Rockets Down For THIS Trade, Astros Need Another Arm, Playoffs On THE FRITZ?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adam Raised.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
My Earl.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Nolan multified with the magnificent roller coaster ride that is
Houston Sports. Chill lge down for the only homegrown afternoon
team is Talking your Teams. Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler

(00:31):
are the eighteens.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
A two oh one Sports Talk seven. It is a
Thursday edition of the A team Welcome in Houston, Texas, Boys.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
And girls, children of all ages.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Wex and ac with you until six o'clock tonight along
with Cole Thompson full four hour show after we have
not had one of.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
Those all week long.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Technically, with the Astros cutting into some portion of the
program the last three days, that will not happen tonight,
but hopefully, unlike the last two days, at some point
during the twenty four hours, the Astros won't lose again
because they found ways to lose the final two of
those games against Tampa Bay. And now you're home for

(01:26):
the team to lead you in the division. And I
don't know if you'll ever be fully healthy because of
what we may or may not find out any minute now.
The Astros their GM Dana Brown talking about the fact
that Renell Blanco came back here to Houston to get
further updates on his sore elbow, and that's all we

(01:50):
knew for sure until at some point today, we presume
they'll give us more information about it. If it sounds
like I'm just trying to piece this together, it's because
I am. I don't even know if they'll tell when
they tell us anything today, I don't even know if
it for sure will be of note. And the only
reason I'm saying that is because they've done this in

(02:12):
the past. If it's what we think this is, which
is maybe a very serious injury that could see Renelle
Blanco on the shelf for quite some time, let's just
say that is the case, though wex that is a
I mean, that is a bitter pill for any team
to swallow, but for this team to have that particular

(02:35):
operation done on yet another pitcher would be pretty devastating.

Speaker 5 (02:39):
Yeah, hard to say what it is with elbow soreness,
but whether or not it's tjair or not, they've already
lost a picture from the starting rotation when the season
opened for the season. They've lost another picture from when
the season opened for two months, and we don't see
an end in sight to that with Spencerraghetti, though that
is not throwing a baseball related. That is catching a
baseball off the head related, as long as you don't

(03:02):
put your hand in between your head and the baseball.
But that's what Spencer Araghetti did broke a finger, and
Renel Blanco, if he's sidelined for an extended period of time,
which I'm suspecting he will be, oftentimes they'll hope, maybe
we can go this route, maybe we can go that
route and avoid the ultimate And even when they do that,
it's months. It's usually months where you're sidelined. Then you

(03:24):
hope you can get back on a throwing program. I
hope you don't have any setbacks, hope you're able to
pitch through the season. Kind of looking at what Garrett
Cole did last year for the Yankees with absolutely no
diagnosis whatsoever on Renal Blanco, I have no idea what
it's going to be, but just noting that others in
the past have said, well, we think we can avoid surgery.
It's going to take some time. That's what the Yankees
did last year. He ended up coming back, pitched for

(03:45):
a couple of months, pitched in the postseason, and then
missed this entire season because surgery was necessary to correct
a very significant problem. So hard to say the specifics
of it, but easy to say the reality of it.
The Astros are gonna have to use who they have
if they're gonna make a deal. I seriously doubt it's

(04:05):
for a pitcher. There's nothing wrong with their pitching staff,
and I don't think they're gonna go about it that way,
And I don't know what kind of arsenal they have
to do it.

Speaker 4 (04:12):
Their problem is their offense.

Speaker 5 (04:14):
The problem is they've got still a few too many
holes in addition to players that aren't performing up to
where they need to be, most specifically some of the
guys at the top of the lineup. They got a
ten game home stand staring them in the face, four
games on the front and backside, with two games in
the middle against the Athletics, the Rays on the backside
the Mariners beginning tonight, an opportunity at home where they're

(04:34):
fifteen to nine to take care of business to win.
You know, I hope all three series would have to
include a sweep. IF's a two game series against the
Athletics and prior to the Athletics series beginning on Tuesday.
Get this, the Astros have an off day. An off
day on Monday will have been after they've concluded these
seventeen consecutive days with baseball games. The next four will

(04:56):
get them there, But if they're gonna make something happen,
it's going to have to be from an offensive perspective. Still,
too many bottom feeders in this lineup that either should
not be expected to come around or shouldn't be given
the opportunity anymore to come around. We're almost two months
into the season, We're almost one third of the way
through the season, and all that being said, the Mariners

(05:17):
are the only team they're looking up at in their division.
They're in a pretty good spot all things considered. They
have all but three games remaining against the Mariners. This
is the second meeting between these two teams. So if
they're gonna do something of consequence this year, win the
division with eighty three wins, maybe eighty four, eighty five something,
probably less than the eighty eight they won it with

(05:38):
last year, well, this would be a good time to
go ahead and get that started. They're not must win games.
The season isn't over. If they don't you know, make
up ground against the Mariners this weekend, which means they
win two or fewer. But it certainly it doesn't help
when you trail by three and a half games, roughly
one third of the way through the season. Good news
earlier today on the Rockets front, as expected, as predicted,

(05:59):
and as earned, Amn Thompson got the necessary votes to
land a first team All NBA Defensive Team spot. Five
players make it, and all five players were very easy choices,
I thought, and then the voters did as well. They
all got at least seventy four first place votes. Nobody
else got even as much as a thirty, So Amen

(06:19):
Thompson rightfully among the best defenders in the league after
two NBA seasons, just two NBA seasons. Only four other
Rockets before him had landed a spot on the first team.
Before Dream did it five times, the others once each.
He'll have a chance to surpass them, I think in
the every season he continues in a Rockets uniform. Was

(06:42):
sent a trade proposal today involving the Rockets and the
Suns and the Hornets and the Cavs. Might want to
dive into that. Appreciate that from one of our listeners,
Larry sending that along, so might have to dissect that
as we move on through and most teams not quite
yet for the Texans are rapidly approaching their OTAs continue

(07:04):
the last remaining elements of the owners meeting getting together. Obviously,
the news late last night after the meetings that one
of the owners, Jim Ersay, had passed away coming out
after our show yesterday, So some thoughts about that from
a league perspective and obviously an individual perspective. Sad news
for those that were closest to him, obviously in the

(07:25):
NFL family and most notably in the Colts family. We
will hear from Dana Brown himself. He made his weekly
visit to Sports Talk seven ninety usually Wednesdays at nine thirty.
Made that happen today at nine thirty. So some updates
on the other situations they're dealing with. We'll tell you
what he said about Renell, well we already did. He

(07:46):
didn't have information this morning on it, and hopefully we'll
have more this afternoon, but his thoughts on where things
stand with the ord on Alvarez and the rest of
the ailing but returning Houston Astros and Brian mctaggar. His
weekly visit came earlier today on and The Matt Thomas
Show with Ross. We'll hear from Dana at three thirty.
We'll hear from Brian McTaggart at five point fifteen.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, I just I don't feel great about the Renault
Blanco situation. But it's, like you say, this is hardly
the first thing the Astros are dealing with. I'm just
it is stunning to me. And look, if the Seattle
Mariners coming here and sweep the Astros, even then season's
not over, but it would kind of feel that way

(08:26):
since we've gone this long and nothing has really changed.
Everybody's still tightly packed at twenty five and twenty eight,
which is what they would be if they got swept
in the four game series, and they would be seven
and a half games back.

Speaker 5 (08:38):
Clearly, the math says, of course, it's not over. They're
getting George Kirby back. His first start is tonight. The
rest of their roster has been and remains pretty healthy,
so certainly anything could happen on into the future. Though
their pitching depth is dramatically different than the Astros, it's
pretty strong because they've actually had to dip into it
this year already much more than they did last year.

(09:01):
I would agree the math says it's probably not over,
but the baseball says the thirty two and twenty Mariners,
which is what they would be if they sweep the Astros,
are probably significantly better than the twenty four and twenty
or twenty five and twenty eight Houston Astros with two
thirds of baseball season left to play, sure mathematically absolutely

(09:22):
could make it up. You also would have all these
extra losses against the team you're trying to pass. You'd
basically have to win every remaining game against them, and
half of your season series will be over by Sunday afternoon.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
Right. That's actually also the crazy part. By the way,
when did they play the Athletics for the first time
this year this homestand right after the Mariners? Okay, so
Tuesday in it look I feel like that happened last
year where it was one of the division teams. It
took forever to finally get the first series against them.
I could be thinking of just an al.

Speaker 5 (09:54):
It's only fifty two games period, right, So because of
the way the scheduling is, it's it's not that uncommon
it's it's very common to see most of them at
the end of the season. That's literally how the Astro
season will end. They hit them all to close out
the season.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, which could make for some very pivotal baseball games,
but uh, I don't know, might be, it might be
some other things determined by that point. But look, however
you do it, and with whomever you have pitching for you,
because again there's other guys that are still on the shelf,
Spencer Arighetti being one of them. You've got a lot

(10:33):
of irons in the fire, if you will, as far
as injuries going on just with pitching, let alone your
Don Alvarez is of the world and other things that
you're dealing with. So I'd hate to be uh, I'd
hate to be Dana Brown right about now. Just not
not a fun time to be the GM of the
Houston Astros.

Speaker 4 (10:52):
Given what happened this offseason.

Speaker 5 (10:53):
Maybe it's the most fun time. It's really got to
buckle down and do work. And I don't mean it.
It probably can hear it as I'm saying. I don't
mean it that way. Okay, good, you know you look
at Nick Cassaro, he doesn't it doesn't have any time
of year draft time. It seems like, man, this guy
must must love this. I don't know if he loves
it or not, but it's part of what you need
to do. It'd be nice if you could, you know,

(11:14):
brush your hands off and you know, clap and roll
out of your office on March twenty seventh and just
hang out until the playoffs. If you're Dana Brown, doesn't
work like that. You know, the more stressful work probably
comes during the season because the results are coming in,
you know, the off season. We're gonna add Cam Smith,
We're gonna trade away Kyle Tucker, We're gonna add Esak Perettis,

(11:36):
We're gonna sign Christian Walker. We're gonna flirt with Alex
Bregman all the way up until we get to the
front door, and then he's gonna go in somebody else's
And here you are, and now you have to deal
with what's going on. You have to deal with well,
this player did not come out of spring training healthy.
This player has now gone down. Lance mccullors is returning,
Jordan Alvarez has gone down. And if you're going to

(11:58):
bring in any outside help, you're getting to the point
where if you really believe it's not going to fix itself,
what's time to go out and do that. You don't
have to wait till the trade deadline to make deals.
I think people know it is a deadline, not a window.
The windows open today to make a deal in Major
League Baseball, and thereby no means desperate, which also might

(12:19):
mean you could pull off a deal that's easier to
stomach if you're not desperate and everybody knows it. I
don't know if they'll even be in this point. At
that point later in the year, we've been familiar with
the team looking to add and ad and ad at
the deadline basically permanently for a decade. I hope they're
in that very same position this go round that remains

(12:41):
to be seen. One segment in full show today here
on the A Team Best of X fifteen minutes out.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
As we continue here on the A Team.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
Some people call me into space.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Came it is the eighteen It's Sports Talk seven ninety
Thursday edition of the show.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
One thing we did not bring up in.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
That first segment when talking about the Renel Blancos situation,
and I mean this, he's just the latest, and he's
not even the latest for the Astros. This is going
on across baseball, and it's not like if they changed
this it would necessarily change anything. But I do wonder
the pitchclock, how much does it coincide with a like

(13:37):
a sharp increase in Tommy John surgeries? Because if we go,
what are we on, you're two of the pitch clock.
If we go just five seasons, let's just say that's
the sample size and you can chart this, because I
would normally say you could spreadsheet this, but I think
the chart would be far more effective of an indicator.

(14:00):
And you see this huge spike, then you have to
like start taking that into account, right I would.

Speaker 5 (14:07):
Yeah, it's your three of the pitch clock implemented in
twenty twenty three.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
It was your two for whatever reason, I don't believe. So, No,
you're probably right. You're usually right about things like this.

Speaker 4 (14:18):
And then the date they change the timing of your
ability to pitch, you know, eighteen to twenty from year
all year two or year two to year three, I
don't I don't have any information, so I don't even
know what to say.

Speaker 5 (14:31):
What you're saying is correct. When you have the data,
you will react to it. I don't think there's enough
of it yet for them to say, well, we made
a mistake and we don't care if the games aren't
lasting as long that was our goal, and that's what
you think. I don't think they're going to say that.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
They won't put in.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
Those words, but I do think that's I actually agree
that would be their Sentimentally.

Speaker 4 (14:51):
You're talking about they, well, they are the owners.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
It's costing the owner's money to spend money on pitchers
that are rehabbing and then spending more money on pitchers
that actually go out there and pitch. Likelike, they're not
going to be in favor of signing pitchers to millions
and millions of dollars worth of contracts only to watch
them get hurt because you've implemented rules that are increasing
the likelihood that they're going to get hurt.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
Like unlike the Gift Runner and unlike which I still don't.
I mean, I guess I understand why they vote positively
for that, and unlike the salary cap, which I clearly
we all understand why they would be against that. I mean,
that puts cap on the money we can make. I
just don't understand why any of them would be happy

(15:37):
about this to dis continuing if there's a clear data
that shows, hey, more of us are getting hurt.

Speaker 4 (15:45):
No dissension.

Speaker 5 (15:46):
You're right, nobody would be happy with it, and the
owners won't be happy, the players won't be happy, the
union won't be happy. They will have to make different concessions.
They would either have to increase the pit They're probably
not going to get rid of the pitch clock, and
I'm not sure what other rules could implemented to keep
the game time down if you push the game's pitch
clock up. So, I mean the reason they went to

(16:09):
a pitch clock is because it was so obvious. I mean,
the only other way to, you know, speed the game
up is to limit the time in between innings, and
I think they they're already limiting the time between innings
as much as possible. You know, the three batter minimum
for relievers is one hundred percent a time related decision.
It was an effort to speed the game up. We

(16:30):
don't want left handed specialists coming out there throwing a pitch,
getting a left handed hitter out, and then having the
extremely in shape costume wears walk out to the mound
to make another pitching change. It takes a lot of time.
You go to another commercially, you get in another sponsor,
but it takes time. If the data indicates something significant,
and I think it have to be overwhelming that we've

(16:52):
put in a pitch clock and we're seeing an increase
with pitching injuries, and I don't think they're gonna Honestly,
I don't think that that will be the case. I
think they'll the numbers will say it's gone up. I
don't know that the numbers will say this is an
alarming number, well that pitching related injury.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
And I still could be in the minority, and that's fine,
But I still can't believe that players are like, yeah,
we're good with the gift runner. I know why you
would argue for that. You know, the games get over
with faster, and you're saving bullets, so to speak of
your bullpen and that kind of thing.

Speaker 5 (17:26):
But you find it unfair. It's certainly not. It's not
normal baseball. They've changed the game for those inns.

Speaker 4 (17:33):
I just find it gimmicky.

Speaker 5 (17:34):
Well, of course it is, but if it's fair, and
I'm not saying that it necessarily is because I think
the team's you know, the half inning starts fair, but
the second of those two half innings, well, they already
know what the other team did and they might be
able to approach that inning appropriately. And you can honestly
say that, Well, that's true for any extra inning game,

(17:55):
whether or not you have a gift runner or not.
So it's fair and the players see games ending more quickly,
and you've kind of accommodated for the statistical part of it.
From the pitcher standpoint, Oh yeah, we give him a
gift runner. If you throw three pitches and they hit
two ground balls, the guy gets the third on the
first one, he scores on the second one, Well, your
line will show two thirds of it inning and the

(18:18):
rest will be Zero's you okay with that?

Speaker 3 (18:20):
But don't you don't you think this is kind of
and I know it's it's not exactly the same, but
do you think you could apply that argument to like
an overtime rule in football where both teams don't touch
the ball. I know it's not exactly the same thing,
But for those who would argue that a gift runner
isn't necessarily fair, those are probably the same people that

(18:40):
are like, I don't like the fact that one of
those teams doesn't get touch football.

Speaker 5 (18:43):
Probably somewhat of a better comparison is college football, because
they change the game and overtime, you get the ball
right here, go ahead and send it on in, and
it depends on how in the second overtime and then
again in the third overtime.

Speaker 4 (18:55):
Though to be fully transparent, because that happened, I.

Speaker 5 (18:58):
Want to make a better I would say that they
would say, Okay, you get a gift runner at second
base to start the tenth, then you get a gift
runner at third base to start the eleventh. Then we
just give you a run to start the twelfth inning
and add on to lead already no matter.

Speaker 4 (19:13):
What you've done. But the other team's gonna get one too,
so you better score more.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
Was it Georgia Tech? And who are they playing when
it went to like five overtimes this year?

Speaker 4 (19:21):
Georgia. That's what I thought.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
I have to admit, even though I'm somewhat being a
hypocrite by saying this, because I do think that's gimmicky too.
You're changing the rules based on how many overtimes you
get to even though the rules have played both teams.
I was entertained by it.

Speaker 5 (19:37):
Yeah, there's no lack of entertainment because you're probably gonna
see something spectacular.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
I'm not entertained in the same way by a gift sluner.
It's just gimmick.

Speaker 5 (19:45):
And the reason for it is, yes, you're somewhat trying
to avoid a reliever based injury, like we don't have
anybody left, or we're in the eighteenth inning, or this
guy had to go five innings and now we got
to reshuffle the old roster. The idea of injury in
college or prof football from an overtime standpoint, he is
much greater. They're going to tell us we've done this
to prevent how many more plays, how many more minutes

(20:07):
you're going to play of overtime football because it's not
real healthy for you guys. But we're also going to
add sixty additional minutes to your season in the NFL
when we add an eighteenth game, and you're gonna be
out on the field for three additional hours minimum every season.
So it kind of doesn't go hand in hand unless
they're trying to say, well, the doctors told us the
first three hours you're fine, but when you're playing an

(20:28):
additional amount of time after that first three hours, or really,
your body's really in jeopardy. It's really that ninety first
snap that day, not the first snap five weeks later,
because we've added two weeks of the season, given you
a second off week, so now everything's totally fine. But
we've added an eighteenth game because remember we also took
away a preseason game, you know, the game you don't
play in any anyway, the game that all the guys

(20:49):
that don't make the team play in.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, and again, in typical ad d Ac fashion, this
is all stemming from the fact that I brought up
the pitch clock because again, wasn't Max Scherzer loudly denouncing
this when it first came about? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (21:06):
But why was he denouncing it because he thought people
would get hurt? Or was he denouncing it because he
didn't want to change what he'd been doing for twenty years?

Speaker 3 (21:13):
Yes, I think it was a little bit of both,
And I think anybody like him.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
I just went on the IL today.

Speaker 5 (21:19):
Yeah, and Max Scherzer since twenty twenty three has lived
on the IL for that matter, So is JV.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
He could have done that here?

Speaker 5 (21:26):
Do you think it's because they have a pitch clock,
and they're old, and their bodies are so much more
used to the previous methods. Well, because we're seeing injuries
for all varieties of pitchers, young, old heart throwers, not hard.
I mean, I don't think there's much rhyme or reason
to it with who it's happening to.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
Yeah, but I would say, in all sincerity arguing against
this for older pictures is you've got tons of ammunition.
We're trying to speed this up when we're all moving
around slower, just being day to day regular Joe's. These
guys are expected to throw elite base all speeds, advanced
ages with noodle arms.

Speaker 4 (22:03):
I'm expected to. They're paid too, that's true.

Speaker 5 (22:05):
Max Shuers are coming to the mountain bottom of the
first inning. His team is up to nothing already, so
they've given Max the lead. And as you guys know,
it's Max's birthday today. He turned forty, so he will
get twenty five seconds in between pitches today. They've implemented
the new rule for the oldies out there. Forty year
old pitchers get twenty five seconds intotween pitches if they'd like.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
Forty five year old pitchers.

Speaker 5 (22:25):
And there aren't any currently in the league, but they
get thirty, so we'll see how today goes.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
Guys, you joke, But what if one of these older pictures,
which it probably also wouldn't happen because they're old. But
what if they're on the last legs of a long
deal and they're like, well, when I sign this contract,
the rules were completely different. Why are you Why should
this apply to me? Now?

Speaker 4 (22:45):
I want my contract torn up?

Speaker 5 (22:47):
Go ahead, stand out there and watch the pitch clock
reach zero. Just be defiant. That's that's an automatic balls.
That's another one. That's another one through the roof. Rules
change all the time time in professional sports. The tush push, push,
et cetera. And players aren't allowed to Then well.

Speaker 4 (23:05):
Hey man, look I'm not as valuable anymore because you
got rid of the tush push. I got to redo my.

Speaker 5 (23:12):
Contract, or now I'm more valuable because you've kept it
in just doesn't work like that.

Speaker 4 (23:17):
Funny stuff, Funny funny stuff.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
Speaking of funny stuff, there was some funny business happening
at the Garden last night, and it led to a
number of fantastic items up for grabs on what we
call the Best of X. It's the fallout from the
Knicks choking away Game one at home to the Indiana Pacers.

Speaker 4 (23:36):
That is next.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
The eight on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (23:46):
Did you all see this putting out?

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Between five and fifteen posts.

Speaker 6 (23:50):
Four hundred people were arrested for things that they said
on social media.

Speaker 7 (23:54):
History repeats itself type banguls succeed. Never doubt you're the
one who put a No.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
One building lead.

Speaker 4 (24:03):
You're the bests. Nothing's gonna have a top.

Speaker 7 (24:08):
You know you're the best of it, post an ever
single day. You know you're the best of its, breaking
the entire Internet.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
The sound of Knicks fans on the streets of New
York chanting Knicks in four Well, my math could be wrong.
I mean, never been a really great mathematician. Anyways, we
leave that to the other guy on the show. But
I'm pretty sure in the best of seven series, if

(24:55):
one team wins the series in four games, that means
the other team never wins. Is that correct?

Speaker 5 (25:00):
Let me hear that audio again to make sure we
heard what I think you're referring to. The Knicks fans
were out on the streets surrounding the building in New
York at General and as the game was nearing its end.

Speaker 4 (25:10):
We're chanting the following, Yeah, yeah, the Knicks and four
more games Knicks in the next fourth games, Knicks are
going to be four in a row. Is that what
it sounded like.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
I don't think that's what they're saying.

Speaker 5 (25:21):
Oh so they thought they were gonna win last night
and then proceed to win three more games.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
Yeah, every success everybody there did at the Garden. You
know that's the Knicks home court, not.

Speaker 4 (25:30):
The ones wearing the Yes surs T shirts.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
I'll tell you what I honestly, because the Rockets beat
the Knicks in nineteen ninety four, I'm probably not as
bitter about them as I am some other teams that
the Rockets have had lesser success against them. They're an
Eastern Conference team. It's not a rivalry. They based off
in the finals thirty plus years ago and the Rockets won.

(25:54):
What do I care? I mean, Honestly, outside of the
Rockets actually winning the series, the most memorable part of
that was the Bronco Chase.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
Like, unless you have harboring feelings from the Rockets days
as an Eastern Conference to which I don't, which very
few do, they preceded my existence. There's essentially one Eastern
Conference team to hate. They've been to the finals four times.
They beat the Magic, Don't hate them, they stink. Oh,

(26:24):
they beat the Knicks. Don't hate them, they stink. They
lost to the Celtics twice again.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
The last time they faced off against them, I was
a five year old, So even then I'm just like whatever.
Plus I'm in Thompson just murdered them this year in
their gym, so recency bias and I just but last
night I couldn't help it because I was watching. I mean,
we were all watching in nineteen ninety four when Reggie

(26:50):
Miller scored a ridiculous amount of points in a very
short amount of time because the Rockets were waiting on
the winner of that series to see who.

Speaker 4 (26:58):
They would play for the champion.

Speaker 5 (27:00):
Yeah, it was very cute for Tyrese Haliburton to hit
the game tying shot and give the Reggie Miller choke sign. Well,
Aaron Neth Smith's the one who should be doing that.
Reggie made what two threes in the final ten seconds?

Speaker 4 (27:15):
Whoo two threes? Yeah, need Smith couldn't miss for ten
minutes of basketball. It was incredible.

Speaker 5 (27:21):
I'm not going to repeat Charles Barklay's line from last night,
because their crew had enough fun with that already, because
he was fresh as a daisy.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
If you were watching last night, six threes in the
final four to forty five of regulation.

Speaker 5 (27:33):
This is where I do think if you want and
I don't, but some do call it a choke. It
was a defensive choke, much more than anything to see
the Pacers.

Speaker 4 (27:42):
Get that many looks that they wanted.

Speaker 5 (27:45):
Maybe one of those shots, the one where he's coming
across the top and really didn't have his feet underneath
him and launched a little bit deeper three that also
found its mark. All the other ones were he just
came around to screen was opened, or he got a
guy off his feet with a nice, you know, dribble
or head fake.

Speaker 4 (28:01):
And he took really good shots.

Speaker 5 (28:03):
Shots you would want a player who's deemed a shooter,
and he is some games better than others. He just
kept getting them, and he just kept making them. This
fourth quarter, they were down one eleven ninety four with
just over six minutes to go. They were still down
one sixteen one oh two with three and a half
minutes to go.

Speaker 4 (28:23):
They were still.

Speaker 5 (28:24):
Down one nineteen one oh five with under three minutes
to go, and then the real barrage hit them, you know.
After the Nie Smith three made it one nineteen one
oh five, Brunson answered with a three, then a Halliburton three,
Nie Smith three, a free throw from Siakam, another Nie
Smith three, another Nie Smith three, another Nie Smith three,

(28:44):
and all of a sudden, there was twenty two point
one seconds left and the Knicks were up two.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
I mean, you can feel it at that point. You
can feel it if you're the team.

Speaker 5 (28:53):
You can feel it if you're Karl Anthony Towns and
og Ana Nubi, who each missed one of their two
free throws, which is the only.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Actually of all the other things. Yep, that's why we
got the moment, and the moment was awesome. When Haliburton
made that shot. I had to bring somebody back into
the room who said, what just happened. I've got to
see it.

Speaker 5 (29:12):
That is something that will live in NBA postseason history
forever because of the way that Haliburton shot went down
off the back of the rim and then threw.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
Still as good as co Ey's Because that was a
series winner, right, That's one part of the play.

Speaker 5 (29:27):
The celebration was the second part of the play, the
whole bench emptied and everybody in the building except for
the fans right in front of Halliburton. If you've seen
Haliburton celebrating with teammates and you can see the score
on the screen, if you're watching, you should also be
able to see the Knicks fans in the front row
in the floor seats, all of them are holding two
fingers up.

Speaker 4 (29:48):
It was a two.

Speaker 5 (29:49):
Yep, it was a two, and it was and it
was it was correctly called. They reviewed it to double check,
but it was correctly called.

Speaker 4 (29:56):
It was a two. They were headed to overtime.

Speaker 5 (29:58):
I think it's funny no matter what happened in overtime,
but I can recognize it would have been much more
funny funnier if the Haliburton selly was in a loss,
which five.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Minutes from the celebration they still could have lost. He
never would have lived that down in all likelihood.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
But now you got to ask yourself, if you're the
Knicks and you wake up to, among other things, the
Pacers Twitter account trolling you, and by the way, just
let's just get this out of the way, if ten
fifteen years from now, the Rockets and the Warriors meet
in the postseason, and Steph Curry has a burgeoning career
as a TNT analyst or whatever network is in the

(30:36):
building that night, and some unbeknownst to me at this time,
sharpshooter for the Warriors hits a dagger to put the
rockets away and does the Nighty Night celebration and they
get a shot of Reggie or a Steph pointing to
that player. I'm not gonna get upset about it because

(30:57):
should have stopped him.

Speaker 4 (30:59):
I mean, everybody's upset that he's not being unbiased.

Speaker 5 (31:03):
Come on, dude, he's being unbiased in his I mean
I listened to most of what he and Kevin said.
Stan was also there. I don't think he was unbiased
with his analysis. He was describing most of these final
five minutes. He was going, why aren't you pressuring them defensively?
We can make all these shots you want, but you're
playing basket for basket. You've got to make up this deficit.

(31:24):
And finally down the stretch. Part of the reason they
finished the comeback is because there was a turnover. And
they also got two reviews. I think both were reviewed correctly.
They both were in their favor. The ball that went
out of bounds off the fingertips of Brunson, and the
no call on Siakam when he got the loose ball
away from Ananubi. They had that turnover, They had Brunson

(31:44):
with a pair of turnovers in the final two and
a half minutes.

Speaker 4 (31:47):
They did need all those things.

Speaker 5 (31:48):
And you know, just kind of thinking back, I was
thinking it at the time, I thought Reggie was being
pretty I don't think he was wearing a PACER's undershirt
when he was saying all that. Now, who he is
cannot be overlooked. It's clearly a part of this series.
We talked about it before the series even began, and
the moment these two teams were the matchup, even TNT
was telling everybody, Reggie's on the call, Reggie's going to
be there.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
This is this is how it is.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
And by the way, just to not again further put
salt in the wounds of Houston fans, but since I
try to kind of make the analogy local as best
as possible, much like the Albert Poohols home run, I
mean that happened in the series that his team lost.
Reggie's team lost that series to the Knicks in nineteen
ninety four. They should be way more mad at hiquim Elaijuan.

(32:32):
They absolutely should be. I mean, it's so obvious to everybody,
you would think. But it was a great start to
the series. It definitely was not the ending I thought
we would see. When the Knicks started pulling away after
Brunson left the court with his fifth foul. That's when
they went on a ten tozer run, and finally there
was some real separation between these two teams.

Speaker 4 (32:51):
We say it all the time, no lead is safe.

Speaker 5 (32:53):
We say in this day and age of the three
point shot, no lead is safe. It all unfolded for
you have some memorable moments, and we've got, you know,
three to six more games remaining in their series. We
got Game two tonight with the MVP now hitting the
court for the first time since winning.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
The MVP as so many more free throws tonight than
he did in Game one when he shot fourteen.

Speaker 5 (33:13):
Yeah, yeah, thank god, he shot fourteen free throws. Can
you imagine if you shot zero, what would the score
have been then?

Speaker 3 (33:19):
I was just wish, wish James Harden could have gotten
that whistle when he was the MVP, but no, he
let people you.

Speaker 4 (33:23):
Don't think he got a fourteen free throw game post MVP.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
I don't. I think he had Klay Thompson and others
allowed to land in his landing space after the rule
was made for that that game because of a Warrior
injuring another player. No less, but yeah, in twenty nineteen.
Absolutely he got screwed by things like that. But it
doesn't matter because they didn't like James Harden and I
don't either anymore. Frankly, and by the way, Josh c

(33:48):
you're exactly right texting me saying you're lying, saying you
wouldn't get upset if that happened with Steph Curry.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
Yes, I am so.

Speaker 5 (33:54):
Jimbo Slice won the MVP following the seventeen eighteen season.
Jimbo Slice, Yeah, James Harden, Yes, Okay. So in Jiffy,
in those seventeen postseason games the Rockets played that season,
he shot fourteen or more free throws in a game.
How many times, I'll say twice lower once lower?

Speaker 4 (34:16):
See I told Jo was right.

Speaker 5 (34:18):
He went twelve to thirteen in a game against Utah,
but against the Warriors he shot ten or less in
all seven games.

Speaker 4 (34:24):
And that was that was the eighteen series.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yeah, go if you go fast forward to nineteen where
he got his eyes raked by Draymond Green who assaults
people infectionally.

Speaker 5 (34:34):
Compare it to because I'm only using the only the
immediate season with the MVP okay, and there is no
SGA season in the future.

Speaker 4 (34:42):
Because he just won his first.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Well maybe he'll go back to back like Jiannis did
after mercifully they were done with that whole hardened experiment
winning the award. All Right, we will wind down the
two o'clock hour next before we get you ready for
the simulcast and revisit another guy who plays a lot
of defense and is absolutely positively untouchable Rockets fans. That's next.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 8 (35:11):
Ninety Thursday edition of the eight Team Sports SOX seven
ninety wex AC and Cole Thompson with you taking up
until six o'clock tonight.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
Aman Thompson the fifth ever and youngest ever Rockets player
to make the All NBA First Team Defense or All
NBA Team Defense First you know how you know what
I mean this kid is the fact that he's only
scratching the surface is probably the most exciting part about him.

(35:52):
Like I think he's gonna get better in all facets
of the game, including defense. Like it's easy to look
at at guys like him that I really like him
to be a better shooter. But man, the defense is
exactly where it needs to be. Now he's gonna get
better at that too. I think he'll get I think
he'll become a better shooter, He'll somehow become a better passer.
I think he's a pretty underrated passer actually. But this

(36:15):
is this is awesome to see him getting the recognition
because you look at the list of players that made
that team, he absolutely belongs. It doesn't look like it's
you know, forced in there or anything like that. He
is by far one of the best defenders in the
NBA Top five and this proves it.

Speaker 5 (36:33):
Yeah, there really even wasn't much of a hard decision.
I mentioned that in the opening segment from the voters.
You know, the five players who got second team honors
good defensive players in their own right. He eats the Zubots,
Jaron Jackson Junior, Jalen Williams, Tamani Kamara, and Rudy Gobert
and nobody, or I should say, twenty nine people max

(36:54):
for zubots had him first team, twenty one for Jackson
six six and three for the other three players who
made first team one hundred ballots. A men was first
team on seventy four of them, Green, Draymond, and Lugaz
Dort eighty one of the ballots had them on first team,
ninety one for Dyson Daniels, all but one for Evan
Mobley ninety nine, and each of those top two guys

(37:16):
I mentioned they were on everybody's ballad either first or
second team. Ninety eight or ninety nine of the ballots
had Green or Dort first or second team, and even
a men Thompson, ninety seven of the one hundred voters
had him first or second team. Only three voters did
not have him at least as a second teamer. So
there really was no doubt who the five best defensive
players in the NBA were this year, at least not

(37:38):
according to the vote.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
Every once in a while, the vote matches what we.

Speaker 5 (37:43):
Saw during the season, I would say in this case,
it absolutely did. Fifth player in Rocket's history, like you mentioned,
mentioned Dream in the open did not mention. It also
includes Rodney McCrae, Pat Beverly and longtime Houston Rockets legend.
Everybody's favorite number thirty three Scottie Pippen, except not those
four players along with Dream now five with the men

(38:03):
have made First team. That's it in franchise history. The
deeper analytic look at it as in field goal percentage
against when the primary defender, you know, deflections and some
of the other things that wouldn't normally be the automatic
look tos for how good was this player defensively? We
have access to all that data now and that's why

(38:24):
I think this becomes easier and easier every year for
the voters that care, and it looks like most of
them did care.

Speaker 4 (38:29):
Just look at the numbers.

Speaker 5 (38:30):
If you didn't have enough time to watch Jaman Thompson
play often enough, and not every voter can. It's I
get it, but it's all there for you. And some
of those numbers. He was tenth in defensive rating for
players who played, you know, thirty minutes or more. But
he was first in defensive field goal percentage against who
defend among players that defended at least nine shots per GAT,

(38:52):
first number one in the NBA. Nobody was better. That
will land you a spot on the All Defensive team.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
Yeah, I mean again, I go back to he likes
so many players, and I don't know what's gonna happen
this offseason, don't I don't think that. Well, I know
that the roster's not gonna be exactly the same, But
will it be pretty much the same or will the
Rockets make some big deal. I only know of two
things for sure. One, a Men Thompson will be on
the Houston Rockets next year. He's not gonna be. There's

(39:21):
not a trade out there that's possible at least, and
I'll just even give you that caveat. I don't think
there's a trade out there that's possible where a Men
Thompson's included. And then secondly, he's gonna get better. You
canna get better in every facet of the game, including
his defense.

Speaker 5 (39:36):
Yeah, fourteen points, eight boards, four assists per game, better
than a one point three steals and blocks per game,
which is a very rare feat for an NBA player.
And all that happened, well, he missed a handful of
games due to injury. He was asked not to play
in a couple of games because he's too strong for
Tyler Hero and hits people too hard when he fouls
them a couple of times, but yeah, across the board

(39:59):
one of the most important areas to focus on. As
his offense gets better and as he's looked to for
offense a little bit more, not even necessarily his shot
from fifteen feet out, it's his shot from exactly fifteen
feet away, unguarded. He's going to get to the free
throw line a lot when the Rockets use him more

(40:21):
on offense and when defenses can't stop him from the
dunker spot when they give it to him more and
more often. He cannot be a sixty eight point four
percent free throw shooter, which he has been exactly in
each of his first two seasons. Awful to start the
postseason this year against Golden State, and then awesome to finish.

(40:42):
That's the free throw shooting I clearly think he can
become and produce for this team. He started the series
seven of seventeen from the or seven of fifteen from
the free throw line, and then he closed eighteen of
twenty one.

Speaker 4 (40:56):
Wouldn't you say that for his entire game though in
that series was.

Speaker 5 (41:00):
Not Yeah, and I wouldn't have to pay anything about
how he plays basketball.

Speaker 4 (41:03):
To take a breath, bounce the ball and make a
free throw.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
Ye yeah, I just mean that as the series went on,
he came on as a player, and certainly free throws
are part of that. But man future is very, very
bright and who would have guessed that of all the
players the Rockets took at the top or near the
top of all those drafts where they.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
Had those picks, not the number one pick.

Speaker 3 (41:28):
He's probably the brightest future out of all of them.
That includes the Opera and shingoon, that includes currently Jalen Green,
you know whoever's still on the roster. Good stuff there
from himn Thompson and looking to get plenty more as
he continues his career here in Houston.

Speaker 4 (41:47):
Rennel Blanco, how bad is it?

Speaker 3 (41:50):
All that and more as we get underway with the
three o'clock hour next the eight.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
On Sports Talk seven ninety two lifelong Houston sports guys
named Adam Talking Your Team, the Adam Clinton and Adam
Wexler or d A Team.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
It is the A Team. It's Sports Talk seven. It's
a Thursday edition of the program. Wex ac Cole Thompson
with you here on a Thursday edition. As look, we're
still trying to get to the bottom of it. We
don't know anything yet, neither do the astros. Supposedly. Let
me ask you that right there. Do you believe Dana Brown?

(42:42):
He says, we don't know yet, not yet.

Speaker 9 (42:45):
We will have an update probably later on today. You know,
there's always a concern though, when you hear elbow, you
know we're hoping for the best. But we could have
something by later today.

Speaker 4 (42:58):
Yes, you believe him.

Speaker 5 (42:59):
He will on this morning with the Sean Salisbury Show,
as he does an appearance weekly usually Wednesday's nine thirty
was today at nine thirty, and he did not have
an answer, but offered the likelihood should have an answer
this afternoon.

Speaker 4 (43:15):
It is this afternoon obviously.

Speaker 5 (43:16):
The team in the clubhouse into a spot in the
dugout before tonight's game against the Mariners. I hope, like
Dana said, they will have more information. He had only
just returned to Houston talking about Renelle from this road
trip to begin the getting their doctors to look at
him and going through the scans and everything else they
wanted to see. Hopefully it will show something that they
can share with us. A lot of teams share a

(43:38):
lot of their medical information or make their medical personnel available.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
To the media.

Speaker 4 (43:43):
This team does not.

Speaker 5 (43:45):
I don't know what Dana knew this morning other than
what he told us this morning.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
And you know what, I don't even I'm not out
of line for saying that, because I think they've known
stuff in the past that they just haven't revealed. I
don't even talk about Kyle Tucker, about Justin Verlander.

Speaker 5 (44:01):
Well how about Ronelle specifically? What have they even done
before he gets back to Houston. Probably nothing, I mean,
maybe he got some sort of imaging there.

Speaker 4 (44:11):
I don't believe.

Speaker 5 (44:11):
So, so they send him back to Houston and then
that process begins. We're not talking about he's been home
for a week. We're talking about he's been home for
forty eight hours, thirty six hours, somewhere in that neighborhood.
So going through that, and maybe they're not even to
the point where they want a second opinion. Maybe they
don't even have a clear picture of it yet. And
I can only imagine what it will sound like in
the back half of the show if that's the information

(44:32):
they deliver to you later today. They don't divulge specifics often,
and it leads to this. It's the path they've chosen
whether they know and don't want to say, or whether
they don't know, at some point becomes a little bit
irrelevant because this is how it is. It gets treated.
Bottom line is and that's of course that's me. He's
not available and he's not.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
Likely to be.

Speaker 5 (44:54):
They're not gonna come back and say, oh, it was
a false alarm. He had some soreness, but everything feels
great now. The image was unbelievably clean. It was like
a brand new elbows, the best elbow they've ever seen.
He's pitching Sunday against the Mariners. This is awesome news.
What's your next question? That's not gonna happen. Something's clearly wrong.

(45:14):
He had elbow sore in it's because he's a pitcher
and his right elbow hurts. He's not about to get
back on the mound for the Astros. That's the I mean,
it's not a literal fact, but it's definitely what's happening.
So they have got to figure out who else they
can go to to get them through a lengthy portion
of the season. All of the remainder of the season
without was Nesky, at least three weeks, probably a month

(45:38):
without spencerra Getty spencerra Getty is wearing a cast.

Speaker 4 (45:41):
He has not picked up a baseball.

Speaker 5 (45:43):
Full ramp up is necessary for whenever that takes place,
and Al Ronell is right there alongside him with some
sort of unknown timeline. Get ready for more of the Redhead,
Brandon Walter, get more, Ready for Colton Gordon the Way,
Ready for aj blue Ball, Get ready for more Ryan Gusta.

Speaker 3 (45:58):
Brandon Walter. I'm fine with based on one performance. I mean,
I know that's ridiculous, but that's all I've got right now.
I got the kid pitched his balls off.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
I really did.

Speaker 4 (46:08):
He will return to mount the mound with balls intact.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
I match, I just I it is if there's nothing
else you can. If you want to get on the
Astros for how they handle this kind of aspect of
their organization, I totally get it. I tend to agree.
But I will also give them credit, which is that
they unearth just amazing talents from a pitching perspective, specifically

(46:38):
during this run and whatever this is, now, this weird
purgatory that we're in, they still keep finding guys that
impress me whenever they take the hill.

Speaker 5 (46:47):
And why is baseball awesome to me? Even in the
most disheartening kind of way. From an Astros perspective, Well,
the Astros have had the ten games now with Hunter
Brown after his start yesterday, there's six and four in
those ten starts.

Speaker 4 (47:03):
I think we'd all agree he's been unbelievable.

Speaker 5 (47:05):
He's been awesome, tremendous, arguably the best pitcher in baseball.
The latest power rankings for pitchers from MOB Network says, so, okay,
six and four in his ten starts with basically the
same team behind him as Ryan Gusto, Colton Gordon, AJ
Bluebaw and Brandon Walter. That group of four has made
nine starts. Answers are five and four in those games

(47:27):
five and four when a guy who's never started a
game in the majors before is pitching, and then subsequent
starts six and four when the best pitcher in baseball
is pitching. Essentially, it doesn't matter. I mean, as bluntly
as I can put it, The games have gone in
a way that says, yeah, it doesn't matter if Hunter
Brown is starting, or Colton Gordon is starting, or Brandon Walter,

(47:48):
AJ Bluebaugh. And also those records indicate what else this
team is very average, They're twenty five and twenty four. Overall,
they've only managed to win six of Hunter Brown's ten starts.
All but one of them were unbelievably good. Yesterday's start
was when you would not expect to win. If your
starter goes five, gives up five, I would not expect

(48:09):
to win that game.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
They could have.

Speaker 5 (48:10):
It was five four in the eighth inning, but they didn't.
Most of the other starts, they could easily have been
nine to zero in his nine starts.

Speaker 4 (48:17):
Prior to yesterday. But that's not how baseball works. No
love the game.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
Look, Paul Hayman, a wise man, once said, where there's chaos,
there's opportunity. I hate that the chaos exists in that
whatever this is for Renell, I mean, even if it's
not the worst case scenario, I think some extended time
on the shelf is to be expected at the very least.
Christian Xavier, what we've seen Lance mccullors have to deal

(48:42):
with Justin Verlander when he was still an astro. I mean,
the list goes on and on, and we're just talking
about pitchers. But there is an opportunity in Renelle. Blanco,
ironically is one of the guys that benefited from that
kind of thing.

Speaker 5 (48:57):
I think much more highly of Gusto Rennell and others
who have taken in Spencer Araghetty last year, who've taken
advantage of the opportunities. Then Gordon Walter and blue Ball,
but hopefully they'll come through again. It makes a lot
easier for those pitchers to come through if it's not

(49:17):
two nothing while you're on the mound for five innings
or one nothing or nothing nothing, when you're out there
knowing every single pitch in with the offense that's coming
to the plate, when you're in the dugout, Unable to
put four run innings together, unable to have an eleven
run out, verst unable to put you.

Speaker 4 (49:34):
On easy street man. It's just very very infrequent.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
They gave Hunter Brown a two to zero lead in
the first inning and he couldn't he couldn't help but
squander it.

Speaker 5 (49:44):
He squandered it all right, as rapidly as possible. One inning,
one half inning, I guess his innings, but he gets
credit for the full inning. Yeah, no, I that was
that was painful to watch. But this is again, it's
part of the game, and every team is dealing with it,

(50:04):
and some contending teams are dealing with it as we speak.
The Yankees don't have Garrett Cale this year. Because of this,
I know, how are they able to shut out the
Rangers one? Nothing again?

Speaker 3 (50:15):
Today?

Speaker 5 (50:16):
Rangers left the series with the Astros of the one
game losing streak. It's now four good because they got
swept by the Yankees.

Speaker 4 (50:22):
I hate the Rangers.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
Have ever told you that.

Speaker 5 (50:25):
They are even more inept offensively, which is why it
hurt even that much more. Yes, you did more than
the two games that fluke championship this year.

Speaker 3 (50:36):
No, I'm I'm gonna go into it. Twenty three makes
me like because as mad as as nineteen makes me,
because you were just stacked both of those years. Win
a home game and you have two more rings. Likely
you definitely do against Washington. And I'm just not gonna

(50:56):
sit here and pick the Arizona Diamondbacks to beat the Astros.
If they couldn't beat the stupid Rangers in twenty twenty three,
nobody would. I'm funny like that. So yeah, I just uh,
that stings a little bit. And as they continue to
just cause again, you could argue that right now their
pitching staff top to bottom is probably better than it

(51:19):
was in twenty twenty three. That's a pretty safe argument
to make, even in on May twenty Second, the Rangers
pitching staff right now, I mean some name almost.

Speaker 5 (51:29):
The Rangers pitching staff today versus twenty twenty three. Yeah,
oh yeah, no question about it. I thought you were
talking about the Strokes. Yeah, they're pitching staff is twenty
three as a starting rotation much much better. They got
three of the best starters in baseball right now, and
none of them almost or took an no hitter into
the seventh inning.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
Somebody else did. With the core group of their offense,
by and large, remains a doulas. Garcia is not cycling anymore, apparently,
Corey Seeger's on the shelf.

Speaker 4 (51:55):
But when he's healthy he always hits well. But right,
but that's a factor. He's twice this year. Yeah, it's
gonna hurt the offense. Sometimes, other teams pay a lot
of money for guys not to play too like the
Astros in your house.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
That's what I mean.

Speaker 5 (52:08):
That's although it's for far less, far far less about
about a third.

Speaker 3 (52:13):
Not a quarter of a bill like the like the
Rangers are more than that ponying up right now, well,
I was just talking about those two players.

Speaker 4 (52:20):
That would be a half.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
Actually, you're right. They both got that amount, didn't they
five hundred million? They gave him the same amount that
they gave Segar.

Speaker 4 (52:28):
I thought I was seventy three twenty five for secret Okay.

Speaker 3 (52:32):
That's what I thought. They both got two fifty for
whatever reason.

Speaker 5 (52:36):
That would make the Semion deal one of the worst
in baseball. It's it's not a great deal now, clearly
because he's Christian Walker esque with.

Speaker 4 (52:43):
His offense this year. Man, that's that's mean they're both
hitting under two hundred reasonable comp.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
And yet accurate. Yes, only one of them play second base,
the only play the other place first.

Speaker 5 (52:53):
Both of them are expected, not just because of their contract,
but because of their track records, to be producing a
whole heck of a lot more, and they're just not,
and it's impacting their team's offenses dramatically.

Speaker 3 (53:04):
We're gonna hear more from Dana Brown coming up in
a couple of segments. Also, Chandler Rome has weighed in
on the Astros injury situation. Now he normally comes on
on Fridays, and he will again tomorrow, but we'll hear
from what he had.

Speaker 4 (53:19):
To say today about this situation.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
But the Texans division has lost an owner, and I
mean to call Jim Ersay eclectic would be maybe selling
him short. There's a lot going on there, but he
passed away. I don't want to say unexpectedly. I don't
really know what to say about this, but we'll dive
into that when we come back.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Next the A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (53:54):
It is the A Team Sportstock seven ninety Thursday edition
of the program. Wexac Thompson with you as we continue
on in the three o'clock hour. I'll just I'm gonna
be very careful how I say this. I was not
surprised when I heard Jim Ersay had passed away, and
it wasn't necessarily because he was old, because I don't

(54:18):
think that, oh was he sixty five?

Speaker 4 (54:21):
That's not young.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
But if you're relatively healthy, you take care of yourself.
You're sixty five years old, you're a man in the
United States of America, I think you should at least
have on average a few more years left. I mean,
we talk about this all the time with our politicians

(54:44):
because some of them, I mean, wow, they keep just
going on and they never seem to retire, you know
this that, But some of the things we had heard
about Jim Ersay and the way he lived his life,
I just wasn't that surprised when I heard this. Now,
maybe the fact that he was on social media as
recently is what yesterday that got my attention a little

(55:07):
bit more, I think. But it's again, it's not every
day that we discuss an active owner in the NFL
passing away. Like a lot of times it feels like
if an owner passes away, maybe they haven't been as
hands on in recent years, or maybe their children or more.
And that's kind of the case here. But I still

(55:27):
felt like Jim Irsay was in charge with the Colts,
So this is a little bit shocking from that standpoint.

Speaker 5 (55:33):
Yeah, his daughter had definitely taken over a lot of
the everyday stuff, day to day business owner's meetings, et cetera.
And this is multiple years that that had been the case.
But usually I'll defer to those well that knew him.
I did not know him, not even met him, as
is the case with most of the NFL owners. I've
met the ones here, I think I've met a few others.

Speaker 4 (55:55):
You've met Jerry haven't you.

Speaker 5 (55:57):
I've met Jerry, I haven't even asked him a question,
but they've had owner meetings close enough by that I've
attended him. But those that either played for him worked
for him, you know, Andrew Luck and Frank Reicher are
together there in Stanford currently, Peyton Manning and many many
others who played for him. Pat McAfee is another one
who a lot of these people are so active to
begin with, and then additionally on social media you get

(56:18):
a little bit better sense of what it was like
to be around him, to be in the football sense,
being given the opportunity to be a part of that
organization and be an NFL player. Peyton probably has that
opportunity anywhere Pat McAfee's time. They're a little bit different
in that he, you know, kind of carved out a
real niche for himself, his personality, everything else that goes
with it. But a unique is probably the word that

(56:39):
comes to mind most, even in a group of you know,
so called thirty two. He was definitely one of a kind,
very varied interests that were very well known. Don't think
any of the other thirty one owners or wives or
families of owners and their wives were.

Speaker 4 (56:57):
In a band he was.

Speaker 5 (57:00):
He's a big time collector of all sorts of memorabilia,
music and otherwise. And yes, the sixty five years old
passing away in his sleep, I'm sure was at least
somewhat related to recent health issues and just an overall
I wouldn't say hard living. There are choices that he
made that were clearly unwise, which he's acknowledged with some

(57:22):
of the addictions that he suffered from. Yeah, it's it's
not an everyday thing that a sixty five year old
owner of a football team passes away in a sleep,
which she did yesterday.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
Yeah, I did. Like I said, it's it's a shocking
from the standpoint of that he was just on social
media wishing the pacer as well in their Eastern Conference
final series against the Knicks, and then the next day
he's gone. I mean, I had a friend once who
was much much younger, do the same thing. Basically went

(57:54):
to sleep one night on the couch and just didn't
wake up. And that was crazy because he was like
age and this was probably close to five or six
years ago at this point. But that's that's far different
from something like this. And again, I'm not trying to
speak ill of the dead. But you read articles about
this guy and what was going on just in recent

(58:16):
years leading up to what we found out today and
the fact that he was found unresponsive, you know, in
his home, things like that that were going on. He
had some obviously some I think some substance issues, that
kind of thing. So certainly that's why I say eclectic.

(58:37):
I can't think of like Jerry Jones is like that.
Jim irsay, there's certain guys that their personality stands out
and is a little bit more transcendent when it comes
to NFL owners specifically, since we're just talking about that
league than others, there's a lot that are in the background.
I would say this though, just bringing it back to

(58:59):
the Texans, I know Bob McNair was out there before
his health issues, you know, kind of came into play.
But I think honestly, Cal and Hannah are far more
visible in the last just recent seasons than Bob ever
was by comparison, and he was visible.

Speaker 4 (59:20):
I just don't think there's a whole lot of at
that time.

Speaker 5 (59:23):
And as they rolled through the dom Gary to the
Bill Will Brian Era, just the way this team was
in the early stages of their lifespan basically, you know,
you know, think about his entire span as owner of
this football team. The most forward position out there that
he ever was was when they announced the name of

(59:43):
the team, when they unveiled the you know, they were
downtown with the white helmet.

Speaker 4 (59:47):
It's after that.

Speaker 5 (59:49):
I mean, he's to me, that's my thought on what
most owners are like from a visibility standpoint, and there's
probably eighteen of them or maybe twenty that are like that.

Speaker 4 (59:59):
They they let the team run itself.

Speaker 5 (01:00:01):
They handle their commitment to the community in their own
in their own way, and I think Bob and Janis
did and just wasn't as much of a need for
them to step forward and be out front. And the
general managers at the time for them, with Charlie tremendously
experienced and then Rick tremendously successful here, I think, uh,
there was just there was win loss turmoil. You could say,

(01:00:26):
there wasn't really much team turmoil, and there wasn't really
a need to say, well, we need to get this
fixed and we're sorry that this happened, and you know,
this is something that you know, our organization looks bad
for to a big scale, there might have been some
obviously smaller things that I do think the internal issues
between what was said by Bob McNair to the owners

(01:00:49):
that was then learned by the players about what he
said about the asylum that obviously was a huge, huge issue.

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
Of a figure of speech she was try trying to use,
but because it came out the wrong way, it sounded
way worse.

Speaker 4 (01:01:05):
He was trying to say, the inmates are running the assignment.

Speaker 5 (01:01:07):
Why doesn't he just say we can't have the players
running the teams because he wanted, because he chose a
much much different, well known but much much different reference
to the players.

Speaker 3 (01:01:18):
Well, no, what he chose was not well known because
he screwed it up. He was trying to go with
inmates running the asylum. Instead he said that what he
say the the prisoners are running the I don't even
know what he said, screw it up. It was so
it was like when George Bush said for me once,
shame on you for me twice, we won't get full again,
like it was the Who song or something.

Speaker 5 (01:01:38):
Yes, like I said, very easy to not screw up
the saying or make a reference to either the prison
or inmates. You can't mess it up if you call
them what they are players, I mean, it's not even
would sound bad if you call them employees to some people,
and that would have been more accurate or very accurate.
But yes, there was That was an instance where clearly

(01:02:00):
his players made it very clear that they did not.

Speaker 4 (01:02:03):
Appreciate that Wwayne Brown specifically, and I was there the.

Speaker 5 (01:02:06):
Day he talked about it, So that was one thing
that certainly put him in a maybe a different light,
but certainly put him in a different I need to
this has to be addressed. But then you look at
the era of cal and Hannah and I think it's
been I don't even know how many things they've felt
the need, probably correctly to address this quality of the
football product.

Speaker 4 (01:02:26):
I said it at the time.

Speaker 5 (01:02:27):
I'm sure you guys remember this is an expansion team
that at the time was barely twenty years old, and
they never had as bad of a football product over
a three year period than they did during those three
years where they won eleven game.

Speaker 3 (01:02:41):
Because when they win the two and fourteen years, they
would come right back and be at least respectful the
next year.

Speaker 5 (01:02:47):
They were an embarrassment for a season. A couple times
in franchise history. Their first season wasn't even an embarrassment.
They won four times, that is an expansion team. And
then they won five times, and then they won seven times,
and then they had to fire down because they won
two times. But they were never an embarrassment for three
consecutive years. And I don't mean the wins and losses,
the wins and losses where they were the run. Yes,

(01:03:07):
absolutely and positively. The hirings that they were making. I
mean Nick Cassario was a very reasonable hire. He paid
his dues. He'd been a personnel guy for decades and
just had never landed a head coach or a general
manager position, hadn't been interviewed that many times, quite honestly,
but hiring him that was reasonable. The people that they
interviewed for that position also reasonable. But their coaching searches

(01:03:29):
were laughable, both in who was hired each time prior
to Demiko and who was interviewed. They interviewed hines ward
for their head coaching position. They interviewed McCown twice for
their head coaching position. These are the things where owners
have to be called to the carpet and have to
have a statement speak to the media and then I

(01:03:51):
think with all the other events that the team has done,
both before and after the change in family ownership, Bob
McNair wasn't going to the golf tournament all the time
to make a comment.

Speaker 4 (01:03:59):
He wasn't going to the He just wasn't doing that.

Speaker 5 (01:04:01):
He didn't feel the need and I didn't feel like
there was a need either callan Hannah do and it's
totally fine.

Speaker 4 (01:04:06):
It's just a different way to do things.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
He also didn't need a weekly radio show like another
guy in the state does.

Speaker 4 (01:04:11):
He is also a unique individual.

Speaker 5 (01:04:13):
Speaking of Jerry Jones, we will hear from the general
manager Astros, Dana Brown, when we come back here on
The A Team.

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
It is the A Team. It's Sports Talks seven ninety
Thursday edition of the program. So we played a snippet
earlier from Dana Brown's visit with the station earlier today
by a little bit long form on what the Astros
are looking at from an injury standpoint. We heard his
thoughts were, I guess lack thereof on Renault Blanco, But

(01:04:56):
actually the first thing he's gonna speak on here is
an update on the big man number forty four. You know,
the guy who hits long home runs and helps you
win World Series. You're on Alvarez.

Speaker 9 (01:05:06):
Yeah, we did some tea work with him, and so
you know, he felt a lot better. And so the
key is that we wanted to be one hundred percent.
We don't want this injury lingering. It's one of those
hand injuries that you have to let heal of this
muscle strain. And so you know, he took some swings yesterday.

(01:05:27):
He felt pretty good. That's a good sign. We'll we'll
let him take some swings again today to see how
it feels, and then we'll pick it from there.

Speaker 6 (01:05:37):
Yeah, what is the next step, Dina? And are we
with it now? Coming up on three weeks tomorrow since
he's been in the lineup, I mean, are we approaching
where he's going to maybe need to step out and
get some at bats at the lower levels?

Speaker 9 (01:05:50):
No, I don't think so. You know, you remember Joran
On he had a slow start in camp, you know,
in twenty twenty four, and you know, as soon as
he got back in there he started to hit, you know,
right away. So this guy's, you know, such a good hitter.
I don't think we need to send him out. You know,
he was you know, he was swinging the bat you know,

(01:06:13):
a lot, you know, during the course of this season.
So I think he feels like his timing and everything's
going to be fine. He's just got to get the
hand right.

Speaker 6 (01:06:21):
I hate to make it about injuries here at the beginning,
but I mean, obviously, you know, it's just that part
of the year where it's starting to creep up on you.
But Spencer aarraghetti, are we kind of turning a corner
with maybe he can start throwing soon and start working
his way back.

Speaker 9 (01:06:35):
Not at this time. You know, it's healing fine though,
and so you know he's been out for a little while,
so it's gonna take him, you know, a little time
to get back. But you know, hopefully we can get him,
you know, somewhere in the the month of July, because
he's gonna have to go through a complete spring training

(01:06:58):
type thing because he's been shut down so long and
so but the healing of the bone is coming along nicely.

Speaker 6 (01:07:06):
Now let's get to the you know, action on the field.
I mean, you guys, you go to Tampa, you lose
two out of three, tough one there on Tuesday nights
and then yesterday, you know, just a tough one for
a Hunter. But just overall, with your team heading into
this series three and a half games back of the Mariners,
I mean, how do you feel like you guys shape
up with trying to balance the healthy guys that you have,

(01:07:28):
but also too trying to make up for the guys
that you're without.

Speaker 9 (01:07:31):
The one thing I thought about, like how much the
heat melts you down and takes your energy, zaps you
from your energy, and you know, just looks like our guys,
you know, struggled to play in that heat yesterday. You know,
Hunter Brown, you know, who's been outstanding all year, you know,
had one of his first starts. But you know he's in,

(01:07:51):
he's in, he's in good space, good headspace. So I'm
sure he'll bounce back. But you know, overall, look, we're
you know at the position where our pitching still been
pretty good. You know, we let us down a little
bit the other day out of the pen, but excuse me,
for the most part, you know, the pitching has been
really good, the defense have been pretty good. Still waiting

(01:08:14):
on the bats to heat up collectively as a group,
you know, we still have some guys struggling, but you
know we're coming into a big series this week and
so you know we got them for four. We're three
and a half back like to put a dent into
that three and a half. So I'm looking forward to
this weekend. You know, we played these guys before. We

(01:08:35):
lost two out of three, but we gave one of
those games away as well, So we match up well
against these guys, and I think the guys are ready
to go.

Speaker 10 (01:08:42):
The other three guys on the back end of your rotation,
Ryan Gusta will get a chance to go presumably Friday night.
Colton Gordon, we've seen a couple of outings from him
so far and he showed some good stuff. And a
guy that I think most ASTROS fans wasn't on their radars, said,
who's Brandon Walter? So just talk about that collective group
of Gusto, Gordon and Walter.

Speaker 9 (01:09:02):
Last year when you know our guys went down, you know,
we had guys like Eric Getty come and step up,
and so you know we have depth in our minor leagues.
You know, we haven't even started talking about boot Ball yet.
He's another one that's got depth. He gives us step.
But these guys, you know, Gusto, Gordon, you know, and Walter,
these guys all can really give us innings and help

(01:09:25):
fill in the gaps, you know, in that rotation providing
these injuries, and so we feel confident. You know, Walter
was really good the other day, really good, mixed the pitches,
you know, was throwing a pretty decent slider fastball, was
a little sneaky change, pulling the string on the change up.
He gave us a really good out and it was
actually really good to see. And of course Gordon pitching

(01:09:47):
in front of his hometown guys, you know, he threw
the ball very well, punched out a few guys and
and looked looked really well. So those are two really
good left hand options, you know, that we like to see,
and so we feel good about our death.

Speaker 4 (01:10:04):
They're gonna need it, They've already needed it, and they
will continue to need it. With the unknown futures for
two starters who could return, one who should Spencer Araghetti
and one who might Renel Blanco. Another who won't Hayden
was Nesky hopefully.

Speaker 5 (01:10:17):
The others the two remaining top end guys, Hunter Brown
and fromber Valdez remain healthy to make their thirty plus starts.
That would be extremely detrimental to the cause if they
are not. Lineup today for the Astros, Joespotta again will
trot out all almost all of his left handed batters.
He's using one of the two. Victor Carrattini will be

(01:10:39):
in today's lineup. He'll do the catching for Lance mcculler's
junior Jeremy pania Esach Pereti, Jose Altuve, ianer Diez Christian Walker,
as has been the case recently, will go one through five.
Karattini behind them, Jake cam in the lineup at the
other two outfield spots because al Tuove is back in
the outfield at Minute Made Park, Jake Betts Ven Cam

(01:11:00):
bats eighth, and Mauricio Dubon another start at second base,
got six hits in his last fifteen at bats, hit
a pop fly yesterday, then allowed him to round the
bases because they were playing a day game at a
spring training facility. But I do think this is we're
starting to see signs from the lineup that suggests Brendan

(01:11:21):
Rodgers as an Astro might not last all that much longer.
If Mauricio Dubon can just hit a little bit more
than he has so far this year, you know, pump
that ops to a six instead of a five, maybe
even closer to seven. And I do think with regular
at bats there's a possibility that can happen. He plays
fantastic defense, then they might be able to at least

(01:11:44):
tinker with the roster a little bit in making that move.
And obviously I think when Alvarez comes back, that allows
them to not carry a goal player short into every
single game, because Saysar Salazar has been on the team
for the basically the entire time that jord On Alvarez
is not, he'll not played, so they're playing a man
on short every single day. If you're losing, carrying a
player you feel non compelled to use, whether it's for

(01:12:06):
roster reasons because he's your third catcher or otherwise. And
I think with Alvarez's return, it probably means Keratini and
Diaz aren't playing together quite as often, so you should
be able to use that spot on the roster a
little bit more effectively.

Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
This surprise you that that's who they chose, because I
always didn't.

Speaker 4 (01:12:24):
At the time.

Speaker 5 (01:12:25):
It does now because it's absolutely I mean I want
to use the nicest word possible.

Speaker 4 (01:12:30):
It just you can't do this. What's the point?

Speaker 3 (01:12:33):
Well, it makes me think of what Chandler Room said
on the show. These are the guys. There's nobody else
down there that they would be.

Speaker 5 (01:12:39):
Even about that. Don't put players on the roster you
don't intend to play. That makes no sense. He should
not be here if he's never going to play. It
has nothing to do with him. That's the way they're doing.
It's not his fault. It just doesn't It doesn't make
any sense. You just played a whole how many months
with two catchers, what you're doing it now with a

(01:12:59):
third catcher not doing anything differently. So I've said this
for so many times I feel like it's unnecessary to
say it again.

Speaker 4 (01:13:05):
But I just did.

Speaker 2 (01:13:09):
The A teen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (01:13:20):
WEX.

Speaker 3 (01:13:21):
Do you remember recently when disgraced former Major league pitcher
Trevor Bauer recently claimed there were only about twenty hitters
on the planet who could hit against him.

Speaker 4 (01:13:32):
Yeah, Unfortunately, I've paid enough attention to him to remember that.

Speaker 3 (01:13:35):
I wouldn't If you're gonna say something like that and
then you're going to pitch for the Yokohama, Danay Bay
Stars and you're going to not do all that, well, well,
you probably shouldn't have run your.

Speaker 4 (01:13:48):
Mouth like that. It doesn't matter.

Speaker 5 (01:13:50):
I've said this before, and I'll say it until he's
no longer in our minds, and he's at least in
our minds a little bit. He's never pitching in the
majors again, and there's no reason for him to pitch
in the majors again. He definitely made his bed, and
it doesn't have any Everything does not have everything to
do with being accused and been found not guilty of that,
or not to have done that, been proven or felt

(01:14:13):
that the accuser was not reputable.

Speaker 4 (01:14:15):
Really doesn't have anything to do with that.

Speaker 5 (01:14:17):
Owners, general, managers, and the players on the team don't
want him there. It's as simple as that. So he
might be able to get major league hitters out, I
actually do doubt it, and you're giving some baseball evidence
that agrees. But I don't think teams are even I
don't even think they're evaluating him. I think he's completely
out of mind because their decisions he's not he's him.

(01:14:40):
They're not waiting to see if he throws better. They're
are waiting to see if are we desperate. They don't
want him. They don't want Trevor Bauer walking into their clubhouse.
They don't want him traveling with him, they don't want
him hang out with him. They don't want him on
the mound. Also, it's never gonna happen. I continue to
live your life as a baseball player in any other
league you want, but this one, though it's available. You're

(01:15:01):
still able to make your living as a baseball player.
You still consider yourself a numbers guy.

Speaker 4 (01:15:06):
Uh Yeah, As of three forty nine this afternoon, I
did so.

Speaker 3 (01:15:09):
He has eight starts for the base Stars. Then he
currently has a three nine three ERA. Doesn't sound too bad, right.

Speaker 4 (01:15:19):
He's not pitching in the majors, man.

Speaker 3 (01:15:21):
So they're they're in a significant dead ball era, and
his three nine three ERA ranks sixth worse.

Speaker 5 (01:15:30):
So the baseballs they use at Yankee Stadium haven't made
it over there yet.

Speaker 3 (01:15:34):
Well, that's another thing altogether. Who's against cutting those open?
I'm serious right now? I think they trade it like
the letter. We're not We're not unsealing these baseballs. Yeah,
I mean Trevor Bayr, Like I said, at any point,
we want to be done with that. We can be
I don't think anybody's begging for us to talk more
about him.

Speaker 5 (01:15:51):
He could be throwing a no hitter every time he
went out there. I really don't think it would matters.
He is unwanted as a person, as a teammate, as
a performer in the major leagues.

Speaker 3 (01:16:03):
He disagreed in January.

Speaker 5 (01:16:05):
He's disagreed ever since. He's not been Hey there, Hey,
if this guy can get a chance.

Speaker 3 (01:16:09):
What about me, second most popular player and the most
knowledgeable pitcher on the planet. I'm also a top ten
pitcher on the planet and willing to play for zero dollars.
That's minimum fifty million value, fifty million dollar value per
year that you'd get for zero bucks.

Speaker 4 (01:16:27):
Does that tell you but someone don't want you.

Speaker 3 (01:16:31):
Very obviously lied about me one time, so I can't
go back to work.

Speaker 5 (01:16:35):
The absurdity of this situation is off the charge victim
play it well. Poor Trevor so well like during his
time in the majors, never had any issues before he
was wrongfully accused. It's all that that's the only reason
he's not here in his mind.

Speaker 3 (01:16:53):
My favorite part of the whole Astro scandal was him
sitting around with another noted awesome human being, Clevenger, and
just sitting around talking about Yeah, ashos are just big
fat cheaters. That's the only reason we couldn't beat them
back in the day in twenty eighteen.

Speaker 4 (01:17:10):
Just two losers. Yeah, for different reasons.

Speaker 3 (01:17:14):
Yeah, but they they strike me as being cut from
the same cloth.

Speaker 4 (01:17:23):
Trevor's do whatever he wants.

Speaker 3 (01:17:26):
I don't.

Speaker 5 (01:17:26):
I don't want to make some big statement about some
nobody for purposes of our sports talk show. But I'll
turn him into that with the statement I'll do my
very very best from this point forward.

Speaker 4 (01:17:37):
May twenty five. It might come up on the show.

Speaker 5 (01:17:42):
I will not entertain a conversation about Trevor Bauer as
a baseball player again on this program.

Speaker 4 (01:17:49):
So my goal is to not bring this up so
that you don't have to.

Speaker 5 (01:17:53):
You can bring it up if there are non baseball reasons,
if he gets and runs a foul of the law,
or save somebody from drowning, or let's thinking about the
I mean, we can talk about that. I'm just not
going to talk about him as a major league Maybe
I'll add that as a he's not a major league
baseball player today and he's not going to be one
at any time in the future of my life as
a sports personality.

Speaker 3 (01:18:13):
So to discussing rare unnecessary. It's just very rare that
you speak in absolutes.

Speaker 5 (01:18:19):
I know, but I think we're so po He didn't
pitch in twenty twenty two or twenty twenty three, didn't
pitch last year in twenty four, He's not pitching this
year in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (01:18:27):
So far.

Speaker 5 (01:18:29):
Uh, he's thirty four years old, and he's unwanted as
a as a person. Nobody wants to get their equipment
manager to stitch a bower on the back of any
of their jerseys.

Speaker 3 (01:18:40):
They just don't want to. Who is less wanted in
their sport right now? Him in Major League Baseball? Or
I'm feel good about my answer. Let's see how it
goes Urban Meyer. Damn, what profession is he trying to
get into?

Speaker 5 (01:18:54):
Well, he's perfectly well employed as a college football concaster coaching.

Speaker 4 (01:18:59):
He's not. He's not interviewing for jobs or begging people.

Speaker 5 (01:19:02):
Hey man, I coached really, really well everywhere I've ever
been except for my last job.

Speaker 4 (01:19:07):
Why aren't you hiring them? Further, he's not saying any
of those things.

Speaker 3 (01:19:11):
The further we get away from his stop in Jacksonville,
doesn't it like astonish you how bad that went in
comparison to those other stops.

Speaker 4 (01:19:19):
No, not even remotely close, because it's an NFL gig.

Speaker 11 (01:19:22):
Yes, it's the exact same reason I'm not buying into
Bill Belichick doing anything in college.

Speaker 4 (01:19:27):
He's not a college coach. He's an NFL coach.

Speaker 3 (01:19:32):
Do you agree.

Speaker 5 (01:19:34):
I mean, I don't think it's blanketed for all of
the coaches. I think erbn Meyer failed because what he
did in college doesn't work in the NFL and it
never will, which is why he's not going to get
another NFL job. The reason he's not going to get
another college job is because there are other people who
can coach college football very very well.

Speaker 4 (01:19:53):
Hire one of them. It's that easy. It's okay.

Speaker 3 (01:19:56):
I'm glad you said that, because he is talking about
the college side of things, and he is taking credit
for the pat the fact that, in his opinion, the
Big Ten has surpassed the SEC grow up.

Speaker 5 (01:20:10):
Which one of you is more disgusted right now? Well,
I mean he's right, one hundred percent right. We only
have to turn to the most recent college football game, right,
SEC lose Big Ten win champions case closed two years, yes,
two years running. Just as soon as he was no

(01:20:33):
longer anywhere near the Big Ten, they brought Oregon in
and couple of other teams that strengthened the conference. Good job, Urban,
way to go. Don't hurt your hand, patting yourself on
the back.

Speaker 4 (01:20:45):
Eye the way.

Speaker 11 (01:20:46):
Congratulations, you still have USC and Lincoln Riley, who's going
to harnish a legacy or Urban Meyer is once again,
to a small, small degree, good for college football because
he's They got two fairly popular Saturday television programs and
he's on one of them.

Speaker 4 (01:21:03):
It's a good gig.

Speaker 5 (01:21:04):
It's it's somebody that people still appreciate their vantage point.
It is amazing that you got some former players or
people associated with it. The Fox crew is much more
former player related. But the two coaches that sit on
these two particular shows, the Big Noon Kickoff and Game Day,
one is Urban Freakin Meyer and the other one is
Nick Saban. Pretty different, pretty different perception of the two.

(01:21:29):
One very well liked and the other is Urban Meyer.

Speaker 2 (01:21:35):
The a teen on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (01:21:37):
Ninety two lifelong Houston sports guys named Adham talking your team.

Speaker 4 (01:21:45):
He's so very.

Speaker 1 (01:21:48):
Adam Clinton and Adam Wesler are the A team.

Speaker 3 (01:21:55):
Four o'clock Hour is underway here on Sports Talk seven
ninety and.

Speaker 4 (01:21:59):
Space City home Call of Duty League Esports Team. For
those that were wondering that couldn't hear our conversation off
the air, well, I look, I just I'm gonna do it.

Speaker 5 (01:22:12):
It happened, don't need to have to, so we're For
some reason, they brought up Shosh Kronk's name, trying to
gather the relationship between him and stan Lee, and I
just wanted to point out that stan runs multiple franchises,
the Rams, the Nuggets, the lanch the Rapids, the Mammoths,
the Gladiators, the Gorillas, and he owns a ranch and

(01:22:34):
some vineyards as well. And when I got to the Gorillas,
the l a Gorillas, and I was curious what sport
or league that was all about us the answer to
our question open up the four o'clock hour.

Speaker 4 (01:22:45):
In the back half of the show.

Speaker 3 (01:22:46):
Well, we were bringing up the fact because the Nuggets
have removed the interim tag and David Adelman is the
franchise's permanent head coach for the foreseeable future. Which it's not.
That's not a surprise and of itself. The conversation Wex
and I were having was that, gosh, you can really
really fall out of favor quickly with certain entities.

Speaker 4 (01:23:09):
He just helped win them a championship two seasons ago.

Speaker 5 (01:23:12):
You had a coach with a reasonably successful run in Memphis,
same thing happened to him. Just at the end of
the season they decided to move on.

Speaker 3 (01:23:20):
And that's Taylor. It's a very good argument to me,
was Sam an argument one less?

Speaker 5 (01:23:24):
Obviously there's no I'm saying, like a lot of postseason advancing,
and Denver also doesn't have an MVP.

Speaker 3 (01:23:29):
Yeah, but Denver's franchise player is a perennial MVP Award winner.
He's not going anywhere that we know of, although if
he's available, come on down to Houston.

Speaker 5 (01:23:37):
I'll take he said quite clearly when asked the hypothetical
that fifteen teams' best players will be asked when they
are eliminated, why didn't it happen for you this year?
Do you think you guys have enough? In his case,
it was asked in a way that you have had enough.
You have had enough with a lot of this Core here.
Why didn't you do it or do you think you

(01:23:58):
have enough? He said, no, it's the most we don't.
We didn't win it, so I don't play in hypothetical yep,
so in my mind, we don't.

Speaker 3 (01:24:04):
And again, so that is the most difficult version of
that question that you can ask any superstar or best
player on any team in any sport. I realize it's
different in the NBA, as we've covered a million times now,
because one player can make a difference.

Speaker 5 (01:24:18):
But they don't ask Mike Trout after their season ends.

Speaker 3 (01:24:23):
I don't ask Pat Mahomes, you know, like even though
you probably could some years because he didn't have enough
offensive line help the year they lost the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (01:24:31):
Okay, so yeah, Nicol and others, we'll get asked that.
But that's the thing we were talking about this during
the break.

Speaker 3 (01:24:36):
I did not intend for this to be a Denver
Nuggets intensive segment, but I'll make this about the Rockets
since we're talking about an NBA team. You know, the
Nuggets on the public side of things would not have
you believe that Mike Malone is no longer there because
he was feuding with the best player on the team

(01:24:56):
as a matter of fact, if you read anything that
was written about that situation, he was trying to I guess,
force more Russell Westbrook on the Nuggets culture, if you will.
They're playing time, how they did things, all that kind
of stuff, and that was a sticking point. I highly
doubt he's fired after winning a championship two years prior

(01:25:19):
because of something like that, But it just is interesting
that that that's what was probably pointed to more than
anything else, because again, he wasn't feuding with the best
player on the team and one of the top five
best players in the NBA.

Speaker 5 (01:25:33):
Not at all, no evidence to suggest they were the
team did you know. I don't know what option they had,
but they moved on pretty well.

Speaker 4 (01:25:40):
Yeah, they went to.

Speaker 5 (01:25:42):
The playoffs, got right in the opening round and probably
put up the best fight that Oklahoma City is.

Speaker 4 (01:25:49):
On that series. They just rolled over in Game seven.

Speaker 5 (01:25:51):
Well I'm not going to say they should have. Well,
they got blown out twice in seven games.

Speaker 4 (01:25:55):
They retired in the series or not. I mean, he
definitely only had a lackluster series. For Jokic. For Jokic,
that's a that's a well, that's what the other team's
trying to do.

Speaker 3 (01:26:06):
I know you'd have. That's a clear sign of just
the caliber player we're talking about here.

Speaker 5 (01:26:11):
Yeah, he almost won another MVP award, but the best
player in the series wanted. I know you want me
to say that that's what we do here.

Speaker 3 (01:26:17):
Well, I want you to say, actually, the Jokich is
because I mean, Shay gild Is Alexander, he's nothing with
us free throws as we know. Amen, he really isn't.
I mean, listen, I mean I have to take you
to task for this, not really you. If it weren't
for you, I wouldn't even be feeling this strongly about it.

Speaker 4 (01:26:34):
Hike. I knew that he got a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:26:37):
Of free throws. Big deal. Good players do. Jordan did,
Lebron does. James Harden and Houston famously did. And Shay
Gildes Alexander's gonna parade to the foul line too. Except
some guys. It stops in the postseason, but it doesn't
for Shake Gildes Alexander and the manner in which he gets.
If you don't like how James Harden used to bait officials,

(01:26:58):
Warriors fans love to say that, which is hilarious because
anybody is a Warriors fan complaining about not benefiting from
officiating can go jump off a cliff. But the fact
that Shay Gilds Alexander gets the foul calls that he
does by actually fouling the defender nine times out of ten,

(01:27:21):
just it boils my blood.

Speaker 4 (01:27:23):
This is what people don't like about the NBA. Already boiling.
I might as well light you on fire. Proverbial, unliteral,
metaphorical fire, metaphorical fire, all right, SGA, in this most
recently completed season, shot eight point eight free throws per game.
Last year as the runner up to MVP, he shot

(01:27:46):
eight point seven free throws per contest. I think I
know where you're going because we talked about the year
prior he was at ten point nine free throws per contest.
That's hard and range.

Speaker 5 (01:27:56):
That's incredible, and analyst works at the worldwide leader. Richard Jefferson, Oh,
Dick Jefferson haven't heard from him in a minute on
a podcast, said SGA told him that no one cared
when he was taking eleven free throws per game on
a ten seed, but now that he's taking nine a
game and sending everyone's favorite player home, people suddenly care.

Speaker 4 (01:28:21):
So I know what he's trying to do here, and
I feel like happy Gilmore.

Speaker 3 (01:28:28):
You know, I know what you're trying to do here,
and I don't like it, you know, like I don't
want to hear any of that from this guy.

Speaker 5 (01:28:36):
Yeah, we need to get away from the me part
of these discussions. I'm giving you the numbers and I'm
trying to break it down with the analytics behind it,
and I can't help but give you these facts. I'm
gonna shake free of that and ask that you tonight
watch game two. Last night hopefully watched Game one Knicks Pacers,
and the previous night watched Game one of Wolves and Thunder,

(01:28:58):
even if you didn't watch any other game the whole
rest of your listening to Sports Talk seven ninety life,
which I would find rather remarkable, but for the purposes
of today's discussion, it's okay. If you have it, you
can see what he's talking about. When Jalen Brunson plays Tyrese,
Haliburton plays Shay Gilgess, Alexander plays another respectable elite star players,

(01:29:21):
So better hesitate on calling Tyrese a superstar or else
Steven A might yell at me they are foul seekers.
SGA is an elite foul merchant. If you watch him
play one game, you could have done it Tuesday. You're
more than welcome to do it tonight. You will not
miss it because it happens on nearly every dribble drive

(01:29:43):
he makes, left handed or right handed, well defended or
poorly defended, defended by a big, defended.

Speaker 4 (01:29:48):
By a small, it doesn't matter. He is seeking contact
is one thing.

Speaker 5 (01:29:53):
Committing the foul, creating the contact that otherwise wouldn't be
there is the other.

Speaker 4 (01:29:58):
And these guys are so we tell you all the time.
Look how talenty these guys are.

Speaker 5 (01:30:01):
Go go to a game early if you have the
opportunity every once in a while, or catch one of
our videos when we're out there early and watch blank
NBA wing go fifteen for sixteen or twenty nine for
thirty on twenty foot jumpers and beyond.

Speaker 4 (01:30:17):
They're phenomenal.

Speaker 5 (01:30:19):
So even when they create the contact, fall to the ground,
flail with their legs and arms, they can make the
shot when they're an inch from hitting the ground, when
they're an inch from traveling. If you didn't see last
night's play in particular, which glad, this is what social
media is great for. You see Brunson actually grabbing the

(01:30:39):
arm of the defender Aaron Nie Smith, pulling it towards
his own body, hitting himself in the face with Nie
Smith's arm hand, and then going about his I just
got fouled business. It's cheating, fooling, pulling one over on
the officials. It's kind of a not I mean, if

(01:31:01):
the umpires are gonna say this is a strike, why
shouldn't Tom Glavin and John Smoltz and Greg Maddocks Greg
Maddox keep throwing it, blowing away if they're giving it
to you.

Speaker 4 (01:31:13):
If the officials in the NBA are continuing to make
this awful, awful mistake and pretending like they can't see it,
then you're not gonna stop.

Speaker 3 (01:31:22):
Unlike the NBA, who just continues to hire adults to
do this job. Major League Baseball can fix one of
those problems and has the technology to do so.

Speaker 4 (01:31:32):
Yes, but very much.

Speaker 3 (01:31:33):
But the problem with the NBA is what you're talking about.
And I don't even necessarily blame the officials. I mean,
you've got paid actors, that's what they are. They're paid
and they're acting.

Speaker 5 (01:31:44):
So after last night, I brought up that instance and
we obviously talked about if you were unaware, the Knicks, Pacers,
fantastic finish and shot making and you know, one hundred
and seventy three points between the two teams and overtime
and the fan it was great. Like we've gotten to
this other element of last night's game and elements of
the playoffs, and then you say, this is what's wrong
with the NBA. Isn't the product still good enough to

(01:32:06):
overcome it? Like nobody's talking about Jalen Brunson foul hunting
last night, even though he went to the line a
billion times. Well, they're talking about the shot making, the game,
the excitement, the drama of Pacers, Knicks, and a game
one never forget game.

Speaker 3 (01:32:20):
I think if the first game between the Thunder and
the Tea Wolves had been more competitive, maybe, especially if
he helped decide the outcome of the game at the
foul line, which he did, by the way, so stop
being so good. Well that not him, it's just well
they how many times have they done this? Like Matt
and Ross were talking about the ratings being down, Well, yeah,

(01:32:40):
who wants to sit around watching a thirty point blowout? Nobody?

Speaker 4 (01:32:43):
This is okay?

Speaker 5 (01:32:45):
See this postseason. This is fifty one point win, a
nineteen point win, a thirty three point win. They won
Game seven by twenty eight points. They opened the Conference
finals with a twenty six point victory.

Speaker 4 (01:32:58):
That's insane.

Speaker 3 (01:32:59):
And I know that that they put one of those
on the Rockets this year at one point, put a
blowout win on them. I mean, this is why I
wanted the Rockets to play them, because the Rockets, in
my opinion, currently before they do anything to the roster
this offseason, have some of the best personnel to just

(01:33:19):
have a fighting chance against a very, very good Thunder team.
I'm not taking any credit away from them.

Speaker 5 (01:33:25):
Rockets won a game by fifteen against them, lost a
game by fourteen against them, lost a game are you
know nineteen point margin?

Speaker 4 (01:33:32):
Three of their four games were not hotly contested.

Speaker 3 (01:33:35):
Yeah, it's crazy to think about how good they already
are and that the Rockets are currently chasing them. Speaking
of the Rockets, an insane trade proposal, WEX will tell
you about next.

Speaker 2 (01:33:49):
The A teen on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (01:33:59):
It is the eighteen Sports Talk seven ninety Space City
home network. All Right News is out here.

Speaker 9 (01:34:06):
It is.

Speaker 3 (01:34:08):
Renel Blanco placed on the fifteen day IL retro to
May twentieth with right elbow inflammation. In a corresponding move,
left handed pitcher Colton Gordon was recalled from Triple A Sugarland.
So I'm gonna ask you this. You can answer however
you want. How long is this gonna go on?

Speaker 4 (01:34:31):
If he pitches again this year, it will be in August.
That's longer than fifteen days from now.

Speaker 5 (01:34:39):
Keep this in mind, they have two options. You go
to the fifteen day or you go to the sixty a.
And nobody goes to the sixty day. Before they've decided
what they're doing, they're gonna have a second opinion on this.
This is just like Hayden was nesky. He went on
the fifteen day IL. Initially they probably knew he was
going to be out for the season, but until they
needed to take him off the forty man roster, needed
the roster spot. There's really no hi just to move

(01:35:00):
him there. He can miss as many games as you want.
You'renan Alvarez. He didn't return after ten days.

Speaker 4 (01:35:06):
What happened?

Speaker 5 (01:35:06):
Well, they do about his season being you're just talking
about the mechanics, the mechanics of it, like they're not
putting him on the fifteen day IL because they expect
him back in sixteen days. They're putting him on the
fifteen day IL because he can't pitch, and there's no
reason to keep a roster spot with a pitcher that
cannot pitch, So he's off the active roster.

Speaker 4 (01:35:26):
That's really the only way to do it.

Speaker 5 (01:35:28):
It's not a reference point to how long they expect
him to be out, and quite honestly, without a second opinion,
they're definitely not going to divulge how long they think
he's out. But I do think this is an extended
period of time with what we're dealing with here, and
this does answer the question you mentioned Colton Gordon as
we were trying to guess who might get the call

(01:35:49):
on Sunday for the TVD'D game. I mean, I kept
saying it was aj blueball because without an injury, there
was really no way to get Gordon back onto the roster.
You're just not allowed to do that with a play
that you have sent down. Well, there was an injury,
so it makes it very easy. Gordon being the move though,
also means they have they shouldn't have any issues in

(01:36:09):
their bullpen. I don't think unless they get a poor start,
they're gonna get the off day coming up on Monday.
They only have four more days straight of baseball. But
yesterday's game was Hunter Brown to Bennett's Sussa to Forrest Whitley.
Their guys are actually in pretty good shape. Certainly a
bray new hater, King and Okert hopefully are Okret did
have to come into yesterday's game throw a couple of

(01:36:31):
pitches to get out of Whitley's issues, but they're in
pretty decent shape. So I'm saying that noting that if Gordon,
you know, you could have made him the move on
Saturday after the game and had Thursday, Friday and Saturday
with Nick Hernandez or Louis Contreras or somebody else that

(01:36:51):
could pitch for you in a pinch to avoid going
to somebody else in the bullpen, where technically if you're
I mean, I don't even know how many guys are
in the rotation right now, beca because of lack of
health twenty. But with Gordon and Walter being sent down
immediately after their respective starts, they're full of bullpen arms
because they don't even have a full twenty in the rotation,

(01:37:12):
and all but three of them are relievers. I mean,
I'm to the literal part of it Fromber and Hunter.
They're in the rotation, they're on the active roster, Mawlers obviously,
mccullors even though he has yet, there's no anything. I'm
just trying to be literal about who is in the
rotation and on the roster. And Ryan Gusto now, so

(01:37:34):
that's four. Walter's not here, Gordon returns, so that gives
them five. That means everybody else is a should be
available out of the bullpen. So I think pulling Gordon
up now is fine because they're already in good They
don't have six starters on the roster right now. They're
going to have a six man rotation, yeah, but they
don't have them currently on the roster because one of

(01:37:55):
the guys that made us start during the six man
turn is now on the IL.

Speaker 4 (01:37:58):
And am I incorrect in that? I heard Dana Brown
say that Spencer.

Speaker 3 (01:38:03):
Araghetty is not really doing anything of notice as far
as throwing.

Speaker 5 (01:38:08):
I'm not sure the exact words that he used when
he was on this morning, which we played for you earlier,
but I know I told you he's not out of
his cast.

Speaker 4 (01:38:15):
He's not pitching. He hasn't picked up a baseball, He's
not doing anything.

Speaker 3 (01:38:18):
Jord On Alvarez is hitting off a tee right now.
He's hitting off the coaches today. So I mean, as
far as health and the Astros, they're not getting together
anytime soon.

Speaker 5 (01:38:29):
Again, this is unfortunate, but very well known, the idea
that Spencer Araghetty was making some rapid return. I don't
even think he's behind the schedule, but he is certainly
not close. He's behind my schedule. I wanted him back
on you first three to four weeks away. George Kirby
has been pitching since early May. I think each of
his three I think he made one rehab start at

(01:38:52):
the end of April, and then the next three here
this month, and now he's making his major league debut tonight.

Speaker 4 (01:38:58):
Season debut, not major league debut debut.

Speaker 3 (01:39:00):
Well, that's how long it took him with a spring
training issue to get ramped up for the season.

Speaker 4 (01:39:07):
To me, that's where Spencer Eggetty is. Two months.

Speaker 5 (01:39:09):
He didn't hurt his toe, he didn't hurt his knee,
he didn't hurt his left hand, he hurt his pitching hand.
He's not pitching, he's not picking up a baseball. He's
way back off schedule. So when his health has returned,
when the cast is off, when there's no rap on it,
when he can start at least throwing, he's got to
get his arm ready to pitch. And he's absolutely pitching

(01:39:29):
two minor league hitters first, so he's got to get
ramped up. He's got to have a minor league rehab.
It's going to include multiple starts. And it's May twenty second.
He maybe and could still be on schedule to pitch
in June. And I can't say anything more than maybe.

Speaker 3 (01:39:43):
You're mention your courtesy statement saying that Renel Blanco in
August that is the best case.

Speaker 4 (01:39:52):
That's a total nonsense coming from me. I have no idea.

Speaker 5 (01:39:55):
I mean, honestly, if you make me guess, I would
say he's not pitching this year. I think an elbow
in that sends you to the IL in season probably
means you need to stop pitching. If it's not surgery,
I still don't.

Speaker 4 (01:40:08):
Think you can turn around into the minimum.

Speaker 5 (01:40:10):
Something's got to be changed in there so when you
throw the baseball it doesn't hurt and I don't know
how comparable it is to what Hayden was Nesky was
dealing with, you know, when he was not pitching, skipped
a turn, came back, didn't have the same velocity or
snap to his pitches, and then got reevaluated and is
set for Tommy John surgery.

Speaker 4 (01:40:32):
You know, I brought up Garrett Cole from last year.

Speaker 5 (01:40:34):
He was able to step aside, not pitch for the
first several months of the season, but did not have surgery,
came out and pitched, was able to pitch the Yankees
to a crushing end of season loss, and now he's
out for the year.

Speaker 3 (01:40:48):
Yep, yeah it is. And again I go back to
the thing we were talking about, how long, let's put
it this way, how long until the pitch clock is
actually brought Like we can talk about that here. And
it's honestly more of a talking point than anything, just
because of the relative lack of time that these guys

(01:41:09):
have been dealing with this in the game.

Speaker 4 (01:41:11):
Would they weren't before, but like, is it five years? Well,
I would point this thing out. I don't think I
brought it up before.

Speaker 5 (01:41:17):
There's pretty much nobody maybe you know, obviously very very
recent pitchers, Paul Skins as a major leaguer, and maybe
one or two other guys, like, none of these pitchers
were dealing with this when they got here to the majors,
to the professional baseball I should say Sinsera again, he's
been in the organization for years, and Renelle has been
in the organization for years. All of them, Hayden Wiznski

(01:41:38):
is a major or a professional baseball player. They were
all pitching, and I'm leaning on the younger injured versions.
They were all pitching without a pitch clock, as paid
baseball players, as minor league baseball players trying to get
to the majors, and then things have changed, and then
they get to this level and things change. Look at Lance, Yep,
Lance's pitchclock.

Speaker 3 (01:41:58):
You know, that's what life was like before he was
the age of the staff.

Speaker 4 (01:42:01):
Back when he made his debut this year season debut,
he was pitching in a major League game with a
pitch clock for the first time ever.

Speaker 3 (01:42:09):
Yeah, and something he probably had to be, not had
to be, he absolutely was cognizant of, because this is
another element that I'm having to deal with as I make.

Speaker 5 (01:42:19):
My return, right and I bring it up strictly from
an injury standpoint, Well, this is not what they have
been doing right for all of their professional life prior
to twenty three.

Speaker 4 (01:42:28):
For some guys, that's ten years. For some guys, that's
three years.

Speaker 3 (01:42:31):
To me, maybe it's because the amount sheer amount of
astros that have had to deal with this type of thing.
I mean, we've listed them all, I think, except for
saying Verlander because he was a part of the team
when that happened. I just think that's why.

Speaker 4 (01:42:49):
This is every injury the same to you. If it's
a pitching injury, no, but Tommy Johns are in that
you needed the same procedure, right.

Speaker 5 (01:42:56):
But as JP Frantz thought of differently on right shoulder surgery, I.

Speaker 3 (01:43:03):
Mean, if it's your pitching mechanical part of your body
in any way, wrist, hand, Tommy john you know, your
elbow or your shoulder rotator cuff, I think you have
to at least take that into account more than you would.

Speaker 5 (01:43:16):
You'd have me and I asked you a question expecting
the answer to be yes, I think it's yes.

Speaker 3 (01:43:20):
Yeah. No, That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 5 (01:43:22):
There's a debilitating, season long surgical procedure that was necessary
to the part of your body you throw the baseball
with your money, your elbow, whatever.

Speaker 3 (01:43:30):
Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 5 (01:43:31):
I don't think pitch clock is they're ever gonna find out,
because they would probably already know it. Well, yes, the
pitch clock is directly related to this tendon injury, this
ligament injury, this need for Tommy John's surgery, this flexor tendon.
I don't think they have that information, just like they
don't know that it caused JP Franchi's shoulder situation. And

(01:43:52):
you know, with each of these pitchers, and they're all
singular cases, they're reaching unfortunate similar results. Like I can't
believe we're not talking about what Luis Garcia's last start
was like, Like he's in the rotation, right, m he
pitches every fifth day for this team, right mm hm. No,
he's had I don't know how many setbacks from this.

(01:44:13):
I mean, he's becoming a lance two point zero. I
don't know what to think because I don't know what's
going on with him.

Speaker 4 (01:44:20):
Well, there's reasons for that, That's what I mean.

Speaker 5 (01:44:22):
This is these procedures don't normally require this much recovery time,
but in his case and several others.

Speaker 3 (01:44:30):
It has.

Speaker 2 (01:44:33):
The a team on Sports Talk seven ninety a new
signature seven called.

Speaker 4 (01:44:44):
What's up with that?

Speaker 2 (01:44:47):
What's up with that?

Speaker 4 (01:44:49):
What's up? If I say, what's up?

Speaker 2 (01:44:55):
Who that?

Speaker 3 (01:44:59):
Well, before we're go any further, we got to make
a correction from last segment only because we now have
new information.

Speaker 4 (01:45:07):
So an update, yes, well, I mean I guess technically.

Speaker 5 (01:45:12):
I mean, I'm not going to check the log to
see what time I said it versus when Joe Aspata
divulged the information to the attending media.

Speaker 3 (01:45:20):
He's not even out of his cast yet.

Speaker 5 (01:45:22):
I was going with information that up until Joe mentioned
that was pretty accurate considering I had seen a photo
of him wearing his cast.

Speaker 4 (01:45:29):
Well that's gone. It's now gone. So the update on
Spencer Arraghetty is he's not in a cast anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:45:38):
Yes, yes, that is the update.

Speaker 5 (01:45:40):
He's starting to grip things with some grip exercises with
his pitching hand, but.

Speaker 3 (01:45:46):
He's still not throwing.

Speaker 4 (01:45:47):
Well, he still has a ways to go.

Speaker 3 (01:45:49):
That's our good buddy. Chandeler Rome among many out there
at the ballpark.

Speaker 4 (01:45:53):
Ross will have the on deck show. He is out
there as well.

Speaker 5 (01:45:56):
So more from Joe Aspata on as we sit on
Space City Home Networks, where you can catch the game
on TV. You can catch the game on radio right
here on your home for Astros Baseball Sports Talk seven ninety.
But on Jordan Alvarez, he is doing better and we'll
get an update on him see when he will no
longer be missing games for the Astros but rather contributing

(01:46:18):
to the Astros. The Astros are much much better when
he's not on the injured list. There are game over
five hundred when he's not out there or when he's
available to Jerospota merely a five hundred team, though when
he is under the whole game that he's worth nine
to nine heading into game nineteen missed since going on
the al which will also give an opportunity for Seessar

(01:46:40):
Salazar to reach his nineteenth consecutive game on the Astros
roster without appearing in one. Normally, there'd be a twenty
twenty five listing for Sasar's major league stats by now,
considering he's been a major leaguer this season since May fifth,
today's May twenty second, but he does not have an
appearance in a.

Speaker 4 (01:46:59):
Game for the Astros this season.

Speaker 5 (01:47:01):
Gusto Valdez and presumably Colton Gordon, who will be the
corresponding move will be the three remaining starters in the
Mariners series. Hancock, Wu and Castillo go Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Tonight's matchup as Lance McCullers Junior and George Kirby. Kirby
is yet to throw a Major league pitch this year
off of his rehab assignment, he'll be making a season

(01:47:21):
debut this evening.

Speaker 4 (01:47:24):
Now to the task at hand, What's up with that?

Speaker 5 (01:47:27):
That is what we do signature segment each and every
weekday afternoon Thursdays, bring you what's up with that? Earlier
in the week, we referenced not one, not two, not three,
but four lawsuits brought against the matt Ishbia version of
the Phoenix Suns slash Mercury organization purchased them both from

(01:47:49):
outgoing forced to sell owner Robert Sarver, whose organization under
his run was much much worse than just about every
organization in the NBA that wasn't run by Donald Sterling.
I did paint Ishbia in a poor light in that
these suits were filed. I think as sometimes the purpose
of a filing is accomplished without having much to base

(01:48:12):
it on. I don't know enough about this case or
these cases to say anything definitively, but I do know
how people have reacted to them, and I do know
what they have made sure everybody was aware of with
the lawyer involved with filing each of these cases, and
out a certain extent, some of the people involved in
bringing these cases forward and going to this attorney to

(01:48:32):
help bring them come forward. In that it was buried
in a line thirty five on a thirty page filing,
it already seemed odd that it would be a part
of any filing, But we brought it up the other day,
and I feel pretty certain, I said Mark Bartlestein when
I should have said Josh. Josh Bartlstein was the person

(01:48:55):
involved that's running the organization that was alleged to be
in a relationship as a married man with a basketball
player on the Mercury, Sophie Cunningham, and only brought to
light by people like myself in the media and everybody
else who's writing posts about it or social media posts
about it, or blogs or whatever about it. It's this

(01:49:16):
from the same place, just from this filing, no other information,
no comment from either side of it. Until Sophie Cunningham
released her statement yesterday, which certainly feels worthy of adding
to it. It all comes up in this lawsuit because
the person who brought the lawsuit up had given an
indication to Bartolstein that there's someone in the organization that

(01:49:36):
is spreading damaging information about you that could jeopardize the organization.
So Bartlestein asked the plaintiff, what's he saying. This is
what he said that Bartlestein is a word I can't use.
And Sophie Cunningham, so that's obviously pretty damning information for

(01:49:57):
him personally, I probably, I think professionally that's really no
way to run your organization.

Speaker 3 (01:50:03):
Great not great.

Speaker 5 (01:50:04):
And then again this was in at the end of
one of their many lawsuits that were filed or kind
of buried in the midst of it, just the part
of it that, as I said, it probably deserves at
least a read through or how it was presented. From
Sophie's perspective, I'm deeply saddened by the recent false accusations
made against me by Gene Traylor. He is the person

(01:50:26):
involved in the in the filing the case. I do
not know or have never and have never met him.
Let me be clear, his statements are untrue and extremely
hurtful to the media who reported on this. I've always
spoken the truth and been transparent with any press inquiry.
In this instance, it feels irresponsible. And I was never
asked for a comment about the accusations before accusation before

(01:50:49):
several clickbait stories went to print. And obviously this item
is going to be a massive click bait item when
it is of this nature, and I co completely understand
why well I would come at it from that angle,
for sure, from her point of view, but it's almost
telling you what I just said to open up this
whole segment.

Speaker 4 (01:51:10):
It doesn't even matter if you can prove it. It
doesn't matter if it's true or not.

Speaker 5 (01:51:14):
You would like to believe a case filing, a lawsuit
brought up would include accurate comments, real statements that of things.
This is a This is a little bit like all
the cases we went through for the last four or
five years, recently with the no longer kicker of the
Baltimore Ravens and obviously before that, the no longer quarterback

(01:51:37):
of the Houston Texans. You can put whatever your side
says to put in there, it's your filing. There's no
rebuttal to this charge, to this case, to this filing.
That's what it's all about. You have the opportunity to
answer it. But now that everybody can get this public
information and put out whatever they see in it that
they deem fit, it doesn't mean it's true or not.
It's just And in this case, it's even worse because

(01:51:59):
it's someone's saying something to somebody else that they said
somebody else said, and everybody just kind of ran with
it all.

Speaker 4 (01:52:06):
She's not on the mercury anymore. She was traded to
the Fever. Hmm.

Speaker 5 (01:52:09):
I wonder why. Well, this apparently wasn't the reason why.
So I do think she'll be beyond this fairly quickly.
But I do think it also sheds light on is
this automatically because of where the Suns were previously and
the fact that I don't know, they weren't winning, people
just kind of assumed, well, yeah, man, this is bad,

(01:52:29):
what a bad franchise, what a bad organization.

Speaker 4 (01:52:31):
And some of it could be true. I feel pretty
confident saying some of it probably is not true.

Speaker 3 (01:52:37):
There's always two sides to the story.

Speaker 5 (01:52:38):
And again, if it did happen. I don't think she
would say what she said, but it doesn't mean it
didn't happen. And he has made no comment yet. He
of the organization. WNBA's got some weird news cycles lately.

Speaker 4 (01:52:54):
Well, the weirdest one, obviously, we haven't talked about because
it's so dumb.

Speaker 5 (01:52:58):
Honestly, I don't know what an other word to you.
It's it's almost unworth talking about it.

Speaker 3 (01:53:02):
But not to mention.

Speaker 5 (01:53:03):
Were we talk about that league's basketball very rarely, so
bringing that up would seem unnecessary.

Speaker 4 (01:53:12):
Thus it hasn't been brought up.

Speaker 2 (01:53:16):
The age On Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (01:53:25):
All right, earlier today, my co host my esteemed colleague
Adam Wexler, mentioned that he was alerted to a not one,
not two, not three, but four team trade proposal involving
your Houston Rockets.

Speaker 4 (01:53:42):
I wasn't alerted to it. I was sent a proposal.
Well that's an alert. It's not out there. Nobody else
is talking.

Speaker 3 (01:53:50):
Was it a text?

Speaker 4 (01:53:51):
No, it was an email. Hey, wex what do you
think about this deal? When you got that email on
your phone? Did it goring?

Speaker 9 (01:53:56):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (01:53:57):
I received it on my phone? Had I been on it?
But I was on my laptop for visual purposes, bigger screen.
I was able to read it semantic.

Speaker 5 (01:54:06):
So this would land the Rockets. Kevin Durant, Sons, Hornets, Calves,
Rockets four team.

Speaker 4 (01:54:13):
Deal seems complicated. It's very complicated, very very complicated.

Speaker 3 (01:54:17):
Did you make a visual aid for this?

Speaker 4 (01:54:19):
I assessed it.

Speaker 5 (01:54:20):
As two teams probably would say yes, and I think
two teams probably would say no.

Speaker 3 (01:54:25):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (01:54:26):
I had the Rockets in the saying no. Camp they
said click. No, they didn't say click. Probably said let's
let's reassess things. The Sons would land LaMelo ball Isaac Okoro,
the Rockets twenty seven number one pick, a pick swap

(01:54:47):
from the Rockets in twenty nine, and a pick swap
from the Hornets. So that's ball A Korro, two pickswaps
and one of them is from the Hornets and the
Rockets number one pick in twenty seven.

Speaker 4 (01:54:59):
That's what the Son get.

Speaker 5 (01:55:00):
The Sons are basically just giving up this year's first rounder,
which would go to Charlotte and Kevin Durant. Josh Koge
also won the deal, but of no consequence, just money.
The Hornets would get Darius Garland that Son's first round pick.
This year, which is at the end of the first round,
and Jay Shawn Tate from the Rockets, kas good at

(01:55:21):
Van Vliet to Kogi and the Rockets number ten overall
pick this year. All the Rockets would get is Kevin Durant.
So simpler terms, Rockets get kd Rockets give up Van Vliet, Tate,
their number ten overall pick this year, their twenty seven
first round pick, and a twenty nine first round pick swap,

(01:55:42):
and that swap is with the Sons, who are almost
assuredly going to be worse than them in twenty twenty nine. Okay,
I addressed the Rockets as one of the teams that
would say no being it it sounded like too much, yeah,
even though the entire core of the Rockets was kept intact.

Speaker 3 (01:56:03):
Except your starting point guard is gone. Yeah, who's starting
at point guard under this scenario?

Speaker 5 (01:56:10):
For you?

Speaker 4 (01:56:11):
Well, so how are you? How's the money working too?

Speaker 5 (01:56:15):
I think that's why the multiple teams were involved in
order to help make that happen.

Speaker 4 (01:56:21):
I don't know for sure. I took his word for
it without running it through some trade mission.

Speaker 3 (01:56:25):
Because your payroll still has Kevin Durant's bloated salary on
it and the only guy who left was Jayshon Tate
and Fred van and Fred van Vliet.

Speaker 4 (01:56:33):
That's true, that's that is a but he's not making
durant money.

Speaker 5 (01:56:37):
No, But if Fred van Vliet's under contract at X
figure for next year and we don't know what that
is yet, because but it can be manipulated to help
this work if he's amenable to that, and the Jayshon
Tate angle of it is part of it.

Speaker 4 (01:56:51):
Why does Cleveland do this?

Speaker 5 (01:56:54):
Well, I said Cleveland would do it because they're giving
up Darius Garland basically and Isaaca Korro and getting back
the tenth pick in this year's draft and Fred van
Vliet the current replacement for Darius Garland, plus the tenth pick. Now,
Garland's only going into his sixth year, he's twenty five
years old.

Speaker 3 (01:57:16):
But I who's the better player?

Speaker 5 (01:57:18):
Well, Darius Garland is okay, but not by as much
as some people think the way that Fred finished, but
his career obviously got ten years out of him. But
you're they're giving you the tenth pick also, so I
think they much.

Speaker 3 (01:57:29):
A lot of people said would be taken if the
Rockets kept, it would be spent on a point guard,
which I didn't understand that.

Speaker 5 (01:57:34):
Who knows, there's so many different angle. I mean, the
player picked tenth could also be picked nineteenth. The player
picked fifteenth could also get picked seventh.

Speaker 3 (01:57:46):
While I while I like the fact that you didn't
give up Shingoon in this deal, um.

Speaker 5 (01:57:54):
Or Cam or Reed or Jabbari or Tari or a
mend or Jalen. Yeah, like when I said or, I
should have said young Core.

Speaker 3 (01:58:01):
Yeah, but it's.

Speaker 5 (01:58:05):
I think you're going to the playoffs next year with
the exact same group you had out there. But Je
Steven Adams and I have Kevin Durant, and you have
to figure out how to play. The only thing you
don't have back is Red who's running your offense?

Speaker 4 (01:58:17):
It's not Jalen, is it?

Speaker 3 (01:58:18):
How about Reid?

Speaker 5 (01:58:19):
How about a combination of Amen Thompson and your other
look ball bouncing guards?

Speaker 3 (01:58:26):
I am when I read that the Rockets are bullish
on Reed Shepherd. I do think that rafel Stone has
earned enough benefit of the doubt with what he's done
given the picks he was given, especially, but just putting
this roster together in general, whether it's draft, free agency,

(01:58:46):
what have you. I think he's earned the benefit of
the doubt to at least respect his opinion on something
like that.

Speaker 4 (01:58:53):
But gosh, man given the keys to read Shepherd next year.

Speaker 5 (01:58:57):
Well, it's great that you're giving him the benefit of that,
and you're giving him if he believes that it's well,
it matters more if the coach is going to play him,
and he has to have the confidence in order to
do that. I also think this deal as it was created,
the Hornets were giving up way too much. Hornets were
giving up a first swap and LaMelo Ball for getting
a much worse first and in my opinion, a less
talented player. But they're dark, so they'll probably do it.

(01:59:19):
I mean, Charlotte, can't. I know they they're looking at
LaMelo saying, what does it matter? He's gonna leave anyway
because he's never gonna sign our long.

Speaker 3 (01:59:26):
Term supermad What about where LaMelo comes here? I mean,
would you rather have Lamello Ball or Kevin Durant on
the Rockets next year?

Speaker 5 (01:59:34):
The only downside to having LaMelo Ball is how close
he is to making a ton of money. Yeah, he's
super talented. I don't know what he will look like
when he's actually trying to win.

Speaker 3 (01:59:45):
Which you're gonna pay thirty seven year old Kevin Durant
if you do that deal for two years.

Speaker 5 (01:59:50):
Yeah, but it's still I mean, like, he doesn't ruin
your franchise financially. He eats up your cap space for
a short period of time.

Speaker 3 (01:59:56):
He ruins your He does ruin your franchise financially if
he's not playing for that money.

Speaker 4 (02:00:00):
And the worst part about those two players is Durant
is healthier.

Speaker 9 (02:00:07):
I know.

Speaker 3 (02:00:08):
And as just as soon as I said that, I
thought to myself self, you might want to shut up
about health.

Speaker 5 (02:00:13):
But Ball is like a super talent. He's only twenty three.
We'll play next year at age twenty four, he's going into.

Speaker 3 (02:00:19):
His sixth season. Hey, let's put this young piece right
in with this core and whoo, I mean, I'm sure, man.

Speaker 5 (02:00:27):
He's not as far back as some of the other
Rockets were their early years when they were losing. But
five years into the league, he just it's not a
personal fault.

Speaker 4 (02:00:36):
It's just a fact.

Speaker 5 (02:00:37):
And Kate Huntingham fixed it in one off season. Kate
Cunningham twenty twenty three didn't have a clue what it
took to win in the NBA and LaMelo Ball's in
the same place as he goes into the year six.

Speaker 4 (02:00:48):
Well, guess who's good. It's not his fault, yeah, but
guess who's good at that yid head coach.

Speaker 3 (02:00:52):
So you're telling me right now that the Warriors just
kidding there, don't matter and any other team that just
decides what we're going to deploy our defense to completely
eliminate Jalen Green and they had done that to a
LaMelo Ball run.

Speaker 4 (02:01:07):
Team this last series.

Speaker 3 (02:01:09):
Well, you're probably not talking about just three games that
your point guard had an awesome outing. It's probably all
six because you didn't have to go to seven because
you won the series.

Speaker 5 (02:01:19):
Yeah, I'll probably find out if LaMelo Ball is a
good fit here if the opportunity ever presented, and he
may said how many shots a game do you think
you might need here? And depending on the number he
said in return, you'll probably find out. Five o'clock brings
us football at five. Got a case you missed it.
Halfway through, We got tickets to give away as well,
both to the Psychedelic First and Big Three. It's Coming
to h Town. Got tickets for both. In the final

(02:01:41):
segment of the show, Coming up.

Speaker 1 (02:01:44):
The A Team on Sports Talk seven ninety. Adam Clinton
and Adam Wexler are the A Team.

Speaker 4 (02:02:00):
It is five o'clock. It is football at five.

Speaker 5 (02:02:02):
Wex they see Cole Thompson here with you on a
Thursday afternoon edition of the A Team, and how are
more with us? And then we shift into Astros on
deck from the Yard Dyke and Park where the Astros
and Mariners begin their second series of the season. Mariners
took two of three, Astros have them here for four
to try to even things out a little bit. Head
into that series down three and a half games in

(02:02:23):
the standings. Had a couple of updates on Astros injuries
we'll share with you as we continue on this hour,
but it is football at five. We did have some
major news on the college football front. We'll get to
that momentarily. I think it was expected, but it is
a fairly major development in the upcoming season and seasons
to follow. The NFL released their schedule earlier this month.

(02:02:46):
We mentioned the dates for each team and their standalone games,
whether or not they're exclusive to a streaming service or not.
And the Texans with their four and we know that
the Texans as a first place team will see their
respective first place teams from the AFC have their matchups
against the NFC division their AFC division, and then they

(02:03:08):
add the Bucks into their schedule as well. This year,
one team in the NFL with lines out on every
single regular season game. One team is favored in all
seventeen games that they're set to play this season. That
team is on the Texans schedule.

Speaker 3 (02:03:27):
What team is it?

Speaker 4 (02:03:28):
Ooh, I know this the Ravens. No, did they play
the Ravens this year? They do their first place team,
they play the Ravens.

Speaker 3 (02:03:38):
Well, I thought, it's not the Ravens though.

Speaker 4 (02:03:40):
It's not the Ravens. It's the Bills. It's not the
Chiefs either, I said the Bills. It's the Bills.

Speaker 5 (02:03:47):
The Bills are favored to win all seventeen of their
games as of May twenty second.

Speaker 3 (02:03:53):
Watching for the game against the Texans defense last year
where Josh Allen had his worst game ever.

Speaker 5 (02:03:57):
The roads schedule for the Bills is rather easy. Their
home schedule includes, like the Texans first place matchups, they
play the Ravens in Buffalo, they play the Chiefs in Buffalo,
they play the Eagles in Buffalo. And that's a big
reason why they're favored against all three of those teams.
They're not favored by more than two and a half

(02:04:18):
points over any of them, but favored nonetheless at home.

Speaker 4 (02:04:22):
The Texans game is on the road.

Speaker 5 (02:04:24):
Their road games this year where they're all favored by
more points than they are against the Texans are against
the Jets, the Falcons, the Panthers, the Dolphins, Steelers, Pats,
and Browns. Their road schedule is embarrassingly easy, and they
play out the Texans, where they're also favored by three
and a half points on that Thursday night game. All

(02:04:45):
seventeen games the Bills are currently months out from the season,
even beginning, they're favored to win.

Speaker 4 (02:04:53):
There are three teams that are favored to win only
one time this year. You only get one guess, but
three of them are correct. Can you name one of them?

Speaker 3 (02:05:06):
Cleveland?

Speaker 5 (02:05:07):
That is correct, same for you, Cole, but different odds
because he took one away from And the Giants that
is also correct. I will guess the Saints, and that
is also correct.

Speaker 4 (02:05:19):
Because you have the answer in front of you. That's correct.

Speaker 5 (02:05:23):
Giants are favored over the Saints and the only game
they're favored in the Saints are favored over the Jets
in the only game they're favored in, and the Browns
in Week fourteen are hosting cam Ward and the Tennessee Titans,
and they are favored while they play starting quarterback. I
don't know they're assuming cam Ward will be the starter

(02:05:45):
for the Titans. That's how you would set that line.
And they don't even know who the.

Speaker 4 (02:05:49):
Browns starting quarterbacks.

Speaker 5 (02:05:50):
I mean, I know, it's mazing when they start the season,
I would I would not be surprised if Sanders as
the starter, But you know, a rookie quarterback with that
offense lasting the entire season, whether they felt they need
to bench him or there was an injury, it wouldn't
surprise me if he started far less than seventeen games.
Though we're talking about a game late in the season,
so it could be just about anybody, you know. I

(02:06:11):
think Pickett or Flacco doesn't make the team. You don't
need two veterans, but you need one. And you didn't
draft Gabriel and Sanders to not have them on the roster.
So unless they're hurt, they're going to be on the roster.

Speaker 4 (02:06:23):
Who's the one that gets cut?

Speaker 5 (02:06:25):
I mean, I think Kenny Pickett is young, and it's
literally the only thing he has going for him. I
would never even bring Joe Flacco to the roster, so
I don't have an answer.

Speaker 3 (02:06:34):
It's such a weird court. It's the weirdest quarterback room
in the NFL.

Speaker 5 (02:06:38):
And again, while he will likely not play it all
this year, who knows what role in at all off
the field Deshaun Watson plays. He's on the roster, He's
on the team. He'll be rehabbing, we believe, for much,
if not the entire season, but he's there too. They
will be too old to one veteran quarterback. That's old
Pickett is very much like in terms of development life.

(02:07:01):
And then two rookies. Pickett obviously is not nearly as talented,
nor has he played, but he's entering his fourth and
final season of his rookie contract. His option was not
picked up by well anybody, let alone the third team
he's now played for.

Speaker 4 (02:07:17):
I did mention.

Speaker 5 (02:07:17):
College football obviously had some very important news as the
College Football Committee, the College Football Selection Committee has pushed
forward with the obvious, Well, we have twelve teams again
set to make the playoffs for the twenty twenty five
to twenty sixth season. But this year, unlike last year,
we're going to take the twelve teams as ranked by
the CFP Selection Committee Final rankings.

Speaker 4 (02:07:40):
Who are they? Are they the top?

Speaker 5 (02:07:42):
It doesn't matter. These are the top twelve teams. They're
going to the playoffs? And who are the best for Well,
they're the ones ranked one through four. Well guess who's
getting those seeds. You're getting the seed based on your rank.
That is, it doesn't matter where he came from, doesn't
matter about who's this, that and the other.

Speaker 4 (02:07:57):
It's going straight off the rankings through twelve.

Speaker 5 (02:08:00):
Now some minor modifications in where the games will be
played initially, when last year they were played at the
venue of the better seeded team. I'll read it as
they wrote it. The teams ranked five through twelve will
play in the CFP first Round, with the higher seeds
hosting the lower seeds, either on campus or at other

(02:08:25):
sites designated by the higher seeded institution. So teams five
through eight would host on their campus, or if it's
not a huge program with a huge fan base and
huge attendance expected, they'll find a site that they'll The
higher seed will say, yeah, we're gonna move our game

(02:08:46):
to this place.

Speaker 3 (02:08:47):
Stupid, that's very weird. Like if this is about I
don't mind the straight seeding part. I don't hope not
I don't mind that at all. I think that's great.
It's I think in a lot of ways, it's the
most it's fair, even though there's still caveats.

Speaker 4 (02:09:03):
Notre Dame always messes everything up, but.

Speaker 3 (02:09:08):
Like because they can afford to be I guess I
just don't understand if the if what you're trying to
do is give a school a home game, essentially, I
mean that is the thinking that like.

Speaker 5 (02:09:28):
Not really trying to give them a home game, you're
trying to make money. And last year I'm saying it
was very easy with the four teams slotted in there
when you had a Boise bump up and they're not
a home team, Texas the top four team.

Speaker 3 (02:09:40):
This year, what's to keep them from saying, well, let's
pack them into Jerry World and make more money off
of it.

Speaker 5 (02:09:46):
Well, if they're a top four seed, you don't have
any saying where you go. They just slot you into
whatever the corresponding Bowl game is. You don't even have
a home game. Oh that's true, I'm thinking of a
five through twelve. No, I'll tell you what's really dumb.
All right, let's just say it's a Boise state. Boise
State is ranked higher than Indiana. So Indiana that has
a bigger stadium, that has a bigger atmosphere, that plays

(02:10:07):
in the Big ten, they will have to travel to whatever.

Speaker 2 (02:10:11):
Works for Boise.

Speaker 11 (02:10:13):
Because Boise is such a small vicinity and it's not
a big enough venue to host a playoff game. They'll
move it to a certain location to allow you to
add in more revenue for you to be able to
have a bigger atmosphere.

Speaker 5 (02:10:25):
Right, so give us the actual location. What be It's
going to be on the West coast, and it's going
to be a stadium. They believe the fans in that area,
plus the small number of Boise fans, the small number
of the other school hypothetically you call them Indiana, will
be able to travel in phil you called them Indiana.
I mean Indiana is not going to be playoffs this year.
He's going off of last year, which is a perfectly

(02:10:45):
correct way to do it. It's just that's not who's
going to be this year. Here's probably not going to
be Bois either, but in this instance, you have a
bunch of facilities to choose from that make sense. It
sounds weird, and I read it that way, so it
would make it sound weird. But this is about why
we even have twelve teams in the playoffs soon to
be sixteen money. They can't afford to play a huge

(02:11:08):
money making opportunity game in a small venue without the
ability to generate their revenue. They want I'll tell you
exactly who they want to see go to the playoff
this year. They want UNLV, with Dan Mullen at the Helm,
to go to the playoff and actually host a playoff
game and say that we gave it to a group
of five school and a lot a group of five
school to be able to host that first round because

(02:11:29):
they play at a Legiance Stadium, they play in Las Vegas,
they play where the Raiders play. It's a way to
sell out that vicinity and allow you to say that
we're bringing in a high revenue. They are begging for
Dan Mullen, a really qualified coach, to lead his team
to the college football playoff so that way they can
host the game in Vegas. I'm sure they are, but
that was the answer I was basically asking for if

(02:11:50):
Boise State made the playoffs this year, that's where the
game's going to be played. It's the best option for
them to put money in their pockets.

Speaker 3 (02:12:00):
Looking at just last year, that really is the only
one I guess that wouldn't have a a like a
that probably would have quote major.

Speaker 5 (02:12:10):
State to play a game at Arizona State, which because
they forced them into the four seed, they did not
have to. It's not that it's a terrible venue and
horribly supported, but it doesn't. I mean they've played games
at Texas, at Ohio State, at Penn State, and at
Notre Dame. I mean there's a few other places where
you're going to quote unquote beat that. But that was

(02:12:30):
absolutely ideal and now it's it will be a little
bit different this year.

Speaker 4 (02:12:35):
I don't know. You know, you look at where these
teams are going to be ranked.

Speaker 5 (02:12:39):
The odds that a Boise State or an Arizona State
or an SMU is one through eight, thus five through
eight earning a home game does not seem very like.

Speaker 3 (02:12:49):
What's sem music capacity.

Speaker 11 (02:12:51):
It's not like sixty seven thousand you would have seen
Neeland City. The how is SMUs is it really sixty seven.
I think I think it's actually closer to fifth. I'll
tell you Ford Stadium. Yeah, I'll tell you after the break.

Speaker 3 (02:13:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:13:03):
I mean, I don't think you need to. Even though
Kevin Jennings will be back, I don't think we'll need that.
But again, if SMU made it and was a home game,
they're not playing it on campus if they can avoid it,
They're playing at it in Arlington, right, that's the whole
point of how this is written. So they can take over.
Even it's the higher seeds choice. I'm sure they'll be

(02:13:25):
pushed in a certain direction. There you have it, Football at.

Speaker 12 (02:13:28):
Five on Sports Talk seven ninety. How you feel about
this series?

Speaker 5 (02:13:44):
Great, they're back at home, so so I feel good
about it, as asked and answered.

Speaker 3 (02:13:51):
Why don't you? So they're sweeping the Mariners. See I
did say that, you said great. You didn't say I
feel good. You said great insinuates that they're not.

Speaker 4 (02:14:01):
Going to lose a game.

Speaker 3 (02:14:02):
That's what I heard.

Speaker 4 (02:14:03):
That's not what I said. I feel great about this series.

Speaker 5 (02:14:05):
Lance's best start of the season, even though if you
really get down to it, how many starts he made three,
how many times the other team scored off him once,
so two shoutout starts as he goes into start number
four today from ber Valdez is scheduled to pitch here,
though Hunter Brown is not. Ryan Gusto gets the ball
on Friday, and then that looks like Colton Gordon, who
is has been added to the roster with the Renel

(02:14:26):
Blanco moved to the fifteen dail and should be noted
that they are seeking a second opinion.

Speaker 4 (02:14:34):
Why do you seek second opinion because you didn't like
the first one? So likely Gordon will be pitching on Sunday.
And yeah, the Mariner's good.

Speaker 5 (02:14:42):
I don't think there's anything fake about getting eight games
over five hundred, having their offense come around the way
they have. They got the best closer in baseball currently,
and their starting rotation is getting George Kirby back. We'll
see what version he is in, what state he's in.
This is his first start of the year. He goes tonight.
Brian McTaggert joined the station, as he does each and

(02:15:03):
every week. He joins the Matt Thomas Show with Ross,
and he joined them earlier today. A couple of different
topics for them to discuss. We'll give you a snippet
of the interview here if you want it in full,
and you should check it out via sportstock seven ninety
dot com or easily via the iHeartRadio app. You can
catch all of our shows and all of our podcasts
and all of our interviews right there on the app,

(02:15:25):
which should have as a preset in the number one
spot sports Talk seven ninety if you have an updated
the app, do so so. Presets are a new and
approved option for you and make sports Talk seven ninety
number one on your presets. The portion of the interview
for you guys here on the A team begins with
how he has seen the bullpen, who's been tremendous step

(02:15:46):
up and help this team win.

Speaker 13 (02:15:49):
Yeah, they've had to cover a lot of innings, and
you know, the bullpen has been really really good to
strengthen the team.

Speaker 3 (02:15:53):
But yeah, they you know, they eat that.

Speaker 13 (02:15:55):
Combined with the offense not scoring a lot of runs,
you're being asked to hover a lot of innings and
you have a one or two run lead most days
just because the offense is not scoring runs. It just
puts a lot of pressure on those guys. And yeah,
they they let a game get away in Tampa that
they would like to have. They would have won that
series and had a winning road trip. Didn't happen, but that, Yeah,

(02:16:16):
I mean, Gusto is gonna pitch Friday. You know, if
you're the Astros, you want to get five out of him.
Maybe your your TBA for Sunday, which which could be
Colton Gordon, and you're gonna be like, well, we got
to get five out of him. Fortunately for the Astros,
they have an off day Monday, so maybe they can
reset a little things a little bit before the A's
come to town.

Speaker 3 (02:16:34):
But this could be a pretty difficult series to.

Speaker 2 (02:16:38):
Our team is playing really well.

Speaker 6 (02:16:40):
Yeah, we talked about mcculors and it's funny how it
kind of feels like it's changing a little bit with
all these injuries Brian to where it felt like beginning
of the season, Okay, if he can be your fourth,
fifth guy, anything he can give you can be a plus.
But right now it seems like there could be some
pressure the Astros need him to produce.

Speaker 9 (02:16:58):
They do.

Speaker 13 (02:16:59):
It's I don't think it's a case of you know,
you know, we know in a month or six weeks,
you know, Lancelly back to his old self. I mean,
they need him to start getting deeper in games, and
I think that's the last hurdle for him, is just
becoming more efficient. He's searching, He's searching for that put
away pitch. I mean, he was constantly ahead of guys
in Arlington, a lot of two strike counts. He just

(02:17:21):
couldn't put the hitters away. There are a lot of
foul balls. He threw a lot of strikes. I think
he had like sixty four percent strike percentage, so he
was putting the ball on his own but just controlled
it in his own pretty well, but just could not
get the put away stuff and that lets something bats
get a little long as pitch count went up. So
that's gonna be the big step with him when he
takes the mount tonight. Can he put away hitters, keep

(02:17:44):
that pitch count down and at least maybe get get
past five and who knows, maybe six innings as well.

Speaker 6 (02:17:49):
Brian McTaggart MLB dot Com, astros dot Com with us
here on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (02:17:54):
So we have the Mariners coming into town.

Speaker 6 (02:17:56):
You don't want to over sell a series in the
middle of May, but injuries are probably up, and I mean,
if you lose three out of four in this series,
you could be five and a half back in the West.
It feels like a lot could hang in the balance,
again saying that it is in the middle of May.

Speaker 2 (02:18:12):
Yeah, but yeah, this is this is.

Speaker 3 (02:18:13):
A big series.

Speaker 13 (02:18:14):
And uh, you know, I've always said that you know
where you're at a Memorial Day, Well, they'll be at Memorial.

Speaker 3 (02:18:19):
Day after this series.

Speaker 13 (02:18:20):
So if you're the Astros, you don't want to be
six and a half out, seven and a half out.
If if you split or win the series, you're okay.
But I mean, this is a Mariners team that is
coming in pretty hot. I mean they've they've won six
of eighty. They went to San Diego and swept them.
They took two or three from the White Sox. So
this is sort of the last leg of a long
road trip and they're throwing a couple of well, I

(02:18:41):
guess three really good starters at you with. You know,
they got Louis Castillo coming on Sunday. George Kirby's coming
back off the injured list tonight, his first start of
the season. He's always pitched well against the Astros. They
have Woo going on Saturdays, so this it's it's going
to be a really, really tough matchup for the Astros,
and they can swing in a little bit too. I mean,
they're not a not a great offense, but they're certainly

(02:19:03):
better than they were last year. So they're a little
bit more complete team than they were last year when
they when they blew that ten game lead. And they're
doing this, you know, with a couple of their best
starting pitchers on the injured list, and Miller and Gilbert
who's back tonight, or and Kirby who's back tonight.

Speaker 14 (02:19:18):
Tags Christian Walker's are pros pro His glove work has
been phenomenal, the reason why he's won three straight goal gloves.
Would he be getting the Jose of Brad You treatment
if he wasn't the only one that was struggling right
now in this offense.

Speaker 3 (02:19:33):
I don't think so.

Speaker 13 (02:19:34):
I mean, I don't think he's He's he's not performing
as poorly as a braid You did. He's not living
up to his contract and what he did, certainly, and
he'll be the first one to tell you that, and
he has told us that, you know, he says he
feels a lot of presser and embarrassment about the way
he's played you know, he had that zero for sixteen.
He broke out of it in Arlington, hit some balls
really hard, and then you know, here he is again

(02:19:55):
in another prolonged slump.

Speaker 3 (02:19:56):
Although he got a hit in his last at bat yesterday.

Speaker 13 (02:19:58):
But it just seems like like a lot of visit
bats end with, you know, a close pitch on the
zone that he takes looking that he's not happy with.

Speaker 3 (02:20:08):
You know, I don't.

Speaker 13 (02:20:09):
I haven't seen enough of him to know if that's
sort of his mo or. I mean, does he have
to get a little bit more aggressive and some of
those pitches. But the deeper we get into this season,
you just wonder, you know, is he gonna get out
of it? I think he's hitting under two hundred now,
so you know, a Brave was in the low one hundreds,
so not not in that territory, but certainly not anywhere

(02:20:29):
close to what the Astros meet or what he expected.

Speaker 3 (02:20:31):
And it you know, we're almost two months in now
and here we are.

Speaker 4 (02:20:36):
Good stuff.

Speaker 5 (02:20:37):
I do to have an update obviously from his earlier
in the day visit Golden Gordon will in fact is slated,
I guess I should say, is the best way he's
on the roster. The move has been made Renold Blanco
to the fifteen day il right elbow inflammation that Golton
Gordon was recalled from Triple A sugar Land. Sugar Land
actually extended their winning streak last night. It's not a
twelve and Rett Kuba is making the start tonight. AJ

(02:20:59):
Blueball will pitch, which it appears for them during this
home stand, wondered if he might end up being the
guy available. I assume Brandon Walter will also stay on
turn there so unless the Astros deem it him necessary here.
And remember this is the end of seventeen days without
an off day. When this series ends, they get an

(02:21:20):
off day, and it might give them an opportunity, so
to speak, reset things and reassess how they want to
continue putting the rotation together. It's at least they have
at least five healthy arms. Where they're coming from is
obviously been the question. They begin a two game series
with the Athletics, and again it's only six consecutive days
of games before another off day before the road trip

(02:21:42):
that begins in Pittsburgh. Also just six days then before
they get another off day, so they do have some
options here on how they want to put it together,
but how things play out, especially when you start tonight
and these final four games with Lance mccullors junior. I
mentioned you'd on even start or scored upon in two
of the three appearances. Well, in two of the three
appearances where he was not scored upon, he still didn't

(02:22:05):
pitch into the fifth inning. He got you three and
two thirds and one start, got your four innings in
the other and clearly the third start where they scored
seven times off of him, he gave you an out
and that's something that they.

Speaker 3 (02:22:16):
Need to avoid.

Speaker 2 (02:22:17):
All of that.

Speaker 4 (02:22:17):
You just got done saying you know what I heard Pittsburgh,
Paul Skein's going to destroy this lineup.

Speaker 5 (02:22:24):
It's only three games. I know, you know you're gonna
even see him because he may not be on the team.

Speaker 4 (02:22:30):
He's gonna be on the team. No, he's not gonna
get traded by then.

Speaker 5 (02:22:34):
Also, like pretty much any he's really really good. He's
far from unbeatable. He's not even having as good as
season he had last year.

Speaker 3 (02:22:44):
So far. What's his record? Again, his record's not indicative.
I know I'm getting to a point here. They give
him no run support. It's worse than Hunter Brown, and from.

Speaker 4 (02:22:53):
Ten games, he's personally absorbed five of those losses. And
what were they like?

Speaker 3 (02:22:58):
One to nothing? The ope his.

Speaker 4 (02:23:01):
Last start was in fact a one nothing loss.

Speaker 3 (02:23:04):
That is life in Pittsburgh, man or Houston with this offense.
I just I just missed the days where you could
make a mistake and it didn't cast you.

Speaker 4 (02:23:16):
That's what happened a hunterre Brown. His last time out
before this last outing he made and then he made
four mistakes. That's different. They don't count if they're in
a little league ballpark. Score went on the board, home
run went in the tally.

Speaker 3 (02:23:27):
Of course it was the Yankees, where they also have
a little league right field is to go.

Speaker 9 (02:23:32):
With your.

Speaker 4 (02:23:34):
Yankees get to play there too. Oh I know, Oh,
I know, I know that it goes both ways about
how far some.

Speaker 5 (02:23:40):
Of these baseballs will go when the Yankees get to
play there and they bring their own baseballs.

Speaker 3 (02:23:45):
There is no doubt in my mind. Man, I'm you
know what, I'm tired of having to be a conspiracy
theorist every day and be proven right.

Speaker 4 (02:23:52):
It's so exhausting.

Speaker 2 (02:23:56):
The a team on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 5 (02:24:00):
There undoubtedly a bunch of things to get into here
on In case you missed it, halfway home in the
final hour of the program, should note, as I mentioned earlier,
the Psychedelic First are coming to Houston.

Speaker 4 (02:24:12):
They're playing at the House of Blues. We've got tickets
to that.

Speaker 5 (02:24:15):
And the Big Three has a Houston team, the Houston Righands.
Calvin Murphy is their coach. There's a couple of Greens
on the roster, Gerald among them. And we're gonna have
tickets for those games as well, coming up on August second.
We'll give those tickets away in the final segments to
people who have been listening to the show or watching

(02:24:37):
the show based on something that we have said.

Speaker 4 (02:24:39):
In case you missed it, comes here, what do we have.

Speaker 3 (02:24:41):
Cole, Well, hang on, before gets what do we have
a set? I've got to interrupt you. Listen, y'all remember
what I did back in April? Right now, I missed
a couple of days of the show. Here where I
went in April last month?

Speaker 11 (02:24:57):
Yep, you went to where a college football playoff game
would be played this year.

Speaker 4 (02:25:01):
Not for that event, though, right I don't know where'd
you go? Vegas?

Speaker 9 (02:25:04):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (02:25:05):
Huh oh, okay, can you remember why?

Speaker 9 (02:25:07):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (02:25:07):
Yeah, wrestling College Football Playoff.

Speaker 3 (02:25:10):
They announced there while we were there that the next
side of WrestleMania was going to be New Orleans. Yep,
at the super Dome, right that dump of a facility
over there. Sure, the City of New Orleans announced that's
not going to happen. They said, the Greater New Orleans
Sports Foundation and the New Orleans and Company are working

(02:25:32):
closely with our friends at TKO to expand our long
standing partnership, which will include UFC three eighteen on July nineteenth,
Money in the Bank in twenty twenty six and WrestleMania,
which will move from the currently scheduled twenty twenty sixth
time frame to a future year. So where could they
possibly go if they're not going to New Orleans?

Speaker 4 (02:25:55):
Do you want me to say Houston?

Speaker 8 (02:25:57):
No?

Speaker 3 (02:25:58):
Well, actually I do, because I wish that were the
King San Antonio.

Speaker 4 (02:26:01):
They got lots of options.

Speaker 3 (02:26:02):
It's like, are going back to Vegas two years in
a row. I think this is the first time since
the uh was it four and five? At the Trump
what was that Trump Plaza that used to be on
the Atlantic City Boardwalk there.

Speaker 4 (02:26:18):
I feel like you've been there before for some reasons.

Speaker 5 (02:26:20):
During my trip to New York that I mentioned. We
made our way through the Atlantic City area.

Speaker 4 (02:26:25):
Uh CD right, Uh yeah, not to see Jersey shorecast members.
I mean the who could tell the difference? Just generalizing
all and I'm sure.

Speaker 5 (02:26:38):
I walked by somebody I said gee wow to somebody.
Wasn't jaywow?

Speaker 11 (02:26:43):
Though?

Speaker 3 (02:26:43):
Was it snooky?

Speaker 4 (02:26:44):
Definitely not?

Speaker 3 (02:26:45):
Anyway, I think that was the last time back to
back manias were held in the same venue, So Allegiance
Stadium two years in a row.

Speaker 4 (02:26:51):
I guess I gotta go back now city, what else
do we have?

Speaker 11 (02:26:54):
So we talked about the college football playoff making the
right call because if it was always the right call
to have to just be the top twelve teams, make
it you miss out on one team though, that is
gonna benefit the most from this. Who is it?

Speaker 3 (02:27:07):
No idea?

Speaker 9 (02:27:08):
AC?

Speaker 4 (02:27:09):
Would you like to take a while? Guest you talked
about them earlier?

Speaker 3 (02:27:12):
Uh? Texas, Nope. Notre Dame.

Speaker 11 (02:27:14):
Notre Dame currently can't afford to be a first round
by because of they are an independent. However, because of
the new ruling where now the top four seeds go,
if Notre Dame is a top four seed, they will
now get a buy and still remain independent, while also
ending their long standing rivalry with USC which is expected
to come to an end after.

Speaker 4 (02:27:35):
The twenty twenty sixth season.

Speaker 5 (02:27:37):
Not to continue this topic, but what is how's it?
How is Notre Dame benefiting?

Speaker 11 (02:27:42):
They don't have to play in a conference to get
a first round by. So the only way in the
old rules was you had to play in a conference
to be able to get the first round by. Now
that they're just giving it to the top four seeds.

Speaker 2 (02:27:54):
That's all you got it.

Speaker 4 (02:27:54):
It's just be top four seed.

Speaker 5 (02:27:56):
So if Notre Dame was awesome enough last year to
be regarded as one of the four best teams in
the country, they would have been relegated to not a
top four seat.

Speaker 4 (02:28:03):
Now they can be won.

Speaker 3 (02:28:04):
They would have.

Speaker 11 (02:28:05):
It wouldn't have mattered last year if they were a
top four team in college football because they weren't a
conference champion, they would have been as high as the
number five seeds. They would have played the twelve seed.
So now they get the first round by if they.

Speaker 4 (02:28:16):
Want it, well, I'm sure that will happen.

Speaker 12 (02:28:19):
Probably not.

Speaker 11 (02:28:20):
What else do you know that Will Anderson's new deal,
the one that he signed back in twenty twenty three
when he was a rookie. Is probably looking really really
good because of another number three overall pick just signed
a four year, fully guaranteed contract to the tune of
forty five point two million dollars. Giants and first round
pick Abdul Carter agreed to his current contract underneath agent

(02:28:40):
True Rosenhaus, Robert Bailey and Jason Rosenhouse. He's already in
the top fifteen of highest paid edge rushers in the
NFL before he's ever played a down in the league.
So he signed for slot money. He signed for slot
money based like, Okay, Still, it's a dang good deal
when you think about it from what you get Will Anderson,

(02:29:01):
because Anderson's making what I think it's thirty six million
dollars compared to forty five fully guaranteed.

Speaker 5 (02:29:08):
Absolutely, but that's life in the NFL. Three years later,
same spot in the draft. That's the amount difference between
those two players who happen to play the same position.

Speaker 4 (02:29:18):
Yeah, it's it's just a matter of time.

Speaker 3 (02:29:20):
I guess.

Speaker 5 (02:29:20):
This is the Giants benefit in that they don't need
to extend him for two more years and the Texans
will be extending Anderson much sooner.

Speaker 3 (02:29:28):
I guess this is why when you said you thought
CJ would have a six in front of his deal
or I guess not quite six. It was fifty eight
I think is the figure you said, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:29:36):
Party, getting fifty three seemed reasonable with a year more
of football to be played.

Speaker 4 (02:29:41):
That are we on that kind of like steep incline? Though,
like quarterbacks of all.

Speaker 5 (02:29:47):
By themselves, in this discussion, we've seen a couple of
edge rushers gets or a super productive defensive lineman. I
think Max Crosby's deal is kind of out there. Also,
we've seen some pretty impressive leaps by the most recent
edge rusher contracts. Maybe you could say the same thing about,
you know, the Stingley caliber deal and the other two
that were signed this offseason.

Speaker 4 (02:30:08):
I don't think it's quite there yet.

Speaker 5 (02:30:10):
But this is the money's making of the league is
making so much money now, and the cap is rising
at such a rate that teams can and agents know
this put their players in a different pay stratosphere.

Speaker 4 (02:30:23):
And so that's what's happening. What else do we have?

Speaker 11 (02:30:26):
So remember how Texas was expected to be playing on
big new kickoff against Ohio State, Yep, that's official. Uh
And the reason it's official is because of Initially Ohio
State wanted the game moved. According to multiple reports, Texas
was offered an opportunity to move the game outside of
the Big New Kickoff window, but Texas declined, And now

(02:30:48):
people are coming after Texas saying, why are you trying
to schedule a game that everyone's so excited to see
with an early kickoff in Columbus, Ohio. Wokes here was
the kicker that nobody talked about. Texas didn't want to
move the game to Sunday night. So initially the Sunday
night game that is going to take place between I
believe Notre Dame and Miami, Texas did not want to

(02:31:10):
play on a Sunday night's standalone kickoff. So instead, now
it is official they will be playing at Big New
Kickoff come to August thirty first.

Speaker 5 (02:31:17):
So less about we don't want to play in your
enormous home field advantage night game because it's Sunday, Because
our schedule is much more impacted by moving the day
versus the game time later.

Speaker 11 (02:31:31):
Yeah, it's not about the actual game time, It's about
the day in itself of moving it to a Sunday
evening event.

Speaker 5 (02:31:37):
Well, thanks for informing our listeners so they can't say, Man,
Texas is afraid of Ohio State and afraid of playing
there at night on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (02:31:46):
Yeah, that'll be the narrative.

Speaker 4 (02:31:49):
Now, file thing a business.

Speaker 11 (02:31:51):
I only cried and said vulgar things about sixty thousand
times last night as the Dallas Stars become the first
team to have a three third period down by doubled
about down by two plus goals overtime win against the
Edmonton Oilers. They advanced to a one to zero lead
in the Western Conference Finals, and I said some very
vulgar things to everybody around my family.

Speaker 5 (02:32:12):
The Stanley Cup champions will be Dallas, Edmonton, the Panthers,
or the Hurricanes.

Speaker 4 (02:32:23):
Those are the four teams left.

Speaker 5 (02:32:25):
Carolina, Florida. Who's the favorite, Dallas Edmondon. I think it's Florida, Okay,
I mean, I wake me up when it's over. I'm
gonna make you a hockey fan before I leave. I
will be a hockey fan the day Houston gets a team.
Until then, it is what it is, the a team

(02:32:45):
on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (02:32:58):
It is the eight team. Sports Talks seven to ninety
Space City Home Network winding down a Thursday edition of
the program. Before we get to we're gonna give us
some tickets here, are we not? Yes, we are, well,
I'll let you do that first before we get to
what I wanted to talk about.

Speaker 5 (02:33:15):
We mentioned something last segment which will be the answer
to this question, which we'll give you the opportunity to
go see the Big Three August second at Toyota Center
with three on three games. That's what the Big Three is.
Some musical acts as well, will help entertain you in
Houston's own Big Three squad. Houston's rig hands Corey Brewer,

(02:33:36):
Gerald Green, coached by Calvin Murphy. Tickets are on sale
now Toyta Center dot com. But we've got a pair
of tickets to a couple of winners who know the
answer to this question. We also have tickets to go
see the Psychedelic First. They'll be performing on July twelfth
the House of Blues. You can find tickets to that
which are on sale now ticketmaster dot com. Should you
not win them, here your choice on those couple of

(02:33:57):
pairs of tickets to see either of those events.

Speaker 4 (02:34:00):
If you know the answer to this simple question, which
we divulged to you.

Speaker 5 (02:34:03):
Last segment, uh in planning an upcoming vacation to go
see wrestling, ac mentioned that the previously announced WrestleMania event
set for New Orleans is not happening in New Orleans,
but rather is shifting to a different location. Point of reference.

(02:34:23):
Last WrestleMania event, which was in April, was held in
Las Vegas. The new location for the next WrestleMania event
will now no longer be in New Orleans, but rather
in this city. What city will the next WrestleMania event
be in? If you were listening last segment or watching
this last segment, you will know the answer that question,

(02:34:44):
and you can choose the event to attend with our
pair of tickets seven one three two one two five
seven ninety seven to one three two one two five
seven ninety Good luck.

Speaker 3 (02:34:54):
All right. Western Conference Finals continues tonight, Game two, Shake
Gill Just Alexander will now take part in this series
as the MVP.

Speaker 4 (02:35:04):
Before he was not, now he is. Did you any differs, teammates?

Speaker 3 (02:35:09):
I believe it was Watches, yeah, Rolex Watches, yes, not
just anyone. He didn't go out and get him.

Speaker 5 (02:35:15):
Hey man, you can change the band and everything this
watch will tell you what time it is. If you
want yellow, you want blue.

Speaker 3 (02:35:21):
Guys, I really feel like you were a big part
of why I won the award this year. I've got
us all some matching Cassio's.

Speaker 5 (02:35:27):
I mean, you know, there's a lot of companies that
do a lot of things with their watches, fitness wise,
et cetera. But no, these were very well received and
very nice time pieces. Yeah, here's the thing on that, Like,
how I could afford it. We see this kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (02:35:42):
All the time, and it's not just for gifts in
this regard like we I mean famously pointed out, well
we didn't. It was famous that this happened that when
Juan Soto signed with the Mets, he gave a tahoe
to the teammate that had his jersey number. Yep, that's

(02:36:04):
what I want to get here. Like, I think a
lot of times quarterbacks do this for their offensive line,
whether they win the MVP or not that year, you know,
the MVP Award.

Speaker 5 (02:36:13):
In the NFL, if they're making rookie salary like Rock Purty.
I think Rock Purty gave us all an indication of
how confident he was that his deal would get done
to make him make him an extremely rich NFL quarterback,
and he is now, But he was still working off
his rookie deal three years into his NFL career. That's
a little less than a million dollars in the salary

(02:36:34):
figure less whatever's taken away from you by you don't
think taxes, etc. And he bought his offensive lineman all
new cars.

Speaker 4 (02:36:40):
You don't think he took out a high interest loan
to do that.

Speaker 5 (02:36:43):
I would suggest that would be unnecessary, knowing that he
would be making a tremendous amount of money in his future.

Speaker 3 (02:36:49):
What if he did that though, But he didn't have
that money yet, and he's not going to get it
until the first week of the season.

Speaker 4 (02:36:54):
He's got a wait.

Speaker 5 (02:36:56):
I know these are nice cars that he bought. He's
in the third year of his rookie deal, and I
know taxes can be quite a bite, especially in that
stupid state he lives in. He's not working off the
salaries that a lot of our listeners are all working off,
over any of the three of us. Even as the
last pick in the draft, he's making hundreds of thousands

(02:37:17):
of dollars close to a million dollars on an annual
basis less taxes.

Speaker 3 (02:37:22):
So that's my question, because we've seen, like I think
at one point, didn't Matt shab get all of the
offensive lineman one of those stupid scooter things or whatever
they were, hoverboards, whatever it was at the time. Yes,
what's like the most either obnoxious or extravagant gift that
an athlete either could or has that you can remember?

Speaker 4 (02:37:43):
Because I'm sure I'm forgetting some incident. Well, they'll always
get reported. We hear about so many of them. Yeah,
that we know about.

Speaker 5 (02:37:49):
I mean, I think we brought it up, I'm sure,
so I'll bring it up again. Russell Wilson probably knowing
he was not even going to be back in Pittsburgh
this past year. And he's a pretty not only very
well off athlete because he plays quarterback, has won a
Super Bowl, and he's got multiple contracts. The current contract

(02:38:10):
is one of his worst and least lucrative. He also
is unlike many other NFL quarterbacks and that there's a
money maker at the house with him in the maker
Sugar Mama, like me. She makes a ton of money also,
So they not only do they make a lot of money,
they spend a lot of money. They have a lot
of things where they're involved in, whether it's their own

(02:38:30):
business or ventures that they're a.

Speaker 4 (02:38:32):
Part of investments.

Speaker 5 (02:38:33):
So the package of gifts from Russell Wilson to his
offensive Lineman Louis V. Duffel ten thousand dollars Airbnb gift card,
bottle rum from his own brand, he and CR's own brand,
custom shoes from his own shoe brand, and I'll give

(02:38:54):
him the plug good Man Brands all for his offensive Lineman.
Not necessarily so super lavish, but very individualized, customized and personal.

Speaker 3 (02:39:08):
The most easily the most interesting item you listed there
is the ten thousand dollars Airbnb gift card.

Speaker 4 (02:39:18):
Used anywhere internationally.

Speaker 3 (02:39:20):
So it's it's just basically a debit card for the
because those people have to get this money. But then
I don't know they're getting it until you select their property. Yep,
I didn't even know they did that. And how far
does ten thousand get?

Speaker 9 (02:39:34):
You mean?

Speaker 4 (02:39:36):
I guess it depends on where you go. But of
course interesting, Okay, I.

Speaker 5 (02:39:41):
Just you know, mahomes and other quarterback TVs are very
popular gift I don't know, candlesticks something like that. If
you're on the mound thinking about gift giving TVs. Now
TV's cars, vehicles of some sort, scooters, golf carts pretty popular.

Speaker 3 (02:39:56):
You ever walk in one of those stores and look
at the TVs and see the insane amount of difference
between certain quality supposedly of the the clarity, the resolution.
I'm not paying ten thousand dollars for an eight K
that I can't get anything that's even north of today?

Speaker 4 (02:40:14):
Yeah great, what can I watch?

Speaker 3 (02:40:15):
Nothing? Nothing, but we're gonna charge you like it's just
so stupid. I'm so glad they've come down in price
like that. All right? Well, did I did not know
about the AIRBB? So you you succeeded you you found
something I didn't even know about. That's ridiculous.

Speaker 4 (02:40:30):
Were you headed somewhere else?

Speaker 3 (02:40:31):
Nope, that's all. I just wanted to know if there
was anything like raw X's is pretty standard state of the.

Speaker 5 (02:40:39):
And he's buying for three times or twice as many
people as say a quarterback.

Speaker 3 (02:40:43):
Well that's the thing, he's it's a whole lot more
than just five. Although backups get him too, don't they.

Speaker 5 (02:40:48):
I'm everybody on the roster was getting one and backup
offensive Lineman Wood.

Speaker 3 (02:40:52):
They're getting a silver ones.

Speaker 5 (02:40:53):
Because you're not a starter, We'll send you to Astros
Baseball here the Astros on Deck show.

Speaker 4 (02:40:58):
Specifically, to be clear, Ross has that for you.

Speaker 5 (02:41:02):
It will be Robert Ford and Josh Reddick on the
call tonight on the radio side. Big off week for
some of our broadcasters. No Sparky tonight. No Julia or
TK on the TV side either, So Esh and Jeff
have the call. Lauren will be on the field side reporting.
Lauren Calendar and Shelby Coppage initial broadcast with the Space

(02:41:23):
City Home Network. She and Bogie have their pregame coverage.
We're back at it tomorrow at two

Speaker 2 (02:41:29):
The Age on Sports Talk seven ninety