The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Rockets Impressive Game 5, Matt's Embarrassing Story & Astros Deadline

Episode Date: August 31, 2020

So much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 12-0-2 and H-Town. What's happening in lunchtammers? Good afternoon to you and welcome to a Monday edition of the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. I'm Matt. Across the way is Ross.

Still about, what, five years removed from his latest haircut? Wow, I think probably, well, I mean, I've had a couple of trims, but a full-on haircut, probably four years. All right. Brendan Riley, don't know about your hair techniques. Good to have you in the hair as well. We are very happy to have you with us on this Monday. As we have a...

Look at my prep sheet. I mean, there ain't nobody in the business right there. Look at it right there. Prepping like a mudda. Now, I don't type up every word I say like Jim Rome does, but that's his bet, and he's making millions of dollars a year. Well, it'd be better prep if you could actually read your handwriting, Matt. That's the only issue.

It is a hot mess. But I have like one, two, three, four, five. six, seven, eight things to get to today. Plus, Mike Nantone at 1230 this afternoon. Plus at 1.30. We're going to debut a new segment. And it's called MT as a dumbass. Okay.

And I think part of the charm of being... I got a lot of material for that segment. No, no, no. It's not Ross tells everybody that MT's a dumbass. Oh, dang it. It's me telling you that I'm a dumb ass. Well, all right. It involves my cell phone.

And I'll have it for you today at 1.30 this afternoon. We have the return of believe it or not today at 250 as we honor John Thompson, the former Georgetown coach passing away today at the age of 78 years old. Rossi, I got to just tell you, young Matt Thomas despised Georgetown. I hated John Thompson. I hated his towel. I hated Patrick Yelling. I hated Harold McLean.

I just hated everything about Georgetown in the early 80s. I just did because they beat my Cougars in the 84 national championship game in Seattle. And they just, oh, and then he would, oh. But I respected a hell out of John Thompson. Great basketball coach. Went to being a very outspoken broadcaster. but passing away at the age of 78. So thoughts and prayers to his family.

Of course, John Thompson III, former Georgetown coach there, is now in the college broadcasting business. All right, a lot to get to today. Well, where do you want to start? Rockets are closing this bad boy out tonight, right?

Yes. This is my final play-by-play game of the year. How do you feel about that, Matt? I'm a little sad. You're going to be okay? No, I said I'm going to be a little bit sad. Well, yeah, but you're going to be okay. You can be sad and you can be okay, Matt.

Okay, I'll be sad. yet okay. All right, good. Now, if Craig gets sick, then I'm like, I'm like the backup. You're wishing Craig Ackerman gets sick just so you can do more games. Well, I mean, a head cold wouldn't be the worst thing. Wow. The selfish attitude of Matt never ceases to exist.

What if a flat tire happen? I mean, he needs, you know, and I'm, you know, he's stuck out in Sienna. All right. So Matt's slashing tires and giving Craig a cold. I didn't ask for him to get something worse. I think if he had a head cold, he would say. still call the games. Yeah.

Yeah. As a play by play guys go, it's going to take a... Have you ever had like any sort of sickness and then just fought through it and still did a game? Absolutely. Hmm. Yeah.

I have missed one Rockets game. It was because you had mono. No, this is the latest run. I missed two weeks of games when I was in college when I was in the PA the first time around because of mono. I've missed one since being back the second time. And that was first and that was one time to miss it because of the

Super Bowl coverage. We were in Atlanta, I think, and then one night I was just, I couldn't speak. But sure of that, yeah, we don't like missing games because for some reason that we think all of us think we're someone's going to take our job. And that's not the case at all because people do get sick. But people are after your job, man. Oh, that's true. For sure.

So you just want to work as much as you can, you know, you want to fight through it. Proves your worth and your value to your employers. Like, for instance, when I'm sick on this show, the show suffers. I mean, there's no question about that. Well, the ratings reflected. It's okay. Okay, as long as the ratings reflected, it's okay. All right, so I'm working on my prep board for tonight's game.

It's game six. We'll have the game right here on 790 beginning at, uh, see, 6 o'clock is the launch, no, is the sports RV show. Well, yes. Well, it's the nightcap, but you know what? I'm thinking about changing it to the sports RV show. You talked about that already, yeah. So 6 o'clock is the nightcap or sports RV show depending on what kind of mood you're in. Seven o'clock is the Rockets launch pad.

Yes. 730 is a network pregame. And then tip time is supposed to be 815. It could go as long as 825. Great. So I'll be on the postgame show about midnight. Yes. Gerard will be locked and loaded.

Beautiful. Would a Roddy Maya be on the call? Naya hasn't called since the resumption. Maybe she's boycott on the rest of the NBA. Well, I don't know. Hopefully she's okay. So here I am working on this game. Ross, the Thunder were terrible in game five.

I mean, they were so bad they weren't even. him playoff worthy. Danilo Garnari. I mean, he's been a solid NBA player, right? Yeah. Shooting about 40% from three before that game. One point. He was 0 for five.

First of all, he only took five shots. How does anybody that's trying to coach up Oklahoma City allow Danela Garnari to take only five shots? Misses all three of us three-pointers. He commits four turnovers. That's horrible stat number one. But horrible stat number two is Lou Dort. Defensive player, absolutely.

Sweet Lou Dort. Sure. Yes. Fighting over screens aggressively, absolutely. Yeah, foul trouble occasionally? Yeah, why not? In game five of the series against the rockets, Lou Dort, three of 16 from the floor,

zero for nine from three. And for the series, he is five of 32 from three point range. Is that bad? It's god awful. Yeah, they were, the, the rockets, strategy, of course, early on you could tell, was let Lou Dort do whatever Lou Dort wanted to do. And he was one of, they had like 23 or 26 field goals and like nine of them were taken by Lou Dort, and he missed just about all of them.

The Thunder were seven of 46 from three. The Rockets were 19 of 48. So as I'm impressed with this, and we'll talk to Mike Dan Tony coming up in about 20 minutes from now, the thing I'm thinking is how in the world do the Rockets allow them to win two games in the series. Because even, I'm not saying they're not, I don't think tonight the Thunder are going to be nearly as bad as they were in game five, but by no means, is it a team that you would think would be a squad that would be able to stay with you offensively?

And the key I think to this, Ross, is if the Rockets don't dock down their threes, no matter who the opponent is, whether it's the Oklahoma City Thunder, whether it's the LA Lakers in round two, or it's the Sucky Atlanta Hawks. The Rockets don't hit threes, the Rockets don't win games. and I don't mean to be overly simplistic, would you? But tell me an argument why hitting threes is the reason why the Rockets either can be the best team in the NBA or lose to the absolute worst. Well, I mean, it could go either way. They didn't really hit their threes in the first two games of the series, and they hit a lot of them in game three and lost.

They won the first two and lost the last one. So you're basically just poo-poo-pooing my pointy ridge right up the top. Right within this series. Damn. Okay, but I'll tell you it helps. They've only lost two games the entire season shooting over 37%. So if they're going to do that, they're going to win games almost all the time. Of course, just recently they had where that wasn't the case.

But yeah, that's how it is. You hear the cliche all the time. It's a make or miss league. I mean, you've seen. And it also didn't hurt, by the way, that Dennis Schroeder got kicked out of the game because he was killing the Rockets. And was it that was it a third quarter where he had 18 points or whatever it was? And he's done that.

If there's been anything consistent in this entire series of Oklahoma City, it's been the fact that Dennis Schroeder hits people in the nuts and also hits a lot of points. By what you see this. Second quarter, I mean. third. Schrooter and PJ both got fined $25,000 by the league. Well, why did PJ get the same fine as Dennis Schrooter?

Because how butts are going to be costly. Now, when it first happened, I didn't think that what Schroeder did was intentional, but there's the, the stanchion angle. You can see him rear back. You can see him, like, cocked back his arm and then go into PJ Tucker's juncular region. There is video surfacing or has surfaced of when I believe Schroeder was an Atlanta Hawk. he did the same thing to

to DeMarcus cousins when they were in Sacramento. And I like how you tried to play dumb like he didn't know what he's like, what are you so mad about? What? Do you know what you can't do anymore? Give nut shots?

Well, that's first and foremost. You can't act dumb. Do you know that? There are cameras everywhere. Especially in the bubble where there are 20 extra cameras. Yeah, you got like baseline camera, stanching camera,

to rim camera. You got cameras everywhere, Shruder. Even the sharp. versus Detroit games on television to those two cities. Yes. So they're going to have camera views. You can't in 2020, for that matter, you probably could do it is 20 years ago.

You cannot do something like that and think you're going to get away with it. Well, he did think he was and he didn't. Thankfully. So I thought a flagger, too, was a little harsh on PJ, by the way. I thought a flake. And he gave him a little headbutt. He gave him a little like, hey, what's going on here? I thought it should have been a flag.

Have you ever head about anybody before? Yeah. When's the last time? I have an older brother. I mean... I feel like the times that I've done it... The last time I've lived... I've taken more of the brunt of the pain

than the person I'm giving the headbutt too. Yeah, well, you know what? Me and my brother used to play a game when we were like eight years old. This probably explains a lot, man. We used to play a game called like hardheads or something like that. And we would just like put on our pee-wee helmets

and just ram into each other. That's the reason you are the person that you are today. It explains a lot, doesn't it? All right, we'd love for you guys to join us this afternoon. And ladies two, 7-1, 3, 2. 212-5-790, 7-13-212-5-7-90. We've got Texans news to get to today.

The Astros played basically, what, two games in the last five or six days. They're off, and we have the trade deadline clock. Two hours, 47 minutes away from the trade deadline. There have already been numerous trades, including one within the American League West. We'll discuss that. Plus, Mike Dan Tony, at the bottom of the hour, here on the day. Sports Talk 790. Want to welcome one of our brand new sponsors at the show, and that is Big Rivers Water Park. It's located just north of

Kingwood up along of I-69 or Highway 59, whatever you want to call it. They're open weekends this month from 11 o'clock until 5, and the day passes start at 2499. So a very reasonable amount of money to check out one of the best water parks you'll find, not only in the Houston area, but all in Texas. So first and foremost, I've got giant water slides. That goes without saying. They've got big waves, a lazy river that is the biggest in the Houston area. Plus, there's zip lines, petting zoo, and so much more. There's a big giant maze.

So basically, if you love water, you're going to enjoy the experience. But if you want more than that to keep your kids entertained all day long, you do it today, just eight miles north of Kingwood off of 59, and that is Big Rivers Water Park. For more information on hours and days and what you can do there to satisfy you and any member of your family, go to big riverswaterpark.com. Riverswaterpark.com. The Matt Thomas show continues on Sports Talk 790, where Rockets and Astros play and real Texans talk.

1218 on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show. Good afternoon, everybody. We really, really appreciate you listening to our show. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. A lot of a little different things. but I think some good stuff.

Zach Cunningham officially signed today by the Texans. It's a four-year deal worth $58 million. $22 of it guaranteed. I'll tell you what. The Texans have done a really good job of locking up linebackers. Zach Cunningham's been taken care of. Whitney Merrill's been taken care of. Honestly.

Bernardich McKinney, your favorite? Mr. McKinney does a great job. I'm not saying his name. There's no chance. By the way, I want you to tell the audience, we were having a funny debate the other day about a baseball player. Do you remember who it was? Well, what was the topic?

What was the debate? pronouncing his first name. It was Diggy Thon. No, it was not Dickie Thon. I want you to think about it. There is a player in Major League Baseball that has a very difficult first name to pronounce. And so what I like to do when those players have difficult names to pronounce, I like to go to YouTube to hear what the team announcers have to say.

Oh, yes, yes. I remember now. It wasn't a debate. We were just... Well, I wasn't a debate. It was a conundrum we were in. Andrelton, Andrelton Simmons. Andrewton Simmons.

None of the broadcasters ever said Andrelton. Yes. Because they're like me. It's a lot to chew on. It's like, yeah, if the name... It's like how everybody on TNT, instead of saying Niccolo Yokic, they just call them the Joker. Yeah. It's, I don't know of another Andrelton out there,

but it's not a name that it feels like the first half meshes with the second half. You know what I'm saying? It's like Andre Melton and Drilton. Yeah. And it doesn't even look how it's pronounced. So you just try to avoid the word as often as possible. But in this particular case, what we're talking about here? I don't know what you were talking about, but yes.

So Matt wanted to find out to just make sure, because you were doing the pregame, they're playing the A's, I mean the Angels. and you wanted to make sure to pronounce it correctly when you go through the lineups. And we couldn't find anybody to do it. And nobody would do it. But I told you it was Andrelton. Yeah.

It's just a lot of words. How do we get to, how do we get to Antleton Simmons to begin with? I don't recall. Maybe we're, because you were talking about Dennis Schrooter? No. Or perhaps Lou Geantz Dort. I just call him Lou. Yeah, see?

Everybody just calls them Lou. It's like when people say Greek freak instead of going, Janis, I is a Greek freak. Yeah, I've heard 25 interpretations of it. Yeah, I say Janus. Atento cumpo. Atenta cumpo. I put a T in there.

I gotta go, cum, Aletto Cumbo. Hopefully we'll be talking about Janus and the Rockets. But first thing, is first going to take care of the thunder. Oh,

I know how we're talking about. We're talking about Benardric McKinney. Yes, Bernardrick McKinney. Benardrick. Not a great word for me. I know, because you always want to call him Chuck Bedardrip. No, I don't want to do that.

All right, so he's been taken care of. And I'll be honest, this is nice, I don't think anybody's bumping around town going, did you hear the Zach Cunningham sign? I mean, it's nice. There's not people going, let's go. But if I said Houston, Texas,

call in right now and tell me your thoughts about Zach Cunningham getting a new contract, you're going to hear crickets, right? He's one of the best run stoppers in the entire NFL last year. As a past defender and line's a linebacker, not so much. Well, he's a work in progress. It could get better. He's getting better every year.

But it's not a move-the-neal, moment. So if I was to go to a sports bar, provided they were allowed, we'd go to a sports bar. And Ross, I walk in and I say, Zach Cunningham just got a new deal

from the Texans. What do you think the typical reactions would have been, would be from Texans fans? You're at a sports bar. If they were allowed, like a true, true sports bar.

Yeah. I'll give you some of them. Some people will be happy. Yeah. Let me give you. First of all, there'd be a faction that would be happy. Yes.

There would be a faction of, well, he probably fleece the Texans because everybody fleeces the Texans. Okay. But I will tell you, the number one response is, that's cool, but what's up with the Shawna Watson? And that's what it comes down to. The only players in the history that I've talked about the Houston Texans that people have ever worried about contract-wise are Dante Robinson. Pay me, Rick. Andre Johnson. True.

Aryan Foster and any quarterback. Remember DeAndre Hopkins had that one day holdout. Okay, DeAndre. Jadavia and Clowny too. But you see, you have to be in that mega class, right? Yes. So that's why, while again, it's great, and Zach Cunningham improves every single year,

I just can't get my blood flow on it. This is going to be a difference maker in 2020. It's a good deal. It's a really good deal. It's a really good deal. It's a good deal. It's nice to have Zach Cunningham locked up. Yeah, it's worked out really well. It's just, I think the number one reaction would probably be more than else.

Okay, so when's the Sean signing? And how much is you going to sign for? Well, they had, I thought, $22 million in cap space. How much do they have now? Well, this is an extension. So is all this big money going on next year? Is he getting a signing bonus now? What's the breakdowns, Matt?

What's the guarantees? I honestly can't give you the answer to that. Yeah, I mean. And that's my fault. No, it's not your fault. Are you sure? But they had like 20 million in cap space. So now I don't know how much of that.

is evaporated. So, I mean, is it just going to be completely out? Deshawn Watson deal is going to happen? No, I think a future Deshawn Watson deal starts with years after this year. Okay. That would be my guess. I figured you'd want to get some kind of bonus. All right. A couple other things. The Jacksonville Jaguars have zero intention of winning any games this year.

They did trade away, Yanique and Gakwe. Right. But he's, they've been disgruntled with him this whole offseason. They got him from the Vikings for a second and a conditional fifth. Man, you have to be a mega start to get a first round picket return. Oh, and then, of course, they just cut Leonard Fournett.

And that's what I was going to talk about. Leonard Fournett has been cut. I believe Doug Morone is one of the five worst coaches in the NFL. He almost took Blake Bordos to the Super Bowl. This is true, but I'm still staying with my thought. Not that I'm a great evaluator of head coaches and what they do, but it just, I sat on the Jacksonville sideline for that game against the Texans when they opened up the season last year.

And I don't think Doug Marone knew who was in the lineup, much less could coach a football game. And they're going to be horrible this year. And the new code to the Jaguars is going to love what the Jaguars did this year. And that's completely tank. So you're Davosweeney you're talking of. Yeah, sure. That's been the rumor.

Is that one to Jacksonville? Yes, that's been the rumor. Dabo to Jacksonville. So here's the bit. So Lenin Fournette, according to Doug Morone, they say the Jaguars did that they couldn't get a single dream. draft pick in return for a trade for him? For For Fornet. Yeah.

Do you buy that? I think Fornet is while he's had some successful seasons, he's not thought of as a versatile back, which as you know, Matt, because Bill O'Brien, he values versatility. He's kind of just a straightforward run guy. He's had a lot of injury issues. He's had multiple off of the field issues. Yeah. Bless you.

Sorry. Into my elbow. Nice work. So we're good. Prided you. Yeah, so he's had multiple off-field field issues. He hasn't been a special running back. He's got, I mean, the last year he did have 1100 yards,

but it was on four and a half a carry. He's kind of a straightforward guy. He's not scoring touchdowns. He's not particularly fast. So basically it's an indictment against him or an indictment against the position or the indictment against we're just going to wait for him to be released. Then we'll go try to scoop a month. It's probably

some of the mixture of all of that. I mean, the position is the running back isn't as premium of a position. It's an indictment of a bad pick, you don't take a running back fourth overall, period. And if you did take him fourth overall and you're cutting him before his rookie contract is over, you've made a huge mistake with that draft. No Jalen Ramsey, no main Garner-Minchu's the quarterback, which he might be fine, but he's going to who's going to throw it to?

In that same draft, by the way, Leonard Fournett was taken fourth. The number eighth pick was Christian McCaffrey, who just got a huge mega deal. Remember, the Jacksonville Jaguars have no intentions of winning any football games this year. And they're okay with telling you that. It should be, their logo should be Jaguars football. Just see how cool we are in 21. They're just trying to tank as hard as they could.

And by the way, the Davosweeney rumors are swirling because if they got the number one overall pick, they could draft. Trevor Lawrence. And then take Davo as well. Kind of a Clemson duo. You know what they'll do? Jackson people are like, we're not going to London. We can sell 75,000 tickets here every game.

You can have your London game. We're taking it back. Let's talk to Mike Dan Tony. He'll join us next. It's the Matt Thomas Show, 713, 2,21, 2, 5, 790. 713-212-5-790 with a message here for big city wings today one-dollar chicken tenders i always tell you about the specials they have specials every single day of the week plus special offers and they're 34-ounce big brews all part of the eight big city wing locations are about to own and open up a ninth one

uh in the atasca ceda umbel area just off of uh wilson road and i believe the tollway right now one dollar chicken tenders but if that doesn't suit you how about a salad That sounds great too. Of course it does. The burgers are fantastic. The wings, bone in boneless are always good. And also, don't forget about the loaded baked potatoes full of chicken tenders and salads and whatnot. It's a great selection.

That's the best part of my going to Big City is the food is cheap and there's plenty of options for everybody's appetite. $1 chicken tenders to find the location near you. You go to bigcitywings.com. Big Citywings.com. On the trail, it's hard. That it drops it down with a left hand hammer. This is Coach Dan Tony. Matt Thomas is a great guy, and I always listen to the radio show.

On mute. What a shot! It's just the worst promotion that we have is when Coach D'Anto-N-Toney says he listens to my show on mute. I know for a fact, Coach D'Antony, as soon as you get back to Houston, Texas, you're going to be wanting to listen to my show every single day, 12 to 3. Is that right, Coach? I can't wait. I can't wait.

I'm sure I've been missing it. all I'm talking about is you guys finish off the series tonight, right? That's all I've been talking about so far in the first half hour. Well, it'll be nice. I mean, you know, we will have to play well. They're not going anywhere. They will be vulnerable. But, you know, if we play well, then we should do our job.

You guys put the defensive clamps on them. I mean, 80 points, coach. That might be the best single defensive performance since you've been coaching his basketball team. What did you put in the pregame meal that made them go so far? ferocious on the defensive side of things. Well, as always, it's a little bit of both. I mean, it's not just us. They did not shoot the ball well.

They didn't play real well. So, you know, you got that. But we did what we're supposed to do. We followed the game plan and we got we locked in and, you know, it was good. So, you know, a little bit of that. I'm sure tonight we'll have a different beast on our hands. but, you know, we know what we're supposed to do, and hopefully we can do it. Somebody asked me about whether or not Billy might make a change in the lineup,

maybe moving Stephen Adams out, maybe going a little bit smaller. And I didn't have an answer for him, but I want to ask you, how difficult is it? Does it ruin a rhythm sometimes when you have to make starting lineup changes, not because of injury? And how often have you done that over your coaching career? I doubt if I've ever done it. You play a certain way.

you have a, Billy's a really good coach. So I'm sure he's playing the team the best way that they can play. And you might be able to make one little adjustment, but not adjust, but how we're playing, what we're doing, what, you know, all that. That would be tough. You know, it's hard for a coach. Like any law, you don't ask a question,

don't know the answer to it. And if you just go to something you've never really done or just, you know, you better be really sure. because, you know, the bottom line is 3 to 2. If not 3-0, it's not, you know, at that point, maybe, you know, Carson do win. But you've got to be really careful. Just under 24 minutes for Russell Westbrook for the game on the game for you, coach. Just overall, your assessment, how did he look out there?

What did you think of the shot selection and got led the team in assists as well just in those 24 minutes? Overall, how do you play for you? Well, you know, I don't know. I don't need to look mostly. I expect him. every game getting better. You know, I'm glad we blew it out because I think I was going to go over the 25 minutes.

It might have been a fight on the sideline between me and the traders. But it worked out. And I expect, like I said, I expect him to get better every time. So, you know, it's not easy. It's not easy to come back at, you know, such a big game after all the time off. But I expect every game would be a little bit better. How did you like just having an extra piece? I know there's a lot of folks that, you know, come playoff time, you have eight guys in rotation.

You're able to get nine going while the game was still in play. What was it like just having him and being able to move House to the bench and just kind of see what he could do before he coming off the bench? Well, you know, it's good to have it, you know, eight or nine guys that we can go to as a full lineup. That's really good. You know, that's how we, you know, hopefully it can remain that way. lose anybody. They're all important. So it's good. PJ Tucker and Dennis Schroeder got after a little bit.

The NBA fined him $25,000. Are you the one that has to be the bearer of bad news or how does PJ find out he's 25,000 line in the wallet? No, that's the hell of the job. It's my job. You know, I'm sure, you know, the way it was going, I'm sure he's happy. That's what it was because it could easily bend, you know, I gain suspension. I don't know if he loses more or less.

It'd be hefty no matter what. So, you know, I thought the NBA did a good job and, you know, let the players decide the contest and not interject in it. Has Schroeder been the biggest surprise so far in this series in terms of just no matter how tough you guard him, no matter where he is on the floor, he has just been a thorn in the rocket side because when he's on the floor, he's just scoring in a very high pace. Well, he's good, and so it's not a surprise. He's shooting the box stream as well as in, you know, great confidence right now.

So we'll have to watch him. But now, I don't think he was a very good player in Atlanta as the plate as the point guard, led their team for years. So, no, he's a starter coming off their bench. So, yeah, he's one of the better players in the league. I want to go back to this fine thing for a second. Have you ever been fined by the NBA? Just technicals.

Okay, so you call Laurel and you say, hey, they're going to duck like $300 on my check. Does she give you any grief on that or not? Are she okay with this? $300, no. I wouldn't have to make the call for $300. It's a little bit more expensive. Well, I had to guess. I had no idea what a technical foul cost.

But anyway, no, it's part of the game. You understand. All right. I understand. A couple of things. Eric Gordon only took three shots in the game from three-point range. What he was able to do and attack in the basket, for a guy that's not shooting the ball well,

he's still one of your better finishers. How happy were you to see him be as productive as he was? Well, it's great. I mean, he's got to mix the two-in, and I don't want to lose confidence in a shot either, because when he has a role and he's good from doing both, so he has to make that decision when he's on the floor. if he's more comfortable driving.

And since this team that we have, it really opens up the floor. You know, obviously it does for us, but it also does from James and Eric and Austin Rubber. So, you know, there's benefits out of playing small. But you've got to take advantage of it. We want Eric to find his stroke and be confident with him. We're confident.

But, yeah, he's going to make that determination and whatever he feels comfortable, he'll do. And he's always been a street guy for it. in his Rockets career coach. What is the difference between Eric Gordon in rhythm making his shots or Eric Gordon struggling from three? Is it just that's the way it goes or is there something more? Like you mentioned, the confidence or the shot selection or something like that.

That's the way it goes, Matt. If the coaches have the answer to that I want, we'd have nobody ever struggling, right? So now it's the way it goes. You just have to play through it. And you get in the cycle. Sometimes you get in your own head. Everybody's got confidence in it.

and he'll be fine. Speaking of guys getting back in rhythm, Robert Covington and hitting some big shots for you, that had to be a good sign because I don't think he ever felt uber comfortable, or at least the numbers would show that during the bubble time in the regular season, but postseason has been a different situation

and much more positive for you guys. Well, definitely what the second half especially, I thought he played really well. And when he gives us that, he gives us another bunch of points and then also his defense and everything. it picks everybody up. And when you're making shots,

everything's a lot better. Obviously, it's easier. So, yeah, that was a big boost for us. All right. So if you're Oklahoma City, how are you stopping you guys tonight? You get any ideas for them? No, no.

They're going to do what they've got to do. We kind of know, you know, at this point, it might make a few little adjustments. But, you know, at this point, they know what we're doing. They know what we're doing. It's going to be a battle of wheels. And I know they're not going to go away.

They're, like I said, are extremely well coached, and you got some of the best competitors in the league on the other side. So they're coming after us, and we'll have to play well to beat them. We'll leave it at that. We'll talk with you later tonight, Coach. Thanks to the time, as always, and we'll visit again next week. We appreciate it. Sounds good.

All right, you got it. Mike Dan, Tony, with us here on his Sports Talk 790. Time is 12.41. What I wanted to, what I wanted to ask him when I wanted to say was, do you want to see Lou Dort try some more three-pointers? That's very rude, Matt. And he'd be like, Matt, you can't ask me that question. But the answer is yes.

He's not going to go 0 for nine every game. Well, I don't know. Man, I actually had something. If I gave you $1,000 to bet, Lou Dord O for nine or Lue Dord for six? I'll probably go O'Fern 9. Yeah, I actually at one point, I almost started, almost started to feel bad for Lood Dorton. But I could still, I had to stop. That's really, that's a coach's fault, right?

Matt Bairdard once told. me, he said Rudy Tom Jonovic told him, I'm putting you out there and I want you to shoot because that's how you got to the NBA. If you're not making your shots, it's on me to get you out of there.

And that's exactly what Billy Donovan didn't do. I think he became so enamored and hey, let's try to stop James Harton, and you're our best perimeter defender that he gave up on the offensive end. And for a team that's going to be challenged offensively to begin with, besides Shrewder.

By the way, Gildes-Ex-Alexandar has been not much the last couple of games. Daniel Garnari was awful. That was a risk that Billy Donovan went down with a ship with, and I think he lost badly on it. Because not only did the Rockets

of Just DeLoo being out there, but he was a liability for that basketball team on the offensive side of the floor. Yeah, we've seen it from Andre Robertson and others, and that it's basically the guy on him gets to place free. They've been doing it with James Hardin. James Hardin just plays free safety. He doesn't have to guard him at all.

And the way to stop, that is to make a couple of shots. So, I mean, otherwise you're just playing four on five. And so Dort's going to have to step up and make a couple of those shots and keep the Rockets honest. I don't know that he has the capability

of doing that, but that's what he's going to try. If the Rockets lose tonight because Lou Dort is hit four or three-pointers and it just wasn't meant to be. Yeah, the game before, he was three of nine. So, I mean, if he can do that, if he can shoot 33%, which is about his season average, I think.

Well, yeah, he's a little bit under that. But if he can do something like that. If he can just do enough to keep the Rockets on us, then that will be huge for them. All right. Astros news in terms of not playing. There are quite a few things going on with the trade deadline. We'll update you on that in a moment.

1243 is a time. It is the Matt Thomas show 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. At the corner West Graham Montrose, you can find Shaw's Jew. You've been able to find them there since 1966. No gimmick sales. Their prices are always lower than their mall counterparts.

You'll find jewelry at the fraction of the cost of others. You know, most jewelry stores will pay rent. Well, guess what? Shaw's the local company in that exact same intersection since 1966 that they own their own building, which means no overhead, and that means they pass the savings on to you. Whether it's engagement rings, diamond ring upgrades, whether it is pre-owned Rolexes, diamond studs, or a diamond tennis bracelet,

you can go there and shop in secure comfort, social distancing, and get terrific price and excellent customer service. They're also offering zero percent financing for 12 months on purchases, some exclusion supply. That's it. West Grand Montrose, the home of Shaw's jewelry. Matt Thomas returns on Sports Talk 790. Baseball, football, basketball in Houston. Home for your home teams. We have lots to get to today. I've been kind of looking forward to today's show.

A lot of sports to get to as compared to it felt like Thursday and Friday we didn't have much because of the cancellations of the games for whether it was because of civil unrest or it was because of the weather. But we've got a Rockets game. We have Astros. Tomorrow, we think. By the way, Oakland A's somebody in their traveling party tested positive for COVID. Don't know if it's a player, don't know if it's a support step. Should that matter? I would say sort of, but really they're on the plane. How much are they separated, right? Yeah. I mean, we don't, you know, if it was the PR director, he goes down to a clubhouse. If it's one of the trainers, he's in the clubhouse. I So I guess the answer is it doesn't really matter.

If somebody in that group tests positive, you've got to go tell the Astros. The Astros have to then call it this press conference yet on yesterday morning and the game's canceled. Now, will Major League Baseball send the game they're supposed to play back to Houston? Or do you think they will do that we have to save travel and save people getting on another plane and going to a hotel? and send the extra game to Oakland and let the Astros be the home team in that game. Because here's the thing. Minutemade Park and Oakland Coliseum

are as completely opposite of ballparks. One has very small minor league air, I mean, not monally. Fowl territory, one has expansive. It is a lot more difficult to hit a home run in Oakland Coliseum than it is a hit of Minutemate Park. The Astros are really good at home. Lance McClure.

colors is exceptional at home. The Astros, by the way, have already been to Oakland three times and lost three. Oh, by the way, when the schedule was released, of the 10 games, the Astros and A's were to play, seven of them were to be in Oakland to begin with. So September the 14th, Astros play in Los Angeles on the 13th. It's a night game. It's going to be an ESPN Sunday night game. Okay.

So they'll jump on a plane, come back to Houston. it was supposed to be an off day. Do they play the A's that day, who will be in Arlington the night before? Or do you send the A's from Arlington to Denver where they're supposed to start a series, I think, on Tuesday against the Rockies? They're against both teams on September the 14th, two weeks from today have an off day. I think you would try to limit travel. And yeah, I mean, all the ballpark factors and all that type of stuff, I get it. But this is 2020. And this is a different time. You try to. to save the extra travel. You try to save the extra possible exposures and all that type of stuff.

And you just have a doubleheader in one of those four games in the four game series coming up. Let's pretend we're on the conference call for a second. Okay. And I mean this in all sincerity. How do you handle this? Your team is the one that had the illness, not ours. Your team already has more home games against your rival in the division than you do. The schedules align where Oakland is already in the state of Texas, the asteros were going to come home anyway.

So in theory, Ross, you're talking about one extra hour flight and one extra night hotel, actually zero extra nights hotel, because I believe the A's are supposed to put the Rockies on Tuesday, so they've been in a hotel regardless. I think it's going to rub if they do what you just said, which I understand why you could think that. I'm not saying that you're endorsing. I'm just telling you what you just said.

I think there could be some people that we rubbed very, very wrong by this, especially if you're talking about a team that's trying to overcome a deficit and win the division, even though there are no fans, even though there's no more even those, even though there's no fans. Logistically, it's as easy as it possibly can be. Well, there's pretty much no home field advantage. There's no fans in the stands.

So home field advantage is pretty much disappeared. But stadiums do matter. not that it should matter a lot because the Astros have won games in Oakland before and the A's of won games in Houston before. But I just want you to think very generally on this for a team that already has seven of the ten

for them to be able to have another game in their stadium in their clubhouse in which they're familiar with and another night, not another night, but they would play a double header that day. Yeah, they'd be playing five games instead of four. I'm just telling you, I can see Astero's Twitter losing their mind.

Not that Astros Twitter is the end all. I think they would have to understand. We're in the midst of a pandemic. So it's the best option. It ain't fair. First of all, life ain't fair. And this ain't fair. But I'm going to tell you this.

I'm going to side with Astros Twitter on this one. I'm going to say that the Astros are going to be home. The A's had a day off. The A's are already in the state of Texas. It's not like we're asking them to leave from San Francisco to come play a home game and then fly back out there. I think the star is a line for this game to be played in Houston, Texas. I just do.

And I will say, not that I always agree with Aster or Twitter, because some of y'all are nut jobs, some not all. But I'm going to side with if the game that's moved to Oakland where they're the extra in that fifth game of a series and they're the home team for it, I think they get screwed on this one. If they're, screwed is a little strong of a term to me. I'd rather have it at, yeah, you'd rather have it at home and rather have it admit it may, but it's, we're in the midst of pandemic. They want less traveling. They don't want people. They don't want, it's two extra trips, right? One.

Well, they don't have to come from, they would have to, instead of going Dallas to Colorado, they'd have to go Dallas to Houston, Houston, Colorado. That's one extra trip. One extra trip, no extra hotel nights. Because they would be in a hotel anyway. I think if, okay, now if they want to say that, that's fine. But if you also have it in Oakland, who cares? No, I think people do care.

Why? Because the stadium's different. And being at home. The stadium's different. So what? It's different for the Oakland A's as well. No, it's their stadium. They're comfortable.

They've won games there. Like the Astros have won lots of home games. They're either playing five games there or they're playing four games there. The fifth game, they all of a sudden don't know where the clubhouse is and they get lost on the way to the hotel. I think you build part of your team by who your stadium is and the Astros have had lots of success against the A's in Houston and they've had zero success in Oakland. They shouldn't be penalized because of that. Now, again, if you just want to say it's pandemic and sorry, Charlie, that's acceptable. I'm just saying that I don't disagree

with people that would be pissed about that. Well, I think if you're pissed about it, you're taking a little too seriously. It's what it is. It's 50... The home field advantage is worse than it's ever been right now. That's a lot of it because of the fans. The fans aren't there.

So, I mean, there really is... Homefield advantage is mostly non-existent. I bet you that there is a legitimate argument going on right now for the Astros to have that game in Houston, Texas. And I don't blame them in this particular case. Now, if they decide to go put the game in Oakland, oh well, so it's such as life. But I'm going to say I'm back in Astros' Twitter and this and I'm back the Astros organization if they said, hey, we're already coming back to Houston.

Now, I wondered, now, there may be a factor in this too. The Astros do play the night game on ESPN on Sunday. They just moved that today. That might be a factor as well because they're going to be getting in the middle of the night because you're flying in from Los Angeles. That might be a factor too. All I'm saying is if the Astros want that game in Houston, I do not blame them.

Because the only difference realistically is where the A's were to spend their off day. When it's not an off date, it's a game now. 1257. 713-213-212-5-79 if you want to get in. 7-1-3-21-5-7-90. More on the Astros, some Texan stuff to get to, and the Rockets trying to close out their series of Oklahoma City. We'll do that as we start hour two plus in 35 minutes.

Time for the debut of a brand-new segment on the show called MT as a dumbass. 12 of 57 on Sports Talk 790. Is the Matt Thomas show. 101 Sports Talk 790. Trade deadline. Rossi, we're down to an hour and 59 on the clock. How are you feeling, Matt? I'm a little nervous.

Are you? Mike Clevenger, now a San Diego Padre. Poor guy. He has that long hair in San Diego with those awful brown uniforms. Well, the Padres just can't get their uniforms right ever, can they? Well, keep the music. It's a trade deadline. We're going to keep it a few more seconds.

Probably the worst uniforms in baseball right now, the Padres. Follow by the Diamondbacks? I actually don't mind those. Some of them. They have like 19 different versions. I mean, they're just so gouty and snake skinny and all that type of stuff. I actually think they're kind of funny. And then Mike Minor of the Texas Rangers, who's been awful for an awful Texas team,

sorry to hear about it, has now gone to the Oakland days. It is sacrilegious to trade within your own division, right? I thought I did. So, yeah. This is unacceptable. Rangers don't seem to care. Rangers like, I don't, you have anything that you can do to beat those nasty Astros? Well, Mike Miner hasn't been very good this year.

No. All right. We got a lot to get to. We have a half hour away from MT as a dumbass story. I feel like I don't want to do this segment a lot. Can I call you a dumbass throughout that entire segment? Yes. Okay.

And Brendan New News, you can also. do this as well. Because I think what I did today is worthy of MT as a dumb ass. All right. Now, this is just regular life or is this sports related? This is regular life. Oh, I can't wait. It involves my son, uh-oh, me, his drive to school, and my cell phone. That's what we call a proper radio tease right there. Okay. Giving you all the timids. You're looking for your phone and it was in your hand. I can also get into backup tight end talk with the Texans. Okay. Or I can talk about how I'm a dumbass. That's really up to you. Why don't you break down year by year? Is that Cunningham's projected stats throughout his entire contract extension.

I'm good. By way, Zach Cunningham signed the new deal today. And the questions would be, that's nice. 20% of the audience is going to say who's Zach Cunningham. Other 80% are like, that's cool, but when's Deshaun going to sign? Crystal Ball, let's do 1, 2, 3, you mean. Does Deshaun Watson sign his deal? I'm talking mega deal. Not a little one-year extension.

I'm talking mega Patma-Holmes-like contract. Does he sign it before the first regular season game? one, two, three. No. In 10 days? No, I wouldn't think so. All right. Does Deshawn Watson sign his mega Pat Mahomes type deal sometime in the regular season?

That's between now and the end of December. One, two, three. No. Last one. Before we go to the phones. Does Deshawn Watson sign a mega, absolutely can't beat it. type deal before or after he has franchise tagged. One, two, two and a half, two and three quarters, two and nine tenths.

Yes. Before. Before. Okay. Before. Before. So you and I are ultimately saying that he's going to get his mega deal. It's just going to take a little while.

Yeah, next off season. Okay. We got that for 10. months of sports talk? That will carry weeks, or at least if it drags out. Oh, my God, it's going to carry. I think that's all they talked about on Dallas Radio for the last two years is when Dak Press got getting a deal. Yeah, how to press is Dallas-Fort Worth Sports Radio? That's all they've been able to get to.

All right, Ross and I were debating about whether or not the extra, the makeup game for the Astros should be at Minutemate Park on September the 14th. Ross says, yeah, you know what, pandemic, it is what it is. Sorry, it's a breaks you lose. I say that Major League Baseball and the Astros should fight extraordinarily hard for the game to be played in Houston, Texas. Because again, the calendar basically lines up. If it didn't line up where they were on opposite ends of the country, I could go with it. I think the Astros should fight it. What should you believe?

713-2125790. Let's go to Ben in the Heights at 106 on Sports Talk 790. Hi, Ben. Hey, so I feel like the Astros should not fight. to have it in Houston and fight for the doubleheaders because I believe that the makeup of the team suits a seven-inning game better than a nine-inning game. So you get to have two seven-inning games instead of two nine-inning games, and you don't have to rely on your bullpen nearly as much as you would otherwise.

So I've got my thought on it. Not bad. Thank you very much for the phone call, Ben. and now we can't use this weekend as a good example because the Astros did sweep the A's and double header but what percentage of doubleheaders played are splits?

I'm not going to look it up. I don't know. Don't do it. Okay. I don't want you looking at it up. Ashers could sweep double header. I can go sweep all five games. That'd be nice. There, a game and a half going into today's game. Or tomorrow's game? Or two and a half, two and a half. If I really liked going to Oakland, I don't want to go to that series. But the Coliseum is a complete...

It's a... Dumpster fire may be too polite of a term for it. It's awful. Don't they literally have, like, broken down construction outside of it or something like that? They have terrible construction, and they have bleacher, sections of bleachers that are just laying... It's almost like a... It's like a junkyard. Yeah.

I do like all that foul territory, though. Why not? Too much. Well, I mean, if you pop it up, let's go. Alex Breggman's a healthy. Super Jack Mayfield can run out there and get to third bay. Regular Jack Mayfield. And by the way, Eliz Midez is playing now again so we can use him.

The point being is it's super-11-D-S. That stadium was not built for the A's. It was built for the Raiders. And that's the reason why there is so much ridiculous amounts of foul territory. If I was the A's and I'm going to stay in that disaster, maybe they'd like it. Again, you are built for who you, what your team is, you know. And again, it takes a little bit of a.

poked in a home run and there's certainly lots of foul territory. I would say this. I'd rather have more foul territory than less. Like, you know the part of Minutemate Park I really hate is way down the left field line, right in front of the Crawford boxes. It feels like to me there's like six, six inches of territory between fair and foul over there. Yes. That's too skinny.

I'm with you. It's like girls. Explain. Dig that hole, Maddie. Go ahead. Brendan, you want to help me out of this? Nah, you're alone. No, I think you figured it out.

No, I don't even know where you're going with this. Okay. You're not too big, not too thin, more in the middle? Not too big, not too small. It's like your porridge. It's just right. The Aristotelian mean between the extremes is what you're looking for. I'm looking at the photo right now, a minute made part.

Okay. The foul line to the bleachers. I don't have to believe you, but would you call it the little extension out there down the third baseline? The stands. That's a good amount of foul territory, right? Would you agree on the first baseline? Maybe a little more. Okay.

But look in the back left corner there by the Crawford boxes. There's no wiggle room down there. There's no wiggling to be had to be done, Matt. So sometimes you don't, if you're with a woman, you want a little wiggle. Oh, Jesus. Right? I'm not weighing in on this conversation. Oh, please.

You weigh on every other conversation we're having on this show. I don't know what you're talking about. all women are beautiful in their own way, Matt. You seem quite over there as well. That's fine. I'm on Team Ross for this one. You know what it is? I say things you guys are thinking, and that's fine.

I wasn't thinking that at all. I was talking about fair territory. All of a sudden, you're talking about cushion for the pushing. I didn't say that. Trust me. I can go for a phone call right now because I need some people on my side. No, I don't want you talking to me. 713-212-2-5-7-9.

713212.5. Do you remember last year's trade deadline, how crazy it was? You and I were leaving the studio, and Adam and Adam were coming in, and Zach Grinky became an Astro. That happened. It feels like to me 259.50. Goodbye, everybody.

Have a great day. Looks like the Astros didn't make a big deal. And watching MLB Network, they're like, did somebody whisper Zach Grinky to the Astros on my ear? And I'll say, I thought the first reaction to Zach was not nearly as positive as I thought it was going to be because first of all he's making a lot of money

yes second of he's clearly on the wrong side of 30 like mid 30s you gave up who is it somebody Corbin Corbin Martin yeah all those guys are gone there's one guy and then some other guy yeah all them are not even a part of their not an organization but they're not even on the active taxi squad oh really yeah there's some people

are really upset about the prospect hall that was getting up Astros Karen hated it Minor League. Minor League, Minor League blogger. Yeah. Minor League blogger hated it. But where would this team be without Zankeranky right now?

That's a great question. Because here's the thing about Lance McCullors. We love Lance. We don't like Roadlands. Roadlands is a hot mess. It's a small sample size. No, it's not. And it's all hard, but it was one really bad inning in Arizona.

Go look at Road Lance in his career. I understand. It's going to be fine. I want to believe you but it's so pronounced how good he is at Minutemade Park as compared to how an average would probably be generous

to say how average he has been on the road. You have his numbers, don't you? I don't. Look him up. Okay. Because I think you're going to be astonished how bad the numbers are. Now, granted,

most pitchers don't pitch nearly as well on the road as they do at home. So there's going to be a discrepancy to begin with. The friendly confines, Matt. I think the discrepancy is way, way worse, Now, again, adding this year, look, it's a gimmick a year, so maybe we don't even count that. But I think overall, the- I mean, yeah, how many starts has he had in his life? The Lance McCullors Road Games.

Oh, dang it. I'm on this dad's page. Hold on. Words not often said on this radio show. 112 on the Matt Thomas show. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Can the rockets finish off the thunder?

Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. it. Message here for oops steam cleaning. Wait a minute. His entire career? What? Let's see. Oh, you'd save this until I come back and tell you about oops and you can come back and

give the knowledge of the audience. Okay. 281-8220561. 281-8220561. For the fine folks at oops, steam cleaning. Getting your carpas clean the right way is done by you not doing it. By you having oops come to your home. Take a look at all the trouble spots with the dogs and cats have had their accents where you spilled wine, grape juice, spaghetti sauce, whatever. The dirt that comes in when the dogs go outside.

All that can be fixed, not by you. I repeat, you don't do it. You have your carpets cleaned by the right people, and that's oops. 281-8-220561. They'll also do a fantastic job with tile and grog cleaning as well. And again, the key to all this is you taking a little bit of your money and giving it to them for quality steam cleaning purposes. You not doing it is the key.

281, 8,000. 220561 and online at oobsteam.com. Matt Thomas continues on Sports Talk 719. Your rockets, your Astros, your voice. 117 on the Matt Thomas show. 713212-579 if you'd like to join us. 713-212-5-790. We went over London and 4-9 a little bit today.

Astros and A is the trade deadline down on hour and 42 minutes. Mike Clevenger is now a San Diego Padre with that free-flowing hair. Mike Minor goes from Texas to the A's. NBA playoffs tonight.

Rockets trying to finish off the Thunder will have a game for you beginning. We're going to start the coverage at 3 o'clock with the 18. They're going to talk about it. They're going to go full on? No. So full on would be at 6 with you. Well, seven. I've got a number of things to cover the nightcap.

7 o'clock, Rockets launch pad. I'll have the call beginning at... We will be predicting Zach Cunningham play by play throughout the four years of his contract on the nightcaps. Yeah, how deep is the Texans linebacking corps? That's the conversation tonight on the nightcap between 6 and 7.

Can't wait. And then I'll have the call tonight. It's my final call of the season. Again, let's... We're going to pour one out for you? I mean, I may have a cold beverage after. We're during? No, I wouldn't do it during the game.

What if you got? What if you got, like, every time Lou Dort made a three-pointer, you had to take a shot? I don't think I'd be drinking much. What if he went crazy, though? He made three in game four. That's him going crazy, technically. Would you like to make a small wager on how many three-pointers that Lou Dort makes?

No. Okay, good. Yeah, what do you set the over-drunner at 0.5? I'll go over. No, I'll say one of us will do something if it's four, three-pointers or more. Then you're setting the over-under at four, and that's ridiculous. That's right. That's where we're not doing the bet.

All right. I'm always looking for an edge. So a couple things I want to get to before we get the Rockets. The Mavericks were eliminated yesterday. The Dallas Mavericks? That's a shame. Marcus Morris and Luca Dantz got involved again for the second time. Marcus Morris got a flagrant two, which is an automatic ejection.

Karate chopped him on the neck. He's just a bad guy. Goon. I don't think he's misunderstood. He's just a bad guy. And I thought, and this is rare because you don't have very good. very many good comments, but you made a good comment before the show started today. You're like, you know what?

The NBA needs, or for that matter, sports needs more enemies, more villains. More villain, yeah. Let's root against Marcus Morris. So, because in professional wrestling, we don't like when two nice guys wrestle. We like there's a good guy and a bad guy. Yeah. And Marcus Morris is a bad guy. He is the Seth Rollins of the NBA.

Yeah, that's why this show works. I'm the good guy and you're the bad guy. Okay, sure. Why not? Point being is this. So Luca Donchich not happy, goes to his Twitter, to his Instagram, correct? Well, Marcus Morris went to his Instagram. I don't know that Luca Donchich did.

Yeah, Lucas probably, if you lose in a series, you're not going to your Instagram. So Marcus Morris goes to it, and what does he say? He says, Cry me a River, Clippers and Six. Mm. So now only is he a bad guy, not only does he get toss in the game, but he didn't do a whole lot to help them win Game Six because he was in the locker. room. But he's moving on. We have an official bad guy

in the NBA. We have actually two of them. Dennis Schrooter for hitting PJ and the Nads. Yes. And Marcus Morris for stepping on his ankle once and then karate chopping him a second time. Now, Patrick Beverly's been hurt. But is he a villain

as well? Oh, absolutely. Do you know how many fouls that Patrick Beverly had in the first three games of the season against the Rockets when they played the Clippers? 18. 18. that's bad guy I understand point guards taking chances I understand guards being athletic

especially in the perimeter and trying to intercept passing lanes and body up guys but you're 18 you're 18,000 three games that means you're looking to hurt somebody or at least to throw your 175 pound body around a little bit well you got 6,000 might as well use them Matt

that was my philosophy and thus your long successful tenure in the NBA. You need to send somebody somebody in there to be unathletic and hack some people. I'm in there, Matt. Yeah. All right. So I'm going to agree with you.

I believe we can have some bad guys. Now, the problem is we don't want bad guys hurting people. Yeah, I don't want anybody get hurt. Like, Draymond Green, we hated because he was a bad guy and he hurt people. And who didn't, who was the one that stepped under, under Kawhi Leonard's leg that was on the Warriors? he has a name not a Vujuchich or a Pavlovich or a

Vucevich. You're talking about a foreign name? Yes. Sam, my memory is not good on this. Which warrior was it? What was his name? Something like that. The point being is this.

Can you be a bad guy in the NBA? Zaza Pachulia. Ooh, Zaza Pachulia. Nice grab on that one. The problem is you can't have bad guys in the NBA. B.A, it feels like because the bad guys are hurting people. Like when I was growing up, I hated Larry Bird. Larry Bird had a reputation for hurting people.

He got in fistfights, though. But he wasn't because he had the reputation of trying. Kevin McHale throw people around. We hated him because he beat people up. Is he the one that closed-lined, what's the name? Kurt Rambus. Kurt Rambis? Yeah.

That was a good one. We hated Isaiah Thomas because he was the smug, erring, and point guard on the bad boys team. That's true. we hated Bill Lambere because Bill Lambier like to throw his weight around. Well, Kevin McHale played with a broken foot and then weren't all the pissing stomping on it the whole game? Sorry to hear it.

So you know what? Now I guess... Now he can walk. Well, he can walk. He can walk to the bank. He's doing quite well on that. Here's the problem, Ross. We can't have bad guys in sports because bad guys hurt people.

Name somebody in sports that you despise that doesn't have a repuby. for hurting people. Joe B. Eugenie? Well, he hurts. When he walks the mound, he hurts me. And he hurts his teammates more than anything else. So that's a terrible example on your part.

I thought that was a great example. He's not a bad guy. He's a bad joke teller. I believe if Mike, if Joe B. Eugenie walked in the studio right now and said, guys, let's go get a beer across the street. We would go and go, Joe, you're not a bad dude. I don't know. I might have to duck out early on that one.

But Joe's not a good pitcher, and his jokes are five to eight minutes long. That's one of those one beer in. Oh, you know what? I forgot I got to go walk my dog. You go to the walk your dog card? Yeah, I don't even have a dog. How weak is that? I've used it all the time.

So name somebody that is bad in sports, bad dude, but doesn't have a reputation for being a guy that hurts anybody. Now, in NFL, Antonio Brown's a bad guy. but he doesn't go, he doesn't get in fights with his teammates, right? Well, or does he? Well, he gets in, doesn't he throw rocks at people trying to help him move his house? That's true. Was Terrell Owens a bad? That's true.

Yeah, Theo never hurt anybody. Yeah, Tio, Tio just, his mouth got him in trouble, right? Yeah, okay, so that's a good one. That's a great. Terrell Owens is a great example of bad guy, but never intentionally hurt a human being. And it's funny because offensive players can't. You got to think of players on the defensive side of things. Like an atomic and Sue.

Bad guy. He hurts people. Well, he hurts lots of people. Yeah. I got one for you. Arod. I ain't Arod. He never hurt anybody except for when he, whoever's helping him bust needles in his self.

In his thigh. I'll accept that as well. Can I ask you guys this real quick? No. Of all these names you're putting up. out there, you say they hurt people. Mm-hmm. Is there a recent example of a serious injury from any of these guys?

Well, I don't know, but Marcus Morris was trying to seriously injure Luca Donchich. I'm just saying, I can't think of it. You're karate chopping guys' heads and you're stomping on their hurt ankle. I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying, until we have a major injury, like, I feel like I can live with it. That's what you want? You just want minor injuries to superstar players? Attemptive murder is still a crime, Brendan.

All right? But if it's failed, I feel like I can enjoy the bad guy aspect. Isn't that funny? You go to jail for less of time for being a failure? Attempting murder over murder? I didn't know these things. I have not kept track of my police in my rap sheet there. Johnny, Northside at 126.

Hi, Johnny. I know. How do you justify the fights and all that in hockey is the results of saying it's a physical altercation. What do you mean? Well, I mean, you're saying these guys are bad guys because they might get into a fight or push or something. It's all tolerated and just to fight in hockey. Different sport. I mean, and there's no other way I can explain it. That is the part of the hockey culture that is not a part of any other sport. There's no other

sport. Oh, it used to be part of basketball, though. Not knock down, drag-out fights on a regular basis. They just wanted to make sure none of it happen as compared to sometimes. In hockey, how often do you watch a hockey game where there's on at least one fight breakout every game? Very rare, correct? It happens, though, pretty often. Hmm. Yeah, what is the difference between the NBA player pool and the NHL hockey player pool? Hmm. I don't know.

No, I don't think basketball ever accepted fighting as part of its culture. Never. Hockey, it's part of the culture. It was more acceptable in the 80. Like, did Kevin, McCale even get suspended for what he did? Don't know. I'm saying that if you watched 100 basketball games in 1985, you might have five fights.

Maybe 10 at the very most. Really? Absolutely. In the NHL, you watch 100 hockey games. You're going to see a fight 85% of the time. I used to love watching go watch the fights when the Houston arrows were here. Those are some good times. Both guys usually got to want to go in a hockey fight too.

It's not like Marcus Morris didn't get approval from Luca before he karate chopped him. Throw the gloves down, right? That's the protocol, correct? See? I know a little bit of hockey. I live in a set up for three years. All right.

I only just used to watch the Yeah, the arrows Waylay on the Indianapolis ice The Indianapolis ice What a great call And by the way, their ice was the logo The same as Bud Ice Was it?

Yeah, whatever happened to Bud Ice And it's just like, people are like, I can't drink this crap I don't want to do anymore? My dad loves butt ice Still does? Yeah, it's disgusting All right

There's a bar that he was a frequenter at They started stocking it just for him Bud Ice? Yeah. Does he also drink Tab too? No, he doesn't. He's more of a butt-ice guy. We always make fun of him about it. Sorry, Dad. I got to tell you something. I like to embarrass my children. It's what I look forward to. I'm going to embarrass myself next.

Can't wait. 129. Sports Talk 790. It's Matt, and he's back. The Matt Thomas Show on 790. Houston's home for Houston teams. All right. Part of what the show is about is crushing each other in the most polite way as possible. And I told my son today, my middle one who's driving, Dad's got a fess up on something.

So why not doing it on a radio show that's listened to by tens of people? Tens of thousands of people, Matt. So Peyton, my 17-year-old just got his license recently, and he's driving us to school every day to get the reps in before he starts doing it by himself. So I pack some things in the car that we're going to take the Goodwill to donate and take him to school and get in the car and I'm looking for my phone. You know how you look for Key's wallet phone. That's three. Yes.

I couldn't find my phone. And I said, Peyton call it. So he would call the phone and it would vibrate inside my, it was vibrating inside the car. or I thought it was. Vibrate. Vibrate. I usually never had the ring around because you guys tease me when people call during the show. Yeah, I'm a silent guy.

So I'm calling it five or he's calling it five or six times and we are not finding it. We start, we take about 10 minutes where we leave for hits to go to go to school and we just destroy the car. I don't have a lot in it, but I'm lifting up chairs and we just cannot find it. Calling it. You hear that. and I'm just getting really pissed because, I mean, keys are like the wall to me.

You have to have it at all times nearby you. So I said, Peyton, forget it. Let's just go. So we drive to his school, which is probably about seven miles from our house. I would say the top speed we went probably was 40 miles an hour. The lowest speed was probably 20.

We were in a couple of school zones. Dropped him off, called the phone again. So then I have to call my wife. I said, you're not going to believe this. The phone is in the car somewhere and we can't find it. She goes, what do you mean? It's in the car and you can't find it.

How could you lose it? I said, then do you think I would call you and say, hey, I got great news. I've lost the phone inside my car. It's one of those questions you don't want to be answered to you, but you just naturally do that. So we get home and she gets outside. And it's hot as balls already, right? It was 90 degrees, probably at 830 this morning. So now you have two irritable people outside.

tearing my explorer up to figure out what the hell's going on. Lifting up chairs, looking through glove compartments, anything. The phone in my mind clearly was dropped, but it's in some crevice inside the car that I can't find. And I'm at the point where she said, you should go to the car wash. You know how they come and they vacuum your car? Yeah.

They can usually find stuff that you haven't found in years. She goes, go there, tip them $20 and say, find your phone. And I'm like, F this. I mean, I am swearing left and right on this. She says, you know what, I'm going to let you be for a few minutes. I said, that's probably a good decision. She goes in the house. I mean, while lifting up chairs, and I still can't find it.

Two minutes later, she goes, comes out of the house, she goes, have you looked on the top of your car? Look on the top of the car. Oh, wow. And there's the phone. The phone was on top of the car. the car on top of the car wow it stayed on the whole time so it stayed under the whole time that's a blessing that is a blessing i'm afraid that if i was to go on the interstate it wouldn't have lasted as long as it did but i'm a dumb ass that's funny how do you even get your phone on top of your car

because i was lifting remember i was saying about the goodwill boxes i must have set the phone on top of the car while i was putting things in the vehicle this is tough matthew meanwhile I'm not yelling at Peyton. I'm not yelling at Kim, but it's not the most pleasant Matt Thomas you'll ever find. Well, I've seen that Matt Thomas before. Well, okay, combination of it was hot A.F. I couldn't find my phone.

And it was vibrating, meaning it was in the car I thought somewhere. I thought it was going to be in your pocket. Well, you were able to make a call. Which he called on the Bluetooth. But my point is, you can't make that call if it's not in the car. That is correct. It confirmed your belief. Confirmed it, absolutely.

It's got to be somewhere. I just didn't realize it was on top of the car. Did it melt? You know, the iPhones can overheat. Look at it now. You okay now? Looks great. Okay.

Crack screen, but that was before that. Well, before that. How'd you crack your screen? I don't want to get into that either. I did help a friend one time find a car, I'm sorry, a car, a phone in the subdivision because he had put it on top of his car and drove off, but he didn't get as lucky as you. Now, the find my iPhone app can help because it'll be. put a ping out there.

And we almost did that with the phone with my iPad, but didn't have to do that. I just feel extraordinarily stupid. I can't believe it stayed on the car the whole time. We went on, again, we went on two major streets in the Kingwood area, 40 miles an hour. No 50, no 55, no interstate, no highway. Well, that's credit to your son. He wasn't swerving and driving wild. He's becoming a great driver.

I'm very proud of him. That's good. I've now I've been looked everywhere from my phone before and it's been in my hand no yeah like just at my now not as long as you have like I'm like I can't find my phone where is it and then it's it's in my hand I've done that before so I'm just here to tell you that I know a lot of you believe that I'm perfect in so many ways and for that I appreciate that well but in reality is all of us make mistakes another mistake I feel like I might have made Saturday.

There's some listeners of ours. The Tully Boys, what's up, boys? They're listening. They've been asking me for years to join their fantasy football draft. And for one reason and the other, I've not been able to do so because of Astros or whatever. Very busy. I mean, you know how I feel about generally speaking fantasy football. I just want to be in one league.

We have our draft coming up this Thursday. Yeah, so now you have become a fraud because you're in multiple leagues. I wouldn't say fraud, but I would say I have adjusted. Oh. So these guys have said, you're hypocrite. So they said, you got a rocket scan? I said, no. Are you working Astros Saturday?

Well, I was, but it wasn't until the night game until the Saturday game got post, the Friday game got postponed. So, but I was able to still get it in. It's a Keeper League. So I inherited a team and I had to keep two of those players, which I'm okay with. By the way, I don't, I'm pro, I'm pro-keeper league.

I've been saying for years we should convert to an Astro Keeper League. The problem is we change people out. We may have, but people take it over. Yeah, this year. We've had the same core like nine, ten people for years. We're going to keep your league. And oh, by the way, I've another one for you. We're playing.

rivalry week rivalry week and week two what does that mean they just picked a rando week and they took on and the commissioner picked rivalries of people within the league

like it'd be you versus me would be a rivalry okay and if I win I get to rename your team for an entire week on a fantasy football okay

just something different don't don't hate the Tulees for doing this I just said okay what's wrong you dismissing I said okay no you didn't say that

you didn't go oh that's okay you went Okay. So here's the point. So I'm in this league. And you know how running backs go pretty damn fast? Yes.

In the third round, in the keeper league, I took David Johnson. Now this is a draft for the 2020 NFL season? Yes, not 2018. All right. I felt like a dirty whore. Well, a lot of the top running backs in a keeper league, they're going to be off the board anyways. So you didn't communicate. that on when you tweet it out.

I did. I did say in a keeper league. Did you say it was a keeper league? Third round of a keeper league? Yeah, I did. See, but I thought you were starting a new, I thought it was like a starting a new league is what I thought. No, no. This was, I made, I made sure I said in the third round of a keeper league.

Now, you said third round of a keeper league, but I thought you meant like, we're starting up a keeper league, and I got to have David Johnson for the foreseeable future, so I'm sinking my teeth into David Johnson for the next 10 years. The two players I kept, I kept DeAndrey Hopkins in the first round, and I kept Derek Kennering the fourth round. Okay.

Somebody, I won't mention their name, kept the San Francisco 4-9 or defense in round 16. Yeah, same reaction I had. Gearkeeper is a defense? Yeah. That seems like a mistake. I think a major mistake, frankly.

Well. But that's not here or there. It is what it is. Yeah. My phone is blowing up. I think this is going to. I think the score is traveling fast. Yeah.

See, now if you're taking David Johnson in a fresh league, that's what I thought you were doing. Keeper makes a little more sense. So let me ask you this. I have to root for him now. Yes. Because, first of all, there are,

you know, all of you Texan fans want him to be successful. Bill O'Brien and Jack Easterby need him to be successful very, very badly. They are put a lot of faith into the Johnson and Johnson duo. They just have.

They've been selling it to us all off season long. I do believe it shows you that there, it just isn't enough running back depth in the NFL. when you are taking David Johnson with a third round pick. Doesn't it feel like to you that there just isn't enough proven commodities out there? Yeah, that's why running backs are premium more and more every single year, and especially this year as well. So the last part of this draft I took paid on Saturday, again, making me dirty whore part number two.

Yes. And round number six? Duke Johnson? Tom Brady. Oh, why does that make you dirty whore? Because I just don't want to root for anything Tom Brady related. It's fantasy football. It's also way too early.

Too early. Six rounds. Yeah, six. Well, it's a keeper. Maybe all the good keepies are kept. He went in like the 12th round in my league. There you go, Matt. Brennan's league knows better than your league.

Yeah, apparently. The Midwesterners have a league a little different than us southerners do. Southerners. Yeah, I think, I mean, well, Matt's in a keeper league, though, right? So, I mean, how many teams are in this league? 12. 12. Okay, there's two rounds going there.

So it's more like an eighth round pick. So the quarterbacks that were taken in front. And by way, Dr. Roto makes this season to, be with us Wednesday. Matt Ryan was gone in front, Pat Mahomes, and in the Keeper League, Lamar Jackson was kept as a 16th round pick. 16th? I don't understand these.

Remember last year? He was a 16th round last year. So you keep them and you don't get a 16th round? And you don't draft in that round, which is, it makes perfect sense. Okay. So you give up your 16th round pick because you kept Lamar Jackson. It was a 16th round pick. year ago. Okay. Well, what about next year? So you keep him at the 16th again next year?

Yeah, if you keep him, sure. So in perpetuity. Because that's the last time he was drafted. I don't like these rules. I got to talk to these people about this. Okay, I'll invite. I'll invite you to ask by next year. I'm very busy next week. 144. Sports Talk 790. 719. 713. 713. That's right. Dr. Roto makes a season debut. Normally on Thursdays, he'll be with us Wednesday at 1.30 because we've got to talk Cougars. Weekdays on Sports Talk 790. Here, Cougars football. Saturdays on KPRC 950. Get the best coverage of your coogs.

All right, I got to correct one thing from one of our associate commissioners in this league I'm in. You're talking about the keeper. If Lamar Jackson is kept again next year, he automatically becomes first round status, Ross. So you can't keep Lamar Jackson as a 16th round guy over and over. Well, I'm glad that's cleared up. Well, I think the little nuances,

I'm going to probably, I think, we're going to institute the make rename the team for one week guy in the rivalry week. Okay. What do you think? Sure. Why not? What would I call your team? I'd actually have the listeners help me with that.

Okay. But I got to beat you first. Yeah, you got to win first. What would you call me if you're the reigning champ. Yeah, I don't know. Uh, thunder and the lightning. Oh, God. Could you call, you called me the Imagine Dragons for an entire week?

That would suck. Wait, I'd actually like that. It's awful. All right. Randy and Kingwood on 790. Randy, Randy, good afternoon. Good afternoon.

I want to get your all's opinion. I've been offered two different trades for McAfrey. And I'm in a 14-team league. 14. 14. 14. Yeah, time to cut some friends out of that list. 14 is too big.

Well, we've been doing it this way for over 23 years. Damn. But anyhow, but anyhow, I would give them McCaffrey, Jackie Doyle, and A.J. Green, and one team would give me Levy on Bell, Chelsea, and DeAndre Hayeson. Hopkins. You know that Levyon Bell is probably going to get out snap by Frank Gore? That's the latest out of Jets camp.

Wow. I know. I know he's after the NFL record, but that's hard for me to believe. The words out of camp is that Levy on Bell looks terrible. Oh, okay. I'm just trying to help you out. I'm keeping Christian McCaffrey,

and we don't do a lot of fantasy football. Thank you for the phone call. We let Dr. Roto handle that. But Randy, I will say this. Christian McCaffrey's a real deal. Ross, he's an untouchable to me, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, what is it?

Kelsey and D'Andre? That's decent. If you're wide receivers are weak. Yeah, Levy on Bell. Is it throwing at this point? Apparently, he's looked terrible in camp, and there are rumblings that he might even get out snapped by Frank Freak 30.

Don't shake your head. You must have Levy on Bell on one of your teams. No, but Frank Gore is ancient. Yes. Are they just not going to run the football? football. Levy on Bell looks terrible. Apparently, he's out of shape and all this stuff. And he's not even getting working in training camp. Frank Gore's legs will fall off if he gets more than 100 hours.

Said somebody five years ago. That's what I'm saying. Let me tell you, until they cart Frank Gore off the field, he's going to get me 800 yards and probably 400 yards of receptions too. God, that guy, he's top five in rushing in the history of the NFL. Yes. I mean, I'm not arguing. I'm telling you that's the number. Is he a first ballot Hall of Famer? First ballot, we'll see.

I always do this, and this is the worst case because it's really much more of an argument than this. But when you close your eyes, right, Rossi, you're thinking about that beautiful it in your life? Okay. And you think about the all-time NFL team. Does Christian, does Frank Gore ever make that first team? No.

If it's Walter Payton and it's Barry Sanders starting the game in the backfield. That's probably where I would go. And then the next running back is Jim Brown. And then the next running back after that may be like an Emmett Smith or an Eric Dickerson. Ladany and Tom. Ledany and Tom. When does Frank Gore come in the mix? 20-something?

Now there are room. Curtis Martin's number six in all-time rushing yards. Nobody's ever putting Curtis Martin up there. He's played for a really long-ass time. Yeah. The same thing of Frank Gore. No, Frank Gore is great, and he's a Hall of Famer. He's just going to take a while.

I would say so But top five rushing all time Isn't like Curtis Martin in the top 10? Yeah, I just said he's number 6 Oh, okay, I'm sorry didn't hear that Yeah Again, another situation where you go When's Curtis Martin making my list?

Never Probably far off way far down Way far down Fred Taylor's 17th Like who is better in his prime This is not my trying to And I'm just literally throwing this up Curtis Martin in his prime

Or Aryan Foster in his prime Aryan Foster. I would probably lean Frank Gore is more in his prime than Aaron, but it'd be close. Yeah, that's a closer one. I'd probably go Frank Gore as well. I'm telling you, gang. Frank Gore, I will never doubt him. He feels like him and Reggie Wayne and T.Y. Hilton have just been, they were put on this earth

to torment the Houston Texans. Frank Gore didn't go against the Texans that much. Well, I'd be a bit over the years. you would think at some point he's haunted the Texans, especially when he was a cult. I was short-lived. Reggie Wayne for sure. T.Y. Hilton, my God. T.Y. Hilton, I couldn't believe it,

but the Texans are considering giving T.Y. Hilton a spot in the Hall of Honor. They put him in the real honor. Right next to Andre Johnson. It's going to be, Andre, it's going to be T.Y. Hilton. Two of the greatest receivers ever to play, as I'm talking like John Fessenda, who has died 40 years ago, Andre Johnson and T. Y. Hilton. Yeah, who comes?

If Ty Wye gets retired by the Texans, who speak on his behalf? All the corners I got burned? Like, ladies and gentlemen to introduce Kareem Jackson to the stage. Jonathan Joseph? Bernard Pollard. Yikes. Bernard Pollard. Your thoughts.

Oh, man. Tyre came to Texas and played in the Texans, and he burned me four times. We love you, bra. We were involved. Welcome to our Hall of Honor. Former Texan great Aaron Colvin. Can he weigh in? Aaron Glenn probably.

hell he never went against him. Just went in doubt. Just bringing a Texan's corner back in. Nimitz grad, Aaron Glenn. Good guy, too. Great guy. He's probably my favorite Nimitz grad. Really?

Yeah. I'll go with a Brittany Griner personally. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. Mike Dan Tony talked with us about, what, an hour and a half ago? If you missed it, some of the best parts of that coming up in about 2.30. Believe it or not today is all things John. Thompson, the great Georgetown coach for what, 25 years somewhere in that range, 27 years, I think,

passing away at the age of 78 years old. I hated him because he beat my cougars multiple times. 158. Final hour, Matt Thomas show next. This is the Matt Thomas show. 201. Final hour, Matt Thomas show. 59 minutes to the trade deadline.

Are you anxious about what the Astros might do? 58 minutes, 23 seconds. Look at Jeff Passing. I just want to mess his hair up. Why? You want to give him some nuggies? You want to give him a swirly? Thin tie guy, too?

Ugh. Let's see. How thin is the tie? to me. Is it like a Buddy Holly thin tie? No. But it's thinner than the average tie. Look at that.

You tell me if that tie's too thin. Thin ties are back, I thought, right? No, they are. Trust me. Anybody doesn't know those fashion? It's not me. I'm fully accepting of that. I guess it's thinner than Buster Only's tie.

Buster only's got a full-on lobster bib, though. And Buster's got to be going. Teams don't want to trade with the Astros because they cheat. Because of Jeff Luno. Because of Jeff Luno, they don't trust James Click, the new general manager. Oh, Buster.

These negotiations are slowing down between the union and the owners because of Jeff Luno. That thought really crossed your head. Come on, Buster. There were just so many enormous bad takes. Remember New York Post guy that had the Astros that had the Astros finishing fourth in the American League West? Well, he's stupid. No, that wasn't Joel Sherman. It was some other New York Post guy.

Some other New York Post. The point being is this. Sometimes you want to make predictions because you're, really believe something's going to fall apart. Yes. And even though the Astros have clearly not performed up to expectations, the day he wrote that Column Ross, he didn't know that Justin Verlander's forearm was going to be in bad shape slash elbow.

He didn't realize that Roberto Osuna is going to have probably another T.J. That he didn't realize that Yordon Alvarez is going to miss 99% of the season with the knees, right? He did that because he wanted to be spiteful because the Astros are mean. Well, the Astros are 19 and 14, and there are seven games ahead of fourth place in the A. And more importantly, what he didn't do is he didn't realize how a tro- Well, I know, no, you know what he did. He didn't know how bad the Rangers and the Mariners and the Angels were. So it's just a stupid pick.

In my mind, Ross, you lose credibility. Like Colin Coward, my son's favorite show. Well, your son's got questionable taste in many things. He's that he does. And Colin was very nice. We went to his studio. We watched his show. Oh, absolutely.

Took pictures and everything. I mean, I didn't, but Cameron did. I mean, that's his goat. he didn't think his father's a goat he thinks Colin Coward is. That's okay. But when Colin Coward says you don't make the playoffs and he doesn't put Russell Westbrook and James

Hardin as one of the bubble best combos, you lose credibility. Yeah, well, hopefully they're going to be in one of the bubbles top ten now that if they win tonight, they'll be into the final eight. Top ten bubbles. I can only think of seven. I cannot think of a potential eighth one,

so we'll just go with the seven out of a possible eight. Is he going to put like Jared Dudley and Danny Green ahead of Russell Westbrook and James Harden? I mean, I'm telling you, if he puts Lou Dort and Chris Paul ahead of Hardin and Westbrook, there's some serious problems. Oh, Colin.

I'm telling you, Ross, when I got in this business in the early 1990s, if you did these types of things, you were off the air. We would let people go with bad sports takes. Or they wouldn't be put in high-profile positions. They wouldn't be in a nice-profile positions. National prominence making $6 million a year on FS1.

Yeah, maybe he's got this thing figured out. Oh, he's got it right. Next summer, not this summer, because we're already past. We're in the fall. We've got football coming up. Next summer, we're going to do a completely hot take. Matt and Ross want to go national sports day. Okay.

We're going to talk really loud. First of all, we're going to argue and have zero foundation in arguments. Can't wait. We're going to come up with crazy-ass takes, and we're going to flip-flob half the way through. And we're going to speak as if we know everything and we're infallible and we cannot be wrong. Or how about this one? I've talked with my sources, meaning a newspaper reporter from a different from that team, and treated his gospel. As I told you before, do you think Jeff Passon has player phone numbers that he can actually call and say, hey, what's going on?

No, Jeff Passon, his little scurly little body, has allowed people to get sources through general managers and scouts. agents. Now, however you get it, you get it, right? Yes. But I don't envision Jeff Passon walking up to a clubhouse. They're going, hey, guys, it's Jeff Passon. How are you? Yeah. How are you guys? Yeah, how are you guys? I'm going to baseball on tonight. That's more of a Tim Kirchon voice you're doing. But I think Tim Kirchon's got a little moxie. And what's going on with the lighting in his house? He looks like he's under a hostage situation.

By the way, speaking of that, when you do Zoom meetings, I have become self-conscious of what's behind me. Every other Zoom meeting I've seen, like, you have, you have bookshelves. You have pictures of posters. You have jerseys hung up. Right. And you've got like autograph Barry Manilow stitchings. Yeah. I've got best of Paul Simon in the background playing on my record. That's why I go green screen. It's really the safe way to go. Like look at Jeff passing. He's got Enter the Wu-Tang. Enter the Wu-Tang. Rage against the machine. Now we know he's a rage fan. Because he's trying to look cool. Look at all that stuff. He should have Caculous three behind him. What's not, you know, what's wrong with like in the 36?

chambers, Matt. Wu-Tang. Then you know, they're nothing to mess with. Yeah, but he's air drumming it at camp, and spring training. Do you think he really...

Oh, look, he's got his own book, The Arm, back there. And then he's also got a Nintendo entertainment system, the original NES. That's all fake. That's not a fake NES. It looks real to me.

No, I'm saying that he bought that on eBay to put up in the back. He hasn't... He ever plays it? He hasn't played a video game in years. I could totally see Jeff Pass and being a nerd

about NES games and playing them. Now, you tell me, I don't play video games. if he's playing that NES system, how cool is he won the 10? I don't, well, it's up to, it's... I'm asking you, what is your coolness scale in the list? I mean, I have a classic NES. I don't really play that much.

Is it cool to play classic NES? Yeah, if you want to pass some time, yeah. Got some friends over, have a couple drinks and play a couple of classic NES games. Do you think he's got players coming out from his house? No. So he's doing it for show. Well, he doesn't have players coming over at his house if he just wants to play it. Okay.

But also, if he's playing it, he's not setting it up on his, shelf like that. Why don't you invite him to a Twitch party? You versus Jeff Passon playing NES? I'll think you can't really connect online with these classic NESs. They didn't have the internet back then. Al Gore had not invented

it yet. ATX, Hobble Girl's just so rude. How does this differ from your normal routine? Hashtag flip-flop? I don't, I don't, I don't, when's last I had a flip-flop from something? Rocket's going to win in six, and then you went to Rockets to win in five? That was an adjustment. That wasn't a flip-flop. A flip-flop would have been, I have the Thunder winner.

That's a flip and a flop. Okay. I stuck with Rockets and Six. We're not a waffle-free show. Now, we're a lot of change opinions. Or when new facts come into play. But no, she's off her marker. Well, I do have the, on my no sure, wrongest pad that I was checking earlier today,

I do have you saying that the NFL season was going to be postponed. That's wrong. Well, we'll see. You still got time. No, I mean, that's not. That's not me flip-flopping. That's true. That's just a flat out wrong.

I mean, I get things wrong all the time. That's what the essence of this show is, getting things wrong. That's true. But flip-flopping, that's what I don't. And there are columnists that do it all the time. Stay with an opinion and go with it. Don't flip. Don't flop.

Stay with it. Depending, yeah. If you have this really strong, deep-rooted opinion. But don't flip up all that. But don't flip an opinion unless the opinion is so bad that it makes you look bad. then you flip it. Well, yeah, then you got to adjust. For instance, I'll give you an example.

The Big Ten right now is getting destroyed. That's a flip-flop for sure. A flip-flop would be, I applaud the Big Ten for doing what they did, and then two weeks later going, man, Big Ten, you know what's your head from your ass because the SEC and the ACC and the ACC in Notre Dame and, hell, Conference USA and the American are playing football. That's a flip-flop. So here I'm clarifying what a flip and a flop is.

Thank you, Matt. That's what I'm here for. And sometimes you wear flip flops. Not anymore. Oh, why not? I don't know. Feet out there. How's your feet doing?

These boat shoes are going well. Okay. Well, I thought they were tearing your feet up. They were, but I put some support behind them, so to speak. Okay. Flip flop and waffle. No chance. 713, 212.

579, if you want to get in the conversation. 713, 2,1, 2,000. 5-0-0-0. So, 90. Rockets finish it off tonight? I feel extraordinarily comfortable. Now, I said it was going to be a close game. You have this as a blowout.

15. That's a blowout. In today's NBA world, 15. Well, it's not, what, 34 like it was last game. But I would still say. Rockets win comfortably. Okay. I got the Rockets pulling away in the final five minutes.

And if the Rockets lose tonight, I'm going to drink heavily after the game. Why? Because I'm going to be sad. I never thought it would go to a seventh game. Me either. I haven't adjusted my line up to go to five. I just don't see. They're the better team.

They yacked up the two games that they lost. I don't expect the Rockets defensively to come out with the same sort of aggressiveness. And even Mike Dan Tony said, which you'll hear coming up in a little bit, he's felt like, you know what, there was also some bad jobs.

You can't defend Lou Dort. Lou Dort is the gift that keeps on giving. He's going to make a three-pointer tonight. That's my bold prediction. Lou Dort makes at least one three-pointer. Over under Lou Dort three's. 0.5 you have the over. Yes.

One and a half. I'll think about it. You know what? That's a stay away for me. Mr. Bold opinion across the way over here. What do you mean? Any gambler knows, sometimes you just got to stay away. I'm going to take the over on Lou Dort three-pointers.

Over one and a half? Yes. Okay. Over two and a half, I bow out. Well, he didn't play game one. The other two games he's hit zero, and two games he's hit two and one games he's hit three. He's going to hit two, and it's not going to matter. because the Rockets are going to win the game tonight.

Closer than 15, but nevertheless a win. Either that, I'm drinking heavily after the day. And then you could say, Rockets win. Yeah, and then I say goodbye. You belt it out. But I can do the PA for games three and four of the Lakers Rocket Series. Well, then lineups.

Yeah, you go do lineups on this show. Right. If I went to Orlando, I'd have to go in quarantine for like six days, so you wouldn't see me forever. You'd miss me a little bit, too. I'd be okay. All right, 21, Thomas show, 713, 212, 5, 790. We'll run through the headlines of the day.

A lot going on in the NFL. Baseball trade deadline down to 47 minutes. Right now, a word for Big City Wings. I love talking about Mondays because one of the sneaky delicious items at Big City Wings are their chicken tenders. Saust and tossed the way that you want to. You can go sour cream and onion. You can go cool ranch with a dry rub.

If you want to get spicy garlic, garlic parm, terriaki, honey barbecue, any way you want, they're a dollar apiece. Minimum of five, but for five bucks, you're going to get five juicy, delicious tender chicken wings, plus 30, not wings, but chicken tenders. Also today, 32-a-a-brew special on the docket for a Monday special at all eight locations of big city wings. They have happy hour every night. They've got lunch specials every day, 11 o'clock until 3. You can dine in with these dollar chicken tenders. You can take out.

You can have curbside delivery. They can deliver for you as well. All the options are available to you, and all you got to do is check out the way. website to find that location that is closest to you. Eight locations soon to be nine, bigcitywings.com. Check out the website, check out the daily specials, and get yourself some dollar chicken tenders today at big citywings and big citywings.com. Next time, tell Alexa. Playing 790 on Iheart radio. Wherever you are, so is Matt Thomas. 41 minutes away from the trade deadline. You get nervous? I'm quaking in my boots.

Matthew. By the way, the A's Mariners series has been postpone, is it through Wednesday or until Wednesday? I've got to check Twitter to make sure get that right. Not sure exactly. A's and Mariners on Tuesday

and Wednesday have been postponed for additional testing and contact tracing. Well, what about the Astros? Are you all right? At this point, we do not know. The plan is to play tomorrow against the Rangers. This contract, is that a new

job available for people? Yes. What kind of money can you make being a contract tracer? Well, I don't know how good the money is. Probably not, you know, Matt Thomas money, but. If I averaged you $60,000 a year. Yes. Brendan, he even hear what the job was.

You just gave up on that quick. Sorry, go ahead. That's, that's a tough job. You just call people and ask them where they've been, right? Do you have to go on-premises? I don't think so. I thought you just called them. So basically what you do is you connect the dots for a few days.

And then the A's or whomever the team is at being investigated, it has to be forthcoming and say... Looks like it's about $13 an hour. To be a contract tracer? Contact tracer. Contact tracer. Contract tracer. That's what an agent's for. They contract chase.

Contact $13 an hour. That's... Yeah. You know what that is? That sounds pretty good to me. That's on a phone behind the desk and, front of a computer. That's not out in the streets hustling. There's really no medical background to it. You are connected out the guy. You want me to find, do you want the qualifications?

Is there such a thing? Well, I'm trying to find. Required skills. High school diploma. Ding. Ability to speak, read, and write English fluently. Yeah, keep going. Ability to work remotely in an undisturbed area. Ding. Ability to exhibit professional positive attitude and work ethics. Nope, you can't do that one. We're two out of four on that so far. Excellent interpersonal skills. Nope.

Two out of five. Organizational skills. Nope. Two out of six. Critical thinking and sound judgment. You're out. Two out of seven. Ability to handle confidential information with discretion and professionalism.

I do hold a lot of secrets. I will say yes on that one. Three out of eight. Okay. I think I'm holding more secrets today than I've ever held them in my entire life. Required equipment, Windows-based computer and telephone. Yep. So I'm 50%.

worthy of the job. You know what? I'm going to apply you for this, Matt. See if you get called back. I'm busy enough as it is. I got Cougar football starting a couple weeks. Can you use a little extra Kish? I need a second job.

What's the hours look like? I think it looks like it doesn't say. So maybe you can maybe throw all hours of the night. All right, Brendan, answer this question. One to ten on your disappointment scale. 10 being massively disappointed. One being I don't care. Astros don't make a move in the next 38 minutes.

Um, five. Okay. I don't have the expectations, but I kind of want them to. You kind of want them to, boys, but you also know that the trade, what's in the bank, so to speak, you know, trade chips are very limited. Correct. And those are ones that you're going to need going forward. So honestly, I'm about a three. I was going to say two.

And by way, if you miss flip-flopper out there. If I flip at 301 and going, the Astros didn't make a trade. That's a flip, flop. I'm going to stay at three for disappointment level if they don't do something. I'm staying at two. Now, I don't believe it'll be a major move.

I do not believe. I believe it'll be for a pitcher. By the way, Kyle Tucker, six RBIs on Saturday. Three in the first game with a three-run homer and then a basis clearing triple in the second game. I mean, Ted is in full swing, Matt.

I'm not calling him that. Well, he changed his number anyway, did he not, from 3 to 30? Oh, is that right? Yeah. Okay. He's always going to be Ted to me. He needs to be Kyle Tucker. And you know what he's done, basically, but what he's been, is he's made, he's given

the Astros a little bit of insurance policy. Because how much do the Astros want to and need to spend to maintain Michael Brantley, Josh Redick, and George Springer all by the time next season? rolls around. If you were a guess, if you, if you wanted to guess of the three, who stays, who goes? And the answer could be they could all stay, which I would highly doubt would be the case. Zero percent chance, I would say. And who goes? Now, Josh Reddick wants to come in and say, look, I'm in the, I'm in the twilight of my major league career. I can be the fourth outfielder you want, or I can play, I can split time with somebody, or I can be, you know, an occasional

D.H. I think there is a little value for George, for, I mean, for Josh Reddick, veteran $5, $6 million one year kind of deal. I don't think Michael Brantley is looking for that. I think Michael Brantley has been, now he was missed some time earlier this year, but largely as an astro, he's been healthy, which has been something that wasn't a part of his repertoire before he got here. My guess is that Brantley will look for a couple of more years at a higher dollar amount. My guess is also Josh from the same thing. They're both at 33, they're 33 years old. And neither one of our power hitters.

In fact, Brantley's just more of a contact guy. I think there's room for both those guys to play in the big leagues is going to just be at what cost. Springer is the huge question mark. George offensively has had a very tumultuous season. His numbers have been up and down. He's also about a little bit of injury. He's also looking to become a free agent for the very first time at the age of what,

30 or 31. Is that what he is? 30 is now. He'll be 31, actually. September 19th. Okay. So 31 before you know on. So happy birthday to him. He's still, he'll admit this only when he retires, but he's going to be really, really mad that the Astros kept him down on the farm as long as they did. It doesn't happen very often. But for a guy to test free and see at the age of 31 for the very first time, that means either you were not

very good as a young minor league or major league and you spent a lot of time in minor leagues, or the Astros waited to you graduated college and then kept you to minor leagues for a couple of years because they wanted to control your arbitration a little bit more. Correct. And that's what the Astros did. Yep. And that's what the players are going to be highlighting

when the new CBA is up. I have a feeling the six-year rule is gone, so. I would have to imagine. I think it could be reduced to four or five, but I don't imagine six years of service time being the key factor in being able to determine whether or not you become a real true free agent. Now, again,

arbitration has done them well too. It's not like George Springer has been on the cheap the last couple of years. Yeah, was he 17, 18 money or something like that? He's making very good money. But the whole point of arbitration was to keep club control of guys. So franchises like Milwaukee, Cincinnati, your Kansas cities, your markets that just can't go outspend everybody can actually keep guys around for a period of time. It's up to actually 21 million is what he was supposed to make in a full season. Yeah.

So that's fair market value for him, right? Yep. Lead-off guy. But they want long-term security. Yeah. Be curious. All right. Can the Rockets finish it off tonight?

We certainly hope so. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. 226 is a time. The best of our visit with Mike Dan Tony is next here on Sports Talk 790. This is Eric Gordon. We've got to pullback. Three hit it.

Eric Gordon. on fire here. Sports Talk 790 is your home for Houston Rockets of basketball. We had a chance earlier today to visit with Mike Dantone. His Rockets getting ready for tonight's game in Oklahoma City Thunder. We'll have it for you here on 790. The launch pad starts at 7. Tip time will be 815. It could go 825, depending on how the Miami game goes in their playoff series of Milwaukee. Coach and I opened up our visit with Ross and we discussed the great defense of Rockets had in game number four. They allowed just 80 in the 34-point victory.

Oklahoma City, 7 of 46 from 3, and shot just 32% for the game. Well, as always, it's a little bit of both. I mean, it's not just us. They did not shoot the ball well. They didn't play real well. So, you know, you got that. But we did what we're supposed to do. We followed the game plan and we got we locked in.

and, you know, it's good. So, you know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. I'm sure tonight we'll have a different beast on our hands, but, you know, we know what we're supposed to do, and hopefully we can do it. Somebody asked me about whether or not Billy might make a change in the lineup, maybe moving Stephen Adams out, maybe going a little bit smaller. And I didn't have an answer for him, but I want to ask you,

how difficult is it? Does it ruin rhythm sometimes when you have to make starting the lineup changes, not because of injury? And how often have you done that over your coaching career? I doubt if I've ever done it. You play a certain way, and you have a – Billy's a really good coach. So I'm sure he's playing the team the best way that they can play. And you might be able to make one little adjustment,

but not adjust to how we're playing, what we're doing, what – you know, all that. That would be tough. You know, it's hard for a coach. Like any law, you don't ask a question. you don't know the answer to. And if you just go to something you've never really done or just, you know, you better be really sure because, you know, the bottom line is 3 to 2. It's not 3-0.

It's not, you know, at that point, maybe, you know, Carson do win. But you've got to be really careful. Just under 24 minutes for Russell Westbrook for the game on the game for your coach. Just overall, your assessment, how did you look out there? What did you think of the shot selection and got led the team in assists as well, just in those 24 minutes overall. How do you play for you? Well, you know, I thought it would be.

I expect him every game getting better. You know, I'm glad we blew it out because I think I was going to go over the 25 minutes. It might have been a fight on the sideline between the traders. But it worked out. And I expect, like I said, I expect him to get better every time. So, you know, it's not easy. It's not easy to come back. such a big game after all the time off.

But I expect every game to be a little bit better. How did you like just having an extra piece? I know there's a lot of folks that, you know, come playoff time, you have eight guys in rotation. You're able to get nine going while the game was still in play. What was it like just having him and being able to move house to the bench and just kind of see what he could do for you coming off the bench? Well, you know, it's good to have it, you know, eight or nine guys that we could go to

has a full lineup. That's really good. You know, that's how we, you know, hopefully it can remain that way. We don't want to lose anybody. They're all important.

So it's good. PJ Tucker and Dennis Schroeder got after a little bit. The NBA fined him $25,000. Are you the one that has to be the bearer of bad news? Or how does PJ find out he's $25,000 line in the wallet? No, that's the hell of the job. It's my job. you know, I'm sure, you know, the way it was going, I'm sure he's happy that's what it was,

because it could easily bend, you know, gain suspension. I don't know if he loses more or less, but it'd be happy no matter what. So, you know, I thought the NBA did a good job and, you know, let the players decide the contest and not interject in it. Has Schroeder been the biggest surprise so far in this series in terms of just no matter how tough you guard him, no matter where he is on the floor, he has just been a thorn on the rocket side because when he's on the floor, he's just scoring in a very high pace.

Well, he's good, and so it's not a surprise. He's shooting ball extremely well as great confidence right now, so we'll have to watch him. But now, I don't think he was a very good player in Atlanta as the plate as the point guard led their team for years. So now he's a starter coming off. to a bench. So, yeah, he's one of the better players in the league.

I want to go back to this fine thing for a second. Have you ever been fined by the NBA? Just technicals. Okay, so you call Laurel and you say, hey, they're going to duck like $300 on my check. Does she give you any grief on that or not? Or is she okay with this? $300.

No, I wouldn't have to make the call for $300. It's a little bit more expensive. Well, I had to guess. I had no idea what a technical foul. cost. But anyway, no, it's part of the game. And you understand. All right.

I understand. A couple of the things. Eric Gordon only took three shots in the game from three-point range. What he was able to do and attack in the basket for a guy that's not shooting the ball while, he's still one of your better finishers. How happy were you to see him be as productive as he was? Well, it's great. I mean, he's got to mix the two in, and I don't want to lose confidence in a shot either,

because when he has a role and he's good from doing both, so he has to make that decision when he's on the floor and if he's more comfortable driving. And since this team that we have, it really opens up the floor. You know, obviously it does for us, but it also does from James and Eric and Austin River. So, you know, there are some benefits out of playing small.

But you've got to take advantage of it. We want Eric to find his stroke and be confident with him. We're confident. but yeah, he's going to make out determination and whatever he feels comfortable he'll do. And he's always been a street guy for you in his Rockets career coach. What is the difference between Eric Gordon in rhythm making his shots or Eric Gordon struggling from three?

Is it just that's the way it goes or is there something more? Like you mentioned, the confidence or the shot selection or something like that? That's the way it goes, Matt. As coaches have the answer that I want, we'd have nobody ever struggling. So now it's the way it goes. you just have to play through it. And you get in the cycle, sometimes you get in your own head. Everybody's got confidence in him, and he'll be fine.

Speaking of guys, getting back in rhythm, Robert Covington and hitting some big shots for you, that had to be a good sign because I don't think he ever felt uber comfortable, or at least the numbers would show that during the bubble time in the regular season, but postseason has been a different situation and much more positive for you guys. Well, definitely what the second half especially, I thought he played really well.

And when he gives us that, he gives us another bunch of points and then also his defense and everything. It picks everybody up. And when you're making shots, everything's a lot better. Obviously, it's easier. So, yeah, that was a big boost for us. All right. So if you're Oklahoma City, how are you stopping you guys tonight?

You get any ideas for them? No, no. They're going to do what they've got to do. We kind of know, you know, at this point, it might make a few little. little adjustments, but I, you know, at this point, they know what we're doing. They know what we're doing. It's going to be a battle of wheels.

And I know they're not going to go away. They're, like I said, they're extremely well coached. And you've got some of the best competitors in the league on the other side. So they're coming after us, and we'll have to play well to beat them. That again, Mike Dan, Tony, from earlier today here on Sports Talk 790. One thing I've yet to mention today, you know how you were talking last week about trademarks and how you should go get things and trademark them. other people can't use them or worse case you profit off of it.

The NCAA today, I think this is a very positive sign, boys, trademark the term battle in the bubble. Hmm. That would lean to me to believe that if there is an NCAA basketball season, which the thought is it's going to happen, it'll start around conference time around the first of the year, that the NCAA tournament will be in a bubble environment. And you really could do it. 68 teams?

Probably over multiple spots. See, the NBA had 22. If you split it in four quadrants, 16, 16, 16, 16, 20, or 16, 18, 18, right? Somewhere in that, whatever, figuring out schedule-wise. Yeah. I think what they do is they, I think the NCAA coordinator of operations jumps on a plane tomorrow and gets inside the NBA bubble if they already have not done so already and they watch every move. Rossi, there are billions of dollars that were lost because the March Madness didn't get played last year. The NCAA doesn't want to do that two years in a row.

The NCAA also says our players are students first. They're going to take them away from school for a month? Absolutely. Yes, they are. Okay. Yes. Because the students can still study in the bubble. They have Zoom meetings. They have virtual classes.

They can take tutors with them as long as the body count. It's not too big because you don't want to take people. I'm all for it. I love watching the tournament. I just wonder what the long-term legal ramifications. If you're selling us, if the NCAA's legal standpoint is they are students first and we're just here to help them out. And I would think it would be purely voluntary. That's true.

There would be opt-outs. You don't want to go play. Your team won the ACC, Duke, and your number three score is like, I don't think so. But let's be... What if you're supposed to be like a number one, number one?

Are you even playing? That's what I'm saying. Do you really think there'll be a lot of opt-outs? I would imagine. No, the kids want to play. Yeah, they want to play. Of course they do. As they should.

I want to watch them play Because here's the thing If you're if you're the NCAA and you go tell these kids about this say look We're going to follow the protocol of what the NBA did And look how successful it's been Rossi I can't remember the last time the NBA had a positive test That's the bubble's been fantastic for both of them Hashtag battle in the bubble

Hmm My guess is they only want to move the bubble people once Could you do that? Yeah, you could take, instead of, you know how they have, like they take chunks of the bracket, they move them to different parts of the country? Mm-hmm. They keep all the south and the south, all the Midwest and the, so nobody leaves until they win their region. You could get there. You could get 16 in a region and then have them play all the way down to one.

All the way down to one. And then you have to go somewhere else for the final four. Yeah. Why not? So that's one extra trip. I will, I hate saying this, but maybe the NCAA was smart about something. And then you could, I mean, you could get that done in a week. Oh yeah, yeah, there's no

Saturday, Thursday, and then back to Thursday. You play Saturday, Thursday, you probably re-kick it back in Tuesday. Yeah. Because you don't want those Those days off. You can get down to one in a week. Battle in the bubble. All right, let's go. Let's go. Get my bracket ready. More sports. And by the way, what's the number one rule

about the brackets? U.T. Longhorn's got a lot of nice recruits. What is the number one rule about the brackets? There's actually two of them. The two of the rules, I believe. Longhorns are out in the first round? No, no. That's usually... Brendan, you don't know this,

but there are two massive pet peeves I have. Oh, geez. You're going to say, this is where you're going to be wrong. Multiple bracket guy, right? Correct. Hate it. What's wrong with multiple brackets?

You're doing multiple fantasy leagues. Two. Flip-flopper. Two. And because I got guilted into it. But more importantly, beyond the multiple brackets, you can't brag about your bracket.

Because you don't know jack squat about college basketball. If you only do one? If you only do one, you can absolutely brag. Yeah, but don't try to act like you know what the like Oakland is doing. I'm telling you, if Marquette beat Seton Hall and you run around here and say you had that, then I'll say, name one player, you can't do it. You'll have to be fired. If you want to brag about Marquette beating Seton Hall,

then you've got to be able to give us the type of offensive market runs, first of all, who their coach is, and maybe they're eight deep rotation. Short of that, you don't get to brag on that. I think you can brag about gut feeling. Of what? Come on now. No. I will let you have the second bracket if you must need it because you're just a bracket of a holl.

No, I have a friend who runs a $20 bracket entry. I'm going to enter it. I usually enter it three, four times. I don't even know you anymore. Why would you, why would you buy one? It's like why would you buy one lottery ticket and you can buy four and you cover more of your bases? Because I'm going to win with my lottery ticket, the one. If I'm going to be bracking it, I want to, now.

know that I've at least figured out how to guess properly. I guess that Marquette beat Seton Hall. I want everybody to know that. I don't want to have Seton Hall and a half of my brackets and market in the other half. So I go, oh, I had that one. It's a matter of hedging, Matt. It's just smart. I think it's, I think it's, it doesn't, it doesn't honor the tradition.

The tradition, unlike any other. The tradition, it doesn't, it doesn't give the proper, I mean, the time, the 12 minutes that I take to fill out my bracket. I was going to say. It's that sacred. Believe it or not, all things John Thompson next, 245 on 790. This is the Matt Thomas show. Matt Thomas. On Sports Talk 790.

A series with Seattle's been postponed. No word on the Astros. Of course, we would tell you if we knew. Contract. What is that? What is your phone doing now? Siri, are you listening to Sports Talk 790, Siri? You were talking about the Mariners and the A's?

Yeah. That's what she just did. started talking about. Well, she listens to show. You said A-Series and I think she thought you said, Hey, Siri. Hey, Siri, what's your favorite show on Sports Talk, 790? I don't think she's going to know that. Hey, Siri, what's your favorite show on Sports Talk 790? For what's your favorite show on Sports Talk 790? Sorry. Not me? No.

Sean? 18? It doesn't say. Oh. She doesn't listen. She's not a listener. Well, she probably wants, she didn't get enough Texans talk today. Hey, Siri, who's your favorite baseball team? I just want the games to be competitive. God, what a mealy-mouth answer that is. All right.

By way, ask for Siri on your Alexa. We have Sports Talk 790 on the IHeart Radio. I've really nice and easy to get to. Yes. I listened to the Saturday Sports RV show, though. Oh, he did? Yeah. Did you send an angry email anybody?

No, I didn't. No, I just didn't. I loved your conversation about your favorite Marxism. I went with Richard, followed by Groucho. Yeah, more of a. Marksy marks in the Funky Bunch guy. Yes, right. Five minutes left to go on the show.

What should we do? We should play America's fastest growing sports game show. We simply called it. Believe it or not. And here's how it works. You'll call 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. Today's edition of Believe it or not is brought to you by Woodhouse Dave Spas.

Print out your gift card for the gift of Re-Laxation in Houston Woodhouse Spas.com. The category today is all things. about the late John Thompson, the former Georgetown coach. I'll read you a statement about Coach Thompson. Statements completely and utterly accurate. You'll say this. Believe it. If statements erroneous, full of bunk and made up, you will save this.

Not to believe it or not in a row in your prize. The prize will be a pair of passes to Big Rivers Water Park, up along I-59-69, about eight miles north of Kingwood. We're talking about giant water slides, big waves, lazy river, zip lines, petting, zoo and so much more. For more information, go to big riverswaterpark.com. That's big riverswaterpark.com. 713-212-579 if you'd like to play.

Believe it or not, that's 7-13-212-5-790. Hi, Bill. What's going on? Big Rivers, Wakanda forever. Who's about there in the heat, man? Come on, let's go. Haven't you won a prize in the last 30 days? Nope.

I've lost. The last time I wanted phone with a hooters, and I tried to go to one in my area, they closed down, man. Damn. That was a gift. Y'all kind of screwing me on that one. No, there's plenty of hooters still open.

Trust me. Here we go. Earnley in life, John Thompson took an interest in jazz music and even learned to play the piano. Believe it or not. A big guy like that, may I believe that.

No, no such. Sorry. Oh, I know. It's never more satisfying than to get Bill slash Dwayne out of here. It actually makes me. feel good when he loses, and it's terrible to say that. All right, we've got a couple open lines if you want to get in. 7-13-213-790.

7-1-3-2-1-2-790. Cody on 7-90, ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. John Thompson won two NBA championships as a backup for the Boston Celtics. Believe it or not. Nah. Believe it. That's a no-brainer.

Thanks. Don't be that. angry. All right, we're getting the lines lit up here. 7-1-3-21-2-5-790. Let's go to David on 7-90. David, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it.

While with the Celtics, John Thompson's nickname was the caddy because he backed up Bill Russell. Believe it or not. That is also a believe it. Wow. That's not a very nice nickname. I don't want to be known as the caddy. That's terrible.

Chris on 790, Chris, you're ready to play, believe it or not. Let's do it. While at Georgetown, John Thompson's players that stayed for at least four years, had a 97% graduation rate, believe it or not. Believe it. There you go. Believe it. Statement number two for the win.

In 2006, the Big East Coach of the Year award was renamed the John Thompson Award. Believe it or not. Not. That is correct. You're winning. Congratulations. Rivers Water Park. Line two.

Richard on 790. Richard, you ready to play, believe it or not? Yes, sir. John Thompson met his wife, Gwendolyn, while playing for the Celtics. She was a typist for the team. Believe it or not? Believe it.

No, the high school, sweetheart's. Typist. That was a good poll there, Sports Harvey. Douglas on 790. Ready to play, believe it or not? Let's go. On September 11th, 2001, John Thompson had his seat canceled on American Flight 77. The flight was later hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon. Believe it or not.

Oh, man. Believe it. Believe it. How freaky is that? I mean, did he miss the flight? Somebody had canceled his seat for whatever reason. The flight wasn't very full, right? I don't believe so. Wow, that's freaky. Statement number two for the win.

In the 1980s, John Thompson's Georgetown players were hanging out with a known drug lord. Thompson then called that drug lord into his office and gave him a fierce tongue lashing and told him to stay away from his players. Believe it or not? Oh, he did if I've said it once at a thousand times. You've got to know which coach is running the drug lords and give him tongue lashings and which don't. Boy, that last one is, I've got to read about that now. He was supposed to be on that flight that crash in the Pentagon. E!

That gives me chills, just thinking about that. What also gives me chills is Adam Wexler and Adam Clayton entertaining the bejointed the bejeezes out of us for the next three hours. Great chills. Good chills? Good chills. Positive. The big chills?

Well, they're not the big chills. But they are the A team, and they're going to take you for the next three hours. I'll talk to you on Rockets Radio tonight at 8 right here on Sports Talk 7-9.