The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 1-10-20

Episode Date: January 10, 2020

Much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers. I'm in my way. Is the Matt Thomas show. 12. It's a Friday edition of the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Yeah.

Let this play bad. I've only been to Kansas City one time. It's an underrated city, actually. The barbecue is good. Not as good as Houston barbecue, but delicious. I went there once as well. I was probably like sixth grade. I have family up there.

I remember seeing a dealership and going to a sports bar. And I went to a casino, one $500. All right. Hold on. This chair is broken. Hey, it's an anything goes Friday. It's a call your shot Friday. And it's a I'm a tired AF Friday.

Sports RV, the plane landed at 205. this morning. Well, at least they got a hard-fought win, and it was a great performance on national television for the Rockets, speaking of. My call was good, despite the fact the game sucked.

It was a good call. Some great Michael Frazier highlights. Just a wonderful call. Well, how about Chris Clemens? Like, the most efficient score, maybe in NBA history. He comes on the floor like five minutes last night,

and garbage time, it's just hitting one, three out of the other. His points per minute are pretty high, Matt. Yeah, his per 48 are outstanding. I mean, look, you know, I love their Houston Rockets. They have been my team since I was a kid. We don't have to talk about them today.

I mean, it just wasn't good. Although, have you been able to research? Do we have a sports MT theater at 130 today? Yeah, we'll have it. All right. And it doesn't involve the rockets, but it involves, actually involves a current rocket who used to play Oklahoma City. It rhymes with Nussle-Bestbrook.

It's Ross. I mean, it involves him. It's really not in. Yeah, it's not a name. Yeah, you confuse me. a second. I confuse people all the time. Look, I'm sleep deprived, which means the show today is going to be loopy. It is absolutely going to be loopy. So you can say that word you've been saying the last handful of days, Nick, and I won't really particularly care today. But where is that? You know, lubricant or whatever you've been saying. I just wanted to get you to say it.

Yeah, I did it. All right. It is anything goes Friday. Here's how it works. You know what? I'm going to let Ross explain how anything goes Friday goes. Yes, Matthew, well, Monday through Thursday here on Sports Talk 790. It's 713-1-2-125-7-90. The phone number 7-1-3-2-125-7-90. You get the longest leash in the biz when it comes to phone calls, and it gets even longer on anything-goes Friday. Of course, we can discuss the two big topics, which would be number one, the Texans heading up to Kansas City

for the divisional round of the playoff. How is that game going to go? You can go ahead and call your shot, get your final predictions on the Matt Thomas show on that. By the way, we'll be doing that in 15 minutes. Okay. 15 minutes, we're going to make all the predictions of all the four division. We're getting locked in in 15 minutes. And then I will flip and reverse that prediction for the sports RV show tomorrow at 11 a.m.

on Sports Talk 790. That way we can have all my bases covered. And then you could also talk about the rockets and the abomination that we saw last night outside of Russell Westbrook. Literally no rocket contributed much of anything, but that's okay. Just a bad game from them. they are now, are they in the four spot in the West now, man? Yeah, but they're a game out of the second. This thing, all these things go around.

Yeah, but I would like to them to have, you know, showed up at least a little bit last night. Chris Paul was nutmeging Isaiah Hardinstein. It was just an embarrassment. You know, thankfully, I was so far from the action and I didn't see it. Okay, good. I didn't call it that way because I don't think I would have called in a nutmeg in the middle of a broadcast. I'm just happy that I just. Well, you need to add that into your vernacular though.

No. Why not? No, no, no, no. I don't, it was awful. Chris Paul over the left side and he nutmeged Isaiah Hartinstein gets up the floater for two points. Clint Coppellman, I play tomorrow night against Minnesota. Well, he didn't play any in the fourth quarter, right? Yeah, he was serious.

Yeah, if you want to look for a silver lining, James Hardin didn't play a second in the fourth quarter. He only played 27 minutes. It's got to be one of the only times he hadn't played 30 minutes in entire season. But it was also his season low in points. We could talk about that. If you have. Astros have a new pitcher? Okay. Astros have a new pitcher. That's right. They made a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays.

If you need a safe ride to Luckies on Sunday and you need some tips for that. I'll put it this way. If you're going to if you're going to luckies on Sunday to watch the game and you live like North part of town, I'll come pick you up. Really? I mean, I will charge you. MT shuttle? It'll be an empty Uber. Shuttle MT. I'm going to charge you. I would fully expect a large tip on top of it at least pay for my gas. and then tell 100 of your friends you listen to the show. So Matt wants a fair and a large tip. Yeah, I'm thinking to make, I could probably,

because I'm not going to drink a whole lot because my son's birthday, my middle son, Peyton, who's 17 today, we're having a birthday celebration for him on Sunday right after the Texans game. So I cannot go to my son's birthday party hammered. Why not? Because that's just bad parenting.

Dad's all over the country do that. Well, I'm trying to wait until he leaves to get to 21. Okay, fine. leaves my house. And also, if you can't, I would like you to make it to the luckies on Sunday. I will also be at luckies on Monday for the college football national championship game. All right. LSU versus Clemson.

So if you'd like to join us, the avenue is here for you at 713-212-790. 7-13-212-5-790. If you want to reach out via Twitter, you can do that as well. At SportsMT, at SportsRV, and at Pro Nick Lowe. For the first time in the history of the Matt Thomas show, we do a very, very, very early, what you're talking about Bill? What you're doing about him? Coach O'Brien.

All right, we're going to start, Ross, with, I think, a layup. Ross, how would Bill O'Brien respond to a heckling fan at NRG Stadium after being down by four or five touchdowns to the Denver Broncos in a game that should have been a piece of cake win for the Texans? I think he would go, you suck too. You suck too. Bleep you.

Bleep you, mother bleeper. 18.7 seconds. Somewhere in that name. I think that's something like that. Let's see how close you got. Five stars. Yikes. Can I tell you something right now?

Go ahead. I have never been more proud of Bill O'Brien in my life. That was awesome. I have never been a fan of Bill O'Brien until what is today's day? December or January 10th, 2020, and our Lord and Savior. He got so many points for me because you know what it showed? He's a freaking human.

And when you're getting your ass beat by the lowly non-playoff going Denver Broncos and you are mad about what's going on, you're mad about your defense, you're mad about your offense, and you hear booze and then you hear you suck. And then you destroy that human being. by the way, probably got a nice, whoever shot the video, people are asking, well, why did this come out today? Probably because the person was shopping into the highest bidder. And TMZ sports said, okay.

Seems to be the highest bidder, yes. Or TMZ bought it a long time ago and said, let's wait for playoff, divisional playoff day to drop this. Whatever the case. They would have been wise to predict the Texans were going to make the divisional round, but they did. That's right. I'm just telling you,

I've told you that Bill O'Brien's never going to take the team to the Super Bowl. Can I change my opinion on this based on what he just did a handful of weeks ago? You're not at all basing it on the fact that they're further in the playoffs than he's ever been? No, I'm furthering on the fact that that man said, I'm not going to take Texan fan yelling at me. I work 80 hours a week. I have a very stressful job. I have criticism constantly.

My team is down four touchdowns. Was it 31-3 or something? It was something crazy. I don't think it got, I think it was 21-3 in the first half of that game. No, this is at halftime. What was the halftime? Of the Broncos game? Yeah, of the Denver Broncos.

I can find it. Look at it for it. And what he did is he wasn't going to accept that. He was going to be the boorish Bill O'Brien that we know and love. And I do love him now. I have never changed my opinion about a coach so fast in my life. One more Bill O'Brien. It was 31 to 3, not 20.

31 to 3. Thanks, guys. All right. Yeesh. So let's do two more Bill O'Brien's. 14.8 seconds, opening apology for the T&E. video. Go ahead. I want to apologize to

Mr. McNair and the Texans organization and my players and coaches for losing my cool against a fan. That's not acceptable, and I got to be better, and I shouldn't have done it. I was made aware of a video that's out there and that halftime of the Denver game coming off the field.

You know, I used the inappropriate language, and I just want to apologize for that. I thought he would have apologized to... All right, we get a chance here. A Brian T. Smith question, who will join us at 2 o'clock today. A follow-up QA on the video, 18.4 seconds. Let me give you a little bit about the question. Sure.

This cut does include the question for you. Okay. He basically asks him what it's like when a video like this pops up right before a playoff game. Well, first of all, my wife gives me a talking to. and a second of all, it's embarrassing. It's something that I shouldn't do. I shouldn't be losing my cool. And of course, I apologize to everybody.

And we'll just move on and learn from it. What's it like when you see that video and that appears and you're forced to address it during a playoff week? Yeah, no, I apologize for it. You know, like I said, you know, just inappropriate comments. And, you know, like I said, I apologize for it. And sorry that it happened. Boo.

Bo. That he might mention his wife. Why don't you own it? B-O-B own it. What's her name, Colleen or something? I don't know. It doesn't matter. All right.

When this radio program returns. Yeah, Colleen. Nice. I don't know. You don't see a lot of Colleen's in 2020. No, I don't know. Colleen, yeah, I think Colleen's a 1971 name. When this program returns, Nick Ross and I will decide who wins the divisional

playoff games, all four of them. predict them next. 1214 on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas returns on Sports Talk 790. Baseball, football, basketball, and Houston. Home for your home teams. I'm going to Kansas City. Kansas City here I call.

This is a tough call. I like the Fats Domino version is my favorite. I'm going to have to go. So, Beatles 1, Fats Domino 2. The Beatles are like the 19th best version. You're just a beetle hater. And that's just ahead of, I don't know, some Cassio computer, just beep making beeps with the melody.

I would go, here's what I'd go with. I would go with Beatles 1, Fats, Domino 2, and then I'm going to go with Hanson 3. Oh, yeah. That makes sense. All right, I've got a poll question up, And you know, we love the poll questions here on the Matt Thomas show. You've got two hours left to vote on this.

Call your shot. Texans, Chiefs, right now with 277 votes. Very small samples. We'd like to get it to about 500. Okay. Texans 52.3 percent are going to win the game. Chiefs 47.7. My guess is if I was doing this poll question in Kansas City, it would be 90.8 and 9.2.

Yeah, it's interesting that I'm, I'm. a little intrigued that the Houston Texans fans seem to have a little bit of hope. Yeah, so get your vote in. You got until about $2.50 today. I voted for the Chiefs. Okay. Can we get some NFL music here in the next couple of seconds? Because it is time for us to make our NFL

divisional playoff predictions last week. We all pushed on the Houston game, which meant Nick went two and one. Ross, you and I went one and two. So put that in perspective as we make these predictions. And it's just for entertainment purposes only. And frankly, I don't know if Nick's running around town bragging, and he got one more game right than we did.

And I've picked the Texans wrong just about every single week. Yeah. Yeah, let's put a few things out there. Ross and I have predicted the Texans wrong. I think, well, I got it right last week, so I'm just kind of happy about that. We're wrong about 80% of the time on the Texans. They've been very up and down.

Okay. So let's go to the games. We'll start with the Saturday matchups, the early game. Wonderful. Minnesota. Who surprised the world by knocking off the Saints in New Orleans and overtime last week. We'll take on the San Francisco 49ers.

The Niners are a seven-point favorite. Nick, you won last week. The most games, too, as compared to me and Ross. I'll let you decide who do you like in the game and give us a final score. The Vikings are not going to surprise us again. The 49ers are going to win this game at home. I'm going to set the score. it's going to be pretty high scoring.

I'm going to say 32 to 26. So you have the Minnesota Vikings covering? Yes, no cover. Okay. Ross? Last week was not a fluke. The Minnesota Vikings are very good,

but the only problem is so are the San Francisco 49ers. This is going to be a tighter one than people think. I think a low scoring is more low scoring than people think. I think it's going to be a tough defensive battle. I will go with the 49ers to edge this one out, 21 to 17. All right.

I will also take San Francisco to win the game, but I do believe they will cover the contest. But it will be a close game for most of the affair. We're not going to be bored in the fourth quarter. I will take the Niners to win this game 24 to 13. So I will take San Francisco giving up the seven. You guys are taking the points. Next,

Let's go to the second Saturday game. You have Tennessee at Baltimore. The Ravens are favored by 10. I will go first on this one. I am insanely impressed with Derek Henry. And I'm insanely impressed with Ryan Tannahill. I think the ground game, you know, you always hear that cliche term

of keeping the other team's offense off the field. I think Tennessee can do that. I do believe Baltimore is going to win, but I believe that the Titans, excuse me, will cover. So I will take Baltimore 30 and Tennessee 23. So a cover for 10 points on the Tennessee side. Ross, you're next. The Tennessee Titans are a good story.

Tennessee Titans are playing really hot as of late. Tennessee Titans might even be playing better in Houston, Texans. but they're going up against, in my mind, the absolute best team in football. The Ravens and Lamar Jackson, that offense are just unstoppable. The defense is good as well. I think this will be closer.

This will be closer in the first quarter. Then Baltimore will start to pull away from there. I think they cruise 42, 21 Baltimore Ravens. Wow. Three touchdowns better, huh? 42 points on a Saturday 9 and B Moore. Nicholas? All right.

I'm just going to try to beat you all again. So I'm going to take the Titans. So I think it is going to be a fairly high scoring affair. I'm going to say the Titans upset the Ravens. Oh, what's the score going to be? I'm going to go with 28 to 24. All right. So you're loving those 10 points, and you're going to take the money line winner as well.

The Titans are going to shock the world. I really hope that doesn't happen. If Tennessee wins tomorrow night, we're going to be a nervous wreck in this town on Sunday. Well, so is CBS. That's true. They've already built the graphics package for Kansas City at Baltimore. The former homes and Jackson, yeah.

All right. Ross, you go first on the Sunday game. We'll go with Green Bay hosting Seattle and the Packers giving the Seahawks five points. This is a tough one for me because both these teams kind of had easy schedules. Both these teams have been a ton of one-score games. Packers do have are at home. I think the Seahawks get it done though.

I think they're more battle tested. I'm more into Russell Wilson and believing in him, even though, of course, Aaron Rogers is Aaron Rogers. I've just seen it more from him lately. Packers' defense is really good. That is going to be part of it. So I think that this will be a lower score. scoring game. I'm going 23,

20 Seahawks. Wow, like on a last second field goal? Packers score a touchdown at the end and make it closer. All right. I will go next. This is a coin flipper game for me. I know the Green Bay obviously deserved the buy, did its job, and that all the notion of the new coach can't get along with the quarterback and vice versa

has been largely fooey. But Seattle's a really good playoff team. Seattle is a team that goes on the road and has zero problems, not zero problems, but has been tested and wins games away from Seattle when necessary. Frankly, they've been almost as good on the road as they have been at home. They should have had the home field, if not for the loss of the Niners. I'm going to take Seattle to win this game as well, and I will do it to a tune of 21 to 14.

So I'm going to take those points and predict an outright Seattle win. All right. I'm going to, both these teams are pretty good on defense, Packers may be better, but it's going to be a low-scoring game. I think the Packers will be a little bit sluggish offensively, and Seattle's going to edge them out, and I'll set the score at 1814, Seattle. Wow, 1814 at Frozen Tundra, Lambo Field. That's going to be some cranky Green Bay fans.

Those big girls and slutterers are going to be really drinking a lot. So all of us have Seattle. That's true. All three of us have Seattle one in that game. Even though they're five-point dogs. Five point dogs. Last, but certainly, not least. Nick, the Kansas City Chiefs are home for your beloved Texans,

and the Chiefs are giving Houston 10 points. I keep picking them to lose, and they surprise me. At least they did in the wild card round. So I'm going to pick them to lose again. I'm going to say the Kansas City Chiefs, handily take this one, 3,1, 21. Oh, wait a minute. That's handily.

That's a 10. That's a push. That's a push. You can't, don't put, don't pick a push. Don't pick a push. Oh, the whole lot. Okay, I see. All right, we'll call it 31.

31.18. 3118. I'm only going to take, I'm going to remove points from the Texas. All right, Ross. 30 and a half and 20 a half is the Vegas line. I told you the score. I told you his exact score before the game. So I will go, I'll go 34, 21.

Kansas City. Kansas City. It's less my belief in the I mean, it's not like I don't believe in the Texans. I think they're a good team. They could go up there and win, absolutely. I think the Chiefs are just that darn good. Mahomes is healthier.

Chris Jones is going to play. Their defense has been better over the last half of the season. So I'm going with the Chiefs. Okay. So are we supposed to be in my spot here? Hokie Homer? Hmm. Because we know you're a huge Hokie Texans Homer.

Right. Well, here's the thing. I am completely biased when it comes to the Astros and the Rockets because those are my team since I was seven years old. But I felt like last week not having a dog in the fight that the Houston Texans were better than the can't with the Buffalo Bills. So that's why I predicted them the win. I've thought about this. I've asked you guys every single day if you've waged your belief and you've said no, you were with this the whole time. I started to waver a little bit the last couple of days.

And then I listened to John Plainton this morning on the Sean Salisbury show. I've seen the history with Andy Reid after having a bye week after advancing to the playoffs and how his teams do typically there, how they were a overtime loss away from going last year, how they'd like to make amends for that. And even though that Jonathan Joseph might play this week, which I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, JJ Watts can take some more snaps, Will Fuller might play. My man Larry and Stafford are going to be mad at me. But you know what, Larry, you want the truth for me.

That's the T-R-O-O-T-H, the truth. I tell the truth. 3717, Kansas City. That's going to be a classic. We're never going to not play that car that sound bite for the rest of our lives. I would certainly hope we would never not play.

But I'm going to tell you something right now, as I predict them to lose by 20 on Sunday. Wow. I'm rooting for them harder than I did 24 hours ago. Because Bill O'Brien showed me a human, side. He showed me that, yeah, when somebody screams and yells at him, he just doesn't walk back to the locker room. He comes after them and attacks them. And even though he had to apologize today at the press conference, it wasn't genuine. He's going to MF people for the rest of his adult life. And it's also not like you suck too is the greatest comeback in the history of comebacks, but yeah,

he was, it was just the moment of weakness, which I think was a moment of strength. So time for you guys to call your shot. 713-21. 2.2. 2-5-790, 7-13-212-5-7-90. Casey offense significantly better than Houston defense, and that is where the problems are going to come into play. Texans will find the end zone a couple of times. I can't count him in the first quarter because I just don't, haven't ever seen it so far this year.

And I think Kansas said he's going to a quick strike to get out to a fast lead. I think it's going to be 14, 17, nothing before you know it. I hope I'm wrong for the Lairies and Staffords in the world, for the others of you that are diehard fans, I hope I'm wrong. Because y'all deserve this. Y'all need that AF championship, AFC championship feeling.

Swing and a miss, rock them out. This is A.J. Hanch of your Houston Astros. Your teams, your town, your voice all day. Sports Talk 790 is your home for your home teams. Going to Kansas City, baby. Kansas City, here I come. I'm going to Kansas City, baby.

Who knew Willie had this in his... recordoire. It's not bad. A bluesy feel. Which is always going to play well with me. Very quick, 30 second, William, Willie Nelson's story?

Yeah, you guys are smoking on his tour bus, right? No, but it doesn't involve smoking. Oh, really? Willie Nelson story involves smoking. So I'm calling the University of Utah games. We play Kentucky in the Sweet 16 at the Frank Irwin Center. This is 2004, I think.

Yeah, whatever it is. It's spring of 2005, whatever the case would be. And we landed Austin and we're in our baggage claim. And somebody says, there's Willie Nelson. And I'm like, yes, it absolutely could be Willie Nelson at Austin's airport. And it really was Willie Nelson when he had a marijuana cigarette lit in the baggage claim area. And everyone Ross, leaving him alone. Bless you, Willie Nelson.

For being able to roll one up at a major international airport. heavily secured, heavily policed, and people said, you know what, you're one of the greatest singers of all time, let you be. Who knew that he had a little Kansas City version in him? A very prolific recorder. By the way, coming up between now and three o'clock today, we've got two sets of Royal Rumble tickets we're going to give away. Okay.

Wait, when? Between now and three o'clock. Between now and three o'clock. So we'll get to listen to the whole show. I think it's worthy of it. I think so. You listen, you win. I don't know.

I'm not asking you to create a chemical compound here. Are you going to go to the Royal Rumble? No, I'm out of town. Rockets are out of town. But you would go otherwise? Yeah, absolutely. Would you dress up, put on like a Hulk Hogan? No.

Bandana? No. I'd probably wear an N.W. shirt because I'm NW.O. For life. No, you're not. Yeah, I am. No, there's famous wrestlers who are in that, not you.

I'm NWO. And then also we have the NFLPA sent me a bobblehead of J.J. Watt being drafted. Why did they send you that? I don't know. National Bobba Head Association sent it to me. Does it have Texans fans booing him on it too? Because that's what happened.

Because it's J.J. Watt with the jersey says Watt and won by it. I'm like, wait a minute, is this some knockoff? No, it's draft day. He's in a suit holding his jersey that says Watt and won. Who is the D-Tackle everybody wanted? We'll give it away at 150, by the way. That's giving up at 150. And oh, by the way.

From Auburn? In 10 minutes. Nick Lowe, my producer, says, this is the greatest gordy parody ever? It's in the running. It's up there. See, you and I don't share the same taste. I'm a little leery of you giving it this firm recommendation.

Nick Fairley. Remember everybody wanted Nick Fairley? Yeah. What's he doing now? Nick Fairley is currently out of the league. Is he owning a payless shoe source? I would hope so. Nick Fairley is a good name to come up with some kind of, you know, Fairley's auto shop.

No, Nick Fairley is a State Farm agent. Sounds like it. Like a good neighbor, Nick Farley and State Farm is there. 713-212-5. He was arrested on criminal menacing charges when he threatened a person with a gun in 2018. Is that a hell yeah or not? Is Nick Fairley, hell yeah or not? No.

I think we're going to do Chiefs players, right? Yeah, we're new Chiefs. John, what's going on? Gentlemen, good afternoon. Have a question, and then I'll give you my prediction, and then my score and then why. Go ahead. First question is when the case, when Kansas City and Houston played, we had our healthy backfield, correct or incorrect? Or was it 50-50?

We know. Well, Duke Johnson certainly played. I don't remember Carlos High whether, I don't know if Carlos, you mean this secondary? I'm sorry. Secondary. Oh, okay. I'd have to go look at the starting lineup on that. I want to say, I think it was 50-50, but here's my deal.

Must say, it's a realist. Patrick Mahomes was already easier. We didn't play a healthy Patrick Mahomes, number one. Number two, he's going to light this secondary up. 31 to 7. Deshaun is going to run for his life. Everybody's about Fuller, Fuller, Fuller. Man, Fuller can't catch water if he fell out of a boat.

So what? He's got speed. Usen's one of yousons biggest problems. They got to get some receivers with some size like Andre had. And let Andre teach these gentlemen and groom them. Well, that's not a conversation for right now. I mean, we're in a divisional playoff game. We're not worried about, thank you very much for the phone call.

It is anything that goes Friday, least a little longer, but I'm not going to get into Texans' needs just yet. Yeah, and Andre Johnson is the number three over all pick, one of the greatest receivers of all time. Andre Johnson's don't just grow on trees. There's not, Bill O'Brien's not scanning the draft list and saying, There's a guy just like Andre Johnson. We don't need them. No. It's fine.

We're happy with Carrie skills. Yeah. Will Fuller, by the way, as Bill O'Brien said, matter of fact, we'll let Bill O'Brien. I have such admiration for Bill O'Brien that I just want to play a lot of his sound bites. Here's the update on Will. I think Will is the same extent at the beginning of the week. I think it's really going to be a game time decision. I think it's kind of like a daily process with him, you know, to see where he's at.

He passes test after test and, you know, he communicates with us on how he's feeling. I think so far so good. but I think it's going to be a game time decision. Is he being coy or is it still, you think there's hesitancy about what putting it up there? I think he's being coy. I think he's going to play. I agree with you. Maybe the greatest Chris Gordy parody ever from so we've been told.

It is next 1243 on anything goes Friday on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas continues on Sports Talk 790. Your rockets, your Astros, your voice. Oh, no, no, no, no. Okay, I almost dropped an F-bomb on air. First of all, why are you playing this off of 45? Why is this off, no, this is off your Walkman. This is off the, well, your Walkman, uh,

the only recording I can find of this one. Turn it off. Yeah, it needs to be burned. We're going to keep listeners. What is that? Cindy Lopper or something? No, that's the Jackson 5. Oh, is it?

Yeah, that's Michael. It's a little Michael. Ooh. All right, ladies and gentlemen, and Nick, I want you to play it. It has arrived in our audio library, and it's a very sacred thing when I see the word gorty parody dash Texans chiefs. You heard this, Nick. I'm nervous. You believe in this one.

Yeah, this is a good one. Ladies and gentlemen, let's play it. And then we will, we're going to rush this or flush? You want to do that? We'll do a rush or flush right after that. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, our assistant program director, a friend of many, a huge LSU and Saints talk. It's Chris Gordy and a horrible Football Friday parody. Oh, my God.

As I walk through the gates at Arrowhead, I take a look at my team and say at least we're not dead because we've been playing and losing so long that I thought that O'Brien would surely be gone. But we crushed Bill even though he didn't deserve it. Four-time division champs, you know that's unheard of. O'Brien's got the Sean stunning, and then he's gun it. And if you play in cover, too, he's gonna take off running. It's like a business trip up to Kansas City. Chiefs fans in the snow going to be such a pity.

Deshawns O'K., the Pat Mahomes wants to be in K.C. He won't sweat, leaving with a Houston upset. Been spending most playoffs, losing in the second playoff round. Been spending most playoffs, losing in the second playoff round. Keep losing every time. never been the conference title game. But if we went up in KC, we're going to play in our first title game. Oh, my God.

You know that the music is. Are you going to rush that? Are you going to flush it? It's time for an end's to pull. 713, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. 713 212 212 5790

Oh Ross I don't care What the votes Come in That is a 100% rush Gosh

I don't know if it's the best of all time But It's pretty darn close Line 2 Rush it or flush it Gangsta Gordy Rush it

Gangsta Gordy Line 4 Rush it or flush it Wow as usual flush it from boarding because he's stuck oh come on that's not very nice remember the insupportes in line one vote a piece 713 212 5 790

line 5 rush it or flush it pure gold you got to rush it all right two boats for a rush line two rush it or flush it oh rush it like j j what's gonna do on pat mahomes baby baby three votes for a rush Line four, rush it or flushing. Rush it, my aunt. Rush it.

Rush it. Done. The Binseapal is over. The peeps love it. Wow. You know the best part about a Chris Gordy parody is he's supposed to rhyme and they never do. God, they're so fantastic. Let's get some of the tweet reaction. Galaxy Guarded says hashtag goosebumps.

Jay Wells 2001, that parody was epic. Epic. Good work. Course is a little weak, but all know I like it. I think he meant versus. Verses, I think, yeah. Yeah, again, part of a Gordy parody, which is so awesome, is the fact that the words don't match what it should.

Oh, we're playing that at least once per hour the rest of the way. Oh, my goodness. Let's go to our buddy, Derek and the gallery at 1250, Derek, how are things on this Friday? Well, it's really good, so, you know, let's just take it from the top. Okay, Mr. Thomas, anything goes Friday. Number one, I wonder if I smoke weed in the Austin airport, would they take me to jail? I don't know.

We'll come back to that. Number two, all teams are going to cover this week. Every one of them, everybody's going to cover it. So if you're betting for the covering the spread, go ahead and do it. Aaron Rogers wins, Kurt Cousins wins, Deshawn Watson wins, and Ryan Tannerhill wins. So they go with that. Number three, I'm going to be at lucky for everybody get a chance to take their shot and talk about my team. I'm a fair sport.

I'm a fair guy. I deserve it. If I talk crap, that means I need to take it so I can do that. You know, I want to come and support here. You guys and my friends, I'm going to do that. Next one. Ross, if you do not want to drink on Sunday or if you have to work, please tell me now or direct miss me. I don't want to be a jerk and ask you, hey, Ross, do you want to drink?

And you're like, no, dear, I don't really want one, knowing that you want to drink. I'm offering two-five. Matter of fact, you and Chris Gordy. Oh, Chris Gordy. What about me? What about me? I'll take two McAultras. Who is that, Mr. Thomas?

Yes. Okay, Mr. Thomas, here's the thing. Here's the thing right here, okay? During this time of the year, me and you really don't get along that good. We do, but we don't because you're in so in the rocket. You're smart. And you have a basketball. You hate basketball.

Are you the only black man that hates basketball? Tell the truth. Hey, I probably am. But what I'm saying is, Mr. Thomas, what I'm saying is, listen, Ms. Thomas, at the tour of the party, I try to have a sit down, 15 minutes, five-minute conversation for you. You diss me. The party before that, I try to have a conversation with you disson. I'm like, okay, Mr. Thomas, I just saying, I guess you're working so you can't talk.

I was going to be like, okay, I'm a lay back. And when you're free, when you have a time to talk to your boy, Derek, who's been knowing you now? Let me tell you something right now. Let me tell you something right now. Sunday, you and I are going to chat for about 10 minutes. At least 10 minutes. That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about.

Hey, man, look, it's a good thing that Texas is in the playoffs. I kind of feel relieved now that the patrons aren't in it because I get a chance to breathe. I don't have to be upset. I don't have to throw a Super Bowl party. I don't have to do the Internet. I get to sit back and watch this new generation of players come in and do their thing. Unfortunately, the old guy, Aaron Rogers, is going to take this thing to Miami,

do it again. He doesn't have Brady to compete with. Hey, look, I'm going to see y'all on Sunday, man. Everybody be ready. Don't drink Saturday night because I'm buying the bar on Sunday. We're going to try to. Yeah, we're going to try. Yeah, because you know I go to work Friday night, Saturday night.

Very good. So Sunday morning, Sunday morning, I'm on pocket floor, baby. So it's time. I'm not going to drink. I like it. Derek, I got a roll my man. Thank you. We're going to be at Lucky's on Sunday.

Yes. Drinking some more than others. Well, yeah. Eating, some healthier than others. Yes. All watching the Texans for the Chiefs. So come on out. Lucky's that's the Lucky's downtown location on St. Emmanuel will be there.

I'll be there probably 130, somewhere in that range. We'll see when I wake up. Your life. 1256, the second hour of the Matt Thomas show. Coming up in about 15 minutes, we're going to be a set of tickets to the Royal Rumble. We have, still before the end of the day, Brian T. Smith's going to join us to give us his thoughts about Bill O'Brien

swearing and a fan. I think it's American. I think it's giving me a respect level to the coach that I didn't think I'd possibly ever have. We'll get on that. We'll get on the NFL predictions. All three of us, Nick, myself, and Ross, all have Kansas City win in the game,

all three of us having them cover the 10-point spread. If you want to get mad at us, we're not hiding. 713-212-5-7-90. Is the Matt Thomas show. Second hour of the Matt Thomas shows. We get you ready for the. the Texans and the Chiefs, if you think we're nuts, please come talk to us. Tell us why your squad, the Texans are headed to Kansas City to win that football game.

At 713-212-5-790. Kansas City version. I don't ask for either one of your opinions. Not great. is the worst one of the ones we've played so far. No, I actually know the Jackson 5 one was worse. I'll give you that. I was still better. Wow.

The consensus is the Jackson 5 is the worst one. Are there any more? We got any more? Oh, there's hundreds. There's tons of them. I love the one of Willie Nelson. I did not expect that one to come into play at all. James Brown did one. There's still a little Richard James Brown.

There's some ladies that did it. The Albert King one is good. Okay, let's get to it. And 713-212-5-790 is how you join us today. Let's get to, let's do the, you know, the matchups, okay? Let's first go with the quarterback battle. Who gets the edge? Kansas City.

Big-time edge or slide edge? It's clear edge for me. I know I heard a certain show on this station 3 to 6 debating how close it was between Mahomes and Watson. I don't know. I guess you guys have been watching a different quarterback than I have the last four weeks. Watson's been solid, but I don't think I've been blown away by him at all at any point recently. And Patrick Mahomes is one of the best quarterbacks on the planet. So clear edge to me to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

I think, was it Adam, one of the Adams yesterday said, could you ever see Deshawn Watson throwing 50 touchdowns in a season? Now, is that a byproduct of the offensive strategy that the Texans have? or is it the fact that the receivers are in theory better than what Kansas City has? Although, again, Deionette Hops. He just gets the best receiver in the world. So I think if you were to say, name a quarterback that could go and throw for 50 touchdowns in a season, and in this particular case, again, it would have to be Pat Mahomes.

Running backs. And by the way, we don't have to necessarily pick a favorite on this one. What are they trotting out there? I know they had a minute. Well, Sean McCoy, who just isn't anything. He's okay. Yeah, he's nothing close to what he was. I would get the lean towards the Texans.

Yeah, I would either. Heard in Johnson, especially because of Johnson's ability to catch the past. Yeah, I would give a slight edge of the Texans there, for sure. Okay. Wide receivers. Sammy Watkins, Tyreek Hill, DeMarcus Robinson. What were you going to put Kelsey in there as well, I feel like?

Yeah, put Kelsey in there as well. opposite, Darren Fells, DeAndre Hopkins, Kenny Stills, and maybe a Will Fuller. I said, let's put Will Fuller in there. Okay. Go ahead and put them in there, and then you would give the advantage to? The Chiefs, just because, I mean, Tyree Kill is a game changer, and then you add in Kelsey. If we're doing just, if we're doing Pat, but they would be unfair, right? If we were separating tight-ins and receivers, it's past catchers.

So I think we do have to put Kelsey in there, and I think that tips the scales to the Chiefs, but the Texans are right there, especially if Will Flood plays and it has any level, certain level of effectiveness. If there has been one big time improvement from the Texans offense from year to year, it has been the fact that Fells and company have been able to use this tight ends as catch, especially in RPO's. They run that run-pass option all the time, and they are still able to complete those intermediate routes to the tight-ins.

It's very impressive. I'm going to go with the Chiefs, but I think it's close. Okay. Offensive line, I only know about the Texans' offensive line. I'm not paid a lot of attention to Kansas City, frankly. I think the O line, from where it was to start the preseason and training camp, to where it is now, it is an average offensive line. Now, granted, I think, would have Deshaun take six sacks yesterday? Last week, maybe seven.

I don't envision that being the same scenario this week. But I just know at the end of the day that he's still getting hit a lot, and he has been getting hit a lot for the last couple of years. years. And frankly, the Texans have been able to survive because of not because of the offensive line giving him this incredible protection. It's because of these capabilities. So if that particular case, I would go by just default to Kansas City's offensive line. Yeah, I mean, Eric Fisher's been playing well since he started off shaky in the beginning of his career. Mitchell Schwartz was first team all pro last year. I'm going to go with the Kansas City chiefs and the offensive line. All right, let's go to the defensive side of things.

defensive line, and we'll put the linebackers in the same category. Basically the front seven. Front seven. How much, if JJ is going to play 25% more plays, does that mean he's apt to give us one or two more impactful plays than he did against Buffalo, where he certainly was a huge menace in the third and fourth quarter against the bills? I'm going with the Texans. Because JJ Watt can be an X factor.

Whitney Merciless plays better as we've seen when J.J. Watt is on the field. I really like, I thought that Zach Cunningham had, nobody really talked about him in the wildcard round. But there was times where he was out there covering Devin Singletary and getting passes broken up. And I mean, there was, he had that big hit on Josh Allen where he blew up the quarterback sweep. I think Cunningham has been playing well. I like what Bernarduk McKinney does. And the one thing we've talked about all week long is that you've been able to run against that front four of Kansas City. So using what you just said, plus the fact that the Chiefs run defense,

has been very average at best, I think Houston front seven is better than Kansas City's front seven. I agree. Cornerback. All right, let's just go secondary. We should go to the entire, use the safeties as well.

Yes. Matthew's having a good season. Chavarius Ward's been there, done that. Rashad Breland's been around forever and ever. Morris Claybourne. He's not very good, though. Yeah. A little vulnerable on the other side.

against Jonathan Joseph, if he plays, Lonnie Johnson, Bradley Robey, Garyon Conley, Vernon Hargraves, Vernon Hargreaves, by the way, needs to learn how to tackle. You notice how many tackles he has given up so far? Now, granted, I think he's been a plus for this team largely because of injuries,

but in the open field, he scares me a little bit. I think this is the weakest unit probably on both teams. Yeah. Because you have, I mean, well, you have, was Matthew first team all pro? I don't know if he was first, but he's going to the Pro Bowl. Okay.

Whether then he actually shows up is a different story. Yeah. I will give it to the Chiefs, but not by much. Yeah, first team all pro. For Matthew. Was that money not well,

was that money, first of it was money well spent by Kansas City, but was there, should the Texans have been more aggressive in trying to keep him around? Three years, $42 million for first team all pro safety. Probably should have done it. All right.

And then last, we'll get to the special. We've got two more, special teams. Brian Anger and Kimee Fairbairn against Harrison Butler and Dustin Colquitt. Harrison Butker has been possibly, I mean, he's been one of the best kickers in football. I would have to say Grassfield, with it being chilly, that's going to be an advantage for Butler. Although I'll say if Fairbaren has been much better the second half of the year than he was, the first. Colquette feels like he's been there forever. Anger's having a really good season.

Matter of fact, so good he got a contract the week before the playoff started. I would just have to go home field and Bucker's success rate, grass field. He's used to outdoor weather conditions way more than the Texans guys would be, right? So I'll go over to Kansas City. Sure, why not? Coaching. Andy Reid, been there, done that, been to a Super Bowl, been doing this for decades. he has his flaws. He's not the perfect

coach. Neither is Bill O'Brien. I'm going with Andy. If Andy Reed is an airplane and he's cruising along comfortably at 35,000 feet, where is Bill O'Brien? What level of altitude is he at? Is higher better? Or lower? Yeah, because higher's going to be calmer, you know, smoother flight. If you fly at 15,000 feet, you're going to be bumping around

clouds and two really tall. What is you're flying at 50,000 feet? You can't fly that high. We'll see that's why I'm confused. Yeah, go, yeah. Just take this, I'm putting 35,000 as the bar. Andy Reid's, well then, just do one to ten, okay? Okay, one to ten. If Andy reads an eight.

Ten, if ten is the best, ten is Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick, where do you put the two coaches? I'll put Andy Reid in an eight and Bill O'Brien a seven. I will put Bill, we're talking about this year. Yeah. I'll put, well, number two seed, you're going to be an eight, eight and a half for Andy Reed. And you won a playoff game in overtime. One year division, Bill O'Brien.

By the way, he also swears beautifully at fans. Yes. Seven and a half. But still the lead to the advantage goes to Kansas City. If you're just joining us, A, where are you been? B, we're damn glad to have you. And the predictions from the following. Nick has 3118 Kansas City.

Ross is 3421 Kansas City, and I have 3717 Kansas City. Now, this is, again, this is not trying to be a contrarian. There are too many phony-ass radio hosts that want to be contrarian just to do it. And on the other side, there are too many phony-ass radio hosts that always predict the home team to win because they don't want to piss off their audience. Thank God you found this show, which is just going to do it the way we want to do it, and that is not have a dog in the fight. I'll be the first one to take a sports RV.

I'm biased swords of rockets and buying sorts of Astros. I never wanted them to lose. Hard for me to predict them to go and lose. It was painful to talk last year about the fact that Golden State was a much better basketball team in the Rockets. Sometimes you've got to do it. I never thought the Astros were better than National. I can tell you that for sure.

and got kind of burned on that. Yeah. But, I mean, the Astros were, I mean, they were the behemoth. They were Galath. It wasn't North Carolina State beat in Houston, but it was certainly kind of pain. Not kind of. It was very painful. 713-212-5-790.

7-13-212-5-7-90. Call your shot right now. Who's winning the game? Give me a final score. If you think our predictions are absolutely the most ridiculous. thing you ever heard of. Calling and debate me, but you've got to tell me why. You got to tell me flat out why

our predictions are wrong and why you believe your beloved Texans are going to win this football game. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. It's Matt, and he's back. The Matt Thomas Show on 790. Houston's home for Houston teams. Going to Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come.

Muddy Waters. I'm indifferent to this version. It's all right. They got some brave, the little women. One day I'm going to get me one. Hey, we got Royal Rumble tickets on a giveaway right now. Ooh. And I want to reward someone for listening to this show.

So the Royal Rumble's like 20 people go in and only one man comes out, right? Well, they start with one and then every three minutes, another one goes in there. And at some point, then it's an over-the-top battle royal. Royale. No, it's a battle royal, but they can call it Royale if you wanted to. I like to call it Royale. That's fine. Like Royale with cheese.

You really should go because I think if you'd go, you'd enjoy the experience. Probably, okay. Well, we got a fowl sports MT, follow sports RV shirt while you're there. No, I don't think they're selling those. All right. We played a version of Kansas City in the first hour of the show that featured a country legend. Who was that country legend that sang a version of Kansas City? First person to call right now, 713212.125790 can answer that question.

We're going to give you a pair of tickets to see the Royal Rumble inside Minute Maid Park. Because all we want to do is give the reward of listening to this radio show a little of some prizes. We've got another pair to give away. And at 150 today, we got this JJ Watt draft day Bobblehead. And we're going to have a question about his draft day in order for you to win that. Okay. Because if you're winning the Bobillard or the draft day, you should probably know something about the draft, right? I would hope so.

Okay. 713-212-5-7-90. Donald, congratulations, is our winner. The answer was Willie Nelson with a version of Kansas City. Is the Jackson 5 the freakiest version we've heard so far? That one was weird. The recording was horrible. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. So those of you that are trying to call in for that. Stop. They called in earlier. We're going to give another one away here before 3 o'clock, so don't be afraid to listen for that. Let's go to Roger and West Houston on the Matt Thomas show. Roger, good afternoon. Oh, this is Donald just one ticket.

Well, it says Roger. That's fine. Hi, Donald. Hey, yeah, I just called. I got the Willie Nelson tickets. Oh, I'm at the wrong line. Well, hi, Donald. Well, hi, Donald.

Well, I'm happy to go. Yeah, you're going to go. Royal Rumble, baby. Get a T-shirt and everything. All right. Thank you very much. All right, buddy. Is it like a concert or all the T-shirts $40?

Yes. Such a rip. There are going to be 40,000 people there. You should go. I'm not going to, if you're buying me tickets, I'll go. No, I'll get you some. I'm very connected. Very connected.

Hi, Roger. Second time's a charm. What's going on, Roger? I'm sitting here going, who the hell is this in my ear? I know. I know totally my fault. What's going on, friend? Love the show. Appreciate it. I just wanted to kind of call my shot on the Texans, and I don't have a whole lot of them.

I don't have a whole lot of analysis as to why I think the Texans will actually win this game. But I do. I just have that feeling. We're going to hit this and beat them 27 to 20. And if you just look at what we've done all year long, I think the trend's going to continue. And it's a huge X factor. It's lose one, win two. Lose one, win two. and this is number two coming up. All right, I'm going to tell you something right now. I'm going to allow you to make that prediction, but I'm not going to let you get away with, I don't know why.

I want you right now for my audience to envision for me and for the audience, the final score and how they got there. You can do it. It's not difficult. Do it. All right. I'm going to stick with the 27 to 20. I think the weather's going to be nice, so it's not going to be in play.

We've already beaten them this year, even though we're, down by, what, 17 or whatever it was. And, you know, I mean, I've got to get Kansas City that are due. They're a good team, but it's playoffs. And I think it's just time. I think we're going to do it. Do you see a sack thumble from JJ Watt in your crystal ball? I see no sack thumble, but I do see two block passes and how it's on a sack.

Okay. I'll get rid of that. Hey, Roger, have a great weekend. I appreciate you listening. Ross, get your crystal ball out. vision. I'll do my, I'm going to close my eyes. I'm going to tell you that I see a very fast start for Kansas City. That's what scares me more than anything else. That's why I think there's going to be a decent separation, as I said, 3717. I see a 14-0 fast Kansas City start. Team that looks fresh,

by week, good energy, 35 degrees, Kansas City, 75,000 screaming fans. And the problem is, this crystal ball that I'm looking at right now, I don't see the Texans scoring on their first series. And by the way, as I say all these things, I hope I'm 100% wrong. I really, really honestly mean that. I hope I am wrong. But there have been no signs that Texans can score touchdowns in their first series. I don't count week 17. Doesn't count. So that's what I see. I see a big day for Travis Kelsey. I just don't know how much they contain them. I mean, I was talking about the coverage skills of Cunningham and McKinney's decent.

I just don't see. Kelsey has given the Texans fits basically throughout his career. I think his first breakout game was against the Houston Texans. I think Romeo Cornell is going to do his best to keep Tyreek Hill out of the game. But I think they just have too many weapons. and Patrick Mahomes is just going to be too good. I think they're just not going to be able to stop them. Texans are going to pace with them okay, at least in the first half,

but then Kansas City is just going to be too much. They're going to overwhelm for the offense. They're going to sit on the ball in the fourth quarter, and like I said, 3421, I think. Okay. If you want to call your shot via Twitter, you can do that. I've got almost just over 300 votes in if you'd like to vote. At SportsMT is my account.

Simply, do you have the Texans winning or the Chiefs winning and of the 300 plus votes that are in, 53% have the Houston Texans winning this football game. 47% Kansas City. As I said to the top of the show, my guess is 92% to 8 in

Kansas City. But that's okay. Again, these are very unscientific. This is just you being a fan. And that's why we appreciate it. Listen to show. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-790. If you have not gone to your social media yet, You obviously heard Bill O'Brien the video that was released by TMZ Sports Today. Basically, you suck, you suck.

Blank, blank, blank, blank, you suck. Coach O'Brien had to, well, I don't know if he had to, but he did. He apologized for such comments. I was made aware of a video that's out there and that halftime of the Denver game coming off the field. You know, I used inappropriate language. and I just want to apologize for that. Does he apologize if that video is not released? No.

No. So is that sorry because you had to say you're sorry? Sorry, you got caught. Classic. Because he would have probably, if you were going to be really honest about it, if he was really remorseful, he would have apologized in the postgame press conference of that Denver game, right? Yeah, but like you said, the guy was looking for the highest bidder

and finally found his in TMZ Sports. What do you think I did? What do you think I video paying? And how do they monetize that? I hope they didn't give him more than like $100. Oh, I bet you it's at least $5,000. $5,000? No, there's no way nobody.

Why would TMZ, why does anybody care about Bill of Bryant? Because obviously this happened weeks ago. You don't think that TMZ that the guy was trying to find anybody that would only take it for a higher dollar? Exactly. That's what I'm saying. He couldn't find somebody. I think he couldn't find somebody.

I bet he went to TMZ Sports. They said, we'll give you a couple hundred bucks. He said, you know what, I'll shop it around. then they couldn't find anybody and he went back to TMZ. That's my thinking. But see, how does TMZ monetize up? Because TMZ has ads on their website. Right, because you get web high.

Yeah, they're not making... But I didn't see it. It wouldn't be... Exactly. Then why would they give $5,000 if they're not going to make any money off of it? They do spend money like that, don't they not? 713-1-2-7-90. Hey, gang, one of the favorite things we like to do on this show besides try to entertain you,

is entertain you through SportsMT Theater. Last night, the rockets were taken on the Oklahoma City Thunder. It wasn't much of a matchup on. unfortunately. Kendrick Perkins, who has become a media star, right? Ross, the last couple of years, I think, since retired. I wouldn't know about a star, but... He's getting there.

He's been on TV, more exposure. He got... Beaumont's finest. He put a comment out there that made a certain NBA player and former teammate of his very upset. And we present to you a little sports empty theater. The Matt Thomas show continues.

On Sports Talk 790. I do Kansas City Kansas City Here I come I bet you can't guess this one Is it Is this? Oh, this is somebody never heard of Probably somebody you've never heard of

Yeah, I can't do it They got some permanent women I'm going to get me one Is he a one hand wonder? Not this one? I have no idea All right He just wanted to get one that wouldn't guess

We have a caller in line and the subject line says, I need sports therapy from Matt because I want the Texans to lose. Stand by for that. But sometimes Ross and I like to put our acting chops out there. We're going to involve you, Nick, this week in the sports MT theaters. So we're ready for this. Kendrick Perkins is an ESPN NBA analyst and is very opinionated on Twitter. He had an opinion that an ex-teammate of his and a member of the media didn't

like we present this to you right now. Ah, yes. Hello and welcome to another edition of SportsMD Theater. Oh yeah, this is where you play applause. Sorry, Nick. Sorry, Nick. Um, today we'll be reenacting. Yes, thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. We'll be reenacting a Twitter interaction between Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Durant with a small bit part played by Nick Lowe in Mark Demico a Celtics reporter.

That's a Mark Demiico! Correct. Playing the part of Kendrick Perkins will be one Matthew Thomas. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Appreciate you. Well, uh, see the audience is holding their applause for the end. And playing Mark Demico, as I said, will be Nick Lowe

and I will be paying Kevin Durant. Wow. They must have gotten really drunk really quickly. Let us begin. Kendrick Perkins. In about 30 minutes. I'm going to give my opinion

on Sports Center on why I believe that Russell Westbrook is the best player to have ever put on an Oklahoma City Thunder jersey. He is Mr. Thunder. That's me, Kendrick Perkins, saying that. Intermark Damiko.

Hey, he put it together the best career with that organization. But he's definitely not the best player to ever put on the jersey for him. Come on, a perk! Kendrick Perkins. Hey, Kevin, left the door open and Ross and Russ walked right in. That's Russ, R-U-S-S. He walked right in. Back to Mark Tobico.

I think a Russ had walked right into the door. I call the second round of the playoffs. Three straight a times, huh? Kendrick Perkins. Katie lost in the second round without Russ when I was there. So what that mean? Kevin Durant. Yeah, and our starting center, Kendrick Perkins,

average a whopping two and three during that series. You played Hard Champ, though, L.O.L. Kendrick Perkins. Facts are on the averages, and facts are on the champ part two. More Kendrick Perkins. Boy, stop.

You did the weakest move in NBA history. You up on a team 3-1 in the Western Conference finals and then go join the final season. Heart a champion right there. Yawning sloth gif. Week is starting at center, playing real minutes with no production.

You should have worked on your skills as much as I did. Candrid Perkins. That's fine. You worked that hard and still had to go join a 73 and 19. Truth be told, you don't even feel like a real champ. You have a hard time sleeping at night knowing that you, the coward, took the coward way out.

And that was another edition of SportsMT. Yeah. I love athlete on athlete. It's just amazing. There's the two Twitter beefs I love more than life itself. One is athlete and then anything Adam Clinton gets involved in. Well, there's plenty of both. Mark Damico, by the way, you did a great job with Mark Demiq.

Magna Miko. Appreciate it. I'm always going to be in the minority on this. I'm always going to come down on Kevin Durant's side. He was the finals MVP in those championships and some of the mentions in this. Oh, well, in my book of champions, Kevin Durant is not in there. Nobody cares about your book of champions, a random ass hat on Twitter. And people are coming after Kevin Durant and saying he made a wake move, joining the team, et cetera, et cetera.

And to me, Kendrick Perkins is just showing up for people. It's one of those things like, you know, you're in the classroom and somebody says something, and the whole class goes, ooh. Yeah. And you feel obligated to respond. That's basically what happened to Kendrick's. Perkins because he's on record years ago saying there was nothing wrong with Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors but he felt like he had to act like a tough guy in the internet

which Kendrick Perkins is a tough guy in real life as well. I'm afraid of him. Of course. Beaumont, Texas. I'll watch out for him. All right. So again, we haven't done a whole lot of sports MT theater because it hadn't been much out there lately. But we saw it last night.

We had to take advantage of it. So we hope that you appreciate the theatrical excellence that was Ross. Nick and somewhat of me. And a Twitter beef. And a Twitter beef. Is your throat okay? It's going to be sure. It was very grounding. Grinding? I've got a Rockets game at 4 o'clock tomorrow.

I got an hour left to this show. Good luck. 713-212-5-790. All right. As promised, Richard in League City on the Matt Thomas show. Richard, what can I help you with today? Matt, I'm in trouble. Please. It's been a few years since I called you for sports therapy.

And things have been really good, you know. We had a couple hundred-one seasons as an Astros fan. Right. Three. We had the Rockets going to the Western Conference finals. We've had good Rockets teams. Get to listen to you on the radio. Thank you.

And I am. You have to believe me. I am a Houston sports fan. But what? What? I have these thoughts. They're dangerous thoughts. bad and I try to push them out of my head, but they keep coming back.

And now they won't leave me alone. And the thought is, like I secretly, like I want the Texans to lose. I want them to lose bad. I wanted to lose as bad as I typically wanted the Cowboys to lose. Why do you believe that to be the case? I don't know. I was asking myself when these thoughts first started to come into my mind. And it took me back to an image of Matt Schab on the sideline in his helmet. And it was around that time that I started to just, I don't know, like this contempt for the third Houston sports team. All right.

I'm going to give you some parameters here. This is not bad. This is not moral therapy. This is going to the medical center, the ER. This is not an emergency? Is this ER mute? This is due to the house. Are you bleeding profusely?

Yeah, to me, this is like when he was typing in his little journal, right? Yeah. This is more of, can you give me some ER on this? This is way more of a dramatic situation than I think that. This is dire. Richard, I'm going to be honest with you. I don't think you hate Deshawn Watson or DeAndre Hopkins, right? I don't.

I have a lot of respect for him. Do you like JJ Watt? I do. Do you like Jonathan Joseph? Do you like Carlos Hyde? Do you like Darren Fells? Do you like, I mean, do you like Kimee Fairbear? I mean, you know what it is?

You hate Bill O'Brien. I don't want to hate anybody, that's. But you do. In your mind, because here's the thing, in your mind, you think if the Texans lose 40 to 7 that Bill O'Brien's going to lose his job, and I got news for you, Richard, he ain't going to lose his job. Cal McNaird loves him.

Jack Easterby loves him. He's not getting fired. Nothing that could happen. he MFed a fan a few weeks ago against Denver and he's going to keep his job. In fact, I think more highly of him today than I did yesterday because of that.

He ain't going anywhere. Is there any way, anyway? I just looking for the realm of possibility. Nope, don't even ask. Be it to come back? Nope. Now you're on draws. Gary Kubiak?

Nope. Richard, I want you to go see a therapist, go to a strip club, drink several cold beers, and talk to me in two weeks. Thank you, Matt. See you. That's not even a cool. What's a crisis song?

Crisis. The ER feels like a crisis right there. You know what the, you know what about the shining? Like, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. Oh, the whole, that, the shining theme? Yeah, that's a crisis. That's scary. That's what's what would scare you.

Yes. Fast forward a little bit. Can you fast forward? This is probably my favorite horror movie of all time, by the way. He's fast forward. It's a silver build. That's okay. Where's that?

Dun, dun, dun, dun, that part. I never saw The Shining, so I can't tell you. You never saw The Shining? No. I'm not sure you're thinking of the right song. Yeah. Then I am. What's the, um, you all what I'm talking about?

You know, it's a piano. This isn't it? Turn that off. I like the Shining theme, though. It's a P, it's like somebody helped me out on Twitter. It is a song that has been played in a horror movie, and it's a piano being played. Are you thinking of The Exorcist theme? That's what I'm thinking of.

Give me some exorcism here. The Exorcist, I should say. This is this. When we come back. Well, we'll just play. Yes. This song is scary a F right here. Yeah, this is a good one.

This is good. It is. This is creeping me out. This makes me think of Linda Blair. vomiting on everybody. 143 on the Matt Thomas show. Next time, tell Alexa. Playing 790 on I-Heart

Radio. Wherever you are, so is Matt Thomas. Here we go. That Beatles rip-off. You think there was a big Richard? Why was he known as Little Richard? Don't shake your head at me. It would be good if I'm on microphone.

Yeah, well, it's just radio. I did that earlier today. Twice, I think. NFL player association in the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame, which didn't even know existed. Hold on. There's a National Bobblehead Hall of Fame? I don't know where it is. Why? As soon as they send me emails, I usually erase them.

What's it in like Peoria, Illinois, or just some little... You look it up while I talk about this. They sent me a bobblehead of JJ Watt, not in uniform, not within a Texan uniform, wearing a Chexon jersey with the number one on it. It was the day he was drafted in the 2000. an 11 rookie season. It's in Milwaukee. Okay.

So I didn't make it up. Well, hold on, Matt. Maybe you shouldn't give this away. Maybe we can make some money off of this. No, we're doing this. Let me tell you something. We're doing this because we like our audience. I'd rather make money.

Well, I'd rather like my audience so they can like me and then I can make some money later on off of that. There's a T.J. Watt draft day bubblehead on eBay for $30. So it's not, they're not great receals. Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and give it away. So if you would like to win this JJ Watt draft day bobblehead, you have to tell me the first college he played football at.

Oh, okay. Right now, quickly. I'm pretty sure I got that. I got that. 713-212-5-790. Turn your microphone. I don't think nicknows the answer to this question. Turn it off, Ross.

I got it. Oh, you do you? Okay. You know the answer. 7-13, 2-1-2-5-79. The very first person gets the ball. bobblehead because we love you let's go to irvin on the north side at 151 on the matth thomas show urban good afternoon i got right uh yes though i were watching the game last night

and charles barker i don't like charles barkley but he said what i thought all alone see then i call you you about two weeks ago and y'all trying to make fun of it after i got off the phone but i'm gonna tell you i'm gonna be real charles barclay said said, though, the reason he don't like the Rockets, because they made of just James Harton. See, the Hartn is a fabulous ball player. See, but if you take him away from Houston, Houston can't win. And you look at the Dallas Magrish, they got a good ball club,

see, they on the bench, see that, and the flow. And see that, and they don't have to have. in that lineup. See, the Houston guys can't even I'm talking about they can't shoot. They can't shoot. And they show can't play no defense.

Just be real. Just tell the truth. They don't play no defense at all. And they barely be the now of the night before. The Rockets have a better record than the Dallas Mavericks. They may have a better record than the

Dallas Magwitz, but all my Houston Rocket. fan. See, and it scurts me every time they played the Madwish. Magwere's going to beat the mess out of them like they beat them in Houston and they're going to do it again. You watch what I tell you.

Houston don't have playoffs. I'm talking about he didn't tamper with that team so much. See, the Harton ain't got nobody to play with but Westbrook, and that's it. The Rockets have a higher rated defense than the Mavericks as well.

It may be maybe, but they didn't beat the Dallas Magwitz. They plan one time. One time. But they got okay, the Dallas

Magwitz got a lot of Belish shooters in Houston. Well, they do have the number one offense in the NBA, do the Mavericks. The Rockets have the number two two offense.

And as though, and much as I love the Rockets, I was so proud of Chris Paul last night because every time you love Rockets. Y'all made fun of it. Y'all made fun of it. Follow Kamelho.

Y'all made follow Chris Paul. Paul did he show y'all last night? Who made fun of Chris Paul? I want names. Who made fun of Chris Paul? I want Chris Paul. Y'all were making follow Chris Paul talking about her human heart and don't get along and all that.

He showed you why they didn't get alone. I'm talking about the man that got a lot of talent himself. Self instead of watching somebody make shots all the time. Then Tony, he don't know how to use Westbrook. But y'all not going to tell it, right? Y'all not going to tell it right. How many points did Russell Westbrook have last night? Last night, but if you got Westbrook and Harton.

How many points the average in per game? He had 30 points last night. Yeah, so clearly the rockets are not using him effectively. But they're not using them effective. They don't know how they use him. But no one. Okay. We should have Lou Rawls that bad boy a long time ago.

I was entertained. He kept digging his whole... He was literally digging the grave on my radio show. They should play a lot more like the Mavericks. You know, the team with a worst record. David and Cyprus, by the way, got the correct answer to the JJ Watt. So we're going to give him the bobble-hood. The bobble hits here at the radio station.

Dave will take care of you on that. The answer is Central Michigan. We played this first show. Yes. I was, that was my guess and I was correct. Urban, I couldn't know if it was Eastern or Western or Central Michigan, but Central it was. Yeah, Central. You know where Central is?

In the center. I think it's in Mount Pleasant. I know the nicknames are the Chippewas. Okay. Wasn't he, he was a title in Central Michigan. Are you sure still? Is that not offensive? Are they okay?

Why would be so offensive with the Chippewa? I don't know. I'm just asking. A lot of people have been changing them up. Yes. They are in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Yes. And they are still the Chippewas.

Okay. You know what? You're right. I oddly enjoyed Irvin's phone call. It was just getting, it was just one full of... He throws a little short of breath or he's got some hypertension or something. Let me tell you, we all battle hypertension. We just disguise it another ways properly. Final hour of the show is going to be amazing. It's going to be great. Brian T.'s going to join us. Yes. We're going to talk a little college basketball after that because we got Gary Parrish from CBS sports to join us. Gary Parrish, making dollars. How about my Houston Cougars? Just owning the American Athletic Conference so far, perfect. 2 and 0. 2 and 0 is hardly owning.

Playing Tulsa tomorrow on 950 KPRC, this Cougar update being brought to you by the Joint Chiropractic. Longhorns are 0 and 2 in Big 12 play. This Longhorn update brought to you by my sad feelings. Brought to you by Acme Moving Company. Shaka Samara is going to be using it shortly. Oh, come on. Am I telling the truth?

I think they'll make the tournament. If they're not, they're going to lose his job. They need to go at least 500 in big. 12 play, starting in an O2 hole is not great. Big 12 is tough again. Tuffs the relative. Baylor and Kansas are top five teams. Red Raiders are good.

And old huggy bears got the mountaineers playing well again this year. All right. Back to my Cougars. Cougars in Tulsa. Tomorrow, 950 KPRC, catch all the action. Brought to you by the Joint Carripractic. Wonderful. 156.

BTS. And by the way, if you missed the parody earlier, we'll play that in the final hour as well. Plus, we have another pair of tickets to give away for the Royal Rumble between now and three o'clock. It is the Matt Thomas show, and this is Sports Talk 790. Yeah. This is the Matt Thomas show.

It's out there, and that halftime of the Denver game coming off the field. You know, I used inappropriate language, and I just want to apologize for that. I only got one thing to say to Brian T. Smith. B.T.S. You suck, too. What to say, Matt? How odd was that press conference today that you were at when he has to come out and apologize for a TMZ video? I mean, what a strange time day and part of the year before one of the most important games in the history of the franchise, and he has to apologize for that.

First of all, you should know, I know he had to, but I didn't want him to, but it was just a really peculiar timing of everything dropping and then the reaction of the lives to six or seven hours. Yeah, I tell you what, there's, as I don't. always so many thoughts with this. Number one, here's what's going to go down. If the Texans, no matter how they lose, if they lose on Sunday to Kansas City, what, 75, 80 percent, 90 percent of fans are going to immediately want O'Brien fired, just like they would have after Buffalo, just like they did last year, just like they did in 2015 and 16 on and on and on, right? I mean, that is the ultimate recurring theme with his team.

If they win, if the Texans went on Sunday, fans will never be more proud to have Bill O'Brien as their coach. And you will have fans jokingly screaming what he screamed at that, you know, fan, quote unquote, fan at half-time of the Denver game all week leading up to the ASEC championship. I mean, there's never been, and I haven't been in Houston at my entire life. You know Houston sports history. You've covered this longer than I have, but I've been doing it since 12. Has there ever been a coach, manager, Astros, Rockets, Texans, who's been more, you know, alienating, fiery, passionate, pissed off every term than Bill O'Brien.

It's either you love him or hate him. and it's kind of like Twitter in 2020. It changes minute to minute, right? I mean, Buffalo's up 16-0. Everyone wants Bill O'Brien fired. They win that game. Everyone's in love with Deshawn Watson. Then this video comes out

the final practice day before they're going to fly to Kansas City, and that video and his reaction in a lot of ways, Matt, that perfectly captured the pros and cons of the Bill O'Brien era. Yeah, it's, it's hard.

Like, for instance, everybody hated Glenville. Everybody loved Jack Pardy. They both had critics and some friends, but universally from a personality standpoint, everybody loved Bum. Sure. People loved Gary. They just didn't trust Gary long term towards the end. The only way that Bill O'Brien, I think in my mind, gets full acceptance in this community,

is if this team goes to the Super Bowl. I'd be very hard-pressed to find somebody that is on Team O'Brien. Although, again... Right, right, but even if he goes to the Super Bowl, which will be huge, right? You'll get two weeks above the Sean Watson's in the Super Bowl. Right. But I truly believe this. I feel very strongly, having covered every ounce of the Bill O'Brien era, that if the Texans make the Super Bowl with O'Brien and they lose that game, it's going to...

They will blame O'Brien. There's no way around it. With everything he's done with general managers and quarterbacks and personnel and coaches, it's very simple. And I've been saying this for a couple years. He has to win a Super Bowl. And if he does, he will become the coach. He will become the defining coach of the Houston, Texans franchise for as long as we can think forward. And if he does not win a Super Bowl, he will be the most hated coach in franchise history.

And there is no in between. There is no middle gray area because this is how he has made it. He is the coach who will flip the double bird and mother bleep you. in his stadium when his team's about to be down 38 to 3. Well, here's what it is. It's everything that a dictator wants without the results. And that's when he will have scoreboard if this team goes to Kansas City and wins the team. He will.

And go to Baltimore and then go to the Super Bowl, whether or not he wins it or not. You look, AFC, you know, he'll say, AFC South, he'll say AFC champions, Brian, AFC champions, Brian, and he'll have scoreboard. That's how you do it. but until the dictator really reigns over things and wins something, then the criticism is going to be. I had a caller 20 minutes ago. So, Matt, I love the Texans.

I love the Rockets and the Astros. I'm a Houston guy through and through. I want the Texans to lose. And I said, I know the reason why, because you want Bill O'Brien gone. Cal ain't making that move. You don't fire a coach going to the divisional playoffs. You just don't. It's not going to happen.

Well, and how about the irony of, and look, O'Brien's done some very good, I mean, I say this every time. I've been saying this for six years, right? This is the crux of the Bill O'Brien discussion, Matt. He's done some very good things, four out of five division titles. We can always have fun with that, but it counts. The comeback against Buffalo was fantastic. They were also down 16-0 late in that third quarter and looked horrible,

but the irony is that he is, and at some point someone, maybe it'll be me, we'll write a book on this. The fact that O'Brien is so intense and fiery and passionate and proud, and he will m-f-you, but he's the coach of a franchise owned by the McNair's who are known at best for being

polite and friendly and the community and church-going and, you know, just almost like the neighbors down the street who you wave at, but, you know, they won't invite you in, but they're always going to wave at you. You're like, oh, they're really nice people. You could not have more of a polar

opposite, and they've chosen this guy, they've given them the keys to the kingdom, and he will either completely get everyone on board on Sunday at Kansas City, and this city will be buzzing on Monday morning, and no one's going to care about that video, or they will be trying to push Bill O'Brien, pick Bill O'Brien outside of Energy Stadium and put him on Kirby Drive Monday morning.

There is no in between Matt with this coach and this guy in this regime, and he's made it this way. All right. So I'm going to ask you this question, and if you have to save it for a column, I understand. Are you already to make a prediction about the game? I've been making a prediction all week. The second that the Texans beat Buffalo, I already knew what I felt, knew my prediction. Nothing this week was going to change it. You know, Will Fuller is the question mark all the game. But I don't, you know, Will Fuller could have a nice game. You can stretch the field on and on. But ultimately, it will be Andy Reed and Bill O'Brien and Patrick Mahomes. and the Sean Watson and the Texans are on the road at Arrowhead. I knew my prediction as soon as the Texans won against Buffalo in overtime. And that is? Chief 3024.

Okay. You know what you just did? You just did it like you were swallowing a pill you didn't want to take? No. There's no way rationally or professionally I can, going into this game, I could pick the Texans to win it, but I'm also saying 3024, which means that it's within a touchdown, and I've still all week, Matt. I will not be shocked if the Texans win this game. They have the weapons to do it. You could spend your entire Friday Matt Thomas show arguing, having a professional modern football discussion debating, whether who is the best quarterback, Deshawn Watson or Patrick Mahomes.

I really believe you can have that discussion. We went position by position. We put the linebackers and the defensive line together. He was pretty evenly matched. Yeah, we had Kansas City as a better quarterback, wide receiver, offensive line, special teams and coaching. We had the Texans better at running back, defensive line linebacker, and that was it. So maybe it wasn't as close I thought it was going to be. Right, right.

But even the places you're going to give the edge to Kansas City, say, the office. of line and the Texans gave up seven sacks, but it's not like, it's not like JJ Watt cannot theoretically get to Patrick Mahomes and put him on the, on the butt, on his butt, and knock him out of the game. What if J.J. Watt has the playoff game of his life at Arrowhead, and Patrick Mahomes can be knocked down, and he's, you know, he's 6,3, 2, 20, but he's not huge. They could not Patrick Mahomes out of the game. Look, if the Texans are on, and Bill O'Brien and Romeo Cornell bring it, and they don't turn the ball over, and they, Deshawn's fantastic, and they go up early, that stadium will get quiet, quick. It's mid-January. It's going to be freezing. It's not like Andy Reid has six Super Bowl rings. So I will not be shocked at the Texans win this game. I will not be surprised if it comes down to the end of the fourth quarter, but there's no way, Matt, knowing what's at stake. It's on the road. As simple as that is that I could confidently say, yeah, Texans are winning, you know, 37 to 30. I can't make that pick.

No, and again, this is an indictment against the team. It's about somebody having to make a decision. Is A better than B? Right. Is one team better than the other? It's not personal. I mean, it would be personal if you said, well, the Texans are going to win 45 to 10. It's because you probably own a PSL and you're a diehard fan and you are in your Twitter account is Texan, whatever.

That's over the line. And then the same thing is if you said, well, the Chiefs are going to win 52 to 17, team because I hate Bill O'Brien, then there's too much of a bias in that particular direction. Sometimes you just have to be grown-ass about something and say, all right, I've looked at both teams, I look at the roster, I've seen the history, I know the coaching, I know what the Texans did last week, and I know what the Chiefs have done and going to be the number two C in the AFC. Somebody has to win, and it's okay for everybody not to agree, and it's not because you hate the local team, it's because you have to pick aside.

You know what it would be hilarious? The Texans win this game, and Bill O'Brien, who's already doubled down on himself as his own worst enemy king o'brien we have all the we have a little fun with it we take it very seriously but it's a little fun too oh brian should coach the game of his life turn to sean watson into lamar jackson slash patrick mahomes yeah texans win this game and he should just give the the double number one salute to the entire stadium just turn full heel and embrace it i'm telling you i have you know put the hoodie up and look like look like the next emperor, the emperor comes back to life. He should just go full heel and embrace that if you're going to hate me,

and I win at Arrowhead Stadium, bring it. I'm in the AOC championship game for the first time in Texas and history. I'm telling you, I'm not kidding you with this. I enjoyed more of Bill O'Brien on TMZ video than I've enjoyed in his previous six years of coach. Because you know what? It just shows you that he's not this. He doesn't put himself in a glass case. He hears it, which means,

In 2014, he's never been. He's never. He was known as teapot for a reason. It wasn't a joke. It was because he can't control his emotion. I mean, he's gotten better. So we want to say he's got, like, that was the whole thing during training camp from three season, all the, I want to mention the radio station,

but all the quote-unquote, you know, Texans experts who get paid a decent amount of money to say that they know a lot about the Texans when they don't. Oh, Bill O'Brien, so much better. he's gotten calmer on and on and on this season he just did that and and here's here's the other part about it we can have fun with it but i will say and we don't know what the fan said but what if that was like what if that was your son or your daughter or you're a fan and he does you know and you're around that and you see it and you hear it i mean there there is a a very very ugly side to it but yeah but you know what though bt s let me tell you this NFL football ain't for families and you

know that No, it's the shield, and it's grown men playing a grown man. There you go. Yeah, I would have to say, and I have two boys, as you know, I would not ever tell my sons guys be prepared for hearing some vulgar language and hearing some obnoxious things because... Well, right, but, okay, that's, no, there's two sides to it, though, but it's not, it's the fans who say it's not usually the coach who's doing that.

Oh, okay, I get you. We've never seen that. We've never seen that from an NFL head coach. I'm just telling you, I'm not a wallflower, and I thought it was exemplary, and I hope he doesn't get punished. And, yeah, do you apologize today? I know he had to apologize. I'm almost done with a column saying, like, this is old news, and it's not that it came out from week 14. This is who he has been since 2014.

This is who he was in New England. This is who he always will be, and he will either sink or swim, and he'll have a crown for life, where he'll be fired next year, whatever it is. This is who he is. I'm the last person in Houston who's going to be offended or triggered or bothered by that. I don't care. All right, BTS. Thank you for the time as always talking next week,

hopefully talking about an AFC championship game because regardless of what you pick, to have an AFC championship, we've never had it here since the older's, and that's going back 40 plus years. That's crazy. Thanks for the time as always, friend. Thank you, Matt. You got it. BTS.

Brian T. Smith from The Chronicle at Cron Brian Smith with us here on the Matt Thomas show. This is the Matt Thomas show. Matt Thomas. On Sports Talk 790. All right. There is a special event coming to the University of Houston, and we'll tell you more about that right now, with a gentleman who is probably considered

one of the best college basketball writers in the country. It has been for quite some time. Gary Parrish from CBS Sports is with us here on the Matt Thomas show to talk some big picture college basketball. Maybe a little bit on the Cougars. Gary, it's Matt. How are things? And thanks for joining us this afternoon.

Things are great. I appreciate your kind words, and thank you for having me on. All right, please explain the fight for literacy, which is something that has been near and dear to your heart for quite some time. Yeah, we'll get to talking basketball here in a minute. But first things first, on Wednesday, when Houston hosts SMU and American Athletic Conference basketball game, you're going to notice that Kelvin and his staff are going to be wearing green ties and green lapel pins, and that is to bring awareness to the Coaching for Literacy Foundation, which works with sports teams. players, businesses, and fans nationwide to generate awareness about the importance of literacy. Because as crazy as it sounds, it's true.

65% of American fourth graders cannot read on grade level. It's surprising, but it's true, even in a country as advanced as ours. And studies show that if you cannot read properly, you're more likely to struggle to get a job, more likely to live in poverty, more likely to commit crimes. It's all connected. And that's what coaching for literacy is designed to. to try to change. And all sorts of college basketball staff around this country have joined it and been a part of it. Virginia, UCLA, Memphis, on down the line. Kelvin and his staff are great to

be involved in. The money raised connected to this game is going to help children in the Houston area via the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation. So that's the other great thing. They don't raise money in Houston and then spend it in L.A. or raise money in Detroit and then spend it in New York. If the money is raised via a game in Houston, that money is going to be reinvested into the Houston community. And I'm going to assume, Gary, because our audience is pretty good in social media, the hashtag Fight for Literacy is on all the different social platforms. Is that correct?

That's correct. And then people can also, if you just want to check the website, coachingforliteracy.org. Coachingfor literacy.org. You can learn more about it. And you'll see the Houston logo on the homepage. click on that, all the information's right there. Okay, Gary, let's get to the Houston Cougars.

I'm an alum, and so I have an extremely vested interest in their success. Two and O in conference play, they went to Hawaii and won a tournament and beat Washington in that final there. How do you size up Kelvin Samson's team? A lot of departures from last year, but some guys growing up right now and helping the cause. As long as Kelvin was going to be on the sideline, they were going to be fine. He really is one of the great college basketball coaches in this country. Wherever he's been, he's won.

And it's why I thought it was brilliant of Houston to hire him when the school did. And also brilliant to do what you had to do to keep him after last season because there are a handful of guys in this sport where it almost doesn't matter who's on the roster. They're going to figure out a way to have a competitive, if not very good. team year in and year out. And Kelvin's track record backs that up. So I know some people rolled their eyes a little bit when Houston was made a co-favorite in the American Athletic Conference preseason poll with Memphis. But if you look up right now, you know, Houston's ahead of Memphis in most of the computers. Houston's obviously off to a two and oh start in the league. Memphis

doesn't have that. If you're telling me that Houston wins the A8 regular season title and gets a high seat in the NCAA tournament, it wouldn't surprise me. And it is largely due to the guy on the sideline. Gary Parish, CBS Sports with us here on the Matt Thomas show. And again, Coaching for Literacy.org, the big event coming up Wednesday when the Cougars in SMU play. And I'm going to be really honest with that, Gary, because we can be that way with each other. We're not a great basketball town college-wise.

I think a lot of it is because the Cougars have gone so long in between the deep tournament run. So I want to talk very big picture. Penny Hardaway routinely in the short time he's been the coach of the Memphis Tigers has had this national top. five recruiting class, including a young man who's no longer with the team. Let me ask you, and I don't know if you guys are buddies or not, we know he can recruit.

Can Penny coach these amazing kids he's grabbing and get him to top 25 on a regular basis and get him deep in tournaments? I do think so. Listen, after what happened last night on national television, it's a totally reasonable question. They did not play well. They did not

look good. But I will say you mentioned James Wiseman who quit the team before Christmas to focus strictly on the NBA draft. That means Memphis lost its best player because he only played three games, but in those three games, he was awesome and had the highest player efficiency rating in the entire country. It's not just that Memphis lost a projected top five picks.

Memphis lost maybe the guy who would have been the best player in all of college basketball had he continued to play. So you take him off the court, everything is different. And now they're having to play basically with their power forward, center. It's just the entire dynamics of the roster change. But if you go back and look last year at their preseason computer numbers and then look at the postseason computer numbers, they outperformed the expectation. That was largely due to Penny coaching, an unheralded roster that Tubby Smith left in, but doing a good job with the unheralded roster that he was

forced to deal with. Now he has a much more talented roster, but still missing the best player. numbers are still better at this moment than they were in the preseason. So I'm not going to sit there and try to tell you he's the next Chris Beard or Tony Bennett in terms of just exing and owing other people to death. But I do think he is a good enough coach and his staff is a good enough staff that if they continue to recruit at a high level, they will continue to have teams at a high level. Final question for you, Gary. How hot is Shaka's seat in Austin, Texas right now? It's getting that way. And I'll tell you, this is. is one of the things that I've been surprised by, the fact that he cannot get that thing

operating at a high level. They've had good teams, but it's never had a great team. He obviously hasn't broken through in the NCAA tournament and went on another deep run like he did once upon a time at VCU. And I do think if this continues to go the wrong way, and he's going to in the big club right now. And that's a league where it's hard to make up ground because almost everybody is good. There'll be a asking big questions about him, you know, come March at the end of this season. And it doesn't help him at all that there's another guy in the state of Texas with a worst job doing better. And that's Chris Beard at Texas Tech. So it's not only that Shaka's seat as hard, it's that

it's hot. It's that the possible next Texas coach is just right down the road and really, really operating at a high level. Gary, remind folks about Wednesday very quickly before we get to the time out here and what you'd like for them to do in support of the coach. for literacy this week? Yeah, if you can just go on your phone or computer to coaching for literacy.org, coaching for literacy.org. Find the Houston Cougars logo. Click on that, and all of the information is there.

And if you want to text a donation, you can do that to Cougars for Lits. You text Cougars 4LIT to 7177. That's Cougars 4LIT to 7177. and I really appreciate you having me on to let me bring some attention to that. We're going to bother you next time, come tournament time when you're really, really busy. You understand this, right? I owe you one and I'll be here for you, I promise. Thanks, Gary. Gary Parrish, from CBS Sports. Thanks for the time, friend.

All right, one of the best basketball, college basketball writers, and obviously when we get to March Madness time, he's going to say, I'm super busy. But we're going to get him on and talk some big-time college basketball. More Matt Thomas now on Sports Talk 790. All right. Congratulations to Ricky and Tomball. He got the last set of tickets for the Royal Rumble. And Ross, tell the answer to your question, which was, oh, he's eating.

What is your favorite version of Kansas City? You went with old fat. Domino. I was going to go to the Beatles. I've got one more for the last segment that might beat all of those. I'm glad you saved it. I did. We got the Gordy parody coming up.

if you didn't hear it a minute ago or earlier in the day. Right now, we're going to make some money with my buddy, Paul Nolan. Paul, I'm going to ask you the same question I asked you a week ago. We're going right to the Texans and not messing around. Can I get a bump in points one way? Well, I should be one way. If Will Fuller does suit up and play Sunday for the Texans, can we get a half point on that?

Yes, definitely. There's no doubt about it. He's definitely worth a half point, probably 0.6. What he does to that team in general, everybody knows, down there when, you know, stills in the slot and he's in the lineup. He's twice as productive. I mean, he averages a full yard more, you know, per cover snap, when he's, you know, route snap when he's in the lineup.

And we all seem, everyone knows what he's done to DHOB's number. So he's a huge impact on the game. You can't deny his value, especially with Juan, you know, Juan Thorneill being out. You know, he's, that rookie to safety has, was excellent. And really the only injury that's going on in Kansas City. You know, early in the week, there was some value on this over, but there was also weather in the forecast. There was, you know, early in the week, the seven-day forecast had heavy winds and possibly snow and, you know, and sleep. And, you know, that line went from 47 and a half, 48 and a half in the opening line right to 51.

So, you know, Wolf-Fullough plays, it's probably going to pick up a little bit as well, too. So, yeah, that's this, if you believe Wolf-Pollah is going to play, and if you know something over there, you're being on the inside, you know, you could text me right now if you like, you can, you can, but I'm at a radar. You know, he's definitely playing. I would like to know. Let me tell you. We're going to hear from Will Fuller in just a second as Mark Berman from Channel 26. I think it's going to be very much a game time decision. Either that or the Texans are being extraordinarily coy. Paul Nolan from freewinter's dot net sports investors weekly.

You can find him tomorrow and Sunday at 10 o'clock right here on Sports Talk 7.90. The NFL is not sneaky, Paul. They don't kid around here. They want to put weather in as many games as humanly possible. Thus, the reason why the Green Bay Packers are playing the very latest game on Sunday afternoon. Typically, in January, how much does the weather affect how you decipher a game and how the line can potentially shift? Well, when you look back at the game where Tom Coughlin's face, you know, frozen, I think pieces of it actually fell off, that does factor into that game.

I mean, that's brutal cold. That's the kind of cold. But the way they prepare the sidelines now and how geared up and the breathing techniques these guys used to keep their skin temperatures going, plus the amount of how active they are, you know, it's not brutal. What's really brutal is wind. And the metrics on weather for us starts at 12 miles an hour. And every mile and hour thereafter, it changes our weather model. And the weather model factors in games, especially in the passing game. And that's one of the things, you know, like looking at early in the week,

there was definitely value for us in the over in San Fran and Minnesota. And there's a free pick over the air. I would say I would still go over in that game. But now that it's all about the wind is possibly coming in, and early in the week, you know, it was, you know, 8, 10, and now we're here in 14 to 17. And if it changes, it gets worse, that pick won't be as valuable or valuable at all.

So if people are listening and thinking about taking a free pick and going over, just keep an eye on the weather or tune. into the show on Saturday or something morning and when we're closer to game time. But as far as some of the other free picks, I thought one of the best values as a free selection would be, if you took $100 and said that I believe Sam Fran and Minnesota will be the highest scoring game of the weekend, you can get $445 back. It's almost $4.5 to 1 as that being the highest scoring game. So to me, I don't know if I, you know, I think that might be a pretty good value there.

I think that's maybe a little bit too generous by Vegas, so I like that number. And then the other prop we liked was, will the Packers score on the opening drive? But waiting to find some lines on that. They usually have that prop available Saturday and something morning. If you could find that on your website and, you know, the people out there listening who have access, we would say, yes, they will score on the opening drive. And if you get, you know, if you hedge the difference between a field goal and a touchdown, you should get good value there.

So, but, you know, I think that's a pretty good value to, based on the fact that, you know, Green Bay is going to add their first 15-plays scripted their efficiency in their first 15 plays of the 17 weeks versus every other drive thereafter is really remarkable. And Seattle struggles in the opening drives against them. So we feel like you catch some value there. Okay, so you like a Green Bay scoring in their opening drive. What was the one? Which game did you think was the highest scoring on the weekend, you thought? Well, if you take San Fran, Minnesota at the highest scoring game, you get four. and a half to one odds.

Wow. Okay. All right, about this. Let's flip this. Is there a bet? Now, regardless of what Vegas says, is there a sucker bet that people should stay with? Because, again, when you have only four games to bet on and maybe people are bumping to

Vegas or doing their own online thing, they're always trying to find something interesting to keep some action in the game. What type of bet would you tell them to stay away from? Well, for me, I can't urge people enough when it comes to teasers. No matter who you like, let's just say you like the Packers. can't tease the Packers through a zero because you destroy the value of the teaser. The key to teasers is going through a three and through a seven, especially both. One of the reasons why you see in this line, you don't want to two teams,

he's staying at nine and a half of the Baltimore, and you'll see the lines where they set them up is to protect against the teasers. Part of that is factored in. So don't tease the Packers if you love them. If anything, you'd have to, you know, you'd have to stay away from them, and your teaser better use the total in that one. And again, teasing totals is not the best value unless you can go through, you know, 48 and 52. So it's not a lot of great value in totals teased, especially if you're teasing over in those situations.

So you've got to be very careful. I think it goes along with relationships with women and it also goes in sports. Avoid teasing at all costs, correct? That's a good advice. Just be brilliant on this. Unfortunately, my only relationship with women is being teased. and taunted. That's why you got the handicapping business. I can tell you that for

sure. Saturday and Sundays. That's why I'm in radio. There you go. Saturdays and Sundays, freewinters. Dot net, Sports Investors Weekly with Paul Lolan and his crew, 10 o'clock right here on 790, both Saturday and Sunday. Paul, happy betting. Happy weekend. We'll talk with you next week as we narrow it down to two games. We're going to find

all sorts of different prop bets for next week's visit for sure. Yeah, what's scary is to believe that either Seahawks or Green Bay are going to be in the championship game, and neither team really belongs there. So I'm sure Sam Brand is thinking if they win this game, they have a clear path to where they want to be.

So best of luck to your Texans down there. Thanks again for everything, Matt. You guys are great. All right, Paul, take care of yourself talking next week. Paul Nolan with freewinter's dot net, the Saturday and Sunday shows at 10 o'clock. Rossi, this may be one of our all-time favorites. We sent it to break

with you, Texans fans, Ross, Nick, myself, and Chris Gordy's horrible football Friday parody. As I walked through the gates at Arrowhead, I take a look at my team and say at least we're not dead Because we've been playing and losing so long that I thought that O'Brien would surely be gone But we crushed Bill even though he didn't deserve it Four-time division champs, you know that's unheard of

O'Brien's got the Sean stunning and then he's gunning And if you play in cover two, he's gonna take off running It's like a business trip up to Kansas City Chiefs fans in the snow gonna be such a big pity. Deshawn's a kind of G. The Pat Mahomes wants to be in KC. He won't sweat, leaving with a Houston upset. Been spending most playoffs losing in the second playoff round. Been spending most playoffs losing in the second playoff round. Keep losing every time. Never been a conference title game. But if we win up in KC, we're going to play in our first title game.

Matt Thomas returns on Sports Talk 790. Out of Don Cornelius, and every episode of Soul Train. Peace, love, and... Will Fuller talk to Mark Berman at Channel 26. You know Mark. We all know Mark Scoops. Mark love him, adore him. Guy goes everywhere to get every story whether we care about it or not,

and here is when we care about. Will Fuller talking about whether or not he's going to be able to go Sunday in Kansas City. They'll probably just be a conversation between me and him. I'm me letting him know how I'll feel. And then now that would be it. All right. So, let me ask you this. How do you'll be able to play? All right. So, I got a treat. So I got to do on the plane or it's just something you do with. On the plane? When I get there, I'm done here, you know, as much as I can. Yeah, probably. All right. So let me ask you this. How do you treat a groin on a pole? Matt?

Once again, don't ask questions you don't want answers to on the show. Here's the question I was going to ask that I'm not going to pull back. How do you treat a groin on an airplane? I don't want you to answer that question, especially you, Nick. Lots of lubricant. Okay. You're suspended for this segment. Hey, let's remind folks, we're going to be at Luckies on Sunday. Yes.

I don't know what we're doing. I don't know if we're giving away anything. I'm bringing every, I've been cleaning them. out my garage. I'm bringing every what's happening lunch timers and what's Good Morning Stripper's shirt that I have left. Wonderful. I think most of them are probably super extra large.

Double X. So if you have a hot girlfriend, she can use as a sleep shirt. Okay. What if you have an ugly girlfriend? Then it's just a regular shirt. Is there nothing better than a good looking woman in a oversized t-shirt? Yeah. A lot of things. A woman out of a

oversized t-shirt. Okay. I don't mean to do... Or in a thong or I don't mean to point this out to you, but if they're oversized t-shirts, they're easy to get off, right? Yeah. So. You know, this is easy to get off, nothing. Yeah, but, again, at the end game is always nakedness. The next step has to be something else.

She's not going to walk around in a thong and braw. Unless she's got a little bit of freak to her. So I've known girls that will walk around with... For hours on end. Yeah, with nothing on. Why haven't I met them? I don't know. I don't know.

I'm not answering that question. I just think a sexy woman in a t-shirt is, and that's top ten. Okay. Oh, yeah. You can put in the top ten. Especially if it's a Matt Thomas T-shirt. There's only like nine ways to wear clothes. We've met, some of our listeners have attractive wives, and they say, they'll put the shirt on.

So, just something to think about. Some of our listeners are attractive ladies. They're about their husbands. So we want, whether you're attractive or ugly, we want to see all of you at Lucky's on. on Sunday. And I'll also be at Lucky's on Monday. Okay, so I think Brian Leema and the Sports RV show

will be 11 o'clock tomorrow. Sports Talk 790. Be there. Who's doing Rockets tomorrow? Me. Damn, you're doing a lot of work. I'm doing a sports RV show, 11 o'clock.

Rockets pregame starts at 3. 3. Rockets post game. Then. Texans watch party. And then Monday, college football playoff watch That one, courtesy of Dosakis, and I will have some good prizes to give away.

Okay, good. So I'm bringing T-shirts. Los Lobos tickets, Monster Jam tickets. I got good stuff to give away. I don't know about you guys. All right. So come out and see us at Lucky's. We're at St. Emmanuel, downtown location.

And I think Lillima and Michael Connor are doing a show at 11. And then Adam Wexer is going to do a post-game show right after the kickoff of the final gun is. And he's going to try to recruit one of us to do it with him. I think he's going to zero in on the most sober person and ask them to co-host with him. Shouldn't you find the drunk? That'd be much better. Man, we'd think so. If they win, it's drunk.

If they lose, you want somebody sober. Or maybe it's the opposite. You can drown your sorrows, or you can celebrate by drinking. That's, you know, beauty of alcohol. Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do? We should play America's fastest growing sports game show. Monday through Thursday, we called it.

Believe it or not, but on Fridays, we call it a hell yeah. And now, here's how it works. you'll call 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Today's edition of Hell-Year-Nod is brought to you by Woodhouse Day Spas. Print out your gift card for the gift of relaxation at Houston Woodhouse Spas.com. The category today is all things about the city of Kansas City. If I read a statement to you and is completely and utterly accurate, you'll say this.

Hell yeah! If the statement's erroneous funnel bunk and made up, you will say this. Not! To Hell Yeah or Natsunarola about Kansas City will win you a prize. Ross, what's that problem? Matt, I've got a pair of tickets to see Adam Ant, the friend or foe tour, April 29th at the Revention Music Center, LiveNation.com for tickets and information. All right, 713, 212, 5790. Jonathan on 790, ready to play, hell, yeah or not.

Hell yeah. The first professional sports team in Kansas City were the Kansas City Kings of the NBA who eventually moved to Sacramento. Believe it or not, or excuse me, hell yeah or not. Hell yeah. No, it was the Chiefs. I think Kansas City is going to have an NBA franchise within 10 seasons. Okay. I think Kansas City is on the list.

I think Vegas is on the list. And I think Seattle definitely is on the list. Let us continue. Todd on 790. Todd, your favorite part of the radio show today. Favorite part of the week, the gambling talk. Nicknames for Kansas City include the Emerald City and the Gateway to the West. Hell yeah, or not?

Not. Statement number two for the win. Kansas City is sister cities with Seville, Spain, Hanover, Germany, or I guess it's Hanover, Germany, and Kabul, Afghanistan, among others. Hell yeah, or not. Not. Oh, sorry, my friend. Got to know sister cities.

Every time we talk about a city, that creeps up. What's up with their relationship with Kabul, Afghanistan? Is it close? I don't know. I couldn't even give you an answer on that. Now I'm going to funny one. Cori on 790, ready to play hell yeah or not. Well, yeah.

Kansas City has more barbecue restaurants per capita than any other city in the world. Hell yeah or not. Hell yeah. Statement number two for the win. President Gerald Ford was born in the Brookside Park neighborhood of Kansas City. Hell yeah, or not? Not. Yeah, he's a Detroit guy.

Sorry. or as the Canadians would say, sorry. 7-1-7-13-21-2-5-790. Who's born in Omaha, by the way? Jason on 7-90, ready to play, hell yeah or not? Hell yeah. The closing of several major manufacturing plans have forced the Kansas City population to stagnate,

and it's actually declined since the 2010 census. Hell yeah. Not. Not. That sounded very smart, though. I tried. Statement number two for the win. Kansas City was unaffected by prohibition.

in the 1920s because of corrupt politicians and police officers, alcohol business went on as if everything was normal. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. That's right. Last one belongs to Johnny on 790. Johnny, you ready to play hell yeah or not?

Hell yeah. In 1864, Kansas City was the site of the Battle of Westport during the Civil War. The Confederates were defeated and forced to retreat. Hell yeah or not. Not. Hell yeah. Gotta know your U.S. sister in the Montana show. Gotta know the Battle of the Sport.

Well, among your favorites, where do you put Westport? Westport's way down on the list. I'm a Gettysburg guy. Okay, as in my. There's no battles. Antietam. Perhaps a bull run. All right, can we play the Beatles version?

Let's play the Beatles show, close out the show today. Really? No, you guys hate it. Play Fats Domino. That one sucks. Play Fats, as we tell you about Woodhouse Day Spas. Enjoying the relaxation. Well, listen to Fats Domino can certainly happen.

either one of the Woodhouse Spa locations, whether it's a south side in Sugarland or the north side and vintage. Do yourself a favor. Print out a gift card. Get that special lady something. Let her relax as she hears Kansas City with a facial, a pedicure, a manicure, a sleep treatment, whatever it takes to keep it relaxed. Do it today at Houston Woodhouse Spas.com.

Wex and Clinton, they are the age. team and they're out next i'll talk to you all tomorrow from toto center for rockets and wolves you're listening to sports talk 790 i'm off street in vine