The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - YEAR 17! Texans Grab 5th Seed! Rockets Lose Sengun, Demeco Speaks/Tatsuya Speaks

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

YEAR 17! Texans Grab 5th Seed! Rockets Lose Sengun, Demeco Speaks/ Tatsuya Speaks

This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 10-01 in H-town. Good morning and welcome to the start of year number 17 on the Matt Thomas show. Now with Ross on Sports Talk 790. Togiae for the six. I don't think Ion Eagle was possibly thinking that was going to be on his bingo card. He went with the humongous human touchdown. It's his call.

I like that. That's why he's excellent. That's a big man touchdown. He is excellent. And we had a great, completely off-the-record conversation. He's really funny. You don't know. No, I know that.

It's a little, but you can tell. He's even spicy when the mic's on turn out. He's sharp. Oh, yeah. He's very sharp. He's actually one of the few Syracies people who aren't complete pompous asses. Hey, Matt. Hi. Happy New Year. And by the way, can I say that? It's the fifth. Now, Larry David, you know, I believe that show is the funniest ever made. He believes after January 3rd, you can't. Well, he's wrong. I try to buck that trend. I got a happy, I got a happy new year. I got at least two today. I feel like I'm going to try to do a happy new year at least through March. March. Yeah. That's ridiculous.

Yeah. But what else is new? Speaking of ridiculous Matt Thomas things, hi, welcome to the show, 10 to 2, Sports Talk 790. How many Christmas text did you send? Because for those you don't know, Matt Thomas made this long, drawn-out response to send to people who text him Merry Christmas.

Now, I did it to you as a joke, and I got it back, thank you. So not counting me on a rundown of our life. So don't count me, not counting me, how many people did you send that lengthy Merry Christmas message to? Less than five. Okay. So I feel like either people don't want to wish me very Merry Christmas, or they listen to the show and said, I don't want to get a 24-line update on Matt Thomas in his family's life. How do you feel about that number?

You wish it was higher? No, it was very pleasant. Okay, good. I wish everybody a Happy New Year from New York. I wish everybody Merry Christmas from Los Angeles. Did you, I believe you put your diaper, you got it framed, correct? Your New Year's diaper? Were you with me?

We were talking about this? Yeah, yes. Everybody that knew I was in New York was like, are you going down there? I'm like, no. You talked about it on air. I know. But when I saw the videos of people showing up at like 8 o'clock in a morning to get their spot, and again, it's absolutely true.

You literally, if you go to the bathroom, you lose your spot. Because even if someone says, like if you and I went together and said, hey let's hang out I'm you're 30 rows behind I had to walk through a bunch in the maze and that's just not going to happen There's got to be a system in place

There is no system They like chalk off squares or something No you can't I mean they can certainly Figure our way to buy a square And make some money off of it But they've been doing this for decades and decades Even before Dick Clark did it

I mean they were doing in the 60s So it's not out of the ordinary But yeah it's there was They said 1.3 million people were down there That's ridiculous Get a life people I will tell you what I did on New Year's Eve. As per usual, even though I was not in Houston, I went and had dinner

with some of the guys in the traveling crew and watched the end of the Miami playoff game and was asleep by 1115. I stayed home and I was probably in bed by one. I was in bed before one, but I was asleep by one. Yeah, all I got was updates from my family at home because the dogs are losing their mind. And my dogs are the sweetest things in the world. They hate two days per year, really sometimes three they hate July 4th they hate New Year's even sometimes Memorial Day gets a little fireworky oh okay you said you were with your children

I'm sorry no I was getting updates for my children oh okay do they call you at New Year's? No oh I used to call my parents at New Year's when I was younger that was nice yeah I didn't do it this year I felt bad when I woke up okay we got so much to get to it a matter of fact I wrote my you know I've been stealing these notepads from these hotels yeah you're so weird

tell the people tell the people they're not even stolen they're mine So any of you that go to hotels So Matt goes to these five diamond hotels Traveling with the Rockets And by way, shout out to my wife She was in San Antonio this weekend

And she took one for me From the hotel there Really? So if you go to... I'll get you one from the Extended stay Next time I'm there That's like a single sliver of paper I don't think it's much to do

Point being is this You go to hotels And you can probably see that They have no pads and pens Next to your phone Which nobody ever used the phone Except to complain about something what's happening downstairs or you want to order room surface or something.

Now, you have like this weird tick now where you have to take the pads. So I take the pads. He's opening his backpack. He's got a stack of these notepads. Well, I actually put a lot of them. Here's the recent stack. There's three more there. And there's the ones from can't, yeah.

You're a psychopath, Matthew. But what I've decided to do is I've started to put our notes on for the show. Okay. So it's kind of a little bit like a cheat sheet, if you will. I got you. So the point being is I take them everywhere I go. They're not stolen. They're mine to be used.

I don't know if they're, They want me to take the whole pad, but I do there anyway. Do you take the pens, too? They give you pens? Yes. Okay, nice. Yeah. I do take pens from hotels for sure.

Now, the pens. Because you can always use a pen. Right. What I do is normally I take them to arenas with me, and then if I leave them, it's no big loss, I didn't pay from the beginning. Okay. Okay. So, let me, I got my note pad out here. Yes.

All right. What are the show notes say? Show notes say. Texans number one. Texans play, and it was blank because I didn't know what it was with before I went to bed last night. Okay. Was that Pittsburgh Baltimore game? That was an all timer.

Nuts. so crazy back and forth Boswell misses the extra point or block it's blocked and you're thinking okay first of all you can't trust rice people do anything except probably your taxes oh and then and Torrico

talks about the kid that's kicking from Baltimore oh my god he does it beautiful we're gonna play it okay it's a beautiful flowery buildup it's a huge buildup we're gonna play in the next segment of the show that just because this is why Toriko separates himself from the rest he does the research he does Yes.

Now, granted, he's only working one game a week, so I would think if you're making all this money to do the number one game, you should probably have time to do these other things. No backhanded compliments, Matt. Go with the compliment. Full compliment. He eloquently gave you the rundown of this kick.

Yes. And then he completely butchers it. I mean, it wasn't even close. It was, the ball landed at Philadelphia. It was a 44 yarder, I think? Yeah, very makeable. But, I mean, it was like a kicker from Boise State kicked it. It was that bad.

And then, because we're a sick society, what's the kid's name from Baltimore Tyler Loop Tyler Loop yeah L-O-O-O-P Had death threats on his Instagram account Really?

Yeah Talking about his girl It was Again Look people take shots at me And aren't ugly to me Yes The Green Assault

That's a kid that obviously Fist terrible about a situation He literally Not that one play counts But it's a pretty big one in play It was a very makeable four, I mean, what are NFL kickers making at 44 yards? Probably at about 75%? Probably more. Which means 25 misses. Yeah. So he was one of the 25, but

he happens to miss it in the very final play of the NFL regular season. I mean, a final play of the regular season, playoffs in or out, that's crazy. So, after that huge combat. Baltimore goes to fourth and seven. And Isaiah likely, who's like stepped out of bounds, he's been involved in all these controversial plays and then he makes the big stretching catch to get the fourth and seven it was going to be so poetic and then they missed the kick it was crazy and Zay Flowers

in Lamar Jackson I mean that first half was boring A.F but that second that fourth quarter had one firework after the other and Lamar Jackson throws it on a dime two different times two big bombs Aaron Rogers throws some deep balls I mean, and then the missed field goal. Like I said, we're going to play coming back here. Right results, I think,

for Houston Texans fans like myself. Well, Vegas agrees with you. It very early opened as a pickum, but that changed very quickly to I believe the Texans are three, three and a half. Three and a half that I'm seeing. Total of 39 and a half. It's Texans ball.

They're expecting 21 to 18 or whatever. 22 to 19. We're going to have a heart to heart with Texans fans at 1030 today. I'm a Texans Battle Red Ross is here. I'll be speaking to you and hopefully other people here. Let's go.

It's going to be a warm heart to heart. It's not going to be scary. It's not going to be down. It's just going to be kind of a I'm going to equate it to your daughter or your son going away to college and what's expected of you when you leave.

That kind of. Drunken partying and sex? No, you would not. tell it to your children, would you? Well, you'd warn them about it. Well, I'm not going to do that because you can have drunken parties in sex in Pittsburgh if you win. If you lose, probably wouldn't be great, but that's a different issue.

Okay, maybe the analogy wasn't great, which is fine. Mr. Adology, that's on the bingo card. It's on the bigot card. Check that off. All right, other things to get to. Not that we're going to go into individual teams, but my Twitter timeline yesterday was flooded with crazy NIL movement, including the number one, I guess,

free agent quarterback, is going to Texas Tech for $5 million. It's making more than Davis Mills. All right. Rockets fell to the Mavericks. That was not great. Alpi has got a bad ankle. it will not play tonight.

And then we have Tatsunia Emai. It's that three times fast. No, I'm good. You're going to have to say it because you can be doing some master's on decks. I guess I am. I'm going to do some.

I'm proud of you. I'm going to do more this year. I'm going to be a team player. Good. I'm going to do as many as I can't. Oh, I love that. Because I don't like doing them. Tatsunia, I'mai.

Tatsuya, I'mai. Is a megastewa. Apparently. Apparently. I mean, he didn't get the big multi-deals that were talked about. No. He got a nice astro-esque-type deal to come to Houston. Opt-outs. Opt-outs? Low number years. High salary, low years. Yes. It fits. And then he went to the Texans game yesterday and was beloved by the people that were there. That's true. So I've got that to get to. We have to tell the truth today. We have D'Amico's going to speak at 1115. Jonathan Bursle, happy New Year to you. How are we feeling about the fee we're going to get from the Texans today? Are we feeling better about today than we did a few weeks back?

I think so. I think that we're going to have a good presser. He didn't have a lot of confidence. We didn't get it too weeks ago. Oh, I wasn't. It's probably if you weren't here. Yeah, I haven't been here for a month. We need to exhaust every avenue to get that.

And then at 1 o'clock today, we're going to carry the Tatsuya-Emi press conference. Yes. Now, I don't believe he speaks a lick of English, which is fine. Okay. So you will translate for us live. No, I will not interrupt it because there's going to be, Dana's going to speak. I don't know if Jim's going to be there or not. I don't know if Joe's going to be there or not, but I think Scott Borough is going to be here.

Scotty B. Scotty B. Let's go. Hashtag friendship. Mr. Worldwide. Friendship. Astros are friendly now with Scottie B. What's going on with Hunter? Scotty.

Yeah, what's going on with Jeremy? Jeremy. That's Kyle Tucker's got trick. We're at the calendar of your turn. We still don't have a deal yet. You've got to be feeling good about yourself. Come on, Maddie. I've already budgeted my...

Wouldn't that be quite the turn if I've been playing all this sizzling habachi and then I lost? I mean, how much fried egg for fried rice would I have on my face? Look at him. He's daydreaming about it. He's smiling big. I'm going to take our fantasy football winnings by for finishing second place. Congratulations on second place, Matt. Fantastic year by the Houston Taurus.

And then B. John Rock. Robinson destroys me single-handling. I got beat one year. I mean, it's a real shame. But, I mean, he's really good, so it was no surprise. By the way, his coach and general manager are out. That's interesting enough. Yes.

All right, we've got a lot to get to. By the way, if you're with us here at 10 o'clock. Year 17. Year 17 of the show starts today. 16 years ago yesterday was my first show here on Sports Talks. Wow. And you were with me or not with me? I was with you for the first couple shows.

I wasn't full, full time until the middle of. February, but I was, it was, I was basically full time in waiting. Do you have any idea who my producer was for those days that you were not with me early on? There might have been a Patrick Osborne in there. See, nobody's no, no, no, no, no. This is too inside baseball. And now we got Jonathan Wood. That was only 21 producers ago. I was your producer until 2019. And then since then we've had about eight. Yeah, it's, it's been quite a few, actually. All right. Matt drives people away. And that's actually fair. All right, D'Amico 1115. Tatsuya, I have it written down phonetically, and I'm going to continue to say that for a while

because I just want to make sure it just, you know, rolls off the tongue beautifully. Black Monday, Texans play the Steelers, and when we come back, how Mike Tarrico builds a storyline for a lousy finish. 1016 on Sports Talk 790. All right, it is 1020 on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. I do not know Mike Tariko personally. I've never met him, never interviewed him. and again he is NBC's number one

broadcaster for a reason he's just his fastball has been solid for 20 plus years whatever is an ESPN or NBC there's and if you're going to supplant Al Michaels as the signature voice of a network you better be really good at it

and that's what Mike Torrico's done so Mike Tarrico has his one game he's got to work on he's just an NBA right now and he'll be doing the Olympic stuff but he had a chance to build up the final minute the final play of the game

in the final minute there was a timeout called and it was just poetry yes until the verse just kind of splattered and here is how Mike Tariko called the final play of the game taking one minute to describe the final

call Harbaugh is so likely how special that play was to set up this moment for the rookie out of Arizona the Ravens of course had Justin Tucker for so long the most accurate kicker

the history of the league rogers can't believe what he is just witnessed what might be the end for him but they went around the country and spoke to a lot of the kickers who were coming out and they decided tyler loop was made of the right stuff for moments like this he now is a chance to win the division for the ravens the final play of the regular season for the final spot in the playoffs Tyler Luke from 44 Stanford The kick is now gone and is wide rate

And the Steelers are the champions of the North And it's crap 65,000 people cold, miserable, cranky, smiling. Crazy. Yeah, great lead-up. Tyler Loop was made for these moments or selected for these moments, and he missed. And we went across the country. We had to go find somebody that could kick the ball and was also a decent character,

unlike Justin Tucker, could kick the ball, but have a lousy character. Oh, man. Crazy. And again, if you did not see it, wide right would be a really a loosely used term it was so far right it's word it was a hook it never had a chance on lift off at all it was headed it was headed i believe in a uh easterly direction at now i'll say this and i got a little intelligence many many many years ago from a former texan kicker named chris brown who you and i used to do weekly segments together

with the uh it was really a good dude the hardest stadium for kickers to make field goals is what they used to call Heinz Field. I think it's Acresher Field or something like that. First of all, the grass is I mean, it's cold, it's Pittsburgh, it's not growing, it's not lush. If you watch the game at all, it looked like it was a brownish tint to it. Secondly,

the wind swirls on one end of the stadium where it doesn't on the other. But pound for pound, it's probably that along with Met Stadium in New York is probably the two most difficult places for kickers to kick. And the reality is this, Ross, you've got a lot of teams that now are playing in dome stadiums.

that you're playing at least eight if not nine, 10, 11 games inside Dome Stadium's where you can hit the ball as hard as you want to. So I got a notion that we're going to be talking a lot about kickers one way or the other next Tuesday on this radio show, week from tomorrow. That's your gut feeling. Because think about this. Kanye Fairburn's ready. Fairbair?

You just kick six field goals. Six field goals. It's a beast. Chris Boswell has been doing it for a long time in Pittsburgh. Yes. he knows what it's like it's there are two very less I mean what's the opposite of high octane

low grain low octane yeah low grain electricity I don't even know but the pop cap offenses I believe the over under is a 30 and a half and Vegas usually gives a pretty good job on that too so which means it's going to be a low scoring game it might be first to 20 that wins

point being is I have a notion and I'll use it tomorrow for my gut feeling that I think we're going to be in a we're going to a field goal decides this game. Okay. Which makes it betting even trickier, especially if the line does not move. So I will just tell you this. And again, I don't know very many people bet on the show.

Again, we don't, there's no way to tangibly decide how many people are gamblers are not in sporting events. But if I was too, if I was a better, I would stay away from this game. Because there's too much, I have too much locally invested in it. Secondly, I do believe it's going to be a close football game. And third, you never know. know how the weather is going to affect games, especially for a team in Houston that plays what, at least nine games a year inside? Well, this year they played the two games in L.A. They play the game in Indianapolis. Now, they did go to Kansas City and one there.

Yeah, they're fine there. So they've won in some less than spectacular conditions. But I'm just saying, it's going to be a different animal. So that's why I would say if I was a betting man, which I occasionally do when we go to Vegas. I would stay away from this game. It seems like a stay away. By the way, if you are planning to go to the game, like I am a Texans fan. And you want to go to Pittsburgh.

You want to go to Pittsburgh. I was looking at the air first. Thomas Travel Enterprises was busy on that. Oh, okay, thank you. If you love Sunday, came back Tuesday, you're looking at about $900 round trip. I'm good. It was 700 before the game ended,

and then whatever Texans fan has. I imagine there's not a lot of direct flights Pittsburgh? No. There's, I think Schmeider has like three or four and a dark breast has got like one. Okay. But you can change planes, but they're all, everybody's very expensive. So my point is that if you are a diehard Texans fan, you're going to prove it because you're going to be in that weather and you're going to be

paying probably two grand for a wild card game? Not nobody, I wouldn't say. Forecast for Monday. High temperature 35. low 27. That could be a lot worse, frankly. Yeah, that sounds pleasant. And the reality is this. Pittsburgh's not good, but just not.

For the football team or the city? No, no, no. City is actually underrated. Okay. Football team, I mean, the defense is stout. They're good. T.J. Watt was, I mean, I don't know how he was able to have lung transplant and still play a month later.

If you go ring like QB1, RB1, WR1, it's Aaron-R-R-1, it's Aaron-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-. It's Aaron Rogers, Jalen Warren, and, like, Calvin Austin the 3rd. I don't know what D.K. Metcalf is looking like? Is he eligible to play now? It was two games. Right. This was the second game. Yeah.

So I think he's, is this the second game? Yeah. So he's back. Okay. Well, let's get a Texans fan flying up to Pittsburgh and calling him by his name. Starting stuff with him. Do whatever it takes. Yeah.

All right. When this radio program returns, a heartfelt. Wow. And we need, Jonathan, I need some Some heartfelt music. Soothing music you would find, but uplifting. Oh. Can you find, Ross, may you want to help?

Soothing. Now, I don't want it in a spa, because that's just soothing and that's quiet. Yeah, what's wrong with that? Like, I would want it if I was going to watch a Sunday morning church program. You know where they go, wake up with God, or something uplifting. Okay.

Instrumental, uplifting, yet not disco act. Not rock and roll. because I'm going to give you a message of hope. Okay. The Reverend Thomas is going to give you Texas fans. The Hope. 1028, Sports Talk 790. Ah, this absolutely hits right here.

That's nice. Yeah, it's real nice. I need some hot tea. This is what you would want to get. Like, I wouldn't got a shave yesterday. I don't want to have this in the background with the shave. It's not too sad. It's not too sad.

it's just catchy enough as it is for the moment. Fresh and clean, Maddie. Thank you. A long road trip coming up. Hey, Rockets actually do play home games. We have one tonight. I don't know what the Toronto Center is hot. They've played the fewest home games in the basketball, right?

Oh, my God. It's not even close. Yeah, thank God I'll be home for a while after this one. Okay. I am your friendly midday radio host, Matt Thomas. To my right is my co-host, Ross, Villa, and we are the Matt Thomas Show with Ross here on 790. Battle of Red, this is for you, and turn up a little bit.

Yeah, it's really good. Nice. You know, listen. that's on the way home. I have terrific news for you, Houston Texans fans. Of all the years, the Texans have made the playoffs, whether they be as an AFC South that plays at 330 or as an AFC South champion that plays at 330

or as a team that plays as an AFC South champion at 330, this year's playoffs are perhaps unlike any other. And I have a plet of reasons why. One, your team has won nine consecutive games. Two, you have the best defense your team has had in the history of its franchise. Number three, you have no Kansas City in the playoffs. Number four, you have no Baltimore in the playoffs. Ross, was there a world that we ever thought that Kansas City and Baltimore would not be in the playoffs together in the same year?

Well, there wasn't, Matt. And both of those teams have been kryptonite to the Houston, Texas. That they have. Number five, you're not playing at 3.30. you actually get to rest and not to worry about getting ahead of it and being made fun of

because you're always the early game and a short week if you win but we'll get to that cross that bridge and we'll come to it yeah why not secondly Nico Collins got some good rest yesterday

yes C.J. Stroud not to his liking got some rest in the second half Kami Fairbairns' leg seems strong ready to go I'd be a little sore I mean he's getting a rub down

right now as we speak And then his footskin taken care of as well. And C.J. Stroud has been pretty good. As Larry Dave would say, pretty, pretty good. Now, I'm not elite, but pretty good. And the most important thing I've got going for you, Houston, Texas fan is that the teams that top and her in front of you all have warts. Denver looks awesome. But it's Denver.

It's a first-time playoff, second-time playoff. Well, actually, they played in the playoffs and look terrible. Their defense is as good as the Texans are. It just is. But is Bowenick's really going to throw for 319 and 4 touchdowns? Not likely. Drake May is interesting. I think Drake May is going to win the MVP award in the NFL.

He is amazing. Ramande Stevenson was catching everything out of the backfield and rushing for touchdowns left and right. That Patriot team is probably the most prolific in the AFC. Ain't even close. But that's the first time. playoff appearance. You know what first time's like go as CJ.

Go ask Matt Schaubb, you get nervous. You may, you know, you may be a little overexcited and, you know, crescendo too early. Hmm. I was thinking of a more that's okay. That's right.

That's okay. I had to go with that one. Thank you. Then you've got Jacksonville. Now, Jacksonville is having an amazing season and they may be the best team on both sides of the ball complete. But it's still Trevor Lawrence. We've seen enough Trevor Lawrence in our lifetime to know that he's due for a 194, three-picks, one touchdown kind of game and two fumbles. And the Texans have the Jacksonville Jaguars number over the years, by and large.

Then you had the Los Angeles Chargers. Justin Herbert hasn't won a playoff game, right? No. No. And if there's any team that has more snake been in the AFC beside the Texans, it's the Los Angeles Chargers. Am I forgetting anybody? Probably. Bills, did you mention?

Oh, Bills. Bills can't stop a nosebleed run defensively. You kicked their ass this year. And you kick their ass this year. And they're really good. And you would host them. They're really good in Orchard Park, but guess what? You don't have to play them in Orchard Park.

Which leaves the Pittsburgh Steelers. And ain't a layup. Because no team in the playoffs or layups. But if you were to have a, Kevin Durant, mid-range? This would be a Kevin Durant, mid-range shot. Let me ask you this. Yes, sir.

If the Texans went on the road against all the rest of the six teams, the biggest favorite they would be, would probably be against the Steelers. Because those other teams are very comparable and talent. So, even though it's not an easy spot, it's the best spot. It's the easiest. And the reality is this. You're going to win this game,

and you're going to hope that there are, are a bunch of surprises in the teams that are higher-seated so you can actually host a playoff game. Because it's still a chance. You could. And remember, there's no Kansas City. There's no Baltimore. No. Not even in Cincinnati in the mix. Not even

3.30 on a Saturday. So Texans, you got a chance. Embrace it. Feeling good. Feel good about it. And remember, Hannah wants this as bad as you do because she wants a new stadium. And the easiest way to get a new stadium past is to have a team going a deep playoff run. You lose in a wild card round and Hannah will be living an energy stadium the rest of her life.

Hannah is salivating. No, I think she's just looking forward to the game. Oh. I mean, salivating is a little strong of a term for an owner, but that's fine. And that is my upbeat look at what could be happening a week from tonight in Pittsburgh, PA. Thank you, man. You're welcome. You're welcome.

Not feeling like it's going to be easy. Nope, no. But I said this earlier on the morning drive with Dan and Cole without Cole, as I was hanging out with Dan. This has to be the most confident you've been, no matter what your level of confidence is, but most confident that they could make a Super Bowl, maybe ever.

Let's talk about divisional playoff games. You went to New England? No chance. You went to Kansas City, even though you were up big? No, you didn't think they were going to win. You've been to Baltimore a couple of times. The first time you maybe thought it was okay But that was early

And you were thinking that was early Lamar Jackson I mean it was you don't It was Ryan Fitzpatrick's and Brian Hoyers of the world I mean you didn't feel like you were winning us You were going and getting to a Super Bowl then And then the first year you made the playoffs Wasn't it uh what's his name TJ Yates Yeah because shop got hurt

You didn't feel like you're making the Super Bowl Even that 12 and 4 year They lost the last three games of the season It wasn't feeling good It felt like they were petering out and they did. And remember, just because you won nine in a row. Now, you and I differ a little bit about this.

I heard you and Dan talking about it. Yes. It wouldn't have killed me if they'd have lost the game yesterday. I would have killed me either. I don't think, first of all, that was a non-m momentum building game. No, there was nothing there. It was a preseason game in the second half. And the reality is this, when, and I know that Dan was kind of wiggin out about the starters being pulled.

First of all, that was a classic example of D'Amico doing his homework. He knew that the Buffalo Bills were going to. to crush the Jets. They were, the Buffalo Bills played their last regular season game at their stadium before they're moving a new one. They were not going to lose that game. Secondly, the Jets are wretched. So you weren't going to, you weren't going to jump them.

And secondly, or you weren't going to fall behind them because the Buffalo bills, you still the tiebreaker over Houston. So if Buffalo and Houston tie with the same record, Texas won the tiebreaker. So they weren't going to jump you. The only team you were worried about was maybe the charges jumping you. Chargers didn't even start. They went with, what's his face? The sucky backup, Trey Lance.

Yes. They weren't, they had no interest in playing the game. And the third and the most important thing is, Ross, I don't think Domeko Ryans at the end of the day really cared who they were going to play. Their feeling is, if you're going to win the AFC, you're going to have to beat everybody in front of you anyway. So in what order who really cares?

Yeah, I mean, whether it's going to be Jacksonville, who's on that eight-game winning street. You could have gone to Jacksonville. And that'd be probably tougher. You're not going to be three and a half point favorites there. but it's a winnable game. And the difference is... And it's not going to be easy anywhere.

Now, the Texans have won their nine in streaking with some impressive one, some squeak by. Jacksonville may be literally hotter than the Texans in terms of beating people up. Yeah, because, well, yeah,

they've had some big wins too, but they've also had some easy ones. But they went to Denver win. They've been crushing people. Yeah, they have. I mean, this is Trevor Lawrence's best season in many, many a year for him. It's funny.

What was the name? Cohen. It's the coach of the... Liam Cohen? Everybody made fun of him? Yes. I did self-included. That guy can flat out coach. They're playing well. They're playing well. We'll see. So I really believe that Domeco's like,

eh, we're going to slay the dragons, one dragon at a time. And that's the thing, too. There was a lot of people hemming and hawing during the game and after the game. And it's, you land, you won, number one, you won the game, and number two, you ended up where you wanted to be. And you get your guys healthy. Yes. And you, it all worked out. And people. people are still complaining. Now, literally we have must wins this time of year. Oh, these are all must wins.

From here on out, Matt, I will declare. Every game for the Texans is a must win game. So it's a must win. That means you get to go to the division around like you always do, which is great. If you lose, you may want to turn off the website. You may want to turn off the Instagram. You may want to turn off the phone lines, but nobody recalls a team anymore. You don't need to do that.

No. this would be the worst playoff loss in Texan's history if they lose this one? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Because again, I didn't think they were going to beat Kansas City.

I didn't think they were going to beat Baltimore. I didn't think they were going to beat New England. Okay. I mean, give me their favorite. Give me a game where they lost what we thought they were going to win. They won every one of the games they were supposed to win. They beat Cincinnati. They beat the Chargers.

Even though I think the Chargers last year were a small favor. If I'm not mistaken, don't hold me to that. but I think they were a small favorite. Chargers were a favorite last year, I'm pretty sure. So, I mean, they've kind of done what they're supposed to have done so far. The Houston Texans postseason has been no surprise. I'm trying to pull up the playoff losses. They've beaten teams they've supposed to beat and they lost the teams they were supposed to lose to.

I forgot about this 30 to nothing loss to the Chiefs. They weren't supposed to win that game, but 30 to nothing's an embarrassment. I mean, I guess maybe the Colt's home loss in a wild card was kind of hurtful. And that one, when they had an opening kickoff for a touchdown? Were they playing a backup quarterback or something, too? No, no, no, that was, never mind. That's when they beat the backup quarterback for the Raiders. But they beat Oakland, they beat Cincinnati.

I mean, they've done kind of what they've expected to do. Yeah. And they're expected to go to Pittsburgh and win this football game. So they will. Okay. I'm with you. Okay. I mean, I'm going to pick them.

They're favorite, and I think they're going to win. I'll give you a little gut-feeling preview. I think they're going to cover. I think I think I could see like 10 At least by 10 I'm feeling good There is a playoff game Has a 10 point spread on the board already

I saw the spreads But I can't remember which one it is Rams Carolina Really That's the that's the 330 Saturday Right? I don't know Panthers

Oh yeah Bryce Young in the playoffs With CJ Shroud Bryce Young haters You might to apologize a little bit. I think we can definitely give up on people too early. Yeah.

All right. You all out there? Hi. Hello? I'm here. Hello. Anybody? It's New Year, Matt.

We've been the same spot. I'm getting our legs from under us. Okay. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Your squad is going to the playoffs. Could you have asked for anything more than a Monday night game in Pittsburgh? Cold, yes, not unplayable, not heavy winds, not blowing snow,

and an offense that's, I think, below average would be probably kind? They finished 13th in points, but they did get a lot of defensive scores. I'd have to look at yards per play and stuff like that, but about average to below. Are you worried about T.J. Watt against the offensive line of the Texans? You should be. You absolutely should be. Yes, I am. 1044, Sports Talk, 790.

This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. If you want to join us, and I kind of hope you'd like to since your squaws going to the playoffs. If you're out there. 713-212-5-7-90. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. All right, Demico's going to speak at 1115. We will hopefully carry that live.

Thoughts and prayers to Jonathan on the execution of that. This first task of 2026, come through. I believe. Has he exhausted all different ways to grab said press conference? I don't know. We'll find out. To tell the truth today, it's going to be at 12.30, because if that's the

case, we'll have the Tatsuya Emai. It's going to take a while. It's okay. But at least I'm staring at it. You're doing great. So we have an e-may and an emai in our town. Think about that for me. Oh, wow. We should get them to meet up.

just to get him to start a podcast. The EMI Emo. Is that the EMAEMI podcast? Yes. I don't think EMA plus translator. Yeah, that's a long podcast. You mean enough time for that. He's got enough time for pickleball.

He can do that. He's like, I got a pickleball match you can too. I don't have time for this. Okay. All right. 713-212-75. Look, Ross. I've got people that want to talk about their beloved.

Houston, Texans. First Wal-Car appearance. Isn't that weird? It is weird. because I've always won a crappy division. Division's actually solid this year. Yeah. And they finish as a wild card.

Yeah. 12 wins. Black Monday, by the way, Pete Carroll out. Kevin Stefansky in Cleveland out. Rahim Morrison didn't get to survive Black Monday. He left on Sad Sunday. And who else got like,

oh, Mike McDaniels still in charge of Miami apparently. See? I had him kind of penciled as my offensive coordinator. Oh, well, that's fine. Kevin Stefansky would be a good offensive coordinator. Brian Dabels. available. I think Kevin Stance is doing

just great, Matt. No, he's not. He's on a 12-win team. By the way, I looked up yards per play. They are 24th, your Houston Texans. As you would say, is that good? These are the teams in the top five. Tell me if these sound like good offenses to see you, Matt.

Rams, Patriots, Lions, Cowboys, Bills. All good offenses. Texans, 24th. If there was a soft landing spot for a, for a, for, a first playoff game. Again, I don't think we can say this enough. This is it. You're not going to have to get into it. Now, granted, yesterday's game was relatively high scoring for Pittsburgh standards, but they scored three points a week before against Cleveland. There's no reason why the Texans cannot basically concuss

Aaron Rogers. It's, I'm, it's early in the week. I reserve the right to change my opinion. We got a whole week to talk about this. Early week, first blush, as I Matt Thomas would say. I'm getting blowout vibes. I'm feeling confident. My first blush is, again, betting, stay away from. But if you held a gun to my head, Texans by a touchdown. So if you can, if we were in Lake Charles. Yes.

I'm going to be in Portland this weekend where they do have betting. Okay, wonderful. I could bet the game for one. And more strip clubs per capita than any city in America. They have hairy armpits, though. Do they? Yeah, the one place we go. I mean, the one place I know of.

What's wrong with that? Why don't you let the woman flow free and be natural, Matt? You want to go to a strip club where the girl has hairy armpits. I'm not looking at her armpits. What are you looking at? Other pits. I didn't realize there were multiple pit areas in a woman's body. You're the worst.

I'm just going to tell you, again, if you're going to strip club, if you so choose, I don't think Harry armpits would be probably on the preferred list of things to look at. I'm going to get. I'm going to get. I want you to do some field research. There's a chance. Kyle and Pearland at 1053 on 7.90. Kyle, good morning. Good morning. I had a lot to talk about. We don't start talking about Harry armpits. It kind of killed me. Oh, sorry. That's all right. Hey, I got a question for you guys. I've been official many, many years.

I just noticed the other day, why are somebody in these football players not wearing knee pads? If you notice, it looks like they're wearing shorts. It is a trend in sports that I've never asked somebody about, but it's happening not only a lot in the NFL, but college football as well. They want to be as light as possible. They want to carry the least amount of equipment as possible. I don't think it's very smart, Kyle, because again, all you're doing is opening up more areas for you to be hurt

and there's lack of protection. But I guess from a rule standpoint, either no one's watching over it or nobody particularly cares that there are open parts of the body that are not protected by padding. Well, that's kind of the way I was thinking, you know, they always preach the safety with the helmets and all the equipment. And then they let these guys do that. You know, I played and I refereed many years. Dude, I wanted my knees protected.

But I guess it's just old school. Yeah, I don't know either. I'm with you, Kyle. I think the same thing. But, I mean, if you're going to tear your ACL, the knee pad's not going to do anything. So it's not necessarily doing anything as far as stability. Maybe if you're landing on your knees, it can prevent bruising, I guess. and then if they don't like the trade off of getting the weight off of so you can be faster,

that's the only thing I can think of. Yeah. Well, that's the only question I have for you guys. You guys have a good new year and it's a good talking to you. Oh, thank you, Kyle. You're the very first caller, 2006. And for that, we thank you very much. Kyle and Pearland.

Shout out Paralland. We crush in Pearland. Yes, we do. There's parts of town we don't do so hot. That's where Gordy's from. Gordy's from Paralayan? He's a Perlander. Is that right?

I'm not from. but, you know, that's the set he claims. Is that with the locked on SEC local network? Technically Manville. Oh, technically Manville, sorry. Oh, okay. Let's go to Steve on 7.90. Steve, good morning to you.

Happy New Year, guys. Same to you. Hey, the only, you know, the last two teams that I can think of that had number one defenses that actually won the Super Bowl was the last year of Manning in Denver, and then also when the Ravens did it, And if I'm not mistaken, it wasn't Hasselback, their quarterback, and he was, like, horrible. And they ended up winning the Super Bowl.

They made a Super Bowl. Seattle didn't win that. No, they didn't win. They lost to the Steelers. Steelers, yeah. But I think that was the year Rothensburg was just starting. He wasn't very good. Here are the two examples.

Now, these are very far away, but they're actually three. You had, McMahon was not a great quarterback in 86 with the 85 bears. He was good but not great. Dilfer was basically atrocious for the Ravens. Brad Johnson wasn't great for the Buccaneers. Joe Flacco in 2012. Well, but Joe Flacco, he's not elite. Not elite, but he also...

He's not elite quarterback. He's not an elite quarterback. Can C.J. Stroud be as good as Joe Flacko? I say yes. Yes, I would say that as well. I would go with Nick Foles as a backup with the Philadelphia Eagles recently as well. There are some examples. Well, my question, my question to you is, do you, I've noticed here in the last couple games that they have Stroud doing more play action, RPO's on both sides.

To me, it seems like he is a better quarterback when he's on the run, and I just, just from the games that I'm watching, do you guys see the same thing? And then my second question is, is, you know, are not a question, but. But I have really surprised how Marks has actually come on and been – I can't see why they would even need Nixon back because Marks has actually really improved and shown me a lot for a man of his stature. I know he's not that big, but he runs like he's about 6-2-230, and he's not that big. But have a happy year. I'll get you later. Thank you very much. I think he's through a Happy New Year in there, man.

Yeah, I think he did it very beginning. Ross and I share the same sentiment. What he marks, in my mind, is not a starting NFL running back. He's just a guy. He's a backup. He's a third down pass catch. He's a good pass catcher. I mean, British Brooks was ripping off runs.

You had Jawar Jordan ripping off runs. He is replaceable. He can make some good runs where he shows good vision and a little burst here and there. But he's not close to what Joe Mixon was. He's 3.6 yards of carry all season long. That's not very good at all. I don't think Woody Marks is very good I'm with, yeah, Matt and I

are in agreement there. Here's what he can do. He's a very nice pass catcher and he also blocks well for him running back. By the way, did you hear, and I don't like to do a lot of rumor conversation on the show but there is a rumor on the Twitter streets that has gained a little bit of steam about Joe Mixon.

Have you seen this? Can we get to that at the top of the hour? We may at 10.58. One quick thing on his first point. Yeah, please. C.J. Stroud is not mobile. I don't want to see his shot on the run. He can throw well on the run, falling away, falling to his right, falling to his left, and be accurate. But on the run, you don't want him on the run.

He's not that mobile. He's not that quick. No, and you intentionally make 10 to 15 plays roll out. It's going to get crushed. He's rolling out larger because of an assassinate because they're drawing in a place. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 1102 Sports Talk, 7908. we are going to hopefully carry Domingo's

get-together with the media in 15 minutes from now. Hopefully. Jonathan, our producer, tirelessly efforting the appropriate sites that Carrie said press conference. So we can get a bunch of boot-looking questions from Fringe media. And some coach speak.

Yeah, but we're going to play what's the most ridiculous question as asked during the press conference. We don't have to do that. All right. That's your time. I was not it was a new year. It's a new you.

You know what? I did put some new years. resolutions. Do we make any sports resolutions? No, I've meant some about you. About me? You're in here. What? We'll read those in a few minutes. Why am I getting resolutions? All right, do I get to have some about you then? Yes.

Okay. We're fair and bowels in this show. Okay, let's go. Let me get this list. I put out on my notepads. I don't know what I do with them. Yeah, let me get this list populated. I want you find one of your 76 notepads. Okay. So my story, have you seen, now, I mean, honestly, you know what, I don't like to deal in rumors on shows, but since the Texans don't want to tell us anything?

guess what they they deserve some of the blame for this okay there's a rumor out there that uh joe mixon shot himself in the foot what literally yes by accident that's amazing I found my list by the way okay oh why that's lengthy all right I'm gonna start writing stuff down right now only six actually jonathan we wanted to make it more than six didn't we we were running on a thing yeah we were at time

All right, hold on. We can get to this later on. We will. We got time. We got four hours. Yeah, I've seen it multiple places. Doesn't mean it's true. Probably doesn't mean it's anything close.

But when you don't, when you keep things in secrecy for as long as the Texans have done, which is what? Going back to the four training camp, it tends to lead to speculation. Where does this, where, what is the source of this rumor? It wasn't somebody like five followers, put it that way. Okay. I mean, he has been involved with a firearm before. He has? AISIS in 2023.

Okay. I thought he was tweet. Remember when Adam Schifter put out that he was tweeting that Joe Mixon was done for the season? Or was it Pelliserro or Ian Rappaport? Whatever. And Joe Mixon was like, oh, that's funny. How are you going to tell me what's going on in my own body? Wasn't he talking big like he was going to come back?

Mm-hmm. What happened to that? Mm-hmm. Hmm. All right. We'll figure out what's going on with Joe Mixing, I guess. Are you looking for the source of this rumor? Yes.

Okay. It wasn't ball sack sports, was it? It could have been. Oh, no. Because that sounds like a joke. Shot himself in the foot. Bo-d-ch-sh. all right i'm saying is that anybody asking about joe mixon why would he why would you want to bring him back if you've been so secretive for for nine months if a player is hurt like fred van vleet torre's acl in the bahamas right rocket said it happened yes and he's with the team he rehabs he was with us on the road trip it is bizarre

nobody has seen him you just don't go hide for months you just don't yeah and it's the non football injury list I'm just saying so I'm not out there Okay Not saying it's true But it's a Texan's fault It had not been more forthcoming Yeah it's your fault

Texans What if he did That'd be pretty funny Oh They should have said I'm sorry Ross And nobody would be talking about We had somebody that shot himself

We're wearing a sweatsuit So it's not out of the ordinary For athletes on to pay him You're talking about bicycle Burris Yeah Okay one guy in 25 years Could be in a second Vince Midtown

1107 on 7 on a hello Vince Yeah, the big tight end, I think his name is Williams. He was on the sidelines for the Steelers. He was on the sidelines yesterday. He's like, I don't know, 6-7, 270 or something like that. Is he available this weekend? Because he's kind of scary. Was he in uniform?

Available for what? He was not in uniform. The big tight end for the Steelers, he was not in uniform. He was on the sidelines. You guys know who I'm talking about, right? No. Not that I probably should. I mean, I don't follow the Pittsburgh Steel.

Do you know their backup tight ends, Matt? I don't know who he is. I mean, you're, is it Rodney Williams? I think they call him Mount Williams because he's huge. Let me see. I thought I looked up his first game. Well, it can't be that scary. He doesn't have any catches this year.

Yeah, I mean, if I'm, I don't have any catches. No. No, I saw video of him running over a bunch of people, man. Well, that's fine. A priest isn't game. Hmm. Okay. I mean, I don't know. I'm just, I'm speculating.

Again, I don't follow the Steelers. It's not Rodney Williams. It can't be. No, it can't be. No, it is Rodney Williams. I think it is Rodney Wood. Okay, we've got no catches. Look at his measurable. Rossi's 6-4.

No, we've got to be somebody else. Let me go to the Steelers Jet Chart for Vince. Anybody that's a Steelers fan can back us up on this tight-in we've never heard of before that I guess I should have known who it was. John Hussmith? Yeah, John Hussmith has made some play. Darnell Washington. Oh, Darnell Washington.

He's on IR. Okay, so, but he's available next week. I don't know what he was. Two minutes ago. Vince, come on. I don't know who these people are. He's on injured reserve, so I don't know if he's getting activated. No, he was placed on IR five days ago.

I don't think he, I think he's done for the season, Vince. So your fears are quelled. You're going to be okay. Man, sense of relief, Vince. You can breathe a sigh of relief, Vince. Man, I feel better now. I feel like Texas is coming by two touchdowns now. 6-7-264.

Big boy. I'll have a happy new year guy Vince is like I'm not calling these Gibranes ever again Steelers tight in talk I did I did not predict that At the start of January The guys at 610 would have known that

That's true Charlie would have known that Charlie who We used to work here Pena No that's actually a Charlie I saw him today as a matter of fact He's here for some reason

Messy throwback day on the show At the station There we're getting tweets in Darnett Washington And nobody knows who Darnel Washington is. What are season stats? I remember the name now. Darnel Washington, I closed the tab.

That's how relevant he is. He's got 31 catches this year with a touchdown. Yeah, the name is sounds familiar. He's got a broken arm, by the way. Source is close to me. Okay. Yeah, he was placed on IR very recently. I think he's done for the year.

Yeah, see, Victor saw this too. Gun may have been in possession. in a state where it was illegal and Texans are protecting him. The hmm emoji. You know that hand on the chin emoji? That's a great one. That's a great emoji. It is. Yeah. You sent it to your lady? No, I sent her other ones. Oh. My favorite, my favorite. Remember you were so anti-em emoji? Yeah. That's changed because it takes me

to a happier place because it's a lot easier to talk to somebody that way. It's even less formal than texting. Which is what you're looking for. My favorite emoji to use is the dot dot with the straight line across your face, showing like not happy, not sad, just complete indifference. Yeah, that's what I normally get from you. I know.

If I get anything at all. Deep Throat, hashtag is the source on that Joe Mixon situation. So you know if Deep Throat knows it, it must be true. I'm staying away from that. I'm just saying that I believe that at some point we need to know what Joe Mixon, I mean,

he does play for an NFL team that people following cover. There is an investment in him. You're a, and you're not a publicly held team, but you're a publicly fattled team. Is this just going to go away and no one's going to talk about where Joe Mixon's been for 20 weeks? It's not seen by anybody. The fact that nothing has come out about this is pretty crazy. All right. Let's take a time out. Yes. Let's hope and pray that Jonathan's finds our press conference. I mean, it's not going to be up to him. It's not like there's like 10 websites he can change. He's either going to be on the websites. It should be or it's not. He could be in the wrong. He could be in the wrong website. You never know.

If he's pulling them all up, it's going to be fine. He could be on Houston, Texans, fake media fanboy. Sometimes they have it and sometimes they don't. Wait, that was your New Year Resolution, Matt. You can't be messing with the fake media no more. I know. I've already poking them out. I already wrote that down for your news. I'll go over my six. I have six things here. Oh, great. I need you to change for 2026. Stop having the pallet of an eight-year-old. I'm going to write that one down. 1112 on Sports Talk 790. All right, 1115. Hopefully in moments.

I got a good way to segue in before the press conference. These are six things I want you to do in 2020, 2026, Rossi. Me? Yeah. Why is this getting sprung on me? Because we were killing time. When we had Jonathan just worked out well, yes?

We were just, we could have actually gone with a whole segment of this. Yeah, we almost have been really bored. Oh, we were getting it through. All right. I got some for Jonathan, too, then. All right, number one. I'm ready. To further open up your interpretation of must wins.

No, why? I'm not trying to explain to you. I've done this before many times. It's either a must win or it's not. Because then everybody's calling it. Remember week three against the Jaguars? Everybody must win game. Texans can't go 0 and 3 and lose a divisional game.

This is a must win game. They lost it and they went 12 and 5. It's not a must win game. Jonathan is not going well. It's not going well. Not a wall. Not how we thought. Number two, you must finally admit the Stevie Wonder concert sucked.

Oh my God, are you serious? I was with you on this one, Ross. This wasn't me. All right, now if you're looking to trigger me and make me angry, it's working. That was a great concert and got even better when a bunch of whiners left. Again, this is not my time to try to explain. One of the all-time great singer-songwriters, arguably the greatest artist ever. I don't disagree with you.

And it was a great show. It just took three hours I get to and we all fell asleep. All right, number three. Everybody stayed but you. Be nicer to you of H fans. I'm not mean to you of H fans. They're mean to me.

Okay. They're calling me fat radio hack and all this other stuff. Bad hair, do they say that too? No, hair's great. Okay. I don't think I'm mean to you of age fans. By the way, nice win over Cincinnati over the weekend. Huge.

That first eight minutes. Oh, what a great win. Took college basketball back. I think it was like eight four at the 11 minute mark of the game. That sounds like a great product. But it got 67 to 60. Oh, wow. It was respectable.

It's like the running ribs in the 80s. Number four. Except the McRibb. Accepted to what? As a good sandwich. By the way, I'm getting numerous people sending me. Me too. I got at least 10 people.

Go ahead. Yeah. Apparently, people are suing McDonald's for lack of rib content? There is a class action lawsuit against McDonald's because there is no rib meat in the McRib. Further proving my point. I'm about to file a class action suit asking for the McGrady permanently put on the menu.

You know why it's not permanently put on the menu? Because it's not good. Because it's not selling. McDonald's likes to make money. If it were a good sandwich, it would be on the menu the year long. It gets more publicity than any of their sandwich combined. Yeah, bad publicity.

They're getting a class action lawsuit because it's a gristle sheet with humps in it. I am not. It's nasty. I'm not jumping into that class action. Okay. These resolutions I'm rejecting so far. I've got two more left.

Okay. Uh, prep, believe it or not, earlier in the show. Why? Because you really start to get nervous towards the last day before. I don't ever get nervous. Uh, you go, you scream, you go, hold on. Oh, God. Are we really doing that today?

No. I mean, that's a bit. Okay. By the way, are we doing, believe it or not today, about the new pitcher for the Astros? No. Why not? I don't know anything interesting about him. Tetsu I'm looking at the card again, my prep.

Okay. He came up with the Shinobu, the Shibu Lions or whatever. believe it all right and my last one accept me for who I am Mr. Texas Believe it

there you go What these are horrible I thought he was going to be actually good constructive criticisms Mr. Texas

you don't like Dr. Pepper nope you barely tolerate brisket you don't like enchiladas you don't like tamales

you've never been to any national or state park Have you been to the Alamo at least? Yes, many of the times. You haven't been to the state capital. Yeah, oh yeah. Building?

Yeah. You're a liar. I mean, I was probably in the junior high, but I didn't. Oh, you're a liar. Because you earlier said, weeks ago you said you had, and now you're trying to, you're changing. Okay. Horrible Mr. Texas. Please accept me as Mr. Texas.

Others have in this audience? What are your qualifications for Mr. Texas? I've lived here most of my life. Yeah, you're not even from here. I've traveled to at least 25 cities in this state. So you've traveled around? Yeah. And that makes you Mr. Texas.

Yes. I love chicken fried steak. What does that have to do with anything? That's a Texas delight. It's like a special... I mean, it's more of a southern delight. They like it in Mississippi. They don't get chicken fried steak in Arkansas very good.

No. Texas is the best chicken fried steak. Okay. I've done high school football on the radio in Texas. So have I? You didn't do full season. You like filled in a game here and there. No, that's not true.

I did C-Zuns with a guy with no teeth. How's the press cameras coming along? We're waiting on. It's up. We're waiting for him and stop talking. Okay. Okay. So we're going to get the presser. So your qualifications are lacking.

You don't own a pair of boots? No. Not that I wouldn't. I just don't wear country western clothes. You've never been out on the range? You haven't been on the range. What are you talking about? That's a made-up.

See, that makes you a fraud. You must start calling you Mr. Fraud. I'm not saying I'm Mr. Texas. You're the second biggest fraud in this market. I'm not declaring myself Mr. Texas. I am. That's what I'm saying. So you have to prove that you are.

If you declare your something, self-something, you have to prove. I'm not to-I don't have to prove anything because I'm not saying I'm Mr. Texas. I've done high school football. I have eaten chicken fried steak. See, these are terrible qualifications. I used to watch the eyes of Texas on Channel 2 back in the day. The absolute worst possible candidate. Those are my six.

Watch this. No patch. Yeah, I thought we were going to, I mean, okay, believe it or not, prep, I'll take that one. I'll try to be better. Okay. What's today's topic? By the way, you don't even give me the topics to like three quarters of a way to show.

That's good criticism right there. You're allowed to do the topic yourself. No, but you're such a tyrant. I want to make sure you're happy with the topic. I've never been displeased with the topic. Okay. Tyrannical Thomas, that's what we call you around here. Tell you way, I've got some fantasy five topics for the next few.

Oh, you do? Let's go to the press conference first. Look at the opponent and the history, the coaching, all those things. personal with your thoughts on the matchup with Steelers? What's your question? Your thoughts on the matchup with the Steelers, thinking of the opponent, the coaching,

all those things are going. We're excited for the matchup versus the Steelers. It's really a great team. Nothing but a ton of respect. All right, for Coach Tomlin and the success that he's had in the league. How he's done it for such a long time is a guy who definitely have always looked up to, always respected him, always has his teams ready to go. well coach, physical outfit, like they're going to play tough.

And it was really cool to see how they won that game last night. Just pure will, determination, found a way to win. Had things go their way. Aaron's done a good job there at the quarterback position. The defense has always played tough. So we're excited about the opportunity. You know you guys have bigger goals, but what can you say about your defense since it ended the regular season as the best defense in franchise history?

Our defense did a really nice job throughout the entire year. Limiting points specifically, that's what makes you a good defense. Also, you know, playing well in the passing game. But we didn't end the year well defensively when it comes to giving up explosive plays is really not good enough defensively. So we've got to do a much better job if we want to advance and play longer. And the playoffs, we've got to play much better defense. So it didn't end how it should have.

18 weeks now. 18 weeks now behind you. What have you learned most about your team? How have you seen this team evolve, change, and kind of grow through the year? Look, our team has been through a lot. And what I would say about our team is, you know, it really doesn't matter. Any kind of way the game shapes up, whatever we need to do to win the game, we find a way to win the game.

So it's the resiliency with our team. That's what sticks out to me the most about our guys. It's the close-knit group that we have. Guys are closed, guys are tight, guys play for each other. That's all you can ask for. Some of the difficulties in playing against the Aaron Rod's quarterback who's pretty much seen every defense, you know, that throughout, you know, from defense support next throughout the league.

Aaron's, I mean, he's done it at a high level for a long time because he's one of the, probably one of the smartest quarterbacks play the game. Does a really good job. Understands defense really well. But, you know, for us, that doesn't change. We got to go out. It's about the guys that are playing.

It's about our guys, just playing together collectively, going against a really good opponent. Do you have any kind of relationship with Mike and did you give you any advice or words when you first started this role in Tuesday? I've always, you know, kept in touch with Mike as we, you know, get together throughout the owners, meetings, everything. Just always, you know, very complimentary of what we're doing here. Just always positive. That's the thing I say, always positive, always great encouragement from a, from a guy who's done. at a level that everybody would seek to do it. Like, you've had over 20 years of winning seasons.

Like, not many people can do that. He's stuck around at one place, probably the longest tenure head coach right now in the NFL for a reason because he knows how to win. What are your thoughts on Arthur Smith and the way he operates in offense and attacks of defense? I haven't dived into their offense that much, to be honest with you, so we'll see how that goes throughout the week.

You mentioned the explosive plays kind of happening late what did you find was the reason for some of i guess specifically for the last game yeah from our last game it's uh too many busts i guys not being where they're supposed to be doing what they're supposed to do and when you bust plays and coverages you give up big plays what's the biggest difference um about the playoffs you say it's a new season and you start over what's the biggest difference about playoff football yeah the biggest difference is those those details and those fine, you know, techniques that we talk about all the time. If you're not on it, you get exposed, you can end up in a pretty tough situation

that's harder to climb out of them. So we know these games are all, they're going to be tight, they're going to be tough. Everybody's in the playoffs for a reason. Everybody's earned that opportunity to get into the playoffs. So for me, it's everybody just has to tighten up on what we're doing, like offensively defensively special teams-wise we all have to tighten up starting with us as coaches we got to tighten up to make sure we're all on the same page and make sure that our players everybody knows exactly what they should be doing and how to get it done that's a really tough speaking to kick in in pittsburg what gives you faith that key he can handle those things on the road on grass etc yeah i have all the faith in the world in kaimi no matter where we are it's it's tough anywhere to kick the football and If anybody's tried kicking a field goal, let me see you make one. It's tough anywhere.

It'll matter you inside or outside. If you're on ESPN trying to kick it on college game day, it's tough to kick a field goal. So we'll see how it shapes out when we get there. And what he said he was really proud of how his patience has shown up in his game, and that's something he improved on later in the year. Where does that kind of show up for him and how does that help him at the running back spot? What did you say, man? Woody Mark says his patience at the position has helped him really kind of grow the back end of the season.

I think Woody is, and throughout the year, I feel like he's gotten better with the more reps that he's getting in. In game, I feel like Woody, he does a better job the more times he touches the football, right? He's always going forward, always gaining positive yards, and that patience comes with, you know, setting up your blocks. You have to do a good job setting up your blocks to put you in position to make guys miss at certain times. what he has done a good job of that. Mr. Steelers were you going to get T.J. Watt back last night. They also had Alex Highsmith on the other side. What are your initial thoughts

on their pass rush or what the job is the thing? Yeah, you guys are fired up by the Steelers, huh? Man, can't wait. They're great, great pass rush. Both guys, I know, T.J. Watts, one of the all-time sack leaders in the NFL for a reason. Great bloodline.

He had a guy who can teach him how to do it in his brother, JJ. So he's a really good player. good pass rush. Also, Hotsmith, he doesn't, hoss me if doesn't get enough credit, I think, for the production and how disruptive he is as a pass rush as well. So, you know,

you want to play good defense, you have to have two good pass rushers, and they have that. On the other side, you guys obviously have a really strong pass rush. How important he? Think safety. Dean Granger. There's an ad in the middle of press cameras.

We'll kill for a few seconds. Defense all year. Oh, here is. It's really predicated on how we get after the passer. And that's starting with Will and DeNil and what they do off of the heads and always our interior guys with how they're collapsed in the pocket. And that'll be really important this week as well. How can we disrupt the passer as much as possible, right?

To make it difficult for him to put us in advantageous positions to go and take the football all the way. The biggest is, Does the experience making the playoffs? I mean, I know you don't want to go back to before, but having players have been there, coaches that have been there, how much does that help? I think when you have the experience that our group has,

you know, we have a lot of guys who've been there. A lot of guys know what to expect. So it's not our first rodeo for a lot of guys. So I would lean in on that experience from our guys just having conversations right on the side. Nothing formal that we need, but just guys just talking. you know, as we're in walking and passing, guys just letting each other know, like, what

it's going to be like. You know the intensity is going to pick up, right? You know the importance of every single play is going to pick up. And as long as our guys are sharing that information to each other and everybody's just prepping the right way and how we go out and practice the right way. Like, hey, we know it's win or go home. Everything is on the line. Everybody understands that and for me when you get in these games you don't go start trying to, you don't start trying to do something that you haven't

done before. Are you just laying in on what you've been training for from training camp? And you're laying in on that and you do that the right way that puts you in position to win the game. You even notice that all your components, your coaching, training staff and everything. But watching the game

last night with the moisture and at that time of night, you're equipment man is probably just as important, even not more important, because I saw some guys slipping there. It's like on that turf where you have to be an additional thing that you're going to have to watch if you're still equipment man is going to watch coming in Monday night. For sure, our equipment staff is very vital, especially when you're playing on the road on different surfaces. You have to make sure the footing is, yeah, make sure our footing is really good. And it comes with those guys, making sure we have everything we need. And our guys

our staff, equipment staff does an outstanding job, making sure our guys have everything they need and more. We pack a lot of stuff. We pack a lot of stuff. So we'll be prepared for that. But specifically, the footing is the main thing. You want to make sure you have the proper cleats so you can have sure footing. Did you see the priest with the Holy Water with the, it's the very answer? What's the question? Did you notice that? What's the question? Follow up to Kim's question a little bit. You talk about turning the page for the energy you guys are going to see the pussies. When it comes to the rookies specifically, is it a message you deliver to them or do you rely on the veterans to pull these guys inside?

Oh, yeah. I'll deliver, you know, the message to everyone who makes sure we're set, ready to go, specifically for our rookies, making sure they understand, right, they understand the moment, right? And the main thing for our rookies, understanding that you have to take advantage of this moment. You don't know when they, you know, you don't know when they come around. Like, it's not just because you suit up. You're going to make it every single time. You got to go earn your right to get in there. We earned it.

Now, what do you do with that for our rookies? They just have to go and keep getting better. I think a lot of our rookies have done a good job all year of steadily improving, and that's what we want to see throughout the playoffs as well. A little bit to that point, do you, how do you approach the message when it comes to like, hey, we're four wins away from our ultimate goal, or do you still stay a real tunnel vision? But I kind of ask that because certain college coaches

let their teams cut down the nats before the season starts to envision what it would be like and Will Anderson yesterday talking about we're four wins away. Like, what's your personal approach to that? It's all about one game. I mean, that's all we can handle it and that doesn't change for me.

It's all about one game. So we go and handle the one game we have right now, you go and handle it the right way, then you earn the opportunity to get one more game, and you keep going. That's the message. Vegas has you all favorite in this game, but, you know, the story throughout the

weekend, as you can see throughout this press conference that's been the Steelers and Aaron Rogers and Mike Tom and going into this, do you feel like your team is still kind of like the underdog but nobody's still talking about the Texas? I don't know. I don't have

time to listen to it all if we're the underdogs if we're not you know all those things that's for for everyone else right to talk about to decide to debate throughout the week have some spirited arguments about it for us as a team like it doesn't drive anything i do when it comes to messaging it doesn't drive anything for me when it when it comes to actually executing football right When the ball is snapped, like nobody cares if you were an underdog or you were the favorite. It really, it doesn't matter. It's about how are you executing in a moment. Close games in the playoffs whenever you're in it.

You had 12 of them this year, five on the front side, didn't go your way. And the last seven it did. Do you think the team's already been in that mode of this is how it's going to be? We have to be the team that knows how to make the place at the end to win. Our guys know how to win football games. and that's what that's a weird that doesn't change right because we're in the playoffs we've been in that mode for a while now you know every game has been important for us everything has been about man we all the more but it's that's what it's been that's our season that's what it's been for us to fight back to get into a spot to even have this opportunity right to play until the play in the playoffs so our mindset is not changing now that we're in obviously Offence to start with one.

Yeah. Having been in the situation before, having won games the way you all won, having built a team the way you all have built, do you feel like that has better prepared you for this moment than previously? I feel like I've always been prepared for every moment. It's not that I'm better prepared because we've been through it before. I've been here for the past several years. I've been in the playoffs before I got here

so I've been prepared for this moment and ready for it. All your points of plays this year to start with your center with Jake Andrews. What have you seen from the growth of Jay and kind of the evolution of the relationship with him and C.J. as they work more together? Jake has done a good job of setting the table

when it comes to the protections. The mic points idea and up front he's done a good job of communicating, which is what we need. You need a guy up front who is loud, can communicate. make sure everybody's on the same page, and Jake has done that for us. Last one needed.

For the first time of testing this to play, when you're playing open up, walk up again. What's the significant experience? A player and a coach, what's the difference is between playing at home and a playoff person playing on a road in a playoff? When you're in the playoffs, to me, it's, you know, you always would love to be in front of your home crowd.

That's why they call it home field advantage, right? Your home crowd can be rowdy and loud on, you know, those significant plays, third down, red zone. You can have that crowd noise really cranking and really disrupting the flow of the opponent's communication. That's important when you're at home. We don't have the luxury of having that this year. But you go on the road in the playoffs, what's different? Hey, it's you against everybody else in their stadium. And we've went on the road this year.

I felt like our guys have handled ourselves. Our team has handled themselves pretty well on the road this year. Understanding that, again, it goes back to us being in the moment, executing playing together. We won't have that crowd support, but that's okay. You still have to find a way to figure it out, find a way to win football games. And we've done that on the road.

And, I mean, big challenge. Big challenge on Monday night versus the Steelers. that we're excited about it versus a really tough crowd who we know they're going to be loud and it's going to be a really great environment, cool environment for our guys who haven't seen that before, it's going to be a really great environment for them to witness. All right, cool. All right. A little cranky, a little bit of, I don't have time to give you the complete breakdown of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I just found out we were playing them about 12 hours ago. I'm sure he's been working on it. He just didn't want to say. Oh, yeah. He didn't want to say. That's okay. By the way, if you didn't know this, the question about the holy water, apparently a priest dropped some holy water on the field at Pittsburgh last night. Oh, really?

Yeah. That's why Tyler Loop missed the field goal. Yes, because God said no. God said make it go wide. He hates the Ravens. Yeah. Okay. I've never had, I never met Jesus before.

Chill, dude. I wouldn't think he'd be incredibly chill. He doesn't have time for helping out football teams. I would hope he's trying to cure other things that there are problems in our world, except blessing about how a particular team is going to happen and do in a playoff game. Like you ever notice when a team loses,

the guy never goes, I want to thank God for leading us through this and me throwing that interception in the fourth quarter that really costs us. You know, you give him the glory when you win. Yeah. And then when you lose, he's testing you. Hmm.

I'll start calling you Reverend Villarreal in that one. Amen, amen, okay. I mean, that's about the most powerful thing you've said in the history of this show. He doesn't care about the end of the result of your football game at all. Only took you 17, 16 years to do that, but that was nice. I've been dropping profanity on you for years, Matt. Affundity, that's a word, too.

Big word. That's a double bonus word right there. All right. So, yeah, didn't want to give up much about Pittsburgh. I thought most of his answers were probably eight seconds or less. Yeah, coach speak. That's Coach Beak, Ryan's. I used to it.

And at this point of the year, when now everything has moved up in terms of anticipation and pressure, I would expect the coach peak to uptick a little bit. It's the playoffs. Yeah. Beautiful. Monday night.

And since that press coverage took place, Jonathan Gannon's been fired by the Arizona Cardinals. Yes. John the Gannon was on a list for the Texans. I don't know how good that list was, but he was on the list. Now, he's gone. He couldn't win with Kyler Murray and Jacoby Brissette.

You're out. Yeah. Jonathan Gannon, Pete Carroll, Kevin Stefanski, Rahim Morris, out today on Black Monday or in Rahim's case, sad, sorry, Sunday. Yeah, he found out a little early. That's good. He got his four-sale sign-up a day earlier. Didn't the Falcons close out the season strong? Yeah, they won their last four games.

And kick the Buccaneers out of the playoffs. Yes. Because my son, my oldest, my Cameron. Panthers fan number one. Panther Cam. I don't get it. I didn't raise up Carol. on a Panther fan.

He loves him some Bryce Young and was, I mean, yelling at the top of his long yesterday. Well, he was a Cam Newton fan back in the day. That he was. So is this residual. Now he's Bryce Young fan number one? He's here about Davis Mills. He went three for nine yesterday.

He loves Mills. He loved Tebow. He loved Bryce Young. The Tottenham Hotspur terrible. Yeah. He was so happy they tied, I guess, yesterday. I'm like, what's happy about tying? It's like kissing your sister.

Well, no, well, it depends. Unless it's a zero-zero tie, if the team that ties that scores last feels like they won and the team that gave up the score last feels like they lost. So it's about the same. So I imagine they scored second. I don't know. And more importantly, I do not care.

Ooh, they're 13th. Are they getting relegated? No, 18, 19, 20 gets relegated. So they're out of the relegation zone. All right, we've got to take a little bit of break here. So we skipped that 30 break. We just said, bye. Oh, yeah.

And also on Black Monday, a Ruben Amarin sacked at Manchester United, Matt. sacked is the same term as fired yes that's the english that's the british oh he's been sacked why do the english why do the brits need to just fancy up our terms i probably sacked has been a wrong longer than fired i'm gonna guess fired is brutal sacked sounds pretty bad too like they threw you out in a sack i'd rather be relieved in my duties yeah some fire let go mutually parted ways a green at the return yeah that kind of thing fired sounds like you really were you You're fired. By the way, I believe of that group, Gannon will never be a head coach again.

Carol's done. Raheem Morris, probably done. Stavansky may be a head coach. I think Devansky may a head coach. He might be in this cycle. Yeah, no, no. That's true. Tennessee time.

I'm just saying. All right, 1140. We'll come back and talk to the Reverend K.J. is going to join us. Okay. We have the news at noon coming up. We have to tell the truth at 1230. Today, I believe, one thing. We have two breaks and one coming up.

kind of. That's fine. We're fine. We're light. 713-212-5-790. 1148 on the matthotling show with Ross. 7-13-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-9. The news and noon coming up in about 12 minutes from now. Also, we'll have to tell the truth at 1230. And the press conference for Tatsuya Imi. That's going to roll off the tongue eventually pretty quick, right?

I mean, we've got like basically three months. Tatsuya Imi. That'sui-I-Mai. I will say this, it made me very happy that he was a client of Scottie B. And then he'll have a shoulder label tear and we won't have to talk about him at all. Ooh. Writing injuries already. He's ready for the, oh, well, we can predict injuries.

So do we know the backstory about why this deal happened? Is that because he really didn't want to be a Dodger? From what we understand, and this was Channel Rome was saying on his podcast, is that a couple things. one, Emai wanted to go to an area where he just wasn't a natural place for Japanese stars to go. He wanted to create his own kind of world. Okay. He's got opt-out, so this could be a one-year-and-done thing. Yes.

And number two, which I thought was very interesting on Chandler's part, and it does make a tremendous amount of sense. The new corporate sponsor of the baseball stadium in which they play is a Japanese company. Oh, Dikin. Dikin. And that the Astros would like to get involved more in that community and more of an international world. and maybe not relying so much on the Dominican to pipeline players and maybe the Far East could be something they can go to.

Okay. Speaking of that, the Rockets next October are going back to play in China for a couple of games against the Mavericks. Are they trying to resurrect? Are they still big in China? They were for a while. Obviously they were. They were huge.

Yeah, for a while. And then, Yao Ming still maintains a great relationship with the Rockets. So they're going to play the Mavericks a couple of games in October. in China. They're going to Macau, right? Yeah. They're playing.

Maybe we should go, Matt. Casinos. I got casinos in the United States, I'm fine. They'll have McDonald's for you. I don't know if they have McRib in China. It's probably Mick Goat. What's goat's delicious. I don't think I've ever had goat before.

What? I don't think I have. I mean, I might have. Hmm. I've had... Never had a little cabrito? I don't know what that is, so no. Okay.

I've had frog legs. okay alligator sure why not i think it's it among animals raccoon no raccoon i think you uh you love possum chili i do like um venice and deer chili deer cheese yeah dear means really amazing yeah let's go to uh the reverend kj on 7a kj happy new year what's going on happy new year i love the show um man I watched a lot of football this season and in my lifetime. I'm a couple of years younger than you, Matt, so you probably watched more than I have.

And my statement is part statement is part question. I was watching the Texas game just like everybody else. And I still consistently see CJ. And I know it may seem like I have overkill with CJ, but I'm just looking for that it in him that I see in other young quarterback. And I'm going to give you an example of what I'm talking about. There was a play the other day, yesterday.

When the lie, for the most part, formed great yesterday. But there was one play where he had ample time to get rid of the ball. He dropped back. He went to his progressions. I want to say at least twice. He couldn't find anybody open. And rather than him just tucking the ball and running, touching it to the pocket and popping up.

possibly see it, if you see something underneath, or at worst case scenario, throwing a ball away to the sideline. CJ stood the ball down to Patterson's feet, the lineman, and got intentional grounding, obviously a lot of down and lots of them for yards. And again, you don't see quarterbacks who are comfortable in the pocket who are in full command of the office just do boneheaded plays like that. Now, granted, we still want the game, but we see too many times where, penalties knock us out of field goal range or penalties killed drive. And I would expect that the guy that I'm going to give

$60 million to, and that's just one incident. I see this consistently over the course of the game with CJ where he holds the ball too long. He's indecisizing. He doesn't make up his mind fast enough in regards to what he wants to. He just doesn't have that comfort

that I see with him. And I'm not saying these guys are better than CJ, but I will see the comfort in the pocket or at the position that I see in Bo Nick. I don't see the comfort at the position that I see in Drake May. I see him still nervous. I still see him undecisive, and I still see doubt when he's on the field. That play there is a microcosm of what I see far too often with CJ.

He's just not consistently taking command of the offense and directing the offense in the way that it should be, whether it be getting rid of the ball, whether it be tucking and running, or consistently making plays. And I'm seeing, and if you look at his numbers, I'm making his last point. Anybody that's listening that have a problem with what I'm saying

that are number guys, if you look at C.J's numbers since his rookie season, he hasn't gotten progressively worse statistically and I still don't see him taking command of the office the way I like a $60 million

quarterback to do. Doesn't want to hear what you guys got to say, man. And again, love the show. Thank you, KJ. I mean, I don't want to sound like a broken record here. He's not worse.

than Bo Nix. I mean, come on. Bo N, you can, K.J., I'll say this. And look, by no means, I think C.J. Stroud is super elite. I like for him to get to elite. He certainly can get to elite with this pro-season performance. He's still very good. He is still the best thing the Texans would have.

But it's, and it's also not fair that you're comparing him to Bo NIC. Bo Nix has one playoff game and one really good regular season under his belt with an amazing defense. And the best offensive line in football. Yeah. Arguably. So now, if you want to do a comp of, I want him to be this, Drake May looks the part, gang. And that's scary.

He looks the part. Second year guy took the significant bump up in talent. And it wasn't like his team got significantly better. And they did a running game going. They do have good possession receivers, good pass catching tight ends. They have, yes, but at a better offensive line. A better offensive line, but Drake May took the leap that C.J. never took. And that's what scares me a little bit.

But if you want to compare him to Herbert, doesn't have playoff wins. Trevor Lawrence, okay, one AFC championship appearance, but that was also a game where didn't he also throw a boatload of interceptions in the first half of the game? I think that in some respects that Jacksonville's success, now this year during the regular season, he's been really, really good. It's his best year in quite a while. he has to prove in the postseason postseason there are a lot of guys cj that you described that could be said for about i don't know four or five of the playoff quarterbacks right now the afc yeah i mean that's how it's going to be and then those questions are going to be there for basically everyone unless they go to and or win a super bowl i got news for you baltimore radio

today it ain't pretty for lamar jackson even though he threw those two great touchdown passes and his kicker missed the kick i know but i i would assume that baltimore sports radio has not been overly pleased with a crazy amount of money that has been given to Lamar Jackson. Now granted, the bad back did hurt him multiple occasions and he played through pain. Clearly that was the case. He played through pain yesterday.

He missed a few games too. Yes, he did. But they've underwhelmed. The Baltimore Ravens, if I'm a Baltimore Raven fan, not that I want to take the conversation in that direction, but if I'm a Raven fan, I've been watching this team year and year out fall short. This is a big post season for the Buffalo Bills yet again.

Ash Allen, great quarterback, right? That's how you build it. A guy who's got a cannon of an arm who can run is one of the best running quarterbacks maybe in the last 25 years in the NFL. And he has not gotten it all the way. There are a lot of guys that resumes don't fit your narrative. And CJ is the one we care about here because he's the one that we watch 17 weeks a year. So if you think it's just your guy, other cities are filmed the exact same way about their guy. that's that look i mean Drake may very well be a better he's better than cj shroud right now he may be overall a better quarterback and end up that way he did make a huge

second year leap and he was a top top prospect coming up all you need is for cj to have four good not necessarily manageable games because i do think you're going to have to outscore

somebody in the mix i think you can manage this game, don't make any mistakes, and win against Pittsburgh. You're going to need to put up some points against probably everybody else, and you're probably going to have the most difficult time putting up those points against a team like Denver, who you would think would probably be the team that you'd be playing the round number two. Again, it all depends. What the NFL does is they recede after every round.

They don't do a bracket. They do a reseeding after every round. I love. They should do. And I guess you could do that probably in baseball, and you could do it in basketball. You can't do it for the tournament because you've got teams moving around from spot to spot, but you could certainly do that in every other event. And maybe that's

not a bad thing. They should. They should always recede. Because if I'm the number one, I should have to play the weakest team. That's absolutely correct. Yeah, I have not necessarily changed my two and I, but I can see the point and go, okay. Now, the instant ability tournament bracket, the bracket's a bracket. You've got to do what you've got to do. And I'm also not going to ever change my mind that even though Carolina has a worse record than the Rams,

there should be value. You should be able to host a home playoff game for winning your division. Congratulations. You beat up on the Buccaneers and the Saints. Saints and the Falcons. You went eight and no. Eight and nine teams should not be hosting a playoff game. I will follow my sword on that one. Okay. And that's okay. All right. Let's get the news at noon underway to tell the truth in one half hour. You guys have a clean slate, by the way. Both you are zero and zero on to tell the truth. Thank the Lord. Jonathan's record last year. He's getting better. he was like he's improving he was like he's not quite Titans I was gonna go with a baseball cop oh okay he's not multi maldonato oh okay you're hitting but he's more like maricio dubon after playing

six days in a row hmm you know what I'll take that okay it's not bad it's not bad it's not bad comparison I like that you get traded away the Texas are back in the saddle again that in the news at noon next at 1159 on sports talk 790 with This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. All right, back in the saddle again, Ross. I love the different saddle this time. It's not at Saturday at 3.30, and it's not as an AFC South champion. They're bucking a different Bronco.

Not a Denver Bronco, but you know what I mean. More of a Pittsburgh Steeler. That's right. Three and a half point favorites at Pittsburgh next Monday. All right. Why are they playing the Pittsburgh Steelers? Let's find out right now with the news at noon. Yes, Matthew, we will talk about it of the news at noon

as the Texans get the win over the Indianapolis Colts. You also had the Jaguars absolutely thrashing the Tennessee Titans. And then the Sunday night game decided that the Texans' fate was the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers, 26 to 24, the Steelers got the victory as Tyler Loop missed the field goal that could have won the game and sent the Baltimore Ravens to the playoffs to host the Houston Texans. If you're a Texans fan, probably you wanted the field goal to miss. It did. Steelers finish the season 10 and 7.

They will host the Houston Texans, who are three and a half point favorites at the Pittsburgh Steelers. Don't expect a whole lot of offensive fireworks total at 39. and a half. When Luke missed that field goal I was generally speaking stunned and my wife was asleep I had the volume turned out very low. Honestly? Because the buildup with Toriko's buildup

we'll play to get a little later on. It was beautiful. In the back of my mind, I don't know why. Just in the back of my mind it was like what if he misses this? And as I did say it is the hardest second hardest place to kick field goals besides MetLife Stadium is where the Steelers play. Lots of miss field goals every years.

We put Chicago in there. I think Cleveland can be tough. Anything went going on. Yeah. But I think basically in the Northeast-ish, with wind, Midwest. But one side of the stadium is significantly more difficult than the other. The close side, I guess, is a little easier, which were he I don't know what he was. Yeah. Oh, is that right? Yeah, the fans were right in front of him, man. They're all losing their mind.

Well, they're all losing their mind because they get to get beat down by the Houston Texans in the playoffs. Monday night, 630, with a bunch of heavyset women from Pennsylvania. It's going to be interesting. For sure. Is everybody heavy, all the women are heavy set in Pennsylvania?

Quite a few. Why are you saying that? There's no fit women in Pittsburgh? There are fit women, yeah. You've met the penguins dancers, yeah. Okay, and they're not Steelers fans? It could be, but I just said lots. I didn't say like every single one.

I just said lots. Interesting. All right, well, let's get roll call going for the NFL head coaches who's been fired and who's staying as of right now. Browns have fired head coach Kevin Stefansky. I mean, they had no quarterback. Deshawn Watson ripped his Achilles. They went five and 12.

Matthew. Kevin Stefansky, two-time NFL AP head coach of the year. Uh-huh. 2020 and 2023. Yes. They determined he is the best head coach in the NFL twice in the last six years. Yep. And he's been fired.

You miss the playoffs two years in a row or you have two bad years in a row. You're out. Oh, with who? With Shador Sanders? Dylan Gabriel and Joe Flacco, who they traded away? That's pretty insane to me. Well, Savancy's going to find work somewhere else. We're going to call about the Kevin Savansky's name being brought up again.

Kevin Savansky, offensive coordinator, Houston Texans, come on down. I think he's got head coach written all over. I'm waiting from Mike McDaniel, by the way. Who's still in Miami? Okay. You want to go back to the West Coast Shanahan Tree, Bobby Sloick? No. I want to go to a team that's got a decent running back and an offensive line that I'm proud of.

I mean, I'm not saying anybody can call plays as long as you have pieces, but it's a lot easier. Bobby Sloa clearly struggled. Nick Cayley, everybody hates him. It's two guys who, I mean, well, have somewhat of a resume, but first time play callers. You need some Jimmy's and Joe's with these X's and O's as well. Rahim Boris fired by the Atlanta Falcons. Giants general manager Joe Shane is safe. We'll be returning next year, despite the 4 and 13.

season with let's see Russell Wilson James Winston and maybe some promise with Jackson Dart as long as he doesn't get concussed he is still there let's see who else was fired Jonathan Gannon fired

Arizona for the Arizona Cardinals Pete Carroll fired by the Las Vegas Raiders one season with the Las Vegas Raiders old man Pete Carroll is out here's how I went down Pete we need you to resign No, I think I got any other year left to me.

Let's start of things here. No, you're fired. Yeah. He's like 73. Who thought that was a good idea? Nobody. What's his name Davis? Yeah. Was it Mark Davis?

No, that's a referee. Well, it might be Mark. Maybe it's Mark Davis. It looks like a Marky with his weird haircut. Is he a member of the Funky Bunch as well? Maybe. Okay. All right.

Let's see. So what else? So, of course, we have the Steelers in the playoffs, as I mentioned earlier. You had the Jacksonville Jaguars, as I said, thrashing. They are the AFC South champions and the week won by going to the playoffs goes to the Denver Broncos.

Yes. And in the NFC goes to the Seattle Seahawks. Yes, that'll be a part of my tell the truth coming up at the bottom of the hour. Oh, really? Yes. Are you a hmm. Seattle Seahawks, pretenders or contenders, I guess we'll find out from Matt Thomas.

And one more, a quick college football note. Trinidad Chamblis, the Ole Miss Quarter, he has reached a deal you will have him return to the rebels in 2026 as long as the NCAA approves his pending waiver for a sixth season

of eligibility and as you mentioned earlier Matt a big deal for the Texas Tech Red Raiders Brendan Sorsby the top player in the portal according to most sources as committed to Texas Tech

the rumor is Sorry, I was just reading the quote, Matt. He said he was blown away by Texas, Texas facilities. Correct. I appreciated the culture set there by the coaching set. That's all accurate. He was most blown away by the $5 million that Cody Campbell's giving him. And the $5 million he will be getting.

The number one portal player has landed in the Cincinnati. All right. We're going to talk about when we can come back this a little bit because this is nuts. And it's not just the fact you're paying the players. That isn't where I think the nuts part of it is. We're going to come back and talk about this. We've got to tell the truth, bottom of the hour. By the way, Rocket's signed against the Phoenix Suns.

Alper and Shangoon out today with a bad ankle. Daniel Gaffert stepped on his ankle one minute into the contest yesterday, and the rockets could not rally. Great. So he had the calf issue he missed time with. He comes back and now he's got an ankle issue. Yes. That's great. But hopefully Stephen Abb's is close.

How's he doing? what happened to him mean as hell turn his ankle too i missed a lot i'm sorry what are you been on vacation yeah but doesn't mean you can't keep in touch with your team i can't i know they lost i watched the game you're not gonna be doing you're not you got rockets tonight you're not working because you're gonna be the game you're actually gonna be witnessing the game itself that's gonna be i'm proud of you for that and then we got nine o'clockers wednesday and fronting it means no post game for you okay so what you probably fall asleep second quarter also this extra work that i don't get paid extra for. I'm doing less of it. Oh, no?

Happy year 17 of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 713-212-5-790. All right, to tell the truth is coming up at the bottom of the hour. If you were like to join us to brag about your team beating the Steelers, are we going to guarantee it? You can't put our name on it? I guess you can't with a playoff game because things could crazily happen. Players get hurt.

I'm feeling good. You should feel good. I right now... I'm confident. Again, I would say if I was a betting man right now, which I'm not going to bet on this game, I would bet the Texans give the points. I'm taking the Texans. Okay. Plus the hook.

What's go? You're a hooker. I'll take the hook. Okay. I'll give, actually, I'm giving the hook. You've given and received a hook. A few jabs as well. All right, point being, back to what I was saying.

So, among the things, and look, you and I've been together for a very long period of time, and opinions do change. Yes, that's the thing is that. If you fall in your sword for every single pinion, life, you're going to, you're going to want to losing friends and never being open to other people's interests. And I don't believe that to be the case, especially in something as silly as sports. Okay. So I have turned, I would say as close to a 180 about compensation of players as possible.

Okay. So I want to make sure I very clearly put that out. Okay. And I told you this earlier today. My timeline was full of, look what Houston got. Look what Oregon got. Look what Texas Tech got. Free agency.

It's free. And knowing that I love on Saturday, the passion of a college football Saturday, knowing I love the passion of a good college football player. If we had some good ones and some duds, Alabama, Indiana was a complete dud. Oh, how about that thrash? That was a ass whooping. And I know that at some point the money is going to dry up. But right now the money has not dried up.

if I am a professional sports team and I am paying a particular player five million dollars, six million dollars, whatever the number may be, I have a feeling I'm going to keep him for a while because they can't move around. When you sign a professional contract, unless you sign a one-year contract, which most players do not sign, not everybody, but most players in professional sports do not sign one-year deals. You build, you pay somebody a lot of money because you want to keep them there and build something. Here's where the old-school meat comes into play. How can you build something when you are literally just playing for agency every single year? I don't think that's a recipe for long-standing success. I think when the Texas Tech, what's the kid's name that was from Cincinnati? Soresby.

Sorsby. What is he got left in the, he's got eligibility? Eligibility. I don't know. And I don't want to point him out because this could be happening all over the country. But Rossi, there's just a small part of me. And I don't know if you want to agree with me or say, I get your side or I don't get it. There's a little bit of me that says this is hired gun one year that if this is how you want to build your college football program, you're really not going to build a program.

You are just building an individual team in the hopes and dreams and prayers of that one year your team is going to be good. Now, on the other side of that, you can say, well, if I'm paying Sorosby $5 million this year, and Sorosby goes on to play somewhere else, and now have $5 million to pay for the next athlete. It's like back when 20, 25 years ago, when college football teams Rossi would only go to the junior college to get their players. You have to build a program. And I don't know if I'm going to see sustained success in this new world of NIL and school compensation if I'm playing free agency games. every single year. I just, I don't see this getting any better.

I don't see this getting to be the way that I want to build a program. It's the rules everybody has to play by right now, and I get it because my University of Houston team is taking kids left and right from people, and we've got money we're spending too. So I'm not saying I'm trying to exclude Houston. The $5 million thing for the higher gun just came across is, wow, that's a huge race to take. Just for quarterbacks or you take issue with everything for that matter?

Yeah, I mean, so Sorsby's making $5 million. He's got, well, I just looked at. it up. He's got one year of eligibility left. So it's a higher gun. So yes. It's a one year, five year? If he doesn't go to class, so what? In theory, what's the young man's? Deshawn, Trayshan Henderson? Yes. Is it Trayshan?

No, it's not Qishon. It's something Sean. Something Sean Henderson. J. Sean. Kishon. Kishon. Henderson. Yes. Yeah. I mean, the theory is he's going to stay there and maybe red shirt this year. If he's going to be behind

Wegman or maybe he's going to play, we'll see, and be there for four years. Well, I'm not counting any college role player saying for four years ever again. That's true, but I mean, I understand it's a new, it's a brave new world and it's weird and it's different,

but I don't have any problem with Texas Tech ponying up the cash. I think so far, really for the overall health of college football to where a lot of the worry was going to be is going to be the haves versus the have-nots. I mean, you look at the final four left. What is it?

Ole Miss, Miami, Indiana, and Oregon. There's no traditional, who's the biggest traditional power in there? Miami. My Oregon hasn't won a national championship. 50s or ever? Miami's 30 plus years. Miami's been, yeah, so 2001. Okay, so 25.

2001. Indiana came out of nowhere. Ole Miss hasn't won a championship since like the 50s. And then even in the semis, you have the Texas Techs of the world. but then it's the traditional guys, Ohio State, Alabama, and Georgia. So, yeah, I think it's great. Now, could it be better? Yes, does it need to be regulated better?

Does it just feel like it's the Wild West and everybody's just spending all this cash? And maybe there should be some sort of semblance of a salary cap. But all of that is just impossible with the way that everything is so splintered with the conferences, with the halves and the guys, the teams who can pay all this money. And, you know, Rice shouldn't have the same salary cap as, Texas or Texas A&M. So that's, I'm going to stop you there. Wild West.

That's how I would describe it. Free agency we're accustomed to in baseball and in basketball. Right. We know that becomes, especially when a guy's contract comes to an end. When you literally cannot name your team from year to year to year to year. Now again, you're doing it for the front of the helmet. Kentucky basketball for like 20 years. I know.

They go through starting five every year. I wish I could tangently tell you what at its core it just I don't know I'm not trying to gasp it bothers you

it stresses you out it's a bothersome point and I'm not saying this because one school is getting players that aren't because my school's doing it too everybody's everybody that wants to be in the big boy game has to do this

it just feels like four schools and four years, three schools and four years. The one that bothers me the most particularly one is the kid that's the cornerback of Oregon. He's leaving Oregon, entering the transfer portal.

He's still in the playoffs. He doesn't care about playing for a national championship. He's leaving the game? He's leaving the go to the... He's not playing? Yeah, he's in the... I don't know. I didn't. I just haven't heard of the story. And I'll find out who it is. I just, again, I was just

flippingly go through. There is a kid from Oregon that's leaving the portal, leaving the school to enter the transfer portal. Is he playing? Is he a starter? okay I don't even know again I think he's a guy that people recognize yeah I don't know

I'm not but if it's not him it's going to be somebody else Oregon guy leaving a living team Oregon football leaving play I mean I know I'm not making this up

no no I see it oh I can find his name Oregon cornerback Dalin Austin yeah he entered the portal on Friday

23 tackles, five PbUs, and one pick. So he plays. He plays some. 23 tackles in the whole season? He's probably not playing much. But even so. And maybe this is a question more for, we need to move the calendar,

which I think it's going to happen. I think they need to do that. They've got to move its calendar. Look, yeah. But I mean, even if you, yeah, and if you move the calendar, maybe this isn't nearly of an uncomfortable situation. But I saw that kid leaving when his team is two games away from winning a national championship.

Well, if he's not playing, or if he's not playing enough, if he's a starter, I'd be surprised. Or if he has an offer from somewhere to where he can get more money. Yeah, but you only get so much amount of eligibility, you only get so many opportunities. And if he doesn't think he's going to play next year with Oregon and somebody's going to either, A, pay him more money or be giving more of an opportunity, I don't know what the situation is. And then you've got the kid at Cincinnati going to Texas Tech. Yeah. I got no problem with him. $5 million.

That's great. Good for him. Good for him and his family. Does Cody know at the end of the day this is probably going to not be a good investment? Whenever else would a Cincinnati quarterback make $5 million to help him and his family or do whatever. I think that's great. Yeah. Or if he just wants to buy a bunch of lambos, he can do whatever he wants with that five-milly.

Cody. I mean. Yeah, you're getting some hired guns and you're building a roster. You're roster building. So I guess essentially is we've got to start, and here's what I have to do, which it's going to take me a long time because I used to watch football forever and ever, and then it wasn't this way. College football is flat out hired guns now. It's been that way for coaching now. It's just for players.

I guess I have to self-evaluate and say, Matt, get used to it. I do wish there was more structure for sure. Figuring out, I don't know, salary caps. You also, you don't want to tie it into revenues because then that does keep the halves more of the halves. you can't have upward mobility as far as programs but I think Texas Tech a prime example now they got crushing their playoff game

but Cody Campbell looks like he's ready he was ready to pony up some more cash and get them back in it what point is Cody going to say wait a minute I've given you guys $50 million and I've got a first run exit in the tournament that's what we have to figure out or then he's going to fire Joey McGuire and then he's going to hire the next coach or the next coach

or whatever yeah I mean how much of an endless cycle how much is he willing to pour into this I don't know Well, he's worth billions, so I think it's plenty. To tell the truth is up next after I tell you about Big City Wings. So, night, night, you're telling the line. I never know why you don't know how to tell the truth. Truth, truth, truth. You don't know how to tell the truth.

So the wonderful thing about me, Ross, is that I can tell the truth. Jonathan, I can also tell the truth. You just can't figure it out usually. You can also lie occasionally. I lie lots. And sometimes they're just bad takes. I was having... Oh, get them!

How about them chiefs, Maddie? How about them chiefs? Nice going by the Chargers yesterday, by the way. Would they bother showing up? Oh, they're in there. That's all it matters. That is true. You know, again, one of my best friends in life since we've been in the sixth grade

is a big Charger fan. And he was not happy against the Texans. I'll just be honest with you. All right, here we go. It's time to play America's most interesting game. It's not the most America's popular. And now go, go Chargers. There you go.

Sorry, that's what I'm talking about. I had to get that in there. All right, it's time to play to tell the truth. Guys, there are four takes I'm about to give you. Uh-oh. Three of them are lies. Oh, wow. Okay.

One, I'm telling the truth. Okay, hold, let me write this now. Three lies. How many truths, Jonathan? Well, no. How many lies, Ross? seven, three. Number one,

before he leaves office. Donald? Donald. What? President Trump will federally mandate an NIL regulatory committee.

Okay, I think he's got some bigger fish to fry. Number two. upset of the weekend in the national football league the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Patriots in Foxborough I can see that What's the line on that bad boy?

I don't know I'm going to guess four and a half of Patriots somewhere Number three I've decided something about the Astros offseason still ahead By the way you got the press coverage coming up in a half an hour we'll carry it for you here on 7th Avenue Wonderful

The Astros must trade Issaq Pradis You cannot get value back for Christian Walker You can't find any tickets for Christian Walker You need outfield help You absolutely must trade East Side Paredes Hmm And number four The Seahawks and the Broncos are the number one

Seeds in the playoffs The only number one seed that is going to Super Sunday Will be the Seattle Seahawks of the NFC Those are my take I only believe one. Three of them, I do not believe. Which one am I telling you the truth? And I'll recap them again.

President Trump, by the time he leaves office, will federally involve a NIL regulatory committee. Okay. Up said the weekend, the Chargers beat the Patriots in Foxborough. The Astros must trade ESOC parade is. The Astros need help outfield the help in the worst way. And number four, the Seahawks will represent the number one seed and win the NFC. Which one am I telling you, folks, the truth.

Now, we don't normally talk politics on this show. So that was a big curveball, number one, Jonathan. That was a big curveball, start the new year. I don't think. I mean, this guy. Okay, I don't really pay attention too much to politics. Isn't there like a war going on or something like right now? Yeah.

And I mean, I guess he does have some time before he leaves office. I don't. I feel like Matt could believe that, but I don't think he does. I don't think he believes the ESAC Paredes. I don't do that one bit. And we already got confirmation that he's going to be ready to go. I'm not buying the Astros must trade the ESOC Paredes thing. Must trade is a little much, I think.

I think he worded it strongly to make it a knot. And they believe him or not. Because they don't must trade ESAC Paredes. They can figure something out. I mean, it's going to be difficult. for sure and Chandler Rome was arguing

with people on Twitter all weekend about this? Let me help you a little bit. Okay, here we go. Okay. I don't think it's a must, but I, let me say with it.

But I do believe if I believe this, they need a trade. I do believe if I believe. I don't think it's like if they don't do it, life ends. The team season's over.

I'm saying that it would be in their absolute best interest, not the thing about trying to move Christian Walker or anybody else. Okay. In their best interest to trade

Eastside trade. So must maybe is too strong. Okay. I mean, I guess the Seahawks could be going to the Super Bowl. They're the favorites. They're the number one seed. Who's the most dangerous teams in the NFC? It's really the Seahawks.

I mean, the Rams are pretty dangerous. But they're in the same division. They're going to have to go on the road. Panthers suck. Bears are frauds. Eagles are good, but I'm not super scared of them. I don't think anybody's scared of them. We got to remember, Matt believes Broncos are frauds as well.

No, that one's easy. I don't think he thinks the Broncos, but does he think the Seahawks are going to win the Super Bowl? I don't know. You know what? That's what I'm going for. I'm taking four.

I was going to do four as well, but I don't want to be on the same with you. No, it's fine. We've got to start up strong. We've got to start up strong. We've got to let's go down. Now, you know, he's winning percentage is like... Yeah, he's horrible.

He's terrible. That's okay, but I'm going to go with four as well. All right. I do believe President Trump would like to have something done, but he's got bigger fish to fry. Venezuelan fish? Venezuelan fish. He's got to put a UFC event in his

White House. Yeah, we got to have a UFC fit on the lawn. He wants a golf master's event in one of his golf courses. Yeah, he said that too. What would be like a golf mat? Like a major? He wants a major in one of his golf courses, yeah. I guess the only one that rotates is U.S. Open, right? P.J. Championship does. Oh, the championship. Okay. I'm stupid.

Okay. But no, that's going to take I mean, he's got some world-class goal. I do believe it's a shot at NIL regulatory, but it's, they have one right now, but it's so loose that nobody's buying into it. I just don't think President Trump's going to mandate federal assistance for it. That's going to get struck down by the Supreme Court pretty quick.

Number two, I'm sorry, Jonathan. The Chargers are not beating the Patriots in Foxborough. I'm realistic. I'm realistic. Three and a half the line. It's not bad. Not bad. Meas close. I'll take it. Go in a win. Go to win. Patriots win. We're going to make our Super Bowl

predictions of who it's going to be in. Well, we should do it. Next break, we're going to talk about what we did earlier this year. Yeah, or we can do it tomorrow. Or Wednesday. We got time, don't we? We got time. Okay, we'll save it.

Guys, I hate to tell you this. I don't believe in Sam Darnold. He's terrible in the postseason. Okay. So what I said is the Astros need to trade. Well, yeah, you said must. Yeah, well, no, I wanted a soft plate. That should have been your informal clue to say that was what I was going with.

Give us your reason on that, though. Congestion in the infield. I'm sorry, you have a tradable commodity in Isac Peridus. you're not bouncing him around four different positions. You're not playing him in second base. You're not moving Jose Alpha second. You're not D-H and you're going to have Jordan Alvarez. Your outfield is not solid.

It's got a bunch of uncertainties. Go get an outfielder. It looks like you've taken care of your starting pitching. Still a lot of holes. I think the asterosur has needed to trade deacquerades. A weekend's a lineup significant. I don't disagree. But you know what?

We can discuss. We can. So unfortunately, Jonathan, you're used to this. You lose. That's all right. Ross says okay on this. but that's, you're off to an old start. I've actually been doing very poor the last, I don't know, a couple months.

But that was, those are all solid takes. I mean, you didn't, you didn't solve me too bad. Trump was pretty easy to throw away. And actually, I thought the Paredes one was kind of ridiculous, but thanks. To Seattle, what a Seattle had that should be scary? Is it their defense? It's not Sam Darnold to me. You have a great defense.

Sam Darnold's good. Jackson's amazing. They have a, they have, I mean, Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet for a pretty good run game. good offensive line Sam Darnold just doesn't win games for me in big time moments He just doesn't Okay

They're gonna have home field throughout It's gonna be noisy Cold, probably rainy So if Seahawks go to the Super Bowl Remember it's a bad take Go ahead and write this one down Jonathan Seahawks go to the Super Bowl

We'll go in revisit No you know what I might make that good Wait till tomorrow guys I'm going tomorrow Listen me very carefully Both of us all of us Tomorrow Super Bowl predictions during gut feeling

Yes Okay Do you want to review our picks for this year? Tomorrow. I think you had the Texans at 4 and 13. I did not. Oh. It would have looked good at 0 and 3.

Yeah. It looked really good at O'N3. Yeah, but you were getting that deli lunch. You know what? I'm not going to hold... I forgot. I'm not going to hold you today. By the way, I do win the bet on the field or 3.30.

Yes, you do. I'm very happy about that. What we bet for? I don't think we'd bet anything. We didn't bet anything. You know, I were running out of things to bet. No, I'm bet on deck some deli lunch. Let's go.

Chicken salad. We're going to have that lunch and... Are you going to Shreveport for that lunch? Plus on total of shacherees on it. By way, is there a Shreveport accent? Like a Monroe? Probably. I would have, Gordy would know this.

If you want to hear it, you're in trouble. There's got to be a Shreport. There's got to be a North Louisiana accent. There's every kind of accent. Like there's an East Texas twang. Yes. Definitely. There is a, um, Dallas is just Uppri.

The West Texas, uh, the accent. Hello, how dostas? there's a radio accent too that's yeah that's Spanish all right 1240 oh by way did you uh I did not hear from your girl

while we were in New York oh yeah she was too busy doing the Broadway once like two Broadway plays did she text you she missed you at any point of course I got like that Matt that's good I didn't get any of those

for any of my children I was gone for two weeks oh hey dad how are you wish you were here opening my presence they open presents for that you? Oh yeah, I was on a video cam. Are you serious? I thought they were supposed to hold. They held mine. Oh, they held yours.

Oh, that's, yeah, that sounds right. By the way, the professional wrapping was very nice until I figured how much it cost. You know what? I'm staying out of your business. You probably should because I try to stay out of it too and I couldn't. I don't want to get any further trouble with your wife. Oh, it's deep. Seems like a waste.

It is a waste. I can't believe my allergies have been acting up. It's cold front came in. I was on the tab I don't care I'll wrap it with a green sheet That's what he used to do My grandma used to wrap the presents with the newspaper And it was fine

Well I said Carly wrap a newspaper Carly's like what's a newspaper? I'm like yeah Tushay go grab some green sheet Well the Houston Post doesn't print anymore You can find something Is it green sheet still post? I don't think so I don't think so Well auto trader

Remember those big grocery ads about what you get the various cuts of meat for like a dollar 14 a pound You want some like some floor maps? for a Mazdo and you want to open your presence wrap it with an auto trader 1244 on Sports Talk 790 1249 we got the press conference coming up in 10 minutes so this will be a little bit of a shorter

segment thank you everybody for listening to the show we know we haven't a lot of callers today but that's okay everybody's people getting back to work and whatnot please remember that this show is based on interaction between the three of us four of us between Jonathan, Ross, myself, and you guys' listeners. We do not like to do monologue radio. It's not fun, not

interesting. If we tease you, it's because of mostly love, unless your takes are horrifically to yell at you. And you could yell at us too. We're equal opportunity yellers. You can also find us on social media. At Sports RV and at SportsMT. Follow him out on Instagram. Yeah, once I'm home for a little bit,

Ross and I're going to start doing a few more things socially. We've figured out. We're supposed to game plan, but we never did. Let's go to lunch sometime this week. When the Rockets now? I'm leaving tomorrow. Oh. If the Rock is going to have a home game, I'd do it. It's fine. Don't you let me new microphone, though?

Isn't it sound great? Oh, man. I was listening to our air checks. I was like, damn, that thing is better in the studio. Yeah. Sounds great, Matt. It's going to be good for Providence when you're with me up there for a couple of years at a time. Oh, you're getting two of them?

Getting a second mic? I'll get you a second mic. Yeah, well, we got to make sure. Yeah, we'll do it. Let's go. When is that happening? On the fall. Is she enrolling early?

Okay, fall. No, no, no. By the way, how do you feel about that? A lot of kids are doing that In high school athletics Enrolling early Carly's a lot of her buddies And a lot of her buddies and a lot of that means football players too

Yeah it makes sense in football Because it's a fall sport Because I mean especially football You mean you need to get acclimated You need to A game plan they want to get a look at you And I mean it's a huge change

It's a huge leap going from high school football To college My daughter She has a joke of a schedule The semester as most seniors do I mean I certainly did Now there are some that are taking in calculus six because they want to knock out some college hours.

Yes. But a lot of her friends, I wouldn't say a lot. I would say probably if every 10 friends she has, two of them are leaving early. Uh-huh. Especially because she, she's got a lot of athletic athletes. And they load up on the tennis and the theater. And they're enrolling in school early because they want to get a jump start on things. And she asked me what my opinion was about it.

And I told her, I said, look, first of all, you're playing club volleyball, so you're still very active in the sport. It's not like you're just sitting there at home, eating ice cream and watching TV. but even for college athletes especially none that are not playing at the you know look my daughter plays it's going to play a non-revenue sports so it's not like if there's intense competition she wants to compete and play as a freshman

but football playing in front of 90,000 people is a little different than playing in a gym with about 100 people but I wanted her and she agreed and she was she understood I want her to be a kid as long as she can it's about to get especially in college athletics You know, this, with this kid transfers since Andy to Texas Tech and he's making $5 million, if he was making $0,

he'd be like, oh, that's just a kid, oh, well. Now we are treating him as media with way more scrutiny because there's a paycheck attached to him. These kids are not going to have the, oh, darn, that was a bad game against Kansas State. He'll bounce back next week. If you're trying to win a national championship, Cody Campbell's not doing this because he just has money he wants to spend. He is spending it for a reason. He is an alum of Texas Tech He loves his school

But he also loves winning as much He won in the business world He wants to win in the football world And he knows if it's not for his cash He can't do it at Texas Tech So I think pressure's on it But my point was I enjoy the fact that my daughter is going to go to prom

I mock my daughter to go to senior skip day I want my daughter to do all the little things The senior sunrises and the things What senior sunrise? It's usually the last sunrise Before the school year starts They get up real early they get up early and go to school and they have breakfasted for them and everything it's kind of a school

what yeah it's kind of i didn't have that back in my day we just teeped our school when we were in high school our senior day you did the day before school started yeah oh really yeah man you're welcome but i just think it's now you're on camera these days oh that's not going to happen now no chance that's what i'm saying be shot um i want i want kids today to not grow up any faster than they have to because it's a cold world out there it just is yeah i mean that i think that's great advice also you should have asked Jonathan Did you graduate Or not?

No, no, I didn't go Did you think about the track Is a winter sport as well, right? It's a winter and spring sport So it's indoor and outdoor Did you think about leaving school earlier Or did you want to finish out? No, I wanted to finish out

Because I want to go to state But COVID cut our seat Oh yeah, you're in a bad spot You get screwed Yeah, bad Yeah So again, teach his own Now, if a coach comes to you and says,

Hey, you get up here now It increases your chance of making the team, you know, playing, then maybe Carly changes her mind. But there was, but they didn't, Rhode Islandism believe in that. And again, I don't know if Olympic sports and arm revenue sports does it to the level that professional football, or not college football does. But I think, you know, we're seeing kids. I mean, one of the things Willie Fritz bragged about when he was on the show while you were

gone is that he's got seven or eight kids, like Keishon Henderson's coming to school early. Yes. That's good. Yeah, and they plan that. I mean, the high school kids who are going to be highly touted recruits to come into spring. schooled or private school kids just get acclimated to

campus life because it is it's like having a second job especially when it comes to football and the playbooks and all that stuff and limited amount of practices get into the fold it makes a lot more sense when you're a football player really short Keith because I got a press conference good to Keith you're on 790 good afternoon

to you hey I'm calling about the Rockets and Dorian Finney Smith all right that's what he had a whole bunch of skills. When he gets out there, he looks like he don't even want the ball. What's going

on with him? He's played 77 minutes. Are you ready to decide how he's going to play after 77 minutes? No, I'm asking you because you're an insider. I am an insider. I am the insider. And the insider is, I've watched Doreen Phine Smith terrorizer rockets for about

95% of his NBA career, and I'm not going to let 77 minutes decide whether he's rotation down. He's on minutes restrictions. He's getting back into the fold. Yeah, I say the sample size, Keith, to be to answer your question honestly it's just way too small at this point they're trying to play about 15 minutes a game which is just nothing in the NBA

okay one more thought John Harbaugh is going to be fired today or tomorrow wow that's your gut feeling that's my gut feeling definitely Keith if you get it right we'll give you some props for that I could see that that's not crazy how about Mike Tomlin does he leave after this

game we'll get fired or quit I think there are so many rumors about him going to television at the end of the year. Really? I didn't know that. But TV money is good. It ain't coaching money though. It is not. It is easier. You know he's only 53?

I'm saying, if he's been there forever, he got there very long. If you want to take a five-year break and then go back to coaching, he could do that. He could. Still make great money here on television. Man, we're going to see the biggest punt to win playoff game you could between Mike Tomlin and

Demico, Ryan's. Yep, let's break. Let's go the press conference next year on 790. Man of the Alder, our, I may, and his attorney, Scott Boris, and today's translator, Kevin Ondo is here. So without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Dana Brown right now. Go ahead, Dana. All right, thank you. Thanks a lot, Gene.

Welcome, everybody. Thank you all for coming here. Today is an exciting day for us in this organization and for our fan base. We had goals set out, you know, to sign starting pitching this offseason and we also had goals to, you know, get into the Japan market and get into a baseball market over there in Japan.

And so it was exciting, you know, because we had the support of Jim Crane, you know, who's backing us, you know, all the time. And so with that, Scott Borish and I on Friday came to an agreement to sign my man right here to say you, to say y'all, I get it right. to sue you and so I'm still working on my

language here. But we're excited to have him here to be a part of this organization and we're all thrilled here and this is a big moment for us and we want to welcome his wife as well. Thank you for coming. We have a warm welcome for you

and for your four dogs too as well. And so, you know, this is an exciting time for us now to get this done. And, you know, with that, I would let Kevin translate maybe what I said. Okay. Okay. this kind of I want to I'm going to

there's so it and that it's there's not Krainin's support

and there this last last last Scott and

the contract and we're working and we're able to

get and also and this this team and

this team I'm so we know I'm I'm

so I'm And then, uh, and, uh, and, uh, uh, uh, of,

uh, and then, and then, uh, y'n chan, also, uh, okay,

Dana. And with that, we'll give the presentation of the jersey. Everybody stand against. This is the Tatsuya EMI conference, and again, you don't need to hear about the

standing of the uniform, Ross. uniform, Ross, but much better than Dana. Yeah, Dana's got to work on that name a little bit. There is an interpreter, obviously, because EMI does not speak a word of English. We can tell you all on the dais, you've got Joe Espada, you have Dana Brown, Scott Boris wearing a...

How would you describe that? Orangey plaid, bleed, tweed jacket? Are they taking questions yet? Oh, no. No, applause. Okay. The interpreter's up there. Scottie B. like the asteros, Ross. Scotty B does. Back to the press conference. There's some crickets in the background.

He were, he's going to wear number 45. Okay, guys, we can be seated now. Before we are opening up the questions, Jim or Scott, did you guys want to say a couple of words about, I may? EMI, excuse me. Well, I'll start, Scott, let you take over. But I just wanted to thank Dana and Joe for working hard on this deal. And we're very excited to have EMI with us.

Unbelievable for us here in Houston. I think he'll get big support here. And I just want to say, you know, one of the things that made this possible is with our great partners in the front row. Taka, would you stand up? The chief marking officer of Dyken, Dyken Park. Thank you, sir. Okay, Scott. I'm going to thank Jim and Dana. Certainly recommend Jim's restaurant, by the way. That was very good, Jim. Thank you for the hospitality. It went easy to. The, we had a great experience. We had a great experience. here with Kukuchi coming both on an internal and external basis in the community and

everyone involved and we got the chance to tell Tatsuya all about that and the comfort he had here and the support he received from the staff in coming here and improving as a player how well he pitched in the ballpark and Tatsuya has a tremendous arm an arm that is probably for many standards something that we'll grow to know to be something of supreme talent. And so I'm excited for Houston and excited that Tatsuya begins here. Thank you. Okay, Tatsuya, here's your opportunity and say a few words. Hey.

What's up, A. Sean? I'm Tatsuya, I'm ready to chase away championship. Let's go, Houston. Thank you so much. very well said we're going to open up the questions now i mentioned earlier in english first and then we'll switch over the japanese questions so raise your hand we have people with microphones hanging around we got chanler here first and then kim and matt over here okay hi tatsuya welcome to houston um the asteros have not had um a lengthy list of a japanese

presence on their team. How much did that maybe intrigue you as being one of the first Japanese players that could come here and really make an imprint in this organization? Well, basically, uh, the Asteros' of the Qaedaanianian who got toque should, uh, in the history of, uh, many not in this, but so in a mean, In any way, in any way, in here, here in Houston, there's still to keep, to you're going to,

that's going to, like, well, of world champion, to be able to, that, the, I'm going to,

so, that's that, I'm just very excited to, again, go after and chase a world championship here, and, and, um, and, um, perform for a great organization like the Astros. And, you know, that's why I made the long 12-hour

trip to be here. Okay, Kim, Matt, Christy, and then Brian. Hi. I have a question. You mentioned that you wanted to sign a pitcher and if you wanted to get into the Japanese market. Can you talk about why you wanted to get the Japanese market in? Are you done for this year? No, we're not done yet. We're still trying to sign other players. But as as far as the Japanese market, look, we wanted to be active. We know that there's some very good players coming from Japan. And, you know, these guys are becoming part of championship caliber teams. And so, you know, we were so focused, you know, on getting in that market.

You know, our partnership now with Dikin is very important to us as well. And so, you know, we're locked in and over there. So it's exciting time for us. Okay, Matt, Christy then Brian. Hi, Santhia. What were some of the factors in your decision and what ultimately we made this is the good best for you? Uh, uh, Houston, I'll end up the reason, uh, let's tell you to,

Please tell you. MR. Mm. Mm. Well, of course, a lot of offer but in that the one of the one of the

team to be a world champion to be the team that was the team that was the team that was you know,

obviously I had the privilege to have a couple of other offers as well on the table, but at the end of the day, I truly believe that here in Houston with the Astros might be able to seriously take a shot at the World Series and make a run and just thought that this would be the best fit for myself. Okay, Christy and Brian.

After playing professionally in Japan for so long, what do you think will be some of the challenges of making the move to the MLB? Japan from here to come the most difficult to make what's

something I'm like to kind of long as I'm I think there's

I don't not so the type of that's the time I think a year

that I'm many things so you know like know

I'm and learn and every any a time to

team to get to to you know, what I'm going to do you know, the obvious changes, pitching on shorter days

rest, four days and then in Japan, obviously there's no time difference that I would have to adjust to. But, you know, those challenges are definitely going to be there, but I look forward to, you know, overcoming those challenges and learning

and growing as a player and hopefully be able to make a quick adjustment in my first year. And, you know, definitely want to just be able to jump in with the guys and get to know my new teammates. Okay, Brian Leah, and then over here. Thank you. What was important to get into the Japanese market and people and people assisting to identify talent over there now. We just made that adjustment in the summer.

Probably didn't have much to do with this one, but it would have a lot to do moving forward as we work on those markets. try to bring the great players here to Houston. Okay, Leah, then over here. Hi, welcome in Houston. One of the big things here is the food scene, so where have you been to eat, and what are some places you're excited to explore in the city? Uh, Houston, you're welcome.

And, uh, there's, uh, the food's kind of, uh, kind of, uh, kind of, uh, in a lot of food and there's now

what had what did? And then what did do? And then I'm last night

at the restaurant at the lamb chop I've had been not ever ever

haven't ever never every day every day every day I'm

just yesterday last night it was at the restaurant and the hotel

but I tried some lamb chops for the first time. Definitely was an adventure, you know, but I loved it. You know, first time trying something like that, but I loved it. I'm looking forward to trying some more lamb chops in the new future. Okay, over here, then Javier, then Dan. Thank you, welcome to Houston.

When did you know that you wanted to come to Major League Baseball to the U.S. and who they have inspired you? Do you? Do you know what time in MLB to play

to play and did like that people or have there? Do you

? Um, well, uh, both to the contract with

really, four years, but So, that maybe, maybe, maybe, more just, I think, I think of

I'm trying to try to think of it's the Yeah, I'd want to say five years ago

when I had the privilege to meet Mr. Boris over here, and that's when I you know, really began to seriously consider consider making my over to make my way over to the MLB it was a definitely at a moment where I told myself hey if I put in the the work and if I trust myself I

really do have a chance at this hey Javier then Dan so for me a customer my suite was your manager in Japan between 2023 and 24 have you before or after signing? Motto Asteros' Senes, Matsui, when I was in the state of the second, 23 and 4-year-old to,

I've been after, you know, the contract after, you've been said, you've said, I'm, well, I'm, actually, just,

that, the other the season of the season of the team to be able to like that's not so that's

that's it's sometimes to come to or sometimes I'm sometimes

I'm not even not even not even because because if could

be and I'm but I'm but I'm like golf is like I'm going to go to go to

kind of Yeah, so, you know, unfortunately, he had to leave the organization mid-season, and so because of that, you know, unfortunately, I haven't been able to keep in touch with them very closely, obviously seeing high here and there. And so, yeah, I haven't been able to speak with him yet, but I definitely am looking forward to it, and I would definitely make my day if he were to be able to come over here to Houston. I'm sure, you know, he loves golf, so I'm sure he's definitely going to. be able to find himself a nice golf course out here as well. Here we got Dan, Chandler, Brian, and then Kim again. Thank you, Tasuya. You still need your coastal. That's as far as my Japanese goes. What fuels you is in comparison?

Well, that's, um, that's, um, that's, um, the, um, that's the way from from coming from school from school from school from a year to get you, to any of the other than more ball to talk to take take or any of the time to take to the kind of the

school of the time from there was, uh, and I'm, like, it's going to be, it,

and that's, I'm going to, go, it's going to be it's going to I'm going to when I'm not going to

I feel like I feel like I feel even since I started playing baseball back in elementary school I was always

I felt like was a competitor wanted to always come out on top throw the ball the furthest the fastest and you know that's really that mentality stuck with me

throughout my career with the Sebu Lions and, you know, that mentality of the must win, you know, and compete and do my best, that mentality I feel like has stuck with me ever since elementary school. Okay, Chandler, Brian, Kim, and then Christy. Tatsuya, Scott mentioned Yusay Kukuchi's experience over here and how much he enjoyed it. Have you been able to speak to him either before you signed or since you signed about what he experienced here? and then maybe Scott, if you could also add

what about that experience resonated so well with you guys to make this partnership happen? Well, first, Scott said, you see what, Kikishi's, and, you know, here's son to get, so much

kind of, here to play with the game, kind of, I said it in this, but, you know, Kikishi to have, you, can't talk, or, did make it

is a major to come after I'm not not much

I'm actually in Asteros to the when SNS on

on on on on I know I'm in

Houston I know I'm know I know I'm

know I'm really really really very very very

very very very so ever since he came over to the

MLB unfortunately I wasn't necessarily in close contact with him, but right when I signed with Houston, he reached out immediately congratulating me and also mentioned, hey, like if you need anything, if you ever need anything, let me know, and I'll be there for you. I've known Tassuia for five years, and I'm going to thank to Calabino.

and Toxado are employees based, and they monitor the Nippon Baseball League very closely. And my first meeting and watching Tetsuya pitch was he had an air by the shortstop and then another air by the second baseman. And he then struck out the next three batters and probably saw the most emotion I'd seen from him as a player. And I asked him after the game, I said, what motivates you? What compels you? And he says, there's nothing better than picking up your teammates

and making sure that you can help them through the process and the rewards you get from that. And I knew immediately he was built for Major League Baseball after that. Okay, Brian Kim, Christy, then Matt. Did you want to interpret that? Or for that immediate? Japanese Indian, I don't know. I don't know if there's Japanese.

Right, that is what I say. Okay, good. Scott, what was the courtship of eBay like as far as the Astros? How far back did it go? What are the sort of the steps that, you know, you have in place for, you know, a player coming from the band? Dana and I, you know, meet annually at the general manager meetings, and we lock them in the room for a couple hours. And then we have discussions about their needs and what they're doing. And, of course, he had had a full dossier on Totsuya and said, look, this is somebody we may want to reach back to you about and talk to you about.

And so we've been in dialogue since then about the possibility of him coming here. Okay, Kim, Christy, then Matt. Hi, hi, Jill. Happy New Year. Can you talk about what adding e-9, February, So you need to your pitching staff, and how excited you are to add him to you? Yeah, thank you. I'm super fired up because you guys well know the importance of starting pitching. You could never have enough pitching.

But one thing that my conversations with Amaya has been, the few conversations, how much he says the world champion. And that really, I love that about him because he's a competitor. He's, you could hear the grit and the toughness, and I'm just excited to have. have on board and give him the ball and see him compete for us here and help him through those challenges that he mentioned. We have, we added some pieces and I'm sure that we'll make sure we put in a best position for him to succeed. Okay, Christy, Matt, and then over here, and then

Chandler. It seems like you have a pretty big personality. I was wondering for people that don't know you, how would you describe yourself as a person and what kind of teammate are you? I actually, I'm a very, like, a kind of a character that is a lot of you know, but I'm doing what

you're doing like, as a teammate as how you do you do you Um,

uh, well, I'm, so I'm like, yeah, like, you know, like,

this much, this is, so much, I'm, , you know, , I'm, I'd like to be, I'm going to be a lot of people to get and,

yeah, and, of all, support, and support, today, now, now, now, now, now, now, here, now, so you're, so you know, for all of,

much, I'm going to be able to, and, that's the personality-wise, yeah, I just like to have fun, whether it's baseball, non-baseball,

you know, and that's, And that includes, you know, interacting with fans and just having a good time with them as well. And, you know, I also feel like have that feeling of wanting to give back to all those who have supported me. I feel like I'm here today because of, you know, all the support that I've received. And just overall, I look forward to challenges. And I guess that's my personality. Okay, Matt, then over here, then channel. We've got times.

It's just a couple more in English. Okay. Just for you, Dean and Joe, obviously, the committee of the off-season with the least priority. How would you describe the state of the rotation now? Do you feel like you're done that in there? Yeah, so, you know, one of the big points for us this off-season was to beef up the rotation. And, you know, getting a guy like EMI is just, it's big. It's a big part of what we're going to do and what we're doing here.

So we feel good about the rotation right now. As I've always said, I'm always in the market for pitching because it's 162 games and you never know how tough the season is going to be with injuries, so you're always looking for pitching. But we feel pretty good about the rotation right now. Yeah, just to add, you know, important to continue to add, and we've done a really nice job adding first month of the season we played 25 games in 27 days. So important to have enough pieces just to get us going together.

out to a good start. And, you know, this guy right here, really exciting to have him because he's going to contribute right off, right off the bat. Okay, we get over here. Then Chandler, then one more after that over here. Okay. This is for Joe, well, he's going to say welcome me amazing. Joe, if you can answer also in Spanish, I will appreciate it. First, are you planning on taking some Japanese lessons? And how is the process for a player, as experienced, but adapting as quickly as possible for the MLB level? Yes, on the Japanese, I'm going to work really hard trying to learn some Japanese, be able to communicate with him.

And in Spanish, yes, it's very important, the first time that I've had the opportunity to do a good player Japanese and to learn his culture, it's very important, and help us, to help us mutually, for to know the things that he needs and put him in a position to him, to be in the terrain of the game. It's a day very special for us as an organization, and for me as a dirigent,

to have a lancerer like him that can help us to go to the post-temporada, something that brings much alegia. Okay, Chandler, and then one more over here. Two really quick. Tatsuya, will you pitch in the WBC? WPC to make it. Oh, now, no,

not yet, there's not yet. right now no plans to participate and then Jim you mentioned wanting to get boots on the ground in the Pacific Rim that in Asia I guess is there has there been like an inflection point or something that is really enhanced your desire to expand you guys's footprint into that market well that's an easy one I mean the Dodgers kind of led the way there and I've got an international company so it was pretty easy to kind of set up quickly in there and give those guys a place to work and you know communicate back here and

our system. So we'll be moving pretty fast in Asia and continue to focus on that and evaluate all the talent over there so we can hopefully get some more of them over here to play and to deepen the team. I think, you know, you can really see the Asian market as the players coming out of there are really equivalent or better than some of the guys we have here. So it was kind of untapped and I think until we had the Otani effect and I think a lot of people are focused on it. But we'll be laser focused on it moving forward. Okay, last two right here. For Tatuya, on a lighter note, Houston, in the term of endearment, likes to give

its players nicknames. We have Diesel, we got spaghetti, we got the reptile, or the reptile, Christian Javier. There's been a couple of nicknames thrown about for Mr. Tatuya, in line with a very popular ramen noodle chain, Ramen Tatsuya. How receptive of you that term of endearment for now? Heweson, there are nicknames, adana, or another, uh, uh, uh, the name name of adana, uh, kind of, uh, other, uh, another, uh, another, uh,

other than, uh, other than it's up to, uh, Ramin Tatsya, you, uh, part of that sort of, uh, what you, do you know, uh, what I'm gonna'n't know, I don't know how it's I can't know but, well,

um, um, team mate, team staff, and and the fan of people, um,

you know, you know it's like, uh, do you know a d'an on so it's um,

yeah, I don't really know where this whole ramen thing came from, but, uh, yeah, you know, at the end of the day, um, a name, uh,

that really sticks, um, you know, you know, within my teammates and obviously the staff and, most importantly, the fans, you know, a nickname that is easy to remember and pronounce, I think, would be ideal. Okay, last one in English. We'll switch to Japanese. Welcome to Houston, Tatuya. Have you, have been contacted with any of your new teammates or coaching staff? And if so, who has been like the one player you're interested working with at your time in Houston? Thank you.

New team mate to contact or coach to contact with what you do you

know what do you want to do you want to get Instagram if

I'm after Josh Hedder Toschueh Haider told us Instagram

and message me and message me and so you're

so you're to come out of when when if never

phone to me, the phone to come up to come up to get me. That's 160 kilgly about and

so I'm 160 and I want to let's know and I'm

so this morning I woke up to a lovely notification from Instagram

a follow from Josh Hayter and a DM as well just basically

welcoming me to the Houston Astros and you know he also sent me his phone

number saying hey let me know if you ever need, if you ever need anything. And so, you know, his, his messaging was a very fast 100 miles per hour, it felt like, and I definitely want to reply back with a 100 mile per hour reply. All right, folks, let's switch over to Japanese. Right, that is the press conference again today that the English portion from Tatsuya

Emai. What Up, H, did he say What Up H-Town? Yeah. Did he throw the ages up? I don't know. When he was doing that at the Texans. game. Yeah. He looks like he's going to be a fit right in for however long it's going to be. In three-year deal, there are opt-outs. That's what baseball does, and hopefully Kyle Tucker

do the same thing here shortly. We don't know that yet for whatever team he happens to choose from. Reputation's good, very successful, likes the fact he'll get extra days rest here as compared to playing with the Japanese that pitch much more often. But it makes a lot of sense. First of all, I think it does help build a relationship between Scott Boris and his clients. That can't hurt. There is Deakin Park that is a – Deikin's a huge sponsor. Jim Crane was thanking the president or whatever, one of the executives.

And probably acted as a conduit between the two. And my guess, I wouldn't be totally surprised if Tatsua does some sort of endorsement deal down the road with them. Absolutely. It wasn't – Jose Al-Tube was in some Deikin advertisements, wasn't he? Yeah, it'll all work out. All right. We are super late for break, obviously. Got to stay cool in the summer.

Yeah. believe it or not today is all things about the fire coaches you know what i don't know if we have time we do have time emi three-time mbpb nippon pro baseball i think what they call it from uh all star last year 10 and 5 era 1.92 178 strikeouts and 163 point two thirds innings uh whip was point 892 now uh it depends on who you believe at how the quality of play is. I've heard a mixture between double A and AAA for the Japanese League. Great numbers.

We'll see how they translate. Yeah. And hope the army is in good shape. I would think so. It is interesting that what is physical? First thing it came out was they were thinking six year, seven year deal and Scott Boris like most Scott Boris agents do tend to

he tends to oversell his potential clients. He also doesn't normally represent slapies. No. No, no, no, no. So I think that kind of gives me a bit of a vote of confidence. Now, how good he's going to be. To me, please, please, let's get a good relationship between Scotty B and the asteros.

That's what would be my thought. Let's go to the phones before we get to, believe it or not, which will be coming up in about 13 minutes of now. James and Klein on 790, James, good morning. Good morning and afternoon, do you? good morning and happy new year don't you think that he shot himself in the foot might be just a figure of speech i'll talk about earlier in the broadcast he probably didn't literally shoot himself in the foot it's probably just a figure of speech whoever reported that maybe he shot himself in the foot because he didn't make the playoffs something like that no it was just a rumor just a rumor okay well anyhow calling about the astros the astros look like they have plenty of pitching with j p france and jason alexander and big up this new Japanese guy. They look like going to be sick.

I don't think either one of those guys are going to have a major role in this baseball team. Oh, you don't think so? Uh-uh. Okay, well, maybe not. Anyhow, that's what I called about. I thought, well, we need to be able to find an outbuilder. And Bregman and Tucker haven't signed with anybody yet, have they?

That is correct, yeah. And that's been happening a lot. We've seen a lot more of these guys signing much later in camp than they normally have. Usually got free agencies, usually done by the calendar turn, and this is not been this case at all. All right, well, thanks for letting me in again. I'll show later.

See you later. Bye, bye, bye. All right. James off to a one-for-one start on calls. He's doing great. He's doing great. Josh Hayter, reaching out through DMs. I like it.

Sure, why not? So let's talk about the guy. Let's talk about the starting rotation here really quick. Okay. Hunter Brown, check. Christian Javier, perceived check. possible he was kind of up and down last year who's the guy they just signed uh it was a pretty burrough mike burrows mike burroughs not even on their website right now huh tatsuya imai

lance mccullers junior um ergetti oh yeah ergetti should be ready it feels like to me one spot open for sure and a massive battle for that one spot Lance McCullors Jr. in the mix well, let's see it right now. Opening day Brown. Yeah, that's easy, peasy. Emi, day two.

Okay. Burroughs three. Javier four. Okay. And then five is up in the air. Lance McCullors Jr.? Yeah. I mean, J.P.

I mean, not to completely dismay would say what James said, but I don't, J.B. France, long shot. McCullors. Oh, no, Arrogatti. Tell me, I mean, I just, I just gave you your five right there.

If Arrogatti's healthy, doesn't, he's supposed to be. He's supposed to be, he'd be your fifth starter, right? Tell me I'm wrong. I think so. Brown, Emi, Burroughs,

Javier Arrogetti. A different starting five, not a particularly heavy hitting starting five. Question marks certainly there with at least two members of that starting five, especially coming off of injury. But as we learned last year,

the Asteros need as much depth in the pitching staff as humanly possible. Yes. I mean, they had, I think it was 13 or 15 different guys start a game. Yeah, so there you go. I think I've given you

what would be a considered an early January rotation. Could you sign Burroughs as a free agent, correct? Did they trade for him? I thought it was a trade. Oh, it was a trade with the Pittsburgh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's young, 26 years old.

Mm-hmm. ErrA under four last year. ERA plus 109. Okay, so let me give you glass half full. Okay. Then they're all going to be healthy all season long. Okay, and not saying that. Okay. If Javier and Arrogati are your 4-5 for 70% of the season, that's a, I feel pretty good about that, honestly. Yeah. Now, Arrogati's still got a lot to prove because he had. that few months before, you know, of last year

thrown a bunch of strikeouts, remember he got over those walks early on, and then he got hurt. Last year was, I don't even count. I'm going back to 24 more than him of 25. Eric Getty, he was hurt most last year. So, yeah, that's, there's worse. And again, Javier, big question mark.

Because when he came back last year, he wasn't very good. But remember, it also takes, sometimes it takes two seasons to get back after major, you know, arm, shoulder situation. But Burroughs seem solid. EMI is a guy that you've obviously invested a lot in. And Hunter Brown's your ace and hopefully he's going to get really fat and happy when Scott Borough is staying in town. I wonder if, so Scott Borris got a free meal out of Jim Crane yesterday.

That's good. That's what it sounds like, yeah. That's good. They're building a bridge towards Hunter Brown for life. Yeah, I'll trade him in a couple of years. And we'll see. What sounds more realistic? Don't answer that question.

Okay, I won't. All right. Believe it or not, it's coming up next. It is so 142 on Matt Thomas Show Ross. We gave you Domeko Ryans today. We gave you a little EMI press conference as well. And things are moving around. We're going to talk some more NIL tomorrow on the show, plus more on the Texans.

And hopefully, Rockets win tonight against Phoenix without Alperin-Changoon. If you want to play, believe it or not, 143 here on Sports Talk 790, 7-1-3-212-5-790. All right, Rockets against the Suns tonight, and we'll have it for you here on 7.90, beginning with the launch pad at 6. Tip time. Play the Dylan Brooks over points. Would you like some tidbits about the game? Oh, it feels like he at least gets up about 20 shots every time he plays the Rockets.

Now, the Suns did not arrive here until about an hour ago. They had mechanical issues in their plane, so they spent the night back in Phoenix. and so they're flying a day game which you know what honestly for them I mean you get to go home sleep in your own bed it won't be the worst thing in the world in the two games Brooks had 29 in one game

and 23 in the other Rockets did beat the suns twice already this year once in Phoenix and one here in Houston we got one more game here and one more game in Phoenix for the end of the year you say those point totals again 29 and 23 yeah

that's above average for him coming in on the year, averaging 21.4. Well, that's kind of meaty. That's got a lot of meat on that bone. No operin shingoon. Don't know on Stephen Adams' availability. Clint Capella did play major minutes for the Rockets

almost 27 minutes at our night. Yeah, he was looking of spry for a lot of it. Look, and he can use the left and the right hand on the mid-range little jump hookies got, good rebounding. Rock has just had so many looks at three-point shots and could not knock them down in Dallas. How many second-chance opportunities that they blow in that game? It was very frustrating.

And like third chance and fourth chance it felt like Yeah, I don't want to look it up Okay, don't I mean I'll probably abuse it for the broadcast But I mean I won't be bragged out of this Yeah So 7 o'clock and then tomorrow back with us For our first gut feelings of 2006

We'll also recap how we did On our playoff predictions On our playoff predictions I don't think it was really good Because you have always been Team Ravens And you were feeling good until they're They were literally the odds on favorites To win the Super Bowl

So I thought I was going chalk They didn't even make the playoffs yeah do we can we play it really quick Jonathan that soundbite of oh yes Torrico can we play it real quick oh I got you hold on one here's I promise I get to believe it or not here but but I want you to hear this one minute

this is Tarrico setting up loops field goal attempt that would have sent Baltimore to the playoffs instead Pittsburgh goes and here's the call from NBC from last night computer's loading it's frozen right now Peter's Lozins freezing freezing freezing

follow me on Instagram I've got 3,100 followers on Instagram now so if you want to give yourself a New Year's treat follow me at SportsMT on Instagram. Oh, I'm down to $30.99. Somebody must have dropped me. Probably a spam account. That's a shame.

It's one of those bots. You weren't responding to her DMs. I'm not going to. Oh, my internet is out of our here. Okay, forget it. Five minutes. No one in doubt. The internet's out.

Oh, that's a good one. Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do? We should play America's fastest-growing sports radio game show. We simply call a B. Leave it or not. And here's how it works.

your call 713-21-2-5-790 7-1-3-212-5-7-90 today's edition of believe it or not is all things about former coaches that got fired today around the National Football League I'll read your statement about one of those coaches completely the statement's completely utterly accurate you'll say this believe it's erroneous full of bunk and made up you'll say this to believe it or not to know when your prize we are playing today for are you ready for this here we go here we go a 7-90 t-shirt or a pair of tickets see Monster Energy AMA Supercross at Energy Stadium or a pair of tickets to see Everclear, live January the 15th at House of Blues. Both tickets are available by going to Ticketmaster.com. That's Ticketmaster.com for Monster Energy, AMA Supercross or Everclear. Let's talk to Rubin on 790. Rubin, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Rubin, good luck to you. After his college career at Hofster, Rahim Morris had a brief NFL career as a safety. playing as safety each with the Steelers and the Jets.

Believe it or not? Believe it. No, it's a false song. Thank you for playing. Austin on 790 Austin. You're ready to play believe it or not? Believe it. Rahim Morris's first job in coaching was as a quality control and video assistant for the Atlanta Falcons.

Believe it or not? Believe it. No, Ross ended up too. When Ross is under pressure, he usually takes. tends do a lot of knots. That's not true. Lewis on 790. Ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Jonathan Gannon was a three-star athlete in high school, a state champion point guard,

and an all-district hurdler, and a two-way football player. Believe it or not? Not. That's a believe-in. Thank you for playing. 7-13-212-790. 7-1-790. 7-1-7-190-7-1-7-90. Neil on 790, ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Jonathan Gannon married his high school sweetheart, Samantha, and the couple has three children.

Believe it or not? Believe it. No, duh. How do you and I was family? Come on now. Duh. This is a horrific start to believe it or not. Did we get three people in three knots?

But my kid and his family is. That's terrible. His wife is high school sweetheart. Ike on 790, ready to play, believe it or not. you better believe it although kevin stefansky is an offensive background he played defensive back in college believe it or not

not that's a believe it come on now robin it to you earlier Ross believes a lot of things maybe scuck gone that's five incorrect or is it five or five for five five

Gio on 790 you're ready to play believe it or not believe it Kevin Stefanski's a two-time AP and NFL coach of the year and is only 43 years old. Believe it or not? That sounds unbelievable, so I'm going to say believe it. Believe it is right. Statement number two for a win as a head coach and assistant Pete Carroll has won a combine two college national championships and also three Super Bowls as an assistant and as a head coach. Believe it or not?

Dang man, believe it. No, just one Super Bowl. Thank you for playing. No. Scott on Seven, are you ready to play Believe it or not? Yes, I am. Pete Carroll is the oldest NFL NFL head coach in the history of the league. Believe it or not. Believe it. That's right. Congratulations. We've got a filing on a winner there. Nicely done.

Believe it. Romeo Cornell 2nd, George Pallis 3rd. Older than Vince Lombardi doing all those guys? Yeah. I've got to blip. All right. Have a great day. Ross. I'll see you at the game. You're number 17 off to a rip-roaring start. Everybody sit back, relax for the next four hours.

It's the team. I'm Adam Wexer. I'll join you for Rockets Basketball tonight at 7 right here on Sports Talk 790. Hey.