The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 1-31-20

Episode Date: January 31, 2020

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 1/31/20Former Steelers CB Ike Taylor (9:48)Tracy Sandler of Fangirl Sports Network (22:39)Brian Baldinger of Fox Sports and NFL Network (41:38)Clyde Drexler Joins Matt for Flashback Friday (1:02:32)

So much larger than life. Yeah. Launch timers. Is the Matt Thomas Show. And welcome to a Friday edition of the Matt Thomas show. I'm back here in H-Town. So is Nick Lowe. Sports RV joining us from Miami, Florida.

Question was asked on Twitter moments ago. Ross described the Twitter. putter scene or the stripper scene between Miami, Florida and Houston, Texas. Can you care? Will you care to analyze such an event for us? Well, man, I wouldn't be able to analyze such a, making such an assessment because I did not go to a strip club here in Miami, unfortunately. I'm sorry to disappoint. I know I didn't live up to my reputation, but you know, Matt, work comes first, and I'm just grinding,

prepping shows, prepping interviews, eating Cuban citizens. sandwiches, so very busy out here. So what's the most fun thing you've done since you've been there? The most Miami thing you've done? The most Miami thing I've done is get robbed at gunpoint. No. No, that's not nice. That is kidding.

The chamber of commerce. See, I'm horrible, though. I'm a bad tourist in that. Like, when I go to a city, I just want to go and eat, like, the local food and drink and go to local bars. I don't care about, like, touristy stuff. Yeah. So I haven't really done anything like that.

I didn't even go to the beat. I brought some swim trunks. you know, my bikini bottoms, of course. Yeah. But I didn't even get to make it to the beach, unfortunately. So I am probably a bad tourist in that way. I kind of stayed in our little circle where we are, but I did go eat some Cuban food and a couple of the nice restaurants up here

and a couple of the clubs. Matt, do you know that the bars and the clubs here? Do you know when they close here at Miami? They don't close? Do you know when they close? 4 a.m.? 5 a.m. Wow.

Wow. So we see why James Harden struggled in the 2000. 2012 final. You know me, I usually go right to bed as soon as I arrive in an arena, so that will be something I could not comment on. Yeah, it's funny because we were at a bar at like 9 o'clock and we're like, wow, this place is kind of dead. But then they liven up. Like, you know, in Houston you don't go out until like 11 if you're clubbing because they close at two. So in Miami, you go out at like one.

And then that's when you go out and you go out one to five or something. Wow. All right. It's crazy. That's the scene, the sights and sounds of Radio Row from Sports. Sports RV, and we've got some folks headed that way to visit with you over the course of the show, which will include Ike Taylor of NFL Network in just a few minutes, in fact. Wait, is that right?

I'm glad you checked. Somebody called Tracy Sandler, and this is really more for you and your opportunity to get one more number before you leave South Beach, correct? I've gotten zero, so we'll probably keep it there. She is a Uber Niners fan, right? And she's fairly easy on the eyes. Will that be fair to say? Okay, yes. Okay, so Tracy will join the show at the bottom of the hour.

One o'clock, Brian Baldinger from NFL Network. You guys have seen Baldier on forever. He's been on Fox NFL college. We know who that is. Very respectable, really good X's a nose guy. Clyde Drexer's on the phone with us at 1.30. It is a flashback Friday. Ross, you are missing the throwbacks tonight here in Houston at TOTA Center for the 630

Tilt with the Mavericks. I know. I'm going to be in the air. When the game tips off. I have to watch it when I get home. on the SPN so you could watch on the TV and on the plane if you want to. Well, I don't know that Southwest has their, do they have live TV? Yeah, they've ESPN.

Okay, good. Yeah, you're in good spot there. And then in the 2 o'clock hour, we'll visit with Brian T. Smith. And then towards the end, Dana White from UFC's going to be on the show. Yes. Does he ever do live radio appearances? I think he doesn't like every day. But it'll be good to get him on here. We've had him, I think last time we had him on Radio Row in Houston,

we had to dump him a couple times, so we'll just have to have him watch his language, but that'll be okay. You know what, Nick, I'm staring right at you. You know these things, right? Dana's got a little bit of a spicy voice. Oh yeah, I remember last year I think I was the one that had to dump him. Okay. So Dana White will be with us towards the show. So we've got a busy program today. Yesterday I was in transit from Portland to Houston. By the way, that flight takes forever. I don't know how anybody from the Northwest ever leaves that area because every flight's like nine hours. It felt like we were crawling back here. But I did miss the conference with Dusty Baker. Saw much of the

highlights yesterday on the variety of different social platforms. Ross, your initial takeaway of the brand new skipper. He is every bit of 70 years old, right? But he tried to sound as cool as he could. He's just a very affable guy. We're going to like him. Now, does he mean he's a great manager or he's going to be a guy that's going to lead the team to the World Series? That remains to be seen. But from a likability standpoint, he definitely, yesterday did win the press conference, right? Yeah, it's like, you know, if you skin your knee, you want to sit on his lap and have him tell you a story, Matt. Like, he seems like a very grandfatherly. Seems like a nice older man. I thought he was funny. And he was yesterday talking about, you know, all this random stuff about

pruning his grapes and checking his dog for ticks and speaking Spanish makes him tired and all this stuff. But look, the bottom line is that's one of the reasons he was hired is because he's likable. And one of the things we always talk about that's very important in a manager, Matt, is somebody who the players like and the players most importantly respect and will listen to. And I think Dusty Baker is going to be that guy. I mean, you still have Joe Spada here. You still have most of the staff. So, I mean, he's going to, as long as he's open to, you know, the analytics and all. that type with the shifting and the in the scouting reports, which he obviously is going to be, or else Jim Crane would not have hired him. I like to hire. I think when I first heard his name, I was just like, Dusty Baker. I don't know if you want a 70-year-old retread, but it's a one-year deal.

He's a nice guy. The team is talented. That's what's most important. So all in all, I think I'm pretty well on board with the Dusty Baker hiring, and I thought he showed himself well yesterday. Yeah, and we'll look forward to visiting with him in a few weeks when we get down to do spring training with the Astros. I will say this. It's one year with a club option for a second year. Do you know the number one thing that I have been asked in emails and on tweets since the announcement yesterday about Dusty, not per se about Dusty's contract? Do you know?

Just take one guess. If he has a personal services clause? No. It was. So they're saying, so he gets a one-year deal with an option. Does that mean A.J. Hinge can come back in a year? That was the number one. The number one, I'm not kidding on this, the number one thing people ask me about is, can A.J. Hinge come back in a year? And technically the answer would be yes, because he is suspended for the 2020 season. He can't manage anybody. But it was funny that I would say, I'm not trying to embellish on this. At least five people ask me about, does this mean that there's a set up spot for AJ to return in 2021? And I don't have an answer for that because that's a very, very secretive conversation held within the,

iron-clad locked doors of Houston Astros and Jim Crane and, you know, productions or whatever he wants to call, you know what I'm saying? I mean, there'd only be like three people in this entire Earth that would have thought that would be a possibility, and if it is, they're not going to tell us. Yeah. You don't know what to say. I get it. No, sorry, Matt, sorry.

That's not going to, that's, there's no way that happens, right? It's something, it's funny, and it'd be cool, and actually it'd be hilarious, but I just don't think there's anything. How do you know it's no way? How do we know it's no way? We don't. Now, it sounds highly improbable. You wouldn't have fired him. I mean, unless you're thinking is you wouldn't be able to hire a manager,

unless you did fire him or something like that. I think the reason why, again, I don't, I'm not leaning towards this at all. He has been dismissed. Those were the words of Jim Crane. He was dismissed from the team. There's no way you dismiss somebody, and then you're just going to bring them back. Oh, you think? I don't know.

How likely do you think this is, Matt? 10%. But it's not zero. I think you're high. Until somebody tells me, Matt, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. I'm not going to, I'm going to give it a small smidge of credence to it. Okay, Matt, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of my life? Here's the reason why.

The real fast reason is, is because you can't suspend, Major League Baseball can't suspend two people. And then Jim Crane, if he wants to go on a firing spree, only fire one guy. when in reality AJ Hinch was in the dugout in with the guys he knew of it so if he really loves you know if it just couldn't be fair to fire both of them

especially because Jeff Leno didn't spend a single inning in the clubhouse or in the dugout during a major league baseball game I think you had to fire both if you had to fire okay well if you're if you're firing both because that's the way it looks and it's the optics and it's PR then there's no way

if you're concerned about those things that you hire him back. It's just no way. I'm saying 10%. I'm saying it's more likely that the Yankees hire him. Oh my gosh. Just spite the Astros. That would be terrible. All right, 12.12 is our time. That's Rosson, South Beach. I'm Matt here in Houston. It isn't anything goes Friday. We've got lots of guests to get to. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-790. It is the Matt Thomas show, and this is Sports

Talk 790. This is Sports Talk 790, live from Radio Row, presented by Low T-Center and Twin Peaks. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 790. Ross, we're out with you folks live from Radio Row in the beautiful Miami. And now pleased to be joined by longtime NFL veteran, two-time Super Bowl champion. Ike Taylor here on in Houston. Ike, how are you doing, man? What's up, baby?

How are you doing? Great. I had to jump on. because whenever a New Orleans guy. Oh, gee. Yeah, of course, we do. We always record. I got to say what's up.

Home team, always reping. Gretna in the house. Yeah. West Bank. Yeah, that's sound about right. West Bank the best bank. I'm from Metterrey, but it's all good. We call New Orleans.

Yeah, people who is not from Metry, they call it Metry. Very good. You spent your whole career with the Steelers, right? Yes, sir. That's so rare nowadays. Like, guys in the NFL, they want to milk it. They want to get that last penny. They'll go to whatever team they,

got to it it doesn't happen anymore one guy just plays his whole career with one team no them boys about their bag you know what the bag is I'm about getting to that bag that's that money yep like it we for us it was more of like a brotherhood we didn't want to leave each other we understood how special that team was that bond so we took we took the discount but at the same time you know our discount was you knew you was going to see that contract. Yep. Because we was going to win, and you was going to see the contract.

If you had an opportunity to be the free agent and go get money, you was probably going to go to a bad team. So you going to a bad team, meaning y'all wasn't going to win, y'all wasn't going to win, you was going to become a salary cap casualty, and that would have been good. So we knew if you signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers, you would have to do something very stupid in the officer. season for them to cut you and that don't usually happens so that's why I was able to get three contracts over the course of my career and you were probably only going to play for one coach because they only had like what like eight coaches in the history of their range I mean like whatever stability is everything yeah um you're doing the analyst work now too breaking down the NFL

looking at all the teams we're in Houston it was just announced the other day bill o'brien he wore the hat of general manager a little bit last year they officially announced he's going to be the GM again this year on top of being the head coach on top of being the play caller in your mind can that be successful i mean it's it's only happened once and it's the man in new england but can bill o'brien can the texans be successful with him wearing all these hats got to give up something and i and i think the reason he got to give up one of them because you can't be all in with one you know it's you can only drive one car at a time so only a few people can be a bill Belichick and there's only really one Bill Belichick honestly and he has a system and it's been

working for him and they've been winning at the same time with coach Bill O'Brien I just think you know if you're going to go all then I would just prefer him just to be an offensive coordinator so say and even as the OC you still want somebody you know under you who can kind of balance you out because sometimes you just get in a one-track mind you get in the mode You don't want to care about nobody else opinion, and sometimes that hurts the team. Just as Coach Andy Reid with Eric B. Enemy, you know, Coach Sean McVeyer, like all these guys have somebody, they look to their right or to their left to kind of balance their thoughts out when it comes down on a play calling. Coach Bill, he's doing everything, and I think that's a lot, you know. Doesn't it feel like, I mean, you mentioned Belichick, and there's other guys like Andy Reed or Pete Carroll or.

John Gruden who have some a lot of say when it comes a person. But those guys have won Super Bowls or been to Super Bowls, in the case of Andy Reid, been to multiple. I mean, we're trying to figure out in Houston. Can you explain to us how he continues to get all this power and move up? I mean, how do you see Bill O'Brien as a head coach just in general? Deshaun Watson. Saving him.

I mean, honestly, that's how I'm just looking at it. Like, you know, Deshaun is, he need to be wearing them hats. Sean Watson. Make him OC. Make him general manager. Yeah, he needs the way. When you just have a superior athletic, good down the earth, genuine guy in that building,

oh, by the way, he's my quarterback, there's nothing too much you need to do. Like, Coach Bill can go home and sleep good at night, knowing his quarterback is laser-focused. The city level, the building level. the building, love him, his teammates love him. I just need to coach them or come up with a game plan. That's hard because you can see what they're going through in Cleveland with their quarterback situation. So when you got a guy, like a Deshaun Watson, man, he just makes everything so easy. So really he should be wearing all them hats because you can just tell by the way he was raised

and what he's doing in that community. he's just a good down-to-earth dude. What'd you make of how the season ended? You score 31 points in a playoff game. Typically, that should be enough. You have a 24-0 lead in a playoff game. That should be enough. The Kansas City Chiefs just absolutely steamrolled them in the second half,

and you lose 51 to 31. But, Ike, you're up 24 to nothing. How do you lose that game? The game, I mean, we just saw New England come back from Atlanta in the play in the Super Bowl. 28 to 3. The game ain't never over, ever over. But I think it got into or wanted to get,

Coach Bill O'Brien wanted to get into a shootout with Patrick Mahomes, and that's something you don't want to do. You scored running the ball. You was gashing KC. defense. Keep that same game plan going. But now you get into this Russell Wilson, Tom Brady Mindset

Well, my quarterback stats is going to be better than yours And now you got Beast Mode mad at everybody Because you didn't handle the ball off On the one-yard line Or if you're the Atlanta Falcons You're mad because you didn't run the ball

In the second half And that's what he has to fight Ike Taylor NFL Network Longtime NFL vet Two-Times champion here on the Matt Thomas show Ike you mentioned Deshawn Watson Talk about him And you know we see

Lamar Jackson is going to be an MVP. Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Do you think of Deshaun Watson in that level or a tick below? And if he is below, how does he get up to that level? No, he definitely in that level. Okay. That's what I'm saying. I think it's more of the O.C.

You know, I think it's the O'S. Deshawn Watson is definitely in that level. Give him a tight end. Give them two running backs. Offensive line be nice, too. Real nice. So for this draft, give the man three offense alignment. Because you see what they're doing for Garapolo and San Fram.

Right. He's surrounded by nothing but good offensive alignment, and he's able to do what he do. All right. And keeping with the Texans there, I feel like, you know, as I mentioned, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, those guys in the AFC, if the Texans are going to compete with those guys,

they've got to build up the defense too. No, no question. But I think you hit it on the head. If we, if it's one person, no more rely on game in, game out. That's going to be Deshawn Watson. Some are going on to help them out with this offensive line. You know, they made the trade for Laramie Tunsell last year,

and they get Kenny Stills, and obviously they give up a ton of future first-round picks to do that, first-then-second-round picks to do so. They're almost handcuffed now because you don't have those draft picks in the first or second round this year next year. You got to go all in. Tonsul's in the contract year now. You got to pay him. Oh, by the way, Deshawn's still on his rookie deal.

He's going to be wanting to be paid soon. Will Fuller, your first round pick from last year, he's coming up for a contract. So how do you make it work? You can't pay everybody. What's the priority? Now, you'll figure something out. You can tag a few people. You can franchise tag.

You can transition tag. So you can tag at least two of them to hold them there. Of course, you're going to want to pay Deshawn. Deshawn over here ain't going to go in the rest of paying him. He's going to get his anyway. Everybody else I try to figure out because there ain't nobody going to get DeShon. Watson kind of money on that team but DeShan. So there will be no rush.

As far as like picks, you still have opportunities to get good solid picks in the third and fourth round. I agree with you. They y'all definitely need some offense alignment. But at the same time, you can figure a way out. Will full of hand going on well. He's not going to get too much. because he's been injury prone. Tunsel as well.

It's a reason why they traded you. It's a reason why they traded you. So you're going to take this hometown discount. But that's just how it is. The only person I'm really concerned with is, if I'm in the front of office, that's the guy I have to pay everybody else. I can go in a drive and give me a pretty good receiver.

Now the left tackle might be a tough position. I usually got a, I need to go high if I want to have a future, you know, slash Hall of Fame guy that offensive line standpoint. But like I say, man, right now my focal point, if I'm their front office is Deshaun Watson. I want to hit you with a couple of rapid fire real quick. We've got a lot of quarterbacks hitting the market.

I'm just going to say a name. You tell me where this guy's playing next year. Drew Brees. He a Saints? Tom Brady? Patriot. Philip Rivers? They already said he's not coming back to.

San Diego. Put up in Tennessee. That would be interesting. Miami. It's going to be hard for Phil. Like, because nowadays, you've got to be able to wiggle. There is no really sitting in the pocket quarterback now. In those days, these young guys, they're too fast.

These defenses are too agile. The big guys are moving too fast. The game is changing. So the sitting-in-the-pocket quarterback, you don't really, really have to scramble, but you got to be able to move a little bit, and Tom really ain't able to move. Phil, for sure, ain't moving no well in the pocket. There are many guys left in the league that you picked off, by the way.

You picked off any of those guys? Tom was my first pick. I got a pick from Drew. He gave him one, so both of them gave me Christmas present. Tom gave me a Christmas present. Drew gave me a Christmas present. Man, I got Philip. I was going to say Phillips got a lot.

Yeah, Philip. Yeah, we call him the candy man. All right. Two more. James Winston. Where's he playing? Back in Tampa. Speaking of that, that's the new candy, man. Yeah, ain't lying. That 30 for 30. That's a good question. Honestly, I don't know why I can see James Winston fitting.

They could probably slap him with the franchise tag in Tampa, keep them. But it was going to leave him when that last one, Cam Newton. Because Carolina's got a whole new staff in there. He can go anywhere. Like, really? He's going to Chicago. If Cam comes back healthy, if Cam comes back, he can go anywhere. I wouldn't. I don't know about the O.C. in Chicago.

That's my only concern. I don't know about the quarterback in Chicago right now. That's what I'm saying. It could be the O.C. That's exactly what I'm saying. Like, the Greg Roman's in the world, there's only a few of them, adjust your whole playbook. Greg Roman and the Baltimore Ravens are just a whole playbook. Yeah.

You know how much pride and ego you got to leave it that dough to do that? You know how much. So it's a tell-tale sign. Like a lot of OCs really don't know. They don't know how to adjust. All they know is what they know. And it's hard to adjust. Those cheese.

Exclusive coverage, interviews, and a ton of hype. The Super Bowl. This is Sports Talk 790. Live from Miami. Presented by Low T-Center and Twin T-Cidter. Peaks. Back to the Super Bowl again. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas Show here on a Sports Talk 790.

Ross v. Real live with you from Radio Row in beautiful Miami here. And now joined by Tracy Sandler. You can find her on Twitter at 49ers Fangirl, the founder and CEO of the Fangirl Sports Network also covers the 49ers. Tracy, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Yeah, good.

There we go. I'm good. I'm good. I've got no complaints. So first Super Bowl for the Niners since 2012. You've been a 49-ish fan since as long as you can remember. Are you from San Francisco? I'm not.

I'm from Los Angeles. So it was very controversial. But when I was really young, I fell in love with Joe Montana. And the rest is history. Here we are. Here we are. I've been successful. I mean, obviously, talk to me about, first of all, just the ascent with, I mean, there was some dark times there.

There were a little bit in there between when Harbaal left and then now with Kyle Shanahan. What is it that separates Kyle Shanahan apart from other head coaches? And how does he have the 49ers in the Super Bowl? Well, I think, first of all, his football acumen is just unparalleled. He's incredible. Obviously, he's been around football since he was also as long as he can remember with his father, Mike Shanahan. But he is such an incredible offensive mind.

But something that some of the players talked about this week that is so true is he also obviously really understands a defense. And so you can't be an offensive genius, really, without also being a defensive genius in some way. So I just think his ability to scheme and create ways for his players to be successful. And clearly, as we've seen over the last several years, the way that he and John Lynch built this football team and did it with a vision, with a plan, with patience,

clearly has paid off pretty quickly. Well, Tracy, if we're going to talk about the Niners success, you guys need to give thanks to the Houston Texans first because basically half the darn coaching staff are guys who were once on the Texans' come. coaching staff from Kyle Shanahan to Robert Sala to, I mean, literally a majority of the coaching staff were once Houston, Texas. So, you're welcome. Thank you very, very much. I'm sorry that it hasn't really translated, but I will say to you guys, you guys probably don't know this about me.

I am a huge Deshawn Watson fan. Oh, really? I love Deshawn Watch. We have a weekly podcast called Fangirl Playbook, and we can talk about my love for Deshawn Watson every week. I just want you to know that. He's in a root for. He's like one of the most likable guys. He's he's religious. Like he's everything you'd want in a quarterback. It's just our head coach. We've got to do something about it.

He's the one who's kind of failing us. We were up 24-9. I was ready to be here, Tracy, to have a Texans-49er Super Bowl, and we blew a 24-0 lead. That was unfortunate and surprising. I was watching that game, and I was like, well, it's 24-0. I'm going to go get a couple of things done. I went into the other room.

I think I was gone maybe 10 minutes, and I came back and I was like, wait, what happened? Like, what just happened here? So I'm sorry, guys. But better luck next year. People have been saying that to me for years, and it's working. So better luck next year, guys. It's amazing when I look at this 49ers team. And I mean, obviously, look, like you said, they stunk for a while.

And when you stink for a while, you end up with first round picks, high first round picks. And that defensive line, I mean, you look at it. Eric Armstrong, DeFer, Nick Bosa, Solomon Thomas. I mean, these are all their... D-Ford, don't forget D-Ford. Well, he wasn't drafted by the line. Right, but all these guys were their first-round picks, and, like, I guess that's how you build a Super Bowl contender

by getting a ton of first-round picks and putting them all on the D-line. Well, we talked to Jimmy Groplo a couple weeks ago, and someone had said to him, well, we talked to him a lot, but somebody had said to him a couple weeks ago, you tore your ACL, so you ended up with the number two pick, and you get Nick Bosa, and he said, I guess that's kind of the silver lining and everything happens to reason, because I don't think this team is here today without Nick Bosa.

Yeah, And that's the interesting thing. And first of all, let's go. You were talking about Jimmy Garoppel. Let's go on that angle first because obviously a lot of the hype, and rightfully so, has been on the side of the Chief's offense with Patrick Mahom. So just tell us your perspective. What are the people who, I mean, we've seen Jimmy Garoppola.

We know who he is. What makes him special? And how huge of a presence has he been for this Niners team? Well, I'll start with how huge of a presence. He's been an incredible presence. His teammates, love him. He's an excellent leader. and he knows how to win football games.

I mean, you could say, well, he only threw eight passes in the last game. Look at his record. And in his first full year as a starter, his team is in the Super Bowl, and that is in a huge part to Jimmy Garoppolo. And what this team has is a lot of unselfish players who just want to win games. So you have situations with like Nick Bosa, Kalyushcheque, who are blocking in the run game and being okay with the weeks that that's their priority. You have a quarterback who doesn't need to throw a ton.

He wants to win. And if the running game's working, great, the running game's working. But Jimmy Garoppolo can win football. games. We've seen him do it all season long. When he has to, he can 100% do it. So I have complete confidence in that. Are you, it's interesting because us in sports radio,

I think we're allowed to be fans. I think, you know, to a certain point, some journalist, you can be a fan of a team. And I think as long as you're outright and admit that, I think it's fine. But what you're going to be watching the Super Bowl, are you going to be covering the Super Bowl? Are you going to be just

being a fan? There's no cheering in the press box. What are you doing on Super Bowl? Sunday. Well, I'll be in the press box. I'll be covering the Super Bowl. With your hands tied behind your back. But you know, at this point, I'm used to it. I've been credentialed by the Niners the last several years. So I am used to it now. I'm 49ers fan girl. It's not a shock that I'm a Ford-Heners fan. But what I always say, you know, I don't wear team gear in the press box. I'm professional in press box. I'm professional in the locker room. I am a fan of the team, but I've managed to learn how to be a fan but still be a professional journalist at the same time.

Well, it's, I always say, like, you have a, like, the people who cover a team, like the TV people who cover the Texans, they want the Texans to win, right? Like, you want the team to do well. You kind of a vested interest. So a lot of people cover the team kind of our fan. Now, the writers are a little bit more, hey, I'm neutral, and that's what I'm talking like the newspaper columnist and those kind of people. But I think from blogs to radio people, I think it's fine. To me, anytime I'm in a press, so I'm from Houston, I'm a huge Astros, Rockets. fan. So like when I'm in there for the playoffs in the World Series,

I'm just like that's a grunt or try not to make any sudden movements. Yeah, you just kind of learn. You know what? I think one of the great things about like Twitter and social media is that I can tweet out my feelings. So I have an outlet that I can share what I'm thinking. And again, I'm 49ers fan girl. So it's like not a big shock. You are 49ers fan girl, Tracy Sandler, with the Fangirl Sports Network. So tell us more about that. So fan girl sports network, It's a digital media platform of all women covering professional sports. And we have a fan girl for every NFL and NBA team.

Though as a brand, we do cover really kind of everything that's going on in the world of sports. And we say that all of our content inspires, informs, and makes you laugh. And we give a little bit more of a female perspective to our inspiring content, our humorous content, and create things with a little bit of more of a female lens on them. So who do we have locally here in Houston? Do you know our, you said our Texans fan girl, You have a Rockets one as well? Yes, and it's actually the same person.

Okay. Sometimes it is the same person, and her name is Aria Rich. You can find her at Texans FGS, and you can find her at Rockets, FGS. There you go. Fan Girl Sports Network. Trace, before we get you out, what's going to happen? I think I know who you're going to pick. Yeah, I don't want to shock anybody, but I am going to pick.

I'm going to pick the four-n-hours. I do think it's going to be a really hard-fought game, and it could easily go either way, and I think it's to be close. The score I'm going with, though my caveat is I'm terrible at score predictions, and I mean, awful. But 312-28 Sanford. this go. 31.28. Let's think that's going to be an over and a cover by the 49ers there.

Well, there you go. I'm not even good at that. Anything that's better? What was last year? 13 to 3. Oh, last year was one of the worst Super Bowl's we've had in years. But a great defensive matchup, but nobody wants to see that in Super Bowl. 31 and 28 is much more fun.

There's a reason they made all the rules against the defensive players. All right, that is Tracy Sandler of Fangirl Sports Network. You can find her on Twitter at 49ers fan girl. Tracy, thank you so much for the time. Thank you for having me. All right, we're going to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 790 broadcasting live from Radio Row. Ross Villarreal, Matt in Miami. Matt Thomas back in Houston.

We'll be back with you in a minute. We're in Miami for the big game. That one game to play in is pretty incredible. What a game! Complete coverage, legendary interviews. Anything can happen. Let's play for me! This is Sports Talk 790, live from Radio Row.

Presented by Lotee Center and Twin Peaks. We are in the Super Bowl. going to be a fun match. All right, 1248 on the Matt Thomas show. Ross and Gordy handling the last couple of interviews from Miami. So any impressions, Ross, on the young reporter for the Fangirl Network? I'm sorry, Matt. Any impressions, you said?

Yeah. She was a nice young lady. I wish her the best with her fan girl sports network. Okay. Nothing else? No commentary? done, finished? What else would you like to say?

Oh, I think there are people driving around town that I just want to know. I want to wish her the best in her future endeavors. Okay. We'll leave it at that. Any other Louisiana guests that Gordy will jump in the middle of the interviews for for the rest of the way. Yeah. And not that I know. I don't think Lil Wayne's going to be here or anything.

So I don't know if we'll be hearing from Gordy anymore. Like if we got Joe Burrell on the show for some reason, he would, I mean, it would be the, Matt, I got this. Ross, I got this. I'm going to handle the next 30 minutes because it's, it's, It's Joe Burrow. Yeah, not only that, Matt. I would gladly step aside, actually, because that man, I mean, I've never seen anyone have any more man left.

Well, maybe Ed Ogeron. Chris Gordy's Man Love list. It's probably number one, Ed Ogeron, and then number two, Joe Burrow. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. There should be a rule here at 790. Well, that's okay. We're one big family that if there's an interview so good. Like, for instance, if Andy was to interview Alex Trebek, I would kick, and Andy, you're not qualified for this.

Let me handle this interview. There's some interviews that should be, regardless of what time of the day it's on, that it trumps. Like if Sean Salisbury had on Paul McCartney, Sean's getting kicked. I'm handling the interview. Really? You're going to show up that early? No, I'm just saying if it ever was supposed to happen. I don't think Paul McCartney.

It's like Joe Burrow was like, I mean, it's my Vince Young, Matt. If Vince Young was to show up in studio right now, you try to fly back here in time. Well, yeah, he wouldn't. If I said Vince Young was coming here in 20 minutes, that means actually two and a half days. Yeah, I'd have some time to fly in and maybe even deal with a delayed flight. Yeah, you'd have a chance to go through Newark and be there in plenty of time. Okay. So coming up at the top of the hour, Brian Baldinger from NFL Network's going to join us,

and we look forward to talking with him. We got Clyde Drexer at 130, Dana White towards the very end of the show, and Brian T. Smith for a few minutes as well. Clint Capella has been ruled out for tonight's game against a Dallas Mavericks. That's interesting, right? That is that, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, Luca Dantitch tonight for the Dallas Mavericks.

Yeah, so I was looking for an easier win. Injury advantage towards the Rockets, right? It's still advantage Rockets, but I mean, Matt, I just want, this is this mid-season malaise, and it feels like it happens almost every year where there's a swoon and the team, is losing games, injuries are cropping up, and this is, you know, this is every team of the NBA. Like we said, Luca Donchis is missing time. The Denver Nuggets have been going through it as far as injuries. So, I mean, it's not just the Rockets, but I just, I wish we could just fast track the All-Star break and extend it for about an extra week, just so everybody, the Rockets can get all their bodies together so that they can finally fully come together and be playing and playing well.

Because Russell Westbrook is playing out of his mind. Right. And unfortunately for him, I mean, you have Eric Gordon has been, I mean, he would drop the 50, but then he wasn't very good on Wednesday. You've had Clint Capella dealing with his nagging injuries. And then you have James Harden just looking like a complete shell of himself. I just want, if you can get this team together and fully healthy, I feel they're very dangerous, but it's just not, it's not coming together right now. Well, what you're saying is something that I think has been asked for for a few weeks. If this team all is healthy at the same time, all comes together.

It just really hadn't. The thigh contusion or whatever James is suffering through right now is obviously affecting him. This is probably his biggest subpar stretch of games since, what, that 41 and 41 season when he and Dwight didn't get along? Would that be fair to say in that category in that range? Yeah, even then his numbers were at least good, but his shooting numbers have been horrible. The burst is not there for getting to the hoop. And not only that, if the burst is not there to get to the hoop, that means he's not drawing fouls. The free throw attempts have been down the last couple of games.

He, and defensively, he's always been, I mean, let's call it what it is, limited when it comes to perimeter defense, good at a post-defense. But it's hampered even more if he's dealing with that, I mean, that huge knee that he took from Carl Anthony Town. So, I mean, the offensive game is suffering, the defensive game is suffering, and it's just, it's definitely, I'm sure he's frustrated, I'm sure everybody's frustrated, but so am I as a fan. Yeah, I would say that this is not a Rockets team. that is sitting around going, oh, this is just a bad little stretch.

I think there is not like profound concern like this at the end of the year, but it's a we've got a team that has been basically 500 the entire month. We have a basketball team that is huddling between five and six in the Western Conference and easily could be seven if Oklahoma City was to get on some sort of streak. The rest of the games before the All-Star break are not easy. You do have a Dallas team coming in tonight who has been a huge surprise. You still have Boston to play. You've got the Lakers in Phoenix next week, and the Phoenix Suns destroyed the Mavericks in Dallas a couple of days ago.

Lakers are who we know we are, and obviously the emotions concerning Kobe's death is probably giving him an extra source of inspiration. So, yeah, the best thing for this team, frankly, Ross, would be the All-Star break. I know Clint Capella should not get out of his bed for about five or six days in a row because that's, I think, is how you feel a heel bruise. But in James and Russ's case, they're going to be up there playing. Now, granted, it's going to be a very relaxed atmosphere, and there's a lot of fun and parties and whatnot, but I would mind if all those guys... The All-Star games is almost like a shoot-around, though. They changed the format, though, which I'm confused about. Okay, here's how I figured it out, and if I'm wrong, I apologize.

I read that thing, and I was confused as hell. I tried to on the plane. You know, it was a four-hour flight yesterday, so I had plenty of time to try to comprehend it. So I put the pieces together. It was like a Rubik's cube. Okay, so each individual quarter is scored, okay? Okay. 1, 2, and 3.

Okay. Then you add them up, and this is where I get confused, for an aggregate score. Okay? Okay, if the Rock, or East wins 2, or, you know, Team LeBron, whoever wins two quarters, and the other team wins 1, it's 2 to 1? Well, I think it's by point differential, I think. I don't know. Okay.

Then. Aggregate the scores. Then in the fourth quarter, whoever has the highest score, you add 24-2. it. Okay? And that's the golden number you have to hit in order to win the game. Does that make any more sense? What? Okay. So, so you aggregate.

No, I don't get it. Okay, good, because I just confused myself as I'm going to explain it. No, I can't because I think I just can't. Whatever it is, there's going to be a point cap. Okay. It's going to be whatever. I've been saying they need to do a point cap for overtime for years, Matt. We don't need triple.

nobody needs triple overtime when nobody can breathe their walk. They should do at least after the first overtime play to 15. If somebody out there in Radio Link can help me figure it out better than I just tried to explain it. Because I think I've just confused. All I know is the fourth quarter, it takes 24 more points than whatever the highest scoreer number is. I think. I apologize on behalf of because, again, I tried to read through it and I was just, you know, Nick, I'm going to put you on assignment for that.

I want you to read the NBA All-Star rules, and I think the fourth quarter, the most, whoever is the leading team only has to score 24 points in order for the game to be over with, is what I think. I just don't know how the other quarters have to plan into it. So we're going to figure that out for you guys, I think. I don't know if it's going to make me watch the All-Star game more or not. Frankly, Ross, to me, I'm watching more for about all the stories about Kobe, because you know that's going to be the domination of topic during the course of the broadcast.

I mean, there's going to be very little mention of the score and who shoots and who does what. it's going to be about tributes to Kobe, as appropriately would be in the under the situation. I've got to break down, Matt. Do we need some music while I read this? Go ahead. Let me say, if you read it and let's see if it makes sense. All right, here's an example. This is from SB Nation.com.

If Team LeBron scores 30 points and Team LeBron's Giannis towards 25 in the first quarter, Team LeBron's charity of choice wins $100,000. Yes. In quarter two, the score resets to zero, zero. Okay. So then if Team LeBron scores outscores from 30 and 25 again, they win another $100,000 for their charity. And they're up 10 at this point.

The same thing happens. In the fourth quarter, the aggregate is added up. For example, in this example, team LeBron is leading Jonas 85 to 80. Instead of a 12-minute game clock, the teams will play to a score. In this case, we take 85 points as a leading score. Add 24 to Honor Bryant, so the first team to 109 points wins the game. I was right. Yes.

Each individual quarter has played for charity. You combine all the scores together, and you add 24 to the team that's leading, and that's where the final score has to be. It's, why do they do this? I understand the 24 thing with Kobe, but I don't know. They don't want it to be a 185, 184. They want some defense being played. I get that for charity.

Second hour, the Matt Thomas show continues. Ross is in Miami. I'm here in Houston. This is the Matt Thomas show. It is the Matt Thomas show broadcasting live from Miami in Radio Row here, thanks to the Lotee Center, and Twin Peaks Lodge, Ross V. Real, here in Miami. Matt Thomas back in Houston. Now, pleased to be joined by Brian the Baldinger, NFL veteran, and I'm just reading like NFL Network, Fox Sports, Compass Media, Intercom, SkySport.

Well, can you just take a breather? Can you settle down, man? Listen, I like cashing checks. Oh, okay. I know every single teller at my bank. All the managers, I know my first name. I like making little trips over there. All right.

Well, it's baldy time here on that top of show. So obviously, we're here in Houston, Brian. Let's just go ahead and start off with Bill O'Brien, getting named the general manager. Puzzling, I think, to a lot of people nationally. Locally weren't that surprise, but I think especially after what happened in the divisional round, you get up 24 to nothing. You lose, and you get outscored 51 to 7 from that point. And he had basically been running the whole operation. But what do you make of Bill O'Brien and all the control he has wrestled in this organization?

And at least at the highest of levels, the results haven't been there. Well, I don't know why anybody would want all that control. It's just too much. It's like you, man. He's putting on 15 hats. Well, but the problem is I don't believe there's enough time. Now, I know he's got all kinds of assistance. distance there, but when you're getting ready for the draft and free agency, I don't know that there's enough hours.

I mean, look, I don't pretend to do what Daniel Jeremiah does or what Mike Mayock did or whatever. But I mean, I do my fair share. And I just know me, if you're looking at these receivers right now, just say if you're looking at that position, I mean, there's a bunch of them. But you might want to see Jerry Judy back as a freshman. You might want to see him. I mean, there's just, it never really ends. And so Billy's got, it's a lot getting ready, just getting Deshawn ready, getting the offense ready, getting the team ready, understanding like all the injuries they had, you're signing all these guys, you know, Gary and Connolly and signing all these guys. It's just, I don't know how you can do it all.

I really don't. I don't either. And, you know, it's like you said, it's a 24-7 thing because especially during the season, you know, guys go down. You've got to sign three-free agents. You've got to bring guys in for workouts. You've got to do all these things. Like you said, breaking down film. That's my point. It's just too much.

And I think it seems like to me sometimes he suffers on the field. I mean, because sometimes, you know, the challenges, the clock management decisions and all those types of things. He's got so much going on. The story here is, look, San Francisco is part of the story here. But like, could Kyle Shanahan do all this without John Lynch? No. Could any redo this without Brett Veach? No. Or, B. Enemy?

Yes. I mean, you, but the personnel is completely different. It's a different, like, it's good that Billy will know what he's looking for. That will help what he needs. But it's also good to have another voice in the room. Right. It's just good to have arguments. It's good to, you know, is Laramie Tonsorworth two first round picks? I mean, all those debates.

I mean, they're healthy debates. Right. And so, like, who are you debating with? Himself? I don't know. And that's the thing. It seems like it's like a dictatorship. Whereas, I mean, I think.

But I also know that titles can be a little deceiving. I mean, I'm sure there's... That's true. I don't know. He's got help. I don't know everybody in that front office in Houston. I mean, I know who is there. I know who Billy's replacing.

But it does seem like there's a great deal of responsibility in addition to coaching. And I don't know why any coach would want to take it all on. Brian Baldinger here on the Matt Thomas show. Well, let's just talk about Bill Vinn as a coach. What do you make of him? And just from a play calling standpoint and those types of things, how good of a head coach do you think? he is. Well, I mean, I just spent, I was at the Pro Bowl last week filming film sessions, and so we had Deshawn Watson in with me and Kurt Warner and, you know, Deshawn obviously is an

impressive guy. They, yeah, they did the best what they had, with all the injuries they had at running back. Carlos Hyde had a fine year. They lost the rookie, you know, right tackle, but I thought sharpening was a good pick. I thought Tunsell was the right pick. I thought the offensive line got better. I think the tight ends are really good. It's just weird that If Will Fuller is not in the lineup, how this offense just sort of crumbles. Like, I don't know why any offense would be so dependent on a number two receiver. Like, I, and the stats just tell you, like, they're just not going to explode, and DeAndre's not going to be as good, and all that stuff.

And it just seems guys are, like, those guys are going to get hurt. They're going to pull hamstrings. They're just not, like, the number of wide receivers are like that, speed guys. I mean, they don't play 16 games. You just don't get that. All right, let's go back to Houston. Matt Thomas there has a couple of questions. Ballie, again, I would like to say we're sorry for asking all these Texans questions,

but we respect your opinion tremendously. So please indulge us a little bit. Okay. Cal McNair, the owner of the team, puts this statement out last week and says, you know what, I like our new flatter structure. I like where we're going. I like we moved to one in division championship again. And for Houston fans that are listening to you right now,

now, this organization, we feel like, has been stuck in Quicksand for about 15 years. Do you, because you watch all the games and have called several of them over the years, do you see the 2019 Houston Texans being better than the previous years and on the uptick? Because I know the Niners are on the uptick. They certainly were with their new administration, new leadership. Kansas City on the uptick with a new quarterback and great receivers. I don't see this massive uptick that Cal McNair sees.

Well, what I don't see is just an abundance of talent. all right so i mean if you look at the 49ers i mean they have accrued tremendous town the defensive line which basically drove this team to an eight no start i mean it was like a shark feeding every week watching those guys go play now you can't always but you know but they had you to have any clown and j j j and they just couldn't figure out how to make it work so they were on their way and then it just sort of collapsed and when it collapsed i mean they're just not very dynamic you know and if you think j j wott is going to go get you 20 sacks next year you might be dreaming i mean i'm not going to say i would never bet against the heart of a champion

like that but i mean guys that start getting injured get injured and you don't just stop at a certain point and you go back to four years ago and you're the most dominant defensive player in league like i don't think you're going to see that guy yeah but even if that but but that i mean that's how the 49ers got built they got built because they were built strong in the trenches they made a big move for quarterback, they had to get it, and then they've sort of just been adding. You know, and Manuel Sanchez was a good fit. Debo Sanchez was a good fit. But they have a

running game that is the most creative running game in the league that drives everything they do. And you certainly can't say that about the Texans. All right, final question from me. Let's go through the quarterback carousel. Where do you find Tom, Cam, and Phillip

in 2020? Well, uh, Well, so Tom, I don't understand the Patriots position. They don't have a succession plan. Jared Stidham is not the answer. Their succession plan is in the Super Bowl. Well, but I mean, but if you say you've got a top five defense.

Stefan Gilmore is on his game. The way they rush the quarterback, they can add a piece. Chase Woodovich being the second year. The defense is set. You know you need help on offense. I mean, Antonio Brown goes there for one, three days, and he's their best receiver. So, I mean, if you just said, we're going to keep Tom for two years, and we're going to add him some serious help,

that would be a better plan than to let him go to the Chargers and let him jump into that offense. And Tom goes and plays general manager and gets himself three offense alignment there, and they're ready to go compete. I mean, but I think that's where he's going to end up. I think he's going to end up with the Chargers. And Cam, I just don't know what the health is. Like, is he going to pass physicals?

And if he does, where is he? right now. What was the third one, Matt? Philip Rivers. Philip. Philip Rivers. You know, look, Eli Manning just retired. They came in together. You know, is there any difference between Philip Rivers and what we saw this year? And he couldn't win a game at the end to save his life this year. That's our lasting repression. Can he do it? Probably still. But everybody can still do it until they can't do it anymore. I don't know if Philip Rivers. I don't know what's a good landing spot for Philip Rivers.

All right. One more before. Obviously, got to talk about the low T centers as well. Brian, you said you met with Deshawn Watson. Tell me about that. What setting was, what was it like? Yeah. Where was he at as far as, how impressed were you with him? Oh, he was sharp. So we worked at the Pro Bowl, me and Kurt Warner.

We have the show. I started the show two years ago called Film Sessions. We sit in a film room. They literally construct a film room, NFL films. and we put in 20 or 30 plays, and we just had Deshawn Watson walk us through the play what he saw. Kurt was really kind of peppering with some real football-type looks. He had an answer for everything.

Then we put him at the whiteboard. His favorite red zone plays, concept. I mean, drew it up, all the options, what he's looking at, what his first read was. I mean, because I always think if you can go to the board and you can really tell it in front of not just guys like ourselves, but teammates and the whole thing, like you really know it. But he was really impressive.

All right. So is he tier one type of quarterback level? Yeah, he's a tier one quarterback. And I think, you know, he's an ascending player. I think he's still reading defenses. I think the offense is still being catered to him. I think there was a point I think we all saw where Billy O'Brien was just kind of giving Tom Brady's playbook to these guys, and it was just too much to handle. But I think the more tools that he gets at the line of scrimmage,

the more adjustments you saw in the Kansas City game last year, like all the little two-man game with him and DeAndre to get first downs, ice the game all. That kind of stuff is just kind of built in. You know, the comeback against Buffalo was, you know, was amazing. I think we're looking at a player that's still got a great deal of growth to go. All right, Brian Baldinger here on the Matt Thomas show, and you're here talking about the low-tacinters, low-tacenter.com.

Well, I'm not as young as you guys, you know. I'm older, you know. So, like, I got to find the edge here. I don't my body is just simple score. I mean, my testosterone scores weren't, aren't what they were when I was 35. And that's where the low T centers get coming. They can really, you know, professionally and medically get you back to speed, where when you get those scores right, you're going to sleep better,

you're going to feel better, you're not going to hurt as bad, and you're going to look better. Well, I don't know if that's possible. No, but, yeah, we appreciate the low T center. They've been bringing us out here for years, so always good. And I think there's a number of centers in Houston as well. Yes, there is. Quite a few. I don't know what the number is right now,

but I mean, you don't have to go very far. Brian Baldinger, 11-year NFL vet, and then basically, we don't have enough time. We've got to get to a break. Can't name all the places that you're on, Brian. Okay. Of course, catch you at Baldi NFL. Any other stuff?

You mentioned the stuff with Deshawn Watson. What else? Anything fun stuff you got coming up this week? Yeah, well, we still got a couple days left. I'm just really grinding the film room Monday morning, just breaking this game down on all the different levels. We'll find out, you know, why a team won and why they lost and I'm going to explain it to you all right Brian

thanks a lot for the time my pleasure it yep thanks all right Brian baldinger here on sports talk 7a the Matt Thomas show we're going to take a quick break here when we come back we got a lot more great guests we got all kinds of good stuff we still have Clyde Drexel on the show we still have Dana White on the show so do not go anywhere keep it here the Matt Thomas show sports talk 790 continues after this very short break nobody remembers who goes they remember who wins we are in Miami for the big game The champions of the American Football Conference. NFC champion.

This is Sports Talk 790 live from Radio Row. And on our best behavior, presented by Low T-Center and Twin Peaks. Time is 118. Clyde Drexler is going to join us in 10 minutes. We got a flashback Friday. I hope the Mavericks were their old school jerseys. I don't know if they do that, but the Rockets with a ketchup and mustards, a thing of beauty, isn't it not?

It's the greatest. It's the Mount Rushmore right at the top of the list, my friend, I got to say it. I think I've thought about this for the last handful of days. Yes, we disagreed. I went with Columbia Blue Oilers, but ketchup and mustard number two for me. So we're not far off. All right, so I've been listening to some of the interviews we've had. I've listened to other shows interviews from Miami.

By the way, it's been fun hearing DeAndory Hopkins on the show. We have Baker Mayfield this morning. You know, Brian Bollinger has been a long time NFL analyst. and they all have this common message. Bill O'Brien needs to give up some of this authority. It just shows you, unfortunately, how out of touch and how right they are, but out of touch they are with the Houston sports scene. Ross, he's gaining more power, not giving it up.

Everybody to a man is like, he can't do that. He can't play call. He can't be the general manager. He can't negotiate contracts. He can't be in charge of draft. Yes, he can't because Cal's getting them the chance to do it. Yeah, I mean, as Baldiger just said in the last segment, he's like, why would you even want all that power? No one.

It just seems like you're stretching yourself too thin and it's too much. We've had 20 incredible guests in the last handful of days. You cannot find one that has been on the 790 airwaves that have said, oh, man, that's just the best decision I've heard all off season. It doesn't make sense, Matt. But it just is the way it is, I guess. We're just going to have to hope it gets better. but I mean, I just with the way that the cap space is going to need to be used up

with Tunsell and Watts and deals and whoever else. No first round pick this year. With no first round picks. With a number, I mean, it's just, it's going to be an uphill client. And I was talking, who was I was in D earlier at the end of his show. I was like, I just don't know how to get it. Well, he's like, well, they're just going to have to hit on all their draft picks, which is obviously easier to send them to them.

But that's basically it. Nobody does that either. You're going to have to get an undraft of free agents. You're going to have to hit on. You're going to have to find guys on the cheap and not necessarily be signing the big level free agents and hope not only that some of them pan out, but I hope that the majority of them pan out, which is really difficult to do in the NFL because guys don't let, or NFL teams, don't let extremely talented secondary and defensive players and offensive line players just go away for nothing.

Well, I'm going to help you next year with show preparation, whether I'm there with you or not in Tampa. It's going to be, so what did you think of Bill O'Brien's a jam last year? and every one of the guests is going to say, well, it's too much for him to handle. It's too much for him to coach. He's an average play caller, an average head coach, below average timeout corner, a terrible challenger, and a guy that has really very little experience running a football franchise from the football operation side of it. So then in two years, where is it after that? Is it go to New Orleans, I think after that?

I lose track of where they are. I think it's L.A. Okay, so now it's L.A. Here we are live in L.A. So when you will ask all the variety of events. NFL guest. We'll say, Ed Tutal Jones, let me ask you this. What do you think of Bill O'Brien, should Bill O'Brien still be doing this two years after the Japanese? He's like, you're telling me the head coach is also the general manager?

No one is going to come to us on Radio Row in Super Bowl 55, 55, 56, 57, 58, and go, man, I love what Cal's doing down there in Houston. The only way this ever gets fixed is if Deshaun Watson never makes a mistake. DeAndre Hopkins catches every pass, and JJ Watt, just like Brian Baldinger said, is never going to happen again, becomes a 20-sac-a-year guy. Short of that, this ain't going to work. And you and Houston are Houston, Texas fans, you're not, your team's never going to the Super Bowl. Never, ever, ever, ever. Doesn't matter.

We're in Detroit. That's what we are. We're to Cleveland Browns. Doesn't matter. Detroit Lions. Doesn't matter. They're better than the Lions or the Browns. Oh, okay.

So let's do this. Let's run through Super Bowl appearances between the three times. teams. Okay. Doesn't matter. I think it does. That's a little bit of a piece, I believe. That's correct.

AFC South champion has two years in a row. Simplification, yes. I mean, it's been a little bit. You win your division four out of five years. I understand that's not the been, it's not been the best division ever, but there's some level of success. It hasn't been. Yeah.

You're not going, you're not going two and 14 every year. So do fans in Detroiting, do fans in Houston feel just as, do they feel exceptionally more satisfied than fans in Detroit and Cleveland? Probably not. And it's probably, I mean, honestly, at this point, it's easier to get apathetic. Or, I mean, because, or is it easier to get apathetic for a four-and-12 team every year and you don't care about that? Because here's a thing.

It's almost like, okay, so Ross, you and I are going to run the marathon race, and you and I can't get past the halfway pole. We just run out of gas. Well, our buddies get to 20 miles, but they never finish. Okay. But if you're just team, if you're just going to go say, hey, we haven't won a Super Bowl, so we suck. That's going to be basically every team. Oh, I understand it.

But at least you've gone to a Super Bowl. Seattle's going to a Super Bowl. Carolina's going to the Super Bowl. Tampa's going to the Super Bowl. Indianapolis. I'll get it. Tennessee. I'm not trying to sell you as they've been great.

Or every team in the AFC South has been to the AFC championship game except the Texans since Bill O'Brien's been here. And look, I'm just saying it could be wrong. I'm not trying to sell you. This is great and this is awesome. and then Bill O'Brien is a great coach, I'm saying it could be worse. That's right. Because you know what? If your end game is only to win the championship, then you might as well stop being a fan

because you're going to be disappointed more often than not. Yeah, let's turn it to the Rockets. Is that how you want us to feel about the Rockets too? I mean, they've made the conference championship. There's a lot of people who believe that way. There's a lot of people that believe that way. That's the number one thing we argue about with James Hart all the time is that James can do everything he wants offensively and you can do all the MVP bet he wants.

but if he doesn't go to the championship, it's a failed career. I'm just telling you. Everybody has their own opinions about their own particular teams. And you're right. Only one team gets to hoist the tour of every year. But at least with the Rockets and with the Astros, I have a feeling that they're on the cusp of it. The Texans get kicked in the, you know what,

every divisional round they get to or in the Wildcard round. And it's just a same cyclical pattern. In the Rockets case, they ran into the Golden State Orders of Dynasty, and in this particular case with the Astros, well, they should have won game seven at home, but that's not here nor there. The Astros get a free pass for basically the next two decades. Oh, yeah.

You bring us a world championship. I don't care if there's banging trash cans or not. You're okay by me. Hey, speaking of that really quick, did you see the guy's Twitter account that monitored every trash can, or every trash can banging during that 2017? Did you Oliver talk about that at all yesterday at all?

You and I have not, but. it doesn't do a whole lot for me. First of all, there was no banging meant fastball, and 56% of pitches are fastballs. So you're only getting about, I mean, if everything else is a bang, so you're only getting even less than half of the data there. And I don't know.

I mean, what does you make out of it after that? I mean, what's the point? It was just, and again. The point that they did it a lot in the early of the season, and they kind of petered out on it, I guess. Yeah, I just. And then Jose Al-Tuvae and Josh Redick seemed to not use it very much. My point was that guy obviously wanted to put something out there that got some traction in the social media world.

And he did. I mean, you put the time in and you put that out there. Someone's going to go, wow. I just don't have the time for that. And frankly, I wouldn't care if they did it 75 games or 50 games or 25. You did it once. You did it once too many. Yeah, it says in the report also, I mean, that even after the trash can banging thing was all going down,

that they continues to use other systems, whether it would be whistling or clapping or whatever. It wasn't always trash can banging. It wasn't banging and nothing else. It was also other methods. Rockets Basketball. Rockets PA announcer and sports talk show host. One might get the impression Matt Thomas loves to hear Matt Thomas' voice.

Go ahead, Matt, talk for us. Oh, not a better combination when I was doing the PA as a young man to have the honor to call Clyde the Drexler's name with this music in the background. It is a flashback Friday Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks tonight inside Totis. And if you're going to the game or you're going to listen to it here on Sports Talk 790, it is a 630 start, a half hour earlier than normal for a flashback Friday. Clyde Drexler joins us on the show. Clyde, I haven't seen you in a week.

How are things? Everything is great. How are you, Mark? I'm Matt. You're not Mark? What are you talking about? I'm in here, Jackie. How are you?

You think I'm talking to Mark? You think you're talking to Mark Berman, don't you? That's wrong, Clyde. No, no. I'm talking to Matt Thomas. There you go. What's up, Matt? Hey, I want to get a little respect for you from you and your times with early Kobe Brian before we get to the flashback farting some more positive things, obviously.

But just give me a thought or two as you were winding down your career about that young man that came out of Lower Marion High School in the brief competition. had for a couple of years. Well, Matt, you know, everybody loves Kobe. Kobe was a consummate professional. He embellished, he relished in the competition of playing against the best players. He was the ultimate competitor. Love to watch him play.

Off the court, he was a businessman. He was an icon. He was a visionary. Helped a lot of people with his foundation. You know, Kobe Bryant was one of those guys. Everyone loves. Let me ask you about. We're going to miss.

Oh, for sure. first year. Let me ask you about, because he was one of the few that was successful. There was Jermaine O'Neill, obviously Kevin Garnett, there was Kobe, from high school right to the NBA. I can't imagine, and now we're seeing it with a lot of kids playing just one year of college. But what was it like even going back 20-plus years ago to have a guy like yourself, longtime NBA veteran playing all these years, and then seeing these 18-year-old kids graduating right from high school right to the NBA? Are you in favor of that long-term, or do you feel like at the end of the day, that maybe a couple of years in college might be the best thing.

Well, Matt, you're only talking about one or two guys per year, right? Yeah. And so if those guys are talented enough, and obviously the scouts think they are, they should have the opportunity because if Cocoa golf can play against some of the best tennis players in the world at 15, why can't these guys come out of high school at 17 and 18 and play against guys in the NBA if they're qualified? That's a no-brainer to me. I don't even know why people ask that question. Well, from maturity perspective, did guys try to gravitate towards the younger kids or are the younger guys kind of just on their own on their, you know, on days where there's practices and you're going out and have dinner on the road and that kind of thing?

How much relationship would there be between, say, an 18-year-old Kobe Bryant and, you know, an older player, maybe like Shaq a little bit? Every guy on that team will try to help and mentor and provide as much guidance as they can. obviously that's a teammate. So it's part of your family. So you want to make sure he's okay. So there's not a guy on that team that wouldn't help him every single day. So anything he needs, all he's got to do is speak up. All right.

So, you know, it's a family atmosphere, Matt. And so when you're on an NBA team, I mean, you're with each other full five hours every day, whether it's practice or games and sometimes traveling. And so for nine months out of the year, so you get to know them very well. It is incredible because, you know, we just got back from a week-long road trip. And, you know, good times are awesome when you're winning and you're a little, you know, surly when you're losing, but you can't avoid each other. You've got to get rid of any sort of notions of, well, you can't get along.

You've got to be competitive. You've got to get better. So, as you know, what was the most difficult time of the year for you as an NBA player? Was it around the All-Star break kind of looking at that calendar? You obviously playing a lot of them, so you were busy with that. But what part of the season for you was the dog days? and how you had to, you know, sometimes to gut it up and really try to overcome maybe a four or five game losing streak.

Matt, the plan in the NBA is a dream come true. So you're playing against the best players in the world on a daily basis. And if you love the game and if you practice and put in the time, this is what it's all about. So the days go by quickly because you truly enjoy what you're doing, especially if the team is having a good year. I mean, the season flies by. And so there weren't no dog days.

It was a privilege and an honor just to play the game. And so these guys today, I enjoy watching them because I think they approach the game in the same manner. But it's always more fun when you're having a winning season as opposed to a losing season. Yeah, that's no doubt about that. I'll have to say, Glead, I don't remember ever you sitting out a handful of games with this load management bit. What's your general take on that right now? Well, man, you know, my take, let's define load management. I'm going to define it as taking the day off.

Okay. I'm not coming to work today. That's what load management is. Now, they give you a lot of money in those contracts, and they expect you to perform in the amount of games that are there. And the way we approach load management is if we were up 20 in the fourth quarter, the starters will say, hey, coach, let the second unit finish it. And so we try to do our job early so we cannot play 35 minutes every game.

some games you play 25, 20 minutes. And that keeps you fresh for the season because it is a marathon. It's not a sprint. And so load management was that you do your job quicker so you can come out the game and watch the second unit finish the game. Well, you know, there is an end game to some of it. You know, Russ is really having a good season. I mean, you're seeing the games just like I am.

And he's had a handful of days off in between. But the Russell Westbrook that we're seeing right now this month, frankly, Clyde, is the one we didn't see in the first month. So I don't know if it's just getting comfortable with the Rockets offense, but he has been incredibly efficient, and he's been a 30-point score almost every night the last few weeks. Yeah, no, Russ. I agree with you, Matt.

Russ has been phenomenal. He's been everything we thought he would be, that MDP player to go along with James Harden, and he's done his share. He plays hard every night, plays both ends of the floor. He's a leader. He gets his teammates involved.

I tell you what, I can't say enough good things about it. He superseded my expectations because he's become much more efficient as a Houston rocket. He quit shooting that three ball. He's making, he's posting, he's getting buckets in early transition. Those are kind of buckets of rockets that have never got before him. And he's making a difference on the court. Clyde the Glyde, Drexer with us here on the Matt Thomas show. Glyde, you had very few slumps in your NBA career.

Right now, James Hardin is in probably about a month slump. So if you can go back in the history books, and you didn't have many, but if you were in a slump, how did you get out of it? Well, you know, I love James, Matt. James is my favorite player in the league. Sure. Because he's a gamer. He never takes games off.

He loved to play basketball. I think what James is going through now is more mental than anything else. It's like you have a different team. You have a guy like Russell who can also carry a team on any given night, which means some nights you're not going to get your 30 shots. And if you're not going to get your 30 shots, you got to say, you know what, that's okay because it's all about winning. It's all about winning.

If we're winning and everybody's happy, we're good. You know, back when we played, you had to put up numbers to get paid, right? These guys put up numbers that get paid, and now if you have to do less for the team to grow and get better, that should not be a problem. I think that's the problem. It's not a problem. I think that's something James has to come to grips with. Sometimes you've got to do less for the team to get better.

I'll give me an idea. Before we, the team I played with in Portland in 1989, 90, I was averaging 27.2 points a game back when, you know, scoring was hard and hand-checking and all of that. And so we got better players the next year. And the general manager and the coach came to me and said, Clyde, you know, we don't want you to carry these guys. Let's let these guys grow and get better.

So we'll be better in April and May and June when it counts. He said, now in the last two, three minutes, if you need to take over, take over. but throughout the game, just try to let those guys work on their game as well. So I went from averaging 27 points to 21.8, and we made the NBA finals. And so sometimes you have to do less in order to be better as a team. And so I think that's what James is going through right now. Makes a lot of sense.

Hey, Gly, when the Rockets wore these ketchup and mustard, I'm afraid I'm going to scream number 17, Mario Elliott, 25, Robert Ori, because, I mean, I feel like those numbers should be, in those uniforms, those are the two guys. It's just fun seeing the old school. Do you like seeing these retro uniforms? And I was just in Portland the other day, and they're going with some of those retroes. It kind of gets you back to yesterday

when we were growing up watching basketball. You know, it's good as a novelty, but as a steady diet, no, I like to see the traditional uniforms because that's what those teams. I mean, when you see the Lakers, you don't want to see them in some retro uniforms or the Rockets. I want to see the crimson and red. I want to see the traditional uniforms,

But, you know, I understand that they're in the business of merchandising, and they've got to sell uniforms, and they've got to create new avenues for merchandisers. But as a traditionalist, hey, use those things in practice. When the game starts, I want to see these guys in their uniforms. It is kind of strange for the teams don't wear white uniforms at home like you did every single day when you play in the NBA. Exactly. That's how you know who's at home. So, I mean, some things are good. The reason they would like that is because they really worked,

and everybody got it. But to change all of that is really, and I'm not against change, but I don't know if it's better. It's just different. It is different. Hey, I was on Clyde Drexor Way just a couple of days ago. That street needs to get longer, don't you think?

That's just not a long enough street. Hey, Matt, all I can say is when you get to the arena, you've got to go down my street. That's all I can say. And it's a tremendous honor to have played 11 and a half years in Portland. You had some of my best years when I was young and could really play there. and came to Houston when I could still play a little bit.

We're able to get that ring. And let me tell you something, Matt. I've been fortunate to play with two great franchises, and it doesn't get any better. It's kind of different because, you know, we're here in a big metropolitan city. Portland's kind of a smaller community, but loves its basketball.

And I tell you what, you're the greatest blazer of all time, but that Dame Lillard is trying to get up on that pedestal with you because he has been playing out of his mind the last week or so. Well, he is really a great player. I love watching him play. Now, in an era where it is, easier to score. Now, you've got to understand. And they take volumes of shots.

They obviously are going to break a lot of scoring records because there's no hand-checking. And so that's to be expected, Matt. And I'm happy for him if he does. But, you know, he got to get that team to the finals. He got to get that team to compete for a championship year after year. Yeah, hadn't that been there yet. Hey, Glyde, thanks for the visit, as always, friend. We'll see you very soon at the arena.

I look forward to it, Matt. Take care yourself. Clyde the Glyde Drexer on a flashback Friday tonight. 6.30, the Rockets take on the Dallas Mavericks, and we'll have it for you right here on Sports Talk 790. The biggest game of our career. It's time to celebrate. Welcome to Miami. This is Sports Talk 790, live from Radio Row. Presented by Low T-Center and Twin Peaks.

And let the fans enjoy this great moment. Go to it right now. Ross rejoins us from Miami. Wrapping up radio row coverage. Next hour, Brian T. Smith is going to join us. Give us some impressions of what he thought of the press conference yesterday with Dusty Baker. We carried that whole bad boy on the radio yesterday, sports survey? Okay, he's all fair, so we'll turn him down.

I can answer, yes, we did. How was it? What would you think? You were listening to it? I thought he was very interesting. He's one of my new favorite head coaches slash managers in Houston. Yeah, I think, well, there's only things. three. Well, of the pro teams, yeah.

He's everything is advertised. There wasn't anything that should have taken you off as a surprise by him. Well, well-respected, well-liked, knows a lot of the old school guys, knows Cheo, knows Enos Cabell. I know they made a couple references to him. Not hiding the fact he's seven years old. By the way, Nick, I've got several new Dusty Baker Twitter followers. Really? Yeah. I don't believe any of them are Dusty Baker. Probably not. I'm not sure Dusty Baker

has a Twitter account. Well, I don't think he does, but why would you, if you're Dusty Baker, he put his age in there. The newest guy was Dusty Baker 70. I don't think Dusty Baker would do that. How much to, well, here's how you figure out if it's really him. Ask them how much they know about pruning grapes. Well, that takes Google. That would take no time at all. Let's get a phone call in before we get to Brian T at the top of the hour. Let's say hi to, oh, our buddy Howard. Howard, how are you doing? All right, first of all, what I'm going to say is probably unpopular. Wait a minute. I asked you how you were doing. You're not going to get me an answer to that? I'm doing darn well for my age, okay? I let it go with that. Fair enough.

All right. Cheating and sign stealing in baseball is an American as mom's apple pie. It's been going on since George Washington threw out the first baseball, okay? I cannot, and there's a book to be written about this. I don't know whether Brian Smith would be interested, but there's a book to be written. written about this, when it started, how it started. I do not believe, with the technology supposedly involved, that Crane did not know where the budget was coming from to pay for whatever technology. Tell me, was Luno doing it out of the coffee money? I... Well, if you were to read the report, the report says that Jeff Lennon was unaware of this as well.

How could something like this be going on without the general management? being informed and giving his okay or weak-week and his going up the chain of command, as they say in the military, to ask the owner, are you going to, and who was paying the budget for this stuff? Supposedly, they had really good technology. Is it okay stealing if you use binoculars in centerfield with artificial intelligence in the eyeglass case? Is that okay? you're just throwing hypotheticals out there. Well, I'm, look, we know that coaches using binoculars may have been going on since Bobby Thompson hit the home run in the 50s.

Yogi Berra might admit to as much, correct? Well, where Yogi is, he can't admit it, but knowing Yogi, he'd find a way to communicate with us, right? All right, all right. All right. So this has been going on for 60, 70 years. So, and only the technology has gotten better, the best of the best. binoculars have gotten better. The lenses have gotten better.

All of this stuff has gotten better. And I can't believe this, that the general manager did not. And to tell you the truth, I feel sorry for a hinge and the general manager, Luno, because these, and the rumor about the players, did they have wires on? one beep for a fastball, two beeps for a curveball. Were they involved? And if they got off scot-free, I think that's grossly unfair. I think they had a baseball handled it terribly.

He should have admitted to everything, said it's going on, and make some effort to stop it from here on, and gone public with it. And I don't think the players should have gotten off scot-free and cut a deal with it. the jury and the DA there. Well, I mean, but unfortunately, and Howard, thank you for the phone call of a good weekend. That's the only way I think that the commissioner thought he was going to get the answers he wanted.

He wanted full honesty, and the only way he could do that would be to say, you come clean and you get amnesty for me. And oh, by the way, one thing that hasn't been discussed, I think I've been the only one that says, do you think that Rod Manfred wanted to spend the next handful of months fighting with the players association over punishments over this, especially if they would have said nothing. It was a perfect scenario. If they say nothing, he doesn't get the information that he wanted. If he also says nothing and still suspend them, the players are going to say, you can't suspend my players without having the evidence. So this isn't working out to the people, like everybody in America wants the astral players suspended. They just do. I see it every day.

Watch it on TV. Read the national news stories. when is it going to go through people's minds that they did, that the majorly baseball folks, the office, the commissioner's office got what they wanted because they went in the room, they shut the door, they locked it and said, spill your beans and we're going to save you from suspension. It's so crystal clear. So any of this, the players got away with it. Yeah. Because if the players did not give up the information, you would have had the commissioner's office and Rob Manfred going, we had this report. but no one's saying a word. Hi, Ross.

Matt, hey, Matt. It was the path of least resistance. And, I mean, it was honestly, I mean, it's not like Rob Manfred had to get this done. He had to get it done fast. He had to get things done as quickly as possible because all this had popped up.

They had to do their due diligence. And you have, I mean, Dussie Baker just got hired. He's got to be ready for spring training in 10 days. And that's cutting it close. The Astros still don't have a general manager. So I think one of the top priorities for Rob Manfred was we got to get this thing done as quickly as possible. We're going to have to make some concessions, and that's what they did.

Because, again, you can't punish players unless you can't go off of Mike Fires exclusively. And Rob Manfred knew that. All right, Brian T. Smith joins us for a segment coming up. Next, Ross will interview Dana White in less than an hour for you UFC fans. You want to listen to that. This is the Matt Thomas Show. 201, a Friday contributor in this spot. In fact, the next two Fridays, he's going to be filling in from me.

But right now it's Brian T. Smith and me for 10 minutes on the show. BTS, I value your opinion on press conferences, and clearly yesterday, Dusty won it as we carried it here on Sports Talks 7. But that doesn't mean that big of a deal. But I do want to give you an opportunity to let the audience know of some impressions you took from the 35-minute press conference that was carried yesterday with an introduction of the new manager of the Astros? Yeah, he's the cool dad.

He's the cool grandfather. He's the cool great-grandfather. He's the cool neighbor. He's the cool bartender. I mean, he's the cool guy running the restaurant. Dusty Baker's just cool, but he's always been known that way. I mean, you would have to really try, Matt, to find somebody on a personal level

in Major League Baseball who would say something bad publicly about Dusty Baker it doesn't happen and he's gotten along great with the media in San Francisco for the most part Chicago that was a tough time

because the Cubs had not won it yet Cincinnati Washington and we all know the story he's always fallen short in the playoffs this is an Astros team that with everything that's gone on

this is an Astro's roster that should be competing for a title next year. And they have more questions on the field than they have probably since 2016, but man, they still have so much talent and they're going to have a mountain on their shoulder. So he may be the perfect manager for this. He may get one year and Jim Crane moves on as somebody else. But I was thoroughly impressed with Baker yesterday dealing with the media, but I fully expected to be. The only news yesterday would have been if he's screwed up. And of course, Dutty Baker's not going to do that. It's probably one of the reasons he got the job was because

he can be so good in those situations. The real test for Baker will be managing this lineup, managing this team, navigating them through the media storm that's going to shadow them from city to city. And as we all know, the real test field of Dusty Baker will be in October, not winning one playoff series, winning multiple, and winning a world series. So do you think, I mean, it's to be somewhat difficult to put a percentage on it, but could half of his managerial responsibilities be to be the nice guy when every city's media core comes to the game and wants to attack the Astros for what happened in 2017? Yeah, I wrote about that in The Chronicle, and that is clearly a huge part of it.

I mean, Jim Crane is a smart guy. I mean, Tullin Bertita's smart. I won't go through the rest of the teams because I don't want to start saying bad things. But Tellman Petita is a very smart guy. Jim Crane's a very smart guy. He's been through a lot now with the Astros. I mean, when he took the team, he was not well-liked, then he was hated, then it started to work, then he was loved, and now all of a sudden he's having to not rebuild the on-field product. He's having to rebuild the entire organization in terms of the national image.

Dusty Baker, I mean, if you went through the list of all the people, we talked about this last week, Matt, all the people that they could have hired. that interviewed, there was no one better from a PR standpoint than Dusty Baker. Not wins on the field, not getting your Second World Series title, but actual PR, PR 101, that's Dusty Baker. So, you know, that's obviously one of the reasons he got the job, but the key to me in all this is the one-year deal. I mean, you don't see that in professional sports with anybody. You don't see that in the NFL. You don't see that in the NBA. you don't see that major league baseball,

and it's a one-year deal with a team option and a potential buyout. So it will either really work, or Jim Crane will move on and find somebody else, and then you have the whole other component with the GM hire. So, you know, the Astros are a humongous, fascinating question mark right now. And the one thing that Dusty said that went on the radar mat, he said, I want to start fast. You know, I want to get out of the gate.

I want us to win early. If they do that and they're the best team in baseball after May going into June, a lot of that, you know, the outside fans will keep hating, but a lot of the questions will go away very quickly. I wonder how many of the other candidates would have accepted a one-year deal with a one-year option team-wise. I don't know anybody unless they were desperate. You have to, I mean, we don't know the internals. You have to think that played into, there was a 24-hour delay.

between, you know, when it came out that Dusty Baker's their choice, then we actually got the job was actually about 36 hours. Somewhere in there, you would think there had to be some negotiating. Dusty had no leverage. Nobody else is going to hire him. There were no other jobs open outside of the Boston Red Sox job, and he wasn't a candidate for that job. He's 70 years old.

I love that he's 70. You know, if it works, what an incredible story, Dusty Baker will be if he can really make this work. but he had no leverage. They're the only team offering a job. So Jim Crane was in the position that Tillman Fertita dreams of. He can say, you know, we've got a good team. We want you to be our guy, but you're going to be on a one-year deal.

So we're going to get the best out of you if it works. We'll talk again. We'll extend you if it doesn't work. We'll shake your hand and say thanks a lot for helping us out during a really tough time. Brian T. Smith from The Chronicle at Cron, Brian Smith, with us every Friday on the show. I have to give you something, which is, it's going to sound completely preposterous to you, but I got it from... Never!

And I counted it from five people. And again, that's just five listeners. So that's obviously a minuscule number, but it was interesting that it was popped up yesterday as I was flying back home with the Rockets. When we found out it was a one-year deal with a team option, five different people, three emails and two people on Twitter said, are they setting this up for AJ to come back in 2021? Yeah, I've already heard that. I've heard that. So I'm not the only one that's getting these things. in. No. No, I, the part that doesn't make sense about it on paper is that from what Kreen said,

AJ was not happy about being fired, and he was absolutely shocked. He thought he'd be suspended. He was fired right before the press conference, and I have heard, you know, from a few people now that, you know, this is a time where AJ is trying to process all this. I, you know, I, you know, I always got along great with AJ. I had a lot of personal, professional respect for him with everything that he did. It wasn't about being fantastic to me. He was just a good person to the media. And I think in 2019, 2020, that says more than ever with the way that our world's work.

When you're dealing with millionaires and multimillionaires and then the media, you know, which is lucky to make, you know, five figures for a lot of people. AJ Hinch was absolutely fantastic, but I did not get the feel at all, Matt, that it went down well at the very end. Maybe something comes out that disputes that. But that part then doesn't make sense. Why would you, you know, I don't want to say coldly, but why would you just flat fire him when he has apparently no idea it's coming? And then your plan is to hire him a year later? Well, I'm not sure that AJ Hinch knows that.

Yeah. So that part doesn't connect about it, thus it sounds more like a conspiracy theory than the actual truth. I would completely agree with you on it. It just, it was so interesting to me that so many different people, and again, small is a number. But it was just that, hey, is this a perfect setup? And yeah, if, you know, the only reason why I would have thought of that would have been because maybe Jim would have thought that, well, I can't fire Jeff and keep AJ when AJ was a field manager. that if I got to fire people, I got to fire both. So that's why I thought maybe, but then maybe AJ is like, wait a minute, you could have stuck by me,

let me serve this suspension, bring me back, why do I want to come back and manage for you when I can go get another job three or four years? Exactly. Maybe there's a better job in a year. Maybe he wants to go tomorrow's. Maybe he wants to clean slate. But right now it sounds like way too much internet, Twitter perfection. Probably. And not nearly enough actual real world facts.

All right, let's quickly, you brought up the Texans. Spend the wheel. All right, here we go. He was the de facto general manager. Now the general manager tag is on him. We've had about 20 guests on from Radio Road down in Florida. Every one of them to a man's like, what are the Texans doing? So I'm going to give you a chance of process.

It's been a four days since the announcement. What are the Texans doing? Sometimes I'm really right. sometimes I'm right. Every once, like once a year I'm wrong that. Oh, in your modesty. You're right. Go ahead.

Continue. I'm joking, obviously. I'm wrong sometimes. I was really right about Bill O'Brien. Not that Bill O'Brien won't win a Super Bowl as the king of Kirby Drive, but I mean, I've been telling 790 listeners for years, but really the last 12, 18 months. Like, this is about Bill O'Brien. How many times have I come on the air?

said that and I've had people say, what about Cal and what about Therio Eustra Beat? And I'm like, no, this is about Bill O'Brien. I mean, just connect the dots. Ultimately, Bill O'Brien went to war Rick Smith for years. For about three years, they were good, they were never great, they went to war. He won that war. I mean, somebody wins, somebody loses a war. He won that war. Handpicks his GM, doesn't work out with Brian Gain, a lot of infighting, a lot of bat-stabbing.

It was not a fun year by the end for either of them. Brian Gain has pushed out the door. Then they do a search. They want their Patriots guy. Can't get him because, oops, it breaks the rules. They're still thought that they'll get Casario. And not only do they not get him, but they just stop the search. Go find me anywhere.

I mean, basically baseball, the NBA, the NFL, where they were just not search any more, Matt, and not hire a general manager. Would Tillman ever do that? No. No. So this is Bill O'Brien, and Bill O'Brien credit to him because he has the crown and he has the scepter and he has the throne and he lost 51 to seven at the end of a playoff game.

But Bill O'Brien figured out a way to speak to Cal McNair, to the McNair's. And this started during the previous negotiations with Bob. Bill figured out a way to reach these guys. And part of it's bullying, part of it's having a vision, part of it's having some on-field success. I mean, it's unfair to O'Brien to say he's horrible, but this entire situation is absolutely unorthodox. And I said it in the chronicle days ago.

They'll either be the smartest team in the NFL or the dumbest team. There is no in between because they have bet so hard on a coach who all we know this far, Matt has consistently failed on the biggest stage when it comes to those playoff games. I mean, he has been out-coached. He's looked foolish at times. Maybe they'll be right. All right, I got 30 seconds. Can you help me get James Hardin's mojo back, please?

I don't know what's going on with Hardin right now. You know, I really don't. I'll be at the Rockets game tonight. I'm writing about Hardin and Westbrook this weekend. It's ironic that Westbrook finally got going. going, right, and has really carried this team the last few weeks. It's been fantastic. And Harden falling on the face of the earth.

He's obviously doing with injuries. Maybe he's exhausted. I felt the last time I watched Hardin in person, he looks frustrated. I don't know if he's frustrated at the coaching. I don't know if he's frustrated at the situation. I don't know if he's frustrated at being injured or shot not falling. But, you know, you're allowed to go through slumps, but superstars don't go through prolonged slumps like that.

So I think tonight will be interesting. You don't have Capella. You also don't have Donchitz. It's a game of Rock that should win. I will gladly welcome the real James Hardin back to the court, and it'd be nice to see Hardin and Westbrook both playing at their peak levels. At the same time, we have not seen that this far this season. Because, yeah.

It's two games end of the year. Yeah. Separately, they've done it together, and they can challenge for the West. But that hasn't really happened enough, I think, to the Rockets liking. BTS, I'll see at the arena this evening. Thanks for the time as always, friend. Thanks a lot, Matt. Take care. You got it, Brian T. Smith, at Cron, Brian Smith on Twitter.

Ross rejoins me from Miami next. Dana White in 35 minutes. That's the Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 790. Interviews and a ton of hype. It's quite a magical moment. Coverage you won't hear anywhere else in H-town. Get ready for the Super Bowl. This is Sports Talk 790.

Live from Miami. Presented by Low T-Catter and Twin Peaks. All right, Matt back in Houston. Sports RV in Miami. No longer coast to coast, Matt. It's more like along the Gulf Coast, although I'm not really on the Gulf Coast. No, you're in the Atlantic side.

Yeah, close enough. So take us for the next minute or so through more radio row in terms of what you've seen, what's interesting, what's been bombastic, kind of the seat of the mind, if you will. Well, we did DeAndre Hopkins on earlier. That was interesting. I think he was one of the guys.

One of the bigger names here, one of the guys with the biggest entourage. His entire family was here, and, of course, his mother was blind. Right. She was having to be walked through here. That was interesting. I mean, saw all the big Fox guys, the Joe Bucks, the Troy Aikman's. Rob Gonkowski was cool. Did you go to the Fox thing?

A couple of later? ago? Yes, I did. What was that like? It was cool. It was fun. It was, I mean, all the big names were there and well, unfortunately I wasn't able to get hash, you know, a hashtag, we're all about content here at Sports Talk 790s. Right. Well, I had run out of storage on my phone, so I couldn't really record as many videos as I would have liked to, but at least I got a good experience and they gave us free backpacks, Mac. That's one of the things you're missing out with on the, with the Super Bowl and the Radio Road. You've missed out on the free swag.

Well, you can bring some of the back for me. Well, I'm keeping the backpack. I've actually transitioned because I've had the same old laptop backpack since like my freshman year of college, which was not very recent. Yeah. So I've already made the full transition. I left my old decrepit beat-up bag in my hotel room for them to throw away. And I'm in a new, they got a nice new Nike bag with a big old Super Bowl LIV logo on it. And they also gave us an umbrella.

I can bring you an umbrella if you'd like. I don't. Real men don't use umbrellas. so that's a pass. Oh, I got a Tumblr. I got a Miami Tumblr. You can have that. No.

So, okay, give me some non-sports celebrities. I got a set of coasters? No, I don't want any that either. All right, let's go to non-sports celebrities. Oh, man. They had a couple of the people from the Top Gun movie. The new one? I didn't really know who they were.

Yeah, not a reboot. It's like part two, I think, right? See, it's not as big as in years past, you know, Matt, because years past we've had like Adam Sandler, Who else? The guy from the Miller Light? You know, the guy? The pillar highlight guy that you took a picture with?

No, there's been like... What about S-I models and stuff? Victoria's Secrets and that kind of things. No, see, that's the thing. I think it's... At least I haven't seen on our end. Now, it is a very weird setup here because half of Radio Row is on one side.

Then there's all the huge, you know, I'm super important. My name's Jim Row, and I've got to have a bigger set than everybody sets. And then Mike Florio, et cetera. etc. And they have their big things going on there. And then that's in the middle. And then on the other side is the other half of radio row. So it's really been, it's a weird setup.

So I haven't really, I can't really say that I've been spying a bunch of high-level celebrities. I feel like it's just been lower level than it has been in years past, in my opinion. Especially as far as non-sports celebrity. But I will tell you, Matt, Miami is crawling with attractive young news ladies. I'll just leave it at that. Like ABC, ESPN, CBS, or are we talking like Telemundo? Probably Telemundo. So you have no idea who they are?

No, I don't. It won't have a great personality. Did you explain to them that we are one of the more successful midday radio shows in a country despite a has-been consultant thinks we're not? I did, but then they said no English and then slowly backed away from me. I think what I'm going to do, hey, Matt, it's Chris. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on. Is there somebody from Louisiana coming up?

Yeah. What LSU guest is coming up on the show? No. What about him from Monroe or Alexandria or Shreveport? By way, play the Gordy introduction. Hold on. You can't speak it. Hold on. You can't speak into the introduction. Nick's looking for it. Where is it? Come on. You got to have Gordy on standby. He's done half the show already today. Come on. Nick. You notice he really wanted to talk to Tracy, too. Yeah, hang on. I think I moved it.

All right, forget it. Go ahead, Gordy. All right. I had an idea for next year, and I'm going to do this and just not even tell you. But I'm just going to get random people to do drops, and they'll just, they'll be rejoiners for your show for next year. So it'll just be, this is, you know, I don't know. Some of the random ass people we could find here. Okay, so you have booked all these guests, and this is the last show because you guys are checking out after this, correct? Yeah.

All right. So, you worked your ass off to get DeAndre to come over for a couple of. a couple of minutes. He did. He became part of the Hopkins family. I was part of the Hopkins family. Okay, so let me ask you this. I was holding mom's hand.

How do she were the PR people that were associated with him? No, they were great. Oh, they were good. That's really good. They were trying to make it work. The problem is, and this was so, first off, Matt, serious XM, good organization. No one listens.

No one listens. No one listens. Seriously XM. Who in their day goes, my God, I got to get to a radio here midday serious x-m NFL interview that's correct the only reason why you have serious xm is for the rate for the music that's it that's it no other reason here treats that like it's the most important thing guys you got to wrap it up we got to get to serious like okay more more people in houston care about d'andre and what he has to say

and the great thing that his mom is doing then i don't know you're five people in milwaukee listening on serious i totally agree so continue on So I was part of the family. And then at the end, she's like, hey, we're going to make this work. I need you to lead his mom over this. So, like, I'm literally leading her across the entire convention center area. Hop is signing, stop it and sign an autographs and taking pictures with kids and all that. I was like, DeAndre, you'll catch you up.

Let's get mom over to the seat. And we'll be good to go. DeAndre Hopkins' mom's life was in Gordy's hands. How scary is that? Yep. It's a great lady. All right. So that was cool.

Baker Mayfield with Sean had to be cool this morning. I didn't get to hear that, but I'm sure it was cool. We were the only local, you know, like non-national outlet to get him. Nice. I heard there's another station out there impersonating us as a Houston radio station. Is that true? Yeah, they're telling people that they're a Houston station. Now, they do the show from Houston, but they are not a Houston state.

You cannot hear that show in Houston. Okay. All right, so before we wrap this up with this segment with Gordy, and Ross is not your segment anymore, it's Gordy segment. Can you give us a list of three or four like sheets of paper of guests that you were offered You're like you've got to be kidding No way in the I mean I'm really listen to

Somebody screaming at the top of their lungs Then have this guest done Well we were offered the national cornhole champion Check The guys who threw the cornhole into the I actually talked to the guy later at lunch And he was actually a pretty nice guy And it was a cool thing

He was giving me tips on how to throw the bags, but not good for radio. No, not good. What other segment? This is a new segment called What? We didn't air. Paul McCartney. Stop.

We almost had Paul McCartney, but he's irrelevant, so we said no. So some group did, like, a contest for, like, the ultimate Chiefs fan and the ultimate Niners fan. They're like, we have Betty and Tim, who are the ultimate fans. We're like, no, like, what the hell are we going to talk to those people about? That's such, like, a corporate thing just to get, like, Campbell Soup's name out there. Mm-hmm. No thank you.

All right. Did you had the girl on from the fan girl from the Niners because she was just hot? Is that the reason why we did that? Tell the truth. No, I thought it would have been cool to get. I mean, it would have been cool if we could have gotten her and the person who covers the chiefs and got like good ins. Like, she's been to the practices and stuff. Maybe they could have gotten a cat fight?

We've like barely talked about the game at all. So I was like, oh. Did Ross ask her off air if she wanted to wrestle and pudding? Is that what I heard? Is that correct? I think he got her number. I saw it. Good, Rossi.

That's my boy. Hey, Tua, Tua is about 20 feet from us right now, but he looks very busy. Taga Viloa. How's his hip looking? That's what we, maybe if we can't get too on, I could just get a liner. This is Tua, and you're listening to the Matt Thomas show. I'll give you $20 if you can do it. Just say, hey, Tua, repeat after me.

That'd be awesome. Take chances. That's what I want. You took chances to getting the Hopkins family over. Take chance of talking to a quarterback that you beat up. Is it Tanga Viloa? Taga Vyloa? Taga Vyloa. Taga Volo?

I think it's Tonga Vyloa. No, it is not Tonga. Nobody calls them. Who's they? It's Hawaiian. The Tongaviloa family. Who's the great center slash power forward for the Milwaukee Bucks? Janis.

Neither one of you are saying it the same way. All right. Anything else from you, Gordy, before we... Now, Gordy, if we have a guest coming up from somebody this from Shreveport, we'll let you back on. Is there anything else going on? No, I'm just excited you're going to have Dana White on. UFC's coming to Houston. Now, you're going to talk to Ross with him about that?

And you're welcome to jump in on that. I'm just going to sit back and listen. No, no. No, just you and Ross. Did you get a wrestler for me, by the way? No wrestlers on the show? I heard Sean had big show on. We had a couple, but most of them died off.

Oh, yeah, we had the big show. But he was here super, super early. Very early for you. Okay. Last question, Gordy. What guest did Tyler get that was big name that we didn't get? Oh, stop. Okay.

Here we go. Barry Sanders. Oh, Barry Sanders. And he's on Tyler? It's not true. I thought we had it. No, I had him on Minnesota. It wasn't Tyler, but there's this station.

I forget where they are. But they're like somewhere in the northeast. Yeah. And they get all the analysts. And I guarantee the station like must have five listeners. It must be a shock in the middle of North Dakota. All right. Well, I think you did a great job.

And we thank you. We thank you for your efforts. All of our guests. And thanks to the low T center and Twin Peaks for making this. happen. There it is. And this has been a segment called Stop the Matt Thomas show. All right, I'm here to save the show.

And Gordy did. Big game, big guests. Complete coverage. Anything can happen. Judging from past broadcasts, you know that to be the case. It's Sports Talk 790, live from Miami. Presented by Lotees. Center and Twin Peaks.

Let's knock a couple things out because Ross is going to talk to Dana White to close out the show today. Have you guys made back there official predictions about the final? I have Rossi, I got Kansas City winning this one in this one, 31 to 20. I think it's a cover

and what's the over under on the, is it fluctuated much since the start of the Super Bowl? 54. Am I under? I'm going to go under and I got 312 Kansas City beating San Francisco. Which you think. Really? Yep, 31.20.

Good game, but not incredible. I don't think, I don't think Kansas City puts up 31 on this defense. I understand it's Patrick Mahomes. I just, I don't know. Okay, first of all, the caveat, Matt. How well have I been picking NFL games this year? Oh, you're batting about

275. It hasn't been great. This is a close one. I just, I think it goes under the total, 54.5 is where it's at now. I just can't, I keep thinking about, and I brought it up a couple of times this week, I keep

thinking about the unstoppable Patriots teams that ran up against the great defenses of the New York Giants with dominant defensive lines where there was nowhere to hide. And that's the thing for me that I

keep harping on is the San Francisco 49ers with that talent they have on the front seven and specifically the defensive line there's nowhere to hide. And so, I mean, yes, you're going to have Andy Reid recognize that. He's going to try to work the short passing game, and he's going to try to get some screens going or dump off to Travis Kelsey and not necessarily have Patrick Mahomes

and a ton of seven-step drops and all that type of stuff. But I just feel like this front for San Francisco, I mean, it's so relentless. and the offensive line is kind of average for the Chiefs. And so I just think it's going to be a lower scoring game because I think the Chief's defense has been playing well as well. But you, I mean, Nick Bosa, DeForest Buckner, D. Ford, Eric Arm said, those guys are all plus-level front line guys.

And then, I mean, I think, I'm thinking, I believe I said, 2320 of San Francisco 49ers. I could even go lower than that. See, here's the thing. It's hard for me to have. And I know it's happened before. I don't ever remember Patrick Mahomes ever having to really escape for his life. He's a scrambling quarterback for sure. But in terms of being so flushed and so out of sorts because of a pass rush that he hasn't still been able to find his receivers.

Don't you think there's going to be some thought from Andy Reid about developing a shorter passing game, maybe a quicker three-step drop, that kind of thing? So you can avoid the pass rush by just getting rid of the football even faster than he does in the past? That's great. I mean, yeah, and he reads a West Coast guy, and that was the old Bill Walsh. We're going to dink and dunk down the field. And so, I mean, he has that in his game. Of course, you tailored to personnel with Tyreeks Hill streaking down the field and stuff like that. But absolutely, there's going to be a short passing game.

But that's what it's going to be. It's going to be, I think they're going to chip and chip and chip. I don't know that they're going to be able to get as many big gash plays because I just don't know if they're going to have time. say for a play action or something like that that buys Patrick Mahomes a ton of time. I just feel like I'm a big believer in the talent, especially on the defensive line, if it's that overwhelming to me on the offensive line, that it's just going to be a long day for Patrick Mahomes. Okay, so I got 3,120 Kansas City.

I will go with Mahomes, my MVP. I would assume it with the Niners winning, you have to give us a different MVP. I will go with Could be Garapolo I mean even the defense does his job If Garapolo throws for 225 and a couple of scores That's good enough to win He's capable of doing that

Eli Manning was Yeah Eli Manning in the games I'm bringing up Eli Manning was the MVP of both of those Although Justin Tuck should have been the MVP for the first one But I feel like Boster would be a little bit too of a hot pick Because of what he did last week He's probably not going to replicate that

Obviously You know what? All right, I'm going to go crazy here. You ready to get a little nuts, Matt? Let me tell you something. This is a bet that I want to take with me to Vegas. Let's get nuts. George Kettle, Super Bowl MVP.

Huh. Making some incredible catch fourth quarter and a comeback winner or cementing a victory. Because, you know, everybody thinks that the Nauters are going to go out to a fast start because the two playoff games the Chiefs had, they were off too notoriously slow starts. Well, the NFL writers of today have respect. expected George Kittle and how well he does as a blocker, despite what Doug Gottlieb says on his show, because he's an idiot.

Wait, wait, wait. Don't ever reference Doug Gottlieb on this show, ever. He's the, he is, there was this, what did he say that was stupid? I don't even catch it because I don't pay attention ever to what Doug Gottlieb says, ever. He went on his show and said George Kittle was in a good blocker, and then he got, like, flooded with a thousand tweets of George Kittles' great blocking skills, and then he doubled down. he was like not still not much of a blocker for me are you kidding he's one of the best blocking tight end in in the entire league and he can go out and catch 10 passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns so you must be kidding me all right real fast god golly the fact that he doubled you know you can we don't know everything right man and we speak for hours and we're going to get some stuff wrong inevitably right but to come out and say that and then just

get punched in the face with all that evidence and then double down, that takes a special kind of, you know what? There's two different, there's two different double-down duches in sports. Gottlieb is one of them and Stephen A's buddy on that first take show. Max Kellerman. Those guys just, I have a horrible take, and for that matter, Skip Bayless does it too. Stephen A, if he is a bad take, he'll fix it. He'll say, all right, I was wrong about this.

Just ridiculous. All right. You ready for a timeout and you get to get to Dana White? Are we on schedule with him? Sounds good. Who's the guy behind you as a big, thick accent? Well, they're in front of me, actually. There's a couple of you talking about the...

They're either from Australia or England. Gordy's talking to them right now. Real fast, Nick, can you do this for me, Nick? Give me some old school music because I want Ross to say George Kittles' name like he's in the Old West, because he could be the way to buy. I think George Kittle could work. Try, let's just try and see how it sounds. We're going to find the music first.

Here it is. Go ahead, Ross. Well, there was once a young man known as George Kittle. He was steadfast in his upbringing, and he was a man of moral, a man of principles. He fought briefly in the Civil War at the Battle of Bull Run, where he took a musket ball to the arm which they quickly sawed off in the field. Okay.

He then went back to sit on his rocking chair. Well, they didn't have disability in those days, so he still had to work. So what did he do, Mr. George Kittle? He started making dolls out of corn husks. Okay, okay. Selling them on the streets. Okay, okay.

May I try something? Go ahead. I'm going to go with something a little bit different. Hi, friends, George Kittle of Kittle Ace Hardware. I like that. We have saws. We have bricks. We have paint.

We have sheetrock. We have flowers. Right here, it's your favorite old Ace hardware, like a pet on a nice pair of old shoes and drinking a glass of country time lemonade. Come see in my team at Kittle Ace Hardware. And also on Thursday nights, you can catch me at the oil cannery bar with my band, Kittles and Bits. And seen. Welcome to Miami. Hello, Super Bowl.

Big game, the ultimate game. This is Sports Talk 790, live from Radio Row, presented by Low T-Center and Twin Peaks. One, two, three, three. Our buddy, Megablast says Matt, Matt, Stephen A. Smith is much worse than Max Kellerman. This is the guy who said Dwayne Haskins was a running quarterback. and got called out for it by many people. And he doubled down on it even though he had 300 yards rushing his entire college career. That's fair.

Yeah, you'd have to forget. That's a good point. Yeah. I'm with you with that. I'm more of a Stephen A guy than a Kellerman guy. It is not even close. Unless he's doing boxing, which he doesn't do for HBO anymore because HBO shut down HBO boxing. Right.

Well, he does some boxing stuff for ESPN. So, I mean, in that capacity where he's actually, where he came up and he was an honest and good and thoughtful reporter and analyst, I like him there, but when he's on the first take show, everything he says is... Yeah, it's embarrassingly bad, and that's why Stephen A doesn't bother me. Because he seems approachable. He seems like he's got a little bit of a human side to him. I think it's... Max is like, I have a take, and I'm just going to tell you how bad it is,

and I'm going to keep pushing it, a matter how wrong I am. By the way, NBA All-Star News, They're all trying to figure out ways How to appropriately do To honor Kobe Bryant By the way we will honor Kobe before tonight's game With the Rockets if you're going So if you want to make sure you're in your seats

Well before 630 Team LeBron's going to wear number two You were saying How are they gonna What's the method of honor Is it going to be video or I'm just kidding? I think it's video and I'll announce the names This is part of us

You know just a moment of like most arenas are doing And I'm going to assume we're going to do the 24 and the 8 because we have not done it. We have not had a home game since Kobe's passing. Team LeBron's going to wear number two. Team Yonis is going to wear 24. Both teams wear patches with nine stars representing those who lost their lives in a helicopter crash.

Why two for Team LeBron? His daughter wore number two. Oh. Gianna wore number two. Right. Okay, cool. Awesome. So it works out.

Works out well. We had John Antebelli. on. We had not John, but obviously coach winning, who knew John very well. And the out-to-belly remembrance is pretty special, too. I don't know if you've seen SportsCenter. His brother was the S-I-D at that college. A lot of old players are coming back.

A lot of them are retiring jerseys and whatnot. So it's been a tough week for sports. It really has with that terrible. And I'm glad the other folks are getting recognized as well. But the Kobe stuff's been great. I've been watching all the stuff on ESPN. T&T. bought with Jerry West and Shaq on the set with Charles and Ernie being in Los Angeles.

I mean, this is how Kobe would want it. And Vanessa finally was able to say something on Instagram and she was able to do that. I see a lot of money is going towards charity things. I know that Shaq has a big party where you are tonight. I think all the proceeds from his party are going to the Kobe Bryant Foundation. So people are paying their proper respects except for that one complete A-hole in Charlotte, North Carolina. Having than that, it's really been a special time for those that want to remember Kobe Bryant for the person they was. So, and we'll do our own thing tonight at the Toyota Center as Rockets take on the Dallas Mavericks.

And I'm assuming that Dana White's ready or no? No, he is not. We might not get him since the show's over in a few minutes, Matt, but I haven't seen him yet. Yeah. Okay. You know how it goes on Radio Row. Yeah. But Dana's missing an opportunity because Dana's going to, his event's going to be in Houston.

So, you know, good luck selling tickets. You don't come on the show. It's going to bad mouth the rest of the time. That's true. He was going to sell at least five. thousand more tickets. Let me tell you something. Either you're with us or you're against us. Period end of story.

Or you're running a little late. You know, it happens. He's a busy man. He's a millionaire running around. No, he's running late because he's intentionally running late. That's how they all roll. He's running along with somebody else. Favorite interview of the week for you.

Wow. This is going to sound off the wall, Matt, but I'm going to go with Bruce Radkowski. Really? Football focus. Yeah, he knew a lot of stuff about the Texans, good football inside. You know, I mean, it's all fun in games if you want to talk about, I don't know, Walgreens and Gillette for five minutes when you come up here. But, I mean, he came on here and we just talked football for 10, for 10, 12 straight minutes. And he was really knowledgeable, really good, nice guy.

So I think overall, probably him or maybe Colin. Okay, maybe Colleen Wolf. Your borderline infatuated with her. Is that safe? That's not true. I wouldn't say that. I would say she's very pleasant. Yes.

And she was very nice. And she smelled good. And I was a great football analysis. And we should also peel the curtain back here. I was going to ask her a couple of questions, but she did not want to put a headset on. That's correct. Well, let's put it. She didn't, she wasn't, she was concerned about putting the headset on because of her hair.

She was going from us, she was going over to the NFL network set, so she wanted her hair to be okay. But she was going to do it. Then Chris Gordy offered her a stick mic, and then she's obviously happily obliged. All right. So, well, we tried for Dana White, but time has come to an end, my friend. I think we just found it got word that he's going to be 10 minutes late, so the show is going to be over. Unless the A team wants to have him on. Yeah.

But nevertheless, thank you for, so you've really, this should have been your first year of leading the interviews. Are you physically and mentally spent? I think I'm okay. Is your Connect 4 board still out there playing? You playing Connect 4? No, it's not. It was Adam Wexler's, he took it. But it's more work because you actually, you know, have to prep these.

interviews. I used to always just leave that up to you, Matt, and I would just sit around and make a couple of goofy quips and get out of there. But it's a little harder when you have to actually carry the interview because you're scared. You don't know if these people are only going to give you five-word answers or incomplete sentences, and you've got to have a lot of stuff prepared. So from that standpoint, it's a little more work, but it was fun. And I think, I don't know, I think I did an okay job. If you miss any of the best stuff, we've got it on our website at sports790.com, including Ross asking Colleen Wolf out on a date, which I thought was the best video of the entire. No, that's not true.

And yes, and you'll probably get a lot of it on the sports RV show tomorrow, starting at 11 a.m. All right, we'll save travels back, my friend. Don't drink too much on the plane because you get dehydrated and you might want I'm saying goofy stuff and then get kicked off. I always hydrate. Fair enough. Nick Lowe, your week is done, my friend. Good work for your end.

Thank you. I have to balance multiple shows and stations and different locales. I look forward to seeing all of you tonight at 6.30 for the Rockets against the Mavericks. Again at 6.30, the earlier start time for tonight's game with Houston and Dallas. For Ross, I'm Matt. I'll see you at the arena tonight and back with you Monday at 12 noon when hopefully we discuss a very exciting, compelling Super Bowl. A team, at least one half from the TOTA Center is next. This is Sports Talk 790.