The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 1-9-20

Episode Date: January 9, 2020

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 1/9/20Soren Petro Joins Matt From Kansas City (29:56)Non Florida Stories (1:00:05)The Mike D'Antoni Show (1:11:40)

Much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 1201 in H-town. What's happening in luncht timers? Good afternoon to you and welcome to a Thursday edition of the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Today in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where tonight, Russell West. Westbrook makes his one regular season and first return to the place he spent his first 11 seasons in the NBA as Rockets take on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I'm Matt here in OKC. Ross and Nick are back in our Houston studios. And Ross, I asked the opening question. You had your first thoughts about the game Sunday? I asked you on Monday if you change your mind at all. I asked you Tuesday and asked you Wednesday. Today, I ask you on this Thursday, three days before the AFC divisional playoff game between your beloved Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs. Well, I don't know how beloved they are, but go ahead.

Do you feel any different today? No, I do not. I have not wavered. Me either. Good. Well, I mean, I guess it's good. I don't know. No, it's not good.

Why, you're being realistic, Matt. You're not paid to be a cheerleader of any team. Certainly not the Houston Texans. No, because people get mad at you when you don't openly root. My man Larry and Stafford got after me last week. I'm like, Larry, I got your team winning. Because they were better than the Buffalo Bills. And they proved it.

It took too long for them to figure that out, but they did it. Well, they proved they were better than a concussed Josh Allen. Now, wait a minute. We're throwing that out as innuendo. Oh, I'm sorry. Allegedly. Well, speculative, right? We were speculating that he was concussed because he made some really.

really, really horrific throws. But we're done with that game. We have moved on. And we will go to Kansas City coming up in an hour from now. Soren Petro from a sports radio 810, WHB in Kansas City. We'll join us to give him perspective. We had one of the reporters on yesterday. Today, Ross, I really want to get in more into the culture around Kansas City.

Does Andy Reed get ridiculed for two-minute drill as much as Bill O'Brien? What's going to happen if the Texans win? because it would be a significant upset. I've not checked the lines this morning. It's been pretty consistent pretending on what book you look at. Nine and a half, ten points. Is it still kind of what you're seeing as well?

I haven't checked this morning either, but you did have that guy from the gold sheet on with Indy Kalu in the trenches. I was listening to that, and I believe he said nine and a half, nine, nine and a half, so I'll go with him. Did he give a prediction or do you hold off on that? He had the Texans covering. Yeah, it's holding steady at nine and a half.

It's up to ten at the MGM. And, whoa. CG technology shops. So it is up to 10 in a couple of spots. Hmm. Okay. I know that ESPN had put their line out of 10, and that was like if they get that from some book out there. Also the highest total of the weekend, so at 51.5.

So maybe if you just don't want to root against, you don't want to root for Kansas City or you know the end result, maybe you just run to Vegas this weekend and put a bunch of money on the game and a variety different prop bets kind of thing. Over under's first half, that kind of thing. Just so you can at least get to make some money on the deal, right? Well, or lose some money. That's right.

There's no guarantee you run to Vegas and actually win it. All right. On the show today, we mentioned Sor and Petro at 1 o'clock. Non-Flority stories at 150. I have a doozy of a non-Florida story. Oh, really? I mean, I think I'm going to win this week, and I rarely ever think I'm going to win. But it's from New York, and you'll get it at 150.

And then 2 o'clock today, the season debut of the Mike Dan Tony show. and he'll spend a half hour with us. I went to Twitter yesterday and asked you all to send some questions under the hashtag AskMDA. And Ross, I might have gotten 20 to 25 responses. Legitimately only one of them

I can actually ask him today. Many of the preposterous, ridiculous, frankly uncalled-forer questions came from you. Oh, what are you talking about? I asked legitimate questions. Well, what we're going to do today is the questions that I will never ask Mike Dan, Tony, we'll ask ourselves at about 2.30 this afternoon.

Okay. Because there's quite a few interesting ones, none that I would ask for a former NBA coach of the year and a man trying to pick up his 199th win tonight as a Houston Rocket coach when they take on Oklahoma City. Wow. All right. So that's coming up. We've got a lot in plus and on today's show three different times. And I'm not going to tell you when, but I'm just going to love.

on you when you get it right. Three different times today, we're going to give away tickets to see the Royal Rumble at Minute Made Park. Oh, wow. Once per hour or you're not going to say? Not going to say. Because there's some parts of the show

that are a little more congested than others, but I just want to reward people that have said, you know what, Matt, I'm a ride or die with the Matt Thomas show, noon to three on Sports Talk 790. Because I want those people to go to MinuteMade Park and catch what is one of the premiered WWE events of the of the calendar season. And it's right here in Houston, Texas.

Ross, there's going to be 40,000 people there probably. No, that's cool. And so, just because you don't like it, doesn't mean other people can't enjoy it. No, I didn't say other people couldn't enjoy it. They never said that. That's fine. If you and your children want to go. Or adults.

If you and a pack of adults go, you need to get a life. Well, do you think Adam Clanton's not bringing all of his crew to get to the event? I don't know. Is he going to dress up? I don't know what it's going to. have to ask him on that. I don't know if Adam's dressing up for the, this Royal Rumble. That's a good question. All right. So in terms of news headlines out of Kansas City, not a whole lot, right? I mean, this is just the buildup with guys practicing and players

saying all the right things and respecting each other. But from an injury standpoint, again, everything you hear from Texanville is that Will Fuller is, I guess, getting closer and closer to playing. And I guess we're supposed to have some optimism about that, right? Help me out with this. Does everything change when we find out when Will Fuller becomes active for the game? I don't know if everything changes, but it's good. It would portend well for the result of the game for the Texans. I mean, here's the storyline that would be amazing, Ross. Will Fuller is activated. Will Fuller catches five passes. Two of them are for touchdowns. Houston Texans pull off the upset. If you were to ask America, forget about Houston, Texas.

Who has the bigger, better chance in the AFC to pulling out the upset? Tennessee going to Baltimore or Houston going to Kansas, anyone in the game. I would say Houston, just because Baltimore, to me, is that much greater of a team. Probably so. I think if you were to look in the, of all the favorites this weekend, the one that is the, there's just no possible way that this team that has been steamrolling through opponents for a better part of three months can lose. it's a Baltimore Ravens. So kind of in some respect, it's a blessing that the Texans don't have to avoid that

or can avoid that at least for one week, provided they win at Kansas City. But Kansas City is getting healthier. I think they're very confident. And here's the thing that kind of hurts, but it's just the reality. Ross, I think America wants to see Kansas City go to Baltimore. They want to see Pat Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. And look, these quarterbacks that are still around on the AFC, I mean, Ryan Tannahill is a really good story.

I mean, from a guy that was basically told, we don't need you in Miami anymore, and we're going to let Ryan Fitzpatrick run the team. He goes to Tennessee in the trade and takes over, and we knew that when the deal was done and that Tannahill became a Titan, that Marcus Mariotto wasn't long for Tennessee. And not only has he come in there and play,

but he's played exceptionally well, and I think they're really thinking about trying to keep him around, at least on a short-term basis for the future. but the future of the NFL is with the other three quarterbacks in the AFC and I just had this notion that every TV show you watch tomorrow or Saturday or Sunday before the game it's America wants to see Pat Mahomes try to out do Lamar Jackson and if I had if I had no dog in this fight I'd probably agree with him but frankly I've been waiting for the Houston

Texans since 2002 to reach something called a championship game. Do you realize, wasn't it the Jacksonville Jaguars Ross in like in their second or third year of existence? Didn't they reach an AFC championship game with Mark Brunell's quarterback? Each of them made the championship game. I believe in their second years. Oh, Carolina, too.

Yeah, but I think that was also, though, you had a different structure. I believe the, not only did they get like the first and second and overall picks. I believe they got the first and second picks of every round. every round. There was something else with the draft that they did that they changed in subsequent years. Like they got a special advantage in the draft. I can't remember exactly what it was. Well, I know that Carolina and

Jacksonville did it two ways. Jacksonville built through the draft and I think Carolina was a pretty free spending team going after guys around the NFL that had played before. I think Kevin Green was one of their acquisitions. They were a team that they were a city that said let's go try to win as fast as possible and spend a lot of money.

So, and again, that's so far in the distance in history. but as I think about this, I think about the fact there are hundreds of thousands of people that have spent money on PSLs, that have gone to games, that have bought the gear, that have been to rallies,

that have traveled to other cities. Yeah, they got two first round picks and two second round picks. Wow. So that's all it took, huh? It helped. And then a couple years later, they're playing for championships.

We as a city have not experienced that since the Oilers. And Hell Ross, they don't even experience that during the run and shoot days. We're talking about Love You Blue before the last time this team has played for a champion. This city has seen a championship game. I think that's going to be another year. That's a long time of futility right there, my friend, over two different franchise. Yeah, it's been pretty bad. So football time in Houston hasn't been a great time.

Well, again, I think ultimately if you change the fight song, things would happen. You think so? You think that's what's holding him back? I think there are two things. I think you bump Jackie's to be up to general manager because he's kind of that as it is, as it is. And you change the fight song.

Those two things will put the team over the hump. And at the end of the day, you can probably sell some more gear out of or something. Sell the rack. You can drop the song on iTunes and make some serious money because that at least the other song will never be a part of our history ever again. But the problem is who do you go to?

Who do you trust on this? What kind of song? Is it a song that you want to sing along to? Or do you try to get into the 2020 where it's, whether it's hip hop or country? I mean, I don't know what you do. Maybe it's just, maybe they'll never change the song, Ross, because they're just never going to satisfy anybody. Because we as generic, general human beings hate everything. Yeah, but we also hate, I.

I think everybody, does anybody really love that song? I think Michael Connor loves it. Texans Karen does. Michael Connor and Texans Karen. I mean, I don't even know if Karen loves it. Maybe she does. Let me tell you something about Texans. She loves everything.

Yeah, but she's had like eight or nine white claws pregame. She's probably not even making it by the time they play the game. That's true. All right. 713-212-5-790. Have you changed your opinion at all? Think about where you were when the Texans found out they're going to play Kansas City, which was late Saturday night after Tennessee B, New England.

And where are you now? Tomorrow we're going to ask you to call your shot early in the show. Today I'm going to let you think about it a little bit more. We'll mix in some of the audio from practice the last couple of days to find out the exact temperature of what the Texans are thinking about. Again, everybody's saying the right things, plenty of respect, but just the sense watching some of the morning shows in the sports centers. I think most America, I mean, they're right.

But most American believes this is a collision course for the top two teams in the AFC. And that normally is the case every year, no matter who the opponents are. 713-212-5-790. If you'd like to join our show today, 7-13-212-5-7-90. Also, it is a big day here in Oklahoma City. We landed Ross at about 115, got to the hotel just before 2. There were like 50 people waiting for us at our hotel last night at 2 o'clock. morning. Really? Yes, couple with

the signs. Welcome back, Brody, that kind of thing. Oh, well, they need to get a life. Tonight's going to be, I think, a very emotional night for the Thunder fans, and for Russell Westbrook. And if you want to get into the last night's Rockets Hawks game, we can do that because it was an awesome first quarter.

We don't need to get into that. Even Mike Dantonian, the post game, was like, yeah, I'm not talking about this game after these next 30 seconds. Well, that's why you got Mike Dan Tony today at 2 o'clock for a full half hour. Maybe we'll get two questions in on yesterday's game. But a lot to get to as we visit for the very first time with our Rockets Head Coach. 713-212-5-790. I'm Matt in Oklahoma City, and this is the Matt Thomas

show on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas, we'd like to thank his parents for only giving him two first names. Because who would listen to Billy Ray Thomas talk about Houston sports? The Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas with you from Oklahoma City. We'll go to Kansas. sitting at about 40 minutes from now. Right now, sports rave, I would love to give away a pair of tickets to the WWE Royal Rumble Sunday, January 26th at Minute Maid Park. Brock Lesner enters the 30-man Rumble at number one. Raw's women champion Becky Lynch will be there, Universal Champion Bray Wyatt, Roman Rain, Seth Rollins, all the WWE superstars. And we've got a pair of tickets to give

what you're saying, Matt, how do I get him away? Matt, how are you going to give them away? Yesterday on the Matt Thomas show, which hopefully you listened. You and I had a pretty good chuckle. Actually, we were belly laughing, I think, over a person on Twitter. Yes. That brought up in one tweet a little bit about the troubles in Iraq and also in basketball. He talked about basketball in Iraq in back-to-back sentences.

Who was the person on Twitter? we were joking about how completely bizarre that tweet was. If you know who that is, you're going to go to the Royal Rumble, courtesy of your friends here at Sports Talk 790. 713-212-5-790. If you know they answer that question, 7-13-212-5-7-90. Who was a person on Twitter that mixed Iraq and basketball talk all in one tweet?

Let's say hi to Stephen Huffman on the Matt Thomas. show. Steve, good afternoon to you. What's going on? Hey, Matt, you're asking about earlier the Texans and where was I and what do I think and so forth? Well, I don't want to forget this thought because I think it is important. When I saw the line on this

game Sunday, it reminded me at 2002 when the expansion Texans got that lines for every game. That was understandable. But really, 10 points? You know what? Who would be bothered by this is the Kansas City

Chiefs, although they had nothing to do with it. But they, you know, if I was a Texans, I would, it's me against the world and I'm going to go out and play my eyelids out for 60 minutes. I always do, but I'm really going to show the world, what are you

thinking? What are you smoking? I mean, I wasn't thinking much about our chances on Sunday, and I, when we probably still will lose this game, but we're not going to lose by 10 points. I think that was the dumbest thing, whoever found the better set the line. But anyway, I just wanted to bring that point up. Secondly, after Buffalo started the first touchdown, I pretty much went to other programming

in my house, and my kids were texting me wildly, you know, when they were making a comeback. And although we won the game, I did watch the last of that game. and once again Bill O'Brien gets in his own way all the time this is where guys like Andy Reed and John Harbaugh out coached this guy you know there was like a minute

and a half to go and he did nothing to use that clock up when he got down to fourth and what was the inches or one he was one he got a first down and end the game and he tries to run through the brick wall and I just think

really were until we get somebody here that just takes the keys off to, you know, taking John Watson and lets him do what he did in the second half for the entire game like Andy Reid does with Mahomes, like Harbaugh does, you know, with his guy. It's just going to be problematic because you just can't come back in games like this against teams like Kansas City and Baltimore get down like this and play a quarter and a half and expect to win. It just not going to happen.

Anyway, those are my observations. Thank you, Steve. Nice to hear from you. Don't be a stranger to the show. First and foremost, Ross, I have been around a lot of athletes, professional and collegiate athletes over my career. I would say less than 5% of them. I mean, a really small number ever think about what Las Vegas thinks about the game.

Yeah, I would say so. You know what? Actually, we have a little bit of breaking news here, Matt, and it was actually one of the guys that I would think would have mentioned spreads before. Go ahead. Mike Leach will be the next head coach at Mississippi State. What? Yes.

What? What? It's according to Pete Thammell or is it Tamil? Whatever. And also Brett McMurphy reporting it as well. Mike Leach is going to Mississippi State? That's right. Let me digest that live on the air.

Is that okay? Yeah, just take it in for a second. Let's see. His previous stops, of course, Texas Tech, Washington State, where he whipped up on the Cougars, the University of Houston Cougars. Whatever. That matchup, the other half of that home and home gets a little bit easier next year, right? Yeah, we're going up there to Pullman next year.

Are you going to go to Pullman, Washington? I think so. I've never been before. What's there to do up there? I don't know. I've never been. Okay. It's actually near the Idaho border if you want to figure out the state.

Oh, okay. That's what I was hoping for. That's what I want the Washington, Pullman, Washington, Idaho double dip. By the way, do we get an answer to our trivia question? Yes, we got a number of people in. Yeah, Joseph, the answer was Dick Vitale. So we'll give way another set of tickets. Two more sets between now and three o'clock today.

All right, let me get to the caller's point, and then we'll come back from the break and get into the Mike Leach situation. 5% of, less than 5% of athletes I've ever talked to about point spreads. They are actually very, most professional athletes are self-motivated. They don't, you know, when there's Bolton board material,

that's really overblown, frankly. That's hugely overblown, in my opinion, especially in the professional ranks. Yeah, college maybe a little bit, but almost never in the pro side of things. Secondly, I mean, if I was to grade Bill O'Brien as a play caller as purely just a fan, I mean, I would say overall over his career, he's probably a C play caller. I think he's gotten to be this year. I think that there is, I don't think it's coincidental that the team hasn't scored a touchdown

the first quarter. I do think there are issues with some of the things that are being decided, early in contest. But I do think there are things that have been innovative this year. The RPO is much more effective. The use of the tin and has been really good. There has been, you know, I think some diversity in the offense, especially with all the different receivers that are coming to play,

using Duke Johnson as a receiving threat that the Texans really haven't had much of. So I would say as a play caller this year, he gets a B. As compared to a overall career grade of a C. Are you with me on that? I think so. Yeah, I mean, I have no problem giving him a B. I think it's been pretty good. And I think overall in his career, he's been a decent play caller.

It's just been everything else that he doesn't seem to necessarily have a grasp of in decision making. But I think he's gotten better. I mean, earlier in his career, I think he was a pretty conservative guy as far as going for fourth downs and all that type of stuff. But they've been braced analytics-type decisions in the last couple of years. So, I mean, honestly, we talk about players getting better and stuff like that. but we don't necessarily talk about coaches getting better. I think Bill O'Brien has gotten better as a coach. Now, it hasn't been leaps and bounds from year one,

but I think he's been incrementally better just about every single year to where, you know, he's a decent NFL coach, and I think a B as far as a play caller is fair. I think, but I don't think B is a career. I think he has been an average, which would put him at a C. I'll give you a couple of quick grades on Bill. AFC South champions, four years out of five, man. I don't care.

It's been the worst division for a decade. It really has. pound for pound and maybe the AFC's like hey we're over here too because New England wins and we don't do anything else so maybe it hasn't been pound for pound the worst all right I'll give you a couple quick grades in O'Brien

and then I want to get into Mike Leach going to Mississippi State and just some first initial thoughts on that 713212-570 7-1 3212-5-790 the Matt Thomas show here today from Oklahoma City where Russell Westbrook makes his return for the first time since being traded for Chris Paul 7-13-212

790. Lunch timers. Launch timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. 1249, we give away one pair of Royal Rumble tickets. We'll give away two more before the end of the day. So please stay tuned to Sports Talk 790. And frankly, we do this because we know there's some wrestling fans out there

and we want to give them away to people that have made the commitment to this radio show because it means the world to me and I want to take care of some of y'all. 713-212-5-790. We'll start with Joseph and Parent. on the Matt Thomas show at 1249. Joseph, good afternoon to you. What's going on? Yes, sir.

How are you doing? Good. Before I make this comment, please understand it's nothing personal, okay? But I like 790 more than I do 610. Now I've got a portion of one. Wait a minute. Time out, time out.

Why would I take it personal if you like us better than them? Well, you know how I hide. This is all about business. You know how it is. Okay. But anyway. But thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Do you know what station you called? Yeah, 7-90. Listen, I want to ask you a question here and tell me if I'm wrong. But don't you think Houston played better defense man-to-man than they do zone? And I will hang up and listen. I don't think they've got the body to do it, Ross. Not with the different targets. They're going to have to zone them up this week.

Thanks for the phone call, pre-year. Appreciate it. And appreciate listening to Sports Talk 790. Thank you. Please do it as often as possible. Ross, I think Kansas City presents way too many problems for them to go man-to-man. Especially with your secondary still very much up in the air. Yeah, I agree with that.

I mean, of course, not 100% of the time. You're going to have to mix up looks and all that type stuff. But, I mean, who do we want manning up Tyreek Hill or shadowing him the entire game? I mean. You get Sammy Walkins. You got Travis Kelsey. You got the backs out of the back field that can catch a pack. pass too. I think you've got to keep everything in front of them.

Mm-hmm. I mean, I guess you could play a man on Tyree Kill and then of course have the safety, whoever it's going to be, Justin Reed or whoever basically bracketing him the entire game. That's probably going to be some of the game plan from Romeo Cornell this weekend. But yeah, you're just going to have to mix it up.

And Romeo Cornell, I mean, he has been, I mean, especially last week, he's been kind of throwing the kitchen sink at opposing defenses. It'll be interesting to see what he kind of has up his sleeve to try to get this Patrick Mahomes and one of the best offenses in the entire NFL off kilter. They just have so many weapons. It's going to be difficult. And to be honest with you, regardless of they go man or zone,

I think it's going to come down to, especially if JJ Watt is telling the truth that he thinks he's going to play more this week. If that pass rush shows up like it did in the second half of the game against Buffalo, that's going to be a big asset because Ross, think about this. This team won't a boatload again. games this year with really having a non-existent pass rush. And I'm even talking about before JJ Watt got hurt. This team just hasn't had, and I know that Jacob Martin's been battling a little bit of injury here and there.

He's been kind of a nice surprise, but this has to be Whitney, this has to be DJ Reader, this has to be JJ, not waiting until late third quarter to put any sort of pass rush. I think that's going to be a key. And I'm not asking for Mahomes to be on the ground five or six times, which would be nice, but the fact is they've got to get him throwing the football earlier than he wants to. He's a great scrambling quarterback. We've seen that before in his young NFL career. I think getting the ball out of his hands faster than he wants to is going to be a huge determination as to how much success the receiving core has with Kansas City

and how maybe the Texans can be ripe enough to maybe pick a pass off or force some sort of turnover. That'll be key. I just don't have a whole lot of confidence they're going to be able to do it. I think the only way I really picture the Texans winning this game is by scoring a ton of points. And it's going to have to take some kind of either a special teams play or a turnover, pick six, fumble six, something like that. The Texans are going to need a little bit of help with a play like that, some found money, some found points to help turn this game around or keep it even in their favor

or keep pace with the Kansas City Chiefs. Frankly, here's what I understand. vision. I envis, if the Texas are going to win this game. Look, Mahomes is just by walking on the field is going to throw for $2.75. That's just the reality of it. At least three touchdowns. Yeah, probably, yeah.

It's, can you throw the three touchdowns, but can he also throw two picks? Can he throw behind Travis Kelsey, who deflects the ball and the ball arrives in Zach Cunningham's hands? Can Garyon Connolly get a ball that has tipped off a Tyreek Hill's

hand? It's one of those situations where it might be fluky, defensive turnovers that make the difference. I believe Mahomes is 275 and three scores. Can the two interceptions be the difference maker in the game? Can Bradley Robey actually catch a pick this week? Well, the answer to that is no. He had two huge chances last week.

If he can't make a play on his home field and climate control conditions, how is he going to do it with 40-degree temperatures and cold weather in Kansas City against a team that knows how to play on that football field? Hit the Jugs machine this week. Like JJ did on hard knocks? Yes. Maybe we put all you, there you go, Matt. You just figured it out.

J.J. Watt at cornerback. No. I don't like J.J. Watt playing out of position. We've seen how that. J.J. Watt's strong safety. No, I just didn't like him at fullback. I didn't like him in a lot of different things. 7-1-3-2-W.

So no Watt-Cat this week, you're saying? I want no Watt-Cat. I want. Know him as a slot receiver. I, you know, I don't want him taking any snaps, anything like that at all. 713-212-5-790. It's how you reach our show.

7-13-212-5-7-90. Two more attempts to give away tickets to see the Royal Rumble. We have Mike Dantonian an hour from now. We have non-Florida stories at 150. Ross. Mine is involving someone in New York, and it involves a condiment. Hmm.

Nick, yours is from where? Mine is from West Monroe, Louisiana. No condiments involved. It's going to be tough. Ross, you better step your own game up. I know. West Monroe is going to be tough to be. West Monroe is tough.

I've got to be honest with you. I'm now a little upset that he found something from Louisiana, especially northeast Louisiana. Is the Matt Thomas Show. 101 on Sports Talk 790. The Matt Thomas show here today from Oklahoma City. where tonight it'll be Russell Westbrook making his return since the Chris Paul trade this is really strange only one trip here to OKC for the Rockets and it's tonight we'll have it for you on Sports Talk 790 beginning with the launch pad at 730 tip time about 840 local time and Mike Dan Tony will be with us in an hour to talk about such events and we've got those Royal Rumble tickets to give away and more but right now let's go to Kansas City very successful longtime radio host in the Kansas City area, Sports Radio 810, WHB,

Sorrent Petro with us here on the Matt Thomas show. Seren, it's Matt, I appreciate you coming on the show this afternoon. I want to give you a few general questions because we're always being teased about the fact that Bill O'Brien gets a lot of criticism from local fans, that Bill O'Brien doesn't know how to manage the timeouts or the challenges. The running joke around the NFL, whether it's fair or not, is that Andy Reed is not. on a spectacular two-minute drill coach. Is that too much criticism, or are there still issues with how he manages things late in

games? Yeah, you know, listen, the fans will say yes, right? Because after a game, you're immediately every fan. The problem was the offensive play calling. I remember taking calls after the Chiefs lost to Rams on Monday Night Football 54-51, and the first three calls I counted it. I didn't see anything until we got somebody finally bringing up the defense. The first three calls were complaining about different calls he made on offense

and how it created a turnover and nobody wanted to talk about the fact that they became the first team in the history of the NFL to lose a game when scoring 50 points. That was a couple of weeks after becoming the first team in the NFL to lose a game after scoring 40 points up in New England and yet the calls were still about the offense. I think the casual thing gets offense more so it gets the spotlight shined on it more.

I think Andy Reid is probably an average clock manager, an average two-minute drill guy. What I've told people is, And if you look at it, we don't hear that as much. We hear it as we'll wait until they get to the playoffs. That's the new adage from a lot of folks. We don't get it as much here in Kansas City because we watch game in, game out, Andy Reid work with Patrick Mahomes.

I would contend, and listen, I'm a Syracuse grad when I say this, that Donovan McNabb is one of the more overrated quarterbacks ever. He owes everything he's got to Andy Reed. He fell off a cliff at age 33, not 38, at age 33 when he left Andy Reed. I think Andy Reid has been working with quarterbacks that are okay. Alex Smith is okay. Now, he took a knife into a gunfight against the Patriots and Tom Brady and would be there at the very end. So is he the best?

No, I can't say he's the best. But we may say that he's a lot better than we ever thought. We've watched six, seven, eight, nine years of him working with Patrick Palms because there's no doubt they're much better. So you lose the game the Chiefs do in overtime to the Chiefs, or to the Patriots, I should say. And so I'm going to assume that when you were going to training camp and talking about this team that it was Super Bowl. or bust in 2019 and now 2020. Is that still the framework, or have things changed a little bit because of the fact that all of a sudden this Baltimore Raven team has certainly beaten everybody up over the last two and a half months? Lamar Jackson is going to win the MVP, and they look like they're a freight train right now.

Yeah, I think it is still the mindset for the team. It's definitely the mindset for the fans when you're that close. And, you know, again, you zero in on one thing at the end and D. Ford lining up all sides, which negates an interception, which would have sealed it. You know, that's where everyone's mind has been. And that's a dangerous thing. You mentioned back in training camp. I talked to a lot of the guys about, listen, do you worry about getting off to a slow start

because everybody wants to line up and play the AF championship game again? But in reality, you've got at least 17, if not 18 games, to play before you get there. So, you know, they got hurt. They got banged out that in a way may have helped them dealing with losing Tyree Kill in the first game. Patrick Mahomes getting hurt. Eric Fisher, the starting left tackle going down.

Wiley, the left guard went down. Chris Jones went down, their best pass. Professor Frank Clark, their big acquisition in the off-season play with a neck and shoulder injury, and he wasn't really himself. And then he had stomach problems. You know, they really kind of had injuries to where they could never really get a big head. Now they get healthy, largely. Alex Sokophor and Emmanuel Agua did a good job of giving them good, solid depth along the offensive line,

and they won't play. And, of course, they lost their, you know, first-team all-rooky safety, Warren Thornhill. And that definitely hurts and maybe something that the, the tech. passing game can really exploit in this game. But I think now it's maybe the first time that they would run the risk of being like, okay, let's play the Ravens. For all the reasons you just said, I think it's good for them that they get the Texans. I get a feel that it's good that they get the Texans instead of the bills

because there is that revenge factor. There is a very easy reminder for the coaches to turn the tape on from week six and say, okay, don't get a big head. Don't start thinking about Baltimore because this team controlled the ball for 40 minutes, ran for 192 yards and make you guys look silly. You are very tight with the Chiefs organization, and this will be the second time the Honey Badger takes on his old team in this season. Is there a lot of wink-wink?

We'll have meetings. We'll talk about everything about Deshawn, because it's not like he wasn't able to tell the team about Deshaun when the two teams played in the regular season. What kind of things do you think that Mr. Matthew is telling his teammates that maybe they didn't even notice the first time around about what Deshawn could bring to Kansas this weekend.

Yeah, and I'm driving away from the complex right now in Tyra Matthew was the player that they brought up to the podium and that question got asked to him just a few minutes ago and he just kind of smiled. He said, you know, he goes,

yeah, I guess I can talk a little bit about, you know, some of the concepts, he said, but so much has changed since even when I left. He said different personnel, different philosophies, different things that are going on. You know, he kind of shrugged up.

There was a smile. I'm sure there's something he can add to it. You know, but, I'm with you. Anything he could have added, would have been added in the first game, and they still weren't able to get the win. Now, Sean Wilson did throw two interceptions in that game. They just didn't sack for Sean Watson, which is one of the things that's been a big story here in Kansas City,

a guy that was sacked 106 times over the last two years. Only two games that the Texans, I gave up a sack this year, and one of them was against the Chiefs. I asked Matt, Matt, Your Honor. Listen to the fact that you didn't get to them, which is always a tough spot, because, you know, they don't want to throw anyone on the team under the bus, but I said the fact that you weren't able to get a, get to him, and Chris Jones didn't play.

Did that really disrupt what you wanted to do on the back end? Because you had to go into a game plan thinking we're going to get Watson down, we're going to pressure him, we're going to get him off his mark. And the Chiefs weren't able to do that. And he just went right to the Cuthsby thing and said, well, we all work together, it's pressure, it's pass for us working together, and we've got to be on the same page, which to me said, yeah, that was a big problem. We did plan on, you know, Watson being on the run and having less time that we had to cover. So I think that really did cost. I think that's one of the reasons why here in Kansas City there's a tremendous amount of confidence that the chiefs are going to win.

The organization's not saying that. But the fan base feels like left tackle, left guard, starting mental linebacker and passers are getting those four guys back is going to make a major different. And the fact that Patrick Mahomes' ankle got tweaked again in that game, and he now appears to be about how he's going to be. I mean, he's going to need surgery for the dislocated kneecap at the end of the year. But they're running him on drawers. they're running him with the option play here

and they're to at least show it and make you defend it. There's a lot of confidence that the cheats are going to win this game and that the spread is not going to be a problem. So I'm Petro with this WHB Radio in Kansas City. I'm glad you brought up Pat. Let me ask you this, and I watched that Chargers game because obviously there was a lot to figure out as to who the seating was going to go.

If I watched Pat in the month of December, every one of the games, could I tell that he had gone through the issues and the injuries? do you, I mean, if he's on 100% where would you put him on the percent scale? You know, I probably put him, that's a good one. Listen, I'm fortunate to get a chance to talk to him one-on-one

for about 10 minutes every week. And I always look at the knee and I look at the ankle and that was a problem and see what he's got because I get him right before he goes out to practice. And, you know, he continues to wear a brace. I mean, that's not, you know, giving any news out. Everybody knows. We don't worry that, hey, look, how this usually works is

you've got 21 days you've got to sit him down. and then it's as good as it's going to be. Whatever it is, that's as good as it's going to get. It's not going to get any better. And so, you know, we knew kind of when it would be that he would come back based upon that timeline. And so he wears a brace that's got a hat and looks like it kind of holds that kneecap or helps to hold that kneecap in place. So he's not 100%.

But I think if you said, hey, here's game tape for him running around the outside. Here it is before. And after, I don't think you'd be able to tell a difference. There is one. He has said, yeah, I'm as good as I'm going to get. He won't let on to how much it limits him. But I think the eye test, if you knew what you were looking for, you might be able to find three or four or five, 10 percent difference.

But to the naked eye, you don't really see a difference. So one thing that really kind of manifested itself was when he first came back, there was a lot of time. And listen, the Chesa had a problem handling that interior rush. And, you know, Wyrne Reuterreux and DuVernet Tard of the guard-to-guard combo there, really, they were getting pushed back and collapsed a lot early in the season. And if they weren't getting pushed back, there was kind of a phantom pressure in his mind. And I think it was a combination of one, he'd been banged around and two, trying to protect that knee.

But really after the Titan game, he turned to me about really focusing on fundamentals. And I even asked him, we talked about, are you dropping back? He's got the arm that he can drop back five, ten more yards, and still fired in there. It's still a tough of throw, but he can still do it. And, you know, he wouldn't admit to it at that time, but now, he says, you know, when I go, okay, how are the fundamentals been? He says, well, I'm doing a better job of stepping up in the pocket and making sure I'm getting my feet set.

And so I think there was a time where there was an issue. I think it was more about wanting to protect the knee. But now I think he is stepping up. And I think you're getting, you know, 85, 90 percent would be my best guess of what it is with his legs, but 100 percent of his arm coming at you. 100 percent of his head are coming at you for the Texans this week. All right. Final question for you, sir.

And again, we're playing for the Houston audience here because I think most of America thinks Kansas is going to win this game. I said this about a half an hour ago. I think Pat Mahomes walks on the field just about anybody against anybody, throws for 275 yards at minimum in three touchdowns. I said if the Texans are going to surprise, folks, you're going to throw three touchdowns, and he's also going to throw two interceptions, whether it be because of a little bit of pass rush, whether it be because of a deflected ball from off of receivers' hands.

Is that the scenario that you could potentially see the Texan surprise, or if that's not that. How could the Texans pull off? What will be, again, when you're a 10-point dog, it'll be a pretty significant upset. Yeah, you know, when the Chiefs have lost, and they lost back-to-back games, the Colts the week before losing to Houston, and the Colts ran over, and then they lost the Titans, and the Titans ran for 220 on him. It's keeping Patrick Ballams off the field. There's going to be a day where he throws three or four picks because he is not afraid of the interception. It doesn't bother him. He has supreme confidence, if he throws a pick, he's ready to go back out there and keep firing. So you're not going to be a day.

to see a guy cave mentally. I mean, listen, I wouldn't be shocked to see a six or seven touchdown, or excuse me, interception day out of Patrick Mahal because if he's got a shot, he's going to keep firing. And so that scenario could be there. It could be that the Texas come up with a great game plan, and they've got him baffled. I will say, and again, I stress, you know, the touch on his passes and the intelligence with which he digested a game plan are really underrated. He is really a very, very smart guy, and he carries that Andy Reid intelligence out onto the field, and uses it along with the physical gift that he brings to the table. I think they're right.

I think the detectives do have to take the ball away. You know, they had an interception that was supposed to be taken off the board by a foul, by a penalty plaque, and, you know, they said, well, the ball wasn't too Kelsey, so it can't be passed interference, and the tackling of Kelsey came before the ball was in the year, or after the ball was in the year, so it can't be holding. Chiefs fans still are upset about that call. Andy Reid still wouldn't comment about it when he was at the podium yesterday. That was big.

That was a turnover that got, and it was huge. because the Chiefs were up 17 to 9 and about ready to go in for another touchdown. Then the sack strip fumble, which turned up the touchdown right before the half was big. So, you know, listen, I'm a Kansas City guy born and bread, so, you know, full disclosure, taking the green of food. But I don't think the Texans can win without being plus in the turnover differential in this game because the Chiefs are a lot better. And, you know, we didn't really talk about the defense, but since that Titan game,

Steve Speggis has really come together and played at a high level. So I think it's going to be harder for the Texans. They've only given up 95 a game on the ground their last six. So it would be tougher for them to just freeze out the chief's offense for the way they did with that 40 minutes time of possession last time. So I think you're dead on. I think they're going to have to take it away somehow to be successful in this game. Soren Petro, WHB 810 in Kansas City.

Thank you very much for squeezing us in between practice and your show. And enjoy the game this weekend. We appreciate it as always. Thank you, friend, very much. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. You got it. Soren Petro from W.

W.H.B. In Kansas City. Hi, this is former running back of Herschel Walker. You're listening to Matt Thomas on the Sports Talk 790. 120 on the Matt Thomas show. Ross and Nick are back in our Houston studios. I'm here in Oklahoma City. You know what the strangest thing about coming here every time I come here, Ross,

besides that it's just an atypical NBA city? Is that every time I watch the TV, there is a police, there is a police chase. I can kind of hear, do you have the volume up? I can hear a little. No, I'm trying to listen to a couple things at one time. Let me turn it. Okay. Just trying to do 10 things at one time.

Just do one thing. Host the Matt Thomas show. I'm trying to. What was I going to say? Millions of people are listening. Millions? That's good. It'll be a higher number than normal.

Yeah. So I get, I wake up this morning at about nine because we got here, you know, I didn't go to bed at about 233 o'clock. And there was a guy that got in a wreck in front of a mall, went to a business building, and then he got arrested because they, you know, surrounded this little business center. And now I'm looking at the news on TV here, and it says, police chase. They have a news helicopter that is brought to you by a sponsor that just all he does is chase cars around the freeways. Really?

Yeah. So if there was a city in America that has more police chases in Houston, Texas, or L.A., it's got to be Oklahoma City. You think so? Or they go around the entire state, or you think it's just the Oklahoma? Oklahoma City area. I think it's just Oklahoma City. How many police chases are they getting in, not locked up into? I am not kidding you.

We were here late last regular season, and there was a police chase on there. I think we even talked about it on the show. We might have. Because, I mean, look, I go to all these NBA cities. Most of them are large than Oklahoma City. Yeah. Maybe the news director at this station that I'm watching here, this is like the CBS Philly. Maybe they just know that ratings are picked up by police chases.

I mean, who is the helicopter sponsored by? Bell Bond Company or something? You know, I don't know what it is. It's a man's name. And I don't think you would put a man's name on a helicopter unless it's a sponsor. Oh, like a lawyer. It just ended it forward. It's like the Jim Adler of Oklahoma is sponsoring that helicopter.

Yeah, I'm waiting for the crawl here to see what the name is called here. Bob Mills, Sky News 9 is what they call it. What is Bob Mills? Is that like Bob Evans, the country restaurant? I was going to say it sounds like it could be that. Bob Mills. There's a Bob Mills furniture. That's it.

Yeah, Oklahoma City. Bob Mills furniture. So a furniture company. It's a gallery furniture of, or of course, Texas matches makers for the best sleep at the best price. Guaranteed. You're welcome. Bob Mills, the furniture dude,

sponsors the helicopter that chases after police chases. the things you learn about in media today. Hmm. You know what? I don't like watching them honestly. You don't? No. What's wrong with you?

Police chases are incredible. Because, and I'm going to be, and this is no BS on this. I'm definitely afraid that an innocent bystander is going to get hurt. That's part of the danger, Matt. That's why America is captivated by the police chases. I don't mind if the police, if the guy. gets in a wreck himself because he kind of deserves it, right?

Yeah. But I don't want anybody that is just driving along going from the mall to their place of business or picking up their kids from school or going through a neighborhood. Those are the ones that really make me give me the heby-jeebies.

It's when they go through these highly wooded areas trying to find people. I mean, yeah, a lot of times it can turn out pretty dark. Like I remember I was watching one and the guy got out and then shot him. It was like a guy in a raider jersey and he shot himself in the head. Oh, yeah.

I'm going to have, that's going to be a hard pass for me on that one. Just saying. Yeah. He was having a tough time with Jack Del Rio, his head coach or something, I guess. Well, Raider fans got a lot of issues. Although I think you, tell me if you think I'm wrong on this or right. I think the image, it won't be a complete 180, but I think them being the Las Vegas Raiders is going to make them a different kind of football franchise.

In what way? I don't, like more successful? No. More racy? How can you get more? More cosmopolitan. Explain. When I think of Oakland Raider football, I think of a dumpy stadium. Yes.

I think of a dumpy franchise. I think of a baseball diamond. I think of a baseball diamond. I think of a, you know, what do they call when they cover up the upper deck, whatever that thing is? Tarps? Tarp. I think of undisciplined football. I think of numerous off-the-field issues,

and then I think about their crazy-ass fans who have to wear spiked shoulder pads to games. As they go into the black hole. Correct. Now, I still think there will be a segment of that. But I think going to Las Vegas Raiders football in the future is going to be a place to be seen. You know what I think is going to be?

It'll be way closer to going to a Lakers basketball game than it will be going to a game. then it will be going to an Oakland Raiders football game. That's the example I would go to. I wouldn't say it's going to be that celebrity, but I believe new stadium, because this will be the nicest stadium the Raiders will have ever played in.

Because when they moved to L.A. Ross, they played in the Coliseum, and that was a dump even back in the 80s. Still is a dump. They're going to go from that to going back to Oakland where they tarp off the upper deck where there's 40,000 people there with all sorts of, again, let's be brutally honest, smells of various narcotics,

to a trashy part of town, to a fan base that hasn't had a lot of success. I think they're going to, at least if I were the Raiders, I would try to rid myself of anything involving the old Raider. Like, you know, the commitment to excellence? Well, they haven't been excellent in a long time. long, long, long time. I'm not saying they're going to be

chic L.A. But I'm telling you, Las Vegas, especially because Ross, think about this, you've got people coming to that stadium in the future, that that stadium is going to be basically two-thirds Raider fans and I think at least one-third of the

other football team. You mean to tell me the Texans fans, the traveling Texans aren't going to bring 20,000 people to Las Vegas when the Texans and Raiders play? I want to go up there. I do. I'll hang out with Texans, Karen. I got zero problem with that. I don't like her, but I'll do it. It'll be a number of years, though, because I just played the AFC West this year. You know my point. I mean, when Pittsburgh fan goes there or anybody else goes there, it's going to be something

completely different. And that's why I'm saying I think it's going to be the place to go for football fans around America. Because they want to check out the stadium. I think the Raiders will get way more of a national following than they already are now. All they had to do is get to at least the playoffs, and they're going to be the, well, I was a Raider fan for the longest time. Okay. Who was the quarterback pre-uh, not David Carr, Derek Carr. And they're like, I don't really remember, but I'm a Raider fan now.

There's nothing wrong with that. Are you buying any of this I'm saying? I'm telling you right now? I don't know if the nation is going to embrace the Raiders. they're definitely going to have. I mean, this is why we said we need to get a hold of some Raider PSLs and sell tickets online because that's always going to be a hot ticket, even if they're one in 15, because people want to go to Vegas, the opposing fans. Yeah, we need to. Can we create a 401C or something like that, like a little side business, if you will?

That's above my head. Sure. I'll just give you some cash and then you do what you will with it, like when I invest in your craps play, and usually that doesn't go very well. No, you know what I also should do. I should also see if RemoteForu.Biz can be a good corporate sponsor over your football. I don't think you have the capital. That's probably true. All right, 713212-5-790.

7-1-3-212-5-790. The Matt Thomas Show. Back to it. On Sports Talk 790. Escalated. Home of the Stroes. Matt Thomas with you from Oklahoma City. We've got Mike Dantone coming up at 2 o'clock.

non-Florida stories in 15 minutes. Mine involves a dressing and a New York man being arrested. Hmm. Hmm. Let's think about that. All right. So Russell Westbrook is back tonight to play his old team. By the way, Chris Paul Ross is playing really well for the Thunder.

He is averaging 17 points and seven assists in his last 20 games. he had 28 against Brooklyn. He scored 10 of their last 12 points, and the Thunder have won 10 of their last 12 games. This ain't a gimmie tonight here in O'KC. No, it's not. It'll be a good game. It'll be interesting to see if Chris Paul can hold off

in the Russell Westbrook Coronation. That's what we're expecting, right? Nobody's going to have anything bad to say about him in that city, right? Like Durant got booed here when he came back when he was a member of the Warriors. I can't imagine a soul booing Russell Westbrook. the greatest player ever to wear a Thunder uniform. At least now, four big...

Right? Well, I'm going with Duran. Yeah, but you don't think longevity and winning an MVP as part of the equation? Durant won an MVP there. Okay, but he was there much longer than Duran. How much longer? Two years.

Four or five seasons? Four or five, was it? I think so. Oh, yeah, I guess he started, he was there before Doreant, right. Right. Yeah, he's been there. He was there 11 years. Durant's the greatest.

Russell Westbrook, I don't know, most beloved, if you want to go with that. Yeah. Okay. All right. So that's storyline number one. And we're going to talk to Mike about this. But I want to just get your thoughts on this. James Hart needs 27 points to reach 20,000 for his career.

He would be the seventh fastest player in the history of the NBA to get the 20,000 points. Do you go, wow? do you go well he has been the main guy here that you know he was brought here to beat his super big score so today's NBA scores more than ever before so it's it's a nice accomplishment but it's not a wow factor or is it something that because NBA stats really are the least memorable like I think baseball is a sport where we're stats are such a legacy of a particular person you know home runs RBI stolen bases number of gold gloves, number of pitching wins. I think basketball probably is the least important of it.

What is the most hallowed basketball NBA record that's not a team accomplishment in championships? Would it be Cream's all-time scoring later? I think that's it. But what's number two? If that's number one, number two to me would be in terms of individual. Wilt 100? Yeah. Okay.

And then what's number three? I mean, it's, yeah, you're right. I mean, we can think of a lot of things in baseball. What you just described is the reason why I say NBA stats are. I mean, in baseball, you know, 3,000 hits, 300 wins. You know, of course, the home run record with Barry Bonds. Outside of of Kareem and then the 100, yeah, hitting 300, I guess, if you want to say that. Or, I mean, hitting over 400, I guess.

400, right. Hitting street, Jody's a man. So here's the reason why if you wanted to go wow on James Hart, which first of all, 20,000 points as well. It just is. Yeah. He's what, top 50 all time in scoring now? Yeah. So here's the incredible part of it.

Just behind Tom Chambers and Anton Jameson. What did he do in Oklahoma City that he's, what is he doing in Houston that he didn't do in Oklahoma City? Start games. Play more minutes. And I mean, yeah, and his game is way better than it was when he was Oklahoma City Thunder. So essentially, he becomes the seventh fastest player to get into the 20,000 point club with the early

portion of his NBA career not playing starters minutes. That just shows you, I think, how prolific he has become as a score in his, what is it, eight years here in Houston now, give or take? That's why you do take a minute to pause.

Now again, there's going to be people that are going to just say, well, he takes all the shots we're supposed to. I mean, I feel like I'm speaking on behalf of Eddie Johnson when I say these things. But it's a pretty incredible mark for a guy to score as much as he did when because remember he wasn't he didn't get handed the starting lineup spot he wasn't a top three pick he wasn't given the starting

Ron it wasn't his franchise it was other guys his franchise it was a young russell westbrook's franchise it was a young kevin durance friend i mean he was the third option offensively and the sixth man so to put up these type of points say what you will about number of shots say well if you will if you get mad at him for the occasional all-lay defense. But when Charles Barkley says he is one of the greatest scorers ever to play the game, maybe the greatest, I think this kind of number backs that argument up. 27 points to get there. And oh, by the way, if people are worried about whether or not he's going to be tired tonight,

I got a note on his double doubles. In the back-to-backs, in the second half of back-to-back games, he averages 44 points a game. Isn't that nuts? Well, a lot of those have been without Russell Westbrook, so he has to carry more of the scoring loan. But yes, it is very nuts. So, again, I think tonight is about, honestly,

is about Russ coming here. I think he's, I think Russ is embracing this. I've just, I saw him very briefly yesterday in the plane. He's going to take every moment of this in. Because, first of all, this is the first time he's come back. Second of all, this is the only time during a regular season. Now, I'll say this, the Rockets and Thunder could play each other in the playoffs, that's for sure. Because right now the Thunder are comfortably in the playoffs.

Surprising is to say that, push through all the moves. Chris Paul's played better, and they've had their fair share of injuries, too, but they're still winning. But I just thought it was just interesting that tonight he's going to reach that mark with the early portion of his career being a guy that wasn't playing 35, 37 minutes a game. I mean, Kobe Bryant didn't get starters minutes of beginning of his career. But how long did it take for him to get the starters' minutes? minutes. Kobe? Yeah.

Two or three years maybe? I would have to look that up. Yeah, that doesn't sound right to me. But you could be wrong. But I didn't sound like that. Yeah, he wasn't getting starters minutes until his third year. Damn, what were the Lakers doing when Kobe was not playing starters minutes? Losing in the playoffs with Kurt Rambas as their coach.

That's a major mistake. That's a major mistake on the part. All right. 713-212-5-7-90. Ladies and gentlemen, most radio shows go to Florida to find quirky, funny stories. We hear on the Matta show just the opposite. We go outside.

We go to countries, and we go to the 49 other states in the Union to find the best non-Florida story. That's up next. 7-13-212-5-790. Load up on those napkins, straws, ketchup, hot sauce, mustard. Oh, and don't forget duck sauce. It's the Matt Thomas show for lunch on Sports Talk 790.

All right, 147 of the Matt Thomas show. Mike Dantone coming up in 15 minutes. You need to listen to Coach very closely because two sets of Royal Rumble tickets to be given away based on what coach informs us and tells us about between 2 and 2.30. Ross, that's what we call it professional radio TV. Wow. It's great.

Great. Thrilling. Okay. I'm going to go first. This is a new feature. We've done this for a while now, but we don't do it new in the one o'clock spot with Coach DeAnonnie. It's not Florida stories where Ross Nick, myself, we try to find a story that's bizarre, weird, that doesn't come from the state of Florida because every weird and obnoxious story comes from Florida. There's some good Florida ones this week, though.

I know, too. All right, Ross, I'm going to give you a story about an unfortunately, a domestic violence situation. Okay. So that we don't, we're not making fun of it. of that part. Well, it seems like you are. There's just one angle to it that's very funny. Oh, go ahead. Okay. So I'm not making light of this, and I'm going to make sure I'm going to say this over and over and over again. What the gentleman was accused of is very serious and not funny and not interesting, but there is one little chuckle moment. Racine, Wisconsin.

Gentleman by the name of Maurice Thomas, no relation to me, 53 years old, was in a woman's home when the two people got in an argument. He allegedly grabbed her by the throat, which is awful, and pushed her up against a wall. The conflict between Maurice Thomas and this woman turned messier when Thomas snatched a container of ranch dressing from a table and started chasing a woman.

Quote, squirting the ranch dressing at her, The woman called out for help after the gentleman allegedly tossed the actual bottle at her hitting her in the chest. Again, that's not funny either. Another person in the home called 911. He was arrested, thank goodness. Charged with stalking, burglary, and skipping bail. When cops arrived at the scene, the woman was covered in ranch dressing from head to waist as was much of the house. Oh

I haven't had his squirt in years It's delicious So don't play that again So thankfully he was arrested Thankfully the woman is okay But you're not going to find a lot of domestic violence issues involving A man

Squirting ranch dressing The woman Interesting not. And that's my non-Florida story from racing, Wisconsin. Thank you, Matthew. Nobody dipped anything off of her. You are suspended for the second.

Oh, but mine's good. Go ahead. Yeah, he's got to do his story, Matt. Yeah, mine's from West Monroe. Can't miss the West Monroe, Louisiana story. Okay, go ahead. All right. Louisiana woman is behind bars for felony drug possession.

But that's not what's funny. So police responded to a unidentified anonymous complainant who reported that they found suspected narcotics inside the apartment of 41-year-old Candice Neal. So the police respond. And upon entering the apartment to begin their search for the suspected narcotics, they, well, they ended the search pretty quickly because, they found a plastic container with the word dope written on it. It was labeled D-O-P-E.

Inside, they found an undisclosed amount of methamphetamine. So, they quickly arrested Ms. Neal. She is being held on a $3,000 bond, and she has a rap sheet, which includes prior arrests

for possession of stolen goods, driving without a license, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and failure to appear in court. Long story short, it might not be a good idea to label your drugs in your home. Might have been able to hide those a little better. Yeah, no question about it. I would call it sugar. I would call it maybe Splenda or maybe aspirin, do whatever you can, but putting the word dope on the container probably didn't help the cause.

it did make the police officer's job much easier though so I'm sure they appreciated it all right so the two stories so far man douse's woman in ranch dressing during an argument and west Monroe Louisiana woman has the word dope on our containers making the arrest very simple Ross it is your turn for a non-flora story my story is about positivity in these trying times matthew okay let me tell you about San Diego Matt what do you think about the homeless problem in Diego is probably pretty bad, right? I have not been in San Diego in years, so you have to tell them. It's probably horrible because the weather's great, and where else are you going to go?

Would you rather be homeless in, say, racing Wisconsin or San Diego? Probably San Diego. Well, luckily for the homeless population of San Diego, a local strip club has stepped up and has given out nearly 150 tents to the homeless in the San Diego area. The tents are branded with the name of the club, DejaVoo Showgirls. Deja Vu, Showgirls. Deja Vu describes itself as the number one erotic entertainment chain in the world on its website. Also says it operates four business locations in San Diego, including Deja Vu Showgirls on Midway Drive.

Spokesperson said the 150 Tenths given out to San Diego this December as part of the company's outreach program, and they've done it every year for the past five years in cities with large homeless concentrations, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In addition, they passed out 3,000 bottles of water to the homeless in San Diego. unfortunately the homeless news San Diego Facebook page has thought this was negative and think that they're just going for cheap

advertisement and they are deriding the DejaVo Showgirls Club but Matt I say let no good deed go unpunished thank you to the people of DejaVo Showgirls we're handing out 150 tenths to the homeless people

in San Diego and I don't know how well, those tent poles stack up as opposed to stripper pulls. So you're telling the audience that they put a corporate sponsor on these tents. Yes. But it's for the homeless, Matt. I've been to a deja vu in New Orleans. And?

They had an all-you-can-drink happy hour, but the waitress came around like twice the entire hour, so it was kind of a scam. All right. So, DejaVoo strip club hands out tents to the homeless. Again, at the end of the, that's a warm story. That's what I said. It's a feel good, man. Because nobody else is doing it.

It's a feel good story. So the question is, ladies and gentlemen, as you listen to this show, which of us brought to you the best non-Florida story? Strip Club sponsors homeless tents? Man douses woman with ranch dressing? or West Monroe, Louisiana woman gets caught with drugs because her containers had the word dope on it. Which of those three do you believe is the best? Not Florida Story.

713-212-5-790 is how you reach the show. 7-13-212-5-7-90. I hate the fact that my story has the woman being... you know, put up against the wall. Because honestly, if it was just a story about a man fighting with a woman over ranch dressing, that would have been just a really smart, funny, cute story.

But he's throwing the damn ranch bottle at her, too, which is awful, Ross, awful. Continue to sell your story, man, go ahead. Terrible waste of ranch. Do you want to sell your story? No, I'm good. What?

He's a terrible waste of ranch. I like ranch. Craig Ackerman, my partner on Rockets, despises ranch dressing. He hates, he lates, He hates green cheese. He ate blue cheese. So he and Adam Clinton are in the same boat.

Yeah. He hates mayonnaise, all that. Line one, your favorite non-Florida story. You look like fat muddlebee. Okay. Happy New Year. Line two, your favorite non-Florida story? The strip club that's in a tent.

Thank you. Now, we don't know if there's women going to these tents, do we, Ross? Maybe they handed them out. That's a bad idea. Line three, your favorite non-Florida story. What a dope. Dope. Dope.

That's a vote for a... One for one. Line four, your favorite non-Florida story. I'm going to have to go with Mr. Villarreal. Thank you. Two votes for you. 7-13-21-2-5-7-90 if you want to vote. 7-13-21-5-7-90.

So two votes for Ross. One vote. for Nick and the dope, and no votes for the man who attacks a woman with ranch dressing. Except that same guy calls every weekend and calls me names. What kind of life is that, Ross? You would spend minutes of your life calling a radio show and attacking me. I'm one of the nicest people in America. I agree with that, Matt.

All right. 713-212-5-7-90. Your last chance to get a vote in if you want to. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. if you want to decide. I need one vote to make myself feel better. Because I thought the range dressing story was pretty interesting, especially because Adam Clinton and Craig Ackerman hate ranch so much as it is.

We're going to get to coach Dan Tony Ireland. Let me get these Rour three quick and real fast. Line one, your favorite non-Florida story? It has to be the stripper and a sin. Man, you're killing it. Line two, favorite non-Florida story. It has to be the race. All right. Thank you very much.

Line three, favorite non-Florida story. Line 4, Instapole, favorite non-Florida story. I got to go with Rob today. All right, that's it. Close it off. That's four votes, Ross. Nice job. Strippers, giving out tense.

Wow, I'm glad that the people are recognizing that giving back to the community is important and that we shed light on this feel-good story. Maybe I need to start thinking about doing nicer stories on non-Fortist stories as compared to people being arrested. 71321, 2,125, 790. Coach Dan Tony next. It's the Matt Thomas show. This is Sports Talk 790.

A straightaway 3, it is up. And it's good. The Rockets are rolling now. Do a better, harder, longer. We jacked. The beard is cooking. They play together. They play hard.

He sat. He fired and he had the three. Now, exclusive insight, and the latest on your Houston Rockets. Rockets head coach Mike Dan Tony joins the Matt Thomas show. Sports Talk 790, home of the Rockets. And we are here in Oklahoma City for tonight's game against the Thunder. We'll have the coverage free beginning at 7.30. Tip time just past 8.30 here on Sports Talk 790.

Rockets last night with a win over Atlanta. We'll get to that and a lot of other things with our good friend, a man who came to me in late December and said, hey, is it time for our radio show? Coach, it is. How are you? I'm fine. Matt, how you doing? outstanding thanks for doing this with us we're looking forward to I think you and I can do a half hour or what between now and middle of June would that be okay with you

Charlie that'd be fun I can hear it your voice I got you first of all the June part the June part would be fun let's go that way I got you I got you I got you hey um before we get to we got a lot of things to address over the half hour but let's just get to tonight a little bit a little extra bounce in russ a step naturally this should be a fun atmosphere this evening at Oklahoma City. It should be.

He spent his whole career here prior to us. So as he said, he grew up here, and a lot of great memories for him, I'm sure. So he's going to fill it, and we'll see how it manifests itself, and something great, something less than great, who knows, but it should be exciting. Let's turn the clock back a little bit and take us through when you had heard from the organization that Russell Westbrook would be available, especially with Paul George going to the Clippers. When you first heard it, what were your initial thoughts?

And then how fast did you get to your pen and paper to start drawing up ways to put him and James together on the same floor and be successful? Well, I mean, you know, when I heard or the possibility or whatever, bittersweet, you know, having to get him, we had to give up Chris Paul, who played on. He was a great player, and we had great success with him. So you could all look at the coin that way. It was a tough move on with Chris, but then you're looking at Russell coming in and added some dynamic stat. Part of the team was missing.

So, you know, again, it's one of those things that is the business. And you do, you know, we were going to have a good team no matter what. And you hate it for the past, but then you get excited for the future. You have had a great opportunity through either free agent acquisitions or trades to coach some of the best players ever to play in the NBA. Do you remember much about that first phone call, first meeting with you and Russ? And what were some of the things that were discussed? No, not a whole lot. There's just normal stuff. I've done Russ from USA basketball, so he had a relationship. And, you know, my biggest, my message is him, it still isn't always will be, is that

just for him to be him. I don't want to change him. He's been great in this league. He obviously knows how to play, and he just has to be full of confidence. and attack like he always does, and then more just around him and try to make this team the best we could. But, you know, this is a good person, and it's fun being around him. He's a live wire, and it's interesting. Interesting would be definitely the term I would use. I'll say this, and we've always appreciated him from a distance,

and it's obviously when you're trying to guard him. His 0 to 60, when he takes off, especially at mid-court and attacks the basket, we saw it as a member of the Thunder. What's it like now having that in your arsenal? And I know his three-point shooting probably isn't where he wants it to be this year, even down from previous years, but his ability to get to the rim and finish. How fun is that to have as a Houston rocket as compared to trying to defend that?

Well, I mean, obviously some of the things we missed in previous years was athleticism, the ability to go coast to coast, just speed up the tempo, get a rebound, push it. So he has all these elements that, you know, with that, you get a dynamic, great player. And we've got to make sure that we try to create the space on the floor that is good for it and try to, you know, incorporate him into the other guy that's vice of our son.

And it's, like I said, it's mostly dealing with character and heart, and he has plenty of that. He's a good guy. And so it is fun. It's exciting. There are the challenges with everything, but we're trying to work it out as best we can. He and James have been school-age friends, so this goes way beyond just playing before in Oklahoma City. But what have you noticed?

Look, James has been just one of the most prolific scores this decade. But has there anything been different to his game? And it may not be exactly what we see on the court, but maybe in a practice quarter, in the workout room, or as you guys are looking at tape. anything different about James's life now that he's got his friends and former teammate on the same team now? I don't think so. You know, James is going to be James, and he has a desire to be the best of the game, best ever, and he wants to win a championship more than anything.

So, I mean, there is a nice friendship there, but, you know, it comes down to basketball, and you're playing, and James, like I said, I think you're going to get the best of James, no matter who's winning. Hardin mentioned about a month ago that he may think it might take the entire season for the two then to gel completely and to see what you want. Is that a little bit of player speak or do you still even see adjustments even though we are now 36 games into this NBA season? You know, I don't think anybody knows. We'll get better, get worse. You never know. You'll street each day and try to get better and maybe just to get comfortable comfortable and win big games and obviously big moments that you go through you learn

win or lose we haven't been in that many although you know so each time you go against like at the clippers or someplace where where it takes an effort of the whole team then you you know you see what you can do better see what you got to eliminate so what works so yeah in that sense as you go forward. Usually groups to stay together for years get better. Just because you get different layers of the offense, different layers of understanding defense and communication.

And it's hard to put five, 10 guys out there. And then, you know, three months later, oh, yeah, we have a championship team. That's almost never done. And don't take a while. Well, I love this NBA season in one respect that there are so many, I mean, it's difficult

because you feel like most nights you're going against a really spectacular opponent. You've had some really quality wins as of late. Denver, the L.A. Clippers in Philadelphia. The West is, I kind of thought what we thought it would be, especially with all the situation with the Golden State. Have you been surprised by anything so far, especially as things that have been as tightly compacted

as they are on the Western Conference right now? Not really. You know, I think not really. We knew that six, seven teams, everybody has a chance to win a title this year. You know, Gold State, was about far the better team out there. They've come back to the pack and actually with the injuries

are falling down. But that could be a surprise. But it's not a surprise if you had in the injuries. But we knew Utah's going to be good in Denver and the two L.A. team. So that was, I guess, the biggest surprise, Dallas. No one kind of thought they would jump up that quickly. And that's, you know, they have one of the best young players, obviously one of the best players in the game.

So that would be the biggest surprise, but it's a dog race as always, and it's going to be from 1 to 6 right now. Probably 7 here pretty soon as it's going to knock up. You know, you lose a game and you're in second, now you're in 6. So that's how it's going to be all the way through. And it's certainly going to make every night worth watching the school board and seeing what you're doing. Tonight, James needs 27 points to reach 20,000 for his career.

I think he'll be 7th fastest to do that. And I was telling the audience last hour, that's, first of all, an impressive number. But I would think it's even more impressive coach because of the fact that early in his career, he was a six-man for Oklahoma City. Just through your eyes and watching the 60-point games, the 40-point dribble doubles, it feels like just about it every other night James is putting up some sort of new superlative. Yeah, I mean, you know, when we said it before, I think he's the best officer to play ever, just because of the way the game has changed, the three-point shots,

the ability to be so much more efficient because of three-point shots. He's improvising efficiency, foul shots, lay-ups, and threes. And he has that step back where he sees about 39%. I didn't get it any time he wants. Now, you know, when he has his length, when he's not taking all the burden on him, but when we can share and get him enough rest and all that, he's unstoppable.

And he's proven that time and time again. And I'm just as a team and him individually to be to be 100% ready physically, mentally, and go after him. But when he's like that, whether a double team or not, he's going to be unstoppable. So hopefully he'll just continue. You mentioned last night in Atlanta on nights that Rust doesn't play, that you just, when somebody said, well, how do you overcome that? You just say, well, James has to shoot more.

But sometimes you do want to get some other guys involved. Clint putting up huge numbers, getting with efficiency. And the fact that Ben McLemore has been able to resurrect his career, and we'll end this first segment with him a little bit. When you found out that Ben was coming here, it was kind of like, okay, this is a former first round pick, hasn't had a lot of success. The way he's been able to transform his career in one short season with you,

basically 36 games, that's a pretty special accomplishment for a guy that really couldn't find his way in the NBA. before this season. Yeah, I mean, you never know when you get somebody. I mean, I didn't know Ben McElmore at all, and knew he had some talent. Obviously, you're going to have a lot of pick, and you don't get that unless you have a lot of talent. He would hit shooting, which is something that we desperately need.

But other than that, you don't know. And he's been a lot more than I saw in the sense of character, the ability to be able to be coached. And, you know, he's shown up with confidence, and he can shoot with it. It's shoot a quick. So he feels a lot of our needs. But he's been the biggest surprise by far, and he's been a big of surprise too. All right, that's Mike Dan, Tony, with us for another segment here on the Matt Thomas shows. We come to you today from Oklahoma City.

Let's go! What a pass. Got it. The block. And he hits it. To get Rockets Insights, he need to go inside. Hey, look who's here. Rockets head coach, Mike Dan Tony on the Matt Thomas show.

217 here on the Sports Talk 7. I'm another segment here with the head coach of your Houston Rockets. Tonight, the Oklahoma City Thunder in play yesterday. Coaches, we kind of teased this morning, there's never a ugly win. They're all going to count the same. But just a thought or two about last night getting off that fast start. And then, you know, Trey Young's just a real good basketball. basketball player. He's not going to allow the Atlanta Hawks to be blown out most nights,

especially after the way you guys took care of him the first time around. Yeah, I mean, you know, we didn't play grades in the second half. I think we shot 27%. But you can flip around and say, well, yeah, we also won by shooting so bad. So that's a good thing. PJ Tucker came up with some big stops at the end of the game to help us win it or almost win it. And then I think Eric made a big three and a big pass to PJ. and, you know, so we had guys contributed, which is great,

playing out a big game. You know, James ran out of gas, unbelievable the first quarter. And the whole team, the first half, played well. We shot the ball extremely well. We're shooting in the 60s, so you know that wasn't going to last. And they're used to playing from behind.

They've been down 13, 15, 20, and they don't quit playing. And they have shooters, and eventually, you know, we shot so great to first half, they shot bad, and just slipped over in the second half. But came up to necessary stops. Those are games you win.

You get out of town and then don't think about it again. You know, look as you over there all, try to get a better, but you go on. And it's the NBA. You know, just the Wiving keeps rolling and just keep going. Is part of the goodness that is the NBA schedule? Because, look, every team's going to have these games that you're going to brag about and love on,

like we talked about Philadelphia, Denver, the Clippers. And then you're going to have a dud once in a while. And Golden's Day on Christmas would clearly be one of those. Is that the forgiving part of the NBA? Is that you just can't spend a whole lot of time dwelling on that because you might have a game two days later? Well, that plus, you've got to understand that. Every team has 15 professional players out of town that can play.

You know, they hit those nights where every one of them is their best that they can be and you're not, then it's a dogfight. And then you have human elements of reference, you have travel schedules, You have back-to-backs, you have people with tired legs, you have family problems, that people psychologically are not ready to go. So, you know, you can't. It's an 82 games of marathon. And if you get bombed down in the minutia of, oh, it's a win, it's a loss, you're playing bad.

We've got to do, you know, then you'll get off track and a heartbeat. But you have to understand what the deal is, get your mind right, and get ready for the next game. And, you know, we always try to go by that model, you know, so what's that? no matter if you win to lose, it's the next play, it's the next game, it's next month, it's where you are to stay. You know, so many things that you can't get sidetracked by our big goal, and that's the coming first place in the West or close to it and get to the playoffs. Mike Dan Tony with us here on Sports Talk 790. One more thing about last night.

Capella gets you 22 rebounds. PJ gets you 17. Let's go to Clint for a second. That's the eighth time this year. He's got 20 or more rebounds. Now, some of that could be right place, right time. Some of that could also be he knows where to go. Some that could also just be lucky bounces.

Where do you attribute these sheer huge, huge nights of rebounds for Clint? What goes into that? Well, sadly, last night was because we had so many shots. He had eight offensive rebounds. He had plenty of opportunities to get. So that's one thing that contributes to it. But, you know, you said it had been the right place, right time. well, he seems to be the only guy getting 20 rebounds

or a couple guys in the leg. So why is he always in the right place, right time? No, he just doesn't know his sport. He goes, boy, he's athletic, he's long. You put the effort in, and I wish you lost three, which means you should be there's long rebounds. And if you've got the effort and the energy, then yeah, you can do it. So he's been playing well, and he needs to continue that way.

And some nights he'll score big, some nights you won't. And it just depends on how the defense. guards. But, you know, Clint's been good this year. But, you know, he's going to keep it going. It's, you know, he had a great game against the beat. And he just has to keep that mentality and keep it rolling. Yeah, so he gets 22 last night. He gets 30 against him being the 76ers. Is it realistic to ever think about him as a 20-point-a-night guy or is going back to what you just said a minute ago? It's just going to be more about what the other team presents as compared to a night where Clint will be really active offensively and maybe some nights he won't.

Yeah, well, he's not that he's active. He always should do the same thing. It's just how's the team going to guard you? You know, Philadelphia gave up, he gives up the least amount of threes in the league. Well, they do that. They stay on the shooters. Now, when James is coming down, they got a choice.

He's to guard James and get the lob at the basket or fake a James goes back to Clinton. James gets the layup. So James has to read that. You can't read it right all the time. But, no, he's so Clint is a product of what the defense's going. giving. Atlanta, last night, I think they were like the third,

give up the third least or fourth least or whatever. It made it, whatever. So it's a night that Clint will score. And then maybe the night they sag in, they take away the lot, take away the drive, get kickout three. So that's PJ and Ben and all those guys got to score. It's just, you know, we're trying to put the same play,

in play, how do they guard it, go against that, to one of the three shots that we value. And we do it over and over and over and over and whoever scores is the product of the offense and what the defense gives you. Eric Gordon has been back a few games, picked up where he left off. It looks like he's shooting a lot better. I know he's going to battle some knee soreness occasionally because that's what guys do when they go through surgeries. And he's got Russ is going to miss back to back contest and here and there.

But do you kind of look forward to seeing what this team does between now and the end of the season, provide everybody stays healthy, and then you're full throttle, because when you want to get to playoff time, you won't have to worry about back-to-back, because you'll have guys, have a chance to rest up a little bit. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what this team can do over a 10-15-game stretch when everybody is healthy and everybody can give you the kind of minutes you're looking for. Yeah, we still have some work to do with Eric, getting him in there fully. Like tonight, he'll be, we don't know if he'll be able to go or not. He's going to test that. he just a little soreness just normal, nothing now to ordinary,

but we'll see if he can go or not. And then, you know, obviously Russell doesn't play back-to-back. So it's going to take some adjusting, and we'll get to the period where we don't have any back-to-bats, and we'll have everybody put in, and we'll see where we are. But it's going to take a little while, and hopefully right after all-star break, and then we can make the final run-down of a stretch

and have a real go-out. You've got a swing guy in Austin River, that some nights will play 24, 25 minutes, and some nights he'll play 10 or 11. You kind of have to have a kind of guy like that on your roster because if they're staring at their stat board all the time, that could become a problem. How does he embrace that role where you need him some nights more than others? Well, he gets frustrated sometimes because, you know, as a competitor, he wants to play.

I don't play. I'll be the same way, but he seems to deliver. And you know what? He's worked his way back in and some minutes. and right when his minutes were getting cut with Eric coming back, he's played well. That's what you're going to do. So it's up to me to find him as many minutes as I can

and shift people around a little bit to give him time. And obviously, I'm back-to-back to back when Russell doesn't play or if we're missing another perimeter player, it's easy. He'll get his minutes, and that's no problem. It's a little trying when everybody's healthy 100%. But it's up to me to try to keep him involved them to and get him so uncomfortable as much as he can't.

It's always going to be frustration. But at the end of the day, we played for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back of it, and now we've got to accept whatever the wall was given to you. Well, thankfully, if he didn't come to you and complain about it, then I think you'd have a bigger problem, frankly, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Because you imagine him going, I'm just happy to be on the roster, coach. If you play me, you play me, no big deal. Hey, let's get before wrap things up to Oklahoma City. They are playing really good basketball. That would be a problem.

But, you know, it's a final line there. But he is to pay. I like it a lot of awesome. So he'll do what's right at the end of the day. It's just, you know, he's got to get through some frustration. But like I said, it's my job to find him to put him comfortable. We'll do that. Rod, Thunder 1-10-12 coach.

Chris Paul, actually playing really well. You know this was going to happen. He is one of the greatest of all time to play. What else have you guys talked about a little bit? I mean, is it they've gone through some injuries themselves, but this Shay Gilders, Alexander's a good player. So this Thunder team, which I think a lot of people roared off, as a non-playoff contender, he's going to present some challenges tonight.

Well, that's what's good about, you know, pundits. They don't really know what to talk about, as usual. This is a good team. Stephen Adams is one of the better centers in the leg, and Chris Paul is one of the best point guards, Bob, the Lauer ever. So he's playing out. I mean, Mark will be well.

and it doesn't surprise me at all. And he's running the show, which is kind of his natural habitat. And they're really good going down the stretch. And Chris Paul down the fourth quarter has been unbelievably good. And I would not think you're the best team in Clipstime. So I give them credit, Billy Donovan has done a great job with them. They have talent, you know, Schroeder and the young kid, Gallaudi,

and, you know, they're good. So there'll be a playoff team, looks like. they'll be at the record one of them to use that. Well, thank goodness, Mike, that one of your radio broadcasters is not a pundit because we don't ever want to speak and have trues around. No, no. You would never have an opinion. That's good. That's good. All right. Hey, thank you for the time, my friend.

We'll visit with you tonight at the arena and good luck against the thunder. Sounds good. All right, man. We'll see you. Thanks. Thanks. Mike Dan Tony with us here on Sports Talk 790. Hey, it's James Arden. What a pass. What a finish. Listen to your home of the Rockets. You're smart speaker. Just as.

Hey, Google, play Sports Talk 790 on IHR radio. That is something else, folks. The Matt Thomas show continues on Sports Talk 790, where Rockets and Astros play. And real Texans talk. Matt Thomas with you from Oklahoma City. Thanks again to Mike Dan, Tony. And we got a lot to get to. There was just not enough time to get into a variety of things.

We'll talk about a lot of the players. I want to get into the challenge system. Just overall things, and we will be very fortunate to have coach with us for a weekly visits all the way, hopefully, until a June championship. Ross, time for us to give away two more sets of tickets for the Royal Rumble, and hopefully people were listening to the conversation of Coach Dan Tony and I had. Ooh, okay. What do you got? No, I'm not ready, but go ahead. First two people with the correct answer to this question wins tickets.

First two, two people. Coach Dan Tony said there was the big had the biggest surprise of the rocket season. He announced it on this show. What was that biggest surprise? So far, 36 games in the season. What did Coach Dan Tony say was the biggest surprise of the season? You know the answer. That you're still calling games?

That may be one of the rudest things you've ever said to me. No, that's what he would say. It's like he's surprised. Oh, well, that's because he's always snarky towards me. That's what I'm saying. saying. That wasn't for me, Matt. That is not the answer. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. The first two people with the correct answer, what was Coach Dan Tony's biggest surprise? Now, Ross, we should explain what the hashtag AskMDA is. Can you please

do that for the audience? Yes, Matthew, you put that out every week when Mike Danone is going to be a guest on this show because, you know, if people want to ask, I don't know, say, how is the double-teaming defense that teams are employing against James Harden working? And how do you feel about that going along. What went into this decision to perhaps letting go a Gary Clark? How do you get Austin Rivers to be more consistent? Like questions you would ask MDA that people can put out there for you to ask during this 30 minute segment where you are afforded the opportunity to talk to a head coach of a major sports franchise, so it's a big opportunity.

But unfortunately, those questions never come into play from the audience because y'all are weird. So now, I will ask the questions that were asked on me on hashtag, Ask MDA. And we're breezing. This is what we're going with? This is a jam right here. You ready? Ready.

Drop the beat. Oh, this is good. This is the segment called What I Wouldn't ask, Coach MDA. This is like I put this on with a top down, going down the Pacific Coast Highway or something. This is yacht rock right here. No, this is actually good. People in the early 80s made sweet love to this song. Probably.

Here we go. You ready? Some of us maybe were conceived to this song. song, Matt? I completely believe that. If you were conceived of this song, 7-1-3-0. How would you know? I would know. I would hope your parents wouldn't tell you. It comes on the radio. Hey, son, let me tell you something. That's right. I also think it's also... It was a stormy night in 1984. Yeah. What the weather was like that time of year. I was born Ross in June in Detroit, Michigan. So take nine months back and what happened?

The fall of 1971, it was cold. And the moment was right. Now, okay, forget about this. Let's go on to more important this. Sorry. At Ben Dubose. Is Will Fuller going to play Sunday? Hashtag AskMDA.

I don't think Mike would be privy to that information. That's why we're answering them for it. Okay. I'm saying yes. I'm going to say yes as well. At SportsRV. You're in a lot of these, unfortunately. I don't know what?

I don't remember that. I must have blacked out. Question. How do we resolve this whole Iran thing? Hashtag ask MDA. I don't have an answer on that one. Trust our government leaders? Prayers?

Vitamins? Sure. I don't know. That's what Hulk Hogan would have said. Okay. Next. At sports rave. Man, you're on this again, Ross.

What did you think of Ricky Jervase's monologue, coach? Hashtag AskMDA. What'd you think, Matt? I loved it. I thought it was great. I thought it was hilarious. I'll never get tired of him because he is going to insult the Uber, over politically leaning direction of actors and actresses.

We all have leanings, right? I don't think he was insulting the leanings. He was insulting them getting involved at all. Correct. Like trying to get on the. their high horse when the majority of them have been Hollywood elites who are born of Hollywood elites so

generationally they know nothing of the real world like he said. And they're hypocrite. Yeah, complete hypocrites. All right. Next. At sports RV again. Dang. What was your favorite Gary Clark is a rockin moment? Hashtag ask MD. That's a little sense. How's GC? How's G.C. doing?

Well, hit the thing. He just ran out. It's one in the rotation. I mean, it is what it is. I think for me, my own personal opinion on this, Gary confidence was up and down a lot this year. Sometimes he'd hit jumpers and feel good about where he was and spacing and other moments. He was hesitant. I think when you're in a Rockets team that wants you to shoot a bunch of threes, you get ball in hand.

That ball needs to leave your hand quickly. Next. Again you're on here. Whoops. At Sports RV. What's Baby Yoda's real name? Hashtag AskMDA. Ross, I can't help you with that one.

Apparently there are some people. I think John Favro who's doing the show, he knows the real Baby Oda's real name, but they haven't come out with it yet. I think it's like, I think it's Dennis. No. No, it's Brian. Next.

Oh, here's what non-sports RV. At CA underscore Rockets. Craig Ackerman, these are all my friends and coworkers. He says, can we make the use of mayonnaise illegal? No. I like mayonnaise. I mean, I'm not a big mayonnaise guy, but I don't think it needs to be out.

lawn. I would rather have mustard over mayonnaise, especially spicy mustard. But I do like mayonnaise. Perhaps a stone ground? Yes. Or a horse radish? But no honey mustard. I don't like honey mustard.

Really? I like pineapple mustard. Like a little chicken tender? Yeah. Nope. At MC 790. Another co-worker. If animals could talk, which would be the rudest?

Hashtag ask MDA. I'm going to Camel. They're always spitting on you. Well, they're just elitist. but they wouldn't be the rudest. Cats? Somebody said cats, but they'd be really indifferent. I don't know how rude they'd be.

Yeah, I get you. At Joey Acosta 90. When can we expect the beautiful pinstripe jerseys to make a comeback? Hashtag Askin'A. The Rockets or the Astros, both of them are horrible. Every uniform is coming back. So if you think the Rockets' Blues

aren't coming back, your nose. Oh, what? Why? No. I don't have information on that. I'm just telling you that every team's uniform is coming back. even the god-awful and some other teams

at J. Derek JK, he's McGiota who would win a street fight? Carmelo Anthony or PJ Tucker? That's easy. PJ Tucker. Hmm. PJ's probably the easier pick.

Carmelo's a tough dude though. He's tougher than you would think. Yeah, but 65-265 PJ Tucker, especially with his new kicks on, he'll be fine. I mean, but yeah, I know. Brooklyn, Carmelo came up out of Brooklyn, though. He's kind of tough, too.

I'd take PJ, though. All right. At R-E-G-R-C-P, Reggie Smith says, what's greater two or three? Hashtag AskMDA. The answer, of course, is three. Three, yeah. Next, L. at Serpico, 1, 2, 3. How many waffles can you eat in 24 hours?

Hashtag Ask MDA? How many do you think? How many think? Dan Tony's probably not wolfing down too many. No. No, he drinks a lot of coffee, but he's not a big waffle. Probably four. I think you could do four.

and I'm going to go with he's probably no more than four in a 24-hour period but not in the same meal like two and one meal two of me I think I could do 12 and 4 in 24 hours I could do 10 comfortably and I think that's it I think we effective wonderful answer the questions

that was beautiful so next week how about some real legit questions and by the way any of you want to go the Pringles card with coach that's four years ago that's so tired Let's go now. 243 in the Matt Thomas show. Ross, what is today's edition of Believe it or not?

MSU football and not the Spartans. We're talking about Mississippi State University. Is there a cowboy question in the mix? There has to be right. There is. How don't I know these things? Back to Matt Thomas. Drives the state to left center field.

This is Sports Talk 790. Home of Astros baseball. 2149 on the Matt Thomas show from Oklahoma City. Ross, I just checked it with Gordy. I said parody tomorrow, question mark. He goes, I would have to do it today. Yeah, why can he do it today and we'll play it tomorrow? That's what I'm saying.

I was like, so I don't care when you do it, whether it's in the next hour, 10 o'clock at night? What's he got going on tomorrow? Does he take another day off or some LSU pep rally of some sort? I think he's going to New Orleans, so. Okay, but you don't need to go. in New Orleans that damn early for the game. The game's not until Monday night, right?

That's what I'm saying. I think he is going to be out of town all weekend. I know. Will you go help him write it? Because you have a, you have a launch. What do you know? You have a net cap. Well, not really.

No, no nightcap. It's going to be Asher Align. Oh. I wonder what the time. Help him write it. Very busy. Got to work on my launch pad. Wait a minute.

I just did the segment for you with Goch to Antony. Got to write a game recap. go everybody y'all tweet at gorty right now at chris gordy tell them we need a damn parody no excuses this is it this is playoff time this is divisional playoff weekend yeah this is possibly probably the last texans game of the season all right hey we're going to be at luckies on sunday

remind the folks what's going on sunday at two o'clock luckies pub st-emmanuel the sports talk 790 crew will be there i will be there matt you will be there Yep. Adam Wexler will be there. Michael Connor will be there. I'm not sure exactly who else is going to be there. But look, it doesn't matter. You just come to hang out with us.

We're going to drink. We're going to have good time. We're going to be merry. And if you can't make that, I'll be at Lucky's on Monday for the LSU-Climson game as well. Or you can make both. No, come to both. Yeah, go to both. Yeah.

Lucky Sunday and Monday for Sunday for the Texas. For a cholesterol spike for me. Yeah. I'm only going to have two ultras because I'm taking my son out to dinner. for his birthday on Sunday. Oh, really? Yeah. I will say this, though.

I have had everything I've eaten in Lucky's is good. Pizza, cheese steak, all that stuff. But even, like, when I was, one time I went there and I was eating healthier, I had a Greek salad. It was fantastic. So I can eat that? The food there is good. Yeah, the Greek salad is recommended.

They have, they have corned beef egg rolls that are delicious. Oh, no, I'm more fan of the Philly steak egg rolls. Either way, I can't even even one of them because they're high in cholesterol and carbs. Just get a, just get a chicken Greek salad. That's what I'm going to do. For sure. I'm all in on that. All right, so Lucky's. We'll see you guys there Sunday at 2 o'clock. Five minutes left to go on the show.

What should we do? We should play America's fastest growing sports game. Shall we simply call it B, believe it or not, and here's how it works. You'll call 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Today's edition of Believe or Not, brought to you by Houston Woodhouse Day Spons. Print out your gift card for the gift. of relaxation at Houston Woodhouse Spas.com.

Category today is all things about Mississippi State. Is it athletics or the whole school? It's the football team mostly. Okay. Because Mike Leach is the coach there. I'll read you a statement about Mississippi State. Mississippi State. And you will, and if you totally and utterly believe everything I tell you, you'll say this.

Believe it. If it's full of buck made up and completely inaccurate, you'll say this. Not. Two, believe it or not, it's in a row in your prize. Ross, what's the prize? Matt, I've got a pair of tickets to see Adam Ant, Friend or Foe Tour, April 29th at the Revention Music Center, LiveNation.com, for tickets and information. 7.13, 21, 2,5, 790. Todd on 790. You ready to play, Believe it or not?

Believe it. Mississippi State first played as the Mississippi A&M Aggies. Believe it or not. Not. Believe it. That's an easy Wikipedia on there. Right on that first or second line, my guess. Line number two.

Daniel on 790. Daniel, your favorite part of the radio show today. I love that interview with Dan Tony. Mississippi State football has been playing since 1895, and no team has ever won more than 10 games in a season. Believe it or not. Believe it. Believe it.

Ross, this job is perfect for Mike Leach. He's got zero pressure. Exactly. Statement number number. for the wind. Mississippi State has only ever won their conference once. It was the SEC back in 1941. Believe it or not. Believe it. Believe it. Believe it. Believe it. Go. Enjoy that's an at-a-man. Let's go. Line number four. David on 790. David, you ready to play Believe it or not? Believe it. Cowbells were banned by the

SEC in 1974, but MSU Bulldog fans still snuck thousands in the stadium each week. Believe it, Believe it or none. Believe it. Believe it. That is correct. They actually amended that a ban in 2010. State number two for the win. The Mississippi State Bulldog mascot is known as Starkey.

Believe it or not. Did you say Bucky? Starky. No, it's bully. I don't believe it. Nice job! You can't stump these people this week. Line...

I didn't go to line five. It's an accent. Let's go to line number one. One, David on 790. David, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. The Mississippi State Bulldogs team that did not play the final two games in the 1965 season didn't play the final two games following the bombing of a Baptist church in Starkville, Mississippi.

Believe it or not. Not. Famous Longhorns coach Darrell Royale spent two seasons as a head coach of the MSU Bulldogs. He went six and four both years. Believe it or not. Not. Believe it. He did.

Oh, I'm here, your royal bile moments. Last one belongs to Al on 790. Al, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Yes, sir. The Mississippi State Bulldogs have not only never won, had a Heisman winner. They've never even had a player finish in the top five. Believe it or not.

Believe it. Believe it. That is correct in the 30-1 today. Nice, John. Thank you very much for all the competed. Thanks to Mike Dan Tony. Antony thanks to Osoran Petro from W.HB in Kansas City and thanks to all of you for sending your non-MDA questions that I would never read to him. I want to remind you about what's happening Thursday, February the 6th. It's a gas giveaway open to the public for my friends at the Shell Federal Credit Union.

They're giving away $20,000 worth of free gas this year and the new location, the very first one's going to happen at the timewise in Pasadena on Red Bluff Road. The lineup begins at 5 o'clock, the pumping begins at 7. First 100 vehicles receive $25 in free gas, courtesy of our friends, at the Shell Federal Credit Union. They've been serving their members since 1937 through financial planning, through lending, through service, and of course, positive support. Shell FCU always strives to make your commitment and everything that you're important to you, the number one priority. And remember again, that's Thursday, February the 6th, first of first of all. 100 vehicles getting $25 in free gas all from the Shell FCU. Welcome home to the Shell Federal Credit Union.

That's it for the show tomorrow. Brian T. Smith is with us. We will make our grandiose predictions. We're going to pray for a gaudy parody. A lot of things going on. Anything Goes Friday. And we'll have another edition of what you're talking about Bill O'Brien, the last one before the big game.

A team is next. I'll talk to you guys at 830 here from Oklahoma City for the Rockets and the Thunder on Sports Talk 790.