He's what, like 30-31-ish? Is he even that old? No, wait, he's 28. He's 28.

Yeah, I was going to say, I don't think he reached 30 yet. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Good deal. Great deal for him. He negotiated by himself. Are agents going to be a dying breed?

I don't know. Laramie Tunsel doesn't seem to have a big problem than not having an agent. David and Clowney hadn't been having it. Did he even sign an agent? Or has he been working on his own? He got his deal with Tennessee, by the way.

But this AFC South. He's reunited with Mike Vrabel. He was great under Mike Rable. That was when he was at his best, right? Yes. For sure. By the way, Thursday will be our great NFL prediction special, which were Ross and I usually spend 10 minutes on the show

going over picks and we later regret. Like last year, I think, did you have Minnesota going to the Super Bowl? I think I did. Yeah. How'd that work out? I forget, man. I can't remember who... Yeah, that's the same thing with me.

I forget my predictions. I mean, nobody's here. I'm okay there. You don't feel nearly as bad. Yeah. You pick the Patriots every year. Just because, you know, it's chalk. I mean, it's not the worst decision I've ever made, right?

Probably don't do it this year. No, no, no. I have a feeling it may not leave the state of Missouri. Hmm. Okay. Especially because I've got a bias now. One of my fantasy... Two fantasy leagues I'm in.

I've got Pat Mahomes and my quarterback. I'm going to... And that's, and that's a bigger... You're going to make your Super Bowl picks based on your fantasy team? Yeah, pretty much. That's a bad strategy. I got the Bears' defense. Do you see that?

Madden, Madden, predicted. Bears Chiefs, Nick Foles, MVP. Is Madden a human being? No. They got half the Super Bowl right last year. They also picked the Giants to play the Chiefs. Yeah, okay. Leave it at that.

Let's talk to you with Mike Dan Tony, all right? Yes. There's a... I don't know if anybody knows this in town, but there is a decent-sized NBA playoff game tonight. Huge. I mean... Would you call it a Mike?

Must win, Matthew. Absolutely not. Would I like to win it? Sure. Mike Dan, Tony, next 1228, Sports Talk 790. IHeard Radio. The free app for your music. Your stations like Sports Talk 790 and number one for podcasting.

All right. Game three. Tonight, News Radio 740 KTRH has the game 8 o'clock tip time. And now the series has shifted. The Rockets have home court advantage for the next two games. Coach Dan Tony, how are things? Good, man, how are you doing? Good.

How about having those cyber fans behind you? That's got to be a huge difference in these home games, right? So, you know, I guess Oklahoma City works. That's right. Yeah, we'll see what happens. All right, so let's run through everything. First of all, game one, I mean, it's just crazy how the NBA works. You're on the brink of elimination against Oklahoma City,

and then you guys just crush it against the Lakers in game one. You'll fall behind early in game two. you come all the way back and then kind of fell short at the very end. I mean, it just shows you how turbulent an NBA playoff right, isn't it? No, it is. And you've got to expect teams to adjust mentally more than anything. They were the desperate team, and they came out like that, and they punched us in the mouth. And then we kind of righted the ship a little bit, and then got back, and we were up.

And we just didn't, you know, they came back again. So it's, you know, really our games with him has been that. They go up 16, we go up, and they go up, and we go up, and it's a lot of runs. But, you know, there's a lot of good things, and we've just got to play a little bit better and finish it off. So if the team hired a turnover analyzer, which game film essentially does that, are you more frustrated in some of the, you know, the, why did you throw that, or I saw what you were trying to do kind of turnover? Well, you know, it's hard.

There's nobody who wants to do a turnover, so you don't dwell on it as much as, You just try to, you know, hope to make the right play, and you talk to them about it, make the easy play. And there are going to be turnovers if, you know, usually the guys that are trying to make plays are your high turnover guys. And that's what happened. And, you know, again, of all the stats, that's probably the one that jumped out because they are so dangerous in transition that if we turn it over, they're also scoring.

And we can't have that. You know, there are so many superstars, Mike, and you've been around all of them. that the turn on and turn off switch is pronounced. And LeBron never seems to turn it off. But when he gets into that fifth gear, whatever that is, that's tough to stop. And I commend you guys because in the fourth quarter, he and AD were on the bench.

And that's the easiest way to stop him is for you to shoot your threes and make them and make sure those guys aren't a factor in the fourth quarter games. Well, yeah, you know, they're going to be valuable, obviously, to the Lakers, and they're going to play. and their veterans and the bond has proven it over and over and over. So they're going to do what they do. We've got two really good defenders on them, but we'll try to make it hard and try to do as best we can.

But the other guys just killed us, and those are some bad turnovers led to, you know, transition where we didn't get back and matched up. And, you know, the Moorsk gets, you know, five or five from trees in the first half that can't happen. And it just, it just ballooned it just, you know, mushroomed out of it. out of control.

And we just got to do a better job. We've got a better job handling the ball or, you know, making good decisions and better jobs to have a little bit more urgency. Rocket Ted, Coach Mike Dan Tony, with us on the Matt Thomas show. And Coach Russell Westbrook,

obviously didn't have the game that you wanted in game number two. Are you hands off or do you talk to him about any of that? And what is it that he needs to do to be most effective for you? Well, he knows what he's supposed to do. I mean, in the sense of, he's going to play.

He's going to be aggressive. And he's going to go after. That's that's Russell. I don't want anybody else. You know, it's not like I have a magic potion or whatever, but he'll be fine. It's like when James doesn't shoot the ball well or whatever, it's not like, you know, you talk to him and say,

well, don't shoot it or do shoot it or whatever. They've got to play their game, be aggressive, be half-confident, and then we'll go from there. Mike, is this the best Eric Gordon you've had this year? because it's been up and down consistency shooting-wise, the injury bug, but, I mean, the last couple of games, has this been the best you've had him?

Yeah, without doubt. I think he's finally healthy this year, and you can see it just the way he moves. You know, he could have bad games or whatever, but he's moving well, so more of the possibility that he's playing well and doing a great job. I want to ask you, because somebody asked me about this,

and not that I want to get into particular officials, but just how do you think, there's always this thought of, well, officiating in the NBA changes, playoff-wise. Are you sensing a different sort of officiating or just what you normally see in this type of year? No, I don't think. I mean, they try not to

change. They try to do the same job. You'll see more intensity from the teams. And so with that, some calls will be a little different or whatever, but the speed is a little faster and everything else. So officials have to adjust, but they're trying to call it exactly the same way they won't just through the playoffs. No, I don't

see much of it. It's probably, you know, spent too much time. We've got to take care of out. We'll take care of theirs and hopefully it works out. Well, the best thing is if you have something you want to argue about, there's no way they can't hear you, right? Do what? There's no way they can't hear you.

You have something you want to complain about. They're definitely going to hear your voice. Yeah, well, they'll always hear. You know, that's part of the game. Everybody complains, so they're used to it. Anybody on the L.A. side surprised you in terms of what they brought. But Rondo, a little bit of a mixed bag. You've seen Markiev Morris have a little bit.

Is there anything that they've surprised you with so far in the first two games of the series? No. No, they are a very good team that has a lot of players that can contribute. It's our job. Not let them, but no one's really surprises. And they mix it up with you, Coach, with the one-two-two zone and a lot of trapping of James Hardin. Some success, some not success. What do you guys need to do to break that one-two-two-season?

zone. Is it just player movement, ball movements, screening? What's the most effective to stop that? Well, you just got to move the ball and you got to take open shots. And we had a bunch of open shots with discount. You know, they're not, they load up where they need to load up. They're just trying to keep Russell's away from the basket. So, you know, we'll add a couple little things and try to have the right guys on the floor when James is off because they won't go to zone. I don't think. And we'll see. But when James on the floor, they won't do that. And so we'll figure out. You have to be pleased, however, with the ball movement. I feel like the national folks have been talking about, wow, that great extra pass. I would say, Mike, with all the years

watching you guys, that's been the one positive is that you've got, you know, some unselfish guys out there that are always saying, hey, there may be somebody else in the Florida's got a better look than I've got at this point. Well, I think they're doing a good job. I think we are moving a ball. We're talking about it all the time and talking about it from the first day and the last day. So guys are doing that. They're finding guys. They don't hesitate on doing that. So it is good. And again, you know, 109 points we scored. That should be enough. We just gave them 117. And you gave it through, you know, turnovers to the transition. And we gave it to not quite having their decision we need. So we've got to do a better job

defensively. And that's been the case when we turned it over against OKC. They won. When we did and we won. Obviously, that's a big key. Is it amazing, too, that even though they have such a significant size advantage, the rebound issue hasn't been the problem in the games. I mean, if you're hitting threes, they're not going to beat you. And if you're turning the ball over, they're going to have a much better chance of beating you. Well, 100%. Plus, again, the size is something that media, you know, it's not that big of a deal. If you've got guys that can guard big guys, and we have that. So, you know, they don't get into rebounds above the rim. Their ball is long, or it's on the floor,

or you box out and you gang rebounded. There's ways to negate that now. And then, you know, they didn't play. They're big very much. You know, Dwight didn't play. And McGee went out real quick. He just played a few minutes. So they had to match up and go small with us.

Now, they're small as LeBron and they do you. And they're good, you know. So we'll just have to keep doing what we're doing, just make better decisions and play better. And coach, it seems like we can ask you this every week, and we probably do. But just speak to what PJ Tucker just means for you guys. I mean, the 18 points.

the 11 rebounds, the will, the being what he does for you guys on defense and the heart and sold his team, and how important he is. You know, he's the key, and we tell him all the time, whether you make shots, you don't make shots, there's all kinds of ways to win the game. And he's going to battle, you're going to talk on defense, and he's going to anchor that. And that's probably where, you know, we'll find guys to make shots now. Obviously, when he makes shots, he's even better. But he's always going to be a valuable piece. Lastly, coach, from a logistics standpoint, Houston, L.A. is a three-hour trip. Sometimes there's two days off in between one.

Have you guys thought about how fast these games are being played in short turnarounds, but not having to jump on a plane to go back and forth? It's got to be one of the small benefits of being down in the bubble right now. Yeah, it is a benefit. It's a benefit of both teams. And it comes every other day, almost like Groundhog Day. But guys get into the rhythm and they get to routine. and like I said, both teams are dealing with the exact same thing.

So that's why it should be close games. It should be good. It should be great competition. Nobody should be tired than the other guy. And it's actually a good setup. Now, I know Doc Rivers sneaks into games sometimes. Are you sneaking in other games or are you just staying in the room? No, there's nothing I can see there that I can't see on TV.

I just thought you want to, you know, bond with your fellow NBA teams. I guess you just want your own long time. I understand that. No, we're all good. We're all good, Matt. Coach, thank you for the visit. Have a great time tonight. Get a win, and we'll talk with you very soon. Sounds good. Thank you. You got it. Mike Dan, Tony, with us here on Sports Talk 790 as we get you ready for game number three.

And again, Ross, you'll have the launch pad at 7 o'clock tonight over on our sister station, News Radio 740 KTRH. And you will do the rocket trap over there as well. The fifth quarter show. That's what we used to call it way back in the day. Really? Oh, yeah. Okay. I used to do the fifth quarter from inside the totus, the compacts.

Why not call it overtime? We can kill it, but we wanted to find something interesting, a little bit of a different name. Okay. Both of them are okay. I like Rockets Wrap. Rocketsrap is fine. Because it's a double entendre. And the first call usually is Gerard, who calls in with a complete game, Rockets rewind.

He wraps for two and a half to three minutes. Oh, but he rewinds the game. Yeah, if I need to go shop online or clip my nails or something, now I can do that while. Or if you miss the entire game, he gives you the complete rundown. There's another human being alive. You can't even do. I can't even do it. Of course not.

He doesn't do it. Taking any breath. All right. 1243 is the time. It is the Matt Thomas show. We are with you till 3 o'clock. Aaron Reese on the Texans coming up in 45 minutes. And we've got news on.

Let's get the Astros. We'll get the Astros. We'll come back. Alex Spragman's back tonight. Thank goodness. Will it be enough? And more importantly, can he pitch? 7-13.

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Normally a Monday staple on the Matt Thomas show, but we were off yesterday for Labor Day. Hope you guys had a good Labor Day. I worked. Talk to a couple of extreme diehard Astro fans late in the night. Even Miss Carroll didn't call yesterday. When you only get seven hits and they're all singles, you lose six nothing.

She went to bed. She's like, I ain't out of this. Not a good night at the plate. Apathy, starting to reel. No, no, no. There's nothing to be apathetic about. They're going to rally. They're going to win two games today.

They're probably not going to win the AOS, but... No, I don't care about that. The damn Mariners are two out. They're the mariners. They'll be fine. They're... They've won six in a row. Look, this is a thing.

If you can't beat the Mariners out of the AOLS, then you don't deserve it anyway, so... Yeah, but this isn't the real Astros. It's right? That's true. This isn't the real Astros. Are you sure? Wait, okay, I'll go.

Uh-oh. Verlander Alvarez Yes Osuna Osuna Peacock Davinsky

Not that the last two would be That's a difference Joe Smith Don't forget Joe Beegee He's in Corpus Christi

I'm not counting He don't count Altuve Bregman Springer missed some time Brannley missed some time Brannley missed some time Everybody but

Eulian Correa pretty much Yeah I don't If you are awful this year You don't get on that little wall of this is the reason why we lose.

Okay, now my argument is Verlander's not going to pitch next year. Nope. O'Suna's not going to pitch next year. No. George Springer is probably not going to be on the team. Very iffy. Devo and Peacock are always hurt. Yeah, I would not consider them to be long-term fixtures.

So what changes next year? The guy, the 24-year-old with bad knees is going to be healthy next season. Can't guarantee that. Joe's making some good points about. I got a bat. I mean, I don't want to be that guy. You are that guy. I don't feel great right now. You're being that guy. I don't feel. I don't feel good. You know what, honestly, I'm glad he's that guy as compared to you and me.

I'm trying to have the glass half open, a wide, wide open. Glass wide open. Is that his song? That is my song. With glass wide open. The creed? I like that. That is a good creed impersonation. It was pretty solid. Oh, by way, before we go back to baseball, the season debut of what you're talking about Bill coming up at 1 o'clock?

What? I can't wait. It's one of my favorite segments. See, this is the thing, though. I haven't had a preseason warm up, man. I'm going in cold just like the Texans in the season. Excuses. Games still count the same.

You don't get a first half doesn't count. I guarantee if the Texans fall behind 21-0, they're not going to run and say, well, if we had a pre-season, we would have been down 21-0-0. You might have to get me in the practice God. Well, that's what Navy was saying. Navy was saying that they made a mistake because they were being COVID protective or whatever. So they were doing no hitting.

No hitting. All they did was hit tackling dummies and they just got steamrolled. Well, you know, Tulsa pushed their game back at Oklahoma State a week because they didn't have enough practices. The Golden Hurricane. So that's happening quite a bit. By the way, and I know we don't have very many Rice listeners. Matter of fact, there's just not a lot of Rice listeners period. I don't think Rice is playing football this year.

They've already postponed two more games. They've been trying to postpone football for 15 years. They've postponed the Cougar game. I'm telling you. I mean, hadn't the higher-ups been fed up with football for about 20 years there anyways? Maybe a little longer. And I've got some tremendous friends that are Rice graduates, including our buddy Indy, but they have no interest in playing this year.

They just don't. And they're just trying to, they're just trying to soften the blow. Because it's going to call, anybody that plays college football this year is going to cost some money. these tests and these protocols are going to cost these schools lots and lots of money. Athletic budget rice, a little lean. A little lean. Because you got it. You play games to, you know, to get money to pay your athletic department.

You know, there's no Texas paycheck waiting for you. They're contacting family dollar for COVID tests and they're not calling back right now. Sorry, Appalachian State doesn't pay the bills. You know what I'm saying? Okay. All right. So back to the Astros. You are that guy and you're absolutely right.

I just don't feel great. I mean, I still think they're a really good baseball team. Can we focus how they're mired in mediocrity this year rather than how they're going to be mired in mediocrity next year? This isn't the Astros team we signed up for. True, true. So it's really not, if they don't make the playoffs, excuse me, it's going to be sickening,

but there's built in, at least a dozen excuses. Now, you could also say that these guys, you know, with these short season, and short preparation were built to be to be more injury prone. Do you hear what happened with Blake Taylor yesterday? So Blake Taylor, he's our favorite left-hander, right? He's top five. He goes on the injure list yesterday.

Yes. Dusty Baker basically says, when did you know about this? Well, Blake apparently tried to self-medicate himself over his arm store soreness. Yes. Because he was afraid he was going to get sent back to Corpus Christi. Ra, you're one of the best arms the Astros have. You're not going anywhere. But you cannot try to self-medicate yourself when you are not feeling great,

especially when the team need you to pitch. If you can't pitch, go on the angelist, call it a day. Guess what? You're not the only one. That's a growing pains from a young pitcher. I mean, Justin Verlander has talked about that in his career about knowing your body and when to say something and when to speak up. And that's something that Blake Taylor will learn.

He'll be okay. And he'll learn it on the injure list. He's learning it right now. So Devo, that bad hair is on the injure list now. What's wrong with Devo's hair? I think it looks magnificent. Again, silence from Joe and myself indicate that... He's cutting audio.

Oh, okay. So there's no opinion from him yet. No, I don't think so. I think the hair looks ridiculous. Really? It's not great. What's wrong with it? It's wavy.

It's got like a bow in the back. I don't know what it's going on. It sounds like jealousy. You just don't like the way that he's pitching. If he had an under 2 ERA, you talk about how his locks look great. That's exactly the same thing I would. would say about Joe Begini and his jokes. If his ERA was under two, he'd be

the next Jay Leno. What about Lance McCullors' hair? Not a fan of it either. Really? And by the way... And we know you hate Dustin May's hair. Oh, I forgot to add Lance McCullors. Oh, we forgot Lance McCullors. Oh, we forgot Lance McCullors were. Ranger-List. Yeah, that's true. And by the way, that's not... What he's complaining of is not T. It's a neck issue. It's neck. He'll be fine.

I didn't think the T.J. affected the neck. My biggest problem right now is the line, the misdirection. that we're getting... How do we go from dead arm, Lance McCullors, to just not feeling great today to out with neck issues?

What are we doing here? We are trying to hide a gimmicky season. Gimicky as hell. Gimicky, it's gimmicky A-F. That as well. Ladies and gentlemen, we've gone one hour and not discussed Odell Beckham, Jr.

This radio program sets itself apart from others. Two more to go. We ain't doing it. How many? Two. Well, yeah, right at two hours. Now, will the A team discuss it? Oh, that's our lead topic, because they've only got an hour.

They're only working an hour today? Again, my point. Great schedule this week. Man. Oh, and by the way. On Thursday? No. Nope, at all.

Zero. So they didn't work yesterday. They're hardly working today. Yes. And they have no show on Thursday. Terrible. It really is, we should probably reformat the station. She bumped them down to the C team.

Yeah, I mean, you can't be an A team if you don't play. You can't be a Cy Young candidate or an MVP if you never take any snaps or throw a pitch. Kauai Letter would disagree. Yeah, you know what they are? They're permanent resting. Load management. They are. Our radio show in the afternoon is nothing but load management.

Except for me. You do put the hours. I'm like the Pat Beverly, the roster. Yeah, but you also get fine for. You're right. You flop all over the place and then call somebody else out for flopping? You want to be the Pat Beverly of our station? No, I'm kind of out on Pat.

What? I do love me some Pat. You loved Pat when he was a rocket. Don't be a hypocrite. No, no, no. But he's been gone. He's been more not a rocket than he has been a rocket, right? Or is it about even now?

He's been more in Russia probably than he was a rocket. Yeah. I still love him. I just, you know, we could do a fantasy five of ex-Huson athletes that we love that's not there. Well, it's just totally weak for somebody who flops and flails all over the place, for him to call out Nicolioly Yokage for flailing. And by the way, again, my favorite set of the year, Rockets Clippers. three games for Pat Beverly, 18 fouls.

Beautiful. The bruises are there. Well, hopefully he gets six to seven more games with the Rockets. What are you talking about, Bill O'Brien? Next, after I tell you about Shaw's Jewry at West Gray and Montrose, they've been in the exact same location since 1966. They specialize in engagement rings and diamond ring upgrades. They own the best selection of pre-owned Rolexes in the entire city of Houston.

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Open Monday through Friday, 10 to 7, Saturday's 10 to 6. Shaw's Jewry, West Graham Montrose. Yes is the Matt Thomas Show. 102 on Sports Talk 790. Would you like some good news where we get to what you're talking about, Bill O'Brien? The Astros lineup card is out for game one of the double header with the A's, which begins at 5-10 here on Sports Talk 790. The On-Dex show begins at 4 with Adam Wexler.

So Wex is actually going to put in a half a show today. Good for him. Alex Bremen's going to bat second and play third base. Kyle Tucker will DH. Jack Mayfield will be at second base batting. night today. So it's Springer, Bregman, Brantley, Gurriel, Tucker, Correa, Reddick, Maldonado, and Mayfield. First game of the double header. We'll have both

them for you. Wax has the on deck at four, first pitch, 5'10, and then Michael Connor will have the segue. M.T. in the middle was the name of the show when I did it two times. Okay. I called it the yet to be named a doubleheader bridge show. By the way, can I tell you real quick before we get to whatcha? I'm, I thought I would like the seven-ning double-headers. hate them. I'm the other way around. I thought I would hate them and I like them.

Now, granted, it's shorter game times, for sure. I'm sure you weren't mad about that. So I'm doing the eighth inning show. But it feels gimmicky. Well, the two things that I thought I would like that I've learned to not like is one. I remember I've been consistent about the second base rule in the extra innings. I think you should start that in the 11th inning, not the 10th. agree. Give it another inning of organic baseball before you start to make it a gimmick. And then again, I thought I would have liked the seven inning on the double headers, and I just don't. Play the nine.

Let's go. Astros scored plenty of runs against the Angels and got nothing out of it. Astros did nothing yesterday offensively and got zero out of it and lost the game. That's why they are entering today's game on a five-game losing street. But Bregman's bat in second. They're going to be okay. You sure? They're going to make the playoffs.

Why don't you be profound enough and say, ladies and gentlemen, my name is SportsRV, and I believe the Astros will make, without a doubt, make the playoffs. Go ahead and do it. My name is Ross via Riel. Yeah. Hi, Ross. I'm from Houston, Texas.

Hi, Ross. And I do not have any addictions that I know of. Hi, Ross. The Astros will be making the playoffs. Can I go now? Joe, you're up next. My name is Joseph George. Hi, Joseph.

I lived in Houston, Texas for five years. And not only will the Astros make the playoffs, they will win their first three-game series. Ooh, that seems. Because while they have problems... Who's going to pitch in those two games? Granky goes game one, Framber goes game two, lock it in. Bullpen game three. It's a three-game series.

Orkini's going to stretch it out. He'll be fine. All right. I'm ready. Hi, my name is Matt Thomas. Hi, Matt. I'm a major market radio host. Okay.

the Astros are going to make the playoffs. Yes. That's it. Okay. That's where I am to. One day at a time, Matt. Now, they want to win like three of the next four. Then maybe we can talk about, you know, how well they're going to do come playoff time.

Because they got a boatload of Ranger games left still, right? Arizona still. They suck. Yeah. The schedule ain't a murderer's row. I'm not convinced that a little run by the Mariners means they're a really good team. All right. Lastly, before I go to what you're talking about,

you are right when the schedule just happened to work out. But I did take a little bit of fun in realizing that Mike Fires in 10 games against the Astros will not pitch in any of them. Now, I would definitely, if that had happened and it was a series in Houston, I would take more credence to it. But there's just no reason that Mike Fires has to be scared to pitch against the Astros. That isn't the argument. And is did they line it up so Bob Melvin didn't have to answer the questions, nor did Mike Fires?

Scared is one thing. I think adding a layer of drama might have been what he was trying to avoid. And I don't know if he'll ever avoid that. Now, you and I have a bet for 2021. If he misses a series against the Astros in Houston, and it's not because it's deemed because they're shifting things around. And by the way, Wexler is a judge on this. Yes. Adam Wixler is the impartial judge.

Like if he gets, skips to turn the rotation because he's feeling a little sore. Yeah. Elbow discomfort. And then he's right back in there. Yeah. But isn't it a little weird, Ross? Just admit this for me. A little weird in a five game series, you don't see him.

Well, it's at four days. I just want to keep on a regular rest. He's not been off regular rest all season. And they played, we'll have played 10 times and not once. You don't think it's a little bit weird? It happens. Does? Your voice?

He does it up every single. I mean, Ramon Luriano played. He ran it all the, and he got hit yesterday. What do you think? So, I mean,

you buying conspiracy, just even a little teeny bit? Yeah, I think he totally is dodging the Astros. He went to Bob Melvin and said, you know what, reset the rotation. I don't want to pinch against the Astros.

Bob went to him and said, we're going to. Okay, well, and then asking Joe, because that's what Joe said. I think Mike Flyers definitely said he didn't want to face the Astros. He said,

man, I'm scared of these guys. Well, no, I think Bob went to him and said, Mike, come here, a minute. First of all, your mustache is awful. Secondly, I'm going to take some pressure off for you having to answer questions

and going against him. We're going to let this thing dissipate. He can do a five-minute zoom. You tell me that Mike Fires is on a Zoom call before an Astros game. You think it's going to be five minutes? Oh, hell no. He answered questions before the season about it.

Well, okay, sorry. He took questions. He didn't answer them. He took questions about it before the season. All right. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we present to you. I'm saying I don't know. I'm saying I think it's so, as I said on Twitter, ain't that a blip.

I just like using that phrase. I don't, I think you're the only person I've heard to say that phrase. I live with it. But that's neither here nor there. It's my phrase. Do you think Mike Fires is nervous as an alleycat to face the Astros? Go Google, ain't that a blip. I'm not saying it's not true.

I don't know. Just Google it. That a blilip. And it comes up with. Nothing? Blips. The person you get when you mix bloods and crips, this is what Urban Dictionary says.

Maybe a bad choice. Ladies and gentlemen, one of our favorite things to do on the radio show is, you know, look, we can play sound bites and analyze them to death, but that's boring. That is about as boring as it gets. How about we test what Ross thinks Bill O'Brien was going to say

as we play this. What you do my? What you draw my? Coach O'Brien. We will normally do this Rossi on Mondays and Fridays, depending on what kind of mood Coach O'Brien is in

on those Friday press conferences. Sometimes he's kind of short and doesn't have much to say. Mondays he's got to speak because this is after a game. You ready to go? I'm ready. We got three to start with this week

on which you're talking about Bill. And here we go. We'll start with, I try to go from easiest to most difficult. Let's go with are you comfortable with where you are heading into the season? 57 seconds.

57 seconds. Damn, George. Can we not cut this bad boy up? I just felt like there was not a good point. Got a lot of meat on this bone for you here. Let's cut it off at some point. All right. I'm ready to dive in face first.

Go. Well, I don't know if it's about being comfortable. It's just about putting the work in and working hard and coming and coming together and getting on the same page. And I think absolutely that we've come a long way from the start guys are working hard and guys are getting on the same page and and we're all coming together. We got some work to do, obviously, but that's everybody. So we're dealing with some circumstances, but so is every other single team. But we're just trying to go out there every day and work

our hardest and get prepared for the chiefs on Thursday. But I don't, you know, this is a league in which you can never be comfortable, right? I mean, I think as a coach and a player, you're always trying to think about, you know, what's next? What are you doing right for your team? What's the best decision for the team, you know, personally for me, I just have great people around me that help me in the role that I have, players and coaches and staff. You know, obviously, we talked a lot about Jack Easterby. I mean, the guy's just done an unbelievable job here and just been a really great guy in our organization. And, you know, then the coaching staff and the scouting staff. And then most importantly, the players, the players have really come in here and worked hard. So, you know,

I think relative to where we are in the beginning of the season, we're all excited about it. We know it's a big challenge. We know we're playing the Super Bowl chance from last year. And it's a big challenge. So, but our guys can't wait to, you know,

try to meet that challenge. I was going to drop a relative to, but I was going to, save it for the next one. Like here's the thing, you always need to drop relative two. And here's the thing. If it's not about a game,

always add in Jack, he used to be somewhere. Yeah. Always mentioned. It could be the weather he's talking about. And Jack and I were talking about the radar we looked at this morning. I mean, a cat of five stars, you got two dings out of it. So it's going to be about...

But it was 57 seconds long, so you needed a lot more dings. One and a half. One half stars for you on that. Cut number two on what you're talking about Bill. Here we go. Good luck to you, Ross. Thoughts on the Kansas City Chief's vertical threats, 29 seconds. This should be a little bit more of an interesting one for you.

29 seconds. I mean, obviously they're just best, one of the best offenses in the league. I mean, Andy Reed and Eric Bienimi and those guys. And I mean, what else can you say about Patrick Mahomes? He's obviously one of the greatest quarterbacks in our league right now. And Tyreek Hill is a guy with speed, not to mention Travis Kelsey and what he can bring. They just got a lot of talent. Sammy Watkins is a guy who's been doing it for years in this league.

So they're definitely someone to keep an eye on. And one of the best offenses in the entire NFL. So, thank you. Yeah, they can fly. I mean, they can fly. And it would be a lot of speed in this game. It would be a lot of speed. You know, a lot of guys on a field that can run on both sides of the ball,

relative to their positions, wide receivers that can run, linebackers that can run, you know, DBs that can run, defensive linemen, they can run. So it's going to be a game with a bunch of guys out there that are really good athletic football players. So I think it's going to be exciting to watch. Okay, I don't know if the slug, the tease was particularly good. No, that's the question.

So sometimes he just looks like he's looking at the depth chart of the other team and he just reads off every name. I thought that's what he was going to do there. Because he literally said the question was, what are you thoughts on the speed and the vertical threats the chiefs have? So then we started naming like defense of linemen speed. Yeah, why is I'm a linebacker speed? Because the Texas can't cover in coverage with linebackers. At least they haven't. I can't include.

What was supposed to say? You're right. No, if that was the question asked, asked and answered. Lastly, before we get to break, 38 seconds, Ross. Will this be a bounce back year for David Johnson and expectations for him? 38 seconds? David Johnson has just been incredible for us. He's come back here and I don't know about a bounce back year because he's been good and successful in this league.

So he's just going to be the David Johnson that we know that he can be. I mean, he can run. He can catch the ball. He's feeling good. He's working hard. So we expect a lot of big things out of David this year. Yeah, you know, I don't get into bounce back seasons. I mean, this guy's been a very proactive player in this league.

Damn. He's had a really good training camp for us. Damn. He's been in a great addition to our locker room. Damn. I think it's really good when you have all these guys in your locker room that the young players can really look towards as great examples. And so, you know, look, David's going to go out there.

He's going to play a good game. He's going to play hard. He's going to try to do everything, you know, the right way. And hopefully that's, that's, that's, something that that our team is looking for and he'll continue to do that. Yeah, you get four and a half stars.

If you had mentioned that the younger guys would have looked up to him and it'll get you a fifth star. I was listening to Ross. I was like, oh, he's got this one. Good. Toughing him up next time.

Next time you work on the show. The first two were awful. Yeah, that's true. So you get a C in the exam. Your first two parts of the section were the terrible. You rallied towards the end. Okay.

All right. 114 is the time. 7.13. 2-1-2-5-790 7-1-3-21-2-5-790 lots of folks getting paid we'll talk about that after ross tells you how to get strong and feeling better about yourself yeah i got to tell you about how you're feeling how's your energy level is it down a little bit it's it's 2020 and everybody feels like they're in this malaise and let me tell you something it might not just be something that you're a fault it might be a hormone imbalance it might be low tea you want your strength you want your stamina you want to pump up the

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833-fix-low-tie. Or go online to 833-fix-low-tie.com, synergenics, testosterone clinics. This is Craig Vigio. Vigio, Vigio. Back to Matt Thomas on Sports Talk, 790. Oh, we're having some fun. You're home with the Stroes.

120 on Sports Talk 790 with Ross and with Joe George, filling in for Brendan. I'm Matt. Nice to have you guys with us on this Tuesday edition of the show. 713-212-5-790. Uh-oh. Is it good breaking news or bad breaking news? You're going to be devastated, Matt.

Go ahead. All right. Lubies announces plans to dissolve company. Really? Yeah. So they try to sell and they couldn't find a buyer. Sorry, Matt. We better go to that.

We better go there to lunch tomorrow. 11 o'clock. Pour one out. 11 o'clock tomorrow? Yeah, you'll be asleep, but you can get up earlier? What times tip off tonight? Oh, it's 8.25 maybe. Yeah, I can make that.

You sure? Yeah, I'll take, yeah. Joe, you can go with us? Of course. 11 o'clock tomorrow. Hashtag max up. Where's the nearest one to here? Right here, post oak.

Yeah, it's right on the corner. Right around the corner. Less than five minutes from here. I guess I should know that. This is why the company is dissolving. They're dissolving? That's what the, yeah, that's what this, this, this, uh, news story says.

Damn. And someone just buy them, not that long ago? Well, Papa's bought them a few years back. The bit is, here's the problem of Lubies, and I can say this now because I have gone to Lubies. It's too expensive. Lubies announced they plan to liquidate its assets and distribute them to their stockholders.

So when they close it? We got time to go eat there tomorrow? I think so. What would you rather do? Go get a Mexican pizza from Taco Bell before it closes. What do you mean? Loubies. Mexican pizza is fine

I'm sorry I was my natural reaction Honestly I'll do it But in honor of it going away I had one this weekend Six of them I don't think it's gonna be missed that much That's not as good as it was years ago

Yeah What happened to it? It's just And I think part of the reason It's going away It's shell falls apart It's my fault because I haven't had a Mexican pizza The shell dissolves in your mouth

Like it's Alka-Seltzer or something It's not good Because I buy the chalupas when I go get the You know the little flowery fried I'm more of a cheesy gordita crunch guy Okay Luby's open in 1947 with Bob Lubies No it's nothing was

I was gonna say Bob Luby I don't think he was a I don't think he put a posse for he has in his own name Three hours it's gonna have Bob Lubies That's L-U-B-I-E-S Bob Lubies Yeah R-I-P sorry go ahead

All right 11 o'clock tomorrow Please remind me You're gonna get a text them as soon as show's over with I'm a sudden alarm. 11 o'clock for a Luby's farewell. We'll be at the post-location. You all won't come having one. Now, when I said alarms, I put like a little song that remind me of what I'm doing.

Like, if I'm going to pick up somebody at the airport. What are you going to put? That's what I'm asking. Oh, like, I had to wake up early. Remember I had to wake up early for that Astro, for that Rockets Noon game? Yeah. I put Jump Man by Drake in Future. So what would be my, waking up extra early for Lubies?

What song should I put for my alarm on that? Closing time. Oh, that's good. Oh, man. I'm not ready for this, Joe. Here's the problem, Lubies. You can't charge me a Luan platter with a drink, and it's $14. You just can't.

You're going to walk over tomorrow and see how expensive it is. I'm like, I thought you were picking up the check. Well, we can figure... I might sleep in otherwise. We'll discuss that later. Very sleepy. Man, this is a good one. So you're telling me we got more people in the world.

of Twitter talking about Luby's closing in a playoff game night between the Rockets and the Lakers? Yeah. Cornbread, chicken fried steak, sweet tea, green beans. I remember going there. Turkey and stuffing there most times. I remember going there as a kid with my uncle, my dad, my

grandma, I mean, anybody. That was just one of those good family home cooking. We talked about this. We talked about Boston Market the other day. Didn't we talk about well, yeah, we did talk about how they're disgusting. But didn't we talk about, like last year we talked about how you can't find home cooking in a...

No, you can't. But we talked about... Black IP didn't survive. Black IP went away. Nobody wants home cooking. They want either exquisite or fast food. It's really just, I mean,

Cracker Barrel is about it right now, right? Where else can you get like a meatloaf and a pot roast and a... See, and I'm only... Chicken fried chicken. Yeah. I don't eat Cracker Barrel when I'm driving somewhere. That's what you're going to say when you're drunk. No, no.

Let's talk about it. Oh, don't forget fried ochre at the Lubies, too. Oh. That's a goat. That's Joseph Dwarter to send me that. I used to get, what's the, I used to get, what's desserts I have? I can't remember. One of them I really liked.

But whoever gets, you don't get salad at the Libby's either. No. No. You just get a good old-fashioned home-style cooked meal. So when we open up a restaurant, Ross and Matt's, we're not doing homestyle cooking. We are not doing hostile cooking. Not under any old, do wings. I actually have another, I have a couple million dollar ideas for restaurants.

Okay. Matt, you want to invest? Not right now. We got big sports going on here. I'm sorry, man. Hit the lines. Loobies. Rockets Lakers.

Astros A's. Texans Chiefs. Cougars versus Memphis next week. Well, if you want to talk about Lubies being out, we can talk about that too. Am I going to get more Luby's calls and get Rockets playoff calls? 7-13-1-2-1-2-5-7-90. We should have done a fantasy five of the Luby meal. Ooh, we can do that Friday.

Luby's items? Problem is we've got a Texans game on Thursday night. I don't want to infiltrate the show with Lubies. and nobody's like, why aren't you talking Texans? Top five blown coverages of the Texans game on Thursday. We'll draft on Friday. I'll go Gary Ann Conley. I'll go Lonnie Johnson.

I'll go Zach Cunningham against a line against a tight end. I'll go Eric. Oh, Zach Cunningham against Travis Kelsey? Yeah. What does Lion 1 want to talk about? Lubies. My career as a sports host is coming to an end, and it's y'all's fault. I think this show is doing great.

It is actually doing okay. It's just, I'd rather be, I'd rather people, you know what we're doing, we're doing lineups at 240 today, and you're going to put them on Twitter because you've tried to do it last time. And so I'm doing it because this is a home game for the Rockets. It's game three. Okay. Which means I get to introduce LeBron James.

And the Rockets are undefeated at home in the playoffs. What's the line on tonight's game, by the way? Oh, that's a great question. It's probably around six. I can look it up, though. All right, let's go to. It's been around five and a half six the entire series. They usually don't change too much unless there's a blowout.

Roy on a mobile line on 7-90. Roy, what's going on? Hey, man, so just to tie it to major market radio sports station you are. Thank you, thank you. They do play sports in Lubies. They have like four TVs, and I've seen bowling and tennis, and along with the other major sports that if it's during the season. Let me ask you this. Have you ever had a problem getting a sports game on while you're at Lubies?

negative. I've never have. Really? Okay. That's good because there's a lot of restaurants I go to that I say hey, can you put on the Astros game and they're like what channel? And that's why I start up my business remote for you.biz because there are a lot of restaurants out there that don't know the channels that have these sports games. Speaking of dissolving businesses.

No, mine's thriving. Well, in their defense, they work during the game so they don't know, you know, they don't know what channels they're on. That's true. That's true. Because they're always at work. All right, what's your favorite? They have great pie.

They have great pie. They have great food. Kids eat free on Wednesday. And we eat for about $25, man. Me and my wife and my three kids. Oh, R. IP Lubbies. Yeah, I agree.

RIPP. Lubies. Thank you very much of the phone call. One Luby's phone call in the books that in the Matt Thomas show. RIP. Beautiful. Were you looking on something? No, I was actually getting a text of giving her a home cooking.

Cheddar. Scratch kitchen. Oh, yeah. Chedds can do it. Even some of the carobas suck now. That's Italian, though. That's still home cooking. You can think in theory.

I guess so. All right. We're not opening up a home cooking restaurant. Somebody's tweeting in, they're upset. They won't be able to get their Luby's bacon cheese steak. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's a hamburger covered with like cheddar cheese. Okay.

That sounds good. Yeah. I just, every time I go, it's like $15. And I'm like, the cafeteria rule should be, you should cap it off at nine. Your meal should be no more than $9. bucks. Maybe you've got to go for the early bird special. Yeah, but you can't, I'm not eating at 2.30.

I'm not going to save three bucks, but you're off. You're off the show at three. Let's have a little snack before and then go ham at the Lubies at 3.30. All right. Aaron Race will join us to talk some Texans next. Our time is 128. It's a Matt Thomas show. This is Sports Talk 790.

Houston. It's your home teams. A lifelong Astros fan here. Anytime. Anywhere. I love your whole thing. Let go rock and go. Just tell your smart device.

Play Sports Talk 790 on IHart Radio. Playing Sports Talk 790 on IHard Radio. 134 on the Matt Thomas show. It is always a pleasure to have our next guest on. He is the outstanding writer for the athletic on the Texans beat with us for a second season to talk all things. Houston Texans. It's our buddy Aaron Reese on Twitter at Aaron. J. Reese. Aaron, first of all, good afternoon. Secondly, let's get right to it. The compensation

for Deshaun, right where it should have been, or did one side win the battle of, well, he's a super league quarterback, but he's only worth this much? I think right where it should have been. I mean, you know, I don't think anyone would have just bid that he was going to beat Mahomes, right? Mahomes kind of exists in the class of his own, just in terms of on-field talent and in production, and also in wanting that sort of 10-year deal. You know, most quarterbacks don't want that they want the shorter deal, have multiple bites at the apple. So Deshaun is no different in that regard.

I didn't take him wanting a shorter deal as meaning less of a vote of confidence or anything in the team. It was pretty standard. And, you know, like, aside from Mahomes, obviously, I think otherwise these guys all just kind of reset the market one after the other. So, you know, he outpaced Russell Wilson and Jared Gough and Aaron Rogers' most recent four-year extension. So I think this is about what you should have expected. generally speaking.

Now, again, a lot of money was being spent, but General Manager Bill O'Brien doesn't get a grade on this until these guys get into those big contracts. But in terms of getting things done, him and he used to be, you know, had been able to balance instruction, draft, free agent signings. I mean, so in terms of just knocking things off the checklist, he was able to do that this summer.

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I think it seems like everyone's kind of fans' worst case. scenario what they envision their mind whenever there was a report about them not being close or not having started or whatever when it came to watson was like oh he doesn't want to be here he's just going to get out of hopkins trade but that was and they were never really realistic i mean that just not how the NFL works right i mean he had a couple years left on his rookie deal they got a franchise tagged him after that and you know for whatever you might think about brian i think uh it would take a true true uh like cool completely out of touch to think that getting rid of to john lawson or not

locking him up long term was not the right move. So, you know, they handled what they had to handle. And, you know, it's interesting now with the DeAndre Hopkins deal coming out today, too. Like, could they have really afforded that and to afford you all these other things? Now that you see the figures on all three guys, Tunsel and Watson and Hopkins, of course. You know, Aaron, I am a big DeAndre Hopkins fan will be still, even though he's wearing Arizona Cardinal gear. But I will say this as being a fan of his, that might not be money well spent in a couple of years. I mean, to give him 42.75 guaranteed when he will be well past 30 when that contract kicks in. I don't know if that was something that the Texans, in a million years,

could have possibly entertained. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. I mean, I was talking to some people today who kind of think that really all it is is kind of like giving up some more guaranteed money early. And obviously, it helps his cap up a little bit. But kind of by the end, when it really gets expensive, they could potentially be in a position to cut them or rework it or just, just do a new deal. So, you know, it's always weird of these things. It doesn't look as bad or as good as maybe it seems. But, yeah, I think regardless, the Texans clearly were in a position to decide that they

didn't want to be that top-heavy, you know, with Hopkins and Tunsel and Watson. They would have been just the second team in the league to have three players over 20 million per year, cap-hap, the other being the other being Kansas City. But two of those, their guys, Frank Clark and Chris Jones, obviously, play in defense, Texas would have all been on offense. And I don't think that in a vacuum, that's necessarily the wrong idea. so top-heavy obviously comes with a certain amount of risk. So I've always been to the mindset that, you know,

just trading Hopkins itself is not necessarily a stupid idea. It's more so just the return, which is everything who's been criticized and, you know, fairly self. That's for sure. Aaron J. Reese is where you find him on Twitter. Aaron from the Athletic here on the Matt Thomas show. And we're assuming that revenues are going to go down because of stadiums being empty. Are the Texans going to be in potential cap hell next year? Not as bad as some other team.

No. I mean, I think they, I think right now they're scheduled to have something like, I haven't looked this up quite recently since all the most recent deals are done. But I think they have something around like 10 million in space projected for next year. And, you know, it used to be, for being kind of new to this in terms of managing the cap. I mean, he did manage to get quite a few contracts renegotiated using the leverage of a free agency or the very dry free agent market that's out there for guys this year because of the pandemic and presumably will be next year to get some guys to renegotiate their deals and lower their cash. Cap hits that Colton, Senio Calametti on the offensive line being two. And Angela Blackson on the defense line being another, though, they just cut Angelo. But no, I think the big guy to watch next year in that regard is Bernadierke McKinney. Obviously, they just paid Zach Cunningham. That's inside linebackers, one of the least valued positions in the sport, just because it's mostly a run-stopping position. And they don't know if they necessarily want to have the most expensive duo or one of the most expensive duo of that position.

Bernardich has basically no guaranteed money or no guaranteed money after this season. So that's the guy who they could probably leverage the weakness, free agent market that's going to exist in 2021. They begin to agree to a pay cut of some kind. All right, let's get to the game on Thursday. How do we, and I'm presuming that most people that are listening to show are Texans fans or at least observers of the team, how do you erase the horrible taste that is in the mouths of Texans fans after the last game of their season is the place they're starting out this year

with everybody back from Kansas City having a premier quarterback, having one of the, you know, great tandem receiving duos, having a tight end who's, such a pivotal part of their offense. What's changed and what would make anybody think that this week could be different than what they saw at the end of January? You know, I think, tell me what are you thinking of this, Matt. What if they came out and set the town first, fourth down, fake punt, go for it. Okay, then Bill O'Brien would lose probably his general manager job

and head coaching job before the flight even arrived in Houston, right? I don't even think Cal could accept that, correct? I don't know. I mean, if they get the first down, then maybe the whole, the whole mood of the game changes. But no, I mean, obviously they're not going to they can't erase that. I think even if you win this, it's not equal to a playoff victory, right?

It doesn't get rid of the fact you blew 24 points. And the players, I mean, they've said what you would expect them to say about that this week. Like, it's in their minds, but you've got to move on at the same time. Deshaun had a nice kind of quip to it where he's like, yeah, at the same time you've got to remember that game in October, too,

which of course they won in Kansas City. Okay, so let me ask you this. Where do you see the secondary today that than when they were last in the field in January, minus obviously Jonathan Joseph? You know, I mean, maybe like a little better. I don't know. I mean, obviously, Gary on Conley, he did not look good in camp. He was coming up off-season ankle surgery,

and clearly the Texans kind of didn't feel that he was quite there yet, so they put him on IR, and he's expected to come back. Players only have to be on IR for three weeks this year compared to eight during normal times, and unlimited number of guys can come back. But, you know, Conley, in the playoffs, and when he got to Houston, basically, last season, And he was pretty solid.

So, I mean, they don't have him now. And it's otherwise basically the same group. You're replacing Jonathan Joseph with a rookie and John Reed. And John Reed has had a good camp. But I don't know if John Reed in his first game ever in the season opener against the defending cerebral chance to be better than Jonathan Joseph on his last legs would have been. And Lonnie Johnson, so a lot of things, and this ties to this game and kind of just more broadly this season is like how big of a jump is Lonnie Johnson making year too? Because if he's if he's not serviceable this year, then things get pretty shaky for that group. their depth is not very inspiring.

I mean, you got Philip Gaines behind him on the outside and Phil Conley comes back and Gaines basically didn't practice during training camp and he's on like a one-year minimum deal. So, yeah, I mean, a lot of hinges on Alani Johnson. I don't know if the secondary is really that much better. So to me, the bigger question is, will J.J. Watt hold up and can the pass rush be better? Okay, so yeah, the pass rush will be the best friend of the secondary, that's for sure. So let's flip on the other side and let's go glass more than half full on the offense.

The Johnson boys combined to carry the ball 25 times and give you 125 yards. They catch the ball six times for 50 yards. Maybe there's one score. You've got the perceived better depth at wide receiver than you've had in years past, although the A number one guy isn't there. And also, by the way, Deshaun Watson wants to show that his contract was worth every dollar that he got paid or was going to get paid. So can you win a 35-31 game?

can the Texans defense hold off just enough? Can they force some turnovers? Can they force Pat Mahomes to make a mistake? Can they get a tip ball that the Texans have used in years past? I mean, these are the types of things I'm thinking about if they're to pull off an upset on Thursday night. Yeah, you know, I think that's right. You know, I put out a list of kind of predictions for the season last week,

some more bold than others. And one of them was that Deshaun Watson would lead the league in passing yards. my logic on that basically is he's going to play in a lot of shootouts. I think that this game is going to be the first of many. I just don't think this defense can be very good, and even a good defense would have struggle against Tom Homes. And so I think they're going to win this game.

It's going to be because they score a ton of points. And, you know, I don't think that's impossible. You know, for all the criticisms of the Hopkins trade and whatnot, and I think most of those criticisms, like we said, it ties more into value than anything else. In terms of just the talent they have on the field, they are deeper than they were last year on offense. And there's something to be said for the idea that without having the DeAndre Hopkins type guy who Watson turns to kind of when everything else is in peril, who he can hold on to the ball for three and a half seconds and trust that Hopkins is just going to get it.

Without that sort of guy, you know, I think Watson has to play a little bit sharper. I was talking to his private coach, Quincy Avery, about that very dynamic. And he said there's totally something to that. I mean, Matt Stafford, after he lost Calvin Johnson, he improved statistically the next year. So I don't think that's out of bounds to say that that might happen with Deshaunewson. and that the Texas might actually be a more efficient offense this year with the guys they have. All right. Last question for you. Give us a prediction for Thursday night and then for the season as you see it. Okay. Let's say for Thursday night, I would say that the Texans lose 38 to 30.

And for the season, I would say that they go 9 and 7 and make the postseason as the last team in on the expansion. the wild card format. I think the Colts are probably a better team. I think the Titans are probably a better team. The Texas defense really worries me, and there's a lot of stats to look at that would indicate this team was not even as good as the 10 wins would say they were last year. So they're probably a major regression candidate. So I think a lot is working against them, but at the end of the day, they have the best quarterback in the division. I think that will be enough to get them into the playoffs. And J.D. Clani's addition to the Titans makes them the division favorite now? I don't know. I still like the Colts more. I just don't think that, I don't think that

Rivers is cooked. I think that he's going to have a really good offense. Best office line he's probably ever played behind. He's going to get to play behind. I like the overall roster talent on Indianapolis. And I think that Tannahill is not like, he's not like maybe the 20th quarterback in the league, but he's definitely not a top 10. He's probably more like somewhere in the 12 to 18 range. And I think he's going to take a step back. And there's really no precedent for a guy like Derek Henry taking on as many hits and as much punishment continuing to be productive from one year to the next.

So I think just in general, I don't have a lot of faith that the Titans are. going to continue to be able to keep that train rolling. Great material, my friend. Thanks for the time. Aaron J. Reese on Twitter, please go read. Please go subscribe to the Athletic for outstanding sports coverage, especially on the Houston Texans. Aaron, we'll talk again next week. Yeah, thanks, Matt.

You got it, Aaron Reese from the Athletic. Rossi, you and I have got to make predictions about the AFC South, and I am coin flipping every five seconds on who I think they're going to win the division. Does J.D. make the difference? Do you trust Ryan Tannahill, or do you trust an old A.F quarterback like Philip Rivers, who, as Aaron just said, has an offensive line for the first time in a long time. I'm set on my pick. Save it for Thursday.

1.46, the Matt Thomas show continues on Sports Talk 790. Left side to Westbrook on the baseline for the tie. He makes it. And he's fouled. This is Russell Westbrook. One thing is for sure. I did not get my amazing style from Matt Thomas. Oh, hammer job.

All right, Russ. We need Russ. Game 7, Russ was good. right against Oklahoma City. Game one, Ross was all right. Game two, Russ, probably you know, he would be the, I would hope he'd be the first to say, I didn't play well. He said as much in the play. The turnovers

drive me crazy. Unnecessary turnovers as well, yes. Like, bowl and a china shop kind of thing. Now, granted, part of him... Plowing into three defenders without a plan. Part of his charm has been able to go against those three defenders. get to the rack and get foul. Well, that's his best asset, yes.

So how do you say, well, do I, I guess it's on-court awareness. Is it, I've got three guys in front of me, can I take my chances and going into the lane and going to get a layup? Or am I worried about the fact that LeBron can still jump out of his shoes and block almost every shot possible? They've had some violent, violent blocks. O'Brien really took his lunch in game one, didn't he? And then he went the other way and got an ambulance. But you know what, though? The series, I mean, they don't scare me.

They're good. Lakers, yeah. But they're not. Rockets shouldn't be scared. They're not scary. Let's see. His second game against Oklahoma City, game six, he had 17 points. Seven turnovers.

He was 8 to 15 from the field. His free throw percentages dropped considerably too. He was very bad last year. He bounced back this year. But the playoff percentage is not good, I don't think. I can actually find that for you. Free throws. You don't do the exact percentage.

46.7. It's well below his average. During the year, he was almost 75. He was somewhere around there. Last year for the Thunder, he's like 67-ish. Yeah. So you can't fall behind early like you did because couldn't you tell fourth quarter

it was going to have to take the Lakers missing everything. And the Lakers took advantage of the fact that they knew the rockets were going to use a lot of energy to come from that 20 point deficit. And they try to run them out of the building, and they did. You can't get into a 20 point hole against a team as good as the Lakers. And yes, they did bounce back credit to them for that, but you can't

expect to sustain that for three-quarters. You can't start off in a 36 or 20 hole or whatever it was. Yeah, need a great bet. Need a better start and avoid silly turnovers. And I think shot selection and it's for everybody. I would also like to find out where Austin Rivers has been. Because

Austin was so bad in the first half of that game of the other day, Ross, that Mike went to Ben McLemore for those reserve minutes. That's true. People on Twitter wanted to see Ben McClmore. They got him for three minutes. But yeah, Austin Rivers, he had 10 points in game one, something like that, right? Yeah.

He was, he made like a nice and one bucket. Which he does. His three-point shots never going to be great, but it's usually good for one or two sometimes per game. Was game two when he blew a tire on the dunk? Yes. Oh. Yeah, seriously.

LeBron's got a, I know, what is he, 81 years old at this point? He still has incredible hops. He is at, yeah, he's not what he wants was, but he's still incredible. He's flying all over the place, he's getting chased down blocks. Like there was one time when James Harden just went Brian on the perimeter, and I think he can't really stay with James in this point of his career, but he recovers and gets a block because he's just so athletic. It's incredible.

Yeah. I think the three-point shot, I would have thought Danny Green was going to be a much more of a factor from the perimeter, and that has not happened so far. He'll be fine, though. He's just, he's a sure. I mean, trust me, I'm not thinking that they're done with him. Yeah, yeah. Rondo has been mixed. Rondos.

I think Rondo frankly than a day costs you more harm than good. They keep giving them the Ludoort treatment. Rondo's playing, I guess, active defense on James Hardin. I don't know if it's good defense, but he's playing active defense, and then he's taking a little two. He took a bunch of threes in the last game. But I will say this. There's also one thing.

that the Lakers gave up on. And granted, some of that was because of Javelle McGee's hurt ankle. But even Mike even mentioned it, there was no Dwight Howard siding in game number two. Nope. The Lakers have a considerable size advantage only makes a difference when the two players that have the play have the size advantage.

This is the problem. I said this before the series, national opponents who aren't paying attention. Oh, you got to just play big when they play small. No, because everyone's saying, oh, rebound, rebound, rebound, They're thinking of offense. On defense, Dwight Howard can't keep anybody in front of them.

Same thing for Jail-Va-Magee. If you're just getting ruined on defense, you can't play them. And that's a show to need to. And what happens is when you bring Cuffington and Green Out, that brings those guys out at least the free throw line. And then they're just a body out there because they have none of quickness to get to the land. There's just a no man's land. Yeah.

All right, 156. We're under the lineups for game three coming up at 240. Does Joe George know where the appropriate music is? I have no idea. That's a big shake of the head, no. He's giving us a number. And by the way, Joe, be proud of us. We are now finishing up the second hour of the Matt Thomas show

with not a news reference to O'Dell Beckham Jr. Hmm. Good job, Matt. Good job by all of us. It's a real stinker. That we have the second hour? The hour or the conversation? The conversation. Oh.

I'm not bringing it up. Or putting it down. We're dropping it? I'm leaving the eyes. Other shows in the marketplace would use it as a topic. A. We are a more highbrow show than that. O'Dell Beckham Jr. and his Browns will not be discussed. 157. Excuse me? What? He's Cleveland Browns.

Oh. As he plays for, right? The Cleveland Browns. Okay. I don't think I had to repeat myself on that, but that's fine. I did. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Final line. Our Matt Thomas show. We've got the Rocket introductions for game three. We have,

believe it or not today, we're doing Lubies, unbelieving or not today? All things, Lubies. And right now I want to tell you about the auto loan special that you can get today

by joining the Shell Federal Credit Union. I did that about six weeks ago. My son's got his car now. We're very happy about that. And you can get auto loan rates from the Shell FCU, like I did, for as low as 1.99% APR on 36 months for both new,

used in refinance vehicles. You can ask about 90 days of deferred payments, which I did. I'm not even paying the car until December. You can also get $250 cash back on every auto loan. That happened to me. It's now on my savings account with the Shell FCU folks. And you can also get two skip a pays a year. For details or to apply online, go to ShellfcU.org and please tell them that Matt Thomas, a happy member of the Shell FCU family was there. Just not too long. I went to the location on Wilson Road in Humble and got that auto loan. 250 cashback, 1.99% APR from ShellFCU and ShellfcU. Welcome home to ShellFCU. Is the Matt Thomas show. All right. We're ready to recharge in the final hour, the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. If you'd like to be part of our program today, you may do so.

713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. On Twitter, you were available at SportsMT, at SportsRB, and at Joe George Radio. Let's run through the headlines. Alex Bregman is going to bat second and is being called off the injured list. Just in time for the Astros game against the A's as they try to snap a five-game losing streak.

Please, 8-pound, 6-ounce baseball baby. Jesus. Allow the Astros to not give up second place to the Seattle Mariners. Rossi. It and our Astros. This is only a 20% version of them. What are we calling this then? Astros Light? What would you call it if you had a bunch of replacements that, I don't know what you

want to call it, but this team has been beset by numerous injuries? How about when a band member he tours with, but not really his regular band, he calls it, you know, Ringo and Friends or the Astros and Friends? I got your one. Journey. Saw them in a Toyota Center last year. Uh-huh. I did not know who the lead singer was.

Steve Perry is the, the definitive lead singer of Journey, and that's been gone from the band for a long time. This guy that's been doing has been doing it for like 10 years, but he sounds somewhat like. Yeah, but they still call him Journey. They do. That the Astros of 2020 are like a,

Steve Perry Journey Less Journey. Good parallel on that or no? I get it. It's not very nice.

But here's the difference though. At least those guys are coming back. Steve Perry is probably never going to perform again with Journey. Yeah, he has a vocal chord issues. No, he's a solo guy now. Oh, I thought he had issues.

He might, but I'm just saying that I mean, this guy's been with him has been with him for a decade. Okay. Just running around the country playing the same songs. Well, I mean, Journey doesn't need to sell out. Adam Lamber being the lead singer, Queen,

probably wouldn't be by choice because they would like to have Freddie Mercury, but he's no longer with us. He's been dead for a while, man. So I don't know if that's a good example. Okay. All I'm telling you is this Astro team that's put in the uniform on

that says Houston across their chest, that's not the Astros we know. Abraham Toro playing regular third base is not, and Jack Mayfield playing regular second base, Ross, is not the Astros we know. So maybe that's the reason why there isn't a tremendous amount of angst about this. It's because what team could survive with all the injuries that the Astros have gone through

and been anything close to what they were in years past? The answer is nobody. Just get into the playoffs as healthy as possible and then go from there. Now, Joe George, I don't know if you follow the New York Yankees, but you're a man about town. So you follow the teams. Have the Yankees been beset by numerous injuries? Yeah, they've lost.

Gene Carlos Stanton, Aaron Judge twice, Glairatorz, they're getting him back. Severino's up. Severino's out. Seventon's started. James Paxton's hurt. So, they're going through the same thing because right now, they're the eight seed in the American League.

Astros would open up as a sixth seed. They're the eight seed. They're barely alive. Right now, it looks like the Astros, I think they had to play the A's actually in the first one. Yes, that's what I said. As of last time, that was what it was. Okay.

What do you mean? You said it was no big deal playing in Oakland. Don't you want Oakland over Cleveland or the race? No matchup looks good to me right now. I know, but I feel like Oakland looks better than Cleveland or Chicago or Minnesota. To further my point, a man about baseball town. How about those Washington Nationals? Are they healthy?

Nope. They're real bad. They have one of the worst records in the National League. So you're saying this is okay? I'm saying that in a gimmicky season, you're going to have lots of injuries. It's true. So you're telling me, before the season started, boys,

if I would have said the Astros are holding on the Deer Life for a playoff spot, the Yankees are holding on for Deer Life in a playoff spot, and the Nationals are in last place in the National League East, you'd have thought I was high. Yes? Yes, of course you would have. 2020. Gimicky season. I mean, the Mariners are two games away

from replacing the Astros or the Yankees in the playoffs right now. the Mariners. They just traded away like their best picture. All right. I'm going to throw this out as a question right now the audience. And we've got Astro fans a listen. Of course, we probably carry the games. As an Astrofan right now,

what is your pissed off level? Now, I'm not talking about injuries, because everybody can agree that when you lose players due to injury, it's a 10. I'm talking about just what they are right now. And I'll give you a couple examples. If you're a 10, you're saying to yourself, well, you know what?

This organization has been good for so long. It shouldn't be playing this poorly. So I'm 10 mad as hell. Or you could be the other direction and say, you know, honestly, Abraham Toro playing a lot, Cy Sneen pitching in somewhat close games, all these young guys in this rotation that are kind of getting burnt a little bit

because they've been through the lineups of different teams once or twice three times. I'm not that man I'm about a three or four I mean look I want my team to be good I want them to make the playoffs which all three of us believe it's going to happen but it's a short season

it's gimmicky you lost the general manager you lost the manager you've lost free agents you've had beset by injuries it's just it's just okay so where are you when you went to like last night when I was doing the 10th inning show I was like I just want to get the show over with

because I looked at the lineup process And I didn't see much there. Springer's having a disappointing season, although his OPS now above 800, which is something that's been much asked for. Brantley's doing good. Coray has dropped a little bit, although he had a couple of hits yesterday.

Altube has been a hot mess, basically 90% of the season. And now he's hurt. And now he's hurt. His knee is discomforted. So how can I be outraged? You can be disappointed. Disappointed, sure, but not outraged.

No, I'm not outraged. I'd be like a five and a half. You're a little high. Okay, so that's actually above, I mean, five damage, you're, you're slightly above. This sucks. Because it's not his fault because he's in such a terrible position. James Click was brought in so late and there's no minor league baseball season, but the Jake Mariznick trade happened before Luno got suspended and fired.

James Flick has done what? Signed Dustin Garneau? Uh, uh, uh, no. I can't give that to him. No, no, no. Yeah, I don't know. The only thing you did was that trade with the Reds to get the lefty. Brooks Rayleigh?

Brooks Rayleigh. Okay, that's it. Okay, so if you really wanted to be mad about something, you could have looked at the roster, July or August 30th, and said, this ain't good enough. Go do something. Get us unarmed.

Problem is, you had limited people you could trade because you can only literally trade live baseball players that are either with your major league team, or down in Corpus. And if you want to do a player to be named later, if your minor league system is not chalk full of players, you don't want to give away anything spectacular

because this is a short season and even would one pitcher make that big of a difference in a short season. Yeah, and you're telling yourself that the guys we're getting back who are injured are going to be basically like trade additions. The Brad Peacocks, a little bit of Christofensky's. I don't know about how that's going to work out. The Jose Arkides, Saturday was a little shaky.

I mean, not great, not terrible. But he couldn't do any more than what he did. I mean, he wasn't going to go six. And that's been, oh, my way, we forgot about Lance McCullors. What's going on with his neck? How's his neck? We keep wanting to put all this faith in Lance. Do we not?

Because we love him. He's great on the air. Good of the community. That curb ball was working. It's filthy as AF. Neck nerve irritation. I think he's like a three or four in your rotation. You can't put, he's on front.

Yeah, you're not putting serious starter dollars. I mean, if he was to go to arbitration tomorrow, he'd lose, right? When you're TJing it for a year and a half, yeah. And then you can't play the next year, yeah. It's not good. So separating the injuries, worry on your pissed off scale. Separating the injuries? Separate them.

You're going to have to. Performance, roster buildup. Roster makeup, I should say. Manager, you can throw Dusty in there. You can throw James clicking there if you want to. I don't have any huge issue. with anything Dusty's doing. I mean, they're just holding together.

I mean, well, Blake Taylor's hurt now. So for me, it's about a four. I'm not outraged. I mean, I'm not happy with the team. I mean, Scrub's been good, but he walks as many people as he strikes out. It's basically the phrase of 2020, Matt. It is what it is. Uncertain times.

These are unprecedented times as well. And unprecedented to? This is the new normal for the Astros. No, it's not. It better not be the new normal. I don't want this. I don't want 21 and 20. the rest of my life for the Astros?

We deserve better than that. Let's get your calls in next. 212 is the Matt Thomas show. 713-212-5-7-90. Excluding injuries. Grade the team. 1 to 10. 10 being this is awful.

I can't stand it. One being, you know what? 60 games. Gimicky. It is what it is. This team will be back on 162 games playing the type of baseball they should. And when they're healthy, too.

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On mute. What a shot. 217, Sports Talk 7.9. We are having a little debate here in the studio. And we got Astro calls to get to. If the rockets don't see Javelle McGee because of his ankle, do they go with Kuzma or Marquif Morris as their third big man? in the front court.

What would you do? I would think they'd go Coosma, maybe. I'd probably go smaller with Coos. He was at least somewhat effective for them last game. Kuzma is 6-8 and 220.

Mark Keefe goes 610, 2-45. Is Keith that big? He's a big boy. I don't realize he was as tall as he was. 16. Man, he went 5-of-5 from 3 or something like that, didn't it? stretch, the only two legitimate

centers they have are Javel McGee and Dwight Howard. And if Dwight gets a DMPCD that are night, why would he start? Well, just because he's taking that Javel roll. Yeah, which is only about 12 minutes a game. Yeah. All right, let's go to some Astro calls. That question is for, and again,

when I say you can't use the injuries. Well, of course, you have to use the injuries to a small extent because you wouldn't see Jack Mayfield playing a lot. You wouldn't see a limb as D.S. playing as much. You wouldn't see Abraham Toro playing. You wouldn't see 80% of the Astro starting rotation.

So you have to equate it in there. But trying to separate as much you can and just saying, here's the roster. How irritated are you? One to 10. A lot of folks on Twitter are putting in anywhere between four and six so far. I'm on more towards a four. Jeff, I mean, Joe George is at five and a half. Where are you on the scale on your just general irritation scale of the Astro season?

Iritation. I'll go five. Okay. Let's go to Jim in Missouri City in the Matt Thomas show. Hi, Jim. What you say, Matt? I'm doing great. Thank you for calling. Hey, good question on the anger level. I'm just going to have to go a little higher than all you guys. And here's my reasoning for the score. And I just came up with this for about five minutes ago when you were bringing it up.

So I'm going to start with a five. This is kind of my starting point, kind of middle of the road, right? And then I'm going to add a point because if we're taking out the injuries, I'm going to add a point for spring. underperformance this year, unacceptable. And then I'm adding another point of anger with Jose Altuve and his inability to make adjustments. If he hasn't been impacted by injuries, then his season long miserable performance of looking horrific at the plate, trying to pull the ball all the time, never committing to go into opposite field.

You have to add a point there. And then I add a half point to the hitting coach. We're not doing anything about it, too. So I'm at a 7-5. That was well thought out, honestly. Jim. By the way, the hitting coach only gets, he should get another half point for being suspended for 20 games.

Yeah, that's true. So you could throw in eight there. Oh, man. We can't let them, we can't let it easy. But yeah, we can't go to a 10, but I was thinking, like I said, I was thinking through this and start with a five, and then I have to add a couple points because three or not

too, they know that they better step up and be the leaders, and if the injuries weren't part of any of the problems, then they have underperformed and that's increased my anger level. Fair point. Get the playoffs. That's what happens. All right.

Thank you for the phone call. I mean, makes all sense. Why hasn't Altuve made the adjustment? Jose always makes the adjustment. He was hitting the ball a little bit better before he got hurt. Was he? A little bit.

He had a stretch. Yeah, he had a stretch and then he kind of bounced. Then he faltered and then I think he was hitting well again, right? No, I think he left not hitting well. Okay. Well, he's hurt. That's what I'm going with. You got a hurt at third base, so at least got it on the first two bases.

I think he was playing hurt there there because the way he slid in, I don't think he hurt himself on that plate. Yeah, you were thinking he hurt his, um, hmm. Go ahead. Taint. Taint. Well, he hit his taint on the third base. That makes me very uncomfortable. I don't know if there's a muscle there, but I'm not a physiologist.

I just don't like saying the words. So from here on out, okay. We bring that up. You get to use that word. Well, I think the way that he ran, I think he was dealing with the knee, quote, discomfort. And then he, I mean, he didn't, Jose Al-Tubez been playing baseball his entire life. He didn't just forget how to slide into third. He slid so awkwardly, I think, because the knee was bothering him.

So I think it's something that he's been dealing with. And so now he is on the IL because of it. The last 30 days he was hitting 259. It was better. When I say or anyone says Jose Al-Tube is betting 259 and it's better, that means his season is awful. Yeah. That means he started off quite terribly.

Ooh, gosh, almighty. Let's go back to the phones and say hi to Mike in San Antonio. Mike, what's going on? Hey, Matt, how's it going? You late to long here, buddy. Nice to hear from you. All right, so I'm going to say somewhere between a four and a five, but mine's really are all going to kind of be targeted in one area.

With the injuries they have, you, I mean, nobody, could expect of that. You can't blame anybody on that. It just, you know, you just can't help it. We've seen a lot of good things from some of these young pitchers and everything, but the anger that I do have, it's going to go towards our new GM because, you know, we let Harris walk, Smith opted out. This bullpen was an issue before the season even started. We didn't do anything to improve it. I mean, goodness gracious, if we hadn't gotten the help that we got, from Taylor, gee, it would really be bad. But, you know, we did nothing to improve it whatsoever.

The trade deadline, we sat still, we didn't do anything. And eventually it was going to come back to haunt these guys big time. Every single one of those losses in Anaheim is really on the bullpen. Oh, the bullpen was so painful. So, and here's the thing, injuries have beset the bullpen, but the thing about the guys they've lost. You lost your closer, and that's a huge loss, okay? Davensky and Peacock, were, I mean, were we expecting them to be the 2017 version of themselves?

Probably not, right? Right. So, yeah. Yeah. Look, Joe Smith, decided not to play this season has hurt, too. Don't kid yourself on that either. Right, right. So nothing to do about that.

A couple of, you know, improvement on the arms that are in the bullpen, which could have been fixed. And I think this team is probably sitting, you know, anywhere from five to seven wins better than they are right now. And that would be comfortably in front of Seattle, not having to worry about them, and maybe fighting with Oakland. Because here's a thing. Thank you for the phone call, Mike. Good stuff.

Ross, they have something about that Oakland Coliseum. Do you see all the fly balls they hit last night? They were deep. And it does you know good at Oakland Coliseum. It did especially, yeah. I can't remember what inning was. Like they had just hit like three hard hit balls in the row, all the outfielders. It was, that's just baseball sometimes.

Can we just say that? They're not, no, I mean, it was the first time they, the first time they'd been shut out all season, correct? Yeah, yeah, the first time. But they didn't get one extra base hit yesterday. This is not a team that was built for station to station running, so to speak. Not a team built on base running, clearly either. George Springer.

Why is George Springer still try to steal bases? Joseo Too big gets picked off like once a week. And I love these people. I love him like they're like my brothers, younger brothers. George Springer, his stat cast feet per second sprint speed is very good. Why does he not cover so much territory in the outfield too, right? Yeah, why can't he get a good jump on a pitch? I think it's part of his read, right?

Wouldn't you think that would be the case? Yes. And trying to get one little extra step and knowing when to go. Let's say hello to pass a get down, Dina, and is that Lance? Vance. Hi, Vance. What's up? Hey, I'm just thinking about these Astros.

And I'm really here tonight. I'm actually very pleased with the young pitchers' performances overall. I think that they experience a huge amount of pressure with this shortened season. And they come in all of a sudden, many of them not expecting getting a chance at all this year. And I think that we're still very close to being that solid team we look for. I have to agree with what somebody said about sports. Springer, I think he's pressing way too much trying to pick up his team. And Al-Ti, I think it's injuries.

I think we saw that last year when he was out for a while that his average drop from the knee was given him trouble. So I'm optimistic. I think this team may not get it done this year, but I think it sure looks bright for the future. Gotta love what Tucker has done. Oh, if there's been anything, it's been good. Yeah, that's for sure. Thank you for the phone call. we forgot to bring that there's been your MVP yeah man we haven't been getting our ted talk

if i would have said after the first three weeks of the season that kyle tucker would be your MVP offensively you'd have been like shut up you are crazy you are crazy you are high you are using that medicinal marijuana for something that's not medicinal he's been fantastic his ops is crazy as slugging numbers are obnoxious and his outfield play has gotten better Average to slightly above? Yeah, that's fine. Okay. I mean, I'll take it.

He's third in the American League and RBIs. That's crazy. For a guy that sucked the first month of the year, right? Who wouldn't be in the lineup day after day if Yorda and Alvarez were healthy? And Michael Brantley and everybody, I mean, those are the guys that he would be pushing him out of the lineup. Hope those knees are okay, the creaky ones. They've been very creaky. All right.

We're asking you got. Dumbled knee surgery. How long do you not walk? You just get wheeled around for a little bit? And do you use it to your advantage? In what way? nurses you think jordan is getting serviced by nervous oh he is congratulations to him he's what married I didn't know that does he isn't he married have a kid I couldn't tell you but you know what

sometimes if you're in the hospital you feel bad oh there you go he and he has a wife Monica so Monica does not allow him to have a night nurse well why can't Monica be his nurse well depends on what they'd like to do everybody everybody's got their own little thing watch now Netflix, cook dinners from Hello Fresh. Get their girlfriend to get on a plane and take pictures of her doing things. Wine, oil painting class. Hmm? No, oil painting class with some wine.

You know that guy with the fro? Oh, not Bob Ross, no. He's dead, right? Yes, long dead. Okay. May he rest in peace. May he rest in peace. Or is he?

No, we haven't done it done it alive in a long time. He died in 1995. He's been dead 25 years. Yeah. And yet his show is still on. You just pull the rock. Is his show still on? There are four shows, gentlemen.

There are three. Check, check. The Bob Ross show is not running, is it? Three shows that are always running. Bob Ross, Shawshank Redemption, and Charmed. Bones always seems to be on. I feel like Vaughn order SVU is always on. I'm always waiting for the NBA to come on.

But the difference in that is, though. The NBA pregame show on T&T is always bones. The difference in law. order is they also had like 5,000 episodes, right? Yeah, and they're still going. How many Charmed episodes were there? Which is why I took Law and Order on these shows you would take into the bunker or whatever we said in the quarantine.

Yeah, I got a thousand episodes. I can't remember. But Charmed is every morning, if you watch a game on T&T at night and you turn out the next morning, it's always Alyssa Milano. And I'm not generally a problem with that. I think some people don't like her politics, but I don't worry about that with her. Good girl. Is she?

Great girl. Didn't you interview her? No, but I got a picture with her. Yeah, got a picture. Did not interview her. I think Greg and Andy did. All right, we're going to come back. And you were jealous.

Oh, you damn right I was. We'll take some more phone calls. 240 in 10 minutes. Rockets starting lineup for game number three. You'll hear it right here on Sports Talk 790. Right now, a word for hoops, basketball goals, and sporting equipment. Speaking of basketballs, how about shooting some today? Temperatures, I think, are going to eventually get down to the 80s.

I know it's a miracle. That means you want to shoot baskets. You want to do it with the hoops basketball. all goal. Talk to my friend Keith Tate and his folks at Hoops. They'll take terrific care of you. 281-351-9822 is their number. That's 281-351-9822. They've got a bare system that which is perfect. It's heavy duty. It's fully portable and it's perfect for those picky HOAs. And you can also get your goal with professional insulation. All you got to do is check out the website to see the goal that works perfectly for you. And that's ProDunkhoops.com. ProDunkhoops.com. Then nothing will be missing from

your driveway and it's exactly where your kids will be. ProDunkhoops.com or 281-351-198-2822 for hoops. No contact delivery. Houston Sports straight to your earhole. That sounds uncomfortable. No, the ear hole. Oh. Tell your smart device.

Play Sports Talk 790 on I-Hard Radio. Pleasureing Houston Earholes. 235 on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show. We will do the lineups. get you ready for the game. How about this? Rossi, we've had a call today about Luby's, and we're about to take a call about Bob Ross TV.

Can't wait. That's why the show is where it is. Noon to 3, Sports Talk 790. Let's go to Van in Myerland. Hi, Van. Hey, Matt. I don't call in often, but when I do, it's really important. If you buy a Samsung Smart TV, there is a Bob Ross 24-7,

365-day channel that you can paint and watch and paint and watch two all the time. Is it a, what's the name of the channel? It's called the Bob Ross Channel. Are you serious? What service is this on? I'm serious as a heart attack. If you buy a Samsung smart TV, they have like their own apps, you know, their own channels and stuff, and one of them is 24-7 Bob Ross.

Well, we talked about this, Matt, because didn't you talk about your son has some service. My brother has a service where it's 24 hours of this, that, or the other. It's 24 hours Seinfeld. 24 hours, it's always sunny. Maybe there's a 24-hour Bob Ross as well. Here it is. You ready for this? Here it goes. The Bob Ross channel is streaming on Samsung TV Plus. He's scheduled to come to Roku in May of this year was and available on other linear ad-supported VOD and subscription video platforms in the coming months. He's everywhere. He's absolutely every. where and why shouldn't he be? The hair.

Okay, good point. See you, buddy. Thank you. Do you think Bob Ross's, what would Bob Ross's hair look like today? I think it would be still a little bit of a fro, but it would be full of gray and smaller. Like a Richard Simmons is how his kind of, his fro went down over the years? Like John McEnroe's, like John McEnroe's fro is smaller. it just thins out a little bit.

Yeah, that's what I would go with. Yeah, so I think it would look like a Richard Simmons current for a, well, if he's alive. We don't know if he's alive. We assume he is. Do. See, Richard Simmons fro kind of thinned out. That picture's old, though. I still think he's in hiding.

I still believe that. This picture can't be that old. Why don't we get a show called Where in the World is Richard Simmons? It's like a Netflix special. I mean, Wikipedia doesn't say he's dead. Yeah, so it's fine. Yeah, but Wikipedia also tells lies. And Wikipedia doesn't lie that much.

where Ross and I get all of our information for your show. Oh, by the way, you ready to do the audio part of Believe it or not today? Yeah. Are you sure? 100%. Okay. He's a vet, right? He did it for months.

I feel like we didn't play. We're going to do it now. We're back playing on a regular basis. Gerard on 790. What do you got today, Gerard? Oh, man. How you guys doing? Good.

Hey, what's the latest on Justin Verland? You know, I heard he was, you know, throwing off the mind a little bit as he, shut him down again? What's the latest on him? No, they're not shutting him down. I just think that he is not going to pitch for this team the rest of the year. I mean, I think he is trying to, but he was throwing what, what did I hear a couple days ago, guys?

20 pitches on a hill from a certain number of feet, and there's 19 games left in the season. So, Neal said Gerada, I'm not holding out much hope. Yeah, you know, as far as this season goes with Astros, you know, Lance McCullors has been a big disappointment, you know. He wasn't going to replace Gary Cole, you know, for that matter, but he was going, you know, you thought he was going to be to take up some of the slack. And even before the injury, he did not pitch well for the most part.

You didn't get, you're not getting great hitting. Obviously, you guys mentioned a Springer struggle without Tuve, Brigham, Bregman, those guys, the centerpiece of your line up, they've been struggling. You know, the boy pin did surprise me good early on, but they kind of imploded here lately, and you kind of expect that for, you know, for a bullpen that's featuring a lot of inexperienced guys come out of the bullpen. And like you say, with the injuries to DaVinsky, you know,

you lost Will Harris before the season and stuff like that. You know, if they can get Jose Acute, I don't know what the latest is on him, they can get him back pitching. You know, I like what I've seen from Greenkey. Valdez has been solid. Christian Javier, he's been surprisingly good. And looking at the landscape of the American League, the American League don't have a dominant team, in my opinion.

You got a bunch of good teams, Tampa Bay, White Sides, Cleveland, but you don't have a Los Angeles Dodgers in the American League, so if the Astros can make it into the playoffs and get their guys back like Bregman and get acutie back pitching like he did in the World Series. You know, they'll be right there. They have a chance

to come out to the American League because, like I said, it's not a dominant team in the American League. You don't have even the Yankees. The Yankees struggling. They got Gary Cole, which they'll be a bad have during the playoffs. You'll be a problem in the playoffs. But outside of debt, that pitching staff is nothing right home about either. So getting the playoffs, get everybody back,

healthy and I like the actual chances against anybody in the American League. Like I said, they don't have a Dodgers over here. They don't have a dominant team or a dominant picket and dominant offense like the Dodgers in the American League, in my opinion. So that's just hope they get healthy, man, and take their chances in the playoffs. And let's see. Let's see. Let's see what happens. They got to get there, Gerard. Thank you very much for the phone call, my friend. I appreciate it. I don't think I've ever

have I taken a Gerard on the baseball call? Probably before. Yeah, I think so. I don't remember it. I mean, not during a full run down there, Matthew. Not during basketball play all of time. That's okay. Gerard throwing me off a little bit. Big game three tonight.

Big game three. Are you ready? No. Okay, stand up. Turn the lights off. Wait, are we doing this now? We're doing it right now. Believe it or not coming up next.

We can't interfere with that. He looks pouty, Matt. He is. Why is he so grumpy? This is what we got in the business for. He was doing playoff games. I can sit here and film you with my cell phone. Turn the light off.

Let's set the drama. We've got to set the scene for the peeps. All right. We're ready? Are you ready back there? Audio Meister? I don't know. We'll figure it out.

All right. He's going to point and I'm going to go and I'm going to point to you and go. Go ahead, Joe. Good evening, everyone. And welcome to Toyota Center for game three of the Western Conference semifinals. Now, let's meet tonight's starters. First for the Los Angeles Lakers. At Guard 6.5 from Georgia,

number one, Cantavius Colwell Pope. The other guard, 6.6 from North Carolina, number 14, Danny Green. At one forward, 68 from Utah, number zero, Kyle Kuzma. Another forward is 610 from Kentucky, number three, Anthony Davis. The other forward 6.9 from St. Vincent, St. Mary, number 23. Brown James. coach of the Lakers, Frank Vogel. And it's time for liftoff with your Houston rocket.

At guide 6-3 from UCLA, number zero, Russell Westbrook. At the other guide, 6-4 from Indiana, number 10, Eric Gordon. At one forward 6-8 from Tennessee State, number 33, Robert Covington. And the other forward, 6-5 from Texas, number 17, PJ Tucker. And the other guy, 6-5 from Arizona State, the beard, James Hardin. The head coach of your Rockets is Mike Dan Tony. Fired up now?

Mr. Grumpy Pants, are you okay back there? I'm great. Believe it or not, next 244 Sports Talk 790 with a message here for the Shell Federal Credit Union. Join the Shell Federal Credit Union this Friday, September the 11th, as they honor all first responders with free coffee, free breakfast, and free giveaways. It's going to take place Friday, September the 11th, 8 o'clock until 10 at three of their branch locations,

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Sorry. All right. So get that morning brew, breakfast and lots of cool giveaways. This Friday, September the 11th, 8 o'clock until Ted Wood Forest, Fairmont, and Katie locations of the Shell Federal Credit Union. Shell FCU. Welcome home to Shell FCU. Daniel House. Hey, it's Daniel House.

Matt Thomas continues now. On Sports Talk 790. All right. I'm trying to get some clarification. Did you see the little nugget that Chandler Rome and Ryan McTackeye. put out just a minute ago, boys? That Lance McCulloch had surgery? What?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's erroneous. Or the Alex Centroen had surgery. Well, that's definitely serious. That's definitely accurate. Some procedure. That's very vague. Everything they do is vague now.

It's all shrouded in mystery, and I don't like it. He had some procedure to fix 95 to 98% of what was ailing him before. What does that mean? Okay, now, granted, most times procedure means something surgical, but doesn't always have to mean surgical. Sure, it could be anything. It could be just a... Drainage of fluid or... And that's what, like, alleviate pressure makes it sound like?

I'm just... I'm... I'm Googling nerve, neck nerve procedure. Oh, are you going to WebMD again? I was thinking, well, we don't have a nightcap soon. I was... If we had a nightcap, Lance McCullors, I was... on the WebMD would be a thousand percent lock.

I don't know what that means. And I'm looking at the tweets, and we were not on the call, so I don't know. Maybe. Oh, no. What did you look up? Maybe he's got a cervical block.

No, no, no, no. The doctor ejects pain relieving fluid in the nerves that serve the neck. Compensation of local anesthetic and cortisone usually used in the injection. Okay, that doesn't sound horrible. Yeah, so maybe he's got an ingest. An injection is a procedure.

procedures usually don't put you on the injure list for a long period of time. Do you want to check your symptoms and see what he's got? Real quick. Go. How old is he? 20-something. 27. Yeah.

Is that right? Okay. He is male or female? Male. Okay. Great. Symptoms. Neck pain?

You got to start over. He's 26. Oh, son of a gun. That's fine. We're painful. Painful neck. Lawson touch in the fingers? Put dead arm.

Dead arm? No, no, no, because that's what dead arm was according to T.J. That wasn't a ball in this. Generize fatigue? General from pain when moving arms, that's a fact. Lack of sensation in fingers. Oh, no. Numnness?

I don't want to do this anymore. This is terrible. Genital numbness? Numbness and soft palate numbness? We don't know the answer to that question. Numbness in arm or numbness in hands? Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do?

We should play. America's fastest growing sports game show. We simply called it. Believe it or not, turn your microphone. He's got Takayasu Ardoritis. Oh, Jesus. Spell it.

Don't. T-A-K-A-Y-A-S-U. All right, 3-2-1-2-5-7-90. All things about Lubies are going on a business. Sadly, we're all sad. Rip. Rips to Lubies.

I'll read your statement about Luby's statements completely nutterly accurate. You'll say this. Believe it. If the statement is the erroneous, erroneous full of bunk and made up, will say this. Two believe it or not, it's in a row when you're prized.

The price is $25 gift cards to Mombos seafood. It's Mombonitico. It's almost like a read right there. Let us play. Let's go to Andrew, line two, Andrew on 790. Ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Lubies was founded in 1947 by Bob Luby, a World War II veteran whose father owned cafeterias.

Believe it or not. Not. Believe it. Oh, too bad, sorry. We talked about Bob. We earlier in the show, or did we not? We did. And it's not L-U-B-I-E-S.

It's just Bob Luby. Line number three. Raphael on 790. You ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. In the 1960s, Luby's logo included a young cartoon girl with messy hair. She was known as

the Lubey's Muppet. Believe it or not. Believe it. Believe it. Statement number two for the win. Actor Dennis Quaid worked as a waiter at Lubies while attending the University of Houston. Believe it or not? Believe it.

No. Oh, I know. And the crazy thing is there is a Lubies right across campus not too far on the other side of 45, so that would have been very believable. Nice pull for you, Ross. Paul on 790, ready to play Believe it or not? Oh, believe it. In 1999, the original Lubies location in San Antonio was named. a Texas historical landmark by the Texas State Congress.

Believe it or not. Not. Not. Statement number two for the win. In 2006, Lubies published a recipe book called Luby's Recipes and Memories. Believe it or Not. Believe it.

Believe it. There's a win. Daniel on 790. Ready to play Believe it or not. Believe it. Luby's currently previously... Wait a minute. Doesn't make any sense.

sorry currently Lubies currently has 107 locations 90 in Texas 6 in Oklahoma in 3 in Louisiana Believe it or not Believe it Not

No Ross made it up Sorry Jamal on 790 Ready to play believe it or not Believe it Lubies has had an exclusive contract with Nolan Ryan Brands since 2009

Believe it or not Not Not Statement Number two for the win. The Luann platter has been a staple of Luby since its inception and is named after Bob Luby's niece, Luan. Believe it or not? That is correct. That other words. All right, Ross, I applaud us. We did not discuss Odell Beckham Jr. at any point in the two

hours and 55 minutes of the show. It's a pretty steamy story. We're going to save it for Wexler and Clanton because they have nothing to talk about today. They have a really super long show. There's nothing they're going to have to do except talk about OBJ. One hour show. A little small prayer as for Wexer who will do an extra 30 minutes after that.

All that together, known as the A team. And they're up next on Sports Talk 790. Thanks again to Mike Dan Tony for joining us and for Aaron Reese. Dr. Roto's with us tomorrow, as is Joe Clad on college football. So busy Wednesday. A team next on 790. Thank you.