The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Reassessing The Texans & The Astros Future

Episode Date: October 21, 2020

So much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 1201 in H-Town. What's happening in lunchtimmers? Good afternoon to you. And welcome to a Wednesday edition of the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790 alongside Ross. And Brendan, I'm Matt.

It is nice to have you with us. I mentioned Ross's name in just two and a half short hours. The return of the Rotten Five. Are you excited? I mean, it's a segment killer. What do you mean? I mean, it's a segment enhancer. It's entertainment.

Information. It's information. Yeah. And analytical. Yeah. What else do you need? It's really what it's a small portion of what is the entire three-hour Matt Thomas show. All right. We are with you today, which we will feature Jake Kaplan from the Athletics.

Going to join us at 1 o'clock. Wow, really? Because you got him out of hiding? I thought we couldn't afford that guy anymore. Well, he's probably got an article he wants to publicize. Yeah, okay. I thought he was big-timed us. He did.

He became Mr. Podcaster. Jake Kaplan is Mr. Big Time. Yeah. The Crawford Talks. Is that what it's called? Yeah, right? I haven't listened. We've got to come up with some kind of punny Astros-related name.

Or Plankos and Power Bombs. That's true. We're literative, I guess. Yeah. Have you gotten your cease and desist from the prices right yet? I think the prices right is worried about just taping shows. Do you know they're doing it now? What's what on?

They finally started retaping. Are they socially distancing? Do they have everyone who's on the panel spread out now? There are no more contestants. I mean, excuse me. I was going to say. There are no more contestants in the studio audience. Well, where do they come?

They pre-select them? Yes, they pre-select them. So they would do everything they would normally do. So you can't even say, come on now. No. Apparently, I think they're on the stage. What? What? I'm not making this up.

I wish I could. So, yeah. As long as I can still go up there and bid $1 on everything, I'm happy. Yeah, but that's really only the potheads do that. Because they think that's the easiest way for them to go viral. No, the pothead was the guy who bid $420 on everything. Yeah, but that bit's already gone. Yeah, it's true.

Doing the $1 bid when you're the first person to bid is so, let's get on YouTube as fast as possible. Has anybody ever bid 69 on everything? Why that number? Because it's one less than 70. So what's the importance of 70? Why not, Matt? It's one more than 68. Okay, so why don't you ask me, why didn't people bet $57?

I'm just wondering, has anybody ever bet 69 on every single? I don't believe it to be the case. I'm not a price is a right historian. I feel like I know the game probably is better than maybe anybody here in town. I'll go on YouTube and look forward. And if not, then I will be the first to do so. That's how you get on YouTube. As you go on, you bet $69 for everything.

Yeah, I think it'll be funny. Oh, you'd be viral all right. Wow. And if it's a good thing or not. You get checked out after. Yeah. All right. So we got one o'clock Jake Kaplan, who will promote his athletic website.

Wonderful. 130, Fox Sports, Joel Clatt. Joel Clat. Who got stuck on the... It seems like sometimes you don't pronounce the L. Oh, I don't mean to say Joe Clat. Joel Clat. Mm-hmm.

Joel Clat, 130. Okay. And he'll be with us. I think he's doing... And you will ask him, I'll go over under two and a half questions. Oh, yeah, he's long-winded, but that's okay. No, he's so good. He goes into a full-on soliloquy.

Well, it's informative, too. You're like, okay, I'll take it. It's a Shakespearean monologue when he gets on, and it's really good. I'd rather have that than nine-second boring-ass sound bites. It's because he oozes passion about what he's talking about, and it's beautiful. He loves college football, but he thinks more about football than just the exes-as-a-nose. He thinks big-picture stuff. he's doing, I believe, Nebraska, Ohio State, the return of the Big Ten conference this year.

Wow. Well, we'll see, unless there's some kind of COVID up, Brad, in between now and Saturdays. That happened a couple times, right? So, yeah, he was supposed to do one game and then didn't do, and then he got game canceled, and then was supposed to do Houston Baylor, and then that one got canceled. It was a double cancellation weekend. Whoops. And then at 2.30s, I mentioned the return of the Ross Fantasy 5, or the rotten 5. Okay. You know what? I'm surprised you have a mission all week?

How you crushed me in fantasy football. The Houston Toros destroyed me. For those that care, and that really means zero. The Toros got up to an 0-and-2 start and have won four consecutive games. Wow. So you're the anti-Texans. That brings me to a perfect segue. That's what I'm here for, Matt. I'm here to be your stepping stone.

Step on my takes. So Bill O'Brien needed to be fired. and he got fired. Everything I've said about Bill O'Brien and Jack Easterby has worked out. Bill O'Brien was never going to leave the Texans to the Super Bowl. Cal McNair obviously listens to the show and he understood that after finishing lunch with Hannah. Okay. Then I told you that Jack Easterby was going to outlast Bill O'Brien.

Now, you always said, well, we've got to see what happens with this whole general manager search. My guess is that Jack Easterby, who's going to help find this search, is not going to recommend the job to somebody that's going to then whack Jack Easterby. Well, and then now it has come out, basically, that he's going to resume his position. That is correct. Which I don't even understand what that means. If somebody is GM and he's he's president of football operations, what is he doing? Well, he was executive vice president, whatever that means. Okay. Cool. No, it's, it's a overseer of everything, I guess, non-related to trades and salary. Who know? I don't know. Jack Hesterby is not good for the Houston, Texas. Okay. I can agree with that. Whatever it is, he's not qualified for.

and will not be good at. The Texans will never be who we want them to be as long as Jack used to be a still-around. But at least he's around inspiring people, Matt, with his daily affirmations. Well, he didn't inspire the defense last week. So here's my point. So I'm supposed to be a happy when,

and again, I want to say this, I'm not happy, generally speaking, when people lose their jobs. But I will say this. I'm least upset when professional coaches and general managers lose their jobs because they usually have lock, guaranteed contracts that pay out their salary.

Well, it's anything in life, Matt. You're not upset because he didn't seem like a good person. And he got money. He's got a lot of money coming as well. He got snippy with the media. Apparently, he's getting in fights with everyone. He seized all this control from within the Texans. He just...

Just not a likable person. Yeah, no. And so when people lose their jobs that are unlikable, I go, okay, so sad. Bye, Felicia. It's okay to root against them, Matt. Yeah. It's okay. But generally speaking, but I know that his family will be taken care of.

He'll be fine. he'll be more than fine. Didn't he have like two more years left? Oh yeah, there's a lot of money left. You know he got a little bit of a bump of some sort to be the general manager. Probably. Okay. So here we are two weeks later after that.

And the Texans have a win against Jacksonville. And again, the game was overtime. But the defense was so putrid that you knew there was no chance that were going to win the game, especially after the two-point conversion was not converted. I'm in a haze of indifference. And that's not good, Ross. I will say this. At least when the Texans had Bill O'Brien,

I didn't want them to win because he's such a bad guy. So you went from a caring because you didn't like Bill O'Brien to now you're kind of like, you're indifferent. And it doesn't help that they're only won one game all season. Against Jacksonville. Yes. A bottom five, I'm assuming team that will be in your Ross's running five. It's going to be one of the bottom five teams.

So you see what I'm saying? And I wonder if others are feeling this way. Because when Bill O'Brien was let go, you were supposed to be rejuvenated. Finally, the big bad witch is gone, right? And Cal McNear woke up. But then Cal didn't wake up all the way. And I know you have to have some administration around. You don't need to keep Jackie East to be around.

There's nothing that qualifies Jack East to be the interim general manager. Do you think he's good enough to be the interim chapel. That's about as far as it goes. Do you think he texts Cal every morning Some kind of inspirational Bible verse? Yeah I think so too No

He's the guy that texts you that says Hey Cal good morning make it a great day No he gives him a Bible verse I don't necessarily that I mean some maybe Maybe that's a little wordy on text No he does it He keep he I don't know where he gets it from

Or where he pre pulls him He gets him a whole Bible verse And he says make today a great one Exclamation point You know we haven't done lately And that's what he does We even run Jack Easterby tweets. You want to read some Jack Easterby tweets?

We'll do that at the bottom of the hour. Okay. And Brendan, we need some Jack Easterby-esque-type music to match the tweets. But here's my point. And we've got to get to a quick time out here, open the show. Rossi, I need the game suck the life out of me thinking this is going to be interesting the rest of the way. The defense was atrocious.

And Aaron Rogers is coming here. Now, granted, Green Bay, looked awful yesterday on Sunday against Tampa Bay. Yeah, they only scored 10 points against one of the best defenses in the league. But do you think that was more of, do you think Green Bay was a phony early on or they just ran into a buzz saw? I think the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are one of the best defenses in the league. And so we're going to check in in Green Bay tomorrow.

But my point is that I'm supposed to have this sense of optimism. And yet, because this is the only game left in town. Astros are done, Rossi. the Dodgers are kicking the crap out of the race at least for one game. The Rockets, we have no idea when the air season is going to begin. We don't even know if they've got a head coach yet or when they're going to get a head coach. And so the only local team in town besides my beloved University of Houston Cougar football team is the Texans. And to me, it's, oh, Sunday they play the Packers.

Uh-oh, another loss. And I don't know what I need to do to get out of that. is there such a thing that I can get out of this haze, malaise, whatever you want to call it? And I don't want to say indifference because when things become indifferent, then you don't even know they're on the calendar. I at least know who they're playing, when they're playing, who they're going against, and what the Texans can do effectively against Green Bay and what they can't.

But I wonder if some of you out there are in that same position. and the only way I think I get out of this, Ross, is with a slam dunk, home run hire of a general manager and a home run slam dunk hire of a head football coach. And the problem is, I don't believe the Texans are capable of doing that as long as Jack Easterby is actively involved in this search for the new general manager and for the new coach.

Do any of you share my sentiment? or are you just, you know what, Bill O'Brien is gone, it doesn't matter, everything else is going to be a piece of cake the rest of the way. 713, 212, 5, 790. Do any of you feel this way? Ross, you can answer your question when we come back. 1213, Matt Thomas Show, 713, 212, 5, 790. This is Craig Ackerman. The rockets are certainly popping the polypropylene.

I know Matt Thomas, all too well. this is my new catchphrase. Nothing but nylon. So it took me a couple of days to, you know, we've been gone. You were gone last Friday. I was gone on the Friday before. You didn't make your Schmo's picks because we couldn't find you. You were climbing the Joshua tree.

I got to say something, boys. We're going to brag on ourselves. All three of us. Well, Ross, you're right at 10 and 10 on the year. I'm up money, though, right? You're up 4,000 MT bucks. Yeah, we want us some MT bucks. Let's go.

I am 13 and 11. I am up 8,000 M.T. Bucs. Brandon, you're 16 and 8. Damn. You're up 16,000 M.T. Buck. If only it was real bucks.

Well, why aren't we doing our own show? Yeah, you're going to get me on Saturdays. I've hit 14 pollies in a row call my phone number right now. I guarantee the numbers, the algorithms tell me that when we make our guesses, I mean, predictions at 1.30 on Fridays, it works out. You've got some unbelievable research on this game. We've heard from David Johnson's girlfriend. We talked for the coaches.

We talked to the players. We talked to the statisticians. We talk to them. We do the metrics. I talked to Romeo Crenel's podiatrist. We got all the inside information for this week. I talked to Romeo Crennell's granddaughter, who's pediatrician's a same pediatrician that my kid goes to.

That's good. Those are sauces. So by the way, we're all doing well. So please listen to our picks on Friday. We're going to make your money. if you so believe in that's what you'd like to do. Okay. That is what I believe in I would like to do.

Yes. So 60 and that's a 666 winning percentage, right? 667, if you want to round it up. Okay, let's run. There isn't a handicap in America that's batting 667. No, there's not an actual better. I mean, he's on a hot run, but that's okay. He's doing great.

You mean to suggest I won't keep this up? I mean, you could. It's mathematically possible. I would be impressed. But the key is, is that when you, even though you and I are barely above, I'm barely above 500. You're at. It's putting the money on it.

And I put 5,000 MT bucks on the Texans Tennessee game. That was a backdoor win because the game went to overtime. I'm just looking to play 500 ball, Matt. And make money for the people. I'm just going to, I'm like the New Orleans Pelicans. We can get to 500. We'll be doing all right. All right.

So where are you? I said I am ambivalence starting to creep into my pores. I'm a Texans, by the way. I definitely get where you're going. I get where you're coming from. And I'm with you. there is, what are we excited about? Packers, Texans on Sunday.

What's on the line? I mean, Deshawn Watson and Aaron Rogers, is that what we're looking for? Are we just looking for, are the Texans just going to be in shootouts every week like they were? Last week was exciting. Last week was fun until the very end. Last week was a roller coaster. Is that what we're going to get with the Houston Texans? Because really, I'm okay with that.

So, yeah, from a radio host perspective, let's really peel the curtain back. when the Texans lose Monday, when you're in a season where you are on your way towards perhaps at least 10 losses. Whatever that season is, 6 and 10, 5 and 11, you're not making the playoffs. And we already know at this point

it would take a complete miracle for them to make the playoffs. So on a Monday, we're in a team like that loses. Everybody calls, tweets. This is people at your office around the water cooler, you're pissed off. Rossi, by Tuesday, everybody's done with the game

and doesn't look forward to the next game until after the game is being played on Sunday. That's what I'm saying. The fire, the piss, the vinegar, excuse my French on that, is gone when you are losing and you lose in the same typical way. And that's what I'm afraid is kicked in,

is that I'm not supposed to be that guy, but yet I'm that guy. That I'll be there Sunday to watch the game. I'll look forward to seeing what happens. And if they will, it'll be nice. But we're sports fans, forgetting about what we do for a living. We're sports fans.

We want a lot. always talk about what's happening. And I feel like that we're about to head towards a little part of our life that just means, okay, Texans are playing Sunday. That's cool, but there's nothing else beyond that. The reality is they're one in five and they fired their coaches here. Teams who are one in five and have already fired their coach aren't going to generate a lot of interest. And I think it's just apathy will set in. I think it's setting in with you. I think it's probably setting in with people. You're not going to win the AFC South. look, the Tennessee Titans are 5 and 0.

You're 1 in 5. AFC South is out. Even if you look at the playoff races, you have the Browns are 4 and 2, the Ravens are 5 and 1, you have the Colts at 4 and 2 as well. It's looking like for all intents to... It's a long season, Brian, as Bill O'Brien used to say.

But it just looks like they're completely out. And let's say, just go on some kind of miraculous run and they're able to reel off a bunch of wins in a row. I just don't see them turning it around. So how do we shake it? they have to win games. Nothing more. I mean,

watching a Sean throw for 3, 50 and 4 touchdowns. It's cool. It's cool. It's fun. I'll watch it. But we need some wins. I'm going to be planted in front of my television and watching it every week. Yeah.

But, I mean, are we, like you said, is there going to be buzz? Is this a city going to get going about it? Is there going to be some interest? And the thing I think that also is not helping is you're not even going to have your first round draft pick.

Or second. Or second round draft pick. And here's the thing. And Jackie used to be leading this charge. Yeah, I don't think fans are thinking about that throughout the week when there's no buzz about the team. No, that's a separate issue. I'm saying that if you were to look forward to the future,

the future is that the guy that was largely responsible in shaking the hand of Bill O'Brien and saying, yeah, go ahead and make that move for DeAndi, Hopkins, go ahead and pay XYZ players way more than market value is still around. The biggest buzz you're really going to get from the Texans is going to be towards the end of the season. it's going to be, or towards the trade deadlines and what? A couple of ways, November 1st, I think.

Early November. So the next couple of weeks, maybe they'll be, I mean, you're thinking about them acquiring draft picks. They're in sell mode right now. There's nothing to be excited about as far as the future. It doesn't look like they're making the playoffs. They don't have a first or second round pick, and they don't have a coach or a general manager.

What week to week in season is there to get up for? Unless you're, I mean, hey, you want to bet on the Texans every week? I guess that's about it. Texans. But most people don't do that. Three and a half point dogs to the Packers. A curious number, in my opinion. I don't think it's curious at all.

Frankly, if I was going to bet the game, I'd think about the over. That's going to be every week. And I think it's going to be entertaining. Because they did get close to beating the Tennessee Titans who are the class of the division. A two-point conversion made, and they had won that game. And maybe things would have been different. Imagine how the city would have been if they would have converted that two-point.

You're within two of Tennessee. you've won two games since you fired your you know, SOB coach, and you feel better. Instead, one in five, no first second round picks, and your defense can't stop anybody. Let's go to David,

North Houston at 1225 on 790. Hi, David. Hello, how you all doing? Well. Good, good. Well, I tell you, they need to make a good move on a coach and a general manager.

That's all I can say. I'm not satisfied with just getting rid of drillo, which it was just like a brittle pad. It just rubbed everybody the wrong way. But at the same time, they need to make a good call. I agree with you on still having the person in charge that made all those bonehead decisions to get rid of D'Andre Hopkins and also to let – well, actually, it started way back with number 80. the franchise wide receiver, and it just went downhill from there. So it took them, it took them, they're late on this by four years.

They should have gotten rid of him four years ago. That's my take on it. Yeah, well, I think we were saying that four years ago, and no one wanted to listen to us. Thank you for the phone call. And certainly Bob and Cal for that matter, didn't want to listen to us. So is the only time we're going to be excited about the future is when this head coach is hired? My guess is if Eric B. Enemy gets the job. He may not be the best candidate, but he's the most recognizable candidate.

And what he's done to reinvigorate Kansas offense, largely because of Pat Trippner Holmes, would have people buzzing. But you don't necessarily need to win the press conference. You need to win the games. BNAMI would certainly, I think, spike a lot of interest because Eric's been a guy that has been thought of very highly for a bunch of jobs. And now that you got a job open in Atlanta, you've got a job open here. You've probably got to the jobs at least two or three other places after the season. is over with, he's going to be the most recognizable name among any of them

that looks to become a head coach for the first time. Yeah, and that's what's that going to happen? I don't know. Jesus are probably going to be primed for a new playoff runner. You're not touching Bianami until February. February 15th, because maybe the season gets pushed back because of more COVID issues,

maybe. Well, that's true. There was a rumor that it's going to get pushed back to March, right? The Super Bowl? No. Who said that? It was I don't know. It was a headline I saw. Rumor, rumor. Okay, good. No, I don't think they push it back any further than they have to. Meaning if they, if everything is according to plan, they're not going to have to. But if they push, it's going to be probably one or two weeks.

Well, you already had a gut feeling, Matt. I did a good feeling about it. Yeah, I did. Yeah. I hope I'm wrong. Well, remember, gut feelings, you don't want to brag on them. They're most likely are going to be more outbreaks. It's been kind of quiet the last two weeks, though, has it not?

I suppose. Everything has been played. even though they've been strange Tuesday games and Monday 4 o'clock kicks. I like the Monday doubleheaders. That's nice. Problem is, what do you do if you're a Fox affiliate when you're running,

you're supposed to be running Judge Judy. Instead, you're running an NFL game. I think you take the NFL ratings. I wonder what Kansas City Buffalo ratings were like here in town. Hmm. Because let me tell you something. And I don't know if what channel Judge Judy is on, but I'm assuming a lot of Fox stations carry it.

Probably the CW. That, or you bump Steve Harvey for that? Family Feud? Uh-huh. Or Ellen? Steve Wilco's. Hmm, they usually run there like a 1030. Okay.

You're more on top of the syndicated program. Unfortunately, I am. I don't know why I am, but I am. All right, let's do this. I'm kind of down to the dumps. You are, Matt. I don't feel so great. I see that.

You look like hell. Thank you. I would like some Jack Easterby tweets to make me feel better. Wonderful. We'll get that next here on 790 at 20. You know what, Matt, you look like you got some low energy. You look like you're not yourself. And you know what?

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Sports Talk 790. Astros win. Home for Astros baseball. Good afternoon, everyone. Sports Talk 790 proudly presents a special. special time, a time of reflection, a time of understanding, a time for Jack Easterby tweets and retweets. Here's my friend Ross.

Hi, Matt. Ross, it's good to have you with us on the show today. I was just going to say, thank you for having me. Just being around your energy and your aura. my chakras are perfectly aligned when I'm near you. Ross, when you come in the studio and you sit down and you do the show with me, I feel a lot of warmth in the air. I do.

You can feel the glow. I feel a good vibe, positive energy, and we're going to have a really good show. We're in alignment with Cassiopeia during this time of year, and I think that's what you're feeling. Why will we be in line with an electronic? company. Moving along. Now, Jack Easterby tweets and retweets.

Jack Easterby. Care for others. Work hard. Pay attention. Admit when you need to improve. Get better. Repeat. I hate to ask that, but was that before or after Bill O'Brien got fired?

That was from September 30th, Matthew. Okay. so he was still employed. Go on, Ross. Next. Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. Corey Ten Boom.

Oh, so that was a retweet. What's a quote from Corey Ten Boom, whoever the hell that is? Okay. Don't say hell. This is the time of proper reflection. Next. Another quote posted by one, Jack Easter. be. Energy and persistence conquer all things. Benjamin Franklin.

Quick question, Ross. Is there any tweets on his timeline about overcoming bad contracts paid out to defensive players who have underperformed? No. Quick question, Ross. Is there anything about overcoming obstacles like giving up your first and second round pick for an offensive lineman who's played well? But it was a head. heavy haul to give up. No. Hey Ross, quick question. Was there any tweets or had them any tweets about

the said player that you acquired firing his agent and saying, I can take the Texans for every dollar they possibly can give me because I own them. No, but there is this retweet of John Gordon. Complaining is like throwing up. Afterwards, you feel better, but then everyone around you

feels sick. Quick question. Who the hell is John Gordon? Where'd that come from? I don't know. More from John Gordon. Hey, quick question. Can we do some research on John Gordon?

Is he a candidate for being the general manager of the Houston Texans? If they praise you, show up and do the work. This is in all cap, so I have to yell. Oh, okay. If they criticize you, show up and do the work. If no one even notices you. just show up and do the work

just keep showing up I don't like the all caps tweets and leading the way because it's not helping us during these Jack Easterby resurrection times and these unprecedented times they're certainly unprecedented yeah another quote tweet from Jack Easterby

yeah this one from John Wooden go ahead John the late John Wooden well I think he's dead I mean nobody's running as a count the Indiana Rubberman yes okay things work best. Wait, what? Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.

What? Read that again, slowly. Things work out best. Stop. Things work out best, okay. For those. For them meeting me. Who make the best. That would be me. Of the way things work out. Huh? John Wooden. Another quote posted by Jack Easterby by Philip Brooks. Philip Brooks. He's Mel's brother. I don't know. Okay.

Truth is always strong, no matter how weak it looks, and falsehood is always weak, no matter how strong it looks. Quick question. Where is he getting these from? Are these real live people? Is John Gordon really a person, and Philip Brooks really a person? Another retweet of John Gordon. Oh, geez. John Gordon guy's getting a lot of run on Jack Easterby tweets. The goal in life is not to be better than anyone else. It's to be better today than you were yesterday. Hmm. Okay, I can buy that. I guess. More John Gordon retweeted.

I want to book John Gordon. Hey, Brandon, can you book John Gordon for the show? Because obviously he's giving all this material to Jack Eastwood. John Gordon, according to his Twitter biography, is a 10-time best-selling author of 22 books, including energy bus, power of positive leadership, and The Garden. His clients include the Rams, Clemson football, the Tampa Bay Lightning. They won the Stanley Cup Dell Snap and Heat As in the Miami Heat

I don't know Okay I should listen to John Gordon Discomfort leads to growth If you want to get better You have to be willing To be uncomfortable So that five-hour cross-country flight

To Seattle was worth it man No they lost that game In the fourth quarter, remember? That's what it is Oh, more John Gordon I don't want John Gordon I want Jack Easterby tweets Oh okay well here he is

retweeting growing leaders. Effective leaders find a way to fix their eyes on both the destination and the details along the way. I can't do this anymore. Well, then that's your interview your edition of Jack Easterby tweets on the Matt Thomas show.

How do you feel, Matthew? I feel nauseated. I just man, if your Twitter timeline is full of that. I'm all about, I guess, if you're wanting to self-affirm and be and give these little phrases to yourself to build yourself that.

That's cool. But some of those are straight dumbassery. They didn't even make any sense. There was one like three or four throws ago that was really made no sense. The John Wooden one? Yeah. And I don't mean to be critical of those that are no longer with us because John Woodens may be the greatest college basketball coach at all time.

I liked his one failing to prepare his preparation for failure. That's a good one. I like this one. If you don't hit your free throws down this stretch, you're probably going to lose. No, I don't think he said that. Too many traveling calls against you. will hurt your chances. No, he didn't say that, Matt.

If we, making the proper bounce pass to Kareemadul Javier, or excuse me, Lou El Sender is key to victory. I don't think he put that in there. Bill Walton's jump hook from five feet helped him us win. None of that was in there? You know, Bill Walton didn't want to cut his hair, so he was going to, John Wooden was going to cut him off the team. And then so Bill Walton cut his hair.

That's, I'd rather read Bill Walton tweets. That's true. I don't know if we want to do that. This medicinal herb is the blank. Oh, no. Here it is. Here it is again. Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.

Yeah, that one makes no sense whatsoever. It's just complicated saying make the best of ever situation. That's all it's saying. Let's make the best situation. What's the best of it? Go for it. You got 30 seconds. Deshawn Watson is still your quarterback.

Okay. And that's going to probably help them go four and 12. No, they're going to go over 4 and 12. All right, let me do this. We're going to come back. We're going to read the schedule. We're going to read the schedule the rest of the way. You had him at 9 and 7, Matt.

You're right, and I'm a fraud. Absolutely a fraud for thinking this team was going 9 and 7. Because every time I think they're going to go 6 and 10, they wind up surprising me. So that's why I couldn't do it again. I couldn't predict them to go 6 and 10 or 7 to 9. I thought they were 9 and 7 team in an super competitive AFC South. I didn't realize Tennessee was going to have a four-game lead on them. six weeks into the season.

1244, Sports Talk, 790, 713, 212, 5, 790. Astros off-season moves. What will they do? 15 minutes from now, Jake Kaplan from the Athletics, going to join us right now. Word for bronze roofing. If you have any sort of issues with your roof, like it has been checked or you know there's a leak out there,

then you getting on that roof and trying to figure it out is not the smart thing to do, which you should be able to do, and what you can do is call bronze roofing at 281-480-9900. You know, roofs can last up to 15 years if they are properly maintained. We'll keep them properly maintained by calling and making sure that bronze roofing does all the work. And they'll do it for you at a fair price. They've been doing that since 1987. 281-480-9900.

That's 281-480-999. They always give free estimates within 24 hours in most cases. and the website can help you start the whole process at bronze, B, R-R-A-U-N-Sroofing.com. That's bronze-roofing.com 281-480, 9,900. Hey, it's Eric Gordon. Gordon for three in the lead. Matt Thomas is my favorite voice in Houston.

E-G for three. You're listening to the flagship, Sports Talk 790, home of the Rockets. 1249 on the Matt Thomas show, Sports Talk 790. Baseball update coming up in 10 minutes from our buddy Joel, not Joel Clatt. He would talk baseball, but we're going to talk to him about college football at 130. One o'clock we'll visit with Jay Kaplan from The Athletic. The return of the rotten 5 at 2.30. Do the Texans make the rotten 5 at 1 in 5?

There are a lot of crappy teams in the NFL, Matt, and that might be saving the Texans. What? I mean, if you want to do it, do it. Because I guarantee you, Texans, Karen, will love you if the Texans do not make the rotten five. I mean, the NFC East alone should be almost the entire rotten five. Before we get to the Texans prediction, the rest of the way, the Cowboys at 2 and 4 are the NFC and the NFC East leaders. Yes. I think if the division winner, whomever it may be in this division, say goes six and 10, 7 and 9, something crazy like that.

Actually, 7.9 wouldn't be crazy. Seattle did it one year. I think we're going to see a change where just because you win a division doesn't guarantee you a home game. I've been calling for that change for years. In the NBA, you see it now. They've changed it within the last few years

that winning the division gets you in, but it doesn't guarantee you anything else. That's the way it should be. You know, I originally didn't agree with you, but now I'm starting to move on. I wasn't going to bring that up. Oh. But it wasn't one of those things I was just like,

I know you're adamant. You yelled at me. You kicked over a chair in the, and you threw the trash can. I remember that. The reason why I said it was, you need to have something to play for in terms of a division championship

and having a home game as a reward. My feeling is if you're six and ten, the reward for you is to make the playoffs. So, yeah, I could see. If they kept the way it is, I'd be okay with it. But if they said, we've got to fix this,

I wouldn't stand the way of that. I agree. Okay. So the Texans are going to win the AFC South, despite a losing. record because Tennessee is going to go on some halaciously long losing street, correct? No. All right. So with that said, I have it

9 and 7. Brandon had them at 9 and 7. You had them an 8 and 8. They're 1 in 5 right now. Let's run through the rest of the schedule. And let's realistically put together, not being any bias, just being open and honest. How are they going to finish? Being honest and true. Honest and true. That is the essence of the Matt Thomas show. Okay. So this week is the Green Bay Packers. Okay. I'm going to call that a law.

put them at 1 and 6. Okay. And the next week after, you travel to Jacksonville to play the Jaguars. They will win that game. Okay. That'll be 2 and 6. And then it's back-to-back road games against the Cleveland Browns, who are 4 and 2. But don't feel like 4 and 2.

In fact, Baker Mayfield said just today they feel like an 0-16. You know what? I'll give them the win on that one. Give the Texans a win. Okay. I'm with that. So that'll put them at 2 and 6, right? Yes.

Well, you know, three and six. Three and six. That's right. Three and six. Then they are home for the New England Patriots on November 22nd. Very pedestrian patriot offense. Three and six. I'll get my win on that one.

Wow. Okay. I'm okay with that. Four and six. Wow. Okay. Then you're going to play the Lions on Thanksgiving. They can win that game.

Yes, they can. It's a winnable game. So they're at 5 and 6 Oh, it's a rally folks Okay, then home for the Colts Colts have been shaky Shaky is 4 and 2 team in the NFL right? Yes

Okay, so if I'm going to get the benefit out of all those weeks I need to flip the other side So I will say a loss All right That I'll put them at 5 and 7 5 and 7 And then they go to Chicago to play da bears Coin flip game to me

Chicago's offense can't stay with Houston's offense. But how many touchdowns of Montgomery are going to score for the Bears? Six or seven. In one game? I'm just kidding. Coin flip game, I'll give it to them. Okay. Six and seven.

Okay. I'm going to go off track with you. I've got five and eight now. Okay. Then two Indianapolis. I'll say that it's a firm loss. Five and nine. Then home for the bingle.

I have five and nine. You have six and eight. Home for the bingles? I'll give them a win. Okay. And then home for the Titans. Titans will be playing for home field throughout. They'll lose that.

So they will finish what I have at 7 and 9 or 6 and 10? You have them at 7 and 9. 7. Okay. Well, I mean, and honestly, okay. So I got a 1 in 5 football team right now and I projected them to go 7 and 9. So maybe I shouldn't be nearly as doom and gloom as I thought I was, say 40 minutes ago. It's the late season rally because the schedule softens up, as I've predicted this entire offseason.

Yeah. Okay. I will re-announce my selection of the Houston Texans will go 7 and 9. Okay. And you have them going? I think I had 6 and 10. 6 and 10. Okay.

By the way, 7 and 9 will not keep Romeo and Cornell his job as a head coach. There's no way, right? There's no way. Outside of them winning out or something. No. No, I think there's, if they won out, no. He's the oldest coach in the NFL. He's in his mid-70s.

He doesn't want this job. I mean, he may want it, but he ain't going to get it. Yeah. Nice guy, though. Good guy. We've had some great 70-year-old coaches here. Brent Strom? Yeah.

How old is Wade Phillips? Wade Phillips? He's not 70. He's not 70. No. I don't know. I'm going to say he's in his mid-60s. But, I mean, in terms of older, I mean, Dusty Baker?

Well, he's 73. Wade Phillips is? Shut up. No, I won't shut up. Matt. Okay. When he was here, he was last year in 2013. But he's in his mid-sic.

He still wants to coach a couple years ago with the Rams. Yeah. So I think Houston has done something very special. We take 65-year-old plus coaches and give them opportunities to be successful. Mike Dan Tony. Yes. Dusty Baker. Got it.

Romeo Cornell. Mm-hmm. Stromy. And I think we're tapped out. I think it's it. For right now. Wade Phillips was late 60s when he was here. It's true.

So it's five people over the age of 60 that have had successful coaching runs in Houston, Texas, or at least semi. We are the official AARP sports home. So you're saying John Lucas is going to be the next coach of the Asian Rockets. If that's how we're going to go with the trend, then John Lucas should definitely be the next head coach of the Rockets. He is 66. Just saying. That's right on time. He does not look 66.

He looks like he's 40. Oh, yeah. And that's crazy because he'd be. obviously he abused his body for decades. How old's Kelvin Sampson? I don't think he's 66. Probably somewhere around there, right? I think he's probably, I think he's early 60s.

Okay. Look it up real quick. Kelvin Sampson is 65. Oh, then we are the home of 60 plus. Yeah, maybe Texas doesn't even. Look at you. What? All you're trying to is poach jobs again.

Yeah, you know what? I think we should be done with this. You're giving out Tom Herman's and Kevin Sumlins and Art Briles is. It's bearing, the U of H. Major Applewhite is at Alabama. Yeah, they're bearing bad fruit. The U of H.

You know what happens? They beat up on the crappy conference. It is the AAC. No, the fruit is delicious. And then people think they're good. And then it's rotten. The fruit is delicious at the University of Houston. It's terrible.

You just get a bigger bowl when you go somewhere else. You guys are the used car salesmen handing out lemons to the rest of the Big 12. You know what we are? We are the effective mid-sized vehicle that you wish you had, but then you go by a pricey gas hogging SUV that you can't afford. No.

Total lemons. We're the mid-size. By U of H. We're comfortable. We have a nice ride. We don't worry. We're not about the flashy name on the front of our vehicle. We get you 36 miles of the gallon. Kevin Sumlin, Lemon. Art Bryles, lemon. Tom Herman. Well, that's not our fault.

He went on a lemon on our... You know what he was? We were squeezing a great lemonade from Tom Herman. Use car sale a lot over there. on TDCCU, Scott Street. You know why? Because it's not about the coach at the program. It's about the program. The program says,

Universe Houston across the front, winning. 1258. Let's talk some baseball. Future of the Astros front office. Next on 790. This is the Matt Thomas show. 102 on Sports Talk 790.

We have not heard from this stranger in a long period of time. He's busy with his successful column in the athletic. His podcast, which is blowing up. A man about town, diehard Penn State fan, but certainly a man who knows all things aster. Jake Kaplan, long time, no talk. Sneaky's name, Jake, how are things? Things are okay.

How are you? I mean, I don't know whose fault it is that I haven't been on here in a while. Oh, I blame myself. Yeah, I was both, I didn't want to say it, but if you're going to say it, yeah. All right. Real quick, because I don't know, frankly, how much interest there is in the World Series outside of L.A. and Atlanta, Ross brought up something to me off air that was very intriguing. He says, and dodging a bullet would be a strong term. But the Dodgers just kicked the crap out of the raise yesterday. If Clayton Kershaw is doing what he's doing, that offense is moving along and Mookie Betts is catching everything near him, how does this series go beyond say the very most five games? I think the raise would have to take advantage of the non-Clatan Kirschall Walker Bueller starts. I don't think the Dodgers pitching is super deep in the rotation especially. So I think that would be it.

But, yeah, I mean, you're seeing why the Dodger, I mean, first of all, it's only one game. Right. But you're seeing why the Dodgers have, I mean, they were on historically great pace in the 60-game season, and they're just like a machine. and, you know, they have the combination of the player development and the true trades and spend a lot of money, and that's usually a pretty good recipe. Yeah, no doubt about that. All right, this is an open-ended question, and if you don't have an answer to it, I'm okay with it.

If you could go back in time and change one thing about the Astros and how they performed in the ALCS, what would it be? Was there a decision to be made? Something that could, if you were the manager, you would have done. is there any in terms of strategy that the Astros could have done in order to win that series in seven? That's a good question. I actually think they had a Dusty Baker had a good series, all things considered. I don't think there's like a huge decision that really stands out that backfired.

I mean, I think that the Jose Al-Tube throwing errors obviously loomed large in games two and three. And those could have made the difference. But maybe not. you know, ultimately I think they, in a highly competitive series between two good teams, the better team just edge them out. I mean, you could blame slumps by Bregman or Gouriel. Maybe those make the difference. But, you know, that's the pletka.

Yeah, but you wouldn't change. You wouldn't move Bregman out of the lineup to give them a day off. I'm just thinking from a philosophical strategy sense, I don't think there was any serious missteps along the way. Because let's put this honestly, Jake, 2007. AJ will have to live with I didn't go to Garrett Cole and that's one of those things that you could do.

I didn't think there was any of those let's catch Dusty making a mistake in moments in 2020. No, I mean, I think he did pretty well and the times when I was not sure of his decisions that worked for him, like leaving Grinke in. But yeah, I mean, their lineup is their lineup. There wasn't really much to do there

outside of the Diaz versus Reddick swaps. You know, you could argue that Maldonado should have started game three, but they were in that game, you know, when Garno exited it. So, yeah, I don't think it was a matter of, you know, decision-making. I think it was just performance and playoff baseball. There's so much randomness, and it depends on who's hot and who's not. The race just, you know, they didn't hit particularly well. but they had enough home runs to just edge out the series.

Jake Kaplan writes for the Athletic. He's going to be doing a lot of predictions and previews of Astros and Free Agency. And you can find him on Twitter at Jake M. Kaplan, as I've told you before, when we have Aaron on and we have Jake, get the credit card out, buy a year of the athletic. They're not paying me to say this. I'm just telling you it's great behind-the-scenes stuff that you just don't get with your daily publications and daily beat.

So with that being said, I have been a lot of, asked five million times, especially after doing the post-game show, Jake, the night of the Astros losing game seven, what my thoughts were about the return of Michael Brantley and George Springer, I put them both at zero. Am I being a little too 100%? Are you opening up a window for either one of them or both to come back? I think there's a big greater than zero chance. I don't think it's a particularly good chance, and I would peg the chances of Brantley at higher than the chances of Springer because Brantley's likely going to require, you know, likely going to command a shorter-term deal, right? He's probably looking at a two-year deal,

and Springer's looking at maybe like four or five. And this team traditionally hasn't built its team through free agency, and you don't see deals longer than two or three years very often. And, you know, I know it's a different GM, but it's still the same front office otherwise. And the GM did come from a team that had a similar model, right? So I think if you look at the fact that their biggest free agent contract in this ownership group is still Josh Redick's $52 million, that doesn't exactly scream they're going to go on a spending spree for to bring everyone back. So I think it's greater than zero, but I think ultimately you're going to have a different, very different outfield around Kyle Tucker next year.

I don't know how much research you have done on this yet, but what does the outfield free agent market look like if you're not going to spend the money on Brantley and Springer? Well, Marcelo Zuna, who had an amazing season for the Braves, is probably right under Springer, probably between those two guys. He's a year younger than Springer, so he's probably going to get, you know, four years, I would guess,

maybe more. So he's another guy. I probably wouldn't put on the Astros radar, so to speak. But below that, there's Jackie Bradley Jr., who is Springer's age and is, you know, it doesn't hit as well as Springer, but is an elite defensive center fielder. Jake Morizek's a free agent, if you're interested in a reunion there. Robbie Grossman, another ex-Astro, is a free agent. I've heard about this today, and I'm already blanking on a few of the names,

but, you know, it's a decent group out there. It's not super deep, but there's enough names, and there's going to be more names added to that list because of the economics of the pandemic, there's going to be more players non-tendered than usual as well in early December, so that'll add to the free agents. Somebody sent me a email that's a listener that listens to us,

actually in upstate New York, and he brought up to me, that the Mets just have an ownership change. The guy apparently is super, super rich, and that wouldn't it be a really interesting way for the Mets to have their new ownership group go out, make a big splash for Aden signing? And wouldn't it be awesome that Connecticut's George Springer could be close to home?

Could that be a possible landing spot for him? Yeah, I mean, I don't know enough about the Mets situation, but I don't see why not. I mean, I think ultimately he's going to have a lot of suitors. I think, you know, especially because Mookie Betts is not on the market, like Springer and JT. Roomuto are the two top position players. And there's not too many times you have an opportunity to acquire a player of that caliber. So, yeah, I could see that.

You know, I think ultimately there's, like, if you look at the Astros, they're going to bring back, there's six really good hitters to slot in atop their lineup, right? then you add Moldonado in the bottom third, and it's basically a matter of figuring out seven and eight or seven and nine in the order. Other teams are looking at it. Other teams have like two good hitters, three good hitters. There's a lot of teams that have a lot more incentive to spend a lot of money on to buy offense, really, you know, than the Astros do.

The Mets actually had a really good offense this year in a short season, but, you know, if their new owner is willing to spend a lot more money than the last owner, then, yeah, I don't see why that wouldn't be a potential landing spot for him. I'm just curious, again, I don't really pay attention to the Mets. I didn't know what that situation was, but apparently, you know, and just like when Drayton bought the team many moons ago, the first two things he did was went after, went and got Greg Swindell and Doug Dribbick and pay them a lot of money.

How'd that work out? It was average at best, to be honest with you. But that was 25 years ago. Let's get to one other thing. Who's the closer for the Astros in 2021? we were kind of thinking that if Osuna is out for next year because of injury, and there is some hesitancy about Ryan Presser doing it, does Anoli Perretti's in your mind have closer stuff?

Yeah, I think he does. But I would say the closer for next year is probably not on the roster right now. I think Osuna is an obvious non-tender candidate, number one, if he's hurt. and he's due in for another, you know, he made the pro-rated 10 million this year, so he's going to make at least that next year in salary if they go through the arbitration process with him again. Presley, I agree. He's probably better served as, like, the versatile high-leverage guy before the closer, before the 9th. I think Paredes has closer stuff.

He definitely has the fastball, but, you know, I don't know if you want to trust a rookie or a second-year guy that quickly after one short season. So, you know, it's actually a really deep – I was looking at it today, a really deep reliever for agent class. There's a lot of guys out there, including Liam Hendricks from the A's and Alex Colomé from the White Sox. And just there's really like 20 guys who maybe aren't closers, but are like good veteran relievers.

And so I think you'll see the Astros upgrade in that position group. Last question. I got a minute left. When the George Springer decision comes, and let's assume he moves elsewhere, in your gut, do you think we'll find out that the Astros were super close or at the end of the day that they just kind of knew that the market was going to bear out that they just weren't going to be able to put together a competitive offer? Yeah, I don't know.

It's hard to predict because we don't really know how the new GM, James Click, is going to operate relative to Jeff Luno. You know, the Asteros might try to spin it as a competitive offer, whether they made one or not, right? You know, we've seen that in the past. So it's hard to predict.

I don't know how they'll approach that. They might simply just wish him well. Yeah, I guess let's touch base on that when it happened, see what they say. Well, that gives me an excuse to call you again to be on the show. You always have an excuse to call me. This is true.

Jake M. Kaplan on Twitter, Athletic, The name of your highly successful podcast is called what? The Crawford Talks. Subscribe on Apple and Spotify and wherever you listen to your podcast. Good gracious. Man, we're just publicizing you all over the place then. I appreciate it. All right, buddy.

Talk to you soon. That's Jake Kaplan from The Athletic and the Crawford Talks and all that good stuff that you can find on Spreker and Apple and whatever else you do to your podcasting. I got to get the Plycos and Power Bombs on about 50 different avenues. So I can have the only game show pro wrestling podcast in America explode like Jake's is. 114 on the Matt Thomas show. Anything that you would like to comment on based on what you heard from Jake, 7-13.

This is Deep as a tackle DJ Reader. The Matt Thomas show continues on Sports Talk 790. Real Texans talk here. Well, that's awful. DJ Reader. hurt, not a Texan, and miss, Ross. That's a trifect of sadness right there. 121, Sports Talk 790, Joel Clatt, Fox Sports,

where this is coming up at the bottom of the hour for some college football talk. You know, I forgot to ask Jake about Carlos Korea. That's, to me, the most important thing, don't you think, in terms of if you were to get something done, is to figure out what the fair market value for him is, what you're willing to commit in terms of length, and amount of money per year? Because I don't think you want Carlos Correa

and a chance for him to become the super megastar and have him thinking about freedom see in a year from now, right? Unless you're just not sold that Carlos Gray can play 145 games for you per year, 150 games for you, and bat 295 and slug 40 home runs and play the great defense. He started off the season really hot at the plate, and then he cooled off considerably, and then in the playoffs he was just white-hot. So a very interesting mixed bag from him at the plate, but that's the thing is that will be something that will go up and down and ebb and flow. His defense will always be steady.

He will always have that rocket arm, at least as long as he's playing there. He's got good range, and it's a most premium defensive position in baseball. Because here's the thing. There is no way in the world that Astro fans will not completely turn on this organization. If you don't see. If in the last five years, JV's gone, which may not be the worst thing in the world. I mean, he's going to be 30. Tommy John, 38 years or whatever.

Zach Granky's best days are behind him. So you're okay with if he leaves. You lose Garrett Cole. You lose George Springer. You lose Michael Brantley. And then in theory, you would lose again, Carlos Gray. And again, I'm not saying these things are going to happen. But I'm saying, imagine how the fan base is going to feel about where this team is,

team wants to spend money-wise with all those players leaving in such a short period of time if that was to happen. That would be devastating. And Carlos Gray, as people know that. Let's not kid ourselves here. What the monkey wrench in this whole thing is the pandemic. How much money is going to be available? How much can you commit to these contracts?

But you know who doesn't care about that? The player doesn't care. Because Mookie Betts just signed a $325 million deal? Yes. That was in the middle of a pandemic. I know. That was very surprising. I don't know that there's going to be a lot.

Screw you Dodgers for screwing the rest of the sport or up. Well, it's the Dodgers, though. I'm wondering how much of a market there's going to be for George Springer. Again, I got the email from a listener up in upstate New York. Shout out to Sam and Albany. Shout out to Sam. He's like, yeah, why don't new ownership, big fat, rich New York Mets team now needs money to, you know, needs a, you know how it is when owners buy teams. They want to have the big slam dunk.

Splash. Splash deal. Why wouldn't George Springer be a. splash deal. It would make sense. He's from Connecticut. It's not fine. I don't know if he goes to a Mets fan or Yankees fan or indifferent growing up, but

could have been a Red Sox fan for all I know. I think it was Red Sox. That sounds about right. We've heard this before. They're all in close. I mean, you know what I'm saying? All I'm saying is I don't like rich new owners buying teams that are have plenty of cash to spend and then just sitting on their hands going, well,

we'll see what we got here. I think that ownership group, right, is supposed to be the richest in baseball. what's the guy's is it Cohen? Is it the guy's name? Yeah. Oops, super, super rich. That's not good.

That's not good at all. So if you're Carlos Correa and you watch George go by-bye and Josh Reddy, you are shedding tears. I love my guys. Love our outfield. And you see Justin Verland

are going to be off the books after next year. Then you see Zach Granky off the books for next year. There would be absolutely no excuse if you're in Carlos's mind or his agent's mind to say you're going to have plenty of money to give me what I think and what baseball thinks is fair market value for Carlos Correa.

And we're talking over $35 million a year. Why? Why? Do you go up and just go, okay? Like, for instance, when Laramie Tunsell, not to cross sports here, but I'm going to anyway, when Laramie Tunsell got his deal, he was way, way, way overpaid for a left tackle.

He's the highest paid left tackle by a considerable amount of money. Ross, he has played his ass off this year. He has been the best offensive linemen the Texans have had and is worth every penny so far, despite the fact the team is one in five. Carlos could do that. Carlos could be the best shortstop in the game from a five-tool perspective,

make the most amount of money in the game, and the Astros would and should be able to have that kind of money to spend on him because I just mentioned of four players that have left, that in theory could have left in the next two years or have already left. There's two, according to a spot track, which I just brought up, there's two position players making 35 million or more. Mike Trout and Nolan Aronado making 35 exactly. And those are players that are as important to their teams

as Carlos Cray would be to the Houston Astros. Mani Machado at 32 a year, Mookie Betts as well. McHale Carpara's making $30,000. Yikes. Well, how many years is Carlos, or not Carlos, Albert Pujol's made terrible money?

You know what I'm saying? He's making $29. Is he in that class? But being Carlos' shoes for a second. Is he in that class? Did I not just explain to you why he doesn't care if he's in that class or not? He can command that.

I don't know. Am I wrong? I guess he's holding the cards. Yeah. Four players, in theory, could leave. Leaving the Astros void of mega. Who's the next highest? Altube's locks.

You're already locked in there. Breggman's already gotten his deal. Who else had to that? There's nobody else. There's nobody else. There's nobody on the horizon. Unless they go in and get some money, guys making $12, $13, $14 million to replace Springer and and Brantley.

Something's going to have. I don't think Springer's gone. Unless the market. is dry and it's not as worth. What if you, what if there is some sort of holdover deal? You think there could be, who was it? I don't believe in whole over deals. I don't believe in how wait a year to see how things turn out. I think if he gets a deal in his price range that he fills as close to what he thinks he's worth, even with the pandemic, I don't think Major League Baseball is going to all of a sudden, because they're going to start talking about collusion at that

point. You'll say, wait a minute, you can't offer me $8 million when everything in the world said I was worth $15 or $16 million. And I'm actually low-balling. I'm wondering what the market is going to be like. I think it's going to be not nearly as bad as you. I think you think it's going to be. I don't know what it's going. I said I don't know.

But when you bring it up, it makes me think you think it's going to be a dramatic fall. I don't think it's going to be as high as, I think it's not going to be as high as a normal off-season. Yeah, but I don't think it's going to, I bet it's going to be 90%. I bet you that you will not see as bad of numbers out there. Like guys that were normally. worth $25 million getting $15. I think the ratio

would be a lot more. All the baseball teams are losing money this year, correct? Mm-hmm. What's going to happen next season? They just signed a billion-dollar deal with Turner to broadcast baseball.

That's true. But I mean, you need, they need significantly more than just $1 million. Sure. They need a lot more. All right. More on this coming up.

We've got to get to Joe Klat from Fox. Those are on holds, including Steve, we'll get to you on the Astros. So don't go anywhere. More baseball chatter. More on the Texans, but some college football talk

is straight ahead. It is the Matt Thomas show 128. Sports Talk 790 with a word here for Oop's Steam Cleaning. A 281 822-0-561 for carpets cleaned beautifully. You not doing them is the key. Having Oops do them is the key. 281-8-2-2-0-561. What you'll do is you'll call them. They'll come check out your house. They'll find out the trouble spots and they will actually steam clean them perfectly. If there's areas your home that don't need it, they won't waste your time and they waste your money. But I promise you, you walk throughout your home. You know every room's got to need a little something, something in terms of getting true steam cleaning. And that's why you got a cult loops. They'll take care of upholstery. They'll take care of Oriental rugs. They'll take care of

air ducts. And they will take care of tile and grout. 281-8-2-2-0-561. And online at oops steam.com. Sports Talk 790. Product with a grand slam. Home of your Astros. 34 on Sports Talk 790. My buddy Bert, listen to the show, says the Showtime show Billions is based on the new Mets owner, Steve Cohen. The dude is a genius. I don't ever watch Showtime.

You watch Showtime? I don't have it, no. I don't either. I do have Cinemax, but that's not here nor there. That's to be, yeah, you DVRing Busty Cops 14, I'm sure. That's not true. I watch it live. No, 134 on Sports Talk 790.

Let's say how to our good friend Joel Clatt Fox Sports, who will be on the call. Oh, my God, Joel, a big 10 game this weekend. How excited are you about traveling to the Eastern Time Zone? Yeah, and it's going to be cold. So, you know, we got some Big Ten football and Big Ten weather from what I'm hearing. So I'm excited, man. I have been very consistent on this from day one. I've been a proponent of playing.

I feel like the data suggests that. we should. I think it continues to suggest that we should, even with postponements and cancellations. And in large respect, Matt, I feel that way because the alternative is, I think, even more harmful to these athletes and their mental health and their overall quality of life. So I'm really happy for these players that they're going to get an opportunity to go out and play. And as we've seen in other conferences, it's been a wild success so far in college football. People are like, really wild success? Yes, absolutely.

Think of where we were this summer. Think of where we were in July or even early August. And to be playing 80, 90 percent of these games to have zero severe symptoms even or not even of hospitalization of a coach or a player or anything to that extent. I think the protocols are working. And this is going really well in college football. People should be commended as such. With all that being said, you've got a pandemic going,

you've got all these schedules of moving from conferences playing and starting in different points of the year and cancellations. When the dust settled, Joel, you've still got Clemson and Alabama and then everybody else. Well, maybe Ohio State. Okay, maybe, but let's get to the first two. What has happened to college football, but during all of this, these two schools continue to kill it? Oh, gosh. Well, okay. It all has to do with the recruiting.

I did a video last week. You guys can check it out on some of my social media channels. Arguing that I think that the playoff and its unintended consequences have actually hurt college football, and you're basically asking me directly about that. I believe that the way that we watch, analyze, and enjoy college football has made the gap between the have and the have-nots even more pronounced, and it has actually moved that gap towards the top. So now what you have is basically, if you look at the recruiting rankings, legitimately, and I know this is frustrating here, but this is the truth,

you basically have four teams that can win a national championship this year. That's it, because there's only four teams right now, I believe that in terms of composite ranking, overall recruiting rankings, from where all the players were coming out of high school, there's only four teams that have double-digit five-star recruits on their roster. To give you a sense of the gap between college football, we think that Michigan, Ohio State is a rivalry. It's not. Let me tell you why. Do you know that in the Big Ten overall, Matt, there are 25-star recruits on Big Ten rosters, period, that came into, regardless of class, came into college as five-star recruits.

Fourteen of them are on Ohio State. And the ACC, it's just as pronounced, by the way. There are 15 total five-star recruits throughout the eight-year. A.C. 11 of them on Clemson's roster. If you look at the SEC, Georgia and Alabama have 28 of the 54 five-star recruits in the SEC. So the gap is growing. And unfortunately, I feel like if we continue on this path of four best teams, four best teams, four best teams, without avenues for other teams to make the playoff or even expand the playoff, I think we're going to see this play out year after year after year.

And to be honest with you, I don't think it's good for the sport. So what you're doing basically is selling us an eight-team playoff in order to fix that. Well, I don't know if it's eight. And listen, I've wrestled with this because I have been a proponent of not growing the playoff. And in large respects, because I think what makes college football so unique and special is the value of the regular season. So how do you retain the value of the regular season? and in particular non-conference play, and yet expand the playoff.

Because as soon as the playoff is expanded, then those conferences which own the playoff, namely the Power 5, are going to require automatic bids. Well, once an automatic bid enters the equation, the no non-league game actually matters, except for in hindsight, 10 weeks later, when you're trying to say, well, who gets the two at-large bid? So I don't know what the answer is, to be honest with you, because, like I said, I know that the playoff is hurting college football. I know it. And yet, I don't know what the answer is that solves all of those problems.

I think it would be naive to just say we can slap more teams in the playoff, and that's going to fix the problem. You've done a lot of opening games, because different conferences have opened up at different times. Are you assuming Nebraska, Ohio State could be sloppy because the fact that's been so long since these kids have hit somebody? Yes. Yes, there's no doubt about it. I think that tackling could be an issue.

I think that's one of the things that we've seen throughout college football. Defense of play has never been poor. I think that the fundamentals on defense have never been poor, and part of the reason is because we have legislated contact out of practice. Again, this is an unintended consequence of someone that decided that they were going to legislate contact out of the sport in terms of practicing, and what they've done is they've actually hurt the quality of the sport. and to some degree they've, at least in my estimation, made it more dangerous. And here's why, because one, defensive players can't practice how to contact and therefore

will expose themselves to more injury. And two, what you have is quarterback that put the ball into much more precarious spots on the field, knowing that good outcomes will likely happen, one being a potential targeting foul from the defense. So I guess I'm talking a lot about the unintended consequences, but yes, the question about will there be some struggle this week with the Big Ten? Absolutely there will be, but I think it's namely going to be on the defensive side. Before I let you run, a couple of games to get to, Baylor has had a remarkably inconsistent season,

not about playing, but just actually literally practicing and getting on the field. Is Texas going to get well off of a team that just hasn't had a lot of work the last few weeks, speaking of the Baylor Bears? They better. Oh, can you imagine if they leave? lose this game. I mean, I got to tell you, like, first and foremost, losing to the school where your AD came from, and he's not the AD that hired you, is not a good recipe. That's first and foremost. Crystal County, of course, came from TCU. They lose to TCU. Losing to your rival,

making the same mistakes that you've made for the last two and three years, in particular when that rival in Oklahoma is clearly in a rebuilding year, that's not good. You cannot lose to an in-state school that has struggled to even practice or play, and their roster is depleted by COVID, and they're just trying to get on to the field with a brand new head coach. I got to – this is a must win for Texas. They cannot lose this game or else there's going to be changes on the horizon. Not just coordinators, correct, I'm assuming? You'd be correct.

Okay. Lastly, not that we have a large Tennessee fan base here, but look, Alabama is one of the national recognized teams. Tennessee was supposed to be changed, ready to go. They got Alabama coming in. If they lose that game, is it same old Tennessee again? Yes, and to some respect, you could claim that they've, this is crazy, and I know Tennessee fans will be, you can claim that they've regressed, even with the eight-game win streak, right? The eight-game win streak was largely against teams that they would claim that they're better than,

in particular in the pantheon of their conference. Now, they win those eight, and then they come out here and they lose badly in the last couple of games, and this one was to one of those teams that they beat in that eight-game winning streak. Kentucky was one of those teams, and Kentucky handed it to them in Knoxville. So to me, Tennessee is a pretty talented team that is not anywhere close to the top tier of the conference. Now, how much Alabama is still banged up after playing Georgia, after playing A&M earlier in the season remains to be seen, but I can tell you this, Tennessee better buckle up because that offense for Alabama is playing at a historically efficient clip all the way up to the clip of

like the 2018 Oklahoma offense as far as the numbers and the analytics would show. So I think that Tennessee is in for a long day. Well, I did watch at least a quarter of Kansas and West Virginia because I'm team clats. I just want you to know that. I probably will watch quite a bit more of Nebraska Ohio State because I'm kind of curious what Big Ten football is all about right now. I, listen, I can't wait for this one, to be honest with you. I can't wait to see what Ohio State has for us this year.

And in particular, on that offensive side, I think Justin Fields could have a big year. So we shall see. Safe travels, my friend. We'll talk to you next week. You got a button. All right, thank you. Joel Clant. That's Fox Sports.

He'll be on Nebraska Ohio State this weekend. Aggie's off. And as he mentioned, we've got Baylor, Texas. And, of course, my beloved Houston Cougars, taken on the Naval Academy Saturday in Annapolis, Maryland. 144 is our time coming up in 45 minutes. The return of Ross's Rotten 5. We have, believe it or not, coming up as well at 250. And you guys, before then, 713, 212, 570, 7190, 7190, 212 570 with a word here for TGS Insurance.

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I was on the White Sox in 2005. Yeah, sorry about that sweep, H-Town. But we're all good right now, right? World Series champion. Back to your lunchtime champion. Matt Thomas. Thanks again to Joe Platt for joining us. 150 in the Matt Thomas show.

And we'll go to a cup of coffee. I mean, listen intently to every bit of that segment. Learn, live, love, the worst five teams in the NFL. Can't wait. Tomorrow, Rodo returns for a full half hour. The Dr. Roto? We've had to shorten Roto up because of Astros' playoff talk. Okay.

Is he going to give us the news? Yeah. And look for full half hour. We're going to go to Green Bay tomorrow. We may just go to Milwaukee. Same difference. Well, you know, yeah. How far is Green Bay from Milwaukee?

About 110 miles. Okay. And you can't fly into there, can you? Green Bay, sure. Oh, you can't? Yeah. What's the airport code? I think it's GRB.

Okay. I'm not going to tell you on that. What's it called? Don't know. Well, it looks like you nailed it. It's got a. got a person's name to it. Green Bay, Austin.

Shoble Field, maybe? Straubel. Straub. Okay, it was close. Yeah, that's fine. What is something? Okay, let me, I'll throw this at you. It's GRB.

And I want to get to Steve here. He's been very, what's the, what's the most minutia, dumb thing you know a lot about? Like, I have two things. I have like 10 things. One is game show history and trivia,

and one is airport codes. What, what's the, and Brendan, you can jump on this too. What is the dumbest thing you know a lot about? That no one would ever care about. Premier League soccer? No, people care about.

premier. Just the most silly thing. I read military history books, so I know a decent amount about that. Well, I think you need to get dumber than that. Dang it. No, it's good on you. I mean, you spend time reading about history.

I can tell you the airport codes for most of California. Fresno, FAT. I can tell you that Eisenhower really botched the North African landings in the beginning of the World War That just makes you smart. Nobody cares about that. Nobody cares about airport codes. That's true.

Unless you work for a particular airline. What is something that I spent? Bren, you guys something? It's such a hard question. I want to know, I want to come up with an answer, but nothing jumps out. I'll give you one. I know all of my license plates of every car I've ever had. Because you memorize them?

I just remember them. Huh. My Honda Chord was M33GCH. Then I had a Mitsubishi Mirage, which is 185 JJW. Wow. Then I had a Lincoln Town. I don't even know the one I have now. 41 WNG.

Okay. Just think of it. Then you know what, do both of you? I'll put it a little personal. Find something completely stupid to learn something about. Wait, I'm still going, Matt.

Then I have my Pontiac vibe, DZY, 6907. And now I have my Honda, which is MMT 6424. You just put your license plate out there? Whatever. Is that going to be a big deal? I don't know. Maybe check your police records.

Well, I don't have any record. I got one ticket, but some A-hole cop like 10 years ago. Oh, you'd definitely will be an a-hole. Yes, because I rolled through a stop sign in the middle of the night in a neighborhood. Oh, his fault. No, that's not his fault. But he came up to me and he's pulled me over.

And he starts acting all cocky and he's like, oh, yeah, you thought you were going to get away with that one, didn't you? It's like, what? Why has this guy got an attitude? And then he just gave me a ticket. There's the only ticket I ever got in my life. Screw that guy. How many accidents you've been in your life? That I've caused?

Zero, but I've been in a couple of fenders. If you've been in it and it weren't your fault, then it's zero. Okay. Good for you. I cannot claim such You go under 18 wheel every six months It seems like No, it's been a while

And that last one was his fault Okay All right So I'm putting you both on Not blast but on assignment You find something in the next week That makes no sense And no one care about

That you know a lot about Maybe that's my whole life I mean I have tremendous game show history It does me no good I have tremendous history of Airport goes And I don't know like the super small airports Like, I can't tell you what Val Dosta, George is, but I can pretty much give you at least the top hundred.

Okay. So what I start to start peppering you? Just couple. What about Portland? That's easy. Portland is PDX. Yeah. I knew that one.

Phoenix. PHX. Las Vegas. Oklahoma City. Okay. C. Tulsa. TUL.

Dang it. Those are easy ones. Yeah, those are, you pick the easiest ones. Montpelier, Vermont. Doesn't count. Why not? Airport, Connecticut. Doesn't have an airport, major report.

Oh, dang it. Nor is Montpelier, I don't think. I think Burlington. Portland, Maine. Ooh, Portland, you may have stumped Portland, Maine. I'm going to go, I don't know. Nice. It's PWM.

Okay. All right, we got some folks that want to say, how. God, I feel less of a person. I couldn't give you Portland, Maine. Steve, on the North, West Side. Thanks for being patient. Good afternoon. Oh, no problem. How are y'all doing today? Well, thank you.

Hey, I just want to play general manager for the Astros for a minute. Sure. And then let me, and then hear me out, and then I'll hang up and listen. Okay. Number one, number one, I put Springer out there, obviously, see what, see what the market value for him is. I'm not going to spend tons of money on him. I'll give him a fair offer. Two things. You give him a fair offer? If he walks, At least the city knows you gave an effort to keep him. Number two, put up Granky, see if we can get maybe a prospect, maybe a second or a third starter, move McCullors down to four.

Put my money with Carrera and somehow try to keep Brantley. I think Brantley is, number one, he's a very, stabilizing person in the in the clubhouse. He's a good guy. I'd like to have him around the young guys and the young kids that we're bringing in. But my first priority would be to sign Carrera and try to find either a second or a third starting pitcher to move McCullors down. I'll hang up and listen.

Okay. Maybe Carlos Gray isn't it priority number one? That because he's under your control for another year, you can continue that conversation line. As compared to now, he can take phone calls from any of the other 29 teams if he wants to. Right? With Carlos, he's yours. He's

yours for all next season. He don't want him hitting the market though. That's what I'm saying. That's why you got to get it done now. That's why when George didn't, George and Michael did not sign during spring training, I knew it was, this was, they were going to go search. Lance McCullors, Ross, doesn't necessarily

be moved down. In 2002, 21, he might be the third starter. Could you see Framber Valdez opening up opening day? Opening day starter Frambervaldez? What if I told you that one year ago? I would have thrown cold water on you. Maybe hot scolding water to cause a small burn. Hey, come on now.

I'm just saying. That's hurtful. I'm sorry. It would be cold water, just to stingy a little bit. Okay, but that's total. I'm with it. And if Zach's number two or McCuller's number three doesn't really matter, you flip flop or whatever, you know. Orkidie, four.

Christian Javier, five. That's not a bad rotation. And then. Well, it could be not a bad rotation. And then you have two of the guys in the mix, Forrest Whitley, if he ever decides to throw again. Yeah, what's going on with Forrest? Is he just walking the earth? Where is he?

And Luis Garcia, I think we'll have a shot at it, too. Oh, he does have beautiful hair. Okay. You disagree? No, it's fine. I don't look at men's hair that way. You don't? No.

He's got very nice hair. Well, so did Jake Marizan? It'd be about 2.30. Yeah, okay. Well, you said you don't look at being in the men's hair. He had nice hair, too. He did. The free-flowing locks was quite good.

Yeah. So you got seven guys. He liked it. You got seven guys fighting for five spots. Wonderful. You okay with that? Let's go. Wex thought of that. He has

the stuff, but so did Josh James, but Josh couldn't, can't get it under control. I mean, really, isn't Josh James what would look like to be a lights out closer in theory but because of... If he could control his pitch. Yeah. And maybe develop a really good secondary pitch. Closers who walk a lot of guys are not usually very successful. No. Final hour, Matt Thomas,

you guys get in. Ladies 2.713. 212. 5790. 7. 7.13. 2.1.2. 5.790. This is the Matt Thomas show. 203 on Sports Talk 790, the final hour. The Matt Thomas show begins with Ross and Brendan. I'm Matt. Ross is Rotten 5 coming up in 28 minutes.

250, it's believe it or not. It's highly Googling. Yes. And entertaining. Well, one of those two things will be at 250. Okay. Okay. You just write something about your beloved.

You're on a lump. Didn't get your degree there, but you're an alum. It makes me an alum, Matt. It's not your alma mater, though, correct? No, it's still alma mater, I believe, as well. Okay. But you got a cheap out of that. You only went there for like a year, and you get to be an alum and an alma mater.

And I got paid to go there. I didn't even get many of my money. Rose. University of Texas playing Baylor, and I think, as Joe Clatt said, a must win game because Baylor doesn't practice. Okay. They just don't because they got COVID all over the place. nothing wrong with that.

Yeah, there is something wrong with that. I guess it's true. But I want you to read what you just read and who you got it from a few minutes ago. Well, the Daily Texan, which is the student newspaper, is breaking. That the Longhorn Band will not participate in Saturday's Texas football game after about half of its members said they wouldn't play the Eyes of Texas in an internal survey. So the full headline, Longhorn Band lacks, quote, necessary instrumentation to play the Eyes of Texas and will not attend the football game. So you're telling me that that section of, what do they call those people?

It's a longhorn band. Longhorn band. They all wear hats, right? And they wear those. It's fringe. The outfits are terrible. It's the 1964 outfits. They wear the fringe on the shoulders.

But it's tradition. So I'm okay with it. They're campy and terrible, but it is what it is. It's been around forever. It's college football. Those people have been going to every Texas game. I don't know if they've been to, they went to OU, if they went to Dallas this year or not, I don't know.

Probably. But they've been going to every game for decades and decades and decades and decades. This is going to end the streak. I'm astonished by that. And I don't like to use the word astonished that often, but I'm going to use it. Because they won't play the eyes of Texas. A song that has been, that doesn't mean it's right. And Ross, this is not in my wheelhouse.

But it is anybody ever in. your life, forgetting about 2020, has anybody in your life, because you've been around a lot of Texas people, you were on campus, did anybody prior to 2020 find the Eyes of Texas song to be offensive? I had not heard of it, but yes, there were apparently, there was some scuttlebutt about it years ago, maybe a decade or two ago, and talking about the quote-unquote problematic history. The Eyes of Texas are upon you is taken from a phrase of the president who was a student of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who would say the eyes of the South are upon you. So he came and took it to the eyes of Texas are upon you. And it was used as a parody in a minstrel show, which is minstrel shows when people are using blackface and things like that. I didn't know this. Early on from a spirit group on campus, by the way, the same spirit group on campus that was kicked off campus for hazing in like the 80s or 90s or something like that. And it was more of a parody, the eyes of Texas are upon you. And it was more of a parody. The eyes of Texas are upon you. all the live long day, which by the way, that is from, I've been working on the railroad,

which is also, it was the levy song, I think, which is about slaves working on a levy. Okay. So you've obviously, you've heard enough about this that you could recite that up top of your head. Once it started coming out, I read a lot about it, because I had no idea. So let me ask you this. And this may not be the right question, but if I went to Ricky Williams and to Earl Campbell and any great African American Texas football player

and they came to me and said it's okay we like the song we don't read Earl Campbell has said he likes the song and he wants us to stay he has come out and said that so you know what I'm going to do

I'm going to accept that that one of the most heralded athletes and alums of the University of Texas is okay with it he likes a song then why can't the rest of us? Because it's not up to him.

Just because it doesn't, just because something doesn't offend, like the Washington Redskins, I don't find personally offensive. As far as, I mean, it doesn't hurt me personally. But if it's hurting somebody or if people don't like it,

it's a name. It's a song. I understand it's tradition and all that types of traditions change all the time. If you can find something that more embodies the spirit of Texas longhorns and doesn't have problematic ties to Confederate generals and to menstrual street and to songs that are mocking slavery and things like that. I have no problem with it.

The song doesn't bother me. I have put my horns up and sung the eyes of Texas. I would say probably a hundred times, if not more. You go to freshman orientation and they teach you the songs and they teach you all the sign signals. It's all about fun and this is the song and this is what we do and this is the alma mater and stuff like that. I've never had an issue with it. Here's what it's not up to me. But here's what I can't get past. And by the way,

somebody wants to correct you on something. And I love when someone says wrong. I can't get past how the song has been so celebrated by so many hundreds of thousands of people, black, white, Hispanic, Chinese for decades and decades and decades. And all of a sudden it became 2020. It became the worst song ever made. That's what I'm going to do. confused about.

Well, it's not the worst song ever made. But you know what I'm saying is that obviously it pissed off enough longhorn people, band members that they're not going to play it. Okay. Well, I mean, you don't have an answer. That's okay. I'm not trying to put it on you. I'm just saying that that's what I'm openly thinking about.

Can I tell you an open and honest thing about the song? Sure. The songs sucks. The eyes of Texas are upon you all the live long day. It's a stupid lame song. The song is dumb and lame anyway. Football time of Houston sucks. Yeah, exactly.

It's football time in Houston, but to me even worse, because it's the tune of a children's song. So, I mean, who cares? To me, I know there are a lot of people. I was actually, I was wearing a longhorn shirt when this was first coming out, and there was a guy in the garage and I was talking to, and he was like, well, yeah, it's history, it's history, it's history. Well, yeah, some of it's problematic history.

So change the song. I don't care. You sing a different song. What's the big deal? How does it hurt you to change the song? and to make it more valid if it's hurting somebody else and obviously there's a question of what percentage

and should we change everything and what's going to offend and I know everybody's upset with all that type of stuff but if half of the band they surveyed the band half of them think it's problematic and they don't want to play it and they don't feel comfortable playing it if half of the band feels uncomfortable playing it change it it's a song but whatever old camel

it's notes whatever old camel came into the band offices the University of Texas and said Hey, this is, guys, you're missing this one. Well, pick up a tuba, Earl. Go play the tuba and get in the band. I don't know what to tell you. I'm not going to matter you. I'm just throwing this out there.

No, that's fine. I'm just throwing it out there. Again, I'm so far out of this. I just was, that's, it's. The song, pretty amazing to me. I'm okay with changing the song in the first place because it sucks. And then you add in the, you add in the, uh, the problematic history. I'm down with that too.

A great, well, great's a relative term. A historian of Longhorn Sports is Longhorn Scott on 7-90. Hello, Ellis. Hey, Matt, I got to say, this is the first time I've ever called in. That's not true. It has nothing to do with you. Oh, okay. So, Ross, you know what, go wash your filthy mouth. First of all, first of all, Prather was not, he didn't fight in the Confederate War.

And secondly, when he took the meaning, the eyes of Texas are a upon you. He heard it from, yeah, he heard from the saying that he had heard before which the eyes of the South. But his point wasn't because of slavery. It was because the idea that, which remains embedded in the meaning to most people, which is, and Matt, you're going to roll your eyes at this. But the idea is, hey, if you're a University of Texas student, you're expected to hold up and live up to a very high standard, both as a student now and as an alum in the future. And whether or not, you know, you think that's hokey, that's kind of, that's what it means to most people. But if you look and listen to the words, the words convey that.

I'm 48 years old. I don't need to tell you how big of a follower and fan of the University of Texas I am. I never once before this year heard anything about it. And, you know, you're right, Ross. There was a couple, apparently, there was a very small underground group of folks that had expressed some kind of issue, but it was scoffed away. And Matt, to your question, and, you're question of why this year? Because why not this year? Like, what else hasn't been totally food barred in the year 2020? It's asinine. And for you to say that it means nothing, just change the notes because a bunch of, listen, when I was in college, I was a little bit left-leaning myself, and we'll send, we're worried about what's fair, what's right,

let's be philosophical about everything. You know, that's fine. When you're in that world of academia, and all you got to do is show up to class and pass a couple of tests every semester. but with perspective, you start to go, hey, wait a minute, just because someone who's 18 to 22 is sensitive to it doesn't mean you go around changing everything because their own perspectives will likely change over time. I can go on and on. I'm going to leave it that for now. Okay. Okay. Okay.

And Ross, I want to ask Ross a question now. Because, Ross, I understand you went to Texas for what a year, but you didn't graduate, right? I went for three years. Oh, well, why didn't you finish there? Because, I mean, that's a long philosophical. I decided to quit because I was not happy with where I was. I'll leave it at that. And look, he gets to work with me for all these years.

He's happy now. Anyway, terrible, terrible take. Ross, terrible. Okay. Thank you. All right. We'll see. You can't always again.

Yeah, I didn't say that Prather fought in the Civil War. So, I mean, you're trying to correct me on that. That's not what I said. I said that he went to school where Robert Lee was the president. Or I didn't, I don't even know if I said he was the president, but Robert Lee was there, and that's what I said. And that's factual. I've only had to deal with this once in my life with names of things, not songs.

When I got to University of Utah, there was a group of people that thought the Utes was an insensitive name to the University of Utah. And they were looking to have that changed. The University of Utah didn't believe that this group of minority of minority group of people spoke on behalf of the entire school. So they went and got many, many generations of. tribes of people that were Ute Indians and they went and talked to them and they went and they brought them to campus and the Ute tribes

said we love the fact that you call yourselves the Utes and that was my point with Earl. Not that Earl should represent every African American that's ever stepped on the campus of the University of Texas. My only point is that I would like to know from a gross section of distinguished alums, whether that be a chemist, a doctor, a lawyer,

a football player that put the horns up in 1974, that put the horns up in 2014 and sang the song. I would think, Ross, you'd even have to agree with me. You wouldn't want a group of 18-year-olds in 2020 deciding how a song is being, whether it's sung or not, when other generations have done it and have enjoyed doing so. I wouldn't let 60-year-olds make my decisions about this, and I wouldn't let 18-year-olds make me decide.

That's what I'm saying. And so I think you should, if you're going to ultimately do this to get a cross-section. Now, a cross-section of people aren't in the Longhorn band. That Longhorn band has made up of 18 to 20-year-olds. It's not a question of the entire campus. It just happens to be a pretty high-profile group of young people that are saying, we've been going to games for decades in doing this, and we're not doing it now because of the song. It's about, it's just not anything material.

Like I said, I know Scott disagrees with me that it's just a song. Oh, well, there's all these deep. feelings that are getting elicited by the song. Okay, well, you start a new song in 2020, then 30 years from now, you're going to have 30 graduating classes, and they're all going to have feelings about that new song, too. So it's just starting a new tradition. The first, the college was launched in 1883, I believe. So for the first 20 years, this song didn't exist. So the first 20 graduating classes of the University of Texas did not have this song. And so, I mean, who cares? It's just different. It's a different. It's a different.

different experiences, different history. History changes. And for someone that for me, as I'm a dog in the fight, it's just really bizarre. Of all the things, when I've gone to UT games, that band has been a big part of the game. And it's going to be really odd that they're not, now, again, this is 2020, but, you know. Change the song, and then they'll be back. So you just want the lyrics changed. I think they want the lyrics and the tune changed. I'm not exactly sure on all that.

I don't know. Like I said, I don't have an issue with the song. I like, I mean, the song has, this song does have sentimental value to me as well. but sometimes it's not up to me. I'm not in Africa. The college has had some problematic history with dealing with African-American students as well. To me, and again, I'm not a politician or am I an organizer of a campus. To me, would be let's get a good cross-section of people that have gone to the University of Texas that claim as in their school and see what they have to say.

But man, I'm blown away by it, frankly. 217. Matt Thomas show will did some phone calls in on the Astros. I have a Texas call to get to. We got the rotten five of the bottom of the hour. 713-212-5-7-90 with the word here for the Woodhouse Day Spa folks. If you would like to get, man, it's stressful day on the office, stressful times, work, school, church, just COVID. Social distancing practices are in place at Woodhouse Day Spas. They'll take great care of you. They've taken care of me and my family many, many times with the gift of relaxation. Over 70 different spa services are available to you,

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Good morning, strippers. Shower with the Matt Thomas show. Wash off the glitter and daddy issues. 2.23 on the Matt Thomas show. 713-212-579 if you want to get in. 7-1-3-21-2-5. Ross is rotten 5, bottom of the hour. Believe it or not, today is highly Googledable.

It's about a... Ross, what I say? It's about a topic we discussed earlier today. Very, very... easy to yeah it's just it's something we talked about earlier in the show

very minutia very much part of my will house just leave it man okay I don't want to give way too much let's say hi to Brian in Pearland at 223 hi Brian

hi Brian hey MT boss welcome back I know I know your buddy was missing you all week I know Hey I was Which buddy

Matt Matt I'm kind of I'm kind of with you I have a kind of a nerdy that I tend to know a lot about. And mine is with, I consider myself to be an amateur vexelologist. A what, a what?

So I can, uh, vexelology is a study of flag. So I can actually look at a country flag and look at it and just go, I mean, obviously everybody knows U.S., Canada, Mexico, things like that, but you can look at it and go Guyana. Oh, okay. Oh, all right. I can look at them like that and just rattle them off. I don't know why, but they've just always stuck in my head.

That's a great one. Yeah, that's very, very good. You know what? I just thought of one more, Brian, before I let you go. I can be a geek about uniforms. If you gave me an NBA uniform in the last 40 years, I could tell you when that team within a year or so wore those uniforms. Does that make me a geek?

Sure, it does. Of course. But when you look at the stroze, I was looking at some of the free agent outfielders that are out there. There's not a great list. So I'd love to see Brantley come back. Maybe with a qualifying offer, if you're going to overpay for him a little bit, great. But I think he'll be a stable presence in your lineup. I mean, I was looking at, you know, obviously, if you can maybe make a run at a Marcelo Zuna, okay, he's there.

You know, you don't have the money for like a J.D. Martinez or anybody like that. Not that you kind of want to go back there. But, I mean, even if you can get, you know, Peacock back on, say, a minor league deal with incentives, you know, I think part of, you know, guys missing like that is kind of what hurt us down the stretch in the playoffs. Not that the bullpen was atrocious, but I think having guys like that who could have started been your long reliever, you wouldn't have had to bring in your Josh James, these guys like, you know, that and even getting Joe Smith back. extra, I think will help. Yeah, Joe Smith is seriously, was seriously,

as Brian, thank you for the phone call. Because once Joe got over his injury issues the last couple of years, he was very, very effective. Yeah, Joe Smith, and let me tell you, you know what, we're going to miss Brannley and or Springer, but if Yorna's back and he's D.H and he's doing what he did two years ago, you'd like to have seven, eight all-stars in your lineup, you just can't. What I'm scared about Ross is that Miles Straw is going to get a chance

be a starting center filter for this team. Don't say that. Well, I mean, if he can turn it around at the plate. Would you take Robbie Grossman back? Robbie's gotten better since he left. As Brad in Miami would like to remind us. Would you, could you resign Jake Mariznick and play him six days a week? I thought, is he a free agent?

Yeah. Okay. Six days a week of Jake Sneaky Snake Jake? Just asking. I'm sure there's some ladies around town who would like to sign up for that. Grace is like, get me the pack of cigarettes.

I need a carton. What up, Grace? I don't know. They've got to do something. I would like to see Brantley back. Isn't it crazy that there is not a minor league outfielder that's ready to push? The only person who's got a spot next year

like, Kyle Tucker's like, oh man, I'm in golden here. Would you take a deep discount on Josh Reddick? Because his wife, Jetredic, said on Twitter, they would like to stay in Houston. How deep. You never should ask another man that, but I'm glad just did. Well, what did you make this year? 14?

One year, five million? One year? Okay. Oh, he'd probably get in a little more than that. Well, one year eight. You're making a face like you just sucked on a lemon. I made bitter bitch face is what I made, didn't I? You made like you just had a tablespoon of lemon juice.

No, I just had a coal. I had a keystone. That's what I had. You remember that? Remember that bit of your face from that? Yes, I don't know why. That was projection on their part because Keystone was not delicious. One year eight on Josh.

How much was Brantley? I think he made like 14 a year or something. Markets gone up though. And remember, of course, it was a sweetheart deal for Jeff Lino because Michael Brantley was injury prone. I'm going to go to the, there is not a large market for Josh. So I would probably. 16 million. Two years 32.

Yeah, one year eight I would do it. Then you're just conceding. That's like your eight spot in the lineup. He's going to play good defensively, though. Good arm. He's 240 hitter, occasional pop, plays his position well, spectacular guy in the clubhouse. Because here's a problem.

How many teams effectively, Ross, pick up two guys for their outfield and they pick up where they left off the year before? That's just not going to happen. didn't he feel like he didn't you feel like he was just an automatic out though yes his bat speed looks terrible right now okay forget my offer about eight millions off the table okay

I oh man oh man okay one year five million fourth outfielder in case the two guys you bring in are not able to help you out why am I giving the team no chance at signing brantley and springer I say Springer's out I think Brantley's to me toss up right now. Okay. I'll take that. I'll change my viewpoint on that. I just don't see George.

Brentley, I think you can try to sweet talk him. Let's get to the Rotten 5. It's up next 229 on Sports Talk 7. You know what I should do? I should go get me a glass, put a big single ice, big, a big ice cube in it. You know those ones you get at the fancy bars, you know? Oh, I have some of those in my freezer. Can I come to your house in Brent? I'll bring the whiskey. Oh, absolutely. Yes. Yes. So if you get the big ice and the glass. I have big ice. cubes for you know why for a little sip of bourbon well how about we get to i'll bring the balconies over wonderful and we'll have a sip or maybe two sips depending on how how tumultuous our life is no matter what the case may be as long as you're not driving and you are drinking responsibly

you might as well go with some of the best whiskey and bourbon you find in the entire world made right here in texas made in waco balcones is one of the most decorated craft distiller's on the planet they have one you ready for this more than not 350 more than 350 more than 350 national and international awards. Right now, the Thomas household's working on this Texas Potsdale bourbon. They have other things like Baby Blue, made from roasted Texas blue corn. They're acclaimed Texas one single malt. Balcones basically has something for every whiskey taste.

You buy it, you try it, you be like, Matt, thank you for putting me on to Balcones. So all you got to do now is if you got a good palate and enjoy a good whiskey and or a bourbon, depending on what kind of flavor you're liking. stop by your favorite spirit store, insist on Balcones. And I promise you, you'll start ordering it, and then all your buddies will tell you about it, and then you'll be the rock star trip next party, because you've sent them to one of the best beverages out there.

Balcones distilling from Waco. It's distilled to appreciate. Altube pokes one to left field fairly deep. And sends back gardener looking up. Let's go! Sports Talk 790. Jose Altube puts the Astros up. Your home of the Stroes.

All right, one quick call. Then we get to Ross's Rotten 5 on Sports Talk 7-9, the moment you'll all be waiting for once a week. We're glad to have him back. Let's go to Tony and Katie. Hi, Tony. Hey, guys. Hey, you're going to hate to hear this, but hear me out.

I think we can't just pull out a spark plug and expect to win the race. We need a complete tune-up. Get rid of Curry while he's hot. Springer's gone. Brantley, he's never been healthy other than, well, he hasn't been healthy with us. you know, our beloved second basement, he's on his last leg. He's too small of a guy to continue to punch that he's given us.

I mean, eventually we're just going to keep patching these things up. We've got Alvarez, two bad knees. We just need to unload and rebuild at one time and bite the bullet. I mean, I hate it. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Are you serious? Tony, are you a Dodger fan just trying to hide on this radio show?

I got tattoos that throws on me. I love to the little kid, and I'm just seeing the right on the walls. We've got a lot of guys with a lot of banged-up. Yeah, you've taken every injury that anybody's ever had and made him their career. I mean, Michael Brantley has been very healthy as an Astro. Al-Tube's numbers offensively were not great during the regular season, but he crushed the ball during the postseason. He's 29 years old.

Alex Bregman is 26. Carlos Coray is 26. They're all primes of their. careers. There's no, there's no downside any of these guys. Kyle Tucker is young. You have Jose Arcite is young. Framber Valdez is young. Lance McCullors is 27. There's

no blowing up. I think we're going too far. I definitely agree with Breggman. We've got to build around him. We've paid for him, but his best years are probably behind him. I mean, he's a small power punch guy, and he's in a great part for that. But I mean, we need

to unload some of this. And Korea has a, man, we all hate him last year. Now everybody wants to keep him. I think he's awesome, but he's got good value right now. And God, I sure wish he could be his prayer. Here's a problem, Tony. You don't have great value in Carlos Correa. He's done in one year. Why would any team want to trade for Carlos Correa when he can be a free agent one year from now? Yeah, well, let's keep him one more year and hope he can stay healthy and unload. Wow. Okay. You're losing it here. I'm actually so much more encourage after this playoff run. All the guys

that we ran through. You mentioned Christian Javier, Blake Taylor, Andre Scrope, all these young guys who have came out and proven themselves in the revelation of Kyle Tucker. This is a team, this is a good young core that the Astros have. There's some spots to fill. Of course. Of course.

Filling two outfield spots is a pain in the ass and figuring out who your closer is. I get it. And top top end of the rotation like ace level, you don't really have an ace level starting pitcher. But maybe Forrest Whitley turns into one of those. No, let's not get crazy.

Hey, maybe Framber Valdez turns into one of those guys. Which I can't believe I thought I'd ever say. Or Jose Arkiti. Lance McCullors, well, we've been saying if Lance McCullors can stay healthy and if he can be consistent in his entire career. And we're going to continue to say that. But he has shown flashes here and there. This is a great young core.

So James Click has some things. He's some issues. He's got to work around. There's not past, and by the way, the way you just, Tony described it, what would you get in return for the guys you just described? I wouldn't say much. Money's always broken down and we'll trade them away for some really good assets. Do you know who

would think like that? The New York Jets. Thank you, Tony, for the phone call. Good stuff. We were just teasing you. The New York Jets would think about like that, right? I'm trying to cross over to football. You're talking about perhaps the worst team in the NFL? Let's find out. They've gone bad. Hey, they draw flies.

Ooh. It's Ross's rotten. This don't smell quite right By the way, Jose Al-Tuvie in the playoffs is a rotten five note He hit 375 with an OPS of 1.229 Is that any good? That's a Ross line Is that past his prime and knees never going to work again, Jose Al-Tuve? Now he needs to get over this throwing bit

Which the opposite isn't can fix that You know, the yips are up and down for him. All right, anyways, let's go to the Rotten Five. The five worst teams in the NFL starting with, ah, the Cincinnati Bingles, long time staple of the Rodin Five. It is my pleasure to welcome them back to this list. The Bingles earned a spot after coughing up a 21-0-0 lead

over the Indianapolis Colts in the last week. Philip Rivers, he lit the Bingles defense up for 235 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter alone. The Bingles have won a single game all year, and that was against the crappy Jaguars who may be appearing on this list. Joe Burroughs been solid throwing for over 300 yards and four of their last five games,

but head coach Zach Taylor continues to be snake-bid in one-score games as he has won, 11-and-one in such contest as Cincinnati Bengals, the fifth worst team in the NFL. You suck, you duck-ass. Moving along to number four, congratulations to the New York Football Giants for winning their first game of the season,

albeit against a team that will appear later on this list, the Giants offense remains anemic as they are 31st in the league in yards per game, with Daniel Jones just not progressing on the loss of San Juan, Sequine Barclay still stinging. This week, they were fortunate enough to get a win off of a fumble six and have a riverboat, Ron, gambling and losing on a late two-pointed conversion attempt. I wouldn't expect things to start turning around for the Giants anytime soon, but the NFL lease is so crappy, anything could happen right there. As of right now, the New York Giants, the fourth worst team in the NFL.

You are the best. I know. All right. The Washington football team has started off the season with a win against the Eagles. And since then, well, they followed that up with five straight losses. Combining also gave up 30 points or more and four of those losses. The latest, the embarrassment coming at the hands of the winless New York Giants. The football team went for a two-point conversion at the end that fell short, giving the Giants the win.

And afterwards, head coach Ron Rivera said, quote, the only way to learn to win is to play to win? I'm sure that's delighted Jack Easterby, but the Washington football team are the third worst team in the NFL. It's going down to tubers. All right, the Jacksonville Jaguars, oh, baby, another rotten five staple. They were off to a promising start this season with a win over the Colts. Unfortunately, much like the previous teams on this list, they followed it up with five straight losses. Their average score of the last four weeks has been 32 to 17, and they just got blown out by the lackluster lions in a game where they made it look better with a garbage time.

touchdown. Doug Marone is not ruled out benching Gardner Minchew and I suspect Jaguars' higher-ups have not ruled out benching Doug Maron. The Jacksonville Jaguars, the second worst team in the NFL. You can't have a newcomer come in and steal a show. We've missed you, Jaguars, lady. All right, what's left to say about the New York Jets that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan? They're the only winless team in the NFL and they rank 30th in offense and their latest embarrassment is getting shut out by the Miami-freaking Dolphins? Somehow, Adam Gase is yet to be fired as he's 30 and 40 overall as a head coach, 7 and 15 with the Jets, and the Jets are losing by an average of 18 points per game this year,

nearly double the Jaguars who were second worst at 9.3 points per game. Things are so bad within the organization that people are already floating that Trevor Lawrence needs to go back to school if the Jets have the first overall pick, which they'll like who will, because the New York Jets, the absolute worst team in the NFL. I've seen team suck before, but they were to suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked. And that's your rotten five. Beautiful. No Texans, huh?

There's a lot of crappy team. I mean, do you think are they... Did it take a lot of work not to put them in there? Are they worse than the Bengals? No. I got them finished in 7 and 9. Are they worse than the Giants? No.

Are they worse than the Redskins? Well, I'm sorry, the Washington football team. By the way, did you see that they're not going to announce the team name until sometime next year? Okay. Why do you need a year and a half? I don't know. Build the drama. No. Let it percolate.

Let it marinate. It's not coffee. It's not a steak. Okay. It's a name. I don't know, Matt. I don't know. It just seems like...

Does Dan Snyder ever do anything right? They don't do anything right, do they? No. It's really odd. Their logo, everything... I mean, I've never watched... I'm not watching a Washington football team game on. Has anybody slipped up and called on the Redskins at all?

Has anybody cried? I just slipped up and did it literally 30 seconds ago. You know, the only good thing about him is Alex Smith, right? Okay. Well, you know they're going to change the team name. The Texas Longhorns are going to change their song. And you know what? We're all going to be able to sleep at night.

It's going to be okay. Find your little safe space. Get in your binky and put your pacifier on and cry your eyes out. And when you wake up in the morning, it's going to be okay. It's a song. Sorry, go ahead. There was some snark in there right there. Never from me?

Oh, you reek of snark. I got vanilla cream in the night. Left room in the right room I got Snark. Good old, thank God you got old even-keeled sports MT in here. 244 on Sports Talk 790. We're going to play, believe it or not next, highly Googledable here on 790. All right, guys, you know what? Maybe you're feeling low energy these days, and maybe you're having some issues because, you know what?

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Get back in the game of life with synergenics, Houston's premier men's health clinic. Call 833-fix low-tie or go to 833 FixlowT.com. That number again, 833 Fix Low-T for Cinergenics, Testosterone Clinic. fear, no worries, and no hair. It's the Matt Thomas Way. Houston Sports Talk continues with the Matt Thomas show. Tomorrow's Matt Thomas show. Ross would like to say in the business,

loaded. Or as a kid say, it's a banger. Yeah, by way, Carly, my seventh grader, we were talking about something in the house that it was, Dad, you're so extra. Yeah, you're extra. I was like, my weight's under control. I don't know what you're talking about. And she's like, no, not about that.

And then Kim call me a boogey. Oh, man. You are definitely boozy and extra. B&E, MT. Vanilla cream. Am I bougie and extra? Vanilla cream. Who's that?

Me? I don't remember that story. Oh, it's available on the podcast. Very early in yesterday's show. Why is Brendan Mela Cream, listen to the podcast, Sports790.com, or the IHeartRadio app. Did you know what

extra meant, or did you have to... I'd have to Google it. Okay. What were you doing that was making you so extra? I don't even remember. I was so caught off guard by my... Do you want the Urban Dictionary? Please do. Extra. Over the top, excessive, dramatic behavior.

Way too much. Check, check, check, check, check and check. 12 to 3, Sports Talk 790. All right. Tomorrow on the show, we'll go to Green Bay. I don't know who we've got. We've got something Packer-related coming on the show. Okay. I'm trying to firm it up.

One of my buddies, I used to work with the Minneapolis, is the program director of the Packers flagship station Milwaukee. It's like somebody from like the Green Bay Times or whatever. No, it'll be Milwaukee. Or as Alice Cooper said, Miliwake. Is it a journal Sentinel, Sentinel Journal or something out there? Journal, Sentinel. No, Sentinel Journal.

Okay. But it could be a radio station too. I mean, I'm trying to get Wayne Larravey the voice of the Packers on. You know, you've heard Wayne Laramie. Lermy, uh-huh. Okay. Wayne Larravey. Oh, Wayne Laramie Tunsell?

Oh, stop. Rodo's on for half an hour tomorrow. Yes. Fantasy football. And you need it. Your team blows. No, my team is good. I beat your team like a drum.

Yeah, but they had a bad week, Matt. We played at the eyes of Texas after we've won. That's fine. And then Dana Holgerson, look at us at 2 o'clock. Wow. That's a show. As long as the game's not canceled. But I don't know.

I'm going to the nation's capital. I'm going to D.C. Friday. You are? Yeah. They're letting you in there? It's funny. I'm doing the sidelines for the Navy Houston game. Mm-hmm.

Only people that will be allowed in there will be the Brigade of Midshipman. Excuse me? That's what they call them, the brigade. Watch your language, Matt. Of the Mids. Okay. They don't call them student athletes or students.

They just, they call them the brigade. Good for them. I would like to go to an Army Navy game at some point in my Are you going to wear a naval outfit, like the guy in the crackerjack box? No. You should be on the sidelines with a full-on Navy regalia, like the whole like with the kerchief and the hat. Let's get you a Navy uniform. No, no, they would, it's basically I'd be mocking them.

It's Halloween. Halloween's Halloween's, you can be in a full-on naval outfit. You're the king of the most horrible ideas in America. Five minutes left to go on the show. America wants to see you in a naval outfit. sidelines or the you'll make way. You want to get 30,000 followers or don't you, Matt? Not that way, no.

Okay, fine. Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do? We should play America's fastest-growing sports game. The show we simply call it believe it or not, and here's how it works. You'll call 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Today's edition of Believe-N-N-Nought-to-you-by Woodhouse Day Spas.

Printout your gift card for the gift of Reefs. Laxation at Houston woodhouse spas.com. The category today is something we talked about earlier today, and that is my ability to tell you airport codes. I'm going to give you an airport code in the city. If I give you the correct airport code, you'll say this. Believe it. If I give you the wrong airport code, you'll say this.

Two, believe it or not, to win your prize. Brendan, the first prize, a couple of passes to see the South African, what's the thing called? South American Pantanel at the Houston Zoo. Pantanel. Big, big words. Houston Zoo. I've seen a bunch of billboards for it. You want to go to the zoo to see the Pantanel. That's yours. We also have another DVD CD combo to give away to the Eagles

concert in 2018, which is apparently one of the legendary concerts of all times. So those are available to you, but you first must believe it or not. Line number one, Jay on 790. Jay, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Yes, sir. Detroit Metropolitan Airport, D.E.T. Belize. Belize. Believe it or not? Not. That is correct. It's DTW.

Statement number two for the win. El Paso, E-P-X. Believe it or not? Believe it. No, it's ELP, sorry. Charlie on 790. Ready to play, believe it or not?

Let's do it. Charlotte, C-L-T. Believe it or not. Believe it. Believe it. Statement number two for the win. Seattle, S-W-A. Believe it or not?

Believe it. No, it's S-E-A. This is crushing me. Line three, J on 790. Jay, you ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Cincinnati. C-V-G.

That's C-V-G. Believe it. Oh, it is. I know. I don't know where they got that from, but that's what it is. Line four. Matt on 790. Matt, you ready to play Believe it or not?

Believe it. Baltimore, Washington. BWI. Believe it or not? Not. Believe it. I know this is donating him. I feel like the same excitement that Ross has

when one of his questions goes incorrectly. Kevin on 790. Kevin, you're ready to play believe it or not? I believe it. Minneapolis, St. Paul. MSP. Believe it or not? Believe it

Believe it Sacramento SMF Believe it or not Not Believe it It is I don't know

Where the M and the F came from I just don't I do Oh I know what an MF means for sure Line one Al on 790 Al you're ready to play Believe it or not

Yes sir Birmingham BIR Believe it or not Believe it No it's BHM Duh. Duh.

Rick on 790. Ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Kansas City. M.C. I. Believe it or not. Believe it.

We gave away nothing today. Zilch. Nice. Good job, man. It feels good, doesn't it? I want to give myself a little pat on the back for that one. Give yourself a high five. All right.

That's Ross. The Texas Longhorn alum. I'm Matt. I went to U of H, got me to agree. By the way, Cougar Sports Magazine tonight, 7 o'clock. Before that, the nightcap. Nightcap. Before that, the A team.

And it's up next on Sports Talk 7. I talk to you guys tonight at 7.