The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 12-5-19

Episode Date: December 5, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 12/5/19Goodbye Jake Marisnick (0:00)It's A Trap! (41:24)Canadian Candy (1:14:04)Dr. Roto (1:24:50)

Much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers. Is the Matt Thomas show. 1201 in H-town. What's happening? Lunch timers, as Matt Thomas would say. But Matt Thomas is not here.

But it's still the Matt Thomas show. He is out. Jet setting around. He's in Toronto right now. What do you think Matt Thomas is doing at this exact moment, Brian Smith of the Chronicle here with me. I'm going to say he's eating a shrimp cocktail

and getting a pedicure at this exact moment. It's some five-star Toronto Hotel. I don't know where they stay in Toronto, but I'm sure it's very nice. I just received a secretly encoded text from that. I know exactly what he's doing. He's proofreading the rocket's planned protest with the NBA and he has final say over Tillman and Daryl and Tad, Matt Thomas will have the final word and what he says goes before that protest is filed with the NBA.

Beautiful. About James Hardin's don't. So the Rockets can have a win handed to them by the NBA. That's what Matt Thomas is doing. Matt Thomas took a couple of courses of law school, so I'm sure he's very well prepared to write a statement like that. But you know what? Yes, we do got to get to the Rockets and their protests. We'll talk about Thursday at football.

We got a lot of things to get to here. I'm getting a little choked up. Are you crying? I got a little choked up. Because I think I know it's coming, and it is serious business. I called you here today for a bitter bad noon. Ross, are you okay? No.

I won't be able to see you anymore because of my obligations. Check. And the ties that you have. Ross, do you need some tissues? I've been meeting here every day. And since this is our last day together, I want to hold you.

Yes. Just one more time. When you turn and walk away, don't look back. I want to remember you. Just like this. Listen to that sweet baseline. Let's just kiss and say goodbye.

Jack Marisnick is trying. Straighted away to the Mets. If you want to get in and say some words for Jake, 713, 2,1, 2,5, 790. 713, 2, 1,000, 790. Jake, we'll always remember your inability to hit breaking balls. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, sorry. No, no, no, do not ruin this moment. No low blows.

Don't be a smart ass. I'm laying out the fact. Don't be a smart. Are you new here? What? No. Do not be smirch the goal. locked

or more like dark-haired Yeah, that's fine. But it's like flowing locks. We'll remember I remember the glove, man. Your ability to hit over 250. No, don't be a bleep.

We'll remember, okay. Do you know how many people are upset right now? The prodigious power, hitting power, the diving plays, the run saved, the defensive metrics that I had no clue about that I had to try to read about you

to figure out while you were a productive player. The breaking of rude right now. The breaking of, catchers faces. Yes. That is kind of funny that Jake was like the nicest guy in the world and he also just took someone out at home plate. Such a sweetheart.

So beautiful. And of course most of all will remember those flowing locks. Jake Mariznick. Jay Morsick, very little known fact. 2015 Astros make the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Jake Marizan had 24 stolen bases that year. Did you know that? No, I didn't know that. That's pretty serious.

Like nobody steals 24 bases anymore. And he had that one year when he got hurt. Was it 17 when he was turning it around at the plate and he was getting it all going? That's a career high, 16 home runs that year. Yes. Other things that I'm going to miss about you, Jake, it's the annual spring training story about how you've retooled your swing. You don't get to write that this year. Sorry, Brian.

I didn't write that. Chandler wrote that. You know somebody's like... Chandler and Jake wrote that. Somebody's like, dang, I don't get to write that Jake Marisnick retooled his swing story this spring training. I've done it every year for the last six years. Jake was a fantastic guy to deal with. He will be made.

He will be missed. Yes, he will. We don't normally take calls. The call boards are already right now. We don't normally take calls in the first segment. It's time. But you know what? We have to throw caution into the win.

It's not time to have regular radio tropes. It's time to mourn. Sherry. Would you like to say a few words about Jake, Sherry? Yes, I would. I am going to miss him as much as anyone in Houston. More probably. He is the cutest player on that thing.

I know. But he is an amazing outfielder. His enthusiasm is contagious. And I'm getting missing. I'm very disappointed in the Astros, not keeping him. You know, Sherry, yeah, I know. And the worst part is he's going to, his playing time is going to replace by Kyle Tucker, who looks like an ostrich.

I'm not, no. Oh, my gosh. You're kidding me. Are you serious? I'm serious, Sherry. I'm serious about this. I think this is a bigger scandal. I mean, in terms of how they've affected the fan base,

by far than the sign stealing and the trash cans, fans care much, much more about them just coldly, cruelly trading away Jake Mariznick on December 5th, 20 days before Christmas. It's almost Christmas. It's almost Christmas. You're going to trade away Jake Mariznick. I mean, bummed on, boss.

I know, Sherry. It's awful. It's awful. I know. It's very disappointing in the front office. But what is, what do I know? I'm just a woman. I know, Sherry.

They didn't consider your feeling, Sherry. 713, 212-790 if you'd like to get in. Thanks for the call, Sherry. 713-212-5-7-90. This is Jake in Pearland. This isn't Jake Mariznik. I wonder if it's Jake Mariznick. No, but he does have an awesome name.

I haven't been able to call you all for a while because last time I called I got denied on the double-crush bus because I was wearing no clothes Put some clothes on Jake We've got rules and regulations on the bus Go ahead Yeah, I know, I know

But this time I just wanted to You know, just say You know, he has an awesome name His hair is amazing His outfit playing was amazing And now it's not a part of the Astros I know all of us were thinking That was awesome when he laid out Luke Roy

But I appreciate it, guys. Thank you, Jake. Great call. Great. And look, we can't even keep the callers of the board right now. 7-1-3-1-2-5-7-90. We might have to do three hours. I will say this.

You're not getting this on the other station. I don't know. I mean, I know what they're talking about in the other stations. One's trash and one's their backup left tackle. Nobody is going to break down the departure of Jake Mariznick, like Sports Talk, 790 on the Matt Thomas show. Nobody else. Only right here.

CEO for show tweeting in. at Crombrite Smith at Sports RV Sherry is about to leap off the B-Som-1 bridge Sherry, it's going to be okay I love that to be someone bridge Be strong, Sherry Hold it together Perhaps one of the guys that got traded for

Is extremely handsome What if they never win 100 games again? Brad Auspice is available Maybe they'll get him as binge coach What if this is the beginning of the... What if... Ross? What if Chick was the catalyst?

Because I get random thoughts Yes. In the moment. This is how I create. Uh-huh. I am a writer for a living. Yes. What if in the same season they get seriously deemed by Major League Baseball?

I mean serious here. Suspensions, just massive game sport-changing scandal, and they trade away Jake Mariznick 20 days before Christmas in the same period. This could be the end of an era. 2019 is hell for the Houston Astros. Kelly, your thoughts? Yes. Go ahead, Kelly.

Yeah, I'm pissed. I'm peasant. I'm peasant. Not only is Greg Cook retiring. I know. I know. He's so, he's handsome as hell too. Move to New York of all places. I know. He's going to New York City. And he's not even joining the Mets. Like, nobody cares about the Mets.

Exactly. I'm just so pissed. I'm pissed. It hurts so much. I can hear it. I can hear it. I'm very sorry. This is why I go to the games. Yes. Yes. And the last in the A for the night ending. But damn it. I can't believe it. You know what, Kelly? I don't know if you're working today. Take the rest of the day off. Just tell your boss Jake is gone. That's all you need to say. I am the boss. Oh, nice. I think I'm going to go for a drink.

Oh, there you go. That's the best. That's going to be the best call of the day no matter what happens. You might run into Greg Cook around town. Have four for us. You're going to go find Greg Cook and have a drink with him. All right, Kelly. Anything else on Jake? Hi. Thanks. Have a great day. Appreciate it. We've got to take a break. This is too emotional.

Matt Thomas would be proud of us right now. I'm overwhelmed right now. 713, 1,2,125, 790, if you want to get in. Ross, do you need to... 713, 2,1, 2. Brian, you might have to do the rest show by yourself. You need to carry this. It's going to be you and you.

You carried anyways when you come in here, which I appreciate. Thank you. 7132-1-2-5-7-90. Tweets to At Sports RV. Tweets to Cron Brian Smith. The Ashers are going to have to issue a statement. I mean, multiple statements during the World Series, after the World Series, we need another statement.

They have to explain this. They did it from Twitter. Yeah, what if Jeff, Flinone and Jim and Jim Crane call a press conference and they're like, wow, they're finally going to say something about these allegations. And they just say nice things about Jake Marizant. Don't take questions. They don't take questions and then they just leave. We're not here. No baseball questions. No cheating questions. We are only here to talk about Jake Mariznick. Yeah, Jeff Leno literally drops a mic and we appreciate Jake and everything he brought to the organization and his flowing locks and his impending head and shoulder sponsorship. Drops a mic and walks out. I want that number retired. I want that jersey retired.

What number was it even nine or something? No, no, Marmong. Gonzalez was nine. I don't even remember what Jake Marisick's number. You don't know Jake Moriznick's number? No, I don't remember. Six. I had an upside down nine. I was close. Upside down nine. So Bill Russell, Stan Musial, Jake Moriznick. I was here. I mean, obviously I was here. I was here when they moved on, when Marwin Gonzalez moved on, when Dallas Keiko moved on. Can't compare.

Hmm. I know. All right. We've got to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show. We'll be right back. Try to keep it together, folks. Greg Bezjo here. The heart of the order is up right now. Matt Thomas is swinging for the fences here on Sports Talk 790. Here's the pitch. Drives this one. Left center field going back on his steward.

He looks up and that's gone. Jake Mariznick, a two-run shot to left center. And the Astros now lead five to one on that blast from Mariznick, his fourth of the season. And Mariznick drills this one down to left field line. Ball is hooking toward the corner. And that ball is gone. Two-run, home run for Jake Mariznick. And the Astros lead is 5 to 2.

10th of the year for Marisna. And Mariznick drives this pretty deep to center field. Going back on it is Mavit. It's still going back. Looking up, that's gone. Just to the right of the batter side. A two-run home run for Jake Verznik. And the Astros lead in 3-0.

It drives this one pretty deep to center field. It sends back Allen still going back at the wall looking up. See you later. A three-run home run for Jake Barisnick to dead center field. And the Astros take a seven to two lead. Add Teresa DeLong on Twitter. Do I have to start following the Mets to get Jake days? At least it's not the Yanks.

We'll still be swooning in Houston. Good luck, Jake. We will miss you. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show here, folks. Ross Villal. Brian Smith with you. How are you reacting to the news? The chick Marizdick is a longer.

A Houston Astro. 713. 212. 5790. 713, 212, 5790. Also one from Jonathan. Fancy Matt is probably spreading avocado on his whole grain toast that will cost $15 while sipping on his double caramel macchiato espresso at this moment.

I don't think Matt knows what avocado toast is. I think he does. He stays in all these fancy toasts. hotels. He'll get him so heavy cut it, but he doesn't order it. Right, he doesn't order it. He's confused by it. He's like, give me the chili dogs. You get an avocado with

your toast? And it's $15? This doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense to anybody, Matt. All right, 713, 2, 1,25790. Matt Thomas Show without Matt continues. Matt is out today and tomorrow. He'll be back Monday because he is traveling around with the Houston Rockets.

But we're talking about Jake Meres, Nick. We'll talk some Rockets. We've got a lot of other things to get on, but a lot of people want to say goodbye to Jake on the phone lines, and you know what, we've got to get these people in. So Angel, in Fort Pierce, Florida? Angel, go ahead. Yes, so, Ross. Thank you both for your show.

Brian, I appreciate your articles in The Chronicle. My husband and I moved here a year ago from Houston, and I subscribe to Texas Sports Nation, so I get to read all about my Texas sport. That is very, very nice, and I will pass the word along to my editor. I'm sure he'll greatly appreciate that. sincerity. Thank you. I do reply on your, on the comments to your article. Appreciate that. Very nice. Thank you. The extra good thing is we're down here. We're just north of Port St. Lucy where the Met train, so I'll get to see Jake next year. And we're only 50 miles north of where the Astros and the

National Exchange in West Palm, so I still get to see them as well. So this, a big chat up to you guys at 790. We love. your shows, thank you to IHeart Radio. My husband and I can still listen to you, even being 1,200 miles away from home. We are loving the beach life and loving our Houston sports. We hate that we don't get to see it as often as we'd like to, but, you know, it's still, IHeart Radio has been good to it. Angel, this is like the best call we've received all year. Thank you so much. Appreciate you listening, and I'm glad you're going to get to see Jake Mariznick and his flowing locks, and it'll be a little hot out there, so he's going to be sweaty as well. It's hot already.

Oh, that's true. Thank you, Ross. Merry Christmas to you guys. You too. Thanks for the great call. Merry Christmas to you as well. I go to Greg Cook. Yes.

And really quick in all sincerity, tomorrow will be, correct me if I'm wrong. Tomorrow's Greg's final day. He told a great story at the end of today's segment. Tomorrow is going to, I mean, this is a tragic, season, life-era-altering day for the Houston. Houston Astros and the Houston Astros fan base. But in all even deeper seriousness,

tomorrow will be Greg's last day. So if you are, I don't care where you're at, if you're at the office, if you're walking Buffalo Bayou, if you're buying new furniture, if you're stuck in traffic, if you're driving out to Kate, whatever it is.

Sports Talk 790, 10 till noon in the trenches with Indy because I'm sure that will be a hell of a show. Listen tomorrow. We're going to have a Greg Cook extravagance. I mean, a hell of a show. Because when we left today, there was a bottle in the room already and food, and that's

just the day before the final day. So that, and we'll have to follow that, Ross. It'll be tough. I'll see if Greg will stay an extra segment or something like that tomorrow. I'll talk some football with him and say goodbye as well on the, for like a proper Matt Thomas show send off, even though Matt Thomas won't be here. So while this is all going on, I was, you know, I'm actually writing a Mariznick blog right now. And multitasking as always, working while I'm.

I'm working and I was just looking at Twitter, which is always a great place to look for stuff. And in the trending topics, I don't know how yours is showing up. But Reddick is in my trending topics right now. And I have United States trends, but I think they're also like mixed with regional local, whatever, because it's. Yeah, I'm getting something about Russian hyper-sac, cyber hacking. So for mine, my United States trends, which I don't think these are right. Mariznick. Pelosi, don't want to get into that stuff.

I'm getting Pelosi, number one. And Dallas versus Chicago, Thursday, football, Cowboys Bears. thing. Number two for mine is Reddick. And then so I'm like, did they trade Josh Reddick? What's going? And is it trade day for the Astros? No, it's Astro's Twitter freaking out and hating on Josh Reddick because all of Astros

Twitter and all Astros fans and everyone who's ever watched Houston Astros since 1962 is in love with Jake Mariznick. And so they're all basically asking, why the hell is Josh Reddick on the team? Why did you trade Mariznick and not Josh Reddick? People are freaking out. Freaking out. People are upset.

Yeah, Marisdick is trending number one in the United States, and Redick is trending number two. I'm going to be surprised if anyone buys a ticket for an Astros game next year. I mean, it's going to be like 2013 all over again. They're going to have 5,000 fans out there. You mean, for the games that the MLB is going to take away?

Well, that's the other part. I mean, they really have left. I mean, just Bregman and Burland. Yeah. Al-2a, Springer. Carraya. Brinky. Horrible.

No, Mariz. Nick, I'm out. James, I can't buy any tickets anymore. Nick and Angleton here on the Matt Thomas show. What's up, Nick? Hey, what's going on? First of all, number one, which I think the Major League Baseball should outler, get rid of the curveball.

It should be outlawed. Yeah, I agree. Because that would help Jake Moriznick? Oh, my God. Really? If they outlawed the curveball, Jake Moriznick will be an MVP. Yeah, I agree with that. you would still be an astro

exactly and the best thing is Troy Palomalu is not going to be on these commercials no more because now Jake is going to take over all right Nick is that it? I love the way he said Troy Palomalu Tori Palomalu Toro Malo

we've had great calls today any other good Jim Malo that's enough Nick I appreciate it thank you Nick that was good they outlawed breaking balls Jake Marisick would just fine be okay and you get to a hold of one it goes like You're so right. Because I'm always in the middle of, you know, coverage or whatever. So I don't see it from the outside sometimes.

You're so right. Every year there was the Jake Marisnick has retailored his swing story. Yes. During spring training every year. And it kind of worked, but it never really worked. It would work for like two weeks. And then, you know. Yeah.

And you were like, why? Everybody's like, well, this retooled swing. Because then you get a couple follow-up stories. Retooled swing, working wonders for Jake Mariznick. He's six for 14. Yeah, exactly. in his last five games. He added a small leg kick.

All he's keeping his hands back. Oh, he's keeping his hands forward. He's turning his hips more. He's turning his hips less. Like, it's always something. Baseball could be so stupid. That's always fun with the retooled. What's more common in spring training baseball, retooled swing, or best shape of my life football player?

I've dropped, I've either gained 15 pounds or lost 15 pounds, NFL player coming into training camp. Those are both the stories that you know you're going to see coming in when players are going into spring training. Here's what I'm really going to miss. So Jake and I wrote a column about this in the Chronicle and all the Astros fans. This, I mean, yeah, you had the hair and he was cool and he had a great smile and he was friendly and he was fun and he was part of the club Astros to the World Series 2 out of three years Astros. But Jake Mariznick, Defender, those catches against the wall, diving in shallow snow field, not just a Minamade. Basically every ballpark in the country, I will miss that. And in a lot of ways, I felt like Mariznick was a better defender.

year than he ever had been. I mean, I specifically wrote a column about just his outfield defense and all the Astros hench on down. We're saying if Mariznick, which he wouldn't, but if Mariznick played every day, he would win a gold glove. He was just a fantastic, fantastic defensive center fielder for this team. He will be missed. I will miss that.

No, yeah. I mean, as far as like a defensive replacement and a guy that would come in late in games, you know when they would set the outfield and it would be like Springer, Redick and Mariznick, nothing was going to drop. So, yeah, he had some value, and we're kind of making fun and talking about how he's, you know, this Hall of Famer and the Astros are going to miss him. But Jake Morizek did bring some value to the Astros, but it was time to move on. You want to get Kyle Tucker some more playing time. And, of course, people are worried about Reddick.

I wonder if he will be moved. That's going to be a little more difficult because of the money he's owed. And they might have to send some money with that contract. Like Josh Redisnick, fantastic to deal with, I've been saying for six, nine months a year, I would move on from Josh Reddick. Yeah. I just, I just, I feel like they've gotten the best. that he's going to give them. And he's just been too inconsistent.

You know, since that first year, whether it's in the playoffs, whether it's last season. He actually started hot last season and then trailed off. Nothing against him, just a baseball decision. Move on from Josh. Yeah, I think it will be happening at some point, sooner rather than later. But we've got to take quick break here.

It is the Matt Thomas show. You guys want to get in. Talk to some Stroes baseball. 713-1-21-25-790 is your phone number on that. We also got Dr. Roto coming up and later. We got some Astros. I mean, we've got some rockets to talk to Texans. I talked to something, a little hint from Dr. Roto.

He says maybe a trap game for the Texans against Broncos. We can talk about that as well. The Chronicle had a story about that today, Ross. Apparently you didn't read the paper. I just got up. I'm sorry. It shows. Yeah, sorry.

We'll talk about that next. And I will get a tongue lashing during this break, so don't go anywhere. This is Michael Brantley. Exclusive coverage. At every game. Sports Talk 790 is your home of Astros baseball. Matt Thomas Show rolls along in Memorium. Okay, he didn't die.

But as far as his Astros career, it did die. Jake Meresnik gone. This is the song they played. I think I might have told this story on air before. This is the song they played. They did like an eighth grade, into the year montage of like pictures and stuff like that. shout out Teague Middle School

Aldine ISD does that school still exist and our principal Miss Wooten they did like a slide show of pictures and they put this song on and then miss our principal gave some weird

morbid speech about how this was the last time we were all going to be in the same room and people were going to die and move and all this stuff is very depressing you're having a rough day that's my that's my memories of eighth grade

anyways Matt Tommel The Thomas show continues without Matt Thomas. I mean, they took a dunk away from James Hardin. And then the Astros trade Jake Merzick. What's next? Bill O'Brien remains as GM of the Houston Texans. I mean, when are the...

Yeah, that's happening. When are the low blow is just going to stop in the city? Yeah, basically baseball is trying to take down the Astros. When the Texans go 11 and 5 and beat Devlin Hodges, Duck Hodges in a playoff game That's going to happen bro And then lose to the Patriots That will probably also happen

They are Bill O'Brien's getting a five-year extension Minimum I'm telling you That's he'll be in the ring of honor He will it'll be named after him It'll be the Bill O'Brien Ring of Honor It'll be

It'll all be named after him Love it Oh gosh But yes the rockets Have It's called weighing Is that a thing Weid a protest

as they look into the disallowed dunk. That was the wording from Jonathan Fagan. So it'll be interesting to see what happens. Probably nothing. I don't think anything will happen. It's not going to be like some great travesty. It's just something that you've never seen before. We talked about it a lot yesterday.

They have to do it. They have to. They have to stay on their ground. They have to do it. Well, Texas is they stand your ground state. So the Texas... So it's Florida, but I don't think that really works out very well there. Yeah.

Well, we're not going to talk about that. Let's move on to... How about Dosakis? Just talk about some Jake Marizding. Let's move on. Wait, are we doing non-Florida stories? No. Wait, we should.

We should. Hi, Dosekis. How are you? It's good to talk to you, man. It's great to talk to you. Likewise, and happy holidays to both of you. Are you getting a little closer with Coach Bob now? With Coach you now?

Bill, Bill, Bob. I'm good with Bill. I've been good with Bill for years. Yeah, no, we're good. It's all good. Are you on his Christmas card list? I don't think Bill O'Brien sends out Christmas cards. So it's not personal.

Like, nobody gets okay than his wife. I know, I know. Deshawn, he sends, Bill O'Brien says out two Christmas cards. Deshawn Watson, Cal McNair. And, well, I'm sorry, three now. Jack used to be. That's it. Only three people get Christmas cards. That's ridiculous.

Hey, it's about the Astros, man. I think I guess the next man up is going to be straw and I guess tuck. But I have one question for you, and if you can, I just heard about the trade. If you can throw in the names of the prospects and just talked about them a little bit already. But do you think there's a chance, BTS and Ross, that the Astros

might be interested in my son with the channel. Tell me, they think that's a chance they'll go after if they can afford or have the prospects to trade to get the catcher from the cops contraros. Let me hear you take on that. You all have a happy holiday and ghost throws and it's all fake news about the Astros, man. Take care. Good. All right. First off, sincere happy holidays to Dosecu's a great legendary Astros fan and 790 long time caller I would like to hear while I'm here I would like to hear from Howard

Memorial I don't know what I haven't heard from Howard the last couple of times I've filled in I think we crushed him the last couple times he called in called Zan Ross that's not very nice so his the first the first answer Blake Taylor left hand a pitcher yes Kennedy Corona outfielder here's the thing there they may both end up being consistent starters for this team. They're so low down in, you know, the minor league hierarchy in terms of where they're at and what they've done.

Check back in three years, five years, seven years to have any type of feel. One of them may end up becoming one of their best prospects and they could blow out their arm in AAA. I mean, Taylor was Class A advanced. Corona just completed his first professional. and this come out of the press release. He can hit, but he's hitting in Gulf Coast League.

Nobody, I mean, nobody even knew what Jose Al-Tube was doing in the Gulf Coast League. Nobody, except for the biggest, biggest, biggest baseball internet nerds, even pay attention to that stuff. Doesn't mean that they're not good prospect. Doesn't mean that they won't pan out. Doesn't mean that one of them

isn't locked into a consistent starting spot for five years and fans love them. We just have no idea right now. What it really says is, Number one, what we all knew. Astros had an outfield surplus. Number two, Mariznick, they've known for years. Marizek was never going to be a locked in starter for this team.

Doesn't mean he wasn't a value. He's a fantastic value, especially to the fan base. Ultimately, they need to replenish their farm system. So if you have surplus, Marizek's going to make a little more, he's getting a little older. You know exactly what you have in Jake Mariznick, good and bad. They need more prospects. They've had to give up so much for Cole and Verlander and Grinky.

So if you have surplus, I mean, to me, this is a classic Jeff Fluno deal, and in many ways, he's just spinning the wheel back around because in 14, and I think everyone's forgotten that... See, the Carlos Lee trade he was in? No. This was a very interesting trade at the time. It was July 31st, which was the trade deadline. 2014, Bo Porter is still the manager of the Astros at that point, traded to the Marlins. And listen to these names. I mean, this is how this works out in baseball.

Francis Martez, okay, never developed for the Astros. was a major prospect at one point. Colin Moran, who's a consistent third baseman for Pittsburgh now, but more importantly for the Astros, in Astros history, Colin Moran was a big part of the Garrett Coal trade that brought Cole here. We all know how that worked out, ended with a Scott Boris Cap. Jared Cozart, who, when I started covering Astros as a beat writer, Jared Cozart was going to be the next, he was the arm.

And then, no, the best player to come out of the whole, and I don't want to offend Astros fans here, I think the best player to come out of that trade because it's a very interesting modern baseball trade, especially when it relates to the Astros rebuild. Kiki slash Enrique Hernandez, who has been a huge part of the Dodgers lineup the last three years and can play every position and actually has power

and good fielder, good spout, all these things. That's a Mertes, Moran, Jared Kozart, Erika, Hernandez, and then Jake Mariznick. So when you're looking at Taylor and you're looking at Corona, We're not going to know for three to five years what they're even going to do. Yeah, so, I mean, they're far away. Neither of them are on the top 30 prospects list of the Mets that I saw. So probably they're not high-level guys, but you're not going to get high-level guys for Jake Marisnick.

Exactly. So you're not going to play him anyways. You get a little something, and we'll see what turns out in the next couple of years. These types of deals are going to be some things that are going to need to work out for the Astros, especially if they're going to get Doc draft picks, which is another story for another time. Let's take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show. When we come back, we'll talk about. some more Astros. We'll get to

some Texan stuff going on. Got some Rockets, injury updates, a lot of stuff to get to here. The Matt Thomas show at 713-2125-790. 7-13-2-1-2-5-7-90 tweets to at SportsRV and at Cron, Brian Smith, and at Pro Nick Lowe. Don't go anywhere. Short break here.

Let's go! Houston's official sports cliche translator. I'm working hard. I'm trying to be a good teammate. I'm trying to go out here every day and do my job. Matt Thomas. Taking it one day at a time. One of the top five bald woman, Irish singers of all time. I think that might be top one.

You think so? Are there any more? She's in my top five, all right? You have your list and I have mine, Nick. What other bald woman singers do you know? Babba O'Reilly. Oh, okay. Good job.

Sounds like she could be. I don't know. All right, Todd. Welcome back to the Matt Thomas show. Here on Sports Talk 790, Ross Villarreal withie Brian Smith. He's hammering out blogs for The Chronicle right now, so he's indisposed, but that's okay. We're talking about Jake Day. A lot of people, look, this is like, you people are really upset about this Jake Moriznik stuff.

One of the big things about Mariznick, the last three or four years, too, was, and this may have only been like 2% of the overall Astros fan base, but I always felt like 98%. But whenever the daily lineup gets posted by the beat writers, like at, it, whatever, three, ten, you know, whatever, the time the clubhouse opens. When everybody takes their little picture of, and they're all the same, AJ Hinchin is Wonderful Penmanship. The second Mariznick was in the lineup. It was, there was just this elation, you know, it's like, Jake Day, hashtag Jake Day, hashtag Jake Day.

Yeah, I mean, he's a fan favorite. Like, people love Chris Clemens and people love Gary Clark. Like, we always love the bench guy or the backup guy or somebody who doesn't get the normal. He was a really good look at. Jake Mariznick also doesn't hurt that he's just handsome. him is all hell. And so people love when Jake Marizek was involved

in the lineup. People wanted to see Jake days. That's just the way it was. I think the color Nick had a really good point that he probably should take over duties as the head and shoulder spokesperson. Troy Paul Amolos getting a little gray. But Jake, you don't have dandruff. Yes.

I know. But nobody knows who Jake is, though. That's the problem. He's got to get him. He can be a regional thing. He's going to New York. So he's got to, if he has some kind a breakout. What if he has a breakout season in New York and he hits like 300 with 28 home runs next year or something like that? Probably not. That's okay. One can dream. What were you going to say? Baseball's just interesting. You know, we all look at all these stats all the time and it carries us through the whole year and somebody goes six for 14 or two for 14 and everybody freaks out and

I'm just going through Merzick's numbers and I'm not taking any shots here at all. This is just this is a fact. Mariznick is a career. career 227 hitter, career 280 on base percentage, career 660 OPS. Is that bad? So on one hand, yes, that is bad. And you're like, no wonder that on the other hand, I am reminded why Astros fans love them so much, because he was a career 227 hitter with a 660 OPS. He never, he, in 2015, which was a club Astros back to the playoffs year, under Hinch,

Hinch's first year, he had 339 at bat. Since then, I mean, he had a year with 230. He wasn't even playing in, you know, in terms of a bat's in half the games and fans loved him. I mean, he's a top seven Astro in terms of popularity. Top ten, top ten, top ten, top ten for sure. That's tougher. But yeah, like I said, it's the bench guy. It was just fun.

Everybody loves a bench guy. It was fun. It's always fun to have a Jake Mariznick on a baseball team. Expectations are low. You can root for the guy. He's fun. He's having energy. He's like George Springer's best friend. George Springer's got to be broken up today, by the way. I don't know what George Springer is going to do.

Hopefully George Springer's going to be okay. He's definitely bigger than Tony Sip. Nobody really liked Tony Sip at all. If you are, although he was good as last year. You're an investigator? This is where you try to turn somebody. Trying to pump. This is where in the movie, you're making some calls.

Tony Sips in the hot seat? They gave up on you. You're talking about Jake. right? No, the rest of the team's so broken up. Oh, so you try to bring it in. Come in while they... Look, the Ashros aren't fighting for you.

They traded away Jake. That's your best friend. Come on, man. Like, they're trying to break him down in the interview room. Like, let me get me like a law and order theme or something, Nick. Like, so that you're trying to go at them when they're at their weakest. That's predatory. That's totally something that...

That's what they do in those shows, man. You're trying to get coercedions out of, uh, I had a George Springer and Alex Bregman. They're all broken down. You bring them into the interview room. Hey, Alex. Thanks for coming in here. Yeah, here's some tissues, man.

Here. Did you get that text alert on your phone, Alex? Did you see what happened? So you're going to tell me you're going to bat for this organization. Jeff Lunoz your guy? Why did he just trade away your best friend? Why did he just trade away your guy? They're not looking out for you.

Why are you looking out for them? Come on. I'm just... Give us the information we need. need. I'm imagining Josh Reddick with a bright light in his face wearing nothing but a speedo. Nothing but a speedo. Yeah. Josh

Reddick, I feel like Josh Reddick would be the first one to crack. Just because you can get to him emotionally. They're Colby Rasmus. Why they do that to us, man? They're going to find Kobe Rasmus somewhere on some farm. Yeah. They'd be stepping over sticks in the woods. Booby traps.

They're going to find them in a deer blind. Yeah. One of the investigators are going to get caught in a rope on their leg and get hung up in a tree. And then Colby's going to walk up to him. You get caught up there, son?

Kobe Raspers would be like Rambo. Yeah. Like the old Rambo back in the 80s. He would be in the woods with all these self-made like a, or the Schwarzenegger and the predator,

all these self-made booby traps. No, it would be the opening of a show. The investigators are walking in the woods. This would be the best show ever. One of them gets caught by a rope on the tree. They get hung up. Colby Rasmus slowly walks up

in full-on camouflage. His whole face painted. He spits on the ground. How's it hanging? And then boom, credits. And then boom, the intro starts. And then it's somebody in the box. Yeah. And the glaring white spot spotlight box.

And so I thought this team had your back. How about this angle? All right. What happened when they had that ear infection? They just gave up on you when he had that ear infection. Remember he had like a weird ear infection for like six months? Like Colby, is everything okay? He basically retired because of an ear infection.

Yeah, well, I had an ear infection earlier this year for like three weeks. I remember you looked really bad. horrible. I thought you were going to get laid off. You know what? I thought I was going to get laid off too. I could hardly speak. Matt's like, man, you're going to have a lot of energy on the show today. It's like, yeah, my ear is, there's a, I'm hearing high

pitch ringing in my head for three hours and then I'm having to hear Matt Thomas takes, all right? Was your ear like leaking into your headphones? No, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that bad. It wasn't that bad. How about things are so sad? All you can do is laugh. All you can do is laugh.

So otherwise we're going to be crying. not, we'll just be in tears. How about this on the law and order interrogation angle? We know what you know. We know you were in the locker room. What do you know, Sparky? Oh, man. Sparky wouldn't crack.

Sparky wouldn't snitch. He'll go down with the shit. I will murder somebody with... Spark is me and what? I will murder somebody with my bare hands in front of Sparky. I have no problem knowing that that man is not going to crack for anybody. Your mic is still on there. Sorry, that was Arthur in Spring.

giving us a call. Yeah, that's fine. All right. As usual, he's not getting on. Law and Order, commissioners report edition continues on the Matt Thomas show after this. So look, we got a lot of stuff to get to. Jake Moresnick, he's been traded away for two

low-level Mets prospects. We can talk about that. I'm going to get Brian Smith's complete thoughts on the Manchester United two-to-one win over Tottenham yesterday. I do not care. Oh, okay. There, we got his complete thoughts, so glad we already got that segment done. The Rockets and what they got going on, Texans versus the Denver Broncos.

My question? Trap game. Brian Smith is going to be, is this a trap game? We'll talk about that next. We also have Dr. Roto. A lot of stuff to get to here. It is the Matt Thomas show. It's 713.

2.12.5-79. 7-13. 2-1-2-5-7-90 tweets to at Sports RV and at Cron Brian Smith. Our number one in the books. Two more hours of the Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 790. start next. Yeah. Is the Matt Thomas show.

One o'clock straight up here on the Matt Thomas show. Ross Villarreal, Brian Smith, Nick Lowe with you. Matt Thomas is out today and tomorrow. He is traveling with the Houston Rockets. We're going to take on the Toronto Raptors. I'm sorry, Toronto. The Toronto Raptors later today. That game is starting at 630.

Launchpad's coverage starting at 530 here on Sports Talk 790. So a whole two and a half hour show with the A team starting at 3 o'clock with Adam Wexler and Adam Clanton. They'll be working hard, but we're working hard right now. And we want to talk to you at 713-21257-190.27-13, 2-1-2-5-7-90. So, Brian, you said there was an article. Who wrote the article this morning in the Chronicle talking about? I think McLean did something in a chat or something like that. Oh, it was in a chat?

Well, you act like it was a whole article that I missed. Maybe he did. He writes so much. It's hard to keep on. Wait, if you don't know, I shouldn't have to know. You worked for the paper. I was just messing with you like I always do. All right.

So, is this a trap game for the Houston Texans? It's a trap! All right. That was, what was it, Admiral Akbar? I was going to say Lieutenant, but I couldn't remember his name. Is he an Admiral? I think he's an Admiral. Yes, it's animal.

You don't act like you don't know. Come on. By the way, much, I need to get serious for a second. Because we had a whole man. We devoted an entire house. to Jake Moore is Nick. I'm kind of proud of that. Art movie updates. I watched the Irishman last night. Yes.

Seen it. What'd you think, Nick? It was good. I mean, it was Scorsese. Thought it was good, not great. I wouldn't put it up there with casino. Fully agree. Good fellows. Or his early work, yeah, I fully agree. It was good. I thought the acting was fantastic. I thought Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, Pacino were great. It's filmed really well. The last 30 minutes are really slow. but it kind of, you know, has a point in those last 30 minutes.

You know what the best part of the movie was? It was after the movie was over and it was just a roundtable. If you kept watching. Oh, I'll have to do that. Yeah, it's Scorsese, Pacino, De Niro, and Pesci just sitting at like a restaurant table talking about making the movie. I actually didn't. I'll have to think. Are they having cocktails?

You made my day. I'll watch that tonight. They are. Yes. I'm going to skip the movie and just watch that. Could you imagine hanging out with De Niro and Pesci and Pacino? Well, isn't De Niro? Okay, somebody get, look, I don't get too much into politics. But he is, is he one of those?

He's very left wing. But isn't he one of those anti-vax people as well? I don't know. I don't remember. Let's not get too much right. Well, I'm sorry. You're the one that said I want to sit down and talk to him. I don't want to be hearing about vaccinations.

I would absolutely still want to sit down and talk to him. They've lived some amazing lives. Yeah, Ross, don't ruin this moment. Sorry. The watchman, good. Yes. Good could be so much better, though. It's good.

And then it's just too much. It tends to be so much better. And then I finally started watching, I don't have Disney Plus, but I ended up getting a free trial. I watched The Mandalorian. Yes. Thoughts? Baby Yoda. It's good.

Does baby Yoda talk? So there's been four episodes. Or coup? I haven't seen it yet. Oh, so he coos. Four episodes. The first one was okay. The second and third one were really good.

The last one was horrible. I thought the last episode, I think it was directed by Bryce Dallis Howard or Howard Dallas, who I like her as an actress. That's Ron Howard's daughter. Yeah, I like her as an actress. Horrible episode. Don't name your daughter, Bryce Dallas, Ron. What are you doing?

Right, too many names. Horrible episodes. So boring. Baby Yoda is the best part. So, baby Yoda. So here's my point. This whole show, and I can't even do a whole Star Wars thing here. I'm going to be started.

And the last Skywalker comes out in 15 days. I'm going to go see it on the first night. Hotly anticipated. But the best part of the show is freaking Baby Yoda. who, who or what doesn't speak, can't really do anything. It's a little baby drinking tea or soup broth. And it's supposed to be like the next step in the Star Wars franchise. And I'm like, yeah, it's a good show.

I mean, it's good. It's not great. And Baby Yoda's the best part. So I don't know what that really says about Star Wars right now. So Baby Yoda doesn't like coup in reverse order? No. Like Yoda talks? I mean, super cute.

We don't even know. We don't even know if it's like related to Yoda or if it's just part of the species and... So wait, we don't know it is actually Yoda. I think it's not Yoda because of the timeline, right? Yeah, timeline it doesn't work. So it's like the Yoda species, but everybody calls it baby Yoda because it doesn't even have a name. Yeah, Yoda's like 900 years old in Return of the Jedi. And by the time this happens, Yoda's already dead because Yoda, I mean, I don't want to spoil any thing for Christmas.

Yeah, this is this show is after Return of the Jedi and Yoda dies and Empire Strikes Back. No, he dies in Return of the Jedi. No. Yes. Yes, because Luke goes back to Dagabah. You're right. Don't Star Wars me. You're right.

You're right. You're right. You're right. But then he goes back and return to the Jedi. You're right. So yeah, so Yoda's already dead. So this is not baby. It can't be.

Yoda hasn't been reincarnated. Unless maybe that's what happened. That's the beautiful thing about the force is you can always rewrite the rules. Yeah, because they keep rewriting it. Now Leah can fly. the mid-chlorians and lay can fly and she's now Mary Poppins with her like flying through the air

in her outfit like Blue Yoda can make lightning strike wherever he wants so you know whatever but it's yeah it's good if you're a Star Wars fan you have to watch it because there's some stuff that's really interesting but then some of it to me looks like and I do mean this is an

insult it looks like it's TV I mean it's not super some of it's really well done some of it's kind of poor compared to the the standard so high now with production on Game of Thrones and all this stuff. Some of it looks like it was filmed for a weekly TV show, which is weird to see for Star Wars. Anyways,

you were saying something much more important. I don't even remember. No, we got to be so far off track. We got to tweet in. It's about five years after the return of the Jedi. Maybe it is Yoda reincarnated. Yeah. Reincarnate. That person's right. Okay. Yeah. Well, there you go. Thanks H-Townhorn. TV Shlock. All right. Thanks. Thanks, Star Wars, nerds.

We'll let you guys do a Star Wars podcast after the show. What was I talking about? The Houston Texans play football. No, we got to wash. That's how I got to watch. Give me some NFL music, Nick, because we got to wash our hands of all this. It's a trap. Oh, geez, yes.

Then you started talking about Admiral Akbar, and then we got on like a 15, okay, fine, six minute tangent about the Star Wars. By the way, did you know that Jared Cozart spelled Jared with two R's? I forgot that. I thought it was just one. Yeah. I'm having to do some research. And Will Lutz is Will with one L.

and there's another one, weird one. Is Colin McHugh? He's with two eyes, right? No, two L's. Two L's, I mean. There's somebody with, yeah, two L's. Yeah, he's weird. That's what I meant.

Why did I say two eyes? Two L's. Anyways, yes, we have to get back into football mode after the Star Wars nerds took over the show for six minutes. All right, look, is this a trap game? Yep. Why? Because Denver is better than their record,

even though they really are for an 18. team. They've been playing a little better lately. They're coming up a win. You don't know what you're going to get out of the quarterback position. Drew Locke was decent last game. Denver has a defense. Denver can run the ball. Texans are coming off their best win in six years. Yes, this is a definition of a trap game. I expect the Texas to win. And one of two things will happen. They will either blow them out and we're like, oh, what a bunch of stupid trap talk. Or it'll be 20 to 17 and they win in the last second kick. That's like every football game. I think I feel like there was some kind of trap game like are the players

was 41 7 Ravens like was it was like that game because that game was a blowout Ross that that was a blowout but that was also well we were also like well the Texans are really going to prove themselves against one of the better teams in the AFC and then they just got trounced but they did against the Patriots but see that's what you said and that's what I don't like we're riding we're writing it's a trap game if that's close if it's not like oh I guess it wasn't a trap like right like I don't for it to be a trap game you'd have to tell me

that the players are resting on their laurels and not preparing partying on a yacht It's a week before a playoff game Or a wild card game or whatever And they're partying on a yacht with O'Dell Beckham Would JJ Watt get a yacht named Watt? He might

I think he should But can you have a yacht Are there a lot of big yachts in the Port of Galveston? Yeah like a Port of Houston Yeah does anyone have a yacht in Houston? I'm sure I'm some sure like the River Oaks people do I would think so Tillman's probably got one

Tell me it probably does. The only way it's a trap game if the coaching is bad, right? If Bill O'Brien is wrestling. And if they can't get the players motivated down. If your coach can't get your team focused on the Denver Broncos because you just lost it, then you have a bad coach. And I don't think Bill O'Brien is a bad coach. We've talked about this.

I don't think he's a great coach. I don't think he's a bad coach. So I do think there, of course, is some worry. If I'm Bill O'Brien, I get the whole team together today. Because you have the, you have all the platform you need. And you have a moment of silence. for Jake Mariznick. Hold on.

And then you don't ruin my moment. And then you say, I need your bleep, bleeping attention right now. And Bill O'Brien's going to say, like, and I'm not going to yell, but do you just see what the Astros just did? They just traded Jake Marisnick. I could trade any of y'all's asses right now. Get it together. Or I'm going to Jake Mariznick you. And bam, Texans are laser focused for the Broncos.

Bill, is this a trap game? I mean, no. Hmm. Are you sure? I mean, no. That's such a dismissive tone. I love it. Bill O'Brien with a dismissive tone.

I would never hear that. I would never know. Is this a trap game, Bill? I mean, how do we even know that? I don't know. We won't know until after. But, I mean, the Broncos are coming in town. You just had your biggest win, probably of your career in the regular season against the Patriots. Doesn't matter, Brian.

No. Philip Lindsay's a good running back. solid. Cortland Sutton's one of the most underrated receivers in the NFL. Well, we just heard Bill O'Brien yesterday talk for 30 seconds about how big and strong he was. He's six foot four, 215 pounds. He like gave his vitals. He gave right. Blood pressure 1-18 over 86. I want to hear out GM King O'Brien anytime we ask about another player, another team, I want the height and weight every time. Okay. And the 40, the 40 time. What, he ran in the shuttle cone? Well, yeah, the three-conne drill. short shuttle. Is there a long shuttle? I know there's a short shuttle. I'm sure they added.

The long shuttle is the one you take from the hotel to the combine, I guess. All right, we've got to take a break here. Matt Thomas Show is the Broncos game, a trap game for the Texans. 713-212-790. 7-1-3-2-790. Tweets to Ad SportsRV at Cron Brian Smith. Matt Thomas show continues. We got Dr. Roto coming up at 2 o'clock for all your fantasy needs. So keep it right here on Sports Talk 790. Cougars coach Kelvin Sapson here. You're listening to the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790.

Trap, Trap, Trap, Trap, Trap, Trap, Trap, Trap, Trap, Trap, Trap. Without Matt Thomas, Matt Thomas continues to be out. In Toronto, A, as the Houston Rockets gets set for that game on the road, 630, tip off here on Sports Talk 790, 530 launchpad with one of the Adams, Wexler or Klan, I'm not sure which. It'll be one of them on it. And then I believe Michael Connor will have your postgame show right here on Sports Talk 79. You're home for the Houston Rockets.

713-2125790 is your phone number 7-13-2125-790. So where are you at right now? the state of the Rockets, Brian. I mean, giving the protest and all that type of stuff, which I don't necessarily expect a whole lot to come from, but the Rockets are formally protesting. The result of the game against the San Antonio Spurs

where they lost 135 to 133 in double overtime because of basically the first time anybody can remember, a basket wasn't called a basket, but forgiving that and just moving on from there, Rockets slight dogs against Toronto, who was playing really well this season. You lose Kauai Leonard. Yes, they are the reigning NBA champions, but I really didn't expect them to play this

well early on. But you look at this stretch where early on the rockets were working out kinks, right? They were three and three, and they were struggling against teams like the Pelicans and the wizards and the Nets, the Nets turned out to be around a 500 team, so they're not horrible. And then that just absolute drubbing at the hands of the heat, you say, what's going on here? Are they going to get this thing together? Then they win eight straight. But now you're going through struggles again.

So kind of an up and down roller coaster, I would say. And then last game, 11 of, what was it, 11 to 38 from Hardin, 7 of 30 from Russell Westbrook. How are you feeling about the Rockets right now? Overall, and you have to keep, you have to keep the big picture in mind with everything, but especially with the Rockets. Overall, I'm fine with the Rockets right now. We discussed this in detail yesterday. The only thing that is truly concerning to me, for the last one. the long term for the big picture that you have to see improvement from is Russell Westbrook's

shooting. But that's been an issue for years for Russ Brook. He got better until the end of last season. You cannot shoot what he is shooting from the three point line in the NBA and win in championship. It is that simple and have that be your second best player. That's just that cannot happen. Theoretically, hopefully if you're the Rockets, that improves over time. But they have to find ways to use him better. He's either going to have to take less threes, but that's not a Rockets thing to do. It should help when Eric Gordon returns. But the only thing that is concerning to me through 20 games is Russell Westbrook from the three and ultimately from the field. He's actually not even been that great from the free throw line. That's been an issue.

The thing that gives me, you know, that makes me very reluctant to say, you know, they've got issues or the defense is a major problem or whatever is a schedule, Ross, and you mentioned it. I mean, they started three and three. They won eight straight. It's been uneven since. But here's the thing. So the Toronto game should be tough and I think if you're picking that I don't know, you know, 51-49, I would pick the, not the score, but percentage, I'd pick the Raptors to win that game. Yeah,

they're one and a half point favorites. So that's about, 51-49, yeah. Rockets get back home. They have Phoenix. Phoenix is better than expected. If the Rockets are playing good Rockets basketball, they should beat the Sun. Sacramento has actually been a little better lately. They should beat the Kings. Here's my point. You go on the road for two games at Cleveland. Cleveland's horrible, at Orlando, Orlando,

me. Detroit is a dumpster fire. You host the Spurs. That's a payback game. Then it gets all interesting. You're at the Clippers. You're at Phoenix. Sacramento again. Golden State, horrible. Brooklyn. Bla. Pelicans. Horrible. You got a couple tests by the time we get around the new year, Denver and Philly. The rest of this month, it's a very favorable schedule. And so through 20 games, a quarter of the season, every time it's felt like we've had some clarity for the Rockets. Like, they're going to be uneven. And this is going to be. a season long work in progress. They went eight straight.

It feels like they found it. They became uneven again. Right now, because of the Spurs game and they've struggled a little in Westbrook's shooting so poorly, the tendencies to be like, ah, you know, the Rockets, they feel like a four or five seed.

Man, I mean, if things go well, they might roll off six wins in the next seven games and they're super hot again because of the schedule. So they're at the quartermark and the last thing I'm going to do right now is kind of like the aster's the last three years,

to say anything definitive and panicky about a team that should win six of its next eight games. I think they're basically on schedule for what I was thinking in the beginning of the season. Right now they're pacing for 53 wins. And I mean, I figured they would be around 50 to 55 somewhere in the neighborhood. Which going into the season, we all would have said, you know, that's your point. I mean, going into the season, we would have said, yeah, 53 wins, you'd take it from this team. Is it wrong for me to be frustrated with that, though?

No, it's not. No, because the big picture is, I don't give a crap if they went 53 wins. And I don't give a crap if they went in the first, like, who? cares if the Rockets win in the first or second round. You trade Chris Paul. We agreed yesterday unanimously. The two of us, that's all you need for a unanimous agreement. They had to move on from Chris Paul.

But is it going to work with Restbrook? And this is Mike Dan Tony's last year as we speak right now. So can they win a title with James Hardin? All those questions are still out there. So yes, you can be frustrated with the overall state of the Rockets because, you know, the Lakers keep winning. The Clippers are very good. got a couple teams in the east that are good.

The Rockets, the next 62 games have to find some way to become elite this year. And right now, they're good. There's nothing about them that says they're going to win the title right now. That's the thing. And you know what? I mean, maybe it's also early. I want to question myself for putting too high expectations. But what is the Rocket slogan?

One mission. I didn't make that slogan. Thank God it's not running it back anymore. Well, they're not running it back again. They're like running it. You can't run it back when you tell Chris Paul you're not going to treat him in then you trade them. You can't run that back. Yeah, you're not running it back. Well, I mean, the running back comes from like the playground, right? You're like, okay, we've got five on

five. We're going to run it back with the same teams because we think we can beat you in the next one. You're not going to run it back after we, like we swapped two of our best players. Like, hey, you give us this guy, we'll give you that guy. That's not running it back. That's changing up the teams. And so you go to one mission. That one mission isn't, let's win a division championship. No. That one mission isn't making it at the top four. No. That one mission is NBA championship. Yes. So if you're calling yourself, in your season, one mission. And let's keep, look, this all goes to the Dan Tony filter.

There is, and I will say this officially on the freaking record right now, and I know this is a fact. This has not been reported or written about enough. This could very well be the last season of Mike Dan Tony with the Rockets. And I believe Danone only returns if they're in the Western Conference finals. And Ross, if they reach to Western Conference finals and they lose, that will still be disappointing. Because this is a Rockets team that just a couple years ago with Hardin was a, was a Chris Paul hamstring away, as we all know, from being in the finals. If they get in the finals, they win those finals.

James Hardin is better than he's ever been. He still has issues, but he's better than he's ever been. They have to get to that next step and that next stage, and anything short of that is a disappointment. Is that that that going to be like our, I mean, like if you're a Kings fan, you just think about 2002 for the rest of your life. and that team, and Pagesostoyakovich and Mike Bibby and how great that team was and how they should have won that they should have won that series and went to the finals, or even that same run that the Lakers

won. Remember the Blazers got, was it game seven at home, I think, against those Lakers, and they got up, they were up like 20-something in the second half and blew that, and Shaq and Cicke and Kobe came back and beat them, and the Blazers, I'm sure Blazers fans remember that for the rest of their lives. Or, I mean... Very good points. I mean, all these times, like,

what we think, of course, the Oilers, how they won what was it, like 12 straight games or whatever, Then 98-year-old Joe Montana and Marcus Allen came into the Astrodome and whipped their asses. Is that going to be the peak of the James Harden era that we always look back to and remember, they were this close and they just never got there again? It is a 100,000 percent valid question right now. Here's what I don't know. I haven't known this for years.

I've written about it so many damn times in the Chronicle. And I mean that in a good sense because I have to say it. It has to be said. and I've written so many good things about James Harden and I've criticized the heck out of James Hardin. I don't, I still don't know, Ross, after all this time, if the Rockets can win an NBA championship with James Hardin as not just like the lead dog, like the lead, lead dog, and now he's, even with Rest Book,

he's a lead dog more than ever. I mean, James Hart, like this offense, this team, into game scenarios runs through James Hardin. That's, I'm not knocking James Harding. I'm not doing volcanic TV takes on James Hardin. That's just the fact because whether it's the efficiency, whether it's that free throws disappear, the court shrinks in the playoffs. We've seen this for years that he gets tired by the time the season gets closer to the end. I think it's that more than anything. So many finishes that just by the very end for all the progress, it starts to go a little downhill at the worst time.

I don't know. It will be a question mark until he answers it. And it's a larger question mark than it's ever been. And he's a better score than he's ever been. So, I mean, on some level, you've got two lines converging, and it will either result in a title. And James Harden leads the Rockets. And he ends up, you know, being the first since Dream.

And James Hardin is, you know, Houston remembers James Hardin for the next 50 years in a great way. James Hardin won a world championship for the Rockets. Oh, my God, we love James Hardin. Or it will always be Ross, the what if? And man, he was so good. it'll be one of those two things. That's it. I think that's where it's at.

I think the answer is yes, that James Hardin is good enough to be the number one on a championship team. The question is how much help does he need? Does he have the right help right now at Western Westbrook? I don't think so. I think he needs more, does he need more help than say Prime LeBron James or a prime Kobe or a prime Michael Jordan? Those were all number one on championship teams, but they had a certain level of help. Same thing of, I mean, we can go Dirk Nevitki in 2011. It's all 2020 perfect hindsight, but when we look back, we're like, man, Kobe had the perfect help.

The help fit Michael Jordan so perfectly. LeBron, all these pieces, they look so great. I look at the Rockets right now. Capella I'm fine with, although, you know, has some issues. PJ Tucker, like the defense, not enough offense for me, but the ball can only touch so many hands when James Hardin's controlling it like he does. Westbrook is the question mark piece right now because Paul was in decline. But let me ask you this.

I was talking about this last night after we did the radio show. Who do you games on the line? One minute left in the fourth quarter. Think about what you saw from Paul the last few years. He's obviously in decline. It wasn't working friendship-wise anymore, relationship-wise anymore. But I trust Chris Paul taking a three before I trust Russell Westbrook taking a three. And then the stats tell you the same thing.

So Russell Westbrook has to find a way to be more efficient. And that was the question the second they made that trade. Could he be efficient enough? Right now, I think you have to say no. But there is still a lot of time left in this year. them to figure that out. We got to take a break here on the Matt Thomas show. You guys want to weigh in on that is Russell Westbrook, the right help

for James Harden. 713, 2125, 790. 7.1.2.75. 790. Matt Thomas Show continues after the short break. Michael Brantley here. Get 790. Get your stroves on the radio. Sports Talk 790. You're home for the Astros. Matt Thomas Show continues here on Sports Talk 790. All the way until 3 o'clock.

No, Matt Thomas. He's out traveling. 713, 2,1, 2, 5, 7.9 is the phone number. Rosvia Real. Brian Smith, Dick Lowe with you. We got Dr. Roto coming up at 2 o'clock, but we've been talking some rockets in the last couple of segments. We've got some people on the phone lines wanting to get in, so let's go ahead and do that, starting with Randy in Missouri City.

Want to talk some James Hardin. What's got, Randy? You know, James Clark, and I don't know if you guys recall Steve Francis. he reminds me of a morning day Steve Francis, he take all the shots, he dribble the clock out, ill-advised shots. And I think with Russell Restbrook,

he can't shoot. He's a scorer, but he can't shoot. And the problem they have is that he doesn't fit with this offensive because he's not a great outside shooting. One of the guys that got rid of was anything. Okay, wait, wait. Hold on, not to interrupt you, but just factually,

and I agree with everything you said. before Anderson, Ryan Anderson hasn't been a factor in the NBA for two plus seasons. Ryan Anderson's done. Yeah, well, I'm saying somebody like Ryan Anderson who could shoot from the outside. Go ahead. What about the guy named Kevin? What's the guy, Kevin Love? Kevin Lowe would have been great for this scene.

Good outside shooter because this team is a lot like Ryan Anderson. He's an outside shooter. I mean, they're horrible outside shooters. The other guy, I think it's saying what the guy that's injured. Eric Gordon. Eric Gordon. Eric Gordon. He's good. Eric, yes.

So they're clearly missing Eric Gordon right now. No, and look, I agree with your initial point. And this has to be played out in case, you know, Mori is listening and he sends me a text. I keep saying this. We're 20 games into an 82 game season. But you were exactly right. So one part of this is James Hardin. is better than he's ever been.

He's the best as a score he's ever been. He might be, he is. He's probably the best score in the NBA since Michael Jordan. He has put up historic numbers. He did last year and he's even better this year as a score. But you could see at the end of that Spurs game. Regulation, the OTs, when it came down to crunch time, when a move had to be made,

James Hardin still does that. He'll dribble 15 times. He'll dribble between his legs 10 straight times. And then he's either going to step back and take a three or he's going to penetrate. He's going to float one in and he's, you know, attacking, but also trying to draw a foul. That's James Harden.

It's hard to professionally, or as a fan, knock that because James Hardin's really good at that, but I agree with you because he's going to kick it out at some point. And when he kicks that thing out in the modern NBA, you need that ball to go down. You need PJ Tucker or Chris Paul or Eric Gordon to hit that three. And historically, statistically, especially the last few years, Russell Westbrook is not even close to being above average hitting that three. And this season, he's shooting 22% from threes, which gets you benched on 29 to 30 teams. But he's Russell Westbrook.

You're right. I mean, that is an issue that we will continue to watch play out because Dantone, Mori, that coaching staff, Russell Westbrook, most importantly, they have to figure out. I mean, he either takes less threes or he's penetrating more or he's passing off more. and do you want your number two attacker passing off in crunch time? No. Yeah. I do have to address the first point about, like, James Harden and Steve Francis are

different stratospheres. Oh, did he, I didn't have my headpoint done at that point. Did he say that? Yes. Oh, well. He also credited Ryan Anderson. And I'm like, dude, Ryan Anderson. I mean, nice guy.

Look, Steve Francis wasn't nearly the playmaker that, that James Hardin is. Stephen Francis wasn't nearly the score that James Hardin is. Steve Francis is like the super, extremely impoverished, poor man's James Harding. And Kevin Kevin Love's name's been mentioned a while because Cleveland's horrible and he's making a lot of money. They can't afford him. I know.

He's clearly the same player as Ryan Anderson though, right? No. That's not fair. Kevin Love, I'm in no way saying Kevin Love's the answer. And yes, contractually, it's a nightmare. I would like to Kevin Love action on this team. Absolutely. So Kevin Love this season,

a type of Kevin Love player, yes, this season. He's played in 17 games for a horrible team. 31 minutes a game. He's shooting 44% from the field. He's shooting 37% on threes, 88% from the line, 10 plus rebounds, 16 points a game.

It's basically that three-point shooting. Now, Eric Gordon coming back will help them. Daniel House consistently being in the lineup will help them. But I can say Gordon and I can say House, this is on Russell Westbrook. It's not alarms and this isn't going to work. And it was a horrible decision. No, but we said this yesterday.

we'll keep saying it until the percentage comes up. You can't be the number two guy and be Westbrook and shoot 22% on threes with this team when Hardin is still so ball dominant and he's either going to attack or he's going to kick out. One of two things are, you know, lob it to Capella. He's got about three offensive options in this Dan Tony offense. And when he kicks out,

the person who gets that ball has to knock that three down. I'm guessing that the Rockets and Mori and probably Dan Tony are just thinking, he can't shoot this bad for the entire season. I mean, it would be unprecedented for him to shoot 22% from 3. Of course, he's not a great three-point shooter. He's been around 30% his entire career. But he's better than 22%.

He's better than 22%. Right now, he is worse than Corey Brewer levels. Like, Cory Brewer is like a 27% guy for his career. That is cold. Yeah, if you're worse than Corey Brewer at 3s. If Russ was here, he would have leapt across the desk and just taking you out. I'm sorry, look at the numbers, Russ. That's what I would say.

Let's get Cameron and Katie here on Sports Talk 790. What's up, Cameron. Cameron? How's it going, gentlemen? I just wanted to give my opinion about my most hated player, and that would have to be Tom Brady. I hate them, and I love that the Texans made him struggle, made him so fit on the solid.

It was so satisfying. I'm still so happy about that. And that's about it. All right, Cameron, thanks a lot. Thanks for sharing your holiday thoughts. We appreciate that. I never did you ever really hate Tom? Well, I guess you wouldn't hate Tom Brady,

but I never really hated Tom Brady. I don't hate Tom Brady. He's just too handsome. Yeah, he's... There's too much of a winner. I'm gonna be... I get it. I get it why half the fan base hates Tom Brady.

He was a, what, six-round pick who was never supposed to make it, and he's won six Super Bowls. I mean, it's kind of hard to hate on that, unless you just hate the Patriots. Look, I remember, I was actually, I think I've talked about this. Like, when I was young

and I'm impressionable, a friend of mine in elementary school was a Michigan football fan, so I was like, okay, I'm a Michigan football fan, so I knew who Tom, when he got... I remember checking the paper to see where Tom Brady, that's what you used to do.

You would check the paper to see what happened and where people in the draft. Ross, for the record, a lot of people in Houston still checked the paper. Oh, I mean, you know what I mean. Well, after the draft. Subscribe at Houston Chronicle.com. After the draft, after the NFL draft. Yes, I know. You would see where people were drafted and who, you know, who the, well, the Oilers didn't have a team at that point.

I don't think the Texans had started either. I remember checking the paper to see where Tom Brady got drafted. I was like, sixth round. Oh, he's better than that. So thank you. So you were ahead of the national curve. 14-year-old Ross was ahead of the curve on Tom Brady. I knew that he was better than six.

You're also a longhorns fan, so things kind of equal themselves. So both of you, who's more handsome? Tom Brady or Jason or Jake Moriznick. Jake Moriznick. Tom Brady. All right, time for a quick break here on the Mad Thomas show without Matt Thomas. The debate rages on. Hey, Matt, we don't really need you.

This show is just rolling along just fine without you, man. So stay in Canada with the. mooses. What's the plural for moose? Moose. With a moose. Yes. And it's the same plural as deer. The weird M&Ms. That's always a big thing when you go to Canada. They have different M&M's. Oh yeah. I've never been. The candy's all different. Yeah. It's like I would love to go at some way. They have locks flavored Eminems or something weird. No, they're called different. They're M&Ms. Can I get some putteen? Flavored Eminemes? Yeah. Poutine's good. Gravy on fries. Yeah. That's good stuff. Canada's very underrated. And that's where Matt Thomas is, getting a pedicure as he's there for the

Rockets and Raptors game tonight. Quick break here on the Matt Thomas show. We'll take all your calls next. The most awkward nooner you'll ever be a part of. This is the Matt Thomas show. I don't want candy. So apparently M&Ms and Canada are called Smarties. This is very confusing to me.

Yeah, Smarties here are like chalky. Yeah, they're weird. It's like Dennis Candy. Shockey rolls of shock. Yeah, I know that Smarties are. Yeah. I mean, they're different, though? Or they're the same smarties?

Those are Canadian? According to Father Anthony. Father Anthony called in with this. Okay. I just remember you go across the border. You get smarties at Halloween. You're pissed because they're not that great. When you were in 20s or, you know, you go across the border and you're coming back, you

stop at the, you know, you would get the Canadian candy and it was just different. It was kind of cool. It was like, I went to Canada. And I got Canadian M&Ms. You do a bunch of other stuff when you cross the border. So do they sell regular M&Ms in Canada, though? I don't think so. Really?

I don't think so. I don't believe that. Wait, what did you say about going to Canada? You crossed the border? Yeah. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. Build that wall. All right. Sorry.

He's got bigger issues right now to worry about. 7-13-212. I think that's where the danger's coming from. We have some bad hombres here, and we're going to get them out. All right. Let's go to Justin. I don't know that's west side. I want to talk about Mike Dantone, Westbrook, and the Rockets. What's up, Justin? How's going on, man?

You've got a few things that I believe was going on with the Rockets. It's not hard to see. Educators, go ahead. Yeah, Mike Dantone, in my opinion, he's not helping out Russell Westbrook. And what I mean by that is, okay, everybody, we all know. Russell Westbrook can't shoot three and he's not an ISO player. So I'm not understanding why

Mike Dan Tony is letting him run ISO and doing these small baller. I mean, when you watch OKC, they would consistently run two big men at the top of the key for screens. Right. Adams, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And you're gonna hear me? Yeah, go ahead. Oh, yeah, yeah. They would run, you know, consistently run two screens. top of the key or he could choose which side. He would go to it. He would either blow by the big man going around him or he was so explosive that he would always split the screen

and have a wide open basket to get a layer or path to the corner. And I feel like he's not utilizing them right. I mean, it's not hard with the rest. I don't understand why he's making it so difficult for him. I feel like, you know, he's not adjusting to him and not helping him out. He's just ISO, ISO, ISO and small ball with. I feel like he always needs a rim runner at all times with Russ. Yeah, they did that a little more toward the end against the Spurs in their last game

where, you know, Russ would have the ball and he was able to kind of play around with Capella and often to set up Capella. But here's the thing that's interesting about your point. Two parts. Number one, the Rockets as a whole have to find out a way to make Russ work better for them, be more efficient. I'm sure they're smart enough. they are theoretically working on that right now, right,

and did yesterday and watching all the tape and trying to figure this out. The second part, though, yeah, everything you said is true about the OKC part, and he had Paul George, but Russell Westbrook ran the show. I mean, ultimately Russell Westbrook ran that Paul George was MVP candidate last year with Oklahoma City, but Russell Westbrook had the ball in hand, ran the show. Paul George would play more off the ball, right? James Hardin, this is the issue. James Hardin does not play off the ball,

really. I mean, James Hardin is controlling that ball. We all know that. We watch that every game. I'm not saying that to knock Hardin. Russell has to play. I mean, you can only have the ball in one guy's hand. I know we hear that too often. We discuss superstars getting together. But Russ has to play off the ball. And he's going to be sitting by the key and waiting for a three point shot. That's kind of what you're going to do if James Hardin's running the offense. Yeah, I forgot to add it. I forgot to say Rush led lineup. So I understand the, I understand the I'm going to say Russ lay a line of when Russell was running with the backup. That's what they should do with Russ. And I feel like NBA, you know he needs shooter around him since he's not an ISO guy.

Harding get his, no matter who's on the court, he's proven that. But Russ needs shooters. So I'm not understanding why he's putting. Well, and that's the other part of that. No, you're right. You're right. And I'm not trying to explain it the way, but I'm also saying that missing Eric Gordon and House was out. You know, missing Eric Gordon should theoretically make.

make them look a lot sharper and more efficient and get that ball moving more and give them more three-point options and spread the floor more when Eric Gordon returns. Exactly. But he could also just put PJ in the house instead of PJ in the house being with hard. He just put PJ in the house with Russ instead of having the backups with Russ because it just, him and the backups just don't work because there aren't any shooters. So he could just tweak a little things. he needs to adjust, man. That's Mike and Tony's saying, but everybody knows that. Even Amarai Stamar said that

with the past of Phoenix, he just doesn't adjust. But that's all I had to say about the situation. That's the one here, which I want to say about it. All right, thanks for the call. Appreciate you, Justin. Thanks for getting in. 7-13-212-5-790 is the phone number. I mean, I don't feel like that Russell Westbrook,

there's no pick-and-rolls being run from him, and he's eye-so-in-too-much and stuff like that, especially when he's on the floor as the primary ball handle. There's a lot of picking rolls. Dan Tony had the system with Chris Paul, right, to where they basically were one of those guys was always going to be on the court. Staggering, yes. Yeah. Chris Paul could hit the three. Chris Paul had the mid-range shot and he could, you know, he could take it in. A lot of variation in Chris Paul's game. But Chris Paul started in this league by setting guys up and attacking. Russell Westbrook does variations of that. But I mean, Westbrook's primary two assets. He's had it for a decade. He won the MVP. And, Mr. Triple Double. He's going to take you off the, you know, full court, you know, in transition, around the key, whatever it is.

Russell Westbrook will take the ball to the basket and attack. He might miss some layups, but he's going to attack. He's got that mid-range shot, right? I mean, the three-point kind of comes. So slightly different player, but ultimately the same, I agree with the general idea of the call that they have to find a way to get more out of Westbrook offensively. but I don't think it's as simple or black and white as saying don't have him play with the backups. They're gonna,

you can't play James Hard in the whole game. You're missing Eric Gordon, who's kind of your number three point guard. You know, Russ will be running with the backups at certain times. That's just how they're set up. And he's got to shoot better. You can't shoot 22.9% from three.

Yeah, we wouldn't be breaking all this down and talking about old Dan Tony things from the Phoenix days, which the caller was if Russ was shooting 30% from threes. would be nice. Why does that seem like such a far, like it's so far away from 30%? But hopefully he heats up at some point. He's got to. Right? I would hope so. He will. Let's talk to Brian in downtown on the Matt Tom show. What's up, Brian? All right, good talk, Brian.

Call of the day. Oh my gosh. That was call of the day. And this will be the second best call of the day. The man is back. Howard in Memorial. I asked for him. He came back. I'm one of the few people who reads the sports section of the Chronicle, so don't knock me. Wait, sorry, can you hang up on Howard? What? No. Howard, Howard, I was saying nice things about you. I said I wanted you to call in and you come in and you say something totally incorrect.

Howard, we have hundreds of thousands of readers. No, no, no, Howard. Don't come on the show and take shots at the Chronicle. I'm teasing. It's well-known that the sports section sells the paper. whether it was the New York Times or anywhere, people would open, any Native American would open to the sports section first to see how the local teams... Native Americans? That's a very small percentage of people.

I'm not sure you mean that, but I know what you mean. And now, I called actually to defend Mariznick a little bit. We got him for almost nothing with... I think it's the trade for one of the Florida teams. But his glove, his glove, say... quite a few games, as I recall, and that he made some great catches in centerfield. Probably was the best defensive center field that they've got. Yeah, Howard, real quick, nobody was knocking, like, there's no reason to defend Mariznick.

The whole idea of today is everyone's sad because he left, so nobody needs to defend Mariznick. All right, and the other thing is, my old Mets have fallen on some hard times, because the owner fell into some off-field financial situations. He got policed out of a lot of money. Jeff Wilpon, yes. Yeah, with a Ponzi scheme, which wasn't his fault. And the previous general manager made some horrible deals that was still paying off. If the new hedge fund guy...

Cohen, right, Cohen, right, right. pours money into the team as a native New Yorker, they may start to do better. Okay, thanks for the call, Howard. All right, Howard. Happy holidays, and it's good to hear from you again. You ask for that, Brian, that's on you. All right, we'll take a quick break here on Sports Talk 7-19-out-year-as,

a bad time of show. I like the fact that Howard had to point out that only Native Americans buy papers for the sports section. I don't even know what that means. Let's move on. Dr. Roto's next with fantasy fantasy football and sports Doc 790. Don't go anywhere.

All right, folks, you know what that music means? It is time for Dr. Roto on the Matt Thomas show this Thursday. It's playoff time. We've got to get after it. I know there's a lot of you who don't care about your teams anymore, but we've got to get to the important stuff. It's crunch time right now, Dr. Roto,

isn't it? It is. I mean, these are the next three weeks. It's week 14, 15, 16. If you want to win a fantasy championship, it's got to be done right now. So I'm going to tell you this. Okay, this is a theme I want to go with. Game over name,

meaning I want the matchup over the name, just because we know a guy doesn't mean he's got the best matchup. It's about winning. I like that. I like that a lot. You know what? Real quick before we get to the games, I saw a debate raging on Twitter,

and I'm guessing you saw this as well. There was a lot of people upset about people who are out of the playoffs, making claims on the waivers and people who are in the playoffs getting a little bit upset about people claiming teams that they, players that they wanted. So what do you think about that? Should people teams who are out of the playoffs be able to make waiver claims? Well, look, it all depends on your league structure, right? So if you're in a dynasty league, well, you can make claims. If there's a non-winners pool, right, if there's a pool from people that didn't make the playoffs and there's a reason to make claims, I like it. If you're making claims just to be a jerk so that this other guy doesn't win, then I don't like that.

So you've got to fix that. So it all depends on your league and why they have it. I normally think if I'm out and there's no reason to play, there's no reason for me to make a move. All right. I kind of like the spite move too, though, that the guy's being a jerk. That's just me, though. That's just how I roll, Dr. Roto. Another quick question.

So what is your ideal playoff? How do you like, let's just do year-long leagues that aren't necessarily dynasty? Do you like 14 weeks of regular season and then two weeks of one matchup? Or do you like – how do you like the playoffs? Because I kind of like the two-week matchups, but then you have to – if you're going to throw away week 17, you have to start the playoffs really early, which is what I do in one of the leagues that I commission. Well, you've got to throw away week 17. That's just the worst ever.

So normally what most leagues that I'm in, we have 13 weeks. And then week 14, often there's two teams that have a buy, right? And then there's four other teams who play. And then week 15, you have the team. semifinals in week 16, you have the championship. That's the norm. If you're playing week 17, I get it. You want to play. You love fantasy football. But I don't want some third string quarterback costing me $2,000. That's not why I play fantasy football. So I think you've got to figure out a way to get it done week 16. All right. Let's go ahead and get to the matchups here

with Dr. Roto starting up tonight with the Cowboys versus the Bears. I mean, we know the Cowboys, Dak Prescott, Zeeke Ali, DeMarie Cooper. You're probably playing all them. But what do you think about the Cowboys against going up on the road in a short week against the Bears' defense. I mean, I know if you're Jerry Jones, you're starting everybody because he says they're making the Super Bowl. Well, you know, Jerry's a little delusional, but what can I tell you? Watch Amar Cooper, though. He does not perform well on the road.

He does not. He's much better at home. So if you're asking me which receiver I like more tonight for the Cowboys, I think it's Michael Gallup. And don't be shocked. I mean, I'm not telling anybody to Bench Cooper, but I'm telling you, temper your expectations with Cooper, because when he only gets, you know, know, five for 50, and you're like, wait a second, how come he's not doing more?

He just doesn't do as well on the road. I like Dak. I like Zeke. I mean, I'm okay with Randall Cobb, but I'm not thrilled. I think I'm going to play Gallup, and that's about it. On the other side of the ball, I'm going to play Anthony Miller. We saw what Cole Beasley did to the Cowboys. Slot receivers destroyed them.

I think Miller's actually playing very well. Will I start Allen Robinson? I will. David Montgomery has just been the biggest pain in the butt this year, because when you think he's good. He's terrible. When you think he's terrible, he's good. I will play him, but only if I absolutely have to. What do you make of Alan Robinson, by the way? I mean, because he's obviously got the talent, and he's got a couple of big games, and he's been pretty steady, but he's not necessarily one of the first names that you think of when you're thinking

of number one ride receivers, but he's been there pretty much all year. Look, Alan Robinson's really good. He just plays for the really bad quarterback. You put Alan Robinson on the Patriots, and you're going to talk about a guy's got 1,400 yards, and 15 touchdown. You put him with Mitch Chibisky, and it's a potluck. Who knows what you're going to get? So sadly, it's just a great player and a bad situation. All right, let's move on. Let's start with some of the noon games on Sunday.

Let's go with the Panthers and the Falcons, NFC-Sup. Panthers changing of the guard at the head coach spot. Is there anything you ever factor in with anything like that, especially probably not since he's such a defensive-minded coach? Well, I don't know if it's about that. I think it's about the team response. in terms of how do you just feel now? Maybe you just want to give up.

You don't feel good about this. The season's over. You know, you're looking for another coach. That's a hard one to project. I mean, we know Christian McAfee's going to bring it. We know DJ Moore is going to bring it. Greg Olson is probably not going to play. He's done with a concussion.

I think Ian Thomas is going to play. And I think Curtis Samuel is the wild card in this situation. Could he have a good week? Sure, but he's very unreliable. For the Falcons, I think this is their Super Bowl week. I really feel this way. I think that Julio Jones may get shut down at some point. I think they have a big week this week at home, and I think they basically are done at this point.

But I play Julio Jones. I play Calvin Ridley. I play Devonsor Freeman. I play Matt Ryan. And obviously you're benching Christian McCaffrey because he only got 17 PPR points last week. Could you imagine that's his worst week of the year and he's still putting up 17? Unreal. Just amazing.

All right. Let's move on. Let's go with the Ravens at the Bills. You know, I had you a couple of weeks ago when Matt was out, and I said, you know what? What do you think of the bills? You said, hey, they're a really good team. They're beating bad teams, but they're still beating it. And then they had the nice win on Thursday night against the Cowboys.

So they're a pretty good team, but they're going up against, in my estimation, you probably agree, the best team in the NFL. Yeah, this is a good game. This really is a good game. You know, I think it's going to be an ugly game. I think it's going to be a lot of good defense. I think there's certain things to watch out for. So firstly, with the builds, John Brown is going to get shut down by Marlon Humphrey. Marlon Humphrey is one of the best cornerback that you've never heard of.

He plays for the Ravens, and John Brown's going to be a non-entity. I think that we're going to see Cole Beasley have another good game. I think we're going to see Devon Singletary have to step up in this game because they're going to need him to catch passes out of the backfield to give a little speed against his Baltimore Raven defense. I think there's a big game for Josh Allen. he's going to see tons of pressure. He's been a lot better recently, but look, doing it against the Ravens is not easy.

On the other side with Lamar Jackson, he, Lamar Jackson hasn't faced a defense like this in a long time. I mean, the bills are really good defense. So I like Lamar Jackson. Everybody else is okay, but there's nobody I'm dying to start. I'm certainly not starting Marquise Brown. I'll start Mark Andrews. Ingram is okay.

I think it was just going to be a tough game, a lot of field goals. I think Lamar Jackson makes a player too, but I think we're looking maybe 2317, but I think a fun game to watch. And is there any December and Buffalo always scares me? Is there any word about any bad weather or anything going on there up this weekend? I haven't seen, but you know, I rarely like looking at weather on Thursdays and Friday. Right. It's usually off. I like looking at more Saturdays because things change so quickly. But look, Lamar Jackson, what he showed you last week, though, was interesting.

He didn't throw the ball that much. Only threw for like 105 yards, but he ran it more. Expect that this week. He's going to run the ball much more against Bill's defense. All right, let's move on. Bingles and Browns. You got Andy Dalton back. Tyler Boyd coming out of hibernation, so he's looking better.

What do you make of the Bengals' offense now with Andy Dalton? Yeah. Okay, so the biggest mistake that fantasy owners can make is chasing last week's results. Last week, the Bengals wanted to win. They tried to win. They went out of theirs because they didn't want to have a zero by their record this year. Now they have one big win, and now they can stop, because this way they can have the number one draft pick. They don't want to win more games.

What do you think they want to have a coin flip with the Giants for who's the worst record? I think they want to end up with one win. They'll get Joe Burrow. So please don't chase points this week with the Bengals. I think the Browns this one can win this convincingly. I think Beckham scores. I think Landry scores. I think Chubb scores.

I think it was going to be a blowout. Yeah, Odell Beckham, I think it was limited practice with a groin injury. Any concern there? and even when he has been healthy, he hasn't been the old Dobeckham of old. He hasn't, but this is a get-well game, right? This is one of those. If he's standing out there in the field, there's no way that they can cover him. I think he gets at least 80 yards, and I think he scored this week.

All right, let's keep it moving here. Redskins at Packers. What do you think of the breakout game from Darius Geis? Wasn't a lot of touches, but he made the most of them. Just overall thoughts on Dwayne Haskins, Darius, Gice, and the Redskins offense. Yeah, Haskins sucks. I mean, that was what it is. Terrible.

Terrible. But what I like about what Bill Callahan is doing is interesting. They were down by a lot last week to the Panthers, but they kept on running the football. And they just kept on grinding it out and grinding it out, because they can't throw the football because why? Dwayne Haskins is terrible. Now, Green Bay has one of the worst run defenses in all the NFL.

And I think that they're going to continue attacking them with Darius Geis. And I think that Geis is going to have a good game. Now, what's interesting is he only had like 10, carries last week, but he made a lot of those carries. I think he could have 10 or 12 carries this week, maybe get another 80 yards. I don't think they win. I think the Packers win. And let me give you a sleeper

name in case your league looks for waiver wires. A guy named Alan Lazard, I think is turning into the wide receiver two for Green Bay. People still think it's Allison and Valdez Scantling. It's not. It's Devante Adams is the one, and Lazard is the number two. All right.

Let's keep it moving with one more before a break. Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings. I think I sat Marvin Jones last week because I was like, okay, well, the quarterback situation is really bad there, and then he got a touchdown, and Kenny Gondalee hasn't been too bad either. What do you think of the Detroit Lions'

offense and especially the running back situation? Yeah, look, I sat Galdaday on Thanksgiving, too. It's hard to digest my turkey after knowing that he had such a good game. Look, the Vikings are susceptible in the air. They're very strong on the ground. I don't think this is

a Beau Scarborough week. I think he gets like 40 or 50 yards. 10 is Matthew Stafford going to play? I don't think we know that. I mean, I think he's probably not going to play. Do I think the third string quarterback can do what he did last game against the Bears? Maybe, maybe 240 yards and one or two touchdowns. We know that Marvin Jones plays very well against the Vikings.

I think we got to pick dollade and play as well. Look, Vikings are going to win this game. Are they going to cover the 13? Probably. But I think the lions are going to try their best this week to keep it close. it's a divisional game. And can you start Madison with confidence if Dalvin Cook is out? I don't know. He's dealing with an injury issue

as well. Chest and shoulder, I think, right? For sure. For sure. You fire up Madison right. Dalvin Cook says he's going to play. He's saying everything right. I expect him to play. That said, if the last second they decide not to play him, you put in Madison, you put him in seasonal, you put him in DFS,

you put him in wherever. All right, time for a quick break here. It is Dr. Roto and your fantasy fix this week on the Matt Thomas show. Got to take quick break when we come back. We'll look at the Texans game, talk about streamers, and get the lock of the week. All that coming up here on the Matt Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790. Welcome back, Matt Thomas show. Second segment of two. It is crunch time with Dr. Roto and your fantasy fix here on the Matt Thomas show. Dr. Roto, let's go ahead and just start it off

Texans and Broncos. How do you see this one playing out? A Cortland Sutton, of course, having a big game last week. We know the Texans secondary, although they're solid, they can get got. What do you think, first of all, Broncos' offense heading to play the Texans at noon on Sunday? All right, please don't kill me, Ross. I never would. I'm just saying the following. This has a trap game written all over it. The Texans had a magical game against the Patriots.

Couldn't have played any better. And next week, the Texans have the Titans, a big rivalry game that could decide the division. Oh, and now this week we have the Broncos. Do we really care? Are we really giving 100%? Bill O'Brien says we're looking at the tape and we're only focused on Denver. He's giving us a Belichick line. I already heard him say that yesterday.

I'm just telling you that, man, I think that Denver is going to cover, and I think that they're going to, they may even, I don't know if they're going to win this game. I think the Texans are better. They're not going to win, but it's going to be like a last second field goal, and you're going to be nauseous. That's how bad it's going to be this week. So just watch and see if I'm right. I hope I'm not, but I think so.

In terms of the game, Denver, they're going to run the ball. Carlos Hyde's going to run the ball. And Denver is very soft in the middle, and the running defense is weak. They are very good at covering number one receivers. I think Hopkins has a good game, not a great game. I think this is a Will Fuller week. I think this is a Kenny Stiller. So I like Hyde, Fuller, and Stillers.

What do you think about the running back split with the Texans? I think nine carries for Duke Johnson, 10 for Carlos Hyde, and he also got that receiving touchdown. Yeah, but that was more design. And I remember we talked about this last week. Remember I told you that in like Hyde against the Patriots. I told you like Duke Johnson, Darren Phillips. Styles make matchups, right?

Matchups decide, you know, fantasy. This is a Carlos Hyde week. This is one of those weeks where Carlos Hyde runs right up the gut and gets 20 carries for, you know, 84 yards in a touchdown. This is not a Duke Johnson week. All right, moving along in the matchups. Niners and Saints, definitely a big one, two of the best teams in the NFC.

You know what? Off topic real quick. Who's the best team in the NFC? Who's the best team in the NFC? I think for my money it's the Saints. I do. I think it's the Saints. But, you know, I could be convinced otherwise. I think the 49ers are playing great football. I'm really intrigued by this game. The 49ers Saints this week is a great game. I think there are a lot of good teams this year and bad teams. I think the Saints, the 49ers are great. The Ravens are great. The Patriots have a great defense. You know, and then there are some teams that are not so great. But I think we really haven't seen Drew Breeze do his thing yet. You know, when he does his Drew Breeze, 380-yard thing,

and the Saints play really good defense. So I think this may be their year. All right. And if I had to start one 49ers running back, who would I go with? You won't start Kevin Coleman because he's going to get killed. I think I would start brighter or moistered. And I think brighter does come back this week and play. All right.

Let's keep it rolling here from a good matchup, to a horrible one. Dolphins and Jets. Devante Parker, though, I mean, this is his breakout season that we've been waiting for for like five years. Just what do you make of the dolphins, offense, and the way Devante Parker has been playing? Yeah, you're absolutely right. If I told you the number one receiver in week 13 would be Devante Parker, you'd probably have my head examined, but he has been terrific. And I think Ryan Fitzpatrick has helped him because he's fearless. He just throws the ball wherever in coverage. He doesn't care. And Parker comes down with it. Look, Parker, I'm not saying is motivated by money, but he may be motivated by money.

It's a contract. It happens. Yeah, somebody's going to pay him, and he's playing really well. This is a guy that, like you said, we've been hoping to see forever. Could he do it against the Jets? Yeah, and would I start him? You bet. All right, and on the other side, a levy on Bell.

I just, I keep waiting. I mean, he's been steady. He's had a couple of solid weeks, but last week he disappointed, and he just never has had any one of those, like a Levion Bell game, where he gets a couple of the touchdowns and like 60 receiving yards and 120 rushing yards with two touches. He just never has had that big breakout game with the Jets. No, you're right. And I think that's a fair point.

I think the Jets haven't used them well. I don't think Adam Gase has him fully bought into Levy on Bell. He wasn't his guy. It's already been documented that he really didn't want him. And I don't think that he's done what he can for Bell. Right. I think with a guy like Bell, you've got to build your offense around him. And they haven't done that.

They've built the offense around Sam Darnold, and they've incorporated Bell. So with Sam Darnold, you have good weeks from Robbie Anderson and James and Crowder and Ryan Griffin, but you're not seeing Bell do his thing. I think this week he finds the end zone. I think maybe he gets 100 total yards from scrimmage. But are we seeing Bell from the Pittsburgh days? Not at all. All right.

Let's go. How about Colts Buccaneers? Anything to highlight here? Godwin, Mike Evans. We know what they are. And James Winston, if you're a regular Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan, you're probably not that thrilled with them because of all the interceptions, but as far as fantasy, he's been pretty productive.

Yeah, this is where you have to separate fantasy from reality. James Winston, if you're a buccaneer, Frank, you make you nauseous. And I'm telling you this right now, never trust the buccaneers. When you think they're going to play well, they don't. And I think the Colts are going to come and beat them this week. I do. I think Marlon Mack is going to play well. I think all these things, you watch.

The bucks are going to lay an egg this week. That said, Winston should be able to put up. up 250 yards. He's a good quarterback. The question is, does Bruce Ariens think he can win the Super Bowl with him because they have to make a decision on James? Mike, you know, Mike Evans is an outstanding player. Chris Godwin is sensational, but it just seems like both guys don't do well in the same week. One guy has a big game. One guy has the big game the next week. I think this is in Evans week, but I think the Colts are going to be slowing this game down. Bresset's going to have a good game and watch for Marlon Mac. He will be back from the injury.

All right, you just made a rhyme there. Marlon Mack is back. Let's go to the big matchup, Chiefs at the Patriots. Obviously, we know what's going on with Pat Mahomes and Tyreek Hill. Well, I guess I do have a running back question for the Chiefs. You can answer that. But also on the Patriots side is what is going on with Tom Brady? I mean, against the Texans whose defense is solid but not great.

He just looked completely lost at times out there. He was yelling at his receivers. I mean, what are we going with with the skill position players of the Patriots? All right, this is a lot of stuff to talk about here. So very quickly on the chief side, be careful with Tyree Kill. I think he's going to see bracketed coverage, okay? I like him. I don't love him.

I think a sneaky guy that nobody's talking about that I would get off waivers right now as a guy named Darwin Thompson. I think he may be a game changer because he's very fast out of the backfield. And Damien Williams is going to be out. And Darrell Williams is going to be out as well. And I'm not bought it. I haven't bought into McCoy. I just haven't.

I don't like Sammy Watkins at all. do like Travis Kelsey. I think you start Mahomes because he's Patrick Mahomes. But the Patriots are in a better spot this week because the way you beat the Chiefs are two ways. One, you play great defense, which the Patriots do, and B, you run the football, which the Patriots do with Sony Michelle. I think this is a Sony Michelle week. Now, I think the big problem you had last week was that the Patriots receivers were not getting any separation. None. And that's what Brady was screaming. Like, you guys have to get open. I think they'll have a much easy. your time of his receivers getting open against the chief secondary, which is the weakest part of

their game. And I think they'll be a little bit more successful this week. But I think this will be a little lower scoring game than people imagine, more ball control, more running, but it still should be a very good game. All right. Let's go with the, how about the Titans and the Raiders? Derek Henry, he's dealing with the hamstring injury. Is there some worry there? And how about Ryan Tannahill? He hasn't been so bad. I mean, since he became the starter, number five quarterback in entire NFL. I don't even say a bad word about Derek Henry. I love this man.

He is a roto child of the extreme. I can tell you that right now. Now, Ryan Tannehill, you're right. And I went through the numbers. If you go over it, they had five games with Marcus Marriota. I think they went at least two of them with Tanahill, at least two with Tanahill, and that they waited so long it could cost them, really could. Tana Hill is what we call a high floor guy.

His ceiling is not going to be 350 yards and three touchdown. But his floor is always going to be like 220 and one or two. And he runs a ball a little bit. So he's never going to kill you. And he's good enough because when they give the ball to Derek Henry 25 times, Tana Hill's efficient enough to make plays. I like this kid, A.J. Brown. He's becoming better and better each week.

I'm not a Corey Davis fan. Watch A.J. Brown this week. Watch Henry this week. This is a big game for the Titans. I think that you expect the Titans to win, but it is hard to play on the road and opens. All right. Let's go to Sunday night football, Seahawks and Rams. Can you please wake up Tyler Lockett for me, Dr. Roto?

Okay, so let's stop for a second because Lockett cost me a playoff spot in the league, cost me a lot of money. So here's what happened. Lockett was injured last week, and if you wasn't feeling well, and if you watch what they were doing, they were using him as a decoy. Decoy on every single play, he was running behind Wilson going left, going right, trying to move the defense around, but they never had any place for him. So it was a decoy. I think Lockett is used this week, and he plays much better.

So if you have Lockett, don't fall into the recency bias. I know he sucked last week. I get that. I think he has a bigger week. That said, I think there's going to be a high-scoring game. The Rams play always much better at home. I think Cooper Cup will do well. I think, as we call him, Bobby Trees, Robert Woods will do well.

But for Seattle, look, can Aaron Donald put pressure? on Russell Wilson. I doubt it. I think Wilson does well. Chris Carson's out of his mind. Penny startable. This is a really great game. All right. And quickly, just how about if we're looking for streaming defense was what do you think of are a couple of good options this week? Look, I think the Vikings are always good defense against playing at home against a third string quarterback. I think the Browns are a good defense against a Bengals team who I think wants to lose. And I think the Chargers is a good defense against a Jaguars team who have absolutely quit. All right. And then now let's go ahead and get to it.

You listen for it every week. It is the best player on the board, and it's Dr. Roto's lock of the week. I have to apologize for last week's fiasco. I really believed that the Jaguars were going to play well against the Buccaneers. I am sorry, it cost me money in DFS. It costs me in seasonal. I went down with the Titanic as well, so I apologize. But this week, here's what I like.

I like the Packers a lot. I really am all in. I think Aaron Jones finds the end zone. I think Devante Adams finds the end zone. I think Aaron Rogers throws for at least two or three touchdowns. So if you need a team to rely on, if rely on the Packers, they will win convincingly. Okay. That's the Packers' offense.

Dr. Roto's block of the week. All right, Dr. Roto, thanks for the time. As always, go ahead and let the folks know where they can find all your stuff. And, of course, on Twitter at Dr. Roto. Right. You can find me at Sports Illustrated at S.I.com backslash fantasy. I'll have my visionary plays of the week up there, as well as my start sit column. And you can find me at full-time fantasy, enter the promo code Roto 50 for 50% off your first two months.

And, of course, at Twitter at DRR-R-O-T-O. All right, Dr. Roto, thanks for the time, man. We'll talk to you next week, and good luck. You too. Take care, Ron. All right, all right. Dr. Roto, there you can find him on Twitter at DRR-O-T-O-S-I-S-I-I-com slash fantasy. We're going to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas Show, 7-13-1-2-5-7-9 at your number to get involved.

back after this short break. At least now we know that losing sucks. And if anybody knows how much losing sucks, it's Matt Thomas. I'm outstanding. This is Whitney Mercilis. Back to the Matt Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas Show continues.

Thanks to Dr. Roto. Does a great job as always. You know, back in the day when I was producing this show, I used to always take advantage of during the breaks, I would ask Dr. Roto, like all my start, sit questions for the week. So I'll be like, Dr. Roto, I got this going on. I forgot to ask him. A big question of mine. I'm actually upset at myself, but you know what? I'll make it. Ross v. Real, Brian Smith, with you folks, until three o'clock here on the Matt Thomas show.

You really, nobody cares. Ross, this is your show. Nobody cares about it. I care. I'm somebody. I'll ask you the question and you tell me what you want. I have to sit two of these. Chris Godwin, DJ Moore, Alan Robinson, Will Fuller, and Tyler Lockett. I would not sit. Half PPR. Well, easy answer, number one.

I would not sit with Will Fuller this week. Yeah, but I can't. They'll try to take away DeAndre. I would not sit Will Fuller. Yeah, but I got Chris, I mean, Chris Godwin and DJ Moore, so I'm not going to sit them. So that means I'm leaving Lockett,

who Dr. Roto just said is going to bounce back or Alan Robinson, who I think could have a good night tonight against the Bears. So I got a glut of receivers. Just saying. Yeah, I mean, I'm sitting in my wife's fantasy league. I'm sitting, we're sitting

Cole Beasley, which feels weird right now. Can't trust a cowboy. It's hard to trust a cowboy. But Cole Beasley's not a cowboy anymore, though. So you can trust him. He's a bill. Right. Yeah, but you're trusting the cowboy.

Me? Which one am I trusting? Are you talking about, I don't have a cowboy? Alan Robinson? He's a bear. Yeah. Playing the cowboys.

All right, let's go to. Who wins that game? Cowboys in Chicago. That's a tough one. Cowboys. I have a weird feeling the Bears are going to win. Yeah, Bears got this. I want to say the Cowboys have bounced back and they, you know, they were embarrassed on Thanksgiving.

Jerry Jones wants him some glory. Right. Jerry Jones. Cowboys are three-point favorites, which shocks me a little bit. Jerry Jones is convinced they're going to the Super Bowl now that they're completely average. I have a, I just have a weird feeling the Bears might win this game. We'll see. Night game three point or fewer dollars. dogs are really good bets, usually, and that was what the Texans were on Sunday.

But this one's off, though, because the Cowboys didn't play on Sunday. They played last Thursday. They've actually had a week. So they're on longer rest than the Bears didn't play on Thursday. So, yeah. Okay. We'll see. Which is probably why the Cowboys are favored.

Wait, no. Did the Bears play on Thanksgiving? Against the Lions? They played Detroit. Yeah, okay, never mind. So, yeah, they're both on regular rest, basically. They'll get longer rest for the next week. Okay.

Let's go to Dustin in Southeast Houston. What's up, Dustin? Hey, I was going. Yeah, I just get y'all's opinion, I guess, since we're talking about fantasy food. Why not? If y'all would oblige. Just for my, simple, for my flicks,

I got Austin Echler or Miles Sanders. Echler. I'll go, Sanders. I said that way too confidently. I don't really know. I think we'll see a lot of Saturday. Jordan Howard's still hurt, right? Yeah, I think, well, they said he may be limited if he does come back.

Okay. So if it's not going to be Jordan Howard, definitely with, I mean, I like that matchup. They're going to get up, well, in theory, they're going to get up big on the Giants, although the Eli Manning is back. It could be Wiley. But Miles Sanders, I mean, he kind of touched you on last week. I like a little Miles Sanders action, especially if Jordan and Jordan Howard is out, Dustin. All right. Sounds good. Appreciate you guys. Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, we haven't even mentioned that. Eli Manning rides again. I got into that yesterday. We talked about it. Do we talk about it? I got into that yesterday, bro. I don't listen to you when you talk, man. I said, why in the hell would they even play Eli Manning? No, that's right.

We haven't. Get somebody else who you could actually, who could be your backup next year or some young third rounder who just got cut. There has to be a better option. And I'm not an Eli hater. But at this point, why would, why would you have an NFL team in the city of New York and have Eli Manning playing the final four games for you? That makes no sense at all.

It makes me physically sick because I know that Eli Manning is going to get into the the Hall of Fame. I know he's going to be in the Hall of Fame. I mean, he won't beat first year, but he'll get in the law thing. Horrible. There has never been any time in place where you're like fearing for your life because Eli Manning is coming into town. He's the opposing quarterback. By the way, had that one play that was incredibly awesome. Yeah, where they scored like 17 points in that Super Bowl. Yeah, good job, Eli. He won two Super Bowls, man. On the, on the backs of defense. They scored like 21 and 17 points in that. I put up good numbers for 6 to 8 years. Does I mean your Hall of Fame or no, but the two.

Super Bowls, he'll get in. He is a three-time interception champion. He'll get, I mean, it might take him a while. He'll get it. There was an error. I don't even know if there was a time. The bar's just not insanely high for the NFL, for the pro football ball thing. I feel like it's higher for the NFL than it is for others.

I mean, you got the guys like Steve Hutchinson and Alan Fanico who haven't gotten in. I was looking at the list. It's not higher than baseball. No, probably not. It's hard. Everybody's hired in basketball. Like the participation ribbons they hand out at the YMCA. The basketball Hall of Fame is a joke. It's a joke. Absolutely everybody.

Lance Berkman got left out of the MLB Hall of Fame. Lance Berkman would be a Hall of Famer and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Seriously. In basketball, he would have been first ballot. He would have got inducted while he was still playing. It would be the Berkman Hall of Fame. They should go ahead and put him in the NFL Hall of Fame. Why not?

It looks like he could be a linebacker or maybe a defensive end. This is a non-secretor. For the first time in a while, because I was really just tired of LeBron James this summer with all the everything and Taco Tuesday. I have LeBron's back right now. We mentioned getting into this. Should I save this? We will, yeah.

We'll talk about it next because we've got to get to a break. We have a break. Final segment. LeBron's latest controversy or non-controversy. Brian has an opinion on that. So do I. It's Ross Vireal. Brian at Smith.

Nick Lowe. It is the final segment of the Matt Thomas show coming up next. It's 713-1-2-5-7-90. 7-13-1-2-5-7-90. This is James Arden. It goes to hard. Three to shoot. Jacks up a three hands.

This is the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Are you kidding? This LeBron Traversy. That's what I'm calling about. Does that work? I don't know. Here on Sports Talk 790. Final segment of the Matt Thomas show,

Brian Smith, Ross Viery out with you, alongside our producer. Nick Lowe. Let's see. What are the things that people have gotten mad at LeBron about? Taco Tuesday. Taco Tuesday. Not shaking hands with opposing players.

Getting Anthony. Davis to kidnapping Anthony Davis and bringing him to LA. Cannapping Anthony Davis. Let's see. Leaving Cleveland the first time. Saying sheesh a lot in his Instagrams. I think he slid in the DMs of some model chick one time. People got mad.

That one no show. I think it was against Celtics when he was the first time with the Cavaliers. The Miami Heat and how many championships? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, 28. Yep. Well, the latest one. I'll just let the Utah Jazz announcers run it for you, though. The Lakers defeated soundly the Utah Jazz last night.

I caught a little bit of that game. The L.A. Lakers are pretty good, but they got the win. And this was towards the end of the game, and I'll let you guys listen. Respect right there. Please. And then look at LeBron on to the court. No shoes on. Yeah, he'd given his shoes away to a fan behind the Laker.

bench. LeBron, signing shoes, two pairs going up with a couple of young fans. I mean, what a moment. One of moments, too. One pair. Oh, one pair.

Although maybe he had two pairs going up. No. One shoe each. How about that? It's about the fourth time I've seen LeBron do that on the road this year. So he's got to go to the locker. All right, so the big part of that is the disrespect. So LeBron James, so I can't even remember.

remember who the player was on the, on the Lakers. Was it Javail McGee or somebody, got a couple of blocks in back-to-back plays on the same play on back-to-back attempts? Then LeBron James is walking to the baseline. He's getting up and getting excited. He's kind of onto the court. He's on the court. And then the actions on the other side of the court by that time, but he gets on the

court, yes. Yes. And then they say, the disrespect. The disrespect. The disrespect from LeBron James. So normally I don't react to these things because it's, it's. It's also stupid and it goes away in 24 hours. That's the culture we live in now.

But for this is, who is he disrespecting? The jazz players, I guess? No, because they're playing basketball or they're being paid millions of dollars to play basketball. They didn't seem bothered by it. They were playing a game where they were on the opposite side of the bench. It was Coosma, by the way, we got the two blocks. The fans are disrespectful. No, the fans are jazz fans.

They don't know LeBron's doing it. The NBA is just, no. NBA history. the glory, the legacy, the history of the honor of the game? No, nobody cares. The only people apparently being disrespected by this are those couple blah, blah, blah, jazz announcers. I covered the jazz for a couple years. I was trying to see if I recognize those voices. I might be wrong.

I don't think I do. They sound new and that's a TV broadcast, right? Yes. So the TV broadcast used to be Bowler Jack and Harping. and they were, you know, good guys, no issue with them. That doesn't, I might be hearing it wrong. It doesn't sound like them. Either way, whoever it is, they were disrespected. Shut up. And so then LeBron comes out today, and this is where I think it gets interesting.

It is Bulloch, it was? Yes. Yeesh, guys. You've been in Utah. tall too long. The disrespect. A day is too long in Utah. Well, nobody's perfect, right? We all make mistakes. No, seriously. We all make the mistakes. So

LeBron did, okay, yeah, I think we got the full thing. Yeah, because the audio was messed up. Well, the link that I sent Nick, it's a whole thing. It was, it was like started in the middle, so I didn't that's on me. I'll go ahead and say that's on me. Nick, go and play the full audio. Again, look at LeBron. He's on the court. With no shoes, mind you. What is going on here? That's some disrespect right. Yeah, so, look at the braun. He's on the court. That's some disrespect right there. So LeBron James

With no shoes, mind you. With no shoes, mind you. Well, he'd given the shoes to it. Who, number one, who gives a number two, he apparently gave them to a fan. Number three, perhaps most importantly in this game, Jazz Homerville, they're kicking your ass.

Your team's been disappointing. Your team hasn't won a title since, I don't know, when's the last time the Utah Jazz won a title? That would be never. And so your, your team, taken up for your team like you're playing, which you're not, and it's everything,

and I was there, and there are some really good jazz fans and there's some crazy ones, and we all know this. We've been seeing this for years. Don't even, like Adam Clanton will be following this. Adam Clanton will probably go to town on this.

I can't wait. I'm taking the high road. But you sound like small town podunk. You're covering some high school team. Where is the disrespect? Because he's celebrating. And he stepped on the court and he's not wearing shoes. You're, you're, you're triggered by that.

Put some shoes on, young man. Yeah. Put some shoes. Tighten those pants up. Show some work. Look at those big baggy shorts. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. So here's this. Okay, so that happens.

And then here's the thing. Then you give the platform to LeBron and I, we've all been there with LeBron. Like, it's too much. You're tired of him. You want to go away. Stop with Taco Tuesday. Whatever it is. But LeBron.

Sounds like he deserves a United Nations Award because he actually had a fantastic post about this, which is you can read on the SPN. I can read it to you. Take it because I think LeBron absolutely nailed this and he took this stupid-ass platform that these announcers gave him. And they made a mistake.

I know these guys are good guys. They screwed up on this one. Yeah, so LeBron James on his Instagram says, and this is a little long winded, but it's worth reading. Well, I don't know the first part. Imagine doing your job. at the highest level to where you're not needed anymore, giving your shoes to a little girl and boy who you was inspire and hope you made proud that night, then cheering on your teammates

because you love seeing them succeed, love seeing them succeed more than yourself, only to be criticized while doing it. And he says, and then I thought this was the best part. He says, people, it's the world we live in and you can't let it ever stop you from your purpose on life. Negativity, bad energy. Sounds like a lot of people running on Twitter. Yes. Negativity, bad energy, hate, envy, et cetera, et cetera, will try to bring you. down throughout your journey. It's up to you, how you handle it. I mean, like life perspective from LeBron James, I handle it by simply saying, thank you, with a smile on my face and continue to push forward while doing it, live, laugh, love. Oh, wow. Was he on Pinterest? That's, you know,

that's the remade LA mature version of LeBron James. But ultimately, he, not only did he do nothing wrong, the fact that they wanted during a Lakers blow out of that. That's the only reason they said that. Right. Because the Lakers were blowing out the jazz. If the, if the and the jazz were up 25 and LeBron James were on the sidelines and he was just had his knees on ice because he was in

small time. They wouldn't be hearing that. And I so and they got they got nailed. They were nailed across social media. They were nailed on nationally. And then LeBron comes out and he's already got almost a million likes. So I'm sure it's at a million now. And took that stupid small town embarrassing platform.

and just, pun intended, walked all over it. He did something good. He was having fun during a game. It wouldn't, yeah, it wouldn't have that way.

Not only is there no disrespect there. The announcers disrespected themselves and their franchise by reminding everybody, once again, why 99% of the NBA hates the bad side.

There are good jazz fans. There are a lot of good people in Salt Lake. There's a lot of small town, small town. stuff, and that was a perfect reminder of it. Yeah, but I will say he shouldn't have went out of the court. No, but the guy's going to court all the time.

I should have done that. Should have done, LeBron. I can't wait until Adam Clanton goes off on this one. Well, maybe he will. Because he's not the big list LeBron's support. He's going to do that as part of the A team, which is coming up next here on Sports Talk 790. First of all, thanks to Brian Smith. Thanks for having me on again.

We'll be doing this tomorrow. We'll be tomorrow with him. Go ahead and shamelessly plug. The one thing I always plug, and I appreciate it, Rossman, Houston Chronicle.com. And I will, most importantly, I will plug. And I said this early and I'll say this again. Tune in Sports Talk 790, 10 until noon tomorrow,

the final show for Greg Cook and Indy in the trenches. Indy obviously keeps going on. But for Greg, Greg has been fantastic to me ever since I arrived in Houston. Great guy. And I will be listening before we come in to try and follow that somehow. Well, actually I asked,

Greg to stay for the first segment because I always do around the league with him. They couldn't squeeze me in because of all the interviews. So we're going to do around the league first segment tomorrow. I bet we'll all be crying at some point tomorrow. I hope not to. You're a big teddy bear. I really am, but everybody knows that. I made fun of Indy for crying.

That way, did Indy cry today? No, it was like Monday when Brigger initially announced it. That's a shame. That's sad. Give me that audio. All right, that's going to do it for the Matt Thomas show here on a sports talk 7. Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on.

My shoes are on. Don't disrespect me. Thanks to Brian. Thanks to Nick Lowe, producing, doing a great job as always. Thanks to all of you who called, tweeted, listened to the show. We'll be back tomorrow at noon with the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. He continues to travel, as I said, tomorrow around the league with Greg Cook, the final segment tomorrow at noon.