Does CJ STROUD have the chance to shut up his doubters in the first four games? + Acknowledge me

Summary

Payne & Pendergast Podcast Summary

Episode: Does CJ STROUD have the chance to shut up his doubters in the first four games? + Acknowledge Me
Date: July 20, 2026
Hosts: Sean Pendergast & Seth Payne
Guest/Contributor: Cole Thompson, Jamie O’Hara (audio), Warren Moon (audio)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Payne & Pendergast dives deep into the hot topic of Houston Texans’ quarterback CJ Stroud and whether he can silence his doubters with a strong start to the upcoming NFL season. The hosts critically assess the Texans’ daunting first four games, debate fan confidence and skepticism, and discuss the broader context around Stroud’s development, playoff struggles, and contract situation. Later, the “Acknowledge Me” segment highlights strong recent sports performances, features a lively discussion about soccer and cultural takes on sport, and touches on MLB’s emerging salary-cap narrative.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Texans' First Four Games and the CJ Stroud Narrative

• The Texans open the season with four games: Bills (home), Bengals (home), Colts (away), Cowboys (home). (02:29)
• Three of four games are at home and all promise real tests, especially for Stroud.
• The premise: Can CJ Stroud “shut everyone up”—including doubters inside Houston—if he plays well in these games? (02:29 - 03:29)

Sean Pendergast: “These are all big proving grounds, I think, potentially for both the Texans as a team, but definitely CJ Stroud as a quarterback.” (02:29)

Seth Payne: Notes that Cincinnati and Dallas especially had “awful, awful, awful defenses” last year, but both spent heavily to improve. What will CJ and the revamped offense look like against them? “There's a chance at least one of those defenses probably still not going to be all that hot.” (03:29)

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2. Defense Upgrades and Matchup Dynamics

• Cole Thompson prompts debate: “Which one do you think is going to be more improved, Cincinnati or Dallas?” (03:57)
• Seth favors Cincinnati, crediting their defensive line overhaul—led by Dexter Lawrence. He warns: these big, physical additions will directly test Houston’s previously shaky offensive line. (04:01-04:28)

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3. Can Stroud Convince the Fan Base Early?

• The conversation pivots to fan perception: Not just can CJ play well, but will four good games actually convince Houston fans? (04:47 – 05:09)
• Seth sees optimism: “If they show up and in a couple of those games have some really impressive offensive performances—yeah, I think people will be back on board.” (05:09)

Sean: “A big part of the fan base… seem[s] to all text in when we do segments like this…that are like, ‘Wake me up in January.’” (05:38)

• Seth pushes back: Some fans forget the offense’s low points last year; improvement will be very noticeable if it happens. (05:48-06:14)

Seth: “If they actually show up and look like an impressive offense, then I think a lot of people flip pretty quickly.” (06:14)

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4. Scenario: If Texans Start 3-1, Which Loss Hurts Most?

• Hypothetical: If Texans go 3-1, which game would you least want to lose? Bills, Bengals, Colts, or Cowboys? (06:56)
• Hosts and Cole weigh emotional and strategic consequences:
  • Least wanted loss: Colts—because it’s a division rivalry and the weakest opponent.
  • Losing the opener (Bills) seen as an emotional gut-punch.
  • Bengals loss would be concerning as it would indicate failure against a revamped defense, negating the point of offseason upgrades.
  • Cowboys loss is emotionally rough for fans who work with Dallas fans every day. (07:22 – 08:35)
• Result: Most fans would choose a loss to Cincinnati for pragmatic reasons, but emotionally, losing to Dallas stings the most. (11:16)

Memorable Quote:
Sean: “You always have to remember that we have people who listen who have to work with Dallas fans…” (11:27)

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5. Public Criticism of CJ Stroud: Too Far or Justified?

• Audio clip: Warren Moon says criticism of Stroud has “gone a little too far,” noting post-playoff perceptions last. (13:47)
• Seth: It’s not unfair to scrutinize Stroud after ugly playoff losses, but reminds listeners that early-career Peyton Manning faced similar doubts (never going to win the big one). (14:28)
• Sean: The “he’s a bum” crowd is taking it too far; most fans and media are actually in a “wait and see” mode. Some even handled him delicately.
• The consensus: The city and organization are cautiously hopeful, not universally inspired or ready to extend his contract. (16:32)

Memorable Quote:
Seth: “By and large, CJ has been treated pretty delicately. There’s a few clips out there… but in national media, there’s a whole lot of, like, well, let’s wait and see…” (15:38)

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6. Contract Extension Debate

• Would fans support a Stroud contract extension if done today? Pendergast predicts most would not, or would want contract details before judging. (17:11)
• Hosts reject the notion of “coddling” QBs with big, unearned contracts. (17:53)

Seth: “You want guys who are bloodthirsty killers, and if you get a chip on your shoulder and you got to earn that contract, then you go do it. I don't need a quarterback to be coddled with hundreds of millions of dollars.” (18:26)

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7. Revisiting Stroud’s 2023 Rookie Year & Offensive Ceiling

• Mixed reviews: Yes, Stroud impressed as a rookie (led league in passing yards per game, low INT rate), but the offense overall wasn’t good—“mediocre,” not special by playoff standards. (18:53–19:30)
• Cole: “Need more than 23 touchdowns.”
• Seth: Sophomore slumps and defensive adjustments loom; the next step in Stroud’s evolution is finding answers when defenses respond to his strengths. (20:00)

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8. Acknowledge Me: Sports Highlights & Cultural Banter

Segment starts at: [20:07]

a. World Cup Shoutouts:

• Spain’s defense praised for a historic run—“allowed one goal in the entire World Cup.” (21:12)
• Seth celebrates his World Cup pool win with typical dry humor: “Not a lot's gone right for me in the past 20 or 30 years, but this feels like it. Might be the winning a pool turnaround.” (21:12)

b. Soccer vs. Hockey Goalie Talk:

• Playful comparison of the value of soccer vs. NHL goalies.
• Cole: “The size of the net, number one, you got to be a lot more quicker and agile.” (21:34)

c. Spanish Soccer Calls—Entertaining or Overrated?

• Sean admires—but also gently mocks—the long, energetic “Gooooal!” calls on Spanish-language broadcasts.
• Sean: “The whole thing of just saying goal for as long as you can without taking a breath...a little overrated.” (26:33)
• Cole: “Andres Cantor… has made that iconic throughout the year. So much so that he’s even doing commercials now.” (27:09)

d. International Sports Fandom

• Extended riff about pain and flair in English and Cajun (LSU) post-game rants. Fun energy with Jamie O’Hara’s viral British soccer rant: “He absolutely bottled it. Thomas Tuchel's cost us the World Cup.” (28:25)
• Sean: “Should I be railing on the postgame show for the Texans in a British accent this year?” (30:35)

e. Houston Sports Summer League / Overreactions

• Sean gives "Mike Burrows Award" to Bruce Thornton for “athlete who’s exciting me too much for summer league performance.” (31:22)
• Realism prevails—second-rounders like Thornton may barely play in season. (33:38)
• Cole: “Remember how excited we were with Reed Shepherd after summer ball?” (33:04)

f. MLB Labor War – Salary Cap Ads

• Seth notes that MLB is now running political-style ads about instituting a salary cap, prepping for a public war with players. Both hosts find it unprecedented and a bit disingenuous (“skews very heavily towards ‘I’m Rob Manfred and I approve this message’”). (34:33)

g. Astros Shoutouts

• Cole acknowledges Peter Lambert’s unexpected pitching dominance (1.02 ERA, 23 strikeouts, 0.79 WHIP in July), joking that if he wins AL Pitcher of the Month, it’ll curse him (based on Astros history). (36:34)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Seth (on fans’ selective memory):
  “That’s what’s so frustrating about [CJ Stroud] … that’s very much there. I think they’re forgetting that the offense looked comatose in general all of last year.” (05:48)

• Warren Moon (on Stroud’s critics):
  “I think whenever a quarterback doesn’t play well in the playoffs, that’s the last thing you see. So that’s going to stay on your mind, you know, a little bit longer, and it’s just going to fester like that.” (13:47)

• Sean (on emotional loss to Dallas):
  “We have people who listen, who have to work with Dallas fans. … we don’t realize the struggle sometimes of what it’s like to...To work with usually some kind of illiterate dude who’s not...” (11:27)

• Seth (on quarterback pay):
  “You want guys who are bloodthirsty killers … I don’t need a quarterback to be coddled with hundreds of millions of dollars.” (18:26)

• Cole (on ‘Goooal!’ calls):
  “Andres Cantor… has made that iconic throughout the year. So much so that he’s even doing commercials now.” (27:09)

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• [01:35] — Show begins; Astros reference and setup
• [02:29] — Texans’ opening slate & CJ Stroud’s big opportunity
• [03:42] — Analyzing Dallas & Cincinnati’s defensive upgrades
• [04:47] — Will good games win over Houston fans?
• [06:56] — 3-1 start hypothetical: “Pick Your Loss” debate
• [13:47] — Warren Moon on Stroud’s critics, playoff scrutiny
• [16:27] — Waiting on CJ Stroud: Extension talk, team confidence
• [18:53] — Revisiting Stroud’s rookie year in context
• [20:07] — “Acknowledge Me” Segment: World Cup, Astros, sports calls
• [27:40 – 30:35] — Banter: English and Cajun fan meltdowns
• [31:22] — Houston sports overreactions: Bruce Thornton in summer league
• [34:33] — MLB salary cap ads and public relations war
• [36:34] — Astros: Peter Lambert shoutout

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Overall Tone & Vibe

Lively, unfiltered, and relatable. Sean and Seth’s sharp analysis is blended with real fan concerns, dry humor, and plenty of local flavor. The episode stays true to Houston sports culture—a blend of hope, skepticism, and banter—with just enough national perspective and quirky pop-culture asides to keep things fresh.

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For New Listeners

This summary covers all the crucial debate and insider points for anyone wondering where CJ Stroud—and the Texans—really stand heading into a critical year, as well as an array of entertaining side topics in the “Acknowledge Me” segment. You’ll come away with a firm grip on both the football stakes and the ever-entertaining H-Town sports mood.

Transcript

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[Seth Payne]

The Texans play here.

[Sean Pendergast]

Sports Radio 610 presents Payne and Pendergast. A lot of people weighing in on the Astros. We'll circle back to the Astros. Don't worry, they don't escape unscathed today. If you missed it, we talked about them in the first hour of the show. Sean Pendergast, Seth Payne with you. Cole Thompson in with us again today, hanging out. So I saw this tweet, actually saw this tweet because djbnime replied to it. DJ who covers the Texans for ESPN.com

[Seth Payne]

DJ mixes it up on social media.

[Sean Pendergast]

He does, he does. It's good. And, and he'll comment, tweet things from people who ask him questions. And sometimes people ask good questions. And I think this is an interesting one because it's a good gauge. You know, the conversation at least is a gauge for where people are at with CJ Stroud right now, who by the way has yet to show up in the NFL's top 100 player 60 gets revealed today. I'm starting to think that they're not going to get CJ or Kaylin Bullock or Kamari Lasseter or Jalen Petrie in this thing.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

So anyways, so CJ Stroud, a person by the name of the Nashan J. On Twitter said this, posted a screen grab of the Texans first four games of the year. Bills here at Reliant Stadium, Bengals here at Reliant Stadium, travel to Indy to play the Colts, and then they face the Cowboys here at Reliant Stadium again. So three of the Texans first four games are at home. Those are all, I would say, between the fact that the Colts are in the division, the Cowboys are the Cowboys, and the other two teams have marquee quarterbacks. These are all big proving grounds, I think, potentially for both the Texans as a team, but definitely CJ Stroud as a quarterback. This Nayshaan J. On Twitter says CJ Stroud really has the opportunity to shut everyone, everyone, all caps, including some Texan fans in parentheses up. Shut them up in the first four weeks of the season.

[Seth Payne]

I think the really interesting thing about those teams, too, is that it was Cincinnati and Dallas especially, but also the Colts. But Cincinnati and Dallas had awful, awful, awful defenses. Just atrocious defenses.

[LinkedIn Ad Voice]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

They spent heavily in the offseason to try to fix them. And what exactly does C.J. in this offense? What are they able to do against those defenses? Or whether they're good or bad. But there's a chance at least one of those defenses probably still not going to be all that hot.

[Cole Thompson]

Let me ask you, which one do you think is going to be more improved, Cincinnati or Dallas?

[Seth Payne]

I think Cincinnati. I think Cincinnati attacked like they attacked the both the front and the secondary, but they did it on the defensive line in a way that I think is going to stick. They. The Bengals have questions about their linebackers, and they're kind of just hoping that, okay, the linebackers are going to play better because they got a better defensive line in front of them.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, well, they, they definitely made the marquee pickup out of those two teams with Dexter Lawrence.

[Cole Thompson]

Sexy Dexy.

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Yeah.

[Jamie O'Hara]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

With Dexter Lawrence there. So I want.

[Seth Payne]

The thing about the Bengals, honestly, like, it's. It's Boy Mafe too, which the Texans didn't do a great job with, like, Seattle's defensive line last year and Jonathan Allen. Like, so, like those, those big, strong, physical dudes that the offensive line struggled with last year, that's exactly what the Bengals went out and got.

[Sean Pendergast]

Do you agree that CJ Has a chance to shut up his doubters?

[Jamie O'Hara]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

He will be playing a football game versus those teams. Like a chance, like a chance to shut them up is like, yeah, you could say that whether he's going to do it well or not, like.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, let me, let me rephrase it then.

[Seth Payne]

Do I think he will do well?

[Sean Pendergast]

Not just do you think he will, but what percentage of the fan base would be convinced if he goes out and has four good games in the first four weeks that C.J. stroud is the guy?

[Seth Payne]

I think that that's the better place. Look, we're not in a James Harden situation where with the Rockets for years it would be okay. Well, look, they're going to be great in the regular season. Wait and see what happens in the playoffs. Like CJ's. CJ's playoff history and career has not been what he looked like this year. So I think that a lot of it is going to be like at no point last year in the first three games did they look like they had a good or powerful offense. If they show up and in a couple of those games have some really impressive offensive performances. Yeah, I think people will be back on board.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I just, I think there's a big part of the fan base and they seem to all text in when we do segments like this.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

That are like, you know, wait with cj, like wake me up in January.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know though, that's because that's the last thing you saw. I think that you kind of forget some of the really impressive things that he did do in spells last year and that it is in him. That's what's so frustrating about him is that that's very much there. I just don't, I don't. I think that there's. If we could identify everybody who says wake me up in January, I think they're forgetting that the offense looked comatose in general all of last year.

[Squarespace Narrator]

So.

[Seth Payne]

So other than, you know, the Ravens when they had their JV squad out there, the 49ers, when they had their JV squad out there, they had some impressive games, but by and large it wasn't an impressive offense. If they actually show up and look like an impressive offense, then I think a lot of people flip pretty quickly.

[Cole Thompson]

I just think you want hope that he has finally turned the corner he's built, bought into Nick Kaley system and that everything is moving according to plan. Like if you go three and one in that stretch and let's just say it's Josh Allen and he balls on out, which he never does against Houston. So it's like Maybe Dallas in that sense, but you still are 3 and 1 and you get a good 6 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio. He may only throw for like 220 yards per game, but still it's at least continuity and consistency.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Which of those games. If they go three and one in those first four games. Which of the games? If. If you could pick one of those games, you get handed a piece of paper. It says the Texans are going to go three and one in these first four games, but you get to pick which game they lose. Buffalo at home, Cincinnati at home, Colts on the road, Dallas at home. I would guess the Colts would be the least one I would want them to lose.

[Jamie O'Hara]

A.

[Sean Pendergast]

Because I think the Colts are the worst of those four teams, so that would make me feel bad. And two, it's a division game, so it means more. So the other three means you're losing one of those games, a home game. It's going to. All three of those other games are at home.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, they're at home. Okay. So emotionally.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes.

[Seth Payne]

I don't.

[Sean Pendergast]

I can't lose the opener.

[Seth Payne]

Emotionally, I can't lose the opener.

[Sean Pendergast]

I can't lose the opener.

[Seth Payne]

Just in terms of what it means about the football team in general, I think the Bengals are the. Is the game that I wouldn't want to lose because. All right, you've got all the things that you built on the offense this offseason were to address the types of situ. The types of issues that the Bengals defense might present given that they're revamped and they were awful last year, but they got. They brought in three new stud defensive linemen, including a mammoth nose tackle. That is hell for interior offensive linemen. Like if the. If they can't do anything against that defense, I'm going to be really, really concerned. If they do something versus that defense and they look like the more physical. If the offensive line looks as physical or more physical in the defensive line, I'll be excited about that. And then likewise, if the defense has a letdown against Joe Burrow at home, I'm going to be. I'll be upset about that.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay. So that means they're losing to the Cowboys.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that's all right. They can have nice things every now and then.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay.

[Cole Thompson]

I'm okay losing to Cincinnati and I think maybe it's only because of. I am a lot higher on Cincinnati than most. I liked a lot of the moves they made in the off season. I think if you get a healthy Joe Burrow, you are talking about a guy that goes for 4,500 passing yards.

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[Cole Thompson]

Two elite wide receivers Solid run game. I think it's a better offensive line. I can't lose to Dallas. I still don't buy into Dallas's defense. And I think if you're talking about wide receiver play, there's not a drop off between Jamar Chase and T. Higgins to George Pickens and CD Lamb. So it's like I'm okay with losing to Cincinnati and having a faulty game. If I get to go on out and Shut up, Dak. Prescott Co.

[Sean Pendergast]

The question is, do I pender poll this one? This is made for a Twitter poll, right? We got four choices.

[Cole Thompson]

Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm going to pender poll this.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Who do you think wins?

[Seth Payne]

I think Dallas.

[Sean Pendergast]

Dallas, you think people would be.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, because you always have to remember that we have people who listen, who have to work with Dallas fans. And that's where you and I sometimes are detached from. We don't realize the struggle sometimes of what it's like to have to. To work with usually some kind of illiterate dude who's not.

[Sean Pendergast]

The poll is going to be.

[Seth Payne]

You got to Cowboys.

[Sean Pendergast]

The poll is going to be. You got to pick one of those teams to lose.

[Seth Payne]

All right, so it won't be Dallas.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah. I think it'll be Cincinnati.

[Seth Payne]

Cincinnati.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think it'll be Cincinnati. Because you don't want to lose a

[Seth Payne]

division because then you're one in one also, so it's okay. That means that you would have beat Buffalo.

[Sean Pendergast]

And if you lose, if you lose to Cincinnati, the interesting thing would be you lose to Cincinnati. What will the narratives be if you lose to Cincinnati? You know, like 35 to 31 or something like that. We've not seen this, this defense get, you know, get it put on them by anybody.

[Cole Thompson]

But does it also slip on over to the offense being so high functioning that maybe you're okay with having a bad defensive performance?

[Sean Pendergast]

Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. And obviously there's a lot of nuance that comes with any of this. Like, why did it happen that way? You know, just a few big plays.

[Seth Payne]

When I was going through the exercise in my mind, I was, I was thinking I'd be okay with losing to Indianapolis, but did I eliminate that? You said that you kind of forced Dallas on me.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, no, I was actually going to say, yeah. I kind of phrased it in a way where I was. I thought you might say, like, actually I'd be Indianapolis. I probably should have said very clearly. I'm the one saying I don't want to lose a division game. Yeah, yeah, you would be okay.

[Seth Payne]

I'd be okay with losing in Indiana. I always throw in there when I'm doing my preseason. I always figure, okay, no matter how good you are, you're going to.

[Warren Moon]

You're going to.

[Seth Payne]

You split with one of your divisional opponents and that just. It works out.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's fun being three and oh at home, too.

[Cole Thompson]

Texas line seems pretty split right now. Emotionally. Losing to the Cowboys is not a good opt. But the big picture and NFC game.

[Jamie O'Hara]

Yeah.

[Cole Thompson]

Is the easy choice losing over Buffalo or Cincinnati? Two other people are saying, I'd be okay going 3 and 1 and losing to Cincinnati. Can't lose the Cowboys.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, yeah, that's. There's two things at work. There's the pragmatic, just standings. Hey, this game makes the most sense to lose. And then there's the part that Seth talked about where you've got to go into work and face off with the idiot Cowboy fans that you work with. Yeah. Warren Moon was on Yesterday Afternoon with Zach Gel and Brandon Scott. If you haven't been listening on the weekends, we got weekend radio, local radio going on here on the weekends. On Sports Radio 6 10, they had Warren Moon on yesterday. And speaking of C.J. stroud, he thinks the criticism of C.J. stroud has gone a little too far.

[Warren Moon]

Yeah, I think. I think it has gone a little bit too far. I think whenever a quarterback doesn't play well in the playoffs, that's the last thing you see. So that's going to stay on your mind, you know, a little bit longer, and it's just going to fester like that. But I'm sure C.J. more than anybody else wants to get this season going again because he knows he didn't play his great best football in the playoffs last year, and his numbers have probably been down the last couple of years since when he first came in the league. So he's anxious to redeem himself and get back out there on the field and show the type of quarterback that he really is.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, well, I mean, Warren's been in those shoes before. You know, Warren. That was. The criticism of Warren Moon is he never got the Oilers deep into the postseason ever, you know.

[Seth Payne]

No, I think the. Has it gone too far? I think it's. I don't think it's unfair when you play as badly as you did in the playoffs, but I think it's also important to remember that there were quarterbacks who had better regular seasons than CJ Stroud early in their careers who faced the same scrutiny, like Peyton Manning. It was like young people would be shocked to know that the. The narrative on Peyton Manning was that he's just awful in the playoffs, and he was never going to. He was never going to win the big one because he's just not that guy, you know? And then over time, he figured it out and it's. But he was.

[Warren Moon]

He.

[Seth Payne]

He did have much better regular seasons and more impressive regular seasons than C.J. stroud's had the last couple of years. Yeah, it's. People rem. Well, the last thing he did and the last thing he did was just an absolutely horrendous performance.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah. I. Has a criticism gone too far for C.J. stroud. I.

[Renewal by Andersen Announcer]

Like.

[Sean Pendergast]

I don't know that. To me, the criticism that goes too far. The people who are like, he's. He's a. He's a bum. He's a bust. He sucks. They need to move on now from C.J. stroud. Like, that's.

[Jamie O'Hara]

That's.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's. That's one where you got. You got to look at how the other half lives.

[Cole Thompson]

Let's talk Davis Mills 2.0 Resurgence. That's. That's where we are.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, that's right.

[Seth Payne]

Well, that's where, I guess when people ask, is the criticism gone too far? I just. I'm struggling to remember. I'm 51 years old. It's not like. It's not like when I was a kid, I used to sit around at the barbecue, and my dad and his buddies were just saying, like, hey, you know what? We just need to give Joe Ferguson a few more years. You know what? I think he's gonna turn. He's gonna figure it out at some point. Like, no, that's just life of the quarter now. The criticism hasn't gone too far. By and large, CJ has been treated pretty delicately. There's a few clips out there, like in. Yes. In the white hot heat afterwards, people were lambasting him in the national media. For me, it seems like in the national media, by and large, there's a whole lot of, like, well, let's wait and see if the Texans have a good rushing attack, if they can fix the offensive line. This is the year we'll figure out what we have with CJ Stroud.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. The extreme degree to which they've tried to revamp that side of the ball.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Has, I think, turned it. I think that's become more the topic than. Not more the topic than CJ But I think it's kind of softened everybody. It's given everybody more of a wait and see with CJ Than they had at the end of that New England game where they're ready to flush him down the toilet.

[Seth Payne]

I would say. I think the inspiration level is very low, though, in terms of how many. How many people feel like they're ready to be inspired by CJ Stroud? I think they're. People are. People are in very much wait and see mode.

[Sean Pendergast]

Including the Texans, it would appear.

[Seth Payne]

Right.

[Jamie O'Hara]

Right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

They didn't just throw a lot of cash at them.

[Jamie O'Hara]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

Think. And it's. Which is the smart move now. There, there could still be. Who knows if there's an announcement out of nowhere that they've come to an extent.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think that.

[Seth Payne]

I think if there was news that. I think if there was news that they had extended C.J. stroud, if you took a poll, if you did a Pender poll immediately afterwards, before anybody had any details, I think people would be down on that.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think so, too.

[Seth Payne]

The majority would be down.

[Sean Pendergast]

I think it would be. I think I did three choices for that. Are you, do you approve, do you not approve? Or do you need to see the details of the contract? Because there will be people that'll approve or disapprove regardless of what the numbers are. Does just feel philosophically we need to lock in with him, or philosophically just I'm out on him, regardless of the dollar, even if it's a cheap deal. I'm. I.

[Jamie O'Hara]

Some.

[Sean Pendergast]

For some people, me included, I would, I would almost be. I. My stock on CJ Would go down almost if he signed a cheapo deal.

[Jamie O'Hara]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Well, I'll tell you the one thing I have zero appetite for, and this is. I was. I'm still shocked when I think about this, that Tom Coughlin did this when they traded for Nick Foles, remember, and they had no reason to give him a new contract. But Tom Coughlin was the team president at the time. They gave him a big contract. And the explanation was, you know, you need to be sure everybody in the locker room respects him. Like, all right, you know what? It was weird, this notion that somehow, oh, he's this delicate artist and a quarterback has to have the support of the team and everything. No, you want guys who are bloodthirsty killers, and if you get a chip on your shoulder and you got to earn that contract, then you go do it. I don't need. I don't need a quarterback to be coddled with hundreds of millions of dollars.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, coddle me with that money lessens you.

[Cole Thompson]

In my opinion, coddling you at this point, especially when you haven't proven to a certain degree of what's your ceiling. Because I think that we all are sitting here wanting to get back to 2023, C.J. but if also we got to remind ourselves 2023 C.J. was a rookie. Are those numbers that you want to see in a fourth year veteran?

[Warren Moon]

Oh, right.

[Seth Payne]

Well. And yeah, the sum total of how that season went. That's what people sometimes forget. It wasn't actually a good offense in 2023.

[Sean Pendergast]

No.

[Seth Payne]

It was an impressive. It was a really impressive rookie performance, but the offense was not a good offense.

[Cole Thompson]

No, it was mediocre.

[Seth Payne]

It got to. It got to be respectable.

[Sean Pendergast]

No, but you're just talking about CJ's numbers. Yeah, he did lead the league in passing yards per game, and he had. I. You know what number I will take from his rookie year? His interception rate down to five. He. He led the league in interception percentage. So I think there's. There are some aspects of that rookie season that if he. If he just replicated that forever, totally

[Cole Thompson]

cool with, but need more than 23 touchdowns.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, the problem.

[Seth Payne]

The problem with the rookie year performance though, too was. And this is what you see when guys burst down the scene was that when I bring up the offense, there are things that, man, defenses are going to let cj. There's like a lack of respect that as a defense, I think you go in and you almost look at this rookie and you think, well, he's not going to do that to us. And defensive coordinators don't. Don't account for what a guy can do. And then you get an entire offseason to look at it, and teams realize, okay, well, they've got a really impressive deep ball, but they can't run the ball. And they just. They just squelched everything. And that's when the real test for CJ came, is, all right, how do you operate when they're taking away what you do?

[Sean Pendergast]

Well, we'll see, man. It's training camp is nine days away. First practice is a week from Wednesday this week. All right, let's get to Acknowledge me. Let's acknowledge some big performances from over the weekend, last couple of weeks. In case of the World Cup, I will say a name. And Byron Matthews, who's our producer today, will hit Roman Reigns saying, acknowledge me. If you got some acknowledgments you want. You want to text in, you can do that. 7, 1, 3, 5, 7, 2, 4, 6, 10. I'm gonna acknowledge first in general, the World Cup. It's now over. And let's acknowledge Spain for becoming the team to allow the least amount of goals in a run to a World cup championship. They allowed one goal in the entire World Cup, Spain. Did they beat Argentina 1 nothing yesterday. I'll get to some general thoughts on the World Cup. You know what I want to acknowledge also. Byron Seth Payne winning the pool, the Sports Radio 610 World Cup.

[Seth Payne]

Not a lot's gone right for me in the past 20 or 30 years, but this feels like it Might be the. It might be the winning a pool turnaround.

[Sean Pendergast]

No discernible prize.

[Seth Payne]

Cole, since you're a hockey expert here in the studio, what's a. Well, Sean, you might be too. Sorry, you're both smarter about hockey than I am.

[Sean Pendergast]

Not to Cole's degree.

[Seth Payne]

What's the. What's the difference between like a soccer goalie and an NHL goalie in terms of value to your team?

[Cole Thompson]

The size of the net, number one, you got to be a lot more quicker and agile.

[Seth Payne]

No, I'm talking about like the actual effectiveness, like an NHL goal. Like having an awesome goalie is just a force multiplier. Yeah, like soccer is not that level, but still like way more important than

[Cole Thompson]

I would say so. I mean, you had Martinez yesterday for Argentina, set a world record in the cup of saves and yet still loses because of one bad play.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, he was amazing.

[Seth Payne]

Did you think I was asking what's the difference between a goal, like an actual soccer goal and an NHL goal? Yeah, it's like it's a much larger net size, dimensions.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's not that much of a hockey game.

[Seth Payne]

In hockey, they wear ice ice skates because they're on ice.

[Cole Thompson]

I don't know if you know this. There's five players on there, not 11.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, can I just. I know this is acknowledged me where we're highlighting the positive. Oftentimes in any sport, it's fun to play the non English speaking version of scoring play like I love playing like, you know. Here is the Bolivian call on the home run to win the World Series. That kind of thing. This was the. You would think this would be a pretty basic one. This is the Telemundo call of Ferran Torres. Game winning goal in extra time yesterday.

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[Cole Thompson]

my boss it'll be good for the

[Sean Pendergast]

brand when leads were slow.

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[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, so he said go. Oh he's doing it again. Okay, so just for sake of time he went on to do that one more time after that. That clip is actually the one I gave Byron is 57 seconds long. Yeah and it's just him basically saying go for as long as he can. Can I just say this and I again, I love non English speaking calls of sports highlights. I feel like foreign announcers have this especially Spanish speaking soccer announcers have an extra level of energy. I even tweeted during when I was on vacation watching the World Cup I watched some of the games on Telemundo without knowing a single word of Spanish just because their energy level the whole game, every pass in the midfield is a big deal. The whole thing of just saying goal for as long as you can without taking a breath. A little overrated.

[Seth Payne]

I gotta. Well I'm gonna hop across the hall to Mega during the break and ask them if there are some soccer fans who are like yeah. Can we count it? Can we, can it. With the really, really extended long line.

[Sean Pendergast]

Really long one. I didn't even play the longest one.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know. The whole thing about soccer though is you've got so much time. Like if a goal happens in the middle of a game or something, you're gonna have 15 minutes to talk about it before the next goal. So I think it's just the elation and the celebration in the moment. It's not like you gotta get. You gotta get immediately into the breakdown before the next goal is scored.

[Sean Pendergast]

Have some material ready to go because just going go for as long as you can. At least me, the gringo that I am, it's a little boring, I think.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Cole Thompson]

No, so. So Andres Kantor was the guy who

[Seth Payne]

was on the call.

[Cole Thompson]

He's made that iconic throughout the year. So much so that he's even doing commercials now. There's one of him with a Coors Light where he is saying, cool.

[Sean Pendergast]

So that's his deal.

[Cole Thompson]

It's like a whole bit with him.

[Sean Pendergast]

So every time. So every time I hear that, it's probably him.

[Cole Thompson]

I'm Cantor.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay. All right, you know what? I'll get to biggest casual fan memories from the World cup later in the show. Needless to say, there are several. We'll get to that a little bit later. One more World Cup. Acknowledge me, Jamie.

[Seth Payne]

Acknowledge me.

[Sean Pendergast]

Let me say his name. Byron. Damn it. Jamie o'. Hara, he is the co host of a show called the Sports Bar on Talk Sport in England. He's a former professional soccer player. Had a phenomenal rant at the end of last week that came down after we had gone off the air or at least after I'd seen it. I think transcribed this rant would be like an 8 1/2 out of 10. Now keep in mind they cover the English soccer team, British soccer team, who lost to Messi and Argentina in the semifinals. And apparently the coach for England was getting skewered for some of his substituting decisions, including by Jamie O'. Hara. This is an 8 1/2 out of 10. If I were to just read it, this is like a 12 out of 10 when you apply a foreign accent to it.

[Jamie O'Hara]

To me, you could almost accept it. I know you're playing against Argentina. You can't sit off for 25 minutes against Argentina. He absolutely bottled it. Thomas Tuchel's cost us the World Cup. He cost us the World Cup. We're 1 nil up. Played well, first off. All right, KG affair. We go 1 nil.

[Warren Moon]

Up.

[Jamie O'Hara]

Be brave. Be brave, Thomas. This is what we brought you in for. We brought you in for this moment. We got rid of Southgate because he bottled it, because he weren't brave. We brought you in for now to make that decision. We're one nil up in a World cup semi final. Bring on Rashford. Bring on Saka. And if they score, they score. But at least we're gonna go down fighting. At least we're gonna go down with some pride. We fell out of the World cup in disgrace because of him. Because of him. And we brought him in for this job. This is what we brought him in for to get us over this line. And it's the same old England, same old crap.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, so we're good. Are you with me on this?

[Dr. Horton Announcer]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Well, that's the whole problem when I'm watching Netflix shows. I'm. Sometimes I'm like, these are. These English actors are either incredible actors or I'm just being fooled by their. By their accents. I never know. I'm like, I don't know if they're actually good or not. I feel like every single one of them is the best actor I've ever seen on some of these.

[Sean Pendergast]

Netflix touting that rant like it was revolutionary and it was really good.

[Seth Payne]

Is he saying bottled it up?

[Sean Pendergast]

Bottled up.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, it bottled it up, followed it up. There's a KG affair.

[Cole Thompson]

You want to know who I think is going to be the closest to this in the American style? Anytime Lane Kiffin loses a game out at LSU and you have the people to buy you.

[Sean Pendergast]

The Cajun people.

[Cole Thompson]

The Cajun people.

[Sean Pendergast]

Because that's a good call.

[Cole Thompson]

Because the thing is, is like, they brought in Lane Kiffin to get them over the hump.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Cole Thompson]

Just like they brought in this English manager to put them on top.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Cole Thompson]

So you're gonna be cursing him out like crazy.

[Sean Pendergast]

Good.

[Cole Thompson]

And you're gonna have the Cajun accent, which makes it ten times better.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

I want to bring in English people to complain about.

[Sean Pendergast]

I was thinking the same thing. Let's do a little fan swap.

[Jamie O'Hara]

Can we flip it, though?

[Cole Thompson]

The cages can play.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, it's fan swap. You know, we're gonna do it. It's like that show where they swap. They swap wives.

[Seth Payne]

See how the LSU lads do this weekend. Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

Should I be railing on the post game show for the Texans in a British accent this year? Boston, you bought it. Cagey affair with the Colts.

[Seth Payne]

You should do it if it's. If things really turn south. You just start making something. Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna do English today, we'll do Scottish tomorrow.

[Sean Pendergast]

All right. Seth's not gonna like this one, but I'm gonna do it anyway because I'm jumping the gun big time. Bruce Thornton. Hell, yeah. I saw, Seth, that when I was out last week, a couple of days that you and Luke did your own version of the ESPY awards.

[Dr. Horton Announcer]

Yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

And I saw that a couple of them. I had no problem with this. Were I got mentioned in a couple of them that were tangentially attached to Mike Burroughs for some reason.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. I think one of them was like the take you regret or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

It was good. So seeing that I want to. Mike Burroughs related, Payne and Morrow ESPYs, I go into this with a little bit of trepidation, but I'm going to give the Mike Burroughs Award to Bruce Thornton for the athlete who's exciting me way too much for preseason or summer league performance.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

You know that's my thing.

[Seth Payne]

I know, I know. No, but you can't take it away from Bruce Thornton. Had a very encouraging summer league.

[Sean Pendergast]

19 points a game, four rebounds, four assists. Just one point. Six turnovers, a couple of steals, shot 40% from three. Experienced guy coming out of Ohio State. Played more games for Ohio State than any player, any human in the history.

[Seth Payne]

No, no, no. I'm totally cool with being excited about him. He's also. I mean, you have to acknowledge that he's listed as six foot tall.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And he's a bear. Right, right. But, like, well, what am I going to. You can't. You can't downgrade a guy because he played really, really well. So it's. He's an intriguing.

[Sean Pendergast]

But you're not going to do the same thing that you did with Bur where you said, hey, man, it's spring training. No, hey, man, it's the summer is what.

[Seth Payne]

I was just kind of baked in. It's not like a prediction of greatness or anything because he had a really good summary.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm not predicting the same level of Bruce.

[Seth Payne]

You were like. When I questioned Ericetti not being in the six man rotation or in the five man rotation beginning of the year, you were like. You're like, what's that?

[Sean Pendergast]

I said, here it comes.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah. You're like, did you see my burrow spring training number?

[Sean Pendergast]

Exactly. Exactly how I sounded.

[Cole Thompson]

Two plays devil advocate. I was machine shot on this one. I was all Mike Burrows.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Jamie O'Hara]

Everything.

[Cole Thompson]

Cy Young Award winner. Now, let me put it pivot this

[Seth Payne]

way, because it usually ends up being like 13 innings of work like the

[Sean Pendergast]

equivalent of good games we would learn here.

[Cole Thompson]

But let me throw it this way. Remember how excited we were with Reed shepherd after summer ball?

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, I do.

[Seth Payne]

Except the Reed shepherd tailed off a little bit more. But yes, but yes, yes.

[Cole Thompson]

Did we learn from that or are we still back on the wagon of Bruce Thornton? Can't wait to watch it with Rookie of the Year.

[Seth Payne]

I think that with, with Reed Shepherd, I think it was. People still understood what his weaknesses were going to be, and I think they got excited about, you know, kind of being able to plug him in and use him to the best of his abilities. Where this year it became. Because everything was botched. I, I'm still like, I, I don't

[Sean Pendergast]

think Thornton gets on the floor very much to start season. He picked up. They, they picked up Marcus Smart.

[Seth Payne]

I think the biggest thing about Thornton is he's a second round pick. Yeah, that's a, that's, that's the encouraging part about it is, okay, this is found money in a second round pick. If he ends up providing value of any sort.

[Sean Pendergast]

That's exactly what I was going to say. Like, Bruce Thornton's not going to show up at the top of the odds board for Rookie of the year like Reed shepherd did after, after summer league last year because Reed was a third overall pick in the draft.

[Cole Thompson]

Out of curiosity, was he drafted during a Taco Bell commercial? Because if so, then he's turning into the next Nikola Jokic.

[Sean Pendergast]

What are you, what are you talking about?

[Cole Thompson]

When, When Nikola Jokic got drafted, there was a Taco Bell commercial that flashed across the screen because it was a second round pick.

[Dr. Horton Announcer]

Oh.

[Cole Thompson]

And so every time that I wait to see like a food commercial, I'm like, that's going to be the next Nikola Yoko.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, really?

[Cole Thompson]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean Pendergast]

I never heard that story.

[Seth Payne]

Should we acknowledge the MLB salary cap ads?

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, you want to do that right here?

[Jamie O'Hara]

Yeah.

[Home Depot Announcer]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Okay.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yes. Yeah, go ahead.

[Seth Payne]

If anybody's noticed over the last week or so, dude, Major League Baseball is running ads for the salary school.

[Cole Thompson]

No, I have.

[Seth Payne]

It's so weird. They interview these players. They interview fans who are talking about how they think a salary cap would be a good thing. And it's a, It's Major League Baseball trying to win the war of public opinion on the upcoming labor brawl that they're gonna have with the players.

[Sean Pendergast]

It's wild.

[Seth Payne]

I don't know if I've ever seen anything like it. Do you think they told political action committee type thing?

[Sean Pendergast]

It's wild. Do you think they told those people that what, why they were being interviewed at the ballpark.

[Seth Payne]

Waiver of some sort.

[Sean Pendergast]

But I wonder. You might wind up on what amounts to a baseball political ad.

[Seth Payne]

It is. It'd be like if they were. You know what it's like if they, if they interview some person on the street and ask a vague question about guns. And then all of a sudden like, it's either you're like, you show up in an ad for like gun control, even though you might be a gun owner yourself or something. Wait a second, wait a second. They asked me seven questions about baseball. One of them was about the salary cap. And all of a sudden here I am.

[Sean Pendergast]

I'm just picturing these like, like it skews very heavily like towards like I'm Rob Manfred and I approve this message, right? And then, and then like this voice guy going, Andrew Friedman of the Dodgers thinks there should be no salary cap. He doesn't want competitive baseball. You know who wants competitive baseball? Rob Manfred wants competitive baseball.

[Cole Thompson]

I'm Ron Manfred and I prove this message.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, man. Jose Altuve refuses to stand up for the fans. Yeah, well, Rob Manfred isn't afraid, you know. You know who blew the lid off

[Sean Pendergast]

the competitive balance tax? Kyle Tucker. Oh my God, I'm Rob.

[Jamie O'Hara]

Man.

[Sean Pendergast]

I thought the same thing yesterday. I'm like, what am I watching? What am I watching right now? All right. Pain and Pender gas. Cole Thompson in with us. All right, one more, Cole. You had one.

[Cole Thompson]

Yeah. Just give a shout out to and let's acknowledge Peter Lambert. Peter Lambert, come on. This was a guy who was dfa, shown the door, could have gone anywhere else and said, I'll take the minor league assignment. Where would this team be right now without Peter Lambert?

[Sean Pendergast]

They might be out of the playoffs without Peter Lambert. Oh, wait.

[Cole Thompson]

Oh wait, timeout. They might be now selling completely.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah, no, they be. I get what you're saying.

[Seth Payne]

Might have ruined this franchise for upcoming couple years.

[Sean Pendergast]

We might have 10 new prospects. Peter Lambert hasn't shown up, but like

[Cole Thompson]

he's been so good in the month of July. He's got a 20 record. Should be 30 because Brian King crapped the Ben on in the eighth inning on Friday. This month alone he's got a 1.02 ERA in 17.2 innings pitch. Only giving up nine hits, 23 strikeouts.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Cole Thompson]

Five walks and a 0.79 WHIP.

[Sean Pendergast]

Seth knows I love those strikeouts, man. It's one thing to have the two point whatever.

[Seth Payne]

Er, that's why you love Cam Smith so much.

[Sean Pendergast]

If he's doing not those strikeouts.

[Cole Thompson]

I'm begging for major league baseball voters to not name him AL pitcher of the month because the last time we saw this, it was Spencer Arrogant.

[Sean Pendergast]

Well the only two times the Astros this I say only two. There's only been like six of these awards handed out but Jordan went into an awful slump after he got player the most it.

[Cole Thompson]

The second that you get accolades from the major league baseball, you immediately go into the crap.

[Sean Pendergast]

You're an astro. You do at least.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah. Like Lambert. The only thing I worry about is that Dana goes into Jim Crane's office. Look, one out of seven guys that we signed this off season is, is actually producing. So we just need to trade for seven more guys.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh my God.

[Cole Thompson]

Seven more Peter Joseph Lamberts, as OJ

[Sean Pendergast]

Would like to put it.

[Seth Payne]

Volume shooters.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yep.

[Jamie O'Hara]

All right.

[Sean Pendergast]

Pain and Pendergast. Cole Thompson in with us. That was acknowledged me. We do it each and every Monday at 7:20. All right, coming up next.

[Seth Payne]

All right.

[Sean Pendergast]

I watched the first three episodes of Quarterback from this weekend. I'm not going to do my breakdown of all my notes from it. I just as I said last week, I tend to come away liking these guys more after watching this show. What is my stock price? And I'm curious. Obviously Seth and Cole as well. Cole, did you watch any of it this weekend?

[Cole Thompson]

Oh yeah, I'm all caught up.

[Sean Pendergast]

Okay, cool. See I'm, I'm only three in but I already feel the way it's going on. All four quarterbacks. One in particular I was having visions of as a Texan fan. We'll do that coming up next. There's a pill version of Ozempic. Hello, I'm Ozempic and I'm other GLP1s

[Dr. Horton Announcer]

kind of like him.

[Sean Pendergast]

Hey, did I hear there's a pill version of Ozempic? Yep, you sure did. Ask your doctor about which FDA approved uses of the Ozempic pen or pill may be right for you. Call 1-833-OZEMPIC or visit ozempic.com to view the medication guide and learn more about ozempic semaglutide tablets 9 milligrams and ozempic semagLutide injection 2 milligrams. There's a pill version of Ozempic flowing

[LinkedIn Ad Voice]

ad budget on metrics that look great til the CFO sees them. That's bullspend and marketers are calling it out in Dashboard Confessions.

[Cole Thompson]

I remember telling my boss it'll be

[Sean Pendergast]

good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't cut The Bull Spend

[LinkedIn Ad Voice]

LinkedIn lets you target by company, job title and More. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend 250 on your first campaign and get a 250 credit. Go to LinkedIn.com campaign terms and conditions apply.

[Kendra Adachi]

Hey there. I'm Kendra Adachi, and my show the Lazy Genius Podcast helps you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. And you get to decide what matters. I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to give you a new way to see Episode Episodes of the Lazy Genius Podcast are full of compassionate time management tips and permission slips to do what makes sense for you. New episodes drop every Monday. Follow and listen to the Lazy Genius Podcast on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Oregon Lottery Announcer]

Oregon Parks make an Oregon summer. But what makes an Oregon park well? Oregon Lottery Gameplay helps no matter the game Megabucks, video lottery, or Keno funds from lottery games help support parks projects across the state, ensuring they stay safe, accessible, and open for all. In fact, Discover State Park Scratches are in stores now. It's the perfect way to put a little bit of Oregon's parks in your pocket. The Oregon Lottery Together we do good things. Must be 18 or older to play. Lottery games are based on chance and should be played for entertainment only.

[Home Depot Announcer]

At the Home Depot, Finding the perfect carpet for your dream room is easier than ever. Browse a vast assortment of styles, colors, textures, and patterns, all designed to fit your vision and your budget. If you do find a lower quote on your carpeting job, we'll match it. Upgrade your space with carpet from the Home Depot that's plush, comfortable, and made to impress. Because your dream room shouldn't just look better, it should feel better, too. Terms and conditions apply.