Lance McCullers & Cam Smith Updates, Rockets Go For 7 In a Row, New Texans Signing

Adam Clanton and Adam Wexler talk about what's going on in Houston sports and more on March 17th 2025.

• Lance McCullers and Cam Smith updates
• Rockets go for 7 in a row
• New Texans signings 
• JB Bickerstaff rant 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named at him talking your teams.
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the A Team?

Speaker 2 (00:15):
A what's up, Houston, Texas? It is two o'clock on
a Monday edition of the program Sports Talk seven ninety
taking you up until six o'clock tonight. It is the
A Team. He's Wex. I'm AC happy Saint Patrick's date. Everyone.
I'm not wearing a stitch of green today, so I

(00:35):
don't think Wex is gonna pinch me. But I know
a lot of you guys are already out there celebrating,
and the weather is absolutely fantastic as it is this
time of year for that kind of thing. But more importantly,
a lot of things going on in the city of
Houston specifically and abroad that we can get to the
fact that Derek Stingley Junior will be locked up for

(00:57):
the foreseeable future. Not a surprise it all. And actually,
didn't one of us say that might happen by the
end of the weekend. Who did you say it was
locked up again? Didn't I say, Derek Stingley Junior. Yeah,
you did, Derek Stingley Junior. All right, now that makes

(01:24):
more sense why there was a pregnant pause there. Uh,
how did you get that? I work hard? Oh okay,
I'm just making sure that that's what I thought it was.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
I don't know if you meant me or you, but
I plenty of people it was kind of obvious.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
No, No, we had talked about it on the show,
but I'm talking about our weekends.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
This is something that had to happen, and it had
to happen soon before it like, teams are actually playing
against each other this free agent game, this extension game,
this salary cap game. And guess who won, not the Jets,
the Texans. The Texans won because the Jets could have
done this earlier, and it actually could have hurt several
other teams.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
It would have been good for them. Deck Stingley Junior
is better.

Speaker 4 (02:07):
Than Sauce Gardner. I think that's pretty clear at this point.
Doesn't mean Sauce Gardner's bad, but it does mean the
better player is gonna be maybe now the second highest
paid player because Sauce Gardner hasn't signed yet. This is
great for Sauce. Phenomenal for Sauce and again credit to
the agent that now has not the number one, not
the number two, not the number three, but all three

(02:29):
of the highest paid corners in the NFL athletes first
and David Willagett it not bad.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Jalen Ramsey, J C. Horn.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
This is when I think everybody knew, Okay, this is perfect.
This is why he's a good agent. Well, let me
get the guy who's not the best corner in the NFL.
Let me get him his deal first, because then when
I have the guy who is the best corner in
the NFL, I can get his deal second and he'll
make more than him. And according to the reports, the
Texans have put Derek Stingley Junior under contract for five seasons.

(02:58):
He was already under contract for one season. That's it
one season moving forward. But then you pick up the
fifth year option, so he's under contract for two seasons,
and then you extend him for three seasons. And as
it's worked out, there's no tearing up of contracts. There's
a he's gonna play year four under his rookie deal.
He's gonna play year five under his rookie deal, which

(03:18):
includes a sizeable raise when you're the third overall pick.
But then he's gonna play under years three, four, and
five of this new deal, the new money. He's the
best cornerback from a pay standpoint in yours three, four
and five of the deal. You got three years with
stings so far, and now you have him under contract
for five additional seasons.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Well, and I think I figured out what I was
trying to remember from over the week. I thought one
of us had said maybe by the end of the
weekend this deal could happen, and or by the end
of the weekend the Rockets could be back in the
two spot. Both things happen, So I'm happy.

Speaker 4 (03:53):
Yeah, the Texans, according to reports, well man, our young guy.
We got some really good young players we're gonna have
to keep together so we can't keep some of our
good older players. And more ammunition to that saying coming today.
When Laramie Tunsel met with the media in Washington. The
media was in Washington. He was outside of wherever he was.

(04:15):
It's nice enough to him spend some time outdoors and
get about fifteen minutes in with the new local media
for him. We got a couple of things that he
had to say since he talked about things he needs
to work on. He talked about why he was moved,
He talked about respect for his former team the latest
former team less respect for his doubly former team in Miami,
you guess suck. And he also talked about what happened

(04:37):
last season with the Texans offensive line.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
So love to share all that with you.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
And as Ac mentioned, the second place Houston Rockets are
gonna set sail on remaining there with tonight's game against
the Philadelphia seventy six ers. There are three teams in
the West that are forty three and twenty five. There
are four teams in the West that are eighteen games
over five hundred, and they are one of them or sixteen,
excuse me, three teams with the identical records. The Lakers

(05:04):
one game back considering they're so far behind in their scheduling,
but they're gonna get caught up fast. Last night or yesterday,
was their first of four games in five nights.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Luca returned.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
Lebron's return isn't imminent, but probably after they get through
this very tough portion of their schedule. From a games
in a few days standpoint, he will be But all
those teams are playing basketball tonight, so a lot can
change every single day that those teams are on the court,
and they are all on the court tonight, a five
game homestand thus far in their rear view, all wins

(05:38):
and a six game winning streak on the line tonight
against a very bad and very banged up and incredibly
expensive Philadelphia seventy six ers team in town to match
up against them.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
That list that's flying around there now at the top
of it with the most sidelined money or am I
wrong on that? I know it's like fluctuated with the
Mavericks and the No, there's no other there's no flax.
They have to be at the top.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
It's the only fluctuation is did Tyrese Maxi play tonight
or has Paul George been sidelined for the year yet?
Because two of those guys are among the highest paid
players in the league. Max he's now playing with his extension,
and none of those guys are playing, so they are
at the top of the list, even with Anthony Davis
and Kyrie Irving not playing for the Mavericks. It was
all I could do to not take the cheap joke

(06:24):
today when the MAVs announced that Anthony Davis is being
assigned to the Texas Legends, their G League affiliate, it
like I said, it was all I could do to
not be a part of today's Best of X.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Hey look at Adam J. Wexler posts.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
Look how bad things are with his Mavericks trade Luca
and Anthony Davis. Davis isn't even good enough to stay
with the big club. He's now down in the G League. Well,
their team plays in Frisco, their home all week. He's
gonna practice with them, He's gonna scrimmage with them, and
it looks like they are planning on playing him as
the season continues. The day he got hurt is when

(07:00):
you first heard about this right here on our show.
The next day when they had come back. This matters.
Anthony Davis's health matters to the Houston Rockets. They suck
without him and Kyrie Irving. They played hard yesterday and
they still can't win. They don't have any players left.
And if they can't win any games, then Phoenix is
gonna accidentally at least have a chance to go from

(07:24):
the play in tournament to the playoffs. And nobody needs
that happening. Nobody needs that happening. So winning a couple
of games down the stretch, Mavericks, just could you do that?
At least keep Kad and Mike Budenholz are yelling at
each other outside of the play in tournament.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
Again, I kind of you know that this this offseason
is going to be pivotal for the Rockets no matter what.
And I feel like we said that about every team
every offseason, right, But it's going to begin later than usual,
no for sure, And I think it's going to begin
maybe even later than most people think, depending on the matchup,
of course. But I just I keep going back and

(07:59):
forth and I think I'm on the other side of
it again now with what I've seen. Now again, we
should all kind of temper our enthusiasm because this winning streak,
it's not like it's exactly come against really really great
teams quite the opposit, as a matter of fact, And
they're going to continue to play bad teams until they
host the Denver Nuggets a little less than a week

(08:22):
from today. But it's just I don't care at this point.
With however, everything's tightly compacted and everything like and you know,
Lebron being out, Luca being out for the Lakers, all
that kind of stuff. Don't care, don't care at all.
Just win your games, and certainly this one here tonight
would qualify because there's mash units and then there's the
Philadelphia seventy six ers.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
I honestly think from the beginning of this winning streak,
which was the last of the road games in New Orleans,
the New Orleans the second time, Orlando, Phoenix, Dallas, Chicago,
today Philadelphia, they got Orlando and Miami also still before
that Denver game that you mentioned, the final eleven games
of the season are going to be pretty challenging. Denver twice,
La twice, Oklahoma City, Golden State. They have some pretty

(09:05):
good matchups against teams they might see again in the postseason.
But I'm almost willing to super bold predict that none
of the teams that fall to the Rockets during this
winning streak, so whenever it ends, are even gonna win
a single playoff game. Orlando's going to the playoffs, Chicago
or the play in tournament, and Chicago's going to go

(09:26):
to the play in tournament, Dallas is probably going to
the play in tournament, and the Heat are probably going
to the play in tournament. I don't think a single
one of them is gonna win a single playoff game.
And granted you have to afford me that play in
tournament games don't count because they're not actually in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
You haven't been that.

Speaker 4 (09:43):
You're not the seventh seed yet, and you're not the
eighth seed yet, and until you are, you're not in
the tournament, which is sadly for some myself included what
I believe is the same for Texas, Xavier, American Ount,
Saint Mary St. Francis, oh Yeah, Alabama State, North Carolina,

(10:04):
and San Diego State. You are in Dayton, Ohio, you
are not in the NCAA tournament in my opinion yet well.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
North Carolina shouldn't even be in the tournament.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
Yeah. We could spend another three and a half hours
on that, like everybody else has done since the tournament
field got put out yesterday.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
But we probably probably the only discussion we'll have at
least on that aspect of it.

Speaker 4 (10:24):
But it looks good for the Kougs. It always will
when you play the way that they do. They absolutely
earned every bit of that number one seed. The discussion
yesterday we're revolving around the Cougars, was why a number
three overall seed? Why were they not one or two?
And I think it was a little bit of the committee,
in my opinion, thinking more clearly about the body of work,
so I didn't have a huge issue with it. Auburn

(10:48):
best team in the country pretty much all year in
the best conference in the country. They couldn't win three
games in a row and three days in the SEC tournament,
even though the Cougars won three games in three days
in the Big Twelve tournament. I don't really think the
punishment is necessary for Auburn to be bumped out of
number one duke situation. They're believing that Cooper Flagg will
be playing this weekend twice, so they keep their number

(11:10):
two spot, so to speak. And the Coupars, obviously, I think,
played their way into this. I said it for a
long time. There wasn't a scenario I thought could play
them out of number.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
One for the last two weeks.

Speaker 4 (11:20):
They won the title by such a wide margin in
the regular season, heckt their own coaches telling people at
the podium during the conference tournament, we already know who
the conference champion is.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
We already won the conference championship.

Speaker 4 (11:33):
We played twenty games against these teams, so we're gonna
play three games in three nights, So you guys can
figure out who the best team is.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
We already know who the best team is. It's us.

Speaker 4 (11:42):
And then they went out and won three games and
three nights anyway to win the tournament championship as well.
But the tournament will get started with eight teams pretending
they're in it. On the next couple of nights, we'll
have Longhorn Basketball for you on nine fifty on Wednesday Thursday,
early one of the early arts, a one o'clocker for
the Cougars to get their tournament run started. And then

(12:04):
we will see what remains for each of those teams
and the other sixty two teams that are in the field.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
Beyond that, all right, we have got a lot to
get to obviously, with that, with football, with basketball, with
a little bit of everything. Here on a Saint Patti's
Day edition of the show The A on Sports Talk
seven ninety. Let me tell you about somebody I've been
telling you about four years now here on Sports Talk

(12:32):
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(12:55):
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They're friendly, they're honest, and I can tell you that
from experience, because not only have I spoken for them,
They've installed a tankless water heater in our home. They've
come out and fixed a burst pipe when the temperatures dropped.
They've done it all and for all jobs large or small,
from faucet repairs or drainage issues, to tankless water heaters,

(13:17):
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It's Aqueduct Plumbing Company. They're at your disposal for all
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four eight eight six two three eight are online at
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Speaker 1 (13:38):
Back to Adam Clinton at Adam Wexler The eight on
Sports Talk seven ninety eight.

Speaker 5 (13:51):
Here's the one.

Speaker 6 (13:52):
The swimming s drives one down the right field line
slicing around the corner, and this one's gone home run,
Cam Smith down the right field line, a two run shot,
his third home run of the spring, coming in his
eleventh ballgame.

Speaker 4 (14:08):
That kid is playing some ball. You know what that's
all about. It's the eighteen. It's the home the origination,
the original bringers to the table of us.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Me, Adam Wexler, you, Adam Glenn. It's the camp Smith
hype train. It's not going anywhere. I'm waiting for it. Geez,
waiting longer. Is he gonna make the opening day roster?
Is he gonna be the starting right fielder? I'll hang
up and listen.

Speaker 4 (14:37):
Love you guys, show Yeah, you bring him on, Call
it up, bring it our way.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
That home run from yesterday's activities, the Astros are off today.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
By the way, was against a legitimate major league rotation
starting pitching performer, and more of that has been given
to him, the opportunities because he's not only playing, they're
starting him so he can face major league caliber pitching.
Because they're doing what you're doing. They Joe, they Dana,

(15:07):
they Jim. They see what we see. They recognize the
possibility that his debut and a Houston Astro's uniform that's
not number ninety is probably coming way sooner than they
ever thought. When Dana Brown pulled the trigger on the
deal to acquire Cam Smith for Kyle.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Tucker sooner than June, this is what I heard.

Speaker 4 (15:30):
Well, the when it's happening is not decided, it's not
necessarily related to Super two status. And when you keep him,
keep his arbitration ears. They're all factors. But if cam Smith, say,
doesn't make the opening day roster for this team, it
makes the opening day roster for the Space Cowboys and

(15:51):
plays Triple A baseball for the first time in his career.
In three weeks into the season, he's hitting two twenty seven,
He's got a seven h six ozero, He's made a
couple of errors in the outfield playing right field, a
brand new position for him. He's probably not coming up
no matter what the Astros are doing. He's probably not
about to make his debut. He has put the pressure

(16:12):
on the Astros. He has put the coal in the engine.
He's making the hype train go, and this weekend he
did more of that. He even made a sliding catch
in right field. So it is real that they have
to consider when is the right time, And they've been
clear about well, when he can get every day at
bats and he's proven that he's earned them, and maybe
spring training he can do that, then he'll be here. Now,

(16:35):
you got to have a spot for him. Christian Walker
gives you what should be good news. If you're only
cam Smith truthers, then you probably don't think it's good news.
What do you mean, Christian Walker is gonna be ready
for opening day?

Speaker 2 (16:45):
We can't have that.

Speaker 4 (16:46):
We need a spot to put somebody else in first,
so Cam Smith can make the team. It's not one
or the other. But air has been good news on
the Christian Walker front. He will probably be playing spring
training baseball before the Astros return for exhibition baseball at
dyk In Park before their season opener on Thursday of
next week. Thursday of next week their opener against the

(17:10):
New York Mets wild By the way, the Major League
Baseball season is neighborhood of fifteen hours away. The Dodgers
and Cubs are playing in a Major League game that
will count in the standings, some of them this morning,
early in the morning.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, someone the ones we care about.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
He's very sel Tucker, probably Ryan Pressley will get into
a game too over the next two days, but yes,
the major league season begins there. Christian Walker looks like
he's gonna make his way back, Chas McCormick, Jake Myers,
Jordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Mauricio Dubon, Ben Gammel.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Zach Decenzo.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
Where they will be and for what team and in
what position on opening day, Probably a little bit left
to decide on that. Al Tuo v and Alvarez, probably
less to decide al two is going to start in
left field, and Alvarez this is gonna start as a
designated hitter. For everybody else where they'll be positionally and
what team they'll be playing for, there's more to determine
on that. And we should also notice we get ready

(18:10):
for tomorrow's activities and we'll have their game for you
tomorrow as per usual here during spring training, right here
on Sports Talk seven ninety. It's a start for Spencer
Arraghetti's teammate. Spencer Aragedy's gonna pitch tomorrow in his normal spot,
just not to start the game. He's gonna go piggyback
with Lance mccullor's junior. He's an opener, Lance is an

(18:32):
opener where his return to live game action, spring training baseball,
and Lance mccullor's junior will meet once again. And we've
had nothing but good things to say about progress and
benchmarks and timelines regarding Lance. Hopefully after Tomorrow's appearance and
his wake up on Wednesday morning, everything will remain the same,

(18:53):
which would put him on schedule to pitch the minor
league baseball in a rehab assignment and pitch some major
league baseball for your hometown Houston Astros, maybe as early
as late April, if not early Mark or early May.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
Yeah, no setbacks is obviously a good thing with a
guy like that, especially at this point. But I can't
stop talking about Cam Smith. I was talking to somebody
over the weekend who's not, you know, a die hard
Astros fan, but they they pay attention from AFAR. Let's
put it that way. Their favorite team, probably a different

(19:26):
National League club that Astros fans aren't fans of, let's
just put it that way. And I kind of I
mentioned his name, and we're still at that phase. And
we were even in this phase with Jordon Alvarez once
upon a time, believe it or not, I remember very vividly,
and I know you do too, where you're like, wait,
who who's that again?

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Oh oh the kid I keep seeing hit home runs
on all those videos on the internet. Yeah, yeh, yeah, yeah,
I know who that is. I love this because it's
just feels like it's the calm before the storm. It's
that anticipation. When did Jordon come up again? August?

Speaker 4 (20:00):
Well, he's basically played half a season in both places roughly.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Okay, but I mean Jordan in his rookie year, when
did he come up?

Speaker 4 (20:08):
He basically played half a minor league season and half
a major league season. I think it was one hundred
and fifty games total, or roughly half in each spot.
I think it was seventy one. And I'm saying, like,
what was was it August? Whatever that date might be,
I don't know. Yeah, somewhere in that that's right around
the halfway point, a little bit closer to All Star breaks,
somewhere in that neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Well, I don't need it to be August this time,
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
Well, you don't know that. Are you really going to
be clamoring for Cam Smith or the Astros? Are five
games better than the Mariners and eight games better than
the Rangers. Yes, thirty five and twenty. Yes, because I
think they can get better is how I would look
at it. Or they could get worse. They can't if
they're thirty five and twenty. They can't get better with
Cam Smith because I means somebody that you think he
should be playing over is playing well.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
Somebody that is. That is a fair way to look
at it. But if they have, you know, if they're
thirty five wins in or whatever it is, and and
they're doing it in spite of the bottom of the lineup,
which is how I think that would go. I mean,
all right, let's say Chaz bounces back. He's twenty twenty
two Chaz, that's like the best form possible, right, Okay,

(21:12):
well you're telling me that, Jake Myers, you couldn't improve on.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
That offensively, And when you have an outfield defense, potentially
with who's going to be out there playing outfield defense,
you got to consider that.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
How much are you enjoying the utter despair on Oh
my gosh, al twov, I just go he looks awful
out there. I can't.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
It's from people who aren't paying attention it's fine. Oh
my god, I saw Hi miss a ball. He must
suck write a story. See, okay, thank you. I'm just
making sure we're all on the same totally.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Of course, he made a bad play. He's never done
it before.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
You think he's gonna keep making bad plays for the
rest of the season, for the rest of the month,
so bad, so many that they say, oh my god,
what were we thinking?

Speaker 2 (21:51):
We have to scrap this.

Speaker 4 (21:52):
It was fine when he was giving up a double
in or a triple in spring training, but now he's
giving up a triple and a Hunter browns now down
one nothing and kept going on, Now we're down three nothing.
This all Tuda in the outfield is killing us. It's
absolutely destroying our chances of winning. Except it wouldn't happen
on the days that Hunter Brown and fromber Valdez pitch,
which is forty percent of your games, because their ground

(22:14):
ball pitchers. That's the thought, that's the theory for every
bad play he's made, he's made one other play that
she's like this, this looks like a guy who knows
how to play outfield. So the more he gets opportunities,
the better they will be. And sadly he probably won't
get enough of him in the next week because starting Tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,

(22:36):
Sunday they return home. He got a couple of exhibition
games at dyk And Park Thursday of next week. It
counts when fromber Valdez, who was officially named the opening
day starter, although it wasn't much debate about it. I
don't think internally or externally, he gets the ball, he'll
throw the first pitch of the season for the Astros
when they take on the Mets.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
And and not today, not tomorrow, not the next day,
but the next day we'll be able to officially say
we know what the city connect Jerseys look like, even
though we already do pretty soon. Are you excited? I'm
fired up. Are you gonna buy one? Uh? That's TBD. Okay, Well,
there's a lot. Actually we have several options for Best

(23:18):
of X. But there is something, as it pertains to
the Astros here in twenty twenty five, that I want
to get to at some point, maybe even before the
end of the hour. We will continue here on a
Monday edition of the program. Hey it's Craig Affer four
free listen to the Home of the rockets on yours
smart speaker.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
Just ask hey Google play Sports Talk seven ninety on iHeartRadio.

Speaker 7 (23:43):
Did you all see this?

Speaker 5 (23:44):
Putting out between five and fifteen posts a day.

Speaker 4 (23:47):
Four hundred people were arrested for things that they said
on social media. History repeats itself type Anuels succeed.

Speaker 5 (23:56):
Never doubt that you're.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
The one too, Ples.

Speaker 4 (23:58):
We're going one yo, the bests. Nothing's gonna ever top
you know, yo, the best.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Post an every.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
Single day, your nice yo, the best of the breaking
the entire in toney.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
All right, I said there were several options here. There
always are.

Speaker 4 (24:27):
We got a few things we need to play catch
up on from the last few days that never made
it to air, but they are to me very evergreen.
Oh yes, we'll hang on to those. I'll get the
obvious one out of the way. And it's something that
you sent to me yesterday yesterday morning, i'd say, late morning,
about ten twenty.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
It was a it's a joyful occasion. It was an
engagement announcement. Oh nice. It was at Jilly and nice
is how you say that? For now? Right? Because what's
her name going to be? After?

Speaker 4 (25:02):
It's gonna be Jilly? What Jilly Watson. I assume she
wants to take on Deshaun Watson's name. Who she is
going to marry a.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
Joint That means one of who do you think requested
the other to make that a color while they were
sitting next to each other on their phones together on
the beach or wherever they are there. Yeah, I listen whatever.
He can do what he wants with his life. He's
not here. He's not a Texans problem anymore. I'm low
key impressed that she's still with him after all this.

Speaker 4 (25:28):
Yeah, this is the same partnership that had been in
place since before any of the lawsuits came to light,
as he was working his way out of Houston.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
So this is a long term relationship.

Speaker 4 (25:39):
And they made the announcement, as you've said, over the weekend,
with a very simple caption. The answer to your question
is she requested him because it's on her account first,
missus Watson loading and obviously happy engagement pictures showing off
the ring, lovey dovey stuff.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
It's all good kisses and his replacement liked it well.
Placement by way of Davis Mills. It wasn't seamless.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
According to my page, it says liked by a CJ.
Seven Stroud right his replacement? Oh well, what are you
talking about with Davis Well in between DeShawn leaving? Yeah,
I know what I mean. You're being literal, and I
should take it as such. But when you're at a
certain level of quarterback play, there is no like currently
pick a team that has a bag.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Who's starting for the Patriots? Oh, Drake May.

Speaker 4 (26:28):
Drake May is Tom Brady's replacement. There's a game between you.
You had some lesser quality Jacoby Brissettes. You had a
few players Bailey Zappi that weren't quite I mean they
played right.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
After It's like every quarterback every a year.

Speaker 4 (26:48):
And who are that? But is who are they replacing?
Brian Sipe. I don't think they're replacing. No. DeShawn is,
as odd as it may sound, he's no different than
any of the quarterbacks on the jersey that has twenty
seven Cleveland Brown starting quarterbacks names on it. So, yeah,
a bunch of people you would recognize, former teammates here,

(27:09):
current teammates there, and a lot of other people, including
the agent who's now already made two spots on the
show today, David Mulligeta. He is still the agent for
Deshaun Watson, and he added a comment there can't wait,
so congrats to the continued to still be happy couple.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
Okay, let's get on to the good stuff. Do you
follow this would be on Instagram technically yes, at Jordaan
underscore Isabella.

Speaker 4 (27:37):
I can tell you that I was not even a
bit reserved or scared of showing a post on her
account this weekend to my Spanish radio play by playmate
right before the Rockets game started, even though the other
ac where we sit, if you're the usher that's there

(27:58):
to keep people away from us, if you're a fan
making your way down to while we're working.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Are these people out of here?

Speaker 4 (28:07):
I am working away from the We speak with them,
we high five them, we take pictures with them. We
just don't like when they are in the space they
don't belong in.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
I'm a fan of across Adrian's body and fist bumping
people on the way up the stairs.

Speaker 4 (28:21):
Yeah, that's perfect in our space.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah, no, I get it.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
I wasn't even the least bit concerned that other people
would see it, because it was of the explanation, what
are oh my god, wex, what are you looking at
I'm looking at the of yeah, the beach, the head
coach of North Carolina, and some person who's face I
can't even.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
See, head coach football North Carolina.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
I mean, I guess everybody knows Hubert Davis as the
basketball coach.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
I mean, he does have one more game this season.

Speaker 4 (28:52):
How far apart are he and his mate? Probably not
as far as much. Jordan Isabella. She is the continued
girlfriend of Bill Belichick.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
They hit the beach.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
It is, after all, it's college campus. What's happening on
college campuses right now?

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Nothing? Because it's spring break?

Speaker 4 (29:09):
Yeah, okay, go to the beach and they were doing, uh,
you go ahead.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Well, I was gonna get rid of the the caption
portion of the conversation first, just to get out of
the way, and then we could go to the hashtag.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
Spring break, hashtag US time, hashtag still got it?

Speaker 2 (29:24):
Well, ok, which one of them still has it? Her
or him both? Because after you get rid of the
sun and flexing muscle emojis that are also part of
that caption. Yeah, we need to talk about the fact
that I don't know if you call this joint morning yoga.
I don't know if you call this cheer man. I

(29:46):
don't think I've ever seen that formation. Hey, the male
cheerleader needs to get on his back and then put
the female cheerleader propped up on his feet. It's just awesome. Yeah, yeah,
I thought so in an uncomfortab away. Let's face it,
I'm not uncomfortable at all. Should be.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
These are two people that appear to be in love
with a large age difference. Yes, big deal that last part?
Big deal? Well you say that I heard your nonsense
about the Could you go ahead and make sure that
Jordan is copied on all the emails to me that
I should have done the impressional media thanks bb Okay.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
But again, there are other things that like you react
to you one hundred Now she did hashtag us time.
That's the clarifier to know for certain this faceless yoga
partner is Bill Belichick. That and the fact that he's
built just like him. The only thing missing was a

(30:48):
torn off sleeves hoodie, which he could be wearing. It's
hard to tell from the position that he's in. Okay,
but we should clarify that the reason you sent me
that post was in response to what I sent you first.
What'd you send me first, well, it was a it
was a tweet post if you will, Yeah, from Antonio
Brown's x account. Yeah, the CTE account. There you go.

(31:11):
There's other nicknames, but I can't say those on the radio.
It's a picture from the movie Big Daddy. Oh yeah,
I saw that meme. Remember when Christy Swanson had sid Yeah,
and uh yeah. He's talking about his plan. He's got
a five year play what is it? Don't Die?

Speaker 4 (31:28):
And he ends up flipping food over at a local
food and port. I did also want to bring some
comments to the table. They are performing some very high
intensity yoga moves here and that's where the caption comes.
Coach out here wilding emoji with's that. Mcgurley says, our
dad used to play the airplane game with us kids

(31:49):
as kids too.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Where there are some better ones? I love. I'm loving
this new Bill. He he posted the picture of Christy Swanson,
and Poacher says, if we had this version of Belichick
a few years ago, we would have won another Super
Bowl with Gronk and Brady. That's actually true. The caption
read Bill Belichick explaining to his in laws about their
day at the beach. Yeah, I mean, seriously, when Thanksgiving

(32:17):
comes around and he has his children over because they're
not going to his parents.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
He's not going to Thanksgiving. He's going he's gotta be.
We got a Bowl game coming up.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
Well, whenever they sit down for that meal, I mean,
come on, come on, like, what is she making? What's
she bringing to their Thanksgiving pot luck? Do you know what?
Me just just as a point of context, do you
know how many times the performers at a Rockets game
have hit the the court there at Toyota Center and

(32:50):
somebody I won't name who this person was, but the
comment has been made, I'm old enough to be their father.
Just in other words, I'm not even looking at these
very active females that are dancing right now during a
timeout because it's just gross. And that person's not nearly
as old er than them as he is her.

Speaker 4 (33:09):
What's what's the cutoff? What's the age gap cut off?

Speaker 2 (33:12):
There's some sort of formula, and Matt Thomas told me
this one, so we'll absolutely sell him down the river. Well,
it's probably not accurate.

Speaker 4 (33:19):
It's probably just a Matt Thomas calculation. Must how big
do you think the gap was between himself and his
previous very long time girlfriend Linda, Linda Linda holiday like
they were thirteen years apart.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
That's normal.

Speaker 4 (33:36):
Oh, that's that's acceptable. Like that from guy's fifty too much?
Is twenty too much? Twenty five? Thirty thirty five?

Speaker 2 (33:42):
What's theirs? That's too much? Okay?

Speaker 4 (33:45):
Okay, So neighborhood of that fair neighborhood of fifty, Like,
come on, man.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
If it's the age of a middle age to late
age adult, that's too much a gap. I guess. So
there you go. I hope they're very, very happy with
each other.

Speaker 4 (34:06):
Sixteen years with Linda, he's working through the first early
year stages with Jordan. It's fine, make sure you copy.
You can in a relationship with Jordan for the same
number of years.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Easy, It'll be all email correspondence through social media. Okay.

Speaker 4 (34:23):
To me, that point was kind of on hard knocks
because she wanted more creative control. Oh that's great, that's
marketing social media.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
Beyond social it's all the same stuff. He's not.

Speaker 4 (34:36):
I think people were taking it like, dude, Bill, you're
trying to teach these guys what the technique they need
to use, and your defensive line assistant coach is sending
you an email about something and you want to copy
Jordan on that.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
Jordan, now correctly it was having to do. I am
if you're gonna spell it like that, I'm going to
say it like that.

Speaker 4 (34:55):
You can, Jordan, It's Jordan, Jass and spell your names right.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
I don't make my name add to It's just at him.
It's just one D common spelling.

Speaker 4 (35:07):
It does common, uncommon, unique, not unique. It's fine has
an a on the end that one does not. There
go on thanks to Jilly, Jordan and Bill torn on
his feet on the beach.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Bill was not a co poster, by the way, but
they give us best of X today.

Speaker 4 (35:24):
We thank them for that, and luckily for you guys,
we also get to move on here on the eighteenunt.

Speaker 5 (35:32):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
You know how Bill Belichick was able to do that?
Lack of joint pain, That's how he was able. Can
you go ahead and just lay here, all right, put
your legs in the air. All right? We are good
things that will never be uttered at QC Kinetics.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
I mean, I guess they could. But let's face it,
if you have any sort of joke you were looking
to go to the beach during spring break and wanted
to do some yoga. It's just you know, some body work.
And I wanted to post some pictures. But my friend
has having chronic joint pain. He's got back pain, he's
got shoulder pain, he's got hit pain. Can I maybe
get a free consultation to see if he's a good
candidate for the great best in the nation, cutting edge

(36:11):
technology and the great work you do at QC Kinetics.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
By the way, my name is Jordan. Can you help
me out here? It's Jordan, And they were like, well,
glad you called it seven one to three nine three
fifty two eighty five, Jordan, because you can learn now
about the latest advances in regenerative medicine that can get
you lasting pain relief, or your significant other who's fifty
years older than you, whatever, just call them seven one
to three nine one three fifty two eighty five. Unlike me,

(36:36):
they won't judge. They will absolutely help you out and
it'll be lasting pain relief. Courtesy of QC Kinetics at
seven one to three nine one three fifty two eighty five.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
Back to Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler, the eight on
Sports Talk seven ninety eight.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
Team Rolling Along on a Monday edition of the program
Saint Patti's Day Edition Sports Talks seven to ninety, soon
to be joined over on the simulcast television side of things,
Space City Home Network. All right, so, Derek Stingley Jr.
By the way you threw me off earlier? How did
I do that? Derek Stingley Junior. The pause between when

(37:21):
you asked who I had just said and then that
being played, you thought there was a mistake that they
didn't sign anybody else this week. I just didn't want
to hear you say his name anymore. But rather, Derek
Stingley Junior. Seriously, where's it from? It's not Ai, of
course it's not.

Speaker 8 (37:38):
But all hope of a Clemson comeback came to an
end when LSU forced a fumble. The ball was picked
up by a true freshman quarterback who had spent the
game shutting down Clemson's offense.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
That's for sure on this side of the field. Derek
Stingley Junior. Where's Derek? Where's Derek? Derek? Great stuff? Probably
be the greatest freshman performance. So that's great. I love it.
Best corner in football is a Texan for life? Okay,
maybe not.

Speaker 4 (38:10):
But in their contract for the first eight years of
his NFL life.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
Right, You're gonna get his best years presumably for sure,
especially with the way shelf life is at that position
and others in this violent game.

Speaker 4 (38:21):
I would expect he will be very highly sought after
by either the team that's already extended him or any
team that now has a chance to get him when
this contract expires.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Before we move on, what is the order of the
remaining big deal, the remaining big big deals, big beautiful
deals that the Texans will sign with their current talent.

Speaker 4 (38:46):
It's a good question, because I do think they have
out options. I think they will take both CJ and
Will Anderson Junior get extended following this season. They don't
have to, and you run into other issues and you
have different question marks and other problems to deal with.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
I don't think you can wait on CJ, though.

Speaker 4 (39:08):
I think CJ's a lock to get his contract taken
care of after his third season, which is next year,
exactly like they did with Derek Singley Junior, which is
why they have pushed forward on Stingley's deal. You could
call it early because again he doesn't have to have
it this year. He could have had it next offseason.
You know the contract that it's being compared to because

(39:28):
it happened this offseason is J C.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
Horn Well.

Speaker 4 (39:31):
J C. Horn is a year further into his NFL career.
He could have been extended earlier. He had a first
season that was wiped out by injury suffered here actually,
so I think the timeline for him was correct, But
I don't think with a quarterback at that caliber. And
I'm anticipating at least the second best season of CJ.
Stroud's career next year, probably more likely the best season

(39:54):
of his career if they get him some blockers. But
I don't know if that's gonna happen or and that's
gonna happen. I'm sure it'll happen at some point, but
it's definitely he's not gonna have a season less successful
or less desirable than the one he just had. So
he's going to head into that offseason knowing that it's
time to get his bag. As he said himself during
the year about Sting, he said, Oh, this guy's so good,

(40:16):
he'd probably play offense for us. He's always joking with
us about it. He's gonna get a bag. It's gonna
be great. And he got it again. If you hadn't heard,
three years, ninety million dollar extension for Derek Stingley Junior.
Essentially all of it is guaranteed, guaranteed to eighty nine million.
He's in the fourth year of his rookie contract as
a first round pick. He will play under that contract.
His fifth round or fifth year option will be picked

(40:37):
up by the Texans. That will be two years from now,
and then the extension will kick in. So it's about
one hundred and twenty two million over the next five seasons,
which sounds pretty awesome when you average it out that way,
doesn't sound quite as oh my god, they're paying this
guy thirty million dollars.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
Okay, So now I'm glad you said it that way.
I'm really glad you said it that way. The hell
are they doing in Cincinnati? Cincinnati is we got a
lot of money to spend on one side of the ball.

Speaker 4 (41:03):
Well, this might push them forward to taking care of
the other side of the ball also if they could.
But one more thing, just while you're on it, since
I knew you'd make the proper shift to the Jimar
Chase portion of the conversation, because the guy throwing him
the ball. Also talked about five years ago here and

(41:24):
then outstanding quarterback. An entire team filled with heart and
skill and.

Speaker 8 (41:30):
Hope and courage and passion and strength and unbreakable will
to win.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
That's what they have.

Speaker 7 (41:36):
They have an unbreakable will and confidence.

Speaker 8 (41:38):
They went into that game against a team twenty eight
or oh, they went into the game. I don't think
they had a doubt about what was going to be happening.

Speaker 7 (41:45):
I don't think did you have a doubt, not even at.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
That he's going to be so rich.

Speaker 4 (41:53):
He's going to be so rich. Talking about Joe Burrow.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
In lifelong Houston sports guys named Adham talking your teams.
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the A Team A.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
It's a Monday Saint Patti's Day edition of The A
Team Sports Talks seven ninety Space City Home Network. Welcome
into the viewers out there listening to the program. Wex
and ac with you. We are taking you up until
six o'clock tonight. The astros and the cam Smith watch
can we get one on camera? Come on, do it

(42:35):
for me. It's been an hour since you've done it.
You're all board? Yeah, you gotta tell me what for
what's going on? Well, you're on the camtrain and the
cam Trainah, that's it.

Speaker 4 (42:45):
Well, I'm not giving you any noises for a camtrain.
What's a cam train? I mean, what do you what
would you prefer? I would prefer going with the official
A team hashtag, That's what I would prefer. You have
to give it out way Homer yesterday. Okay, everybody all aboard?
Right that?

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Every game? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (43:01):
All three times? All three times. He's homer so far
during spring trail. Every day back he's just trying to
keep pace with Jeremy Pania this spring training. But yes,
a first inning home run, which if you were listening
to Astro's radio, Michael Kaufman got it correct. Coffin got
it correct. He hit the ball and went over the fence.
He called it very nicely. We played it for you

(43:22):
earlier if you were watching Mets television. There's the pitch
fouled off down the right side, the wind brought it
back by thirty feet. It landed in the bullpen, and
that's a home run for the young kid, cam Smith,
which means more reason for you guys to hop aboard
the cam Smith hype train. It leaves the station every

(43:43):
day at two o'clock. Here on the A team, everybody
there's room for you.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Hop a board.

Speaker 4 (43:51):
That took way too long to get there, but you
got to explain it for the people. I appreciate it,
all right. So he's gonna make the opening day roster,
right like, I'm just I don't I don't want to
he's gonna make the opening day roster. Let's move on
to a topic that we'd actually discussed. It's not such
a given. Something that's not you know, I mean, the
guy's never played above double A. He's barely even played

(44:12):
double A. He was playing in Florida State just a
couple of months ago. But he's of course he's making
the opening day roster. I know we've got all these
issues in the outfield, but they've definitely got a spot
for him. They're they're trying to figure out who else's
gonna make it besides him.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
You know, I know it sounds like we're we're playing
around me. I'm playing around but it like it doesn't
it feel different even than Jordan, which sounds sacrilege to
even say, you know, looking back and now, what he's
become and what he's done at the big league level.

Speaker 4 (44:42):
Ninth twenty nineteen, the major league debut for August.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
By August, they were like on their way to crushing
all records, Astros and otherwise.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
I said it was roughly neighborhood of halfway through the season.
It was game sixty seven for Houston.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Yeah, I just uh, I just feel like the way
he keeps going, the way he looks. And don't get
me wrong, where they are at as a franchise and
their lineup absolutely plays a big role. Even if this means, well,
he's gonna have to learn right field, learn right field.

Speaker 4 (45:20):
He does need to learn it. He doesn't play there.
You do have to learn it. If you don't know it,
he doesn't know it. I guess there's more learning right
field than there's learning left field. But they've got two
outfielders learning those positions. If that's indeed what happens, it's
very positive. I'd say there's a really better than average
chance at least one game this year this I'll say
at least one game before August that Altuve and camp

(45:42):
Smith are both starting in the outfield. I do think
there are some other options here. I don't think they're
really to this point, But there are more players at
play for what is this You're you're talking about their
offense and there their lineup. They clearly have holes in
this lineup. That's way you've talked so much about what
happens after they get past Yiner or Jeremy. If that's
your one through six and you got Altuve, Paritis, Alvarez, Walker, Yeiner, Jeremy,

(46:07):
well then what well? Then the pitcher's like, I don't
care how many guys are on base, they're not scoring
any more runs because I'm gonna get the next three
guys out, however many I need to get out to
get out of this inning, and however many I get
to get out next sitting before they flip it over
to Altuve. But Jeremy Paniam maybe has a better offensive season.
That changes things. Maybe cam Smith is a part of

(46:27):
things at some point. Maybe Zach Decenzo needs every day
at bats at the major league level because he's ready
and he hasn't done it. He really hasn't done all
that much differently offensively than Cam Smith.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
He's just not Cam Smith. He didn't just come aboard.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
He's coming with far less fanfare, and he wasn't really
followed all throughout his minor league careers. Some unbelievable prospect
like Smith was as a pro prospect, a draft prospect,
and then obviously a player who's now been drafted. But
this is what they hoped he would have done when
they brought him up last year, hoped he would have
been able to contribute in a way. And you never

(47:02):
know that any success you're having during spring training. His
bats are similar to cams. You're not seeing all of
the major league pitching. He hasn't started all of the
games he's been in, So sometimes yes, sometimes no. Sometimes
you're in a game where they're just not throwing anybody.
But what if Josel Tuve plays less outfield because Zach

(47:24):
Decenzo's in your outfield? What if Zach Decenzo's playing left
field and jakeson center and Chaz is in right.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
Do you like what you saw out of Dezenzo when
he was up last year? Because I did.

Speaker 4 (47:33):
But I liked his home run that was most and
his finally really enthusiastic walk that drove in a run.
How I he his own chest after drawing the fourth
ball and heading down to first.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
It was huge. It was a very pivotal walk. He
was excited. No, I wasn't really.

Speaker 4 (47:51):
I did not think he he showed any signs that,
oh my, this guy's gonna make it. Now he has
he's probably gonna get the opportunity at some point this
year to show that. But I think sho a Spot
is correct in how you develop players and how you
make sure that they have a chance. And Zach said
the same thing. It's no good for them to be
here if they're just here. Hey, Zach's starting today, He's
gonna get three at bats, he's gonna go for two

(48:11):
with a strikeout, and then we'll see him again in
five days as he watches the starters play. That's no
way to get a player up to speed or really
get a good gauge on what he might do at
the major league level.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
They got to play.

Speaker 4 (48:22):
So if you really can create an opening for one
or both of them at some point this season, then
do it. It looks like this kind of like we
keep saying, we know they're gonna win this year, but
we don't know they're gonna win the division. We don't
know they're gonna win more than eighty five or eighty
six games. They're probably gonna need a punch from somebody
at some point when their offense is struggling, and either

(48:42):
of those two guys, both.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Of those guys could end up providing it. The cam
Smith hype train. There you go. There's the hashtag. And
do you have to put three trains for the emojis
or just the one? Hide away with the one? I mean,
that's your call. But the A team prefers three, okay,
because that's the member of Home Runs.

Speaker 4 (49:01):
It's always been three from the moment it was. It
was made available to anybody else who wants to jump aboard.
All right, good, got to drive home the point. Yeah, no,
I get it. I mean, if they had other trained cars,
I could actually make a train with an engine and
the cars and a caboose.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
But I don't have those. But here we are, they're
not available to me. I saw something over the weekend.
This was a in relation to the East Soak paritis deal,
and it was alarming. Although based on facts and statistics
and you know the things that the analytic types do
these days, he's gonna be awesome. It meant it made

(49:39):
park according to the numbers, and he's going to be terrible.
Away from a minute made park. According to the numbers.

Speaker 4 (49:46):
I mean, terrible is probably a little bit more than
I would say if you're not talking about Brendan Rodgers,
because he's got a career of that where there's really
no denying it. He was really, really good in Colorado
and he's just awful pretty much everywhere else.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
He's hit the base, and he's obviously not playing very
many games there.

Speaker 4 (50:02):
You know, perettis from a splits standpoint, and it's a
little it's a little bit skewed, not much, but just
from his time with the Cubs. He wasn't very good.
It was only part of last year, so I don't
know how much stock I would put in that. But
his splits, say his home ballpark in Tampa and his
away ballparks everywhere but Tampa, they're not so skewed. He

(50:26):
hasn't spent enough time here for us to say he's
definitely going to be unbelievable. We know what the analytics
say about his swing and about how it's tailored to
a ballpark that happens to have these dimensions, But I
don't think his splits are going to be alarming. I
think he will hit pretty he'll have better home numbers
than he's ever had before because he's playing in a
ballpark more conducive to the way he usually profiles his hits.

(50:48):
But I don't think he's going to have some awful
stretch of any white games elsewhere.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
The video I was watching and it was, you know,
it was clearly I don't want to call it clickbait,
but it was probably clickbaity. It was, you know, that's
a very black and white way of looking at a
player like this, based on things that have occurred in
his career prior to this, and based on the home
gym that he'll be playing in. But yeah, it just

(51:15):
made it. It made it sound like, other than the
defensive abilities of him, he's just going to be catastrophically
bad if he's not playing at Minute Made Park. And
I just don't know if I agree with that.

Speaker 4 (51:27):
I'd love to see it, because I don't even know
where where that could possibly come from. He's not been
catastrophically bad, and so many other ballparks that you would
say that his worst numbers of his career are the
ones I just mentioned Wrigley. His terrible numbers at Wrigley Field,
where he played last year where he played so poorly.

(51:48):
The Cubs are like, you want him, and the Astros
were eager to say, yes, he was awful, absolutely awful.
What's about ops? Six hundred that's pretty much unplayable?

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Was four? Five hundreds? Much worse?

Speaker 4 (51:58):
Four hundreds? I can't believe you're a major leaguer. Three
hundred is are you taking a bat to the plate?
And two ninety one are his actual ops numbers in
his one hundred and four plate appearances at Wrigley Field
last year. I've looked at the schedule, but I'll look
at it again. Do they have like one hundred or
so games schedule at Wrigley this year? Probably just a
very very very very small number of zero.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
This video is saying, and it did point out his
time in Chicago, because you're only as good as your
last performance. But okay, go around the major league stadiums
because you're going to play in a lot of them
this year. How many have a long left porch. He's
not going to do well there? Yeah, I think there's
way is what that gets overblown in both directions. He's

(52:41):
not going to be theay Ruth's too easy. He's not
going to be who do you want me to say,
Give me a right handed power hitter that's going to
make this funny. Aaron Judge.

Speaker 4 (52:51):
He's not going to be Aaron Judge at Minute May Park.
But he's not going to be Adam Everett either.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
That's mean like Adam. He's going to be just fine.

Speaker 4 (52:59):
He's going to hit a few homers when he hits here,
he'll hit into a few more long fly ball outs elsewhere.
But he's also gonna hit doubles off the wall elsewhere.
He's also gonna hit singles elsewhere. This ballpark idea of
he can't hit here and he can't hit there. Unless
you're telling me there's a problem with the batter's eye,
then I'm not really about to say, oh my gosh, yes,

(53:19):
that's the league to wait.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
Until the season gets under way to start doing that
for the thirty year in a row.

Speaker 4 (53:23):
You're telling me he needs to be worried about the
twenty nine other batters eye. The one here will be fine.
As long as they're not green, they'll be fine.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
He'll be fine. Not concerned.

Speaker 4 (53:33):
Peretis is also it snuck that in earlier to no resistance.
He's batting second Alvarez is batting third. Okay, you've got
it all. Uh, this is for the foreseeable future or
just for today or for the next game. I should
say no, it's for the regular season opener and likely beyond.
As my best guest, we will see as we continue
here on the eighteen, the.

Speaker 5 (53:56):
Eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
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Speaker 1 (54:59):
Back to Adam Clinton had Adam Wexler the eighteen.

Speaker 5 (55:03):
On Sports Talk seven ninety eight.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Wex and ac with you on a Monday edition of
the program. Rockets going for seven in a row tonight
at home. And frankly, when this six game homestand began,
if like the team that was playing as well as
they were in January, was, you know, still a team

(55:31):
we were watching fully healthy and men Thompson's out there,
you would have you would have absolutely thought that they
would sweep right through these opponents. But just because of
how February went, just because of the men Thompson's out,
I mean that Chicago game was no easy game at all,
and they're playing better than they had been by the way,
she give Chicago some credit for the other night. Sure,

(55:54):
go ahead if you'd like to. They're a different team
than they were when the Rockets put up like one
hundred and forty six on them or whatever. It was Yep,
their personnel is worse. I think they're playing better. I
think you could be right.

Speaker 4 (56:06):
They just coming in the Rockets did drop them to
eleven games under five hundred and two of those wins
you're talking about are wins against other teams in the
play in tournament area of the East, which means they're
well under five hundred. Orlando Miami.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
They hit seven threes in the first quarter and held
the Rockets to twenty two points.

Speaker 9 (56:25):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (56:26):
Immediately after going seven of twelve in the first quarter,
they proceeded to go two for fifteen.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
There are three pointers.

Speaker 4 (56:31):
Well, everybody regresses to the mean eventually, right, No, I
mean they're a bad basketball team. I know you're you're
saying that they played well, and that's probably more accurate
than my condescension towards them. But they should it shouldn't
have been that type of game. But I don't think
the Rockets were really all that bad, you know, being
any of the game. They weren't very careful with the basketball,

(56:52):
and that allowed the Bulls to not only stay with them,
but say to the Rockets, are you ever gonna catch
up to us? Down seven after one, down five? Still
at the half, took him about a sneeze to tie
the game up in the third quarter, and eventually they
pulled away from him without anything out crazy. Now, they
did need to make some crazy plays late because they

(57:14):
made a similar mistake that they've made way too many
times this year for a team in the position they're in.
Jalen Green was the culprit this time. He's been the
culprit before. Reed Shepherd's been the culprit before, Alperinstin Grooen's
been the culprit before. There's fifty seconds left in the
game and you break their pressure, don't drive to the

(57:35):
basket in traffic and try to make a shot over
a shot blocker. That's what he did. It got blocked,
Bulls turned around and hit a three, and instead of
a five point lead or more with less time left,
it was a two point game and there's thirty seconds left,
and Imo Doka talked about it after the game, saying,
you got to play to the clock a little bit.
They've been guilty of that, each of those players I mentioned,
That's what I was talking. They've been guilty of not

(57:57):
playing to the clock when they have a it's not
a comfortable lead, but it's a multi possession lead. The
clock is your friend. It's a timed event. When the
clock runs out, the game's over. Don't give the Bulls
extra opportunities. It was. It was a foolish play. They
got away with it because the player who made it
made up for it with his offensive rebound and put back. Otherwise,

(58:18):
the Bulls might have had the ball in a two
point game, but he grabbed the board, put it back
up and in, and they had a four point lead
with five seconds layer.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
That was only the second most impressive play in the
final minutes.

Speaker 4 (58:29):
The first most impressive play in the final minute, not
Vouch's three, not Jalen's put back.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
Oh you know what, I might be getting my games
mixed up since it was another back to back whatever
game over the forty eight hours of games they played. Yes,
it seemed like they were playing Friday. I'm pretty sure
it was the Chicago game when Shingoon had the behind
the back Tatari Tatari. Yeah, that would have been Friday. Yeah,

(58:56):
it's crazy. I watched both games from start to finish.
That is for a bit. Now I'm getting it mixed
up with his crossover at the end of the game.
In the Chicago contus he did.

Speaker 4 (59:07):
I believe we mentioned it during the broadcast. Matt finishes
his play by play call, noting that he easily got
past Nikolovuchovitch Vusovich and I mentioned, yeah, he was trying
to defend him from his backside after Alpi put him
there with his crossover.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
That wasn't even the only time he broke his ankles.

Speaker 4 (59:26):
He was faced up on him a few times and
he did an early turnovers continue to be an issue
for him. He ended up playing a pretty sound, solid
game against a respectable big as an opponent.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
Twenty four points, fifteen rebounds. Jalen had the twenty eight.
Here's here's the question. Have I talked myself back out
of making a deal of this offseason?

Speaker 4 (59:49):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (59:49):
Oh, what happened? Well, there's a couple of things that
come into play here. One of them has always been
at play. It's not just that they're the Phoenix Sun's picks,
it's how many of them you want to give back
to them in order to make a deal happen, whatever
that deal is. I've talked myself out of Devin Booker
because he just hasn't looked like a guy that is

(01:00:10):
going to be so much better than what you already
have that you need him. Yeah, I think he probably he.

Speaker 4 (01:00:17):
I do think he could be, but I think if
you listen to what there, it's public. He's making sure
it's publicly out there. I don't think there's much doubt
about it. But their owner Matt Ashby has said, oh,
people have asked about Booker, and I shut him down,
not in so many words that I do think if
he's acting and operating his team the way we all

(01:00:39):
believe he intends to, I do think that's true because
if he trades Booker, then he's also trading Durant, and
he's also looking for someone to take on Bradley Beal,
and he's acknowledging we are going to be bad. I
want my picks back while we're bad so we can
get good. And now I'm resigned to the fact that
it's going to take a couple of years to get good,

(01:00:59):
because there's no one player in this draft or another
player for the next year's draft, or all of a
sudden going to turn us around like that. It just
doesn't work like that in the NBA, and I don't
think he's going to do that. I think he believes
I can get us back to a very competitive level,
rebuilding this team for a third time around Devin Booker.
You could argue it worked the first time they made

(01:01:20):
it to the finals, definitely isn't working the second time,
and he's going to attempt to do it for a
third time as he gets further and further into his
eleventh year.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
Is thirteenth year, and how much of that do you think?
That finals run that is like the Rangers World Series championship,
nobody even remembers it happened. How much of that was
Devin Booker was obviously awesome, He scored, you know, seventy
points in a game before he's He's done a lot
of things. How much of that was kind of like

(01:01:50):
the Warriors runs a few years where they actually won
the championship. They took advantage of their opponents having key injuries,
and then when they got to the finals in Milwaukee
was fully healthy and standing there with the MVP that
Giannis stole from James Harden, they were like completely outclassed.

Speaker 4 (01:02:10):
But then they won thirteen more games the next year.
That was the fifty one win Sons that made the finals, right,
the sixty four win Sons lost to the MAVs in
a seven game semifinal series Western Semifinals.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
And then the MAVs traded the guy that led them
to that victory to the Lakers, just delivered into them. Yeah,
they've fallen pretty far.

Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
Last year they were in the playoffs, they were one
win shy of being a fifty win team. This year
they're gonna win thirty six to thirty seven games. That's
a pretty big drop off. But I think their path
to the title, the conference title was a reasonable one.
They had very a couple of down years in a row,
then a big increase, then another big increase, then another
big increase, and then they fell apart again.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
But as it pertains to the Rockets, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:02:54):
And don't let you're saying you're kind of getting into
the competition doesn't have anything to do with it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
They're beating up on really bad basketball times, I know,
and I'm telling myself that, don't worry.

Speaker 4 (01:03:04):
Granted, other than Chicago Saturday, the other five games were
very lopsided.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Happily very lopsided. If you go out and get somebody
this offseason, though, it's not even about the age and
all that, you know, Kevin Durant would be thirty seven
by the time he got here, and then.

Speaker 4 (01:03:21):
Thirty eight and thirty nine during the two year extension.
Mm hm at sixty.

Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
Per And even though his game is aging like a
fine wine and would seamlessly fit into what they do
here in Houston, I believe, like I don't think he's
going to, you know, make it some glaring weakness that
you have. I mean, if he turns the ball over, fine,
But instead of the rest of the Rockets.

Speaker 4 (01:03:41):
How about this, he's probably your three. He's a wing
even though he's six's eleven.

Speaker 2 (01:03:46):
I don't know. I can't pretend I'm tell you.

Speaker 4 (01:03:48):
What he is for the purpose of k So what
you're one through five, or any of your five players
on the court. Who's your best defender, the Rocket's best defender,
and sometimes two or three of them are on the
court together. Is you're big, your big wing or your
non power forward, Dylan Brooks, Tarry Eason, Amen Thompson. They
can play Jabari Smith with any group of them. They
could play Autpi with any group of that, and the

(01:04:09):
same thing would be true for Durant. But who's he
He's not gonna be a great defender as a rocket,
he's gonna be as perfectly fine defender, but he's not
gonna be a great defender. It's gonna allow you to
not have him defend anybody who's their weakest player, that's
not five to eleven. That's who Durant's gonna be guarding
while he's a rocket, and you're hoping that that will
play into him having much more to give you on

(01:04:29):
the other end and asking him to play that. But
that does take something from your team defense concept, which
is clearly why they're gonna win fifty plus games.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
And this stat right there, it's not just about that.
It's the overall complexion of this current team, the young
like up and coming, like all these guys, all of
them are gonna get better next year unless they're hurt.
That's the only way they Wouldn't.

Speaker 4 (01:04:54):
You think the best of the oldest two are gonna
get better next year? Shengun and Jalen, Yes, both of them.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
Jalen's still twenty two. I know it's not about their age,
and I'm not saying the answers.

Speaker 10 (01:05:06):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
I think there was a little bit of hint of
I'm expecting a No.

Speaker 4 (01:05:09):
I think Jalen is gonna be better next year, And
I think Alprin I'm not sure what parts of his
game can get better other than focus and mistake making.
Like I don't think fence. The SHOT's not gonna get better.
He's not gonna all of a sudden starts shooting free
throws better. There's nothing wrong with how he shoots them,
he just doesn't make any of them.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
I'm not sure where that's something think he's going anywhere.

Speaker 4 (01:05:26):
But the next group of players behind them, Where's Jabari
getting better?

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
There are areas to get better. Where's a men getting better?
For sure? And on the area lining out in a
deal for Kevin Durant, I got news for you, Well,
he plays the same spot. Just you're trying to keep
this core as much as possible. I feel like he
would be part of the deal, even though you're gonna
have to match money and all that kind of stuff.
Just some interesting things to think about as the Rockets
go for seven.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
In a row tonight, The Age on Sports Talk seven ninety.

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Speaker 5 (01:06:57):
Hey, it's Robert Ford from the Astros broadcast. Catch every
Astros game on Sports Talk seven ninety. I mean, iHeartRadio
app home of your Astros.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
Baseball season right around the corner. More so than you
think yeah tomorrow. Yeah, there you go. Your thoughts on
Alden Gonzalez, MLB, ESPN, West Coast Baseball Angels. There you go.
You just call him a Dodgers honk, and then he'll
be He'll be accurate. He's like the Dave mcminimon or

(01:07:38):
any number of guys that are assigned without actually being assigned.
This is the mouthpiece for this big market team. We
want to have our narrative put forth from n Oh,
the Dodgers are awesome. It's a narrative. Yes, he wrote
a whole article on it today. Did you see this?

Speaker 4 (01:07:56):
Let me let me put the car in reverse for
a second. So who's the reigning World Series champion? Oh,
it's the Dodgers, okay? And who had what would widely
be regarded by non West Coast media as a strong
offseason Dodgers?

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (01:08:11):
So what's the narrative again? That they're awesome? Awesome as
the narrative? I just said it, the narrative, the narrative.
So do I need to look up the definition of narrative?
I don't know what it is. Apparently, Oh, don't worry,
I got you. There's lots of narratives floating around, especially
with LA teams. All right, let's hear it on your
Southwest home for Los Angeles Dodgers Sports Talk Radio or

(01:08:33):
seven nine.

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
It does pertain to the Astros in some ways describe
how these two teams were built. These two I mean,
you know, people struggle with whether or not to call
the Astros recent run a dynasty simply because dynasty, to
some people implies, well, you have to have at least

(01:08:54):
three championships. You can't have only two. You can't be
only owing to the World Series every other year. You see, like,
the more you talk about what the Astros did for
the better part of a decade, the more it sounds
insane that you're trying to push back against them being
a dynasty simply because of the Rings culture that we
live in.

Speaker 4 (01:09:15):
But you know, well don't you think rings and dynasty
actually should go together?

Speaker 2 (01:09:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:09:21):
But how a game in eight years we'll call the
time span that you're talking about. So there's been eight
champions they have the same number of champions ships as
another team. Can you have two dynasties at the same time.

Speaker 2 (01:09:36):
Well, when one team is going to the World Series
every year, even if it's not winning it more often
than not, and the other team is flaming out in
the first round. Unless they happen to win a COVID
World World Series Championship in addition to the one you're
talking about, which they bought, then it's different.

Speaker 4 (01:09:52):
I wouldn't call the Dodgers a dynasty, but I think
when they've won the same number that you've won in
the same period of time, rough plus you cheated to
win the one over them, we can bring cheating into it.
They would both tumble with that conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:10:06):
I think that is part of why the whole dynasty
conversation never even got started. With the Astrosk.

Speaker 4 (01:10:11):
I think maybe you're more upset that everyone is. It's
a given, and they're talking about it, and they're creating
a narrative for something that they know is going to happen.
Why are we even playing that's going to be a
Dodgers championship run starting last year and I don't even
think there's an end in sight. It's going to be
twenty twenty nine, and we're wondering if anybody will ever
beat the Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
This paragraph here is where everybody not a Dodgers fan
wants to throw up in their mouth. Twice. The Dodgers
employ seven players on nine figure contracts, When are they
getting that money? With five of those deals reached over
the past fifteen months. They also have the strongest farm

(01:10:51):
system in the sport. Their lineup is loaded, their rotation
is decorated, but also their future looks right and their
resources seem limitless. And yet their chief architect, Andrew Friedman,
isn't ready for a victory lap. Oh. Internally, some humility.

(01:11:11):
I like it. Who else is gonna do it? No
one else is? Everybody else is anointing them the twenty
twenty five World Series champions, he said, It just doesn't
really land with me in that way. I think once
I get fired, once there's like real distance between being
mired in the day to day and when I'm not,
I will be able to look back at those things.
But for us right now, it all feels very precarious.

(01:11:33):
We've seen a lot of really successful organizations that fall
off a cliff and take a while to build back.
We don't take any of it for granted. Smart guy,
he's a very good executive.

Speaker 4 (01:11:43):
Yes, long long before his Vibe year, well before he
was in LA he was widely regarded as one of
the top executives YEP, and he was working for that,
we don't have any money franchise which one, dam.

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh. See how I didn't even know which one you
were talking about. Yes, I don't even have a stadium
right now. But that's not their fault. So he's he
seems to have very good perspective on this. But the
greater theme of this article, this narrative that I'm talking about,
is the fact that, oh, yeah, well, the Dodgers can

(01:12:18):
kind of spend more because of who they are and
what they've done, and just a lot of it being
very play in Los Angeles for an established brand. But
even if they didn't have, like I've talked about this
with the Lakers before, the Lakers didn't do anything to
get better, lebron chose them. Lebron chose them, and therefore

(01:12:39):
in some ways got them out of their horrific mismanagement
of that organization over the better course of like six seasons,
just by showing up and saying, this is where I
want to play a little bit of that goes to
the Dodgers. Although they were already a winning organization, they
weren't mismanaging things. They're not the Yankees, in other words,
spending a bunch of money in it, not come fruition

(01:13:01):
and then show, hey, chose them. You know that helps them,
But it's it's a different scenario because they were already
being run well, they are already competing in winning championships.
I only bring all that up though, because you know,
Rob Manford's looking around like, oh yeah, this is kind
of a this is kind of tough. One team is
really really good for this, this, this, this and this reason,
and everybody else is like, why should we play? Because

(01:13:23):
I really do feel like going into this season, that's
how a lot of teams are looking at it.

Speaker 4 (01:13:28):
They're just not in competition with them until it matters,
which is why everyone should play. Who's in competition with them?
This season? Just four teams and one of them is
trying not going to be any good, and another one's
not quite to that level.

Speaker 2 (01:13:39):
The Giants, et cetera.

Speaker 4 (01:13:40):
But Potteries are competing with them, the Diamondbacks are competing
with them. Late in the year, maybe the Braves or
the Cubs or somebody else is competing with them.

Speaker 2 (01:13:49):
Probably not.

Speaker 4 (01:13:49):
They're gonna be the number one seed and everybody knows it,
and then the playoffs get here and whoever needs to
beat them three out of five. They're now truly they
now truly care who the Dodgers are. And if we
can beat them three out and then two teams maybe
with a chance to beat them four out of seven. Otherwise, Like,
there's fifteen teams in the American League, not a one
of them is competing with the Dodgers until they maybe
meet them in the World Series.

Speaker 2 (01:14:10):
So why would you not play?

Speaker 4 (01:14:11):
Why would you not go out there to win a
championship when you might not even have to face the Dodgers.
And we're talking about every team that's even National League
teams who might not even have to face them when
they lose three games in a row open the postseason
and that's it for them after their one hundred and
nineteen win season. Woo who narrative. This is a realistic article.
I mean, they've been to the playoffs every year since

(01:14:32):
twenty thirteen. That's just in the Dodgers. So says the
A team are good.

Speaker 5 (01:14:41):
The A team On Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 2 (01:14:43):
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(01:15:27):
so we don't waste it being Dallas fans.

Speaker 5 (01:15:30):
Dose back to Houston's age.

Speaker 2 (01:15:33):
Alright, alright, alright.

Speaker 1 (01:15:35):
Adam Clinton Adam Wesler on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:15:48):
One of the funniest stories I read over the weekend,
like how bad is it for the Dallas Mavericks. You
saw another in on Friday WEX.

Speaker 4 (01:16:01):
I'm technically I didn't see it because I couldn't figure
out why Dante Exem checked out of the game, walked
over to the Mavericks bench and grabbed a staffer to
walk with him to the locker room. I noted it
on the air. I'm like, he's heading back to the
locker room.

Speaker 2 (01:16:12):
But again, hey, could you come with me? I'm pretty
sure it broke.

Speaker 4 (01:16:14):
My Yeah, it doesn't look like I said, because he
wasn't walking with a limp. It doesn't look like he's
under duress. I didn't know he was holding a broken fingers.
So yeah, and I still I I really don't understand
how this is even possible and who's in cahoots and
who wants this to happen.

Speaker 2 (01:16:33):
How are you reporting that during the game.

Speaker 4 (01:16:35):
It's Dante Exam, it's not Kyrie Irving, it's not Lebron,
it's not Jalen Green, it's not Sga. You're reporting during
the game. That's still going on that he's only been
off the floor for maybe an hour. Somebody's telling him,
somebody's texting shams, somebody is making sure he's nose first.
Dante Exam just broke a finger in his hand. He's

(01:16:57):
gonna be out of indefinitely. Yeah, that's that's exactly what happened.
It happened during the game that that report came out,
And obviously it's been substantiated by the Mavericks, who made
the same announcement themselves not long after. He is one
of many, many players, it's not available to them now
or for the foreseeable future. However, with a miraculous, miraculous recovery.

(01:17:21):
Ten oh one and am this morning, the Mavericks have
assigned Jayden Hardy and Anthony Davis to the Texas Legends of.

Speaker 2 (01:17:27):
The NBA G League.

Speaker 4 (01:17:28):
We mentioned that earlier, noting that they are in Frisco,
their home base for the next five days. A lot
of good practice and scrimmage. Time two o'clock PM, the
Dallas Mavericks have recalled Jaden Hardy and Anthony Davis.

Speaker 2 (01:17:42):
Wow, that was fast. He's really healthy.

Speaker 4 (01:17:45):
Give me these are all just procedural nonsense moves that
I'm poking fun at.

Speaker 2 (01:17:49):
Outside of Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson,
give me the next guy or guys that comes to
mind as like actual rotation consequential players for the DAJA.

Speaker 4 (01:18:03):
Washington returned to the lineup in their last game, and
he was very good and he honestly, if Clay plays
like he did against the Rockets against anybody else the
rest of the way, He's not very consequential. That was
one of the worst games I've ever seen him play.

Speaker 2 (01:18:13):
Period. Now I loved it.

Speaker 4 (01:18:15):
I could not believe every shot bang goods miss.

Speaker 2 (01:18:19):
He's been making every shot he's taken against them for
like ten years. So screw that. But here's the deal,
PJ Washington, he's fed up? Oh he is? Yeah, okay,
we'll see this. Yesterday, what's up with PJ? He was
at the foul line. He was shooting some free throws
against the Sixers, and uh, I guess this would have

(01:18:40):
been in one of the billion times that the crowd
in the building there and Dallas had decided to start
a fire, Nico chant. That's what they do now, That's
what their entertainment is for their season, because nobody else,
nothing else is they're not winning.

Speaker 7 (01:18:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:18:56):
They they had the front side of the back to
back for the Rockets opponent tonight. They had these Sixers
in town yesterday afternoon.

Speaker 2 (01:19:02):
So it's basically like the Sixers didn't even play. The
Sixers won.

Speaker 4 (01:19:07):
Yeah, and we're in and out of the game so
fast that they made it to the Cougars selection show
in Houston between five and six o'clock yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:19:17):
I mean, hey, make quick work of a team.

Speaker 4 (01:19:20):
Like that, And nice for Quinton Grimes and Eric Gordon
to stop by and give their helloes to their former
coach and Q's place a lot of players that he knows.

Speaker 2 (01:19:28):
Calvin is the best, by the way. But that more
on that in just a little bit. So Pj's at
the foul line and uh the chance break out and
one such person who was sitting like not directly behind
the basket, but kind of off to the corner, has
this on camera. Pj's firing up his free throws and

(01:19:49):
telling this person to sit your bleep down twice during
the course of the free throw shots. And then after
the game after they had lost to like one of
the worst teams in the NBA right now, mainly because
of injuries, the Philadelphia seventy six Ers, he had this
to say, at the end of the day, trades happen.
We understand we have a new team now. All that
fire Nico stuff. We're sick and tired of hearing it.

(01:20:12):
We just want to go out there and play, and
we want the fans to support us no matter who's
on the floor. That's just how I feel about it.
End of quote. They're not supporting you, They're not supporting
the GM who made your team that you play on
right now, Very very bad. That's all they're doing. And
this is why you don't make bad trades like this,

(01:20:33):
because now your team, the actual players, are having to
talk to the media about the chant about you trading
away their best player. And that's what's happened. This is
Dallas right now. This is Dallas Mavericks basketball.

Speaker 4 (01:20:46):
This handful of games after they made the deal, they
went on a little bit of a run, took advantage
of the schedule a little bit, beating New Orleans, the Heat,
the Rockets, the Celtics for whatever Golden state. They were
thirty one and twenty six February twenty first, less than
a month ago. It's five games over five hundred. They're
three games under right now. They've only won twice since
that date. They've lost, well, quite a few times. They're

(01:21:10):
two and ten in those twelve games they've played since,
most of them with a variety of these are the
players unavailable to us. Washington just returned. It's likely that
Hardy and Davis aren't far away. But people in Dallas
who are already media in Dallas, who are already saying, okay,
exam just went down, they're running out of days left,
games left for some of their two way players to

(01:21:32):
even be eligible to play in Are they going to
make it through the season, because how do they manage
to just dress nine players? We keep telling you this
is important to Houston. It's important that they put a
competitive product out there at some point to keep Phoenix
from even having a chance to play their way into
the playoffs. By passing Dallas and then potentially winning two
games in a play in tournament, which would prevent them

(01:21:53):
from having they would have a zero percent chance of
giving the Rockets a lottery pick, then a pick that
could go from fourteen to one or four or anything.
Currently it's twelve on the outside. So hopefully the Mavericks
will play a little bit better. I understand his point
of view, and there's, honestly, there's nothing nothing. I don't
think there's another avenue to take. He could sit there
and say nothing, or he could just be honest. I'm

(01:22:15):
gonna keep up plotting players for being honest. You're right,
they're not booing PJ. They're not booing Max Christi. They're
booing the organization. But that means when the MAVs are
playing at home, the team that they're being watched by
people who don't want them to win and are so
ticked off at them. They're acting like they don't want
to win. Believe me, when they go down the stretch
and hit game winners, they'll be cheering. Didn't happen last
night or yesterday afternoon. It's probably not gonna happen very

(01:22:37):
often the rest of the season. Good news for PJ though, Detroit, Brooklyn, Atlanta, Lakers, Raptors,
Theo's the only five teams left to visit Dallas this season.
Every other game is a who's Nico Harrison?

Speaker 2 (01:22:51):
We don't care.

Speaker 4 (01:22:51):
We're not gonna have fire Nico chance in Brooklyn or
Orlando or Memphis.

Speaker 2 (01:22:57):
But here's the thing, like once they wants to seasons
over and they go into the offseason and I don't
know their cap situation, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:23:05):
That's kind of well, it's gonna be different because of Irving.
He'll probably be under a new contract or he could
opt out.

Speaker 2 (01:23:11):
I was about to say, does he I don't think so.

Speaker 4 (01:23:14):
I think they re up him for a couple of seeds,
probably two years.

Speaker 2 (01:23:17):
But when's he coming back next year? During the season,
But he's not gonna be ready for the open of
the season correct, and Anthony Davis will get hurt because
he always does the player they specifically targeted and traded for. Yes,
Klay Thompson sucks now he be another year older. He
was never intended to be their third star. He was
just a player they added to the team. But I
don't think, I mean, that's not how he was marketed.

(01:23:37):
That's not how the team was marketed.

Speaker 4 (01:23:39):
I mean, he's a multi time champion. You might as
well tell people who's on the squad. He's not even
their fourth best player.

Speaker 2 (01:23:45):
He's awful. I don't even mean that as an insult.

Speaker 4 (01:23:48):
I know he's just another player on the team behind Davis, Gafford,
Washington and Irving. They matter more than he does to
me and always have. He's just not an elite player.
He's a good player player to have. He could be
on a championship level team. But now the other players
have to be awesome so he can just be on
the team.

Speaker 2 (01:24:07):
Remember when the GM said or no the ownership. They
were still talking last weekend. The shrike's fear into other
NBA teams. You've got to be kidding me.

Speaker 4 (01:24:17):
Well, if you're literally using some implement to strike fear
into them like it's the movies, like it's Gladiator. Maybe
maybe I could go for that, Not in basketball, I
wouldn't think so. Two in two hours ago here on
the A Team.

Speaker 1 (01:24:30):
The A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety two lifelong
Houston sports guys named Adham Talking Your Teams series, Adam
Clinton and Adam Wexler are the A Team.

Speaker 2 (01:24:50):
A our number three here on a Monday edition of
the A Team Sports Talks seven ninety Space City Home Network.
Wex over there ac right here. Happy Saint Patrick's Day
to everyone out there as well. We've talked all things well,
we've pretty much covered every team in town for a
variety of reasons. If you're into the best cornerback in

(01:25:14):
the NFL, according to some, being locked up on your
favorite NFL team for the foreseeable future, I have good
news for you. You're a Houston Petis fan. O.

Speaker 4 (01:25:25):
The Texas have signed cornerback Ronald Darby. Is that what
you were gonna get to?

Speaker 9 (01:25:30):
No?

Speaker 4 (01:25:30):
One year deal for the eleven year vet? Is he
the best cornerback in the NFL. No, somehow he's available
to join his seventh team. Wait, wait a second, there's
a Ryan Hollands joke in there somewhere. I mean, it's
extremely applaudable to last as long as either Ronald Darby

(01:25:51):
or Ran Hollins. The Frames keep wanting you on their team.

Speaker 2 (01:25:55):
Our good friend Jeff Blum was on a one year
contract every year of his thirteen year major league career.
I means you're wanted, also applaudable, very good. I just
that's depth. That's what that is.

Speaker 4 (01:26:14):
Yeah, two different angles to take on the additions of
a pair of corners, along with a couple of roster
moves the Texans made to clean up the roster a
little bit. Two corners or a one corner let go
one wide receiver, let go a safety. Let go Everett,
Hill and Jackson all at the very very back end
of the roster each. But they haven't made official any
of these deals, but reportedly and with their own post

(01:26:37):
on social media when reports come out that Derek Stingley
Juniors agreed to a three year ninety million dollar contract
extension to be the highest paid cornerback based on aav
that's thirty million a year over three years, though he's
under contract for five years and it's far less than
that because he's going to play under his rookie contract
for the first five years of his career, so he
signed for the next five seasons. Their social media post

(01:26:59):
was basedasically just a picture of sting he had some
headphones in.

Speaker 2 (01:27:03):
That was it.

Speaker 4 (01:27:03):
But I think that's pretty much an acknowledgment of yeah, yeah,
the reports are true. Not to mention, just about every
teammate that I am aware of on Instagram noted it
and got his bag. No one deserves it more. We'd
go my little brother whoever. They were all very happy
for it. That's one end of it. The Texans reportedly
also have added Ronald Darby to their secondary a.

Speaker 2 (01:27:25):
Cornerback last played with the Jaguars.

Speaker 4 (01:27:27):
Played with the Ravens before that, so he was on
the field twice against the Texans that season.

Speaker 2 (01:27:32):
CJ.

Speaker 4 (01:27:32):
Stroud's first season, including that playoff game, will be his
seventh team when what will be his twelfth year. I'm
not sure how others view his path here and what
he's done over his career, but when they signed CJ.
Henderson last year and Jeff Okuda last year for depth,
I was less underwhelmed by this, but more overwhelmed by

(01:27:55):
this player than those two.

Speaker 2 (01:27:57):
I didn't think either of those other two players could play.

Speaker 4 (01:27:59):
Didn't the Texans long to figure out that Henderson couldn't
play to make the team.

Speaker 2 (01:28:03):
And every time Jeff A.

Speaker 4 (01:28:04):
Kuda was on the field to play defense, the other
team's offensive coordinators were aware of it, and that was
a bad thing. He won't be back. He's making visits elsewhere.
I don't know where Darby will play, what level of
play he'll bring to this team, but you have to
have some players behind your starters, and as awesome as
their five starters will be. And believe me, no matter

(01:28:24):
what you've seen from at least one person, maybe two
on PFF, they did not add CJ. Gardner Johnson so
they could put Kayln Bullock on the bench. Laughable And
your explanation of that as the reason is even more laughable.

Speaker 2 (01:28:39):
But they got to have players come off the bench.

Speaker 4 (01:28:40):
You gotta have players step I mean Kamari Lasser and
are he and Derek Stingley Junior taking every single snap
at corner. You need a third corner, you need a
fourth corner, you need a fifth corner. That's what Darby's
here for one year. Reportedly two and a half million
should make the team. Should out play others that they
brought in. He'll be one of four or five guys
they'll bring in. Did Laramie Tunsl congratulates Sting? He did

(01:29:02):
actually congratulate Sting today. Today was the day via zoom
that Laramie Tunsell met with the local media for him,
which is now no longer the Houston media. The local
media for him is the Greater Washington, DC area.

Speaker 2 (01:29:15):
What do you call that? Because we district of Columbia.

Speaker 4 (01:29:19):
The district, I mean like the metro area, the DC
metros fans who watch football. That sounds pretty awful. Even
though the Wizards did get a win.

Speaker 2 (01:29:28):
National Saturday Night, well, it was a thrilling victory over
the Denver Nuggets.

Speaker 4 (01:29:33):
That is important. I know what's why the Rockets and
Nuggets have the same ricks.

Speaker 2 (01:29:37):
I told you by the time we got into the
studio on Monday, the Rockets'll be back in the second seed.
I predicted it. Well done, totally, we can go in order.

Speaker 4 (01:29:45):
I grabbed four things from mister Tunsell, who will now
be protecting as a left tackle. Jaden Daniels, a quarterback
going into his second year after a great first year.
So a repeat of what Tunsall was being asked to
do last year, probably playing with a better offensive line
this year. And by probably I mean now definitely. Okay,
for now, Well, the Textans are going to make a

(01:30:06):
lot of moves. Huh. Before I get to the first comment,
it's twenty twenty five. Let's say Laramie Tunsel plays for
the Commanders for the rest of his career five years,
eight years, ten years, whatever it is. Which of those
years will the Texans have a better offensive line than
the one Laramie's on.

Speaker 2 (01:30:22):
It better be soon. I mean it might be never,
It better be soon. I'm not even looking at that other.

Speaker 4 (01:30:28):
I had to play one side or the other, I
would play the never side.

Speaker 2 (01:30:32):
What's the point of adding all these players around? Well,
because you got to feel the team. What if you can't.
If you don't have time to throw to these weapons,
for example.

Speaker 4 (01:30:43):
Then you need to figure out how to leave eight
into block and send two out to catch and throw
them the ball.

Speaker 2 (01:30:49):
How hard is that? I get it. You want to
revamp this offensive line, you better hurry up. They got
a whole They got a whole off season to watch.

Speaker 4 (01:30:55):
Every other player that's good signed elsewhere, like Mackai Becket's
They got there perfectly well, so to make sure all
of it happens just.

Speaker 2 (01:31:03):
As it should. So don't you're you're worried for nothing?

Speaker 4 (01:31:05):
But like I said, four items I thought would be
of interest to the people here in the h with
Laramie Tunsel heading off to play in, as you say,
the district of Columbia. But I'm sure everything will work
out fine for him. Right, You're not too concerned, are you?
You're not worried about his future?

Speaker 2 (01:31:23):
Is that right? I don't care anymore. That's where I'm at.
That sounds reas my problem.

Speaker 4 (01:31:29):
Okay, So what the reports from here, and we talked
about as well. Among the reasons why they moved Laramie
to Washington's because I gotta pay the young guys.

Speaker 2 (01:31:39):
Right, That's something that was a narrative. Let's see if
he agrees.

Speaker 7 (01:31:42):
So every year I try to find something that act
quite right.

Speaker 2 (01:31:46):
I'll get it here soon. No, there we go.

Speaker 7 (01:31:49):
Pretty much.

Speaker 9 (01:31:50):
They're just trying to keep the young guys together, as
simple as that. When I was when I was a rookie,
and I would talk to my OG who was Brandon
Albert and Bush Ryde and Mike Pounce. They told me
it's a young man's game, and you know, I've seen
it for myself. You know, they drafted some young guys
and they hit on every draft pick. You know, they're
trying to keep those guys together. So I absully understand.

(01:32:13):
They just paid steemly today. They just gave up their bag,
So I truly understand. Like it's no hard feelings, Like
at the end of the day, it's a business. You
know what I mean that, I don't take anything personal.
There's no heart feelings. It gets to Houston, Texas. You know,
I thank them to just put me in this position,
and I thank you from everything they did for me
and my family and changing my life.

Speaker 7 (01:32:31):
So I get it.

Speaker 2 (01:32:33):
Man, he gets it. They hit on every draft pick
Kenyan Green. I mean, come on, he's talking about the
guys that are going to get paid. They hit on
three of them, Okay, which is pretty you know, they
hit on each one of the ones. Yeah, every draft pick.

Speaker 4 (01:32:49):
I think, even in this case, even with the semantics
we play on this game, Yeah, I can afford him.

Speaker 2 (01:32:54):
Just understand what he was talking. But listen to what
he just said. If they had hit on Kenya and
that was a good offensive line is he traded this offseason.

Speaker 4 (01:33:05):
I don't think so, because if you're a good offensive line,
why would you move him? That's why I just and
I'm not But if you're a good offensive line, you
also could move him without the major.

Speaker 2 (01:33:18):
Concerns we currently have because it's just one guy. That
is the flip side of it. But I just I
wonder about that. When he you know, he's talking about
them hitting on draft picks, it just it just highlights it.

Speaker 4 (01:33:30):
Well, what he's saying is, I look what just happened.
They gotta pay Sting, they gotta pay CJ, they gotta
pay Will. They're probably not he already knew what we
we know. Also, it's just it was a win. He
has two years left on his contract. Is he playing
seventeen more games? Is he playing thirty four more games?
Turns out that he's playing zero more games. But he
was definitely not playing three years from now. He was
not going to be a Texan in three years.

Speaker 2 (01:33:49):
I was a given.

Speaker 4 (01:33:50):
They just decided earlier than maybe they had to, because
only one of those young guys is getting paid this
off season to do that. He also offered some respect
for his former team, Unlike his previous team, the second
time he's been traded. He felt like he was dealt
with by the Texans better than he was dealt with
by the Dolphins.

Speaker 9 (01:34:09):
I feel like they did the right to dilegens by,
you know, giving me a call and letting me know
I've hit a time, what's happening.

Speaker 7 (01:34:16):
You know, we just said down and discuss what was
going on.

Speaker 9 (01:34:19):
So, you know, I respect the Houston Texas and Nick
and Demico for that, just you know, just giving me
just a heads up.

Speaker 4 (01:34:26):
Well, heads up, respected member of the team, a captain,
long tenured member of a relatively young squad.

Speaker 2 (01:34:33):
Do you think he knew this was coming throughout the season?

Speaker 4 (01:34:35):
Throughout the season though, Okay, well throughout the season, you're
still watching everybody go this direction. Is it possible Stingley's
not extended this offseason? If he plays nine games, if
he has two picks, if their defense wasn't great, sure
that changes everything. As the season plays out, you're getting
a clearer picture of the win on Will, CJ and Derek.

(01:34:57):
I don't think it was much of a stretch to
expect all three of them to play well, which they did,
so I don't think that had to happen, and then
we just told you the two completely different guesses on
what happens. If you have a good offensive line, you
could think about that meaning two completely different things. Our
offensive line is good, well, then that means we need
to figure out a different way to save money.

Speaker 2 (01:35:21):
Or our offensive line is good.

Speaker 4 (01:35:23):
We can afford to save money at one of the
positions if we feel confident that we can continue making
it good because we're good at filling it out. If
they were making all these if they weren't making so
many mistakes on who they were paying and who they
were drafting, then they would have less than five offensive
line problems, when in fact they have five offensive line problems.
There's five spots. They got a problem with everyone, and

(01:35:45):
that's why they're making the changes that they have. There's
a couple more things from Laramie. We'll flip over on
the other side. One of them specifically on what we've
all been talking about. We literally are talking about the
words right out of our mouth right now what went
wrong last year. But the best of the sound from
Laramie Tunsel comes after that. He is aware that he

(01:36:05):
is a penalty committer. He's very aware of it. What
did Laramie Tunsel say to his new media peeps with
his new team about his plans for the future on
his penalties and how few of them he wants to
have moving forward.

Speaker 2 (01:36:22):
That's next.

Speaker 5 (01:36:24):
The A team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:36:29):
Let's talk about what you need to have at your
disposal if you've been in any sort of motor vehicle collision,
you need to have a team that is going to
have your back and is a proud partner of another
team in town, the Houston Rockets. We're talking about Mocarum
Injury Lawyers. They've been helping Houstonians for over thirty years
and absolutely you can contact them any time, day or

(01:36:52):
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always gonna give you a free consultation. They are always
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your case. And Mocarum Injury Lawyers, they only have a
few goals and they're very very apparent. They're very very

(01:37:13):
They're gonna get to the point, which is to help
you get your life back on track and help you
obtain the highest possible compensation for your injuries. There's not
a lot of funny business. It's straight to the point here.
It's Mocarum Injury Lawyers two eight one two two two
twenty two twenty two.

Speaker 1 (01:37:30):
One show two Adams and Less Possibilities eighteen continues on
Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:37:52):
A team on a Monday edition of the programs Sports
Talk seven ninety. You know who we have heard a
lot from, but we haven't talked a lot about lately.
A lot of options. Yeah, I know, I know.

Speaker 4 (01:38:07):
Well, in this program football, you're gonna have to hint
me to death before I guess right.

Speaker 2 (01:38:12):
Uh, he is the head coach of Colorado. Uh should Sanders? Dad?
There you go?

Speaker 4 (01:38:19):
So can we get to Laramie first and then Dane second?

Speaker 2 (01:38:22):
Yeah, Yes, let's get to Laramie first.

Speaker 4 (01:38:26):
Said that Larie had a couple of things to say
about the Texans. So I wanted to finish you off
on that what happened last year?

Speaker 2 (01:38:34):
Very simple? Put that was the question asked of him.

Speaker 9 (01:38:36):
His explanation, that's tough because we could have did a
lot of things better.

Speaker 7 (01:38:41):
Myself included we could have taketej better.

Speaker 9 (01:38:44):
We could have it is a lot of things that
played a part into what happened last year. So I
don't think we should have just pinpoint one one thing.
But again I don't I just can't take a personal
I really don't think it was it was that. I
honestly think it was just like a is this move
and a business move to try to pay the young guys.
I don't think I had anything to do with performance

(01:39:05):
last year or the oline performance last year. I'm gonna
keep saying that, No, it's not redundant, but you know, don't.
I don't think it was anything personal. I don't think
it was off the plate from last year.

Speaker 2 (01:39:15):
So same thing we discussed the last segment. He's condundant
is not the word I would have used. Well, he's
is sound redundant saying that he sounds ridiculous saying that
it wasn't on the offensive line or no, no performance.

Speaker 4 (01:39:26):
The reason he got traded, the reason he personally got
traded wasn't solely because of performance based from last season.
That's what he's saying, And so he was also saying
it's not personally. He doesn't think, Yeah, they singled me
out for some sort of personal issue with the team,
or they traded me because they personally didn't like me
being here, and obviously he fully recognized we were bad.

Speaker 2 (01:39:46):
We could have protected CJ better. Those are that's what
he said there.

Speaker 4 (01:39:51):
It's clearly changes are being made because the unit played poorly.
He's not taking it upon himself to say, look that
they moved me because I couldn't play.

Speaker 2 (01:40:00):
I think that's accurate, and I agree with everything that
you just said, and I'm sure that's what he thinks.
But then why is it Why is the financial aspect
of this being put forth as the like ninety percent
cause of it, because.

Speaker 4 (01:40:13):
I just well, you can move any of the other
four line and all you want, You're not saving the
amount of money you're saving by moving Laramie.

Speaker 2 (01:40:19):
Yeah, I just so to speak capital that feels convenient
to me.

Speaker 4 (01:40:24):
Well why, but but that's not convenient. Was Laramie Tunsel
bad last year? The answer is no. He wasn't great though, sure,
but you're not. He was notable. He's also their best one,
whatever level that is. And being the best player of
a lot that's not very good isn't very high praise.
But I mean, I'm not gonna act like he didn't

(01:40:45):
play good football last year. Not only run blocker. He's okay,
So the same with the rest of the group. And
the rest of the group none of them are good
pass blockers except for him in.

Speaker 2 (01:40:56):
The most important position.

Speaker 4 (01:40:57):
And the irreplaceable part of it is, every other play
on the line was clearly replaceable. That's why every other
spot on the line had somebody else start there at
different points during the season.

Speaker 2 (01:41:06):
He isn't.

Speaker 4 (01:41:07):
Their real true effort has to be made to replace
your left tackle. And what they're gonna do is they're
gonna move somebody with some left tackle experience over there
and hope that's good enough for the time being. And
if it is, then great, If Titus Howard can play
that position to a level that allows him to do
better things this year, that is that's a probably good
way to rebuild your line. He already makes good money.

(01:41:29):
He's technically not going to be on the high end
of left tackle paid. But he also are now telling
me we expect comparable play. He's never played at the
level that Laramie's played at from a pass protection.

Speaker 2 (01:41:39):
The thing that scares me. You can put him in
his quote familiar position all you want. It's just you're
talking about CJ's blind side that needs to be.

Speaker 4 (01:41:50):
Like, maybe we don't know what they're planning this year. No,
I think throwing left handed, and now it's the other side.

Speaker 2 (01:41:56):
That's his blind side stopped it.

Speaker 4 (01:41:59):
So last, for a player who has had penalty issues
for several seasons, is that fair to say? Oh yeah, okay,
Well he addressed what you're being nice. You have a
chip on your shoulder, you know, because you've been moved
because they traded you, And he went on to explain it.
I always play with the chip on my shoulders the
way I play, and I'm always trying to get better.

(01:42:20):
So that's essentially what he answered to that question about
trying to get better.

Speaker 9 (01:42:23):
So every year I try to find something. I have
to do this better. I want to do this better.
I want to be known for this, you know. So
I kind of just put that chip on my shoulder
by myself. It's really just me versus me at the
end of the day, you know, especially, it's a lot
of things I will work on, like those those nineteen
Those nineteen penalties I had last season was unacceptable, So
that's something I want to address for So getting that

(01:42:43):
number down or even having done.

Speaker 4 (01:42:47):
So nineteen penalties is unacceptable. Maybe getting that number down
even having none. If last year was a wow, what happened?
Why is Laramie Tunsel susceptible to all these penalties for
the first time ever? What happened to them between twenty
twenty three and twenty twenty two.

Speaker 2 (01:43:09):
That's not accurate.

Speaker 4 (01:43:10):
Laramie Tunsel has long been near the top of the league,
if not at the top of the league, and penalties
on left tackles, most of them for false starting. It
just fysicils when you got on him for saying something
that sounded rather disingenuous. The last comment, this is exceptionally disingenuous.

(01:43:32):
Last year, in year eight, your penalty count finally became unacceptable. Right,
that's what you're going to work on moving forward. Where
was this any of the other years or is it
just inevitable you're just gonna commit penalties.

Speaker 2 (01:43:44):
This is just the latest look. We go around around
and around about why the decision was made and what
percentages of it was money versus you know, the talent
or lack thereof performance and all that kind of stuff.
It just feels to me the more time goes on,
and there's has been a lot of it that the
Texans just wanted to tear up the script, so to speak,

(01:44:06):
and just start over with this aspect of their team,
where the rest of their team is very, very good
on both sides of the ball and special teams, but
they did not want Laramie Tunzel and John Weeks part
of their team.

Speaker 4 (01:44:18):
John Weeks getting thrown in they're catching strays, double figure
penalty count. For the years that he played healthy where
a constant every year he was here in twenty nineteen,
many many years ago, he was at eighteen, twenty twenty four,
zero years ago, he was at nineteen. That's no change,
that's no working on your game, that's no getting rid

(01:44:39):
of it, that's keeping it.

Speaker 2 (01:44:41):
So it was like lobby that averages twenty turnovers a
game in the NBA, it's just not gonna win a
lot unless unless you're the Rockets.

Speaker 4 (01:44:48):
Unless you're the Rockets, who are I believe they're still
undefeated twenty.

Speaker 2 (01:44:51):
Plus turn No, I think they have one loss on
It's it's insane, but yeah, I just feel like that's
where I mean it. I've I've had some time digest
this over the weekend and just kind of think about
the future of everything, not just the offensive line the team. CJ. Like,
you're gonna invest in that kid sooner rather than later
like you just did with Stingling. You're about twelve months

(01:45:13):
away from doing it. Yeah. Will Anderson Junior like they
just wanted to It's not you, it's me. We want
to go in a different direction. Yeah, like when you
get he I do.

Speaker 4 (01:45:22):
I believe in what he said for the most part,
about the dynamics of it, respect for the Texans, keeping
me in loop, giving me a heads up.

Speaker 2 (01:45:29):
Doesn't think it was personal. I can understand that.

Speaker 4 (01:45:31):
I do think that what you're saying is it is
a they don't want to slowly pull the band aid off,
but they're taking a huge risk in doing so. This.

Speaker 2 (01:45:42):
Can we get better faster doing it this way?

Speaker 4 (01:45:46):
Probably so. But what's the cost? What at the expense
of what a full season of CJ. Stroud being incapable
of running this offense because they're incapable of blocking him
and have to.

Speaker 2 (01:45:58):
We just experienced it. Are some of these short term
contracts of these players you've brought in in the process.

Speaker 4 (01:46:06):
Yeah, they put a lot of money into making this
team awesome, being better than they were last year, and
they're continuing that process. Now another restructure, possibly an extension.
I haven't determined that on what they did with Deniko
Autrey to gain even more space, but yeah, I understand
what they're attempting to do. And as days continue to
go by and players continue to no longer be available.

(01:46:28):
Over the weekend, it was Makai Beckton, not a tackle,
but a player who certainly is an upgrade on your line,
and he signed two years twenty million something that seemed
like a reasonable area. Same thing with Zeitler, although I
think Zeitler went elsewhere for personal reasons, even only on
a one year deal. I mean, I don't know that
they like Tevin Jenkins so far, nobody does. He remains unsigned,

(01:46:48):
and there's a handful Will Hernandez coming off injury probably,
I would think he's probably trying to get as much
money as he can wherever he thinks he's going. I
don't know if that's this team. We'll eventually move completely
past this, probably when they have told us with signings,
how are you gonna get past this? You gotta have
the players there. Lake and Tomlinson's a Texan, Ed Ingram's

(01:47:09):
a Texan. I don't know that they're on this offensive line.
Though I know they're a part of it. I know
they're in the room, I don't know that they matter
to next year's production. Blake Fisher and Titus Howard are
starting for your Texans next year, that's all we know.
Patterson probably, Tomlinson, probably an Ingram possibly.

Speaker 2 (01:47:31):
And even if you either trade up or you just
take somebody highly touted at the left tackle position or whatever,
let's just say the left tackle because it's the most important,
there's no guarantee that guy is going to be. In fact,
the odds are saying he's not gonna be as good
as even Laramie Tassel was. Forget the penalty. He's just overall.

(01:47:51):
So yeah, I would say that's a big gamble wex.
I would say I'm a little bit more concerned with
the offensive line than I was at this time last year,
And I was concerned last year.

Speaker 4 (01:48:00):
Right, you're taking a poor performing area of your team
and you're acknowledging it, and you're making major major changes.
You know, Josh Simmons, Calvin Banks, Amble, there are names
you will hear for the next several weeks leading up
to April's draft, and you might not land any of
them at twenty five. We'll see if the Texans can
swing that. You tease us something about Dion Sanders.

Speaker 2 (01:48:21):
Oh boy, the payoff on that.

Speaker 1 (01:48:22):
On the other side the eight on Sports Talk seven ninety,
let's talk about Two Creeks Crossing Resort.

Speaker 2 (01:48:32):
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(01:48:54):
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Speaker 10 (01:49:15):
Sorry, hey, listen to Rockets Radio or you're a smart device,
just ask lay.

Speaker 2 (01:49:24):
Sports Stock seven ninety on iHeartRadio.

Speaker 1 (01:49:28):
Now the good, good, the bad that's not good, and
the ugly that's getting real ugly.

Speaker 5 (01:49:37):
With the eighteen.

Speaker 2 (01:49:44):
The good, the bad, and the ugly from over the weekend,
there's a lot to uh, well, there's a lot of
different categories that you could like. I mean, I could
I could do the easy good since there's so many
different candidates to choose from. That would be the Rockets
just taking care of business even though it was much
more difficult to do on Saturday than it was on Friday.

(01:50:07):
But level of competition does play into things. In again,
I think you should give the Bulls some credit.

Speaker 4 (01:50:12):
Yeah, they played a team with less wins on Saturday.
You had the less players. You like that, No, they
had more players. Mavericks had no players. That's what I mean.
That's the point. How they have so many wins? Why
do they look so bad because the players they got
all those wins with weren't playing. If you have not heard, yeah,
so that is definitely good you obviously, I think if

(01:50:34):
nothing else, just being on the right side. Is that
enough being on the right side of home court advantage?
Or are you actually getting into the matchups game because
the standings of the Western Conference I think can be
fairly dangerous for Houston.

Speaker 2 (01:50:50):
Houston is two.

Speaker 4 (01:50:51):
That means they would play the winner of the seven
to eight playing tournament game in their opening round, and
they would have home court advantage against whomever that is
right now, the Timberwolves and Clippers are seven and eight.
Would absolutely jump through every ring of fire ever and say, oh,
it's awesome. They got the Clippers. That'd be great, even
though the Clippers are probably better than the version of

(01:51:11):
the Clippers the Rockets have played and beaten soundly earlier
this year.

Speaker 2 (01:51:15):
James Arden versus the Rockets in the opening round.

Speaker 4 (01:51:18):
Yeah, if it's the Wolves, the healthy Devincenzo, Julius Randall,
Anthony Edwards nas red Wolves.

Speaker 2 (01:51:26):
Like shots going to Julius Randalls. I got a lot.

Speaker 4 (01:51:28):
White is enthusiastic, especially since the team without those players
at times sure seemed like a beast for the Rockets
to try to keep from beating them in the fourth
quarter of every game, which if the Rockets were winning,
they would end up losing and not a real good one.
If you dropped to three, you might catch the Lakers,
who could drop to six or you might have the
current number six Golden State, or it still could be

(01:51:50):
the Timberwolves, who are essentially neck and neck. They're the
same number of games over five hundred as Golden State,
so I don't where they are two, three or four.
There's some bet better matchups than others. I think Grizzlies
are a better matchup than others, even a healthy Jackson
Morant led team who they haven't seen a lot of
this year, and now they're you know, last game they
had one like game before that they had the other

(01:52:13):
Just play good basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:52:14):
If it's not a healthy city, I like your chances
against anybody. Play good basketball. Dean Golden State, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:52:20):
I think it's I'm not gonna lie and pretend like
I haven't been watching. What a bad matchup it is
for Houston, But that's okay. They have had your number,
they have outplayed you, they have made you look awful
at times, and then even after you came back from
down thirty one.

Speaker 2 (01:52:36):
They still beat you that night.

Speaker 4 (01:52:38):
But you're probably I think you should regard yourselves as
a better team. The other part of that, like with
these other trade deadline team changes, they haven't even played
this version of the Warriors, a fully healthy Butler Warriors.
Nonetheless six game winning streak when you haven't had one
this year, that does seem good. It seems like a
reasonable thing to drop in for good, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:52:59):
The bad?

Speaker 4 (01:53:00):
You tell me if Dion fits anywhere here, if we
get to bad or ugly or we can hold onto it,
because I I'm not sure the content context of the purpose.

Speaker 2 (01:53:08):
Of guys will probably hang on to it. But I
do think it's a good It is a good potential idea. Okay,
but we've already done the good, so I can't do it.

Speaker 4 (01:53:20):
So I'm gonna I'm gonna save ugly because I imagine
there's something worse.

Speaker 2 (01:53:24):
The bad is.

Speaker 4 (01:53:27):
College basketball not a huge topic here, which you basically
had a tournament for the last three months, and North
Carolina was granted entry into the tournament. It's called the
regular season. They went out and played their very difficult schedule,
and all these quad one teams well in that regular
season long tournament. North Carolina lost all of those games,

(01:53:49):
but all of them but one, which means they're not
good enough to make the actual tournament. They told you
this as loudly and as clearly as they could with
the basketball and you had three months to look it over,
and I could make a case for West Virginia, I
could make a case for Indiana.

Speaker 2 (01:54:05):
There's a couple teams that.

Speaker 4 (01:54:06):
Probably pretty clearly did more during the regular season to
get themselves there. Very unlikely that Carolina goes on some
run or Indiana would have gone on a run, or
that's not the point. The point is you put it together,
to try to reasonably piece together. You're at large bits.
I have to make it much worse and call it

(01:54:27):
bad because what everybody knew going in and they still
won't believe was a part of it. No, the head
of the committee is your ad.

Speaker 2 (01:54:36):
That's not cool.

Speaker 4 (01:54:37):
The head of the committee who's not allowed in the room.
As soon as his team comes up, he's got to
leave the room. He's not a part of the discussion.
Can I have one more? Little Bubba Cunningham, athletic director
for North Carolina nugget to the scenario. He's got a
nice little contract. It says, should the tar Hills make
a tournament, he receives an additional bonus of one month

(01:54:59):
of salary. He just got one hundred and four thousand
extra dollars for leaving the room and having the committee
put his team in the tournament after a less than
tournament worthy season.

Speaker 2 (01:55:12):
Nice job. We don't have enough.

Speaker 4 (01:55:14):
We have to have the ad of a team that's
possibly gonna have a discussion topic worthy squad. They have
to be the head of the committee. They've got to
even be a part of the committee. I mean, can't
anybody do this? Why is it only this person?

Speaker 2 (01:55:26):
Why is it?

Speaker 4 (01:55:27):
And I know who's been the ad or been the
leader of the committee before, and you would not have
had a problem with that considering who it was, and
it wasn't.

Speaker 2 (01:55:35):
But you can't ignore it. They just don't belong in
the tournament. It's not ugly. They don't belong there. Simple,
I'll keep it simple.

Speaker 4 (01:55:43):
I'd rather talk about what's gonna happen with the ones
and the twos and the threes and the four seeds
that are actually gonna.

Speaker 2 (01:55:47):
Win the tournament. But they're a blue blood.

Speaker 4 (01:55:50):
They are blue. Kansas is also blue. They're not good.
Kansas isn't good. They made the tournament as a seventh seed. Miraculously.
Carolina does wear blue uniforms. They are blue. And that's
where it starts and ends. It did this year. Poor Hubert,
He's not even He's no longer the coach on campus anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:56:09):
He probably was.

Speaker 4 (01:56:10):
It's a basketball school when Mac Brown is there, it's
not a basketball school anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:56:14):
Whereon'd Hubert Davis play his longest tenure in the NBA?
Was it the Knicks had to be the Knicks?

Speaker 7 (01:56:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:56:19):
Wasn't he on that ninety four team that the Rockets beat?
I feel like he was on that team.

Speaker 4 (01:56:23):
Hubert Davis NBA career after his stellar career at North
Carolina had him playing one more game with the Knicks
than any other team he played for.

Speaker 2 (01:56:32):
Wow, one more game.

Speaker 4 (01:56:34):
Played a short season with the Nets and the Raptors,
played a couple seasons with the Pistons and the Washington
Basketball franchise, Yeah, the Bullets and an awesome name. One
more game than the team up the highway to Dallas.
He played two under and sixty one MAVs games, two
hundred sixty two Knicks games.

Speaker 2 (01:56:52):
So he just liked following around Derek Harper.

Speaker 4 (01:56:57):
I was nice to Derek Harper during Friday nights into
the broadcast. Constantly bleeps all over the old Rocket the
door for him as we made our way into the
building and said hello.

Speaker 2 (01:57:06):
I was very nice to him. You know what, I
would have said, hey, man, let me get this for
you two for eighteen.

Speaker 4 (01:57:12):
It wasn't even him did not say that. It's not
like I'm holding the door for John Starks. What do
we want to squeeze into the thirty seconds worth of
ugly hair?

Speaker 2 (01:57:21):
The Texas offensive line is currently pretty ugly. But that
didn't just happen. I know, I'll think of something I
don't want to. I don't want to force this in.
And I do think that Dion's idea is a good
one provided there are some prime look anything that is
a major change being made on the college landscape, especially

(01:57:45):
in light of everything that's going on from a transfer
and all that kind of stuff. There's a lot that
goes into this, But at its heart, I do think
this is a good idea.

Speaker 5 (01:57:55):
The Aight on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (01:57:57):
Ninety Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler.

Speaker 5 (01:58:03):
The A team now continues.

Speaker 2 (01:58:11):
Winding down the four o'clock Howard as the eight team
Sports Talk seven ninety, Space City Home Network. So, in
his brief tenure at Colorado, how would you sum up
Dion Sanders stay there? It hadn't been all.

Speaker 4 (01:58:28):
Roses, but all things compared to where it was, it's
been unbelievably successful in every way. Super huge infusion of interest,
major infusion of money, and tremendous success compared to where
they were coming from.

Speaker 2 (01:58:46):
That's how I describe it.

Speaker 4 (01:58:48):
What's his record most interceptions in a season, most return yard,
most touchdowns as a return man.

Speaker 2 (01:58:54):
What are you talking about? Oh? His win loss record?
His four and eight his first year, one more game
than he's lost. He's thirteen and twelve. Okay, because again,
at the end of the day, that's it's a bottom
line business. That's what matters the most.

Speaker 4 (01:59:07):
They did finish tied for the best record in the
conference this year with three other teams.

Speaker 2 (01:59:11):
Did you know how much he and now he's only
been there two years and Jerry has been owning the
Cowboys since eighty nine.

Speaker 4 (01:59:18):
We've hit on the Dodgers, Yeah, we've hit on the
Who else do we they get on the Mavericks.

Speaker 2 (01:59:23):
We haven't talked about the Yankees.

Speaker 4 (01:59:25):
Had not talked about the Yankee We've hit on the Lakers.
So barely your Southwest home for multiple places that are
nowhere near us.

Speaker 2 (01:59:32):
Well, he just reminds me a lot of Jerry and
that there is a lot of sizzle in ways, but
not always steak. Now in his case, five hundred, that's
not terrible.

Speaker 4 (01:59:44):
He took a one win program to a bowl game
and nine wins this year.

Speaker 2 (01:59:49):
Coaches have done two years later.

Speaker 4 (01:59:50):
Yeah, the ones we recognize as being good at coaching,
that's what they do. It's his opportunity to show that
he can do that after doing something similar at his
first stop.

Speaker 2 (02:00:00):
All right. Deon Sanders thinks it would be a good
idea and I having to agree with them to allow
different programs to practice and scrimmage against each other during
the spring. So you're taking like training camp, a training
camp time on or tradition, well, joint practice. Yeah, yeah,

(02:00:21):
don't you think that'd be cool though, especially like say,
I don't know, Aggie's and Longhorns getting together. Cool?

Speaker 4 (02:00:28):
Yes, practical and necessary? Absolutely not. Well, yeah, it's a
it's a added expense. Are you doing this for money?
Of course you are, so you think, I mean, I
think there's money to be made. I mean that's why
a couple of different programs know that they're casting some
money aside when they say we're not having a spring game.

Speaker 2 (02:00:49):
He's wanting to play that spring game against the other team,
by the way, right, but not just practice.

Speaker 4 (02:00:53):
That's why I'm saying this is ludicrous. It's a meaningless
get together that can do nothing but bad things. You're
going to get your quarterback who doesn't have much experience,
You're gonna get him a whole afternoon's worth of experience,
or he's going to get hurt. And now you've got
to go to the next guy who has no experience.
And that's just one position. You're gonna put all these

(02:01:14):
players on display for some other university to steal in
the portal to say, all this guy can play when
they we didn't realize that until we got to watch
him in this exhibition game.

Speaker 2 (02:01:24):
Well, what's funny is that Texas, among others, Nebraska, Ohio State,
the Sooners in USC they're ending that this this no
spring game. Yeah, they'll have a like a skill competition.
It's becoming the Pro Bowl, that's what they're doing.

Speaker 4 (02:01:41):
Well, in an effort to keep their own players healthy
and at their own players.

Speaker 2 (02:01:47):
Yeah to what you're saying, you know, lack of Like,
it's football. You don't need any other opportunity to get
your players injured.

Speaker 4 (02:01:53):
And you're out of season, like this is not football
season and these are kids' bodies. Do we really want
them going out there playing an actual game against another team,
like they're gonna try, they're going to hit each other.
I'm sure they're in good shape or they're spring practice.
You're in shape, but you know you're not playing a
football game. You're practicing against your teammates at spring practice, practicing.

Speaker 2 (02:02:16):
Everybody's moving to stop spring games. I don't know why
you're not going to stop nobody from leaving your program
by not having a spring game. If you want to
save money, just say that the kid's already gone. They
already reached out and contacted somebody else. They're already gone.
He's talking about the threat of you know, programs luring
players away via the transfer portal, which is what I

(02:02:38):
was talking about earlier, after showcasing their talents in a
spring game, you know, as opposed to like maybe another
program like the ones we just talked about, who don't
have that. But I don't know what you're saying. All
the practical reasons, it probably wouldn't be a good idea. Again,
I regionally, if you're you're close to one another that

(02:02:59):
might mitigate some of those factors.

Speaker 4 (02:03:02):
But I'm curious because I can't recall did he ever
participate as an NFL player and a joint practice? Oh gosh,
did they even have them back then? So what I'm
curious about. Not every team does it, and I'm not
sure when he might. And he's also Dion Sanders. At
some point in time, you're not going to have him
on the practice field because he doesn't need to be,
and I'm not sure he must know. Like, That's why

(02:03:24):
I'm such a proponent for the NFL teams having a
joint practice. When you have a joint practice, had one
with the Rams this year. Rams came to town, had
a joint practice, then they played a game. The joint
practice was fifty times more important than the preseason game
that got played three days later. You script out sequences
and scenarios for your offense against their defense, your ones

(02:03:45):
against their ones, and vice versa, and your backups and
everything you could ever want to do for as many
number of plays, and you and the opposing team's head
coach come up with you get to do exactly that
at practice, and these guys are playing the starters against
the starters, those that you have on the practice they're playing.
They're really putting more effort into it than you would
think considering the time of the year where we're in

(02:04:06):
the preseason. We're at a practice for that matter. You
get a ton out of it. It's high intensity, it's
useful prepping for the season. What's it useful for if
you're doing that on the college football field in April
or March, it's not useful for anything. It's an additional
reason why teams are getting rid of it, not wanting
more of it.

Speaker 2 (02:04:24):
We don't want more of it.

Speaker 4 (02:04:26):
Practice all you want Cougars by the practice starts tomorrow.
Spring practice Willie Fritz year two starts tomorrow. Essentially on
the field. Do they need to bring rice over for
you know, logistics purposes in three weeks so they can
play a real pact process like what's to be gained? Nothing.

Speaker 2 (02:04:47):
I would like to style it like the pros. I'd
like to go against someone for a few days and
then you have the spring game. I think the public
would be satisfied with that tremendously. I think it's a
tremendous idea. I've told those personnel who should ununderstand that
that it's a tremendous idea. This is what I mean
when I say sounds like Jerry when you're saying the
marketing and money making aspect is great, the actual football

(02:05:09):
not not really well run.

Speaker 4 (02:05:10):
Yeah, well on the marketing side of it. Would the
fans want this, Oh, sure of course they. Could you
put thirty forty thousand in some place? Could you put
fifty or sixty?

Speaker 2 (02:05:20):
And so? Yeah, I think he's probably right. So I
said if the Aggie's and the Longhorns did this, but
he would absolutely pack.

Speaker 4 (02:05:25):
Are you opening up the practices? Are these open practices
for the fans on Monday and Tuesday and then they're
playing on Friday? And how many days are you taking
these kids during the spring academic semester to play football
practice football? I mean somewhere off campus. I am definitely
against it. And it's very clear and I understand some

(02:05:48):
of what he's pointing out as potential merits of the scenario,
but there aren't enough of them. Certainly, what his goal,
I guess is to make money, but I think his
real goal is to take a nine win team to
an eleven win team. This isn't gonna help him do
that a couple of practices and it's a different team
for five months before your season starts.

Speaker 2 (02:06:06):
As you're saying, it could hurt him from doing that
if somebody gets hurt.

Speaker 4 (02:06:08):
But and they do have five months to recover, but
you don't recover from acl injuries in five months.

Speaker 2 (02:06:14):
I was looking at it from marketing perspective, to.

Speaker 4 (02:06:17):
Still practice football like it's a practice game. It's an
exhibition game. How hard are you marketing that? Now, I
get depends on where you're at. The spring game is
exactly what I'm describing, and you're even playing your own
guys against your guys, and it is well marketed, it's
well attended, and it's long sought after. Oh man, the
football season's over, when's the spring game? This is a
real thing on major college football campuses.

Speaker 2 (02:06:38):
I get all that.

Speaker 4 (02:06:40):
I can't imagine too many universities coaches are saying, I'm in,
let's do that. They'd all be in if football at
five were next, and it is.

Speaker 5 (02:06:50):
The A team on Sports Talk seven ninety let.

Speaker 2 (02:06:55):
Me tell you about Aqueduct Plumbing Company one more time
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the roof, incidentally above my son's bedroom. And we're like,

(02:07:18):
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They were out there, they installed it, and it has
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(02:07:41):
It helps with energy bills, it just you never run
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For every type of plumbing job, big or small. Call
them at two eight one four eight eight sixty two
thirty eight for all your plumbing needs. Aqueduc Plumbing Company
is at your disposal.

Speaker 1 (02:08:03):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adham talking your teams.
Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are the A team A team.

Speaker 4 (02:08:18):
It is five o'clock, thus time for football at five.
I think quite obviously you know the most major news
of the day, considering it hit everybody's plate rather early
this morning. As the Texans reportedly and they acknowledged as much.
If you can read between the lines on social media,

(02:08:39):
they came to an agreement with a very important member
of the football organization for now at least the next
five seasons. I think everyone, all parties will be happy.
Derek Stingley Or has agreed to have his contract extended.
He had a season under his initial contract coming up

(02:09:01):
in twenty twenty five. That's the fourth year of his
rookie deal. The fifth year of your rookie deal, that's
an option year. Player's good. You usually pick it up
war figure out a different way to get that player
paid well. Texans are picking up the fifth year option
and giving him an additional three years, a three year,
ninety million dollar extension to remain the cornerstone of the

(02:09:24):
secondary for the Houston Texans. All Pro this season and
deservedly so, absolutely played like one of the best corners
in football. He and pascertained the two first team All
Pro acknowledgments for this season, and now he makes on
average annual value for the time of the new money
portion of his contract, he makes more money. He makes

(02:09:45):
thirty million a season. Nobody else made more than twenty
five four years. One hundred million was the previous high
signed by J. C. Horn just last week, signed by
the same agent and agency that is the same fo
Derrek Stingley Junior. David mullaghetta of athletes. First, you've heard
his name quite a bit here in Houston for many,

(02:10:06):
many years. He was the agent for Deshaun Watson, the
agent for Jalen Ramsey, who's now the third highest paid corner,
the agent for Horn, who's now the second highest paid corner,
the agent for Stingley, who is now the highest paid
corner Texans. I have no doubt will acknowledge this publicly
that they had done this press conference this week, might

(02:10:28):
be including many different players, whether it's Stingley Junior who's
under contract for long term, previous contract extended players of
this magnitude, they obviously were press conference worthy. If you recall,
Deshaun Watson had a press conference when he's not his
long term extension. They've also made several acquisitions. Traded for CJ.

(02:10:48):
Gardner Johnson, traded for Ed Ingram. They've made some moves
that might suggest we could have these players in Christian
Kirk trade to meet with local media. They've obviously been
in the facility, signed off on paperwork and they are Texans,
but might be an opportunity for us to speak with

(02:11:08):
them in person for the first time, and I would
imagine that would come later this week. Other players still
need to be brought in. Ronald Darby we mentioned earlier today,
is now a Houston Texan again, reports Aaron Wilson, among others,
reporting that this cornerback is going to play for the
Houston Texans next year on a one year deal, a
much better option than those that they brought in last year.

Speaker 2 (02:11:29):
Jeff acutas CJ.

Speaker 4 (02:11:30):
Henderson to come in the same time Kamari Lassiter was
coming in, so you aren't quite sure how much or
how well Lassiter would play. And it's a good thing
he was awesome because those two players were not. Henderson
didn't even make the team and Jeff Okudah he was
only bad in coverage. He plays cornerback that is bad,
and other teams took advantage of it quite often. He
didn't get to play a whole lot because he was

(02:11:51):
also hurt. So now Ronald Darby comes in a ton
of football. Over his eleven year career, he's been at
six different places, so varying levels of success, but he's
been a starter for the vast majority of his career.
He was a starter last year when he was on
the field twelve out of the thirteen games he played
for the Jaguars. Saw the Texans a year ago, saw
the Texans twice this year. Before that, he was a

(02:12:13):
Baltimore Raven so he played into the deep recesses of
the postseason. After beating the Texans, the Ravens then went
to take on the Chiefs. Obviously that's where that playoff
run ended. And now he comes here to Houston. He's
probably your next best corner currently on the roster. Still
have a draft to take care of and all the
rest of free agency to consider, and I imagine they

(02:12:35):
will consider it rather strongly at a bunch of different areas,
maybe not that one offensive line certainly will be one
of them. They have not added any players that are
obviously going to make their offensive line better and obviously
going to be starters. Looks like Titus Howard and Blake
Fisher are your starters at the two tackle spots, with

(02:12:56):
still the opportunity to maybe find one in the draft.
I don't really think there's somebody out there that they're
going to sign that's going to play tackle over ear.
They're one of them, so that might be out the window.
But Lake and Tomlinson the guard from Seattle at Ingram
the guard from Minnesota, they have tons of starting experience.
Tomlinson's essentially been an NFL starter for seven consecutive years.

Speaker 2 (02:13:15):
He's played almost every game for the last ten years.

Speaker 4 (02:13:18):
But he isn't necessarily playing at the level you definitely,
while I'm starting, probably played last year in Seattle at
a better level than the guards played here in Houston,
and you might be able to say the same thing
about Ingram. But Ingram's much more like what they had here,
different body and different skills. Is probably a little bit
better run blocker than pass blocker, and that's probably not great.

(02:13:42):
But he also got bench last year that was like
what happened here in Houston. Ingram started the first nine
games and he got bench and he never saw the
field again. He was a special teamer, so yes, he
technically was on the field in blocking people, but not
on offense.

Speaker 2 (02:13:55):
He didn't take any other offensive snaps after that for.

Speaker 4 (02:13:58):
A team who clearly at some point point realized what
they had and where they needed to be better, and
that they were fighting for the number one overall seed
in the NFC, So they went with a player who'd
never played on that side of the line before, a
very accomplished player in Dalton Risner who's also available, and
they stuck him over on the left side, and everything
was fine for him last year with Ingram helping him out,

(02:14:21):
and Risoner's talked about how awesome a teammate he was,
all those things, But the Texans' efforts to get better
thus far have only been shifting the players we kept
around and building some depth.

Speaker 2 (02:14:34):
Maybe one of these players wins.

Speaker 4 (02:14:36):
The starting job, probably going to be better than last year,
but that bar is awfully low, and that's that's where
the concern still sits.

Speaker 2 (02:14:42):
I think with most people here.

Speaker 4 (02:14:44):
You know, a couple of other centers have become available
that have been longtime starters. We've never even mentioned David
Andrews of the New England Patriots.

Speaker 2 (02:14:51):
I think for good reason.

Speaker 4 (02:14:51):
There's a reason why the Patriots are moving on and
you know what level of player you're getting from him
as he enters the you know, second decade of his career.
Early today, another Vikings lineman became available when Garrett Bradbury,
who's been their starting center for a number of years,
was released. Wasn't making a tremendous amount of money, but
more money than anybody wanted to take on.

Speaker 2 (02:15:11):
They were looking to move him and his nearly five
million dollars.

Speaker 4 (02:15:14):
That was unsuccessful, so he'll be designated as a June
first cut. But that also means he's available to a
team if they want to come to an agreement with
him to bring him in.

Speaker 2 (02:15:24):
I would imagine phone calls might be made.

Speaker 4 (02:15:27):
I don't know if you've done all your analysis on
him to say, well, there's no reason for a phone call.
We don't think he can play and we don't think
he can help us. I don't know that you have
such good players. You can say that, but I'm not
gonna sit here and say that. Garrett Bradbury's played good
football the last couple of years.

Speaker 2 (02:15:40):
He hasn't.

Speaker 4 (02:15:41):
He was pretty good in the first couple of years
of his career twenty nineteen, probably through twenty twenty two.
Over the last two years, there's definitely been some slippage,
and I don't really think that's the best way for
the Texans to improve their offensive line. You are gonna
probably have some stop gaps because they can't be all
that picky, they can't be all that choosy. There are
only so many options available, and you can't just kick

(02:16:03):
aside an entire football season with this particular position.

Speaker 2 (02:16:08):
What if your linebackers aren't great.

Speaker 4 (02:16:10):
What if you start three linebackers, you play a four
to three and they're just okay, no problem, no problem.
Go ahead, play an entire football season. Hope to get better,
Hope you develop somebody plan to address it in the
off season. It's not gonna ruin your season. It's not
gonna kill your quarterback. It's not gonna prevent your defense
from operating. You probably have to make some changes. You

(02:16:30):
probably make reserve starters and make starters reserves. You might
look at somebody in the trade market during the season,
but you can you can manage your way through a
season with that heck, the Texans manage their way through
the season every year in the secondary until Stingley and
Lassener came around.

Speaker 2 (02:16:43):
Wasn't ideal, wasn't the best way to win games.

Speaker 4 (02:16:47):
But it's manageable, and you can do other things and
sign a couple of other players and mix and match them.
I think it's really really hard to do at only
one position, and that's the position they're doing it with,
and they might be doing it with to degree at
the wide receiver position. You know, the team that walked
off the field last year was clearly missing Tank Dell
and Stefan Diggs. You've replaced one of them, and it's

(02:17:09):
probably Digs with Christian Kirk. Tank Dell's Texan, but I
don't think they're counting on him to be a meaningful
football part of the Texans this year. It might come
really late in the year, it might not come at all,
but they can't go into the season awaiting his return.
They obviously have to address the position a little bit
more than they have. The draft again is still there.

(02:17:31):
The Texans still have plenty of picks at their disposal.
The at Ingram trade that they made with the Vikings
not impactful for their twenty twenty five class. It's a
twenty twenty sixth pick that they sent along, which means
he's got plenty of time to recoup that. Nick Cassara,
I'm sure we'll be adding more fifth, six to seventh
round picks for every draft in his future, just so
he could move them on back out and sometimes for

(02:17:52):
very good haul in return. You used the seventh round
pick to get Kirk this offseason, used a seventh round
pick to get Joe Mixon last offseason. That's an awfully
good use of a seventh round pick when if you
just use it, you draft a player in the seventh
round and saying Brandon Hill's case two years later that
players not on your team. Brandon Hill was one of
the players they released today. He was released with a

(02:18:13):
failed physical designation, and it's not necessarily about his poor plague.
His time here in Houston has been unfortunately marred with injury.
Injury early in his first season, and an injury last
year laden Camp kept him off the field the entire season.
So that was just from a hypothetical. Here's an example
standpoint that was your seventh round pick. You've turned the

(02:18:34):
seventh round pick each of the last two years and
do players that are on the field and helping you.
Granted they're proven NFL players and they're making a lot
more money than a little over a million dollar a
year player you're drafting in the seventh round.

Speaker 2 (02:18:46):
But there was a use for it.

Speaker 4 (02:18:47):
And I do commend Nick on his use of some
of his picks. Sometimes he has so many he doesn't
know what to do with him, and he just says, yeah,
this is gonna get us up this high to draft
a player I probably don't need to trade up for.
Let's go ahead and do it. And he's done that
many many times over. And like I said, this is
draft number five coming up on April twenty fourth, fifth,
and sixth. There's virtually no chance from today March seventeenth

(02:19:11):
and April twenty sixth another deal isn't made involving one
of those twenty twenty five draft picks. It's what he does,
it's what he must enjoy doing it, and it's obviously
what he believes in. It's something that he thinks has
helped them make this team better. Of the wide receivers
that are under contract, Nico Collins acquired after they moved
up in the draft, Christian Kirk acquired with a draft

(02:19:33):
pick John Metchi acquired after they moved up.

Speaker 2 (02:19:37):
In the draft.

Speaker 4 (02:19:38):
It's a staple, and I'm sure more of that is coming.
A bit more to tell you about what's going on
in the NBA. Haven't gotten too yet with what took
place over the weekend with the top team in the West.

Speaker 2 (02:19:48):
Lit that next.

Speaker 1 (02:19:51):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety, we now return
to Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler course talk set at ninety.

Speaker 4 (02:20:05):
Bunch of different stuff dug too far into this afternoon
here on the A team the NCAA tournament, among them,
a couple of notes on that coming up in in
case you missed it, by the way, in case you
missed it, you of h CH again third straight year.
They are a number one overall seed of their games.
Presumably for you here on our sister station, the home

(02:20:26):
of the Cougars, kprc AM nine. You got a Thursday
afternoon tip against s I you Edwardsville to open up
their tournament. Would play again on Saturday. Should they win
Texas Longhorns a Wednesday night first four game, the last
of the first four games Xavier. They win there, they

(02:20:46):
would advance to play Illinois. That game would be on Friday.
Their succeeding game after that, if they win again, would
come up on Sunday. We'll have those games for you
also as their schedule allows. But like I said, a
couple of NCAA notes come and on the other side,
and they are they are head scratchers in both cases.

Speaker 2 (02:21:03):
But on the NBA side.

Speaker 4 (02:21:05):
This past weekend, another team playing Oklahoma City not real
happy with how their game was officiated. More often than not,
it's an issue with how one particular player is officiated.
The player who miraculously is not number one in the
NBA and free throws attempted, though he's been number one
for the last three months, Shay Gilders Alexander. Over the

(02:21:28):
course of the season, somehow, Giannis is averaging more free
throws per game, but he likes to run people over
and when they're not set, he gets to go to
the free throw line and shoot badly.

Speaker 2 (02:21:36):
Sha is a very good free throw shooter.

Speaker 4 (02:21:38):
In fact, his game on Friday night against the Detroit
Pistons which caused former Rockets interim head coach, former Cavs coach,
and current Pistons coach JB. Bickerstaff. We rather upset and
let everyone know about it. After the game, he went
to the free throw line for ten free throw attempts.
He made all ten attempts. He goes to the free
throw lined a ton, I said somewhat remark, his team

(02:22:02):
does not, so it's almost exclusive to just him. He's
number two in the NBA and free throw attempts, while
his team is twenty seventh in free throw attempts per game.

Speaker 2 (02:22:14):
I have brought it up.

Speaker 4 (02:22:15):
I don't like to talk about it a lot here
on this show, or certainly not during the games, especially
since there's better things to talk about, but it's a factor.
I brought up the fact that he is gifted. Calls
that they shouldn't happened. There's been a player here in Houston,
a former Oklahoma City Thunder player, James Harden, quite obviously
similar things happen. He's big on creating contact, big on

(02:22:38):
making it look bad, but in his case SGA's case currently,
I just don't think the other players have an opportunity
to even attempt to defend him because if they're anywhere
near him, he puts his left arm out, his off
ball arm, he shoves him. They go backwards, he goes backwards,

(02:22:58):
and then he goes to the free throw line. There
would be literally no contact on a number of these
plays if the arm's not extended. When a player shoots
a layup, a big driving to the basket, layup, right
handed layup, let's say, and they use their off arm
to ward off the defender alperh and Shingun does it
all the time. He gets called for it all the time,
as he should. It's a foul.

Speaker 2 (02:23:15):
It's not legal.

Speaker 4 (02:23:16):
It's not only is it not a defensive foul, it's
an offensive foul. And I think that's what's happening with
SGA far far, far, far too often. In their game
on Friday night against the Pistons, three different Pistons drew
technical fouls in a sequence late in the third quarter,
the last of which for Kid Cunningham, had him ejected.

Speaker 2 (02:23:33):
They were already down double figures.

Speaker 4 (02:23:35):
Not saying it necessarily swung the game in their favor,
but I think it was a build up of frustration
for what had taken place during the lead up to
that in the first two and a half quarters. And
it happens a lot. It definitely is something we see.
It's not Oklahoma City specific. It's good team specific, it's
good player specific. And it's one of the things I
always wished wasn't a thing in the NBA. Well, he's

(02:23:56):
a superstar. He's gonna get that call.

Speaker 2 (02:23:58):
Why why do we do this? Why do we accept it?

Speaker 4 (02:24:01):
Why do officials appear to be doing that? And why
did we just move on to the next play? Why
are we doing this? Why is this a thing? It
absolutely should not be. Just go out there and play basketball.
He fouled you, go to the line. This guy fouled you.
You're the tenth best player on the team. He's the
best player. What difference does it make he fouled you?
Is the players so good that if he misses a shot?
Oh my god, this player is one of the best

(02:24:22):
players in the league. He must have been fouled. Why
else would he miss And I definitely think that applies
to James when he was here, and certainly to ask
Gasga's field goal percentages are just stupid. It's ridiculous what
he can do. He doesn't need the extra help. They
don't need to make it even harder for players to
defend him. They've got a massive The Western Conference is

(02:24:44):
good the Rockets, the Nuggets, the Grizzlies. These are all
good teams. Lakers are pretty good team. The Warriors have
gotten even better. The Wolves were in the conference finals
last year. This is a good conference. The thunder are
blowing them away. They're way better in the regular season
than anybody else. Why are you helping them so much?
That's kind of what JB. Bickers staff ass first the

(02:25:06):
long version of his rant. Come for the anger and
stay for the serious physical anger.

Speaker 3 (02:25:14):
I'm figure out of the way they continue to compete.

Speaker 11 (02:25:18):
I'm disgusted by the way that game was officiated. The
level of disrespect was above and beyond. They have a
guy fall down and trip on his own teammate's foot.

Speaker 3 (02:25:29):
They review us for a hostile act. They throw at
elbow to our chest neck area.

Speaker 11 (02:25:35):
I asked for him, at least take a look at it, right,
Just show us the respect to take a look at it.

Speaker 3 (02:25:39):
Okay, No one would take a look at it.

Speaker 11 (02:25:42):
Okay, if the disrespect has gone far enough, and I'm
not going to allow our guys to be treated the
way that they were treated tonight, Okay. I tried to
have a conversation with official.

Speaker 3 (02:25:51):
The official was arguing with Mark.

Speaker 11 (02:25:53):
I say his name one time and he screams at.

Speaker 3 (02:25:56):
Me and tells me that's enough.

Speaker 7 (02:25:59):
Right.

Speaker 11 (02:25:59):
We unders that we play a style of ball that's physical.
It's on the edge, right. I coach my ass off
with the passionate way. I'm into the games. Our players
are into the games. We understand that, right. But we
deserve a level of respect because we're competing our tails
off and bringing something positive to this league.

Speaker 7 (02:26:17):
Right.

Speaker 11 (02:26:17):
We're growing young players. Our young players are competing their
tail off. The least that they could do is get
the same respect that everybody else in this league gets
and get refereed the same way that everybody else in this.

Speaker 7 (02:26:28):
League gets trapped.

Speaker 2 (02:26:30):
And enough is enough of it.

Speaker 11 (02:26:32):
And what you saw tonight was disgusting. It was a
disgusting display of disrespect towards our guys.

Speaker 3 (02:26:38):
And what we're trying to do.

Speaker 4 (02:26:44):
Of course, I stuck around for the crumpled paper at
the end he has box score with let me crumpled
it up. You heard him pounding on the podium or
table where he was doing his postgame media session the
play he referenced about the hostile act review.

Speaker 2 (02:26:58):
That was what SGA was.

Speaker 4 (02:27:00):
And Lou Dort was behind him and Lou stepped on
SGA's foot and fell down very awkwardly. He was injured
at the time, and the play continued and Bickerstaff's player
Isaiah Stewart, I was just not real happy with the
way that Jalen Williams was boxing him out defending, so
he just picked him up and moved him out of
the way. That wasn't really a hostile acte He didn't

(02:27:23):
punch him, He didn't really do much. They have a reputation.
JB even recognizes it. They play a lot like the
Rockets in terms of here is what we're doing tonight.
If you don't like it too bad, that's how we
play basketball. They play hard, they play physical, and like Houston,
this is one of the youngest teams in the NBA,

(02:27:43):
but they're winning most of the other teams at their
stages in terms of how much production they're getting from
their young players. These are two of the most the
youngest teams that are getting the most production out of
their young players, but they're actually winning most of the
other teams that are playing a bunch of players, they're losing.
They're nowhere near the progress that the'se made. But the

(02:28:04):
point of this was this is it's not a Houston problem.
It's not necessarily a thunder problem. Is this not a
league problem? Is or should I just say it happens
all the time? This year it's SGA that's getting the treatment.
Just move on to the next player that gets it.
I wish there was a little bit better way to
handle it, and I wish it didn't happen.

Speaker 2 (02:28:23):
But we watch it.

Speaker 4 (02:28:24):
You guys are out there, you guys are watching, You
guys are listening to us talk about it and describe
it during the game and then here on the show.
This year, for certain, as he's elevated his profile among
the best NBA players, it's been seen in how often,
unfortunately he gets to take his ninety percent free throw

(02:28:44):
shooting to the free throw line. It's not tremendously different
the last three years. In fact, his free throw numbers
are down from two years ago, when he was fifth
for the MVP averaged more than almost eleven free throws
per game. He's down to only nine this year. I
do think a little bit of that is how their

(02:29:05):
season is going. A lot fewer close games, a lot
fewer reasons for him to continue out there forcing his
way to the basket could play into it. Rockets still
have another game with Oklahoma City left this year if
you're keeping track, Yeah, a fifth game. Only one team
that's going to be the best team in the NBA

(02:29:26):
this year, and it's going to be them. They've been
close with Cleveland throughout the year, but they didn't just
lose to Orlando.

Speaker 2 (02:29:30):
The Cleveland Cavaliers did.

Speaker 4 (02:29:32):
A fifth game against Oklahoma City comes basically in the
final few games of the season they finish up the
home stand tonight do the Rockets, looking for a seventh
straight win and their heavy favorites against a completely battered
and bruised Sixers team out tonight for the Sixers include
just these few players, Aiden Bona, Andre Drummond, Joel Embiid

(02:29:55):
and Paul George and Eric Gordon, plus Kyle Lowry and
Tyree Maxi, including Jared McCain and Kelly Oubray, not to
mention Lonnie Walker, the fourth All of those players out
as ten players out for the Philadelphia seventy six Ers,
who also played yesterday afternoon in Dallas and one and

(02:30:15):
scored one hundred and thirty points. They've been one very
much walking wounded team on this homestand that was Friday
night against Dallas. They intend to do the same tonight,
wrap up the homestand and the third to last road
trip of the season begins later this week.

Speaker 2 (02:30:31):
They go to Florida for two Later this.

Speaker 4 (02:30:34):
Year, two more three game West Coast trips still remain
for the Rockets. Next up here on the A Team.
In case you missed it.

Speaker 5 (02:30:43):
The aed on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (02:30:48):
Five for five. Hey, it's Craig Vigio. Listen to the
Home of the Astros in your home. Just tell your
smart speaker.

Speaker 4 (02:30:55):
Play Sports Talk seven to ninety on iHeartRadio. You know
what time it is, and you know what that music means.
It's time for In case you missed it, here on
a Monday edition of the eight Team. So a host
of things taking place over the weekend or even throughout
the day that we need to devote a little bit
of time too if we haven't already, or a revisit

(02:31:17):
of those items we have easy to quickly remind you.
Derek Stingley Junior locked in with the Texans for five
more seasons. He's played three. He's under contract for five more.
The rest of his rookie deal will take him through
twenty five and twenty six. A three year extension takes
him through twenty seven, eight, and nine at the tune
of thirty million per three year, ninety million dollar extension

(02:31:38):
for Derek Stingley Junior after his first visit to first
team All Pro this past season, you know one player
I think took notice of that, one former player I
guess I should say appearance on the Pat McAfee show.
A regular contributor there, Darius Butler knows the position well
many years in the NFL. He was talking about some

(02:31:59):
of the recently extended cornerbacks in the NFL.

Speaker 5 (02:32:04):
J C.

Speaker 4 (02:32:04):
Horn, We've talked about four years, one hundred million dollars.
He's into his fifth year this year. Pat certain also
extended by the Denver Broncos because he's awesome, and now
Derek Stingley Junior. So in the midst of that conversation,
this is what Darius Butler had to say about how
good those three are. Their lineage, which is excellent, having

(02:32:26):
been so close to the NFL for some time, not
so coincidentally three SEC players as well, but also what
sets Derek Stingley Junior apart.

Speaker 5 (02:32:41):
It's a little different.

Speaker 10 (02:32:42):
Even as talented as a LSU twenty nineteen team, was
a lot of people that you talked to in that
builder around that program said and this is the guy.
This is probably the best guy on the roster. And
he's lived up tour outside of injuries that kind of
plagued him throughout his college career and then early on
his NFL career.

Speaker 5 (02:32:59):
But he's been healthy and he hit.

Speaker 10 (02:33:01):
His shout last year, been the first team All Pro,
five interceptions, played all seventeen games. He could do everything.
He could play off, he could play man, you can
leave one in the island. He can come up and tackle.
But his ball skills I think separate him from the pack.
Patrick certain Junior Defensive Player of the Year, phenomenal technician,
can do everything as well. Jacon Horn wants to get
another guy who if he stays healthy, he'll continue to

(02:33:23):
be one of the best DB's in the league. But
Derek Stingley Jr. Him and Patrick certain right there one
a one B. As far as best cornerbacks in the league, go.

Speaker 4 (02:33:32):
I think that sounds pretty reasonable. There's Geno Stone or'
Xavier McKinney. There's Jesse Bates, third, there's Kirby Joseph, a
host of safeties, and then there's cornerback Derek Stingley Junior,
the only quarterback with ten corner back with ten or
more interceptions over the last two seasons. You can bump
that number to twelve if you include his pair of

(02:33:52):
postseason interceptions he had this past year in their opening
round divisional playoff game or wild card game against the Chargers.

Speaker 2 (02:34:00):
Twelve picks.

Speaker 4 (02:34:01):
He had seven picks in the nineteen games he played
for the Texans this season. And that's probably not what
you mentioned first about how great of a player he
has become. You're gonna see passer rating against. You're gonna
see EPA against when thrown at. These numbers are all
through the roof. There will be plays where he gets beaten.

(02:34:22):
They happen actually right out of the gate last year,
if you remember the Colts game with miserable passing Anthony Richardson.
If he wasn't such a miserable pastor, there probably would
be a few different numbers on Stingley's resume for twenty
twenty four because ad Ni Mitchell got behind him, he
got behind Kamari last year, there were a couple of
plays where you know receiver one.

Speaker 2 (02:34:44):
There aren't many of them, but they will happen. It
happens to everybody.

Speaker 4 (02:34:47):
It's a you're on an island oftentimes, or your team
will expect so much out of you because that makes
the team better if we don't.

Speaker 2 (02:34:56):
I don't need a roll safety coverage to you.

Speaker 4 (02:34:58):
I don't need to do something different with my d
defense when I want to go do that because you
can handle it, and he has well worth it.

Speaker 2 (02:35:03):
I think he's absolutely earned it.

Speaker 4 (02:35:06):
Drafted again, remember when the Houston Texans drafted Derek Stingley Junior,
the first round pick for Nick Cassario. He had some
issues with his first draft class and that we didn't
have a first round pick.

Speaker 2 (02:35:21):
He didn't have a second round pick either.

Speaker 4 (02:35:23):
The very first pick he made with his very first
first round pick was Derek Stingley Junior. His subsequent first
round picks have been Kenyan Green, C J. Stroud, Will Anderson.
That's only four. He's heading into his fifth draft. That
one was spectacular, and I bring it up if you recall,

(02:35:43):
this was the twenty twenty two draft. So Nick Casario
got on the phone and obviously the owner Cal McNair
got on the phone to welcome him into the fold
and go from a Tiger to a Texan.

Speaker 2 (02:35:55):
As Cal put it.

Speaker 4 (02:35:56):
At the time, you're a Tiger and you're going to
be a Texan. The other person that was on the
phone with him on draft night after they sent the
card in for the third overall pick was Lovey Smith.
Lovey Smith was his first head coach here in Houston,
and that means he also played in Lovey Smith's defense
that first year before he got hurt.

Speaker 2 (02:36:14):
Not a real good fit.

Speaker 4 (02:36:17):
If you knew Lovey Smith was going to be your
long term head coach and you drafted Derek Stingley Junior
to play in that defense, total waste of time. Don't
need a cornerback to play in that defense, a really
awesome cornerback. You're actually making him worse than he did.
Derreck Single Junior quite honestly, wasn't even that good that
year because he was horribly misplayed and obviously he was

(02:36:37):
coming off injury and then got hurt. Spectacular in year two,
first year with Demiko, and even more spectacular in year three,
year two under Demiko, and more to come now that
he's under contract.

Speaker 2 (02:36:48):
Like I said, for five additional seasons.

Speaker 4 (02:36:51):
Texans have also reportedly signed Ronald Darby, cornerback. Probably slots
in today as the number three corner for the che
which means there's probably quite a bit of field time
for him, certainly if injury, and maybe even without injury,
there's some opportunities for him. Longtime NFL veteran has been
a starter in each of the stops he's had to

(02:37:11):
varying degrees, and this will be stop six for him
as he heads into year twelve. Another reported signing Aaron
Wilson had this earlier is kind of an interesting one
for the Texans. Jack Johnson is a fullback and this
will be his seventh year in the NFL. This will
be his fourth team. Most notable from this signing is
his first team, New England Patriots. Not that we're the

(02:37:36):
Patriots South here in Houston, but your offensive coordinator learn
how to be a coach in the NFL with the
New England Patriots. Your offensive line coach learn how to
be a head coach or a coach in the NFL
with the New England Patriots. Obviously, your general manager learned
everything he knows about the NFL prior to his arrival
here with the New England Patriots. But specific to the

(02:37:58):
two coaches, this is a fullback who played every game
in twenty twenty one and twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (02:38:07):
Not all of that on offense. Is also a special
teams player.

Speaker 4 (02:38:10):
But he saw a lot of snaps in an offense
that wasn't run by Nick Kyley, and it wasn't run
by Cole Popovich, the OC and the O line coach, respectively,
run by Josh McDaniels. And he's made a couple of
stops since then in Vegas and New York. Last year,
he did not last the full season with the Giants
and spent the bulk of the year on their practice squad.
But a player who is a he's on your team

(02:38:33):
because he plays the full back position, because he does
the things within the framework of your offense as a fullback.
He's not a player you need because maybe we want
him out there for four or five snaps. Andrew Beck
two years ago and then late last year, Troy Harrison's
been with the team for the past couple of seasons
as a fullback, and they've lined up Cad Stover and
others in the full back position. He hasn't made the team.

(02:38:56):
There might even be more competition for him to make
the team. But I do think this is an indication,
even though there's no money involved in any great consequence here,
I think this might be an indication that we will
see the full back a little bit more often. And
looking at what the Rams did with Kaylee last year
and ramps of course were not run by Kailee, but
he was a pass game coordinator before it was the

(02:39:19):
OC and it was Sean mcvay's offense. I think you'll
see there what they wanted to do with their additional
non offensive line blockers, with certain personnel groups they would
put out there, and obviously how they would use them
generically speaking with what they ran offensively. So a couple
of signings, none of what you're official yet for your

(02:39:39):
Houston Texans.

Speaker 2 (02:39:40):
We have tickets to give away.

Speaker 4 (02:39:42):
That's what happens during the summer of fun here on
Sports Talk seven ninety. Tickets to Rodeo Houston, tickets to
go see football. It's coming up on the other side.

Speaker 5 (02:39:52):
The age on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (02:39:56):
First, I tell you about Kushata Place to go enjoy
yourself for the tournament. The rest sports book or for football,
or for baseball, or for basketball, or for anything you
might want to lay down a way drawn because you
do it right there in the comfort of the massive
Cushata Casino Resort, right there in Lake Charles. They do
have the largest gaming floor in the Lake Charles area.

(02:40:18):
They've got three beautiful hotels and an awesome new hotel
is on its way as we speak. Number one rated
golf course. Seems like you play golf year round. Cassatti Pines,
It's there for you. We always want to mention their
tremendous Cushata Advantage Club. It's one of the top ten
players clubs in the entire United States.

Speaker 2 (02:40:37):
Super popular.

Speaker 4 (02:40:38):
Every time you play, you earn cash back and points
for comped rooms, meals, even free gas at their gas station.
All can be found online at Kushata Casino Resort dot com.

Speaker 2 (02:40:49):
Make your plans to ENJOYSHTA.

Speaker 1 (02:40:53):
Using your turn signal one your drive home greatly reduces
the chance of a tire iron.

Speaker 5 (02:40:58):
Through your windshield.

Speaker 1 (02:41:00):
A helpful tip while writing with Adam Clinton and Adam Wekesworth.
The eighteen continues on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (02:41:12):
Final segment of the show giveaway time tickets to you guys,
appreciate you listening, and this is how we offer up
a little bit of our thank you for that, and
we're happy to have this opportunity with so many great things.

Speaker 2 (02:41:24):
Going on around our town.

Speaker 4 (02:41:25):
The Rodeo is going on, and football season is about
to begin.

Speaker 2 (02:41:29):
How's that so well?

Speaker 4 (02:41:30):
The football season for the Houston Roughnecks is about to
begin March twenty eighth, their season opener against the Saint
Louis BattleHawks over at TDCU Stadium. We've got a four
pack of tickets to go see them. Season tickets, by
the way, also on sale nowt ticketmaster dot com. Same
for single game tickets. We also have tickets they send
you out to Rodeo Houston specifically this coming Sunday night

(02:41:54):
and afternoon to go see Luke Bryant. That's March twenty
third over at Rodeo Houston. Full entertainment lineup and tickets
are available at Rodeohuston dot com. I was over there
this past weekend enjoying all that the carnival and the
Rodeo has to offer. Great time post some of that
on social for you. But you've got a pair of
Texas see Luke or a four pack of tickets to

(02:42:14):
go see the football game with the Roughnecks. In order
to win them, all you had to do was listen
to the program, probably just recently.

Speaker 2 (02:42:20):
Listen to the program last segment.

Speaker 4 (02:42:22):
As a matter of fact, you'll know what I'm asking
and you'll know the answer to what I'm asking. If
you are listening seven one three two one two five
seven ninety seven one three two one two five seven ninety,
answer this simple question. I was talking about the Texans,
and in case you missed it, I mentioned the reports
of a an extension three years, thirty million a season

(02:42:43):
ninety million overall with Derek Stingley Junior.

Speaker 2 (02:42:46):
Good news.

Speaker 4 (02:42:47):
But I also mentioned two other Texans players that reportedly
were signed today by the team. Give me the name
of either one of those two players reportedly added to
the Texans. Been multiple reports about multiple players mentioned the
both last segment, all throughout the afternoon and just now
here on the A team seven to one three two
one two five, seven ninety. In addition to the extension

(02:43:09):
offered to and agreed to by Derek Stingley Junior, tell
our producer David either of the two players reportedly the
Texans also signed today, and you can win. Take us
either Luke Bryant or the Houston Roughnecks season opener last
couple of days. Don't think we mentioned it here on
the Diamond and unfortunately now off the diamond. The Rice

(02:43:31):
Owls let go of their head baseball coach, Jose Cruz
Junior just before their weekend series began with HCU. He
was into his fourth season, took over a program that
obviously was not successful under coach Braga after he replaced
coach Graham. So they were looking for obviously a little

(02:43:51):
bit more than what they were able to do three
losing seasons, although better baseball each of those seasons preceding
this one obviously gotten off to a very tough start,
winning just two of their first sixteen games, so they
decided to make a change, letting go of Jose Cruz Junior,
installed Parker Bangs their interim head coach. He's the pitching

(02:44:11):
coach and he was in charge for the four games
over the weekend against HCU, which they split, And today
they announce they've hired a new head coach and he
will begin with their next game. It's a pretty familiar
name to Al's fans, baseball fans in General David Pierce
the new head baseball coach at Rice. He comes back
to Rice, spent almost ten seasons with Rice and was

(02:44:34):
there as they claimed a national title. Went on to
become a head coach at three different programs, Sam, Houston, Tulane,
and obviously, I think obviously most recently with the Texas
Long Horns. Success at each spot big twelve title for
the Horns a couple of years back, something that had
not done in a while. Obviously, he was also replaced

(02:44:56):
Jim Sloshnekel now running things for Texas, and things are great.

Speaker 2 (02:45:01):
This is a big deal.

Speaker 4 (02:45:02):
This is a very accomplished head coach and someone who's
very familiar with getting players on campus, getting their academics
taken care of, getting him on the baseball diamond and
winning baseball games, which is what they've struggled to do
since when Graham left.

Speaker 2 (02:45:18):
So it's very interesting.

Speaker 4 (02:45:19):
High can't imagine you would have thought much more of
the higher than this. We'll see what the rest of
the staff ends up looking like, but it's a big,
big change for the Owl's baseball program. Did not see
that coming in the coming days, less than a week
in season without a head coach, Normally you don't hire
a head coach during the season. It was even mentioned

(02:45:41):
in the statement from Rice.

Speaker 2 (02:45:43):
There.

Speaker 4 (02:45:44):
VP of Athletics Tommy McClelland mentioned that, and he said,
although it's unconventional to bring a new head coach in
during the season, as coach Peters and I came to
an agreement that he'd be our next head coach. He
expressed a strong desire to start immediately, so he will
be there for their games this weekend as they open
up conference play. Got Florida Atlantic to open up their

(02:46:06):
schedule on the road in FLA and that's where he
will begin his tenure as head baseball coach at Rice.
The basketball season is into the postseason. UFH earned a
number one seed. The Texans Longhorns played their way into
a first four game, won a couple of games in
the tournament. You heard their last win in the tournament

(02:46:29):
right here during our show instead of our show, when
they went double overtime with the Aggies and it earned
them a playing game. Essentially, they call it the first four,
the last of the first four games they got Wednesday
night in Dayton. A win would send them to Milwaukee
and they'd have the Illinois basketball team should they win. There.

(02:46:51):
Most notable item to come out of the NCAA Tournament
bracket field being unveiled yesterday was obviously who did get
in North Carolina. Much more so even who didn't the
teams that probably had a great case for it, West
Virginia and Indiana. Indiana's already moving on from their head
coach Mike Woodson, so it's not like it was some
banner season that they just wrapped up. But probably worth

(02:47:13):
noting in the case of West Virginia would have been
a ninth Big twelve team to make the tournament. The
SEC got fourteen in a sixteen team league. Saw this earlier. Today,
West Virginia politicians planned to announce action against the NCAA
and their tournament selection committee related to their snub. Now

(02:47:37):
their governor is Patrick Morrissey, taking this from Pete Thamil
of ESPN. He was the attorney general in the state
when they successfully challenged NCAA transfer rules. I don't imagine
much is gonna come of this, and I can understand
how they're upset, and they have a right to be.
It does happen every year, And please please NCAA Tournament

(02:48:01):
Committee and everybody involved in all the ads and CBS
and TNT and True TV and TBS and all the
money that.

Speaker 2 (02:48:07):
Goes into it.

Speaker 4 (02:48:08):
We're arguing about in getting Indiana into the tournament. Who
wants nothing more to do with their head coach. We're
arguing about North Carolina getting in the tournament, and arguing
about West Virginia to the point of filing suit against
the NBA NCAA. Don't expand the tournament field. Teams that
aren't good enough to be in it are already getting

(02:48:30):
in it at at large selections. I'm totally fine with
the automatic bids. I like the fact that every conference
gets somebody in there. We see upsets all the time.
Doesn't bother me a bit, doesn't bother my bracket a bit.
I don't even care if they win three or four
games in the tournament. Make as far as you want.
That's great. It's why it's a unique animal. Please don't
expand the field again. Sixty four to sixty eight was

(02:48:51):
completely unnecessary to begin with. They did that, and they
came up with four first four games. I don't want
to see seventy two. I don't want to see seventy six.
I don't want to see eighty. I don't want to
see ninety. It makes no sense. These teams, they're just
not good. We don't need them in the field. We
need to send you into Rockets basketball. We'll do that
next with Rockets launch Pad, then countdown, then tip off

(02:49:13):
against the Sixers, and we will return here on the
A team tomorrow