The A-Team: Hot Rockets, Coogs Survive, JV Update and Shohei Speaks

Adam Clanton and Adam Wexler talk about what's going on in Houston sports and more on March 25th, 2024.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Two lifelong Houston sports guys named AdamTalking Your Teams series, Adam Clinton and
Adam Wexler are the A Team AWhat's Up Houston? It is another Monday
edition, which means another week ofthe A Team underway and probably one of

(00:26):
my favorite weeks on the calendar.I know wex agrees with me. A
busy, busy week ahead that willinclude opening Day, it will include games
at Minute May Park before that,including tonight. But you won't hear that
game on Sports Talk seven nine er. You'll hear it on news Radio seven
forty KTRH. And then you'll heartonight's ninth win in a row for your

(00:47):
Houston Rockets over the Portland Trailblazers righthere on Sports Talk seven to ninety.
And basketball is probably where we shouldstart, since I know baseball is right
around the corner, and I knowbaseball is going to be played here by
the Astros in the city tonight,but it doesn't count exhibition or two tonight
and tomorrow against the Stagers playing withthemselves. I'd love how you did that.

(01:10):
That's brilliant. It's not even asbad as tomorrow night, when they'll
be pitching against each other, likeboth Astros starters are making the start tomorrow
night right for two different teams,pitching for the team he'll be on,
and one's pitching for the team hehopes to never pitch for again. That's
true. You know what's funny,and they would never do this, but
I think it'd be fun if theyhad these games at Constellation Field instead.

(01:32):
And over the last handful of yearsthey've mixed a little bit of what they
can and can't do, and thenthe Astros do their part during the year
by saying, well, I'm gonnahave to send you on fifteen minutes down
the road that way so you canget some rehab games in Brantley's played there
a bunch of other guys. We'vewondered if maybe this is the year JV
needs a Space City opportunity over therewith the Space Cowboys. Maybe he needs

(01:52):
to suit him up. We shallsee, but we also might find that
out a little bit later today fromminute made Park I was over there earlier.
Signage has gone up because this year, like the Texans under Jamiko Ryans,
they're gonna be relentless both teams thisyear. We'll see if the see
the Rockets are gonna go with thesame at some point, relentless with their
wins. As you mentioned opening upwith that, I actually thought this question

(02:15):
was warranted the other day when Iwas listening to or were sitting in for
Emays availability before the game against theJazz, except for the fact that this
is an every night thing. Hewas asked a question by the visiting media
about, you know, do youfeel any differently about trap games, you
know, from when you were aplayer versus when you're a coach the position
you're in now a the Rockets aregetting questions about trap games. That's phenomenal,

(02:39):
yep, yep. That means thingsare going well. But that visiting
reporter won't be there tonight to askthe very same question. Nor was she
at pregame of the Wizard's game,nor was she at pregame of the Spurs
game. You can't have all thesetrap games when all these teams that are
coming to town or you're visiting areawful and have no players left, Like

(02:59):
these are beyond trap games. Andthey showed why Utah was not a trap
game, blew them out in thefirst quarter. The Jazz best players aren't
going to be there and the Rocketstook advantage of it. It's probably gonna
be the same story tonight. AnthonySimon's not gonna play for the Blazers and
the teams that keep coming in orkeep lining up on this part of the
schedule, which we told you aboutwhile they were playing nothing but Phoenix and

(03:20):
Oklahoma City every single night, theseteams they're not trying to win, they're
trying to win lottery positions. Sothe Rockets have absolutely taken advantage of that.
And we've mentioned it too. It'snot just going out there and winning
a game you're supposed to, it'sshowing who you are versus who they are.
You're a five hundred team, you'rein the race for the play in
tournament this time. In two days, you could be in the play in

(03:43):
tournament with the Rockets and the Warriorsnext games each If the Rockets winning the
Warriors lose, you're tied, andeven though today they have the tiebreaker,
you have a game against them laterthis year, which could obviously alter that.
Because if the Rockets beat the Warriorslater this year, finish the season
series two wins, two losses,the next tiebreaker that is untied is conference

(04:04):
record. And I don't know ifyou've noticed, the Warriors stink against the
West and the Rockets are above fivehundred against the West. They'll have the
tiebreaker if they beat the gold Rockets. The record against the West is downright
good. I know, it's twentythree and nineteen yep. And again for
them to be four over and theWarriors to be under that clearly means you're

(04:27):
gonna have a chance to be ina great spot. It's been fun to
watch, fun to watch all thisdevelop. A little less fun to see
what the NBA announced today, butkind of this this typical stuff. I'll
save that because there's some audio togo with it. But man, that
was six games over the last twoweeks. The way Jalen's been playing.
You mentioned the winning streak trying toget They're gonna have a five game home

(04:47):
winning streak and an active five gameroad winning streak if they take care of
the Blazers tonight. They had fiveroad wins total as recently as like a
month ago, and then they startedrattling off road winds and yeah, it's
look. I know that some ofthe competition hasn't been you know, stellar
of late, but some of ithas and it's gonna go beat them by

(05:08):
fifty right crying. I just likewe were actually disappointed on Saturday night when
the Rockets didn't get one hundred andfifty points and how about only making three
threes in the fourth quarter to landone three shy of the franchise record,
And I was like, hey,they had what was it? What was
it going in twenty four? Yeah, twenty four Going into the I said,

(05:30):
they haven't even hit one yet,there's four minutes left in the game,
and then they hit like three straight. So it was Look, it's
it's fun because it means something.But it's even more fun right now because
you just got done talking about trapgames and how that's a thing. How
reporters can ask about that. Yeah, like I said, I understood the
premise. How about the other thingthat that is a thing? Now the

(05:51):
Rockets are I don't know if they'regonna get questions about it, because I
don't think that's exactly the way it'sgoing to be phrased. But I know
we're going to talk about it,especially if this keeps going. Why are
the Rockets winning so much without albernShingoon? Why is Jalen Green's emergence come
at the exact moment almost that AlbrinShingoon went down. I mean, this

(06:13):
winning streak was at what four orfive when he went down against the Was
it the Spurs game? No,it was the game after that. I
can't remember who it was went upto blocks the bonus and they both kind
of crumbled underneath the bole. Yes, yes, so you know this this
is going to be if Jalen keepsthis up. And that's the big part
of this. If Jalen keeps thisup, say they lose the winning streak

(06:34):
ends after tonight, they win thisgame tonight and they lose at Oklahoma City,
you know, the two nights fromnow, which is very possible.
That's the best team in the WesternConference. They've got something to play for,
i e. The number one seedoverall, if not just in the
West. And say that's where itends, right, Well, then if
Jalen keeps going this way to roundout the season, and maybe they make

(06:56):
the play in and maybe they winthat for example, and he continues this,
if you're afel Stone, if you'reema Udoka especially, there's some tough
questions you're gonna have to ask becauseit's not just assumed that Jalen Green's going
to keep this up once Alpern Shingun'shealthy and back in the next season is
underway. It's a very long,nuanced topic for sure, correct though I

(07:20):
do think it can be simplified atleast in one piece of its analysis,
which is Jalen Green is doing whatdifferently right now, shooting way better.
So how is that Alpern's fault correctexactly? Well, again, I don't
want to make it that simplistic,but believe me, he has taken a

(07:40):
lot of step back threes this yearand missed them. He's taking a lot
of mid range jumpers this year andhe's missed them. He's driven to the
basket a ton and gotten fouled alot that it's not been called, and
missed those shots with alpurn on thebench, with Alprin in the lineup,
with Alpern's defender nowhere near him,all sorts of scenarios He's putting the ball
in the basket is what's changing.His confidence level is through the roof.

(08:03):
He spent two and a half yearsplaying with Alproa and shnguon and prior to
this stretch he made exactly zero turnaround and head the other way three pointers,
and during this stretch he's made threeof them. Throw it up and
head down court because you already knowwhat's going in three Pardon me, Steph
Curries, if you will. Heknew they were going in, and he
was absolutely right, and they're allcatching nothing but nylon. He's in an

(08:24):
absolute zone that normally lasts for ahalf a game, even for the players,
and he just cannot he cannot snapout of it, which is unreal.
Another seven to three game. That'shis second in the last three games,
his second forty point game in thelast three, and this is all
on the heels of winning player ofthe week. They're winning all of these

(08:46):
games. But remember he still alsoscored thirty four against Phoenix twice with Alprin
Shenngoon. One of those a verygood shooting game, one of them less
good, but still effective enough toget thirty four points on twenty eight shots.
He has certainly stepped it up alittle bit more in his absence,
but that's not the only change,and there's also a mental aspect to it.

(09:07):
That's why it's nuanced. They didn'thave a fully healthy team, and
then one big important performer went down. They had a less than healthy team
because Easton was already gone. Andthen they have an even less as healthy
team because both Shengouon and Whitmore leftat the same time. So there are
a lot of pieces to it.It's been fun to watch regardless, It's
gonna be fun to discuss, especiallysince Sham's decided to turn the clock back

(09:30):
two months for everybody today and remindeverybody that has long been rumored and his
mind had happened, and we willdiscuss that also. We obviously want to
get into the last couple of daysbefore the Astros suit him up for real
against the Yankees. We're super excitedabout the season being upon us, your
home for the Astros made the announcementtoday about all our returning guests for this
season and here on the eight team. That means our regular Wednesday visits,

(09:54):
which obviously have already begun with ChandlerRome, will continue Fridays with Jeff Blum,
of course from Space City Home Network. Multiple people from SEHN will be
joining the station, as has beenthe case Brian bogas Sevik with next up
Steve Sparks will be with the morningshow, Dana Brown, Joe Aspata,
Astros players weekly all part of ourprogramming this year, and of course the

(10:16):
NFL could not be left out todayeither. They decided that today would be
an awesome day to have the coachesavailability at owners meetings. So the coach
of this football team that's expected torepeat as division champions and hopefully raise that
bar. We know where that baris here for the Texans over the years,
and I bring that bar up onlybecause the bar, Bill O'Brien and

(10:39):
his Texans right hand man. We'rein the news over the weekend and last
night, but Houston again told somebodyto beat it and it was awesome last
night. Yeah, we need toget to that, and we will get
to you know what can we canwe do a variation on the JV update
today, Well, we're gonna pushit back to when we might actually have

(11:01):
some initial It's game day and it'sa normal astract the variation, so ballpark
opens, the players hit the field, availability with the manager comes at four
o'clock. Locker a clubhouse is open. We got all sorts of stuff coming
for you. So a little bitlater this afternoon, whatever Clinton wants to
do. I already told you andDan that that it's their show today since
the fortune I got my fortune cookieyesterday. Whatever they want goes, so

(11:24):
we will change up the JV update. You'll have to share that for context,
so we'll get to that. Yeah, a lot to get to.
On the Monday edition of The ATeam, it's game week for the Astros.
Here on Sports Talk seven ninety,f Rest assured no other sports station
in h Town has two Adams inthe afternoon. I'm so lucky to have

(11:45):
you looking out for me. AdamClinton and Adam Wexler are the A Team.
Monday edition of the eight Team rollsalong here on Sports Talk seven ninety
wex Ac and Dan Matthews the showkiller taking you up until six o'clock tonight.
Rockets looking for win number nine ina row when they take on the
Portland Trailblazers tonight, and then thecompetition will get significantly tougher when they head

(12:09):
up for a date with the OklahomaCity Thunder. And it's just been a
lot of fun. We've talked aboutthat a lot. It's also been a
lot of fun to watch the Uof H Cougars not know that they're not
supposed to be one of the toughestteams in this tournament, and frankly one
of the toughest teams in the countrygiven what they've dealt with from an injury

(12:31):
standpoint and other things. It's justincredible. Now, did they allow that
run by the Aggies last night?Yeah? Did the officiating help the Aggi's
cause, Absolutely, But that wasan absolute, you know, gut check,
whatever you want to call the clicheor description of that scenario, and

(12:52):
they passed that test with flying colors. It's not gonna get any easier against
Duke, but many, oh itis. Yes, So you think they're
just trash. Didn't say that.I think they will have an easier time
than needing five extra minutes to beattheir next opponent. Well, when you
put it that way, I guessI understand what you mean, But it
just seemed to me like you weresaying the Aggi's are significantly better than Duke.

(13:18):
Not at all. I think whathappened in the game is not going
to happen again. Okay, Yeah, I've never I've I've watched a few
games. Heard Jim Nantz after thegame run through his litany of games that
he's been in and he knows themall exactly, and he'd never seen it
before. I haven't either. Youhave twenty five fouls when you send you're
starting five out there in college basketball, they used up twenty four of them.

(13:39):
Never seen that happen before in mylife. No matter how long a
game has gone, no matter thestyle of play, no matter the teams,
no matter the time of year,no matter if it's exhibition, no
matter if it's an overseas game,a tournament game, whatever. Never seen
it happen before, and we'll neversee it again. There's there are still
despite that, and I know whatyou're getting at. There are still gonna
be two sides of this. There'sgonna be some people that are saying that

(14:00):
they called too many fouls on theCougars the first half. My god,
hey, when he drives by youand you do a great job with your
feet, but then you reach in, they're probably gonna call it, So
stop doing that. The first halffouls were all on them, right.
Just their defense was fine. They'regood at they're awesome at moving their feet.
This is all they do to getready for these opponents, and they

(14:22):
just kept making the mistake after they'dalready done the right thing over and over
and over again and started with Francis, and then he's got to and then
you've got to, and then everybodyit's just and this is all while Juwan
roberts On like, oh my god, you got to take him out of
the game. He can barely getup and down the court, and then
two trips later he was fine again. What he's playing through is just incredible.
But they're off again for five days. They'll have this second of the

(14:45):
two games in Dallas on Friday night, and they're gonna need every little bit
of that rest to get back toit. By the end of the night,
after the forty five minutes of basketball, only one of their starters was
even available to play, and ofcourse he had four foul at the time,
so he had four starters on thebench, four reserves whom they don't
even play every single night, outthere trying to finish things off. The

(15:07):
good news was they were playing fromin front essentially the entire time, from
in front the whole game, fromin front the whole final two minutes,
and from in front in overtime becausethey took control of the overtime very quickly.
But my gosh, I know wedo have three hours and there's more
than enough to take it all withwhat took place, specifically when the Aggies
correctly and smartly decided to start foulingin that game, and unfortunately, I

(15:31):
think what did it is the Cougarshad about an eight or nine point lead
for about eight minutes and had theball like twelve times and could not hit
what I thought was kind of akill shot, hit a three, go
up twelve, hit a bucket,go up double figures. They finally got
it one of the seven threes fromsharp and it's basically not long after that

(15:52):
I was like, all right,let's start foling. Had they not done
that, I wonder if Buzz Williams, Jackie Easterby's friend would have decided to
go out and do that. Itworked because it slows the game down,
gives you many more possessions, andthen if the other team isn't hitting two
for two each time, you're catchingup. As long as you score.
Even if you step on the linetwice shooting long threes, you're still catching

(16:12):
up. Because the Cougar's had fourdifferent players make one of two in the
final couple of minutes and those addup and then the miracle shot from a
guy who now has nine threes allseason overtime. Unreal, so much fun
in that. Now it's over andthey've advanced, but never should have gotten
like that. There's got to bea better way to close things out.

(16:33):
You could talk about fouling late,which they did not do, although I
don't think they should have in thesituations very specific to what took place.
They move on. I feel likelike this is a situation where if the
Cougars, you know, do theit's not even the unthinkable, but you
know, they get it done.However it happens, they'll look back at
that game and there may very wellbe a way that you say that was

(17:00):
the toughest test in that run toa championship. And it happens a lot
right the tournament, right like youthink such and such team that you're inevitably
going to run into in the finalfour, for example, is going to
give you the toughest test, orthe championship game is going to give you
the toughest test, and then whenthe dust settles, you look back and
you're like, n, it wasactually that game against the nine seeded Aggies
that really just pushed us and madeus kind of see what we were really

(17:22):
made of. Yeah, and again, these seeds at this point, once
you get to the round of thirtytwo and thirty two had some great significance
in yesterday's game, as several Cougarsmentioned after, and as we've heard about
all year, that number thirty twoof their former teammate. But the Aggies
were playing the type of basketball latein the season and probably for a little
bit more of the season than peoplethink, especially since they made their lineup

(17:45):
change later in the year, they'vekind of been a different team. The
Cougars knew that because they played themalready, and they should have handled them
that way like they did last night, but they weren't as good back then.
I don't know if the Cougars havegotten better. I know they've gotten
weaker in terms of available bodies,but they have the best player in the
tournament in my opinion, in termsof what you're trying to do, you
are trying to win a year.There is no way I'm taking somebody else

(18:07):
that's in this tournament over Jamal Shit. I'm trying to win. That's the
player I want number one overall pick. There's sixty eight teams that made this
tournament. They all have five starters. That's three hundred and forty players.
He's the number one overall pick.If I'm picking any player I want on
my team in the NCAA tournament,that is him first. You can have
whoever else you want. I'll fillout the rest of the roster and we'll

(18:30):
be just fine. Is he Wheredoes he go in the draft? Uh?
Probably? Well, he's not afirst round pick. What is he
going to be as an NBA player? I guess because I always think about
that stuff this time of year?Everybody does. I mean, he is
who's the smallest successful point guard that'snot Steph Curry currently? And when you

(18:53):
say small, you're not talking aboutheight necessarily or heart right, right,
right? But I mean like Steph'sstill you know, a six foot whatever
guy. He's not, right,But if Jamal Shed ran into him,
he'd fall over and get hurt.Jamal Shed is smaller in height but big
enough to play. But he's asmall ish super successful guard. Like there
are very few? How about thealready in the magic how about the ones

(19:15):
already here? Aaron Holliday, No, Fred. Yeah, Fred is not
six foot whatever they list him as. That guy is my height. I
mean I'm five eleven. I'm sixfoot on a good day with my shoes
on. And by shoes I meanboots. He's not. I mean Fred
is like I diye with me.Now, he's way built, you know,
from from that kind of standpoint,But I mean you're asking for a

(19:38):
small ish I always think about staturefirst. Just because there's so many smaller
point guards, you could probably saythey're comparably sized. I mean, depending
on who they're listed. Fred roughlysix Fred yeah, six feet six one
two hundred. That's probably about rightphysically speaking. That's an awesome comparison.

(19:59):
Being able to finish, He's clearlyable to finish at the college level.
Had a putback dunk and he wasasked about it after the game. He
goes, well, I'm actually notsupposed to hit the glass hit the offensive
glass, so it's kind of agood thing that I made it, or
else I would have gotten shoot outfor not getting back. And he was
also able to hit their ninety sixthand seventh point that jumpstot in the lane
to put him back up. Fourare those plays available? At the next

(20:23):
level. Ever, it's hard tobelieve that they are. I mean,
just think about what Fred does.This last game was a perfect example.
Fred had that early steal that turnedinto the Amen Thompson oop to Jalen Green
or all right, the actual itwas a pass from Fred to Jalen.
He stole the ball out front andwas ahead of every other player on the
court. He took a sideways dribbleto allow five players to pass him,

(20:48):
two of his teammates and three defendersbecause he knew somebody else would be able
to finish. He wouldn't be ableto finish. He wasn't far enough away
from the defender. And if hejust goes up for a LA if it's
gonna get blocked. So he waitedfor teammates to finish. He drive in
the lane all the time, andwhat does he do, drives right back
out of the lane or finds somebodyto pass to The one game against the
Wizards, when they were just saying, oh my god, that's our basket,

(21:08):
we're supposed to defend it, Iforgot he had like eight layups.
He probably didn't have eight other layupsall year. It's just very, very
hard to finish at that height atthe rim, and you're right on Curry.
He is more of a six'three and he is just it does
matter, six three fifty soaking wet, But like Tony Parker, he figured
out how to do it. Hewas one of the best finishers. It's

(21:30):
pretty unique. I would not forecastexcellence in the NBA by any means,
but I sure hope that he goessomewhere where there's an opportunity for him to,
you know, like Marcus Sasser,basically his post career when he finished
at U of H versus where heis today with the Pistons. I don't
think anybody would have expected it.But his work at the combine, his

(21:51):
work at when teams brought him in, and then everything he's done since MONI
played him. He can play,and we're better when he's on the floor.
Those are the kind of things thatmaybe he's allowed to show. If
he's allowed to show them. It'salmost like Kelvin Sampson has coached at both
levels before and knows what it takesto create a winner on the college level
and winning players that can win atthe next level. Of most players who

(22:12):
go to college, even if theyplay one hundred four years. They don't
win one hundred and twenty games,like shit, unbelievable, And I hope
it keeps going because they're a lotof fun to watch. All Right,
we will continue here speaking of theRockets, we do have to catch up
with one of their old rivals,who's it sounds on the surface like he's

(22:33):
mouthing off about them, but reallyI think he's probably talking about his own
team more than anything, you know, the team that's ahead of the Rockets,
and not by very much when itcomes to that play in. We'll
get to that, but first weneed to get to Berkeley I Center.
We need to get to the factthat, at a time when everything seems
to cost more right now, andyou guys know that more than ever,
things are just expensive, the springlasik price at Berkeley I Center is not

(22:56):
just less, it's a lot less. We're talking ten percent sent less than
their lasik price this time last year. There's all these charts and comparisons about
how things cost more now than theydid at this time a year ago.
Well how about something that costs lessfor a change. It's actually their lowest
lasik price ever. As a matterof fact, the lowest price ever and
it comes with interest free financing ontop of it for up to two years,

(23:19):
so you can enjoy the upcoming springweather without the hassles of glasses and
contacts. You want to watch thetournament, you want to watch the Rockets,
you want to watch anything else withbetter than twenty twenty vision, Well,
how about the lowest Lasik price everon it is on top of that
you can call seven one three fivetwo six eyes that's seven one three five
two six E y E s.Or you can learn more at their website

(23:42):
b e clasic dot com. That'sb E C Lasik dot com or seven
one three five two six eyes.Tell the Madam Clanton from Sports Talk seven
ninety sent you over. This iscambiitmore here every Rocket is game more Sports
Talk seven nine and streaming on theiHeartRadio ad Home of Your Rockets. Shout

(24:06):
out to Vernon Maxwell, who certainlymade the most of his visits to Houston
over the weekend. Hopefully you guyswere able to make it out there.
I know a lot of you wereat the appearances that he made, both
at Big City Wings Friday with MattThomas Show and then over at the brand
new Little woodrose Edo location on Saturday. But the fact that he was,

(24:27):
you know aware, let's just putit that way. I think the fact
that the guy that he went upthe most, or went up against the
most and gave the most fits toin his career. Michael Jordan played for
the franchise that the Rockets beat onThursday, as he was in attendance,
and then, of course we allknow his affinity if you want to call
it that, for Salt Lake Cityand the team that calls that place home,

(24:48):
the Utah Jazz, who, aswe mentioned in the opening segment,
got the breaks beaten off of themon Saturday night. After that appearance with
both Wex and myself out there,about an how hour ago at Vernon,
Maxwell eleven tweeted the following, Idon't give a damn about the Warriors.
Now, why would he be talkingabout the Warriors after the Rockets had just

(25:10):
got done dispatching the Bulls and theJazz in succession. I'm not sure you
now kind of tracking the Rockets.I don't keep it damn with buys the
Rockets. He just took the quoteand turned it around. Draymond Green was
asked about the Rockets. Why wasDraymond Green asked about the Rockets? Is
his twenty eighteen again? No?Yah, I don't keep it damn with
buying rockets because it's Draymond. Idon't mind playing it off. My sorry

(25:33):
piece of crap computer. It issped up again. Oh yeah, that's
terrible. No, no, noit's fixed. No it's fixed. No
it's fixed. No it's good.No, we fixed it. Yeah,
we worked on Did they fix it? It's good? Did they fix it?
Let me see? God, don'tkeep it damn and buys the rockets.
Yes, it's fixed. Why doeshe sound like Isaiah Thomas when it's
Draymond Green. That's a good point, Zeke. It's always good to have

(25:56):
you on the show. What's upmy pleasure? I just got back from
Red. That's what it sounds like. I'll uptake both sides of this.
He I like the attitude. Itdoesn't it They are not behind the rockets,
they're not chasing the rockets. Theyeven have a game against the Rockets.
He shouldn't care about them, especiallywhen where's the problem. It's in
his locker room. Their team isthe problem. He's out there, his

(26:19):
team and I don't mean it froma problem since I mean it from a
basketball set. They don't win enough. They're not good enough, they're old
as dirt. They lose games.They shouldn't you put it. But you
know what, I don't agree withthat. You know why why Because they
do lose games that they lose gamesthey should lose because of the way they
play and because of what their team'slike this year. They're just not I

(26:41):
told you this like a month ago. The Warriors are done being a winner.
That's yeah. You don't hover aroundthe playing game all season long and
have to get up to that point. They were behind the Rockets for a
good portion of the first month anda half of the season. Of course,
the Rockets were playing a lot betterthan they did for the better part
of the middle of the year,but the Warriors were terrible to start the

(27:03):
year. As I recall well,they started five to one and immediately ripped
off a six game losing streak rightafter that. To kind of get back
to five hundred, they've had acouple of five game winning streaks. They're
on another stretch where they can't seemto figure out how to win again.
One of these losses was to theSan Antonio Spurs. Their last loss last
night was to Minnesota. Although avery good team, they are under five

(27:25):
hundred at home. We were mentioningit, I think on the air.
They're under five hundred against the WesternConference. They have the next four games
where they're actually better on the road. The first of their five game road
trip was that game against Minnesota.He's right, he should be worried about
his own team if they don't goto the playoffs, even though clearly they
had a cushion. You could saythat the Rockets knocked them out if they

(27:48):
just blow past them and keep winning. But they've allowed it to happen because
they simply haven't played a good enoughbasketball. There were several games over five
hundred. Now they're just two gamesover five hundred. Miami, Orlando,
Charlotte, San Antonio, and Dallasare on their schedule before they come to
Houston on April fourth. Here's thedeal. I if you were to ask

(28:08):
down by the Rockets, it doesn'teven remotely sound like him. But yeah,
what does it actually sound like Scott? I don't down by the Rockets
that better kind of it still doesn'tsound like Draymond. But it's a very
very short clip. Here's the deal. If you would have told me,
all right, the Rockets gonna beknocking on the door of the play in
and it's going to be, youknow, one of these two teams,

(28:30):
the Lakers and the Warriors. Louder. Hello, this is the playing tournament?
Who is it? It's the Rockets? Yeah, Lebron's already in here.
Do you guys want to in?Can we come in? I would
have said it would be the Lakers. Now they've won three in a row
and they're six and four in theirlast ten. I mean, they're no.
Nine to one like the Rockets.The only team even remotely close to

(28:51):
that other than the Nuggets are eightand two. The Celtics are the Celtics.
They're gonna win the title this year. I don't care what anybody says.
If they stay healthy, there's nobodybeating them in the seven game series.
In my opinion, they're nine toone as well, but the Rockets.
Like I thought it would be theLakers because the Lakers aren't good.
But the Lakers are a lot betterthan the Warriors right now. Yeah,
they have two good players. TheWarriors don't the Warriors have one good player,

(29:14):
Steph Curry, Lakers have two goodplayers. As someone who admittedly I
watched the NBA, but I'm notmonitoring the Warriors like I used to because
they're just not good. What's thebiggest drawback to Clay? He can still
shoot? Obviously, I think youhit the nail on the head. But
shooting, do you mean shooting andmaking it or just he can launch it?

(29:34):
Because he can't launch it, he'sdoing a good job of launching this.
Of all that injury that he suffered, as catastrophic as it was,
what did we all think when ithappened? Okay, with his age and
the tread off the tires, withas many games as they've played, and
at this stage in his career postrehab, yeah, you're probably not going
to see the same Clay. That'sjust how players that go through that injury

(29:56):
are. But you thought he wouldhave a drop off on his other side
of the court, where he's alwaysbeen good defensively, and he has,
Yes, he has. So he'sa thirty eight percent three but actually they
could shoot so thirty eight it's notawful, right, right, but it's
way less than he's ever shot.It is the worst three point shooting season
of his career. So what doyou call them now? If they're not
the Splash brothers? Is it likethe droplet and then the other splash?

(30:19):
Like, how do you even dothat? Because I mean crazy, don't
make it. You usually don't reallyare You usually aren't too concerned with the
nickname for one of the ten teamsonly ten teams that don't even make the
playing tournament. That's true, andthat's what they will be if the Rockets
pass them, and they might nothave to need help the Rockets. The
Collis Warriors just might keep playing likethis and the Creem's gonna rise to the

(30:41):
top or the bottom of the WesternConference playoff standings. Yeah, the really
worst part about all this, I'm, you know, messing with Clay and
talking down about Clay. So he'saveraging seventeen points per game still, and
then you go to Kaminga at sixteen, and then you go down to Wiggins
thirteen. He's had a drop off. This Year's happened to him. He's

(31:03):
missed time and he's obviously just helooks like the guy that couldn't figure it
out when he first got there.That's kind of what they've reverted to.
Obviously, they missed some time withDraymond, and even his ability to impact
winning has gone way down. AndI mean, I don't even think we've
brought it up once this whole year. The addition of Chris Paul is the
biggest nothing of all time, andit's a shame for a player of that
caliber. But he's been trending towardsthat all along, and we never even

(31:27):
thought it was a good fit anyway. What's he gonna do for the Warriors.
He's nice to have when everybody elseis out, but he doesn't do
any good for them when they don'tneed him because everybody else is healthy.
Are you surprised that Draymond hasn't houledoff and hit him. No, I
mean, just from what we've heard, he can be a little grading sometimes.
But that was what the Rockets needed. That's not what the Golden State
Warriors needed. Yeah, Warriors whoplayed bad basketball, and the Rockets look

(31:49):
like they want to take advantage ofit. The Rockets obviously are wrapping up
that three game brief three game homestandtonight with Portland in. They've won four
in a row at home. Obvious, That means both of the first two
games of this home stand their nextfour games after tonight, before that Golden
State game I mentioned at Okay seeanother game against Utah. By the way,

(32:10):
they have another game against Utah afterthat. Well, I hope Laurie
market and misses all of them,because if he does, they don't have
a prayer against the Rockets at Okaysee at Utah. Dallas comes here Sunday
next week and they go to Minnesota. So clearly without Karl Anthony Towns most
likely Okay, he's not coming backtill the second round. Who knows.

(32:31):
I don't think they've even been ableto get far enough past his procedure to
give looking for I'm looking forward tothem getting bounced in the first round.
By the way, that's gonna befunny. Oh well, do you tell
me who that is? And I'llsee if I agree. Let's see who
would it be? The Kings,like if they're the two seed, because
I don't know, they might bethe three seed actually, which would mean

(32:53):
the Suns. I could see theKings or the Suns beating them. Well,
keep in mind, the Suns aresix. They're only half game better
than the Kings and Maps. Thenon last non playing spot is absolutely up
for grabs. I I the Timberwolvesmatched up against any other I think they

(33:13):
would beat the Mavericks without Karl AnthonyTowns just because Luca and who Kyrie?
Right, Kyrie's pretty darn good inthe playoffs. He's been pretty good in
the playoffs in the past. Yeah, when he played with Lebron in Cleveland
and he was hitting game winners overwhen he was playing with like the best
player in the conference, he wasreally good. Yeah, but Luca is

(33:36):
not the best player in the conference. He's pretty close. If you meet
a debate, if it's Jokich orSga or Jalen but whatever, Well,
you just named three guys that Iwould take over him right now the way
they're playing, Yeah, and thepersonal preference. Two of them I would
take outside of Jalen all the timeover him. Yes, I threw his
name in there for funzies. He'sawesome right now? All right, Hey,

(33:57):
you know who else is awesome rightnow? Tamiko Ryans. We need
to get we need to catch upwith the Texans head coach because we haven't
talked nearly enough about the other hotteam. In the NFL or trendy team
in the NFL here in Houston.We will do that when we come back
next here on the eighteen. Backto Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler the A
Team on Sports Talk seven ninety two, hand flush free putters. The shuck

(34:22):
clock expires Home of Your Rockets,winding down at three o'clock hour on a
Monday edition of The A Team SportsTalks seven to ninety. A lot of
Rockets conversation, a lot of Uof h conversation have not really touched on
the Texans in a minute, butthat's about to change. You know.
There's been a lot of stuff thathas happened in free agency, draft upcoming

(34:43):
obviously, and one month from today, April twenty fifth. Okay, by
the way, today is our fiveyear anniversary, huge celebration plan. You
guys should all join us. Youknow what we should do. We should
throw a party for ourselves in likeVegas and have listeners come and just basically
pat ourselves on the back the wholetime. Maybe make T shirts at Adam

(35:04):
Clanton, at Adam J. Wexley, try to drive up our follows our
social media. Yeah, that's agood id, Like toy steady climb if
you will, sweet to whatever numberon original thought, thank you, thank
you. You might wonder though,what, for example, the head coach
of the Houston Texans, former playerand all around great American, Tamiko Ryans
thinks about some of the additions thatthe Texans have made. Mention it in

(35:28):
the opening segment to his NFL meetings. There have been some rules proposals and
some agreements on which rules will changenext year. Three of them in fact
notable for sure for Tamiko and histeam. But also what comes along with
the NFL meetings is an opportunity forthe media that's there to catch up with
all these coaches in a ballroom atbreakfast. Hopefully a lot of them bring

(35:49):
their local TV people who bring theircameras and their super hot lights and shine
all of them at Mike Tomlin atexactly the same time, so it looks
like he's in the sauna when he'sanswering questions about Russell Wilson being in pole
position for his quarterbacks. Luckily,Dimiko looked very calm and cool. Also,
some of his interviews taking place outsidein the palm trees. Aaron Wilson

(36:09):
obviously is here with us and atKPRC two there at the meetings to see
what Tomiko has has thoughts on allthose things you just mentioned. Initially,
there's going to be a major changeoffensively. The only significant major change we
know about offensively is Devin Singletary outand Joe Mixon. In your thoughts to

(36:30):
Miko, I hate losing Voter wasthat he was great for It's not only
just the play that he did for, but just in the locker room,
he was just outstanding, the leaderfor us in his own way. So
I really hate losing Moter. Gota lot of different guys happy to get
Joe and what he brings. Butyou see there's a lot of movement,
a lot of back market at savePorn. DeAndre Swift is just so many

(36:57):
different guys that are really talented players. Now to those teams, we're happy
to get Jones. Hate to loseMotor was phil like Joe would help us
out play. He also went onto talk about how he doesn't anticipate any
drop off, doesn't see any dropoff, and hopefully that'll be the case
for However, many of the seventeenthirty four or fifty one games he plays
over the next couple of years underthe new contract that Dimiko's general manager gave

(37:22):
him. But I would tend toagree they're losing something with motor reasonable to
see him walk for the amount ofmoney he ended up getting to walk,
and then they just turned around andfound a player that is at least comparable,
probably at this stage of his career, and that's probably selling him pretty
short. I do think they areif they are creative, and if they're
taking the talent of the player andtrying to maximize it, they should be

(37:45):
looking to throw him the ball muchmore than they were looking to throw Singletary
the ball, and Singletary is verygood out of the backfield. But I
do think Mixon has proven to beone of the best, and they should
look at that as an addition tothe passing game and make it worth it
while. Where throwing to him earnsthe first downs isn't just safety valve stuff.
If they have the right kind ofmovement and athletic ability of their linemen

(38:08):
note most of the time the interiorlinement that they can get out in front
of him, because a lot ofthe plays where Mixon's found great success in
seven years with Cincinnati, were ondesigned screens where they're getting their linemen out
in front of him and he's ableto read his blocks and turn you know,
passes behind the line of scrimmage intoseventeen twenty twenty five yard gains.
Would love to see more of that. Yeah, I mean, I have

(38:30):
no doubt that the creativity will bethere to get whomever they ended up signing
in the backfield involved in ways thatsomehow improve on what Singletary did last year.
But I like, it's it's allabout the I keep coming back to
it's all about the line. Ijust want the line to be better than
all kel. He just took aSoundBite out of context, but it worked

(38:52):
well. No, no sound bitenecessary. There were no questions asked about
the changes to the offensive line.Where were you on that one? There
aren't any. There are no changesyet to the offensive line. They have
a center from the last draft,they got a couple of guards from last
year and some depth. Do youthink they draft an offensive lineman right now
on March twenty fifth? Yes?No, you slid that endo there,
And March twenty fifth is only thefirst round. They're not drafting alignment in

(39:15):
the first round. No, Ijust mean, do you think they're taking
an offensive lineman? Yes, inthis draft, yes, they will,
one that's going to significantly contribute tonext year's team. Well, Jared Patterson
was a sixth round pick. He'stheir starting center unless they give that back
to Juice Scruggs. All of themost effective centers are taken in the sixth

(39:37):
round. As you know, allright, we've got plenty more to get
to and two more hours to doit. Here on a Monday edition of
the eighteen four o'clock hour, Comeup next. Two lifelong Houston sports guys
named Adam Talking Your Teams series,Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler are d A

(40:00):
Team A Hour number two here onthe A Team Sports Talk seven ninety.
It's straight up four o'clock on aMonday edition of the program. Five year
anniversary edition of the program Not foryou. You weren't here for another couple
of weeks and then you were doubling. Well, five year anniversary of what
show, the Atom Clanton Experience masqueradingis the A Team you call it the

(40:22):
Adam Clant Experience. What was itcalled? It was the A Team?
Okay, the very first day,well, actually no, technically I wasn't
allowed to say that you were myco host act, so I was just
like I was still negotiating, negotiating. That's funny, it's actually true,
But it wasn't really more. Itwasn't really a financial negotiation. Right When

(40:45):
people hear that, that's what theyautomatically go to. Yeah, time negotiation.
Yeah you were. You were doubledipping kind of like you're doing now.
Yep, you're doing. Here wego again, the fifteenth time in
twenty years. I've had more thanone job. Such an testuous situation too,
with just how you and I,it's about to become more. So

(41:05):
what do you mean? These willbe our Space City Home Network family and
friends. I cannot wait until wesign off and sign into every segment,
saying he and you can find uson Space City Home Network. All right,
so what do you have for us? All right? Well, first
of all, before we get toa little bit more of the Texans and
what Demico Ryan's thinks of things,we need to get to what we've been

(41:27):
doing every single day leading you upto the twenty twenty four Astro season,
and that is what is typically ourJV update. Mystery picture we'll update you
on I was not told about whomit's about, so I wanted WEX to

(41:50):
intentionally be in the dark just becauseI thought it would make the singing funny.
That's the only reason this is notreally a legit pitching update so much
as it is something funny that happened. Why can't we legitimately give a JV
update when we legitimately have We'll dothat in a second. I mean,
geez, stick to the program.Yeah, man, all right, can

(42:10):
I talk over you while you readthat? No? You know the schedule
tonight? Right? Uh? Yeah? Sure? What's Who's what's going on?
The Astros are playing an exhibition gameagainst their Triple A team at their
Major League ballpark, so so it'sfirst of two, first of two.
They will do the same thing againtomorrow night. Tonight, the Astros regulars,
basically the new new look Astros lineupone through four will be on display.

(42:35):
The one where the two lefties areahead of the two righty's. I'll
two v Bregman one and four Alvarezthree to alternate them for no good reason
other than it's just fun. Well, the guy who would do that,
that's literally what Joe was doing asrecently as a week ago. I love
Joyeah Alvarez it too, and Tuckerat for and now he's smashed them together.
Here we go, Chandler Rome,friend of the show. I think

(42:55):
he'll be joining us Wednesday, butyou never know. He might pop up
on Thursday when we're hosting the MattThomas Show, essentially the only day of
the week that they don't play,and doesn't he doesn't want to come on.
Basically too busy. That is thatis true. That's the only day
this week that they don't play,including yesterday. All right, this is
what happened, and I'm going tobutcher both of these names badly. Who

(43:16):
is the pitching matchup tonight? MissileTamaiz and Rhet Kuba are two starters,
neither of whom will be on theAstros to open the season. Right,
So, three hours ago Chandler Rometweeted that out that would be the matchup.
Then he quote tweeted his own tweetand said, well maybe minute made.
Park security was refusing to let Cubaor Spencer arraghetti in the ballpark.

(43:40):
As I walked in, politely toldone of the workers that Cuba was starting
the game and he was allowed in. They replied, quote not without the
right credential, end of quote,off and running red roll. Absolutely they
have made it to it. Imean, they went to a lot of
ballparks over the spring training, probablya little more lax for who can get

(44:04):
in and out since it's spring training. But now this is the big club,
this is the big ballpark, securitya little bit tighter. Maybe they
didn't have time to run over tothe ballpark since they've been here for less
than twenty four hours to get theirproper credentials in time. So yeah,
well they got stopped, they gotslowed, But they'll be all right.
Both of those guys will be spacecowboys when the year begins. I know,

(44:27):
I highly doubt you've ever seen thisbecause you're very busy doing more important
things before a Rockets game, andthis is the same for the Astros.
But that's why I bring this upbecause I've actually seen this firsthand. You
know that when the opposing team theRockets are gonna play, gets to the
arena, they come in via busat the loading dock. When they get
out of the bus, just likeyou and me and anyone else that enters

(44:51):
that building, they've got to gothrough a metal detector. Everybody does at
whatever point of entry they're coming into. I don't know if that's where Chandler
roun home was when he saw this, because we as media go in a
different entrance that I've never seen theopposing players come in my Okay, where
is that? It's not when youit's the same entrance. They're not necessarily
always going in there, but alot of times when a players in,

(45:14):
yeah, like a player who's justbeen called up, a player who got
to the game, laid a player. When you have how many astronosts the
regular we're how many players are theretoday, seventy sixty five sixty so,
but the regulars are coming in theplayer's garage, which I've never actually seen,
right, So I don't know thatthere's even room for all those players
to park down there, because there'sthat many more of them money than normal.

(45:35):
So there are times I've actually beenin there when an opposing player and
a staff member of that opposing teamhave come through there, and they did
make them wait till they checked onwho it was or cross them off the
list. But it doesn't surprise me, especially in an NBA where there's so
many coming and going. Especially,it doesn't surprise me at all of this
happened today. Yeah, where theNBA does it usually makes a pretty streamlined

(45:57):
and you know the buses out there, so is the metal detector, and
they just roll right through and onit. Sometimes sometimes one of the home
players vehicles is still parked there whenyou want to take a picture down there
and make it your avatar, soit works out. Sometimes sometimes I do
not drive an out ye the actualJV update. The VP that was scheduled
for either today or tomorrow is scheduledfor tomorrow. I'll throw a two inning

(46:21):
live VP tomorrow off the brain.Right, they were able to get away
with not needing it having rain impactin the regular Our major league stadium has
a roof on it, unlike otherswho no doubt will have snow outs as
the season gets underway, Right,it's gonna happen. It always does.
Minneapolis is my favorite. That's myfavorite to have that happen where not even

(46:43):
today April it's still snowing in northernparts of the country where they don't build
roofs for you know, snow atthis time of the year and rain for
later. But that's fine. Dohow you want to have rain delays,
make up dates and everything that youhave to have. Because your poverty franchise
did and build a roof on itsstadium, it's usually a guardian's problem.

(47:04):
That's why I usually point to asthe team that has the most issues with
weather good. I'm glad that ateam that made the Yiner Diez deal has
to deal with stuff like that.I still can't believe we went over that
last week. How that all workedout for the Astros. That was an
awesome deal. Didn't know it atthe time, didn't know much about the
other player. We knew a littlebit more about Mayton. I actually did

(47:27):
know a little bit about Yiner andI was still shocked that they he was
a hitting prospect then as much ashe was then he came to the Astros
and he never stopped hitting in theminors. Then he never stopped hitting in
the Major found in every day startingcatcher. Right in a deal for a
center fielder who can't hit, there'sno way that he ever eclipses the Dodgers
deal for your non right? No, No, I no, no,

(47:47):
not even close. But can heget close? No? What if he?
Okay, what if he hits Whatif he hits twenty five bombs this
year and then it's thirty the nextyear, and then it's thirty five and
he becomes Mike Piazza. Can't comeclose to your on in my opinion.
What if he hits a home run? Then it flips the game upside down
the sixth inning of a World Series? Are you thinking that there's a pretty

(48:08):
good chance Jordan's gonna finish as oneof the three best astros ever or four?
Al Tuvey, the Bees and him, yes and his Yin are going
to be on that list. Idon't know how about no, Well did
you think Jordan would when he wasblowing up his rookie year? But it
was like, Okay, this mightbe a fluke. It's never a fluke
when you do that. Like Jannerhad a really good, awesome offensive year,

(48:30):
but I was like, oh mygod, this guy's the best thing
we've ever seen. Well maybe ifhe had played offensive catcher that this franchise
will probably ever have no offense toall those before him, Ash et cetera,
Martin I had to and Corey Lee, who will be a part of
the opening dis Chicago White Sox thisyear for his speed on the base paths.

(48:51):
Right after JV throws tomorrow Tuesday,odds are he will hopefully be ready
to lay out a rehab skin,which should include him pitching for somebody in
the system. It's not necessarily theSpace Cowboys because it's not about who he's
facing, it's about where he's doingit. And Space Cowboys Corpus CHRISTI both

(49:12):
could be options. I don't believeeither one of them are out of the
state. Again, Corpus is prettymuch never out of the state and in
the Texas League, so it wouldn'tnecessarily have to be a game of Corpus.
You could send them to the Friscothey're playing there in a couple of
weeks, or you could keep themwith the Space Cowboys. So I believe
they start with Round Rock. Bythe way, you keep saying space City
and made me think I think Isaid it right this time, didn't I?

(49:34):
Yeah, I know earlier, hadI goofed it? Why what did
you say earlier? I said spacecity when there's no sugar Land. There's
the word city does not appear inthe sugar Land Space Cowboys name. But
anyway, yeah, you did youdid do that earlier. What you might
not even know the answer to thisquestion, but you might. Are they
keeping the Space City alternate uniforms aroundlike permanently the Astros? Yeah? Uh,

(49:55):
my understanding is that at least forthis year. I don't know anything
more than beyond that. It's notlike, you know, the Rockets have
had a different one every year forlike five consecutive years or something like that,
and with the court and everything mostof the time, except for last
year, we were still you obviously, wrap things up and handed it off
to the Rockets wrap after Saturday night'sgame, Calvin and I were still shining
brightly, him more than me becausehis jacket was shiny. Yeah. When

(50:19):
we wrapped up, about thirty fivepercent of the Hometown Heroes court had already
been pulled. How long did youtalk? Wex? We got two postgame
shows, two half hour shows afterthe game. Why make money two?
Yes, don't go anywhere after Rocketspostgame is over. We got Rockets Final
Take. Seriously, Yeah, howlong have they been doing that? About

(50:43):
half the year, and you'll seethe same coming up with Astros starting on
Thursday. Why is there two?I mean, why are there no longer
show? With two different sponsors.Is this like when Raw became the war
Zone at the midpoint of Monday NightRaw back in the day it went from
the Raw to a war zone?Maybe if it was the same show.
Yes, I mean, we don'tchange outfits, and we don't really you

(51:04):
know, change up the product.It's pretty much the same and the Rockets
has been giving us a very goodproduct. Yeah, that nuts. I
can't imagine doing two post games forlike seasons, you won't have to do
much looking around for Astros Baseball righthere on your home for Astros Baseball through
the opener and on through the weekendof Yankees game. You have to do
a little bit of searching. Onthe TV side, they're playing on three

(51:25):
different channels the first three nights ofthe season. Oh good, second game
of the year Apple TV exclusive.I cannot wait to hear the amazing cast
of characters they have on that broadcast. Why you're saying it like you think
they're Katie Nolan's coming back, notcoming back? Thank god? Worst broadcast
games ever. Do you guys thinkthat the uniforms are cool or like,

(51:46):
oh, look, he's being interviewedduring his first time run by his parents,
that's neat. Let me bang ona trash can and a gift that
everybody uses that's outside of Houston.Katie Nolans sucks. What is doing these
days? Besides not doing Apple TVbroadcasts? Showed up on Celebrity Jeopardy Not
too long ago, Celebrity Jeopardy wasWill Ferrell partings. No, Sean Connery

(52:12):
is minus fifty thousand, Katie Lonelynis minus one hundred thousand. That's how
that might go. But I don'tknow. You would say Apple TV for
Friday and the network Fox broadcast forSaturday. Hunter Pence still on the Hunter
Pence not a part of the teamthis year. Really. Dontrell Willis is
the in booth former baseball player analystwith Wayne Randazzo, and came over from

(52:32):
Fox because that's where he used tobe, right, Yeah, so I'm
sure he still is. It's justa you know, one night every couple
of weeks. I don't mind Dontrell. I think he's okay. Yep.
They got a couple of different teams. I don't know which one will be
assigned to the astros yet. Unlessyou have Apple, you will not be
seeing it, which is why wetold you where you can find it right
here on your home for Astros BaseballSports Talk seven ninety The good, the

(52:53):
bad, and the ugly from overthe weekend that is next back to Adam
Clinton. I'm wexlor eight on SportsTalk seven nineties for the corner and that
home of your restros. Now thegood, oh good, the bad,
that's not good, and the uglydon't make me good. With the A

(53:17):
Team, We're showing you the goodthe bad signature segment here on a Monday
edition of The A Team, Andevery Monday, it's all about the good,
the bad, and the ugly becausethat gives us a chance to look
back on the weekend that was.Wex is good, I'm bad, and
Dan is ugly today, so WEXtake it away. Yeah, big weekend

(53:39):
in sports, so naturally there's plentyhere to choose from. I don't think
it takes a genius, so I'lldo it to figure out what the good
is. And that took place lastnight, last game of the night in
Memphis, longest game in Memphis,several overtime games during the first four days
of the NCAA Tournament, and Ithink it's about the most exciting one of
them. You had a buzzer beater, send it to overtime. You had

(54:00):
the number one a seed, arguablythe number one team in the country,
though Yukon has played very well sincetaking that back from the Cougars. Remember
the Cougars are now riding a twogame winning streak. They were one of
nearly every team that did not wintheir conference tournament that was among the best
teams in the country. Yukon wasobviously not like that, and that's why

(54:21):
they are the number one seed inthe tournament. But we're already with you.
With only sixteen teams left with achance to win the title, U
of H is one of them.There are two things from the game specifically
that I want to bring a noteto, and they both took place late,
late, late, late, latein the game. Obviously, Ryan
Alvin being a part of this victoryis such a cool thing. They had

(54:43):
to go to players who'd been onthe court. Basically when everybody among the
starters except for one guy filed out, Jaywon Roberts the only starter to not
foul out, and by the timethey got down to it, it was
time to bring Ryan Elvin in.He did a good job getting open late
on an inbound pass underneath the Aggiesbasket. Naturally they wanted a foul him.
They did. He good teammate thathe is, did like most of

(55:07):
his teammates had before him, hitonly one of two free throws, missed
his first, nailed the second.But he was on the court and made
sure, helped to make sure thiswasn't the last game for him and five
other seniors, and it was great. The other part of it was Ramon
Walker, who missed nearly most ofthe year, did not know if he

(55:27):
was gonna make it back. Hadbeen told, you know, the day
after, you know, the situationhad been kind of here's what we're gonna
do with your injury and your rehab. No, you're gonna come back.
You're gonna make it back. KellenSampson, the assistant coach, telling him
that, and he ended up doingthat. He was practicing this week.
He played and got a little courttime. Didn't play in this game until
the foul outs occurred. Not onlydid he play, he did what he

(55:50):
has always done for you of hthere was a time for a play to
be made, and he made it, went up, grabbed an offensive rebound
and put in a bucket. Allthese things made sure that they would go
on to win. I could goon and on and on about everything that
you know, Manuel Sharp did touringthirty. L. J. Crier did
with some of his late buckets.Obviously, Jamal Shed is the leader of
it all. The fact that ReggieCheney was brought into the halftime conversation.

(56:14):
There a lot of these guys whohad played with him clearly over the last
couple of years, who had passedaway in August, that number is adorning
their jerseys right there on the rightthere by their right shoulder. Jamal Shed
mentioned it to Jeron Rothstein in thepostgame on court interview, and they all
talked about it in both the lockerroom and at the podium, and Kellen

(56:34):
Sampson mentioned that he didn't really doit at any other point this year,
but at halftime he was talking tohis players saying, what would Reggie do
here? And you guys know theanswer rhetorical question. He would put every
single ounce of energy he has intomaking sure that this is not our last
game. And they were winning atthe time, and they were playing well
at the time, but they neededmore of the attitude and effort that he

(56:55):
was known for very emotional for alot of these guys, and now they're
still playing. It was so good, Yeah, and I could you could
see, you could see what you'retalking about. It was palpable last night
on camera, before, during,and after all right to the bad and
this is gonna sound home ersh.But I don't care because it's it's so

(57:15):
ridiculously lopsided in my opinion that it'sjust I get it. They've got a
better record, So maybe that playedinto it, and recency actually non bias
in this case. But how isJalen Green not the Western Conference two time
Player of the week And why isit that the reason he isn't is because

(57:37):
Anthony Davis is. Yeah. Soduring Saturday night's game, as he had
twenty thirty thirty nine points, Iwanted to make sure we were like,
well, he just won Player ofthe Week. He's gonna win it again
because this is going to be asecond forty point game. Let's put up
a graphic to show here's what hedid when he won his Player of the
Week award, and here's what hedid as Player of the week on his
way to winning it again. Andthen I even went to Twitter earlier today

(57:58):
and said, we're just a couplehours away from Jalen R being noted and
honored as Player of the Week,only to have to quote tweet myself,
which is everybody's favorite move, andsay, nope, I was wrong.
Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis, whoaveraged twenty seven points, nearly seventeen rebounds,
and ooh, he shots nearly sixtynine percent from the field. I

(58:20):
guess that's pretty easy when you're justdunking everything. It doesn't take a lot
of talent to dunk everything when you'rea seven footer and you're dunking everything.
But you know whatever, that's fine. Give him the award after his Lakers
ooh went three and oh, nevermind the fact that Jalen Green just averaged
thirty six points actually better than thirtysix points, six rebounds, better than

(58:43):
three assists per game on fifty sevenpercent shooting. That must have been where
it was he didn't dunk enough,and he probably did dunk a lot this
week. He saw dad, buthe also hit fifty percent of his three
point shot Anthony Davis on twelve attemptsper game. Yeah, two attempts.
Yeah. Oh, the Rockets wentthree and oh two, But they're three
and oh wasn't as good apparently asthe Lakers three and oh? Be fair?

(59:06):
Who is who is the Rockets threeto zero against? You don't even
have to know the I don't care, you don't know, I don't care.
You work the game. It's notthat I don't know, It's that
I don't care what thirty six I'llBut you're right, twenty seven is better.
It's because you grabbed it. Seventeenpoints for seventeen wasn't even the second
leading scorer in the Western Conference thisweek? Who was Yolkic scored thirty three

(59:27):
points per game? Did his teamgo three and oh? No, only
two and oh had a light weekfor him? Well, we all know
that Anthony Davis and the Lakers aregonna win it all again this year.
So I guess the last award orpiece of recognition the Lakers are gonna get
this year? This is it.Yeah, They're either going to win a
playing game against the Warriors or Rocketsand then lose the next game and not

(59:50):
make the playoffs, by the way, not make the playoffs at all time.
Out on what you just said,you think the Lakers want any part
of the Rockets in a play ingame. Yeah, they're not the ones
who said I don't care about theRockets. They the Rockets have smoked them
twice this year and lost to themtwice. How much did they lose to
them by? And how many manyofficials had to get in on it to

(01:00:12):
help the Lakers in the final minutesof one of those games. Planton wants
me to bring another piece of badto the story. Is that what you're
telling me? Is this the timefor it? Do it? Okay,
let's go. Let's see what wassent out across the interwebs earlier today that
I thought you, of all people, my friend, and interesting since you're
calling the bad the Rockets player notgetting Player of the Week over the Lakers

(01:00:34):
player. If I told you viaNBA communications Twitter account officially, by the
way, Jalen Green was a nomineethis week, he got some votes.
Who votes on this? If Itold you that the New York Knicks from
the start of last year, includingplayoffs too, right now? Uh huh,
are number two in the NBA infree throw attempt advantage and all their

(01:00:57):
games played there they are a plusthree fifty eight. They are number two
in the NBA with a free throwadvantage. Over all those games, they've
shot three hundred and fifty eight morefree throws. Bucks three forty four,
Orlando three eleven, Boston two seventyone, rocketter middle of the pack,
and a negative fifty four from thebeginning of last season. Two now plus

(01:01:17):
three fifty eight. That's number two. I'll just tell you the Lakers are
number one. Yeah, obviously,what do you think there? Plus is?
Number two is plus three fifty eight? Does it have a five?
Three? Is plus three forty four? No? But it has a four?
No? Well then why why keepgoing? It's higher? Yeah,

(01:01:37):
but it's not a six either,or a seven or an eight. You've
got to be killing nine. It'sa thousand has a one in front of
it. This league is rigged,and I work for it. The Knicks
are a plus three fifty eight,dude, this is The Lakers are a
plus one thousand and seventeen. Dandolo, this is right, fortall reference.

(01:02:00):
This is ridiculous. And here's why. If you don't want people to say
things like what I just said,then stop giving the two biggest media markets,
which everybody says is baked in themost free throws. It's insanity.
And look, the Lakers have gottenhow many extra free throws? If you
add a number two, number three, and number four together, they would

(01:02:22):
still be in first, right,And what's it gotten them? A play
and date with the Rockets where they'regonna get I almost said it. I
thought I had you there. Ialmost not my attention again. Now again,
you know some playoff games, somesome teams have more games than others.
Oh, yeah, that's what Ionly want more games only one gets.
That's the five hundred plus difference.I'm sorry, six hundred, I'm

(01:02:45):
sorry, almost hundred plus difference.Then the number two team, which is
how many ahead? Forty? Yeah, there is a fourteen free throw advantage
four and three. The difference betweentwo and three is the fourteen free throws,
the difference between yourselves, Lakers andLakers fans for all time. And
I'm talking to you, Adrian Chavariathe next time, I want to hear

(01:03:07):
about pals Man. And by theway, Lakers fans, your baseball team
has the biggest scandaler in the historyof the game out of a play here
in Houston that wear orange Lakers lastnight beat the Pacers. Well, how
much help did they have from ScottFoster's crew the pace tonight, by the

(01:03:30):
way, the foul happy Pacers,Yeah, that's what it was, thirty
one fouls and themselves shot sixteen freethrows. The Lakers committed only fourteen fouls,
yeah, and shot forty three freethrows. They had a plus twenty
nine. She's a plus twenty seven. Jeez, I want right, that's
how it adds up to over onethousand. Stop doing this, NBA and

(01:03:53):
you won't be called here. Here'swhy the Lakers are always winning late,
so they the other team always playsthe foul game. But Chicago is the
most clutch team. Your friend AustinReeves got to twelve free throws, right.
See when Austin Reeves is going tothe line a dozen times, he's
very aggressive. He yes, helikes to take. And there are a

(01:04:15):
whole seven games on over five hundredwith that kind of situation, and they're
not even in the playoffs almost though. Yeah, oh man, I need
you know what Warriors. I knowyou don't care about the Rockets. I
need for this to happen because thenI need to see in real time the
league usher into the postseason. TheLos Angeles Lakers by giving them fifty more

(01:04:40):
free throws than the Rockets in theplaying game, because you and I both
know it's going to happen. No, we don't, Yes we do.
I don't know that. What wasthe number again, I already forgot really
yea, And do you remember whatthe number was, because I know it
was over one thousands, ony seventeen. I didn't. But it's all on
the up and up, Yes itis. If there were any other team
that had this kind of discrepancy,Charlotte, yeah, that's a perfect example,

(01:05:01):
okay, or just any team that'snot in a New York or LA
market. You could do this forthe Clippers, and that's a perfect example.
Let's go to NBA Siberia Detroit,Michigan. The Lakers have a thousand
more free throws than then, nota thousand more, a thousand total,
seven hundred more roughly, right,that's a big difference, exactly. Well,

(01:05:21):
we're talking about three hundred here.That's a lot. That's like two
games of points for the Lakers toscore on average yesterday, one hundred and
fifty twenty two seasons worth. Inthe case of the total. Come on,
stop telling us, oh, it'sit's not rigged. It's not rigged
at all. They play inside.Cannot wait to see Scott Foster officiate this

(01:05:43):
game between the Rockets and Blazers tonight. I'm sure nothing will be out of
the ordinary. He won't act arrogantor that he's the center of attention,
and the Rockets will definitely benefit againsta terrible Blazer squad. Let me tell
you this, if the Rockets losingstreak or winning streak is ended tonight at
the expense of the will be goneTrailblazers, Scott Foster will absolutely have something

(01:06:05):
to do with it. I don'teven care at this point. I just
we have number or we have numericalproof that what I'm saying and have been
saying for years is true. Theyplay hard and get fouled. Oh that's
what it is. I thought itwas that the other team was foul happy.
Make up their mind either one bothwere not that there is something you

(01:06:25):
know, nefarious going on. Nowfar from it, dude. Come on,
let's go look at the two thousandand two Western Conference Finals again.
Who is the involved in that?What do you think it would say with
the Sacramento Kings and what team.Again that was completely benefiting from dem Donahee
and company. The Clippers, noone, the Clippers, the probably won't
even in the playoffs in two thousandand two. Lakers, they were still

(01:06:45):
a dormat to the league. Yeah, the Lakers one thousand to seventeen,
one thousand and seventeen. Again,maybe I should go check the numbers make
sure that's accurate, but I believeit to be true. The NFL doesn't
have this issue. Usually Baseball doesn'teven have. They should have owners meetings,
governor's meetings in the NBA, andthey can change the rules. Maybe
they can hip tackle Scott Foster beforehe gets out on the floor tonight and

(01:07:08):
they can be hit with a fifteenyard penalty. I'll do it. I'm
not working the game. What areyou gonna do? So spend me for
the game. I'm not working.We're looking for the guy in the margarita
Monday's polo. It's not a polo. It's a Hawaiian shirt. Oh yeah,
it does have a bunch of buttonson it. Yeah, it's not
a polo of B two. Maybeunaware of the buttons that stretched all the

(01:07:28):
way below the placket. A thouyseventeen. Yes, sir, that's embarrassing,
and that's not the ugly. No, that was the ugly. I
boguarded it. Okay, good Dansaid I could take it. Yeah,
you can go find mine on Twitter. I was gonna be pretty consistent with
what I said. He's not gonnatop that either. No good news on

(01:07:49):
thy seventeen. All right, youwant to hear from Joe Aspata, can't
wait. We will when we comeback. Hey, it's a man,
top down man for all every Rocketsgame. Sports Talk seven to ninety streaming
on the iHeartRadio, a home ofRockets basketball. He was an agent on

(01:08:11):
many episodes of Entourage. Bob Sagettdid not like him. No, nor
did anybody else. By the endof it, Well, Bob Sagga didn't
like anybody that wasn't going to allowhim to do something on the couch.
He starred in a second film withPaul Walker. Yes, lots of water
and bathing suits. Yes, theywere diving for treasure in that little film.

(01:08:36):
So he has a career. Inaddition to this, he's been on
a bunch of TV shows that havehad long runs and has plenty in his
IMDb Arsenal. But yes, Iwould suppose that the star of TV's Las
Vegas, James Kahn, was atouch more famous, just a touch.
He was in a football movie too, that kind of was popular. Despite

(01:08:59):
being super sad, it wasn't sad. It was awesome. It was the
real life. Christy Swanson was init, Yes, she was. She
was in Well in what the program? Yeah, well, I'm not talking
about the program. I am.Well, Scott Cohen wasn't in the program.
Gah, what James was? Oh? Okay, the football movie I

(01:09:20):
was talking about takes you more ofa Matt Thomas back Brian song. Oh,
oh geez. Well the program wasn'tsad. There's parts of it that
were. Oh was sad that withyour dad? It was very sad.
She did have a tennis injury.She was trying to rehabit. Yes,
Joe Caine was right there for her. Dude. Let me tell you,

(01:09:42):
though, what I really loved MikeTomlin in that movie Omar Epps. He
was a running back tried to takeout halle Berry's original boyfriend was the other
running back. He took his joband his girl Autumn. He was trying
not to fumble. We're confusing peopleour trivia question and tickets are to Varsity

(01:10:04):
Blues. How do we not havea winner already? After that? I
told you it's Minutia week, butKendall has already won, So congrats,
all right, Kendall, Yeah,it was his end zone dance. Uh
huh, because they were playing Bangvillebang Veille, which is spelled not with
an A like you might hear overon the Michael Berry Show. Pretty much
Bingville ramone. Who are the Westcan and Coyotes set up to play against

(01:10:28):
Bingville? Bait Bankville? Could youplay? Could you play? Free bird?
For the remainder of this segment,Oh, who do you got?
Next week? We got Gilmer Gilroy, same difference? All right? When
we come back, we will hearfrom the manager of your Houston Astros straight
ahead here on the eighteen, backto Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler, the

(01:10:50):
A team on Sports Talk seven ninetyWe're Rockets and Astro's play and real Texans
Talk. I thought you were goingto leave on the audio, wex turn
it back on. We do havea television device in here and it is
broadcasting the breaking news. As weindicated what happened over the weekend with the

(01:11:13):
Dodgers getting ready for the season bygoing backwards to spring training after the season
started. Show Heo Tani is addressingthe media today nicely. I'm not expected
to answer any question stressing show HeoTani is talking into a microphone which is
in front of a bunch of peoplethat are in the media, and that
his lives are being interpreted by aguy who didn't supposedly take four and a

(01:11:38):
half million dollars of his money andput it on bets that he supposedly made.
So it is going to be astatement from him, but he's continuing
and talking a lot about it.It sounds like, at least to describe
in his words what took place.I'll give you clinton one comment, one
quote directly from show Hey via hisinterpreter. Okay, I never bet on

(01:11:58):
baseball or any other sports or askanyone to bet on my behalf. You
know what I think of that.I did not have sexual relations with that
woman, miss Lewinsky, and Inever lied innocent until proven guilty. So
is he what about that? Whatabout it you're asking, I'm not talking
about William C. I'm talking aboutshow Hell No, you're you're asking me,

(01:12:20):
as I sit here in Houston,Texas, to give somebody grace or
wait for all the facts to comeout, or ask you to give them
grace. But maybe you know,no grace given, No grace given.
Do we want to go? Youwant to hear some actual audio? Sure
from this? Listen to this?What was you saying while Orange this was

(01:12:51):
the Astros fault. I will notbe punished because I am too big of
a star and a cash cow forMajor League Baseball. See, I can
be a translator and I don't evenbet that was not a paid translator.
No, you're right, I'm workingfor it. This guy can't do it.

(01:13:14):
This guy's got nothing. Listen,none of this. Remember, initially
was said to have transferred money thewire transfers to cover for epay his interpreter's
debts, gambling debts. But thenafter initially saying that, it became no,
it was theft. I love itwas stolen. Yeah. MLB is
investigating the matter. Oh oh,Tani not accused of gambling, expected to

(01:13:39):
play during investigation. Dave Roberts metwith the media yesterday and kind of indicated
to these things which we already knewwhile he is being it is being investigated.
He is part of the investigation,but not so much so or that
they found anything out that they wantto find out that would have him sitting
on the sidelines. You know what'sthe best part about this. If he
were still in Anaheim, they'd stillfind a way to cover this up so

(01:14:00):
he could play because MLB needs himto. But the fact that he's a
Dodger, ain't no way he isgoing to miss games, no way whatsoever.
Now if he were an astro,they'd still probably try to find a
way to make sure he played becauseof the first thing that I said,
But the fact that he plays forone of the blue bloods of Major League
Baseball. I have no doubt inmy mind if if there's a way for

(01:14:24):
them to figuratively sweep this under therug, it'll happen. He is maintaining
that his former interpreter basically was stealingmoney from him, had his account,
stealing money from his account, andWilliam was that he had no sexual relationships
with that intern. We all knowwhat really happened though. There was a
cigar and many many late hour meetingswith Monica, and the only reason you're

(01:14:48):
describing these two situations in the samebreath. Is because they're both liars?
Yes? Oh I thought it wasbecause of the blue uniforms. No,
because it wasn't blue. After itgot the main color was still blue.
It was a blue dress. True, it was Dodger blue. You know
what his famous his most famous themost famous quote, Yeah you haven't said

(01:15:09):
it over and over he got thelast five minutes. No, I've never
had is not his most famous quote. The second most famous one. What
is former President Bill Clinton's number oneall time quote? Coming in at number
two is the I've never had sexualrelations quote? But at number one on
the eighteen countdown on March twenty fifth, twenty twenty four, of President Bill

(01:15:31):
Clinton's all time greatest lines is Hillary'sgot my bag, but Monica's got my
front. So that was Phil Hartman. No, it was not Phil Hartman.
Why would he be having anything todo with it. I'm Troy McClure.
I love those segments on The Simpsons. Man that was that was unfortunate.

(01:15:51):
But yeah, I'm not buying anyof this. This is this is
a dog and show right here.How angry, how vigilant in your fight
against this in your fight for truthjustice in the American ways, you're gonna
get even more mad when so manyothers are buying all of it. Well,

(01:16:12):
here's the thing, because we dodon't have proof, much proof to
say he did any of this.Well, we have a ton of smoke.
The situation suggests it's very believable,but no, nothing suggests that it's
happened. The problem with this forhim, like Mike fires, was the
ultimate loose end, right, butin twenty twenty four, with social media

(01:16:32):
and all that kind of stuff,not to mention, I mean this,
there's it's it's has the ability tobe tracked, there's there's records, like,
there's no way so for him tocontinue if it's all lies, to
continue with this, it's not gonnawork. It's gonna get found out.
The cover up's always worse than that. I agree, which and you know,
what do you take about the he'sa super private person, like one

(01:16:55):
being here. We didn't even knowhe's married until like yesterday. He wasn't
married. He hasn't been married forten years and we just found out he
just got married. I need tomake an addendum before the segment is over.
Number three quote. This might well, number two needs to be said
differently. All right, so Ihave never is number three? Okay,
what I said is still number one? But he really when did I forgot?

(01:17:16):
When did he say that? Justnow on the show? Okay,
what's number two? Dez ATX HoboGirl brings it to our attention? Depends
on what your definition of the wordis is he said that with a straight
face. There is no more.That's when he actually got the moniker slick
Willie. Okay, you can't fromthe public. I mean, you're in

(01:17:39):
a deposition about you know, sexacts in the Oval office with not your
wife with listen, having doing thingswith your wife at your home, which
is the White House. Yeah,probably isn't that frowned upon? Now maybe
if you know a certain situation,why that's not what I had a problem

(01:18:00):
with. It was that that washis wife. It's the woman in question,
Like, come on, now,you would have too stop why I'm
right. You know I'm right,and all of America knows I'm right.
I don't know anything. His famousline from the deposition was, while legally
accurate, still misleading. Right sayit again while legally out Now you said,

(01:18:21):
while legally accurate, still misleading,And yes I pronounced it accurate.
He took a syllable away because he'sfrom Arkansas. That's how it works.
It took a lot of things away. He took her clothes sometimes. My
favorite is the meme where you seehim sitting at the desk and talked about

(01:18:43):
two people being in the phoe.Okay, let's go to break all top
five for us. Don't need tobreak it's time. It's time. Well,
yes, more reaction. If Ihad done that in the office,
Holy cow, Believe me. Youdon't think I'd be dragged through another ninety
six indictments using cigars. There'd becigar companies, all of it. They'd

(01:19:05):
be dragged through the mud. Believeme, Believe me, that would be
stormy. I would never cheat onMilania, not once, not even in
Russia. Five o'clock. Is shegonna be the first lady again? Uh?
Is Milania? Yeah? Believe me, believe me, the only president

(01:19:26):
to have two numbers next to hisname, forty five and forty seven.
Let's be able to make the fiveo'clock hour grade again. Yeah, let's
be a lead over at classical eliteChevy Sugarlanta Classical Elite Chevy Highway six.
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Tiffany Sebastian, wonderful owners at ClassicElite Chevy sugar Land and Classic Elite Chevy
Highway six. When you head onover there, you tell him Adam Wexler
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series Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler Rthe A Team. Ah, you're right

(01:20:42):
at Buss Football. It's five o'clock. Some it's five o'clock football. Professional
footballs in America is a special game. We get the third and final hour
of a Monday edition of the ATeam underway by briefly taking a reprieve from

(01:21:11):
h Man. I'm just ready forit. I mean, I already know
it's gonna happen. I'm just readyto see it. Dodgers fans being sanctimonious
in their defense of their gambling degeneratethat they believe is not wait for all
the facts that we're gonna take areprieve from that. I promise we'll get
into it. I promise you we'llget more into it, especially since he's

(01:21:31):
now made his quote statement about thisunbelievable. But yeah, football at five
is what we do every single dayhere and today is no different couple of
things we need to get to.First, we need to revisit some of
the things that Tamiko Ryan had tosay. He'd heard him talk about what
it was going to be like forthe team to replace Singletary with Joe Mixon,

(01:21:55):
Devin Singletary or as they call him, Motor with Joe Mixon, and
and that was a few segments backhere on the program. But also the
fact that they've made some additions,not the least of which, and probably
the biggest, is on the defensiveside of the ball, where daneil Hunter
and Will Anderson Junior are hoping toform one of the best book INDs that

(01:22:16):
we've seen in the AFC South sincethe Mathis Spreey era in Indianapolis, for
example, pretty successful duo there thatobviously helped Peyton Manning get some extra possessions
and made the attempt to keep upwith his scoring prowess a whole lot more
difficult for teams both in and outof the AFC South. But yeah,

(01:22:40):
you're talking about adding one of thebest pass rushers in the NFL to a
team that already had Will Anderson Junior. I think that's probably a good thing,
and Demiko agrees with me. Ifyou watch the tape, you know
Autry is a great football player.He loves football. You can tell her
just by watching his tape and therespect that he has around the league,
not only from offensive alignment but alsoother defensive linement understand his play style and

(01:23:05):
how effective he is as a asa player, playing inside, playing outside,
he gets it done. So excitedto add, you know his relentless
modst to our team. Danil's definitelya big guy, a big guy,
but he has the length. Ithink that's what sets you apart as a
as a pass rusher. Danil's lengthand his ability to consistently, you know,

(01:23:27):
get after the quarterback. He's haddouble digit sacks multiple times in his
career, and we're looking for himto add constant pression on the quarterback.
I know Danil is excited to beback home in Houston. We're excited to
have him here in Houston because,you know, not too many times,
not often you get to play infront of your family, your high your
own high school. Like a lotof people will be rooting for Danils.

(01:23:50):
So we're happy to have a Houstonianback playing for the Texas. Yeah.
Look, it's gonna be phenomenal tosee what they can do defensively in light
of what they were able to dolast year. I think to say that
the entire team surprised everyone would bean understatement, but it was the way
they surprised him. It's not justoh well, CJ. Stroud's one of

(01:24:12):
the best young rookies in the NFL, and look at what he can do
individually. And even with some ofthe team mates that had been here,
like in the case of Nico Collins. But I think a lot of people
might have even if not more so, surprised because there's no nothing was going
to eclipse what CJ. Stroud wasable to do. But I don't think
anybody was expecting the defense to evenbe under demiico best case scenario as good

(01:24:39):
as it was, just considering whereit came from and all that kind of
stuff. And look, Will Andersonhelped that and everybody that was a part
of things, including you know,two players especially that are now on Daniel
Hunter's old team while he has cometo the Texans, and Jonathan Grenard and
Blake Cashman were a big part ofthat. But you know, the fact

(01:25:00):
that you had Derek Stingley Junior seemore time on the field and look better
than he had, and you had, you know, contributions up and down.
It's putting Danil Hunter in the middleof that, putting him on the
opposite side from Will Anderson Junior,and having that defense coached by a guy
like Demiko Ryans to try and buildupon what the Texans did on the whole

(01:25:23):
last year is going to be fantasticand yeah, looking forward to that.
And obviously, as you can seeand hear from Demiko Ryans right there,
he is as well. The otherthing we need to get to in a
segment that we always refer to asfootball at five is the fact that unanimously,
unanimously, NFL owners approved the banof that swivel hip drop tackle.

(01:25:45):
And you know, I've seen flagfootball is on the way. I've seen
that this is going to just it'sgoing to be even more ridiculous for defensive
player and all of that's true,by the way, And just in case
you didn't know, the owners approvedrule proposal to ban the swivel hip drop
tackle. The league announced this today. It's going to result in the fifteen
yard penalty of flagged in games,but according to Troy Vincent, the NFL's

(01:26:11):
executive vice president of football Operations,he strongly implied last week, it's likely
to be enforced similarly to the useof helmet rule, which typically leads to
warning letters and fines in the weekafter a game, rather than flags during
play. So it's I realize whyit came to be, and I realize

(01:26:33):
what they're trying to do. Butlike we always talk about if player safety
was really paramount, if players safetywas at the top of the priority list,
then you would just basically played flagfootball. It's a violent game,
and while headhunting and all that kindof stuff probably you know, needed to

(01:26:55):
be officialed out of the game asmuch much as you possibly can in a
game that is played at just breakneckspeed, no pun intended. I don't
know at what point, like we'regoing to get to a point where it
basically should be flag football, becauseyou are just putting so much pressure on

(01:27:15):
defensive players to know the rules firstof all, just know how they can
tackle a player, and then eliminatein the span of like half a second
all of the ways they can't tacklea player legally, and then they've got
to come up with a way toactually get it done. It's just between

(01:27:40):
that and the crazy kickoff rule thatwas going to be looked at, you're
talking about like offenses absolutely exploding andjust going to a place we've never really
seen it. I don't know ifI don't know what the result of this
is going to be. I mean, I kind of have a feeling,
and I understand when people are like, oh, it's gonna be flat football.

(01:28:00):
I completely understand where they're coming frombecause much like like I'll never forget
because of the Bernard Pollard hit onTom Brady and not being able to hit
players low and especially quarterbacks. Ifyou breathe on a quarterback these days,
unless you're CJ. Shroud and he'sgetting you know, concussed on the turf
at MetLife Stadium, and then it'sjust it's fine. But if you even

(01:28:20):
breathe on quarterback these days, Imean, it's so punitive for a defensive
player. And I remember, youknow, guys talking about that, like
your job. You're paid very handsomesums of money to get after the quarterback,
to kill the quarterback, as theysay. But with things like that,
things like bounty Gate, which isa total extreme obviously, and then

(01:28:43):
things like this and and the youknow, the head hunting rules and stuff
like that, you're getting you're askingalmost the impossible of a defensive player when
you consider the speed and everything elsethat's involved, and cause more injuries for
them. Honestly, that's the thing. Yeah, that's a point that I
don't think it's talked about enough.You're actually opening up defensive players to injuring

(01:29:06):
themselves and others, because you're nottalking about technique taught football moves here,
you're not talking about tackling in away that has basically been a part of
the game forever. And really thehip drop is kind of a a it's
an adjustment they've already made because ofthe prior rule changes. Well, I

(01:29:29):
mean, I think it's also too. What goes into being a defensive player
is it's much more reactionary based offof what you're already trying to think about
in terms of all right, whatdo I look for out of the backfield
on this and just other keys thatyou're trying to read. But I mean
this is also an addition of allright, hey, I can get them
here. But oh, if Ihit him this way, is it a
flag? If I hit him thatway, is it going to be a

(01:29:50):
penalty? I mean, just youknow, any of those things that you
just can't have at the forefront ofyour mind when you're trying to make a
play, like and it's not Andthat's the thing. We're gonna see more
ankles, We're gonna see acls.We're going to see because it's all right,
Hey, I have to slow uphere because if I hit them the
way that I'm on the track todo right now, then it's going to

(01:30:11):
be an issue and I'm gonna getflagged for it. Yeah, I'm I'll
be very interested to see, youknow what the what the fallout is,
and you won't be able to reallyknow that for several seasons. I mean,
I think you're gonna see stuff nextyear that's gonna get people's attention,
like, uh, there it isin how you feel about it. Doesn't
happen in a big moment. Imean every moment is big in an NFL

(01:30:32):
game, it seems like, butI'm talking about you know, postseason or
you know, divisions on the lineor something like that. That's when you're
really gonna get some pushback. That'swhen you're gonna get some controversy involved.
If this new rule you know,costs the team, well, it's also
too where you've seen if you goout to practice, and I'm sure we'll

(01:30:53):
probably see something similar to this.Remember the rule that got everybody talking a
few years ago of the full weightof the body on the courquarterback was going
to be a roughing the passer.So then you started seeing coaches who are
almost doing kind of like a likea spin a round tackle, if you
will, if that makes sense,Like try to kind of follow me on
this where you would want the quarterbackto land on you before both of you

(01:31:15):
going both to the ground, kneestouching the ground, and that has that
player down. Yeah, I'm fascinatedby it. You see my point though,
like you're you're thinking too much thatyou don't need to think about on
the field. Now, That's that'swhat I always go to first, is
the decisions you have to make inan NFL game from a mental like just

(01:31:36):
from a split second mental standpoint.And that's this is this goes for pretty
much every player out there, quarterbacksclearly, that's why they're paid the most.
But from a defensive standpoint, you'regoing across the middle. If this
guy catches that ball for a firstdown, you're gonna lose. Let's just
put that scenario out there. Ihave to then go through my you know,

(01:31:59):
my my prompt in my computer,you know, bios here in my
head of the ways that I cannottackle this guy now, because there's more
ways that you aren't supposed to tacklethe guy versus the ways that are still
legal to tackle the guy and Ihave to do all of that and split
second and again going back to theoriginal point. If he gets this first
down, that is very bad forme. That is very bad for my
team. You're asking the virtually impossible. Well, it's also too, I

(01:32:23):
mean another part of it as wellis then it's all right, well,
then try to make a play onthe ball. Well, then you're getting
out of your technique. Then youare possibly if you are also reaching your
arms out to try to catch theball, maybe you run into them,
your elbow hits his helmet, thenyou're out. You're done. Like it's
where they become the defensive player atthat point. And it's just there's only

(01:32:44):
so much technique that you can thatyou can teach like this just in it's
a violent game, and I appreciatethe fact they're trying to clean it up.
I appreciate the fact that player safetyis actually of concern, where you
don't have guys when they're in theirfifties and sixties looking like they're in their
eighties because they're so beat up.I understand all of that, but it's
also too at the same time,like, make these rules with the understanding

(01:33:04):
of what goes into the game,and I just don't think that's the case
A lot of times. No,it's not, and I know they're probably
in a no win situation, butI frankly I want to hear that because
they have no problem cashing the checksthat the NFL does, and in all
likelihood, I know, player safetysupposedly at the forefront, which is laughable
to even say out loud, becauseit's just not it's just not. Money

(01:33:28):
is at the forefront, and money, well, I'm guessing that there are
more casual fans that will watch higherscoring games, and this is exactly going
to funnel into that situation. ButI digress football at five for the most
part. That takes care of it, because those are the two main things
that we want to get to getto on a Monday where you did hear
from Jamaica Ryans, But this wasalso a pretty big news item with regards

(01:33:51):
to the NFL. Speaking of bignews items, we haven't gotten to some
of them. Plus we still needto revisit the quote unquote statement from shohy
Otani about the whole gambling scandal orlack thereof, depending on who you talk
to. So still got a longway to go here on a Monday edition
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three fifty two eighty five. Sevento one three nine one three fifty two
eighty five the eighteen I'm cleansing thatI'm went for the afternoon, deeed covering
your team. Slide this tea toleft center fail. This is Sports Talk
seven ninety Pome of Astros Baseball.Oh, in case you missed, it's

(01:36:05):
gonna be a doozy today. TheA team here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
By the way, Tom and Downtownhad tweeted about thirty minutes ago when
we were starting to get ready forthe press conference. I say, press
conference, Dan, it's not apress conference if the press isn't involved.

(01:36:25):
Other than to just sit there andlisten. There was no questions asked because
they didn't allow them to be andhe just sat up there and read a
statement show Heyo Tani Tom and Downtownsays, I wonder if an unverified account
claiming to be show Hey o Tanni'sniece tweeted out her uncle has a gambling
problem, people would buy it.Yeah, well, it seems like everybody
wanted to buy that. And JohnBoy and what else was out there that

(01:36:51):
was I mean, just all ofthe attacks on Jose Altuve. His career
is because of Altuve and the Astroshis career I use in air quotes.
Well, it cracked me up isthat there was a Dodger fan who was
like, oh, people are justgonna believe whatever they want, and then
she tried to say that people hadreading comprehension issues when people then responded back

(01:37:12):
with every single one of her responses, calling Jose al Tuva cheeter. And
it's just like you might want totake your own medicine in that case,
or I don't know, maybe justsit this one out. There's a lot
of times where you want to sitit out or you think people should probably
sit it out when you consider whatthey're saying with regards to what's going on
and reality. By the way,you got that audio of the show hey

(01:37:34):
Otani statement that he read earlier Idid. Are you ready for it?
Yeah? We go. Then mestart by telling you this, I have
never used steroids period. Thank you. I wonder where we've heard them?
Thank you, Rafael Otani. Wellthere's a playbook to play, obviously he
did. By the way, Beforewe get off and running, one more

(01:37:54):
thing, do you know who hasweighed in on this whole situation? I
heard Peter Peter Rose, friend ofthe show, by the way, said
the following back in the seventies andeighties, I wish I had an interpreter.
I'd be Scott free. He's gota point. And they always say

(01:38:15):
you use a proxy, right,like maybe Pete would have Peter would have
forgotten to speak English all of asudden. I don't even know this guy.
Well, I mean he was leavingthe clubhouse with you. I'm still
I have no idea who that is? Ten years, seven hundred million dollars
and you came and get him toanswer questions about this. It's just very

(01:38:35):
interesting. I told you the shillingis already a foot. I mean they
tried doing it sweekend with Oh,he claimed to go to UC Davis.
You see. Davis said they hadnever even heard of him, and was
like, okay, I see wherethis is going. If you have a
brain, you don't believe any ofwhat they're trying to sell. Yep,
well that's talking about you, BillPlashke. We know you don't have one.

(01:38:58):
All I've said is I find itreally hard to believe that a guy
who, outside of being attached toOtani as his interpreter, has the ability
to be able to get a fourand a half million dollar gambling debt like
I Soon enough, you would thinkthat somebody would come to him and say,
hey, like when you reach fiftythousand dollars or something like that,

(01:39:18):
being like, hey, you sureyou're gonna be able to pay this because
we got our doubts, like,we don't know you unbelievable. All right,
what do we got? All right? So let's go over a minute
may Park, and we did theJV update a little bit earlier. You
guys talked about it. JV Tomorrow'mgonna throw a two inning simulated game.
Then he is heading out for arehab assignment. Now, somebody did follow

(01:39:41):
up with Joe Aspata and asked him, all right, well, can we
put a number on it? Youknow, is it one or is it
two? There he says, it'sa little bit of a moving target because
it's up to JV withold JV.He could be he could be we could
be one, it could be two. We'll see where he goes. But
he looked you know, he looksgood. He's in a really good uh
uh position right now to go outand put him two winning some long and

(01:40:03):
that goes well, you know,I we'll see how we could bid him
up to fifty to fifty five pitchesand then we'll see where we go from
there. So there you go.So it's one of those if he goes
down to sugar Land and pitches andsays, hey, I'm good to go,
then they'll say, okay, let'sgo. If he feels like he
needs a couple of more, okay, sure. So staying consistent with what

(01:40:25):
they've been saying all along. It'llbe up to JV when he returns.
Yeah, this is this is allvery predictable and frankly what they should be
doing. I mean, it's youknow, I guess the best thing that
I could point to with regards tothe Astros dealing with early pitching, let's
just call it question marks. AndI know, I know what I'm about

(01:40:48):
to do in comparison is probably borderlinecrazy considering that starting rotation versus this one.
Well, it's what I talked aboutwith Ross last week on the night.
As I said, I think theybelieve they have good guys at those
spots, but in certain spots theyjust don't know. Yeah, all indications
are that, and I unless I'mwrong, you'll remember this, Dan,

(01:41:13):
I'm pretty sure everybody was healthy tostart the twenty nineteen season from the rotation
standpoint, correct, I don't remember, Yeah, any of the well at
the time, the big two andthen later on you added right, and
the only thing that was really aproblem was the fact that Garrett Cole had
a slow start. His month ofApril was horrible and it just didn't go

(01:41:35):
well. I think they started thatseason in Tampa and it just didn't go
well. Yeah, they won onegame in Tampa and then I think maybe
got swept by the Rangers. Allof this to say, it didn't matter
how you started, how you finish. That's the cliche, but that's that's
how the Astros are probably approaching thisbecause there's just no point in rushing anything.

(01:42:00):
You need these guys and this guyin particular, in September or October.
Well, I mean, if that'swhat I've been saying, if they're
around five hundred at the end ofApril, it's like, Okay, this
is pretty much where we're supposed tobe. May I think it will be.
I think there'll be above five.Yeah. The offense is going to
take care of that part. Ithink. Well it's also too. I
mean, you've got some tough gameshere at the early going, but I
think they'll be able to pick itup as they get into the schedule as

(01:42:24):
well. Alex pregmant I know thathe talked about his contract the other day
and asked if he had received anoffer, and he was followed up with
again today asked if there is anupdate on the contract. Oh, we
haven't talked about it with we haven'ttalked about it, So, yeah,
he's just playing ball. Joint,you're you're open to some season, Scott,

(01:42:47):
Scott will handle all that. I'mjust gonna play ball and just kind
of want to keep all that private, all right, So Vana Brown has
told us numerous times there will bean offer. So I guess sometime this
season we will be getting that updateon what the offer is. And I
guess if there's no announcement of acontract extension, then I guess that would

(01:43:10):
mean that he's turned it down.Scott's gonna handle all that. Dan.
Wow, that's what I've been told. That's what we just were told.
By the way, there will bea Bregman on the program tomorrow. Ah,
spoiler alert. You're gonna want tokeep it right here on the A
team tomorrow afternoon. A member ofthe Bregman family. We'll be visiting us

(01:43:31):
here on the eighteen. I likeit. Thirty minutes to go, still
got a ton to get to Let'sjump back into the show. Hey,
nonsense. When we come back.Is Kyle Tucker catch every Astros game on
Sports Talk seven ninety Yle Tatter theDolo Glover and streaming on the Free iHeartRadio
app E team rolling along here onSports Talk seven to ninety final half hour

(01:43:57):
or so on a Monday, veryvery busy. This is interesting. So
I'm just waiting to get back onthe air during the break. And admittedly
I haven't been just completely scrolling NonStop. I'm doing a little bit of this,
a little bit of that. AndI see Adrian Warznerowski story. Now
in light of what we just heardor in this case didn't hear regarding Sho

(01:44:24):
Heeo Tani and the there's there's noclear concise version of this story. It's
a bunch of denials, it's abunch of changed versions of multiple versions of
stories, and it's basically a hesaid, he said with regards to the

(01:44:45):
biggest star in the game by far, an international star at that the best
all around player in the game,no question about that, on one of
the biggest teams and a part ofone of the bigges organizations, from a
money making from an attendance, froma visibility standpoint, from a market standpoint

(01:45:06):
in the game of Major League Baseball. So imagine my surprise as this pertains
to a gambling story. When Iread that Adrian Wojnarowski about seventeen minutes ago,
said Toronto Raptors Center. John tayPorter is out of the lineup and
a subject of an NBA investigation intoirregularities on prop betting involving him. Sources

(01:45:30):
tell David Purdham, Brian Windhors,and me, which is Adrian Wojnarowski.
Huh, Like this isn't gonna starthappening more and more and more. I
get it. I know why theydid it, but just like you know,
Nil, it's a Pandora's box andif you want to have the good,

(01:45:51):
you're going to get the bad withit. And these these leagues cannot
help themselves. I don't even blamethem. Dan, Like, you have
more money than you're already getting comingin presented to you, hand over fist.
How are you not going to sayyes? But how are you not
going to know that when you dosay yes, the players who make up

(01:46:15):
the league with which you're running aregoing to get involved, and it's going
to get harry. There's going tobe a slippery slope. I mean,
give me the list of cliches.They're going to apply all of them,
and it's going to get much worse. It's not going to get better.
Well, I would actually push backa little bit the other way that this
is the feature, not the bug, where having these massive books that you're

(01:46:40):
partners with, they are so heavilyregulated and they are so on the up
and up in terms of you know, hey, I want to place a
one hundred thousand dollars bet, Like, for example, the Alabama baseball coach
last year that got in the troublebecause he tipped off his buddy in Cincinnati,
and then his buddy started running hismouth about yeah, hey, you
know I got inside info that they'regonna get clobbered today. And of course,

(01:47:01):
you know, the people at thebook were like, oh, so
that's why you put so much moneyon it. It's like no, Like,
if you leave loose sins, they'regoing to find them, and that's
what it is. I would almostbe shocked if in this report it's not
DraftKings or somebody out there reaching outto the league and saying, hey,
this looks pretty suspicious, like youknow, one hundred thousand dollars here,

(01:47:24):
Like that's a guy that doesn't necessarilyget that type of action, And we
probably shouldn't have taken the action becauseit was so not on the up and
up. Yeah, it's but theup and up is just so to me.
And again I have to I feellike I always have to preface it
by saying I don't gamble. Ijust don't. It's just not my thing.
My wife does enjoys it. Goto Vegas. I I can have

(01:47:47):
a fantastic time going to Vegas withzero alcohol and zero gambling. I promise
it's something for everybody. Yeah,it's exactly. But like I've just taken
the extreme of of that place.But I mean, we're not talking about
Vegas. We're talking about, likeyou said, in the case of like
the NBA there it's in Arenas you'replacing some of these bets. And we

(01:48:10):
talked about JB. Bickerstaff talking aboutthat and getting death threats like this.
This is in the span of aweek, Dan, three different stories that
have to do with gambling on sports. Well, I mean, again,
to further my point, remember whatgot Calvin Ridley popped was here before he
was making stupid bets, right,he was doing like eighteen parlays, which
everybody knows that is the sucker ofall sucker bets to do. Yeah,

(01:48:33):
but Dan, and I'm I'm gonnathere's no way I'm not gonna sound like
a jerk by saying this, butI don't care. You're talking about large
amounts of athletes that just aren't thatbright. They're just not Are there some
absolutely, but there's a probably muchbigger number that just buy average. Are

(01:48:58):
not some of the smartest guys outthere. It's what and if you if
you have a problem with that,then I will go ahead and point you
in the direction of all of theones that have gone bankrupt because they make
dumb decisions with their money, theymake dumb decisions with their personal life,
and on and on and on.So this isn't just about gambling. This
is about anything. This is aboutgroupies. This is about making stupid purchases.

(01:49:21):
This is about you know, notbeing able to manage the fact that
you need your entourage or whatever wordthat we're allowed to say in twenty twenty
four that won't get us canceled.About your group of friends that probably shouldn't
still be hangers on because they're drainingyour bank account dry, and then you
wonder why you're bankrupt, Like thisis just the latest example of a slippery

(01:49:43):
slope, and it's not going toget better because this is it's gonna increase,
it's not going to decrease. Thetoothpastes out of the tude. Well
it's part of too. I mean, like what they have focused on so
much, at least in the NFL, the rookie symposium of don't invest in
that restaurant, that bar is notgoing to make you rich, like all
of those things, like they StrayToup tell these guys when they're coming into

(01:50:04):
the league symposiums, people are gonnacome up with all of these different things,
these get rich quick kind of schemesfor you that you know you're going
to be kicking yourself if you're notpart of it. They tell you,
say no, just say no.It is never fool proof. You will
likely lose money. And I thinkthat the next part of it is probably

(01:50:24):
yeah, gambling of look, youmight think you know everything about this league,
but again it's the old thing.And I said this on Saturday when
I was doing Space City Saturday.There's a reason why those buildings in Vegas
are so huge because they know eventuallythey're going to beat you no matter how
good you are at either playing thetable games, slots, going to the

(01:50:45):
book whatever chances are, if you'rea square, which most of us listening
are talking in these microphones are,you will lose to them. It's called
the house for a reason. It'scalled the house for a reason. It's
called playing with house money for areason. That's it's designed that that's it's
part of why I'm just like,I'm just not down. I get Look,

(01:51:08):
I admire my wife because she can. It's it's legit. It's the
definition of moderation, and she's goodat it. But she can go in
like, here's a little story.We're on our honeymoon. We're in an
exotic location where gambling on site isabsolutely allowed. It's not anywhere in the

(01:51:29):
United States. And we go intothis place. We are given basically,
you know, fun bucks if youwill, with our admit, you know,
with with the payment to where wewere staying, you're giving a certain
amount right you can use to takeinto the casino that's on site. She
goes in there, she plays Idon't know, three four, five hands

(01:51:53):
of blackjack. She proceeds to winthe amountain necessaria to basically pay for an
upgrade and on our room that wehad made. And she walks out like
a boss. That's this is whatshe does. Now. There's another time
where we went to a I.I just had to see the palace station,

(01:52:14):
you know where OJ got arrested onetime when we were in Vegas,
because I'm me and I'm a dorklike that. I mean, come on,
it's OJ right. Well, youcan see some places if you go
off the strip, for sure.Oh my gosh, this was the most
depressive. So the first thing isI get there and they're like, first
of all, the room that theincident happened in that got him arrested,
Yeah, that's long since demolished,doesn't even exist anymore. I'm like,
ah, that's unfortunate. So butI'm talking to like, you know,

(01:52:36):
these people at the hotel about thisbecause I'm a dork. That's what I
do. She's meanwhile in the casinothree polls she wins like six hundred bucks
and we walk out pay for anupgrade on our airfare. Like she never
the point of all that is moderation. They're not. She's not sitting there
pulling that arm over and over andover again, like into the night.

(01:53:01):
She's not losing her backside at thecraps table or the blackjack tables or anything
like that. Like it's it's justI again, this kind of stuff is
why when I saw it coming,and look, it was just a matter
of time. Be honest with you, I'm actually surprised it took as long
as it did for us to getto where we are with both nil and

(01:53:25):
gambling, you know, not justgambling on sports, but gambling like where
it's such a where the leagues we'retalking about every single day are so open
armed embracing it. And again itjust goes back to the original thing.
It's the money. You can't sayno to it. You can't, nobody
can. Well, I think theembracing of it as well is Look,
let's be honest here. We knowit's a part of the game. Like

(01:53:48):
we know that is part of thepopularity of our sport is the fact that
people have action on it. Anda large I guess catalyst of that was
fantasy football and that was one thatreally got people, and then the daily
fantasy leagues that even more and nowalso two with the even more proliferation of

(01:54:10):
gambling outside of Vegas, Louisiana,wherever else that in venue gambling is allowed.
I mean, it's it's only continuingto grow. It's not going away,
not at all, not at all. All Right, We're gonna come
right back to wrap up the show, make fun of the Dodgers and their
fans, and show Heyo Tani onemore time and call it a Monday.

(01:54:30):
Here on a Monday edition of theeight Team Sports Talk seven ninety, Adam
Clinton Adam Wetler on Sports Talk sevenninety goes up Stars, Rockets Basketball lives
here. Scandal happened, Win brokeWin. This was what Wednesday night.

(01:54:54):
I'm trying to remember what date itwas. It was right after the first
game, so I think you,yes, Wednesday night, So that's the
twentieth. On the eighteenth, hehad shared an article from Dylan her Nandez.

(01:55:14):
He's another one, yeah, aboutbaseball diplomacy. How shohe O Tani
bridges the Japan South Korea divide?You know? Puff piece? Oh,
for God's sake. One day later, another shared Dylan Hernandez article these Dodgers
could be historic or another October disasterin the making. Well, at least

(01:55:38):
he's awake, say, at leastthey're being honest with themselves. I scroll,
I scroll, I scroll, Iscroll, I scroll and then he
wrote, he wrote an article yesterday, greatest team or biggest flop the twenty
twenty four Dodgers will decide. Sothat's after everything has happened. Makes no

(01:56:01):
mention in the headline, at leastwhatsoever of the you know, the the
scandal, or at least just theappearances of that, and nothing since this
guy railed on the astros for multipledays and weeks, multiple tweets, all
that kind of stuff. And lookat it. I'm not saying that Shoeo

(01:56:23):
Tani did something wrong, for sure, it just doesn't look like he didn't.
Well, it's it's not only that, it's also too where when you're
not very good at creating content,which here i'll just say it, he's
not very good at creating crocess andhe has to do the lowest hanging fruits,
and people in this industry who arenot good at creating content, well,
then that's what it is. Oh, let me say this. This

(01:56:44):
will really rile people up. Allright, fine, great, there's only
so many times you can beat thatdead horse. And I mean it goes
back to where I was before comingback here to Houston, Atlanta. He
tried to do it to us withthe tomahawk chop, and then he tried
to call the air that surrounded theballpark a sterile shopping mall, which jokes
on him. Then shirts were createdand players started wearing them in the clubhouse.

(01:57:08):
He did talk about the scandal,but he's he's using it. It
almost looks like he did this tokind of like he already had his original
concept in mind. Of course,feast are famine Dodgers right there, it
is twenty twenty four Dodgers. Buthe's just he just kind of like baked
this into it, or he justkind of like lumped it in, like

(01:57:30):
as in, if it doesn't happen, this will be a huge reason for
it. This is like it's hardnot to look at it that way.
Okay, all right, so Iwas looking at the right way. I
just want to make sure. Well, he might not have thought that it
was coming off that way, buthe's stupid if he didn't. Like,
they've now got it built an excusefor when they flame out again. Well,
which is hilarious to know. Iwould say that probably the built an

(01:57:50):
excuse will be that Dave Roberts messesup using the bullpen again. Well,
he says, if they only atleast advanced to the World Series, here's
guessing Dave Robert is going to befired. Why why would he? They've
made the postseason eleven consecutive years,They've gone to the World Series three times,
they've won once and it didn't count. But it's been three years since

(01:58:15):
they've won a playoff series. That'sthe kind of stuff that gets a guy
whacked. But it just I justfeel like and he says, the bumpiness
starts with Otani, arguably the greatestplayer in baseball history and the first two
way threats since Babe Ruth pitched andplayed outfield more than a century ago.
And I this the whole massive theftthing, I just can't buy it.

(01:58:41):
I can't buy it. Well,I mean, it's just and it's also
too I mean, Tisha Thompson dida really good job of going through like
the timeline of just like how thestory started, where they were, and
like she put like times and datesto it, and where they were going
to make him available, and thenall of a sudden it was, oh
no, it's massive theft. Andthat's the thing. What the way the

(01:59:02):
way that the story has changed,the fact that he didn't answer questions today.
If you didn't do anything wrong,then what are you worried about?
There you go, that's something tome that a league, from a legal
standpoint, you would be told todo. Don't talk because, like you
know, Deshaun Watson didn't say anything. His lawyer was out in front saying

(01:59:24):
it. Well. I mean,for a lesser example and less extreme in
this case is remember the Cushing pressconference when he got popped four before training
drugs right exactly. But remember whothe pr people for the Texans were at
the time, Kevin Cooper, ZachEmmons. They straight up told us in
that room, guys, this isthe one time you're going to get to

(01:59:45):
ask these questions. After this.It's all football. We're not going to
address it past this, which Iappreciate them laying out the ground rules for
it and saying this is how we'regoing to do it. And you're exactly
right, I mean, because Ithink Cush felt like he didn't do anything
wrong, so that's why he wantedto address the media at that time,
and I appreciate that they did,because you're exactly right. When you give

(02:00:06):
people in our industry a reason tostart looking around corners that they wouldn't start
looking at and start trying to digeven further. I got news for you,
They're gonna do it. So thefurther out in front you can get
and answer the questions, take thehits, and do all these different types
of things. And even if youhave to answer, hey, look,
this is an active investigation. I'vebeen advised by people who are advising me

(02:00:29):
right now to not answer that.I apologize, so good. We'll have
plenty more on this tomorrow, obviously, as we continue here to get ready
for a Major League Baseball season ofall things. Astro's gotta be loving this
right now. Nobody paying attention,just kind of grinding away as they get
ready to start what they hope willbe yet another deep run. All right,

(02:00:50):
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got Rockets launch pad right around thecorner. Ross Vireal coming up live from

(02:02:21):
inside Toyota Center, and then he'llmake way for Adam Wexler and Matt Thomas
on the call tonight. Is theRockets look to get nine wins in a
row heading into that big showdown withOklahoma City in a couple of nights.
We will discuss what happens there atToyota Center, will fall out from Otani,
some astros, updates after their firstof two exhibitions against the Cowboys tonight,

(02:02:46):
and everything else that we need toget to when we come back tomorrow
at three o'clock four wex for DanI may see it as the A Team
here on Sports Talk seven ninety.We'll talk to you again tomorrow at three o'clock