The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - MLB Owners Cry Poor, Old Coaches Must Be Let In Bubble & Florida Stories

Episode Date: June 10, 2020

So much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 12 o'clock straight up in Houston. What's happening, luncht timers? It is the Matt Thomas show. Day three of three without Matt Thomas.

Ross, Villarreal, Joe George, Brendan Riley with you until 3 o'clock as Matt Thomas, I believe, is in recovery mode now from his Lake Charles trip. He is back in town. But you know what, that's actually an expert move. If ever, you younglings in the biz, if you're ever going to take some vacation, you're going to go wherever. Always put a little cherry on the top. One extra recovery day from when you get back. You're really going to thank yourself at the end of the day.

I took a day after the wedding. Okay. Like, I didn't come back because we didn't do the honeymoon right away. So I took time after the wedding and then came back. So I took before and after. Okay, see, that's smart. You got to learn. Absolutely.

It's important. The recovery day coming back from a vacation is absolutely violent. Also, vacations should always be Thursday to Thursday if you're going to take a week-long vacation. Oh, because you're probably going to get off on a Friday or your boss is going to leave earlier or something like that? Well, with worst-case scenario, you got to come back on what for one day of work and then you've got another weekend. But also, you get to your destination for a weekend. You know, because, oh, okay. Yeah, I understand.

Depends on where you go. If you go to New York, it's very different to go to New York on the weekend versus the weekday. Unless you're an old person with kids. Well, I'm usually a Saturday traveler because the sports RV show is done at noon, and then I'll usually fall out to wherever I'm going in like a couple of hours. That's absolute dedication. I would also tell you a lot of people have real jobs where work needs to get done Monday through Friday. So getting in on Friday keeps them further behind.

Maybe that's a good point, too. I'm not worried about people with real jobs. I haven't had a real job in a decade. All right. So we're back here on the Matt Thomas show. 713212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-1-3-212-5-790. And what are we going to talk about?

The drama continues with the Major League Baseball Players Association and the owners continue to be at odds, as these are the days of our baseball lives. The latest, the MLB Players Association proposes an 89 game season with expanded playoffs. Will the owners accept? Find out next on the baseball player days of our lives. So what do you think, Joseph?

We talked about this yesterday. It was the, they had until today to make a proposal from the latest from the owners. So we've gone from 76 with 75%. And the player said, okay, we're backing off of the 114. We're going to win it. They're still kind of staying in each other's lanes. Yeah, there's really no...

The players are in the full proration lane, the owners are in the not full proration lane. You know, like, when you're in high school, and they have that... They'll be like the two circles. The Venn diagram? The Venn diagram, and there's the part that crosses. Yes. They're not crossing. We need them getting...

They're still... Their circles are just circles. The circles are not touching each other, is what you're saying. They're getting closer, but there's no... There's no cross yet at this time. Look, I think this is still a progress, a step... forward. Once again, the players seem to just be unwilling or uncaring that the TV networks and the MLB said the playoffs must start by September 27th, because this proposal has the regular season

going to October 13th. So that's still like part of the, that's still part of the problem. Like, they're still, they're still not factoring that in, that the MLB owners and Fox, specifically, do not want baseball to bleed into the election. It's, it's really that cut and dry. Because you don't want World Series games getting bumped to have Fox Sports won because... Fox has to carry debates or something? Yeah, because of debates. Huh. So, like, you don't want anything like that to happen.

So they have to have the playoffs started by September 27th. And the players are not understanding that, but maybe we'll actually get some negotiation off of this. I mean, this is, everybody's saying we're not going to counterpropos and we're not going to back off. It seems like everybody's buddy's counterproposing and backing off their original stances. So this is good. So yeah, like you said, the original, I'm sorry, the newest MLBPA proposal would leave the season to start at July 10th and on October 11th. It would expand the postseason to 16 teams, eight in each league for 2020 and 2021. So that means more postseason games, more postseason revenue for the owners.

And like the MLB's proposal Monday, it has player sharing in a pool of at least 50 million if the playoffs are played without fans. It also has opt-out rights for all players. Players who are considered high-risk or reside with a high-risk individual are entitled to full service and salary in the event that they opt out. No high-risk concern players can opt out without service or salary.

Yeah, so that's an interesting twist. So if a player is not high-risk and they decide I'm not going to play this year, their service time doesn't count. So if Mookie Betts will use local, if George Springer decides not to play, he will still have one more year left on his contract. Yeah, but how much money is he going to get? Is he going to go to do arbitration again? What would happen on that in that event?

That's a great question. I would assume everything would just carry over. Yeah, you just rubber stamp it and he gets paid whatever he's going to get paid this year. Yeah, so his arbitration would just carry over. Okay. So that's, I think that's a positive step in the negotiation of where they're saying we're willing to play. And if we have certain guys that don't want to play and they're not high risk, well, they're going to be stuck. So this is good, right?

Yeah. I've been, I've been, it's been a roller coaster for, I always felt like NBA was going to get done because they didn't have a lot of the inherent issues that baseball had. Yeah. First of all, their season was almost over. They have revenue sharing. They have a good relationship with their players union. Breaking news. That helps.

But now, I mean, I've gone from thinking absolutely something is going to get. done to thinking, I mean, something was at least going to get done as far as it was going to be 48 games. But this seems to be, I mean, are the owner's just going to, are we going to see a strongly worded letter from the owners soon about how this is like another crappy plan from the players? Well, I saw John Heyman quote an owner saying, uh-oh. That he heard from, a source? He just said, owner says, we're nowhere. Okay. Oh. So, but that's, that can't be the case. Like, they are negotiating. They are trying to work towards a middle ground.

And I think what the MLB is doing right now, the players, they're going to start coming down in games, they're going to stick to the prorated pay. And now their expectation is that, well, let's see if we can get the, maybe we can get the owners to come up to 82 games again. Yeah. Back to square one. Is it like, yeah, they backed off. They're like, 48.

And now they're going to try to get back to 82. And maybe like 82 games with 85% proration. Like, is that one? I feel like that's what. I don't know. I think if we get to 85, I think the players have to accept it. Unless they're really just... A full proration or what?

85% of probation. Yeah. Maybe the players really are just going to take this stance of it's 100 or nothing, and we are going to get the 48 game season. I'm sorry to my gut tells me that this is not the case, that they're going to have to back down at some point from 100%. And even if it's 90, like maybe it's 95, I don't know. You need it, but 99.9% is so they, and they may not even want to concede that.

It seems like the players are more dead set on not conceding anything than the owners. Yeah, I agree. And the owners are, the owners are moving the bar closer and closer to what the players want. The question is now, like, how close can they get? And is it close enough to the players where they accept it? And I think maybe, I think maybe we'll see even another counterproposal within the next two days. Hopefully. I mean, what is the deadline?

What are they operating on? Because the soft deadline was like last Monday. It's literally nine days ago. So we have blown far past that. Yeah, at this point, it's just it's time for these sides to just start negotiating rapidly. If they want a longer season to happen, they have to start negotiating at a much quicker pace. Yeah, but maybe that's what the owners don't want a longer season. They don't want a ton of games.

So they can kind of just keep going at this snail's pace and say, you know what? Well, we're just going to trigger it 48 games. the longer that this goes on, I feel like the owners do hold cards in that manner. Well, they do because they've got the 48 game season in their back pocket. So at some point, at some point that we have to look at the math. What point does, do you make more games for play, make more money playing an 80 game season at 85% proration? Then you do at 48 games for the full prorated for that amount? I'd assume you would.

So why not just play, guys? I don't know. That's for Jeff Passon has. taken on the, he has been like the chief math guy on all this, talking about how much more money anything is going to cost. And it's kind of like when we had Brian Bogus Evick on yesterday, he said some of these offers are six in one hand and half a dozen in the other, where they're kind of just shuffling everything around. Yeah. But the bottom line has been staying the same for the players and the owners and what kind of cut of the pie they're going to get. So I think

the players recognize that. And honestly, I think that's one of the reasons they've been so strong in staying where they are. The owners are doing better, I think, in the public opinion. But the players are doing better at sticking to their guns and trying to force the owners to meet their demands. So, I don't know. The other note, too, here from Jesse Rogers

from ESPN. I'd never heard of Jesse Rogers before of any of this, by the way. Okay. I'm a big fan of Jesse. I grew up listening to Jesse on the radio. He reported that this included expanded postseason also for 2021 in the latest Yes, I did see that. Which is interesting.

Because that's more revenue in the owner's pocket. So that's what they're trying to do to put that in the, I guess, a sweetener to help sweeten the deal on the player's side. So there you go. The drama continues in baseball. They have offered to play 79? What was it? 79, I think. 76.

89. Oh, sorry. Wait, which side? What side? Yeah. 76 for the owners. 89 for the players. They took 25 off.

It's very confusing. We've got 114s. We got 48s. We got 60s. We got 76s. We got 89s. I don't know what's going on. I also like Jeff Passon's clarity yesterday.

It's not around 89 games. The proposal is for 89 games. That's just so weird. Does that mean everything else has been around a number? I don't know. I don't know. 89 games is the latest from the players. Will the owners accept?

Probably not. I'm sure there'll be some kind of counteroffers. So there you go on the baseball side. But we still got other stuff to get to with you folks at 713. 2-1-2-125-7-99. 13-1-3-1-2-5-7-90. Another baseball owner has opened his mouth

about the profitability about baseball. We'll get to that. We have a new suggestion for NBA home court advantage when they get into the bubble. A lot of things to get to here on the show till 3 o'clock it is the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas.

Quick break here. Don't go anywhere. Good news. It's the Matt Thomas show for lunch. Let that boring brown bag lunch rod in the employee refrigerator. Oh, what's that smell? The Matt Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. Ross V. Real, Joe George, Brendan Riley, with you.

Matt, you know what? We should seek out Matt Thomas. Maybe he wants to join, see how everything went in Lake Charles. Hopefully everything was okay. You know, Matt's been kind enough to retweet the show tweet that Brendan's been putting out the last three days, showing a support. What a sweetheart. Shout out to you, Matt Thomas. Follow at Sports.

M.T. All right. We're talking a little bit of baseball, some other stuff going on here. And you guys on the phone lines, the 713. 2125.790. Another owner has opened his mouth when it comes to the profitability of baseball. We'll get to that in just a second. Christian. And Lamarck, though, is on the phone lines. Christian, how are you? Afternoon, Ross Villarillo, Joe George, and Brendan Riley. Christian. What do you got? Okay. The main thing I want to ask, I know that y'all been talking a little bit about the UFC and a little bit about this whole Fight Island thing that's actually going to be taking place in Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. But considering the fact that this thing is only temporary, at least from what I understood

about the situation, do you think that? if the UFC manages to have enough star power, which they are going to have a lot of star power in these upcoming cards, but if they have enough driving forces on the undercards of those events on Fire Island in Abu Dhabi, will that drive interest for their promotion? I think so. I think first of all, it's going to be, thanks, Christian, appreciate you getting in. I think it's going to be intriguing because I would want to watch,

what is it UFC 251 is going to be the first one yeah so uh I just want to see what's happening on fight island apparently the one the the octagon that's on the beach is only for training so it's not going to be used in the regular fights oh that sucks I know that disappoints me greatly but they're still going to have fight island over there I'm going to be watching and I think the card is stacked with like three championships fights yeah there's three championship fights I still don't really understand uh we don't I think we don't know officially what time it's going to air here in the United States and that that to me is like the big fact that of what's the interest level.

I do feel personally, just from what I'm, I know social media is not a reality of the world we live in, but it does seem like social media has picked up interest in the UFC during this time since they were the only sports come back. And they came back first. So I think this helps. And it's still, it's really going to be like the last big event before sports really come back.

Like the golf event this weekend is huge if you're into golf. I have no idea with the golf of the The PGA tour is back this weekend Okay Pretty much every major player is playing up in Dallas Fort Worth besides Tiger Of all the top 20 players I think everyone about like two guys is playing

Okay So it should be pretty good golf That's coming back But UFC 251 will be like the last big thing Before baseball and basketball come back So presumably Baseball is coming back They will for sure play the 48 game season

Yeah they were for probably at least That is the least amount they're going to play. So as I mentioned, so we had, what was it like a week ago, maybe a little more than that, a little less than that, the owner of the Cubs saying that they don't make money, they don't really make money in the MLB as owners

because they reinvest all of their money and everything else that they make after paying everybody goes straight to the general manager for more money, do we believe that? No, that guy's an idiot. Of course we don't. But here we go. Now Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr.

Also an idiot. The second Major League baseball owner in a week to say the sport does not produce a lot of profit as labor negotiations between the owners and players continue. Here's what he had to say, quote, the industry isn't very profitable, to be honest. And I think the players understand that. They think owners are hiding profits. There's been a bit of distrust there. It's a bit of a zero-sum game. They have by far the best deal of any players in any sport. So there you go. What do you think about Brian DeWitt, the second owner now, saying that I guess is he supposed to have us believe

that these owners are just in it to have a good old rollicking good time? Well, Tom Ricketts is saying that I don't have money because I reinvest in my terrible field that I love and my overpaid roster. This guy is saying we don't make money, which I'm confused because MLB Major League Baseball Revenue for 2019 season hits a record 10.7 billion dollars, according to a report by Forbes.

The MLB recorded gross a record 10.7 billion revenue for the 2019 season. It increased from 10.3 billion from the prior year. So I'm confused. Yes. Record profits, but they're all just read. Here's Bill DeWitt on what he had to say about it. The industry isn't very profitable, to be quite honest. And, you know, I think they understand that.

But they think, you know, the owners are, you know, hiding profits. profits, this and that. You know, there's been a little bit of a distrust there. And the rising costs of baseball ownership here's Bill Duet on that. Take a look at the deal the players have, and don't think for a minute that the reduced payroll added money in the pockets of the owners because it didn't. Look at the growth and personnel at franchises. We've grown, this is non-players in the last six years, from 240 employees to 400. You know, a lot more is put into training, conditioning, promotional work, you know, the front office, analytics. It's a bit of a zero-sum game. Social media managers, Facebook manager.

Okay, this is a website called Statista. Statista. I don't know. Yeah. I know what you're talking about. They have all the... Satista.com. This claims that the team that made the least amount of money in revenue for the 2019 season was the Miami Marlins. They made $222 million in revenue. Where is that money going? What was their payroll? This is from last year? Yeah, so this is their revenue for lunch.

Their payroll is probably, I think it's last in the league. I don't know how much was. Well, that includes payroll, I'm guessing. You said revenues, though, right? Yeah. Revenue is not going to have payroll in there, right? Revenue is going to be how much money they made, right? Okay, yeah, so this doesn't include payroll.

I bet you the Marlins payroll is like it's $46 million. So there you go. I'm sorry, a total of $56.7 million total payroll. So they had $200 million in profits or in revenues you said? Yeah. So you pay out that payroll. Where's $150 million dollars now?

And that's my problem. Is that all 150? Let's say you have 440 employees. Are they all making a half million on average? No. All these analytics guys, all these guys that he's talking about, these people that are helping run the organization and all that type of stuff. Come on now.

Yeah, it just, it doesn't make any sense. Like, you can't cry poor. The St. Louis Cardinals revenue last year was $383 million. So, their payroll was $165 million.

Okay. So where's the $210 million going? Yeah. Like, and that's, that's my problem. And that's why people we distrust you. Now,

maybe this information that I'm looking at, that I'm guessing the players are looking at, and that's their argument, isn't fully correct. But you have to say, where is all this money going? Like, how much are you profiting? And if you are only profiting such little money, A, why? Like, why are you making such little money?

And B, like, stop paying yourself all this money. Like, save some of it. Be responsible. Be responsible. So, yeah, that's the thing. Okay, so let's think about this. After payroll, the St. Louis Cardinals have like $210 million or $220, whatever it was. Yeah.

you're paying your general manager what a year? Five million? What is an average? What is a GM in the MLB salary average? Do we even know? Could we even begin to guess? I think this says, according to Fox News. Okay, Theo Epstein is, I believe, the highest paid general manager in baseball.

He signed a five-year, $25 million contract. Okay, so he makes $5 million a year. And I think he's the highest pay. Okay, let's say whoever, I don't even know who the Cardinals' GM is. So that's $5 million. take it off there. Where's the other $205 million going? Is the scouting department?

They all making millions of dollars? Managers don't make more than like $3 million a year. Yeah. None of them. And then you go through the whole departments and all. I mean, I guess you could see me, I could see you like pulling up to me where it's a lot of the money or at least over half of it gets covered by employees, but not a full $210 million with $440 employees.

If one of these owners were to say, I have seven minor league teams and every single one of them all they do is lose money that's true you got to do that too then yes but i don't think but some of those aren't even owned by the same people yeah they have separate ownership groups they have separate profits and and payrolls and those guys make such little money like they make a thousand dollars a week they make nothing yeah so i just i just i'm with the players here i don't buy it i think they're lying about how much money they don't have it seems fraudulent and you can't demand that they open their books but but they did they know they're not going to.

The owners are really pissing me off. Yeah. It's so funny that they keep out saying that we have to do it with the shorter season. We don't have any money. We're not running. They're crying poor. These billionaires are saying we're in the business of baseball not to make money. We're here just to have a rocking good time, I guess, is what they want us to believe.

I don't believe it. Do you? 713, 2.125. 790. The phone number 7132-125. 790. A couple of you on hold. We'll get to you next.

but there is a short break here. Don't touch a doubt. EG left corner for the career. Hi! And he got it! Eric Gordon here. Listen to Rockas radio on your smart speaker. Just as.

Alexa, play Sports Talk 790 on IHeart Radio. Latest proposal from the players, 89 game season, full pro-rated salaries, multiple years of an expanded postseason, eight teams from each league this year. I imagine they would want the same eight teams. format from each league next year.

More teams in the playoffs means more games, means more playoff revenue for the owners. So maybe they can actually turn a profit because according to them, they actually don't do so. All right, 713-1-2-5-790 is your phone number. 7-13-2125-790. You could also send tweets to at SportsRV

and at Joe George Radio. But let's go ahead and start on the phone lines with Matt on the north side. I want to talk about some baseball. Matt, go ahead. Yes, sir. So, just as an example, your $200 million left over after the payroll, you know, just because they're bringing in $200-something million, that's not profit, you know. You minus out the payroll, you minus out the water bill, the maintenance, paint on the building, insurance, taxes, overhead liability. I mean, they're making money, but I'm not going to do, you know, I'm not going to, you know, I'm a, I own a business. I'm not going to do a $3 million job. and only make $30,000 at the end of the job. If I'm doing $200-something million dollars in revenue, I've got to put something in my pocket

and it needs to be substantial. So you got to look at it from the owner's perspective. I'm not saying they're not making money. And I call, you know, BS on the players. Players got plenty of money. You know, they have people that look out for their investments and people that, you know, manage their money. They got money.

I just think they're being greedy. But that's me as an owner that has employees that think my employees are overpaid too. But, you know, if you're going to have, hang your neck out there for that kind of dollar volume, that kind of money. You've got to make some money on the deal. No, I understand that. And that's not what I was saying that after payroll, that's what the Cardinals make.

They made, what was it, 385 in revenues. Their payroll was 165s. So, I mean, if they're spending every dime of that $210 million on other employees and all the other stuff you're talking about overhead, then why are they in the business? I don't think that these owners are in this business just to have a good time and break even. I just don't believe that, Matt. Well, for some people, break even might be just a minimal amount. But, you know, I agree they're making money.

I'm not saying they're not making money. You know, probably make $10,000, you know, whichever, however. But you got to consider, there's a lot more into it. You know, my employees see me pick up a check for $100,000 on a job. They think that goes in my pocket. They don't realize what I've got to do, first off, to make the $100,000. So, you know, these owners are putting money out there long before the season starts. You know, they got to, you know, there's a lot invested in marketing and getting people to even buy these tickets, you know.

So they're hanging their nose out there early and then hoping for the repay and, you know, down the line. They're making money, but you just need to look at the big picture and not say, oh, what are they doing with that $200 million? There's a lot that goes into that $200 million. Yeah, that's what we're saying, Matt. Thanks a lot, man. Appreciate it. We're not really disagreeing that much. I mean, we understand that there are other employees, like they said, 440 employees is what DeWitt said that he has.

Yeah, I just don't buy that they don't have it. It's not a profitable business. Yes. That's the thing. That's what basically what DeWitt is saying is that we're not really making much money. I said, okay. Well, then why are you in this business? That doesn't make any sense.

Well, because there, now, even if that's the reality and he's not making much money, at the end of the day, he's worth $4 billion. Because at any given moment, he can sell the St. Louis. was Cardinals for probably like two and a half to, I don't know, $3 billion probably, like $2 billion, something like that minimum. Can I also ask how teams payrolls fluctuate so significantly if they're not making money? Where is that money coming from?

So like the Astros are an example, right? When they were rebuilding, I imagine, I don't know, that their payroll was probably towards the bottom part of the league. It was literally like $30 million. Where did all this money come from? Yeah. Well, I don't know. It's like they've had the money.

Exactly. That's a great point. Like, where do the Yankees all of a sudden get the money for Garrett Cole? If you're telling me you don't have money, where does it all of a sudden come from? Let's look. We'll use Ricketts as an example, the owner of the Cubs. Okay. Part of it's because I just part because I know them so well, they were like the Astros.

They had no money. And then one day they gave Jason Hayward like the worst contract in the history of baseball. It's like we're like nine or ten. telling me, now you're telling me you don't have money. Well, you overspent your money, but you clearly had a profit at one point. Yeah, exactly. And the St. Louis Cardinals are worth

$2.2 billion, according to Forbes. If you have an entity or a company that you could sell for over $2 billion, that company is not not making money. Yeah. The company is not just some struggling break-even company isn't going to be evaluated at $2.2 billion.

It's just not. Yeah, it's just not the reality. It just really isn't. All right. Also getting some tweets into sports RV, one from Larry Lyons. He says, Ross, screw the players. A bunch of overpaid, spoiled brats. It's a bad look when so many people are jobless.

The owners paid for the damn teams. They should control things. No one should make $300 million playing baseball. And I get that, and I understand, Larry. There are a lot of people who have your stance and they feel like, well, these players are overpaid brats, like you just said, and spoiled. and they shouldn't be demanding. All they're demanding is what they're worth.

That's really what it is. The players aren't saying we're not making enough money. They are saying that. They're not saying like we're poor. The players aren't saying we have no money. The players just want what they're valued at and what their value is. Because without them, without their spectacular play, we're not going to be watching them. All right?

Look, you've seen the level of play in, say, a Korean baseball organization. it's just not the same level of major leagues. And it's not going to generate the same interest. And you're not going to have the same level of superstars and level of play and all that type of stuff. So I understand that there are people who are jobless and people who aren't making millions and millions of dollars. But they can't do what Justin Verlander. It's different. It's just different.

It's apples and oranges. It's a different conversation. They live in a different world than we do. They just do. Because especially like look at the differentiation between the top and the bottom of the bottom of, baseball. You've got guys who they want, yes, they want like their $17.5 million pro-rated pay. They do. Their minor league teammates are getting $400 a week. So like there are people in baseball who are just like us, who do struggle, who do work multiple jobs, who when their baseball season is

over, they don't live in some mansion, they go home and live with mom and dad and they work at Walmart. Like that is a reality for a lot of professional baseball players and that sport more than others. The baseball players make what they deserve because of what the TV contracts pay them. They're not paid more because they play a kid's game and we do it for our entertainment. They get paid $300 million on these contracts because it's what they're worth. It's what the ratings tell them. It's what the television revenue and what, you know, Coke and a and Bud Light and all these companies is what they spend on advertising. It's like the money's there.

They deserve the money. And I understand they look like they're spoiled brats. But these are, but what's happening in our world right now is very different what's happening to them. And I understand though why you might hate them for it and why you might not want to root for them. Because they do look like brats in a lot of situation, but they are just still very different situations. Yeah, they're just going for their,

they're going for their worth. And they're also, they're non-essential employees. Like, if we don't need baseball right now, we don't. You haven't had baseball since March or since the end of March and when the season, was supposed to start and spring training got put to a grinding halt and you've been fine. We've all been okay.

We love baseball. It's like your favorite TV show going away. That's basically the way we should see it. The actor is negotiating. Jerry Seinfeld or who's the lead actress in Gray's Anatomy? What's her name? I don't know. You don't know. You see it

on the credits for a 200 episodes. Not for Netflix. Oh, okay. And Netflix you skip those. You go to skip intro. What do you watch the credits after? you finish something on Netflix, Ross? Well, it depends on the show. Stop it. No, you don't. Yeah.

No, you do not. What is her name? Ellen Pompeo. It says next episode. If Ellen Pompeo wants to come to ABC or wherever the hell that show airs on and say, I need more money, they're going to give her more money because she's the show. That's the thing. The players are the show.

Yeah, it's just like the Simpsons. They make millions and millions of dollars every episode. Yeah. That's the life. They are going to be A-O-K, every single Simpsons voice actor. And they almost went on strike. want to say like a seven, eight years ago or something like that. And nobody even watches that show anymore.

It's still on. That's what I thought, too. Like, they're still making a ton of money? Who watches the Simpsons? No, the new ones, I don't. The old ones I'll watch on Disney Plus all the time. They're on Disney Plus? Yes.

I thought Disney Plus is kid friendly. That's why I had to get Disney Plus is because it's the only way I could get Simpsons. It used to be on FX, or FX. And then they moved to Disney Plus when they launched that. So now I had to get Disney Plus and now I have a bunch of kids movies I'm never going to watch just because I want to watch the Simpsons. So I love Disney. Disney Plus.

It's got all superhero movies. Yeah, it's got the Star Wars. Yeah, it's got a good collection. Yeah. Got good sports movies.

And it's also got Coco, if you need. Or if ever at a late night, my favorite animated movie of all time, The Lion King. It's got Mighty Ducks on there. Oh, really?

Yeah, it's got all like the good sportsmen. I don't think I saw it after D2. I don't think I saw D3. How was that one? D3 is better than D2. Really? I thought so. Okay.

Full breakdown. Of the Mighty Dux D2. We're going to pass on that one. Next on the Sports Talk 790. No, it's not. All right. 7.13.2.5.790. If you'd like to get in, 713, 2,1,2.5.790. The Matt Thomas Show without Matt Thomas continues after this very short break.

Matt Thomas, we'd like to thank his parents for only giving him two first names. Because who would listen to Billy Ray Thomas talk about Houston sports? The Matt Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas show. Rolls along. Without Matt Thomas. Ross v. Real. Joe George. Brendan Riley with you folks. You can find us on Twitter.

At Brendan Riley underscore. At Joe George Radio. And at Sports RV. Talking a lot about baseball and what they going on and they have going on. The idea that they are not profitable, that's fine. I guess I'm really not going to believe that,

but that's what the Cubs owner. And the Cardinals. Finally, something that's, the Cubs and Cardinals can agree on that they don't make baseball. They don't make profits in baseball. They like steroid use. Yeah, that's true.

Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire. Yeah, that thing's going to happen on Sunday, right? What is that thing called? Long gone summer. Are they going to address why Sammy Sosa looks white? No, and he doesn't look as white in the trailer. Do you think they put brown makeup on him? I don't know.

This is very confusing. At one point, he was like, Pepto-Bisnil pink, too. Yeah. It was really bizarre. Really bizarre. I saw a quote from somebody was asking him why he thinks he doesn't get any more Hall of Fame votes. He says he has no idea. That's Sammy.

His Barry's probably going to get in. I mean, Sammy's not a good enough baseball player to get in. As in he was a bad outfielder. And it's just his stats aren't as good when you look at him as a Hall of Fame player. He just over his career. Like he's a 273 hitter. Yeah, look, that's pretty good. but he just doesn't have it compared to some of the numbers that like Bonds has and some of these guys.

Well, nobody has the numbers that Bonds has for the most part. Yeah. What he was able to do. These numbers are so good though. You ever go look at the 158 RBIs in 98? Wow. 160 in 2001. That's pretty good.

It's 64 home runs. I mean, he hit 66, 63, 50, and 64 home runs. I used to, I used to hate Sammy Sosa because he would do that little trial. Sometimes he would just hit one off the wall and he would still do his little stupid trot and he would get like a single out of it. Oh, that would make me so happy. Just as an Astros fan who wanted to root against the Cubs,

I really hated when he would do that. I will say my favorite memory of like Sammy growing up would always just be when they would introduce him and he would just come sprinting out of the dugout and go right to right field, especially after 9-11 when he had the flag with him. It was awesome. So speaking of the, have you ever gotten lost in a, like,

Like you're just looking at stuff at baseball reference and then you go look at Barry Bonds' numbers. It's incredible. I was watching it. It's the most absurd thing you've ever seen in your life. I watched like a set of videos over the weekend of him getting intentionally walked with Bases Lotus. Yes.

Yes. Yeah. That was like huge. That was like the number one story on Sports Center that day. Yeah. Like gather around the fire, young man. Let me tell you guys something about that. Barry Bonds, when he was in his heyday, I mean, my good, he, getting walked, intentionally walked with the

is loaded. That's how dangerous he was. That's how incredible he was. And you go look at his numbers. And there was also this I saw a stat sheet one time. It was if correcting for if he had played every home game in Colorado

and it had him hitting like 80 something home runs. It had him hitting like 400 a couple of years. I know he didn't want to leave San Francisco but I'm surprised he didn't just like after 2007 just go go play in an American League team. Yeah, he was good in 2007 when he was in his

40s. He had 28 home runs. OPSed over 1,000. Hit 276. Like, he could have... He led the National League and on base. At 480. He was getting on base 48% of the time, and nobody would sign him because it was

he was just that, his name was that toxic. He was just, it was a black eye on the sport at that time. It was in it, even though he was, he could have been productive, he could have been a DH. He could have gone to the American League and probably honestly, the dude probably could have eventually gotten to like 800 home runs legitimately. He's at 762. Yeah, if you would have gone to an American League team, he

could have got two more years out of his career. For sure. Yeah. Without a thing so. That's, yeah, so you have that thing coming up on Sunday. Is it like a two-hour thing or what? I don't know. So you were, we were talking before. So it's the two-hour Barry Bonds and, I'm not sorry, Barry Bonds and it was Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire. That thing's coming up on ESPN. after the last dance first you had the lance one did you end up finishing that one yep i watched both episodes uh that guy's a jerk lance but we all knew that i didn't learn anything from

who was it that said they liked him more after watching it was that adam clinton i can't remember somebody said that they was like after watching that they thought he was even he was even better or even came off looking better i thought he came off looking like a psychopath i think he just it was he was lance like everything i've ever heard about lance armstrong was proven that documentary. And quite frankly, he seemed to to me have a lot of similar traits

through one Michael, Jeffrey Jordan. Like the, have a vendetta against everyone and hate everybody and try to be cutthroat and like you talk about how he wasn't nice to anybody

that was even on his teammates. Yeah. This is Michael Jordan. Yeah, Lance Armstrong is like very much like Michael Jordan except Michael didn't cheat. That's true. Or at least that we know of.

Don't start that. Don't start that. Don't, I'm just kidding. Fine. Michael Jordan didn't cheat. Well, we could even have cheated. The only thing he did was lie about the flu game when he got flu and then he tried to say it's food poisoning. I'm on Sam Smith's side.

It was altitude sickness. We looked at all the symptoms. That's probably what he had. This whole thing, that's still so bizarre. It is bizarre. He wanted to look more macho. That makes sense. And the one thing that, it's funny about those first two documentaries.

And I'll be curious with this one coming up on Sunday. after everything Scotty Pippen did he looked in the camera and said I wouldn't change anything Lance Armstrong after everything he did he looked in the camera

and said I wouldn't change anything and I'm guessing Mark McGuire and Sammy Sose will do the exact same thing You think they'll both say that they wouldn't change anything? Yeah but you said you didn't

you didn't really care for the Bruce Lee one I just I tried I just didn't catch my attention I watch now I will say this probably about halfway through I was like I don't know I'm just gonna keep with it

because I was sticking with it Because I always found Bruce Lee interesting. I did watch the entire two-hour thing. But I guess, I don't know, it didn't really hold my attention as much as I thought it would. And either didn't. The Lance one didn't either. I just watched it because I felt like I had to. I thought the Lance one was good.

I think that one held my intention. That was interesting. And I was just fascinated by like every turn, Lance Armstrong just treating people terrible. There was like that Italian guy who was like he ruined the people awful. That Italian guy that killed himself in Lance Armstrong. He was ostracized from the community and going after all these other guys and suing people for telling the truth. Like his poor masseuse, that Irish lady or Scottish lady or whatever,

and taking her to court after she said stuff that was true, I mean, he is a bad person. Yeah, he's a legitimately bad person. Michael Jordan is probably... I think he's a bad person. too. Honestly. It's such a lesser scale, though, it feels like.

Well, I mean, okay, he's done probably less vicious things. But I think it's the same type of deal. Like, if you say one thing about him, you're on his bad side for the rest of the life. Yeah, but he hasn't, did he ruin anyone besides Isaiah Thomas? Well, he kept him off. Oh, I'm sorry, he ruined Isaiah Thomas's Olympic dreams. Oh, boo-hoo. What else?

I don't know if he really ruined anybody's life or I don't think he came after anybody and sued him. He ruined like LeBradford Smith's life probably. Yeah, LaBradford Smith was never the same. What about poor LaBradford. Bay City legend. Come on, man. But no, yeah, Lance Armstrong. I mean, God, he was just, he's got to be one of the worst people in sports.

Like, probably like one of the worst people. And it's like to talk about when he was like 15 years old and that guy he was training with and he was just bossing him around. Like, what is going on with this little Lance Armstrong? The whole, his whole story was just, it was weird. It was just very weird. It was very interesting. A lot of stuff that I didn't know. I mean, the extent of all the cheating and all that type of stuff and the cancerous thing and all the details on that.

Very interesting stuff there on the Lansa. But I also like the Bruce Lee one. It just wasn't to me, probably third place of those three, but definitely we'll be watching. What is it called? Long gone summer? Yeah. Long gone summer that's going to be on ESPN coming up this weekend. All right.

So we're going to take a break here. On the Matt Thomas show, that is the first hour in the book. 713-2125. 790 is the phone number 713-213. 25790. Tweets at SportsRV. Got a couple of you guys tweeting me. We'll read those next here on the Matt Thomas show. This is the Matt Thomas show.

Clock straight up here on the Sports Talk 790, the second hour of the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. Ross Villarreal, Joe George, Brendan Riley, with you until 3 o'clock. So we got some breaking news happening? I don't know. We're going to call it officially breaking news, or is it? just stuff that is getting that is coming up from Adrian Wogan Rouske. You know what?

We try to sell things here on the show. So let's go with breaking news. Yeah, that's right. That'll wake you up at 1 o'clock. Reporting at Wouge ESPN, reporting with Zach Lowe. NBA team personnel are expected to submit personal medical histories to a panel of physicians who would review their individual risk of serious illness due to any spread of COVID-19 in the league's Orlando bubble.

Follows that up with legal experts consulted by ESPN, including a top attorney in the Miami office of the U.S. Equality Employment Opportunity Commission. That's a mouthful. Agreed unanimously, the NBA could not exclude any personnel from participating in Orlando solely based on the basis of age. So the NBA cannot tell Alvin Gentry, Greg Popovich, and Mike Dantony,

to stay home. Just because you're old, because the Equal Opportunity Commission does not like that. Yep. Okay. What did I say? Competit. Whatever their name is.

The EEOC or whatever. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Anyways, so you cannot establish that they're not going to be out of the bubble because of age. It doesn't mean they can't possibly do other rules. Right, if they have other health. So apparently other health limitations. According to this story, from Agent Wojnerowski.

It's unclear that the panel might have what the authority they have and prohibiting any personnel from attending Orlando or placing limitations on them. But there is some anxiety about such limitations among teams. So is this really,

every player has to submit, what kind of health history do they? They've got to get a physical end. And mail that in? I would just guess it's everything because he's not playing, but Larian-Anse Jr., for example, from the Cleveland Cavaliers,

has Crohn's disease, that would put him at a higher risk than other players. So they just, the NBA needs to be aware fully, even though, I feel like they should be. Like, I guess,

like, they're just submitting these medical histories to a panel of physicians, is what it says. But, I mean, they all know the risk already that they're under, but we'll see. Yeah,

so they have to submit all this type of stuff. And that's the big one, that they cannot discriminate against Mike Dantonie, Greg Povitch, or Alvin Gentry because of their age. But I guess Mike Dantone is going to have to pass some kind of physical with flying colors in order to be allowed into this bubble. See, I think they're going to be there. The problem is, do you try to make them do something that the other ones aren't? And that's wearing masks.

When the other coaches aren't, not be on the bench, when the other coaches are. And that I have a problem with. Like the Rockets specifically of those three teams, it is a joke if they say Mike Dantonia can't be on the bench. Well, let's just give him a mask and keep his hands drenched in Purell and he'll be fine, right? But if everyone's being tested, what's the point? That's a great question.

That's, and that's not with baseball, I get it. There is no bubble in baseball. They're going to go to 28 different stadiums overall. The Astros will go to like nine different places, potentially this season. There is no bubble. They're living at home. They're playing at home.

These guys are being told, when you get to Orlando, you have to stay in your hotel room for 36 hours. You can't leave. When your family arrives after the first round, they have to quarantine. If we're quarantining so severely and we're testing so often and they're in an actual bubble, then what's the concern? The concern is if somebody... No, I'm not a doctor, so I don't... Yeah. Well, you are the official 790 epidemiologist, but if somebody, what if somebody who sneaks out of the bubble and then comes back?

and that's a good that affects everybody yeah that's the problem looking at you James I'll be pissed oh yeah that player has to be traded right no I wouldn't say so

yes why if a player sneaks out and costs their team the playoffs because they snuck out of the bubble to go to the club the beauty would be we wouldn't even know who patient zero was probably we don't know that Rudy Gobert

gave it to Donovan Mitchell or vice versa but I would assume that besides the army of like security guards TMZ is going to employ more people around this bubble than ever before. We are going to have photo evidence within minutes of James Hart sneaking out. You think they're going to have people staked out

at various Orlando strip clubs? Absolutely. They're going to have all the bouncers on the payroll and stuff like that. Yes. That'd be smart. Basically the beat reporters, they're not doing the games. James Harder might need like three people

falling him alone. Yeah, I, I would expect we will know. This is like Michael Jordan. Like if Michael Jordan was in the NBA today, we know he would be sneaking out to try to go to the casino. It's true. And then he would be blaming food poisoning.

Yes. And, but we know someone, there would be, he will just following Michael. Like, that's what would happen here. Like,

we will know immediately if someone sneaks out of the baby. That would be interesting. I can't wait. I can't wait for their first TMZ sports. Well, J.R. Smith is now back in the league. Who else are, who also the leaders in the clubhouse to go out and act crazier

or to blow out curfew just so they can go and party. So I look at, I don't think it is James Hardin. Because James Hardin wants to win a championship. He's dedicated now. I look at, he did stop partying in the playoffs, I think a couple of years ago. I'm looking at the young kids. Okay.

Devin Booker. Zion Williamson? Specifically, Devin Booker. Why specifically Devin Booker? Because if Kendall Jenner calls, what are you going to do? Oh, that's true. You're going to go see her. And they're so far out of it anyway. It's like, why are they even in this?

I agree. Can Kendall Jenner get into the bubble? They're not family. Okay. But they are quarantined. What if they're affianced? What are the rules on getting to the bubble? The problem, but I don't know, do you want to bring Kendall Jenner into the bubble considering she's got... If you can get three...

She's got a Derek Jeter level. You can get your mom, your girlfriend, and your sidepiece. That's three right there. But she's got like a Derek Jeter level NBA lineup. Oh, that's true. No, we didn't talk about it? I think we did. Was it on this show?

How many games would her lineup win? Blake Griffin. Yeah, she would win like Ben Simmons. Kendall Jenner's lineup would win at least 50 games. No. way more. Those three guys alone, if you're starting, if your big three is Blake Griffin, Ben Simmons, and Devin Booker, you got a strong start.

Yeah. They're winning 50, 55 games. Kendall Jenner has got an all-star lineup. So maybe bringing her into the bubble specifically is a really bad idea. What does that mean? Well, you don't want like there be fights because Kendall's there. Let's see. DeAngelo, Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Ben Simmons, Kyle Kuzma, Blake Griffin.

That's a squad right there. And then now, Tevin, Bucking. Ben, Devin Booker 2? Yeah, they're winning 55 games at least. That's a good squad. So, there you go.

Kindle Jenner, you are not allowed to the bubble. Will Mike Dantone be allowed into the bubble? I guess that remains to be seen. There's no way that that's not going to happen.

Mike Dantone is healthy as a horse. Yeah, look, it's just, it changes everything about the NBA if coaches can't, certain people can't be allowed in. It's not fair to the Rockets. Like, plain and simple,

competition-wise. Yeah, well, things aren't, well, just life isn't fair. But then I would rather them cancel the season. Just because on behalf of the Rockets? You're telling me that the fifth best team, the fourth or fifth best team is

they're losing their head coach? That's dumb. Why should they lose their head coach if no one else is going to? If Mike DeAntony can't be on the bench, then no one should be allowed on the bench. Maybe he can be up in a booth. Then they all should be in the booth. Like Dom Capers up in the booth for the Packers.

And I'm fine with that. Like maybe, but they all need to be there. Or just let these guys just play. play by themselves and see what happens. That'd be okay too. Like, that could actually be really interesting. Nobody has a coach? Like, just pick up?

James Hardin decides when he comes out. Who's the player coach for the Rockets? Who would... Tyson Chandler. Tyson-Tchandler? I like that. If Mike Dan Tony doesn't fall in... I feel like Tyson Chandler would do a good job.

He's relatable. He's low-key. He's definitely the next... He's on an even keel. He's a nice guy. He could probably be NBA coach. You think so? I don't know.

Maybe he's too tall. That's true. They don't hire, no, they don't hire Bigman. Kevin McAil. It was pretty much the only one I can think of. Well, I guess Phil Jackson did, okay. Yeah, but like recently, like Patrick Ewing never got a job. It's true. Like some of these, the big men of like the 90s never broke through, but the guards did. Doc Rivers and all these guys.

So you think it's a conspiracy against a height? I think it's a belief that they don't know the game as well as the guards. Interesting. Well, I mean, the point guard, it's almost like how catchers always end up with the jobs in baseball. because they're the cerebral ones, the point guards are the cerebral ones. Yeah, no, I really think there is a bias against big men in the NBA. And that's why, like, Patrick Ewing never got a job. Then again, it's not going great at Georgetown. So maybe they were going to something.

And he got coronavirus, too. I think he's everything okay. He's home now? How's Patty Ewing? Pat Jr. said he was home and doing okay and recovering. Okay, that's good. So he would be allowed in the bubble because he's already had it. He's okay.

So we'll see how it happens with Mike. I would imagine Mike Dantone's going to be able to get in. are we going to see I mean what if some kind of players so this thing that we said with Adrian Wojian Rowski he says that basically

everybody every player everybody that's going to be in the bubble is having to give a handover medical documentation to the NBA are we going to hear about players who are high risk or players who maybe

maybe everybody's getting tested and they're going to have it I don't know or is everybody going to be okay in the last week we have seen what it comes out was like we just discovered

LeBron James has and he can't play. But I feel like it would just be handing over the current reports. Of what the current? Yeah. Current physical reports? Like their current, like, medical history. I don't think they're going to probably do, like, an advanced screening more than what the NBA already does.

Okay. The NBA already... I hope I don't get this super wrong. But the NBA already had a player die on the court. Here's some information. Thank you. Thanks, Siri. Or was that a college basketball player?

I didn't start taking my watch off. That was, you're talking about Hank Gathers? Yeah. Did he? Yeah, he collapsed on the court. On the court. So I feel like ever since then, the leagues are more aware of the physical conditions of their players. Like, think about Chris Bosch.

That's true. Chris Bosch was stopped from playing because of blood clots. So I feel like, I don't feel like we need to go through advanced testing. I heard he came Elijah one at the end of his careers. He had blood clot issues. So my, my guess is like they'll just, they're just handing over their reports now. How many players are going to, who knows what's going to happen? I mean, all these NBA players are doing the right thing and participate in the protest.

It's been awesome. But then, like, I saw videos of John Morant last night throwing down hoops and pick up gym, a pickup gym. And, like, giving high fives. No one's wearing a mask. I'm like, what are we doing here? They're all going to be tested in quarantine. So hopefully everything's okay and things go according to plan for the NBA. All right.

Time for a break here on the Matt Thomas show. We also have some news on the MLB front. the latest. We talked about the 70 crap. 89 game. 89 game proposal from the players earlier today. Apparently, we've heard more on the owner's side. We'll get to that next here on the Matt Thomas show. All right. Don't get confused about where you

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Sports Talk 790. Ross Villariel. Joe George. Brennan Ryan with you. Talking about baseball, talking about basketball in the last segment. About the going to be some kind of health screening. Are they going to have to turn over health information for each individual player and coach and people who want to be involved?

in the bubble. Guess it's going to be reviewed by some sort of panel. They will be allowed into the bubble. You have to get clearance to get into the bubble. But on the baseball side, a story now coming out from Bob Nightingale, he says that if the two sides do not reach an agreement talking about the owners and the players at MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to implement a shortened season without players approval. It'll be the 48 game. Full pro rata is what we're we're calling it, I guess, these days. And so the owners can make a counterproposal to the

89 game season that they proposed today. The players propose 89 game season today. Owners have a chance to counterpropose that and if that's rejected, they're going to trigger a 48 game season within the next week. Most likely. So in his story, it says, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is

expected to implement a shortened season of at least 50 games. That's an interesting word. At least 50. At least 50. So it could be 60 or 70 still without the player the player union's approval if the two sides can't reach an agreement by next week. Now does that mean

by Monday? Does that mean by next Friday? We'll see. My guess is by the end of next week. They have to make a decision. Yeah. So also in the story it says if we don't get an agreement real soon, this is going to be ugly, real ugly and it's just going to get worse.

Awesome. How does it get worse? The player say no. The player, I think they can't. According to the March agreement, if they can't strike, they can't say no to a 48 game season. But they can strike next time. As in they can strike in 2020.

They say, all right, guess what? You signed your own death warrant. We're going to strike in 2021 no matter what. I think that's what worse means, is that those negotiations are going to be a disaster. I mean, like, if we think this is bad, which we do. Because it is. it's like it's going to be so much worse when that comes up

what if what if star players like all start moving in with high risk family members what do they just find a bunch of people with with asthma and start moving in with them well they're not to play they're allowed out right if they know so well on the players proposal we don't know about the owner okay if the owner proposal has that same same language but I wish I would hope they would it doesn't does it say if you have family members if you live with high risk people.

Yeah. Well, for example, like Sean Doolittle was putting out the tweets about how his wife has acute asthma and he's worried about her and her life putting her life in danger. I feel like they are going to, you guys know when you go to the driver, uh, to get like a new driver's license and you got to bring all these documents that you live there? Yes. Is that what these guys, these family members are going to have to go through? They're going to have to document them.

They're going to have to be reviewed by doctors. No, like they're going to have to show up like you're going to have to submit two forms of mail to prove that you live at someone's house. because you think like in mass the players we're gonna try to be like they're gonna all say

you know what we all just moved in with our 90 year old grandmother it probably won't happen in volume but you can't tell me that there's there's gotta be somebody's gonna do that yeah maybe I don't know

I can totally buy that see that's another thing this 48 game season that that Rob Manvin can trigger what is what are the details on that because one of the things we're always talking about about is the obviously it's going to be full proration but what about opting out what

about the non-expanded playoffs I think that's why the owners wouldn't do this but this is you don't get the money from the expanded play well I think no I think I think oh seven teams was the initial deal is that right yeah I think it was this one was seven so they could still do expanded plus my guess is Rob Manfred's the the Commissioner of baseball he probably can do whatever the hell he wants I guess so So we'll have to see because the Players Association did reject their latest proposal. That was Tuesday. So then the counter of the 89 game schedule, starting on July 10th, ending October 11th,

that would pay their players full pro-rated salaries while agreeing to an expanded season, both this season and next season. According to three executives, the MLB is expected to swiftly reject the union's proposal and make a counteroffer. All right. So who is like, do you feel like if you're a job? whoever is the lackey is for like the union who is drafting and typing up these emails and sending them to the owners like am I just wasting my time here no because it's still in the negotiations

you're probably still getting paid whatever whatever lawyer is typing all of this up I guess they're probably so much money they're probably don't know who's winning on this no matter what the lawyers on both sides for the owners and the players absolutely that's where it's going and us so content the players reduced their initial proposal from uh 2.8 billion to 2.2 billion to 2.2 million total salaries. So that's a $600 million concession. That's good, right? We can all agree on that.

But apparently the sides are still $900 million apart with the refusal to accept any pay cut from their prorated salaries. So that's where we are right now. And the closer and closer we get to this, I guess it's just going to be, is that going to be the baseline? I know I keep on getting like a running total of where you are on this and the over-unders. Are we going to get, is it going to be 48 games? No.

I think it's going to be over that, right? I think so too. I think, I think Rob Manfred, everyone's just using 48 games because it's, we're just going to end up at 82 again. The whole time, it's always been at least 48. Like, that's the lowest number he can go. That's from the reporting from the beginning.

People have just been running with that number of that's what he's going to implement. He can implement whatever he wants. So if it's by next week, add three weeks, figure out some off days, and that's your season, ending September 27th. But the reasoning behind implementing just 48 would be their theory is that every extra game that we play, we're losing more money. Sure. So we don't, and the few as he can do, apparently is 48, I guess. And he has to keep the players happy as much as he can.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what the players think because the owners can fire him. so he that is like he does whatever happens is going to side more with the owner yeah of course rob manfred works for the owners yeah not the players no of course not he's not he's not an independent arbiter he's getting paid by the owners and he's going to have their best interests in mind and so they're all crying poor they're all saying we don't make any money so he's they're going to want as few games as possible and then the players are going to keep making their concessions and they're going to keep wanting to say full 100% proration for anything that we play and then we just kind of,

it feels like we're spinning wheels on both sides. All right. Baseball will start July 20th. July 18th. That's my official prediction. Your official prediction, July 18th for how many games? Are there going to, is there going to be a meet in the middle agreement?

No, I think that's what they're going to implement. So, if you look at July 18th, or July 17th, because I guess they would start on a Friday. July 17th gives you about 70 to 80 days of baseball.

So 72 game season over 80 days. Full proration, expanded playoffs. Yeah, let's do it. That's my official prediction. The official prediction, it has been locked in from Joseph George. Because if they make a decision by next Friday,

you tell teams, you have, have to be you have a week or two weeks to get to camp next Friday's going to be the 19th okay so let's say spring training two starts on the 29th then you have three weeks of spring training what about getting players and facilities and what about quarantining and all that type of stuff is there going to be a two-week quarantine for anything no they're traveling all over they're not okay quarantine baseball could completely butcher this there is a reality where like COVID spreads and baseball gets shut down again yeah I think That's one of the big things that they're worried about.

Because they're not in a bubble. Because they chose not to do the bubble system. How did we go away from the bubble system? Remember when we were going to three bubbles? Players didn't want bubbles. The players said no. One bubble to two bubbles to three bubbles. And then the bubble burst.

Everybody was upset because they have babies. They're knocking up their wives and they're going to be born in the middle of the season. And they want to be there for that. And that's fine. And that makes total sense. But they don't want to do an entire season in the bubble. The reason the bubble works for basketball is because you're playing eight games in that bubble. And then a bunch of teams are going home.

teams are going home. And then you're playing seven. Seven games after that, half the teams are going home. So within 15 games, within 15 games, you only have, or fewer, you have eight teams left. Yeah. And you got family, and then your family's there. And then your family can show up. Yeah. So there you go. So it's just, oh, this just becomes, this continues to get, I can never tell if it's getting better or if it's getting worse. I think it's getting worse. I think we're on our way, 72 games. Full proration.

72 games, full proration, expanded playoffs. Yep. I think that's where we're ahead. If the MLB, if Rob Manfred gives that many games, I think you're admitting the owners are full of crap.

I know, then you're probably getting fired. That's the only problem. No, he's not going to do anything that's not going to get signed off. He might go 60. I think that's a lot more likely because 72 is saying the players are right.

Yeah, the players are right here. Like, we're just trying to look a little bit better. Yeah, 60 seems about right for what they're, I mean, they're not going to do. Did I change my prediction? Your official prediction? Yeah, your official locked-in prediction, sure, that you made 60 seconds ago. It's the same segment, so I feel like I have the right to change. Yeah, you have, you have one more minute to change your mind.

Think about that, Joseph. You're the one that started this. Nobody puts you on the spot. No, you know, no, they're going to come to a deal by next Friday. 72 games full program. All right, there you go. 72 games, full proration. I'm going under.

But that's what Joseph Joyce says. Let me have my son, Ross. 7-13-21-2-5-7-90. The phone number 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. Coming up at 230, you know when Matt's always in? We do non-Florida stories. Guess what? We're going against the grain, baby.

We're doing Florida stories coming up at 230. We've got also other baseball and basketball stuff to talk about a certain famous college football player has been reinstated. We also got to get to that. A lot of stuff going on. Sports here on the Matt Thomas show with you until 3 o'clock. Short break here. Don't go anywhere. Hey, this is Whitney Mercer's.

The Texan dip here. Listen to real Texan talk on your smart speaker. Just say, hey, Google. Play Sports Talk 790 on IHeart Radio. Talking a lot about baseball. Will they or won't they agree to a deal? How many games will there be played? Latest offer 89 a game proposal from the Major League Baseball players.

713-21-125, 790 to the phone number, 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-9 tweets to at SportsRV at Joe George Radio at Brennan-Riley underscore. I got a tweet a little while ago from Cassius Clayton. He says, not sure you can say we're all okay without baseball. Say that to the concession or even with no fans of the groundsworkers, the sportsball employees, retail sales, just the overall morale of people in general, lots of trickle done. And that's true. That's a good point.

That's not exactly what I was getting at when I was saying baseball isn't essential. I mean, we don't need to watch baseball. I think the regular person is what I'm saying. It's not essential work. It's not. They're not working on pipes. They're not police officers or firefighters or something like that. I mean, look, I work at SportsR. 790, but I don't really talk about where else I work,

but my hours and the amount of money I make has been severely affected by the fact that there's no baseball. Well, you tell them to get it together, Joe. Because, well, even when baseball comes back, it won't matter because what, People don't buy jerseys just to wear it home. They buy jerseys to go to games. So, like, as long as fans are, so I definitely understand your Cassius Clayton's view. Like, it's just, it is not central.

Even though Dana White still pulled it off somehow. Remember back when the coronavirus started? And he convinced Florida that the UFC was an essential business? Yeah, he did. Because of the TV. Oh, no, I'm sorry. It was Vince McMahon. Okay.

Yeah, they're so similar. Well, they were both there, right, right? Yeah, they're both. in Florida. But Vince McGrane was able to convince Florida that WW was an essential business because of their TV contracts. Well, if UFC has Fight Island, maybe we need to get baseball island going. I mean, can't we find, well, we need a retractable roof stadium

or it has to be in a temporary climate. We can put them all in a plant. We can put them in Texas. I don't know. Yeah. Okay, fine. Texas is baseball island, essentially, except it's baseball. state. But no, the players rejected that. The players didn't want any, the first, the very, very

first idea that was floated was the Arizona, was the Arizona bubble, right? And then nobody wanted to do that. And then it was Arizona and Florida. And then it was Arizona, Florida and Texas. And then everything stopped. And then all of a sudden one day it was, we're not playing baseball this year. Like, that's what happened. We were having conversations early on during COVID and during this whole process of like, well, they're going to play in a three-team bubble and they're going to be in, you know, three-10 team divisions and that's how they're going to do it.

And like one day it just all stopped. And then it turned in this nasty war. That's, don't you remember? We were like, hopefully this doesn't drag out. Hopefully not everything gets leaked. Literally everything that any word that's come out of anybody's mouth has been leaked. Every letter from the players to the owners has been leaked. Every letter from the owners to the players has been leaked.

every proposal has been leaked. This is something that is not going to happen behind closed doors. And I think that's what's kind of, it's creating ill will between both of the sides, I think. Yeah, and it's not going to get any better. That's what, it's one of the negatives of social media. That people are now more than ever just heavily leaking everything.

People are just, they talk so much easier now, it seems like. Why is that a negative? Because I think it's because now, because fans are choosing sides when they, and they're choosing. I think that's all fun in games. Potentially incorrectly.

Like, I just, I would rather them just negotiate behind closed doors and just get the deal done. Instead of using us as the fans and as the media to leverage their view. I like stories with my sports, even if I'm, like, at the end of the day, my opinion on who's in the wrong between the players and the owners is so meaningless. You know, like, it's millionaires versus billionaires. I would rather have the storyline of baseball. than nothing. Because if this wasn't leaking, we'd just be sitting here going,

can baseball please come back? Like, why aren't we hearing anything at all? Yeah, but if, I mean, I understand what Joe's saying, though, too, is because because everything is leaking, I think that's creating distrust on both sides. I think both, it's making the negotiations nastier. But it's just, it's the way the game is playing in 2020.

And look, they could easily, if they were just doing everything behind closed doors, they could be this nasty as well. It's just the reality. Like, just because it's being leaked on social media doesn't necessarily. this makes it worse, though. I think it does. I think it changes the public perception of baseball worse.

Because now you have people who are anti-players, anti-owners, anti-baseball. Most people probably just fed up and say, we don't even really care. We just want to have something to happen. I mean, we keep, like, I can't even keep up with it. 114 games, 52 games, 48 games, 76 games, 89 games. I don't even know what's going on anymore. Full pro-ration,

half-proation, expanded playoffs. What is going? It's so bizarre. It sounds like a crazy negotiation, and then we get reports of like, we're not negotiating. I'm like, what are you talking about? We're not sending a counteroffer. You just send a counteroffer.

I don't even know what's going on. There will be baseball, though. There will be baseball. Is it going to be 48 games? I think Rob Manfred knows it's too low. I think he knows. This is the thing, too, is the huge thing about it is the labor agreements that's going to have to happen in 2021.

And how much bad blood are you willing to recreate? for both sides on either side or mistrust. Is this going to be better in 2021? And oh, by the way, what if, like, people are predicting there's a second wave in the winter and then you're in another lockdown situation come around February and you're not sure if guys can go to spring training or even have games by the end of March. Can you imagine if baseball needs another negotiation? It could happen in 20.

They could need three negotiations in three years. They're going to need to. Basketball and the NFL are. going to go through this. Yes. Hopefully not as severely. But there are going to be states where fans are not allowed to come to games. And it will be different because those sports have salary caps.

But it is totally possible that starting next baseball season that places like in New York and in California, you still can't go see a baseball game. And they're still going to have to have these negotiations of we're still losing money in those parks, especially if it's the Yankees and the Dodgers. like that's that is a that is a crucial part of the income for major league baseball it is totally feasible that we are having these same conversations in six months that sounds miserable that doesn't yeah they could come to an agreement now and then there could be like if if rob manfred says hey okay you know what he's bob nightingale's bob nightingale says it's a week if something doesn't happen within a week he's triggering however many he wants And it's going to be 50 plus, according to Bob Nadengale. He says at least 50.

At least 50. So somewhere between 50 to 60 games, full proration, the players are going to be pissed, the owners are going to be pissed, then they're going to possibly have to go at it again in a few months, and then they're possibly going to have to go out it again a year after that. But if everyone hates the same person, maybe it brings them together. Who's the person they're going to hate? Bob Nangale? Rob Manfred.

Oh. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Oh, so you think the owner, but Rob Manfred is on the owner's side, though. But what if the, he represents the owners. Okay, if he chooses a 65 game season, he's going to choose whatever the owners tell them. But like, let's say, because he knows he's got to appease the players to in some way. If you go 65, isn't he going to piss off both sides? Probably.

Like, that's a lose, lose. Well, this is why he makes ungodly millions of dollars or whatever it is. Yeah, where's your pay cut, Rob Manfred? What is Rob Manfred's salary? Do we know? I bet you he makes at least 50. million a year. 22 million per year.

Apparently is what Manfred makes to run baseball. Well, Roger Goodellman is where teams don't make any money. Yeah, the leagues aren't making any money, but we can pay Rob Manfred $22 to $25 million per year. Roger Goodell is like $45 or something.

Yeah, I mean, goodness gracious. At least the NFL owners haven't come out and said we don't make money. At least they're smart enough not to do that. But we'll see what Rob Manfred does. The clock is ticking. Now we have, we've had a couple of soft deadlines.

Is this the hardest deadline that we've had? No, because we'll see. Okay. Until I see Rob Manfred on ESPN or on MLB Network making an announcement, I just don't. Well, we should know within the next week. So that's what we got going for us. All right.

We're going to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show. We still got a lot of stuff to get to. 713, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790 is the phone number. 7132-1-25790. We have some news on the college basketball front. More improprieties with the NCAA. We'll talk about that next. It's 7-13-1-2-1-2-5-7-90.

It is the Matt Thomas show. Without Matt Thomas. We're with you all the way up until 3 o'clock. Ross, V. Reout, Joe, George, Brendan Riley. We'll be back with you right after this short break. This is George Springer. Houston's home for Astros baseball is Sports Talk 790. Mentioned earlier in the show,

a former star college football player. Back in the good graces of his program, Reggie Bush. And his disassociation that was mandated for 10 years with USC is expected to come to an end soon, which would pave the way for the former Trojan Star to be welcomed back by the school. And USC has already put up a welcome back home Reggie Bush highlight video. It's basically him running all over Fresno State and other various smaller programs. Not that I'm bitter or anything like that. Why would you be bitter?

He stole the 2005 Heisman from Vichita. Man, you got what mattered. It's true. He still stole the Hizman. That's true. That's true. But Reggie Bush... He got the lateral.

Yeah, it's true. His lateral and the one that Vince got with his knee down. Oh, well. Whoopsie daisies. Sorry, folks. Sorry, USC fans. Sorry, Sean Salisbury. I know you're still upset about that one.

No, but... So, Reggie Bush, back in the good graces of of USC, I guess, but he still can't get his His Heisman trophy back, right? It's still vacated. Yeah, it's dumb. And so speaking of the NCAA,

I wanted to bring that up just to say this. Zion Williamson, folks, I don't know how close have you guys been following this? He appears to be in some hot water, or at least the Duke program is going to be in some hot water. You're telling me, Duke's been cheating this whole time?

This is the latest of Zion Williamson has been accused of accepting illegal benefits while at Duke according to court documents filed by his former agent claim and they claimed the life of luxury Williamson's parents were living

during the New Orleans Pelican Star loan season with the Blue Devils is proof of that so according to his former agent Gina Ford now apparently there was some agreement he signed he made some marketing deal yeah a marketing deal right and then as soon as he got a real agent

they basically realized he was being, it was terrible. It was a bad deal. He got bamboozled. Yeah, he dropped out of it. I would have been offering Zion William. Zion Williamson was a YouTube star since he was like 14 years old. Yeah, as soon as that kid started dunking on people. It was pretty crazy.

So he ended up going to Duke, and this is what they're saying. Gina Ford is the person with the lawsuit against Zion Williamson. They said the improved housing situation of Zion Williamson's parents is evidence that he was paid to attend Duke. Before Duke, they were living in an $895 monthly rental in South Carolina. Afterwards, they were in a North Carolina property valued at $950,000 with a monthly rent of $4,995. Just all of a sudden, they moved from... That's full Reggie Bush. That's exactly.

Wouldn't it like a $330,000 home or something like that that Reggie Bush's family got moved into or something like that? This is a million dollar home. And they also had three luxury cars registered to Zion Williams' parents. It's discovered. Mercedes-Benz. Yes. A GMC Yukon. Oh, wonderful.

And a 2015 catalog escalade. You got to, you need to. What are we doing with the 2015? Is that like their idea of like, hey, we can't give you guys a 2018 catalog. We got to go to like 2015. I mean, you know, well, you already have the bins. and you already have the Yukon. Why do you need a Yukon and an escalade?

So the Escalade was registered to the plaintiff's mother to Zion's mom. Oh, okay. In February of 2018, the Yukon was to his stepfather in December of 2017, and the 2018 Benz was registered to the plaintiff's father to Zion's dad. Oh, a G-wagon? A G-wagon. Maybe it's three different boosters gave him three different cars. It's like an 18-G-wagon came from one guy.

The Yukon came from somebody else, and then the cow-wagon. Cadillac. Three different car dealerships? Yeah, maybe three different car dealerships. So there we go. See, this is why when people are talking about how college athletes don't need to be paid and it's not right and you would completely change the system, all you're doing is taking things like these that happen underground,

you're bringing them above ground. And that's why they need to get paid. Because they need to be able to just do these things without cheating. Yeah, and it wouldn't bring anything on Duke. It wouldn't bring anything on the Kentucky's or the Arizona's or the, Doesn't Kansas have serious infraction? Oklahoma freaking state. Their basketball hasn't been relevant since like the early 2000s.

And they're in hot water with the NCAA. Yeah, they just got a year ban for 2021. Okay. They're appealing that, right? They got a postseason ban for 2021. They're going to appeal that even if there is a postseason. So I guess we'll have to see with that. There better be.

You need the NCAA tournament. You need it back. Dude, I would be really sad. There was no March madness. But there will. College sports will be back. I hope so, too. They have just said today, like they're going to have fans back on their stands.

Okay. That's what Governor Abbott has a 50%. Hopefully by then, maybe you're at a full 100%. I guess we'll have to keep an eye on this. But as far as the whole paying of the players thing, I mean, it's obvious to me that just let them have agents and let them make money. I don't, why do I care if some guy's getting money from Adidas? He's getting it under the table. You might as well bring it above the table.

Yeah, exactly. Like just let it happen and regulate it. and make sure that everything is done correctly. And honestly, I think it won't even be used that much. No, it wouldn't be as big of a deal as we would think. And you would say, oh, well, you know, what about the smaller schools that don't have the advantages? Duke's already got an advantage over the smaller schools. And I mean, Kentucky's already got a huge advantage over any smaller regular school.

But a lot of these you're talking about mom. Like, we're not talking Coca-Cola here, okay? this is not Coca-Cola is going to pay Zion to go to Duke. That's not what the, like, this premise is. The premises is the local company in North Carolina would pay Zion

while he's at Duke. And small schools could, in theory, still have that. Yeah, small schools would still have some kind of small... Like, people in Waco are going to support Baylor athletes. The Dr. Pepper Plant might sign some Baylor athletes.

Maybe they could. them up. So like I, you could totally see it happening. Yeah, there's an argument to where it could help. When mom and pop, whatever feed. Yeah. Dan's feed store in the middle of nowhere, Texas, helping people out. And those could be like, and they could get like the third string quarterback. And all he has to do is say I play at the local school. Because I think it said, you can't use your name. You can't use the, uh, you can say I am Sam Ellinger, the football player. You can't say I am Sam Ellinger, the UT quarterback. That's what they want you to say.

Okay. That's fine. That happens in NFL stuff too. Okay, well, depending on if they're licensed by the NFL or not. Because I remember when Matt Schaub was speaking for a BMW dealership around here, they had him with some fake Texans uniform on. It was just blue and red.

It was an actual uniform. So that's what it would be like. And I don't know how many BMWs Matt Schaubbs was selling at that point, but hopefully that was, worth it for that dealership. So there you go. Zion Williamson in Hot Water. Something might happen to the Duke program. I mean, this is just happening everywhere. I just feel like eventually we're going to move in the right direction. We're going to go to where you can just

pay the players. See, I think they need to do a Astros level thing to college basketball. What do you mean? Like they need to do an immunity tell all. Oh, okay. Well, they signed out how rampant everything is. Like, we need to get like Coach Kay, like everyone just be honest. we're going to give you immunity. We need to know the truth of what's going on. Like a Mitchell report. Yeah. Like,

tell everyone what's going on and then it's over. Like tell the truth and then it has to stop. Hmm. And if anything happens after this, then you're done. Like, you're, you're completely,

because like, the Zion thing. Like, it's, it's honestly, it's not that big of a deal. No, it doesn't bother me.

Because if he didn't get this from Duke, he would have gotten it from Kentucky. He would have gotten it from Arizona. He would have got it for, or North Carolina, whoever. Zion did not go to Duke because of this. He could have got this from anywhere. I saw this pointed out by a college coach yesterday on Twitter.

I think he was from, oh, he was an assistant coach at Rutgers. Duke already has an unnecessary and unfair advantage over every team in college basketball because they have a permanent place on ESPN. And Coach K is the Olympic coach. He's worked. He works with the. Olympics. He's been working with Zion since he was 16 probably.

Like, he already hasn't, they already have an unfair advantage because of their place on ESPN and everything. Cald Sports is all about unfair advantages. We just decided that money's not one you're allowed to use. Yeah. But then it gets used. It just happens under the table. It doesn't make any sense. All right. We're going to take a break

here on the Matt Tom show. Two hours in the books already? The show's flying. It's flying by. Brennan Riley, Joe, George. Ross Viorial with you. The Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. This third hour is next coming up. We've got Florida stories, more baseball stuff, more basketball stuff. And if you want to weigh in on Zion Williamson and his impermissible benefits,

do you care? 713, 2,1, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. 7.1.3-1-2-125 790. Final hour of the Matt Thomas show next. Is the Matt Thomas show. Third hour of the Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk, 790, Ross, Villariel, Joe George, Brittany, and Riley with you coming up at 2.30. Well, Matt Thomas is away, and he always says Florida stories are too damn easy, so guess what we're doing?

We're doing some Florida stories. He wants non-Florida stories. We're bringing the real dirt from Florida. Why would Matt choose to make his job harder? That's what I'm saying. He said it's too cliche and it's too easy, but you know why it's too easy? Because the stories are amazing. We'll have some of those coming up for you at 2.30.

In the meantime, if you want to get in... Especially because I suck it non-flora stories. Well, maybe you'll be better at Florida stories. I think I've done okay the last two weeks. Yeah, we're proud of you. Matt Thomas just likes to really rub it in that you messed up the first. couple of times, Joe. I like to nurture you and bring you along.

I'm really upset that he just did stop from work after I beat him in the Fantasy Five. That's true. And then he's like, oh, you guys can do it next week. I'm going to sit out. That's going to be one of the all-time stings as far as losses in the Fantasy 5. I think I got screwed

in best rock bands when I had, like, Led Zeppelin and something else, and Matt had like, Aerosmith and Fleetwood Mac or something, and I lost with that. Yeah, it was terrible. I got Rob there. I got Rob really bad on the Michael Jackson songs one

because he picked some really weird ones. I can't remember what happened. He picked basically every song he did with Paul McCartney because he loves the Beatles. And I lost that one. He must not love him that much because he lost the Fantasy 5 of Beatles songs. That's true. And so that this has, those are my worst things.

Like his worst one has got to be on his birthday, his favorite band, up 3-1 in the voting, and to lose that one. That one's got to sting. But you have another fantasy five count up this Friday. What are we going to do? I don't know. Go against each other with.

And then I've got to go against Matt again. I'm doing three weeks in a row. Are you? Oh, that's right. I'm going to be out next week. So I don't know what we're going to do. Our favorite Bundesliga teams? No, because I only know Dorman.

You guys are really introducing me to just all versions of this show. Yes. First I get you and Matt together, then Matt's out, then Ross is out. Anyone else coming in? Yeah, I don't think so. Okay. Just let me know. We might. David Hasselhoff might be in here for a couple of weeks.

Sometimes? Yeah, sometimes. No, not at all. We'll see. We're getting you all the versions, though, Burnin, so you can get prepared. So we can, anything that we can throw it. We'll throw the kitchen sink at you early so that you're ready for everything. All right, so a lot of things going on in sports. First of all, probably the biggest news of the day, the MLB proposal, the Players Association, they have gone from 114 games. They've lopped off 25 of that. They went to 89 games, full pro-ration, expanded playoffs. That's what they're throwing at the owners. According to Bob Nightingale, the owners are probably going to reject that.

They're going to counterpropose. And then at that point, that's when the clock starts ticking. We're going to have about a week from Friday, I think. The countdown is going to start. Because it just says next week. So, I mean, I guess it could be as early as Monday. That just seems kind of unrealistic. But, I mean, if Rob Manfred, maybe that's Rob Manfred's belief.

Yeah. Is it like Monday he's got to make a call? That's where we are right now on the baseball front, the basketball front. We talked about it earlier as well. There's going to be a panel. This according to Adrian Wuchnerowski and Zach Lowe, team personnel expected to be submitting a personal medical history to a panel of physicians who would review the individual risk of serious illness due to any spread of the coronavirus in the NBA's bubble environment. This is basically a legal covering of your own ass at this point, right? Yeah, I would think so.

that's what I think so as well I think it also will help document they also need documentation of probably determining who's high risk enough to be told you can stay home without loss of pay my guess is baseball will do

something similar is they will have to submit their physicals and health history to a non-affiliated panel and then those panels will be select I would guess almost blindly who's high risk that's

the thing that intrigues me because we keep talking about how apparently according to the Jeff pass an article that the MLB can institute the 48 games or whatever they want and the players can't do anything and they can't strike. What if they use the

legal liability thing with the opt-out and with the health risk? Doesn't that make it put more of the onus on the MLB to agree to what the players want? Yeah, I think so. Because we don't know

what kind of language there is for the, for health, health risks and safety in the March agreement. Yeah, I don't, I don't remember. Gosh, it's so far along. You know, it doesn't, I'm not even sure they addressed it. I don't know. I'm sure they did. We would imagine that it would or they'd have to voluntarily come back. And so the latest one from the players, they said they wouldn't get service time or salary

if you opt that out. If you were, if you were not high risk. If you're not high risk. Yeah. As deemed by what, an intermittent arbitrator? I'm guessing. Yeah. I think he can use a panel of doctors like you can't just like your team doctor because

the team doctor because then team. doctors would be instructed to say no one's high risk. Yeah. Oh, you can't use your, well, personal doctor, I don't know. I guess they would have some kind of, you could get a doctor's note. I can try to miss a couple of days of work. It's going to be fascinating. What do they do if they have family members who are not healthy, considering that they're

not even going into a bubble? You know, look, we haven't even heard from some of the other sports. Like, what is the NBA going to do? What if... In the instance of what? What if Dwight Howard decided? he doesn't want to play, even though he's fully healthy. But because the mother and his, the mother of one of his children passed away from the coronavirus.

What if he says, I first hand saw it with this. It was too high risk. It's not worth it to me. Would he get paid? Would he get? What do they do? I don't know. That's the question that these leagues have to also handle with the right approach because,

I mean, they'll get crucified if they're basically telling their players you have to come to work. And you're not going to get paid. We keep thinking about the business side of this and there's also a huge human element. And that's what sometimes I feel like is missing from all of this. Using Joe's exact example, if Dwight Howard says, I just, I can't do it. And they go, okay, you don't get paid. They're going to get killed. Crucified.

So like, where's the line? Because you can't allow everyone to opt out with pay or else you're not going to have a league. I think there would still, there's some people who would still be. I mean, there's players. The majority of players you said, I'm ready to get back after. But you'd have to, you do, there has to be a line. Like, there has to be a line of your high risk, someone immediately in your family is high risk, someone in your family has tested positive for the coronavirus at all.

Like, there will be a set of guidelines that will, for all these leagues that will allow players, I think, to opt out with getting paid. At least in the NBA, the players have a really good relationship with the commissioner. I think that helps. Yeah, I'm not concerned about the NBA doing this right. If Dwight Howard said he didn't want to play, the Lakers would pay him. The MLV? I'm not so sure.

Yeah, I'm not so sure. So that's on the MLB and the NBA side. Also on the NFL, apparently the NFL, the NFL, the NFL, are discussing the possibility, this according to Tom Pelliserro of shorting, possibility of shortening a 2020 preseason. Nothing finalized or imminent, but multiple. team executives informed of currently talks believe they could end up playing just two

preseason games rather than four. It would allow for a longer, quote, ramp up period. Regardless of whether players agreed to report a week or too early and provide extra time for medical experts to finalize game day protocols for testing and et cetera. So we could see a two

game preseason. I'm okay with that, right? That's good. Yeah, I think that makes sense. I mean, to me, it it probably makes the roster stuff a little more complicated just on like you're going to have such little training camp some it'll be a bummer because some guys football careers will end because they can't show what they're worth in preseason football

but it's it is important and like if that's what the route they want to go that's fine with me i i think two preseason games is all you really need i think two preseason games would have been for for quite some time so when do they change into the 17 game season is next year, right? So the playoff expansion goes into effect this season. Okay. The 17 game can go into effect next year, but it doesn't automatically.

It's got to get voted on or something? They can implement it at a different time. So it hasn't been, I don't think it's officially been implemented yet. Okay. So, I mean, this is the NFL. That's the one, I mean, we haven't really been talking about that one either. Because one of the reasons, right, baseball wants to get everything done because there could be a second wave. basketball wanted to get everything done

because there could be get a second wave. The NFL might happen in the midst of a second wave. Yeah, and how they're going to approach. That's going to be really challenging. Because you can't bubble the NFL. Way too many people. There is no bubble. You're talking about 53-man rosters.

You're talking about practice squad. They have probably the biggest coaching stabs of any of the major leagues. Because in theory, baseball could set up a bubble in advance of, hey, there's this huge second opera. happening of the coronavirus, we're all going to L.A. We're all going to a bubble and then we're going to complete the rest of the season there. Well, I mean, wouldn't the players have to agree to that or there would have to be some kind of clause in that?

I'm sure, like, they probably would have to. Maybe there would be some kind of like doomsday clause and whatever agreement that they came up with and say, hey, if this, if we both, if we both turn our keys, if we both trigger that there is a major outbreak, we're all going to go into this bubble and it's going to do like an NBA. And I know they were negotiating some kind of thing of like if the playoffs were canceled, how much money they would. get, but with football, yeah, I don't know what football would do. I think the NFL treats it similarly to when they first started cracking down with concussions, where it was like, we care about concussions. I think they're going to do the same thing.

Like, we care about if you get COVID-19, but like, just don't tell us and like play. Because most of these guys, most of the NFL players are going to be able to play through it. Well, and if you look at some of the health protocols that have come out in the last, you know, two days for the NFL, it's like, If you have a meeting of more than 20 people, do it online. There's all these protocols they're putting into place. There's nothing you can do when people are playing games. Like you could, I know Darren Ravel tweeted out a photo of like a new mask that covers the whole face mask.

Yeah, you can't even breathe in that thing. Okay. If there's a way to pull it off, I could see that. I think there's an argument to be made that you could require every single player in the NFL to wear gloves besides the quarterback like everyone's got to wear Nike gloves you could

you could find a way probably to follow some health protocols in the NFL that you can't in other sports I mean but you're still gonna I mean if you wipe your nose with your glove and then still touch somebody that's still on the glove right the glove doesn't prevent unless they're like bacteria unless instead of stick them they're just going to dip your hands in Purell every time

my whole thought process when the beginning was like just big old troughs of Purell on the sidelines they just dip your hands in there. Like how could Nike like not rapidly come up with some kind of glove that like MLB pitchers could wear? Yeah. Or like they wouldn't notice. The fingertips are out. Or like they wouldn't notice like they could just grip it like normal and like it would be protecting them from touching the ball. I don't think we, the time for that technology has not come, Joe. I'm, are we sure? I don't know. No, if Nike could have done that, they would have done so immediately.

This is also my question. What happens when say the Houston Texans all get together for training camp and they tested. We had five players from Alabama tested positive. You had, was it UCF or some other school? They had a handful of players testing positive when they get there. What happens when all the Texans players or all players from Team X show up and six, seven, eight of them or whatever have those players? Those players are going to have to go into seven to ten day quarantine and everyone

else is going to have to get tested three times a week probably. And if you get tested, you're out for 10 days just like the NBA. Okay. I know it sucks. You think they're testing everybody in the NFL that consistently. I don't think they are. I think they have to. I think they have to.

Why? For who? I'm telling you, they're not going to care, man. No, because they'll have to close their week. They're going to have to care. They're going to have to say, they're going to, okay, they're maybe not going to care. They're going to have to show that they pretend that they care. I think this is like, if, think about like back, it's like, if you have like a,

a Merce outbreak or like in high school, like if you're on the wrestling team and everyone got ringworm. It stops the whole team. Or who was it getting? Everybody was getting foot and mouth disease or whatever it was? Or like staff infections because people aren't cleaning their equipment in high school football. Like those are things that happen in the real world. Yeah.

The NFL, if they have a coronavirus outbreak, they'd have to shut down just like everyone else. And they can't have that. So they have to test. That's a lot of tests. All right. Yeah. That's the thing. It's thousands and thousands and tests.

But they have the money to buy a factory and build them themselves. Well, hopefully they do that. All right. Time for a break here. it is the Matt Thomas show coming up at 2.30, 10.30. Coming up at 2.30, 10 to 30, uh, Hawaii time maybe? I don't even know. Somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, but 2.30 Central.

It'll be Florida story. So keep it right here. It is the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas with you until 3 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790. Load up on those napkins, straws, ketchup, hot sauce, mustard. Oh, and don't forget duck sauce. It's the Matt Thomas show for lunch on Sports Talk 790. So I used to have this idea for this segment. Well, we did it a couple of times with Matt. Ross Vue Real, Joe George, Brandon Riley with you.

Matt Thomas is out right now. You just have this idea for this segment called Trend Roulette, where we would just find things that are trending on Twitter. We would have no idea why they're trending. We'd just click on it on air, and then we would just figure it out. Sometimes it would be funny. Sometimes it would be some new movie is coming out. You just really can't do that in the last three months.

It's sad. We were trying to figure out what Cracker Barrel is trending. It's something with race relations. Gone with the wind is trending. Something because of race relations. Blazing Saddles trending because of the same reason. I don't know. Why is Nikki Minaj trending?

What's Jenny 69? Jenny 69? That sounds like something that you'd be checking out in your bed. Oh, it's some kind of influencer who's a piece of trash. Oh, is it political? I'm guessing. Oh, geez. See, everything is...

What did Nikki Minaj do? Is everything okay? I literally, like, half an hour ago, Ross, saw Cracker Barrel was trending. I was like, why the heck is Cracker Barrel trending? And I did exactly what you did. Oh, yeah, not fun. All right, well, something that we're not going to talk about. Cracker Barrel is like a go-to for me.

So now my brilliant segment of Trend Rulette, we can't do it anymore. Yeah, Cracker Barrel was like a go-to when I were, like, travel places. Oh, my sister loves Cracker. Like, if you get my sister a Cracker Barrel gift card for Christmas, she's going to be, it's going to be the best present she's going to get. Wow.

I love, cracker barrels okay. To me, it's not. I met Thomas and I went, I think, in West Palm Beach when we were there for,

uh, why? Why not? Of all the places you can go. West Palm Beach is not that nice, dude. Trust me. There's not like local establishments

you can try. We went to a local Mexican restaurant. It was not great. We went to, I think we ended up eating at the McDonald's a couple of mornings just because it was right near the ballpark. and then I think, yeah, one time we did go to, we went to a Cracker Barrel.

I've always thought of, and I think this is by design. We're trying to go to Waffle House, I think. And there wasn't one but nearby somehow in Florida, which makes no sense. I've always thought by design, Cracker Barrel was like the road trip restaurant. Yeah, I feel like Cracker Barrel is kind of a road. I mean, it's got the kitchy country store in the front where you can buy a bunch of stupid books or whatever. And they're always right off a highway. And you always have the one that's not.

Yeah. They're pretty much all. They're all off highways. I think that's like part of their ideas. Part of their charm. That's our identity. And they have the, they have the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, I'm the, I'm not, I'm not. I'm sorry to, I'm sorry to out you like that, Matt, but that's what happened.

But, yeah, that was the last time I was at Cracker Barrel, but you can't even check what anything's trending now. And you, I mean, Twitter is, there's such a cesspool now. Let's see. What about, like, Reddit trending? That's just going to get, that's going to get dangerous, I think, real quick. The people on Reddit are weirdos. Trending. Oh, Vince Young is trending right now?

Yep. Is it because Reggie Bush is trending? That's interesting. LeBron's. Will he come out with some new shoes? Probably. Okay. Ice Cube.

The rapper? What's he trending about? They say something about racial injustice? No, the beverage cooler. Oh, wait. The beverage, the thing that makes the beverage is cooler? Oh, race stuff passed. Yeah, told you?

You can't go on there anymore. Cardi. Cardi B, what's she trending for? Because people are talking about her because Iggy Azalia had a baby. Oh, Iggy Azalea had a baby. Congratulations to her. One of the most no talent rappers I've ever seen in my life. Big facts.

Yeah, top four things right now, Crackerboro, Nicky, Cardi, Iggy. Holy cow. All right, well, 713, 2,1, 22, 5, 790. The phone number, 713, 2,1, 2, 5, 790. So a lot of different things are trending for various reasons. So we were talking about, oh, you know what I wanted to talk about? Twister 2? Twister 2?

What? They coming out with that? I don't know. Have you seen Twister? I know you got... I wouldn't call Twister an iconic movie or anything. I watched Twister this weekend. Oh, you did?

Why? It was free on Xenity. Okay. So I was like, I'll watch Twister. Your thought, Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, and giant tornadoes. Yeah. Your thoughts? It's okay.

It was all right. So boring. I used to the... Now, when in the 90... You thought it was boring? So boring. Okay. Well, he hated it.

That's fine. Now see when I was a kid When you're like 12 years old That technology I don't know how it looked Did the special effects look really good Because they were mind blowing like in 93 I remember like

They're okay It's like there's a giant tornado It's like we were talking about yesterday With the Ninja Turtle movie And the Mortal Kombat How it doesn't hold up Don't really doesn't really hold up Okay

Okay I haven't seen Twister in years and year I thought it was on Netflix Or at least it was recently Probably Okay But what was I was trying to talk about Oh Dick Nurse in the basketball So we've been talking about this bubble situation, right?

And there have been a lot of different ideas floated about what do you want to happen for home court advantage in basketball. People talked about the home team getting the ball at the start of every quarter. There have been talks of what else, an extra coaches challenge. So this is what Nick Nurse says from when he was coaching in the Belgian League. In the Belgian National Cup, they let every team in the country from every division play. The first division, obviously, the good guys, and they're getting paid. but then there's second, third, and fourth divisions where guys are just playing at night

when they get home from or whatever. So if you draw a team lower than you, they get 10 points to start the game for every division they are lower. So one year, he was coaching first division. They got a fourth division opponent. So the other team, you start off in a 30 to nothing hole. Stop it.

That's dumb. So he's saying, he said eventually they came out bombing threes. they got up 39 to 2, but they finally took a lead with 115 to go in the game. And they ended up winning the Belgian Cup, but the first round, they almost got knocked out. So he wants a rule where the higher seed

gets 10 to 20 or 33 more points to start. He wants to do, like if you're a one seed and you're playing the eight seed, you start off with a certain amount of points ahead of them. That'll work on TV. manage.

I'm out on that. I think so, too. That's cool that the Belgian League, though. They start off. They do it the other way? Yeah, because Division 4 teams, they're like guys who are factory workers just heading home, like playing in their combat boots and their jeans or something like that. So it'd be like if you and I went out there, we're like, who could be?

Yeah, exactly. If you and I, we're in Belgium and we're a sports talk 790. Grunks. Grunts. Could the 790 starting 5, how long can we hold a 40 point lead against the Rockets? Probably full court? Probably about a minute and a half. Full court's a different conversation.

Full court. How about full court with six months to get into shape? We can hold it for about three minutes. No, of playing. No, 40 point lead. Okay, if we started up 40 to nothing on the Rockets. Yeah. It would be us.

Okay, we have six months to get in shape. Who's the squad right now? To me, you, Brennan. Matt, I guess, is our power forward bench. He's the mascot. He's not. Indy is going to be our best player. Salisbury's knees are too bad.

Salisbury, yeah, he's not his mobile. We'll post him down low. He can't run back. He's six-five, though. I feel like he can make a little hook shot. The man's got those knees, man. The man had basketball scholarship offers from UCLA and USC. I know.

I'm telling you, those knees aren't good. Look, we got a 40-point lead. We're not trying to score. What's the best defensive unit? I bet you just hold on to the ball. I bet you Seger's got that. Take out the three second rule. Let Salisbury post in the middle because he's the tallest person we have.

Sager's definitely got like an old man. Oh, I got old man hookshot game. I bet Sager's got a good jumper. I'm pull up from mid range and or five foot hook shots. That's my game. That's it. Wex has probably got the old man jumper too. Wex actually, so I played in the media three on three back when they used to have that.

Wex has actually got some game. He's got a nice little jumper. He's a good passer. He played it. what high school do you go to, St. Pius or whatever it was? He played high school ball. He's decent. So how long do we hold a 40-point lead for?

Less than five minutes. No, probably if we run out the clock on every possession, like if it were like if you last this long, if we go try to go full on four corners offense and run every clock down to zero, let's see, how many possessions, 48 seconds, that's 20 buckets. you think anyone here could pass from one corner to the other on an NBA defense? No.

Yeah, I'm going to be throwing some fakes first. Ball fakes, baby. Ball fakes, shot fakes, key to any success on any basketball team. We can hold them off for a solid five minutes, maybe. So, Indy is like 6.3. He'd be our, or 6.4. He's our PJ Tucker? He's our everything.

He's our, he's our, he's our Kareem, unfortunately. I think we could get like a quarter. And a half. Quarter and a half? No way in hell. NBA teams give up... NBA teams against other NBA teams give up 20 point leads in a quarter.

We got a 40 point lead. Yeah. It's going to last as half the time. There's no way we make it a full quarter. Okay. Seven minutes. We're not scoring a bucket. No, we're just jacking...

So you're literally not scoring a basket unless somebody gets to the free throw line and somehow makes free throws. I would probably... be lucky to shoot 45% from free. Can I call my own files? Yeah, okay. Now you're all of a sudden, and within three seconds,

the rockets are in the penalty. No, there's just no way. There's no way we last. All right. It's time for- Does Adam Clanton still CrossFit all the time? He might have some legs under to run against the Rockets. I believe he is off the CrossFit game.

He definitely is off the CrossFit game. And Stroze relegation says, Ross, when you beat MT at the golf tee hopping game at Cracker Barrel, did he get all rude and tell you to break a leg? No, he didn't get all rude, but he was frustrated with himself. Of course he was. Of course, we're all competitors. You get frustrated with yourself if you don't play perfectly.

All right, time for a break. When we come back, Matt Thomas does non-Florida stories. We're bringing you the real dirt. Florida stories next here on the Matt Thomas. Sports Talk 790, available everywhere with the I-Hard Radio app. Now number one for podcasting. From Red Nation Rally. And the rocket score the final.

to crush city comeback. And the Astros win in the bottom of the night. This is Sports Talk 790. Your home for your home teams. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show. With you till 3 o'clock. No Matt Thomas. He'll be back tomorrow, though.

For sure, for sure. Do we have this 100% confirmed? Yes. I think we do. Sources. My sauces confirm. It's not 50-50. Chris?

Matt Thomas. You're not hearing? I'm not hearing, I know from my sauce, that Matt Thomas will return tomorrow. Okay, Matt Thomas will return tomorrow. Normally on Thursdays, we do non-Florida stories. So what did I want to do? I wanted to scoop Matt and do actual Florida stories here on the show. Do do-do do-do do do do do do do.

That's my dueling banjos. Keep going. We'll get that at some point. You wanted to do that while you talk? No, I just want to see how far we can go. Well, anyway, so I asked each of you because I feel like the most. Here we go. The most fun and fruitful Florida stories.

Because a lot of times we'll be looking for stuff and be like, oh, man, that's from Florida. So we can't do it in non-flora stories. You know what? Today is the day. We let loose on the Florida stories here on the Matt Thomas show. I will start. Let me tell you about police pulling someone over.

They had seen at 12.10 a.m. Monday in the Jupiter, Florida, Jupiter. Isn't that Bob Crafts home? Yeah, that's where he goes to the Orchids of Asia, where a Jupiter officer Craig Yocum spotted a Jeep, making a legal U-turn, and then speed away at 12.10 a.m. on Monday. So this was basically midnight of Monday, so basically late on a Sunday night. He followed the Jeep, which reportedly reached speeds of 85 miles an hour

in a 45-mile-an-hour zone, obviously a huge no-no. when he went to go pull the person over, a 12-year-old girl was driving. Why was a 12-year-old girl driving? Well, apparently, Sean Mickelson, age 41, said he's friends with the girl's mother, and that the girl and the friend were staying with him for a few days, and he wanted to be, quote, a cool father, even though he is not the father of said girl. So he thought it would be cool.

to hang out with a 12-year-old girl, let her drive, make illegal U-turns, and drive 85 miles an hour. When asked why she was going so fast, she said because Mickelson told her to go fast. Yikes. Mickelson is charged with child neglect, allowing an unauthorized person to drive

and causing minor to become a delinquent, because not only did he let her drive 85 miles an hour, he bought this minor and her friend vape pens. which you cannot do until you're 18 years old. Just digging a hole, man. So this is what's going down in Jupiter. Like, it's a Sunday night. So he has it in his mind to let this 12-year-old drive 85 miles an hour

and thinks it's cool to buy her some vape pins. Joe, your thoughts. That's really fast for a 12-year-old. I don't know. I mean, I don't normally drive 85 miles an hour at any point. But I drive like a- I'm notorious for driving it like a grandma. But do you remember, do you remember the first time

getting behind the wheel of a car? and driving. Like, how old were you? 16 or 15? I think when I was like 14, my dad, like, let us drive, me and my brother, or maybe he was, because my brother was like a year and a half older than me. So I think we drove, like, around a parking lot. And then by the time I was 15, I was going to the grocery.

Like, I was go to the convenience store by myself. My parents would just let me go. I think I was 14 as well, but yeah, parking lot. Like, I don't think everyone over 10 miles an hour. You didn't go on the highway, go 85 and make illegal U-turns? I did get to 90 during driver's training. What? How?

Why? So I was just told to pass a car and didn't realize how fast I got. The instructor didn't say anything. I looked down and went, oh, my God, I'm going 90. What kind of car were you driving? What did he say? Oh, I don't know. We had these cheap, crappy.

I took driver school at the Sears at the Umbl. At the Willa Brook Mall and Humble. Did they have the brakes for the passengers? Yes, they had brakes for the. passenger they did not have and one time the guy you needed to use it but I was like he was being skittish alright I will go to my grave saying that

because we were driving around the parking lot of the mall and a car came and I was hitting my brake and then he like jammed on the brake like bro I got this under control it's all right you gotta be mine was you know my was awful I hated driver's at it my driving instructor was my football coach oh I had a and like the varsity football coach I had this like

the girls soccer coach from Kingwood Rumble high school I was like why it was just like intimidating. Like this guy's like, he's like one of the best coaches in the history of Illinois football. I just got hired. Did he have like any coaches catchphrases that he would drop on you guys? No, he told me I draw like a grandma though. Ooh,

I get told that all the time now and I don't care. I drive the speed limit or like five above. I'm not usually, if I'm in a hurry, if I'm late somewhere, I'll drive faster, but I just think it's totally irresponsible to try to be always in a hurry all the time. Yeah. Anyways, sorry.

That was with me. Uh, so I'm sorry, what's your story, Joseph? Florida man charged for stealing $120,000 through identity theft. Okay. What's impressive

about this story is he used someone else's ID to get bank records. Yes. To show that he was that person. Really? And just pulled off, you'd think they look alike then, right?

The old thing. This Florida man in the middle of his eyebrow and going above his eyes had a Bentley logo tattooed on his face. Okay. I mean, it happens. And the person in the driver's license did not. So when they went to investigate, they said, yeah, he had a Bentley logo tattooed on the middle of his forehead. And a slice of pizza tattooed on the side of his cheek. What?

That's all they had. So it was like a Gucci logo. Maine has like an ice cream cone, right? On his face? He got a pizza slice. He got a pizza slice. Yeah. Who gets a Bentley logo and a pizza slice on their face?

Yeah. It's bizarre. Like, it's so... I mean, Joe, you've got some bad tattoos, right? I don't think I have bad tattoos. I have a tattoo I regret. Oh, really? Yeah.

It's a girl's name? No. Oh, okay. I have three tattoos. I would like one. I would like to cover up one of them. I've never seen any of them. Not that this is not a request.

by the way. I just, I got it when I was in college. Okay. And I want to get covered up, but it's really black. Well, maybe the guy just trying to tell, like I have in my, on my driver's license, which expires this year, so I guess I'll get it updated. I have short hair and no facial hair. I have really long hair and facial hair now. I always feel like I'm going to get stuff. Nobody ever says anything, really. You want to go flyer. Yeah. I've got no issues with it. Interesting. I'm good. Okay. I'm sorry. Brendan, your turn. What is your Florida story? All right. Florida man strips naked at flea market. Oh, this starts off right.

By the way, if you just control F search naked, there's a lot of Florida stories. Okay. They start that way. Florida man strips naked at flea market, steals a car, breaks into home, rips out mailbox, what? Kisses old lady. What? Gets arrested.

How did he have time to do all that before the cops show? All one man. So I am kind of still skimming through. The headline kind of tells you everything he did. but it looks like he was out to dinner, took his clothes off in the parking lot, got into someone's car. And then drove to this old lady,

a 71-year-old woman's house. So he's naked in a stolen car, gets into their house. Where did he rip the mailbox from? I mean, that takes a lot of work. You got to post those a couple of feet deep, right? I believe it was from her house. because he was, as you can imagine.

He's on baths, salt, or meth. A mantle deputies he saw Pickett earlier in the day rip his neighbor's mailbox out. Oh, okay. So he did this before he went to dinner. He's just out real. So a little pre-dinner mailbox ripping. It could happen to any of us.

Interesting. Okay. When the authorities found him, he had all sorts of stuff that I'm not going to read in his backpack. Oh, why not? Long list. Drugies? But the most important one, he had a throwing star.

He had a throwing star? That's dangerous. I know there's someone we can go in... I believe you can buy throwing stars. We can go and drink and throw axes. Oh, really? Like there's a throwing axe places now? Is there anywhere I can go drink and throw throwing stars?

That sounds extremely dangerous and not at all legal. Why not? What if you just want to turn... What's the difference between throwing an axe and being at a gun range and throwing a throwing stuff? Yeah, I guess so. Do they allow beer at gun ranges? No, I think they allow beer at the axe places. That seems like a bad idea.

That seems like a really bad idea. Should we go axe throwing? 790 out. Just make sure you don't bring the likes to fight guy in your crew when you go out to the, do you have a likes to fight guy in your crew of friends, Joe? I feel like everybody's got one. Definitely. So if we go a 790 outing, who is it?

Who is it? Who's the likes, who's most likely to start a bar fight on the 790 talent? I don't know. We've got to take a break because we're late. Think about that. Tweet us at Joe George at SportsRV at Brendan Riley underscore. The most likely 790 talent to start a bar fight. All right, 713, 2,1, 2, 5, 790.

Also the phone number. Final segment of the Matt Thomas show coming up next. The Houston Lunchtime Sports Conversation most respected by head coach Bill O'Brien. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Matt Thomas. In his career here in Houston. Of sorts. The Matt Thomas Show. Hello.

Hey, hur, he knew today. How we're listening to Creed. This is Creed, right? This is Creed. Breaking news. Creed has updated their Facebook profile picture. Okay. With an old band photo.

Igniting reunion rumors. They're broken up? They are. Why the hell would Creed ever break up? I don't know. What else are they going to do on their own? Orland What's awful, right?

Not, yeah. It's awful harsh? I just don't care for them. I know about that. I'm sure a lot of people love the Creed, the band. I mean, they had a bunch of huge hits, right? Or is it only like two?

They had that and the, Can you take me higher, right? Oh, that's a good song. I actually like that one. There you go, see? You love Creed. Creed. Yeah, higher.

Not the movie. You can tell they've kind of lost some. track or fires. Apparently they had a number of hits. When you Google Creed, now the movie comes up. Yeah, that's the first. I ended up on the Creed. I ended up on Creed the movie's Wikipedia page just now as well. I didn't realize Creed had fallen that far. Well, let's see.

Oh, year it's active, 94 to 2004, 2009, 2012. What happened to the breakup? They broke up in 2012? They've been on hiatus since 2012. What has been doing a hiatus and a breakup? Hiatus means staff has maintained that Creed is still a band. who? Stapp?

Is that their lead singer? Scott Stap? Yeah, Scott Stap is their lead singer. Well, it says current members on the Wikipedia page, and Wikipedia does not lie. Apparently Brian Brasher is a former, you figure that would do. Doesn't Nickelback tour and sell out too?

Do you want a Grammy with Arms Wide Open? With Home White Open? Yeah. Why not? It was a jam back in the day. Now, I didn't like it, but I know that was everywhere. Creed was everybody. where everyone wants to make fun of nickel back

nickelback was everywhere those cats were making hit after hit after hit yeah no those songs sucked certainly photograph photograph is one of the worst we know we did worst number one songs I think that only reached like number two or number three yeah and the nickelback song that got chosen by

Matt Thomas cost him it actually wasn't bad exactly that's why it cost him fancy five because he picked the one song that was like yeah oh god this is one of the worst popular song and the music video is even worse. Did we ever figure out what's on Donnie's head or whatever? Oh, Joey, whatever.

What the hell his name is? I'm assuming it was a hat. What the hell is... Why are you looking at this photograph? We can't figure out what's on Joey's head. How is it this much of a mystery? Nickelback. How many hit songs have,

have, like, created such memes, though? I know. I mean, my favorite is the one where it's a picture. of them and it says this is my graph and it's like holding like a high school graph chart. Oh yeah, yeah, this is my graph. Man, Nickelback also getting bumped down the Google chart. Photograph lyrics and Ed Shearin comes up, not Nickelback.

Did Ed Shearine have a song name, a photograph? Yeah. Okay, I'll have to take your word for it. So Creed is coming back. That's what they just changed their Facebook profile. Are you excited about? Oh, that's a, the Facebook profile change is adding speculation. I feel like it's like high school dating.

the story sounded like. What? You change your photo, your profile picture in high school? I mean you're single. Oh, you're official. Or single. Right. Okay.

I got you. So, Stroh's relegation says Creed got sued by our own fans for a bad content. The lead singer was drunk. Okay. I didn't know about that. Also, we were asking going into the break. Who would be the most likely 790 talent to start a bar fight?

we have two suggestions one from yon easy he says this feels like a rhetorical question it's obviously clinton and then also lumberjack app says adam claim so everyone is on the same consensus that adam clinton would be the first one to start a bar fight this is the problem he doesn't drink yeah so let's see i'm a lover not a fighter matt wouldn't hurt a fly joe i haven't been around you bernand what kind of are you an angry drunk brin you're going to start fighting people i am such a a happy drunk. Okay, me too. Tequila makes you aggressive? Yeah. All right, so we're going to have to pump Joe up for some tequila, and that's when he's going to start shoving his finger and guy's chests and starting

stuff. I'm really retaliatory. Retaliatory? Wait, is that a word? I don't know. Okay. So you don't start it, you finish it, Joseph. Is that what you're saying? I overreact. Hmm. Now see. If I'm drinking tequila, like if we're out of ball. I go ahead. And someone

pushes you. All on like an accident? Or on purpose. Okay. I'm more likely to like rage monster. You're going to crack them over the head with a, it's not good because like I'm five, six. I should not be getting into fights. I've only been in like two bar fights and they've been both self-defense.

That's good. Of my friends. I don't think I've ever been in an actual. I've been in bar confrontations, but not like fists are flying and it's an actual fight. Well, I guess more hot. Now see, this is the thing though, because the easy answer for years was Greg Cook. Greg Cook would start a bar fight with anybody at the drop of a hat. Oh, really?

I mean, I've heard. I cannot speak to this experience. Are you sure? Anytime I drink with Greg, we just have a bunch of Irish car bombs. I've drink with Greg once. It's a rocking good time. Yeah. I don't know why I was invited to his retirement party because I've been here for like three months.

Oh, yeah, that's right. It's so much fun. That was a good time. It was a good time. I literally was like there and I'm like, I don't think these people know who are. I was like, I don't think Greg knows who I am. Why am I here? You'd met him like one.

It would have been awkward if you weren't there. I know. But it was a good time. It was a good time. That was before the dark times, before the pandemic hit, when we could actually go out and have a drink with everybody. We could do that again. Well, we could, but now the wait staff are all wearing masks, and it's just a weird time. It is.

I started going out a little bit more. So now I have to go, I'd say most likely to start a bar fight. I mean, I've had a throw him back with Sean a couple of times. He's a happy, fun, drunk, too, storyteller. I'm going to go with Indy, maybe. No way. I think it's just because... Well, just because, I mean, it's the tallest-mitted type of situation.

If someone was going to try to start a fight, it seems like they go after the biggest guy. Hmm. So... You think so? I feel like they would try to go. Yeah, I feel like the tough guys in the bars. You know what I was at a bar at what time was somebody that I barely knew, and like he started going after like the three hugest guys at the bar.

And I was like, bro, I don't know you well enough to be getting mixed up in any of this. Yeah. I was... Like, raise my hands, give that Irish goodbye. We were giving him to like, oh, no, he's fine, man. He's true. He's just drunk, man. Everything's cool.

We're trying to calm the situation. Anyways. That's going to do it for the Matt Thomas show. We got a Michael Connor nomination. I want to say thanks. Ooh, interesting. I've drank with Michael, too. I don't remember him getting any sideways from anybody.

That's going to do it, though, for the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. Matt Thomas will be back tomorrow. Joe George, Brennan Riley, Ross V. Rial saying, thank you for listening, calling tweeting, being involved in the show in any way. We'll talk to you guys tomorrow at noon as part of the Matt Thomas show. Coming up next, it's the A team with Adam Clanton and Adam Wexler.