Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're gonna have Kevin Eschamfelder on for a few minutes
(00:02):
to talk about all things Houston sports. Gosh, Kevin, I
don't know if there's enough topics at hand, especially considering
what happened last night, not only on the floor for
the Rockets and Mavericks, but then Cam Whitmore's comments afterward.
And I know that Space City released a video of
those comments last night. What was your initial reaction when
you heard that you and Calvin we were discussing things.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, it was it was odd.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It was different, and I do think and I was
listening to you guys, and I wholeheartedly agree. I think
maybe kind of went down a path maybe I shouldn't
be going down, and tried to retreat a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
He played twelve minutes in the fourth quarter. So yeah,
it was, it was, It was.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
It was interesting and kind of whenever I first heard it,
I just kind of wasn't sure how to digest it
and process it. And then listening back yet, it was
just it was just different. And who knows, you know,
you know a guy that I got to give all
the credit in the world to Cam Whitmore for a
guy that that you know, had to went down to
(01:08):
Rio Grand Valley and tried to figure things out.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Wasn't getting any playing time here, and stuck with it.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
And you know, we all know just how talented and
how electrical a player he is when he's on the
floor and uh, but you know that's the thing we
all know about Emai Doca is it. It's you know,
if if you don't play at both ends of the floor.
And I'm not talking about Cam Whitmore, I'm talking about
anybody in general.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
You don't play both ends of the floor.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
You don't play hard on the night in a night
out basis and maybe practice.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Hard on the night in a day in the day
out basis, you're not going to play.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
And I'm not saying that's what happened with Cam Whitmore,
but you know he's back in the rotation now with
Tarry Easton out uh and the Rockets. It's a good
thing for the Rockets too, because they could really, uh
they really can't use what he brings.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
To the table, There's no question about that.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
We'll hear a little bit from emails thoughts about what
we're talking about coming up in the next segment. As
he made his weekly visit on the Matt Thomas Show
with Ross earlier today. So we'll show that with our listeners.
Issues on a team. You know, I'm not happy with
this or I'd like to see more of that. All
comes with the territory. They're finally in these games matter.
They're playing winning basketball. They're at the top portion of
(02:13):
the Western Conference that have been there essentially the entire season,
which means when you don't finish off Minnesota or Miami
and things these you know, winning the game now finally
means something, and those things are I'm sure a welcome sight.
And I have no doubt that you've been much happier
seeing Calvin dance at the end of home games this year,
and she has been doing a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Of Yeah, I was really man and it just takes
a little while. Sometimes I just do the segment by
myself while he dances. But that's Calvin. We love it.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Now.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
You think about you know, you met Jalen, You think
about Alfred Shinhu, that that youth corp that came in
all at the same time, and you know, you think
Jabbari you can put in there. They really never played
meaningful basketball games because the team had not been winning
up until now and now they are and even with
those two losses, with Minnesota's loss, which a game is
(03:04):
you know, you got fifteen point lead with less than
five minutes left in the games goes without saying you
finished that game.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
They didn't. But that's been the outlier that has been.
They have won so many games this year where.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I looked at Calvin before we went on to go,
you know what, they lose this game last year, they
definitely get me two years ago, and so that steps
in the right direction. And I think we do have
to remember that this still is a very young team.
I think every team in the NBA is young now
when everybody comes in at eighteen years old. But you know,
it's a young team, and I think they've responded very well.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
It's been perfect. Absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Would they love to have those two games back. Yeah,
if they did, they'd be a twenty four win team
and they'd have so many wins as the Boston Celtics,
who come to town tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It's interesting that they're playing the two finalists in consecutive games.
With the Mavericks last night, you got the Celtics coming in,
just two very different teams though, because obviously with Luca out,
the Mavericks are not themselves but the Celtics every bit
of the defending champs, and they have really shown that
again here this year. But look, I know you are
(04:06):
a baseball fan at heart. It has been a wild
off season, to say the least for the Astros. How
are you feeling right now, especially since here on January
tewod Alex Bregman, as currently constructed, has no address in
Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, it's it's very It's almost eerily similar to the
Carlos Karrea situation, right, I mean it's you think about
everybody thought he was going to be here, going to
be there. I'm talking about the first Carlos Karrea situation.
He went to Minnesota the first time, and then I
doesn't have a home yet. I still think, and I
thought this from the beginning. If he wasn't coming here
was that I thought Detroit had a really good chance
(04:43):
of getting him. And I don't know what's going to happen.
I don't know anymore than anybody else, like all of us,
but I've always thought that a young team like that
could use that stable force. I'm not sure that you
know Alex's game at this point is conducive to that ballpark.
But I wouldn't be at all surprised if he ends
up in Detroit. But it is interesting how it has
(05:03):
has played out, And UH, yeah, I just have for
whatever reason, I just have faith in what they do.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
UH.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And they've certainly garnered the benefit of the doubt with
what their success has been over the years.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
So we'll see where this next phase takes us.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
And UH, one thing for sure, it's it's it's been
a great ride, no matter how uh, no matter where
it is right now as far as that's concerned.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Talk with Kevin Ashenfelder, of course, see him each in
every evening with basketball or baseball, or with any magazine
shows right there on Space City, Home Network pre and
postgame host and everything else. Also where a pinch hitter
over this holiday season stepping into the UH radio booth
for the UH Kinders Texas Ball How was that?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
How'd you know?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
So I get a phone call at seven thirty in
the morning on I work nights, Guys, I nobody calls
me at seven thirty morning. I do that, Well, I
know that, Yeah, but hey, seven thirty in the morning,
My phone rings and Brian Estrich, who was the play
by play man for the TCU Hornfrogs, and I thought, oh,
my goodness, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
So I didn't even answer it.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
And then I get a text immediately saying, yes, can
you pick up I got to talk to you. So
I call him back and it's like, dude, I'm stuck
in Tucson. I can't get there. Can you do the
play by play? I'll send you all my stuff. So
I did it and it turned out, I mean, it
turned out fine. I landed the plane. So it was
an interesting day though. So you know, I had two
(06:30):
great spot and a great spot and a great staff guy.
And I had seen Baylor play earlier this year, so
I just did a quick study on LSU and and yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
It was.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
It was fun, It was It was an interesting My wife,
I told him, as long as I can still still
still be married by the time I get home, because
we had about twenty people coming over that night, and well,
she did all the work to get ready for it
because I was I was calling the football game that
I didn't expect to be calling.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
So but it was a good time. It was fine.
It was certainly a memorable day.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
One of the other things you had a chance to
do in the last couple of days and weeks. Here,
you had a chance to catch up with one of
the new astros, Christian Walker. Interviewed him after he met
with the media here. Get a sense of how he'll
be looked at here, because clearly he was a leader
for a team that did go to the World Series.
He does bring some pretty strong defensive attributes. He's had
(07:22):
some pretty productive offensive seasons in these last couple of years.
It almost seems like he's thrust into this role because
of what he's replacing, But in the same vein it
seems like, well, yeah, but that's who he is anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, and that's what I've always heard about Christian Walker.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I don't know Christian Walker, but you know, you can
answer the questions however you want.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
And he does it the right way.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
But it does seem like he has that sense of
leadership and a guy that wanted to be a part
of this culture and a culture that has been a
culture of winning. And that's what he talked about really
from the beginning, and he and I talked about that,
and so from the standpoint, I think he's going to
be a perfect fit.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
He's an excellent defensive first baseman the offensive game.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Although you know late Bloomer when you really look at
his numbers, but he's he's been a very good offensive
player over the last last few years as well. So
that certainly plays in this ballpark. And I think it
I think it was a good sign. He's the guy
that I really kind of thought of from the very
beginning when they were talking about all the different free
agents and and I think Christian Walker will fit really
(08:22):
nicely into this lineup.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Do you have an idea, just Kevin Ashenfelder a baseball fan,
of where you you think Alex Bregman winds up. And also,
what did you think of the offer from the Astros,
especially in light of the fact that he hasn't signed
a two hundred million dollar contract yet that we know of.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Well, you know, the offer I thought was when you
when you put it on par with with guys like
Matt Chapman, and you know, you are what somebody's willing
to pay you, and uh, and that's you know, the
offer was was what it was. And I thought from
the Astros standpoint, they wouldn't have made it had they
not thought it was a fair off.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
From Alex's standpoint, I certainly see him trying to go
out and with with Scott Bors and get the most
he can get. And uh, you know, if you if
you're worth two hundred million dollars, somebody's gonna pay you
two hundred million dollars.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I go back to what I said, I.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Would think I think a J would absolutely love to
have a guy like Alex Bregman kind of that that
counter of hovey Baya is kind of the mentality type deal.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
And and you know, with that young team and that
young core, to have a veteran leader like that to
set a set of culture and a tone for that clubhouse,
I think a J would absolutely love that.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Kevin Ashenfelder here on Sports Talk seven ninety and of
course you see him on Space City Home Network. Kevin,
we appreciate the time. Good catching up that you know,
not there at the arena like we normally do.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Saw you a fuck you last night? Yeah, I told
you Happy New Year, but I hat the happy New Year.
Uh yeah, stand happy New Year.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
And I'm gonna go back to I'm gonna go back
to taking my Christmas life down.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
I know you had Aaron's to do today and some
projects and that was one of them, so we appreciate
you taking the time.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
By the way, I think you guys probably have already
heard this, but my my yard one most creative in
my neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I know you guys were at my press conference when
I hold the award.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
I will add that to your graphic and your future interviews.
Award winning yard man. Love it, Esh, We love you, buddy,
See you, guys.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Man The multi talented Kevin Eschenfelder here on Sports Talk
seven ninety