The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - People We Miss Hearing From - Robert Ford

Episode Date: March 31, 2020

Astros Play By Play Announcer, Robert Ford, joins Matt to talk life with no baseball and when we could see a return of MLB

is the Matt Thomas show. One of the greatest songs associated with a sports team ever. I can listen to this backwards. I can listen to it in Spanish. And this is a great way to bring on our next guest. Our time is 203. Segment, we've done this three or four times already. It's people we miss hearing from.

And we miss hearing from the voice of the Astros, Robert Ford on the Matt Thomas show. Before we go any further, Robert, you ate something for the first time this weekend. Explain the audience what it was and if you liked it. Yeah, I had my first crawfish boil. It wasn't quite what I expected my first crawfish boil to be because it was takeout at home by myself. but after watching some videos on YouTube on how to actually eat a crawfish, I felt like it was time to take the plunge and I really enjoyed it. Had enough spice to give it a little bit of a kick

but not too much so that it was overwhelming. And yeah, I'll definitely have more crawfish boils in the future, hopefully with more than just me. Now you've lived here, what, six years? Seven years. It took you seven years to eat crawfish? You know, it was something that I wanted to do. I just never really put the time, set aside the time for it,

especially since, you know, the time to do it is the spring, right? And I'm usually busy this time of year. So it's not, you know, it's something I probably could have done if I carved out time. I just never had. But I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Well, I got an unpopular opinion for you. I think it's too much work. The end result is not worth all the work.

Yeah, I could see that philosophy. I kind of look at it like, you know, I've had, I mean, it's been a long time, but like I've had, you know, lobster before. We've had to pick it apart with a mallet and stuff like that and crab. I have to be in the right mood for it. Like, I couldn't do that on a regular basis. But if I'm in the right mood, right frame of mind, know what I'm getting myself into, then I can put in the work.

But yeah, I totally hear what you're saying. Robert Ford, we missed your voice. We miss your voice. You would be currently in Oakland, California today, I think. Have you been looking at the schedule every day going, man, I wish I would have seen this matchup? Did you try to figure out where your calendar life would have been? Or because of the fact that you've been home for a couple weeks, you just haven't really worried about what day the weekend is? Yeah, I mean, I haven't really looked at the schedule at all. And I've had people text me, you know, hey, yeah, it's too bad. You would have been here this weekend. to me it's pointless. I mean, we'll see what winds up happening, obviously, and if and when play resumes. But yeah, at this point,

I'm just trying to remember what day of the week it is. I think you're all in the same category. I know you've been watching some old Astros games. YouTube is very good for that. I know MLB has put some things on. Give the audience, because obviously you grew up in New York area. We're a Mets fan, and you've been fully into the Astroscope of things the last seven years or so.

What games have you been watching that are old school Astros that you've come to appreciate now before you saw them? Well, lately since this pandemic, there's been just the one that I tweeted about an Astros Reds game from 1988. I have looked on YouTube. There is another one that I'm going to watch and live tweet it. I think the mistake that I made with the first one, so the Astros is the Astros, Reds game. The mistake I made was, I was like, I'm going to go into this, not knowing anything about this game, not knowing anything about the result. And the Astros lost 10 to 3, Jim DeShay's got knocked out early. I mean, it wasn't exactly the best game to tweet about from an Astros

perspective. So I decided what I'm going to do the next time. And I've already, I already did this. I just haven't watched the game yet. But I'm like, all right, before I watch another Astros, old Astros game, I'm at least going to know what the final score is. So that way I know whether the Astros won or lost. So I went on YouTube, I found another game. I'm not going to reveal what it is yet, but I did find another Astros game from the 80s or 90s that the Astros won. And that's all I know about this game. And at some point, I'm going to watch it.

I also know that Darrell Kyle started the game. That's all I know about this game. Okay. And then again, because I like the idea of, like, I did watch some of MLB Network were showing Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS. I did watch some of that, but I've seen that game before. And I remember when it happened. But I like the idea of watching a random game that, you know, doesn't, you know, isn't necessarily

historic for any reason. Because, you know, I've had people ask me, hey, why don't you live tweet watching, you know, game five of the 2017 World Series or something like that. And I may do something like that at some point, but I really like the idea of just some random game, especially since, like you mentioned, I didn't grow up an Astros fan. It was a game that I almost certainly did not watch back in the day.

So I really like that idea. I know you've got, is your father still in New York? Is that correct? Yes, he's still in New York. What's going on with him and his family and give us an update on what you know about your friends up there right now? Well, my dad, you know, my dad's had some health problems. He's in a nursing home.

And it's been a couple of weeks since my stepmom's been able to see him because, and I know it's starting to happen in Houston and elsewhere, too. They've banned all visitors, no visitors whatsoever. I was actually talking with my stepmom yesterday. They've been able to do a video chat and talk on the phone a little bit. But they haven't been able to see each other in a couple of weeks. You know, I actually spoke to my mom yesterday. She's doing great.

She's in the Bronx, hold up in her apartment, only going out when necessary. I've been texting and talking with some of my friends that are in the New York City area in particular. And to this point, everybody's doing okay and doing what they're supposed to be doing right now and social distancing and not going on unless absolutely necessary. So that's encouraging. But I mean, I think we're all kind of in the same boat just kind of waiting to find out what's next and hoping that this is over sooner rather than later. You know, we're visiting with Robert Ford, The Voice of the Astros here on Sports Talk, Severn.

As you well know, and everybody does, does any sort of traveling. New York is such a magnificent metropolitan, eclectic international city. And, you know, first of all, we've got to get everybody healthy up there. But until that happens, I just can't imagine. Think of all the venues, just in New York City, from Shea and the Shea, to City Field, to Madison Square Garden, to Arthur Ratch Stadium for the U.S. Open, to all. the different great venues and bars and restaurants. I mean, I don't know if it's a ghost town, but every time I look at a photo of even Times Square, it looks like just a couple of people random. So of any area in this world of ours that has been absolutely just squashed by this,

it'd be safe to say that New York City is probably topping that list, at least in our country. Yeah, and I mean, you're right. It is eerie to see, you know, some of these pictures of, you know, Times Square and places like that that we're used to seeing just bustling with people. and just absolutely empty. I was actually talking with a friend of mine who lives on the west side of Manhattan, who dabbles in some photography. And she was saying to me,

you know, she can walk to, you know, a lot of different places, iconic places in Manhattan, and she was thinking about, you know, breaking out her camera and taking pictures of some of this just because I think, like a lot of us, you know, this may be the only time we get to document in an empty Times Square or a relatively empty central park and things like that.

But yeah, it's really surreal, you know, to see some of those photos or empty subway cars. But, yeah, I mean, you know, if anything, I think what's certain in New York and Houston and elsewhere is that once we're finally able to go out again and be in bigger crowds, we're going to appreciate some of these iconic places and some of these large gatherings more than what we ever have. I'm just dying to go to a real restaurant, Robert, I don't about you, but I just want to go out and have. have somebody have people serve and make money off my tips. I'm going to tip better from here on now. I know that you're a great tipper. I want to be like a Robert Ford tipper eventually. I do try to tip well, actually, and that actually goes about. My grandfather has been gone for several years now. He, in his younger days, worked at restaurants and worked as a waiter and worked as a bus boy. And so he was always on everybody in my family about making sure you tip effectively. And his

big thing was always. A lot of the things that you think are the server's fault actually aren't their fault. So don't penalize them for, you know, when you tip them. But yeah, I always try to tip well. But no, you're right. And I, you know, I have tried. I mean, I've cooked a lot more at home than I usually do, especially this time of year. During baseball season, I barely cook at all. But I am trying to make sure, like, you know, you mentioned the crawfish. I got those from, you know, not a paid endorsement, but I got those from BBs. There's one not too far from me. You know, there are other local businesses that I, that are, especially restaurants in my neighborhood, in Upper Kirby that I like to support and, you know, definitely trying to get takeout from them and things like that.

Because, you know, those, and, you know, there's some bartenders I know who, you know, have been furloughed or laid off right now. You know, those are the people I'm really thinking about. The people, you know, you and I, Matt, we'll be okay. Obviously, it'll be tougher times for us, but, you know, we'll be okay. But it's really those people, you know, the small business. owners and the restaurant owners and the bartenders and servers. Those are the ones who are really hurting right now.

Amen to that. And then we'll get them back on their feet hopefully very, very soon. One baseball question before I let you go. Obviously with this delay, we don't know about the number of games. Obviously, Justin Verlander's going to have plenty of time to heal from his situation. Give me one player, if you can even remember

that you were blown away with in spring training. Obviously, it was about halfway done when you guys were pulled back, but was there one player like, man, it's going to be hard for Dusty to not put this guy in the 25-man opening roster, and maybe that'll be a guy we can look at once you guys get down to maybe going back to Florida and getting some sort of spring training in if we get a season in. Oh, no question. That guy for me was Brian Debray. I mean, he looked outstanding, commanding three pitches, throwing strikes. His stuff looked great.

And, you know, I think about guys like him who are trying to make a breakthrough this year, whether they start off at AAA or start in the big leagues. And now, you know, who knows if they're going to get that opportunity this year? And obviously, they're not, you know, when you think about people who've been affected by this pandemic, they are not even close to the top of the list. But, I mean, you know, I love baseball and I love the Astros. And, you know, to see some of these guys, you think about a guy like Kyle Tucker, this is going to be a big year for him to try and finally get a chance to play on a regular basis

and get a chance to establish himself as a big. Lager. And now, you know, that opportunity is going to look a little different, regardless of what winds up happening over the next few months and, you know, to have to go through spring training and then stop and then, you know, maybe go through spring training again. I mean, that's not the easiest thing in the world. So, yeah, I was really looking forward to seeing Brian Bray. I still am. And you certainly have to hope that, you know, however long this layoff winds up being that it doesn't affect him or some of these other guys too negatively. Robert, enjoy that crawfish.

Thank you for spending some time with us. We miss hearing your voice on these radio airwaves. You would be in Oakland as we speak, and we have a chance to kind of summarize the first weekend of the season, but we'll eventually do that just don't know when. But thank you again for the opportunity to come on my show, and take care of you and your family.

We're thinking about you and all your friends up in New York, and next time you're back on 790, hopefully it's broadcasting an Astros baseball game. Yeah, I appreciate that, Matt, and hopefully I'll be able to hear you say a visitor's name when they score at a Rockets game in a boring fashion once again. That's what I'm looking forward to. I've never so desperately wanted to say LeBron James, so bad in my entire life. Thank you, Fran. We'll talk to you soon.

All right. Robert Ford, voice of the aster's with us here.