The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - More David Montgomery & Texans O-Line Talk, Astros Bats Are Ice Cold

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

More David Montgomery & Texans O-Line Talk, Astros Bats Are Ice Cold

is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. What's happening in Houston? Hello and welcome in to a Tuesday edition of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Momentarily, without Matt Thomas, eventually with Chris Gordy, and I believe eventually with Matt Thomas. Here on a Sports Talk 790, I know you're as confused as I am. So if you heard the show yesterday and you heard the Rockets broadcast yesterday, Fortunately, Matthew Thomas came down with a little bit of the laryngitis.

He doesn't really feel bad. He just doesn't sound great. So he's got a sore throat. He's got to be on for the hours of this show, plus the broadcast for the Houston Rockets. So it's a lot of wear and tear on the throat for full throat, Thomas. So he is going to take a little bit of time off today. Chris Gordon will be joining at some point, but he has a meeting right now. And then it's me.

And it's Jonathan. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you would like to get into that way. 7-13-212-5-7-90. You can also send tweets to at SportsRV. You can also follow me on Instagram at SportsRV. If you would like to interact that way, I really would appreciate it. So we do still have some stuff going on. Day 2 of David Montgomery is a Houston-Texan fallout.

With the trades being made yesterday, Titus Howard out. you have David Montgomery in we can talk about that you have some NBA stuff to get to world baseball classic is anybody really getting ramped up for that I don't know I'm not super excited about it I guess I'm curious to see how it goes and I'll try to put some world baseball classic on but not sure how much I'm going to be watching that and then of course you have the rockets continuing to be in action they played last night against the Washington wizards and I know it's not going to be a hot buzzing topic for the city of huge Houston, a Rockets win over the Washington Wizards, 123 to 118 last night.

But I think there's a couple of interesting things that came out of the game last night. Most importantly, Reed Shepard starting, playing 42 minutes and having a really good game. He had 19 points, 10 assists, only turned the ball over a couple of times. He had six steals and two blocks. Now, one thing that's important when you're following basketball, and those of you who have been watching basketball for years, you know. this. Just because you went out there and got six steals doesn't mean you were playing lockdown defense the entire game. But it is important that Reed Shepherd contributes on that

end of the floor because that's been as big as negative. We had IMA Adoka on the show last week. And we have them every single week here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross, thanks to the coach. And one of the things we asked him was, what is it going to take for Reed Shepherd to be more in closing lineups? And the first word that came out of his mouth was defense. because if you watch both ends of the floor, which I know it's not sexy to watch defense and watch rotations and watch pick and roll coverages if you're watching the Houston Rockets,

Reed Shepherd gets attacked a lot. And he was getting attacked last night as well. And they go after him with bigger guys. They go after him with faster guys. He has some limitations on that end of the floor. He needs to continue to grow and get better, which he has. But last night, six deals for Reed Shepherd and a couple of blocks. That's great.

That's what you want. him to contribute. He's not going to be a men Thompson out there. He's not going to be Tarry Easton out there. There's a reason why those guys are starting for Emaed Doca defensive-minded head coach. And Reed Sheppel was also only in the starting lineup because Jabari Smith Jr. continues to be out with an ankle injury. He is expected back for the Rockets on Thursday. But now we'll see what happens with him in Thompson. He turned his ankle at the end of the game yesterday. And Reed Shepper played really well. He had his first 10 assist game in his career. He He had 19 points.

He was 4 of 11 shooting since the All-Star break. He has been shooting over 45% from three, which is, I mean, that's an extremely dangerous weapon and much needed by this Rocket's offense. So I know a lot of you've been Reed Shepherd truthers and wanting them to be in the starting lineup and wanting to be out there as much as possible. And I know you've been frustrated by him not being in some of the closing lineups, but that was a great game from Reed Shepherd last night and it was good to see. Alper and Shingoon also leading the way with 32 points. As for whatever reason, the Washington Wizard, I can't remember the name of their coach. It doesn't matter. Their coach was like,

man, we're not going to double Appren Shingun at any point. And then Alper and Shingun said, okay, I'm going to get 32 points on you on 20 shots, which he did. He also had 13 rebounds, a couple of assists, did turn the ball over eight times, and Kevin Durant turned the ball over six times.

The Rockets were playing a good team last night, they would have lost. They only won by five. They turned the ball over 21 times. They gave up 39 points. off of those 21 turnovers, and they also gave up 54% shooting from three. So thankfully, the Washington Wizards are terrible, and it was like Balaw, Kooli-Bali going off for three against the Rockets, because if they were an actual good team that could play some actual defense,

Rockets would have easily lost that game. But they turned the ball over too much, and lackadaisical defense too much in the first and fourth quarters, where they were giving up wide open looks for three, and the Washington Wizards were obliging and making them. Rockets next in action against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 7-13-212-5-7-90.

So you want to talk some rockets? We can do that. Of course, I mentioned it's day two of fallout for the David Montgomery trade. And I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to feel about this. because there's a couple of ways that we can go. David Montgomery, as we know, is going to be 29 years old when the season starts and he is a running back. Lately, in this day and age, when you're 29 years old and you're a running back, you're washed. That's just how it goes.

You're not very effective and you usually have too much tread on the tire to be very good. But there are counter arguments to that. David Montgomery in the last two years has been, okay, we'll just call it. knuckles to the Sonic of Jamir Gibbs. That means he's been the backup. That means he's been under 200 carries the last couple of years. That means he should have less tread on his tire and he's a veteran guy.

But also on the flip side, David Montgomery is not a 1A running back. David Montgomery is not going to be striking fear into opposing defensive coordinators. Nobody's going to be like, all right, guys, we got the Texans this week.

David Montgomery, what do we do? Let's batten down the hatches. let's figure out a game plan. No. David Montgomery, he's not going to be just a guy, but he's also not going to be some crazy dynamic element that you have to figure out a defense for. Oh, no, they're going to run the ball 20 times with David Montgomery. We've got to figure out a game plan.

No, not necessarily. So he's going to be good. He's going to be what the Texans need with C.J. Strout. He's going to be a guy who's going to keep them on schedule on first down, and he's going to be a good red zone running back. Because that was a big problem with the Texans offense. basically the entire season. And really it feels like almost there and their entire history.

When has the Texans offense been great in the red zone? Or you say, oh my goodness, I can't get enough of this red zone offense from the Houston Texans. Probably never. So he does shore up a need. A big need for this team to where everything fell apart for C.J. Stroud at the end of last year. There was, you had Nico Collins hurt at the end. Dalton Schultz got hurt by the end of that playoff game as well.

And so you had very limited pass catchers. You had no offensive line and you had no run game. Other than that, everything was great for CJ Stroud as far as the situation around him. If you want him to succeed, if you want him to be your franchise quarterback, if you want him to be the guy, then you have to figure out a way to put a better situation around him and see what you got. Because I can almost guarantee you that C.J. Stroud would go somewhere else where he's in a right situation. and he would thrive. We can mention the names that we continue to mention.

Sam Darnold just won the Super Bowl. Sam Darnold was supposed to be not good enough for the Panthers, and even Kevin O'Connell was sick of him by the end of his tenure with the Vikings, and they shipped them and said, now we're good with J.J. McCarthy. But you get him an offensive line. You get him a run game. You get him the best receiver in the game. You get him a good play caller,

and of course a great defense, and their Super Bowl champions. So you can win with C.J. J. Stroud, you have to have the right situation around him. David Montgomery, not the perfect plan, but I think it helps. And a good pair with Woody Marks as the third down back. You're not asking Woody Marks

to be everything. You can put him in certain looks. It's going to be 1A, David Montgomery. It's going to be 1B Woody Marks. And I think that's a good running back tandem. Will they still try to add somebody in the draft? Maybe. Free agency

feels unlikely with David Montgomery making the $9 million. So we'll see what happens there. The bottom line is the Texans got better. They gave up a fourth round pick, and that's a lot. Also a seventh round pick. Two Scruggs, who cares? Even if he's built from granite, like Tom Pellasero says.

But at the end of the day, your running game got better, even though it would have been nice to swing for the fences for Kenneth Walker or any one of the other free agent running backs that are going to be available coming up soon here. So David Montgomery, a Houston Texan, day two, how we feel in. Initial shock, you gave up too much, not excited about David Montgomery or feeling good about the running back situation for your Houston Texans. As I mentioned, of course, Reed Shepard, shining in a starring role for the Houston Rockets. We can talk about that. Also, anything you guys want to get to.

713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 7-13-212-5-790. It is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. As I mentioned, Matt will be joining later on. He is resting up his voice. He's got a sore throat. Chris Gordy will be joining at some point. Jonathan Allen is here.

Hello, Jonathan. How you doing back there? What's going on? Everything okay? Yeah, just getting everything is right. I know they're keeping you busy back there. That's okay. We'll talk to you coming up.

We have got feelings coming up at 1130 as well. News at noon. That's going to be at noon. A lot of stuff to get to and anything you guys want to get to here on the Matt Thomas show with Raw. 713-212-5-7-90. The phone number. 713-212-5-790 That is correct

It is more Matt Thomas show with Ross right now Without Matt Thomas I don't think he's sleeping I mean is he's just doing sitting by his radio listening? I don't know he'll be joining later As he is perverving the golden pipes As he's been having a little bit of laryngitis Voice has been sore

Of course he had to do the Rockets game last night then fly in from Washington. So Matt will be joining us in a little bit. Chris Gordy, you'll be joining in a little bit as well. And in the meantime, it is me and it is you and it is Jonathan. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 7-13-212-5-7-90.

Thanks to Mark for correcting me via Instagram where you can find me at SportsRV. I guess I said tread. He's going to have tread off the tire. It's more tread on the tire for David Montgomery. So that's good. last two years, 185 carries, 158 carries. He's not a great receiving back.

You're not asking him to do a whole lot there. So you're hoping there's more tread on the tire than there would be if he were a number one, number one, and 29 years old. So on its face, trading a fourth rounder for a 29-year-old running back. He's got David Johnson vibes. But maybe you say he hasn't been used as much the last couple of years, so it's going to be okay.

All right, 713, 212, 5, 7.7. The phone number if you want to get in, 713, 2,1, 22, 5, 7.9. You can send messages at Sports RV on whatever social media platform you would like. Robert, in Cyprus, has been holding longest here on the phones. Robert, go ahead. The floor is yours. Yeah, I just had a question about, you think we're going to keep Jack Andrews as a center or just keep him as maybe draft the center.

He can work with that center to bring him up, like the left tackle that we got of the rookie. or and also that right guard. We're going to keep that right guard with currently half or get rid of him and just drafting another guard? Ed Ingram you're talking about? Yeah, Ingram, yeah. We're going to keep him because he's going to want more money, I presume. We could find a good guard, I would think, in the draft.

But he has to be trained, I think, like, virtually. And also, what would be the, you got to clean the whole lineup. He got draft the whole line. You got that Oregon left guard, man, that guy's dynamite, man. I really love that guy from Oregon. And then Auburn Center. But anyway, I'll go on a head disconnect, man, and see what you guys think on what should we do for these? Because there's a lot of gaps now since we got rid of Titus Howard and, you know, shrug wasn't a starter.

But so anyway, I'll sit back and listen. Thank you, Robert. I appreciate it. Yeah. I mean, you're trading away offensive linemen. You've had one of the worst offensive lines in football. And then the last two years, you trade your best offensive lineman, which Laramie Tonzel was.

And then he was a top 10 tackle in football last year, according to some metrics that you look at. And then this year, Titus Howard, I don't know if he was your best. Your best offensive line was probably Ed Ingram overall. But Titus Howard was your most consistent in terms of someone you could plug and play anywhere. He played right tackle, left guard, right guard. I don't think he played any left tackle. That was probably Cam Robinson early in the season when they were flipping Ariante Ursary everywhere.

But Titus Howard had been a big part. He's a good offensive lineman. He was going to want more money, which he did get with the Cleveland Browns and get traded away, basically making $20 million a year. Titus Howard's now a $20 million a year lineman. He's good, but I just don't think he's that good. So the Texans felt like they could get some value.

They got a fifth round pick, traded them away. and you got a little bit of cap savings. Somewhere around $3, $4 million, not a whole lot. So I understand from the business of football in a vacuum, if I just say they traded away in Lyman to have some cap space, the linemen wanted more money, they're not going to be able to pay them. Yeah, you'd be like, all right, you know what, I get it. But Titus Howard was an important piece of this line last year.

And you can ill afford to lose linemen, so that hurts. And yeah, you've got to figure something out. You've got a lot of question marks. I hope this means that Ed Ingram is basically locked in, I guess, and they have a number and they're going to figure something out and get him done and have him be a Houston Texan or they're close. Because if you lose Ed Ingram and he gets signed away too, I don't know. You're going to be searching for a lot of answers. I'd have to go through the whole list of, I know there are some interior alignment that are some of the top free agents in football, but you're also not having a whole lot of cap space. You're going to need to still continue to do some further restructuring of some guys' contracts

in order to open up some cap space and sign guys. And then when you draft, that sounds great in theory too. And a lot of people are saying that, yeah, I just draft a bunch of offensive linemen. What's Nick Casario's track record drafting offensive linemen? It's not good. You just traded away Drew Scruggs. Kenyon Green was a flat out as big as a bus as you can have on the interior line taken in the top 20. Arrionti Urserie didn't like the world on fire last year

and who else? Jared Patterson Blake Fisher I mean it's a lot of question marks with the offensive line I think Jake Andrews needs to answer the first question from Robert Jake Andrews needs replacing he's not good he's just a guy he gets pushed around in the interior

and I mean he basically starts two yards in the backfield every single play it's not good and the Texans haven't had great center play since basically like Chris Myers was here I don't know why but that's just the way that it's been so I would like to see Ed Ingram

I like Trent Brown Arionte Ursari is going to continue to develop how much are you buying in on a possible resurgence of Blake Fisher? He was better last year but he was normally out there as a third tackle in a jumbo running package and you're not asking him to do a whole lot It's not like he's on islands taking on Miles Garrett.

You know, he's more of a help guy. He's out there to block and get downfield and hit some linebackers in a jumbo run game. So, yeah, he did good in that role. But what happens when you bring him up to a better role, to a starter's role? Maybe they feel confident that he can be better in year three. Wouldn't be the first time ever that it took a third year for an offensive lineman to develop and be effective. So I don't know how much of a plan Blake Fisher is. how much growth are they actually putting into the potential of growth for Ariante Ursari?

How much stock are they putting into that growth? I don't know because I liked Ariante Ursari, but it's not like he was some lockdown guy and he's got to get better. So you need to draft guys, you need to sign guys, you need to do something, you need to reconfigure because your best pieces keep going away of an already bad offensive line. So I don't know exactly what's going to happen. But certainly it needs to be addressed.

and I am waiting with bated breath. They have to have some kind of plan. Nick Casario, for all his faults, he's not stupid. He knows they need an offensive line. He knows they need a better situation with C.J. Stroud. And that starts up front. He's been trying to address it, as I said, where people are like, hey, well, wait,

now why doesn't he care about the offensive line? He drafted all those players that I mentioned. He signed, you know, he did sign Ed Ingram and Lake and Tom. and Cam Robinson and Cam Robinson and Trent Brown and just get some bodies and throw a bunch of guys up against the wall and then a couple of guys will stick, which happened with Trent Brown and Ed Ingram last year. So if you can do that approach, get some bodies into camp, sign some guys, maybe get one front line guy to sign one or two guys to draft and figure it out and improve and get better. That's the way it's got to go because you're just in a bad cap situation. You can't pay a bunch of people. Will Anderson's going to be due money

Denial Hunter is making big money You paid Jalen Petrie, you paid Derek Stingley Carmarle Lasseter is going to need to get paid CJ Stroud will see what happens But you just got a bad cap situation With a bunch of dead money And you got holes That's why the NFL is

The greatest league in major American sports You have the hard cap And you got to figure it out You get a piece You draft the Will Anderson and you hit a smash, you don't get to keep them forever. Unless you want to pay them big. And then C.J. Stroud, we'll see what happens. You got to figure stuff out as it goes with the salary cap.

And sometimes you got to take the hits and you got to let guys go. And you just can't be strong everywhere. There's just not super teams. Not for a long time anyways. A couple years ago, Eagles had the best roster in football. They had to pay everybody. And they weren't as good in this last year. because they, well, they had some injuries on the offensive line and other stuff too,

but that's just how it goes. That's the nature of football. Windows are short. And that's where the window is right now with the Houston Texans, and that's what hurts, and that's what we need to think about. The window with this defense was Super Bowl caliber. The offense, not so much. So if you can just balance it out a little bit more, get an offensive line going,

get a good run game, and oh, by the way, get C.J. Straub playing better. and maybe you can make some hay in the playoffs rather than just being a national punchline and a joke to where when anything happens with anybody in sports they become mean to CJ Stroud right now the Texans are a laughing stock nationally and that needs to improve

and it needs to improve fast and it does start with the offensive line especially now that you have David Montgomery in the fold and the run game should be better All right, 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 7-13-212-5-7-90. We're talking Texans there if you want to get in on that. Mentioned the Rockets with the win over the Washington Wizards with Reed Shepard playing well on both ends of the floor.

Of course, we have the Houston Astros continuing to be in action. Yordon Alvarez in his first spring training action yesterday as the Astros tied the Washington Nationals 3-3. Anything you guys want to get to, you can. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-21-2-5-7-90. We got gut feelings coming up at 1130. Here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross, without Matt Thomas. All right, continuing along in the Matt Thomas show with Ross.

Without Matt Thomas, he is resting. A full-throat Thomas is resting his voice. He'll be joining us, I believe, at noon, as he did get in late last night. Traveling with the Houston Rockets, they got the wind over the Washington. Wizards. Well, the Astros were playing the Washington Nationals. And Chris Gordy is here hanging out. Gordy, appreciate you. That thing got a little hairy, yeah? At the end? It wasn't really that close. I mean, they just started making a bunch of threes. The rockets were never in

danger. They never ceded the lead at the end. But if you had the Washington Wizards plus the 15 and a half, you were happy with the way that that game closed out. As a Tray Young, who has not played a game yet for the Wizards, got ejected. He got ejected. Tari Isson got a couple of technical foul. Stop me if you've heard that before. Yeah, there was a bit of a dust up in the second half of that one. But all as well that ends well, rockets were able to win. And what happened last night? I know that Denver Nuggets were locking horns with, yeah, the Jazz. Oh, the Nuggets came back and won that game. That's a shame. Look, it's going to be the Spurs and the two-seed.

Rockets, hopefully, in that three-seed. And then we'll see what happens in the playoffs. Rockets and Spurs seem like they're on a collision course for a second round series with the winner going on to play the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Western Finals. That's just the way it's kind of shaping up at this point. That's what it feels like. Yeah. I mean, it's going to be interesting. I heard Clanton talking yesterday. He's like, dead set. I want the, I want the Rockets in the three seat. I want the Lakers in the six. I'm like, you know it's not going to stay that way, though. This thing's going to be ebbs and flows. Lakers could falter. Yeah, the way it sets up now is pretty good. Three, six Lakers, and then two, three, three, three, would be. the Spurs and then you go on and try to slay the dragon that is the Thunder to make it to the finals. That'd be a pretty sweet playoff run. I am not emotionally ready for a second round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs. Well, I have something

uncomfortable to say. I guess that's better than getting the Thunder. The Spurs would be favored in that series. Oh, sure. I mean, I'm just saying. I know we're here in Houston, we hate the Spurs, and Wembe's the worst and all that stuff, but the Spurs would be rightfully favored in that series. If you were unaware of who the biggest

Wembanyama hater in the the world is, it's Adam Clinton. I know that. He would go on rage fits if that's serious. Stuff will get broken in the Clinton household if Wemby drops like 40 in a playoff game. But we'll cross those bridges when we come to them. All right, 713, 212-5790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 713, 212 5790. Chris Gordy hanging out. So Gordy, because you don't have a regular everyday show, I guess I'm curious your perspective. On the whole, David Montgomery thing we were talking in the last segment about your initial reaction because there's always a pop. It was a surprising story when it first came on. David Montgomery is a Houston Texan? What is going on here?

Your head spinning a little bit. You're trying to get your ground. You get your footing on how to feel about this and all the angles. Where were you when you first heard it? Where are you as we come now a day later with the David Montgomery as a Houston Texan trade? Yeah. I mean, I was, I don't know. I kind of, there was all the talk of, remember they were trying to. to get, what was that two years ago, they were trying to get Sequin Barclay and they were this close to getting him. Yes. You know, they end up with Joe Mixing. That whole thing you know, was great the first year and then it all

kind of went downhill with the injury and all that. Then they really shot themselves in the foot. Yeah, the Nick Chubb thing was ridiculous. You know, I never got excited for that admission. But you know, there was all this buzz this off season, but they're going to try to make a run at one of these big name guys, like Kenneth Walker

or whoever. And by the way, I don't think Walker's leaving Seattle. Like, that's, he just want a Super Bowl there. Why in the world would you leave there? I think they'd be dumb to let him go. But it was just kind of, you know, there were all these big names getting thrown out there. And then, okay, they trade for David Montgomery. It's like, I don't know. My thought, I've always thought of him, and I know he was really good at his first couple years in Chicago, but I just, I've always thought of him as a two, as a complimentary. Like, Jamir Gibbs was the first round pick. Like, I thought, you know, he's a nice two. And so when you had Woody Marks kind of

emerged last year. Most people, the kind of consensus was, yeah, it's nice back, but he's kind of more of a two. So I look at it as you've got two twos. Now, again, the numbers don't lie. I mean, it's, you know, 20, 23, a thousand-yard rusher in Detroit. Now, we'll say caveat here. When we talk about guys' stats and stuff, we're talking about 17 games seasons. But he only playing 14 games that year. So that's really strong. And double-digit touchdowns, his first year, two years in Detroit. You know, numbers came down a little bit last year, 700 rushing yards, eight rushing

touchdowns, but still a very good back. I mean, but I back it up to go, okay, but if you don't fix these the offensive line, Ross, if that doesn't dramatically improve, it doesn't matter of Barry Sanders is back there. Like,

you've got to do those things up front. But again, like, as far as adding him, it's fine. Like, I'm not, I'm not down on. think it's good, but I'm not ready to say the combination of Woody Marks and Dave Montgomery, Texans are going to lead the league in rushing.

I mean... Yeah, I think another angle of this too is that he is coming from a situation where he was the one and he was still only averaging like four and a half years. I want to say only. Four and a half yards carry is decent. That's good. It's not terrible. But it's also, he was in a situation with a better offensive line. Now, the lion's offensive line

is it was the last couple of years, but you still got Penae Soule. You've still got some good players on that line to where they they were much better than say what the Houston Texans were here. So whatever the situation is going to be with David Montgomery, he's still going to need at the age of 29, basically, when the season is going to start, he's going to have to have a pretty good offensive line in front of him.

Yeah, he'll turn 29 in June 7th. So you're talking about you just gave up a fourth round pick for a 29-year-old running back. By the way, his four and a half yards carry would rank him 22nd. Okay. Yeah. That's a great. Well, I mean, that's top 30. Top 30. Well, because you're considering he's sharing carries with Jamir Gipps.

Yeah. But you gave up a fourth round pick for him and he's 29. I would like a little bit more. I'll tell you this. David Montgomery averaged more yards per carry than Brees Hall. Okay. That's good. Travis Aetian, Rashad White.

Yes. You probably had better offensive lines than all of them. Saquan Barkley only averaged 4.1 yards to carry this year. had a big time leap, took a big time leap back. Higher than Cam Scadabo. Okay, yeah. Well, Cam Scadabo's not good. I'm sorry. He was good. Okay, he scores a lot.

The yards per carry you just mentioned, what was Cam Scadabos? 4-1. Okay, I thought it was actually less than that. He scored a lot of touchdowns, and then he ripped his ankle on half, and they're looking for other options. Christian McCaffrey average 3.9 yards of carry this year. Oh, you know, he wasn't very good either running. But he got a lot of volume.

I mean, he's top 25. in yards per carry. But it's, again, it's hard to put a ton of stock into the numbers because Jamir Gibbs was, what, number seventh in rushing yards this year? I mean, he was awesome. Jamir Gibbs, yeah, so he's working with a softened up defense. I don't know. It's fine. David Montgomery is going to be fine. You just get you, give me five yards on first down, rather than negative two, which is what Nick Chubb and Woody Marks were doing every single time. Like the question is, did you upgrade the backfield? Yes. Yes, you did. But again, unless this O-line drastically improves, I don't, you know, does it matter?

When he gets the ball, as soon as it touches his hands and he's got a defender already in his face, what can he do? Who's the Texan's best offensive alignment at this moment? Ursery. Coming off a rookie season? All right. It is wild. So you need to tackle two guards in a center. As much as we want to poo-poo on Bill O'Brien and all, at the end of the day,

I think the tonsil trade was actually a good one. I know they gave up a trade for him. Yeah, when they got it. They gave up over sticker price. They did. Was it two first rounders? But the fact for several years there, you didn't have to worry about it. Like, he was your lockdown.

You could set and forget. There's something to be said about setting and forgetting. Absolutely. But, yeah, I mean, it's, it's, God. Like, I think the whole narrative going into, this offseason was, yeah, Jake Andrews was decent at center, but we could definitely upgrade there. Jared Patterson was what, part of the

23 draft class. We're going into 2026. He's fine. You could certainly upgrade there. Ed Ingram was awesome, but he's a free agent now. And by the way, I've heard a ton of teams want in on him. Exactly. So I don't know. Maybe this Howard trade makes you think maybe they're going to be fine on the

Ingram front and they know something we don't. I don't know. But you got to, I would say like sign two guys, draft two guys. And then at least. I'm talking about guys that you're planning on hopefully being in the rotation rather than... Yeah, I almost think like you have to... Because Pencil and Patterson and Andrews, I think they're starting for you because... Yeah.

Ingram wasn't on anybody's radar last year and he was very good. Trent Brown wasn't on anybody's radar last year and he was pretty good as well. So, I mean, you can hopefully find somebody who can contribute and then... I have the crazy idea. What if Nick Casario hits on an offensive line draft pick? Wouldn't that be cool? It's possible. I feel like it's possible.

Well, Blake Fisher was a second round pick from two years ago. Like, he needs to... He got a little bit better. He was a little bit better. But the reality is he has to be playing for you. Like, you can't keep missing on all these old linemen. Number 57 has reported as eligible. That's him.

He's the extra tackle in the jumbo run package. And he did fine in that role. Yeah. You got to, man. It's got to improve. We're going to take a break here. On the Matt Thomas show with Roy. Ross, Matt is sitting out for a couple of hours with a sore throat.

He'll be coming up, I believe, at noon. I need some confirmation on that. We got gut feelings coming up at 1130. We've got anything you guys want to get to. Phone lines. We've been talking some Texans. We're talking some Astros, rockets, anything you want to get to. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number.

7-13-212-5-7-90. Matt Thomas Show with Ross continues here on Sports Talk 790. Ross v. Real, Chris Gordy, with you. Matt Thomas will be joining, I believe, at noon. maybe he'll give us the news at noon with his sore throat. He was calling the Rockets last night, got in late,

so he's going to take a couple of hours off. He's, I think he's feeling fine, just the voice maybe isn't always there, all the way there. So he'll be joining us later on. Got some gut feelings coming up at 11 to 30. We got you at 713,

212, 5, 790, and also at Sports RV on Twitter, at Chris Gordy. You can find him on Twitter as well. Yeah, I've realized Over the years, I've never pushed the Twitter account like you and Matt did. You should. I've kind of been stuck on seven grand for a while.

Let's get those numbers up. 10 grand. You're going to have to break some news or something like that. Yeah. And I could probably do that. You don't want to burn bridges? Well, it's, I just, I don't like, I've done that a couple times and I've gotten very nervous when I put it out there because it's like, I've gotten something from

somebody. I'm like, you know, I'm going to run with this. Like, what was it? The trade at Chambles. thing a few weeks ago. They were in the middle of the trial and I heard from a pretty credible source. I said, dude, this is done. Done deal. They are granting Trinidad

the extra year. So I tweeted it out. And I got a couple of tweets from people. This isn't done yet. This isn't good. I'm like, all right, well, put myself out there. And of course, it happened. That's good. You don't want to be wrong. Did you see what speaking of college sports, did you see

what Matt Norlander tweeted out yesterday? I did not see what Matt Lorlander tweeted out yesterday. From CBS? I thought we were getting full Mark Stoop's talk. Well, from CBS Sports, Matt Norlander, this is pretty big. You know what month we're in, right? We're in March. International Women's Month?

March Madness. Okay. He sent out news. The NCAA sent out a memo last week to all schools to give them notice to a potential major logistical issue later this month. Airline travel for both NCAA basketball tournaments starting on select. Sunday. He says, according to the NCAA, significantly fewer charter aircrafts are available due to several factors outside of the NCAA's control. The logistical challenge of moving almost

all participating teams for both tournaments within a 12 to 72 hour window beginning selection Sunday night is compounded by, one, the busy spring break travel season. That happens every year. Two, the national shortage of charter aircraft nationwide. I don't know why we have a national short on charter flights. And three, the potential TSA impact of the partial government shutdown. While the NCAA assured There's a partial government shutdown right now?

They're in a temporary one that will go into another one likely later this month. Anyway. That sounds good. While the NCAA assured all participating teams, they will get to where they need to go safely. The NCAA also advised all teams that extreme flexibility will be necessary.

Basically they're telling you, and this is where somebody told me that the the selection committee, they're sending a message to them basically, hey, any chance you can keep this more regional, that would be great. Like, in other words, don't send Kentucky to Oregon. Like, you know, try to keep teams closer to home base as well as you could because we might have to throw them on buses if we can't get them on planes. So it's, okay.

It's just, it's an interesting thing. He said, again, it was an NCAA big memo to all Division I teams about updated protocols and warnings over potential flight issues. but I don't know why we're having a shortage of charter flights. I never got an explanation on that. Yeah, what's going on with the charters? Let's go. Is Taylor Swift buying them all up or what? Throw them on a Delta flight. I mean, put them fly commercial.

I guess you're going to have to make extra special flights. I figure, they got to figure something out, right? I don't know. This is kind of crazy. It's just interesting. But think of how often they do that. They're like, Miami is in the San Diego region. Like, why are you sending Miami all the out to the West Coast? keep them somewhat closer to home.

So the NCAA pays for private aircraft for all NCAA tournament games for teams more than 400 miles away from their first weekend sites. I just like that they said... How much money are they making in this tournament? They're paying for aircraft for every team almost? And then somebody responded, yeah, and we want to expand

us to 96 teams? Like, come on, man. I'm like, what are we doing? Money! It's all about the money. Let's get more money. I still think the first four is the dumbest thing. It's like, hey, you kind of made the tournament. You have a chance to play yourself into the 64 field. Yeah, let's go.

I mean, I guess VCU and Shaka Smart and the boys back in the day made it out of the final four out of there. Those first four last year, I think they were all like buzzer beaters, overtime. Like, they were all very good. And they get ratings and they get revenue. So that's why they do it. And that's why they're going to want to expand even more. But those first games are on Tuesday and Wednesday. Think of that, like, Selection Sunday happens, what, at like 5 o'clock on Sunday?

You better fly out. I mean, you've got to have your bags packed and ready to go. You know, when they go to, like, the schools and they're all, like, cheering. They're all just jumping up, grabbing their bags. You just show them going to the getting on the bus. That's what it's going to have to happen. Hey, guys, we've got a bus to Spokane. We'll be there in three days.

Jonathan probably had to do that at Western Kentucky. Oh, don't even get me started. Do you guys get on buses or what? We went from where's the furthest you went on a bus? We went to, we went from Bowling Green, Kentucky, down to Oxford, Mississippi. And then we went to South Carolina. Where is USC?

Bolling Green Columbia. Columbia. Columbia, yeah. That was like a 10-hour drive, dude. It's a scenic ride, though. Yeah, it's fine. Oh, yeah, the Appalachians. You can't feel your legs. All your snacks are gone. You can't fill your legs.

Your charges can't work. Well, at least you're not on the track team. You don't need to feel your legs. When I was in school, they had the old buses with the TVs, and they would pop in an old VHS tape. Did they do that still? No, you get Yeah, you're like watching Carl Sagan's

New Universe for 1980? You might get some local news that just buffers. I'd go, all right, guys, we've got a VHS copy of Rudy. We're going to pop that in. Yeah, there would inspire the guys. I like that, Hoosiers.

And when it ends, we're just going to watch it again. Oh, man. Well, the NCAA will figure out, I guess. Yeah, I just, it's just an interesting. I guess that makes sense that there's like a swell, of charter planes during the NCAA tournament. I believe isn't Houston's one of the sites, right?

Yes. So, hey, don't give me no crap about sending U of H halfway across the country. It'd be fine. It better be right here in Houston, Texas. Tell me they'll figure something out. Matt will cut the check. I figure out. They'll figure something out.

All right, we're going to take quick top of the hour break here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. You guys want to get in. You can. Phone lines are open. 713, 212, 5. 790. 713. 212.5.790. You can send tweets to at SportsRV at Chris Gordy. You can find me

on Instagram as well at SportsRV. We've had gut feelings coming up at 1130. We've got your calls and anything you guys want to get to. Hour number two of that Thomas show with Ross is next after this short break. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 11 a.m.

here on Sports Talk 790 and beautiful Houston, Texas. Hour number two of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Without Matt Thomas, he will be joining in about an hour. We've got gut feelings coming up at 1130. We've got you on the phone lines. If you want to get in, 713-2125-790 is the phone number 7-13-2125-790. As you have some rockets in action last night against the Washington Wizard. We've been talking about that.

the Texans and their trade with David Montgomery. How many pieces to the offensive line will they add in this offseason? We can talk about that. And of course, your Houston Astros yesterday in action. Is it true today? So I was looking at ESPN on the schedule, Mr. Gordy. They're playing up Venezuela? That is correct.

It is a game that is, I guess they consider them exhibition games. Okay. They're not really on the MLB website. What side is Jose Altovae playing on? I believe they said a couple days ago He wasn't going to play. He was abstaining. Yeah, he was like,

this is too close to call. Pick a side. Now, it's funny, you got some other games. Panama is playing the Yankees today. The Netherlands will play the Orioles. Columbia will play the Pirates. How about this one? Colombia?

Canada will play the Blue Jays. I really. I really need George Springer to show up in his team USA hockey jersey again. That'd be funny. Because he did that. Apparently pissed off a lot of Canadian fans. Oh, they can shove it.

What are you going to do? Not cheer for George Springer? I also... Oh, no, he's representing his country. Well, have you ever been to Toronto or seen it on map? No, I have not. I've seen it on map. It's very like...

It's like northeast-ish. It's basically America. Like, the border like juts down a little bit around Toronto. I'm like, that's basically north... If you go west, you're in America. If you go east, you're in America. That's upstate New York is Toronto. Okay, so Canadians back off.

But that'll be an interesting one to see. Cuba will play the Royals, Italy will play the Cubs, but your Astros will take on. Is Israel playing the Mets? Yeah, probably. Okay. Puerto Rico will play the Red Sox. Where's that? Puerto Rico?

Yeah. Oh, Puerto Rico versus the White Sox. Where's Alex Cora native? I think he's Puerto Rican, right? He's Puerto Rican, yeah. Okay. So there must have tried to make some connections with whichever. Yeah, perhaps.

I don't know. So the Astros are. playing Venezuela today. That should be, I mean, that's going to be a thriller. Yesterday they played the Washington Nationals. It was a 3-3 game. First action for Yordaun Alvarez. He went 0 for 3 with a couple of strikeouts. Jose Al-Tuvei, one for three with a strikeout. And the first one was a dinky single, but those other bats for us, he kept coming up with men on base. Now, he did make good contact. One of them be, like, lined out. But it's like, I mean, I've seen some people on Twitter.

like overreacting like Correa Ofer Walker Ofer But did you see what he also did When he got on base I think somebody I think Yordon Hit one to the track

It was an out And Jose I guess thought It was gonna be gone So he went to past second And they got him out at first So Everybody jumped on Altube's in mid-season four

Yes he is Let's go baby I like that But I will say Ross How many weeks Are we into spring training so far? A couple weeks. The Asheros are one, six, and three.

Let me just tell you. It's like a soccer line. Care to guess where they rank in batting average? In the Great Fruit League? No, just overall. In all of Major League Baseball, 29th. 30th. Dead last.

Is that good? Dead last. Let me give you some of the batting averages this spring. All right, go ahead. The Tampa Bay Rays are batting 28. They're 26th. The St. Louis Cardinals are batting 226. they're 27th.

The Miami Marlins are batting 220 as a team. They are 28th. Great. The Washington Nationals ranked 29th batting 190 and your Houston Astros Ross on the spring training season are batting

174 as a team. Now that includes all these guys like Jack's Biggers getting in the eighth inning and coming up with base hits. Don't hate on Jack's Biggers. I shudder to wonder what that average would be if they didn't have the scrubs all getting

hits late in games. I mean, this team would be back like 100. Don't you think if you were watching a baseball movie and they're like, yeah, here comes Jack's Biggers. You're like, they should have came up with a better name. That sounds too made up. I mean, they are below the Mendoza line, Ross. And at 174, they're going to have to go on a heater

to get above the Mendoza line. It's fine. You don't have to worry about the Mendoza line. It's just spring training. It's okay. They're warming it up, I guess. Keep telling yourself that. Okay. So look, well, Carlos Cray is going to be fine. Damage control. Yordaun Alvarez is going to be fine.

Jose Altuve, the fact of the matter is he has declined for two straight years in terms of his OPS. He was still like 771 last year. That's decent. You would take that if he could give you that this year. Then we start to get concerned with the guys like Cam Smith, the Jake Myers is of the world. Cesar Salazar's never going to hit. So, I mean, that is what it is. And so, okay, how much, how concerned are you about the lineup?

I'm pretty concerned. We are, what, 10 games in the spring training? Yes. This team, the Astros as a team have hit four home runs. They have come from, they have come from Esok Paredes, great, Taylor Tremel, okay, and Jack Winkler and Anthony Hueso. Yeah. Like, do you remember what the Yankees did in their first spring trading? game. No, it doesn't matter. They scored like 22

runs with their torpedo bats. That was like, it's fine. They told Aaron Judge would like have like three hits and they went, yeah, go sit down Aaron, you're good. Like they were just absolutely erupting. And again, I'm not, this isn't like a one or two game sample size now. We are almost two weeks into this

thing. All right. I'm pulling up the stats from last year. Spring training batting. Yeah, let's see. Okay, Jake Myers hit 935 OPS. I remember that. Cooper Hummel was good. These are the best Astros in spring training last year. The Colorado Rockies have

19 home runs in spring training so far. Jeremy Payne hit 475. You have four. Seazar Salazar had an OPS of 1100 last year in spring training. Your best hitters were Cam Smith, Jeremy Pania, Zach DeZenzo, Jake Myers.

Actually guys that were actually good during the season. Okay, maybe I should be concerned. Oh my gosh. You're number two in strikeouts, too. You've struck out 112 times in spring training. A hundred and twelve strikeouts. Good God. So they're going to be fine.

Look, this is not going to be one of the best lineups in baseball. That's never going to happen. Now, here's the thing. They lead all of spring training and walks. See? With 71. Yeah, what's he on base? Where are they added on base?

They've been walking everything. On base, they are... They're walking it like they're talking it. They're ready to go, baby. They're 20th and on base. Oh. Because they're not doing anything else. That's good.

They're only walking. That's better than 30th and in average. They are also number one of stolen bases at 21. So they walk and then they steal a base. And then the next three guys, strike out, strike out, strike out, strike out, sit your ass down. Manufacturing runs. They can't score runs. Run manufacturing.

They haven't scored runs. Their table setting. They're going to be fine. They're dead last in run scored. It's going to be fine. In spring training, 32 runs scored. Guess what? The Yankees have 79 runs scored.

Who cares about the Yankees? That's more than double your run up. Where are they in pitching? They got to be pretty good, right? I think they've been decent pitching. Stephen O'Ker's been terrible. Hunter Brown gave up a run yesterday, but mostly he's been good. Benitz-Souza, giving up runs.

Your guy, JP France, had two scoreless yesterday. Ooh, they're not striking out for your money. They're fifth-the-lasts in strikeouts this spring. All right. You know what? I'm sick of you and your spring training stats. Let's look up E.R.A. they're ninth in the yard right see okay okay but so Ross you're telling me they're gonna lose every game two to one

haven't you ever heard you're pitching pitching pitching pitching and more pitching okay great you had like five guys go down with Tommy John so you're just gonna pitch pitch and pitch you know what fans would rather see though they'd rather see you lose 11 to 10 in shootouts I don't care what they'd rather see than two to one games that are boring where you get no hits pitching wins championships all right so that's gonna be the formula a four to two wins for the Astros you scratch enough across the plate and you have good lockdown pitch. It's spring training. It's the freaking grapefruit league, dude. It's fine. I'm not worried yet. You're dead last in almost every offensive category. I mean, this is insane. It's, it's just spring training. I'm not going to overreact to this. We'll see how Jose Altuva looks. Yordon Alvarez literally just first got in games. He's your best hitter. And you're hoping that he's going to play, I don't know, like 140, 550, 150 games for you this upcoming

year. Carlos Coray is going to be fine. East Haredes will figure it out. Ten teams have over 100 hits. You have 52. All right. It's fine. I'm sorry. You're facing Greg Maddox every night. Yeah, they are. Dude, come on, man.

Josiah Gray was dealing yesterday, all right? Maybe they're going to light up Venezuela today, okay? And then we can stop worrying. They'll score 11 runs against Venezuela. We can stop worrying. This is bad. I knew it was bad and I was joking about it a weekend but now we're almost two weeks in

this is atrocious Not worried Can we call who's the hitting coaches Can we call those guys? Oh yeah hold on no We can't go after the hitting coaches already I mean I think Well you know what

If it's if it ain't broke Don't fix like we should bring back You're making me want to tweet something now Let's bring back The guys we got rid of I'm you know Now I want to make a hitting coach tweet Just because of you

This is great stuff. All right, how are we feeling about the new Astros hitting coaches, guys? They're 30th and batting average. They suck. Bring back Centron and Snitker. Sorry, guys. We made a mistake. Oh, my God.

We thought y'all suck, but turns out it could be worse. Stop. These new guys are even worse. Don't overreact. It's just the preseason, guys. It's just March 3rd. It's fine. Yeah, guess what?

Texans offensive lines sucked in the preseason. season. It sucked in the regular season. I'm not worried. That's different. Football's different. They're getting their footing underneath them. There's been a lot of sun. It's been a lot of blinding sun in the grapefruit league at the flora. At the cacti park of the ball peepal beaches

or whatever. They don't have their footing. They've been slipping a lot in the box. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. They're going to be fine. All right, we're going to take a break on that note. How worried are you about the Houston Astros Bats? 713-212. 5-790. The phone number, if you want to get in, 713-212-5-790.

You can send tweets to at SportsRV at Chris Gordy as well. We got gut feelings coming up at 1130. Matt Thomas and the news at noon coming up at noon as well. Here on Sports Talk 790 and the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Balgo delivers first pitch swinging. Ground ball hits sharply right at the shortstop. He'll go to short wait a second for the fourth. And that's the third out of the inning.

The Astro strand, the base is loaded for the fourth time in this game. But the locks are up They're getting guys on base They got walks Yeah, come on Did you see how they scored Did he say fourth time They stranded the bases loaded?

Did you hear they had Is that true? They had That was that possible For much of the game yesterday One run Ross Do you know how it was scored? How was it scored?

The base is loaded Hit by a pitch Says our Salazar Took one for the team That's called RBI's pal Let's go Oh it was one RBI And

That's called driving in runs and getting it done. They tied the game. All right, it was three to three. They've got three draws so far in spring training. I'm not worried. You're not going to make me worry yet. At this point, I'm not just worried about the Astros bats. I'm worried about the Sugar Land Space Cowboys bats because even those guys are really.

No, they're going to be fine. They're going to have a bunch of 28-year-old mashing. Unless Jack's Biggerness is out there. You know what the Space Cowboys are going to be? they're going to be like a little league team where everybody was born like basically right before the cutoff date. They're all like basically a year older than everyone else

and they're going to mash. I want to find a Sugar Land Space Cowboys win total because that bad boy's going over. You're going to have like a bunch of great starting pitchers who are fringe major leaguers. Your boy, J.P. France is going to be down there dealing. Jason Alexander might be down there. I mean, whether or not it's, I don't know, Ryan Weiss or whoever,

Space Cowboys are going to be carving it up. All right? Maybe. I'm feeling good about the space cowboys this year. Houston Astros, I don't know. But the space cowboys are going to be priest out. There's no doubt in my mind. I'm trying to pull up some numbers here for you to just kind of give you an update on how everybody's doing.

Okay, Salazar is not good, dude. These numbers are not good. Is that one of the underreported storylines of this offseason? Cesar Salazar is your backup catcher. That's a huge downgrade from Victor Caratini. Massive downgrade. From even what we've had in the past. I don't know. Robinson, Chorinos, Christian Vasquez.

Like, Cesar Salazar as your backup catcher is kind of problematic if that's going to be what it is for the whole season. And let's just say, Janar Diaz goes down for an extended period of time. Oh, don't say that. Why would you say that? It happens. I don't want you to say that. Why would you say that?

Like, you're going to lean on Salas? to play every night? And then what do you do? How do you give him a day off? Are you going full of spot on us? You just dropped a Sally? How do you give him a day off? I don't know.

You can't. It's bad. Maybe they think Walter Yonick is close. He needs to be, but he didn't get higher than high A ball last year. He played, he's like 23 years old, and he hadn't played above A ball. So it's a little worrisome. All right, let me give you some,

first the good news on hitting. Nick Allen is four for 12 Okay, hey well So he's batting He's batting 333 this spring He's not going to do that for the season But that's okay He's saying Maricio Dubon, who?

I am your new guy Yeah Then you got a bunch of guys that are Hitless Zach Cole is 0 for 9 That's fine, he's saving it for the season Remember though when we were like Oh, he has a red hot spring

He's going to be an opening day light. Well, we wanted Cam Smith to have a red hot spring like he did last year. And we wanted Zach Cole to have a red hot spring. And while nobody's having a red hot spring. So. Okay. Then you got a bunch of guys that are hitless. Okay.

You've got Zach, well, you got Zach Cole's 0 for 9. Zach DeZenzo's 0 for 11. Carlos Gray is 0 for 6. Jake Myers is, I think he has a hit. What's the XBA? What's the average XIVO? He's 1%. I'm not worried about this.

Christian Walker is 0 for 7. You're not getting me worried about spring training batting averages. You're not. Yon Alvarez is 0 for 3. And then you got the one hit club. Jake Myers is in the one hit club. Joey Lofofito's in the one hit club. The guys aren't meeting before the game in the one hit club,

Yonair Diaz is one for eight. Oh my God. Esau Prade is one for four. Terrible. And then you got some two hit club guys. You got Sally is two for nine? Stop saying Sally. Joseo Tube is got a salazar.

Joseo Tuvai's got. two hits. He's two for eight. And then Cam Smith is two for 11 and Jeremy Payne is two for two for two for two for ten and Jeremy Pay is two for 11. All right. So you got a couple guys that have two hits. It's going to be fine. Again, I just want to not worried. I just want to remind you when we're talking about spring training. The New York Yankees have no, we're not talking about the Yankees. Who cares? Like a hundred don't care. I don't care. The Chicago White Sox have 118 hits. No, I'm not worried about it.

118 hits. Are they in the cat? Yonner Giaz has one. Zach Cole has none. Correa has none. He's due. They're all, they're all due. Roger.

What's up, Roger? Yeah, I called last week, and expressed my concern for Yon Jiaz and his backup. It's going to be a disaster. And even if they turn it around and they get more hits than what they're doing now, it's not going to,

be that much of a turnaround to. We're still going to be bottom of the barrel in the league. So, yeah, I kind of figured this would be, but why do all this and go through all this charade when you can just blow it up? Because eventually that's what's going to happen. People are going to get fired and guys are going to get traded and probably going to restart this whole thing all over again. But why wait for a whole year? So you want the Astros to blow everything up right now? I mean, well, it looks like, because they didn't do anything. Off of this great trial, The low spring training numbers, Roger.

But what did they do for the offensive end of the, they were already, that's why they didn't make the playoffs, because they're off the injuries, yes. Yeah, they had like 19 guys on the IL at once, and they missed the playoffs by one game. Okay, so with these spring training numbers, they probably don't mean much. No, they don't.

Like I said, but what if that is, what if that is? What if it's not? I don't see these guys, I don't see these guys, have a breakout season. I mean, I don't. Cam Smith, I mean, you're really good to depend on guys like Walker

and Diaz. Christian Walker had about a second half of the season. Einer Diaz, well, we'll see. Yordon Alvarez needs to carry a lot of the weight. You're probably going to at some point trade Esok Paredes and get an outfielder who's going to have a good stick. That's what you're hoping for. That's just it when?

I don't know. There's a lot of questions. You're right. That's all I got. But yes, I'm concerned. All right. Thank you, Roger. see what you're doing gordy see what you've done you're stoking discontent in the city of Houston over a couple of weeks of spring train

I'm just telling you Alex Brugman ain't walking through that door Kyle Tucker ate walking through that door no they're not going to be the 2019 Astros they're just not well I'm just I'm talking about the 2024 Astros just two years ago Victor Caratini

ain't walking through that door one of the better hitting catchers it'd be nice if he would well, fortunately he's a Minnesota twin. But that's the thing. It's like you look at last year, Ross, they were, they still hit well last year. They were 12th and batting average last year as a team, but you were 21st in run score. That's a significant drop for previous seasons. Yeah, that's because all the risk was because of the hitting coaches and they got new hitting coaches and everything's going to be fixed.

Well, yeah, now they're just only working walks and nobody's getting hits. It's going to be fine. They just need to be, that's what they were last year. Team OPS last year they were 15th. You go to like the WRC Plus and all the other stuff. Like they were OPS Plus. They're around middle of the pack. You don't think that's maybe a trend though?

A downward trend? Yeah. Well, Yordon Alvarez only played like 38 games last year. So just from that alone, your offensive numbers should be going up. You get a whole season of Carlos Correa, who yes, he was not great in Minnesota, but he was pretty good in a Houston Astros uniform. Hopefully he can get that going. He's got his single.

hit her now. His heated back brace is good. He's going to be fine. He's going to be good to go. He's like Michael Brantley on his back end of his career. Michael Brantley would be great, actually, if Carl's career was at. He was just a single second half of the season last year. He talked about how the oblique injury slowed him down, so he's going to be ready to go. Jeremy Pena had a breakout year. He's going to keep that going. And we'll see what happens at the back end of the line.

Jake Myers. Jake Myers, honestly, if you look at, okay, if you're, if you're, want to be real, if we want to be real, true, honest people here, Jake Myers and Jeremy Pena are regression candidates because their batting averages and balls in play was much higher than their career averages, meaning batted ball luck. You can put the ball in play a thousand times, and sometimes you're going to have better luck than others with bloops and with guys out of position and not getting there and that type of stuff. Generally, year after year, it averages out.

And Jeremy Pena and Jake Myers were well above average last year with their batting average in ball and play. So, yes, it is possible that there's a world where both of those guys regress. Cam Smith isn't the real deal. Zach Cole was false promises from September. You have, Yiner Diaz continues to not be good and this offense is bad. Yes, that is possible. Correa goes over the hill.

Jose Altuvae continues to regress and not even regress, but just decline as he has the last couple of years. It's possible. It's possible. I've never seen numbers like this. All right. No, no, I don't say I've never seen. Like, you've been looking at spring trading numbers here. entire life.

Look at the San Francisco Giants. They have 33 walks, but 72 runs batted in. The Astros are the opposite. They have 71 walks. They're on the cuss. But 31 runs back. Didn't you hear the highlight? They loaded the bases like four times, okay?

They're ready to explode. They're going to score 10 runs today, and you're going to have egg over your face. Ross, you can load the bases every inning, but if no one drives them in, they're going to they're going to lose them in. They're on the cusp. It's not even like they're going to exact flies. They're ready to expect flies. Step one of scoring runs is getting guys on base.

Step two is driving them home. They're just getting in there on step one. They're going to get to step two. Step one and losing games is not crossing the plate. Shut up. You got to score on. It's a grapefruit league, dude. It's going to be fine.

You always overreact. You are the worst team in baseball and scoring runs currently. Okay. In spring training. Okay. I mean, you think they're going to show up opening games? You have my personal guarantee. They will not be the worst offense.

in baseball this year. Krisha Walker's going to go, oh, dude, it's open a night. My personal money back. Let's go. I'm going to hit for the cycle. Yeah, it's been hot, man. It's humid over there.

They haven't even hit for the cycle as a team yet. They need that wonderful dyke and air conditioning. They don't even have a triple. As a team, they haven't. You don't need a triple. Who cares? I'm just saying, like, they can't get hits.

They're going to be fine. You're going to be fine to some degree. All right. We're going to take a break. Chris Gordia is about the gut feeling that they're going to be the worst offense. You know what? I'm going to pull up the archives.

I'm curious what your latest gut feelings are. Do you have a gut feeling about the Astros offense? I think it's going to be fine. You have a gut feeling about anything about the Texans' offensive line. How about the Houston Rockets and the playoffs? Do you want to make a prediction? 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 7-13-212-5-7-90.

Helps if I turned my microphone on. I thought I hit the button, but I guess I... You were doing a whole show here. I mis-click. Yeah, it was good stuff, man. That was some of my best work, actually. Probably the smartest thing you've ever said. Yeah, well, that's a low bar.

1134 in the a.m. here on Sports Talk 790, the Matt Thomas show with Ross. As Matt Thomas will be joining us at noon, he's got a sore throat. So sore throat Thomas coming up at noon, along with the news at noon. Looking forward to that, Chris Cordy, gracious enough to be hanging out with his busy schedule. We appreciate him. You guys can get in on the phone lines with some gut feelings at 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. I'm just realizing we've been putting you to work, Gordy.

You had some gut feelings last week so we can run those back. But I'm going to go from mine from two weeks ago. I said the Rockets would sweep the clippers to end the season. That did not happen. I said the Rockets will finish as a top three seed in the West. As of this moment, they are third. And that's where they're going to have to finish because they're like five games behind the San Antonio Spurs.

I also said, and this one is going to get interesting maybe, barring injury, Reed Shepard will not be a full-time starter at any point this season for the Houston Rockets. I mean, that's kind of, he's been playing more and more minutes, right? Yes. He's almost playing start minutes. There have been people like, Reed Shepherd needs a start. Reed Shepherd's got to be in the starting lineup.

Look at this. Look at Reed Shepherd. He's the greatest of all time. Like, Reed Shepherd was good. 19 points, 10 assists last night, six steals, a couple of blocks. But I like him in a six-man role, where he can be in closing lineups, but also you need some bench scoring because Clint Capello is not getting the bench scoring done guys. You got to figure something out.

Okay. You know, you know where I want to go with a comp there? For Reed Shepard? What was James Harden doing his first few years? Oh, okay. Hold on. Coming off the bench? Stop. Stop. Stop.

Stop. Don't go with Reed Shepard and James. Hardin didn't even start a game. He didn't even start a game his first year at OKC. He played in 76 games off the bench. was averaging about 22 minutes a game. How many points was he averaging as a rookie? The next year he, uh, nine. Okay.

The next year he averaged 12. Still only started five games here two, 82 games. You heard it here first, folks. I'm just trying to make up. I'm just trying to go back. Let's remember. Hardin wasn't Hardin until he got here. I understand that.

In three full seasons in Oklahoma City, Hardin only started seven games. Okay. So it was a little bit of a cop there, right? Reed started a couple. There is a little bit of a comp, but James Hardin is also one of the greatest six-man stories blossoming into superstar ever. But if not number one. His progressive scoring was nine as a rookie 12 in year two and 16 in year three. You're going with Hardin now.

First three years Hardin was not this. Reed Shepherd is not winning an NBA MVP. Okay. Why? Why do you say that? Oh, wait a second. Are you saying he is? Write it down.

Say it right now on gut feelings. He's going to be one years old. Stop. He's got his whole career ahead of him. Gordy. Gordy, please. Your brain has been infected by your Kentucky Wildcat wife. I like Reed Shepherd.

Look at the numbers. I would like maybe Reed Shepherd will blossom into a starter. I don't think it's going to happen this year, but you got to relax. Year two of Hardin and OKC, he averaged 12 points a game. Reed Shepherd and Year 2 in Houston is averaging 13 points a game. Okay. Now Hardin shot, 34% for three. Reed Shepherd shooting 39%. Hardin is also, again, one of the biggest exceptions in basketball history in terms of a six man who blossom into a full, a full-blown superstar top 10 score of all time. Year two and OKC, Harden, two assists a game. Reed Shepherd, three point two assists per game. You're right. You know what? Reed Shepherd is better than James Harden.

No, I'm just saying trajectory. No, it's not trajectory. Is James Harding? Nobody's trading for Reed Shepherd and making them the centerpiece of their team. But that wasn't until after year three. Let's see what, Reed is next year. Okay, you know what? I'm writing it down. I'm putting it. I'm putting my name on it.

Okay? Not even a gut feeling. Reed Shepherd will never win an NBA MVP. I mean, come on. Okay. I'm putting it in all caps. Can he become one of the best players in the league in five years? Maybe.

Probably not. Well, that's just a hater when you said probably not. I'm just a hater? I don't know. I don't know. Oh, my God. That was a hater statement. Because now he went from four points

to 13. He's been great. I like Reacham. And it was a comparable jump Hardin made from year one to year two. You know what? He's young. You're right. And he's only 21. To say he's not going to blossom into an all-star is perhaps premature. How old was Hardin? How many, you only played the one year at Arizona State?

Okay. I'm just saying the numbers are very comparable two years. I imagine Jabari Smith Junior's scoring numbers in his third year are better than James Harden's scoring numbers in his third year. But I'm saying like he's got the vision, the passing ability for the assist totals. He's got 10 assists one time. Yeah, what do you have last night?

10. Yeah. That was the one time. It was great. Okay, yeah, he was great. Did I mention he's 21? Yes, he's young. You know what?

If this were buying stock, I'd be buying stock in Reed Shepard's. Yeah, you can buy some. stock and Reed Shepherd. He's going to go up. He's going to get better. You're right. I mean, can he be like a 15 to 20 point per game score? Like, what's hilarious about this is we could probably go back and find tape of like year two of SGA with the clippers and be like,

I think SGA one day is going to be awesome. You'd be like, you're kidding me? That guy? He's a scrub. So, okay, so we're going with MVP again. I'm just saying, like, Shaggill just Alexander. All these guys start somewhere. That's true. And you got to see, you see the glimpses of brilliance.

Okay. Is Reed Shepard MVP, 713, 212, 5, 790. Well, we'll be in the next decade win one? No. It's possible. I will bet you right now, whatever amount you want to bet. I'm going to track you down. I'm going to track you down and the Gordy. And if and when any little Gordy's coming, I'm coming for all of y'all. As a rookie, you would have been like, that's, Anthony Edwards is never going to win a MVP.

I might not have said that. No, Anthony Edwards? Absolutely. Okay, hold on. Did Anthony Edwards average four points per game as a rookie? I'm just trying to find guys that like when they first, it took him a few years in the league. And the N.A.N.W. Has not won an MVP, right? That's how hard it is. But he certainly is in the running. Reed Shepard's not winning MVP. Stop.

All right. Moving along here. Let's go to the other gut feeling. Matt Thomas has gut feeling. Rockets win their next four, which they lost to Miami, right? So that's an L. Cougars out of the South region, okay? And they don't lose until the NCAA tour.

He has, and he has them winning the Big 12 championship, I guess. and he said Joe Mixon's going to get released, which is going to happen. Jonathan, you had the Rockets winning their next four. Yeah. L. Gordy, you had Jason Alexander. You like some Jason Alexander. See, I'm okay with the Jason Alexander love.

He's kind of sneaky. Are you after that game? He was better in the second start. Lance McCullors on the bench. We'll see. LSU wins with CWL. The College World Series. College World Ladies.

And that looks even worse Losing the Northeastern last night Hey, Northeastern's got a squad, apparently. All right. They're undefeated on the weekend soon. All right, Chris Gordy, give me a gut feeling. I want to go with something. Oh, here's one for you.

For the second consecutive year, the Astros will not win the AOS. Oh, come on, man. Sorry. Yeah, I mean, it's probably... By the way, I found our blog post preseason last year of all of our predictions. Yes, we were all off.

Literally every one of us took the aster's to win the division, and almost all of us had the Astros in the World Series. Yeah. I think I, I think I wanted, didn't I have the Blue Jays in the World Series? I'd have to look that up. Maybe that was two years ago. I had the Blue Jays like maybe, like maybe that was a year early. I'm never wrong, I'm just early.

By the way, I really went out on a limb, and I was correct. Had the Dodgers winning at all. Oh, wow, great job. Jonathan, you got a gut feeling for this week. You know what? I'm going to play a safe. Rockets go 2-1. buckets go two and one in their next three games.

You know what? You can maybe just go ahead and put me down now. Dodgers win the World Series. Oh, yeah, I mean. That's fine. Might even go Thunder win the NBA finals too. Astros, bats explode sometime in the next week. Just for you.

Okay, what's explode? I'm talking 10 plus runs. 10 plus runs. God. Who's Venezuela thrown tonight? Maybe it's tonight. That's what I'm hoping for. Venezuela would be a nice one for me.

Omar Lopez. Let's go. Omar Lopez goes, guys, we've got to get the Astro's confidence up. All right. Put him the guy with the 25 ERA. All right. Both the all in hold, we see you.

We're going to get to you. We got to take a quick break because Courtney and I were arguing too much about Reed Shepard, the greatest basketball player of all times. Future, future all-N-B-A player, Reed Shepard. We'll talk about that coming up. You guys got some guys.

feelings you want to get in. Scott Gio will get to you next. 713, 212, 5, 790 is the phone number. 713, 212, 5790. All right. Welcome back to the Mad Thomas Show with Ross with Chris Gordy. Let's see. Taylor Cress says Gordy getting worked up over guys that'll be in AA AA next month. Like who?

I don't know. Jack's biggers. Our starters will be in AAA or double A if they don't pick it up. This guy's 63931. The crawfish has gotten to Gordy's head. It is crawfish season. I've only had one batch. Okay. I've had enough yet.

They get bigger later into the season, correct? Yes. They were very tiny when I had them. Okay. That's the thing. It's like, people always get on me about poundage, and it's like three pounds is good if they're decent size. Three pounds, and they're all tiny, tiny.

Yeah, and you're paying for mushrooms and potatoes and corn. Yeah, and I like the sides. but like, to me, five pounds is a good, it's a good size. Yeah. All right. More crawfish talk coming up. I don't know. Later on at some point.

Hey, baby. All right. 713, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790 is the phone number. 713, 2,1, 2, 5, 790. Scott in Jersey Village has been holding patiently. Go ahead, Scott. Oh, yes, sir. Thank you, take my call-off.

No problem. Yes. Okay, unfortunately, in my gut, When I play this tape forward, I feel like the Astros finish is all under 500. I thought they were in 79 games. You know, I know. I feel like they have the arms. They have some arms.

And there will always be somebody that will perform well that you didn't expect. But there's always going to be somebody that doesn't perform so well. I just don't see them having the offense. In all honesty, I was really with the. the Carlos Korea moved last year because it was exactly what you needed for 60 games or whatever we had left a short shot in the arm. I don't want Carlos Correa for 162 games. You don't want Carlos Correa for 162 games.

The twins don't want him for 162 games. He's only going to play 90 anyway, and that's fine. You know, Al-Tuve, you know, he's not what he used to be. And it's been a long time, honestly, since I've seen Alvarez be good. let's see what Walker's going to do. We're trying to trade away our second best player. You know, so let's just see. I don't see them winning 90 games, so what are we going to say, 85?

Okay, well, I see them losing a lot of these three to two games where we just couldn't score. 86 and a half was the win, it is the Vegas win total. I'm going over the win total, Scott. Shut your bum ass up. Surprise, surprise, Ross. Anything else, Scott? That's it. Have a good day, y'all. Thank you. Appreciate it. Look, they won 87 games last year, and they had 5,000 injuries,

and so I think they can win one more game than last year. I'm not saying they're going to win the American League West. I'm not saying they're going to light the world on fire. I do feel confident that the bats will be at least okay enough, and I feel confident that the starting pitching is going to be consistent enough, that they can, I'll go over 86 and a half win. Where did he have them at, like, 75 wins, he said? He said 79.

Okay. That would be an eight-win drop-off from last year. That would be Dana Brown and Joe Spott to see you later stuff for the Astros. They're below 500. I would say even if there's a rash of injuries. They're below 500. Both of those guys are gone. I would probably agree.

And then Jim Crane's statement about, you know, the window will never close as far as, you know, like I feel like. That was foolish when he said. But I would feel like the window is closed. If they missed the postseason for a second straight year and they got a clean house. And all your big star players have all moved on. Like, that's weird kind of. It'd be depending because, yeah, the farm system's not great. You don't have a lot of tradable assets anyways.

I don't even know what you would do at that point. I don't even want to think about that. Optimism. Now I'm upset. I're going to make the playoffs. All right. Thanks. Thanks, Corey.

Gio, what's up? Good to have you on. Quick question before I start this. Are you guys on air tomorrow or is the Astros going to be on? It'll be the Astros store both. We're on until noon and the Astros come on at noon tomorrow. Okay, so in that case, I don't think we're doing, shut your bum ass up tomorrow. Yeah, we're doing 11.30.

Okay, well. Are you trying to get Gordy today, aren't you? Oh, yeah, you know me, you know. I got it. Okay, so, so my gut feeling, I'm going to start off with that one. My gut feeling today is Gordy. I think you're pissing a lot of us off today. That's my gut feeling. And my shut your bum ass up goes to Gordy.

Gordy, look, I'm not saying the Astros are going to win the World Series, man. But, golly, man. The way you're talking, we might as well just call it this season. Well, Gio, you must not like facts. I was just giving you facts on what the offensive numbers are so far. Hey, hey, man, we're talking with, in the words of AI, we're talking about spring training, man. Okay. All right.

We're talking about spring training. And to say, to go further, to say that cocaine curry, all right, my boy, Reed Shepherd is going to be an MVP in the next 10 seasons. I didn't say MVP. All I said is, what are you smoking, Gordon's two years, look at Hardin's first two years in OKC. Gordon. And he's 21. We're talking about James Hardin and Reed Sheparder. Yeah, you're talking about 36-year-old James Hardin. I'm talking about back when Hardin came out of Arizona State.

Numbers are comparable. Numbers are comparable. Gordy, I love you. Look, Gordy, I love you, but such a bum ass up. All right, we'll see. Let's go. I mean, we're going to have to wait about a decade for this to pay off. And you guys are in.

Yeah, I like Reed Shepherd. Somewhere around 2031. I'll circle back with you guys. Don't make me hate Reed Shepherd. I don't hate Reed Shepherd. I like Reed Shepherd a lot. I want him to be so successful. But, yeah, I don't think he's on a James Hardin-esque trajectory.

Be nice. It'd be great. And you know what? I would crown you the smartest man on the planet if that did happen. I mean, what if he's just like a really good player? That'd be good. No, he's made a huge leap. Who was my guy in Indy that's hurt?

Tyrese Halliburton? Took him several years. Yeah, exactly. I'm just saying, like, on that level, the guys that were not late-blank. that were not late bloomers, but just took a few years to really settle in. It can happen. You mentioned Shaggillis Alexander. I mean, you're mentioning James Harden,

but I think I can point to dozens of guys who never ended up panning out, who made leaps and who, I mean, for example, Jalen Green. Jalen Green had a better start to his career than Reed Shepard did, numbers-wise. Is Jalen Green going to be NBA MVP? No. So it's just very difficult. And we can go through any number of guys who we can point to. I don't know.

I'm even guys on this team. I'm in Thompson, Reed Shepherd. Like, they're scoring more points per game than Reed Shepherd is right now. And they're not going to be NBA MVP. So I like Reed Shepherd, and the shooting is good. And it's been consistent. It's been better, especially since the All-Star break, where it felt like going into the All-Star break.

His legs were a little bit tired. His shooting went down the last month. And he's been over 45% since then. So that's good. I like Reed Shepherd. I just don't know that he's got Star written all over him. I mean, not right now. It's early.

It is early. He is young. He can get older. He can get blossom. And you know what? If he wins an MVP with a Houston Rocket's uniform, I'm going to be all on board for that. What if I told you six years from now that Rockets two best players are, I'm in Thompson and Reed Shepherd? Okay, three years from now.

That's possible. Faces of the franchise. It's possible. Katie's retired. Katie's going to retire. In three years, he might still be putting up 25 per game. All right. We're going to take a break here. Gordy, thanks for hanging out.

All right. Appreciate you. Matt Thomas is going to join with the news at noon. I'm going to give him the news at noon, I suppose, and then he's just going to sit there with his sore throat and be here for the last two hours. How bad will Matt sound? I'm sorry. I mean, how great will Matt sound?

Find out next on hour number three of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 12-02. Oh, goodness. Hi, Rossie. This is fantastic. What's up, Matt? Oh, Ross. Hey, Matt.

I'm just going to power through. Okay. I'm going to get a shot. How's it going? I mean, I don't, I look great. I don't feel bad. That's good news. It's the Rossville Real Show featuring me a couple of minutes.

Yeah, let's bring back those hot takes from Gordy. You know what? If Wexler and Clant want to come in for the last hour, because I have a short show. Wouldn't be the worst thing. Okay, I will text. I'll text them too. Okay, you text them.

You know, it's funny because I was saying very minimal things this morning in hopes that, you know, the couple of extra hours. Oh, you've been in a vow of silence. You know what? My wife's actually liked it a little bit. I was going to say, but what about the shower singing, though? I know you didn't want to cut that out. God, you know me too well.

I was doing part game show and part singing. Like, you know what? I need to get my voice revved up. Oh, okay. And then I put the earphones on, and I'm like, holy crap, I sound like hell. Well, that's okay. Let's hear, well, are we going to get to the news at noon at some point? I can do that.

Let's do that. Let's figure out less of me and more of you, the great city of Houston. Ladies and gentlemen, here's Ross with the News and Noon. Yeah, so I'm going to talk at length. It is the News at Noon soliloquy here on Sports Talk 790. Well, let's go ahead and start with What Has Matt Late Into Town and joining us at noon?

That would be your Houston Rockets with the victory over the Washington Wizards. 123 to 118 sounds closer than it was. It did get close to late, but the Rockets were never in danger of losing that game. You know what I'm actually curious to hear what it sounded like on Sports Talk 790. Shepherd being harassed hard by Bub Carrington,

gets by Carrington, middle of the paint, pulls up from 10 feet, front iron miss, offensive rebound, But back one, no, footback two, yes. Cleaning off the backboard again. Now, Prince Sengoon at 118, 106. Yeah, that sounds all right. That's all right, right.

That's not bad. That's a lot more most than this sandpaper to throw at him here and right now. Oh, my God. I'm so sorry, Ross. I'm so sorry. It's okay, Matt. No, it's not. You know what I do, honestly?

I blame the NBA. You blame the NBA, really? Why in the world would you send me to the East Coast? They have to play 82 games, Matt. They have to go. They have to play the Eastern Conference schedule. Why do I have to play Orlando, Miami when it's 77? You didn't play anybody.

31 in snow yesterday in Washington, D.C. I don't know. Maybe you need to, we need to get you on some immunotherapies or something. Well, I'm going to give me some steroids in about an hour or whenever it is. It feels like this happens once a year. It does. Now, far be it for me. I mean, I was out last week with the flu.

I get my fair amount of sickness as well But the reality is this I'm not trying to criticize No no no We are not a deep roster Here on the 790 staff so We all get vacation time And no one should begrudge that

You and I try collectively Not to take time off for sick I try not to yes And I'm trying to think if I can If I can lower my voice What I mean? Yeah maybe you just talk a little bit

You know what man let me go ahead and run through the box score here for a little bit Yeah take your time All right rockets get the one 18 victory. Reed Shepard leading the way with 42 minutes. He had a career high 10 assists, 19 points. He was 4 of 11 from 3. He was doing it all. Alperin Shingoon was doing damage in the middle as the Rockets had. I think it was like 68 points in the paint. 32 from him. As the Washington Wizard just said, yeah, we're not going to double Alperin Shingun really the entire game and see what kind of damage he can do. Well, Alperin Shung said, I like that mighty fine.

as he had 32 points, 13 rebounds, a couple of assists. He did turn the ball over eight times, and Kevin Durant turned the ball over six times. But who's counting? Well, 21 turnovers, 39 points off of that. 54% from three, the Washington Wizards shot, Matt. If they were playing an actual good team, they would have lost that game last night. But thankfully, they were not playing an actual good team. It was the Washington Wizards.

No, it was not a good team at all. And scrappy, but a play nightmare. First of all, I didn't know who half the players were. and as after spending a day studying them. And Bilal Kulibali was going off. Yeah, and Bub Carrington, if you will. Yeah, Bub Carrington. What a great name that is.

Bob Carrington. Now, Buck Carrington sounds like the guy that works at your hardware store down the street, right? Bob Carrington? Yeah. Or he's like the doorman at the blues bar? Oh, that's not bad either. And Bob Carrington was contacted after a brawl outside the bar. Or actually, Bob Carrington.

is on the bass guitar. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that works too. Longhorn legend. Trey Johnson was two of ten. You're going to break down, and he's having a good season. Hey, he's averaging 12 points per game. He's the next James Hardin.

I heard you guys talking about that. Is Gordy okay? I mean, I'm going to have you full float, but everybody knows. His wife is a huge Kentucky Wildcat fan. And can I tell you something? So he's probably been getting wildcat propaganda at home for months. I am a big. fan of Reed Shepard.

Me too. He did a great game. He had a tennis this game yesterday. Six steals, which ties his career high or a season high for the Rockets.

I mean, there's a lot of good things about what he's doing. He's playing the most basketball in his career. Remembering you in the college game, he's playing 35 games a year. He didn't play much last year, and he's doing whatever he can

to be the legitimate six man. I want him back on the bench, not because I don't think he can play starters' minutes, but I like the bench scoring. And at this point, it'll get

Jabari back at length is right now. The Rockets bench is kind of lean. Yeah. So, I mean, Reecher playing well. We're not going to call him the next James Hardin just yet here on the Sports Talk 7. 90, where we continue the news at noon, where Matthew Jurekson Profar of the Braves, getting ready to learn Maricio Dubon, Atlanta. 162.

My goodness. 162 game ban for Jerks and Profar, his second PED violation in the last year. at 33 years old, he is the six player ever to receive a 162 game ban for PED use since Major League Baseball increased the penalty for two-time offenders to a full season in 2014. He is also forfeiting the entirety of his $15 million salary this year, ineligible for the postseason, ineligible for the upcoming World Baseball Classic, where he was going to represent the Netherlands. I mean, do you think he could evade it? I mean, I don't know the stupidity of this. The second time offense. Yeah, I just whatever, who knows,

I'm sure he's going to release a statement that it was some kind of tainted supplement and he would never cheat and he's going to do all this and blah, blah, blah. But, man, how about 15-milly cost by your PED suspension if you're jerks in pro far? Good luck with that. By the way, I want to do the next segment. I want to get to some more on the Texans yesterday.

I have a chance has deep thoughts about it. Okay, deep David Montgomery thoughts from Matt Thomas coming up. Yeah, I like that. That's a little precursor to the next segment. Okay. Yeah, Jerks and Profar did,

he was one of the top prospects in baseball early in his career when he was with the Rangers. Then he was hurt, didn't play well, and then kind of have a late career resurgence. Perhaps that ties in to his PED. Yep. Suspensions. All right, elsewhere in the NFL news,

may be good that the Texans made the David Montgomery move yesterday. The Jets have placed the franchise tag on star running back Breece Hall. The non-exclusive tag is a $14.293 million contract. He can negotiate with other teams and sign an offer sheet. The Jets have the right of first refusal, and it would also receive two first-round picks as compensation if they declined to match. So, Bruce Hall is going to be a New York Jet this upcoming season. But that is a name off the list in terms of possible free agent target,

running back targets, I should say. Do you think that Nicky C knew that going in and that that's why he went with Plan B? I think he had a feeling that the Kenneth Walker market was going to be high. Same thing for Brees Hall and the David Montgomery move is a shoring up of that. I don't want to call it a Plan B, Contingency Plan.

Let's call it that. All right, Rossi, I'm going to let you finish the news at noon. I'm going to cough up a lung and then I'll be back with my great David Montgomery take. Get some hot tea. Come on, man. I'm sick of tea. All right. I'm sick of it. All right. I'm sorry. You hear me?

I'm just trying to help. You know, you're such a good friend. Yeah, yeah. Some of the best. All right, so Matt Thomas is kind of sick. Maybe one of the Adams will be joining us at 1 o'clock. He's going to give us his David Montgomery take coming up here in a little bit as we just brought you the news at noon here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Stunna, I see you on hold.

We can get you to you in a little bit. Anything you guys want to get to, we can talk about on the phone lines. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. if you'd like to get in, 713, 212, 5, 790. You can also follow and tweet us at SportsRV and at SportsMT. And you know what? Matt Thomas sounds like hell. Why don't you follow him on Instagram at SportsMT?

And you can follow me on Instagram at SportsRV as well. All right, quick break, Matt's thoughts on David Montgomery, day number two. How are you feeling about the move? Anything you guys want to get to, 713-212-5-790. 7-7-13-212-5-790. 1217 Matt and Ross By the way

Some of you are very rude That Ross is doing the show with RFK Jr. Yeah, let's see A couple of tweets I can't believe he got RFK to do the show today Well that'd be RK Jr.

RFK was assassinated, the original RFK Jr, that's right He is alive Wish SportsMT was here to see it That's pretty funny stuff from Ryan and then I also got another one from Pedro. This interview with Doc Rivers is great. Oh my God, that's too funny.

It's too funny. Thanks, Doc. So, if there's ever an opportunity to hear less of me, it will be today. Yes. 713-212-5-790. That's right. 7-13-212-5-70. If you ever wanted to argue with me about any of my takes.

Ooh, and how? Like, if you want to argue about why I'm not Mr. Texas, which would be a complete false. No, there's, there's mountains of evidence for that. Okay. This is the did a... All right, so I've had a chance of chewing this Montgomery thing. Okay.

Now, I am a Texan observer, not a fan. Yes. My initial gut feeling is you guys did gut feelings last hour I'm assuming. Yeah, you want to write this down? Yeah, go ahead, why not? Okay. This isn't going to end well. What?

Why is it not going to end well? What do you mean? Explain. Well, let me put it this way. He's not going to rush for 800 yards. Okay. And you're trading a fourth round pick for a guy that's supposed to be your RB1? It should be a thousand yards minimum.

Yeah, you would hope so. 800 yards is probably about a good line because he's going to be splitting time with Woody Marks. Is that a good thing, though? Did you not want an RB1 here, though, Rossi? You wanted an RB1 in here, but Brees Hall just got tagged. Kenneth Walker is going to cost you way too much. Maybe you don't really want to spend a lot of draft capital on a running back, and you still could draft a running back in a third round or something like that.

If you find the right situation, it's supposed to be a pretty good running back draft as well. Because David Montgomery, as I said, could be the contingency plan. But I know it sucks that a contingency plan cost you a fourth round pick, but the reports from everybody around are that there was going to be a fifth round pick, but other teams got involved so the Texans had to up their offer. All to say is this. he does come with there hasn't been a lot of wear and tear in his body

because obviously Jermere Gibbs has done so much to the heavy lifting in Detroit but Harvey 29 is still 29 there's just going to be explosive that's not there than he was when he was you know originally league six or seven years ago yeah 158 carries 716 yards 4 and a half a carry

I mean that's you're already still upgraded from last year where you did basically Nick Chubb was taking over for half the season and then the rest of the season Woody Marks was just a guy took over. Even if with hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, an improved offensive line. Right. I think the David Montgomery is going to come here and run for 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns?

No. Oh, my God, if he did. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I'm feeling good, not great about it, basically. Okay. So I don't want to say disappointment. I mean, let me rephrase.

I'll put the bar at eight. He's not going to reach 800 yards. Okay. Which, again, that's the question is, what are the expectations of, fans as compared to what's expectations of the team if they really think that Woody Marks can take the next step in the NFL progression. Woody Marks, now, okay.

Just the guy. That's true. But also guys can get better. Rookies can get improved from their rookie season. Right. But also running backs generally is a position where even as a rookie you can perform up to par. Hey, remember how much we loved Damien Pierset for that first year? Yeah, he was terrible.

So that's in the reverse. Can do the other side of things on that too. Yeah. David Montgomery is upgrading in situation, but he's downgrading an offensive line. Can Woody Marks, I don't know, add some bulk and get stronger and get better and break some more tackles? He's not going to really get faster. He's not explosive.

He didn't have a lot of explosive runs. That's what you're worried about with Woody Marks. And can he just be at 1B to a David Montgomery who has been a 2, but is going to be your 1A? See, my philosophy is this, is that if you're a number two somewhere in your 23, 24 years old, it's like, man, give me a shot. I can go do this. David Montgomery's been in the NFL. He's rushed for over 1,000 yards.

He became RB2 because Jemir Gibbs jumped him. Yeah, Jemir Gibbs is just one of the five most dynamic running backs of football. Yeah. And David Montgomery is not that. Now, the question would be if Jemir Gibbs, let's say, was hurt. four, three or four game stretch, how much of the Detroit offense would be focused about, you gave David Montgomery the same responsibility. You gave Jemar Gibbs.

Would this team be significant? It would be on the same pace. I don't know the answer to that. No, Jemir Gibbs is better than David Montgomery. That's why David Montgomery is here. But you also are better than last year. It was Nick Chub and Woody Marks. This is an upgrade.

This is a significant upgrade. Oh, compared to where it was last year, absolutely. And no disrespect to Nick Chub and his resurgent season. and according to Ian Rappaport. Yeah. It's so funny yesterday. I put that tweet out and I was like, man, don't you realize they work for agents?

Nope. Please. Is that my first rodeo? Not even your second rodeo, Matt. No. A lot of rodeos. Who are you going to see the rodeo this year, by the way? I don't have any plans to see anybody that's at the Houston

rodeo, and I didn't go to the cook-off. Whoa, really? Yeah. Cookoffs usually got your name all over it. I know. I'm just not cool enough. I'm too old for the cookoff, I guess. The hoochie wearing outfits were amazing this year, by the way.

The hoochies are every year at the cookoff. The hoochies, I mean, Lord, we have friends that are hoochies, and they're in their hoochie here. Tell me I'm wrong. Good to have you back, Matt. I don't have any friends that are hoochies, Matt. No. Oh, I got hoochie friends.

Okay. And I love the hoochie friends. I don't. don't have any hoochie friends personally no good that's good for you let's go to the phone talk to some people by the way i got a story about what happened to me in miami last week that i need a ruling can you write it down and then like jonathan can read it oh that sounds fine no i can't laugh because i'm going to start to cough you're the worst well me i'm the worst what did i do you're making me laugh make me cough all right i'm sorry i'm david and umble on 790 hello

David? Um, T, uh, what's wrong? You, you, you, your voice. Uh, what happened? I mean, what happened? Life happens. People get sick. I mean, I'm not really sick, but I just, I've got terrible laryngitis, which I'm hopefully going to get fixing about, uh, depends on what time the boys come in. I'm empty, I love you like a brother. Thank you very much. I'm just, I'm just concerned, my brother.

Thank you. Don't be worried. I'm actually, I look fantastic. And, uh, my wife wanted to kiss me all over, but she said, no, I can't get sick. Not going to have. Well, you're not going to make your wife sick, are you? No chance. I'm going to the doctor as soon as the show's over, so don't worry. Yeah. Well, David Montgomery is certainly an upgrade, but, you know, it's not a significant upgrade,

in my opinion. But the tech has got a lot of work to do. But the cougars, man, I love the cougars. What do you think about them going to the final four? Well, selfishly, I hope they do because I've already booked a ticket to Indianapolis for the championship game. Hopefully that happens. The problem is, and that's not a problem, it's just it is what it is. It feels like this year the tournament, to get all the way, is going to be even more difficult

because the teams are so heavy at the top. I mean, Arizona just finished off winning. The Big 12, Duke is amazing. Michigan's lost twice. You got Yukon, Florida. I mean, you've got legitimately five or six teams that think they've got a legitimate chance of the national championship. And I don't know if I felt that way a year ago, but it feels like the net over a potential title contenders is a lot bigger than it was last season. Well, along as Houston has Kevin Sampson, they're going to be okay.

But Kevin Sampson is an amazing back head, that's Cabal coach. I would agree with you on that. He's a great coach. He's got two talented freshmen, got a couple of veteran guards. You know, the low post play has been a little bit of work and still a work in progress because the fact that the big man, especially Jojo Tucker, gets in the foul trouble so much, and that's not great. Thank you for the phone call, David.

We appreciate it. And that's what scares me, Ross, is that Jojo is such a huge part of this team a low block, but he's picking up fouls at a really high clip very early on. And in the college game, you get a second foul in the first half. You're basically doomed for about 15 minutes. That comes with the territory with the physical style of play. Kind of like Houston Rockets. It's like Imeadoka likes to play physical and you kind of let the, the force of referees to not make those calls and Cougars do the same thing. Yeah, that's exactly right. So we look forward to it. We'll be talking a lot of Cougar basketball, the tournament coming up in a few weeks.

Do our Longhorns have a chance for an at-large-Bit sports? Yeah, Longhorns are going to make the tournament. We beat the Aggies over the weekend. I think they're 10 and 7 in the SEC play, something like that. So they'll probably get in as like an 8-9 is what it's feeling like right now. Oh, you feel like a trip to Dayton's in play then? It's possible. But, yeah, it's a tough game.

I think it's Arkansas. And then they, yeah, Arkansas tomorrow. and then they'll be taking on the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday to end league play. Right now they're 9 and 7 in SEC play. They should be in as like a... Hopefully if they can win a couple of games and win some games in the SEC tournament, they could get up to the 7 seat or something like that to try to avoid having to be in an 8-9, and then, of course, that means you're playing a 1 in the second round.

I'm going to say, honestly, I'm hurting for the Long Horse to get in. I think it's fun when your buddies have teams in the tournament. Yeah, it is fun, so I can just get disappointed again. I'm ready to get hurt again with the Longhorns in the tournament. I can't wait. It happens all of our sports teams. Life is pain. Let's go.

Like the Texans. When the EFC South, year after year after year. And they just, you know, come, AFC, divisional playoff weekend, they're done. Astros. I mean, we've had two World Series, so that's a good run. Rockets are back at the playoff track. Hopefully they'll get passed for the first round this year. Yeah, that'd be nice.

Sports are built for disappointment sports, Harvey. You know who'd be looming in the second round. San Antonio Spurs. So I'm a little scared about that. Are you in a room with me on that trip? You can come down to San Antonio? Yeah, I'll come down to San Antonio. Yeah, you're invited.

Yeah, I'll take the Greyhound. Can you pick me up? No, we'll drive together. Okay, great. Oh, we're going to drive. Let's go. Road trip. Road trip.

I like this. Now, I'll be giving up the plane for you, but that's worth it because you're a good friend of me. Oh, I like that. I appreciate you, Matt. All right, we got Dave to get to get to. And then I got to tell you about what happened to me this morning. I got a video of me in Miami. I didn't realize I was being videotaped.

Oh, really? Mm-hmm. What were you stealing? What are you doing? That's what you're going to have to listen for. It's called a radio tease, Jonathan. I got me for once, wow. I mean for once.

I'm in the, I know what y'all gonna do it, but that's not the damn Matthews are teasing. I do better teases than that. Whoa, what does that mean? That's something that's wrong with you. It's something wrong with me. I love Dan. I just tease him. It's literally, see, teasing.

We got to some more calls to get to, but I got to get a story out real quick. So one of our sales reps at 790, her name is Courtney. Her husband, Rich, is a big listener to show. Shout out to the entire family. Their beautiful young child they just had about a year ago. Courtney says, Rich wanted me to let you see this. So he sends me an Instagram video, Ross. This is that I swear.

Okay. This is the truth. What's Bob Barker doing in this video? No, it's a means. in the video. Oh, it's an AI video of you? No, it's a real video. Oh, really? So, after the show last week, I went to go get something to eat.

This is a Maden on Friday show. Okay. And I went to, like, one of those pitas places, you know, in Miami. Okay. You can stuff them with lamb or beef or sirlloin. It was in... Mm-hmm. Sharmah. Basically, yeah, I don't know if it was exactly that.

And I, you know, because Ross is always challenging me to challenge my palettes. I went to try something different. That's good. Something you can only get in Miami. And I had this rabbi kind of pita thing. It was delicious. It had some spiced peppers in it.

It had some pickles. It had some red onion. It was really delicious. And the owner of the place was like walking me through the menu. He's like, we've got great hummus here. We got this outside on a new hummus. And he goes, OK, he says, what do you want to get? So he's like pointing me to his menu.

And he's telling me what to order and what's a drink. And if I want to side with it, I thought this isn't it. You know, young business command, he's trying to learn his craft. Come to find out, he was shooting video of me ordering at his place. Really? And he put an Instagram video of me ordering. No, you didn't yell at him or anything, did you? No.

Yeah, go ahead. Let me ask you this. How did he do that? He didn't have a phone in his hand. He wasn't shooting. Was he videotape his restaurant? Did he have glasses? What was the point of view?

was it for you people have like meta glasses and they record their metaglasses it had to that because he was literally it was looking at you looking to him and he looks right in front of you correct so he's recording you on your meta glasses and he didn't there was no sign on the door you may be recorded or anything i didn't see anything i thought i would pay attention to something well you can sue that guy i think i think you're supposed to have consent of people posting your stuff especially for promotional materials now the food was excellent and it's got like 3,000 views on instagram i'm gonna send it to you after the show because it's kind of weird.

Okay. But the number one thing was the comments were, will you let the man live his life? Because he was running through everything for me. And everybody thought this guy was being way too pushy to me. Oh, really? Yeah. Hmm.

But it was weird that, and then Courtney, her husband, Rich, who listened to the show, how did he see it? I don't know. Some random thing that popped. The guy doesn't know my name. Yeah. Now, I've got a Houston shirt on that says Rockets, but that's as far as it goes.

Interesting. How do you feel being filmed without your consent, Matt? Well, I mean, I've been filmed before. Without your consent? Sometimes. Depends on what's going on in our lives. But it was just weird. I'm at this randos, small business.

What's it called? I don't even know. Okay. I'm going to send it to you and then during the break. I want you to look at it. Okay, thank you. I will react. If I should sue this guy.

I don't think you're going to get much money, but... Oh, but I mean... They need to tell you you're being filmed if they're going to be posting on their social media. Well, put it this way. If he's going to use me as a way to sell his product, at least he could have to cut my lunch, right? That's what I'm saying. Like, you need to be taken care of and compensated. Yeah, the name of the Instagram is...

It's like, I went to a burnt bean company barbecue in Sigeen, and they asked me to be filmed, and I said no. Like, cut the check, bro. Yeah, I see what you're doing. Yeah, I'm not here to promote. because you know what they did the people behind me and they had them order like 10 times and like it's like a job it's like no i'm just trying to get my barbecue and get out of here i'm not trying to sell your product for free yeah he put it on youtube and the caption says he left saying i'm happy like a baby you did do you say that that's fat and happy is what i said

he left saying i'm happy like a baby yeah i just sent it to you guys in the show group text wow this is weird isn't that weird yeah you should be feeling you You should feel uncomfortable. I just don't want to be filmed. If we're going to have a restaurant. I mean, let me be. Oh, yeah. He has,

he has, like, meta glasses on or something. Okay. Oh, this has got 3,200 likes. Yeah. And 64 comments. The comments are,

leave the guy alone. He wants to have some lunch. Listen, read those comments. Yeah, you know what I'll do? I'll put this on my, on my Twitter account. Let you'll see that, too.

It's just weird. Oh, look, these people are being nice. I love customers like this. Very good service. Reeled him in. This man is very good at talking. Yep, Central, bro. Yeah, they talk about the guy.

I was like, because he's part of the entire play by menu. I guess he has a script. Oh, free Palestine? I'm not going there. Matt, you have 110,000 views. Okay. No, you need to charge this guy.

Yeah. How do I do this? Is I only go to Miami once a year? Yeah, all these other videos Look, you're blowing up, Maddie Okay Most of these are like 60K views Oh, this one's 220

He's kind of pushy by the way This one is 500,000 You saw it, Jonathan? Yeah, Matt, you should have Tedge your ground a little bit Oh wow, this has six point Well, you don't know you're being filmed either though Oh, that's exactly right

6.8 million views Dang, let's get these numbers up, Maddie Well, I'm just saying, I mean, I'm glad he kind of told me what I wanted Didn't want and he was trying to push the hummus I don't like hummus, so Yeah, you, this is Oh, this is this on YouTube?

What is this on Instagram? Yeah, on YouTube. He's got 110,000 views on YouTube. No, this isn't right. Honestly. You should be, you should consent to be filmed. He's making money off this, quite frankly. Should I go to the comment section and say,

you didn't tell me you were filming me? 100,000 views. He's making money on YouTube? That makes money. I don't know how much money. Chris Gordy, locked on SEC can tell us more. Yeah. Or Cole Thompson?

like 100,000 views on YouTube, that's making a little bit of a chunk of change. I bet you, though, he's going to say there's a sign somewhere in the restaurant. You have to see it out there because he got you on the sidewalk. Yeah. Yeah, maybe there's a little sign that says you consent to be being filmed or something like that.

I mean, he wasn't being malicious or anything. No, I don't like it. Don't like it. You're making money off of me. I need a chunk. That video is he'd make it. You're the only one in that video. That's correct. He's making money. Yeah. Not right. That's why I got you.

my friends. Let's talk to Willie on 790. Hello Willie. Hi, good afternoon. I hope you get better soon and understand that you're hoarse and you can't talk very loud. I've been that way after a few Cougar games, couldn't talk the next day. Yeah, we watched Rockets last night and I do think Breed Sheppard is the most improved player on the team.

he's come from me thinking he's come really from nowhere and he's a lot of fun to watch after that we went to the Arizona game to see what was going on there and I looked up the roster of the Arizona team the majority of these players come from outside of the country they might have three players that come from the United States how are they doing that and I just think that that is so an American to do that, to call this a team in the United States when they're coming from all over the world, Netherlands, Sudan, France, England, all these places. Willie, let me ask you this. Willie, are people from other countries allowed to go to schools in the United States?

Yes, but certainly they do. They are, and some of them are a minute. Willie. Well, anyway, did you have a problem with Hakeem Olajuwon coming from? from Nigeria to play with the University of Houston Cougars? No, but the majority of the team didn't come from out of the country. Well, it doesn't matter how many people are doing it. Well, it's just to me, you're a little irritating,

because I think that we should have more prospects coming out of our high school to our junior colleges. Well, that's not the college coach's fault. That's the American talent. It's a problem. Yeah. Well, I didn't understand it, but, you know, after they won, they took the conference championship.

So congratulations. Let me take you something. If the University of Houston has 14 kids that don't, they're all from 14 different countries, as long as they can stay eligible to compete and can go to class, I don't care where they're from. Well, I'm just a little irritated with it. I just, um,

I got to watch out for the Dutch. Yeah. Watch out for the Dutch, huh? Yeah. All right. Thank you so much. You got it. Hmm.

That was a take. wasn't expecting so far today. You know, you know, kick a chemelage one. From Nigeria, outside of America? That's un-American. People coming from foreign countries to live in America, that's very un-American. Or maybe everyone's from a foreign country. No, whatever.

Oh, by the way, that's a take. Courtney just texted me. Rich is listening. Okay. Shout out to you, Rich. Let me tell you something, Rich, if you're an attorney, you can give me some money off this YouTube clip. Oh, they do actually have some. This guy's from France, Senegal, Germany, Lithuania?

Motius Krivus, Sudan? Well, this is great. Yeah, there's been a lot of international players who come and play college basketball. People come from other places to try to get a better opportunity. It's crazy. But he healed went to Oklahoma from the Bahamas. Do you say about that? I don't know.

I mean... Jay Gildas Alexander came from Canada. Willie's got a problem with it. It's un-American. Issues in college athletics. It's un-American for people to come here and try to improve their lives and their education

and they're standing and try to make the NBA. As long, I mean, I'm assuming they're all legally a lot of being in our country. I don't know. They follow the rules to make it happen. Now, if you have illegals,

then I'm not going to back that up. But I'm going to present these young men that are 18, 19 years old or legally in our country. All right. Good God. Let's do today's edition of how the Astros OPS is. No, it's just the spring training.

It's just spring training, but it's not great. 1246. It's a Matt Thomas show, Ross. 713-212-5-790. By the way, Wexler's in Tom Ball, so you're going to be with you. I'm going to be with you for a few more minutes. What's he in Bridgeland? I don't know what the hell he did.

You know what he's probably getting an apartment? He's going to say, is he leasing places out there in Bridgeland? I'm Adam Wexer. I'm the Texans reporter for 790. I like to go to every practice, and I need to be close to Torotown. Greg and H-Town has gotten us down to the bottom of the laws in Florida, which are apparently very loose.

Go ahead. What is he saying? You can be recorded in Florida without consent in a public place, but if they want to use it commercially, they need your consent. Yeah, this is for his restaurant, and then this is getting views on YouTube. It's getting his, this is marketing for his restaurant, and he's probably making YouTube.

revenue. I would say that's being used commercially. Cut me a damn... Okay, so let me ask you this. Do I then go to that page and say, hey, you didn't tell me I was doing this? I don't know, man. You may get a cease and desist.

I mean, I'm not trying to be an a-hole about it. I just thought it was just weird. I know, I'm just saying. I mean, he's just making content off you and making money. That's fine. 1254 on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. And no, I'm not doing an RFK Jr. impersonation. but thanks everybody again for putting that out there.

Rude. Well, you sound better than you did the first segment. Yeah, I mean, it's just because I'm warming up. It's great. Doing great. It's not great. It's fine. Have you seen all this Luke Cornett stuff coming about the strip club in Atlanta?

What's going on with Luke Cornyette? Luke Cornett wrote a little... He was that Magic City? What's that? Oh, he's upset? Yeah, he's upset. Oh, okay. He thinks it's denigrating women and it's a bad idea.

here's the reality that's probably not it's not a good idea he's making a good point it's trying to make a franchise that has no relevance he's somewhat relevant it's just it is what it is

it's a cheap it's a cheap marketing plug yeah they're trying to be cool and fun and Magic City it's funny but also I mean Luke Cornett

I don't know are more people going to go because they have Magic City Night yes the answer so far as yes. Is it a step back? Well, apparently, no, people are going to the arena, right? Apparently, the tickets are hard to come by.

Yeah, yeah. I guess it's not for me to say. Is this setting back women? Well, you have to ask women, and I think you know the answer to that question. No, I actually don't. I mean, not everybody's going to give the same answer. Correct. But I would think probably the majority of people,

majority of women would say this is not what you should be marketing. But those women make those choices of their own, too. So, okay. The NBA probably shouldn't be doing this anyways, but. But I mean, if you're Atlanta, what else are you going to talk about? Hey, we're going to win 37 games again. Come see us. Atlanta's known for Magic City.

Apparently, the wings are fantastic. I'm not a big lemon pepper guy, but the guy, the people I know swear by him up there. You don't like lemon pepper wings? I do now. I've changed my mind. Okay, good. Firehouse lemon pepper. Big city wings.

What's up? Big city wings. Let's go. We should big city wings in at the end of the Rockets game. that'll get people in the building. That's true. Get there early. By the Thursday's game is 6.30.

You all need to be ready for that a little bit. Yeah. Hold my breath on that. Hey. Well, the people in the Steph Curry jerseys will be in their seats. It won't be there to play, no. Oh, that's true. You know what's funny?

It's crazy as how the rocket season has gone. They're still number three in the West. Yeah, all the bad games, the King's losses, Pelicans lost. Utah. New York came up the fourth quarter lead. Yeah. They're still pretty good. NBA is hard.

Everybody's a Ema Doka's the worst coach ever and he needs to play Reed Shepard 40 minutes every game and he can't coach offense he's playing Dorian Finney Smith too much. They're the three seed. And better

of the better record they had last year. Yes. Let's go to the phones. Talk to Christian and Lamarck. Christian here on 790. Good afternoon. First of all, I would be bombastic in my greeting, but

because Mac is sick, I don't want to add on to the headache. Good afternoon, Matt Thomas and Rob. Good afternoon. I hope you're feeling better, Matt. I actually feel just fine. I look great, too. Thanks for asking. I'm pretty sure you look better than you did back in the 90s.

But to be honest, that's enough from you. What do you want? My apologies, Matt. I'm just saying, first of all, when it comes down to the woman complaining that there are too many international players in the NBA right now, I'll just say this respectfully. I think she needs to shut her bum ass up because there has been, this season alone, there are over 130 players from 40 different countries in the NBA.

She was talking about college basketball. She wasn't talking about the pros. I understand, but the point of the matter is that basketball is a global sport. If she doesn't like that, she should go watch something else. I mean, I think that if you basically complaining about that, you are watching the wrong sports. Now, as far as, I mean, the second question I want to talk about is when it comes down to the video that you were in, which I haven't seen anything about it yet. But still, though, have you thought about getting royalties off of that?

No, I haven't thought about it. Christian, my greatest mistake of all time was not trademarking Crush City. I've taken a loss on that. I'm not going to take the guy's money. Just weird. That's all. I mean, you've been on Justin. about everything like Jimmy Kimmel

live, you laugh at the Olympics in 96 You're just about everything Don't forget about Dave Letterman I was on Dave Letterman too I know with the two guys from Bangladesh Back in the day Mujabash Sergio Shout out to those guys

Let me tell about Christian Let me talk about Christian John Ross This Christian knows my life Better than my own life But you need to I mean but I think it would be best to just Act that place

Hey you know can he be $1,000 for using my name, Image Enlightenus. I'm a pretty big name in the podcast. Yeah, you need an NIL payment, Matt. I think it's a great idea, Christian. This may be your best call ever.

You don't call first or even call to the helicopter phone in a long time. That's true. Try to give me some money. I like that. Well, thank you, Nostra Thomas. Other than that, I'm about to get off and let you enjoy the rest of the show

and I'll talk to you on social media. Get better, dude. Thank you very much. By the way, Chris just sent me a DM. I think I sound like Marty Funkhauser from Kirby enthusiasm. That's a good one, too. Nobody's called you Bobcat Goldthwaite yet, have they? Excuse me, what?

Bobcat Goldthewitt. See, I never want to say that name because I feel like I'm going to butcher the back end of that. That's fine. Don't worry about it. All right. We're moving out. We've got an hour left to go. Apparently, Adam and Adam are too busy to come in and help you out.

That's fine. I mean, I can do it. No, no, I'm sticking with you. Okay. we'll let you talk some more This is great Toronto Blue Jays up 6-0 on Canada by the way

Oh good Wanted an update on that By would you hear Aaron Judge's speech To TUSA yesterday You know what I'll tell you something funny People said it was so bad and cringy That I didn't want to click it

Like if it's that is that bad Jonathan would you guys find it And let's play it coming back Oh gosh I don't like to cry I don't like cringe stuff I don't Remember, it's either my voice or his. Okay, let's listen to Aaron Judge.

Let's play it on a loop. Actually, I'm on board. 7.1. We're going to hear from Aaron Judge getting TB USA motivated in Arizona yesterday. 713-212-5-790. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 106 on Sports Talk 790. Changing my voice a little bit there, Ross.

It sounds a little bit better. Good job. 713, 212, 5. That's like I'm doing, I'm doing it, a PA announcing. 713, 212, 5790, 713, 212, 7190, Matt and Ross with you. We've got Astro Spring Training Baseball. They're playing Venezuela. Today, sports, are you excited about that?

Huge matchup. Huge is a relative term. I've got to get the Venezuelan boys ready for the WBC. All right. where apparently Jose Al Tuve has recused himself from this matchup. Why do you think he'd done that? Is he just pissed or what? No, he doesn't want to, no, I don't think so.

You don't want to beat up on your own guys. Hmm. It's a stay away. It makes sense to me. Yeah, I am not overly concerned about it. All right. Aaron Judge is going to be, he's the captain. You know, he and Derek Teter are the two captains for the Yankees the last 25 years, right?

So he was in charge of getting the boys revved up for the Team USA at the World Baseball Classic. And you've not heard this, correct? I have not. All right. I heard about how bad it was, but I... So you don't... It could be a lot better than you think of this.

Yeah, maybe it's not going to be so bad. I want y'all to sit back and listen to the audio that we've heard of it is not great. It's a little faint. It's looking like a microphone directly on him. So ladies gentlemen, without any further ado, here is the captain of your World Baseball Classic Team USA team getting his boys fired up. sacrifice for your family at home you're sacrificing for your country

and you're sacrificing for the brothers in the trenches with you every single day and that's what they want us to do fellas you know we're down we're beat up a little bit man you know we're going to lay it out of the line and we do that we bring a little on man I'm telling you that's it

um it's not that bad I mean this isn't this isn't any given Sunday this isn't a movie he's not going to go in there and start like screaming and yelling and flipping tables and throwing chairs at the window and stuff like that

I don't know what people are expecting and maybe they just want to dump on Aaron Judge and I'm pulling up the video and he looks like he's laughing in the middle of it so he couldn't keep his concentration I don't have a problem with this who cares it's freaking baseball go out there and nobody's in spite

they're not even playing a game today are they or are they tomorrow This is from yesterday, right? And nobody's going to go and walk out of it. They're not going to run out of the tunnel and get pumped up and stuff like that. I don't care. This is fine. This is people just wanting to make fun of Aaron Judge and hate on them.

Well, that's done quite a bit. Yeah. I mean, baseball doesn't work that way where you just go, yeah, let's go get him and go hit somebody. You know what I mean? Yeah, you're going to go. Yeah, you're going to go, Rod, Rod, Newt Rockney's speech. And, like, that's just not how it's going to go. It was just for a guy that carries himself with, you know, playing for

the most recognizable sports team in baseball or one of them. And for him being a star, him being the captain, I mean, it's not going to make you just run through a wall for somebody. No. But baseball doesn't run that way.

He's not cutting a WWE promo. Like, it's not that big of a deal. I saw a tweet yesterday, like, I'm ready to run through a paper bag for Aaron Judge. Oh, that's not nice. It was pretty bad.

Have you noticed people are rude? Yeah, that happens. Yes, they are. And everything's tearing down. Like we were talking about earlier, the Rockets. Like, if you followed Rockets Twitter, you would think there were 30 games under 500. I got news for it.

Rocket's Twitter is making a chase towards Astros. I've been telling you. I've been telling you for years. It's not there yet, but it's getting closer. It's bad. Well, you know the reason why Rocket Twitter is not number one is because there just isn't as many. Or Astros Twitter, there's just a greater number of people.

I don't know. It feels like I swear to God. It expands countries. You get Turkish. People are in Turkey. Every time I see a douchebag who wants IMA Adoka fired, you lose any credibility. EMA has lost this team.

EME doesn't know what he's talking about. There are some Nimrods who call themselves rocket analyst. There's a bunch of chumps out there that follow those bros. They don't know their head from their ass. That is correct. Eme Adoka is a top five coach in the NBA, period. Not according to Rockets, Twitter. That's why when EMA had his transgressions and was let go, there were about nine teams that wanted him.

Sorry, bro. Sorry, YouTube want to be, bro. Sorry, I want to be an insider, but you're really not? I'm a damn insider. That's what they call me, the Rockets Insider. Eme Adoka is widely respected. Yes. Stop it.

if any of you see that EMA is losing this team EMA doesn't know what he's doing EMA should be fired they should have a real sit down meeting at the end of the year to see where this franchise is going tell them

go follow another team go follow the Washington Wizards because that's the acumen you have for NBA basketball trust me when I tell you the Rockets will be a free agent destination for a lot of of teams because while our weather is good, our strip clubs are nice. World class. Money is going to be good here, too.

Yes. Well, it's E-May freaking Adoka. E-Man, I love everything he does. I get it. You may be, you know, throwing your body against a wall because Reed wasn't out there in the final seconds of a key game. I get that. But no coach is perfect.

He may be the first to tell you that. I'm not trying to blow smoke up him Aemey's ass. I'm just telling you the absolute truth. players in this league want to play for Eme Adoka, not named LeBron James. Other than that, yes. Yeah. Dave and Stunner will get to you in a minute.

113 on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ross will go back to phones. Yes. If you feel sorry for me, follow me on Instagram and ask us 14T. Oh my God. Is this the only reason you're on air today? You want pity follows?

You follow the man in sports and T. Let me just say point blank. Good God. If you feel sorry for. me at SportsMT if you want me to heal up eventually at SportsMT okay

that's fine look just follow the man please I don't know you hear Ross says he's speaking of the gospel good God you're already getting called RFK now you got called John McLean yeah what is

someone said match from beauty shop I don't know what that is that's a deep cop Madge from a beauty shop. What is beauty shop? Madge was a commercial from Palm Olive, like, what do you,

that dishwashing liquid? And you would put your hands in it. Hmm. Yeah, it's, it's, I don't get, beauty shop was a 2005 film,

starring Queen Latifah. Oh, okay, I was thinking about the magic commercials in the 70s. Oh, it's from the 70s. Okay. Commercials.

I think Matt, I think that's what he's talking about. Beauty shop. Palm Olive. Play an ad. You can see if it sounds like me. I see, 1952. No. Well, she was around for a long time.

Let's move on. Let's go to the phones. Let's talk to people. Hey, remember, if you want less of me, please call in people. If you want less of me, call in and follow me on Instagram. I can look at my new followers. Oh, my God.

That'll keep me quiet. Dave on 790. Good After. afternoon, Dave. Good afternoon, Matt. Good afternoon, Ross. I hope to start feeling better, Matt. Thank you.

To offer you, guys, a huge thank you, and you'll understand why in a minute. A couple weeks ago, I called in on, believe it or not, and won tickets to the rodeo. And the tickets were for last night. So I went to the rodeo last night with my wife, and the rodeo is great. I mean, it's really well done. Always a good time. I didn't know who the performer was going to be. Never heard of a guy.

guy named Riley Green, but my wife knew who he was, and telling you, all the women who were there last night knew who he was. So anyway, it turns out this guy's just this real rugged, handsome cowboy singer, okay? And so at the end of the night, we get home after listening to this guy for 50 minutes or whatever, my wife was raring to go, okay? And so the festivities continued. Once we got home, she was so revved up. I barely had time for that blue peasant. pill to even work. Now, she did make me wear a cowboy hat, and she did call me Riley a couple times, but overall, a great night. I want to thank you guys for it. Hello? Thank you, Dave. No, he's saying thank us. Oh, he's thanking us.

Jonathan, how much role playing do you and your girl do? What? You're the experienced one, you tell me. Do you make your girl wear a wig, occasionally just make sure it's like somebody else? I'll take that as a no. Riley Green Riley Green had Mrs. What was his name? Dave. Dave.

This is Dave riled up. I think he's embellishing a little bit. That didn't seem like it. He said his bones jumped. How do you go see a hot country guy and then go, you know what? Let's get on. Let's get it on. The oven's already preheated, Matt.

Hmm. Maybe I should try that. Yeah You know what gets my wife going is Duke basketball Yeah that's probably works for you in years past It has When Duke wins I win When Duke loses I sleep in the backyard

Yeah You got like a Bobby Hurley jersey I'm deathly afraid that She's going to root for Duke over Houston in the tournament Because she's so excited about Deathly afraid You already know Yeah but she had she hit it pretty well

When Houston beat Duke Isn't Duke number one in the In the country? One or two, yeah. Ooh, number one in Kim Palm. Duke basketball. All the Cougars in Ken Palm. Number six.

That's good. That's bad. I'm not bad, yeah. It's good. It's great. I'm very pleased with that. You should be. Texas Longhorns, 29th.

Let's go. At large. They're on the cusp. No, they're in, baby. Are you sure? Yes. By way, I got one for you. Unless they collapse.

So I was listening to a national show on the way home from the report last night. That's a mistake. Like, what if Miami of Ohio is 29 and O, right? Yes. The Mac is probably going to be a one bid league. Yes. If they don't win their tournament, can they get an at-large spot? I would say if they're undefeated up until the tournament final, they probably will get it.

What's their camp in Palm, Miami of Ohio? 86th. How are you 29 and 0 in your 86th? Oof. All right, maybe I'm wrong. Who knows? So let me ask you this, because Bruce Pearl has been railing against Miami of Ohio getting in. He hates Miami of Ohio.

He's basically saying, is it the 68 most competitive teams or the 68 best teams? I think if you have a one-loss Miami of Ohio, they probably should get it. I mean, I don't know. I'm not following their roster. Here's the question. would normally a max I don't know how the max basketball is this year honestly. It's probably terrible.

Typically there are one big league. If somebody else sneaks in and gets that spot, are you going to give an at-large team Miami an at-large spot? Yes. To knock out a team like Texas, maybe. Sure, well, that's not going to knock out Texas. Stop. I was just throwing an example out there.

I guess if they lost, look, if they're undefeated, they're in. So it doesn't matter. And if they have one loss, I mean, I don't know. It's for the committee to decide. I'm going to be honest. I'm not educated on this enough. I'm going to presume that frankly Miami-V Ohio's pasture.

The mall is not great. It's not. I don't even see anybody good at anybody notable, I should say, in their non-conference. Air Force? Nope. Air Force doesn't want a game in the Mountain West. Oh. Arkansas Pine Bluff?

Nope. Old Dominion? No. Maine? No. UNC. Asheville, overtime. Yeah. I think it's interesting.

Yeah, I would say the counter argument would just be schedule a better on non-conference. They beat Mercyhurst. What? Bless you. Mercy Hurst. Bless you. They beat Trinity Christian. Ross, their schedule sucks.

Yeah. Okay. If they don't make it, they don't make it. Who cares? That's right. Let's talk to our friend Stunner. Yes, let's do that. 126.

Stunner, what's going on? What's going on? Oh, Matt, Ross. Hey, Matt, you're going to need your voice duplicated because you got to wake your scribbles up at 10 o'clock. There's no excuse me you're having a sore throat. So you've got to be on point with that one. So Johnson needs to deal this job when you down, back you up. And number two, hey, man, that reads Shepherd.

He was drafted number three? Yes. He was, hey, man, I'll tell you, and my mom. I know that wasn't the best thing on the board for him to go three for us. It was not a great draft. Remember that was the draft that what

Zachary Sharshey went one, Ross? Yes, R. Winn two to Washington. Stefan Castle's been a better player, taking one spot after Reed. Right after it, four. But, I mean, I don't know what to tell you. Look, Reed's playing better.

I don't think there's any argument to it. His outside shot, Ross, he's a 40% three points. shooter right now. It's good. We'll take it. Yes. I would say so probably a minus defender, although he had six steals yesterday. Two blocks.

Yeah. He's got good. I mean, let me tell you, and thank you for the phone call sending. Physically, he's going to have some liabilities defensively, but he kind of knows where to go. It's just going to get there in time. Does that make sense

to you? Yeah. He just gets his stronger. He gets pushed around by bigger guys. He can rip some steals. He can get some guys can dribble past him and he can take the ball. But he's not going to be a first team all defense. He's not. No.

But it's going to be a future NBA MVP according to Chris Gordy. I mean, if that's the case, God love him. I hope he does. Oh, thank God. Adam Wexler's here. Oh, Wex is here? All right, a couple segments left of the Matt Thomas show with Raw. which started off without Matt Thomas,

then it had a Chris Gordy, then it had a Matt Thomas, and now it has it Adam Wexler. Hey, Ben. Hey, Wex, thanks for showing up and pinch hitting for Matt Thomas, who I think is going straight to the clinic to get some sort of steroidal injection,

and hopefully he can be close to full-throated tomorrow 10 a.m., who knows how that's going to go. We'll have to wait and see on our pins and needles to see how things will work out for tomorrow. If you can manage to be on the air until 1149 tomorrow, we will find out. Tomorrow, 10 a.m. Sports Talk 790. Make sure you stay tuned.

Of course, Adam Wex are part of the A team coming up at 2 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790. We've been talking a number of different things. Here, of course, we had the rockets in action last night against the Washington Wizards. Reed Shepard has been a storyline for basically throughout the entire season. A lot of people wanting him in the starting lineup

in closing lineups, which he's been popping up more in closing lineups. Of course, Jabari Smith Jr., missing a time with the ankle injury should be back on Thursday. Still waiting to see what happened with him in Thompson at the end of the game last night, but overall, Reid Shepard, pretty good game.

19 points, 10 assists, a career high, also had six steals and a couple of blocks. So I ask you, how much more can Reed Shepard contribute? Especially down the stretch and in closing lineups for the Houston Rockets as the season continues. here into March.

Let me ask you one question about last night before I give you an answer to the question. You asked me, do you think that was the best game Reed Shepard had played, and I present it in this way? That was not an elite shooting night for Reed Shepard. It wasn't to blow you away. They got to get out. He had a good offensive night. He scored 19 points. He played 42 minutes, a little less than half of his shots.

So it wasn't one of those. Oh, my, he's just hot. He was five of nine from deep. He scored 27 points on 13 shots. He was fine. Percentage was okay. But the basketball that he played, he played the passing lanes. He defended his individual assignment because the rockets weren't, I don't think,

helping him much with double teams, nor do they normally. I played his assignment very well. Obviously was into the game like you need him to be on both sides, looked for his while also looking for teammates. I don't know how you have seven rebounds in one half and zero in the other, but he managed to do that despite playing all but 45 seconds. of the second half. So that is my question. First, do you think that was the best basketball he's played? And then I'll temper it and give you an answer. Okay. I think it was arguably the best basketball he played. And the temper it is the Washington Wizards. Is that part of it?

And that's where anyone's saying, look at Reed's numbers when he starts. Look at whose Reed has had the good fortune of starting against. It has something to do with it. And it's not all of it. But either way you do it. He started nine times. That's already a tiny sample size. How many of those nine games were against incompetent teams? And no offense, because if you heard what EMA said about them, he's being a realist. I hope everybody likes that about EMA. I mean, he's not trying to sugar. They stink. They're not a good basketball team. They're inferior.

It's a fact. It's okay to say it out loud. They know it. The team that Washington has that might not be inferior, they were all right there in street clothes watching other than Anthony Davis. But Alex Sars on the bench, and Trey Young's, all their good players are sitting there. So that is an inferior team. Reed Shepard brings something this team needs. And that's why he should be on the floor more.

I'm not necessarily saying closing lineups. If they need a shift in how they play offensive basketball, and that's where I think everybody should be on board, they should want that. This is where the NBA is now. And I was appreciative of them being near the top of the league and three-point shooting as a team for about the first six to eight weeks of the season. But one of the biggest reasons why they stayed,

there's because they were a low-volume team. They were literally only taking the shots that they thought they could make. And Tari Yason, obviously, he was on a several-month-long heater. Now that they're a higher-volume team, which they better continue to be, because I think almost every good team in the NBA will be that, they need the best players shooting them. And they need to do a much better job of getting those players open. And by Reed being on the court, A, obviously, he's one of those players.

And I think he helps all of the other players. Jabari Smith, Jr., who they're obviously playing without. Kevin Durant, clearly, and Tari Yason. If you're going to be a 35 to 45 three-point shots per game team, which is probably what they should be, those four guys should be taking 90% of those shots, 85% of those shots, and you'll see what a difference it makes. He's part of that.

He does matter specifically to this group. He just simply does things they don't. He's the best at it. Who's the best three-point shooter on the team? I don't think anybody's debating it, even with Kevin Durant shooting 40%. I'll go with Kevin Durant. It's Reed Shepherd.

It's unquestionably Reed Shepard now. And you need it. And I do think they've figured out better and better ways to make their team defense okay while he's out there. But he's not the only reason they struggle with team defense. It's because they still have too many lapses defensively. Washington got to expose all of them. I know they wanted the Wizards to shoot threes because they're terrible at it. And last night they just happened to not be.

but the amount of clear, obvious, defensive switching communication mistakes that were made by players whose last name isn't Shepard, it's still too high. It's just way too high. They make too many mistakes. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot to cover there. I will just say with, yeah, Reed Shepard,

I'll still go with Kevin Duran as the best shooter on the Rockets, but Reed's a three-point shooter. That's three-point shooter on the Rockets as well. But Reed has bounced back as well. It started the season. It looked like maybe the legs were getting or maybe he was just, you know, all the minutes played that he accrued or whatever. All-Star breaks since then, he's been like at 45%.

And he's looked great. And the thing, too, is that not only that he's knocking them down, he can knock them down under the rest, he can get up the shots quick. He's got a very quick release. He's knocking down shots from deep into three. Like, he's knocking him down from all over the place. So that's the beautiful thing with what Reed Shepard's showing with his shooting, which just wasn't up to par for whatever reason last year.

And he's made the huge elite this year. So that is certainly an element of stretching the floor that this team needs. Every team could use a 40% three-point shooter, but especially this team with a men Thompson and Alperin Shingoon on the floor at the same time a lot. Yeah, Alperin was better last night in that he could have probably taken five or six threes. He's got to stop. And last night he did. You're going to get a better shot than that on almost every single possession.

And they need to take their time to go find it. You know, Men Thompson is super selective with when he does it. Usually the other team has kind of set him up for it. He took his shot last night in the corner and he made it. Everybody else of those four, they're going to be open a lot and they're going to find a way to put it down. He brought up some of the, it's again small sample size, but post-all-star break numbers. You know, Jabari was absolutely cooking for about the last three weeks. His post-all-star break threes, he's hitting 48 percent, reads at 44.4%.

Akogi's at 42 percent, and almost 100 percent of those are corner threes. And Katie's at 39 percent post-all-star break. these are the kind of numbers you want to see more of continuing. And I don't see, hopefully, if Jabari's back later this week, that they won't. And I'm curious what they will really do with both Amin Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr. There's 22 games left in the season. You sell multiple back-to-backs left, including this Thursday, Friday, a bunch of three and four nights, all that kind of stuff. You're trying to get to the April 16th weekend as healthy as possible.

Is it a must that Jabari Smith Jr. comes back? Thursday and a man Thompson comes back Thursday? Can we still put it off? Even if it costs you a win, they got to be healthy. I think it seems like just from the philosophies we've seen.

I mean, Alper and Shingoon came back early from an ankle injury. Guys try to play through things which have been Thompson has all season. It does seem like, I don't know if it's from Udoca or the training staff or whatever. It just seems like this team does push in the regular season and they do prioritize that because

at least now with the playing games, what, you play Sunday and then you wouldn't play until Friday or Saturday after that. If you can just get to the finish line, plus we know how tight things are in the West. After the three spot, you're only a half game ahead of the Denver Nuggets. Yeah, the playing tournament probably still want to be there.

It's huge. Just to, again, lay it out. Last game of the season is Sunday. That's April 12th. If you stay out of the playing tournament, you're off Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and if you are hosting the opening game, the Rockets get back home after they play Phoenix on April 7th. Their last three games are all at home.

And presumably they finish top four. So now you're not only going to not have to travel in between your last game of the regular season and your first playoff game. You're going to have been home for almost two full weeks with five days before game one or six if they're a Sunday game to get as healthy as possible. And that, I mean, I don't know if you consider that a month out, which is about where we are. but something to just keep in mind. And again, it's a back-to-back Thursday and Friday. Then they play San Antonio on Sunday,

followed by a back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday. So when you get to Thursday, you've got five games in seven nights, or five games at eight nights. Both guys nursing something, just get further past it. Yeah, I understand that philosophy. It just feels like the rock. Maybe it's just the players, too.

I mean, a men wants to be out there. Jabari wants to be out there. Alper and Schingun, like I said, he was supposed to be like a two-week ankle injury. He came back in like five days or whatever it was. But also he was slowed for like a month. He didn't look great. Amateur doctors like we are watching Jabari Smith Jr.

Leave the game where he twisted his ankle. And then last night with about eight minutes to go watching a men leave, it did not look anything above whatever the lowest grade tweak twist is what it looked like in both cases. Let's stick with that. Not a grade three like Stephen Adams. All right. We're going to take quick break. Dr. Wexler is on the case here on Sports Talk 790.

We're with you until 2 o'clock. If guys want to get in quick, you can. 713-212-5-790. The Matt Thomas show with Ross, without Matt Thomas, who's got the laryngitis and hopefully is hitting the doctor right now with you for one more second. Final segment of the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas. He is out sick. We'll be back tomorrow, I think.

We'll see how he sounds, 10 a.m. here on Sports Talk 7.9. Coming up at 2 o'clock, you got Adam Wexler and Adam Clanton. Wex was gracious to hang out with Matt Thomas. ducking out earlier. Well, we got a lot of different stuff we can get to and have been getting to on the show. And then, of course, we'll continue 2 to 6 here on Sports Talk 790. But let's go with the David Montgomery thing.

What was your initial reaction, Wax? So the David Montgomery trade. Now we have the news today that Breece Hall was franchise tagged. Don't know if Nick Casario knew directly that that was coming, but probably figured it was going to be a shortage of options in the free agent market. And now, I mean, as your RB1, or 1A with Woody Marks is your 1B?

I don't know how we're going to say this. David Montgomery and Woody Marks and your thoughts on also the potential of possibly even adding one in the draft. I don't know that I would be looking to add one of the draft. I would not be. I'll say it that way. I don't think it's crazy to think that they will draft one,

but I certainly hope they don't have to because, oh, we love this guy and he's still on the board. We have to take him here. Again, a lot of people are only viewed Montgomery and marks and draft. like, oh, they need him. They've got to have this. This is not a one-year situation.

Do they need a good running back? Do they need a number one, a real one? Honestly, don't you want somebody better than Joe Mixing? Like, it's been a long time since they've had somebody better than Joe Mixing. This is, nobody seems to think that way. I think this is, I wish they would think that way, both fans and the team. So I'm all for finding a better player and a player better than David Montgomery, because I don't think Montgomery is better than Joe Mixon.

He's just better than what they have. And that's what they've been doing with their offense. in perpetuity since Nick Casario's been here. Well, he's better than what we have. How about aiming a little higher at any position you'd like? Nico Collins and C.J. Stroud are kind of the only standouts there. You know, you brought in Dalton Schultz several years ago on free agency. He wasn't an elite tight end. Yeah. But he's better than what we have. He was. And all the offensive linemen that have come through as a revolving door, yeah, he's better than what we have. Well, who's the best offensive

lineman they've ever brought in? I'm not asking you because you don't need to answer. It's rhetorical. There isn't anybody. There's no such thing. So David, Montgomery being here is great because it's how Nick likes to operate. So I think he's happy and he can continue on his plan. He doesn't want to go bidding for players. He doesn't want to bid for Kenneth Walker Jr. He doesn't, the third. He didn't want to bid for Breece Hall. I think if Bruce Hall want, if he wanted Breece Hall here, Bruce Hall would have already played his first game as a Texan and it would have been in 2025. And he would have been, they would have been able to negotiate with him while he was a Texan. And they would have been the team that traded for him from the Jets, but they didn't do that.

And I think what you've seen him do is I like to. have information. What does David Montgomery make next year? Figure X. What does my running back make next year if I go into free agency and I have to find one? It's probably X plus 4 million. Yes. Or I don't even know. He has clear information on where things stand with his running back position now. And I think that's just the way he likes it. Trading for a player. And yes, I think it was too costly for the caliber of player. Not so costly that they can't overcome it. That's why Nick does what he does. They don't go into any draft with five picks anymore, or six

or seven, but he goes in with eight or nine, and so now he can wheel and deal all he wants. He got one in yesterday, he sent one out yesterday, and then he sent another one out for 2027. That's what he likes to, how he likes to operate. But they, again, they have a pretty moderately height

bar for their offense. And at some point, if they ever want to have a good offense, which they've shown no signs of wanting to do, they have to aim higher than that. Aim higher than David Montgomery. Yeah, Casario Bot is not programmed to swing for the fences for the most part. And I think he got, I don't want to say he got scared of it, but he definitely swung for the fences with Sequin Barclay, and he struck out. He swung for the fences with C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson, and well, eh.

But that's in the draft. That's true. And free agency, I understand. You have clear, I know what C.J. Stroud's making for the next five years if I want. I know what Will Anderson's making for the next five years. And there's no negotiation. Here's what he's getting. Whoever I draw. draft there. He likes that. That's how he likes to do things. And again, no good or bad, but that's just how he likes to do it. Getting David Montgomery was something that probably made too much sense for them. So they did it, and it's one less worry. And they did the opposite with the offensive line. Now they have one more worry. You know what I feel like? I feel like you drafted some in your fantasy league. You got like two good running backs. And there are ones I got an ankle injury and one's on a

buy and you got to start Dave Montgomery. You're like, all right, maybe you can get me 10 points this week. I'm not feeling that. I just don't feel like. I feel okay about it. I'm not sure if it was our league or a different league, but I had David Montgomery, and that is exactly how I used it. He's going to get me 15 yards today, but he's going to score twice. Yeah, he might score. So you need help on first down, you need help on the red zone, and David Montgomery can do that.

All right, Wax, thanks for hanging out. You got it. Appreciate you. Matt Thomas, should be back tomorrow. I don't know. Thanks to Chris Gordy for hanging out. Thanks to Adam Wexon for hanging out. Thanks to Jonathan Allen for being here throughout.

I will talk to you folks tomorrow at 10 a.m. It'll be the Matt Thomas show with Ross. But don't go anywhere. It's Adam Wexler and Adam Klan on the A team next year on Sports Talk 7-9.