The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 11-20-19

Episode Date: November 20, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 11/20/19Jim Crane Intelligently Did Not Comment On The Astros Investigation (0:00)Joel Klatt : On The College Playoff Rankings, "Such A Flawed Process" (43:45)Derek Schultz Gives Matt Thomas The Indy Perspective of Colts v Texans (1:03:55)Non-Florida Stories (1:42:19)

Wanted this lovely barn setting. So rustic. So many laced oilies. Look at all the mason jars. Yeah, I really didn't think the farm animals will be in the barn during the wedding. Don't worry. They won't be here long.

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This is Sports Talk 790. From the Mackike Chevy Studios. Find new roles. Much larger than life. Yeah. You said! Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas Show. 12-01 in H-town.

What's happened, lunch timers? Good afternoon to you, and welcome to a Wednesday edition of the Matt Thomas show. Today coming to you from Denver, Colorado, where tonight the Houston Rockets will try to win nine games in a row against a team in the Denver Nuggets, who are probably their best. competitors along with the clippers so far this season. Denver entering play at 9 and 3. I'm Matt Thomas here in the Mile High City. Ross and Nick are back in our Houston studios. Ross, how is your Wednesday? It's a beautiful Wednesday, Matthew, and I don't know how much the city of Houston is invested in tonight's game, but I am definitely intrigued.

Yeah, we'll have the game for you right here on 790 and also on our sister station 740. I believe coverage begins at 7 o'clock with the launch pad, 730 the tip. Again, it's going to be a great long. launch pad. It's just, I don't even know who's hosting it, but I just know it's going to be fantastic. So I'm assuming that Michael Connor is in charge of it. No, it's me. It's me. Fine. Oh, okay. Fair enough. I'm sorry about that. Again, you know, you and I are basketball junkies. We love it. I know that quite a bit of the segment of the population is not super into it this early in the season, but it's a good matchup. James and Chris, James and Russell playing really good basketball, Clint Capella,

The last time, four games, he's played a game. He's had 20 rebounds in each of those contests. So it's going to be a good matchup. Nicola Yokic is a very, very talented center. They've got four, five different guys that can all score. Nuggets, a pretty good defensive team, in fact. And so I think ultimately it should be a nice contest. So if you are in the mood to talk some basketball,

we can do that here on the radio program today. We've got a football game coming up tomorrow inside NRG Stadium. Ross, what's the electricity? What is the buzz? home for Thursday's tilt decide who wins first place in the AFC sound? Little to none at least that I've noticed, but I'm not necessarily

the guy that is a man about town and going around water coolers at this point. So maybe I'm not the one to ask, but I'm not really catching a ton of buzz for Texans Colts. I think you should run around town, have four or five Dosecchi's in each one of the bars you go to. How many bars am I going to have five

Dosecis at? Ice cold, refreshing my goshies, by the way. That's right. If you go to four, and that's five a piece, it's 20 beers. That could probably get you in a pretty good perspective of things. I don't think I've had 20 beers since the Texans versus Bengals playoff game, which I don't remember the second half of. I haven't had that much alcohol consumption since the 20,000 Twitter party. Ooh, that was, yeah, that's got to be an all-time high for you and you got iced and everything. I did, I did. It was a good time. Looking forward to 30,000. Monday for me.

Yeah, 20 beers on Monday? I mean, that's usual. That's a good Monday. Oh, just a good old-fashioned Monday. Okay, I got you. So it's a 20-beer Monday here on the Matt Thomas show. All right, if you'd like to join us today, 713-213-212-790, how you reach our show. If you'd like to visit with us via Twitter, you can do that as well. It's at SportsMT, at SportsRV, and at Pro Nick Lowe. Guys, the Major League Baseball Owners meetings are happening today in Arlington.

which again, why would you choose Arlington? I mean, I know Dallas-Fort Worth is an easy airport for people to get to, but these are all ridiculously rich, rich people. You know, sentry-located, I guess. Is Jerry Jones hosting them? I don't know. I don't know. I didn't think there was really even a nice hotel in Arlington.

I don't even know what hotel they're at. But you know they're at a good one. And so Chandler-Rome, who covers the team for The Chronicle, attempted to with some other reporters to get some comments from Jim Crane and Jim basically said, I'm here to talk baseball, I'm not here to talk about the other stuff, and when I guess, and I'm just trying to piece this

together through Twitter, that if you weren't there to ask him a baseball question, he didn't want to get into anything else. And I understand that because, let's be brutally honest, the Aster is under a massive investigation, and I don't think there's anything at this point that Jim Crane could say, except we are cooperating fully with Major League Baseball

that would necessarily satisfy. And then, so when there were no baseball related questions and Jim Crane was shoot off. The interpretation on Twitter was that their police officers in that area are trying to shield the reporters away from the owners. And then somebody on Twitter just followed that up shortly by saying all the owners have security like that and that this is not out of the norm for that. So take it for what it's worth. I think obviously those that were trying to get questions from Jim concerning the whole video replay thing, we're not going to get satisfied.

And in this particular case, I probably side with Jim by saying that, you know what, he's probably been told not to say a word, Ross, and he's not going to say a word until this bad boy is 100% completed. Yeah, I know we as sports media consumers want to hear from everybody at all time. I mean, there's absolutely nothing that Jim Crane can say. I mean, we don't need to hear from him. they're under investigation. He can't come out here and plead innocence and then something gets down. He can't say anything rash.

I mean, there's just no right answer to any question that Jim Crane is going to get asked right now. So we have to wait and see when the punishments come out. I'm sure we will hear from him or they will release a statement or something like that. So, I mean, there's just no reason on any side of this for Jim Crane to say anything. Yeah, and again, you know, I think your point was valiant that we all want as much information as possible. but put ourselves in his shoes and in a major league baseball is saying do not comment for your own self-preservation do not comment i mean i would would anybody expect him to come out today and say all right so here's what we did that that that that that's just not going to be a

possibility yeah what if he came out with like a surprise had like a t-shirt that said like hashtag free jeff luno on it or something like that or how about this one hashtag everybody's doing it oh that's a good one yeah what's kind of shirt you know Like, for example, you know when LeBron James, they beat the Warriors and they came back from down to 3-1 deficit? And then at the – and then on the plane or something like that, on the plane to the – was it at the parade or wherever he was wearing an ultimate warrior shirt? What would be the most troll type of thing that Jim Crane could wear in these meetings that would signify, like, he's making a statement without making a statement? You could go with your team is next. You got that kind of stuff like that.

You could go with, it ain't just us. What is it? Don't throw stones in a glass house. I mean, you could go to the ultimate cliche card. Because I know Rob Manfred yesterday, the commissioner of Major League Baseball said that this current investigation is focused exclusively on the Astros. And I do believe that. I also believe that every Major League Baseball team, as we discussed yesterday, better have their, their own blank in order, you know what I'm saying?

I mean, making sure that there's nothing going on that would then allow Major League Baseball to look at the other teams because we're all presuming that this is not just mutually exclusive to Houston Astros. We all are presuming that they're the ones that are getting, got caught first, they're the ones that have won all the baseball games, or the ones that won the World Series, and they're the ones that are going to be used as the example to say,

do not under any circumstance, ever use any sort of artificial intelligence to help gain an advantage over your opponent. Yeah, it's just, they're going to be made an example of, so it'll be interesting. And yes, everybody else does have to get their affairs or their, their T's crossed and their eyes dotted, as it were. It'll be interesting because I bet there are some people definitely scrambling and hoping that they don't get caught.

Like, you ever have something like you and your buddies and somebody's getting scolded for something when you were kids, and then you did the same thing, or like you are teachers getting mad at you at Matt at somebody else, you're like, wow, I kind of did that too. But then they don't get you. You don't get singled out so you feel like you got to be on your best behavior. That's probably how other major league baseball teams are feeling. I'll give you a very small, very harmless example.

Ross, back into junior high and high school, I did not like to read books, the ones that were signing class. So what I would do is I would go to the Cliff Notes and read those as fast as possible. Well, where would travel fast that in first period, English, they would have this deep dive into a particular book, and Cliff Notes probably ain't going to save your bacon on that. So you would spread the word, hey, what'd y'all do in first period? Or, hey, what was going on with the test? That's what you do. If you're Major League Baseball, if the Astros are getting caught and the Astros are doing something wrong, everybody's all, all right, Mets, are you prepared for this test? Are you prepared for this test, Phillies? Are you ready for

this, Angels? That's what's going on. Is it somebody, that first period English class, is the one that's going to get the early abuse and then everybody else has to follow behind. Again, probably a terrible example of my part, but an example nonetheless. Or the flip side of this is bad, or is maybe we're being, I wouldn't say naive, but maybe we're overestimating how widespread this is. And maybe the Astros do have more of an organizational effort than others. I mean, do you think every team was having executives email scouts and figure out, or at least communicate in some way with scouts and try to have them figure out what's going on

with their upcoming opponents and stuff like that? We can't answer it. We can't answer it, but we don't know. No. But my gut also tells me that I believe there are illegal activities going on. I'm not going to say with the other 29 teams, but I would say a fair number of them. It's sort of like the same adage, Ross, if a particular school gets caught cheating in NCAA, what do we do? We always presume everybody's doing it.

Well, not literally everybody's doing it, but there's probably a pretty good amount of teams that are heavy. the same sort of illegal activity as the team that particularly got caught. That's true. We got a Texans football game to get to tomorrow. We have college football. Our buddy Joel Klatt's going to join us at 1 o'clock. You can join us right now. And Ross, I got to tell you one thing.

If I never hear the term quid pro quo ever again, it'll be too soon. Oh, gosh. Channel. I went down to get some food on our third floor, and then everybody's like, there's like a crowd watching the impeachment hearings. I'm like, come. on guys I almost put on

skip and what's his face and I almost put on the other show but I just can't do it I can't I'd rather hear quit pro quo for four hours than hear those two those two horrible show that's how bad our television viewing is by the way do you know the judge that Jerry Springer has his judge his own judge

show now what judge Jerry Springer it's called Judge Jerry it's the same yeah I'm not line to you. As soon as I got to Denver, and I put on the TV, and Judge Jerry was on it. It was really Jerry Springer. I'm not lying to you. Well, he was like Mayor of Cincinnati back in the day, so, I mean, usually a politician has a law background. Does he have a law background? I believe he does.

Huh. Okay. So all I'm saying is, I would love to be able to watch, I almost put Wendy Williams on today. That's how bad the television views were. Jeez. Oh, yeah. Well, I'm, I'm thinking to myself, why are you watching? You're in a hotel. You're traveling. Of course you're watching crap TV. Yeah, I mean, if I'm at home or I'm having breakfast with you, it's much better or much more meaningful conversation. I'm kind of stuck here in Denver. By the way, and again, I don't mean to stereotype, but I'm going to anyway. As you know, we stay in very, very nice hotels.

I'm also in Denver, Colorado, where there is, I don't know, dispensaries every 25 yards. We land yesterday. So how high are you right now in 1 to 10? Well, if you would have asked me yesterday as soon as I got into the elevator, I would have said a seven and a half and eight. Contact highs. I'm telling you, I mean, I'm not in a palisin, Ross, to be really brutally honest with you. And there was somebody as high as a kite in the elevator before we got in. Every one of us, there's like seven of us in this elevator.

We're like, damn, it took us five seconds to get a little buzz going. Everybody's smoking weed in Denver. Everybody. Is that, is that, is that, is that okay with the high elevation? Does it, is it okay with your breathing? Can I tell you I went for a walk today? And I do feel the effects of being up at 5,000 feet above sea level.

Lung. Lungs burning a little bit? Well, I'm also a hashtag out of shape. All right. There's my Denver for the moment. All right. 713, 2, 1, 2,000, 5, 790. This is Cougars head coach Dana Holgerson.

Matt's kind of like Shasta without putting on a costume. He's a big old . The Matt Thomas show continues on Sports Talk 790. Obviously following the rules is something that's crucial to the competition on the field. It's anytime there's this sort of allegation, we take it very seriously. You know, we're in the midst of gathering the facts. We want to make sure we understand everything that went on. everything that went on, who was involved, how far up in the organization it went.

And at that point in time, we'll make a decision as to what, if any, discipline's appropriate. Bag and plead that they're not going to find anything. Is that too much to ask, Ross? If you want to, you won't be the only one. I think there's about three million people that actually. go to Astros games, give or take, that are hoping the same thing. I think you're right. I think there's 29 other baseball executives that hope the book gets thrown at the Astros.

Yes. And other players and other teams and general managers and whatnot. But I think there's 3 million people. I mean, I'm going to assume that most people in the city of Houston that, you know, profess to be Astro fans are hoping that this is just one big old misunderstanding. I do not take that they're only searching the Astros to interpret as the Astros and the only one is doing it. I think what they're basically saying, and if you think I'm being wrong about this, you can say that. I think they're saying everything that we're doing right now is focused on the Houston Astros.

We are not spending time looking at whether or not Toronto or Miami or Seattle conduct their business properly. I think this is an exclusive internal look into whether or not the Astros behave themselves. during this said time. Yeah, I mean, I think that just makes it easier. I mean, Rob Manfred was asked, are you looking any other teams? And he said no. So, I mean, that's just what it is on its face. They're not investigating any other team.

There's not any other reason. They don't have any other evidence and they don't have any other story that's popping up. Maybe there are rumors with other teams, like there were rumors with the Astros in years past and stuff like that. But, I mean, I'm sure there are rumors with other teams. but it is what it is. It's going to be the Astros, and I think they're going to get made an example of as what we all keep saying.

One more soundbite from the commissioner, Rob Manfred, was asked, what kind of punishment could possibly put into play if the Astros are found to be guilty of the alleged charges? I'm not going to speculate on what the appropriate discipline is. That depends on how the facts are established at the end the investigation. The general warning that I issued to the clubs, I stand by. I mean, it certainly could be all those things, but my authority under the Major League Constitution would be broader

than those things as well. I think the answer to that, Ross, is he doesn't know just yet. I also think he doesn't know what he can get away with, and what kind of appeals process the Astros would have if there were suspensions involving front office or on-field people. I think that last part is not good if you're an Astros fan. If he says, I mean, they're talking. So the question was referring to earlier punishments as he's handed out, taking draft picks, putting a,

finding, finding teams and all that type of stuff. And so with the last part of that, he says, I can do any, I can do punishments broader than that. So that means, I mean,

for him to say that, that means he's thinking even more type of different punishments. So I don't know if that would be suspensions or an international pool money or what. But the fact that that's on his mind that I have done this and I can do even more is probably not good for the Astros. Let me ask you this. Who do you think he goes to?

Because he can't call his buddies with other American League or nationally teams. I mean, I'm sure he's got lie lie lieutenants that he works with. He's probably some stooge or some right-hand man that he can go to. All right. Stoge is probably a bit of a hard. They're all stooge's. Right. No, no, no, I think it's an appropriate term.

I love the term, stew. Okay. I like how you think, Ross. 713-212-1-2-5-7-90. We've got some college football talk coming up at the top of the hour. Our buddy Joel Glad from Fox Sports will be on hand, actually, for a good Big Ten game between Ohio State and Penn State. This Saturday will also get his thoughts on A&M in Georgia and the college football landscape.

But right now, let's say hi to Richard in the heights at 1225 on the Matt Thomas show. Richard, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Matt, you worked in the Salt Lake. market, didn't you at one time? I did for two years, yes. I've got a question for you. I was watching the game between the Chiefs and the Chargers the other night, and I keep thinking that this whole thing is going to end really badly for the Chargers franchise if they don't find someplace other than L.A. to set up camp. And I was thinking would Salt Lake City be a decent place

to set up shop, in your opinion? They don't have a facility that would be NFL worthy. The college stadium where Utah plays is called Rice Cycle Stadium. It seats probably just a hair under 50,000. I just don't think the corporate dollars are there. I don't think the facility is there

that have to build a new stadium, and I just don't think the city of Salt Lake is into that kind of thing. I think it's a really good city, beautiful place to live, and very supportive of their Utah Jazz, and very supportive of their college teams. I just don't ever envision Salt Lake as a pro town. if the Chargers were to leave and not go to leave Los Angeles, which, man, the ownership group of the Chargers just went crazy when there were rumors of them going to London.

I would think London would be in play. I believe Mexico City would be in play. And I don't know of another NFL city that's sitting there going, we can build this. Because no matter where you go, if a team's going to move, they're going to have to build a Taj Mahal facility for that new team. There's no back. If Jacksonville was to leave, they're going to go to London. They've already got a connection there. The stadium is there.

The question's going to be, would they be logistically ever on an NFL team that would be able to thrive and be successful over there? And so I think it's either London or Mexico City. I don't envision Salt Lake City being anywhere close to that kind of opportunity. All right. Thanks. You got it. You ever been to Salt Lake City, Ross? No.

And don't really plan on it. it's really beautiful really really beautiful lots of things to do and the reason I bring it up because I'm not far from now obviously about an hour's plane ride from here in Denver the religious aspect is huge and I forgot to mention this

in Salt Lake City in particular with a large Mormon LDS population they don't do anything on Sundays Sundays are supposed to be multiple hours in church family time the Utah Jazz don't typically ever schedule the home games. And as you know, most NFL games would be on Sunday.

So that would also be another huge reason why they would not have an NFL team there. I just don't think there's enough of a population. And I think they recently just passed a law where now you can fornicate. Okay. That comment right there was from Ross at Sports RV. I'm serious. It used to be illegal to fornicate and now you can. Premarital relations, as you would say.

You're making that up. I'm not making that up. Where did you find that? Did you go to Deadspin or something and find it? I thought of Utah singles are finally free to fornicate. This is from April 2019. Wasn't there always... Wasn't there always a loophole anyway?

Because, I mean, as long as you... Yes, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about the loophole. As long as you get that first marriage out of the way, you know, then you can fornicate with the next one ahead of time. Let's talk some Rockets basketball. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5. I didn't bring up fornication.

Okay, maybe you didn't. But you brought up. Utah and Salt Lake City. That's true. That's true. All right. 713, 2.12.5.790. 713, 2, 1,2, 5.790. Are we ready for some football, a little Thursday night action?

I feel like we can flood the flow lines up right now, Ross. Get everybody fired up with a big game on Thursday. Because in reality, this is it. This is someone's going to take the lead, especially if you're Indianapolis. If the Colts win this game, you have a one game lead over the Texans in the division, and you have the tiebreaker because you've won both games. But I will say this. Hasn't Bill O'Brien's record been pretty darn good after humiliating, disappointing losses,

how the team has bounced back, how the team needs this, and how this team probably is the best team in the AMC South? This is where the Texans cannot afford to have a letdown, especially with the New England Patriots waiting for them a week from Sunday. 713-212-5-790. From Clutch City. A step back three. Yon to Crush City.

That's drilled deep to left field. The most complete coverage in the city on Sports Talk 790. Your home for your home teams. They're having Ross a lunch break at the impeachment hearings. What do you think you would want to eat if you're being quite? I should buy this set up some committee. Oh, they're probably having Wendy's and McDonald's, right? That's what Donnie T likes to serve up when people come for their championships.

I mean, if you're, if you are being deposed, I mean, hours and hours and hours of it, do you want like a green salad? Do you want a gumbo to spice things up? I mean, do you want a heavy pasta that's going to put you to sleep? These are things I think about. You probably want something light. Like a salad? You're probably going to need some caffeine as well.

Chicken club could work. You might want to skip the chips. Skip the fried food. Maybe have a fruit salad with it. How about this? A chicken club, three decks. Three decks? With bacon.

No, no. No, chicken club, chicken, turkey, tomato, mayonnaise, and bacon. Toasted bread. You probably want to eat whatever representative Eric Swalwell ate to lighten the mood. if you know what I'm talking about. No, I don't. I think he's innocent, by the way. You shouldn't treat people that way.

No, he's guilty. I saw some very compelling evidence that it was Chris Matthews. Anyways. By the way, could you, here's, okay, that's enough. Oh, I know what happened. Yeah, that was a sound effect. Yeah, that's a sound effect, right? I think he's innocent.

There's no way, there's no way it would have been picked up on a microphone that cleanly. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, no one, I mean, I'll peel the curtain back. We have members of the 790 staff that like to have that flagellate, is that word? Flatulize? I don't know. That, they're a little gassy at times.

I think it's a disgrace. You never hear it on the radio. You never do. Yeah, you would, yeah. At least not that clearly. Yeah, I think it was sounding. All right, so by the way, so I get in the room this morning. I got up at 6 o'clock.

Lou now. Okay. Enough, Prez. You're in a hot water as it is. So MSNBC thinks that President Trump is guilty, okay, and that he should ride in jail. I go to Fox and there's like, there's no evidence whatsoever. He's President Trump is an American hero. And then I go to CNN and they're doing much of the MSNBCC.

Could you imagine if there were like three different channels that had three different interpretations of the Texans? Like if he went to one station. That's literally what happens in Houston. really? You mean to tell me that if you listen to three different sports stations, you're going to get three different viewpoints of how the Texans are? I will say, yes. If you listen to one certain station,

you might have a little bit more lighthearted coverage and you have on others when the team is struggling. We're very lighthearted over here. Okay. We're realistic. We would like them to win. It's okay if they don't. We would like for them to compete in Baltimore, Maryland.

Yeah, it would be nice if they would have showed up. I feel like I wouldn't have wasted my time watching it. I'm telling you, and I'm not lying to y'all, I was in deep REM sleep in the fourth quarter. And that's not nice. Deep REM? That takes like 40 minutes to get into, Matt. Do you think I had 40 minutes to go to sleep with it? Of course I did.

It was pretty bad. I had no idea Carlos Hyde scored a touchdown until I went back in the DVR and saw it. What did you think of the run? Somewhat impressive against the second and third team Ravens defensive backs? It looked like the Ravens. It looked like a play from the Pro Bowl.

It looked like the Ravens just had no interest in playing anymore. So they just kind of let it. They're like, all right, let's get him a touchdown. Let's get out of here. So we can get the ball back and run the clock down. Yeah, they thought to me that two-hand tag was appropriate during this part. I don't think it's ever a lot in the NFL. Too in touch, yeah.

Yeah. Let's go to AC and Beaumont on the Matt Thomas show. AC, good afternoon to you. Hello, sir. How are you guys doing? We're great. I think you guys owe me a big apologies, man. And I hope you men enough to man up. I called you guys two years ago, gone on two years ago, about to draft. I told you guys, and I was willing to bet on it, I'd say,

This draft got Lamar Jackson names, and I'm dead on it to regenerate a team. You guys, that's what you guys told me. Y'all called me crazy. They didn't know nothing about football. They didn't y'all laugh at me and called me an old man. Now, I know you guys have been watching football. Who is the king of the jungle now, man?

Out of all of those quarterback that was picked before they got. Now, you guys going to sprinkle me a little love today, man? First of all, I think AC, you're a bull-faced liar. I think you've never called my show. I think there's under no circumstance. Do you even know who Lamar Jackson is? You're a fraud, and I don't believe you. Wow, that's not very nice.

I'm just kidding, A.C. I have, let me taste it. I don't remember anybody that calls four days ago, much less two years ago. And there's no way. Yeah, first of all, I mean, we appreciate you callers, but we don't remember your calls from two years ago. We just don't. And second of all, I'm sure there's no way that we said,

you're just a dumb old man and you don't know anything about football, AC. Why are you even calling us? There's no way that's what we said. Why did you go into a Dylan good impersonation there? Because you can not conduct yourself in such manner. But Dylan, he's only a ready quarterback. He doesn't know how to throw the football. Come on.

I'm sure he's being dramatic. I don't think. And number one, the Texans had already had to Sean Watson. Lamar Jackson came out the next year. You're not going to draft Lamar Jackson right after you got Deshaun Watson. So I don't even know what AC is talking about. No, I'm sure that AC called the show and said, I believe Lamar Jackson is going to be a great quarterback. And I do believe I could say, well, he can certainly run, but his passing skills at Louisville were just okay.

And that we have learned through examples like RG3 as backup that running quarterbacks without the ability. to throw the football can't survive long-term in the NFL. And that is indeed the case. How has Lamar Jackson become so good? Well, the running game's always been there, Ross. But his accuracy is much better than it has been in years past. Same thing could have been said for Russell Wilson. We've talked about, in numerous times,

how does Sean Watson as a pocket passer has improved. That remains consistent. They have a bounty on me that you're trying to take out my ACL. That's poor sportsmanship on your part, Dylan. you cannot conduct yourself in such manner. Those just are never going to get old. Never, ever going to get old. Would you like, just quickly, Matt, and when we'll get out of here,

would you like a quick report from Texans practice? I would love one. I was down at Texans practice, and I couldn't tell if it was a football team or a bunch of school girls. That is so inside 790, but it's just precious. I don't care who you are. That's so funny. Yeah.

No matter who you are. you're going to love the Mighty Gwen. I believe, is he writing for Breitbart or like a Houston editor for Bright. He was, he's their sports editor, I believe. They have a sports edition of the Breitbart? I think so. Oh, I mean, that would be essentially writing anti-Colon Capernic stories every day, right? That's how that seems to be, right?

And you're upset that if certain athletes don't want to visit the White House, yes. Very fakeness. Yeah. Monday, Colin Kaepernick, Tuesday, said athlete does not visit. Wednesday, did you see that athlete with a MAGA shirt, hat on his cap? Thursday, Trump gets loudly cheered at Washington Nationals game. Friday, this weekend, who knelt? Because you'd be in jail.

I think I should write for Breitbart. I mean, I don't really, you know, I don't care about politics, but, man, it'd be easy. You know what the story is every day. And that's something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do. We've uncovered a way to make some side money. I want to write for Breitbart. I think it's a disgrace. Yo, this is Bun B.

And my wife is the biggest fan of the whitest man in America. Matt Thomas, Matt Troy. Reckless, ratchet, and don't give a fuck. People want the game played consistent with our rules and feel it's important that we figure out exactly what happened here and take steps to make sure that it doesn't happen in the things. future by imposing appropriate discipline. Meaning if we're catching the Astros doing something, we're going to punish them severely

to make sure we never have to go through this again. I mean, let me ask you this. Ross, has the NFL had any sort of bounty gain issues in terms of paying players for taking players out since New Orleans got all their heavy fines and suspensions? Not that I've heard of, no. Isn't that very similar to what may happen to the Astros? We're going to make an example of you? I very think that.

They very well could be the case, Matthew. Yeah. All right. Matt Thomas with you from Denver, Ross, and Nick are back in our Houston studios. Joe Clyde at 1 o'clock, 1.30. We go to WNDE Radio with our buddy to Eric Schultz. Talks and Colts and Texans. 230 non-Florida stories.

Let's go to the phone. Say how to some folks. We'll start with the Mark on the north side of the Matt Thomas show. Mark, good afternoon. Hey, Matt. Hey, Ross. Hello. On these astro allegations, you know, it's hard to speculate on these allegations until the punishment comes down because you don't know what it's going to be.

But hypothetically, I was thinking if Hinch gets suspended in Luno, especially Hinch, who are they going to use as an interim manager because all the coaches, bench coaches, are involved in this deal too? so wouldn't they pull somebody up from say double a or triple a to manage the ball club until he gets back and I'll just hang up list. All right, Mark. Ross, that's purely speculative. I would have no idea. Yeah, I'm on the same page of the guy. I don't know. Yeah, that's just something we, that would be, God, I hope it isn't the case.

I don't know. Again, I've never in my years of sports have ever had a, manager miss any more than what maybe four or five games ross tops because of a brawl or maybe touching an umpire or something like that i i don't yeah i would have to look something i mean nothing's coming really top of mind about a manager's missing all that time yeah mark i can't give an answer because i don't have the i don't have anyone for you i like to bill to say i know a lot of stuff i just don't know all that uh Aaron boone was suspended for one game last year after his profanity a profanity laced rant

I'm trying to think there has to be a manager that has pushed an umpire that's been dinged pretty heavily. It feels like something Lou Penella would do. Yeah, I would think if you, I mean, Lou Penel had to have been suspended at 10 games for something. You had some point, right? Yeah, I mean, that that's really not that Lu Penel that we know and love for a guy that hadn't been suspended that long. So sorry, Mark, I don't want to answer for you because I just don't know what the options would be. There's no way to guarantee that a bench coach couldn't take. over if the position of the bench coach was not involved.

And no, I don't have an answer. I just don't. Let's go to, is it Aisha and ALEF on 790? Hi, Aisha. Hello, how are you, gentlemen? Wonderful, yourself. Good. I love you guys on Sports Radio 790.

So thank you guys. I began listening to you during the ALCS, and I haven't stopped. Well, thank you very much. It's nice you to say that. Thank you. I adore our Astros. But explain the difference between Bill Belichick videotaping practices for the Patriots and the allegations of the Astros videotaping signals.

Well, at first blush, and thank you for the phone call, Ayesha. And we're glad that you have us on our, as your radio station in the middle of the day. One is non-game and one is game. Right, Ross? I mean, that's as simplistic as it gets. Well, the whole part, no, I would say they're very similar, actually, because one of the things that they were trying to do in SpyGate and one of the things that Bill Belichick has gotten in trouble in hot water for before is actually stealing signals. That's why they go and they would tape those walkthroughs because they were literally trying to get the signals to try to figure out what play calls. So actually, I feel like there is somewhat of a common thread there.

But, I mean, there were huge ramifications for SpyGate. They got, didn't they lose a first round draft pick? They got a big fine and all that type of stuff. Major fine. Right. Yeah, I would say this, Aisha, that is probably a lot closer than we want to believe it is. Yeah, here. So Belichick was fined 500,000.

Patriots were fined $250,000 and lost a first round draft pick, which to me is even a heavier punishment than losing a first round draft pick in baseball. Well, here's the thing, Ross. You can lose, let's say they lost the first three rounds. I mean, it would hurt. But there are majorly baseball teams littered with players in rounds 4 to 60. Right. I mean, now, granted, the Astros have been able to use their first round picks for the most part to build this franchise.

I mean, George Springer, Carlos Correa, Alex Spregman. I mean, I could go on and on. I mean, this is a team littered with first round picks. Yeah, a lot of first round picks don't even make the major league level. A first round NFL pick is going to, at the very least, they may not, they may be a bus, but at the very least, they're going to start at something. point. Let me ask you this. And I'll see, let's see if you match my answer. What is the biggest devastation type penalty the Astros could get? If you were to guess, what would be the thing that would sting the most? What would your answer be? Getting stripped of the World Series title,

but I just don't think that's on the table. But that would be it. That would be the biggest absolute thing that they could do. So let's go number two then. Let's go to the second biggest thing. Hmm. I'll give you my answer. Suspending Jeff Luno for a year or something like that. I think serious, lengthy suspensions for AJ and Jeff would be the second biggest devastation. Right. I'll go with Luno ahead of... Now, of course, let's just go ahead and say, Matt, because you know people don't like when we speculate.

We're just speculating. We're talking about the worst case scenario. But I feel like Luno would be much more devastating than A.J. Hinch, because, I mean, a little bit love AJ Hinch, but as I'll be consistent with this, I think a major league baseball manager isn't as important as head coaches in other sports. So I would go with Luno being suspended for a significant period of time. I will disagree with you and flip it and go that losing a manager for 50 or 100 games change the culture of a clubhouse. It changes a demeanor of a clubhouse. It changes the nuances of when to start a guy, when to rest a guy. Now, I understand what you're going with the impact of what is a manager's real responsibility,

but this is big picture and this is a long length of time. Imagine going to spring training and a regular season games and not having the steady hand of a guy that has been your manager for the last three or four years. And that's why I do think in this particular case, the sting would hurt more for age and it would for Jeff, because Jeff's a general manager, but those guys that are playing for the Astros don't have day-to-day interaction. action with Jeff. They have day-to-day, minute-to-minute, hour-by-hour conversations with their manager, and to have somebody else leading and deciding when to pull somebody or when to arrest somebody,

I think in this particular case would sting a lot more than having a general manager who happens just pop in the clubhouse once in a while. I'm assuming that, I mean, unless Joe is spot it goes somewhere and gets hired off to be somebody else's manager, if he were the Astros' manager for 100 games, I don't think the Astros would be at some kind of great disadvantage. They wouldn't be a disadvantage, but I think in baseball, especially, with athletes, familiarity is everything. And while again, the spot has been around, he's an aging.

So. And I also, I mean, the culture of the clubhouse, I think, would be fine. I don't think Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman and Justin Verland are all going to be just, and there's just going to be chaos in the clubhouse because somebody else is leading them for. No, I'm not saying chaos. I'm just saying familiarity is everything. Okay. Especially with something as routine as a Major League Baseball season for as long as it is.

It's important, but I think team building would be more. important. Okay. Well, here's a thing if Jeff Leno get suspended, you can still make trades. You're still going to be able to have lieutenants around that are going to be around that have been with Jeff. Yeah, that would be interesting. Can whoever is making the trade or running their ship? Like, how do they enforce that? Can he, can

Jeff Lunau, can not, like, you know how sometimes, like when a mob, like a mob boss would go to prison? He would just start running the operation from prison. Can Jeff Lunau just run the operation from like his house or some kind of underground bunker? This is a horrible, horrible conversation we're happening.

I mean, I'm with you on this. I know who you're going. And I'm not disagreeing with you. Can you take care of that thing for me? Like you're getting on the phone. You've got to go visit Jeff Luno and get him a loaf of bread with a shiv in it. So he can take care of business. If you really want to make sure that nobody's involved with the organization,

if they get suspended, is you just do every trade on Twitter. And you do a poll question. Should we go get said player? Should we go get Zach Britton away from the Yankees? You know what I mean? That's what you do. Right. You let the audience. You know, we're like the Green Bay Packers.

The city owns the team. We own the team while Jeff is, you know, serving any sort of suspension, which hopefully he's not. That'd be a horrible idea. We'd all have, we'd have Chris Sale instead of Alex Bregman. That's true. Let's go. And now we're talking college football with Joel Clatt. Brought to you by Dos Ekes.

Official beer sponsor of the college football playoff. All right, here in Denver, Colorado, where tonight the Rockets and Nuggets get after it. When you think of the legends of Colorado Sports, you think of John Elway 1, Patrick Waugh 2, and our next guest, Joe Clot number 3. Do I have the order right, Joel? I mean, I guess

since Waugh was able to win a cup. Oh, so if he didn't win a cup, you'd be number two? Oh, obviously not. But yes. Man, those are like the legends of my childhood right there. That's getting me all nostalgic. I forgot to mention Dante Boucher.

I'm sorry for getting him, too. Larry Walker. Oh, man, I tell you what, those guys, they had big hair, big arms, and big flies. The Blake Street Bombers, Giovanni Castilla, Andres, Galearaga, L.S. Burks, Dante Fichette. That was awesome. All right, this moment of Denver Bronco and Denver sports history brought to you by, I don't know who, but let's, we got our buddy Joel in here. You're kind of spicy on Twitter today talking about these college football rankings. What's going on with you and why are you getting in fights?

Did I lose him? We lost Joel Klatte. Maybe he was mad with a commentary that I was asking about the Denver stuff. We'll try to reestablish Joel in a second. I think we just lost him. There he is. We're going to get back in just a second. Ohio State, Penn State will be the game he will call this week on Fox,

and we'll get a thought or two from him coming up on that in just a second. All right, let's get back to Joel Clad here. All right, back to what I was saying. Joel, you're getting spicy on Twitter today with this college football ranking. You just hate it more than life itself, don't you? Yes, I think it's just such a flawed process. Maybe not more than life itself. But I just got to tell you, it's frustrating just because I know how hard these kids work.

I know how much it means to them for the most part. And then just to put 13 people in there and have it be so subjective, I just, I don't think it's the right way to do it. I really don't. I think that we should have criteria, concrete criteria, that we can all look at, like winning your championship, conference championship, and I'm not saying that we should give auto bids, but I am saying that you should have to win your conference in order to be selected into the playoffs. I think that would make games better and more meaningful during the course of the regular season. It would make the conference championship games massive. As it is now, what you have is a beauty contest at the end, and people start arguing for teams that, quite frankly, don't have the resumes to be arguing about. I understand Alabama is a great program, but let's, let's start arguing. have them face the music a little bit here. They don't have a win over a team that is currently ranked. Now, you can say the same about Utah.

And I understand that there's some weak resumes out there, Clemson as a weak resume. But the fact of the matter is that Alabama is without their quarterback, and that was the one strength of their team, was their ability to throw the football. So I just don't like it when I hear people in my industry that do the same things that I do analyzing and they start arguing for things that one are hypothetical and two don't make much sense to me you know like i just think it's way too subjective and we need more criteria that is that is concrete and that we can look at objectively and and see the results of so you are saying that in order to be in the college football playoff you must win your conference absolutely that's

And I think that's an immediate fix that I would make. And I think it would make it so much better. We wouldn't have all these staged rankings and have Rob Mullins out there trying to explain the unexplainable. What we would have is games that matter on the field. You know, the LSU Alabama game would have mattered a great deal. It would have been for everything. You know, you would have these conference championship games that are massive. The next thing I would do is get rid of divisions throughout college football.

so that we do pit the first and second best team in each conference against each other in their conference championship game. And then what you have, Matt, is de facto quarterfinals with 10 teams, 10 of the best probably 15 or 16 teams in the country. And then the winners of that game, you can throw them into a pool, and then you select the best four from there. That retains the importance of the non-conference. That retains the importance and the unique nature of the regular season.

It emphasizes winning your conference. I think overall it would be better. and people would know the exact path in order to go and compete for a national championship. As it is now, I mean, what, Alabama is going to play nine power five games. Most everybody else is going to play 11 because they get into a conference championship game. How is that fair to anybody else? How is it fair to LSU and Georgia, the fact that they're going to have to go play each other, and Alabama doesn't have to play the extra game, and then what we're just going to give them a pass into the playoff?

I guess it doesn't make sense, guys. It just really doesn't. Well, I feel like while you make tremendous amount of sense that there's, I just feel like there's no change on the horizon, which is unfortunate. Let me get back to Tatea below you mentioned. I don't remember who was doing the game. I want to say it was Brian Greasy on ESPN. Yeah, I think it was Levy and Greasy and Shea. So he, so Greasy is just all throughout the first tap because that was the only part of the game I was watching because it was blood, kept saying, I can't believe two is out here.

Why is he out here playing? Why? And then he goes, and then Tua goes out for that last two-minute drill, because that's what Nick wants his quarterback to do as to go through it. Would you, and I guess now hindsight being 20-20 on this, how tragic of a mistake was it that Tua Tua Tua Tia Loloa was playing this past Saturday? Let me tell you that I understand the sentiment, right, in terms of him being maybe not 100% healthy.

I also know that as a competitor, I argued to get on the field in every game, regardless of the opponent. And at any time, because I love to compete, I love to play. That's what I wanted to do. You never think that, you know, the worst case scenario is going to happen. That's for people like me to speculate on in the booth, which Brian did. I do think that it wasn't as egregious as if it would have been the first series of the second half. There's something about that point in the game.

And maybe that's totally artificial and subjective on my part to think that it's far different in the second half than it is in the first half. But I will tell you that from my standpoint, you know, a guy like Nick Saban is a guy that makes a lot of money. And he is going to have to answer for that, unfortunately. And he doesn't want Tua to get hurt. Tua doesn't want to get hurt. I just think it's one of those things that it's a hindsight deal. Can you make an argument he shouldn't have played at all? Yes.

Can you make an argument that he shouldn't have been on the field for that drive? Yes. I think those are flimsier arguments than if it would have happened in the second half. Visiting with Joel Clatt Fox Sports. By the way, you've got a nice, really good Big Ten matchup. Ohio State and Penn State. Can the NIT Alliance, you know, coming off of a really disappointing performance two weeks ago against Minnesota, can they give Ohio State a game this Saturday? I think it's going to be difficult because we don't know the status of what I would deem as their most important player on offense, which is KJ. Hamler. KJ. Hamler left that Indiana game last week with an injury, and he's the explosive part of their offense. He has a 20-plus yard catch in 13 straight games.

And while their defense is starting to struggle a little bit, allowing 355 pass yards over the last couple of games to Minnesota and Indiana, I look at their ability to be explosive on offense as the most important part of this game. And if Hamler's not on the field, I just don't see it. So his status, which right now is unknown as kind of a questionable game time decision, I think that's where the game kind of lies for them. Hamler is so important. We saw that against Michigan when they were having a hard time moving the ball in the second half. And then Matt, he comes out and makes that huge play.

It's kind of lightning strike where he's able to get into the end zone. And that was the difference in the game. So Hamler's ability to be on the field and how effective he is, I think, is where the fate of Penn State rests this Saturday. A couple things in the local teams. Texas loses at Iowa State last week. What has happened? And I shouldn't say has happened because that's saying that things are under despair.

Because look, Texas can still get to the Big 12 championship game. But I would be safe to say that probably losing at Iowa State doesn't make the average Texas Longhorn fan particularly happy. What's going on? Why have they not been able to at least compete mono-a-mono with Oklahoma in the last couple of years? and I would think, assuming, the biggest problem, Joel, has been the fact that defensively, the Longhairs have just not been able to recruit the type of kids that Todd Orlando has been able to turn into the great players that he has in the past. Well, and that's, you know, that's, I've got to say, this is a conference that it's really tough to be a defense-first team. And I'm not saying that Texas is a defense-first team.

I'm just saying, like, it's really hard to dominate on defense in that conference. in particular when you have an already incredibly young defense and then a rash of injuries happen. That was a really tough hand that was dealt Texas specifically with the injuries, with the health factor, the secondary in particular. Having said that, I think what you're seeing right now is a program that won last year a lot of tight games. Remember, I think they played 10-1 possession games last year, and they were a 10-win team. So all of a sudden you get some young guys that are banged up, and you don't make a couple of the plays here or there, and what happens, you lose those games.

And this is where you kind of wind up. The turnovers have been an issue. I think that the offensive line play was not as good as what we saw late last year. That needs to get better. They need to start establishing a run game that is more consistent than what they have. currently. And until they do those things, they're not going to be able to compete at the top end of the Big 12. I thought this was going to be a year where Texas could kind of compete, i.e. with their quarterback and with the youth of their defense, maybe, you know, maybe next year is the year.

And unfortunately for them, guys like me early next year are going to be wanting to put them fairly high in the ratings and the rankings in my preseason. And yet I'm going to be gun shy because of what's happened over the course of this season. Last question. Do you give A&M a puncher's chance at Georgia this week? I don't think A&M's got the offense to go in there and score enough points. And the reason is Georgia is so good defensively. Georgia is number two in the country in scoring defense right now. And they can run the rock, man.

I tell you, DeAndre Swift is very good. I just don't think Texas A&M is a team that's going to win this game. I don't think that they're going to be. What do they have LSU next week, I believe? and there's, you know, what did I tell you the first week of the season? Do you remember? You always, I don't know, verbatim, no, I don't have an answer for you. Texas A&M is going to finish 7 and 5.

Well, yeah, but I could have told you that four weeks, I think it's like six weeks ago. This was a crash course towards 7 and 5, but I'll give you credit if you really said it in the first of the year. I'll give you credit. There you go. Let me ask you this real fast. We're late for a break, but I don't care your good information. Jimbo Fisher, 10 years, $75 million. Tom Herman's making crazy money.

Jim Harbaugh making crazy. Everybody's making, Joel, crazy money. Not everybody's going to win 10 games every year. Is college football extraordinarily flawed with the crazy, crazy money that it's being spent on these coaches? When in reality, 10 wins just can't happen every year. It just can't. Somebody's going to be disappointed. That's a great point.

And I'm sorry to do this, but let me just get a little bit in depth. I know you're late for a break. Here's the deal. Coaches are, presidents pay coaches not necessarily just for the wins and losses. So it's not just about getting to the 10 wins. Remember, it's about butts in the seats, and it's also about perception for your alumni, because that is the front porch to your university. TCU is a great example of this.

That was not a top 100 university in the country, and it wasn't necessarily a great academic university, in particular from a research standpoint in the year 2000. And then Gary Patterson has this crazy good run. And we lost Joel. I think his cell phone is timing out. Joe will leave it more for next week. I think he's just sick of you. But why does he drop it twice in the same?

You know what? Nick, tell him to get another prepaid card. Holy smokes. Oh, he's back. Oh, is he? All right. I'm going to tease him, but let me ask you this. Joe Clatt, Fox Sports, number one football analyst.

using a prepaid phone card. That's what I want to know. What's up with your phone? This is ridiculous. I use Verizon. I'm on the phone 5 in L.A. This is incredible. Anyways, that's the most important part, guys. Real quick, I was just going to say, like, the fact that these universities are relevant,

that their football programs are relevant, that the alumni likes what's going on, that's why these guys get paid such a high salary. It's invaluable to these universities from an academic standpoint. People don't quite realize that. I was given the TCU analogy, you know, that now TCU is a top 100 university. Now they have an admissions rate, you know, far lower from a percentage standpoint than they used to. Their average ACT score and SAT score has gone way up.

So the quality of their student has gone up. The number of applicants rise. And why is that? You can directly correlate that with football success. So that's why these guys are making so much money. That and the other factor, which is these athletic departments cannot operate at a 50 years. They're going to get way too late. So they operate at a deficit in order to not have to pay the players, which is why they have to spend all of their money,

and a lot of that goes to their head coach. Thank you, Mr. Clyde. We'll talk again next week. Thank you for the time as always. Joe Clatt, Fox Sports, on it from college football playoffs, to breaking the games down to giving us a reason why coaches bank crazy money for winning less than 10 games here. That's why we love him. This is Craig Vigio.

Vigio! Back to Matt Thomas on Sports Talk, 790. Oh, we're having some fun. Your home of the Stros. Thanks again to Joe Clap for joining us. Joel brought up a point, Ross. I don't know if I agree. I mean, I'm probably thinking he's right, but when Jimbo Fisher,

and I'm just using him as an example. I can say this for Tom Herman, I consider this for Dana Holgerson to a lesser extent at U of H. When you sign these players, these coaches to crazy contracts, and I think honestly the contract that Jimbo's is the craziest. It's craziest of all time. Do you ever think of it as, well, that kind of move makes us a more prestigious university? I don't think Aggie fans say 10 years, $75 million, have. helps us get better kids in here, boast our academic standings, puts us on a different marketing level. The moment the Jimbo Fisher signed a 10-year, $75 million contract, Aggie fans are like,

that better damn well get us to the national championship once in the next three or four years. That's how I see it. Am I wrong? No, I think it's both. I mean, yeah, they're saying if you're going to be here, you better win Jimbo. But that was a earth-shaking move when that happened. and it was, I want to say, a master's stroke for Texas A&M, but I mean, it was a pretty big coup, even though Jimbo Fisher apparently the word was he was getting the heck out of Florida State no matter what.

The fact that they poached a national championship winning coach away from a heritage program with, I mean, quite frankly, more history than Texas A&M could sniff at as far as college football history. I mean, that was a big time higher for sure. I think it up their level of prestige a little bit. Now, of course, two years later, the results on the field haven't necessarily bared that out, borne that out. You just can't be seven and five making $7.5 million a year, though. Well, he's going to be because it's guaranteed.

It's guaranteed to happen this year, but I'm just saying long term. If I'm trying to sell the border regions, I'm freaking Texas A&M, I don't need a, I don't need Jimbo Fisher to make my campus look. You know how hard it is to get A&M? It's really ridiculously difficult to get to Texas A&M. Excellent school. Great campus. Great legacy.

Strong alumni. If you're paying Jimbo Fisher $75 million, you want at least one, if not two, if not three SEC championships. And you want to be in the final four. You do. Well, you made the move to the big boy conference, so you've got to play the big boy games. You got to be better than Auburn, LSU, and Alabama,

in your own division. Jackie and Alvin on 790 at 126. Thanks, Jackie, for holding. Hey, Matt. Hi. Hey, I am just wondering why there has not been an outcry from the Astros players about this story about the cheating. And as a season ticket holder for both the rockets and the Astros, if there was a story that would be so far reaching and create such a stigma for our city's brand,

why is not Hinch for the players reaching out and saying this did not happen? You know, for something like this to happen, there would have to be so much collusion between players, coaches and such. To me, it would be a much bigger problem than, you know, just a couple of little moves. This is a big problem. So Jackie, let me get this straight. You want them to come out and say, this didn't happen. I can't believe our characters being assassinated.

This is an outrage. Yes. I mean, for me, I'm kind of taken a. back by the story in the first place. And, you know, if I was being called a cheater, I would want to say, you know, no, this is not who we are. Yeah. You know, so that's why I'm kind of wondering, does this story does not have legs? Does there no credibility to it?

Oh, I think it's just the opposite. I think silence is unfortunately very golden here. Maybe not gold. Maybe that's the term I would want to use. I think silence is everything. 713-212-5-790. Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson here. Your town, your teams, your voice all day.

This is Sports Talk 790. You're home for Houston Sports. Oh, how perfect is it that we welcome you back here to the Matt Thomas show that Kelvin Sampson liner plays before our next guest because every time I bring up my man, Kelvin Samson, the folks in Indianapolis, a little grumpy about him.

Hi, Derek Shultz, WNDD-E radio. How are things? Oh, God, his voice. His voice, even after all these years, Matt, that voice. I love that, man. I don't want to hear that. You know what?

What he did is completely and totally legal now. Yes. The quote-unquote rules he violated it's completely and total legally now. So look, here, and all kidding aside, Indiana fans are never going to forgive him for what happened. But really, he was just a bad fit in a guy that probably shouldn't have been fired. Probably shouldn't have been here in the first place. I don't think anybody's ever questioned that he's a terrific basketball coach.

So good for him for doing good things down there. 30 seconds more on non-cold stuff before we get to it. We obviously are engulfed in this Astros investigation. You're not in a major league city. You've got baseball, but you've got close teams. around. Is it a topic conversation on your show at all? I'm just curious. Not really. Baseball just doesn't really register here. This is very much a football and basketball market with a little sprinkle of racing when it's relevant. But yeah, it has been big enough

where at the very least we've touched on it on the show, but not enough to like spend four hours on it or have it be an a topic or anything like that. Okay. Now to the Colts, which is definitely a topic. And music to your ears. T. Y. Hilton's a full participant. He's a He's going to come to Houston, and he's probably going to do what he's done in years past, and that has terrorized folks at Energy Stadium. Was that accurate? Yeah, I don't think that anyone is surprised that he was going to be out there on Thursday because there's just no way that he wasn't going to be out there on Thursday.

The guy is kind of like Wolverine when it comes to his healing powers anyway, but this was a very serious calf injury. In fact, he said earlier this week when meeting with the media that when it happened, it was kind of a weird fluky play a couple of weeks ago. When it happened, he thought that his career might be. over. That's how much pain he was in, and that's how serious it was. But he wasn't going to miss this Houston game, especially in Houston. Everybody knows the track record. I'm not going to repeat it to your audience, Matt. You guys have probably been spending time on it all week.

Even if this is a 75 to 80 percent, a diminished T.Y. Hilton, just to have him out there as a decoy is a really big deal for this Colts offense because they're so banged up at wide receiver. And they're at the point now where the last couple of weeks, they've been putting guys out there like Zach Paskell and Chester Rogers. and Ashton Doolin and these guys that you've never heard of. In fact, people in Indianapolis have barely heard of. So to have Hilton back in any sort of capacity is a really, really big deal. Well, then the storyline for the game, clearly, Derek Schultz, WNDDE Radio, Indianapolis,

where this should be receivers you've never heard of against Texans cornerbacks you've never heard of because that is a beat-up group. So with that being said, could you envision this game being a 35-31 game, or do you think the Colts just from an offensive standpoint will use the ground game, despite the fact that Marlon Mack is out to their advantage? Yeah, they want to run, and that's not going to change even without Mac with the broken hand. And I'll be honest, Matt, I know what Houston fans are used to seeing from the Colts, kind of like the other teams in the divisions, like a prolific offense, a top-end quarterback.

That's not this Colts team. This Colts team has a very, very limited, and I'd go as far as to say, mediocre offense. Jacoby Reset had one of his best games of the year throwing the ball against Houston and that win in Indianapolis. He also had a really big first half against Atlanta. But outside of that, if you go back and you look at Jacoby Resett's lines over the course of this season, over the 10 games, I mean, he's throwing for like a buck 50, a buck 60. That's essentially what this offense is passing-wise. And part of that is because of the receiver injuries, so I'm not going to hang that all on Berset just being a more limited quarterback than Manning

or luck. I mean, that's obvious. But I don't think 35 or anything like that is a number that the Colts are going to try to reach. And I'm not sure unless things really broke the right way that they could get up into that range anyway. I think they want to do some of the same things that we've seen teams try to do against the Colts. And that's run the ball, be physical up front, control the clock, don't make mistakes, cash in the red zone opportunities. And if there is one good thing I could say about this offense, besides the fact that they can run and the offensive line has played pretty well, they've been one of the better red zone teams in the entire league

when they have gotten in there for the most part they've catch those in. Derek Shultz, WNDDE Radio with us on the Matt Thomas show. Derek Berset comes back last week against Jacksonville. It's the ground game as we just alluded to. Let me ask you this. If I was to and forget about the fans, if I was to

sneak into the front office into the locker room of the Colts, are they satisfied that Jacoby Berset is a long-term answer quarterback for Indianapolis? No, I still think that the jury is very much out. And that's part of the reason, Matt, that they gave him that two-year extension, which tacked on an extra year to his existing deal.

I think they wanted to give themselves more than just a season. They didn't want to put themselves in a, you know, Blake Bortle sort of situation, for lack of a better example, where, oh, suddenly, Brissette is pretty good. He's not great, but we got to throw him a wheelbarrow full of money because that's what you have to do to keep him. They wanted to give themselves as much time as possible to kind of sort this out and see exactly who they have. I think they're still optimistic that he could potentially be the answer. And Brissette is a beloved player in the locker room. He immediately became a leader. He was a leader

as a backup quarterback, which is unheard of, I think, in most NFL locker rooms. So he has a lot of positive attributes. It's just when you're in a city that's used to seeing Andrew Luck for seven or eight seasons, and then, of course, Peyton Manning for 15, the bar is much higher than normal. If I were to place him in the NFL as far as ranking the 32 quarterbacks, even in an injury played year like this one, I'd probably put him firmly in the middle, somewhere in the 12 to 15 range, which is good. It's been enough to keep the Colts hanging around. Is it good enough to bring a Lombardi trophy here? Probably not, unless you got into like a Joe Flacco fluke situation because we have seen that before. do you think when you guys talk about your team who's one of the amc south when you just

flat out ask yourselves that question who's winning it the Colts feel really confident especially given their history against Houston and the fact that generally this has been a matchup but you know the last three games clearly that has gone in their favor i know they ended up losing the overtime game in indy but they won the other two in houston and it's weird Matt, because what happened in like 2005 or 2009 has absolutely nothing to do what happened with 2019, but there's still a mentality here in Indianapolis where I don't feel like the fans take the other division team seriously, as they should, because this, you know, let's be honest, this team dominated this division for a long time, but it's been a long time since they were the dominant force in this division, and people are still,

oh, it's just Houston, oh, it's just Jacksonville. Tennessee doesn't count because the Colts absolutely own Tennessee, and that's a free role every time they play them. But the other division teams, I think they still kind of scoff at an overlook, and we've tried to say on the show, hey, look, now you're facing Houston, you don't have the quarterback advantage anymore. This is a talented roster, Jacksonville, with some of the young talent that they have, and it's kind of hard to get the fans to kind of get out of that manning and luck mode

when they were used to rolling out of bed and winning the division every year. But I still think that there's specifically to this year, Madden to your question, I do think that there's a lot of confidence that if they win this game, especially that they're going to be in that spot. And I mean, I don't think it's going on that far of a limb. I know we still got a month and a half to go to say that the winner of this game ends up winning the division. I'd be surprised if it went the other way. And I think actually, Indianapolis' schedules a scotch easier the rest of the way, too. Last question, because I always feel like that we take care of our own coaches, either

crush them or love them more than outsiders do. We happen to believe that Frank Reich is the best coach in this division. I don't know if that's a super big prize or not, but how do you, when you watch the Colts week after week, evaluate the head coach in his overall performance? Yeah, he's done a great job. And part of the reason that he's done a great job is that he has the right mindset and he doesn't play scared.

He's very aggressive. And you guys saw that last year with that fourth and five decision in the overtime where he could have punted it and taken the tie. And he said, no, we're just going to go for it. And he caught a lot of grief for that. But more often than not, being more aggressive and playing to win instead of playing not to lose is what you want to do. And I take it and you see him week to week. What I've always gathered from Bill O'Brien is that he's a little bit more in the Chuck Bagano camp where,

oh, hey, it's fourth and two. Yeah, I know we're on their side of the field, but we better punt this away and trust our defense. And I just don't think that that's the mentality that wins in today's NFL. and Reich has also shown a ton of confidence in his players. They love him, and it's been backed up by his actions, and I think that's important. I think there's a difference between a coach who players like because he doesn't throw them under the bus, or he speaks glowingly about him, kind of like what we had in Chuck Pagano, and a guy that actually backs that up with his actions, and Frank Wright kind of hits that from both ends.

So I think he's done a great job. This has been a very banged-up team, and this is still a rebuild. They're not calling it that, but that's what this is. They had to overhaul this roster over the last two years. And so they're still in the infancy of what they're trying to build towards. And they've been very competitive. They had a great season and a great second half last year, and they're right in the mix in the division this year,

despite obviously a very strange quarterback situation that they had to deal with back in August. Great materials. Always, my friend, I'll talk to you in your show in a couple of hours. Thanks for the time. Yeah, I just hope there are no trash cans on the sidelines that, you know, the players can bang and things like that because I just want to make sure that this game is above board that there's no shenanigans going on coming up tomorrow night. That's all, Matt.

Too soon, Derek. Too soon. Did he hang up on me? Yeah, I'm going to right now. Bye. Derek Schultz, WNDE Radio. We're going to have to catch this crap for a long time from freaking Indianapolis of all cities.

O'y. Left side to Westbrook on the baseline for the tie. He makes it. And he's fouled. This is Russell Westbrook. One thing is for sure, I did not get my amazing style from Matt Thomas. Oh, Hammer job! Rude.

I would like someday, Ross, for this show to be, hey, I listen to Matt Thomas, great sports commentary, good sense of humor, styles, and profiles. Nope. Don't get you that. That's you? I would hope. Okay. the way, did you hear Derek Schultz? When we were talking about Frank Wright, the coach of the Colts,

he spoke lovingly of his coach. What's that like? I don't know. It's probably what we are with the basketball and football team. I mean, basketball and baseball team. Yeah, we love our manager. We like Mike Danone. We love AJ Hinch.

I mean, the results are there. Do you know the only time I ever, winning Kansas City was nice, beating up Jacksonville? Do you know the only time consistently we kind of love on Bill O'Brien is when he's going against Doug Marone? That's it. The only guy that he can, that also plays checkers. Because we know when it's a go, you go up against John Harbaugh or Bill Belichick, they're playing chess. Yeah.

He's like, you know what? I'm going to go play Blackjack. No, Blackjack would be, what's a good, what's a simple card? Go fish. How about that? It's like when you get crushed at like the, the, the, Belagio, so you just head on down to the Orleans or you go downtown in Vegas

and just try to take it easy for a little bit. That's what going against Doug Maron is like for Bill O'Brien. You step down in competition. It's not a challenge. It's kind of a, you know what? We're afforded two gimmies. Yeah, let's just go to the O'Shea's and get a couple of $2 Miller lights and call it a day.

And I'm not trying to tease on A&M because A&M is a great campus. You don't much I love the Aggies. But you're a huge closet Aggie. I do like the Aggies. I'm not lying to you on this. Of course. But point being is it. When Bill O'Brien are the Aggies,

when he has to go against Georgia and LSU and Alabama, he's always going to lose. Okay? When you play Texas State to open up the year, you're always going to win. Doug Marone is the Texas State to Bill O'Brien's A&M. Hmm. Yeah, I just went college slash pro reference on you there.

I feel like they're more on an even playing field, though. I don't know. I feel like that Bill O'Brien's had Moron's number for most of his career. I guess. Has he not? But, I mean, I don't feel like he's that many classes above. I don't know. I'm telling you, Ross, that first game of the year, and granted, it did come down to a winning kick in the very end.

But I was sitting on the Jacksonville side of NRG Stadium and watching the demeanor of, at that time, Jalen Ramsey, hating, not Jailen Ramsey, who was the former corner back for the Jaguars now at the Rams. Uh, yeah, Jalen Ramsey. Is it Jailenler? Okay, it is Jalen Ramsey. Uh, watching him just berate his head coach in front of every one of his teammates. I was like, he's like, I don't trust you, I don't like you. We are, we are stuck in neutral.

You suck. Well, who's been to more AFC championship games? Oh, I knew you were going to bring that up. Just saying. He was, if he didn't sit on the football on that second half of that game, he had gone to the Super Bowl. But that's why he's Doug Barone. You can't say if he would have made this good coaching decision, he'd be in the Super Bowl.

He made a bad coaching decision. So he's not that great of a coach. But how much of that was Blake Bortles? How much of that was the team relying on Blake Bordel? No, they played not to win. They played not to lose in that game, for sure, though. They got up big in that first half, and then they tried to sit on the football. Do you remember that Buffalo Jacksonville wild card game that year?

Vaguely. I think they were like 15 punts between the two teams. Oh, yes. Yes. It was like one of the worst Walt Kart games in the history of Wal-Kor. I remember that. Yes, you're right. Now I'm depressed again.

I need something to uplift me in the final hour of this radio show. I got a good non-Florida story. Oh, you do? I'm going to San Antonio for the story this week. I feel pretty good about that. I've got a number of options and also, what's believe it or not, Matt? This is what you say, get the crickets. Yeah.

All things, Ambassador Sondland. Oh, God. No, we're not doing the Ukraine. This dude, I don't know who he is. I mean, obviously he's an ambassador. He has been on my television for like, what time is it now? 155. It started about 8 o'clock.

In fact, five or six hours. Could you imagine just sitting there and you're on every television network being, well, first of all, Republicans are crushing him. The Democrats are like, we know we got this. Just being asked the same question in. different fashion 25 or 30 times. I'm telling you, Ross, why would you want to be in politics? It just wouldn't want...

Why would you want to get involved with any of it when you know at some point? What? I'm you kidding. I'll take some of that Goldman Sachs cash. I'll be a corporate puppet. Let's go. You're going to have to write a book about this first. Come on, NRA and Lockheed Martin and Goldman Sachs.

Give me some cash, baby. Put me in office. There are two things I'm not going to do. Get into politics and be a female NBA referee. Hmm. Okay. That poor woman that was working in her night. Yeah. I mean, she's a newbie, and those players knew that.

Ooh. Yeah, because you get the court, was that the home game? Yeah. You get the court side. Look, you get more of the banter and the talk than most people who are up in the stands. Uh-huh. I'm just saying she gave out two technicals, Ross. She could have given out 11.

Wow. And that might be the case for every new NBA referee. But there's, you know, I'm telling you, I don't know if I'm in, look, again, if you, if you grew up wanting to be an official, you're, you're in Mecca because you're doing it the NBA level. But why would any woman, I'm not trying to be sexist, I'm just trying to be real here, why would any woman want to spend her life traveling around the country, especially if you're young at the job, and just get crushed for every call that you make, whether it's

right or right. wrong. And obviously she's doing enough things right that she's fishing at the highest professional basketball level in this country, right? In the world. In the world for that matter. But damn, I was like, God, y'all are tough on her. And I don't know if she's good, bad, or indifferent. I don't sit there and spend time staring at officials. But every call, they were just, I mean, I wouldn't say screaming at her, but every call was questioned. And at some point, you're thinking to yourself, what the hell am I doing? Why? I mean, the job pays well. What does an NBA official make me?

Two, three hundred thousand dollars maybe at a young level early on? That's good money, really good money. But Ross, I mean, could you imagine being yelled at your job every single day you do your job? I just try to Google this. You probably should. A very wide range. It says anywhere from 150 to 550? Depending on work experience. Are there's refs making half a million? Damn. Forget what I just said. Good luck to her. Seven one three, two, one, two, brothers making a half a million. What's going on here? Oh, let me tell you. Let me tell you. Scott Foster, Tony brothers are each making a half million.

There's no doubt in my mind about this. Half million dollars to get all these calls wrong. I can do that. But how about you? Half million dollars a year. But you are, you are being screaming and yelled at at at least, what, 75 times a year? You are being booed by thousands of people. 75 times a year. Go home to your wife and get that done for free, though. Well, think about this. At least you're getting paid to do it.

That's what I'm saying. Final hour, the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. 713-212-5-790. Can we have a happy last hour? Because the Astro stuff's depressing me. The fact that we never speak longingly of Bill O'Brien, except when he's facing Doug Marone makes me sad. Did you hear it in the voice, folks?

Frank Reich is beloved in Indianapolis. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a beloved NFL coach? So happy thoughts in a final hour of the Matt Thomas show. How about this Rockets Nuggets game? 713-212-5-7-99. Yes! Is the Matt Thomas Show. Final hour of the Matt Thomas Show here from Denver, where it's about to snow.

Houston. That's the home of Rossville to react. pro niclo yourself and sports RV let's get to what makes us happy in this final hour of the show because I feel like we've been largely doom and gloom the last handful of days

because the Texans blinked the bed in Baltimore we have our Astros team under a massive investigation which by the way there is no timetable on this right they can probably take this to February if they wanted to yes uh ticket to February

right Why should they be any hurry? That seems like you're kind of drawing it out at that point. Hope they don't call me. Thomas, what do you know? I know nothing. Hold on. What do you know, Matt? I know nothing.

How'd you just get yourself involved in this? You know what I will do? I'll lie for my Astros. What am I going to do? I'm not going to go work. I'm not going to work for Major League Baseball. I will say everything that you're hearing about the Astros is made up because people are jelly. Snitchie gets stitches.

Snitches get stitches. tell it to Mike fires tell it to the disgruntled scouts that got fired a couple years back there's always somebody there's always somebody that's disgruntled or gets rubbed the wrong way and has a vendetta

and especially in these situations chicken's coming home to roos bobby let's run through the gamut of possible happy things to talk about this hour we have Florida stories not Florida stories at 230 which oh we

we love our segment on that right Texas bowl projections. You're ready to go? What are you catching up on the potential Texas University of Texas Bull projections? Well, the last ones I saw were Liberty Bowl. You know, Memphis is not bad around the first year. Yeah, maybe I'll go.

I'm off the, I'm off at the end of the year. I think you should go. It's not, Memphis is underrated town. I've never been to Memphis. I've never been in Nashville either. How far away is that? Three hours, I think. Okay, I can hit both in a weekend then.

Yeah, it's a little, yeah. can run a little sketchy, to be honest with you, depending on what street you're on. But generally speaking, it's a good town. Okay. I'll just stay with Penny Hardaway. He's not doing much. He certainly isn't keeping eligible players.

All right. My Cougars have decided that we don't need to be in a bowl game this year. Yeah, I'm seeing Autozone Liberty Bowl versus SMU. Oh, the Shane Bouchel Revenge game. Now, I would

watch that. Or the Alamo Bowl. Against? The rematch of the other two years. It'd be Clay Hilton's last game. He might not even be coached the bowl game. It's true. Do you think, you know, I don't know how much people pay attention to the national college scene, but

there is half a group of people that want Urban Meyer to become the next hip-pop-ball coach at USC. And no matter where he's gone, urban, he has left a trail of, let's just say, less than spectacular character behavior among his student athletes. Is that right? Yeah. Ohio State with the coaching situation, with all the problems with the players when he was in Florida. But what does he do? He wins.

And he's going to take over your department, and he's going to run it like a dictatorship, and he is going to be the most. important person on campus. Half the people in America, not half a minute, half people at USC want Clay Hilton fired so Urban Meyer can come in there and fix USC like he's fixed Ohio State and like he fixed Florida. I mean, he has a proven track record. Urban Meyer, Ross, would you say would go down as one of the 10 most successful coaches in college football history? I would say so, Matt, but I'm also zoning out because I'm planning my Alamo Bowl trip for December 30 of first. That'll be my, I don't think that'll be my fourth Alamo Bowl, I think. Well, it should be just called the Texas invitation.

It'd be December 31st, right? Who wants to spend New Year's Eve in San Antonio? Oh, you could do that easily. Well, okay, can I be completely 100% honest with you? Why not? One time I did go to the Alamo Bowl on December 31st, and it was me and a couple of buddies, and so for New Year's we went to a strip club. Okay, well, I don't know why you think December 31st is any other outside of normal day for you,

because you go to strip clubs in every city in America. That's not true. How many have you been to in the last six months? The last six months? I think zero. Okay. Proud of you. You're lower your ratio.

Last year, maybe once. Okay. Maybe twice. So, first of all, no one's shaming you for going to a strip club in San Antonio. Yeah. And a friend of mine got, he got a lap dance from a girl who had just gotten spray tan. So his pants got all, he was orange all over his entire body. One thousand one.

1,003. I mean, can you go back to her and say something at that point? Can you go to her and be like, hey. Urban Meyer? Because I just don't want to get into orange and what stuff that is led on your clothes. I want to talk more about the moral dilemma of somebody getting their spray tan all over you when it's a stripper. She should pay him some restitution. You cannot be going out.

If you just got yourself a fresh spray tan, you can't go out and get into lap dances and getting all over other people and ruining their clothes. Okay. Okay, let's be brutally honest. So the guy's shirt and shorts and pants or whatever he's wearing gets a little stained. You get to take it the dry cleaner. They're $3 each. For $6, it's just like a surcharge on top of the left. I want restitution.

You expect to get glitter on you. You expect to get some kind of combination of stinky sweat and perfume, but you don't expect to get spray tan, Matt. What are you looking for a PayPal account after each lap dance? Yeah, can she VINMO? Well, the VINMO wasn't possible. back in those days. All right.

Such the life of Ross and his buddies worrying about getting spray-tanned debris on their clothes. After being drunk at the Alamo Bowl. By the way, those beers can't be cheap at the Alamo Bowl. No, they're in. They're not. A couple of bucks. I don't really remember the fourth quarter of the one against Oregon State in 2012. Well, okay, back to a more important point.

Don't you think it's nice that my school has elected not to go to a bowl game this year because we want others to experience what it's like to go to a bowl game? Is that what is it? Is that what it is? Yeah. Yeah. You guys are tanking. You're tanking the season.

We as a university have decided that it's fair for others. It's good for SMU to get a chance. It's good for Tulane to get a chance. It's good for some other schools that don't normally go to bowl games to go to bowl games. So we're giving the gift of bowl availability. And letting you just get your ass kicked up and down the field and basically choking away the season so that you can preserve your quarterback for the next year. Or maybe he'll transfer.

Break time here on the Matt Thomas show. Sorry, we can't get any further on that. By the way, Dana Holgerson will be on the program tomorrow at 1.30 plus Dr. Roto for a half hour visit. So, all right. So we've given you good news of U of H being polite and giving up a bowl opportunity. We have Ross's dilemma whether he should go watch his Longhorns battle in San Antonio or in Memphis. And then we have whether or not a woman should give her Venmo account out if she uses her spray tan, left over low. on a dude. And we have the Rockets and Nuggets tonight. I'm just saying that might be the topic of positive conversation. 713-212-5-790.

7-13-212-5-7-90. On the trail, it's hard. Then he drops it down with a left-hand hammer. This is Coach Dan Tony. Matt Thomas is a great guy. And I always listen to the radio show. On mute. What a shot.

Thanks, Coach. Rockets and Nuggets tonight here in Denver, Colorado. So you name five nuggets? Yeah, he's always rude to me. Can you name five nuggets? Jamal Murray, Nicola Jokic, um, man, I'm starting to run out of steam.

That's fine. I mean, I'm not judging you. Paul Millsap? Yep. That's right. Oh, hold on. Let me think. All right, it ain't three.

That's solid, right? No, no, I think the average Houston. Estonian can't name more than three nuggets. Okay. Good. I'm not talking about chicken. I'm just talking about just general nuggets. Gary Harris, Will Barton.

Okay. Wancho Arnon Gomez, whose brother Willie is also the NBA. Yeah, I'm looking at the roster three is where I was going to tap out. And there's always a plumbly on every Western Conference roster, too. That's very true. When in doubt, you go with a plumbly. Your thoughts on Jared Vanderbilt, Matt. Doesn't play much.

Second year out of Kentucky. He's one of those guys as one. of those one and done's that goes to Kentucky for one year and winds up getting drafted high and then doesn't do squat. Jared Vanderbilt sounds like the name of like some kid with a hedge fund and like he just drives crazy in his BMW and has like an alcohol and maybe other drugs problem. Yeah, Jared Vanderbilt is not an NBA player. Jared Vanderbilt is playing living life off of his daddy's. Right. Meanwhile, I got like Malik Beasley.

Now Malik Beasley plays back. basketball. You know what I'm saying? Paul Millsap plays basketball. Jared Vanderbilt's at the country club. Yeah, I know exactly. All right. 713-212-5-790. If you'd like to join our conversation, we have Florida story, not Florida stories coming up at the bottom of the hour. Did you see today, Ross, in Pittsburgh, that Mason Rudolph apologized for his actions in the Pittsburgh Cleveland game last. I did see that, and that surprised me a little bit, actually. You know why he did it, I think, Ross? Because I think if he didn't do it, he would have lost his locker room. I think quarterbacks rely on their linemen to have their back. Clearly, that did happen with Pittsburgh, but I also think that some of them said,

you know what, you trying to go from Miles Garrett's helmet was a Bush League move, and it could have all been avoided if you guys would have just gotten up like regular grown-ass men and not had terrible fight over it. And I think he's apologized. I think, frankly, he thinks, in my mind, he thinks he's lucky he didn't get suspended for a game because he helped start this bad boy thing. So he read a statement, it was prepared. That's fine.

I like from the heart not having to worry about a script, but not everybody's built the same way. But he didn't have to do it, so he did. So I think he's trying to get back in some good graces with people around the NFL. And I think he frankly, again, he should be very lucky he did not get a suspension himself for his actions. against the Cleveland Browns. But as we mentioned, Matt, the most severe penalty that the Steelers could suffer was Mason Rudolph having to start the game. Yeah, if you really wanted to punish the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers, you'd say, all right, Roger Goodell, what are you going to do about Mason Rudolph?

Well, we're going to ask him he has to throw the ball 25 times in a game. Yes. He had four interceptions in that game, I think. That's probably what he was really pissed off about. Because Mason Rudolph, when he throws 16 passes, he can't get you in that much trouble. He throws 25, you're doomed. Heavy dose of James Connor. What happened to Pittsburgh?

Is it just Rothsberg's injury? They used to be always, you could never win a game there. They were always on the cusp of winning an AFC championship. They've always had one of the best offensive lines in football that hasn't been the case this year. So, I mean, it just hasn't been there from the start. But they did go to that stretch. And they went like three in a row or three out of four or something like that? Yeah, I mean, they're back, I guess they're sort of in it.

I don't know. It just feels like to me when you really get into the conversation about the AFC, it's a lot of New England. It certainly is a lot of Baltimore. I think Kansas City has its mojo back. Oh, my gosh. I'm looking at their schedule, though. They're five and five right now.

You've got Bingles, Browns, Cardinals, Bill, Jets. Wait a minute. So those last six again? Bingles? When? Browns. Home. Where's the game?

Home? Win. At the Cardinals. Win. Home for the Bills. Loss. That's 3 in 1. At the Jets.

I say win, 4 and 1. And then home for the Ravens. So you got them at 9 and 7. That should be good enough to win a wild card in the AFC. I don't know. The Bills are 7 and 3. But listen to every win that the Bills have. Jets,

Giants, Bengals, Titans in a 14 to 7 game, dolphins, Redskins, dolphins. And what do they have left? Broncos, Cowboys,

Ravens, Steelers, Patriots, Jets. It's going to get a little tough. Okay, so let's say they go two and four. That puts them at 9 and 7. Mm-hmm. Is that the bar, Matt? Well, for the AFC Wad card,

it might be the bar. Yes, it is. I think so. that's a thing gang nine and seven might get you a walchart which here's the thing ross as much as we're trying to sell the city on the

this is for the afc south championship maybe the texans don't have to win the next two games then they would then win four in a row to put them at 10 and six which would then do what for them

be a walled card team mm-hmm you know what In all honesty, as bad as the game against the Baltimore Ravens was on Sunday, we need to prepare for playoff football in this town. Because the bucks are terrible. The Denver Broncos are terrible. The Titans, let's say you split with that.

That puts you at 9 and 7. And my guess is you've got some wild cards in a mix, right? I mean, you've got some tiebreakers that would probably be to your advantage, yes? Because one of your losses, is to the who your losses to in the out of conference. You lost to Carolina. You lost to New Orleans. So those inter-conference games don't hurt nearly as much when it comes to tiebreakers when it comes to AFC.

So two of your seven losses are out to teams in the NFC. So you're in a good spot there too. Yeah, the Texans are making the playoffs. The Texans are making the playoffs. Playoffs. Now, they're making the playoffs. and is it going to necessarily get everybody fired up for a Saturday 3 o'clock start when you're the early game yet for like the 19 consecutive?

You know how we always tease about how the Longhorns always play in the Animal Bowl? The Texans always get the first Saturday slot. It's like their right of passage. Yeah, that's going to happen. If you are a football outsiders guy, which I am, I don't know if you are, Matt, they have their playoff odds at 55.7% for the Texans right now. And that feels like that's a little low, being truthful, because those last four games are dogs. You just can't screw up and lose twice to Tennessee.

They might lose once to Tennessee. Tennessee just, I mean, they're such up, they're a very up and down team as well. Yeah, they're going, but the Texas are going three and one in the last four games. I feel just about guaranteed I can feel that with ultimate confidence in telling you they're going to end the year winning three out of four, which then means. They're at minimum 9 and 7. And that's when you hope they can beat the Colts tonight or tomorrow. Then, well, maybe show up against New England. They had them at 70% before losing last week.

Okay. I don't know. I'm telling you, I'm not saying it's 100, but with those dog games coming up in the end of the – unless you just – you don't show up for Denver. Now, hell, Minnesota almost lost to Denver this past week. It took a 20-point comeback to make that happen. I can't imagine the Texas being in that position.

I mean, they could very well lose to tomorrow night and then to the Patriots as well. And then where are you? I mean, you're six and six. And they're going to three and four to go to nine and seven. Yeah. And that's what they're going to do. And that doesn't guarantee you, that doesn't guarantee you an AFC wild card spot. That's when you have to start rooting highly against the Pittsburgh of the world.

In the Buffalo Bills and the Oakland Raiders. Oh, look at this group of teams we're putting the Texans in. Doesn't necessarily fire you up, does it? No. All right, we need y'all to help us judge our non-Florida stories. Every radio show in America gives you Florida stories. That's simplistic. That's a waste of time.

It takes creativity to find something happening outside of the state of Florida. Non-Florida stories coming up in a matter of moments. This is Ricky Williams. I may have worn a wedding dress on a magazine cover, but it still looks better than any outfit Matt can put together. Let your wife dress you, man. Texas five. Texas five.

Back to Matt Thomas on Sports Talk, 790. Our weekly non-Florida story segment starts right now. Last week, we had a really gross story from Nick, which usually is every week, right? And this week will be no different. Let's let you go first get it out of the way so we can at least try to salvage some part of the audience. Sure, absolutely. Have you ever been to the Yukon territory? isn't like the state of Connecticut, like store stores, yes.

No, is in Canada up by Alaska. No, but he used to play the Yukon Trail on my PC back in the day. Well, unfortunately, a legend has died. Yukon legend Dick Stevenson, a bartender in Canada's Yukon territory, known to his patrons as Captain Dick, has passed away at the age of 89. and his will well he requested that all ten of his toes

be donated for use in the cocktail that he invented called the sour toe the cocktail consists of a mummified human toe at the bottom of a whiskey shot and patrons at the downtown at the hotel in Dawson City are required to allow the toe to touch

the tips of their lips in order to qualify as actually successfully having consumed the cocktail. This is gross. Death, defecation, or dismemberment. Well, they do, they did not initially expect a lot of people to partake in this shot, but it's actually climbed to over 100,000 people that have actually successfully completed the sour-toe cocktail. And how do they make this, you ask?

They do have toes. They currently have a stockpile of six toes. three of those donated by British endurance athlete Nick Griffiths who lost his digits to Frostbite. Oh, okay. But soon they're going to have ten more as the inventor of the cocktail himself has donated all of his toes to be mummified and then used in his cocktail. And that's my story. So that's the story. What is wrong with you, Nick?

His toes will be ready by next spring, they say, if you want to go try it. I wonder what kind of... Are you not a hugged as a child? What kind of deprave things happen to you and you? your youth. Nothing. My childhood is very normal. What did the Navy do to you, Nick?

I drank a lot, I guess. Nick, is that steakhouse keeping you on your feet too long? No. No, that's pretty easy work, actually. Rose. So Nick's story, for those of you playing at home, if you're going to help us decide who is the best four-story is toes and cocktails. Yeah, you've got to make sure you touch it to your lips, too.

That's important. That's handsome. Ross, I'm going to go next. July 2nd, well, let's go back a couple of months. Let's go back to May 2nd. A woman by the name of Jennifer Ann Mahula, she's 30 years old. She went to apply for a job at a flower store in San Antonio. Okay?

She did not get the job at the flower bucket store because apparently she had a police record related to other businesses who had items that turned up missing at these places that she worked. Well, so she didn't get the job, but she went back to the place that she went to apply for said job, and she wound up stealing plants and property. Jennifer Mahula stole more than

$1,300 worth of plants and property, including chocolates from the flower bucket. A witness recorded Mahula in the store and told police that Mahula started waving to him, quote, in a friendly manner twice as if they knew each other. Then the video footage showed,

that Mahula was taking things out of the business two months after not getting the job there. Apparently, police in San Antonio arrested Mahula after finding stolen chocolates in her car. Which, again, my thought is this. If you're really going to steal something, are you going to go to a flower store to steal flowers, plants, and chocolate?

That's your game? That is my San Antonio store. interesting woman goes to apply for a job at a store doesn't get it then robs him too much later stealing chocolates interesting you know in recent years

the bar in the yukon i was talking about has grappled with a spate of toe thefts since you're talking about stealing chocolate now they slap a fine of nearly two thousand dollars on anyone trying to swipe a toe just thought i'd add that in there all right well let me go let me take you to a little place

called Indiana, folks, where three judges, Andrew Adams, Bradley Jacobs, and Sabrina Bell have been suspended without pay for, quote, engaging in judicial misconduct by appearing in public in an intoxicated state and behaving in an injudicious manner and by becoming involved in a verbal altercation. So apparently, the three judges were hanging out and they were getting hammered at a bar. At about 3 a.m., they decided to go to a strip club called the

Red Garter in Indianapolis. Unfortunately, said strip club was closed. So then they went to White Castle. While at White Castle, two men passed in a vehicle, Alfredo Vasquez and Brandon Kaiser, and they parked their car

after a judge flipped off one of the people in the SUV. After they pulled over, there was a verbal altercation and then a physical altercation ensued among the four men, with Adams and Vasquez hitting and kicking each other as Jacobs and Kaiser wrestled on the ground. Then apparently one of the men in the SUV, Kaiser, pulled a gun and shot Adams once in the stomach and Jacobs twice in the chest. What? Adams and Jacobs were both seriously wounded and required emergency surgeries. Jacobs was hospitalized for two weeks.

The woman, Bell, tried to stop the fight by pounding on the door of the White Castle and asking for help and calling for 911 once shots were fired. While at the scene, Bell was recorded on video telling police detectives something to akin to saying, quote, I feel like this is all my fault, and she said she was intoxicated enough that she lacks any memory of the incident. The man who shot Adams and Jacobs, the judges, has been charged with 14 counts related to the brawl, including felony aggravated battery, according to the Indianapolis star. The judge started it. It sounds like the guys were driving by, and for whatever reason, they flipped them off, and they were hammered,

and so the guys pulled over, they started brawling, and then two judges got shot after they couldn't get into the Red Garter Strip Club at 3 a.m. in a White Castle parking lot. So really, it's the strip club's fault for not being open late hours for judges. I think I've heard of the Red Garter. We should ask Derek Schultz about the Red Garter. We should. And the White Castle.

All right. So there you have it. You have a... Is it an Alaska? Nick is where this toast cocktail can be found? Well, it's just next to Alaska in the Yukon territory of Canada. Okay. So you can go to a bar and suck on a guy's toes.

Oh, geez. But don't steal the toes. A woman gets arrested for stealing chocolates and flowers and plants from a plant's flower store that she applied for a job or Indiana judges get shot after not after being late to a strip club and trying to eat at the white castle So there were three judges two of them were males one more female yes she doesn't get shot but the two the male guys get shot Right, right? The two guys the two judges started rumbling with these random two guys in the SUV and one of them went and grab their gun and Well that ended the incident all right which of those three stories is your favorite non-Florida story.

Nick, you always win because yours is the grossest. It's a sound strategy. Ross is yours always the most salacious. Thank you, Matt. And I just look for where to rest. All right. Which of these stories are the best non-Florida story? 713-212-5-790.

7-13-212-5-7-9. Line one on the Instapole. Which of the three stories of the best? It's time to belly up to the bar and get a tow cocktail. Oh, geez. Okay. Y'all, don't feed this dog. Don't feed this rabbit dog.

He's going to get grosser with us weekly on this show. Line two, your favorite non-Florida story. I've got to go with Ross today. All right, Ross. The judge is parting too much in getting shot at a White Castle. Line three, your favorite non-Florida story. Here's just two roles. I'm going to go with Matt simply because the girl's name was Mahula.

Yeah, it is Mahula. M-A-H-U-L-A. Mahula. That's a three-way tie. We've never had a three-way tie on the old Instapole, have we? 7-1-3-21-5-7-90. Line 4, your favorite non-Florida story. You look like fat white, you old runner.

I'm going to give out that guy's number next time. I can do that. It's not against the law to do that, correct? I don't, I don't think it's good. I mean, I want to do it. There might be civil lawsuits involved with that. But he goes to Yul Brenner. Why would he, the guy, Yul Brunner's been dead for 30 years.

And Yul Brunner, I know that is. And Yul Brunner was handsome. And by the way, I'm much better looking than Yul Brunner is. Much better. Line one, favorite non-Florida story. Oh, man, I saw pictures of that female judge. She wasn't bad looking. I got you, Ross.

Thank you. Oh, Ross, you buried the lead on that. We got a hot female judge. She's kind of cute. Let's put her on the What's on Matt's Mind Show page. Line 2. It's gone. You know what, screw.

We're done. We've got to get a believe it or not in. I win. Ross, you win. You win. I'm fine with that. Thank you. You wanted to win, no, Nick.

You were like, you know what? I should have known. Now they're all calling in. Okay. It's too late. We're going to bring the music back. Ross wins. Oh, you want the music coming.

You want to... Okay, let's finish this quick. Line one, favorite non-Florida story was what? Captain Tojam. All right. I knew this will be a late comeback for Nick. I just knew this. This is the definitive vote right here.

The Houston Lunchtime Sports Conversation Most respected by head coach Bill O'Brien. I have a tremendous amount of respect for... Matt Thomas. In his career here in Houston. Of sorts. The Matt Thomas Show. So we're going to play.

Are we ready to play? That was my mistake. We're going to get started. Sure, why not? Let's get to it. Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do? We should play America's fastest-growing sports game show.

We simply called it. Be leaving it out. And here's how it works. Your call 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-7-90. Today's edition of Believe it or not is brought to you by Houston Woodhouse Day Spones. print out your gift card for the gift of relaxation at Houston Woodhouse Spas.com. The category today is all things about the Ukraine.

Ross, why are we talking about the Ukraine today? Well, it's not the Ukraine, Matt. They dropped that article back in 1991. It's just Ukraine. Or did they? Yeah, they did. I almost made that a question. I'll read your statement about Ukraine.

Statements completely utterly accurate. You'll say this. The erroneous full of bunk and made up, you will say this. Not. Two, believe it or not, and all things about Ukraine, win your prize. Ross, what's the prize? Matt, I got a pair of tickets to the inaugural game

of the new XFL team, the Houston Roughnecks February of next year at T-DECU Stadium. Tickets are on sale for season ticket packages starting as low as $100. Go to XFL Roughnecks.com. Let's play. Will on 790.

You ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. The official language of Ukraine is Russian. Believe it or not. Not. Not. It's actually Ukrainian. Statement number two for the win. Ukraine is one of the poorest countries in the entire world. There is deep, widespread poverty throughout the country. Believe it or not.

Not. Believe it. Yeah, it isn't very successful. Thanks for playing in Ohio. Let's go to Corey on 790. Corey, what was your favorite part of the radio show today? I think I liked it when that guy called you fat white, Kelly Savalas. It was actually Yul Brenner. 713-212-5-790. Renee is gone.

Let's go to Jason on 7-90. Jason, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Jason, good luck to you. Ukraine's national slogan is, I'm not reading this. Hello. Here we go. Ukrainei, Nislava, Nivalva, which translates to the glory and the will of Ukraine have not died.

Believe it or not. Not. Believe it. If you think I'm going to read that whole statement and not be true, you're nuts. I had to. He didn't have to do anything. James on 790, ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it.

The population of Ukraine is about 42 million people. Believe it or not? Not. Believe it. It is, sorry. Looks like it be an easy day for old Nicholas here. Line number one. Ron on 790. Ron, you're ready to play, believe it or not?

The facsimile or fax machine was invented in Kiev, Ukraine in 1964. Believe it or not? Not. Statement number two for the win. At what point Ukraine had the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world behind the United States? the United States and behind Russia. Believe it or not.

Believe it. Believe it. Believe it is correct. You go to the XFL opener. Congratulations. One more contestant belongs to Greg on 790. Greg, your favorite part of the radio show today. I enjoy it all, Matt.

I mean, every day is a killer. You hit it every day, so loved it. Thank you very much. It's very nice you to say. Ukraine was deeply affected by the Russian famine of 19, 21 where nearly 5 million people died. Believe it or not. Believe it.

Believe it. Believe it is right. Congratulations. Kind of a somber topic to give away a prize, but, you know, it is the game. All right, before we wrap things up, we'll remind you about... I think 1921 indeed is too soon. Thank you very much for your contributions on that. Let me remind you about Beck and Master Buick GMC.

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honoring the Houston Police Foundation because of the... folks at Beck and Maston believe in are proud sponsors of the HPF. For blackout savings all month long, go to the number one sales volume dealer, and they have been that way in our Houston area for now 20 years. Beck and Maston, Buick, GMC, 45 in Fukuay, FM-1960 and Jones Road, and online at Beckinmaston.com. I will talk to you guys tonight for Rockets and Nuggets. The launch pad with Ross Filder Real at 7.

Network pregame at 730, tip time. o'clock the A team is up next where they will get into deep conversations about the Ukraine and the Rockets and the Nuggets have a great rest of your day talk to y'all tonight here on Sports Talk 7th.