The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Rockets Fall to Nuggets in Wild Finish, Arch Is Coming Back to UT

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Rockets Fall to Nuggets in Wild Finish, Arch Is Coming Back to UT

This is the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. 10 o'clock at Ainsdown. Good morning, and welcome to a Tuesday edition of the Matt Thomas Show with Ross from Denver. This is Sports Talk 790. And that's how the game will end. Tim Hardaway, Jr., free-fallen sleep. Lips, sliding, whatever you want to call it. The whistle came.

One shot. Took Jamal Murray to the three-tholine, tied the game. Yokic misses the three. This ends the game to overtime. Yolkich and Murray and Spencer Jones, who is a two-way player, doing some damage in the extra time. Good morning, everyone. It is 1003 on Sports Talk 790.

It is the Matt Thomas Show come today from. Denver where yes the rock is lost last night and uh i've been two games with denver so far against the nuggets two games that have gone down the last minute or so two games decided by three points in each one of those two games and i really hate nikola yokic because he's ridiculously good and jamal murray was playing out of his mind and got to the free thall line 15 times and the Rockets close but no cigar against another elite team on the road. And just a very frustrating end of the game,

a game that featured 17 lead changes, 16 ties. Rockets thought they had a one-point lead. Now, clearly they had to guard on the inbound. It was on a foregone conclusion they were going to win the game, even when that foul was called. And needless to say, the social media world taking lots of videos, putting them on their Instagrams and on their Twitter accounts and whatnot. All I can tell you is the crew chief Zach Zarba said that it was the contact with the shin that forced the trip.

Jonathan, you're a track athlete and you use your legs and have you in your past. I don't know if your shin is ever as strong and is built like the way I'm in Thompson's shin was built last night. He must have a superhuman shin, man. It is a bionic shin is what it is. Clearly, there are a variety of angles to it. I don't know if they could confirm it was the trip. There were some angles to me that looked like to me. Most of the men, again, I'm not trying to be a super homer on this,

but that Hardaway was tripping before even the contact came in with a man. But I was asked about this last night after the game and talking with some friends this morning. Needless to say, the game didn't get determined one way or the other based off of that. Now, obviously, the Murray free throw sent the game to overtime. But E. Mae Adoka was not pleased with the entire officiating crew. And as I've told you all before, I love EMA's, I mean, Uber truthfulness. on just about everything.

We have great conversations on this weekly radio show. He certainly doesn't mince words when it comes to what he says in press conferences. And so what we'll do right now is instead of me discussing what I thought was a very poorly officiated game,

one official Zach Zarba is one of the best in the association. He was the crew chief. the other two are not very good and I'll be as polite as I can be and leave it at that Jonathan let's let

Eme Adoko do the heavy lifting on what he thought about the officials from last night What did you do? I'm in there at the end of regulation Tickey Tic went along with the game tonight so not surprised by the crew we had out there

when you got the technical earlier, because Jokic was pushing on Alphe and they wouldn't call? Is that part of the BPL, I guess? Yeah, I guess. I mean, just in general, I think it's a poorly officiated game I've seen a long time to have no business being out there, and the crew chief is acting starstruck. So you've seen all kind of inconsistent calls, and I'm sure you should have got a few more texts. What do you say to your team when a game is being called the way that it was tonight?

Keep being who we are. We're not going to adjust to poorly, poor officials. So we're going to do what we do. And hopefully they can adjust and call it the right way. Against two physical teams in a high level game. How will be out of triple double, even dealing with some of the physical defense? How do you think he played over? Good on offense. I think got to be better on defense. How important was Kevin's defensive ever tonight with his season high five blocks? Yeah, some guys we had opportunity to make plays on.

I think he should have probably had seven or eight that they call fouls on. He said before the game you wanted to try to make other guys beat you besides Yokens and Murray. They both had another good game. What did you see other than? Yeah, I mean, Murray gets 15 free throws and Yokic's his big shots. That's what he does. So we made some plays off other guys and Jones hit a few big threes late and where they have to prove it. But, yeah, that's why they are, who they are.

one of the guys got starstruck the other two should not have been out there yikes Jonathan that's that is such a shot to the midsection testicle area private power I mean

as late Florida Evans would say damn damn damn I mean, God. I never want to get sideways with him A Doka because he's going to tell me how he feels about me right away. There were numerous people last night on the social media streets that were transcribing things that were being said. I brought this up during the game broadcast last night.

I have never seen an official coach, any coach, go to mid-court as much as Eme Adoka did and not get ejected from the game as even E-May brought up a minute ago he felt like there could have been a few more texts given out a technical foul was given to Durant for a push against Yokic Alperin was pushed from behind by Yokic

a couple of different times on one series and he got teed up and then obviously Eme Adokin that same stretch got a technical as well and like I said I don't know if he wanted to stick around and watch the game I think he did everything in his power to make sure he couldn't stay in the game but they kept him in the game

but I don't know what the process is in the NBA circles email has already been fine once since he's been a Rockets coach he's going to get another one I think he knows that I think the Rockets know that I think all of us know that

the question is going to be how much of that he went for the jugular he went right to the integrity of the officials that were calling the game or not integrity their lack of the ability to referee an NBA basketball game and I don't know if y'all in your life have friends like that uh I think all of us in our life will tend to sugarcoat things occasionally to make sure it's delicately discussed, whatever you're talking about, whether it's a relationship, your job performance, what a friend says, what a friend does, plans, whatever.

I mean, we all have to, if we lived in a world where everybody was blunt 24-7, we probably would have no friends and be loners, generally speaking. When it comes to officiating IMAIDOCA is as blunt as it gets. again he's got a he's got a sober tongue to him for sure one got starstruck I mean

yikes that's Zach Zarbah he's a respected official he's called lots of NBA finals games he's got a good tan 24-7 a matter of part of the country he's in he's actually a decent guy I've talked to him a couple times

but he said the other two should have been out of the floor at all I mean damn what's the what's the money what's the money what's the figure you think the fine's going to be you know we ought to we ought to think about that and I mean I'll

I'll go with $50,000 only $50 you think I think about me more I mean I don't know I mean again it you know EMA is very well compensated and so whatever it is he's going to write the check and be fine with it I know if I was

fine $50,000 I'd be sleeping in the backyard I will just say this to wrap up our conversation about this. The game did not, you know, I never, you'll never hear me say a game comes down to one call. So I'm not going to do that again here today. But I will tell you that the two officials he's speaking of, Natalie Sago and J.D. Rawls, are not very good officials. I think that's pretty much universally discussed. now I don't want to get fined by the NBA so NBA you may need to erase his tape immediately

but man oh man oh man was that a hot mess last night so if you watch the game or listen to it right here on Sports Talk 790 let us know and give us your thoughts about the game last night as Nicola Yokic 39 points 15 rebounds 10 assist 2 steals

2 block shots Jonathan that's just a case of the Mondays for Nikoliyokic He's just that good Yeah you're right He's just that good But it was Murray that was making some big shots It was the Spencer Jones cat

Who had a couple of threes late So if you want to talk some Rockets basketball I'm all for it here As I'm sure the boys this morning are certainly waking up 713-212-5-790, 7-1-3-212-5-7-9-0. We got a lot to get to today on the radio program, including last night's Monday night game that the Steelers dominated over the Pittsburgh of the Miami Dolphins.

We will get to the AFC playoff race and how that settles in. Now that the Steelers are comfortably in front in the AFC North, well, comfortable as comfortably can get with a one-game lead. We'll also get to a couple of thoughts about what's happening around. NFL, generally speaking about what some fans in Denver think about your Houston, Texans. We will also get two on the radio show today. A very respected former short-term member of the Sports Talk 790 family ripping college basketball in order to defend college football.

We'll play that for you today. We've got gut feelings at 1130 this morning, and our friend Chris Gordy is going to stop by from 12 o'clock until 2 to co-host the show with me for a couple of hours. Also, Arch Manning for you, Texas fans, he's coming back for 2000 and 26. Nothing can stop me. I'm all the way up. All the way up. 1022, Sports Talk 790.

It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ross is off today. We're off this week. Our buddy, Chris Cordy, is going to come in and hang out for a couple hours, 12 o'clock until 2. John, then may I peel the curtain back for 12 seconds if you don't mind? of course so the show yesterday and you obviously were a great contributor as well but primarily it's a four-hour solo show with me and you know you're producing and getting calls and whatnot so the voice was a little hoarse after the show and then i took a little nap and then i called this basketball game to overtime i think i chugged four glasses of hot tea after the game yesterday i would not recommend that to the average person i know that you know it always helps me to soothes my throat a little bit but damn i think did you sleep i didn't sleep much i woke up about every 90 minutes oh that sounds horrible i and i don't know does decaffeinated hot tea sound good to anybody it doesn't sound good to me decaffeinated hot tea i don't even know if they

make that but that was the situation of me but i'm i feel better today and uh looking forward to talk with you and again gorty's going to help out a little bit today between 12 and two and then tomorrow and thursday our friend channel rome's going to come and hang out with us for a couple hours between 10 o'clock until noon so look forward to spending some time with him on Wednesday and Thursday. I'll be in New Orleans, Wednesday and Thursday for the show, and then Friday be back here in Denver. As a trip, this is a game one of a potential, but not a potential, it is a six-game road

trip that's going to take us through past Christmas. 713-212-5-7-9. We've got some folks that want to talk some Rockets basketball, and I'm always for that. We are your home of the Rockets. 7-1-3-212-5-790. Let's start today with Newt on line three on the Matt Thomas Show at Roll. Boss, new thanks for holding and good morning to you. Hi, Matt. How are y'all doing?

Excellent. I see a problem brewing for the rockets in their offense. I haven't heard anybody talk about. And I'm in Thompson, who I think is incredible. He's a great athlete. I want him on the floor 48 minutes if we could. But his lack of shooting is really causing a lot of congestion inside the lane. And I don't know if you've watched him when he doesn't have the ball.

They are just sagging off on him in the lane, which is making it harder for Chegoon and Durant inside. And then also, when Thompson has the ball in his hands, they are backing up a step, which makes it harder for him to drive by him. And I think this guy's a 25 to 30 point a game score if he could just learn to shoot from about 20 feet and out. And I just see it as a problem. And I don't, and when you get into the playoffs, I think it's going to rear its head even more. And I'm just concerned about it. And it's something that's fixable. I mean, I can teach a guy to shoot, but I can't teach a guy to be six, seven, run the gym and have a 48-inch vertical jump, which he has.

Yeah. And I just wondered if anyone's talked about it or has, is he working on his shot or are they working on it? Just, I'll hang up and listen, but just wanted to get your thoughts. Yeah. Thanks, Snoot, for the phone call. I appreciate it. Let me tell you about a man, Thompson. He is a very hard worker. He wants to be the best player on the floor.

He prides himself on being a guy that wants to play as many as four positions on the floor at any one time. I mean, we've seen him play power forward at the dunker spot. He's played the small forward. He's played the off guard. And he runs the point. and he's done that since Fred Van Blee's been out. He is an amazingly freakish athlete. He's got great basketball IQ.

He can dish the ball. He can rebound, as in the case last night. How many point guards in the NBA get 12 rebounds a game? His 6-7 frame is going to help him do that. And in an around the dunker spot, he's really, really good. There is one hitch to his game. And it's been something that was talked about the day he got drafted. He just doesn't have the outside shot.

It's not for the sake of trying. It's not for the sake of, well, okay, I'm being lazy. It's not for the sake of I don't want to make the shots. It's just a flaw in his game. So they will continue to sag. They will continue to play a lot of zone. They will continue to give Amman Thompson the opportunities to shoot outside shots. And the men's got to be careful about where those shots are taken.

Case in point. A man, Thompson's about a 19% three-point shooter this year. Took one three-point shot yesterday. He knows his deficiencies. So when you are a point guard and you are as explosive as you can, you have to use your athleticism, you have to force the issue, you have to get to the paint, you have to be able to dish, you've got to get other guys involved.

The rockets have done a pretty decent job of zone busting, especially if they put one of their big men at the free throw line to kind of redirect the offense. But with all that being said, I mean, is as good as it gets except for the fact the outside shots isn't there. And he's trying.

It's just not at the level that he'd want it to be, and I'm sure the Rockets would say the exact same thing. If he becomes an average three-point shooter, if he becomes an average guy that can hit top of the key jumpers on a regular basis, no one can basically stop him. But that's just not there at this point. But everything else, I am heavy team of men.

I am a huge fan of him because he works so hard on both ends of the floor. And I just can't wait to see how his career progresses. But right now, the three-point shot, the deep-toes, just aren't a part of the game. And so you see them on a very limited basis. And so other teams scout that and we'll sag it to your point and give him the opportunity to take those outside shots. he doesn't do it a lot for a reason because he knows at this point the confidence is not there

the argument right now is because of that and other things a lot of teams are double teaming Kevin Durant that's the reason why Kevin really didn't get an opportunity to get a shot off in that game late in the game last night because again double teams are coming to KD at an

historically fast incredible level I mean he's always been double team during the primary career guys 37 38 is only still being double team. So the Rockets have got to take advantage of that. Whether that's Josh Okie with the side baseline threes, whether it is Alprin-Shengoon penetrating the lane or a man Thompson or Jabari Smith hitting a shot.

But the rockets are going to probably have to spend a lot of time thinking about how to remedy that situation. Because until the rockets can consistently, and they've done it so far a lot this year, but I mean every single timeout, make teams pay for double endurance. it's going to cause some problems on occasion. Not necessarily last night, but again, you wanted to get Kevin Duran involved on the offensive side of things.

I mean, Kevin Duran's not, you know, has only had 20 or more shots, I mean, maybe two or three times so far this year. So teams are doing a good job of making sure he doesn't mid-range in the death. You know, that left elbow, right- elbow jumper that he shoots all the time, the free-throw line jumper. That's a staple so far Kevin Durant's back half of his career.

And 8 of 14 last night, seven assists, so he's getting a good job with ball distribution. He had five block shots last night, which is incredible. He did also turn the ball over five times, but he gets the free throw line, makes about 90% of his free throws.

But yeah, there are different components. This team's got different scoring options. But one of them probably at this point will not be using Amanda Thompson as a deep perimeter threat. Now, that can change. It can certainly, it could be an overnight sensation, it could be, but you remember,

I mean, Thompson's been playing since he's been probably old enough to walk and talk. It's just not going to be the strength of his game at this point. But I know he's working on it, and I have tremendous faith that he's going to be able to get to a level where he's at least, you know, an average, you know, doesn't embarrass himself kind of guy. And the thing about him right now is he also knows his limitations. That's the reason why last night he only took one three point shot. 713-212-5-7.9 if you want to chime in. 2-5-7-90. I'm staring at my social media account to see how much the fine is going to be,

because I know they're coming after him. Help it won't suspend him. I don't think they're going to do that. But, boy, he was not pleased with the officiating last night. Not about that one call. I mean, obviously, that was the one that really got him going, but there were a lot of calls throughout the game that I think were aggravating the rocket spins throughout the course of the night.

1031, Matt Thomas Show with Ross here in Denver, 713-212-5-790. Matt without Ross today here in Denver. We'll talk with the Chris Gordon. I'll go host to show for a couple hours, 12 o'clock until 2 here on Sports Talk 7.9. We'll get his thoughts on Arch Manning returning to University of Texas. No surprise on that. We'll also get a thought or two about the upcoming Miami versus Texas A&M game,

which is noon, excuse me, 11 a.m. Saturday in College Station is a college football. all quarterfinals get underway for the CFP. We'll also get into last night's game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Miami Dolphins. I don't know how many of you watched it, but I don't think Miami doesn't ever win in games with the temperature 40 degrees or less. They were making a big deal out of that this morning at ESPN about the dolphins never win, which is ridiculous because you have teams that change people all the time. But to a Taga-Valoa, I don't think is won a game in less than 40 degrees ever. So if you're a betting person on that kind of thing, keep that in the back of your mind. 713-212-5-790 rockets last night fall to the Nuggets by a final score of 128 to 125.

The very good rocket shot 51% from the floor, 48% from 3 and got 33 from Alpi, 10 assist, 10 rebounds, a triple double there. Raid Shepard, 14 points off the bench on 5 of 17 shooting. At least he kept shooting. He's got to have to keep doing that because if he, if he, If he rolls himself in a ball and goes on the fetal position, teams will pick up on that. 25 for Durant, 16 apiece for Jabari and Josh Okigio to season high. I meant Thompson with 14 and then mentioned Reed Shepherd 14. Last night, Yokic, 39 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists.

He did foul out. Jamal Murray had 35. You get two guys that combined for 74 points in your starting lineup. Damn, Denver. You suck. I hate you. I do. I don't like coming here.

Roger on 790 at 1038. Roger, good morning. Good morning, Matt. Let me just say this and spit this out and then you can critique it, talk about it, whatever you will do with it. But the Rockets, if they're ever to shed this baby brother phase with the upper echelon teams, they're going to have to just, they're going to have to just, they're going have to suck it up and fight through it.

The revs, you know, nobody's telling you it's going to be easy. Anything worth having, it's not easy, man. You got to go to these places and, you know, it's going to be everything against. You have to have that mentality. You've got to have that fortitude, man. We overcame so much yesterday. I believe you just eliminate one of those implosions, either the halftime implosion or the third quarter implosion.

We would have won at least by five or something like that. You have to eliminate those little phases, man, where you're just, like, beating yourself because it takes that much effort to come back and then, you know, try to win a ballgame. Especially when you know everything's against you, you've got to overcome these things. I consider, you know how much, I'm going to, I'm about to vomit a little bit in my mouth before I say this. I consider the Spurs a little higher tier than the Rockets right now at this point in time. At December 16th, 2025, the Spurs are a little bit better team than the Rockets right now. now, and they're just as young as we are.

And, you know, but I hate to say that, Matt. You know that. And I just think that we have to start stacking up these quality wins, man, and start that climb on upward trajectory that we need. Because this team is talented. Yeah, we're missing a couple of little pieces here and there. You know, we went and came through all that stuff, you know, Reed Shepard looking like along came Pauley with the Phillips Seymour Hoffman.

You know, I'm glad he kept shooting, but yeah, You've got to come up, focus, and ready to gun, and make those shots, man. You've got to get it. There's no other. Well, I mean, and look, Roger, you are. I know. You are bringing up a lot of gospel here, and I get it. Because, look, the West is going to be over competitive, and one game here or there

could make a difference between being a three-seed or a six-seed. I understand that, for sure. But a season does not make in mid-to-late December. No, no, no, no. But I just, the thing, the hope is you learn from these and get better, get sharper, and for the next time, you know what you expect, and hopefully you come out on the winning end of it. And that's it. Yeah, I don't, I don't disagree with you.

Thanks, Roger, for the phone call. Yeah, you want to, you want to go, you know, you were so close at Oklahoma City. You were so close last night against Denver. You do, you do want, I mean, you were close to the Denver home game. I mean, Denver's got a 2-0 lead on you. So if there's a tie-breaker between the Nuggets and the Rockets in the year, you know, we're going to play the Nuggets five times. year so they're already off to a two and o start against the the rockets i get it yeah you you

want to be able to fight through the elements and the reality is this and i would even say the most ardent rocket supporter would say this the denver nuggets are an excellent basketball team i mean they are legitimate title contenders along with again three or four other teams in a western conference so you respect the hell out of the players that are already on the floor I think what the contentiousness is is that you don't want it to fight two or sometimes even three officials that are not calling it the way that should be called. And look, you know me. I mean, I think I've been very fair over the years. I don't spend a lot of time of bashing officials because I just think it's moot.

And I think largely it does even itself out. But you need to be able, if you've got Denver and you are a monom, I mean, think about this last night. I mentioned this before. This game had 17 league changes and 16 ties. I mean, that is the epitome of a close back and forth game. Both teams had a 9-point lead at one point in this game. You wanted to be my 5 on the floor versus your 5 on the floor. You don't want anybody to catch any additional breaks.

And from the rocket side, and again, you know, it's not like we, you men and I had a post-game beverage anything last night, but clearly by his comments, he felt like there were a lot of calls that went the hometown way. And that does happen, you know, that's human nature, especially in the NBA. I mean, I don't know the exact metrics of it, but I bet I could find some tangible evidence

that says home teams get, quote, unquote, more of the 50-50 or more of the, for interpretation calls than say teams that don't, on the road teams. And I think that's the aggravating, part is that you know what i we're bringing our best they're bringing their best let's let let these guys aside on the court let's not let ticky tack as you may termed or calls that we're not i mean they're the the reason why iopran shangook got a technical foul yesterday was

you know he was being formed in the back multiple times on one play by nicola yokech and i think that's where eme may said that maybe the crew chiefs zack zackzark got starstruck last night because it's Nicole Eokich is one of the greatest players ever to play in the NBA and still has probably many more years of this. Now, I would think at this point in Zach Zarb or any NBA referee's career that you're not going to be starstruck, but it is human nature. I mean, I'll be honest with you. I've been doing radio and sports broadcasting for 34 years.

I get starstruck. It happens. I get it. But I don't know that it affect my job responsibilities. And I think that's where Eme and the Rockets are complaining is that yesterday the game was the competition between these two

Western Conference heavyweights was too big for at least two guys or a woman and a man two people in that crew and maybe in some cases all three of them. 713-212-5-790 if you want to chime in 7-13-212-5-790 I certainly appreciate the Rockets chatter

will continue that all throughout the course of the day because that's what we had last night. I don't think a lot of you spent Miami and Pittsburgh was on your top of the agenda. But it was a good NBA game that just didn't go the Rockets way and liked for them one of those to come back. And again, we'll be back here on Saturday afternoon. So a chance for a little revenge will be the third meeting between the Rockets and Denver this young season. 1050, Matt, with you here in Denver, Ross off this week. Gordy's going to come in at 12 o'clock and co-host me for a couple hours looking forward to that.

All right, so Jonathan, to explain, I call the game from the first row of the second deck at the ball arena in Denver here. And I have fans all around me next to our broadcast position. And that's not bad. I don't care. I mean, I've been doing this for 10 years now, and there's never been an issue. And I don't think there will be. But before the game, we were talking about the playoffs. and you remember yesterday Denver on Sunday beat the Green Bay Packers here

and people are pretty pumped because Bo Nakes had a great game. So I just, and I asked this group, there was about seven people. There was two to the left of me, three to the behind me, and two to the right of me. And I said, hey, are you all Broncos fans? Oh, yeah, we're tired. Everybody here in Denver's diehard Bronco fan. I mean, this city lives and breathes Denver Broncos football. You know, we always tease about how the Cowboys, when the Rangers,

won the Super Bowl. People in Dallas are like, oh, congratulations, when this is the Cowboys Training Camp? That's the exact same thing. Nicola Yokic is a multiple-time MVP award winner. They helped the Nuggets win a championship for years back, and people are like, yeah, but who's going to be the backup linebacker for the Broncos? I mean, it's just, there are certain pockets of the country

that just love its football more than anything else. So I said, hey, who are you all afraid of in the playoffs? And they knew I was, you know, I lived in here. Houston, and I, you know, I was wearing rockets up and in the Rockets broadcast position. Yeah. Six of the seven said the Buffalo Bills. Really? And the other person said the New England Patriots.

So I then followed up by saying, look, you're not going to hurt my feelings. Because naturally when you talk about a hometown team, you think, okay, this guy's an Uber fan of this guy that you don't want to say anything to hurt the guy's feelings. I said, you're not going to hurt my feelings. What do you all think of the Texans? Not a single one of them was concerned. Now, this is a seven fan fans, seven Bronco fans. They basically said what I think a lot of the NFL is saying. Amazing defense, but ain't nobody scared of the Texans offense.

The Bronco fans are really saying that after, they see j got hurt we probably would have won they would probably would want to that was 1850 remember that too yeah that's that's crazy and i was like now to be brutally honest with you and this is a problem that again texans fans have to understand the texans don't carry a lot of national cachet so a lot of them really didn't know much about the texans honestly so again this is this is just a rando me

sitting in my seat before the game hey how y'all doing everybody's good yeah what you know just curious I thought I'd use this for a little small part of the show today they're like y'all don't have a running back CJ Stroud is just okay and I can't name five offensive players

they knew will Anderson was they knew who Derek Stingley was and not that I would expect them to give me all 11 on either side of the ball but it was interesting that six of the seven and maybe it's because of as Ross would say, recency bias. The Buffalo Bills have been a team that has been, you know,

in deep playoff runs for a lot of this run. Well, the Texans are usually one playoff when and done or out of the playoffs completely. But I just thought I'd just get a small perspective. And I don't know if people in, if I went to the same, if I sat around seven people in Houston, would they be saying, oh, we're not scared anybody. We're the Houston freaking Texans.

Or they would say, yeah, Josh Allen's really good. I mean, Josh Allen and the Buffalo. Buffalo bills, you would think of all the teams in the NFL would be wanting to take advantage of the fact that the Chiefs are not in the playoffs, because it feels like that's been their number one nemesis. I mean, all the playoff matches

all the years. But yeah, Denver fan ain't feeling the Texans. Just seven of them, but they were seven football fans that knew their Broncos left and right. I just wanted to pass that along to you. Again, I don't

think you take anything away from me, because again, What does our opinion mean in the big picture? Absolutely nothing, but I just thought it would be just curious to get a perspective from people that were considered diehard Bronco fans. Let's go to Ray at 1056 on the Matt Thomas show. Ray, good morning to you. Hey, good morning. Quick on our Texans, we're quick. I respect those fans in New England and Denver and Buffalo because I wouldn't be afraid of them either.

I agree with Cole from this morning. The offense isn't good enough. It's not a Super Bowl offense. It's a Super Bowl defense, which makes it not a Super Bowl team. The Rams would demolish the Texas in the Super Bowl based off the offense only. And that defense is not going to constantly hold up against playoff quarterbacks because that is a different season. And I agree with Clay Cole this morning.

The offense isn't good enough to make it all the way. Now, the Rockets, if you're going to call out the reps, I would like it in a more quiet way. I didn't like how he did that. If I was the commission, I would send him a $100,000 invoice. And it's not time for stuff like that. Just keep it quiet and just show your anger through your play. I wouldn't have said anything about the refs, anything about the NBA. I would just make my team have a hard practice, and when we get back to Denver, smash them.

Don't say anything. Keep it quiet like Belichick, you know, just quiet. Opening his mouth, I think that was out. out of line. That's all I got. Well, you know, and look, he's going to get fine by it. I think he knows that. I also think he was trying to send a message.

And also, this is the one thing we talk about a lot in sports. You know, Emaidoka is like every other coach in basketball and in football and in baseball. They speak within 10 to 15 minutes after the game is concluded. Imagine if you had a bad day at work

or somebody at the office was doing you wrong and you had to go talk to a bunch of people about it 15 minutes after your day it ended you'd be probably pissed too now if he may got to speak 90 minutes or two hours after the game would his opinion change i don't know i don't you know i would think probably not i think he's probably stewing right now as still as we speak but knowing he may the way that i have done us three years i think he may does this for a purpose one to keep his guys their chins up after a tough loss. Two, he wants better officials in bigger games.

And I thought last night, the crew that was assigned by the NBA did not match what would be the intensity of a Denver Houston game. But he knows, he's not stupid. He knows what he did cross the line and it's going to cost him some money. But I don't know really, I don't think at this point that anybody is overly concerned about that. It doesn't happen a lot, but this will be, when he gets fine, I know he will be. This will be, I think, the second bond he's had since turning the Rockets. Let's get the second hour of the Matt Thomas show at Ross started here in a matter of moments. We've got gut feelings coming up in a half an hour from now.

Jonathan, do we know how the gut feelings went from last week? We probably should have told Ross to send him out. You know what, text Ross, he's awake. He'll send it to us. Okay, okay. Because if it comes from you, he likes you more than likes me, so he'll feel bad. Don't think that's true. When I send a text to him, you'd be like a new phone who did.

So I'm saying, hey, man, I really need I need the Godfills from last week. 713-212-5-790s. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Three to cross mid-court. Spins, lobs, Shangoon. Right to the lane goes up. He's fouled.

He's got a basket and won. Wow, you need a three-point possession. You got it the hard way. Still got to finish it here. But Alpi goes to the basket and scores. A whistle from behind on Spencer Jones. after last night, 14 to 27, 33 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds, a block, turned it over four times, filed five times.

Denver, the Nuggets, outscore the Rockets in the overtime, 11 to 8, and win 128 to 125. Matt Thomas, with you for the Mile High City. I'll be in New Orleans tomorrow. Rockets back in action Thursday against the Pelicans. We will discuss rockets. We got NBA chatter to get to, NFL stuff to get to, some college stuff

including one of the most respected college voices and a friend of the show just went off the rails about something that I just thought it was just ill-timed. We'll discuss that coming up

a little bit later on. Gordy's with us at 12 o'clock. We've got gut fillings at the bottom of the hour here on a sports talk 790. 7.13-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Jonathan, let's play that e-mail I doka clip again.

It's about a minute and a half. This is the press availability he had. The questions about the game itself. Answers were short. He may not pleased with the foul called on a men, Thompson, that was Tim Hardaway, who on some angles look like he flat out slipped. Meanwhile, Denver fan is interrogating me on social media saying, no, that was a foul.

You don't know what you're talking about. Go away. The foul was called before the ball was put into play. which means one free throw. Anybody in the Nuggets can shoot it, and it was Jamal Murray that did it. It tied the game. Yokic missed a three at the buzzer that would have won the game for the nuggets.

They go to overtime and win the contests. Here again is Eme, if you've not heard it, and I'm sure we'll play it a couple more time before the end of the show today. Eme, not pleased with the three folks carrying whistles last night here in the Mile High City. What did you do? I'm in there at the end of regulation. Tiki-tack.

Went along with the game tonight. not surprised by the crew we had out there. When you got the technical earlier, because Yolkich was pushing on Alpi and the wouldn't call. Is that part of the BPL, I guess? Yeah, I guess. I mean, just in general, I think it's poorly officiated game. I've seen a long time to have no business being out there,

and the crew chief is acting star struck. So you've seen all kind of inconsistent calls. And I'm sure. should have got a few more texts. What do you say to your team when a game is being called the way that it was tonight? Keep being who we are. We're not going to adjust to poorly, poor officials. So we're going to do what we do.

And hopefully they can adjust and call it the right way against two physical teams in a high-level game. How will be out of triple-double, even dealing with some of the physical defense? How do you think he played over? Good on offense. I think got to be better on defense. How important was Kevin's defensive ever tonight with this season high five blocks? Yeah, there's some guys we had opportunity to make plays on. I think he should have probably had seven or eight that they call foul zone.

He said before the game you wanted to try to make other guys beat you besides Yokins and Murray. They both had another good game. What did you see of them? Yeah, well, I mean, Murray gets 15 free throws and Yokish hits big shots. That's what he does. So we made some plays off other guys, and Jones hit a few big. three is late and where they have to prove it but yeah that's why they are who they are yeah again my thought is the one call sucked very ticky-tack if not even a slip by hardaway

but to me it was about a variety of calls last night it wasn't just that one call that probably erked the rocket set coach let's go the phones and talk to the great people of houston texas 713 212 5 790 713 212 5 790 we'll start with blake on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Blake, thanks for holding and good morning to you. Hey, good morning. Thank you for taking my call. So watching that game last night, I thought the ending was interesting. I thought you guys got robbed.

But my take with the Rockets is I was looking at the set. So your top three in the league and offensive rating, your bottom five in the league and assists. Your best passer is Shengoon with seven assists per game. This is just reading the box scores and stats. To me, my concern with this Rocket team is that how long is this sustainable for? Van Fleet comes back in the playoffs.

They don't really have that pick and roll guy. They don't really have all these, you know, great passes on the court that can create shots for people. They've been trying to do it with Shepard. They try to do it with Thompson. I feel like so much of their so many of their wasted possessions come around trying to find somebody who can move the ball.

And I think that really holds you guys back in the game against Denver. That is all these great guys that are going to score and they're going to score 120. It's just how long will this offense that runs through the second chance plays, the rebounds from Adams, the guys they stack down low. At some point, if you have

to move the ball better with your guards. You know, those are very interesting conversations that are probably happening with the Rockets right now. There are some guards that are available that have been talked about. You know, Van Vlead,

I know he wants to come back, but if I'm a Rockets fan or if I'm a Rockets official, I think I'm counting on him returning for coming to playoffs. That's just me. But, yeah, it is a basketball team that involves a lot of double teams to Durant. It involves a lot of ball movement involving Shingoon, and that's part of the charm. I mean, you know, the one thing that Denver probably has that the Rockets don't have is he got Jamal Murray.

You can also distribute the ball as well as Yokic can, so there's a little bit of a benefit on their side. But, you know, Amman Thompson also has the ability to be a guard multiple positions where Jamal Murray is going to be doing a lot of chasing around with their folks. and I'm not trying to compare Rockets in Denver per se. But, yeah, I can see it. I can see that extra ball movement is certainly key. There is some isolation, but you can also realize once the ball hits Kevin Durant's hands or, for that matter, outburn, Schengoon, they're thinking shoot first and pass second.

Yeah, yeah, I definitely agree with that. I just think that, you know, I mean, you had to trade Jalen Green for Duran, I get that, but all the pick and roll stuff you lost and all the ball movement you lost with that. You can almost notice it, regardless of how great. the offenses. They remind me of like a hockey team, almost, where they just sort of stack the big guys down low,

whether it's Adams or Capella or Shangoon, obviously, and they just pull down all these boards. It's such a lengthy team, and that's what makes them so great, and it's a Toka, who's a defensive genius, and it's so good at making the long guys work. It's just to me, I think the ball movement is

going to become more of an issue once we get to March or April. Yeah, you know, again, it's not like the Rockets will all of a sudden change who they are come playoff time and great stuff there blank for the phone call they won't you know they're not going to be one of the upper echelon pace teams in the nba you know i'd be curious to see you know where the development is a reed shepherd before the end of the year uh and you know do you ultimately want him to be the starting point guard with uh men going to the two a little more freedom of

ball movement a little more of a true point guard that i don't i don't know but again reads i mean it's not like a men doesn't distribute the ball himself. I mean, they had 29 assists yesterday on 47 shots. In fact, that's above 50%. So that's decent ball movement. Nuggets last night had 24 assist off their 43 shots. But a lot of that is, again, ball goes into front court. Durant's got it if he's got an open seam, takes two dribbles,

finds himself with the left and right elbow, hits the mid-range shot, and he's calling it a good. You know, a man is. so, or as I'd say, Alpi is so good at ball will block, I can take it myself, and if I find the double team that I don't like, I can find the open man.

But I do believe there will be some conversations about ball distribution, moving the ball around, getting guys open, finding, you know, as EMA has said multiple times, the good shot becoming a great shot. Very, again, I don't have any intel on this, but I would think if you're doing your due diligence

about what this team can do come playoff time, in this over-competitive West, you're going to be thinking about if there is a point guard out there. I'm not necessarily saying Chris Paul. I'm not even saying John Moran. I'm just thinking about guards in the NBA that maybe, you know, on second-tier teams

that you would not think of that are looking to shave payroll or, you know, are in rebuild mode that could ultimately maybe come to Houston. I don't know. Or maybe the Rockets are saying, look, we just, look at how close we have gotten in these games. We're going to win some of these games

in the back half of the year that we came up just shored in during the course of the early part of the season. But again, great stuff there. Thanks for the phone call. 1112 here on Sports Talk 790. Carl wants to talk about Houston fans. That's a good wide open topic. We'll get to that.

We'll get to the most of you as well at 713-212-5-790. 7-13-2-1-2-5-7-90. With a reminder again, gut feelings are coming up at the bottom of the hour. And if you're new to the show, here's how it works. You will call them with a sports prediction. If you're right, you get to call us back in future weeks and brag about it. If you're wrong, we don't. bother you unless it was a completely absurd

gut feeling. But that's part of the fun of the segment. 713-212 5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Jonathan. I got Denver fans coming after me left and right. Are you actually? Yeah. So I'm just messing with them now. I'm just

fly. You got Denver fans listen to the show. No. It's on Twitter. The 4 U-Tab is hurting their feelings. so something called m mstees 47 he replies i put the tweet out about you know the shin of a man thompson being you know made of granite or stone or the most strongest you know the doctor's going to take a look at it he goes have you ever played a sport embarrassing post i don't even know if m mc's 47 sounds like that but it just sounds like that guy would sound like

that so i reply how dare you denver fan asking if i've ever played a sport i play badminton shovel board and pet put putt but thinking about pickleball how about you god i just i love going at people it just gives me such passion meanwhile i got another one this is from call me king underscore 44 his name is king yokech you've obviously never played sports it doesn't take a lot to trip someone gang, and my response to him was, let me see if I got my response here in post interactions. I said, but I'm a hell of a dancer.

Man, everybody's in there. I don't even know Denver even had Nuggets fans. So, there you have it. I guess I'll be fighting with Denver fans all day long on Twitter. You got 5K views. It might go to 15 by the end of the box. Oh, uh-oh, oh, oh, you know what I didn't like when I got all these views.

Oh, man. I got the, I got the enemies coming after me. Tell them to listen to the show. We taste 10 to 2. Not that Denver fans are going to listen to us, but, you know, it's getting good. I like it. Let's talk to Carl in Crenshaw, California. Where is Crenshaw?

I don't even know where that is. No, I'm from Houston. That's Carl Crenshaw. You're Carl Crenshaw. The Carl Crenshaw? The one, yeah, yeah, yeah. How about that? Nice.

Man, that's a setup. I should have a comeback for that. That's a joke there. I can't find it. Well, let me say, you know, about the fan thing. But real quick, about the Rockets, I adore them. They're going to be fine. They're still getting to know each other.

As long as Shagoon and KD, they're playing a lot of them as long as they don't blow a gasket before the end of the year or any other major injuries. We don't cough up too much before during the deadline. They've got a smart coach. But anyway, about the fans, let me just remind everyone that we had a football team leave this city. And it's not like all of a sudden we just quit, we're football fans, okay? We followed them, we followed our favorite coach. We became fans of the entire NFL. We got to, we educated ourselves.

And then two, we had a baseball team that switched leagues. How many baseball teams do that? We were fans of the National League. We knew the Cubs. We knew the pirates. We knew all those teams. And now we're, you know, and this is well before fans. fantasy okay and even before all this gambling stuff now everyone does know all the players but

yeah i just want a reminder one about that and then too you know the rockets we have such an inner the whole city is such an international city me being from chicago i am a houston fan with all the teams but uh hope we get hockey here i'm driving right now um i don't want my daughter if i call me here for talking while i'm driving but uh i'm hanging up and listen thank you guys i love you guys are smashing show thank you thank you carl okay i don't really understand any of that conversation but I enjoyed it I don't really know what his point was but you know it was nice that's what we do here we let you say what you want to say and as long as you're polite we let you have a little bit of a leash how about rando Twitter guy you've

obviously never played any sports when did you become the sports scientist out there Denver fan Now I want the Texans to play the Broncos so we can S-talk them for another week or so. Let's go to Allen on 798-11-24. Alan, good morning to you. Hey, what's up, Matt? How you doing? Good. Hey, so I was just talking about the Rockets.

It was a really tough loss. I think, you know, I think in the last stretch of the fourth quarter, I mean, Durant and, Reed, they hit some clutch shots. You know, we could have won that game. It was just a, it was just a bogus call. It was a bad call, but it's all good. You know, they just got to just focus onto the next game. And then we'll go against them, we'll go against them in Denver, so on Saturday night.

So, but with that being said, Matt, ignored those Denver fans because if that call was, you know, made other way around, trust me, those Denver fans would have been upset as well. I don't mind sports smack that's what we do for a living you know what I'm saying especially with anonymous people that have like 40 followers what are they going to do come after me like please he's scary right right I don't it I treat them with kindness and use my fetal attempts at it comedy occasionally to just further irritate them and usually it works I'm pretty proud of that right absolutely man but yeah man so thanks Alan nice here from you it was a tough it was tough yeah I mean you want to But, you know, we could have won that game, but it is what it is.

So we just got to focus on to the next game, man. I hope so. That's going to be Thursday in New Orleans. Yeah, the round is you want to win these games. You, as I talked about before, you're going to be in a spot where you are going to be maybe in a tie-breaking situation with Denver. If it's seating, you know, will 55 wins get you to the four-seater, 54 wins? I mean, and then if you're playing Denver in a potential playoff series, does the head-to-head matchups? and right now it's a little frustrating and disappointing that they've got a 2-0 head start on you

but you've got a chance we'll be back here Saturday as a matter of fact to take on the nuggets again so an opportunity to grab a victory and get back in this race but again first things first really close games really entertaining and I'm just going to tell you it is going to be one hellaciously competitive Western Conference I say with this we are blessed we're about to have a kick-ass NFL playoffs and we're about to have a kick-ass NBA playoffs. It's great to be a sports fan right now.

We get the Astros get back in the American League independent chase, that'd be even better too. But just saddle up, Houston fans. We're going to have a lot to talk to about in the next handful of months. It is time now for gut feelings. This is where you call the show at 713212-5-790

7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-9 Jonathan did you text Ross I did I did I got the list See I told you he likes you more than me That's not true He had a son of text said very busy All right So we'll go over our gut feelings from last week

We'll make some new ones And if you have any sports predictions 713-212-5-790 7-1-3-212-5-790 We have gut feelings next on the Matt Thomas show at Ross here from Denver on Sports Talk 790. Listen up, girls and boys. They've been so appealing. Because Ross and Matt Thomas.

Yo, they got a gut feeling. This is their gut feeling on the Matt Thomas show. All right, 713, 212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. We've got gut feelings coming up. We are going to honor Rob Reiner today, believe it or not. It will not be a political nature. It'll be simply about his entertainment careers of a director, writer, and television stars.

So we'll be doing that today at 150. Gordy's going to come along and help out the show Newton till two looking forward to spending some time with him. And we'll look forward to talking with you. Here's how gut feeling works. You will call up with a sports prediction at 713212-5-790. 7-1-2-1-2-5-7-90. If your prediction hits, you call us back and you brag about it. If you get it wrong, no big deal as long as you don't embarrass yourself.

now great friend of the show brad is third on the list to call in on gut feelings as long as brad is on if you get in front of brad you can if you call you'll go before brad brad brad is our very last caller unbelief on uh today's edition of uh gut feelings so as long as you keep calling we won't take brad's call but if nobody else calls you'll hear from brad 713 212 5 790 before we get to our gut feelings of this week How did we do last week, Jonathan Allen? Okay. Let's start off with you, Matt.

Notre Dame is out of the 8CC within five years. Okay. Bryce Matthews gets traded. I guess there's no time period on that, so I guess it's wrong. Both those are, yep. Rockets beat the Clippers by 10. I actually don't underscore it. Nope.

No, no. Dang, Matt. And then Montana State beats SFA by two T-Ds. Oh, hells yeah. You know what I am? I'm your official Montana State Insider. And then you said Texas Texans cover the 10

Which I appreciate And they did that too Yeah You can see that Four and two I guess No wait a man There's two

We don't know about So I get I'm two for two But Bryce Matthew You didn't put a timeline You didn't say nothing Yeah that's right I didn't say

He was gonna trade in the last next week Come on now I'll let a slide I'll let a slide Thank you Ross has said Reshepard 20 plus Points in his next game

I don't think he did Nope CJ Stroud Three TDs this weekend Yes he did that And what does it say? Three first team all pro on Texas and defense. We don't know about that yet.

Then I go, Chargers beat the Chiefs. Oh, look at you. I know two people on my left that are L.A. Charger fans. And you are, get your flowers. You beat Kansas City. Good for you. I got to be a little key. I can't.

You know how Charges get in the playoffs. We got to wait. Oh, I know. Y'all just ass the bed really quick. And then I said SFA beats Montana State. But, yeah, that's because you're fool. I mean, that's just unfortunate. It sounds like gut feelings last week.

All right. Now, let's get the gut feelings of this week. 713212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. I mean, it would it be too easy to say the TECS the Rockets cover the spread against the Pelicans on Thursday because the Pelicans suck? I mean, I feel like they need to... You know what?

I'm going to give you one here. Rockets beat the Pelicans Thursday by at least 15 By 15 15 Texans I believe they're either 13 and a half

14 or 14 and a half point favorites it don't matter they will cover the spread whatever the final number is against the Raiders on Sunday Okay okay okay

kind of easy ones I'm trying to think of something very difficult I keep waiting for astro trades to happen, but that hasn't happened yet. Why don't you predict the rest of the Texan season or something? Or like the next three weeks. No, we're going to go week to week on that. How about this? How about you want to predict Jacksonville, Denver this Sunday?

Okay. What do you think? I think Denver wins by a field goal. I don't know the spread is, don't particularly care. I got Denver by a field goal in a closer game. I think Jacksonville is playing a lot better than we want to give them credit for. At least I want to. I think it's going to be a high-scoring game,

and I think it's going to be a three-point Denver victory. Because let me tell you, they're really good at Mile High. They just are. Or whatever they're calling their stadium this week. Oh, you know what I got? Just this is just to have some fun. I'm going to say Baltimore beats the Patriots next week.

Whoa. That's going to give them some mojo. You know what? They really can't afford to lose any more this year. But I'm feeling like the AFC is a little more even than what we think it is. Like I guess I'm agreeing with you saying how you thought the Chiefs were going to go.

But I think, I don't know, I think the Patriots are a little bit on fraud watch for me. Hmm. How about this? Who wins the AFC East? Buffalo or the Patriots? I'm going to tell you the bills are going to sneak around the Patriots

and win the AFC East. There you go. I didn't stutter. I like that. I like that. Okay. Anything else from you? We got a couple weeks for NCAA, man.

We got no college football talk, I guess. No, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We got games. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's January. Oh, God. Let me tell you, for my own mental health, I need my, I need that A&M to beat Miami. For your own mental help?

Is it a gut feeling or if you're just helping? Yeah, put it down as a gut feeling. All right, so let's do this real quick. Are you sure, you're writing all this down because I'm not? I'm doing it right now. Okay, good. You're not going to listen, but go back to the show because I got to do, I'm working on believing or not today right now.

So, all right, the playoffs this weekend. Let's do this really quick. I've got, let's see here, where's the playoff bracket? I have Oregon covering James Madison. Okay. Okay. That's double digits. I think Alabama wins at, or Oklahoma.

I think Ole Miss covers Tulane and A&M beats Miami. I'm not worried about the sprint in that one. A&M wins, Ole Miss covers, Alabama wins, Oregon covers, James Madison. There you go.

That's all the gut feels I can give you. My gut is empty right now. We've got to call us. It's all right. I like these. I like these. Okay. Let's go to the phones and talk to the great people of Houston's text.

Remember, Brad is there on the list. So if you get, if you ever hear a person drop, you should then call in because more of you means no and less of Brad. Gio on 790 1139 Gio what's in your gut this week What's going on guys So I got a couple of gut feelings

First one low hanging fruit Brad takes will suck All right that's the first one All right that's a pretty solid one there Pretty safe Second one tonight man in the NBA Cup finals man I'm taking San Antonio to beat the Knicks In overtime I think they're going to get it in overtime

man. Third one, Texans, they'll end up winning the AFC South Jags or frauds. Don't know how

they got their record they have but it is what it is Texas AFC South champs and also stay on the Texans

this defense, the number one defense in the NFL I might add will take us to the Super Bowl baby and those are

Oh, Geo! Damn, Gio, you're really going out there. Good for you. There we go. All right,

thanks to you for the phone call. Look at that. Good gracious. Gio coming in strong. He came in locked and loaded. By the way, if San Antonio wins the Cup tonight,

oh, God. Missy the Ultimate Spurs fans going to lose her mind. Thank God I'm on the road, she can't find me. She just comes in the studio and starts bragging about Wimby and Stefan Castle and Deeran Fox and Harrison Barnes

and blah, blah, blah. Ladies and gentlemen, I don't think I've ever said this, but maybe two times in my life. Let's go, Nix. I can't have San Antonio have any supremacy. I just, I don't want any part of that. Zilch. I don't need San Antonio thinking they're better than they are.

They're in Vegas, and I'm not. I'm in Denver here, having to hear from Nuggets fans attacking me. Not attacking. We're just having a good time. Brian and Pearland, 1141 on 790. Brian, what's in your gut this week? what's going on m t uh something that didn't get as much play from the weekend but i think it was the main sports headline that should have been covered more yesterday but i get it yet some potsy nfl game

the fighting texas aggie women went in the lincoln and knocked off the number one seated undefeated husker lady volleyball taking out the the overall number one seed and they will win the national title this weekend Mark. Wait a minute. They're going to beat Pittsburgh in Nebraska the same year? You crazy. Put me wrong, M.C., put me wrong. They already slayed one dragon

and they got one more to go. They'll just reload that sling and have it ready for Thursday night. All right, very good. All right, I'll accept that. If you didn't see it, Matt, that four set went 37, 35. Hey, listen to me. I was on the

playing streaming. You know what I was streaming it. You know I watched it. Okay. That was a hell of a match. That was a hell of a match. And I'm with you. I will be there Saturday. A&M will get the win over the hurricanes. They will keep the season going

as the only team who still has a chance to win a football national championship and a volleyball national championship. The only Division I team left out there and Roth can watch them because his women long horns got beat by Wisconsin. in volleyball so he can no volleyball championship for him so that's all I got Matt thank you sir

appreciate the phone call 713 212 7190 5 7190 7190 719 more of your gut feelings are up next and dangan you'll go first then whoever's on the line being screen you'll go second Brad still going to go third James oh James and Gardnokes our buddy from 66.9 WFAN, New York. I'm going to talk some Giants football, some Jets football. So we got Daniel, James, and Brad. That's a trio right there. It is a Matt Thomas show with Ross, here from Denver on Sports Talk 790.

1148, gut feelings continues. Sports Talk 790 here from Denver, Colorado, 713, 212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-9. We've got a lot of folks that want to get their gut feelings in. And we'll start with Daniel on 790. Daniel, good morning. What's in your gut this week? Hey, man.

It's actually Manuel. But I'm actually a kind of a great fan. I'm a Broncos and a Rocketsan. So I love Houston. So I used to speak for a long time, the United and the Broncos and Cincinnati. So, in truth, we are worried about the tech trains. And you got an amazing defense to lift these people for you.

Okay. Good. That's nice. That's good of respect. from Denver fan. Yeah. Okay, so my good feelings the Rockets are going to be

for a two or three points on Saturday. I just feel like they're going to be. They're going to have that loss in their mouth and just want to get it out. Somehow, some way, they're going to do it. Okay. Pepper's going to show up for a couple more threes. I really believe that. And then the Texans and Broncos

will meet in the playoffs, but I've got to go with my Broncos. We win by a four-goal again. that's fair especially the games at denver because y'all are really good in this building i'm telling you coming here and thanks for the phone call manual this crowd this city this thin air it gets to people Denver's i mean they're pedestrian on the road but they're excellent on the road i mean at home green bay i mean did

everything with a kitchen sink at him and bonnakes had a fantastic game i'm i am super excited about the playoffs but as i mentioned on the show yesterday i'm super scared for everybody that plays in the AFC. There ain't a team in this AFC that should be thinking, oh, we got this. Now the Kansas City's out. There just isn't.

This is the God's honest truth. Everybody's got a ward. Everybody's got something that can hang their hat on and go, you know what? We're the best at it. Let's go to Oh, our buddy on line three. Jonathan, what we got for him? New York. The fast sports radio.

A lot of 9th, Sports Radio. Six to six. James and Goddokes, you're on the fan. Good morning. Hey, thank you, Governor Thomas, for taking my car and shout out to everybody, including Brad. Hey, I got a quick take about that cup and everything. The cup's going to run over in New York because this is their version of getting a championship. And I think they'll be satisfied for all those crazy cooks in New York.

They'll be satisfied to just drink it. Right now, holidays is right around the United. corner. They'll be celebrating right now. Also, I still got my strong take that the Yankee Stuga are going to go after Kyle Tucker, even though everybody's trying to, all the detractors saying that he's going to go to a small market team. I don't think he really wants that because small market team just means complacency because he still wants to ring too. So I got my take on that. And also, I'm going to let everybody know. If anybody wants to make some Quick money this year, you should bet that same thing that repeat with Otani and Judge

because I think they're both going to win that MVP again. If push comes to shove and I'm going to put some big money on that, I got my family member taking care of that for me for the holidays. So I don't know what odds they're going to give me, but I still will be happy whatever I can get because that'll be money waiting for me towards the end of the year, God willing. And thank you for taking my call, fellas. everybody, have a happy holiday and Merry Christmas

to everybody out there Robert on 790, what's in your gun, Robert? Hey, good afternoon, man, this is Robert, man, from Cyprus, Texas, and I'm just looking at the offensive line. I've watched the highlights me four or five times. kind of decent, you know, but let's see what they do with the next game here

with the Raiders, but I don't know, I'm just asking you, what do you think, what linemen are they going to keep or get rid of to keep this line to improve? That's my question here, or draft also, you know. Well, I'm not worried

about the draft right now. I'm worried about what's happening in 2025. Thank you, Robert, for the phone call. We're looking for gut feelings. What's in your gut? The gut says the offensive line is mid. It's going to be mid the rest of the year. If the Texas offense can be average between now and the end of the year, against

good teams, they've got just a good chance anybody else to win the AFC. Let's go to Jose at 1153 on the Matt Thomas show at Ross. Jose, what's in your gut this week? Hello, Mattel, Thomas. I have a yacht feeling that yesterday you and I made a special connection,

and I would wash your windows anytime. Jose, listen to me very carefully. That was Seth Rollins washing my windows outside my hotel. By the way, they're out there today. I hear them, but they're like the next room over. I think they're in Vanessa's rooms right next to mine. I think they're over there washing Vanessa's windows. That was so scary.

I saw the whites of his eyes yesterday. all right let me tell you we got going on here we have about three minutes left in the segment 713212 5790 713 212 5790 the only call that's left on the screen is brad if you want to get in to not hear from brad you got about 45 seconds at 713 212 5790 713 212 570 gordie is at a white elephant lunch at our offices so as soon as he's out of that he's going to come join the show for a little while how do you uh did you buy anybody a white elephant gift uh jonathan no i feel like i had because i i had i'd be doing the show i feel like i was

like yeah you know what i can't leave between go get some lunch so at least that's the least they can do we hardly pay you jack squaw the least you can do is get a free lunch out of this yeah definitely a slightly plate too maybe that was a reason why they get the salespeople actually come to the station days they got to get some white elephant gifts out of it on the tuesday too yeah make it in the middle of oh you know that's right all right let me get into let's get one more calling before we get to our buddy brad we love brad but you know he always goes last because that's just kind of his tradition it is gut feelings on sports talk 790 let's go to ray ray what do you got in your gut feelings you know kugger matt i got a call up and talk about u of h basketball please i think they're going to win in all this year uh manuel sharp's really coming around you know he had a shooting slump at the beginning of the year he's going to be a stud Harwell's looking really good

He's finding his shot And Fleming and Usain is like When we had Sneed Or not Sneed Shed and Sasser I think we're really set I think UveH is going to win at all You know what you just did to me

And I'm so mad at you for doing this I'm going to book flights at Indianapolis now I'm booking flights to Indianapolis now I'm booking flights to Indianapolis When I get home right now I'm driving on the road when I get home I'm booking flights Because here's the thing

I got Rockets games in between like I had last year, but I'm taking the day off on the radio show because I can't get COVID again. That was terrible. I got COVID on my team loss in the last seconds. I can't have that two years in a row, but you got me fired up. Yeah. Unfortunately, it had to be at the master's last year, so I didn't make it the same. Oh, listen to you. Did you carry your violin with you on an amen corner or not? Tell me the truth. Right. No, it was sad, right? I mean, sad that I had to sit there and sit in a $600 motel six hotel room to watch the U of H lose and then go to the master's the next day.

And by the way, he's not lying, ladies gentlemen. $600 for Motel 6. You got no points because you don't even want Motel 6 points, do you? No, no, absolutely not. All right, go book that trip. I don't want anyone to know that. I stayed at a Motel 6. Well, did you have, you know what?

It's better than a PI. I'm just telling you that. Thanks for the phone call. And now you got me fired up. I'm going to buy my tickets. I'm going to go with my air tickets in Indianapolis. Let's go to Kenneth. Kenneth was in your gut this week.

Yeah, I got a good kid, and we're going to end up making it do with David. because CJ is proving one thing, man. He got a glass jaw, man, and lack of durability. And Tom Hodge has got a gut feeling, man. David Mills is the answer, man. He's going to take us over the top. He's just got their gut feeling. Damn, predicting the CJ Stroud glass jaw.

Yikes. Brad, what is in your gut at 1157? I want to tell you something real quick, Matt. My mom, her last husband, before they died, he was in the window washing business in Philadelphia, and he had the mafioso in his right pocket and helped make him a booming business. Anyway, I thought it was a little food for thought. I wanted to say, I'm sorry, man. I ain't feeling the Kevin Durant.

I mean, as great as he is, something's missing with the Rockets, and they ain't going to win no championship, as long as Denver has all their roster healthy, as long as San Antonio has the big man, and as long as Oklahoma City has all their roster healthy. I don't know if it was this Dorian Finney Smith has never showed up. I know he's injured. I don't understand it.

Nobody says a word about it. And getting rid of Brooks has hurt more than you think. They can't beat the best of the best. And they're going to waste, so that's my prediction. They're going to waste Durant's time here if they don't do something because they can't beat the best. And a seven-game series, no way, no how. That's one.

And then I don't know what's going on with the Astros either. I don't know if Jim Crane had some kind of moment in the offseason where he's all crying about his first base free agents in the last six years, but he's crying, broke, poor. I mean, all you need to do, dude, is go out and get you a free agent pitcher that's got a name like Suarez of Philadelphia. Somebody, man, do something.

You got people coming off the books. You can't tell me you're broke. I mean, something's a mystery, and nobody does, says anything about it. I mean, this is crazy, man. It's their last roster that can do something. They got an all-star roster. They need one starting pitcher

That's it Oh hell now I'm depressed Do you hear what he did? Do you hear what Brad just did Houston, Texas? He wants the rocket season to be over with Because I can't beat anybody He's worried about Jim Crane Ah forget sports

Remember I said a half hour ago Hawks I think it's going to be around here Ah forget it Brad screwed it up I'm done I'm going to treat sports now as a lecture as a history class has all the excitement

of an accounting examination. Oh, this sucks. Brad, you suck the life out of Houston, Texas. You suck the life out of me. How dare you do this? You set the life out of you? You know what I mean? The energy.

Oh, okay. Don't clip that. No, you're going to clip it. Shame on you. You know what I meant? But you know what, if I'd clip myself too. All right, we're going to go with a new song at 12 o'clock. I should have thought of this song last night

because this is my favorite group of all time. We're going to play some highlights of the Rockets Denver game from last night with an all-time classic that kind of fits. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Denver wins the game. Yeah, a man, Thompson's a tripper, a day tripper. Actually, a night tripper.

I'm so mad at myself. I should have thought of this song two hours ago. This does really fit, huh? Oh. I'll give me top seven one of the song choices. I really like this. You love this? That makes me so happy.

Would you like to be my adopted son? Of course, man. Of course. my kids may not be overly pleased with that but that's fine they're great kids you have great you've got three new siblings you look at me more about my music than they do i'm so well Peyton loves my music too so that's one so you mean all right it's uh 12 08 on sports talk 790 we've only got one bit of news to get to and again it's worthy of playing again because do we have a shorter clip of e-may saying what he said no i think we do we have a

yeah we have a 30 second one thing let's play a 32nd, Jonathan. This is not necessarily the final play, but generally speaking, here's E. May Adoka's thoughts about the officiating from last end overall. Part of the BPL, I guess. Yeah, I guess. I mean,

just in general, I think it's poorly officiated game. I've seen a long time to have no business being out there, and the crew chief is acting star-struck, so you've seen all kind of inconsistent calls, and I'm sure you should have got a few more

techs. What do you say to your team? when a game is being called the way that it was tonight. Keep being who we are. We're not going to adjust to poorly, poor officials. So we're going to do what we do, and hopefully they can adjust and call it the right way. I said $50,000, Jonathan. Do you want to go higher or lower than $50,000?

I'm going like 120. I haven't seen a coach come after the arrest like that in a long. I'm young, but I haven't seen that. I know, I know you're, but how about the Fed? Did you see him go to mid-court? Yes, I was, I think your ass thrown out. I feel like they know they did wrong, because they didn't, they didn't take him out. I mean, there's no way.

And I thought a lot of it was because Zach Zarba, the crew chief of the game last night was, it's been around a long time, so he's seen and heard it all. But damn, anyway, he said Zach was starstruck. And that's their guy. That's my guy, too. I like Zach Zarber. Starstruck, that is believable. That's just not.

He just has a way with words. It's crazy. It just is. So the Rockets lose last night to Denver. We'll see them again on Saturday afternoon here in the Mile High City. We look forward to talking with you at 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Other headlines dealers would be the Dolphins last night.

28 to 15. So let's set up this current standings in the American Football Conference. You ever know how old people always they always like to extend things in the National Basketball Association, in the National Football League. Well, I'm going to go old on you here.

The American Football Conference standings. I feel like I'm doing Keith Jackson there. Denver has the number one seat at 12 and 2. They've got Jacksonville this week. New England's 11 and 3. Jacksonville's 10 and 4. Pittsburgh has to have it There has to be a winner in the AFC North

You have to have somebody to it They're 8 and 6 Baltimore is 7 and 7 They're a game back The 5 seed is the Chargers at 10 and 4 The 6 seed is Buffalo at 10 and 4 But again they're only a game back of New England And then you have the number 7 seed

Your Beloved Houston Texans open the year to 0 and 3 And now find themselves at 9 and 5 On the outside looking in Indianapolis, 8 and 6, Baltimore 7 and 7. Baltimore's not going to be like at a wild card. The only way they're going to be able to win the division is having to go to Pittsburgh and beat them.

We might guess. So that's going on the A.F side. On the NF side of things, the Rams, 11 and 3, Chicago, 10 and 4, has to be the biggest surprise, I think, in the NFL along maybe New England. Philadelphia has the three-seat at 9 and 5.

The Bucks have to win the division. the NFC South has seven division winner they are 7 and 7 they'll be the 4 seed Seattle at 11 and 3 would be the 5 seed so how about this if the season was to end today Seattle with a significantly better record would have to fly

from Seattle to Tampa to take on the Buccaneers who have the home field advantage 6 seed would be the the 9ers at 10 and 4 Green Bay at 9 4 and 1 is the 7 seed and the three teams on the outside looking in Detroit who is 8 and 6

is out. Carolina at 7 and 7. They played a really good football as of late would be out in Dallas. I don't know how they're still in it, but they are 6, 7 and 1. They are technically still alive for a playoff chase. 1212 on Sports Talk 790. 713-212-5-790

if you want to get in. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. I'm going to play you some sound from our buddy Joe Clyte. You still weekly appearances with us here on 790. He said something yesterday that I I just think it was very short-sighted of him.

I'll let you hear what he said about the college football playoff and how it relates to college basketball. That is coming up next. More on the Rockets if you want to get to, because a lot of you want to talk about the game last night and the officiating. Meanwhile, I'm still fighting with Denver fan on Twitter. All right, Matt's with you here in Denver.

Gordon is going to still stuck at this white, what are they called White Elephant Party? yeah white elephant party have you ever played white elephant it's fine you buy cheap gifts and you pass it along to people i i don't know with the game it's more like just an opportunity to hang out you can play as a game you can have like uh you can have like two steals if you want to steal someone's prizes and like so like my family plays it like uh the budget would be like 150 and you uh get like at least like 10 people coming over and then you have two steals you can do and like you have a whole game with it you get some drinking in there too make it a big can I be honest be honest I don't think I would like it because if I got something that I really enjoyed I don't want to give it up

but so the final part is so to stop that you keep it wrapped like everything has to be wrapped and you just go off of all right I want this one maybe it's bigger oh it's like let's make a deal you don't know what's behind the box yes yes exactly exactly oh so you don't

do this with the presence already being open. No, no, no, no, no. You got to do it wrapped, so no one knows what they're getting. Okay, that changes everything. Because, I mean, if I, let's say that I got, like, gift cards to a particular restaurant. Like, say, Big City Wings, I wouldn't want to give them up for

a sweater that was, you know, I wouldn't want that. It wouldn't be any fun. Yeah, you got, I hope no one steal it from you. But, yeah, that's what I wrap it, though, so none of that happens. Okay. So, really fast before we get to this Joe Clat sound bite here. What's the best thing you've ever won in a White Elephant game or Christmas?

And then what's the worst thing you've ever received? Worst thing? I guess it was candles. I got some candles. That was horrible. And the best king... Grown ass men don't like candles. What was the best thing I got?

Man, I don't even... I got like a little monitor. I guess it was like a budget was $150. I got like a computer monitor. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. So that was probably the best thing I got. I got lucky.

I have someone that always gives me a gift of things that I, like, for instance, this person, I won't mention who they are because I love them dearly. But they always buy a soap every year. Okay. That's like an extra gift. Right, right, right. I got 14 things of soap. I love soap. I use it every day.

Twice, sometimes twice. But you can only do so much with soap. I like the squeeze soap anyway. You know, the stuff you get at the, like the Old Spice thing? Oh, you like the body wash?

You know like the body wash? I was going to say the gel, but it's necessarily a gel. All right, let's, now that we've gone away from that, Gordy will join us eventually. I wonder if he's having a good time.

You think he's using this as a decor to come on the show? I hear some laughter over there, so I get, oh, he must be, is he chuckling it up over there? Okay. It must be some good time.

You better get some food. I'm definitely going to swing by there. Okay. So here is Joel, And a lot of people were obviously around college athletics are complaining about the fact that James Madison and Tulane were given spots in the upcoming CFP. Remember, it's the five highest ranked conference champions. The ACC did not have a highest ranked champion this year. So there were two group of six schools that got in.

That doesn't normally happen. This year we got two in. And Joel Clatt decided to take his take of this. and bring up another sport in the same conversation. One second, my computer's freezing, hold on. Oh, the computer's freezing. No worries. Here we go.

Madison, to be competitive this weekend. Is it sort of the future of an auto bid for the G5 at stake for them to look the part this weekend? I don't think that it matters. It would help in the sentiment, you know, the public sentiment, but these things are going to be it will be determined by finances and litigation. And the reason the group of five is included in this playoff is to avoid antitrust litigation. That's it, guys. Like, we're not looking for a Cinderella.

Nobody cares in football about James Madison or, you know, the equivalent of George Mason going, didn't George Mason go to the Final Four or something like that? Nobody cares in football. about that. We don't want Cinderella's. We want the best teams playing each other at the end. In fact, hot take, I mean, like, the hottest of all takes that I've ever had in my entire life. The NCAA basketball tournament is a joke. It's the dumbest tournament and the least fair tournament in all of sports. We go and we put teams at odd times on neutral sites in a one game affair. Like, that doesn't crown a true champion. We're not, we're not doing anything.

anything that tells us who's the best team over the course of the entire season. You know, like if anything, the NCAA tournament should act exactly like the old World Cup, which we should have groups. They should all get guaranteed three games and they should be played at the higher Seeds Arena so that those seeds are rewarded for a quality game. And that way we don't just get to see like, you know, Kentucky won and done against George Mason or something like that. Well, that's stupid.

Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. I knew it, when he said, when someone says it's a hot take coming, I didn't realize it was going to be a bonfire. Man, I, I wish you could get some of my space. I'm frowning. Oh, my God. Come on. March Madness,

a tie billion-dollar event. Because people love March Madness. People do not give two craps about the regular season. We live for the madness. And by the way, Joel, for ex-front of the show, I mean, I still seem to a friend, but we're not breaking bread. The reality is this. Even though you get your upsets, your George Masons,

your Stephen F. Austin's many years ago, remember that? Yeah. They don't survive very long. So what, George Mason went to the Final Four one time? And that happens once every, I don't know, 50 years? Which is why we call them Cinderella's. Correct. We are okay with Cinderella's.

And I know that Ross and I disagree on this. I don't mind James Madison and Tulane being in because, as Joel said, if you exclude the group of five schools, they're going to sue you and they can't afford that so guess what let them play and if they get eliminated so be it the heavy weights will be there just like they are in college basketball you want to go best of three college basketball if it ain't broke don't fix it millions and millions and millions of people watch the NCAA tournament because it is a special event it is neutral sight it is you can have one bad day cost you you know what don't have a

bad day then look i'm pissed off my cougars lost to florida for the national championship but they also worked their way all the way to the championship nothing fluky about that and the cream will rise to the top come on joel do you know what that sounds like that sounds like asking a football guide to give you a basketball take. It doesn't work well. The dumbest tournament and the least fair, that doesn't... It's stupid.

It's least fair, really? I mean, least fair. Wait a minute. 68 teams get in. You want to win the national championship? Just beat everybody. I mean, at least fair. Nobody has a sizable advantage.

In fact, think about this, Jonathan. If you're like a top two or three seed in each one of the four regions, you're probably playing closer to home. You do have an advantage. Like if the Cougars finish the number one team of the South region this year, guess where they can play the Sweet 16 games in Houston, Texas? So this not fair thing is as absurd. Don't, you know, I don't want to hear,

oh my God. I don't want to hear Big Poppy's thoughts about, the NFL playoffs i don't want to hear vince carter run down for me what he thinks the pennant races are going to be like in the america league stay in your lane joel and i like you i like you a lot but that's when you say again talk to your buddies here comes a hot take when somebody says that you should just close your ears and i'm guilty of it too i say hey here comes a hot take but i don't think my takes are super super hot i don't think i've ever gone man what the hell is i thinking. I mean, come on. It's a multi-billion-dollar event. Now, that should matter, but

reality is Turner and CBS pay the NCAA billions of dollars for a reason, not because of their health, not because they want to fund student scholarships. They do it because they can make that money back and then some because people love the NCAA tournament. 1230, the Matt Thomas show with ross seven one three two one two five seven nine if you want to chime in seven one three two one two five seven nine thomas with you here from denver and this white elephant party at the office must be going on forever and ever what the hell's going on go there they kick you in over there and there margarity machine being used as well and the reason why you want to come over here and hang out with us for a while

man oh man all right um all right um 1235 on sports talk 790 713212 5790 713 212 5790 710 I've been combing through the internet to see if NBA has fined a e-maidoka is there any chance he gets away with it like all right yeah our officials suck last night we'll let you get away with you already got teed up not it I feel like you'd have this in a message right yeah he can't he said sex Arbo's starstruck oh my god that's savage like is there something in your life jonathan you know you can't get into a war words of because you're going to lose now usually that's me oh really yeah yeah my mom calls me salty every time i go home

i used to talk back a lot she didn't spank you no of course but i you know all right like i have friends that i can out with them with my uh zingers back to them and there are some people that pose quite a challenge to me he may say the two of them should have been in the league and the other one starstruck oh god i feel like he would be fine if he just said the starstruck part but saying the other

two shouldn't even be there is like oh i mean he basically insulted their their abilities to do the job whether it was against the rockets nuggets or anybody else isn't that crazy oh man oh man it's kind of baller for it i'm not gonna lie kind of that's kind of baller. I don't know.

I like our head coach. I love him. Now, again, he's matter of fact, he's all about business. There's very little chit-chat. I mean, we're not going on for a wine tasting trip

anytime soon, but I don't care. The guy can flat out coach. And I, you know, look, if the rockets are going to make any moves before the deadline and changes things up,

it won't be hard to convince players to come here. I mean, Fred Van Vleek came here, Dylan Brooks came here on a whim, and then Kevin Durant, you know, had a chance to choose many places. I mean, Minnesota won and Kevin Durant so bad, and he's like, I'm good. San Antonio's like, come to San Antonio, come to San Antonio, come to the Alamo City, you've been good here. Nah, I'm good. He wanted to come to Houston, and a lot of that is because of Yamantoka. Josh Akogi's been a huge addition.

Josh Kooky could have gone to five or six places, and he chose Houston. Doreen Fennie Smith, now, Graham, we've got to get him on the first. on the court, but he had, you know, he was a three-point assassin last year for the Lakers. So, good going for them. We've got the Rockets off until Thursday.

I will be in New Orleans tomorrow. We'll have the game Thursday from the Big Easy and then back here on Friday. I will be Jonathan, to be brutally honest, not that anybody should feel sorry for me. I'll be tired AF on Friday morning from Denver. I don't blame you. So Gordy's going to do the first two hours of me on Friday

and hopefully, We'll get through that. We've got Dr. Roto up for that. We'll be good to go. But tomorrow and Thursday, very happy to have Channel Rome's going to hang out with us for a couple hours, 10 o'clock until 12. The next two days here on Sports Talk 790. Let's go to James with us on the Matt Thomas show at 1239. James, what do you have today?

Yeah, I was watching the Monday night football game, and of course I wanted Pittsburgh to win only because I don't face Baltimore in the playoffs. I was watching that Rockets game last night, and my God, that felt like, Game 7 of the Western Conference finals in the way those fans were acting. I mean, it felt like a playoff game. You know what, James? That's going to be the case all year long. When the Rockets play San Antonio, Lakers, Minnesota, Oklahoma City,

there is such a fine line between being really good and championship level that I think the guys know it, and I certainly think the fans feel when they go to the games too. A Rockets Nuggets game shouldn't have the same intensity of a Rockets New Orleans game, or a game between Atlanta and Indiana. It's just not going to. These are Western Conference heavyweights.

Anything else, James? No, that's it. All right. See later. Thanks, James. Dropping a crap in the middle of my show. That was a pretty good response to this question. I think it was crap at all.

Okay, so let's go back to the Joel Klut thing for a second. And so he obviously hates the NCAA tournament because he hates life. I will say that people are generally bothered by James Madison and Tulane being in a group of five teams. But remember again, if the ACC would have done its job and had a decent football champion, there'd only be one group of five team and not two. You're not going to get rid of group of five teams. You're just not going to. It's going to be a part of the future.

It'll just not sting as much if you have. have 16 teams in. So now part of me, after what Joe Clatt said, part of me wants James Madison to upset Oregon. Part of me wants to wind up upset Ole Miss. I'm in the same way I said with you. Jonathan, if we love the college basketball upset, why wouldn't we love a major upset in college football, too? But wasn't this the same topic last year when Boise State went and they were saying like they don't belong there? Oh, yeah.

There's a lot of that. I just, I don't know. There was a lot of that with Indiana. frankly last year. A lot of that with SMU. I mean, it's funny, we want our cake and eat it too.

Is that what the phrase is? Yeah. You have a cake and eat too? We want all the super heavyweights in the SEC and the Big 12 and the ACC and the Big Ten, but yet when we have somebody not in those

conferences, oh, why are they in it? I don't think you can have it both ways. I don't think you can have it. I think you have to say, all right, I want the best teams in or give, you know what, we got to play by the rules, we got to have other teams involved, let's give them a shot. Because realistically, James Madison and Tulane, because of the conferences in which they plan, they could go 12 and 0, and it wouldn't matter. They're never going to get in this thing.

And to avoid antitrust legislation, exclusion, again, I don't have a problem with it. Now, giving them the automatic top four, that was ridiculous. and thankfully the NCAA changed the CFP changed that. It's going to feel a lot better. When we get the 16, it's going to feel better. It's not going to hurt as much. And you're not going to have so many heavy-handed comments, but I can't believe James Madison in.

How dare a conference USA team get in? How dare a American team get in? I'm not trying to self a little guy, but I think you need to have a full tournament with representation from all the conferences that play. I'm not saying the Mac championship should be guaranteed a spot, but I'm also saying that if you are a conference champion and you are decent

and there are at large spots, out of 16 teams giving two at large spots a group of five schools in the worst thing in the world. I just want people to know as well these power five athletes, a lot of it has to be the name. There's the same quality of athletes in these other schools that just didn't get to the roster

on those teams. So I want people to understand that. Like there's still the same high quality athletes. Like you just saw Ashen Gentie and Bois State it's the same thing, you know? Well, it's just like every year you see all these great players that play with these Mulder schools, they want to transfer into bigger schools. I mean, Tanner Cozio, the tied in for the Cougars, was playing,

I think it was at Ball State or whatever. Some of the Mac schools, he was killing it. He wanted to go play in a bigger conference. He came to the University of Houston. That's just, that's what the transfer portal does. All right, we'll talk to Kyle and Bill when we come back. 7-13-212-5-7-90. I love you all today. Thank you very much for being a part of this radio show.

It means a lot to me. Here in Denver, we'll be with you today until 2 p.m. Believe it or not today is honoring the life of Rob Reiner. Nothing political, just about his excellent skills as a director and a comedic actor. 713212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. All right, Jonathan, a friend of the show, Stephanie says she's never played a white elephant game without unwrapping. Really? Huh.

That's what I'm saying. I don't know if I want to be a part of a white elephant game where I have to give up a nice gift. I like your strategy much better because you don't know what you have until you open it. Yeah, I guess that's, I'm studying. I guess that's why we always did it. We always just wanted to make sure people weren't like sore losers. You know what I mean? Like you give what you get, type of thing. Yeah, you can't have sort of.

You know, it's time to be merry and happy Christmas time. Gifts. You can't be pissed off at somebody. And you're also hoping that everybody that does it is giving a somewhat good gift that someone would want regardless, you know, not something like, instead of budget is $20 and you give, I don't know. Like candles. Like you give candles like, you know. You know, let me tell you something.

I could buy you $20 with the candles and you would not be happy with me. Exactly. If I gave you a $20 gift card to Rick Whirlay, you'd be much happier with me. Right? I get you a nice pair of headphones for $56. I get you a crock pot. What would you rather have? Oh, see, both are good, though.

Oh, stop. You don't want it. You don't want to, you're a grown-ass man. You don't want a crock pot. I mean, a brand croc, I mean, I can start cooking. I could start, get the cook cookbook out. You're telling you take you would take crock pot. over headphones.

I wouldn't be, let's say I wouldn't be mad at my decision. Say I wanted to steal your gift and it was the crock pot and I let go of the headphones. That's all right. You know what I mean? It's not too bad gifts. Unpopular take. Here it comes. 3-2-1.

I'm not a fan of crock pot foods. You don't like buffalo chicken dip? Yeah, but I don't have to make that in a crock pot. Okay. What's on those? Like pot roast? I hate pot roast. Really?

Mushy meat, mushy vegetables. mush, mush, mush. Good for you, though. That's good. That's good nutrients. Oh, what's another one? Yeah, so does grilled chicken breast. It's fine.

Jambalaya? Love jambalaya, but I can make that. I can make that on the stove top. What's exclusively? The only thing I like, I will say this. I do like corned beef, cabbage, cabbage, and potatoes in a crock pot. But like pot roast, no thank you.

You can have it. I don't know who else you can cook in a crock pot. like only a crock pot could you make a beef stew no thank you okay I'll agree new new new do you make you can make chili in a pot you can't you don't have to make any

yeah you can you don't use a crock pot for chili all right enough of this I'm just saying if we're at a party and I got headphones or crock pot I'm taking headphones for the wind and I'm not giving them up let's talk to Bill and Port Arthur at 1252 on the Matt Thomas show with Ross

Bill good afternoon to you Hello, guys. Matt, you were at Courtside last night. What was your opinion of those idiots refereeing that game? I've said this multiple times, Bill, and thank you for asking. I didn't like the Tripkin call. I mean, there was different perspectives on it. The bigger issue for me was the overall game was not very good officiated.

It was a really, really poor job of tickey-tack being called, and sometimes a lot of shoves and pushing that weren't being called. And I didn't like the entire game. I'm looking for more of a macro view than the micro view on the amend Thompson foul. Well, I agree with you, but I thought that that was the determining call of the whole game. If it's not called, the Rockets win the ball game. Well, not necessarily true, because here's the thing. There was, what, 18 seconds left to go, I think, in the game somewhere in that.

It was 117, 116. So Denver had to inbound the ball. They could have scored a two-point basket. The Rockets only had a one-point lead at that point. When the foul was called, the ball was not inbounded yet, which meant the free throw that Murray hit it and made it 117 apiece. So unfortunately, Bill, you're not accurate. They could have won the game on the final shot.

They didn't, but, you know, but they had it. The free throw game, Mattie, that was the worst they got out of it. So it did make a difference for sure. All right, just curious Because I know Amy, I know he blew a gasket About three or four times He got a T-O-one of them But he could have

He was ready to explode several times Bill, he was so lucky He didn't get ejected I was talking to the audience earlier today How many coaches have you seen in your life, Bill? Go to mid-court And yell at the officials And not get tossed in the game

Right Thanks for the phone call I appreciate you listening Yeah, that was and part of me was like when E-May got the first T look I mean I'm not going to put words in E-May's mouth but I think he wanted to get tossed

he wanted to get tossed he wanted to yell at them some more he already did a bunch if you you can read lips he didn't want to stick around for that he wanted he was going to sacrifice a game check or you know a fine to let the world know that he didn't like the three officials.

The two, the crew chief is, again, Zach Zarbite, I think it's one of the best referees in the business. I don't know if he got stars working out. That's EMA where it's not mine. But to have the other two who I just don't, the third guy is, I gotta be careful of Jonathan. Yeah, you don't want to give aid.

Yeah, I don't make, hey, I don't make e-may money. I just didn't like it I didn't like any part of the game and again I don't want to be referee blame guy that's not how I roll so I won't roll that way but

it was it was a tough watch I mean Alperin got a technical foul because Yokic was using his forearm and pushing him multiple times underneath the basket how do three guys how did three officials two men and one woman miss that now do you think it be better for the NBA instead of obviously you probably would

still send the fine right but wouldn't it be better for a silver to come out and review that game himself watch it over and like the officiating and kind of be like yeah there's really bad officiating kind of how like um i know they do it sometimes after the games that they got the call wrong or like NFL the same thing right right right they're going to have the review you know we'll get the NBA officials report or the two minute report tonight and overtime so we're going to get that this afternoon they do make that public Now, what I think you're trying to get at is this. Adam Silver can call E-May or one of his lieutenants can say, hey, all right, I'm going to catch you some slack because our officials had a rough night.

Because, look, everybody has rough nights. I have rough shows. Ema's got rough games as a coach. Teams have players have rough games as players, right? Everybody's got rough. Nobody is perfect every single time. Right, right, right. But here's the problem.

he probably can get away with not doing anything if he would have said nothing after the game but his vitriol was quite supreme and he had a chance to think about what he wanted to say and I don't think you can set that precedent because if somebody else says something like that down the road and the NBA finds that coach or that player and doesn't find a Lodoka

you're going to set a terrible precedent So, again, the NBA official report's going to come out. It does the final two minutes of the game and anything in overtime, so we're on the day. The NBA typically defends its officials in those reports. Very rarely they ever say, we goofed. And they went to replay. I mean, you may challenged it. They must have seen something.

Now, again, I only saw it from the Houston perspective on the Houston reply. I didn't see what Denver. maybe there were some angles that Denver TV had that we didn't have. It was super close. And how much of the trip was because Tim Hardaway tripped or how much of it was because a man Thompson has the bionic shin? The bionics sin. That shin should go to science, right?

Like, I want to donate my eyes. I want to donate my kidneys. I mean, when I pass away, if I need to do that, I'll do it. Man, you've got to donate that shin. That shin is powerful because apparently Tim Hardaway took quite a splash after the contact reached the shin of a man, Thompson. Final hour, the Matt Thomas Show with Ross is coming up in a matter of moments. Believe it or not today, in 50 minutes.

It's all things about the one and only Rob Reiner. May he rest in peace, sadly to see him the situation. Boy, the more details coming out about the Sun. killing the parents, I mean, and the party that they were at Conan O'Brien's house. Just sad, sad, so, so sad. And like I said, I don't deal with celebrity politics. I don't deal with sports politics. I don't deal with your politics, and you shouldn't deal with mine.

But I am able to separate political views from a man's talent. And Rob Reiner was one of the all-time greats. It's both an actor and as a director. Final hour, the Matt Thomas Show with Ross begins next here on 790. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross All right, it's a 102 on Sports Talk 7. I'm a Gordi's supposed to be with me

in the last hour. This must be the biggest wild elephant party in the history of the world. Seriously. He's now just lying to me. He's probably taking a nap, going to get some coffee. Maybe he's trying to exchange his gift card right now for a better card. Oh yeah, man, I can help you out for sure.

We can't wait to join you for a couple of hours. back that that white elephant party started like 90 minutes ago what the hell's going on back there wouldn't even like our people in our co-world that's not sure we actually get along very well all right so maybe gorty who the hell knows all right it is uh hour number four of the show the voice feels better today i wasn't nearly as strained as i was yesterday but uh yeah we're we're going to make it we're going to make it 713 212 5. 790, 713-212-5-7-90. Rockets last night fall in overtime, losing for the second time this last 30 days to the Denver Nuggets by three points.

Rockets will have tonight off, tomorrow off, and then we'll play the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans on Thursday. Friday will be back here in Denver, do the show from here, and then Saturday afternoon. The Rockets will take on the Nuggets again and go to Sacramento to play the Kings on Sunday. Rockets still have not played as many games as anybody else. I think they, they alone, the Washington Wizards, have played the fewest games in the NFL and the NBA so far this season. Rockets, by the way, not that you're spending a lot of time on standings, because I'm the upstanding's obsessed one.

With the loss last night, have dropped with a five seed in the west. They're at 16 and 7. Oklahoma City is 24 and 2. Denver now, the two seat at 19 and 6. The Lakers are 18 and 7. San Antonio, 18 and 7. Houston 16 and 7 and Minnesota 17 and 9

All right My microphone moved there for a second Hey are we going to have to deal with Arrogate Spur fan here pretty quick Tonight is the NBA Cup Championship it's in Las Vegas And generally speaking I don't think anybody particularly cares I am deathly afraid

Arrogent Spurfan who has been in hibernation for about a half dozen years is coming out to play their team is 11 games above 500 they're excellent they're in this finals cup thing they won the knockout game they won the semifinal they beat Oklahoma City

who has only has two losses this year what do you suggest I do because I work with San Antonio fans I have extended members of my family that are San Antonio fans I'm married into that and look, I got to be honest, and I think you'd be honest. There are people who listen to the show that grew up in San Antonio that may have been San Antonio's first fans.

How are we going to handle this? Because when the Rangers were good, and that's what, once every 25, 30 years, I ain't scared of them. They can't even name five players in our own team. Cowboy fan, I ain't scared of anything because I haven't heard from them in 30 years. but it feels like to me spur fan is going to come strong look what we're doing we got victor you didn't we had the rookie of the years to find castle last year you could have had a you didn't get it i mean i just feel like the smack talk is coming so i need your help houston

texas how do we avoid spur fan texting us calling us how do we avoid spur fan texting us how do we avoid spur fan going to to TOTA center and making it really loud for spurs, whatever they call nation? We got something to worry about, friends. We need San Antonio to go on a nice long losing streak. We need

massive injuries for Oklahoma City and we need massive losses for San Antonio. I can live with Denver. Rockets play them two times ridiculously close and may have gotten the benefit that's Denver of some calls. So I can live without them. They don't scare me. These Denver

Nugget fans that are coming after me. That doesn't bother me. Spurs Nation does bother me. So that's what I'm thinking about. Speaking of things in state, did you see that Arch Manning is going to return for the 2026 season? That should come as no surprise to anybody. He went from being a Heisman-Hawful to a guy nobody knew anything about, to winning a big game against Oklahoma, to losing a terrible game at Florida, to being concussed, to getting back on the field and putting up together some pretty nice wins, and, of course, beating A&M to close out the regular season for themselves. I'm not surprised because if you take the resume of what Arch did in his first full season

as a starting quarterback, it wasn't worthy of leaving school early. It wasn't worthy of leaving to go to the NFL draft. It was, hey, you know what? You got great NIL money in Austin. your team is going to be, again, should be a highly recruited team and should be very successful and highly ranked next year. There's no reason why Arch Manning cannot be better one year from today than he is right now. So smart decision on him.

And I do think that with all the NIL money that the schools can be athletes directly now, you're going to see some more players that are on the fringe trying to. maybe to go one more year. Now, the portal will also change a lot of that, too. Oh, I got my guy here for three years. Can't wait to have him here. He'll be here all of his college career. That's not necessarily the case.

Either they won't be happy with their NIL deals with these schools, and they'll move along. There is a player, and I've got to look this up, that I happen to see on the 4U tab, that has been to, I want to say six schools. Did you all see this guy? six um yeah uh give me a second here because i gotta find that quarterback quarterback transfer now i've i've met a lot of college athletes now that are on their fourth school that's

probably the most i've seen now i know there won't be a rule like this but don't you think there should be a rule that you should only go to so many schools i'm gonna find this cat for you because it's It's kind of getting overwhelmed. Here it is. I got it. T.J. Finley. Okay.

He's going to use a season-ending injury sustained in the 20-24 season as a leverage to gain a seventh season of eligibility. If the extra year is granted, he plans to enter the transfer portal to play for his seventh different program. Seventh. This Finley kid played at Texas State, Western

Kentucky, Georgia State. He transferred to Delane during the spring of 2025, but he was suspended indefinitely following an arrest. He also played in 2020 to LSU. He played at Auburn in 2021 and

2022. So this young man, that doesn't sound like he's young anymore. It sounds like a guy could be getting for AARP benefits. in his college career LSU Auburn Texas State

Western Kentucky go hilltoppers Georgia State and I'm looking to go somewhere else that's embarrassing that is a young man that is not using college athletics

for any good I mean what is this first of your credits is not going to transfer Oh do you yeah that's right I mean, in theory, you're right, Jonathan, but do you think he's even thinking about that?

No, no, definitely not, no. Wherever he goes to school, he will literally show up, he will sit down, he will put his headphones on, and he'll listen to music. Because I'm guessing he's going to have to attend classes because his coaches will force him to. But there's no way, there is no way that a guy that has moved that many times

can have a degree or close to it at this point. And if I'm wrong, I will staying corrected. No, especially if you're transferred that many times, I've seen so many athletes. I knew we had one quarterback that, at SFA he transferred from Tennessee. He lost 48-something credits like that. Like, he was back to being a sophomore.

Like, there's no way. I don't know if they're ever going to get the transfer portal fixed or regulated. But, I mean, that sounds like a position, coach, a young man trying to go from school to school. I mean, he's using this system not to get an education. But to can't, I mean, look, I respect the kid wants to keep playing football, but come on. Do you respect that, though?

Really? I mean. No, you know what? You're right. I don't respect. I mean, imagine if Carly did that with volleyball. Like, you would. Oh, that's not happening on my watch.

Do you get what I'm saying? Like, it's just some people don't have good people around them. I don't know. I mean, I don't want her to transfer, but she doesn't know what's ahead of her in Rhode Island. the best experience of her life or could be the worst and she'll only find that out for herself but the plan is for her not to transfer the plan for her is to go to school because again

the more you transfer the more you're hired gun and the more that just you basically don't take academic seriously now again do how many college athletes take athletic seriously football probably very few and basketball too but that's just an abuse of the system but here's the thing

if you need a quarterback you got one year left if he's going to get this extra year eligibility if he gets it. He's got plenty of experience. You mean to tell me that 15 schools when we'd call on his name to come play? They would. Danny wants to talk about the Rockets. We'll get to him next. 113 on the Matt Thomas show at Ross. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-2-5-790. 1213 is our time. If you want to join us, come on in. Be a part of the show. 7-13-212-5-790. Fresh off of the two-hour white elephant Christmas party, it's Gordy.

Oh, yeah. Seriously, what the hell are you doing? Carving up Prime Red back there or what? Well, they did the white elephant, and then afterwards our boss had to give a speech, and then our other boss had to give a speech, and then they gave out gifts, and must be present to get your gifts. I don't know if they got you anything, but it was a good time. I mean, thank God my voice is okay.

I'm added to four-hour solo yesterday, to the three-hour basketball game. Thank God I'm such a warrior for this radio station. It's one of those things that, like, if it was just gift giving, it would have been done in 20 minutes. But White Elephant, you got to wait because somebody could steal your gifts, so I couldn't leave because they could have taken my gift. Now, was it an unwrapped or wrapped on the gift? No, it's like, you know, you grab a gift that's everything's wrapped. You grab a gift, you open it. Then someone can either open a new gift or steal your gift.

So we were talking about this earlier. So Jonathan only does it with They never unwrapped the gift Into the very very end So really quick In the 60 seconds here before we go to some phone calls And get your thoughts on a few things What did you start with and what did you end up with?

So I was near the end I was in the 20s So I stole a bottle of wine That had already been stolen So when I got it That was it So Okay

Did anybody So all the gifts were about $20, $25, right, give or take? Correct. And some people spent less, it seems like. Were there any resent? Was there much resentment among people in the crowd? Eddie made it known that you were cheapo on a couple of those

gifts. Not me. I wasn't involved. You were not. But the people who bought For instance, Sylvia opened a gift and it was a box of nerds and Hershey's. Now, there was a gift card behind it, but that was kind of cheap. Yeah, see, Gordy, I think we're going to have to do what Jonathan's family does.

I think you have to not open them up because, again, you can have, that was supposed to be a festive, fun atmosphere yesterday for you. There are some people that are pissed off that are texting people in the office talking about how cheap-o people are. But there were some, like there was a digital camera that got stolen several times. It was clearly more than $25. So there were some that were more than the budget. Now, what did you bring for the party? I brought, it was like a, it was a bag of, it was like a Christmas serveware dish that I got for $13 and then a like cocktail, Christmas cocktail mixer for $13. So I spent 26 on the $25 gift.

So it's like a big game of let's make a deal basically. Yeah, and you steal, I mean, there's some, and the funny thing is there are a few people that get stuck with like, you know, you get something bad, you're stuck with it. Nobody's stealing that from you. Like our boss, Brian Erickson, got hand warmers. You're not. Oh, no. Nobody's stealing hand warmers. Oh.

I don't know what food. Rob Logan, our salesman, he won like it was a pickle, and I still don't know what it was. It was like a game, but it looks like a pickle. Did you buy it at Cindy's or what? I don't know. It may have been a dirty gift. All right. So have you got Jonathan.

fed because a man's been carrying the show along with me he's in his leftovers we got l-tempo out there i'm gonna get it i'm gonna get it i have a plan no plan you know what let me take take that l-tempo home nobody else deserves more food than you do you work hard barely making any money gorty isn't sitting there knocking back 30-dollar gifts oh yeah man i'll be on with 12 noon can't wait to be on with you i just give him a gift did you open your gift yet jonathan no i haven't i haven't i have it i said open right now okay let's uh all right real quick before i go the phones again vince and matt want to talk uh I'm assuming you watched the Rockets game last night, yes, Gordie? Yes.

And what do you think about, first of all, the calls, the amend trip, the calls in general, and then what do you think about IMA Adoka's reaction to all this? I thought E. May was justified. Here's the thing. I don't think they were trying to help Denver win. Like, I don't think the fix was in. But I think it was just terrible officiating. Like, they were, it got to a point where everything ticky-tacky just went Denver's way.

I thought a man The dude tripped over his own feet A man did not cause him to fall Yeah It was just I even felt good when they were going overtime Because Joker had that That open look

At the buzzer And it didn't go down And I was like all right And then look Jamal Murray Anytime you send him to the line He's not going to miss He's awesome so

Yeah It is what it is Yeah All right I just don't want you to go on Twitter Twitter and say that because you're going to have every Denver fan coming after you, so just give me a little solid advice on that. It is, but they're what, 2 and O against you now?

I mean, this is the tough part is the Rockets are awesome this year, but playing Denver and playing OKC, it just doesn't feel like those are good matchups. But, I mean, look, if you're going to win it all, you've got to get through them. You sure do. All right, let's go talk to some people here. Let's talk to Vince in Midtown at 125 of the Matt Thomas show with Ross, hanging out with Gordy. Hi, Vince.

Hey, guys. Hey, I got a question with this. in season tournament Emirates Cup, whatever they call it. How does that affect the Rockets games in terms of, did they play Denver next to a time because of that or not play Oklahoma City

as many times or how does that work? Here's how it works. If you don't make the tournament, the NBA hands you two additional games, hands every team to additional games. There isn't a formula for it. It doesn't make much sense. And I'll give you

case and point. The Rockets are coming here to Denver three times this year. We're only going to L.A. to play the Clippers once this year. The Clippers were a game that the Rockets had last week. The Clippers are coming to Houston three times. So there is no rhyme or reason or formula to determine who plays whom. The Embate is randomly selects games. Okay, that's weird. Okay. I couldn't figure that out. So, yeah, as far as that, that call on Amen Thompson, man, basketball is constant physical. I mean, and honestly, yeah, A. Mann kind of like barely touched the guy, but he basically tripped over his own feet, and that was just a bad call at that point

and at that point in the time of the game. It just kind of, and of course, you know, they get a free throw on that, you know, and the ball. So it just is terrible. That was terrible. All through the game, it was bad, bad, poorly called game. and it's a shame, but Rockets got to figure out some ways to get

the win in those situations. So thanks for taking my call. Don't disagree. Thanks, Vince, for the phone call. That's what the rockets need, Gordy. They need one of those teeth gnashing on the edge of your seat

wins. Now, I want to look at the scale, what's the most impactful win this year so far for the Rockets? I'm trying to think. I mean, they've won a bunch of games. I don't like they're 16 and 7, so it's not like it's garbage. They've had some nail-biter ones that they've pulled out. Yeah, Alpy had a game winner one time.

Oh, the Golden State one was fun. That was good. Oh, that was true. Yeah, at Golden State, too, as a matter of fact. At Milwaukee, I did post-game on that one. That was a hell of a one. Excellent. Yeah, yeah.

So there's some. You just know that I brought this up earlier in the day. The tiebreakers are going to come into play because things are going to be so tightly packed in a Western Conference. You don't want to fall any further behind Denver, because when you play the nuggets five times this year, which you will do, you do want to have the time breaker

and right now they're down 02 let's go to a quick time out we'll talk to Matt and Spring Branch wants to talk about the group of five being in the college football playoff did you hear Joel Klatt's comments Gordy by the way yeah talking head

tough tough tough look tough tough look we'll have some of that coming up we got believe it or not in 20 minutes all things about the late Rob Reiner 128 on Sports Talk 790 Joe with Ross. Gordy's hanging out with us for a few minutes.

And Gordy be with us a couple of hours on Friday. Now, you have to be with me at 10 o'clock on Friday because I'll be so damn tired coming in from New Orleans. You're going to be at the casino later. No, we got a game Thursday against the Pelicans, and we fly from New Orleans and Denver right after the game. Time change, long-ass flight. I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm just telling you. Seems like you signed up for this. I did sign up for this.

That's right. You can't bitch about it. But I would have taken the day off if Ross wouldn't have taken one of his 19 December days off. I finish with vacation days every year. As do I. Unused. Because I leave sometimes early, and I think it's the least I can do to be a good company member here. All right.

If you miss what Joel Klatt said, here, I've got a couple of sentences. We don't want Cinderella's. We want the best teams playing each other at the end. The NCAA basketball tournament is a joke. It's a dumbest tournament in the least fair tournament in all of sports. that is a football guy trying to talk basketball that's a disaster gordon sorry yeah i think my take on that has always been cinderella's are fun the first few rounds but i've always had the mindset once we get to the sweet 16 and especially the elite eight in the final four i kind of want the

blue bloods but i'm not going to change the rules to make it where the cinderella's can't get there like i'm fine with them getting there butler playing duke so be it they were the best team they took care of the business they got there yeah before that 30 years of non-cinderella, and my guess is we'll have 25 more years of non-cinderella. Now, look, what I prefer, UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, and Kentucky in the final four? Sure. Well, you're forgetting Houston, but that's a different.

And you of H. There you go. Let's talk to Matt in Spring Branch at 135 on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross Gordy hanging out. Hi, Matt. Hey, Matt, thanks for taking my call. I got two points. I got two points. The second one's kind of dark, so I'm going to go with the first one first

and start things off on a light note. So full disclosure, I went to a group of five school. I'm an alum of UTSA, right? So having a group five, Cinderella Afterthought underdogs in the college football tournament, I think it brings more engagement knowing that like when you watch your crappy team all season, you have a chance to get there at some point. So for example, having Tulane represent the AAC and the college football playoffs is keeping me more engaging. And that's just anecdotally.

That's just me. I get that. But more people want to non-power five schools. than did Power 5 schools. So that's just more breadth and more eyeballs you're getting on your tournament. They'll probably get bounced early, but, you know, that's a reason to stay engaged. And I think that's absolutely why we need to keep these group of five teams in there. Plus, let's keep some semblance of amateurism and fair play out there.

Well, I'm not worried about amateurism. I'm worried about, and you shouldn't worry about it. But look, if you don't get the group of five schools involved, they're going to be lawsuits out of the Ahoo, and the CFP wants no part of that. So let's expand this bad board of 16 teams, get our, two non-group of five or get our two group of five guarantees in and it'll be one under the bridge it'll be a 16 team tournament more games more money let the two schools in that may or not admit i've been in in previous years you'll get two more at-large teams which will probably

with power four schools and this thing will ultimately be resolved your mouth to goddears and then here's my here's my dark point so um i'm almost ashamed to admit this but i have to do this off my chest. Friday, I watched the Selena documentary on Netflix, and then Saturday, Abraham Kintanilla died. Saturday night, I watched Wolf of Wall Street on Amazon, and then, of course, not mocking his death, but to bring some levity to the situation, Rob Reiner died on Sunday. So I don't know what's going on, but I have some weird celebrity kiss of death with whatever movies. I watch it, apparently. So I'm not going to watch the movies for a while, and that's all I got. Thanks. Well, I'm worried about your television habits. What's next on your television?

well i don't want you i don't want to watch him i don't want to watching sports i want to watch anything if he watches a three's company marathon i mean john ritter's dead susan that summer's dead trying to think who he can jinx oh you're talking about a show of nothing but dead people well i'm just trying to think of he's he's having these bad premonitions on people dying on things he's watching that's true so let's get him a couple of shows that he can watch that would be good shows that everybody's dead. Dallas. No, Dallas.

Sue Allen's still alive. Bobby's still alive. Bobby was in Houston last week. You know that? Not much longer. You don't know that. He's doing spry. He's running around the country selling his dead.

If he watches it, he's dying. That's basically what we figured out here. So it's got to be a show that's got all dead people on it. I'm going to assume gun smoke, maybe. I love Lucy. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, all four, they're dead. All dead.

Golden Girls, they're all dead. They're all dead. Honeymooners, they're all dead. Jefferson's, they're all dead. Yep. Except like Jenny, the daughter, but nobody cares about her. I mean, I'm sure the family does, but. You must feel like you're super old now.

All the shows you loved growing up, everybody's dead on them. All the family? They're still alive, so you can't watch that. but to your point yeah um that's how i feel about the bands i mean courty i've seen paul mccartney a bunch of times in the last 10 years i'm done with that because his voice is out i went and saw barry manel this summer and his voice is out so i'm done seeing him i will go see the eagles again because it was at the sphere and it was amazing uh holl and oats broke up so i can't see them anymore elton john retired so I can't see him anymore

Billy Joel is sick so I can't see him anymore and my radio partner wants me to listen to Kendrick Lamar who I don't, Kenner Center what he says. I feel like the Paul McCartney and Barry Bandelow, they're definitely on Death Watch the next five years.

I'm sure they're very happy to hear you say that. In fact, why don't you go and write the believe it or not on both of them? That's not nice. I mean, do I have a few that are locked in and loaded? Yes. This show got dark really quick. Thanks to the previous caller.

All right, Gordy, real quick, three minutes here. Let's get, we're going to talk more about A&M in Miami on Friday. Do we have a definitive? Can we go to get somebody that's, is there anybody that's unbiased towards A&M or is that just going to be, like any of your lockdown SEC bros, like can he call it down the middle or is it going to be totally heavy on the on the eggs? Any of the media and college station is pretty, I mean, they're going to lean a certain way, right? So I don't know.

Did you see the tweet I had about the 12th man TV network, whatever they have? All four of their bros went on there and picked A&M to beat Texas. I was like, you know, it would have been really cool if you had to pick Texas. I mean, you know, buck the trend a little bit. The Texags guys, David Nuno is a good guy. Luch is a good guy. But, I mean, they will tell you straight up that they are raggy homers. Well, imagine this.

If you're on Texags TV and you say, you know what? Yeah, we're playing Miami this week. It's going to be a great crowd at, uh, uh, uh, uh, Kyle Field, 110,000 crazies, 11 o'clock kickoff. I got Miami by 7. They're going to lose their job. I've not heard anybody pick Miami. Everybody ever, and maybe it's the 12th man factor that Kyle Field will be rocking,

even though it's an 11 a.m. game. I think most people feel pretty good about A&M winning this one. I got Alabama beating Oklahoma. What do you think? Well, they're going to have to play their best game in the past six weeks. I mean, Bama has not played well. and they just played Oklahoma in Tuscalo a few weeks ago

and they played crap they turned the ball over several times it's funny because I talked to Obama guy who's like well if we just don't turn the ball over brother Oklahoma forced those turnovers it's not like you just made mistakes they sacked Ty Simpson and forced him to fumble they picked him off because he made a bad

read so now you're going to tell me that Alabama's going to go into Norman and play a clean game if they do yeah they'll have a great chance I just don't see how they're going to go into Norman and that place is going to be rocking. And you think they're going to play a clean game? Ty Simpson's not played a good game in over two months.

By the way, did you see DeBore says I'm not interested in the Michigan job? I'm sure he is. Like, the fact is right now, Kaelin DeBore is very happy at Alabama. It's a better job. It's a better job. Now, if he loses Friday night, does his agent have a discussion with him on Saturday? I think that happens. We'll see.

He could have a change of heart on Saturday or Sunday. I'm going to give you a homework assignment for Friday. You ready for this? And this won't take very long. You know, when we were young, you know, five, ten years ago talking about jobs, like, hey, is a job better than B job? I don't think we can go to that parameters anymore because we don't know how the NIL money is being used. Like when did, like, for instance, Texas Tech is a top 15 job now.

We have never in my entire broadcast career ever said that Texas Tech was a top 15 job. Yeah, but I would tell you, be careful with that because there is a huge push in Washington to get this stuff rained in. And I was told one of the reasons Lane Kiffin took the LSU job is because he thinks that this thing is going to come back down to earth, that Congress is going to get involved. They are going to pass some legislation that is going to restrict NIL and third party. And it's going to go back to the Blue Bloods being the Blue Bloods. So, yes, right now it's wide open. Tommy Tuberville and all these other idiots in Washington, they are pushing for restrictions, restrictions, restrictions, and you won't be able to go in, you know, big money donor, can't go buy a million dollar softball pitcher anymore. So you're telling me that Vanderbilt, Zungbill to take this a success they had and turn it into a big NIL deal for them?

No, they will from a standpoint of the revenue share they get from the TV deal with ESPN and all that. They'll still have the $25 million to spend, but that'll be across all sports. in other words Cody Campbell spending a million dollars for Texas Tech to get a softball pitcher that will not be allowed once Congress passes the legislation they want to pass Okay so

this all sounds good like it's going to be a good conversation for us but is this going to regulate things for the better or just not allow the schools that have never been a part of this that are now involved Vanderbilt's the SMUs the Texas Techs are they trying to keep them down

Meanwhile, the Blue Bloods, the LSUs, the Alabama's, the Ohio State to Michigan can stay where they are. It's a nuanced conversation. Look, I think most people are fine with the players getting money. The revenue share that was agreed upon is very much based on the TV contracts and all that. So the SEC has given out whatever it is, $20 to $25 million to share with their athletes across all sports. But what I'm saying is the legislation they want to push is going to restrict the collectives and those kind of independent deals. from being done. And so that's going to hurt the Texas tax, the group of

fives, those kind of schools that want to spend money. The SEC schools are going to be fine. The Big Ten schools are going to be fine. ACC should be fine. It's the Big 12, and the group of five that's going to be affected the most. All right, Gordy, thank you for your half-hour contribution the show. Go back and celebrate your white elephant.

Get Johnson some food, please. He's hungry. He's fine. I'm going to grasp something. I'm going to get it to go play. All right, Gordy's with us Friday morning. At 10 o'clock, not 1037, not 11.09. Knock is he got to grab somebody in from some Tuscaloosa newspaper to come on his show. 10 o'clock, Gordy Vision, right here on Sports Talks. I mean, on Friday, we'll have Channel of Rome hang out with us between 10 and noon tomorrow and on Thursday.

Believe it or not, next, all things about Rob Reiner, 713-1-2-5-790. All right, it's 150 on Sports Talks. 7.90 with a reminder tomorrow. I'll be in New Orleans. And Channel Rome's going to hang out with us between 10 o'clock until noon. Looking forward to that. I will push. I just don't get it. We're going to push shut your bum ass up. I don't know. I wonder to see if Jonathan Chandler wants to shut your bum ass up or he wants me to push it back. We'll find out. But we'll get a lot of baseball offseason chatter going on on the show with him tomorrow. And he'll be with us as well on Thursday between 10 o'clock and noon. Also, we'll get Ime Addoke either tomorrow or Thursday, depending on his schedule, what he wants to do on that? We'll look forward to talking to the Rockets coach. And still waiting for some baseball off-season moves. It has been a super,

super-quiet time for the Astros when it comes to making some moves, whether it's trades, whether it's free agent signings, decongesting the infield. That to me seems like it's still very much a big decision for the Astros between now and the end of the year. Start of the 2020

season. Five minutes left to go on the show what should we do we should play america's fastest growing sports radio game show we simply call it be leave it or not and here's how it works you call seven one three two one two five seven ninety seven nine seven one three two one two five seven ninety today's edition of believe it or not it's all things about the late rob riner i'll read your statement about rob's david's completely utterly accurate you'll say this believe it yeah the same as erroneous full of uncum a minute. He will say this. Not.

Two, believe it or not, we win you a prize. Today, we are playing for either a 790 t-shirt, a four pack of tickets with pit passes to see Monster Jam, February 15th, and Energy Stadium. Tickets are on sale at Ticketmaster.com, and also Ticketmaster.com will have tickets for you to see

the pair of, see the TOTES live on December the 29th at the House of But Blues. So you're playing for either TOTES or the Monster Jam or a 790 T-shirt, but you first must believe it or not. 7-13. 212-5-7-90 you saw you reach a show we'll start today with Brian on 790 Brian you're ready to play believe it or not

yes sir Brian Rob Reiner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next to his dad Carl believe it or not believe it Believe it Statement number two for the win Reiner's first wife was Cindy Williams she played Shirley on Laverne and Shirley believe it or not not Now it was LeVern He was married to Penny Williams

Penny Marshall, not Penny Williams Penny Marshall. Congratulations. It's one winner down. Let's go to Ken on 790. Ken, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. While on all the family, Rob Reiner wore a hairpiece. Believe it or not? Believe it?

Yes. Statement number two for the win. Rob Reiner co-wrote the very first episode of the Happy Days TV series back in 1974. Believe it. we're next. Believe it as well. Believe it.

Yes. There you go. All right. Four questions. Four correct answers. We got a mini sweep going on here. Let's go to

Nigel on 790. Neal, what was your favorite part of today's 10 to 2 radio show? Just the fact that you were there alone holding down the ship. You know what? Bless you, Nigel. You're a great friend of the show

for that we thank you. Of all the films that Rob Reiner has directed, he considers a few good men as his favorite. Believe it or not. Not. That's right. Stand by Me was his favorite. Statement number two for the win. In the famous diner movie scene, after watching

Sally have a fake O in the movie when Harry met Sally, the woman who said I'll have what she's having was Rob's mother, Estelle. Believe it or not. Believe it. Believe it. Jonathan. You're about to get stuck in the old. Jonathan, Ross, getting mad at me.

This is six in a row here. Daniel on 790. Daniel, you ready to play, believe it or not? Let's do it. Riner's only Oscar was for Best Director for the Princess Bride. Believe it or not. Believe it. No!

And the skunk is over. Mike on 790. to play believe it or not believe it rob rider was a huge wrestling fan and helped vince mcmann write the scripts for russomanias 10 and 11 believe it or not believe it no i made that up come on not pretty proud of myself we ended with a bang hey folks have a great rest of your day i'll talk to you tomorrow from nolans new orleans louisiana getting ready for the rockets game thursday with the pelicans up next it's clinton it's work so They'll talk officiating as part of the A team here on Sports Talk, 7-night.