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Suspensions and Bad Calls
39 Plays1 year ago
The latest episode of Born on the Bayou Sports begins with a discussion about Aziz Al-Shaair's three-game suspension following his hit on Trevor Lawrence in the Texans' game against the Jaguars. Scott and Tim then dive into the Texans' win over the Jaguars, focusing on the defense's historic performance and the offense's ongoing struggles, with Scott providing concerning stats on CJ Stroud.
The conversation transitions to the Houston Rockets, who have been playing well despite a controversial loss to the Kings in Sacramento due to questionable officiating. The hosts also speculate about the Rockets' potential to acquire big-name stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, or Jimmy Butler.
The episode wraps up with the "Horses Ass of the Week," "Tips of the Cap," and "Scumbag of the Week" awards. Tim makes podcast history by awarding the same individual both the Scumbag and Horses Ass titles for different reasons.
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Be sure to follow the Born on the Bayou Sports Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089663917792
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts' Background
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to Born on the Bayou Sports, a Houston sports show made for Houstonians by Houstonians. Join Tim Costello and Scott Barzilla every week as they break down the latest in Houston Astros, Rockets and Texans news. Tim's a former minor league broadcaster and Scott has written two books on the Baseball Hall of Fame.
00:00:32
Speaker
Yeah, if
Baseball and Broadcasting Insights
00:00:33
Speaker
probably Eric could get it figured out, it would make things a lot easier, because he was that guy everybody was counting on this year to be a Cy Young candidate, take that big step forward and and help anchor this rotation with Progmer. Since he's come to Houston, you can look at the development of guys like Carlos Correa defensively, Jeremy Peรฑa defensively, you know, Alex Bregman, you know, certainly I think I'm better than average third baseman.
00:00:56
Speaker
And now you're putting teams in 3rd and 8th, 3rd and 7th, 3rd and 9th. Now here comes Will Anderson. Pin back your ears, let's go. So if you're by you, born and bred, or just like spending time in the age, sit down, relax, and stay Houston strong.
00:01:23
Speaker
and welcome back all my friends to the show that took about a week off before we came back again. Welcome back into born on the bayou sports. Tim Costello Scott Barzilla coming to you hot on a cold chilly Wednesday night here at least up in the Metroplex. What about you down there in Houston Scott? It's in the low 70s right now. I hate you. I was going to ask a question. and we'll We'll be discussing this in more detail later, but since you've spent a lot more time on air than I have. After hearing the Texas GM curse during a press conference, what's the closest that you've ever come to dropping a ah curse word on air? um I don't know if I ever have come that close on air. um Maybe a baseball game, just like a bad call or something like that. but
00:02:22
Speaker
um Not really ever something that happened to me, Scott. So yeah you never had the urge to, that's just a bunch of bullshit. Not really. Cause like, here's the thing that like people don't think about when I talk about my time as a, as a broadcaster. When I was the number one guy, like I had my team. We set a record for the worst winning percentage in the history of professional baseball. We went 25 and 75 the next year.
00:02:54
Speaker
they went 27 and 73 and they threw a fucking party when they won game 26 with like eight left to go in the year and then it all kind of you know fell apart from there but no like there was just like I was never in a playoff race I was never as the main broadcaster when I was with Ira as the number two guy in Sugarland um Mate, you know, I don't, I got in trouble for saying something about Vince Scully, where I said, he just, you know, he uses the media guide and like someone got all pissed off. How dare I talk about Vince Scully and say that he's random facts. he He has come from the media guide, not just the back of his head. Just like, okay, sure. Well, I guess, cause you know, I don't know if you've had a chance to look at like, say ah Al Michaels book, for instance.
00:03:42
Speaker
And, um, I don't know if you knew this, but he was a baseball play by play guy before he got into football. I did not know that he was actually with the reds before the big red machine. And then decided to move to the giants and the giants just were not good. And so he, he actually said, you know, talked about some moments where he got a little off color talking about how the giants were just not good on air. I mean, I truly think.
00:04:10
Speaker
um If you can do an entertaining broadcast in the certain circumstances I have it makes you a better broadcaster, right? Like I I truly think it made me better what I have loved to call like some like Pennant chase type baseball. Yeah, absolutely But you know what like I got thrown into the fire I had to figure things out like the guy who had the job before me had just a single webcam and Uh, up from the booth and that was his broadcast. And I was determined to have, you know, a three camera system, you know, one from behind the pitcher or at least behind the home plate and one from first and third base to get like the side angles. And we built out of broadcasts and all that kind of stuff. And so, um, you know, it was a fun experience. I loved it. Actually funny enough, someone reached out to me yesterday about an opening in our league and Lincoln. And, uh, it was just like, at this point in my life, like there's absolutely no way.
00:05:06
Speaker
Um, I'm even considering like a Meyer league broadcasting role again, like give me 10 years and like, if I'm rolling in my current job and I'm still remote, you know, my kids are old enough to know what it means to go on a road trip with dad, like, yeah, maybe we'll talk about it. But like, you got a one and a half year old at home and you're just like, we're moving with the family to Lincoln. No, I don't think so. No, no, that's true.
NFL Policies and Player Safety
00:05:30
Speaker
And, and I guess, you know, to round this back to, um,
00:05:34
Speaker
the immediate news for your Houston Texans, I'm sure you've seen today that the suspension for as a Shire was upheld three games. So do you have any immediate thoughts on the, yeah, you know, I feel like the NFL put themselves in a really, really bad situation because there's no standard, right? Like there's no,
00:06:02
Speaker
If you do this and get ejected, it's this many games. Everything is is subjective. and the The internet went crazy after this hit. so If you listen to any of like the former NFL players, or they all felt like a one-game suspension was coming. Matt Ryan thought one game. Brady thought he'd probably get a game.
00:06:25
Speaker
But, you know, with the way you're viewing audience reacted to that hit, I don't think you could have given them one game. You know, I think, but also the hypocrisy of the NFL is the guy that writes that letter about not respecting the league. Runyon has tape out there of him taking cheap shots left and right. Then the person who hears the suspension, um, challenge or the, you know, um,
00:06:56
Speaker
see what I'm looking for still the appeal appeal. Thank you. It was on the Titans last year. Oh So tell me You know, I Don't know. I mean, I'm pretty sure Ray Rice got three games initially for for beating the shit out of his wife so like what the NFL needs to have if you do this and get ejected it is a one game suspension if you do this and It is a three game suspension. If you get arrested, it is a wah wah wah, right? There's no uniformity. It's whatever Roger Goodell and his fucking cronies feel like that day and just deal with it. Yeah, the problem I have with it is kind of twofold. Number one, they did mention prior bad acts. But see, here's the funny thing. He was never suspended for those prior bad acts.
00:07:52
Speaker
He got fined two weeks ago for hitting Pollard out of bounds. Yeah, he got fined two weeks ago. He got it. he He should have been thrown out of the Bears game. Probably. ah through a punch like But see, the thing is, is that what are you going to sit there and say, well, we should have spent your game. So we're just going to tack on a game here. I think the bigger problem though, with this kind of play and and and in all fairness, I was driving back from Louisiana.
00:08:21
Speaker
uh, during this time. And so I did not see the play live, but is a huge problem with the slide rule. And I, you know, if the problem is, is that if you've got a linebacker, you know, maybe 20 miles an hour, how do you expect him to suddenly stop on a dime and not hit a guy?
00:08:45
Speaker
And not only that, Scott, um you know you as normal, you and I are texting during the game, right? um And um like i I was texting you during the whole thing, right? Because it went off. But like let's be honest, the angle from the game is typically like the camera angles on the line of scrimmage, right? like you don't have a baha you You don't have the behind the defense view on a regular shot.
00:09:14
Speaker
um And I'm watching that game on red zone because for whatever reason, they decided the Dallas market is the one portion of Texas who shouldn't see that game. And we were subjected to Kyler Murray, you know, I guess, because he went to Allen high school. That's who we get. Whatever. Um, so watch red zone. I see it go off. It looked bad. I mean, it looked like I was just like, Ooh, that's a really, really late hit. But then they, I saw an angle.
00:09:42
Speaker
And again, it's a bad hit. However, I saw the angle from, we'll call it like Shire's point of view, right? The behind the defense look. That's a late slide. And it almost looks like he stutters, stutters, stutters, stutters, then slid, right? So like, what is he supposed to do? Because we live in a world where quarterbacks have faked going out of bounds and then picked up an extra however many yards. Josh Allen has fake slid multiple times. Kenny Pickett fake slid multiple times.
00:10:11
Speaker
Like you play the grid as Tom Brady said it's an aggressive game guys are flying downfield and you want to talk about quarterback safety You want to talk about protecting the quarterbacks and then you're running design run plays with the quarterback That was a fucking naked boot. That was a naked boot quarterback keeper He's a running back at that point like I'm sorry, I get it, like it was helmet to helmet, it was a bad hit, but it's it's the nature of the game that you're playing and the nature of the play that you just called. You exposed your quarterback as an offensive coordinator, and then you want to throw your hands up, right? Like, what was our biggest frustration with Bill O'Brien? Is that he exposed Watson to a shit ton of hits, right? Like he got that guy fucking punctured lung.
00:10:58
Speaker
because he just got him obliterated. We knew what he was treating him like a running back, not like a quarterback. You can't do that in today's NFL.
Texans' Performance Analysis
00:11:08
Speaker
Well, and i what's funny is that Sean Pendergast was making the same point in the morning. It was yesterday morning and his partner, as Seth Payne, used to play for the Texans and he said, you know what? There was only one late hit I had in my career where I couldn't literally stop.
00:11:27
Speaker
He said, there's a moment where you're just like, you know what? Screw it. I'm not doing it. And so, but you know, you don't, it's hard to sit there and say that, okay, could have Shire have pulled back, maybe changed his angle some maybe, but can we sit there and say that he was headhunting? I don't know that we can really go that far. Here's what I think.
00:11:57
Speaker
uneducated, whatever. I think it was a, you want to pull that little stutter step late slide. I'll take the 15 yard penalty, but you're going to pay for it. Right? Like, I think it was more of a, I'm going to send a message with this hit. Don't do that fucking late slide bullshit. You're going to pay for it. I think it went worse than you expected. Right? Like, I don't think he intended to, you know, let me give you like this analogy, right? Like.
00:12:24
Speaker
You're the older uncle or like the, you know, fun guy on the block when there's young kids and you're out there playing with a ball or whatever. and And you don't want to like hit 500 foot bombs off five year olds, right? Like you're out there taking light swings, just having a good time. Sometimes you just connect.
00:12:42
Speaker
Sometimes you just hit a fucking rope off your neighbor's front windshield with a wiffle ball because it's just great, great contact. And I think that's exactly what happened is he just been, you know, he was out there to send a little message. Hey, don't wait slide. And he just fucking connected. Yeah, that's true. Uh, so he he will be, you'll be without his services for the next three games, which, you know, once their bi-week is done, that's three games in 11 days. That's insane. However,
00:13:13
Speaker
Timing Christian Harris is back ready to go, right? So you lose one middle linebacker you plug another one right back in well Christian I'm dealing with Christian Harris the same way. I'm dealing with Astros pitchers like say LMJ He doesn't exist until he's on the field ah You know Yeah, I don't know of this Christian Harris of who you speak. I've i've never heard of him Well, the initial word was he would be ready to go after the bye. So yeah, that is the correct thing then Maybe David Petrie comes back too. he They did not put him on IR. So, you know, theoretically he could get back as well. Well, let's keep talking Texans, Scott, because although the the Texans won that game, um, I didn't leave feeling great again. Like the vibes, the Texans vibes right now, I feel like don't match the record. Don't match the fact that they have what a three game lead in the division right now.
00:14:08
Speaker
Um, like they literally, if they win and the Colts lose next week, we win the division. Yeah. But are you feeling like good right now? No. And I think the, the bigger issue is like the signals that come out of there is just, uh, there's a disconnect. Like after we didn't have a show last week, I don't know if you heard D'Amico Ryan's comments.
00:14:37
Speaker
following the Titans game, where he's like, well, this is on the defense. The offense scored enough points to win the game. It's like, your offense scored three points in the second half. Your defense scored seven because you had to pick six. You're down 20 to 17. I mean, I'm sorry, you know, when you're only scored three points at that point, you can't tell me that that's, oh, that this is on the defense.
00:15:06
Speaker
against Will fucking Levist. That's maybe why he feels like this was all defense. Cause I let male boy beat me. Well, it and he got sacked eight times. So the defense did some things and the defense has some stops in the second half. I mean, they limited them to 10 points in the second half on one busted, you know, play to a tight end, yeah which was about the most ridiculous defensive effort I've ever seen. But outside of that play, they e played good defense in the second half.
00:15:35
Speaker
And I feel like we're seeing this again. And Nick Casario and the same press conference got asked whether or not, you know, are they going to try to share, you know, play calling duties? And he says, no, Bobby Sloak is a great, you know, offensive coordinator. And you're like, really? But what else are you going to say? Yeah, I mean, but and who else? And and let's be realistic, Scott. This is not.
00:16:00
Speaker
an offensive coach so like what we're gonna ask the me go to like who's gonna well yeah are we asking ah a guy who's never called plays who's a quarterback coach right now to step in and call plays like where's the answer you there you turn the offensive keys over to bobby slowick when you hired The combination of D'Amico Ryans with Bobby Slope as your offensive mind because you D'Amico's got the deep like this is a fucking unbelievable defense Do they have momentary lapses? Sure, but they're also beat up at a lot of different positions However, this defense has played at a historically rate. It's it's harassed quarterbacks at a historic rate and where we've got the number one sack duo in the NFL and
00:16:44
Speaker
D'Amico's done his part. He's turned this team around. Right now, I'm looking solely at the offense and I'm saying someone one in this room has to go, right? Like at the end of the year, unless this team comes out of the bi-week gangbusters, it goes on a run that wins the Super Bowl, it's going to be the offense that would have held them back. So I'm going to have the offensive coordinator in a room. I'm going to have the quarterback coach in the room.
00:17:11
Speaker
I'm gonna have the offensive line coach in the room. And realistically, it's probably like a two bullets, three guys situation. Offensive line coach, you're fucking gone. And now we're deciding between Sloak and the quarterback coach. Who's the one who um is responsible for the regression of my quarterback? Is it the guy calling plays or is the guy working with CJ? Whichever one, we gotta figure out what's going on and you're probably gonna go too. Well, the what I wanna hear is I don't wanna hear shared play calling. no maybe that's That's a ridiculous suggestion. What I want to hear though is an acknowledgement that things are not as good as maybe we hoped. And that we're going to spend the bye week looking at things and maybe you know seeing what changes we can make. You don't have to be specific. But I've got an article running tomorrow and in a Battle Red Blog where CJ Stroud in six different
00:18:10
Speaker
categories. All rate statistics, so per game stats, is ranked anywhere between 15th and 25th, amongst 32 quarterbacks.
00:18:24
Speaker
PFF has them as 17th ranked quarterback in the NFL. So, you know, number one, I mean, do we think that's accurate? And number two, who's ultimately responsible for that? Number one, I think he has played about this middle of the road quarterback this year, right? I think he's turned the ball over more than he did last year. He's held on the ball longer. I think he's looked for the big play a little bit too often and has taken some sacks because of it. And I think the offensive line is absolutely fucking awful. So when I say who's responsible for it, number one, offensive line coach is is at the top of my list, right? Like that has to be, has to be mentioned, but also subset Nick Casario.
00:19:11
Speaker
is also responsible for this, for looking at the positions that we have, for looking at the Green Brothers at left guard and saying, yeah, OK, yeah, we're good there. like that's That's definitely something that needs to be discussed. We went into a season with Kenyon and Kendrick Green at left guard. Do you want to know, you know what's hilarious? is that Do you know how PFF grades work? I know a lot of players don't like them, but not necessarily how they put it together.
00:19:41
Speaker
Well, it's it's similar to a scouting grade like if you've ever looked at like a like a baseball scouting grade Most of your grades are between 20 and 90 you know with you know 20 being you're an absolute bum and 90 being like you're the best player at the position You know what kindred greens pass protection rating was Was it like two or three it's like maybe six yeah It was low. I didn't even know it went that low. It boggles my mind. And after seeing that, I was like, OK, maybe that's why they kept Kindred Green in there for so long. And it just boggles my mind that that was your plan in going into the season. Yeah, that's why number one, I think number one has to be the offensive line coach slash Casario, right?
00:20:40
Speaker
If they thought they could coach this guy up, that's on the coach for not going and being honest with the GM and saying, this guy won't make it, right? Like you've got to have an honest conversation between your coaching staff and your front office in that scenario before the season. And when we say, Hey, coaches, do we think we can get this guy who I drafted three years ago to a level that's acceptable to protect our franchise quarterback? And you say, yeah, yeah, I can get them there. You're a fucking liar.
00:21:10
Speaker
You're a liar. You're absolutely a liar. There's no question about it. Number two, Bobby Sloak, if you know your offensive line is a problem, do things to help your quarterback, some quick throws, some screenplays, some, you know, things early in, in downs to not make it a third and eight, third and nine, where they're going to bring the heat. Everybody knows you're passing it and CJ is getting buried.
00:21:39
Speaker
I don't know, you know, I'm just a guy who, you know, calls football games, who plays a lot of Madden. I'm not an expert, but I have to think like, even I know you got to get the ball out of your hand quickly. You got to do things to help your quarterback. And when you're, and you're running seven step drops and you don't have the offensive line to do it, that's a problem.
00:22:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's two things that kind of hit me. Number one, I mean, you think about if you go back to when CJ Stroud was being drafted, what was the knock on him?
00:22:17
Speaker
um I really, you know, ah number one was like Ohio State quarterback never make it in the NFL. That was the number first one. But I guess a little sack pro and held on the ball too long kind of thing. Hold on the ball too long. Not particularly mobile. I mean, except for that Georgia game.
00:22:34
Speaker
But, you know, he, you know, and obviously Ohio State mauled their competition. And so you're, and he had the best receiving Corps, probably in the last 20 years in college football. Right. So the whole big thing was, is like, okay, how much is he going to be able to create on his own? And now with this offensive line, you're asking him to make quick decisions.
00:23:01
Speaker
and have the kind of escapability that'll Mark Jackson has, or a Jayden Daniels, or a Kyler Murray, he's not that guy. And you're going to have to eventually get come to grips with the fact that he's not that guy. And you're going to have to design an offense around what guy he is. But here's the second one. Here's the name that we haven't mentioned yet. And they mentioned this on the air. Tankdale had one catch for 23 yards.
00:23:29
Speaker
The Jaguars came in with the 32nd ranked pass defense in the NFL. How many teams are in there in the NFL, Tim? That'd be 32, Scott. So I don't understand. You're treating Tank Dell as if he's John Metchie, Robert Woods, Xavier Hutchinson. He's just another guy. You run plays for Nico Collins, and Nico Collins has gone off this year whenever he's played.
00:23:58
Speaker
but you're really not running anything for tank Dell. You're just trying to point that out. The one game where like tank Dell was the only legitimate wide receiver, the Jess game, he had 120 something yards and eight or nine catches because you had no choice but to run for him. Yeah. And so my my question is, why aren't we seeing play is designed for him? That's where I don't get it. I don't know. well I mean, even,
00:24:25
Speaker
Last year there were wide receiver screens whatever they could do to get the ball in his hands in space, right and They're just not doing that this year. I don't understand it as a tank tell fantasy owner on both of my teams. It's unbelievably frustrating um But yeah, they just don't find a way to get him involved I and and I don't think it's a CJ tank chemistry thing right like those dudes love each other so well it's nice a route this is like the routes that we're having tank to run and aren't routes that like benefit tank del skill set. And you can, I'm certainly, you can isolate plays where, you know, he's had some key drops. Um, then you've had some other players where they did scheme them open and CJ just couldn't get it to them, particularly that, you know, Detroit interception with him standing all alone on the end zone. There were a couple of plays in this last game where he got behind the defense and they just couldn't connect. Those things happen.
00:25:24
Speaker
And then there's some plays where I'm sure that he ran the wrong route or maybe didn't run the route as you know well as it was designed. But you have a weapon there. And without Stephon Diggs, if Tank Del is going to be this version of Tank Del, you're basically newco Nico Collins or Bust. Essentially. Yeah. Like that's where we're at. Metis stepped up a little bit.
00:25:51
Speaker
I think he's played well here in the last few weeks, but Xavier Hutchinson is not a good wide receiver. um I think you're you're really regretting the Noah Brown decision a little bit right now, essentially. if If you're looking back on it, like you kept Hutchinson over Noah Brown, I understand there was some money at play there, but also you had to eat some money to do it. So like, I think we definitely regret that decision. However, you know, CJ's just like,
00:26:17
Speaker
there are like You look back through Brady's career, there's a season when Jabbar Gaffney was his best wide receiver and he took that team to the playoffs, right? like Sometimes you just have to find a way as a quarterback to elevate the talent around you. And again, there's there's there's problems on that offensive line because I think you're right. CJ's a guy who would obviously prefer to be a bit more of a pocket passer and not have to be constantly running for his life, looking up and making a quick decision.
00:26:46
Speaker
Maybe maybe we we stop Calling plays that way. I don't know I don't know what the the option is because you can't have him sit back and just take a beating the offensive line has been better with ah Patterson move into left guard, but still it's not I mean, it's not all it's not a ah great offensive line No, and and I think you know You you made the best point, you know earlier is that you you're not gonna team a You're not going to team up two play callers at this point. I mean, you're basically riding this dead horse through the end of the season. And you're hoping for the best. But I do agree with you. You're going to have to have a conversation. And here's another conversation that could be had. Case Keenum, are you done playing? Maybe you'd like to join the coaching staff. Maybe, you know, Gerard Johnson becomes the OC.
00:27:46
Speaker
You know, maybe Case Keenum becomes the quarterback's coach or maybe he leap frogs and he becomes the OC. I don't know, but you know, I'm almost ready to write a letter of recommendation for Bobby Sloak to, you know, Chicago or, or, um, I'm sure that the Giants are going to fire a day ball. So, you know, it's in New York or, you know, one of those openings. I mean, that's, that's also part of the the equation though, is how many openings do we think there's going to be?
00:28:16
Speaker
And if there's five or six again, what are the, what is the likelihood that, you know, a team will take this decision off our hands? If we could convince Jerry Jones that Bobby Sloak is the guy to fix Dak Prescott. I would love it. I don't think it's going to happen though. I don't see Sloak, but I.
00:28:38
Speaker
Who would want him after this year? Like you saw what he did for CJ last year, and then you watched this guy regress on a national stage. And, and then you want to interview the guy responsible for that. Like, I'm sure he can go in and be like, here's the play I called and here's where the offensive line was like a fucking turnstill. Let him right through the, let him right through. I'm sure he could, he could talk his way out of it, but I don't know. Like, is that a guy having seen the.
00:29:05
Speaker
the second half struggles that Texans have offensively, are you ready to turn the keys to your building over to that guy? No, I wouldn't. But you know, like you said, could he do some fast talking and say like, man, I didn't, the Green Brothers. If anybody, if anybody could be talked into it drunk, maybe Jerry, you get, you guys go have a couple of Johnny Walker's first. Next thing you know, I've always have a new coach.
00:29:30
Speaker
No, I don't think he's hiring Bobby. So if he's going to, he's going to try and, you know, talk to some, you know, X coach who's, you know, way over the hill. Can I interest you in some run Rivera? but Maybe.
00:29:46
Speaker
Oh, I was thinking of prime. Well, I'm just thinking like somebody who nobody else would ever hire, but has done it before.
00:29:57
Speaker
So you could sit there and you can roll it up. He's done it three times in a row. He hired, he hired Wade Phillips. Then he hired Jason Garrett. Then he hired. Well, Jason Garrett wasn't a head coach before. So Wade Phillips was. It's still that I don't know but somebody that I don't think anybody else would have hired. No, it's true. I don't think like there is like a line of people beating down the door to get Jason Garrett as their head coach. And I think you everybody was just like, okay, yeah, sure.
00:30:27
Speaker
or even Mike McCarthy, you know, I don't think anybody was really, you know, I think that's the only interview he got. Like, I think he was one of one that year. I don't think he interviewed around. I think he like, yeah, I watched Cowboys tape for 37 hours a day. I think he was, I think he went in there. He went in there like, um,
00:30:47
Speaker
Chris Farley from ah Matt Foley, motivational speaker. like they They have him in the in the lobby. They're like, he's been <unk> out there watching tape drinking coffee for about eight hours now. i So I think he's ready to go. He walks in. My name is Matt Foley. I mean it and mean, Mike McCarthy. And I am a Dallas Cowboys head coach.
00:31:14
Speaker
Right now, I've been living in a van down by the Trinity River, but I am ready to move to Arlington. I'm thrice divorced.
00:31:27
Speaker
I won one ring with Aaron Rodgers. Oh, gosh. Oh, man. Could you imagine the interview is like David Spade's part is played by Jerry Jones, which is just like antagonizing.
00:31:43
Speaker
Although he has to be like an intern who's like the voice of reason, you know, Jerry, are you sure this is what you want to do? Guys, he's, he's already mobile. Like he's, he's in the van. He can be here 10 minutes. Did you hear this? Think of the savings and you heard him. Aaron Rogers and thrice divorce. He convinced three women to love him. Jerry.
00:32:09
Speaker
good This guy's a salesman. Oh man. Okay. All right. Oh, okay. Where were we?
Houston Rockets' Strategic Moves
00:32:20
Speaker
Let's move on to the Houston Rockets, Scott. Because last night they got absolutely fucking screwed by the referees in Sacramento to the point where Yime Udoka is going to earn himself a fad fine.
00:32:32
Speaker
for the post-game comments where he said the referee should be ashamed of himself. Jalen Greene is having his eyes checked today after his vision has not returned to normal, after a Crowder foul where he literally poked him in the eye and the refs called it a common foul, when if you look at like the still, he's got like the dad claw all the way dug into his fucking eyeballs. The referees were absolutely awful last night.
00:33:01
Speaker
Yeah, unfortunately I didn't get to watch the end of that game, but yeah, that's. ah As Rob, however, you know this is a team that up until that point number two in the West. I mean, yeah, that huge huge game for Fred line bleed. What do you need? Drop down what was like a 40 footer? Yeah, that's like the one before. I guess OKC and yeah, unbelievable. and And you know, of course they get into the.
00:33:31
Speaker
the field of eight here for the, uh, whatever we want to call this my trusty, that's a in season tournament, uh, get a home game against the Golden State Warriors. You know, maybe they can get into the final four. Um, what a ridiculous you show that is. But I think, you know, the big thing is the league executives seem to be in unison thinking that the Rockets are going to be the team to watch.
00:34:01
Speaker
for picking up a star. You made Butler talk too. Well, there's there's Butler, there's obviously Giannis, there's Kevin Durant. um I don't know that I want any part of Kevin Durant at 36. I don't want him or Giannis.
00:34:18
Speaker
um The thing is, is that what we've seen, and we've seen this with a former Rocket, unfortunately. um
00:34:30
Speaker
James Harden was supposed to be the guy that do it in in New Jersey or excuse me, Brooklyn. That didn't happen. Was supposed to be the guy that did it in Philly. That didn't happen. Supposed to be the guy that did it in, you know, in l LA and that didn't happen. and And I don't know that that's necessarily James's fault, but I think that proves that if you've got one of these moves in you, you got to get this right because your whole Your whole trajectory can go down the tubes if you get the wrong guy. Oh, you're I mean, you could have said it better, right? If you look at the moves that you mentioned, right? Like the the nets went all in on the combination of Kivri on Kevin and on James Harden, and they whiffed. Then the Suns went all in on Kevin Durant and Devin Booker and Chris Paul, and they
00:35:27
Speaker
you know, how to run, but they didn't quite, you know, get it done. The Sixers went all in on James Harden and Okafor and Maxi, and they couldn't get it done. You know, the Clippers went all in on the idea of Kwai and Paul George and James Harden, and they couldn't get it done. So yeah, like I think the idea of going to get one of these guys is intriguing, right? From the thought process of we're bringing a superstar to town. I would put the caveat of however, bur You're right. If you fuck this up, you set your franchise's trajectory back and you're never, it takes years to recover. Cause I think the one James Harden move that was a good move like or the T would take it 10 out of 10 times is the one getting him to Houston, right? I think the, what you gave up to go get James Harden from the OKC Thunder was nothing, right? Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, um,
00:36:27
Speaker
i the rights to Royce Right wing shithead now, but he's the one who's afraid to Fly afraid to fly he co-hosts on Alex Jones show every now and then oddly enough Royce white was who I'm thinking of um but yeah, like you gave up next to nothing for this guy and He changed the trajectory of your franchise. Did it ever? completely work out for you know, but before James Harden we were looking at a season of a of Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons going like, okay, like maybe ma some me and a mirror, a mirror seek was the other big free agent side that we had, right? So you go to James Harden, all of a sudden you guys are are legitimate playoff contenders and you have a chance and all this other stuff.
00:37:14
Speaker
So right now this is a different scenario though. You are a playoff contender as is with a young core. You want to go get a guy that takes this young core to the next level but you don't want to break up this young core to bring in a guy who maybe like Jimmy Butler has antagonized everybody everywhere he's been is supposed to be the guy in Minnesota was supposed to be the guy in Philly was supposed to be The guy in Miami when he was brought there and wasn't in any of those places Or at least he I mean he didn't get it done, right? He was the leader but those yeah euro titles while he's there Well, I think we have to we have to do two things. Number one. We have to say that title or bus cannot be The bar for you because obviously there's only one title to be had every year So i'll give you two moves
00:38:07
Speaker
One move that I think looking back probably worked out, but didn't bring a ring and one move that obviously set your team back. I think getting Chris Paul was ultimately a good move. I think he got you within one game of the NBA finals. And if he hadn't gotten hurt, you probably go to the NBA finals and you probably win it. That's just, you know, shit happening and in those but he propelled your team forward to a position where you weren't before. And then obviously the subsequent move going to Russell Westbrook was probably, you know, the bad move that, you know, got you, you know, since you had to remake your whole team because Russell Westbrook couldn't fucking shoot. Yeah. And so I think what you're looking at and and the only thing that I would say, the only thing that would intrigue me about Kevin Durant,
00:39:03
Speaker
is you're talking about a 39% career three-point shooter and shooting at about that clip this year. But at 36 years old, damn, is he even going to be healthy this year? And if he's healthy, just how many more years is he going to give you? Right. Now, if you could tell me he's going to be LeBron and play till he's like 41, I'd be like, OK, all right.
00:39:32
Speaker
but You can't tell me that. ya The only thing with Giannis is, yeah, Giannis doesn't solve your shooting problem. I think he adds rebounding, he adds some interior defense, but he doesn't add the shooting. So to me, you're looking for a superstar who can be that outside shooting threat. And I don't know who that is right now. I don't know if that guy has has necessarily surfaced yet. Like I think It's a positive sign that the Rockets are being mentioned in a lot of these rumors, but I don't necessarily want any of the guys that we've been attached to yet. Right. I think getting trigger happy or having to make a move just to make a move. That's the Daryl Moray style, right? Like I can't remember what the stat was, but it was like eight or nine trade trade deadlines in a row. Daryl Moray made a trade, right? Even if it was just going to get a guy like Corey Brewer or something like that.
00:40:32
Speaker
But more he liked, like more, he felt like he had to make a move and he felt like he had to win every trade. I get that, but like, eventually no team wants to deal with you anymore. If that's how you're going to be like, there needs to be some mutually beneficial moves that happen in order for you to at some point get a guy who wants to work with you again. This team, as you said, needs shooting. It needs some veteran, um, closeout ability, right? Like I need a guy.
00:41:01
Speaker
who I can trust to like put this game away. You've got a couple of young guys who've shown flashes and Jalen and Sangoon who have shown that they wanna be those guys, right? But I don't know if come April, come May, this team has what it takes to put a game away with two minutes left in ah and an NBA, you know, semi-final round, you know, Western Conference, semi-finals game to get to even a Western Conference Finals. I don't know if this that guy's on this roster.
00:41:31
Speaker
But, like, I need... If you could bring in, like, Mellow, like, in his prime, that's who you need on this team, right? Like, a great shooter, a good rebounder, can play the three, can play the four. Mellow was a good enough post defender that you could hide him down there guarding on on a four. You know, that that's the kind of player that you need. Someone who can hit open jump shots, who can space the court, who can play a small four, who can be a big three.
00:41:59
Speaker
i Don't see that in any of the names that you've mentioned right other than maybe Kevin Durant, but for the reasons that you said I don't want Kevin Durant. He's pricey. He's old He's injury-prone and like he's proven to be a bit of a diva kind of an asshole Like this seems like a young vibing team. I don't want to bring that in there so Realistically like I don't know who that guy is yet Scott, but I do think You're missing a star. I don't think you have your final galaxy, if I may, put together with your with all your stars. When you step away from it all, and and we praise this guy very early on in the season, and so i need we need to acknowledge that, but has Jalen Green gotten any better, you think, overall? Yeah, i think he's ah I think he's a little bit better. I think his decision-making has been better. i think
00:42:54
Speaker
He's still streaky. He's still a streaky scorer, but I mean, he had a good game last night. Yeah, he did. He did. I just, I wonder, cause that's the one name that I think that they they said that the Rockets might be willing to listen on. And particularly when you talk about the fact that you've got Amen Thompson, who could be that kind of same kind of role, uh, you know, uh, right there behind him on the bench.
00:43:21
Speaker
Yeah, eyes see I see in the future those guys playing together, right? Like I see that as a Westbrook Durant kind of game or because a men's not a good enough shooter to be he's He can't play the two like he's not a good enough shooter to be your shooting guard. It's just not gonna happen.
00:43:42
Speaker
Jalen is acceptable. Like he's not the best shooter, but like, again, he could be Dwayne Wade S he can get hot. He can make shots. He can get into the paint. He can, you know, create havoc in the paint, but you just haven't shown the ability to truly make teams pay when they collapse. You do some games, but it's just not consistent. Reed Shepherds had some moments. I don't feel comfortable saying like we found JJ Reddick. Like, no, you, you didn't.
00:44:11
Speaker
you got a white boy, you can shoot a little bit. Like you didn't get- You found that Maloney. Huh? You found that Maloney. Right. Like I don't even know if you can call this guy Sniper Steve Novak yet, right? Like let's be real. Like you need, I just, I feel like you're just missing that one, that star player that like, like if you're, if you're a defensive coach prepping your team to play the Rockets, like I don't necessarily know who you circle and go, we have to stop this guy to stop this team, right? Like, and maybe that's an advantage that they have right now, Scott. And maybe that's why you see some games where Jalen goes off and some games where Sanguin's the leading scorer, some games where it's Fred Van Vliet, because you can't just say stop TMac and this thing's going to go sideways, right? You can't just say shut down Yao and you know, you can't do that with this team. However,
00:45:06
Speaker
you know, when everybody has to be aware where LeBron is on the court at all times, it's just open stuff up for everybody else on the team. So they don't have that guy. We're just, we always have to watch out where James Harden is. We always have to watch out where, you know, Clyde is. um You just don't have that. Well, we saw this with the asterisk too. And that is the assumption that, well, one of these guys will step up. Well,
00:45:34
Speaker
Most games, that might be true. You know, most games, somebody will be hot, but we've seen too many games where none of them got it going. And, you know, and that's, and you need somebody, you need like a Yordon, who is, you know, when Yordon's on, which we can talk about the new, you may be, we can call it the Yordon. We'll get that. Talk about that.
00:46:03
Speaker
But you need a guy who went healthy, went on their game, guarantee they're going to give you something. But not only that, Scott, you mentioned the Astros. and I think that's actually a great analogy, but for a different reason. 2015, a very, very young Astros team, you know, gets the wildcard game, goes to ALDS, you know, has a chance to close out game four and go to the You know, the N A L C S and and kind of collapses, right? High, high hopes galore for 2016 coming into that year. And after a slow start, they're just never quite able to get it in a gear. So coming into 2017, like, what did they do? They brought in veteran guys who knew what it took to be successful in the playoffs. They brought in Brian McCann. They brought in, uh, Josh Reddick to play right. Feel a gold glove or who could slug.
00:46:57
Speaker
Um, they went and got Charlie Morton. They went and got, um, some bullseye help, right? They, they got guys that made you a a more competitive playoff balanced baseball team. That's what the rockets need to do, right? Like you've got a young collection of guys, but you still have to be able to bring in those final veterans that round out your roster, whether it's a star player, like a, you know, a bigger deal for a guy like Reddit or.
00:47:27
Speaker
the savvy fucking catcher, like Brian McCann, who, you know, maybe just you bring up a, a spotty three point shooter or a guy who the, the udonis has them type who doesn't ever play, but he's great in practice. Like Jalen, uh, Howard used to be for, um, the rockets when he was there, you know, there's a lot of, a lot of ways you can affect this team, but I don't think it's found its final form. Long story short. Right. I agree.
00:47:54
Speaker
All right, Scott, let's ah let's start giving out some awards, because it's about that time. um We had talked, not necessarily in depth, but we talked a little bit about maybe giving out more than one. Let's start with the old horse's ass this week. Oh, the
Sports Stories and Anecdotes
00:48:12
Speaker
horse's ass. OK, so I'm going to give it to the first one, to the University of Michigan.
00:48:24
Speaker
And in particular, I don't remember the name of the kid, but to bright underwood yeah, this is a Leon esque interview. and And I don't know if any, of how many of y'all listeners are are familiar with, with Leon. Did you ever see those commercials? No. So Leon basically is this guy sitting in the locker room and he's like, he's just telling the reporters, um, I can't do this all by myself. I need some help. I can't win this on my own. And so the reporter was like,
00:48:54
Speaker
So the five fumbles that you had didn't play a role in your mind. He's like, you didn't see anybody else falling on the ball, did you? The guy's like, I guess there's no I in team. Yeah, there ain't no we either. And so this is, I mean, this interview on this. Okay. So basically what happens at the end, Michigan wins at the horseshoe, huge upset. So one of the Michigan players decides we're just going to plant our flag.
00:49:24
Speaker
right there in the middle of the stadium. Now, can you tell me what happened when Dion Sanders planted the ball in the middle of the Dallas Cowboys star way back in the day? That was actually T.O., I believe you're talking about. Oh, T.O., yeah. He got lit the fuck up. By Emmett Smith, if I recall correctly. Was it Emmett? It was when he was a... Was it when he was a niner or when he was an eagle? When he was a niner. Okay, maybe it was Emmett then. Yeah, so that's basically what happened.
00:49:55
Speaker
You know, and so they interview this Michigan kid. It's like, well, it's just too of this is unfortunate. You know, these guys got to take the loss better. It's like, that's your takeaway. That's your takeaway. Your takeaway is that, you know, y'all need to take the loss better. Not that, you know, maybe we shouldn't be a bunch of, you know, troll, trolly assholes and plant our flag in the middle of their stadium. And so not only do we have a melee,
00:50:25
Speaker
which I love seeing the ticker when the word melee is mentioned in the ticker. That's usually not a good day, but you know, you got law enforcement involved pepper spray. That was just, you know, just all the way around. Just a nasty, nasty situation to be sure. Yeah. I mean, it was, I think it got a little overblown. I honestly thought it was kind of funny. Um, but it is what it is. Right? Like,
00:50:53
Speaker
it happens it's uh it's just part of it's part of the game at this point i feel like like it just has become hey you lose your flag gets planted sometimes right like i feel like that's just is what it is but i it did get out of hand it's certainly out of the hand real fast real fucking fast uh it kind of reminded me of like no one liked a big fight breaks out in Anchorman. And then yeah they're meeting up, they're like meeting up as it like, wow, that really escalated quickly. And then like, Steve, uh, cross characters, like, I, uh, I killed a man with a trident. He's like, I've been meaning to talk to you about that break. You might want to find a safe house, lay low for a little while.
00:51:36
Speaker
Oh, when i go um I have a couple horses asses, really, it really three, but I'm going to combine two together and then hit this, this first one real quick. Yes. I take a lot of pride in my Thanksgiving Turkey, Scott. I have a brine that I use that, uh, you know, it's pomegranate juice based as well as some other citrus flavors in there gives it an absolutely beautiful color.
00:52:06
Speaker
Everybody who has it loves it. It's an unbelievable turkey. I think this year was my best one This was the first time in a while. I haven't done Thanksgiving with my family I did it with my my in-laws and that was ah a trip up to Oklahoma. We had a cabin in the woods It was my in-laws my my wife's grandmother her sister and her sister's boyfriend this Guy I can't say gentleman this guy I met the real life fucking Will Levis, Scott. Real life mayo boy. We're having our first meal all together. The Tuesday night we get up there and they have like a rotisserie chicken and some ham and some salad and stuff like that. This dude is just straight dipping the chicken in mayo. Like he's got a, like, like you would have barbecue sauce, whatever on your plate. He's got mayo and he's dipping it and he's eating it. He's like, yeah, I dip everything in mayo. Uh, I was like, let's just call a quick timeout right here.
00:53:03
Speaker
You're not going to dip my fucking turkey in mayo on Thursday. And he goes, Oh yeah, absolutely. am I'm going to, I'm going to put mayo on the plate. I'm going to dip it. I was like, so I was going to make sure I get this straight. You're not going to taste it first. You're not going to like.
00:53:15
Speaker
See it the way I designed it before you just slather fucking mayonnaise all over my Thanksgiving turkey. That's two-day brine, six hours in the oven, me basting every 45 minutes, shoved my hand up this turkey's ass, filling it with oranges and lemons and onion, getting my hand under the skin, rubbing an herb butter that I made myself all in there.
00:53:40
Speaker
all out the window, the moment it hit his plate, this motherfucker threw Hellman's right on the plate and dipped it right in it, Scott. no No care in the world. And and everybody told me, ah you know once you cook it for them, it's for them. and And I call bullshit on that because I think there are plenty of Michelin star restaurants in the world that allow no substitutions. You can't change the chef's dish. What the chef has prepared is what you'll fucking eat. You order this dish, you order it the way that they intended you to have it, not without the mushrooms, not without the cilantro. No, you ordered this dish. The chef designed it that way. Now, I am not saying I am a Michelin star chef, but I am saying all you could have done is taken one bite
00:54:28
Speaker
One bite. Try it first before you feel the need to slather mayonnaise on my turkey. Oh man. I don't know if you've ever, I used to, back in the day when Clear Lake Country Club was still a golf course. You used to, now I'm going back a ways here, Tim. We used to be able to get a basket of fries for a buck. If you can imagine imagine that. And these are like the full-size fries. You know, these are not the Not the skinny shit. We, I used to dip it in both ketchup and mayonnaise. Which, you know, hey. But, I, you know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna slather anything on somebody's meat until I take one bite. One fucking bite just to taste it and see if it needs it first. Yeah. Because it wasn't dry. That turkey was not fucking dry. Yeah, I don't, I don't get it.
00:55:27
Speaker
Well, and and and I don't, you know, especially when I'm over at somebody else's place, I'm not demanding a bunch of extra shit. Scott, this kid, this kid showed up again. He's been dating my, my sister-in-law for like two years now, right? You're staying overnight with your in-laws. Like me, I would think like, I need to make a really good impression, right? Like I'm hanging out with what I would think is my future family. I'm with this girl. I see a few together, right? Like that's how you would think, right?
00:55:56
Speaker
He shows up first night. Anybody got any body wash? I didn't bring any. Nah, man. Not for you. Sorry. No. Then later that night after he somehow I guess found something to wash himself with because he didn't bring body wash, he comes out looking for a phone charger. hey You got a phone charger? i I do for my phone.
00:56:17
Speaker
And then, like, I proceed to charge my shit outside and I really don't have one for his phone because I upgraded to the new iPhone that has the USB-C now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't have the Lightning cord one with me. All I brought was USB-C stuff. So then, like, I go, like, we're hanging outside, I go to get my charger. It's gone. Charger's going on the wall. I'm looking everywhere. I look at my wife and I'm like, babe, I think Evan took my charger. I think he took it.
00:56:47
Speaker
And she's like, there's no way. Like Yuri told him it didn't fit. I told him I was going to give him an iPhone charger. Why would he take your charger? I said, I don't know. All I know is this kid forgot his charger. I look, mine's gone. Sure. Shit. She goes in his room. My charger's in the fucking wall. Oh, I did. I did. I didn't ask him. I just needed a break. You know, then the piece de resistance, Scott, the piece de resistance.
00:57:13
Speaker
Not the mayonnaise. This kid, again, decided he wanted to get into golf. And being the the guy that I am, I lent him you know some of the stuff that I had, and you know including a bag and some wedges, a driver. My father-in-law lent him a set of irons. But you know he realized he liked golf, so he bought all his own shit. So I'm like, hey, can I get my stuff back? He doesn't give it to me at any point when we see each other in the city we live in together. This dude brings it to fucking Oklahoma to return it to me three hours away when I got a fully packed car.
00:57:56
Speaker
i got I got a cooler full of fridge shit. I got a turkey brining in another cooler. I got luggage for me. I got all the shit I need for a one year old. I got my wife's stuff and my golf clubs because I was playing up there. And now you just hand me a second bag to take home. What the fuck?
00:58:13
Speaker
Well, you're not going to have the turkey anymore, though. I mean, I was, I was just like, what is your mindset here, man? Like, I understand you want to give me my stuff back, but I've seen you three times in November at my in-laws house where you could have just brought it then. No, instead you bring it three and a half hours to Broken Bow, Oklahoma. All right. Second, second, uh, horses ass, a legitimate horses ass, Robert Manfred.
MLB Rules and Broadcast Critique
00:58:41
Speaker
Right. Like what the fuck are we doing? You are taking rules from the Savannah bananas, the golden at bat and, and, and, and trying to implement that in baseball. What are we doing? We don't need a rule where you can bring your Don to the plate at any point. Like.
00:59:01
Speaker
That is so frustrating. Baseball is fine the way it is. Like baseball is a great game. You don't have to constantly add a new rule every year. we We're good. We're good on the ones we got. Get the fucking strike zone figured out. Get the umpires union figured out. ah Get that shit in line before you come at me with the golden at bat rule. Well, and and I've said this before, it bears repeating. There is one qualification.
00:59:30
Speaker
that should be to be the commissioner of any sport. You have to love that sport. You have to be a fan of that sport. You're not going to make me the commissioner of hockey. I don't know shit about hockey. I don't care about hockey. Don't make me the commissioner of hockey. I'm not a hockey fan. But see, the thing is with Manfred, every time he comes out, well, we need Get rid of the shift. Well, we need a pitch clock. Well, we need to have a three batter minimum. Well, we got oh we need this golden rule. We need ghost runners and extra innings. Every time he talks, it's about something that's wrong with the game. See, and if every time I hear you speak, you're talking about something wrong with the game, then as a casual fan, I'm left to think of, well, baseball's broken.
01:00:25
Speaker
baseball's not fucking broken. you've had You have some of the best players that have ever played in the history of the sport playing right now. You tell me a better overall baseball player in history than Shohei Itani.
01:00:45
Speaker
Tell me. I don't know if I can, Scott. like From judging, Babe Ruth didn't pitch long enough for us to truly I mean, you know, Tony hasn't pitched all that long either, but you have to go back to Ruth. You know, I mean, we might trout in the 2010s. I mean, obviously not now. I mean, there's hitters. I put up with him, right? Like there's, I can put a hitter up with Otani and say, I've had guys who have had the season, but then to also say, Oh, and he'll give you a 15 wins in a three and a half VRA and throw 99. And he'll give you a 50 50.
01:01:26
Speaker
Which is never happened. I don't think he does that again. Well, maybe not. I don't think he runs as much. Maybe not. But you know and then you got Aaron Judge, who's doing Aaron Judge things, obviously not in the playoffs. You got Juan Soto, who's probably better than Aaron Judge overall and in the playoffs. You've got a a ton of great baseball players playing the game right now. I mean, some of the best pitchers we've ah probably ever seen I mean, you're going to tell me, like, for instance, that, you know, somebody from the sixties is going to hit, um, even, uh, Paul Skeens. You think that's going to happen? No. I think somebody on a hundred digits and, and unbelievable breaking shit. And somebody's going to take that back. There are select guys from every time period who could play in this era.
01:02:21
Speaker
But I think this era has the most talented baseline of any, of any era of all time. Right. Like I think if you took Roberto Clemente and put him up there, I still think he's going to be a successful major league player. Do I think he gets 3000 hits? I don't think so. But I still think Roberto Clemente is going to play good ball. But I do think that like, if you took your average player from today and send him back to 1925, he's going to fucking rake. Yeah. and And the point is though, every team.
01:02:49
Speaker
every single baseball team has at least one guy that you can point to and go like, wow, man, this guy's awesome. Why aren't we promoting guys? I don't know if I can say every team. Maybe not the white Sox. Okay. I'll give you that. I'll go, I'll go. up But even like, you know, but even Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Sox, but you know, they've they've got, you know, schemes. So the Reds are not all that good. They've got a daily cruise. Yeah.
01:03:15
Speaker
Yeah, you've got you know almost every team has a guy and let me ask you this if you're Manfred why are you fucking around with the rules and why is there still not a NFL red zone equivalent for Major League Baseball? Why is there not a fucking Homer Channel? Why is there not a You know, anything to compete like red zone is the most wonderful thing in the world, right? Like if you are out of market or you have multiple games, you want to keep an eye on or whatever it is, like red sounds great. I leave my TV on redstone for like eight hours every Sunday. Why is there no alternative for that for major league baseball? You're telling me people wouldn't pay a hundred bucks for the year to just be able to have like ah like a station that jumps around to bases loaded cam or, or runners in scoring position or whatever it is.
01:04:04
Speaker
Instead of the golden at bat or whatever they're calling this shit, how about Aaron Judge is coming up to the plate now. Let's watch him. Oh, Tony's coming up to the plate now. Let's watch him. How about this other channel? I mean, it doesn't matter what situation. It could be bases or it could be this guy's just a great hitter. Let's go watch this guy hit.
01:04:29
Speaker
It should exist. Like it should be a thing. Like every, every night you've got somebody there just, Hey, we're going to show you this at bat. Hey, we're going to show you this at bat. Hey, we're going to jump to this game. Like why the fuck not? Why? And I mean, obviously broadcasting rights have a lot to do with it, but you guys haven't figured it out. The broadcast situation is like, that's another thing. Get your fucking ass into the broadcast room and and figure out how to handle that because you have the most antiquated broadcast system.
01:04:58
Speaker
Everybody is is all broken up, staggered in different networks. Networks are going out of business. You guys can't figure out streaming. You have people like myself who would happily, happily give you the money it costs to stream the Astros on the MLB app for the season. And you won't take it. You won't fucking take it because even though I don't, I live closer to another major league team, I'm still in market for that one. Like what it's, get that shit figured out before you start changing the fabric of the game. Yeah, absolutely.
01:05:28
Speaker
Absolutely. All right. All right, let's be positive. Let's let's let's switch it up Scott. Let's tip some caps All right. So I'm gonna tip my cap I don't think well, I may have mentioned this to you, but I didn't mention to you as a hat tip But I'm gonna tip my cap to LSU So basically here's the story here Tim we we we pulled out of here on a Monday Monday before Thanksgiving, but we We they said, you know what?
01:05:57
Speaker
There are some schools that are still in in school for the first couple of days of of that week. We're going to be in Baton Rouge, visiting the in-laws. Why don't you email a professor at in the School of Music and see, you know, if they would be willing to meet with us. By Monday morning, this professor is emailing us back. Oh, yeah. You can come in on Tuesday. You know, this is going to be our last day. So fast forward to Tuesday. We get there.
01:06:26
Speaker
She brings, she's not only her, which she's got like a pamphlet, she's got like a free t-shirt for Ann. I mean, she's got the whole nine yards. She brings in a kid from Houston who's in the current in the program right now to also talk to Ann about what to expect from the program. And then brings in like another professor who handles like the career side and you know, what do we do to help prepare you know, kids to get a career. And then we're sitting there talking with her outside and then here walks up the dean to introduce himself. So like, oh, you're a prospective student or, you know, you have any questions? And now is that yeah I mean, and and to sit there for a university that has, I think about 40 to 45,000 undergrads to sit there and turn around and respond to an email within 24 hours and set something up within 24 hours.
01:07:24
Speaker
is just absolutely fantastic. Obviously, I'd love for Ann to go to TCU if if all everything was equal, but LSU did a fantastic job. Do you think, if you would have asked really nicely, you could have met Brian Kelly?
01:07:45
Speaker
I don't know. It seems like they rolled the red carpet out for you, Scott. cause Hey, is there any way I can meet Coach Kelly? and We're here. He's here. This would have been before his win over Oklahoma, so he might not have been in a good mood. He was, uh, he was stressing. Um, I'm going to tip my cap to Nick Isario. I respect the way that he went off at that press conference. I respect having their players back and I respect calling out the hypocrisy of the NFL because at the end of the day, that's what it is. There's no rule. There's no rhyme. There's no reason.
01:08:22
Speaker
It's just like whatever the, you know, the way, whatever way you scratch your nuts that day, that's just how the suspension comes down. And there's no questioning, you know, daddy Roger, and we'll discuss that a little bit later in my next, my next conversation, but I will tip my cap to Nick Casario for getting out there saying that knowing he's probably going to get fined for his comments, the same. Fuck it. I'll pay it. Yeah, I agree with you a hundred percent, uh, probably 150%. I mean,
01:08:51
Speaker
I think, do I want my general manager, my team throwing out a bullshit bomb in the middle of a press conference? Maybe not on a routine basis, but you know, he's a button up guy and I think that's the first time he's ever used language like that. and And the thing is about curse words in general. I mean, we, we cuss on this, uh, this podcast all the time, but the problem is when you cuss a lot, it loses its power. And so I feel like, you know, that was a,
01:09:19
Speaker
perfect, appropriate amount of cussing in the moment. Because it is stupid. Because not only did you sit there and and call the hit bad, which I agree, it was a bad hit, but you're sitting there calling, so you're a bad guy. Yeah. And and you don't know him. You don't know what he was thinking. You certainly, the the NFL never interviewed him as a part of their fact finding. So, you know, what are we doing?
01:09:47
Speaker
It was a self-righteous move intended to protect the shield, right? Like, that's all that it was. It's literally, fuck this guy, we'll throw him under of the rug, and and well he'll take it, right? And so, for the same reason, to a so a second extent, too, I'm going to give one to Imbedoka, because here's his quote.
01:10:06
Speaker
Uh, about the referees last night, blatant, missed calls, ticky tack, moving screens, and little shit like that. Totally get some fucking glasses and open your eyes. So for the same reason I tipped my cap to eBay again, right? Like what, like your players respect that.
01:10:22
Speaker
Like you can go to the locker room and be like, yeah, man, we got fucked last night. And I said it in front of everybody, but we just got to move on and go play the next game. You guys know I have your back. I'm going to get fined for my comments. I'll pay you that fine. You guys don't have to worry about anymore. They're going to talk about me saying that instead of anything else. Let's just go out and get the next W. So that's how it comes off to me. Right. Here's my question. Do you think, do you think, uh, a doc is really paying that fine or do you think Tillman Pertita is writing that check?
01:10:52
Speaker
I think he, I think he probably has to pay it and then Tillman maybe gives them some sign of like bonus later on. Um, and hey let me, let me add another, since you mentioned Tillman, um, we bought a second Tillman for Tita Chevrolet this weekend. Uh, my wife got the upgrade as well. And again, Tillman's got a nice, uh, nice setup he's got going on down there. Took good care of my wife, just like he took good care of me. So thank you Tillman for, uh, another, another Chevy in the driveway.
01:11:23
Speaker
all right okay so so hey we should make a trade i just gave this guy like 45 grand okay make a move tillman i just gave you some i just gave you some popcorn money all right is it that time i think it is scott i think it's time to uh you know let people know who has offended you this week and why um since we're staying away from the politics as we promised I'm going to go back to Major League Baseball and I'm going to do a kind of a twin scumbag here between your Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball. The Los Angeles Dodgers right now are making a mockery of the rules of the game, but they can't be the only scumbag here because effectively Major League Baseball is allowing them to do it. Every single contract that they've signed,
01:12:23
Speaker
has involved a heavy, heavy dose of deferred money. Tommy Edmond just signed a five-year deal. I think about a third of his money is deferred. Blake Snell, the ah also known as the gang banger from South Park, he signed a a big five-year contract with much of that money deferred. They signed last year, they signed Will Smith to a 10-year contract, which is by about the stupidest contract I've ever seen for a catcher in my entire life. Much of that money deferred. Of course, we know the autonomy money was deferred. We know the, I can't, I'm going to butcher his name, we know the Japanese picture.
01:13:09
Speaker
A lot of his you know contracts deferred. um Who was that other pitcher that they got from Tampa Bay that they ended up signing last year? Glassnow. Glassnow, I think a lot of... So they're deferring. They're deferring. So now Tim and I got into a pretty long debate over text. Here's my problem with this. In about the year 2035, none of those players are gonna be playing for the Dodgers.
01:13:40
Speaker
I don't think any of those players are going to be playing Major League Baseball in 10 years. You think I'm pretty safe there? um yeah i said Yeah. So in 10 years, you're going to have a payroll of probably between $120, $150 million dollars going to nobody who's on your baseball team. and so but yes ah But here's the thing with those. like You have to put the money in account now. Like it's not like the money's account. And then here's why it pisses me off. And here's why I agree it's scumbag because the way that it's set up, you have to physically like put that money aside now. Like you can't just be like, Oh, we'll come up with it later. Like it has to be put aside in the account. It escrows, it grows, whatever. But why, why are we only counting the little portion that you're paying him per season now?
01:14:37
Speaker
For the tax threshold, right? I think that's what makes it a scumbag move because for like let's look at lakes now, for example If i'm lake snell's accountant. I want this shit deferred because california's got a crazy high tax rate And the way that baseball works you pay taxes Based on where you played that game, right? So like if you pitched in washington or you pitched in um san diego or what you're paying the taxes of those local places So on top of that, like you're paying income tax or state tax in all these different places, he is from a state that doesn't have a state income tax. So for him, when he retires to his home after his playing career and this money starts coming in, he can now not pay that second level of taxes. It's going to save him 25, $30 million dollars on that contract. So I get that. I'm fine with that. If that's how you want to do it, I don't care. That's like me putting money in an IRA, right? like
01:15:34
Speaker
It's still my money. However, if you ask somebody how much I make per year or if like my organization has to show their salary chart for the year and say, hey, here's how much we're paying everybody, they don't get to like do it minus everybody's IRA contributions. They don't get to do it minus our like, no, this is how much you pay us. Right. Like that's what makes it a scumbag. Yeah, I know. Absolutely. And and the thing is with is the other second part of that is that you remember the old Patrick Ewing quote.
01:16:04
Speaker
Yeah, we make a lot of money, but we spend a lot of money too. That's not you. if Well, but if I'm Blake Snell, if I'm Blake Snell's accountant, what I know is that it's going to be a lot easier to make sure that a guy doesn't spend himself into the poor house. Yeah. So that there's a huge payday on the other end. I have no problem with the idea of deferring money. And we talked about the idea of, you know, the Astros doing that with Fromber, with Kyle Tucker, with Alex Bregman.
01:16:33
Speaker
I don't have that issue. What I have an issue with is that there's no, there should be no way for me to effectively have a $350 million dollar payroll that counts 200 million on the books. Yeah. I agree. Like I'm again, I'm fine.
01:16:50
Speaker
with deferred money, I'm fine with it. I just think whatever the AAV of that contract is, that's what goes on the tax number. That's what your, that's what your luxury tax threshold number is based off of. Not the 5 million that they're paying you per year while you're actually playing. Like that means nothing. Cause you signed a $400 million dollar contract Shohei. Like that's what you count. So I'm with you. I think honestly, it makes the MLB more of the scumbag in this scenario.
01:17:18
Speaker
Um, then really the Dodgers are just scumbag because they have the money to go out and do it, right? Like there's really only them, the Yankees, maybe the red Sox, if they truly wanted to, like, I don't know who else is in the Mets could go out and do that. But like, I don't know who else is. And I don't know if you saw that email that I sent you about the, uh, the revenues of where, you know, particularly where the Astros are right now. Middleware hack.
01:17:44
Speaker
where they're projected to be, they're they're at about $450 million dollars a year annually in revenue, which means that your payroll is roughly a little maybe more half than your revenue, which is right where the MBA and the NFL are to be perfectly frank. And they're supposed to go up above $600 million by 2030. So you can imagine by then a $320 million payroll would not be completely outrageous in 2030. And what kills me about Major League Baseball, and for years, this proves that they've been full of shit all along about the, you know, especially Drake McLean. Oh, I need to draw 2.5 million fans to make money. Bullshit. Bullshit. You're you're all making money. It's just, it's it's stupid. All right, Scott, I'm going to make more on the body sports history today.
Confronting Hate Speech and Cultural Reflections
01:18:45
Speaker
I think for the first time ever, I'm going to award a scumbag of the week to the same person who was a horse's ass of the week. Cause it's two different infractions from my sister-in-law's boyfriend. On top of all the bullshit that he did, he continued to use the term wetback and around my 11 year old daughter continued to use that phrase. And when I said.
01:19:15
Speaker
Hey, cut that out. I have an 11 year old. His response was what you curse. I said, Hey, there's a difference. Like number one, like curse words are just curse words. Like they're just words and you guys put too much stock into them in the first place. Number two, your word comes from a place of hate and it's a racial slur. And I don't want my child to be around that kind of language. Then the response was.
01:19:43
Speaker
Well, that's just how we talk in the restaurant, which I work. Hey, that's great. This isn't a restaurant. And I was around a restaurant at 11 years old. And that's why I curse the way that I do. So please don't bring that around my child. Well, the Mexicans at work say it's so cool. Say it's okay. Again, I don't give a fuck.
01:20:03
Speaker
stop saying that around my kid, right? Like it shouldn't be that much of a discussion, but I literally had to spend 15 minutes arguing with this guy to not use a racial slur around my 11 year old child. And then when the in-laws come out, all they hear is Tim arguing with someone and they think Tim's overreacting and they don't know the full story. So it's, Hey, everybody calm down. Let's all get along yada, yada, yada. When in actuality, this dude's out here using racial slurs around my 11 year old and, and, and,
01:20:32
Speaker
and Argues with me about it. So um For the first time in podcast history these horses ass and scumbag go to the same person for two different infractions um Secondary scumbag NFL just again you you have no consistency there is none and And if the next time a quarterback slides and gets hit late You don't suspend that player for three games. It's fucking horseshit I was going to say, um, to show you how sheltered I grew up with yeah as we know, we call code like the bubble. I don't know if you're familiar with that. I went, I worked, uh, in Pasadena, the pennant school district when I was in high school, uh, worked in like maintenance. We drove around with some other kids who, you know, went to, to Rayburn. And one guy would go, look at that wet back, look at that wet back, look at that wet back. Now I'm like, what the fuck's a wet back?
01:21:32
Speaker
I had never heard that term up to that point because you know nobody around me used that term. And so that's the thing. I had to sit there and explain my, Anne, when she was taking preappi AP world history, she called it WAP. I'm like, you do not use that word in this house.
01:22:01
Speaker
you know what that often But that's what they called it. but that's what they like That's what the teachers called it. That's what it was called when I was in school. She started calling it WAP. You know ra had it you had to change it they had to change it after the Cardi B song came out. but yep i'm with you scott There's no place for that in my life. There's no place for that in my kid's life. I am a person who I mean, I don't know if you remember the, uh, the old Will Ferrell movie, uh, where he's the basketball player and he had that. Oh yeah. Yeah. yeah yo Lee. Everybody loves everybody. Right. Like I'm, I'm very much a believer in that for the most part, like this certain sub-sex of the country that I have no desire to associate with. I don't want to be around you, but like, I'm not just going to start calling you racial slurs. So, um, that's going to do it for us here this week.
Conclusion and Future Events
01:22:47
Speaker
Um, we appreciate everybody who joined us, made us a part of their week.
01:22:51
Speaker
And we look forward to getting back on schedule as the Rockets keep rolling. Hopefully Texans come out of the bad week and figure some things out against a pretty tough schedule. But we will see everybody next week, same bad time, same bad channel born on the Bayou.