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Can I Get an Amen
28 Plays1 year ago
New Episode of Born on the Bayou Sports! 🎙️🔥
Tim Costello and Scott Barzilla are back to break down all things Houston sports! 🏀⚾🏈
- The Rockets just wrapped up a dominant road trip, and Amen Thompson has been electric. Is he the key to Houston's success?
- The Texans enter the offseason with big questions—what does Bobby Slowik’s firing mean for CJ Stroud and the offense moving forward?
- Could the Astros bring back Alex Bregman? And is Jose Altuve in left field a real possibility? Tim and Scott weigh in.
Plus, the guys hand out their signature awards:
🏆 Tips of the Cap
🤡 Horses Ass of the Week
😈 Scumbag of the Week
Don't miss this episode of Born on the Bayou Sports! 🎧💥
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts and Their Backgrounds
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 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 Pena defensively, you know, balance fragments, 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 Hill comes to 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
Welcome all my friends back in the born on the bayou sports. Tim Costello, Scott Barzilla coming to you here on a Tuesday night recording tonight and probably still put it out on our normal Wednesday.
Houston Rockets' Recent Performance
00:01:36
Speaker
Scott, how are we doing today? We're doing great, but not doing as great as the hometown five, uh, your Houston Rockets. Uh, just a sports related question though. Um, we're going to get into the trade deadline, I'm sure here in a minute, but Just to test your acumen as a would-be general manager town, the Rockets are not interested in in a De'Aaron Fox deal that's been reported today, but the Spurs are one of his destinations. So are you the kind of GM that you just let them have them or do you want to get into the fray just long enough to raise the price just to make it make it hurt for them? Yeah, you know,
00:02:21
Speaker
Not a bad, not a bad thought process. I like the, uh, I like the meddlesome nature. However, what if, you know, what if you make a bullshit offer and they accept it? Yeah. Well, you know, it it would have to be an out for maintenance never yeah be um had to be advantageous to you though. I mean, it'd be like, you know, you can just got borscht's stuff, right? Like you can keep saying you're the mystery team until like you accidentally become the mystery team.
00:02:48
Speaker
Yeah, in baseball, so it'd be like, you know, all right, so we're just gonna offer you Mauricio Dubon for Mike Trout. Okay. You can have him. I mean, that'd be a nice move. I'm just saying, like, in the basketball terms, it'd just be like, you know. No, but I mean, if David could pull that off, I think he'd be my favorite GM of all time.
00:03:12
Speaker
Well that would be like, but the basketball equipment would have to be like, uh, we'll just give you Jack Londale for the deer and fox. Straight up. What do you think? It's like, okay.
00:03:27
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, that would be pretty fantastic. Like, and I won't release these pictures I have of you. one zactors hot Do you want to, do you want me to, the only way you'll know what I have is when they're out there, like either, you know, you call my bluff and.
00:03:41
Speaker
I don't have pictures of you, but I do totally have these pictures. Um, or you trade me, my trout for Maurice. Your call. Absolutely. In your court. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So, uh, you know, of course we'll, we'll get to the Astros later on in the show, but you recent rockets as we speak in the, we are 94 to 80 up on the Hawks in the fourth quarter. I'm going to, I'm going to be honest with you. Am I?
00:04:09
Speaker
I thought that they were going to not be competitive in this game. I mean, they've come off of back-to-back victories against the Cleveland Cavaliers. They just beat Boston on more or less a last-second shot. I thought they were going to come in here and lay an egg. And the fact that they're up 14 in the fourth quarter, just I mean, ah this team is showing us something. Yeah, you know, I named this this segment, Can I Get an Amen, right? because there has been something different in this team since he was inserted into the starting lineup because of Jabari's injury, right? Like, this team has reached a new level with this, you know, you call it our version of the lineup of death, right? Where you actually have some perimeter shooting with Dylan Brooks on the floor, with Jalen Green on the floor, with Fred Van Vliet on the floor when he's actually knocking things
Rockets' Playoff Potential and Strategy
00:05:03
Speaker
down, and Senguin can shoot too, realistically, right? So,
00:05:07
Speaker
You you could stretch it a little bit and you could let a men do a men because at the end of the game he was the one with the ball in his hands against the Celtics and He made the right decision. He made the right play. He got into the paint. He made a move He shook one of the best defenders of the NBA and Brown and he and he knocked down a floater Like what more can you want from the guy right now? Yeah, I don't know if I want to talk too much about him given what we have going on later on in the episode, but so two separate questions. This kind of dovetails into a longer conversation. Number one, what happens with Jabari Smith when he comes back? And then number two, has our calculus, because we we both, I think, we're thinking this is not a this year team. Has your calculus on this team changed? It really hasn't, Scott. I think
00:06:01
Speaker
you know, I'm even more wanting to let this year play out and see what our real weaknesses are in the playoffs, right? Because I think you and I both would agree that the regular season is it's a completely different animal than than the NBA playoffs, right? When the best teams in the league gets to play you at minimum, you know, five straight nights in a row or four straight nights in a row, um,
00:06:30
Speaker
They can figure stuff out. They'll exploit weaknesses. And I'd like to see what teams do against the Rockets. I'd like to see what the Rockets do in those situations as well before I try and blow this roster up mid-season. That's kind of what they said today. But I think I've been on record for a couple months now that that's really what I'd like to see them do.
00:06:51
Speaker
And I didn't see a man taking this step this season this way, right? I saw him improving. I didn't see him, you know, literally, you know, transitioning into.
00:07:02
Speaker
the guy on this roster right now. And so I don't want to change anything. I want to see what we have. I want to see what Jalen Green looks like in the playoffs. I want to see what said goon looks like in the playoffs. and And then I want to go into this off season free of Fred Bambly's contract theoretically and be able to decide what do I want to do right now? Um, I'm thinking a little bit differently, but more along the lines, the same lines when I'm looking at, I think,
00:07:32
Speaker
you can make a deal for the right star. I just don't think the right star is out there right now. But I'm theoretically thinking, hey, if the right star comes along, yeah, make a deal. But I think they've already said they're not interested in Fox. I mean, does Devin Booker interest you? Not at this point in his career. And I don't think Jimmy Butler is interested in anybody at this point.
00:08:03
Speaker
Given what he's done over the last month Which hadn't been much on the floor because he hasn't been on the floor because he's been a malcontent So I don't think that stars out there right now Does that change in the summer? maybe you know anything's possible in the summer and You know, maybe after the season, you know, somebody gets disgruntled, wants to change teams in the summer. But yeah, right now, I think you you ride this thing out. Now, the other question I asked those, what do you do with Jabari Smith when he gets back? I mean, I think he's still a good ro rotational piece, but but right now you can't change the starting five. So, you know, I think you can run Tarison and Jabari together.
00:08:52
Speaker
um in some situations as a ah solution off the bench. I think you can run Steven Adams and, and Jabari Smith together on the court in some situations off the bench. And I think that gives you some, some good elite rim protection realistically, the way Adams is playing and still some really good defense from Jabari Smith. He's long. He can still shoot it. So I think maybe Moving him to the bench might be for this Rockets team the better fit. I don't know for his career
00:09:24
Speaker
how he's going to feel about that. And then that's when you get to the summer, right? Where maybe you've got a guy in Jabari Smith, who's disgruntled. Somebody's interested. We can package something around Jabari Smith, expiring Dylan Brooks contract and bring in a true legit stretch for, right? Instead of, um, playing Dylan Brooks at the four, maybe that's the option that you go. I don't know, but you've got money coming off the books with Fred van Fleet, right? That was a two with a team option for the third year.
00:09:50
Speaker
So if that comes off and you have a really good showing and and maybe win one round of the playoffs and and have a tough spot second round and you're like, okay, we're this type of player away. Let's go get that type of player with either the money that we have or the assets that we have. Right. But that's, that's what I loved about Daryl more was he wasn't willing to.
00:10:13
Speaker
throw it all in on just anybody, right? He always kept us flexible. Did he make some weird moves and and pick up a
Evaluating Dylan Brooks' Impact
00:10:21
Speaker
Samuel Dallin bear and you're like, what the fuck are we doing here? But you know what? He he traded them out halfway through the year when he realized the guy was garbage. ah Did he have some great finds in Omer O'Sheik? Yeah, like absolutely. But what he did was keep himself flexible so that way when a guy like James Harden became available, he had the assets you needed to go ahead and get James Harden because they don't come along every now and then.
00:10:43
Speaker
So when that guy is there, you know, the Rockets have a lot of young talent to have a, uh, a selection of pigs to work from in the future. You're flexible enough. You can go get that guy. If that situation happens this summer, if not, you've got caps base for what, ah what's my friend fleet making like $30 million. You've got 30 million bucks to go spend. Well, you're probably over the cat now. So I don't know how much you have left under once he leaves, but you know, I think the Brooks and, and.
00:11:12
Speaker
Jabari Smith, you know, a combination, maybe he throwing in another guy, but here's a question though. You let Fran Van Vliet go. Do you feel comfortable with a Reed Shepard holiday point guard combination moving forward? Uh, you know, most likely no, but you've got a potentially a draft pick or you've got cap space or you've got, um, you know, a trade to be made. I,
00:11:40
Speaker
I like what Fred's brought to this team. And if Fred's willing to come back at a lower number, I'm interested in Fred's services. But at the end of the day, you see who the future of this basketball team is, right? And it's, it's not Fred Van Vliet. So you're not going to be one of the main ball handlers going forward. I want the ball and Amen Thompson's hands. I want the ball and Jalen Green's hands.
00:12:06
Speaker
and kind of let them create and and find either a ah path to the basket or ah an open shooter on the outside. So I'm looking for you to become more of a spot-up three-point shooter, Fred, and a good defender. If that's something that you're willing to be a part of that 15 million bucks a year for a couple years, come on back. If not, we need to find somebody who is willing to be basically what Derek Fisher was, right? Like Derek Fisher would D up. And if he hit, if he hit him on an open pass, he'd knock down the shot. Like he was a point guard, but how often did he really bring the ball up the court? Yeah, I think, I think Amen has found his spot in the three hole, um, which I think was what we were worried about to begin with. And when we were looking at this team, we were looking at, you know, Dylan Brooks is not a championship three. He's, he's a, you know, it was a good defender.
00:12:57
Speaker
you know, had a great night against Boston, but he's not a consistent scorer. Amen's a little bit more dynamic because he brings both the offense and the defense. I do like moving forward, you know, maybe getting a more dynamic four in here somehow. Um, so that point guard, you know, there are guys around the league you could kind of pick up for close to league minimum who could probably give you a 15 to 20 good minutes at the point. Yeah. Again, like,
00:13:28
Speaker
You're not running the offense, right? the ah You are not bringing the ball up the court, calling ISO 2 and starting the motion, right? Like that's not what we're doing. So we need somebody who can come in, play good defense and hit an open a jump shot. That's all that we need you to do, right? I don't know who that guy is right now. And if it is Fred, I'd have reduced number. That's fine. But Fred was brought in.
00:13:54
Speaker
To set a standard, right? Fred is ah as a guy who has a ring from his time in Toronto. He's a guy who's been in professional organizations, played with superstars, seeing how they conduct themselves.
00:14:06
Speaker
And I would say at the end of the day, Fred did that, right? Like Fred brought a level of professionalism to Jalen Green that he vastly needed. Fred has been there for all of Amen's career. And I'm not going to say he's the reason he's flourished, but at the end of the day, he's he's his teammate and he's helped him get to where he is. So I would never, I wouldn't say we.
00:14:27
Speaker
You know overpaid for Fred, but I would say that I'm not willing to pay that price next year but Based on what this team is and so again, I just I see the makeup of this team shifting more towards Almost like this team needs to be built like the heat work, right? Like when the heat had the big three of um LeBron and D wave as your two ones you I'm not saying I'm not saying you're going to go get guys that are at the end of their career or whatever, but like the game plan of those teams was you had two guys who could live in the, live in the paint, right? Those guys lived in the paint and you had Mario Chalmers out there. You had Mike, uh, the three points you to Mike, why that Mike Williams, but whatever Mike Bibby, uh, Mike Bibby played some point guard for them at some points, right? Like you had just.
00:15:18
Speaker
Guys, you had just guys because our stars were your wings. I was going to say, if you end up dealing Brooks and letting Van Vliet go, um I think it's a popular opinion to say you overpaid for them. But I would say they gave you exactly what you needed. Exactly the right time.
00:15:37
Speaker
I think, and you can, you could claim right now, based on the development of the younger guys on this team, which, you know, we can't, you know, we can't sleep on Ken Whitmore. We can't, uh, sleep on, you know, we can't, you know, you mean Deshaun Tate tonight, 16 points. He ain't young anymore though. He's 16 tonight. 16 tonight. Yeah. aaron back and back Back to back, he's getting a little extra run. Yeah. You know, Aaron Holliday with eight.
00:16:06
Speaker
You know, so you have, um, you have some guys on that bench that can play. And so you can let those two guys go and you can get it and you can turn it over to these younger guys who have now learned how to play winning basketball. And I think, you know, I said, I said, my said my friend is professionalism and and what he brought, I'll say, you know, similar for, for Brooks, but also like.
00:16:29
Speaker
Brooks brought that nasty, right? Like this was a, this was a young group of kids that just want to get out and ball and then go party at the end of the night, right? They didn't care. They only got pissed if you like embarrassed them. There was no fucking nasty on this team. They rolled over and they died night and night in, night in and night out.
00:16:46
Speaker
You needed that guy to get up in people's faces and say, you're not coming in my house. You're not doing this in my home gym. It's not happening, right? Like we had nobody on the team at all before you bring in Dylan Brooks to show these guys what that looked like, right? There's a difference even between what Fred brought, which was like how to prepare and how to train and how to like literally run a set team instead of just AAU up and down bullshit. And then what Dylan Brooks brings is like,
00:17:13
Speaker
I'm going to whoop some fucking ass tonight if you give em up my face. And I think the other part of this equation you mentioned in the playoffs, what's going to happen when you get into a series, I feel like with the Doku, we've got one of the better
Optimism in Coach Doku's Playoff Planning
00:17:26
Speaker
coaches. I think we got a guy that can game plan his way through a series. I mean, he showed he could do that in Boston. He obviously didn't get the opportunity to do that last year because, you know, the West was just so stacked.
00:17:39
Speaker
But he's a guy that I think if you sit there and say, OK, you're in a five game series, seven game series, I want you to game plan your way through this. He's a coach that can do that. Absolutely. Absolutely. is And I think guys like Fred Van Vliet and Dylan Brooks are going to show why they command the money that they do if they get the chance to play in the playoffs, right? They didn't get to show that last year. they This team took a big step forward. and And I think you and I have mentioned before that like If we were in the East, we would have been a five or six seed. So, um you know, it's just the fact that, as you said, the West was stacked. It's, you know, but if it's in butts or candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas. It's not what it is. But this year, it looks at least as of now, he's going to have that opportunity. And Dylan Brooks is a guy that every playoff team hates playing against that guy just to, you know, bring your sack lunch and it's going to be a tough day.
00:18:34
Speaker
um numm Num, num, num, num, num, right? Like I'm going to be in your shit for 48 straight minutes. Good luck scoring on me. It's going to be a long five, six, seven games. However long we play, you're going to hate every minute of it. And then we're going to shake hands and go away at the end. But like, I'll be damned if I guarantee you that guy doesn't bring it on a night in and night out basis in the playoffs. He's going to be a handle. He's going to be a tough handle for other teams defensively. Like he's going to bring it at that level.
00:19:00
Speaker
Fred is going to be you know, hopefully a different level player when he's in that playoff environment and take it to that next level Okay, so before we shift gears off of basketball had a little game because I think we will be on the air next time After the trade deadline because trade deadlines February 5th if I'm correct so number one question Do the Rockets make a move or not? If they do It's going to be something on the periphery. So I'm going to say, I'm going to say, yeah, I think they add a minor piece. Okay. I can go along with that. All right. Now, you know, the other, you know, big question is stars on the move, just period, not rockets on just period. Does Jimmy Butler get dealt? No. oh Well, the heat has suspended him indefinitely. So that'll be an interesting.
00:19:57
Speaker
That would be an interesting, you know, are they going to unsuspend them after February 5th? That would be kind of an interesting little, uh, I just don't see anyone giving up much to get him. And I don't know what the heat are going to be comfortable taking at this point. Right? Like, are you fine? Just take a second round pick and take them. Then why hasn't that happened already? All right. Do the Kings deal Fox? Yes.
00:20:23
Speaker
and no la They're playing it better since they made the move at coach. I'm going to say no. I'm going to say no, they're trying to fight for the playoffs. OK, so and then do the Suns break up their their top three?
00:20:40
Speaker
Maybe Beal. Yeah, Beal, you know, he already turned down a deal to the to the Bulls. I don't know if you saw that. I didn't, but I mean, maybe he just wants a legitimate championship contender.
00:20:52
Speaker
you know I'd love to have a guy like Beal in the future if you look at replacing your point guard spot. right like You're off guard in that case as Beal as just a three-point shooter. I'd be okay with that, but he's not going to want that. like He's a guy who thinks he should be getting 25, 30 shots a game. Yeah, that's true. and and I'm not thinking any any of those guys for the Rockets, mind you. I'm just thinking you know whether or not they they go anywhere.
00:21:20
Speaker
And so we need this team's Mario Chalmers. That's what we need. Maybe it's from the Houston Rockets, though, because Mario Chalmers, I think, was was a local guy. No, he was a Kansas guy. Never mind. Forget it. who So any stars that I'm leaving out that you think when you would not be surprised to see moved? I don't think there's going to be the big splash at the deadline this year. I really don't like, you know, there's there's not that guy out there. I feel like other than Butler, you know, Harden was I guess being the malcontent in in Philadelphia, but I don't know. And he got moved to LA, but I don't know, Scott. I just don't, I don't see it. Do you? No, I don't. The funny thing I saw, I heard mentioned was, um, you know, the Spider-Man memes where he had the two Spider-Men pointing at each other. Yeah. Uh, one of them said, okay. One of the Spider-Men is Aaron Rodgers and the other one's Jimmy Butler. Tell me I'm wrong. Yeah. I mean,
00:22:17
Speaker
You know, both, you know, kind of outspoken guys who, you know, are never happy anywhere they are. And I love the fact that, you know, the story comes out today that Aaron Rodgers will be willing to play for Aaron Glenn and Aaron Glenn will be willing to have Aaron Rodgers play for him. It's like, why are we even asking? like That's good. He's your quarterback on your roster as of now, like. Cool. Well, the point is, is that OK, so Aaron Rodgers leaves the Jets.
00:22:47
Speaker
What's the Jets record? You go to Vikings, man, you're going to relive Brett Favre's life. what but I'm saying, but what is it? What are the Jets record without Aaron Rodgers? Does that matter? What was the fucking record with them? That's my whole point. That's my whole point. I think they were five and 12. So I mean, are they four and 13 without them? Three and 14? Yeah, it's it's a joke, man. It's a fucking disaster.
00:23:14
Speaker
I feel bad for Jets fans
Changes in Coaching Staff
00:23:16
Speaker
everywhere. But speaking of people like I don't feel bad for, Bobby Sloak, get the fuck out of town. You're out of here, baby. He's no longer a scumbag. He's an unemployed scumbag now, Scott. And here's why he's still a scumbag. I watched a YouTube video today, right? And it was like seven straight minutes of questionable Bobby Sloak play calls.
00:23:41
Speaker
Oh, you should, yeah, you sent that to me. I said, did you watch it at all? I did, I did. And when you get it, like during the game, you're just like, wow, that was a weird one, right? Wow. Okay. But then when you get it broken down like that, I was mad. I was like legitimately fucking mad. The one that really set me off was the one where we motion CJ Stroud out to the far sideline and run a fade route with Joe Mixon, throw it into the quarter of the end zone. like What the fuck? Like you just realized how much we wasted this year. And then the story starts coming out that he and, he and C.J. Stroud got into it over, you know, what C.J. Stroud was calling certain plays because of how they did it at Ohio State. Like if this was the case that these guys were contentious for two years, I couldn't be happier. I'm already happy. Couldn't be happier that he is gone.
00:24:34
Speaker
I don't, ah I'm not going to buy into too much of that. I mean, maybe that happens. And and maybe, you know, Stroud, I tend to, the report I read was the same one, but then said, after he was drafted, things were okay. But the thing is, you can't look at what happened on the field and think that things were okay. What got me mad was when I was watching the segment of, you know, that they broke down the seven minutes into different parts. Yeah. And they broke it down to the protection.
00:25:03
Speaker
Because every one of those plays I kept going, I'm just going to count in my head and see if CJ held on to the ball too long. Every time I got to one, one thousand, two, one thousand, three, one thousand sack, three seconds was what he was given. Like there was only one play I was able to get up to four seconds. So it did he take a few sacks that he probably shouldn't have? Maybe. But the ones that really got me mad was when he had Dalton Schultz blocking the defensive end.
00:25:34
Speaker
That was a whole section of the video was here. Watch Bobby slower. Try and have a tight end block a defensive end. And we can in week fucking out and adjustments and doing it in the divisional playoff game after 18 games of seeing it not work. I, you know, now I don't know where you're going to go direction. I, um,
00:26:03
Speaker
What you know people seem with to be thinking around here is that it's Chip Kelly. And that you know basically is Chip Kelly or Bust. like They interviewed today. I don't know if you saw that they interviewed Dad Lewis. I saw that. They also interviewed the Rams passing in coordinator as well. um They interviewed LaFleur was one of them. um by Michael LaFleur, not the coach of the Green Bay Packers. So everybody settled down for a second.
00:26:33
Speaker
Everybody settle down for a second. We're not getting that guy. um They you know interviewed the guy from Syracuse. They had a number one passing offense and in college football. But I don't know if if it were Chip Kelly. What are your thoughts? I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued as Chip Kelly as a play caller only solely because like i've I've read a lot of stories here lately how like he's kind of found joy and just like only worrying about the offense, right? Like he felt like he was just, you know, it was taking up too much of his life to be a coach and it was taking the joy out of his life. And he just loves calling plays and that's not what he does. Right. And if, if that's the case, I'm intrigued. If I get power hungry, tradeaway, best players mindset, chip Kelly, I don't love it. Right. But D'Amico played for chip Kelly in, uh, in Philadelphia. Right. So like D'Amico knows ship Kelly. So.
00:27:33
Speaker
If they're cool, I'm intrigued because like clearly D'Amico's willing to fire a guy who's not a good fit and he knows what the fit needs to be, right? But like my first question I'm asking him is like, how are you protecting my quarterback? Right? Like that's gotta to be question number one is chip. Thanks for coming down. Great to see you. Tell me what you do to protect CJ Stroud. Well, you look at his numbers, um, as head coach of the Eagles, um, they were,
00:28:02
Speaker
Fourth in the NFL in offense, third in the NFL in offense, and then 13th in the NFL in offense in the year that he was fired. And then he goes to San Francisco and lays an egg. I think he was like 25th in offense that season as head coach of 49ers. Of course, that was not an extremely talented 49ers team. They went two and 14. But this year, you know, the thing is, is that what i intrigues me about him is that He went to play, Ryan Day was a former player of his. So he's already gone to play, coach for a former player. So he would be doing that again, which he showed that he's willing to do that. He's not only willing to be an assistant, but he's willing to be an assistant for somebody who he used to coach. So he's got the the ego to where he's allowed to do that. The other thing that intrigues me about him is that they've always been very creative and very
00:29:01
Speaker
good at running the football everywhere he's been, no matter where he's been. Um, the passing game, maybe in the NFL wasn't quite that much, but then again, NFL teams are running more college like offenses than they used to. See, I think with him, he put up good numbers, but then I think especially at the NFL, he, like many other coaches thought like,
00:29:27
Speaker
I, it does, I can scheme ah for almost any quarterback, right? Like he, he put up numbers of Mark Sanchez or like, okay. Then he, then he bets the fucking house on Sam Bradford, you know, and brought him up to so Philadelphia. I would have actually liked to see what that would have looked like because Sam Bradford ran a similar offense in Oklahoma. It's just Bradford never stayed healthy.
00:29:51
Speaker
Um, but like he, he kind of traded away guys that were really, really good NFL players, whether because they're bad fits or whatever, but he kind of felt like my scheme is so good. I don't need these guys, right? I don't need the big star guys. I can go get a Sam Bradford because he knows my scheme. I don't need the quarterback that, you know, got us to where we were for so long. I don't need Michael Vick. I don't need whoever I'm chip Kelly.
00:30:19
Speaker
Sam Bradford knows my offense. I'm going to bet the house on Sam Bradford. I don't need, ah you know, McCoy. I'm going to bet the house on DeMarco Murray because he ran my offense with, with Sam Bradford in college, right? Like that was the mindset of his, but if he's just on the plays and if we can slow it down a little bit too, right? Like I think that's what, what heard of me NFL as well as he always tried to go too fast and he gassed his defense because they were just like right back on the field so
NFL Coaching Speculations and Innovations
00:30:46
Speaker
quickly. So if, if you can maybe pick up the pace a bit.
00:30:50
Speaker
But I don't want to fucking go no huddle the whole time. I'd be intrigued. And and again, you're right. The way they ran the football has has been spectacular everywhere he's gone. So I would i would be interested in in Chip Kelly. But you know i'm I'm interested in and whoever's the best fit for the for the roster that we have, right? Because we're kind of set at some positions. We can't make a ton of moves on the offensive line.
00:31:14
Speaker
We don't have a ton of cap space, so like i'm I'm looking at someone who can come in and say, like look, if you would have done X, Y, and Z better, you could have had better protection. And here's why. Here's what I would have done. and And if that's Chip Kelly, I'm in. If it's the Rams passing game coordinator, I'm in. If it's Gerard Johnson, and he's sitting there going, man, I was So pissed thank God he's gone. Here's what I would have done. Okay, cool. Like whatever, right? Just I I need to see something completely different like literally We did not Do justice to what CJ Stroud is as a quarterback, right? Like I don't think we put him in positions to succeed at all this year He is not some like look what he did in college and look at the offense We force them into and in the last two years and tell me how we found ways to utilize this guy's skills as good as possible
00:32:04
Speaker
This is where I'm actually there are two historical precedents that I think I see for this. But I think my big question is with him or any OC is how much power do you give this guy? Because obviously he's calling plays. I mean, that's a given. But what happens if he comes in and looks at it and goes like, this Laramie Tunsel guy, I can't handle this guy. You're going to have to get rid of this guy.
00:32:34
Speaker
um I mean, are we actually going to do that? Knowing you know what's going to happen you know with the cap, obviously, you're not going to cut Laramie Tonsil. You would trade them. and I think I shared with you what the numbers would be. I think you you would you would save about $13-14 million dollars on the cap if you traded them before the draft and about $20 million if you traded them after June 1st.
00:32:59
Speaker
but if somebody like Chip Kelly or, you know, Rams passing game coordinator or whoever comes in and says, this guy's setting a bad example for our group. You're going to have to get rid of them in order for us to move forward. Are you going to let him make that call? The two historical examples I'm thinking of, um, one of them, I know you were alive and well for one of them, you were alive technically, but you don't remember, uh, the one you're alive in,
00:33:28
Speaker
know well is when we hired Wade Phillips is when you they go to Derek Kubiak and said, you can't survive with this bad of a defense. We're going to have to hire an established DC for you in order for us to move forward. And it worked. The other one is after we blew the bit in Buffalo back in 1993, they went to Jack party and said, you're hiring a real DC. And they hired buddy Ryan and you better believe that shit worked.
00:33:58
Speaker
at least until we got to the playoffs. That's where I see this at. I see this at, you're you're a team, you're right there. We just need an actual adult in the room to run this offense. Let's go get that guy. I have less fear of that now going forward, right? like I honestly feel maybe a little bit that That's how this team ran the first two years. Like I don't think it's crazy to think maybe the Texans team kind of ran like they remember the Titans team or like D'Amico Ryan's running the run in the office. So, you know, but the opposite, right? It was like you worry about your defense coach. I'll worry about my offense, right? Like I feel like that's kind of how it ran in the building. Maybe like D'Amico's defense ran fine. Bobby slow. It's fucking office was a joke is awful, right? So I think part of it is going to be
00:34:50
Speaker
He's going to have to be a more involved head coach, right? Like Mike. Tom is a great example. Mike. Tom is a defensive minded guy, right? Like, but at the end of the day, Mike Tomlin is the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Mike Tomlin has lasted because he understands.
00:35:09
Speaker
more than just the defensive side of the ball and he can put good guys in offensive coordinator position. He could have good guys at defensive coordinator who can call place for him if we gain plan throughout the week and know what everybody needs, right? So maybe D'Amico might have to take a step back from calling plays and let Matt Burke do that this year. I don't know. I don't want to see a step back in quality. However, I do think maybe these two years were a bit of a learning experience for D'Amico and realizing I have to have my hands involved more everywhere. If my offensive coordinator comes to me and says, Laramie Tunsell is setting a bad example for this team, I'm willing to have that conversation. But I'm also going to say, hey, coach, maybe we find a way to hold them more accountable in front of everybody first. If that doesn't work, then yeah, let's move on from it. But if if we can't try and change how we're coaching him first,
00:35:58
Speaker
i'm I'm not willing to have that conversation because this is a member of my roster and we built our offense around having this guy protect our quarterback. Quite frankly, he's the fucking only one who does. Well, and I think D'Amico's at a point in his coaching careers because let's game this out. We've already gone through two years. Let's say he hires another OC that sucks. And in two years, we're ready to fire an OC. At that point, D'Amico's four years in, D'Amico might be shown the door if things you know are not vastly improving and this team takes a step back in general. But you do the flip side because this guy called in, you know he's one of those callers, even know you shouldn't hire Chip Kelly because like they' they're going to want to replace D'Amico Ryans with Chip Kelly. And it's like, no, if Chip Kelly comes in and this offense takes a step forward, you're going to the AC title game. If you're going to the AC title game,
00:36:57
Speaker
There's no way in hell you're firing D'Amico Ryans. D'Amico Ryans is going to be your coach for the next decade, if if that happens. And that's where D'Amico Ryans, I think, has to look at this when he's making his hires. He can't be, well, you know, they're going to stood it no, you hire the best dude. And if you get the best dude, this team takes another step. You got job security for as long as you want. And quite frankly, I think D'Amico's already on a bit of a longer leash just because of what he's done in these first two years, right? Like, even with bad offensive coordinator work, you've won the division twice, you've had this year one of the best defenses you and I have ever seen this team have, right? That includes the Wade Phillips years where, like, those defenses were really fucking good.
00:37:52
Speaker
D'Amico's were better, right? Like, I think you could take the best way Phillips defense he ever had, and and this year's D'Amico Ryan's defense, and this one wipes the floor with it, Scott. Like, the the cornerback play, we never, ah ah no matter when the Texans were insist in existence, we've never had defensive back play like we have right
Texans' Defensive Success Under D'Amico Ryan
00:38:15
Speaker
now. So, you know, the defense is going to continue, I think, at a certain level, especially when you've got the the young guys that we have, um yeah, you go get the best guy. Like if Chip Kelly has success and if chip cut of the Texans make it to the AFC Championship game and he gets head coaching interviews, it's not going to be with the Texans, right? Like it's going to be with someone else. And if Chip Kelly has come out and said, I don't want to be a head coach anymore. I just like calling plays and he's the best guy at calling plays.
00:38:48
Speaker
why wouldn't you want him? Because then like you for CJ, that might be the best case scenario, right? You don't have to worry about your head, you your coordinator being taken away to be a head coach somewhere else because he said, I don't want to do this. I have money. I'm already rich. I'm happy doing this. If it works, that's a best case scenario for CJ Strava where you can form a partnership. He speaks the same language because they were both at Ohio State under Ryan Day. So we can literally talk, you know,
00:39:18
Speaker
formations and things like that where they're already speaking like to like. So i'm told I want CJ in on these meetings though. Is that crazy Scott to think he should be in these meetings? I'll say the key number is number three here. Number three, number one, I'm going to ask these guys three questions, but the number, the key, cause this is CJ Stroud's third year. This is the year that after which teams make decisions about whether or not they're going to give their quarterback that mega deal.
00:39:46
Speaker
And are you going to give CJ Stroud $60 million? dollars Based on this year, the answer is no. but who are you goingnna So my first question would be, how do we unlock CJ Stroud? That's my first question to any coordinator. Question number two is the one you asked right off the bat was how do you protect CJ Stroud? And question number three, and this is the one I think Hannah McNair ought to come in and ask,
00:40:14
Speaker
So tell me about wide receiver screens.
00:40:20
Speaker
Wow, they ran a lot of those though. But, you know, tell me how they, why did they work for you and not the way we did them? I mean, I don't mind a wide receiver screen if it's run well and not 12 times in one game every time we're in third and long, right? Like for Gary Kubiak, it was the halfback draw.
00:40:43
Speaker
With a five yard out on a third and 12, um, with the roll, the naked bootleg to Owen Daniels for five yards on a third and 12. That was, if that was a fucking classic. who But, um, yeah, would you let see this job in these meetings though? Like if you're me, if you have a first meeting with, with chip Kelly and it's a good meeting, right? And you're going to now say like, Hey, you're, you moved on to the next round.
00:41:11
Speaker
Do you say, hey, CJ, do you want to meet with Chip and do you want to talk and see what that relationship would be like? Or do you kind of say, he's the player, I'm the coach. I'm not, you know, comfortable giving him that kind of control or, you know, do you want his take? No, no, this is what I do. I include him in the first meeting and I'll tell you why. Um, I think one of the reasons why you interview these guys,
00:41:40
Speaker
is not only to decide whether or not you're going to hire them, you use inside information. And so think about how many times and how many different coordinators he can talk to, they can sit there and say, how would you take my game to the next level? And all those guys are going to tell him, honestly, hopefully, this is what's wrong with your game right now.
00:42:04
Speaker
And, you know, and you might get different answers. And so, you know, one of those things might be something that unlocks, you know, that turns a light bulb on for CJ going like, yeah, you're right. I, you know, I do need to change how I do that. And so you could get, you know, a lot of inside information, but obviously you're going to, the whole thing, the only, the only way this thing works is not only does the guy have to know what he's doing,
00:42:33
Speaker
But CJ has to buy in. And so he needs to listen to these guys. And he needs to not only sit there and say, like this is not you know either you know this is not a guy I can jive with. you know I ah can't vibe with this guy. Or this guy really knows his football, and I like him. And I can work with this guy. i mean I think you want to hear that. I agree with a lot of that, Scott, except I do have a fear if you take that route.
00:43:01
Speaker
um It almost kind of turns into like the arbitration process for baseball where you've now listen to a bunch of people tell you what you don't do well. And maybe that has a little bit of a negative effect. I don't know. like I.
00:43:15
Speaker
it's It's one thought. i I also don't want him meeting with 10 guys, right? Get it to the final three and let him tell me of those three, like, you know, not even who'd you like more. Just like, tell me what you thought about each one of these guys, right? Just like, I want you to to sit in a room and watch film together, just the two of you. And I want you to tell me like what you thought about each one of these film sessions and and what did you think about breaking down breaking down film with Gerard Johnson, what do you think about breaking out there with Chip Kelly? What do you think about breaking out there with a floor? Not even who's your favorite, just what were your thoughts on each one of these guys' insights and and take it from there, right? Because I do think at the end of the day, while you and I both agree, Stroud is the the future of this franchise, he's our guy, he's still going into year three and he ended down year two. you know This isn't Tom Brady or Peyton Manning coming you know coming in and having conversations, right? This is a third year quarterback who has
00:44:10
Speaker
yet to get out of the second round and has never won a road playoff game. So, um, until you show me a little bit more, or even, you know, maybe you even sign a reduced rate second contract. Cause you love the city and want to help get some talent around you. If you do that, yeah, come on in, pick your fucking off offensive coordinator. I don't care. But until that point, I think maybe it's a second round conversation, not the first one. I could, I could buy that. But the other thing, uh, Ross Tucker, I don't know if you've ever listened to him. I haven't know.
00:44:39
Speaker
Now he's a former NFL offensive lineman. Um, and he comes on on the, uh, six, 10 in the morning sometimes. And he just said, I can't believe you don't have more former linemen or offensive line coaches as offensive coordinators. Cause that's Andy Reed's background. Andy Reed was a, you know, offensive line coach for 10 years, you know, before he moved up the ranks and, you know, became a a head coach because.
00:45:05
Speaker
You think about how many times you get these guys, you know, who want to play Madden and draw up these great plays. And they're asking linemen to do stuff they physically can't do. And to me, that thought process, Scott, let me, look like, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but you, you've set a light bulb off from my head. the Eagles have the best fucking offensive line in football. They develop offensive linemen at a level that no one else does.
00:45:32
Speaker
and their offensive line coach has been there for years. Would you ah would you want to interview that guy for an offensive coordinator position? I would, just to hear what, you know. Yeah. Again, you're getting intel part of that. Yeah. So you're asking him, hey, how did you build such great offensive lines? Because even if you don't hire that guy, that's information that you can use to build your line. But see, the other part of that is think about this. If you give CJ Strauss seven seconds to throw, is he going to find an open guy?
00:46:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think you could find an open guy for after seven seconds. Yeah, exactly. It doesn't matter what kind of plays I'm drawing up. I could draw it up with rocks in the dirt. I think if you give my quarterback seven seconds, he'll find a guy. I mean, at seven seconds, it's backyard football anyway, right? Like, we've abandoned our regular routes, and we're moving in to just get open territory. Okay, but if you're saying, but even if I give my guy five seconds, I mean, that's you mean you can now run You can now run double moves because it has time to develop. Exactly. So I would i would interview that guy just to find out what he knows about offensive line play. Yeah, I mean, I'd be interested in that thought process, Scott. like the The fact is, the Eagles obviously do a better job than anybody else in the league with offensive line talent. Jason Kelsey was a fourth round pick. Everybody else on that office the offensive line is like,
00:46:58
Speaker
the lowest, the shortest guy, 6'6", right? they They are known for just mauling people. Like, your running back just ran for 2,000 yards. Yeah, I am 100% in line with getting that guy in the building. I just worry with the Super Bowl and everything looming, is there going to be time, right? Like, are you going to have time to get that guy here? Yeah, that's that's that's true. But, yeah I mean, it's a good thought. And there's ah got there's other good offensive line coaches are around the league.
00:47:28
Speaker
So, I mean, just to get somebody in the mic, one check, man, would you bring it a one check for an offensive coordinator interview? And then if you like what he says, but he's not quite OC material, do you say, are you interested in our old lie coach? I would, fight I would just, just to pick that guy's brain. Cause he knows someone. Yeah. Houston legend. Speaking of another Houston legend though, is Alex Bregman back Scott? Whoa.
00:47:53
Speaker
Pump the brakes now. It's it's been a back and forth on Twitter. Now it comes out, the talks were all internal. There's, you know, apparently now the best, my favorite tweet was that Scott Bors has been left on red by, by Dana Brown that Bors has reached out, but Brown hasn't returned that message yet.
Future of Alex Bregman with Astros, Contracts?
00:48:10
Speaker
That gives me a little bit of short and fraud on the inside. I, I don't know, Scott, is Alex Pregnant going to come back? Oh, I, you know, okay.
00:48:22
Speaker
So, if you're the Astros, I'll ask it this way. Are you good on 6-156?
00:48:30
Speaker
I don't know, man. Now that we have like a top third base prospect, I don't know. Well, Smith can play smith can play right field. Okay. Okay. That helps. Then, yeah, I'm willing to do it. If if Smith comes up as a right fielder,
00:48:47
Speaker
Worst case scenario, Bregman moves to second base as he gets older towards the end of that contract and maybe Altuve is de-hating for the last year of his career. Like, I don't know. I feel like this window stays open a lot longer and this offseason looks a lot different and Bregman is back and you basically just swapped out Paredes and Walker for Kyle Tucker. Like, I feel like this is a lot more competitive of a baseball team. I feel like Dana Brown smells blood in the water is what I think. And I think what he knows is that his 6156 was the most years and probably around the the right AAV. But I don't know of anybody that offered him more than five years. I think Boston offered him four. I think Detroit offered him five. So if we got the highest offer on the board and you said no,
00:49:47
Speaker
I think Brown is going to try and sweat them and get them for less. That's my my take on it. I don't think you're wrong. I think he may even go back to him at like a 390 with an opt out after each year. Maybe. but And so here's the other part of this, too, is that Jose Altuve has been seen, video has been taken and released online of him taking fly balls and left.
00:50:16
Speaker
I think this is, this might happen regardless of whether or not they get pregnant because the other guy they were talking to is Jorge Polanco, who is a career second baseman. Now the difference is Polanco is not a good defensive second baseman. I think the Mariners last year, didn't he? Yeah, he played third for them, but he's not a good defensive second baseman. And so you'd be replacing a bad defensive second baseman with a bad defensive second baseman. Now,
00:50:46
Speaker
If you move, if you get Bregman, you're moving Paratus to second. a i've I've looked at the numbers. He's played about 50 games there. He doesn't look like your typical second baseman. I mean, he's a little... Like when Uli was playing at second base. It's a little beefier than your typical second baseman. But, you know, the numbers show that he was close to neutral. Fine. I think i think fine was the way to put it, realistically.
00:51:16
Speaker
Yeah, so but I think if I'm going to release an article on Friday, which I usually do on crawfish boxes, I think you can make an argument that Altuve is more valuable in left field than he is in second base. um Do you think he could be a neutral left fielder?
00:51:39
Speaker
Yes, especially, especially playing 81 games at Minute Maid Park, right? Like if he starts every game or almost every game in left field at Minute Maid Park and 50% on the road, pick and choose your spots and DH him in the other spots. Um, I'd say that's a more valuable fit for him because his, his defense has been declining at second base. And I, I love Jose Altuve. You will not find a a bigger defender.
00:52:08
Speaker
of Jose Altuve than Tim Costello. But realistically, his bat has aged better than his glove. Oh, no. it Last three years, he's he's been minus 13, minus 14, minus 15, defensive run saved. Now, if you look at stat cast, stat cast is a little better. But then again, stat cast, nobody is that bad in stat cast. Their numbers aren't you know that severe.
00:52:33
Speaker
But I think I think you could cover it up a little bit better with with all the shifting the Astros were doing too Yeah, now that the shift is banned. He has to cover a lot more ground That's the right when those numbers started declining is when the shift was bad So, you know, I think if you if he is a neutral left fielder even with the runs because you know that Baseball reference does this I don't know if you know ah you look at the baseball reference numbers. They have a number they call our POS So a relative position and the number of runs that positions were. Second base tends to be four to five runs a season. Left field tends to be minus four to five runs a season. So if he's neutral and left, not getting the minus 14 or 15 runs he was getting as a fielder at second, he's about a half win better in left field. Yeah.
00:53:30
Speaker
I think it helps the team, right? Because realistically, we're scared about this outfield, right? Like, even, not even defensively, right? Like, I think defensively, if you ran out Dubon, Jake Myers and Chas McCormick and your outfit, like,
00:53:47
Speaker
I'm not at all worried about that. oh They're all plus defenders. Yeah. I'm worried about the fact that you're seven, eight, nine. It looks like Dubon Jake Byers and jazz McCormick. You know, if I get a legitimate major league bat and left field and you know, maybe Chaz can hit two 50 this year.
00:54:06
Speaker
now I can swallow Jake Myers in center or I can play I can play Mauricio Dubon in center every day because I've got a collection of Altuve and Bregman and Paredes who can all you know Altuve can play second and left Bregman can play third and second Paredes can play first and third you know we can we can move this thing around Alvarez can play some left field when Fromber's pitching right like we could pencil in The the bats that we have to fill those spots and now that outfield bats Don't look as you know, well really quite frankly you're looking so let's say we bring pregnant back Your lineup your top three is going to be out to a pregnant out and you're done, right? Probably so then you go probably Walker Parade it maybe I don't know if you go parade is then Diaz or Diaz parade us and
00:55:05
Speaker
Okay, so we can walk a parade is DS through six. Yeah, so your seventh guy becomes Jeremy Pena. Mm-hmm. Not a bad seventh place hitter. Mm-hmm. Your eighth hitter becomes Chasm McCormick. I can live with that. Mm-hmm. And if you bond your starting center fielder, he's a pretty nice little ninth hitter who can... Well, or minor. I prefer Dubon at this point in that lineup. Well, but either way, it really doesn't matter if they're very ninth place hitter.
00:55:35
Speaker
So, and then if you get Polanco, Polanco, I would say offensively, would you say that Polanco is even with Peña offensively?
00:55:47
Speaker
There are different kinds of hitters, but... Yeah, Polanco's more of a slapper, but yeah, that's fair. He had like 14, 15 home runs last year, strikes out a ton, but I think he walks a little bit more than Peña.
00:56:00
Speaker
um So probably about 100 OPS plus kind of guy. Yeah. So you're still looking at a pretty damn good seven deep lineup. If your top seven guys are all league average or better. Um, and then, you know, of course McCormick, if he returns back to pre 2024 norm is also average or above. So, I mean, that's a, that's a pretty damn good looking lineup. Now we did have a guy leave town.
00:56:33
Speaker
I don't know if you saw the comments today about the the guy that just left town. Uh, didn't say anything specifically. I'm sure it was complimentary. Um, Oh, Presley. Yeah. Dana Brown. He admitted that their relationship got pretty rocky once they got hater. Their relationship like the teams and Presley's or Browns and Presley's Brown and Presley.
00:57:00
Speaker
Okay. And he basically said, well, you know, it was it affected, it's bound to reflect a relationship. He was professional. I was professional, but you know, it is going to have an effect. That's basically what he said. Okay. Which kind of says to me that maybe Ryan Presley maybe did a little bit of pouting, but not too severe to where we would necessarily have heard about it.
00:57:26
Speaker
Um, so maybe if you looked at the fact that he kind of probably by his standards had a down year, could you blame that on him being, you know, maybe, uh, disenchanted that we could say.
00:57:43
Speaker
I think minimally, but I think the majority of of his downness is like his fastball loss philosophy. yeah when When you have to be able to hit 95 and then he throws that fucking big old banger of a curve ball with that much spin on it, like it's hard to adjust, right? but like If I can look for that curve ball and adjust to a 92 or 93 mile an hour fastball, you're a little bit easier to hit. And just that little bit at the Major League level makes a huge difference. So I think the difference between 95 and 93 hurt Presley a lot more than being a little bit butthole over not being the closer any anymore. Because I think realistically the signs were there in 2023 that Ryan Presley should not be your closer going forward into 2024.
00:58:32
Speaker
And, you know, I think Graven, you know, kind of forced the Astros hand a little bit with his injury, but before that you and I expressed concern, right? Like before that season, the idea of Montero and Graven and Presley and Abreu, like we all just assumed Abreu was going to take over Presley's job going into 2024. We never, we never even thought Presley would make it through the year as the closer. So.
00:59:00
Speaker
I just, I chalk it up more to like, yeah, maybe, maybe he went in there, uh, like, I don't know if you see the movie draft day, but maybe he went in there like Bryce drew style or Brian drew style. And he like trashed his desk and he said like, I was the best fucking closest this team ever saw. And you just gave my spot away. You're going to fucking live to regret it. You know, like.
00:59:19
Speaker
Maybe that's what happened and then like he's like you're gonna be the best setup man Weaver. So how about that? You know, maybe they got like back and towards each other's face. I don't know But like again, I just think more than anything it was the drop in below that that hurt Ryan Presley I think if you looked at him though I think there might be some credence to it just bed based on the fact that he got off to such a horrible start and And then as the year went on, I think as he adjusted to the role, he started, you know, he had that stretch where he had li like 10 or 15 games in a row that went scoreless, you know, that he was, you know, starting out. Yeah. But I tend to agree with you in terms of the trajectory of his career, I think. And and the Cubs are kind of, uh, kind of making me laugh. It looks like they're looking at adding, uh, David Robertson. And it's like, so.
01:00:09
Speaker
You know, can we add as many 30 somethings? You remember that show 30 something? Did you ever, uh, hear, you know, that one, but there was a show called 30 something. And I think maybe that's where the Chicago cause bullpen is going to be a 30 something. We'll see. I mean, it would be, it would be rough if they added him and they made him a closer after he just wrestled and he just put it just no trade clause. We can go be your closer. Well, the thing is, is that people.
01:00:37
Speaker
People are now, oh, I'm worried about the Astro's bullpen depth. I'm less worried about it. Well, that's what I'm saying. We came into that last year and we're going like, who in the hell is, you know, Scott, who in the hell is Brian Keene?
Astros' Bullpen Concerns
01:00:52
Speaker
Who in the hell is Caleb Ortt? And all of a sudden these guys were hominid. You know, and so I, I have more faith that we can find fungible bullpen arms that can work.
01:01:05
Speaker
than I am in any other portion of this team. You didn't say starting rotation. I would be more, I'm more worried about our starting rotation than and the bullpen. I agree with you Scott. Like I think losing Presley, this team might, I hate to say it, but maybe got a little bit better because you're no longer kind of pinched and hold into using Brian, Brian Presley in the eighth inning, right? Like now.
01:01:29
Speaker
Now that Brady goes back to the eighth inning where he was at his best. You could slide Kayla Bort into the seventh. Tanner Scott becomes your fireman and gets you out of the bad jams. And then you've still got a guy like Forest Whitley who showed he could actually be a pretty decent reliever. And maybe that's a guy who can look late innings in some games. I believe LMJ is coming back as a reliever is everything that I've heard. So that's another guy who will help solidify that bullpen theoretically.
01:01:59
Speaker
Here's another, uh, a couple of names for you. Uh, one, uh, do you have a trashcan handy? I do not. I just want to make sure if you get sick that you, you got something, uh, you know, to, to one of them, uh, roster resource.com, which is affiliated with fan grass as a roster resource. They have Raphael Montero making the team as a non roster invitee. I mean,
01:02:28
Speaker
You know, but I read that we were trying to trade him and he's like who the fuck is good Well, but you've already cut him those from his contract so he's not really under contract I mean he's on the 40-man roster anymore. Is it? No. No, he'd have to be not right him So but here's here's you mentioned a name Would you be interested in like? throwing a like a league minimum at Kendall Graven
01:02:59
Speaker
maybe. I mean, ah I don't know. Like he was good for us. I just feel like he was always better everywhere else, right? Like every time we brought Kendall Graven here, he kind of took a step back. And so I don't know. I'd be interested in having the conversation, but as you said, it's gotta be league minimum, something like that. I'm not spending big bucks on the guy. I don't think he has any other offers out there. none I've never heard anybody. You look at what he was doing in Seattle.
01:03:28
Speaker
And then he got to Houston. He was good, not great, right? Then he goes and he signs with the White Sox. He's fucking on fire again. Gets back to Houston. and He's like leaking a little the whole time he's here. he he's He's good. He was the never the same that he was before he got here. It seems like he didn't enjoy being here. The difference is that he wouldn't be making eight or nine million and he wouldn't be your seventh or eighth inning guy. He would just be another guy in the pen. It'd be an intriguing thought, Scott, if he's healthy, right? Like would obviously they It's weird that if he was healthy enough that he hasn't gotten those offers, right it released ah a minor league Contract with an invite to spring training. I haven't looked at his injury recovery. So I don't know if he is on schedule We did see you mentioned LMJ. We did see that Dana Brown has basically said that ah LMJ and Garcia Luis Garcia are not gonna start the season on the team and
01:04:26
Speaker
Uh, he said that maybe they make it back in April. Seems like we've heard this song of dance. I can't believe how, like what I, at this point.
01:04:37
Speaker
he has to have a bionic fucking elbow scott like the i want and some point for landscape colors to be able to be like go go gadget like windex and be able to like bra it off with his elbow jo i yourba like yeah go go go good gadget fastball because like Does it take two years like more than two years? This is this is mind-blowing like and I just assumed he'd be ready to go because He was out all last year, right? Like he okay. He took the whole year JV did it if we've seen it. Okay, you take the whole year you come back strong I've seen video of him throwing. Okay, and it's like he's not gonna be ready to go. It's just like are you kidding me? Well, you know, I want to call up a guy I was telling you about on the text line. I got to try out this voice
01:05:26
Speaker
um There are people in Kansas City that said that they've made you know hay off of Patrick Mahone's voice, trying to see like if they can you know what what they can play in the background to make it sound sexy. So there's this guy that comes on on 610. His name is Nick Costas.
01:05:45
Speaker
And the only way I can describe him is he is the king of the Lilacop Guild. It's a dick house. Come bet with us. Maybe a hundred dollars. I'm dick house. So like, Oh my God, dude, you gotta, I just don't know. It was crazy. I had to share that, you know, because it was the, it was the just the the worst voice for radio I've ever heard before in my life. I got to tell you the worst voice I ever heard. I, when I got out of college, I worked as, um,
01:06:15
Speaker
A manager at this place, a place called Grimaldi's Pizzeria, right? Oh, yeah. I had like a 20, 30 minute drive from where I live to where it works, just because like I lived right next to Texas Stadium and I thought it was so fucking cool that my place was right next to Texans. Like I didn't care that I had a little bit of a drive. So most times when I got out, I was privy to Scott Pharrell on the bench. And I don't know, Scott, have you ever listened to Scott Pharrell? I can't say I have.
01:06:45
Speaker
Scott Ferrell on the bench here, walk him in. What do you got over there for me, Scottie? okay ah national syndicated radio and Scott that's what he sounded like like you should google Scott Ferrell on the bench and see and see what he sounded like but people call in they'd be like pour me a shot Scott I'm feeling it tonight and then he'd like play like the sound effect of like someone poured a shot or like someone else would call in be like I'm feeling a beer and then you have like the sound effect of like someone filling up a beer on drafts and stuff like that but
01:07:22
Speaker
Yeah, man, Scott Farrell was was hands down the worst the worst radio voice I ever heard. All right. Are we ready for some awards, Tim? Yeah, let's start giving away. Scott, who do you have for us this week as our horses ass of the week? Okay, horses ass is going to be a frequent recent winner. Do you have any laugh tracks available, Tim? I didn't load up the laugh track, Scott. The Dallas Cowboys have hired Ryan Schoenheimer has their head cut. I think the all-backs are all just even better than the track. And and all I got to say is, ah Shadi, I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at you. We're laughing at Jerry, right? We're laughing at Jerry because here's the thing, right? So do you know what his job was, Tim?
01:08:20
Speaker
bryant Yes. white di prescott's ass He was the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys.
01:08:32
Speaker
the plays i think he just wiped jack prestco's as So do you really want anybody that was a part of this shit show to be your head coach? They wanted McCarthy back! They wanted to bring McCarthy back and they blew it!
01:08:46
Speaker
howy so to me Kellen Moore was still available. Kellen Moore is the offensive coordinator on the best team in the NFC. so But they didn't like how Kellen Moore ran plays. They fired Kellen Moore and Brian Schottenheimer. Well, I know, but I'm saying like you could if you're selling this to the Dallas Cowboys fans, how do you even sell this? Now, because I was thinking about this.
01:09:13
Speaker
and And I decided that. Hang on real quick. Do you want to know how he tried to sell it? Because I kid you not, the quote from Jerry Jones was when the media asked about it. Well, there's not a lot of smiles and glory holes about the decision. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. And well like glory. Well, well, here, here's where it to me, there is one move that was worse. David fucking Collie. Because I've heard of Brian Schottenheimer.
01:09:43
Speaker
I know who Brian Schottenheimer is. He's been a coordinator for 11 years in the NFL. See, I just agree. I really think that jazz is a good hire. I've heard of that. But when we hired David Collie, I was like, who the fuck is David Collie? Oh, he's been a ah good off offensive coordinator for Kentucky and for the box. like i think I think that was a good hire. Well, no, Collie had never been an offensive coordinator. Never. Oh, Collie, David Collie. I thought you were talking about Collie.
01:10:09
Speaker
No, no. Cohen, the guy who got hired by the Jags. Oh, no, no, no, no. Cully was the worst hired people. Yeah, that one was terrible. I don't, I still do this. Hey, I put, I put Brian Schottenheimer on the level of Lovey Smith. Because, you know, when you hire Lovey Smith, you're just like, at least I've heard of him. Uh, his defense- Oh, you heard of Brian Schottenheimer because of his dad. Yeah, but he's been an offensive coordinator to Lee. He's been, he's been around- For his dad!
01:10:39
Speaker
Yeah, but he's know who he is. He's the baseball version of Lou Brown. He's been a manager of the Toledo Mudhins for the last 34 years, and I think he fits perfectly in with our team concept. You he got the call? Like they say, hey, you're going to be the coach of Dallas Cowboys. Is that you, Tolberg? No, he's like, can I put you on hold? I got the guy on the other end about some white walls.
01:11:07
Speaker
I don't know. We got a big sale going on this week. I'm expecting to move a lot of rubber. We're a discount tire, man. I got a guy on the other end with some white walls. Oh, man. Oh, my God. All right. What do you guys What do you guys do? Yeah. And I just wanted to add in two How does any free agent take the Cowboys seriously at this point, right? Like if you're unwilling to even do a full on fucking coaching search, like, why would I want to come to town? Jerry just wanted what was comfortable. Like he didn't want, like, I don't think Dion was the guy, right? Like I think Dion shtick works better in college. I think he's better at molding 18 year olds into, into draft prospects. Like some guys are a fit for that. Nick Saban was a fit for that.
01:11:58
Speaker
But it doesn't mean that that was Deon or, it wasn't Deon or Brian Schottenheimer, right? Like there was plenty of other talent. Like you could have had Brian Johnson, you could have had whoever, but like, I think it says so much that Mike McCarthy, and I don't think he's a good coach, would rather be unemployed right now than work for Jerry Jones for any more length. And he looks like he's falling out of favor with the Saints. So it looks like he's going to walk away without an NFL job.
01:12:26
Speaker
And I guarantee you he's fine with that. Like, would you, if you went to him and said, Mike, are you okay with the fact that you're not the Cowboys coach and you're sitting out for a year? Maybe this was it. He'd say, yeah, I don't want to work with your fucking Jones anymore. I mean, unless he was buying cheesesteaks with every meal at the most expensive restaurant in town, he's got to have saved up some money. I mean, he's been a head coach in a league for what, about almost 15 years.
01:12:54
Speaker
yeah and I don't think it's about money guys. It's about the fact that there's no no these jobs available, right? So I'm just saying like he can sit out. I mean, it's not gonna hurt him any He's probably got enough money in the bank if you're a good coach Like how much are you really going out to eat and having nice meals? Right because you're supposed to be all these guys are supposed to be at the facility grinding all the time, right? They're there from 5 a.m. So well, it's long night It is Mike McCarthy to that too. But like I'm just saying, right? Like, if you really are one of those coaches who's grinding, you're eating breakfast at the team facility, you eat lunch at the team facility, you're eating dinner at the team facility, like maybe your wife likes to spend some money like okay, but like realistically, you personally, you shouldn't have time to be spending money if you're a good NFL head coach. But then it's it's Mike McCarthy.
01:13:44
Speaker
Just a guy he You know what? I work nine to five. i work hes that Mike McCarthy is the definition of like today's version of working your wage. like You pay me this much, you get this much out of me. right like If you're willing to pay me more, you can have nine to seven. If you pay me even more, go seven to seven. But at the retail right now, you get me from nine to five. All right, Tim. Who do you got? Who do who' who is your horse's ass?
01:14:12
Speaker
i I'm not sure who, you know, who exactly is to blame here, right? But I am going to preface this as, you know, the Texans hired a new team president this week. And the rumor mill coming out is the reason they hired, who they hired is because they're going to be trying angling for a new stadium. I, and the reason for that is because the NFL has determined NRG is just too old to host Super Bowls, right? And I, I'm,
01:14:42
Speaker
I'm lost right energy is a great facility. It's fine. Does it need some updating? Sure. Absolutely.
Debate on Stadium Infrastructure
01:14:49
Speaker
But is there a reason to tear down a perfectly good facility that has the adjustable roof that's in a warm weather climate that has the nightlife that has the hotels that has everything you need in place to host a Super Bowl.
01:15:08
Speaker
Why do we need a new stadium, Scott? like We live in a society of waste as it is. We don't need to be fucking wasting professional sporting venues. We don't need to just, well, it's been 20 years. No, stadiums are built to last. If your house can last 20 years, a fucking billion dollar football facility can last more than that too, right? like it's It's absolutely insane to me that we're even thinking about this. So I don't know if it's the NFL for saying that our stadium's too old to host a Super Bowl. I don't know if it's <unk> the Texans for thinking like that. We just need a new stadium. like We should go up near the Woodlands. It'll be so nice up there. like No. like You're in a fine situation. You've got plenty of parking. You've got, again, nightlife, hotels, everything you need. I don't understand it. There's nowhere to grow within the city of Houston. You're not building a new football stadium anywhere around there.
01:16:06
Speaker
So tell me where you're going to go that's not somewhere around the fucking outskirts of town in the middle of nowhere. And now you're going to have to build a whole new cityscape. Now you're going to have to build hotels. You're going to have to build restaurants. You're going to have to build a plaza. You're going to have to build all this other shit. And it's just greed and waste when we have exactly what we need already. This is what I don't understand.
01:16:30
Speaker
The news that came down with the Dyken deal at what was formerly Minute Maid Park, and I don't know if you heard this part, but Jim Crane is sinking $100 million dollars into park improvements. $100 million. dollars You have a stadium, make it nicer. Yeah, well, and $100 million, dollars that stadium was built for like $300 million. So, I mean, nus that's pretty a significant face.
01:16:56
Speaker
And it's not ah time Scott that they've made park improvements. They made it for the 2017 season too. Did you watch the John Oliver special on stadium deals? Uh, I think so, but I watched a lot of John Oliver specials. So one of them was like, I think in Cincinnati made a deal where if a stadium came out with a hologram that they would have to add a hologram to their stadium that was written in the contract.
01:17:20
Speaker
So whatever future technology comes out in some other stadium has to be added to the Cincinnati stadium. Uh, I mean, this is what rather than that than building a new one, right? Well, this is what this sounds like. It's like, well, you know, what's so far stadium has so far stadium has this. We're not going to give you the super bowl unless you put in what sofa hats. And so this is the NFL strongman sitting there basically.
01:17:48
Speaker
you know, we're not going to give you, we're not going to throw you a nugget. and And this is, you know, we're talking about millions of dollars when your city gets the Super Bowl. Realistically, in the economic, you know, five years of it of getting up to it and everything like that. Yeah. So, you know, the NFL's got these cities over a barrel. And, you know, in order, you know, that he's going to say, well, it's a nice little astrodome you've got there, but maybe you got to tear that sucker down.
01:18:17
Speaker
Or maybe we put in like a huge screen all around the dome and we could put in like, you know, have a hundred thousand people pay tickets and 30,000 of them can sit in the Astrodome and watch the game on TV. one I'm fine with that. Like that's better. Right. But I'm just saying, but the NFL is just creating this whole, you know, well, this other city's got this in they' in their park. And Scott, what's the best thing about doing a a stadium, not a tour, but like when you go to Major League Baseball stadiums, they all have a little bit of different character, right? And like there's older ones that have been there a while and they're all different and they all have their own charm and they all represent the city in a certain way.
01:19:07
Speaker
The NFL was like, they they want cookie cutter shit. They want, this is the template for a Superbowl stadium. Please have screens that are this big. Please have seating here. Please have boxes that are around these areas. But right? Like there's just no character. And that's, that's part of the problem with the Superbowl having predetermined cities. Like you said, they, they have these teams that they're back in call and and you hold them by the nuts and say, do this or else you're not going to get one.
01:19:34
Speaker
And, and, you know, as much money as Jerry spends, they haven't gotten one since they had that ice storm when they had one here and in the city of Arlington, couldn't fucking handle it. So it doesn't sometimes doesn't even matter how nice your stadium is the city that it's in. Doesn't have the infrastructure. Sorry. Even though they've built, if you haven't been to Arlington and and they have a the ballpark, they have the rugby station and attached to a hotel attached to Arlington live, like Dave got like what you need to have people there.
01:20:04
Speaker
But there was an ice storm one time. Sorry, like, I didn't want to hear, but it's still ridiculous that, like, Jerry Jones can't even get a fucking Super Bowl in his stadium again, right? Like, it's just...
01:20:16
Speaker
It's dumb because if the Super Bowl was played like in the home team stadium, none of this would matter. None of it would matter because you just go to wherever that is and that's their stadium and they're hosting, right? Like Major League Baseball, even though they make the Astros close the roof or or open the roof because it's too loud, they can't come in and be like, you're not allowed to play in the World Series as long as the Crawford boxers are still there, right? They can't do that. It's our fucking stadium. yeah But the NFL can. And and that's the problem. So really I guess it's really the NFL is the horse's ass here.
01:20:46
Speaker
Yep. All right. Enough of the negativity for a moment.
Amen Thompson's Rise with the Rockets
01:20:51
Speaker
let's ah Let's tip a cap here. Who do you have for us this week? I got two hat tips. Quick for this week. Number one, we mentioned them earlier, but I wanted to spend a little bit more time on them. And then Thompson is my hat tip. Yesterday in Boston, by the way, for those of y'all who are following along, the Rockets did defeat the Hawks in 100 to 96 this evening to continue their win streak.
01:21:16
Speaker
And this has been quite the murderer's row. Now the Hawks, obviously not. That was a makeup game from the snow that occurred, you know, a couple of weeks ago. But defeating Cleveland twice. So they swept the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are the number one team in the Eastern Conference. They just beat the Boston Celtics in Boston, the number two team in the Eastern Conference. And Ayman Thompson in that game, 33 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, including a teardrop there with 0.7 seconds left to score the winning bucket. Tim mentioned it before that he entered the starting alignment with Jabari Smith, was went down with his broken hand, somehow breaking it during shoot around. I still would love to know how that happened, but ah be that as it may. ah And this team has taken a step, a significant step
01:22:13
Speaker
And, and I didn't think that they would take a step with him in the starting lineup. I thought that, you know, they would maybe hold serve. Maybe they would take a step back because as good as he is, he can defend three, four different positions on the court. I didn't think he'd be able to bang and he probably still doesn't bang like a traditional four would, but in the one, two or three about as well as any, any guy in the league right now.
01:22:42
Speaker
And I don't know if you have his numbers handy, Tim, but, you know, in the starting lineup, he's probably averaging, what, 15, 16 a game. yeah Yeah. I mean, he's nearly good for a double double with, with rebounds and assists, you know, triple double the other night game winner. It's fantastic. It's.
01:23:00
Speaker
It's very often, I mean, it's very rare that you get to watch kind of a guy blossom before your eyes, right? But as Rockets fans right now, we're kind of watching Amen blossom and into a star player. It's exciting. And he definitely deserves the hat tip for taking the opportunity because there's plenty of guys who injuries happen. You get inserted into the lineup and, and you don't take full advantage of it. Right. But then there's the, the Lou Gehrigs of the world. There's the.
01:23:26
Speaker
Colin, I mean the the Colin Kaepernick's of the world right where you got your opportunity and you took it the ah Patrick Mahomes, right? Like Alex Smith was there before homes homes Became the starter never look back. So um Whenever you get your opportunity and to take advantage of it and and not only take advantage of it, but flourish. It's exciting to see All right, you want to sandwich this thing no you go ahead and take your start all right, so second one real quick My daughter is going through her auditions
Personal College Audition Experiences
01:23:58
Speaker
now. I forgot to ask them for NIL money. That's kind of not bad. That's kind of my bet on that. I was i was kind of maybe angling, seeing if we can get her a Jardiance ad, you know. they But no, I had to do a hat tip. TCU ran a first rate audition process. We were in and out. Her audition was at about 10.30. We were out of there by 11.
01:24:22
Speaker
um And so, and and they held a meeting beforehand, you know, questions and answers. They held it in their concert hall, which is the Van Clyburn concert hall. It was built in 2020. The state of the art after Van Clyburn passed away, left them the money to build that concert hall. more A beautiful structure, great sound acoustics, you know, just fantastic.
01:24:45
Speaker
First rate all the way and so and and I watched her we did not go up and introduce ourselves to anybody We let her do that but they went and when she introduced her cells they ah they remembered her and You know, they made her feel comfortable that you know, they're like, hey, you know, you you're gonna do great break leg It's gonna be fantastic um I mean they could have pulled the you know, who the fuck are you again? I don't know but you know, they they at least they put up a good game and pretended like they knew who she was. So good on them. Could you imagine like once you got accepted into college, you then had to like
01:25:26
Speaker
do a bunch of math on a whiteboard in front of a room of people. So like audition to be able to take like the math class that you wanted. Like it's like, obviously at this level, right. Auditions make sense, everything, but it's just crazy that like she's accepted as a school and then she still asked to audition again. Like she hasn't been accepted yet because they're they're holding it. They're holding it. Gotcha. Now LSU and Sam Houston have accepted her and she's still going to audition there. This makes her a little bit less nervous because she knows he's in already.
01:25:56
Speaker
Gotcha. That makes a little bit more sense, but still, um, yeah, crazy Scott, but yeah, I'm, I'm glad, I'm glad it went well. I'm, I'm glad she crushed it. And, uh, you know, I wouldn't it be opposed to you having to make a a few more road trips up to the, uh, to the Metroplex. At some point we'll be able to hook up while you're up here. That's right. All right, Scott, I, I I'm back and forth on, on where we're going to go with this one.
Pace of Play in Sports: Golf vs. Modern Expectations
01:26:21
Speaker
Um,
01:26:23
Speaker
You know, I, I think D'Amico certainly deserves a hat tip for, for pulling the trigger and for, for firing, um, Bobby Sloak, however, you know, uh, and hearing more than what's coming out. And after watching that video specifically, I'm maybe a little bit less, less happy that he did it and and more curious why it didn't happen earlier. However, you know, ding dong, the witch is dead. Bobby Sloak is out of the building. I'm going to tip my cap to D'Amico Ryan's for making that happen.
01:26:51
Speaker
Um, and then on second note, I, I'm going to tip my cap to, to Roy McElroy, right? Like I, I think he's one of the more insightful guys out there. Um, and he's willing to give you a good quote when you ask the right questions. I asked him this week about pace of play. And I think it it obviously comes up because the TGL that he plays in has, has a shock clock.
01:27:12
Speaker
And so you get 15 seconds once you, you know, it's your turn and and and go from there. you You can't quite do it the same way in golf simply because, you know, there's delays. As you said, almost every pro out there is hitting par fives and two, you've got 240 yard par threes. You're playing Tory pines.
01:27:30
Speaker
Last week in the wind's blowing 40 miles an hour and the greens are rolling at a 13, 14 mile on the stem and there's $5 million dollars on the line and the course is packed, right? So like, even if you cut it by 15 minutes, you're playing five hour and 15 minute rounds instead of five hour and a half rounds. So it's, you know, he gave some really insightful, some really insightful answers. Um, and I appreciate that, right? Like, cause what's interesting to me, Scott, you know, the, the, the most interesting thing he said was like,
01:27:58
Speaker
Golf's kind of always been a leisurely game that takes a minute. It's only lately that we had a problem with it, right? And it it kind of makes sense. And you and I are both baseball guys. Baseball is always a game that was leisurely. It took what it took. It played nine innings. There was no time limit when the game was done. It was done. It was the last 10 years that we had to start messing with the pace of play, right? And we as a society are the ones that can't slow down and enjoy things anymore. And we've got to speed everything up. And I think Roy made a great point that Stop and slow. Stop down. You know, stop and slow down. Sit down. Enjoy what it is. If you want something faster, the TGL is there for that. But at the end of the day, the pace of play is what it is based on the way we set it up, right? Don't play like that on a regular golf course. You know, fuck you. You 18 handicaps. I think you're going to hit your three with 250. It's not happening. You're not me. You're not Rory. We're not on the same level, but I can do it. But on the PGA tour, pace of play kind of is what it is right now. And here's why. And it was a really insightful answer.
01:28:58
Speaker
Yeah, I'm on pace of play, I'm pretty much, if you're gonna suck, suck fast. That's that's you know been on my, but you know yeah, I think the ones that piss me off the most are the ones that are like, I'm 270 out, I just hit my drive 130 yards, better wait for the green to clear. It's like, come on, dude. you know and but you know i And then the ones who are like, stupidly,
01:29:24
Speaker
You know, I'm going to leave my cart 50 yards behind the hole. Oh, I got to run back and get my car. And you're just like, but, you know, but that's the difference between public golf, pace of play.
01:29:38
Speaker
and and professional tour, right? Because that's not happening out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, tours. Either you've got a guy like Brian fucking Harmon, who takes 37 practice swings and waggles before he finally hits the ball. Or you've got every single pro out there who's going to hit the green and two on a par five that has to wait for it to clear. Or you've got guys that are standing over 15 foot putts for too long, right? Like that's what people see on TV. And they maybe don't understand the context behind it. Would you pull a Judge Mills recent that 50 bucks. You slice it in the woods. Gambling is illegal. And I never slice. Yeah, it was on TV this weekend. I did. well I literally watched Caddyshack this weekend. You're over on Briar Street, right? You got a, you got a pool. We got a pool for you though. but for Nice, bright, you know, natural spring.
01:30:33
Speaker
All right, is it that time? It is, Scott.
NFL Officiating Criticism and Technological Solutions
01:30:36
Speaker
These people have offended us and they need to be recognized as scumbags of the week. Who do you got for us this week? Okay, so one more time. I do a little thing with the kids at school where I ask them a question of the day. I had it at my internship today, so I missed them today, but yesterday my question was, eagles, chiefs, or meteor?
01:31:02
Speaker
Would you like to know what the winning answer response was, Tim? What was the third option? Media? Meteor. Oh, Meteor probably won. It was overwhelmingly. And and here's my thing. my my My scumbag is the NFL yet again, because we have a couple of calls, you know, obviously that the Chiefs got that we're, we'll just say questionable. I mean, Josh Allen got that first down on the quarterback. He showed my video evidence, then we're totally didn't get it.
01:31:32
Speaker
And Xavier Worthy, that ball touched the ground. So, you know. And Josh Allen's literally in the pocket pointing out passenger fear as well. Yeah. That one was great. Yeah. So here's my thing. Two things the NFL can do, right? Number one, and he had Mike Ferrara that was on the guy that's on Fox. That's the NFL rules official. That's on, you know, that's that they go to and ask questions. He just says,
01:32:01
Speaker
You just hire an extra official. You put him up in the booth and he does a a review of all calls. It's that simple. ah ah Bob, that was not a roughing the pastor called Will Anderson. He did not leave with a helmet. Pick that flag up. It's that simple. Actually, the two linebackers, they hit themselves. They did not hit Patrick Mahomes. ah Go ahead and pick that flag up. It's that easy.
01:32:29
Speaker
That was the first time for Josh Allen. Let's keep this thing going. It's that simple. And, you know, for the NFL, you know, how much money do you think they're making a total a year? On what? Just the NFL, just period.
01:32:45
Speaker
a
01:32:48
Speaker
Billions. I mean, I don't know. So here we have a maximum of 16 games a week. What would it cost to you to hire one extra official to be an eye in the sky?
01:33:01
Speaker
Probably like 1.6 million. I think it would be the max. If you pay them all, like if refs make like a hundred grand a year. like i mean And so, you know, number two, why aren't NFL officials, full-time employees? please are now i thought I didn't think they were, but not after that last strike, that that was one of the, no, they hired a certain percentage of them. They hired like a certain 10% have to be like full-time employees.
01:33:30
Speaker
Why not a hundred percent, Tim? I mean, it's, you know, if you want to get the calls because your referee needs to be at his law firm Monday through Friday and then get ready to so go call game on Sunday. Cause that totally, you can't be watching to be partner in a law firm and, and Ed hockily on like one guy, one guy is like ah a varsity basketball coach in Oklahoma. yeah Yeah. How can you, how can you, I mean, here's the thing, right?
01:33:59
Speaker
It's a it's a hard job. I have no doubt in my mind and I have no doubt in my mind that they're trying to make the right call I I don't think they're I don't think that they're trying to you know to make the Chiefs I don't think there's a conspiracy theory. I just think they're not good and The thing is is that you could have a a eye in the sky That could correct calls right there in the moment Because you know full well. When they did this where you could review passenger fareance calls, they never overturned any of those. So if they're going to sit there and allow, like their plan is, we're going to allow roughing the passer or leading with the helmet to be reviewable. They're not going to reverse any of those calls. So let the eye in the sky do it real quick before the guy even goes to the microphone. ah Bob, don't do this. yes You're wrong. You're wrong, Bob.
01:34:56
Speaker
Don't make this call. It's that easy. And and it's and have them be full-time employees where you can watch tape and you could watch where you fucked up and maybe do better next time. You know what else is really easy, Scott? Microchip technology. I don't watch a lot of tennis. I don't. But you can challenge.
01:35:18
Speaker
where the ball landed in tennis and they go to the screen and they got the fucking white lines right there. And it comes in and it shows you exactly where that fucking ball hit. And you're like, Oh, Hey, it was in or it was out or soccer. They have a ah chip in the ball and it is ah on the goal line, right? Like, or the light is right. And it tells you, did it get past? Did it not get past? Hey, now we know. Why are we not capable?
01:35:47
Speaker
of in those fucking first down sticks and in the ball have have a chip that reads, it got past this. It got past this stick. Okay, cool. it's I don't care what the fucking rough spot is. The the chip is telling me first down, right? Like that is technology that already exists and we just don't do it. Like why? I don't know. I don't know.
01:36:11
Speaker
They got it. They fucking got it. We don't need to do it. They fucking spotted you. Excellent. Like, no, but there's a reason broadcasters talk about like a left footed spot or things like that, because these guys aren't good at what they do. It's impossible to be good at what you do when you do it one day a week. Right? Like if this is not how you pay for your life, it's a hobby.
01:36:31
Speaker
Okay, I get that as a big-time hobby and you get paid for your hobby But it's still a hobby or side gig or side hustle or whatever you want to call it It's not your full-time job and you can't devote yourself to being good at it Yeah, it's fucking ridiculous, man Yeah, so all right who do you got Tim I think we' we're both in line with with the NFL on that one Scott you're maybe taking my wind out of my sails a little bit there, but I You know, also just to hear the reports, as you said, of Ryan Presley, I'm maybe going to add him in there a little bit.
Reflection on Ryan Presley's Astros Legacy
01:37:05
Speaker
You know, i I love what he did. I think he was great, but to show up and and I think to to not accept just being a part of the roster and and can't look at yourself in the mirror and say, Hey, I did kind of let the team down a lot in 2023. You know, that's disappointing to hear. So a halfhearted scumbag to Ryan Presley.
01:37:26
Speaker
Yeah, I'm going to do an overall hat tip to his, what was it, six years in Houston? Best player we've ever had. Yeah, seven years in Houston, 2018 to 2024. That's seven years. Yeah, I mean. You don't win the 2022 World Series without Ryan Presley. Yeah, i I understand disappointment. But to me, mike my in this situation actually is Dana Brown. Why are you even bringing that up?
01:37:57
Speaker
Let, you dealt you dealt with, let bygones be bygones. Don't, you know, don't air dirty laundry. It's like, it would be one thing if you were to sit there and make a comment like, well, we could have traded them to this team, this team or this team. And the fucker turned it down. I mean, if you want to go that route and you go in to sit there and say, you want to complain about what we got back, but you know, my hands were tied and that he wouldn't accept to deal with these places. But that's not where he went with that.
01:38:26
Speaker
Where he went with that was just, well, our relationship wasn't very good after I and hired his replacement. Well, yeah. Yeah, those would be yeah exactly you're right. I think I agree with you, Scott. I don't think it should be even at Ryan. I think there does need to be a hat tip for his time in Houston.
01:38:45
Speaker
um Probably what his career has done he he gets his number or in the Houston Hall of Fame. I would have to think right you're a upon So, you know best run of Astros baseball We ever had and you were the closer for a good chunk of it and you closed out a World Series game at home So, I mean excluding Billy Wagner who I mean is now in the baseball Hall of Fame Finally, who is the second best closer in Astros history? Yeah, I think so and I think you could say
01:39:17
Speaker
based on the World Series win, the most successful closer in Astros history, right? If you, if you deem winning a championship and postseason success as the ultimate, then Ryan Presley was the most successful closer that we ever had. And probably the best outing that I think he ever came up with actually was in 2023's ALCS, where a break who gets tossed, you know, for throwing at ah Dallas Garcia, supposedly.
01:39:46
Speaker
and um And they bring him in, and he cleans that that shit up. Even though it was like, was there two men on base? Yeah. as the papers loaded that That was probably his best pitching performance in the postseason. He had some good ones, man. The no-hitter, he closed out the no-hitter in the postseason, closed out a no-hitter in Yankee Stadium. Guys got some great moments. Got some great moments in Astros uniform. um Glad to have had him.
01:40:14
Speaker
And you know, I I truly do wish nothing but the best to Ryan Presley. I I have I I shouldn't have even brought it up Scott I really shouldn't because I really don't have anything negative to say about Ryan Presley. All right All right, that's gonna do it here for this week We appreciate everybody who tuned in and made us a part of your week if you like what we're doing be sure to follow us on Facebook like the like the page if you want to on Facebook or even subscribe to us on
Closing Remarks and Social Media Engagement
01:40:45
Speaker
YouTube. We'd really love ah to boost those YouTube numbers, but we appreciate everybody who joined us this week. We will see you next week on Borne on the Bayou Sports.