The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 10-17-19

Episode Date: October 17, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 10/17/19AJ Hinch : "We Have A Single Game Mindset" (17:39)Collin Cowherd's Awful Take (29:00)Dana Holgorsen Joins Matt (56:08)Dr. Roto's Fantasy Football Feature Week 7 (1:13:39)

Much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 12-03 at H-Town. What's happening in lunchtimes? Good afternoon to you and welcome to a Thursday edition of the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790.

I just feel like a little drama. necessary, don't you think? Okay. It is a pivotal game four in the ALCS. Yankee Stadium. Bronx, New York. Game time temperature in the mid-50s. Wins are up blowing. Drunk fans throwing trash onto the field. Dushbags with bad verb tense. Screaming blank yourself Astros. People saying use. Going, get out of year. Yankees officials trying to throw the Astros under the bus for illegal chirping and whistling. Major League Baseball said, I see nothing, I hear nothing.

Several metric tons of Guido tear gel. And Zach Granky, a man of extraordinarily few words. Makes it rather uncomfortable, frankly. You can respect that. I think it's great. That's a little rude, but that's not here nor there. He's not comfortable talking, so why should he have to talk? Anyways, build the drama.

I don't want to wait. Well, you don't have to. We're not going to. Especially with J.B. in Game 5. Masha Hero Tanaka can be good today like he was on Sunday, right? That's his 1991 this song? Still resonates, right? No, yeah, I thought it was older.

It's making me, I'm suddenly craving a crystal Pepsi. Or is Zima. got me even more excited about tonight. All right, so I'm listening to the Sean Salsbury show, as all of you should do. And I don't know. I was asleep. Yeah, you're always asleep. And that's neither here nor there.

Here's the bit. There were people calling and saying, hey, if the Astros are up, if you're going to use a bullpen game, do it tomorrow. And I'm like, I'm screaming at my radio, which is tuned to 790, of course. And somebody on the MLB network said that as well. Oh, yeah, it was Steve Phillips, the former general manager of the Mets. Didn't he get in an... He did. Inappropriate.

Yes. Okay. That's for Leonard edition of the show. That's for the internet-only version of the show. Anywho. And he has been... And there was like, you know, let's give Verlander a chance to have, you know, get him home, be at his home ballpark, go to game six.

And I'm just... You have to win. what's in front of you. You have to not screw up the days. Now, we already saw what it was like to take JV on a day less, and that didn't work out particularly well. He will be on regular rest tomorrow.

I find nothing, A, wrong, and be debatable. If you would like to have a debate with me about what you do for game six, Garrett Cole on short rest, or bullpen game, I can accept that.

I am not going to be thinking about, well, if they're up 3-2, or if it's 2-2 or they're up 3-1, do you save them so then you can go ahead and throw away game 5 to bring everybody back to New York? You put the foot on the throat and you crush

them. You shut the Yankees up. Herm Edwards said it best. You play to win the game. There is this thought when, I guess we as fans, it's different to us. Especially with the Astros because we have

such a high confidence that they're going to win this series. If you ask 10,000 Astros fans who's winning this series, they're all going to say the Houston Astros. The reality is the New York Yankees can win this series. The New York Yankees are a very good team, and you don't take chances. You don't, this is not a getaway day in a Thursday at Oakland, and you're just going to throw the bullpen out and go get home. Yeah, I mean, do you want to live as Diaz and Jake Moriznick to play?

So you give the guys some extra rest? Right, exactly. Like, it's just, that's not what's happening here. What's at stake is a chance to go to the World Series, and you have to give yourself every opportunity to do that, and Justin Verlander gives you the best opportunity. You want to debate about Game 6? I'm okay with that.

Yes. Because I'm wiggling about that, and I'm going to ask AJ about that at the bottom of the hour. I don't anticipate him giving me an answer, but to JV for 5 is absolutely non-debatable. And I put that on Twitter today, and I got like, yeah, what dumbasses would think it would be a debatable thing? And then I looked at people that were saying, Matt, it's debatable.

What are you talking about? Hey, how's your hot fire bacon take today? And those people don't follow me. And I was like, that's a blessing. Let me be brutally honest with you. I want to get to 30,000 followers, hopefully in the next 12 calendar months. At SportsMT. So we can go to Vegas and have a really good time.

Because I kind of said Vegas flippantly at 20,000, not realizing it was going to take years to get the 30,000. Well, you know. It is what it is. These things take time. But I don't want followers. followers who are dumb-ass Astro takes guys. Like I said, 70% of Astro's Twitter is good. 30% don't know what the hell they're talking about.

And it's embarrassing. And then the worst part of it is that 30% who don't know what the hell they're talking about, they call themselves lifelong baseball fan or Astros enthusiast or their name is Orange underscore Fire 65 or whatever. They don't represent us. don't represent people that are halfway smart about baseball and that claim to be an Astros fan who have no idea who Billy Dorn is. So all I'm asking you this, if you disagree with me, you're wrong.

It's just a flat out. That's just it. I'm not right up at everything. In fact, most times, more times are not. Rosting and back this up, Nick, my takes are sometimes some of the worst in sports radio. They just are. But I'm not wrong about this, nor is the manager, nor is any like, thinking baseball fan.

So if you do not follow me because you do not agree with the fact that Justin Verlender should absolutely 100%, thank you. I don't want you to follow me. I don't want you to listen to me and I don't want you to go to Las Vegas with me. I'm happy with who I have

realizing what trash is out there. And 30% of Astor's Twitter, I got to tell you, is garbage. 30%? I mean, it could be a little higher. I'm just trying to be pleasant. Yeah, thank you. It's way worse on Astros Facebook.

Trust me. Oh, I wouldn't even bother with that. I can only handle one social media at a time. No, it's just simple. You play to win the game, trying to win. People tend to overthink things. And like I said, when it's not our jobs at stake, if you're sitting there and your job was at stake,

like AJ Hinch, not necessarily at stake, but you know what I mean. Your reputation and your job is on the line at all times when you're in this business. You play who gives you the best chance to win every single game in these series. Yeah. But I am, and I'm just telling you,

I know there's a right answer to this. I just don't know it, and I will plead ignorance to it. What do you do for game six? I think I would, if my guess is that he's going to go with Garrett on short rest. I have no idea on that.

Me either. Maybe you can have them in your back pocket for seven. But you, can you win? How about this? Can you be at Minutemate Park feeling awesome? and hit the crap out of the baseball so you can piecemeal it for

nine innings until you get to go soon in the ninth. Can that just be the case? Because, man, if Cole goes out there on short and then blows it and then your bullpen in game seven. When today, when tomorrow? What you do with game six is nothing until you know what situation you're walking into.

Yeah, that thing's going to happen. But we're on radio. We can speculate. We're to steal the show content for today. Yeah, that's kidding. We're speculating. AJ Hitch, at the bottom of the hour on Sports Talk 790. If you want to join us right now, 713-212-5-790.

Matt Thomas returns on Sports Talk 790. So Major League and Baseball, did I go French? I'm a major league baseball, just general. Investigated the back and forth between the Yankees and the Astros. apparently Phil Nevin, former Astro overall number one pick who sucked as an Astro. He just did.

He's the coach of the Yankees now was like, hey, the Astros are cheating. So, major league baseball had to go to their due diligence. Yes. And the quote was they found no evidence of cheating going on with whistling. No evidence of violations of MLB rules. So maybe they were whistling.

Maybe that's just not a violation of MLB rules. Let me say so. Let me peel the curtain back. Yeah. Everybody's trying to gain a competitive advantage. Bingo. Do not think the Houston Astros are more than, less than, or equal to, no, actually that are equal to.

Every other baseball team. Every baseball team tries to find a competitive advantage. Absolutely. Whether it's through technology, whether it's through whistling, whether it's through tipping of pitches and sign stealing, whatever. In the history, yes. It's happened in 2019. I got news for it.

happened with the Metson 86. Yeah. It happened with the Yankees of the 90s. It happened with the 1976-7 New York Yankees. And it's probably happening with the 2019 Houston Astros. Yeah, Ty Cobb and like Trist Speaker were out there trying to get some, steal some signals back in the day, I'm sure. Bottom line is, as Ross tweeted out a couple days ago, you don't win an argument when the team you say are stealing your crap is scored seven runs in two games. Three games.

Three games. Yeah. So, come on. Come on now. Come on, man. Let's talk to some folks. A.J. Hinch to join us at the bottom of the hour on Sports Talk 790. Let's go to Steve and Katie on 790. Hi, Steve.

It's a no-brainer JV for the fifth game because the second game of the World Series has got four days rest. Now, the problem is if JV, say we lose today and JV loses today, wow, that's a big problem. You go, you go Cole in the sixth game? I don't know. I'd rather have them in the seventh game. I don't know what to do on that one. You know what that is. Thank you, Steve. That's exactly it.

And here's the thing. I love the Astros. I believe they're going to win at least one in the next two games, meaning three, two in Houston. But there is a possible that the Yankees' bats could go. It is supposed to be colder than a mofo tonight. Astros don't, Astros like playing in a roof over a roof over their head. They don't like 55 degrees or 25-mile-per-hour wins.

Just saying. They just don't. Nobody does. Nobody does. But the Astros especially aren't accustomed to it. No. So even though, and here's the thing, even though JV's pitching, it doesn't mean it's an Astro's victory. You'd like it to be, but there's no guarantee of it.

Yeah. You have to play the percentages. You've got to play the, I got my guy, one of my aces on regular rest. Go. What gives me the best chance to win you do that? It's that simple. That's why. And that's what AJ's got to think about.

Garrett Cole, three days rest, is that the best. chance for me to win over being in Houston, Texas. Here, again, I apologize for going to game six. I shouldn't be doing that. Hopefully it's a moot conversation. Hopefully. No, we have to think about this. We have to think about it.

Do you go that over the thought of, do you have relievers? Can our kitty give you two? Because that's the thing. When you're thinking about a bullpen game, you're thinking about asking four to five guys to just get six outs. And then you lose that game. Those guys are all tired in game seven. You're not asking your kid to give you five.

No. You're looking to bridge between player and player and player, knowing that if the bridge doesn't work, you've got the wild card in your hand. You have to play, you, but maybe a lot of people aren't going to like this, but the Astro is going to play this by percentages. What gives us the best chance to win?

Is it a bullpen day and coal on full rest, or is it coal on short rest and then a bullpen day? And that's human element too. That's AJ going to Garrett and saying what you think. That's the one thing that Vegas can't tell you. That's the one thing that the metrics can't tell you. That's a mono-a-mono conversation. Yeah, but Garrett's not going to say no, no matter what.

So you have to figure out what you think. I don't know. You think he's going to say, hey, Garrett, can you pitch game six? He's going to say no? No, I don't think he's going to say we need to have a real talk. How do you feel? How does your body feel? Remember, Rossi, we've got these guys going so deep now.

This is going into now late October. So adrenaline only can give you so much. Now, it can give you something. There's no doubt about that. But does a short day in Garrett's mind, because as we've, I was talking about this today, baseball pitchers, more than any other athlete in any other sport, are such a creature of habit. Saying and I can go and the body doing another thing are two different animals. But maybe Garrett's having this so special of a season that you will.

say, you know what, I'll take my chances on that. But do you think in his mind, even though he was effectively wild, is this a small sign of, you know what, maybe trying to go on short, maybe wouldn't be the best thing? He threw a lot of pitches in the last couple of stories. Just throwing it out there. Will and Southwest Houston on 7-90. Hello, Will. Hey, Matt, how's going?

Good, what's going on? Not much. Yeah, you know, people I think are wrong. way over thinking this. If they listen to AJ Hinch during any of his interviews, he said the only bad managerial decision that he can make is not being aggressive. So that's why I think it's going to be Verlander Cole

game five and game six. But the other side note that I wanted to talk about real quick is, you know, I was watching that Nationals game. And tell me if you guys see any similarities between them and the 2005 Astros, you know, both losing their stars, Bryce Harper, Carlos Beltron, starting off way

below 500, and then coming up as a wild card after losing a lot of years in the division series. I was just thinking about that, and so it kind of makes me think whoever they play, probably going to get swept by. I did not put the Nationals and the 2005 Astros together. 2005 Astros were amazing in terms of pitching. Deep, deep rotation, no hitting.

That lineup was horrible. The 2014 was better to me. Yeah, 2004 was absolutely better. The Nationals of 2019 have a better hitting team than the 2005. Asteros do. 2005 Asteros were wonderful, Ross, but they were a below third level hitting team, especially with the numbers at

Bagwell when he started to really drop off. Yeah, they basically had, I mean, Barkman, and then what late, a very late era, Bagwell and Bidgio, and then what else was on that team as far as good hitting? Hidalgo. Morgan Insberg? Morgan Insberg. I mean, Kelly on 790 and 1226.

Hi, Kelly. Hi. Go ahead, Kelly. Oh, you have me already. Sorry. How are you? Wonderful, Kelly. I got AJ Hinch standing by.

Let's go. Oh, yeah, no. I definitely just want to let all of our astro fans know that I have lots of trust and Mr. A.J. Hinch. But I really truly believe he did his job. And I completely agree with you guys. We're going to need him to go a little bit longer today. And who knows, maybe Grinky really does.

I like the cold. I mean, we've only had them here for a year. So we'll see. And I'm rooting for our asteros all the way. Thank you, Kelly. Have a great day. You got it. My pleasure.

Thanks for being listening to the show on 790. This is 790 Baseball Direct. Direct from the ballpark. To your radio. Driven by Texas Direct Auto, powered by Vroom. 1231 on the Matt Thomas show. Game number four. American League Championship Series tonight, Game 5 Friday.

That's all we got to worry about, right? Just play the games that are right in front of us. I think I've heard that from somebody, AJ Hinge. How are you, sir? I'm doing well. I'm on my way to the field for game four. We're closing in on Yankee Stadium. I'm on the team bus, and we're ready to go.

Okay, so you can't talk as loud. That's okay. Right. I can't yell. No, no. Hey, I thought about something. How about you and I keep doing these Tuesday things even during the offseason? I just want to talk about life.

Talk some college basketball, maybe an L.MBA. Are you in for that? Let me see how the next couple weeks go. I could be in an incredibly good mood, say yes, or I could be an incredibly bad mood and say no. So it'll, you know, let's root for some wins and maybe you get, you and I get the opportunity to keep this up. I like it. I like it. All right.

So let's get two. Let's get two before we get to yesterday. You've managed a lot of games in your life. Give me what was like managing game two. everything you are calling on. And look, you guys prepare. It's all about the athletes. But your bullpen decisions, everything gelled.

I mean, if you were to put a mantle up of the great managerial games of AJ Hinge, that had to have been among the all-time tops because the bullpen just did a fantastic job for you. They did. And we did a lot of things right. And I think getting into the game with the lead, you come to Yankee Stadium, it's a real environment. There's, you know, there's a lot of pressure. the first pitch of the game, they rise and get on their feet. They call out all their pitchers.

I mean, all their players on the field that get their cap to them. It's such a fun environment here. And so then when Hosey hit the homer and you bounce out and you're a one-nothing, the redickets the homer, it's 2-0-0. We settled in and played pretty loose. Our pitchers did a great job here. Cole wasn't even at his best, but was putting up zeros. And then our bullpen came in and did their part.

And our defense was good. Our base running was good. But it's a good reminder that we have a good team and we took control of the series in a really tough environment. You took control. And I think the weathercasters did you all of favor in terms of at least having this out there. Because I remember you talking about this on Sunday about the rainout potentially. When did you and Zach and JV get into that conversation about, hey, here's what I want to do once this game is officially called? Well, we really didn't have to do anything with Zach because he knew he was pitching on Thursday regardless, whether it was going to be, you know, game four or game.

game five, his day was Thursday. So we let him know right away that was his next time to get, to get ready to pitch. The JV conversation happened when we got to New York and, you know, we started answering questions about when his availability was going to be there. And, you know, after a guy pitches, he has a routine the next day. He has a throwing routine. He has a physical routine.

He's lifting in the weight room. His treatments, everything is dictated on what the next plan is. And so we did everything planning for him to pitch on. Friday in the event that there was a rainout. And then once it became official, I let him know to get himself prepared to pitch on Friday night in the Bronx. And it sounds good. I'll be ready.

What did you tell the guys that do yesterday besides probably just stay off your feet, right? Well, we went to the field. We got notice about 12 o'clock here, Eastern, and we had a one o'clock bus. I was going to the field anyway. So anybody that needed treatment, anybody that had a little bit of energy and wanted to do something inside, it was pouring rent. It was all inside. We had a couple guys want to hit in the cage.

We had a couple guys want to jump on the bike. I mean, these guys don't sit idle very easily, especially during October. But it was a very, very limited group and a limited workday. You know, we were there for probably, you know, 45 minutes to an hour. Probably took us an hour to get there, an hour there, and an hour to get back, which killed part of the afternoon, I think, which is good. We have to wait so long to play these games. We don't play until 8 o'clock Eastern, so it's the waiting game sometimes.

hard. It's better to have something to do rather than just sit around the hotel and rest as you would expect. Do you like, did you like the day off here better or the way it affects travel? I mean, Skip, what do you think about the way this went down? Well, I think they made the right

decision calling it early. I mean, you almost have to have been here to see how miserable it was and it would have been bad news to just go to the field and sit around and pretend like we were going to play when the forecast was bad. And so, I mean, MLB did a good job. stepping up and taking a little bit of a risk. They called it when it wasn't raining,

but there was every meteorologist in New York was expecting this downpour and it was. And the weather today is good. It's going to be cold, a little bit windy, but dry. And so when it all went down, they did a terrific job of communicating it to everybody and how that was going to dictate Friday nights came and then moving into Houston. If it's necessary, then we know what's in front of us. They're very blunt, very direct with what's at store. So I don't really care what, you know, people's reactions are to four games in a row, if necessary, because we've got a single game mindset to win tonight, game four, put a ton of pressure on them with, you know, with elimination games from here on out from them if we can win.

And if we have to travel back and play in Houston, then the energy of October and the adrenaline of October and the chance to do some special things in front of our home. crowd will carry us through. We'll be fine. Yeah, so obviously this is changing up the rotation. And one of the things I think is most difficult for you, Skip, is dealing with sample sizes, figuring out when to go back to something, even if it didn't work out. So with respect to that, do you think starting Verlander on three days rest and the way it worked out in the ALDS, has that affected your thinking going forward? No. I think you have to count every situation in its own right and evaluate every situation

and it's all right. And I know where you're going with this on whether or not we would start coal on three days rest. And, you know, I think you, case by case basis on, I mean, I don't even really want to feel many questions about what if, because game four is going to take all the energy that I have and all the attention that I have to try to take a three to one lead in this series. So, but to answer your question, we always review our decisions or review our situations or, you know, try to get better in our analysis on. what we need to do to win tonight's game. And if we factor in, you know, rest and recovery and effectiveness and how guys pitched, I mean, that's part of it.

But right now we focused all on game four and Zach Ranky's on regular rest. Six innings and three runs the last time we get that out of them again or better. I think we're going to like where we're sitting. Did you see anything different from Zach between the DS game and what you saw in game one? his change-up was a little bit better. I think he, on a breaking ball, the Torres, he had a homer. He, you know, he gave up the home runs were the biggest damage. But, you know, I thought he handled the situation fine.

I think the magnitude of the playoffs created a little bit of an overall reaction. But like I said, he got us pretty deep into the game at a relatively good pitch count and, you know, give up some, unfortunately, a couple home runs, the end of his outing that separated them. But the score of the game, I think when he's, left was three nothing. And, you know, we just didn't do anything offensively to create any momentum for him or, you know, he held them off as long as he could until I took them out of the game. And then our bullpen, you know, that night had a little trouble keeping them off the scoreboard a little bit. So I think his changeable play key here in this ballpark, I think when

it's cold weather like this, you know, the pitcher has a little bit of an advantage. Hitters don't love to hit in cold weather. But pitch, pitch, pitch selection and pitch execution is the, you know, is the key to that grand key. And he's been really good at his whole career, and we expect him to be a good time. With all the different pitchers that your hitters have seen, especially with the bullpen games of the Yankees and the Rays, seeing Tanaka again, is there any extra comfort level that at least know that they want him to go as long as they can as their bullpen's been taxed.

And the other hand, your guys have been able to see him a couple of times now. Sure. No, it would be nice to see him again. And, I mean, obviously, if he executes at the rate that he executed the other day, he's going to be really tough if he makes some mistakes, our guys can do some damage. But, you know, it's a very similar tight-mouse game as it is with Granky and them where you pick a pitch, you've got to pick a location,

and he just misses every now and then. And if he does make a mistake, we're going to be ready for it. We, you know, we were one swing away from making it really tough on him. When Yordaun hit the 110-mile-hour bullet to right field and Bregman got doubled off, I mean, a lot of Ips and butts in the playoffs, you know, timeline. But if that ball is elevated a little bit, and it becomes a home run or a ball off the wall. Who knows if Tanaki even stays in the game much longer.

So one or two big swings early, I think we'll get us right. If we stay disciplined in the strike zone, again, we could put some pressure on them. Two final questions. Josh Redick has played thousands and thousands of major league games and there's lots of big moments. Where do you put his, ah, that felt good moment when he hit the ball out of the ballpark in game three? Yeah, I was happy for him. You know, he wasn't happy that he didn't start game one. these guys all want to play, but yet he took it the right way and knew that he had to play better if he was going to keep his spot in the lineup.

And I told him at the very beginning, you're going to start game three against Severino. You can see him well. You can get back in and help us win, and then boom, a big home run, you know, to make it two nothing was huge for him and made us all feel really good. So, you know, I've stuck with Josh Redick a long time this season because of the impact that he can have. And I think he's going to have a good night tonight. How did you feel about the lineup switch? I know move the Alvarez down a spot. I know that there was an immediate payoff.

But is he carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders right now? Because the answer should be, shouldn't. He's got a lot of great teammates around him. Yeah, I don't know if there was a little bit of an impact because I think Yuli's sack fly, you know, once they threw the ball of the backstop and after intentionally walking Bredman, having Yulee up in that spot was really big. And it's Britain and he got the sack fly. And we get, we got another run.

So I think the payoff is always good, you know, when you can get guys up to bat that you want and also to give your order on a little bit of a break. And I just think it's hard to hit playoff baseball. This is this is not an, you know, an offensive-driven time of year when you're facing the kind of pitching and the kind of map upsets that you are. And sometimes get in a little bit of a run. But as we've seen before, you know, whether it's George Springer in the World Series or, you know, the way Al-Tubei and the DS and the CS has been. When guys do lock it in and they do some damage, it's really good for your team. Thank you for the time. I hope you enjoy the rest of your bus ride.

And let's not worry about game six. Just get it taken care of in New York, my friend. Thank you for the visit. Okay. You got it. AJ Hinch with us here. The Matt Thomas show continues on Sports Talk 790. We have a good friend of the business.

His name is Greg Tooey. He's one of the producers of the Colin Coward show that you see on FS1. And Colin is a master at the Spitfire Hot Takes. And Colin's a smart guy. Like, for instance, I truly believe that Skip is stupid. I have zero respect for a, what's the guy that's Max Kellerman. I like Stephen A. I think he's off his rocker too.

occasionally, but he's in the same spot where there is just some horrible, horrible takes, okay? Colin's really smart. My son loves Colin. We went to L.A. a couple of years ago, went to see him at the studio. He likes him as a sports host more than he likes his father, and that's neither here nor there. I mean, I've had to accept that. He likes Ross more and likes me. Well, the paycheck is better for Colin as well.

Significantly. So, Colin just put up on the screen a few minutes ago on his TV show, which Greg is one of the producers of. This is what Column thinks is going to happen in the Western Conference. And we're not going to get a lot of basketball

today. We've got a lot of stuff to get to. But these are the kind of things that would ultimately get me fired if I had such horrible takes.

He's got the Western Conference standings predictions. At the eight spot, he's got Dallas. Okay, I could see that. Docket's together. Playing with

Christhouse Porzingus. Okay, maybe. San Antonio, seven. Possible. Six, Portland, five Lakers, four warriors, three clippers, two seed the jazz, the Denver Nuggets is the number one seed. And he says, what do you all think is what Colin put out there? I think it's crap.

I think it's a fireable offense. Unless, again, he, unless in his crystal ball, he has James and Russell getting into a backyard, feud where they both punch each other out and both separate their kneecaps and shoulders and get hurt. It's just, it's ill-informed and it's... Sensationalism. It's sensationalism. It's spitfire hot take and it's a troll job. I'm not ready. Check, check, check, check, check. I am not that super of a homer to say it's a no-brainer that the Rockets are going to win 55 games. They're going to win the Western Conference. We've got to deal in realities here. They're making the playoffs, though, Matt.

But they're making the playoffs. And frankly, it's embarrassing that somebody would do that. This is the deal. You mentioned Skip Bayless. Skip Bayless for what he is, and you can rail on him and make fun of him. He is one of the greatest innovators in the history of sports media. Because so many people now are taking this blueprint of what he does. Colin Cowherd included.

Clay Travis, Max Kellerman. I think Nick Wright does some of it as well. Jason Whitlock. All of them do. Who's the most same? Yeah, go ahead. He's being disingenuous. If you think the Rockets are made...

You're just making waves. You're just trying to get noticed. You're trying to get people talking about your show. And it works. We're talking about... Would we be talking about this right now if he said, Houston Rockets 3C? We'll be talking about Colin Cowherd on our show right now.

No. No. So it's working. But this is what he's doing, though. There's no way of you can be logical. And then apparently he has some audio after that, quote, by the All-Star break. James Hardin will have had it with Russell.

Westbrook. Okay. We'll see. All my point is this, when I was in this business a long time ago, and I've said to see many times, they've even told this off here, people say, well, publicity is good, whether it's bad or good. What do they say, you know? No such thing is bad publicity. Right. 2019's different. It just is. I'm going to say some things on this show that you will disagree with me on or agree, and it's brought up for the conversation. I've never in my life, and Ross, you and I've worked together for almost 10 years now. Have I ever come to you and said, I want to say something on my show that's either going to get me more listeners or more Twitter followers. That's not how I play the game. And I don't think that's the way you should play the game,

because Max Kellerman has a lot of awful takes. Yeah. Is he making more money than I am? Yes. Yes, he is. But you know what? Is his... I think credibility is easier to sleep at night.

Yeah. Is credibility a part of what you want to live with? I like living with the fact that, you know, I'm pretty level-headed. Now, am I homerish on some things? Yeah, I can admit that. But that's just a god-awful take. That's one of those things, again, if I'm the executive producer of Fox Sports. Now, again, executive producer of Vox Sports, the sales manager, the general manager,

they really don't care what comes out of Colin's mouth as long as Colin has listeners and viewers. That's embarrassing. I don't want, I don't want ever to say, did you listen to the Matt Thomas show and you hear the embarrassing comment he said today? Over the top to gain attention. But I don't roll that. I don't roll that way. Others do. And those others are all on national television making millions of people.

of dollars. So they have scoreboard on me. But I just could not get on here. That'd be like me coming on the radio today and saying, I don't even know why the Yankees are even playing this game. Right.

They've got no chance. That would be like me saying the Texans suck. I don't care about their four and two record. I don't care that they've put up 70-something points in the last two games. I don't care that they beat the Chiefs at a noisy Arrowhead Stadium last week. They still suck. You can't, I don't think you can conduct business that

way. Everything can't be, what am I going to do to inspire more people to either be happy that I said it or pissed off? I think level-headedness is how you go. Bombastic radio host, don't live long in this business. You know what I want to see? I want to see him put some money up on this. I want to see, I want to see a huge betting ticket, Colin Cowherd, the under on the Rockets win total, or the Rockets to not make the playoffs or something like this. Well, you could get the under. What is the Rockets over under?

53 and a half. If you wanted to bet the under, I could live with that. Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. They might be 48 and 34. I think they'll struggle out of the game. Russell and James might not be as good as we think they're going to be,

or maybe if you don't think he's good, they're good right now. I can live with that. I mean, I don't know necessarily the struggle. I should say, I think there will be an adjustment period. but they'll figure out they're going to make the playoffs. I think even if Russell Westbrook or James Hardin goes down with a bad injury or something, I still think they make the playoffs. Without one of them,

and with both of them, you're picking them not to make the playoffs. And it's not only MVP's in James Hardin and Russell Westbrook, we're talking about Clint Capella and Eric Gordon and Daniel House and these other pieces on the team that they have. they're going to win, they're going to make the playoffs, I don't want to say with their eyes closed,

but I mean, this is just, he's trying to make waves. He's not doing it based on injury. He's doing it on the fact that the team is just not very good to make the top ain't the West. And that's not how I roll. It's an embarrassingly bad take.

That's what I'm saying. Like Russell Westbrook on November 1st could say, you know what, I quit basketball, I'm going to go walk the earth. Rockets are still making the playoffs. Yeah. So you add him in there,

and for what he is, of course we have issues with Crazy Russ, but he's an MVP caliber player because he's 1-1. They're making... I would be shocked if they're not top four. I'm not even ready to tell you what they are going to be. Because again, there is an unknown of James and them working together. But you have Eric Gordon, who looks like he is in prime mode. Clint Capella, still a top 6, 7 senator, maybe even the NBA,

because the center spot didn't that great anymore, but you go where my point is. Good bench, good leadership. I mean, I just, it's just embarrassing because Colin is, I think Colin's very talented. I really, really do. He is. I think he's very talented. He's a really good broadcaster.

Broadcaster, but some of the, I mean, if you wanted to say there's no chance of Rockets to win the NBA championship, I'd even accept that. Yeah, that's fine. But to not put them in the playoffs, you're an idiot. Troll job. Yes is the Matt Thomas show. The 103, did you notice when we were talking to AJ that our voices drop. a little bit. I mean, he had to talk quietly. I had no reason to. Yeah, you

instantly went, all right, E.J. So since you're happy to be quiet, I guess I'll be quiet. You know, it's funny. We in locker rooms do that all the time. And it's not because we're scared. It's just that I think that we think if we're talking normal voice

that the other guys around there's are getting dressed, do that. I've caught myself doing that 100 times. If you ever hear Robert Ford do a pregame interview on the Astros broadcast, he does the same thing, and it's not really his fault. He just happened to be in an area where there just isn't a lot of room to kind of just let it lose. He'll go, Robert Ford here in the locker room with George Springer.

George, congratulations on your three home run day. I mean, it's just subconsciously. That's what we do. You can't help it, yeah. It's just human nature. And like you said, you get in front of that media scrum and there's like people all over the place. You say, well, how did you feel about what happened in the third inning there with your at bat? Yeah.

Well, you know, Mike Dan Tony and I do our pregame conversations. and usually we do it with the rest of the coaches around because he likes to make fun of me and I like to have people on my side. He likes to get laughs. He does. So he has his group of like five or six people around. I'm like, wait a minute. So that makes me up on my game a little bit because they're thinking, well, I can't handle Mike Dan Tony,

but yet I can. And then he crushes me like a grape eventually. That's fine. It's part of your love-hate relationship with each other. You love him, he hates you. I don't know. He's wearing glasses now. Did you see that?

Is he? Yeah. Oh, no. Is that good? Well, I mean, he's almost... Well, he's going to be making challenges now. He's almost 70. I mean, you know, thinking he'd get a little older.

Okay. That's good. All right. So, yeah, Rockets played the Spurries last night. Russell Westbrook are making his rocket debut. Somebody asked me about his fingers being dislocated and all screwed up because, man, all NBA players have effed up fingers. That's funny.

Look, work in progress in the Rockets. I'm okay with that. Yes. But not having the playoffs. it just means you got a bias. And we're going to let Colin explain through his show a little bit later on why he thought the Rockets would be out of the playoffs. We'll play that for you coming up in about 15 minutes.

I've got some Astero phone calls to get to you right now. Masha Hero Tanaka, what do you think about the question I asked about familiarity with the Astros? Because think about it, in the first three games of the series, they have seen a plethora of relievers. In the Tampa series, they didn't see this. It felt like they didn't see the same. pitcher twice, can familiarity be an indirect benefit for the Astros? Because Tanaka's got to go deep for the Yankees.

They just don't have the number of sheer start. They don't have a Cole and a Verlender sitting back waiting. They have Severino who's good, but doesn't go long. Paxton's been pulled twice early. They don't have depth in the starting pitching like the Astros do. Yeah, I think so. But he was also asked that on the conference call yesterday and basically saying, yes, it helps.

but at the end of the day, if the stuff is there, if the other pitcher has his stuff, there's not a whole lot of you can do. Like, you can be as familiar with Garrett Cole as you want to be. If he's out there hitting high 100 mile hour fastballs and breaking your knees with sliders, there's nothing you can do. You're just at the mercy of the pitcher.

So if Tanaka's off his game, the Astros will be able to get with him with the familiarity. So it's kind of up to him. Let's go to the phones. If you want to jump in, 713, 21, 2, 2,1, 5, 790. 713, 2, 1,000, 5, 5,000, 7-90, Dana Holgerson for a few minutes at the bottom of the hour. Ross is rotten 5 at 150.

We talk some fantasy football with good Dr. Roto at 2 o'clock. Allen and Rhode Island on 7-90. Hello, Alan. Can hear me? Yes, sir. I apologize. It's actually Alfred. Okay, Alfred.

What you got today, Alfred? So before I get to my point, I just want to say, I lived and worked in Houston for two years, and it is the best place down there. I miss Waterburger, shopping at DEC, I mean, H-E-B, Twin Peaks. There's this greasy spoon hole-in-the-wall place I used to call McLean's. People there were a little crazy, but the food was good. So back to my point, I've been a Red Sox fan my whole life. I actually grew up in a house, divided my father and my aunts and uncles on that side of Yankee fans,

my mom and aunts and uncles on the other side of Red Sox fans. And there's one thing I learned, the Yankees always seem to find a way to win to give them the opportunity. You see 2003 with Pedro being left on the hill. So I think you have to play to win tonight. You can't give them an opportunity. I heard something about a bullpen game. I think that's stupid.

If you give an opportunity, they're going to barrel over you like a commuter train out of the Wedgemere station. You have against the ropes now. The offense has turned into a complete pumpkin since game one, so you have to play to win. Thanks, guys, and I'll take your response off the air. All right. Thank you very much of the phone call. We are a little crazy down here, but New York's where. way crazier.

Yeah. We're not throwing trash onto the field when we're upset at calls. Yeah. We just booed. And we're not F-bombing people everywhere.

Well, depending. Have you been to a game where swearing has been a problem at Minuteman? Not really. I'm trying to think when the last time.

Last time I had a problem with swearing was when I was at a Texas West Virginia game and this old West Virginia lady was just just crushing all the Texas players and say, cram the football up you know what?

I took Peyton my middle son to the Texas, Texans, Maguire's game. It wasn't an issue. Astro games. I don't stand that offense. I can't really speak to it. No, I don't think swearing is a... I mean, I'm not saying that we don't swear. That'd be foolish. But I think we're probably below norm. Like, if you were to take the 30

major league cities that had multiple teams, we ain't Philadelphia, we ain't New York. All right. Boston. We ain't Boston. We ain't Baltimore. Washington. It's basically northeast. You think they're all just all pissy because of the bad weather. Can I tell you why? People in the Northeast are pissing. Why? The weather sucks. It's expensive to live in. The girls aren't nearly as hot. You know what? Check, check and check. I think you're right, Matt. You ever think about Charlotte,

Atlanta. The girls are pretty. Are they? They got great accents. The grass is green and the girls are pretty? And there's four seasons there. Why do I sound like I'm about to do a Wade in my life? Sounds like, yeah. Are you narrating gone with the wind? What is happening right now? Yeah, I've petitioned the NBA to only have the rockets travel west. Like if Memphis is the furthest west, I have to go for a Western Conference game. I'm cool with that.

Okay. Gambling's close by there, right? There is. That's one of my greatest all-time gambling adventures. 2100. That's when I made it rain, literally. Good for you, Matt. I wish I can get that day back.

Let's go to Kevin and Pearland at 110. Kevin, what do you got today? Yeah, Matt, I'm sensing a pattern in baseball, and I believe it all has something to do with you. So I'm going to ask you a couple quick questions, if you don't mind. Did you talk to any of the Braves before St. Louis put a 10 spot on him in the first inning? No, I did not. Did you talk to any of the Cardinals before Washington put a seven spot on them in the first inning?

Here come the Astros, burning with design. Here come the Astros bringing orange pride. Here come the Astros is winning on that mind. Here come the Astros number one every time. Go, go. Astros. This just gives me joy. Especially the harmonic part.

Astros. Yeah. Beautiful. All right, that's good. 111 on Sports Talk 790. 7.13.212.5.7. If you want to get in, 713, 21, 2,1, 5, 790. More Matt Thomas.

Now. on sports talk 790 I'm playing up Phil Collins on the show No we play the right amount of Phil Collins Yeah I would say we're broaching on way too much I'm definitely afraid to ask you to repeat that Because I didn't have my earphone Earphones on

I said we're broaching on way too much Phil Collins He was here about a month ago right The concert was fantastic And y'all a bunch of haters Okay. Ross, we have believe it or not today coming up at 252. Yes. We got Rodo before that at two.

And Dan Holgers into the bottom of the hour. And Bada and the Rotten 5 at 150. And we're going to hear right now, let's just play this without comment. Okay. You know, sometimes you put tweets out there and you say we don't play this without comment. I'm going to try not to comment, nor will you, Ross. Here's Colin Coward about how the Rockets are not making the playoffs. And yes, I did not put the Houston Rock.

It's in, and my theory on them is the owner right now is furious at the GM. The GM doesn't like the coach. The coach doesn't like his staff who they forced him with, and by the All-Star break, Cardinal had it with Russell Westbrook. This is going to unravel, and that's my theory on that. All right. I think chemistry is big in the NBA, and I think you've got this combustible China thing,

and Darry and GM, and it's just a lot of noise, and it's, I don't like noise. So there it is. I got Denver, Utah, Clippers, Warriors, Lakers, Blazers. Bollie, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong. Here come the Astros, burning with desire. Here come the Astros, bringing hornish ride. Here come the Astros, it's winning on that mind. Here come the Astros number one every time.

Have we ever moon music to take? I maybe. Probably. I got soundbite? Can you hear his... I said... Without comment. Okay, maybe one comment. He didn't even believe what he was saying.

He laughed right when he said it. You know he's just lying. He doesn't believe what he's saying. He goes out of the Rock of Tint. All right, here's what we're going to do. Can we play... Can you find that Nick has a laugh? Right at the end of his take, he's...

The first part of his take, he just starts laughing. Yeah, that might have to be put in the Donald Trump, Bill O'Brien Soundbolt. It's like his own awkward media laugh to himself. because he knows he doesn't believe what he's saying. Yeah, thanks. He doesn't believe it. Here's what we're going to do. When the Astros finish winning the world series.

Yes. We're going to take a day of the week. And we're going to do a day where every, we're going to try to go national on this local show. And we're going to spit out. I'm thinking this is going to be probably in mid-November sometime. And we'll make sure we publicize it. We are going to take this show nationally, and we are just going to spit out the most hot...

Everything Ross, you and I argue about or debate that day will be completely rehearsed ahead of time. Because I want Skip and Chanel and Stephen A... Can I guess say Skip? You can say whatever you want. And I want all those dudes that do these national shows to hear what they sound like. we'll send them tapes you know what they're going to be saying back to me listen local

hatchet man we're making 40 times what you make yes and they'll put me in my place but I can do it for one day okay I'm with it Kevin in Cleveland Texas or Cleveland Ohio

Hi Kevin Hey Matt It's good to hear I love your show Thank you I just want to talk about my strows Are you in Cleveland Texas or Cleveland Ohio Texas, Cleveland Tech.

Oh, very good. What you got today? I was really excited that Cole was able to finish the Yankees off the other day, but I got real aggravated because, you know, the umpire, he got a concussion, and they stalled the game for like 30 minutes. And I was thinking he got seven other umpires there. You know, doesn't anybody else have any kind of catchers equipment? Because it kind of looked like they were trying to mess up Cole's fire.

They replaced it. They replaced the Homeplay Empire. concussed. What are you talking about? Well, it just took so long. You know, it took like 30-minute break. Cole was on a roll there for quite a while. I knew he had a concussion, but I was just thinking, you know, they had like six umpires there.

They could have done it. It seemed like they were just kind of stalling it a little bit to try to get coal out of his routine, you know, and it kind of reminded me of the Boston series last year when Jose Tubei hit his home run and in the stands. And they said, oh, no, it's fan interference. It's fan of their friends. And, I mean, I rewind that thing three times. I could see.

That ball was in the team. Okay. Well, let me think about this for a second. So you're telling me, Kevin in Cleveland, that Major League Baseball's umpires were trying to slow down the coal train. Wow. Because they were worried about him being good, so yet they took their sweet time putting the uniform on. Not exactly.

I was for far more to the, You know, since everything's happening in New York right now, it seems like every time it goes to New York for a call, I'm sitting there holding my friends saying, oh, we ain't going to win. All right. Let me find out. What happened with us with Boston. I don't, you know, I know the umpires are doing their job. Yes, they are. And there's not seven of them.

There's a total of six. There's a total of six. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You know what, Kevin, let me throw it out of the audience. I don't believe there was a conspiracy. to tell the umpire to take their time.

Ross, do you believe there was a conspiracy? No. Nick, do you believe there was a conspiracy for the umpire to take his time? Nope. Okay. Well, that's just three of us. Yeah. We might be in a minority.

Do you want to, do you want to pull the people instantly? Do you think we should? Should we? Okay. Since you asked, sports RV. It's time for an instant. Here's Instapole. Were the umpires too slow in putting his gear on in an attempt to help the Yankees?

Bona, bap, bount, bount, bount, bount, bough, bown. Yes or no? Did the umpire take too long putting his gear on? 713, 2,1, 2, 5, 790. Huh? Are you okay? Okay? No, I'm not okay.

Line three, the umpire take too long. Yes or no? The quarter of a fast-a-in-game show on Friday. All right. Hell no is the same as a no. Line four, do the umpire take too long to put his gear on? Yes or no? No.

Okay. That's too no. I do that. Uh, no. Uh, no. Yeah, Colin Calhers are even laughing about it. Oh, my gosh. Line five, the umpire take too long.

Yes or no? No. Okay. Collin, what do you got a thought on that at all? Line one? I can't even bother trying. Line two to the umpire take too long. Yes.

You know what? They're going to accuse us as cheating. They're cheating too. Okay. So that's a yes. Line four, do the umpire take too long? Yes or no? Yeah, they were rock paper, shizering it, man.

Yeah, that's probably what they were doing, Ross. So you think about it. line five do the umpires take too long turn your radio up all the way all the way all right it's three votes for yes three for no boys wait what ending did that happen in

uh I can't remember was it the six six I thought the six thing okay when they might have just been trying to catch that last chance to grab a beer before the seventh oh good point line two to the umpire take too long yes or no uh yeah he probably had to go poo poo Okay.

And see. We're done. All right. I think this is happening on the show. Okay. Data. That Colin laugh is going to haunt my dreams. It is going to be wanting it on your ringtone.

This is George Sprang. Houston's home for Astros baseball. This is Sports Talk 7. Thomas show Our friends The Joint Chiropractic They are the official chiropractor of U of H athletics

Going to help us bring Dana Holgerson to you for a couple of minutes Here on the show And as you'll know if you listen to the show We get Dana when he goes on walks Around the beautiful campus at his University of Houston By the way I'm wearing a 2015 U of H shirt 2013 pullover

But I'm not worrying about the years Dana coach how are you this afternoon? afternoon. I'm good. You need some new gear. Hey, I got the new black coaches shirt. I'm all into that, but we need to have a little visit next time. Maybe load up on some other stuff, but that's for a different issue for a different time. How are you holding up? Three quarterbacks, not the optimum way to go in a particular game, is it? Well, yeah, we were prepared to have about five of them to take snaps.

So we only actually had four, you know, so, so, you know, Clayton went in and did the best he could with no reps over the course of two weeks. I thought he managed it pretty well, all things considering. Logan Hulgerson went in and kind of ran things for a little while. Bryson Smith, who had the best completion percentage

of all the quarterbacks, right? So he was one for one. He took some good snaps, and then Kyle Porter did some wild game stuff as well. So it's not ideal, but we got guys that can get it done. And how does that affect? I mean, look, Clayton gutted it out. I mean, I was there for the first half

I had to go over the Astros, but you could just tell he wasn't 100%. Walk me through his last couple weeks and the frustration of getting this opportunity, being so good like he was against North Texas, but damn, these hamstrings and cause a big pain, literally. Yeah, they can. They're a little bit of a problem.

And, you know, it hampered his playing ability. You know, I think we would have won that game and better on the offense if Clayton was 100%. But, you know, it affected his preparation, too. He just couldn't take any snaps throughout the course of the week. Logan went up there and basically ran practice for two weeks. And, you know, we're going to have to get it under control or it's going to bother him the whole year.

So, you know, he's working hard and he's trying to get that thing healthy. And it's getting better every day. But you could see with his play, you know, he needs to be able to run around. That's what makes him great. And just wasn't able to do that. But fortunately, we're going to be able to get him healthy here. And he'll be back to the Oklahoma pretty quick. All right.

So I'm assuming at this point it's still to be determined who starts for you Saturday. Is that right? Is that fair to say? Correct. Yeah, it is. Just because you never know what to have said. You know, I mean, you can't, if you go out there and you play when you're not ready to play, I mean, it can set you back, you know.

And that's the same thing with practice, you know. So, you know, he's going to be available, you know. and Logan's going to be available. Bryson's going to be available. Kyle Porter is going to be available. Trail Brown is another Wildcat guy that we got as well. So, you know, we've got guys that can get it done. They all need to go in there and when their numbers call, they need to play well.

If I ask Logan how much he talks to Coach Hogerson and how much he talks to Dad, what would he say the split would be? I don't coach him. You know, that's Marquell Blackwell. I mean, he's our quarterback coach. So one of the rules that, you know, when he's, when he's, said he wanted to play for me and everything. I was like, well, I'm not coaching you. I mean, that's just, that's a hard thing to do. But he, you know, he's a good kid and he works hard at it and practice as well.

He's been on the sidelines for about 19 years now, so we kind of have the feel for what we expect. I heard the call, the Bryson Smith throw. I heard it was one of the best throws that maybe TDE's he used teams ever seen in his life. Draw up the play for the audience and didn't catch it. Man, I tell you, what was impressive about it is is he was getting a lot of the best throw. and whacked as he was throwing it too. So, I mean, you know, we're doing obviously, you know, a lot of run game, Wildcat run game with them, but defenses are going to know you can't just load up the box because you can throw that thing over the top.

It throws as good of a deep ball as I've been around. And we were about six for six in practice with that thing. So the fact that, you know, we called it and it was a pretty critical situation. We needed to make a play at that point. He dropped a dime now. So we're going to probably do that a little bit more. When you were at West Virginia, at this time of year, the temperatures start to get cool, maybe wind and weather could be a factor.

I don't know what the Hartford forecast is. I haven't looked, but did you, when you were there, enjoy having teams in the south come to your stadium? And could you think Yukon's like, hey, we'll show them what cold weather's all about. I'll give you a little weather lesson here. So when it's 60 degrees in Houston, that's like 40 degrees up in the north of the east. Okay, I like it. Well, just because of two things, because of wind and because of moisture. Okay, so it's windy in Texas.

There's moisture in Texas, which means that temperature feels a lot different. I think the forecast is about 60 degrees up there, which is going to feel like, which is going to feel like 70 degrees down here. So we're not too concerned about the weather. I think we caught a break. It can get cold. It can snow, but it's, it's. temperature aspect of it, we're going to be

just fine. We'll let you roll on this note. I would assume, no matter who takes a snap, that holding out of the football, not turning it over like it was a problem against the Bearcats, that would be the number one thing you're going to tell your kids this week. Yeah, we want to end every drive with a kick.

You know, and Dane Roy is probably our most valuable player at this point. One, we're punting too much, but he does a great job of flipping the field and pinning people down in inside the 10. I think he's done it like 10 times this year already. So either either of it, we score and we get an extra point.

I mean, that's a positive thing too. But, you know, I can't turn it over as many times as we did. Two of them were pretty much irrelevant just at the end of the half and at the end of the game. But a couple of those early ones were pretty critical. Well, tell Dane he's doing a great job. And I can't believe a guy that is playing college football that yet has his AARP card at the same time. It's pretty incredible how successful. He's been for your squad.

Yeah, he's doing a great job. I tell you, the NFL guys are kind of starting to talk about him a little bit. But, you know, he's like, well, you know, I'm old, I'm sore, I'm getting married. I want to move back to Australia. So it must be, unless they get an NFL team to go to Australia, I'm probably just going to go ahead and go on back home. But he's a great guy, team captain, you know, just does a great job with the younger guys. And, you know, I'd rather not pun as much as we are,

when we do, I'd sure like to flip the field and pin them inside the tent. Well, it's all he did this past week. Coach, thanks for the time of a safe trip up there. We'll visit again next week. Matt Thomas continues on Sports Talk 790. Before we get to the Rock 5, I just got an email from Uber. My way, my star rating is still at 4.91. I've taken like 50 rides and I have not moved.

What's wrong on that? That's way better than mine. Well, I mean, I want to get to like 495 because nobody can be perfect. Yeah, you're not going to be, yeah, give you one star. Point being is this. You probably talk to the Uber driver too much. No, I'm a non, I'm not on the airplane. Except I do find their job is fascinating.

So I made out once in a while. Don't actually have been on Uber's with you. Okay. So I got this email from Uber. It says, pay a little extra. An Uber pet can help you ride comfortably with your best friend. Just choose Uber Pet when selecting your next ride. As a courtesy to your driver, we recommend bringing a towel to protect the seats in the vehicle.

Try Uber Pet. Wow. Uber eats I get Yeah Uber XL I get Uber share I get What else is there Uber pool

That's Uber pool's a share Uber pet Some people are very attached to their So let me get this straight And I'm a pet I have two amazing dogs Coral and Sadie Coral and Sadie

What's up girls Are they listening? Are they big fans Are they big fans of the show? If they had their Twitter accounts They'd be following at SportsMT immediately. You should make one for them. Actually, my daughter made have made Instagram accounts for them.

Okay. How their followership going. Low. Oh. I love my pets. Mm-hmm. I don't take them places. Some people go everywhere with their dogs.

I don't want to be too. Emotional support dogs and all that. I don't want to be too harsh on those type of people. Mm-hmm. But if you're going to take your pet, you probably don't need to be putting in another vehicle to pay an extra surcharge for it. You know what I'm saying? Where would you go?

Stay with me on this. I mean, real fast before we get to the rotten five. Where would you go that you wouldn't want to drive to said location? And then on top of that, take your pet to that said location. Like if you're Ubering to Minutemate Park because you don't want to get the high parking prices. People do that all the time. I do it. Uber into clubs, Uber into restaurants.

Yeah. Name a, it's like family feud. Name a place you would take your pet, but you wouldn't want to drive the, take Uber pet. Dog park. Do you get like hammered at the dog park? You might. Maybe your car's broken down.

Or maybe you want to go to a restaurant or a bar. There's restaurants and bars. We can take your dogs? Here's my question. Does this mean you can't use a regular Uber with a pet? This precludes you from doing that. I don't know that. I've never taken a pet in Salt Lake City where the pet was in the passenger was in the front side passenger seat.

We didn't mind. We didn't mind. We didn't mind. It was a cute dog. But it... Okay, so here we go. Bars it like pets. There's obviously some of those.

Yeah. Dog park. Yes. The third location is. Grocer store. Well, let's say maybe going to an airport. But you're creating the dogs. It wouldn't really matter.

The really crazy people that take their dogs everywhere have gone to the trouble of getting a fake service dog certification for them. So they can do it anyway. They hand those things out like candy. Yeah. I know. I know multiple people that I know that have service dogs and they don't need it, but they got them certified so they can travel with them. That's all. Yeah, Chihuahua is not a service dog.

Sorry, guys. Okay, just y'all think about that as Ross does the Rotten Five here because I want you to name a place, not named a bar that welcome's pets or a dog park where you would take Uber pet. I'm asking for a friend. Am I trying to be judgmental? Because, look, I love, love dogs. Maybe if you're taking your pet to get euthanized. I wouldn't want to drive. Turn your microphone off.

Turn your microphone off. Wait, he's not wrong. He's not right. Five worst teams. We need an introduction, please. They've gone bad. Hey, they draw flies. Ooh, it's Ross is rocked in five.

This don't smell quite right. I'm still recovering. Okay. All right, Matt. Let's get your five worst teams in the NFL. Starting with... Take notes on this, please. This is information.

This is prep. All right. Let's start it off in the NFC South. What the heck is going on with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? It's been an up and down season for James Winston. And the Bucks, Winston, looked like he was going to go ahead and live up to the hype after throwing for four touchdowns against the Rams

and the squad scored 55 points earlier this season. Well, just a few short weeks later, he looked completely lost in London as he threw five interceptions against the Carolina Panthers. The team has just been middling with high expectations with Bruce Ariens, and as of right now, they are the fifth worst team in the NFL. Well, you didn't eat one last week, James, sorry. All right, in theory, things were set up well for the Atlanta Falcons as their two biggest division rivals in the Saints and the Panthers

lost their starting quarterbacks for significant portions of the season. In practice, however, the Panthers and Saints have surged up the standings and the Falcons just can't seem to get any traction as they're now one and five. This past Sunday, Matt Ryan went 30 for 36, 356 yards passing, four touchdowns. He was just basically almost perfect, and the team lost. The team has been bad on defense. They've only turned over their opponents four times,

which is also contributing to the losses. The Atlanta Falcons are the fourth worst team in the NFL. You suck, you duck ass. All right, the Washington Redskins finally got their first. win of the season, which still counts, even though it was over the absolutely terrible Miami Dolphins. Terry McLaurin has been a revelation at wide receiver, but they've had big quarterback issues all year as they've posted a QB rating of 46.0 collectively, which is good for 31st in the league. Redskins have the Niners, Vikings, and Bills up on the docket next,

so I expect them to stay near the bottom of the Rotten 5 for a while. As of now, they are the third worst team in the NFL. It's going down to tubers. Very much, Donnie. All right, the Cincinnati Bengals remain winless after this past week's loss to the Ravens. The offense is as putrid as they come as the ranked 26th in the NFL. But the defense is even worse. Second last in the league with only the dolphins being worse. Offensive guru, Zach Taylor has scuffled so far as head coach

and it hasn't helped that they've had huge issues on the offensive line with injuries. The ghosts of Marvin Lewis live on as the Cincinnati Bengals are the second worst team in the NFL. You lose. Good day, sir. All right, you can go ahead and write this bad boy in pen, I think, for the remainder of the season. The Miami Dolphins, they found themselves where every team that signs Ryan Fitzpatrick finds themselves, not knowing which one of their quarterbacks to start. Fitzmagic was inserted into the game this past week against the Redskins and almost mounted a comeback. He has since been named the starter and hopes to help a Dolphins offense that is averaging 8.4.

8.4 points per game for the Dolphins. Well, no matter what happens, the Fitzmagic carpet. It is sure to be interesting, but the Dolphins still the absolute worst team in the NFL. I've seen teams suck before, but they were to suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked. I'm with you on that one, Homer, and that's your rotten five. All right. You just heard a lecture, and sometimes the teachers give you quizzes. Uh-oh.

If you can call me right now on air at 713-21, 5-790, and give me Ross's rotten 5 from 5 down to 1 in proper order. exact order. Ooh. Exact order. We're going to give you a prize. Nick, what are they playing for? We've still got some more four packs of tickets to experience Hendricks with special performances by Buddy Guy, Joe Satriani, Johnny Lang, Doyle Bram Hall, Eric Johnson, and more on October 20th

at the Revention Music Center. Info and tickets available at LiveNation.com. And I will throw in a $25 gift card as Twin Peaks. Oh, fancy, Matthew. That's how I roll. So I'll give you that in $25 of Twin Peaks. Okay. You got to get them in order.

from five down to one. Don't even answer the phone, Nick. Don't even name. Don't bother. We're going to see people paid attention to the rotten five. Line one. Give me the rotten five from five to one. Hello?

Hello? Hi. Five to one. Give me the rotten five. All right. So the first one on number five was Tampa Bay. Number four. No, nope, nope.

Get that back. Did I lose already? Yeah. He took it back. Oh, you took it back. We'll give you a chance. But her, oh, he hung up. That's fine.

Line two, give me the rotten five from five to one. Number five, buccaneers. Number four. Balkans. Number three. Number three. Washington. Yes.

Number two. Number two. Bengals. Hey. One, Miami. There you go. What is your name, sir? My name is.

is, oh, get you. Oh, get you. Yes, sir. I'm going to get you a $25 gift card to Twin Peaks, my friend. And you're going to go see the Jimmy Hendrix bit, too. So enjoy that. Okay. I put you on hold.

All right, there you go. They listened, Ross. Typically. Sometimes. Good job, Matt. We're going to bust some, believe it or not, in the middle of a show someday. I think we are going to. And we're going to catch everybody.

I have to write it early. All right. Let's hear from Dr. Roto next. I had a chance to visit with him earlier today. You'll hear that conversation. Get your notepads out. Take down your notes because your fantasy team needs it. Good doctor.

The Kansas City Chiefs got a little scare from the Houston Texans. In fact, a big scare as the offense could not go mono-a-mono with the Houston offense. So with that being said as we look forward to tonight's action, will Kansas City get fat and happy off of a Denver defense who pitched a shutout against a horrible Tennessee offense last week? You know, M.T., they say styles make fights, and Kansas City can't handle teams who rush the ball well and who play really good defense. And, oh, by the way, that's what Denver does. Royce Freeman and Philip Lim's going to run the ball, and they're going to play an aggressive defense.

You know, it sounds crazy. I think it's going to come down to a coin flip. If the Chiefs win the coin flip and they head down the field and they go up 7-0, the Broncos have to play a little bit differently because they're playing from behind, and you don't want to throw the ball with Joe Flacco. If they win the coin flip and all of a sudden they can slow this game down and run the football, they can take advantage of the Chiefs. I think Denver's going very close tonight.

How do you feel about Tyree Kill going this evening? Look, you know what? You love Tyree Kill. I know Chris Harris is one of the best cover guys in the NFL. It doesn't matter. Hill has another gear. He was exceptional last week. You have to start him and Kelsey every week no matter what.

All right. Let's get to some of the games on Sunday. We'll start with the Niners and the Redskins. San Francisco wins games. but Jimmy Garoppel and his skill position friends don't put up huge numbers. Will that stay the same, or do you think a breakout this week against a one in five redskins team? Yeah, no, I mean, that's how they play. If you look at their box scores from week to week, the only one thing you can count on is George Kittle.

Right? That guy's a star. But after that, is it Pettis, is it Marquis Goodwin? Is it Richie James? Is it Kendrick Boren? I mean, Coleman is the short yarder's guy. And Matt Bride, I like, but you have both start. You've got a lot of guys there. So I think you've got to give Chris.

credit to Shanahan in terms of how the team has played. Fantasy-wise, I think you can trust Coleman. I think you trust Kittles. I like Brida, but after that, it's not too much to trust. All right. Arizona plays of the Giants. Give me a thought or two about what you have seen from the Giants now that Mr. Jones is running things as compared to Manning.

Well, look, I think Daniel Jones has been better than anybody expected. We were all like, what are you kidding me? This guy was taking this early in the draft, but he's looked to be the real deal. He's never really had an opportunity to play with Saquan Barkley, who will be back this week. He will have Evan Angram back. He will have Golden Tate back. They still don't have Shepard. We haven't seen the giant offense the way that Dave Gettleman pictured it before the season started.

That said this game is right for fantasy goodness. Barkley, Angram, remember the Cardinals are the worst team against opposing tight end. Tyler Murray, Golden Tate, Larry Fitzgerald, get them all in. All right. So Arizona's offense has picked up all up. a little bit the last couple weeks, correct? Well, yeah, the key here is this. Kyla Murray is a very good

quarterback, but can he take field goals and make him into touchdowns? He did that last week because Atlanta is one of the worst defenses in the history of the NFL. Can he do it against the Giants? I think so. David Johnson and watch for Chase Edmonds. These guys are good running backs. Critten Kirk hasn't even

played in a couple weeks. So I think it's all about Murray. Can they convert to touchdown? All right. Minnesota, Detroit. You and I have talked about this. I feel like every week, Minnesota has been schizophrenic offensively. What did you think of Detroit's takeaway against Green Bay? Frankly, holding them in check, except for the fact that there were penalties that obviously benefited the Packers. Who do you like and who do you not like in the Vikings versus the Lions?

Yeah, I mean, look, I think the Lions have been the most improved team I've seen all season. Really, they deserve that game. That was a bad, bad job there by the ref, really bad. And that's a shame because it shouldn't come down to phantom calls just so Aaron Rogers can win. That's how I feel. And I know that every lion fan out there probably feel the same way. That was horrific. Now, look, let's talk about this game. Minnesota is going to revert back to their old ways this game.

So with the last couple weeks, they've thrown the ball. They've looked great against the Giants. They look great against the Eagles. They're going to run the ball against the Detroit Lions. And Kirk Cousin is going to throw the ball about 22 times. And I think this game is going to be a very low-scoring, pounded game. And, you know, look, this is how the Vikings and the Lions both want play, and it's a question of who will do it better.

Oakland goes to Green Bay. Packer fans are looking for that 35-point explosion. Are we going to say it at all this year? And have the Packers skill position players let some folks down in fantasy this year? Oh, my God, yes. I mean, look, Devonte Adams is a star. Okay, he's a superstar, but he's hurt. Aaron Rogers doesn't trust anybody.

He doesn't trust his receivers. It was so bad he had to bring in Alan Lazard from the bench, and he's, like, demanding to get this guy in the field because he doesn't trust Geron O'M Allison. or Valdez Scantling or Jake Cumberer or any of these guys. So that's a bit of a mess. Jimmy Graham is very inconsistent. And now there's splitting tires between Jamal Williams and Aaron Jones.

I like Aaron Jones, but Matt LaFleur doesn't. And that's a big problem for fantasy owners. So right now, the Packers are a tough team. I mean, people like Valdez Scantling. I don't know. I think if Adams is not in, go to your waiver wire, look it for Alan Lazard and see if you can sneak him. All right.

Miami is at Buffalo. The Bills might be the most surprising 4-1 team, maybe in the last 20 years in the NFL. Wins are one thing, but how are Bill's skill position players doing in our fantasy world? I actually disagree with that. I think the Bills are one of the best coach teams in the NFL. Sean McDermott comes to play, and his team is very critical. Josh Allen is mobile and better than people expected, and they did a sensational job in free agency. Right?

They brought in John Brown, who's a deep threat. They brought in Cole Beasley, who's like the flat guy over the middle. They drafted Devin Singletary, who we haven't seen for about five weeks. And Frank Gore has been old reliable. I think they pound the crap out of Miami this week. And Buffalo's defense is great. Buffalo has five games upcoming. Two against Miami, one against Washington.

They have a great schedule. Do not be shocked to see this team win for the next five games. Which would put them like at eight and two or seven and three. I mean, that's stunning. Let's now go to, speaking of teams that have disappointed, L.A. is very pedestrian at 3-3, although they're getting some help defensively now that Jalen Ramsey is there. Atlanta, again, I feel like I'm a broken record with this. Get you to the 20, and that's as far as they get.

How are they one in five? And I think a sneaky thing about fantasy football is you should throw the records out the window. But in this particular case, it just feels like everything that Atlanta would have been picked on in terms of early draft rounds. Those guys have not panned out for people. Yeah, Devonza Freeman can't find a hole to run through. Eto Smith-Sphinx. Julio Jones is good, but he hasn't been great.

Calvin Ridley's been okay. I think they're arguably their best fantasy players been Austin Hooper. That got the superstar. I mean, really, the top-five fantasy tight end. Problem is their defense is so bad that Matt Ryan has to throw for a touchdown every single time he has a football. That's not easy to do. The Rams are another mess. Gurley is not 100%.

Brandon Cook is not 100%. I love Cooper Cup this week. really do. I don't think the Falcons can stop him. I don't think the Falcons can stop woods. I don't think the Falcons can stop anybody. And this is a problem. I think the play in the NFL has just not been so great this year. I mean, there are a lot of really bad teams, mediocreed of bad teams. I mean, the Falcons, how did this team go to win five games with that defense? It's impossible. For fantasy, it's good for reality. It's a mess. All right. More with Dr. Ordo coming up, including who he likes in the Texans and Colts game. We've got a couple of

interesting prime time games as well. The good doctor with us until the bottom of the hour here on Sports Talk 790. But first, if you own your home, you know that you're probably paying too much for your insurance. You don't bother shopping it because, let's be honest, it's a giant pain. Well, the gang over TGS insurance, well, they've changed all that. And now you can save big money in seconds. I'm talking about 15 seconds. I want you text the word money, Mone, E1 to 23, 23, 23, 23, 23.

The system's going to ask for your address. You send it back. you'll get a full instant quote proposal for your home insurance, and you will get it in 15 seconds. Average customer savings, over $870 this year, and that's without lowering your coverage. TGS is an innovative system that will shop the market and find the best deal for you instantly. This is a company you can trust. Their online rating is nearly perfect, and they only work with A-rated carriers. So it's ridiculously simple.

All you've got to do is you listen to Dr. Roto is get to your phone right now. and text the word money, M-O-N-E-1 to 23-23-23-23-23. One more time, M-O-N-E-Y to 23-23-23-23, and save right now with T-GS Insurance. Good doctor, I had an emailer, ask me as we welcome you back here to Sports Talk 790, about finding some sleeper tight ends. Before we get to some other matchups, who are two or three guys on your radar right now?

Like Dawson Knox from the bills, I think he's underrated. He was a quarterback at Ole Miss, but he's turning into a tight-end in the NFL. So they use them well, and I like him. And don't laugh. Darren Fells, the Texan's very own. The dude is like a mountain. He's like 6-7, 260.

And Deshaun Watson finds him everywhere. He's a real good red zone target. And the Colts are one of the worst teams against the tight end, so I like him this week. Okay. The Chargers go to Tennessee. Two disappointing teams, one we don't care about. That Tennessee offense, is there anybody worth playing

is now that we even with a quarterback change? Look, there's a big change. Ryan Tannahill does not suck. Okay? He's not good. not a Super Bowl winning quarterback, but Marcus Marriota was terrible. I mean, this guy was never a pocket passer.

It was a mess. I think the Titans are going to play a lot better. And it was a change that had to be made, right? It had to be made because if this team wanted any chance to make the playoffs, they had to go to him. So I think I give an uptick to guys like Corey Davis and Adam Humphreys especially and Delaney Walker because I think Tannenhill can find them,

especially with the week of practice. The team that I'm more worried about, the Chargers. Watch their games. Melvin Gordon looks slow. Austin Echler looks like he's been shot out of a cannon, and their play calling has been terrible. Hunter Henry is a must start in any fantasy league, and they've got to get the ball to Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. Keenan Allen was four for 18 last week.

That's unforgivable. All right. New Orleans plays at Chicago. I have Alvin Kamar. I took him in the first round, as most people would have done, and he has been just, man. What's wrong with him and what's wrong with that New Orleans offense? Well, it's not him.

It's the fact that there's no Drew Breeze. I mean, you've got Teddy Bridgewater, and they had a scale back to playbook. And it's, you know, it's not good. And there's nothing you can do. People like, oh, Juju, Smith-Ju's like, that guy sucks. Well, nobody knew that Ben Ruffisberger was going to be injured for the year, and they were going to go to their third quarterback. Juju doesn't suck his quarterback sucks.

I mean, Teddy Bridgewater is doing a decent job, but the Saints are winning on good defense. So sadly, look, the Saints Bears, this game could be like 13 to 6. I mean, I don't know if there's going to be any offense in this game. That sounds very depressing for a guy that's been waiting for Alvin to bust out. Baltimore at Seattle and combined nine wins from these two teams, probably the biggest shock of a year. Are we seeing uptick on fantasy players with their record?

Yeah, you are. I mean, Russell Wilson is probably the MVP of the league. I mean, him or McCaffrey. Where would either of those teams be without those guys? Right. You've got Chris Carson, who's sensational. Tyler Lockett, I think, will be more involved this week. They haven't gone to him enough.

But, you know, Will Disley's out, and that was a big loss. Luke Wilson is there for him. I wouldn't pick him up on fantasy. But I do like Geron Brown a little bit. I do like David Moore a little bit. And, you know, look, I think there's going to be a higher scoring game. For the Ravens, Lamar Jackson has been sensational. You have to start Mark Ingram.

And now Marquise Brown, we need to see him back in the lineup. But the guy who's the key for that offense is Mark Andrew. Mark Andrews has been sensational. And in a PPR league, the guy gets you like 15 points a week. Another one of my disappointments. I'm sorry to be selfish, but it is what it is. Amari Cooper for the Dallas Cowboys last week was a no-show. Is that a one-time bit or something going on in Dallas with his losing streak and his lack of productivity?

Well, I'll be shocked if he plays. I think he's in pain right now. He's dealing with a sore-of-bye. I think he's going to be out this week. They're on bye next week. This is a good, heal him up week and get him back out there in two weeks. I love Michael Gallup this week. He's in a smash spot.

He's in the Stefan Digg's spot. You go play him this week. The most pedestrian 6-0 in the NFL belongs to the New England Patriots. Everybody's starting to say, is Tom Brady getting older? Why hasn't the Patriots offense been nearly as fluid? Is that just a case we're just expecting too many blowouts every week against their subpar competition? And what can they do on Monday night against the Jets who will have their quarterback back? Well, look, the Patriots don't have a second receiver.

They don't have their tight end. They have issues, right? I mean, they're doing pretty well considering they don't have a lot of important people. I mean, Rob Grankowski is a Hall of Famer, and, you know, Josh Gordon has been injured, and that's why they had Antonio Brown for as long as they did. They're really winning on Brady, Edelman, and whatever running backs do well that week. Their defense is sensational. So against the Jets this week, look for the following. They are going to shut down Robbie Anderson.

He will do nothing. I think James and Crowder has a good week for the Jets, and I think Levyon Bell has been good. But I think the Patriots find a way to win. They always seem to. and Brady will do enough. Sony-Michel will do enough. Burkhead will do enough, and the Jets can't stop battlement. All right. Sneaky, good game this week across the country features the two teams atop the AFC South.

We have seen the Texans put up prolific offensive numbers the last two weeks. The Colts are coming off of a by week, so they are rested, ready to go. They've got some defensive help. For the audience here in town, who is sitting and who is playing between the Texans and the Colts? Yeah, that's a good game. I'm looking forward to this one. I think the Colts need to slow this game down. Okay, they can't get into a track meet with the Texans.

They will lose. And Frank Reich won't let that happen. I don't love Jacoby Brissette. I don't like Eric Ebron, and I don't like Jack Doyle. The Texans' back should be very good against opposing tight ends. That said, we love T.Y. Hilton. You know he's in a smash spot, and we love Marlon Mac. So you start those two guys with no problems.

On the other end, I think the Texans, look, I don't know whether this is a Carlos Hydewick. Darius Leonard is back. He is the best linebacker in the AFC. I don't think that he is going to be, I don't think Hyde has a smash week. I think this is a Hopkins week for sure. We've been waiting for it all season.

It's going to happen. I like Phil's like I said before. And of course, Will Fuller. And if you're going to start those guys, you're going to start Watson. I think this is going to be a defensive game and not a 35, 31 game. This is going to be in the low 20s.

Texans should win if they can basically we stopped the Colts Pass. Which does mean, however, lower fantasy numbers. All right, Dr. Roto, we ask you once a week to give us a number one can't miss prospect. We call that Dr. Roto's lock of the week. Oh, yeah, this is a big lock. Leonard Fournett has been sensational this year. And, oh, by the way, he gets the Cincinnati Bengals who can't stop anybody.

Fournett might get so many yards. They could be bringing in Rykoe, Armstead, in the fourth quarter, because Fournette's so tired with, like, 150 yards at, two touchdowns. Unless he gets injured, he's a must start this week. And that, my friends, is Dr. Roto's. Lock of the week. All right, good doctor. What can people find you between now and Sunday? For sure, you can find me at s.i.com backslash fantasy.

That's full-time fantasy.com. Use the promo code Roto 50 for 50% off your first two months. And, of course, it's Twitter at DRROT. Amazing stuff. As always, we'll talk in next week. Thank you for the time. Take care, M-P. You got a good doctor with us here on Sports Talk 790.

more the Matt Thomas show moments away right here on 790. This is James Arden. It goes to hard three to shoot. Jacks up a three hits. This is the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk, 790. Are you kidding me? Thank you, Beard. All right.

Adam and Adam have the A team until I think six. And then on deck six to seven, third. No, I don't know. They're going. It's all baseball from here on now. A few real quick baseball and non-baseball things I want to get to in this final segment. Believe it or not today is all things about Masahiro Tanaka, right? Or is it something else?

I'm going to make so many. You say so many Japanese things in this one. All right. Tonight is Kansas City against Denver in the NFL. Kansas City, here we come. Okay, as the kids will say, a rando Thursday night game. I think it's a good matchup, though. What?

In the world of. sports, don't say what you want to say. In generally speaking, what's more important? Game number four of the America League Championship Series or Kansas City, Denver in the big picture. What carries more weight in the history and legacy building sporting world? That would be the ALCS. Fox Sports, the channel 26 is doing the NFL game. That's their package. FS1 has got the baseball. Joe Buck is leaving the Astro Series to fly to Denver to do the Kansas City Denver game

and then flying back to do game 5 they think the NFL property is so valuable to them that they would put their number one announcer on a rando NFL game over an American League Championship series and they are right to do so.

More ratings, it's a bigger, I mean, it's going to get more of an audience. And, I mean, the NFL is king. That's just the way of it. Let me ask you this real fast. What if we flip the networks if we put the American League championship on Fox and sent the Kansas City Denver game to Fox Sports 1, who would have the higher rating? I guess they would have it on Fox. But which one has more, whatever is on Fox would get rated higher.

But the question is, okay. let's say if there was two alternate universes and we could put, you could do it the way you want to do it with flipped or you can do it the other way, what's going to have the highest ceiling? The highest ceiling is going to be the NFL. Yeah, because you know what? There might be a large cross-section of America that doesn't care about the Yankees. Yeah.

So let me answer this question. If you flip the networks, you put the Kansas City Denver game on the cable channel, FS1, and you put the ALCS on the Fox, a regular channel, who would have more viewers? The fuck, whatever's on the regular broadcast. Whatever is just going to have. But like I said, if it's a value over replacement, right?

Value over replacement of the MLB game, the NFL has higher. They're going to have a higher ceiling. They're going to get more ratings. The top rated thing, like television programs every year, like the top 10 is usually just all football games. If I'm baseball, I am not happy about this. Now, again, not their decision. But the reality is you take your number one broadcaster and you tell him that a last place team in the AFC West versus a team that's dropped two straight. And even when the Kansas City Denver game was announced, it wasn't, now Denver, Kansas City have had great matchups in the past, but nobody thought Denver was going to be a title contender this year.

No chance. No. And in theory, if Kansas City was struggling, wasn't struggling the way they have the last two weeks, they were probably thinking this would be a three to four touchdown game. honestly, even in the games in Denver. I just think it's a, while I don't argue it, it's definitely a slap in the face to baseball, for sure. We've seen this in years, Pat.

World Series games don't rate what a random Sunday night football game or a lot of the like 3 o'clock Sunday games get rated. And that's why Major League Baseball has been smart in determining that they should never put games on opposite the NFL because they know they would lose. Yep, that's basically it. Randow number two, we played this earlier today, Colin Coward, who does a show on FS1, the aforementioned cable network,

decided he wanted to put his top eight teams out in the Western Conference. Okay. He had San Antonio and Dallas towards the end. At the top, he had Denver and Utah. And in the middle, he had Golden State. He had the Los Angeles Lakers. He had Portland. He did not have the Houston Rockets.

Colin Coward today saying that he believes the Houston Rockets are, not making the NBA playoffs. And yes, I did not put the Houston Rockets in. And my theory on them is the owner right now is furious at the GM. The GM doesn't like the coach. The coach doesn't like his staff who they forced

him with. And by the All-Star break, Cardinal had it with Russell Westbrook. This is going to unravel, and that's my theory on that. All right. I think chemistry is big in the NBA, and I think you've got this combustible China thing, and Darry and GM and it's just a lot of noise and it's, I don't like noise.

So there it is. I got Denver, Utah, Clippers, Warriors, Lakers, Blazers, Spurs, Mavericks, NBA season starts in a few days. And he's trolling and he doesn't really believe himself. That's, yeah. Clint Capel is going to be crashing down into the paint going for Al Eubes thinking, man, I hope this China situation gets resolved between the NBA and Darry. Yeah, what a distraction that's going to be while they're on the court playing.

Let me tell you, I'm better on athletes. They ain't thinking about it. They ain't. You don't think Tyson-Channler is really worried. about the geopolitical crisis that's happening with China? They are worried about it. They're losing money from the doors to deals, but in terms of just general harmony between the NBA and China,

no, they're not thinking about it at all. All right. Thanks, Colin. Collins. Again, I like Colin. And if Colin wasn't in this room, I'd say, Colin, I'd love your show. But that's an awful take. Awful, awful take.

Lastly, the NBA announced, actually Adam Silver announced, that he is tired of guys lying about their heights. So every player in the NBA This year, every player Had to get remeasured And the Rockets Right now as the roster speaks Have eight players who have to get readjusted for their heights

Ross I'll give you the player You guess how tall he Oh I kind of saw Oh you did well turn it off then Well okay Guess how what they really are and we'll tell you what they were measured old in the olden days are written down

and then what they are a reality we'll start with a ben maclamore if you will okay what's his listed height no i'm sure i want you to guess what is real height that was what his real height is right what was his previous height i don't know was he six seven or something i don't even know ben mcclmore's old height was six five okay he is listed today at six three wow he lost two inches tabocephalosia what do you think he was was he six seven six seven six seven he's seven he's seven he's seven he's He's now officially 6-6. Oh, that's unfortunate. Austin Rivers, what was he before?

6-3. 64. He lost an inch. He's now 6-3. Oh, see. Daniel-House. Don't send him, call him Daniel. He was 6-7.

He was 6-7. He's now 6-6. Hmm. Ryan Anderson. Listed 610. Really is. 6.9. Oh, man.

That's amazing. This is amazing. I love this. Eric Gordon. Oh, I just love this. He's 6'4. Really? He's 6'3.

Yeah, I stood next to him. I didn't think he was 6'4 when I stood next to him. This one really hurts. P.J. Tucker. He's listed like 6-766. Was previously listed at 6-6. Yeah, he's not six, six four. He's six five.

Yeah, there's no way. PJ Tucker was his listed height. It's okay. This is good. The truth is getting out there. I think we should measure everybody at the radio station. Because ever since you've known me, I've said I'm six one. Yeah.

And I continue to believe I'm six one. I'm a little skeptical. I'm six three, Matt. Do you think I'm six one? I don't know about that. Wait a minute. I'll get six and a half, six foot and a half. I feel like I'm quite a bit taller than you.

Let's do a post show. show show we measure each other. Do we have a measuring stick? I have one at my apartment. Let's bring one, bring one and we'll do a post-show show one day and really measure us. Without shoes? No, it's with shoes. No, these are without shoes numbers, I believe.

Okay. I'm going to still say without shoes, I'm six-one. Okay. I'm six-one and three-quarters without shoes. Do we round up if we're six feet, what is the six? A half? And a half? Half inch?

It would be half inch or up is six-one. Not a, no. I'm not walking around town saying, I'm six feet tall and a half an inch. Well, I'm technically six one and three quarters without shoes. So you'd be six, too. Okay. Is that the rule, boys?

That's what you're in, somebody's backing off their statements. No, no, I'm just saying, I don't want to be, I'm not going into the third decimal point. It's just one decimal point, point five. Okay. Point five or higher. No, point six or higher. Ooh. Technically around at point five.

Point five, you go up. So we're going to, we're going the round up. And we'll do a post-show show show next week measuring ourselves. with shoes off. Heights. Heights. Okay. That's what we're measuring.

What else would you want to measure? With? Wingspan. Girt. Oh, okay. Vertical jump. We're not doing any of that. And by the way, we're not doing that tired or active.

Hey, why don't you got all your 790 hosts to do an battle of the network stars or a or a, or a, that's a great idea, man. Or a shuttle test or how many chin ups? The answer is no, no, no, and hell no. We should do that. We should do a drink. contest at Big City Wings. That's actually a bad idea. I could actually beat Indy Klu with that.

Drinking? I think so. Oof. I'm two beers and done. Yeah, Indy Klu's not much of a drink. Y'all need to come see me today. If you could beat Greg Cook, I'll be impressed. I'll be with my buddies tonight.

He's going to be the front runner. A bunch of couples are meeting over Big City Wings and Kingwood. Come out and say hi. I've got no prize to give you. There's no discounts. We're just going to, for those of you just don't want to go at home and watch the game. Watch it with some fellow astro friends. And I'll be there.

Just hanging out. That's all we're doing. big city wings tonight in Kingwood and we'll be there right at around 645 or so. All right, 242 is our time. Let's play, believe it or not. What is the topic today?

I'm really afraid to ask. Masahiro Tanaka. And you're going to try to infiltrate the segment full of things that's going to make me count, mispronounce things, and get me in trouble. This is what you wanted. You said Masahiro, so we're doing it.

You what we will. Now, keep talking. I got to work. All right. 713-212-5-790. Believe it or not is next. Houston's Sports Talk for lunch. Matt Thomas returns on Sports Talk 790.

Can we get some paranoia music again? Because this paranoia is absolutely ridiculous. They are losing their freaking minds of the New York Yankees. So Nick, find us some paranoia music before I read this. This is Ken Rosenthal. He tweets this out earlier today. And I mean, the responses are crazy. teams are prohibited from signaling to hitters from the dugout through whistling or other means.

You ready for this? MLB had an official in the camera well next to the Astros dugout in game one and one of the backout, back of the dugout in game two. Neither officials nor umpires heard whistling. Hashtag Yankees won game one, seven-a-nothing. I love the fact that they are losing their blank over this. Yankees focus on trying to hit Zach Granky and not worry about whistling. Maybe they were just cat calling.

Speaking of a man that cat calls. Hi, Uncle Greg. What's up? I don't know. I'm just doing a radio show. What are you up to? Well, I was going to say, Matt, you're not 6'1 because I actually had the chance to cuddle with you.

We spooned in New York and arena football. I know you want to forget that moment of your life, as do I. but you're not 6'1. And the only one in that entire room that could probably stab with me drinking is Ross, filler out. But then again, I would put him under the table and draw pictures on his face and things like that.

Thanks, Greg. Greg, you're an American treasure. It's the highest compliment I've ever received. Ross, I love you, brother. I don't care what you do. And that's much. Yeah, I don't care what the therapist has to say. By the way, isn't it amazing that he is,

is able to get onto a phone and talk to us when his night nurse has to usually do most of the work for him. Oh, come on. He's not having them with a night nurse yet. It's like 3 o'clock. Let me tell you something. Greg Cook is eating dinner within the next 15 minutes. That's a guarantee. He's got his pudding at 7.

He's got to get his diaper on by 8. He'll be asleep by 8.30. Phoneer for the show tomorrow from 10 to noon. Ross, I mean, Nick, you're a sailor. You can out drink an ex-NFL player, right? That's what that's the part of the creed of being in the Navy, correct? I would be a secret candidate for a championship run in that one. I can tell you I'd be the first one out.

Two beers, either falling asleep or saying something inappropriate and getting in trouble with a great number of people. And the dark horse or the wild card, if you will. If you will. 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 believe it or not and here's how it works you'll call 713212-570 713

212 570 today's edition of believe or not is brought to you by woodhouse day spas print out your gift card for the gift of relaxation at houston woodhouse spas dot com the category today and i'm one i'm going to butcher a plentiful of times is mashahiro tanaka i'll read you all things about mr tanaka the statement's completely and utterly accurate you'll say This. Believe it. There you go. If the statement's erroneous,

full of bunk and made up, you will say this. Not to believe it or not. And all things about Masha Hero Tanaka will win your prize. Ross, what's the prize? Matt, I got one four pack of tickets to experience Hendrix

with special guest performances by Buddy Guy, Joe Satriani, Johnny Lang, Doyle, Bram Hall, Eric Johnson, and more. October 20th, prevention music center. Tickets information at lime nation. What a collection of guitar players.

After that, we've got some Kansas Point of No Return anniversary tour. Favorite Kansas song Carry on my wayward son Gotta be right Dust in the wind

Ooh dust and the wind's good Jeremiah on 790 Ready to play believe it or not Believe it While in Japan Mashahero Tanaka played for the Oh brother Hokonido Nippon

Ham Fighters Believe it or not Yeah he actually played for the Tohoku Rakuten golden Eagles The Ham fighters are good though That's Hokkaido by the way. I don't need to be judged by any of you people.

Statement number two for the win, Mashihero Tanaka recorded 456 strikeouts in his high school career, breaking the Japanese record held by Dasukemeo. DiceK, remember, Tizke Matsuzaka. Yeah, I remember him. Yeah, believe it or not. Believe it. There you go.

Congratulations. Diceke. I remember Diceke. It's always easy to do phonetically and write the word out. Paul on Seven out, are you ready to play, believe it or not? believe it Masahiro Tanaka favored playing catcher over pitching while in high school

but his high school coach convinced him to you know what, focus on pitching. Believe it or not. Believe it. No, they made that. 713-212-5-790. John on 7-90. John, your favorite part of the radio show today.

All that's was talking. Masha Hiro Tanaka's player's weekend nickname was Ayaki. pronouncing it? Ica. Ica's son to honor his mother who is a breast cancer survivor. Believe it or not. Believe it. That's why they're insensitive actually. Why? Because why would you want to make fun of something like that? I was it making fun of it.

Oh, just making a flat out erroneous statement. It's just a lie. I don't think she's a man. Okay, good. This will make sure. Roger on 790. Ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Several MLB teams were interested in acquiring the services of Masha Harold Tanaka. teams that made bids include the Dodgers, the Cubs, the White Sox, and the Astros. Believe it or not? Not. If I've said it once or a thousand times, you've got to know which teams made offers and which didn't. Line six.

Shane on 7. Are you ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Shane Masahiro Tanaka is married to Mai Sotada, a Japanese television personality. the two wed in Hawaii back in 2012. Believe it or not. Believe it. Statement number two for the win.

Masha Harold Tanaka is close friends with Cubs pitcher U. Darvish. Darvish was the best man in his wedding. Believe it or not. Not. I couldn't keep it together. It's not your best work. It's fine, though.

It's fine. Chance on 790. Ready to play, believe it or not. believe it. Masha Haro Tanaka is a big fan of the Japanese female idol group. Moimore Clover Z, and he has attended several of their concerts. Believe it or not. Believe it.

There you go. Nice job. I don't even want to hear one of their songs. Hold on. Try to pull some up. Can you find Momoro Clover Z song? Just find one. Let me talk about Improvedmyorction.com first.

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No, stop. I guess That's what it says It's kind of catchy No, this is horrible This is what those Japanese groups They don't think our Ashland

No, I need the Astros to Score 30 runs against him today If this is what the class That he listens to Hold on, let's cleanse this out Turn this out Turn us off And get our choir back

Yeah, we need something That was bad Oh wait a man Oh Adam just put a Hold on Adam poo poohed the choir Forget the choir Forget the choir.

Some people don't like the choir. Let's go to the regular song then. Nick, yeah, he hate, Adam hates every, Wexer hates everything. Let's get the original, let's get the real song. We literally have bits about it. I love the choir too. Wexer gave me a dirty look.

I was showering today. Claire Creek, he hates you. The original is so good. Freezing orange fire. Yes. That's all. Nothing against the choir. Yeah, you snickered.

You hate the choir. Oh, Wax, I was going to hate this. Sing one verse. Now, it looked like a cleaner recording. Yeah, we need the choir to come in here and sing, especially at 258. Can I ask a question about earlier on the show? Sure not. What were you doing when he was literally losing his bleat on the air, laughing so hard?

Astros. About when, when was this? About an hour and a half. No. What happened? I zoned out on all the time. He doesn't listen to the show. Because there was something funny.

It was a caller. It was before coach and it was before Roto. Yeah, he was asking about whether or not. What was something of... Are you talking about when Nick said... What did you say, Nick? I forget. No, I thought it was about when he was...

The umpires taking too long to get their gear on. Yes. Yeah. That was a factor. Conspiracy theory. Conspiracy. Hey, how many runs tonight? Four.

Combined. Six. Have you seen that the wooden gusts are 29 miles... Yeah, four to two. Which way are they blown, though? To Wrightfield? Where Josh Reddick's from the family. You're making that up.

You have no idea. No, I just saw it on Twitter. It's got to be true. It was on Twitter. It was on Twitter. No, it was a verified dude that writes for Newsday in New York. Go Astros. 18 next.

Well, Matt asked Amy Freeze, what she had to say. She wouldn't return my response. It's a tweet. Could you unfollow her? Maybe. Bye. I'm going to say, PON POM POM

That's made a lot time.