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- [00:01]
Seth Payne
It only happens every four years. And this time it's here. The biggest tournament in the world. Stadium shaking, flags waving. This is history and you want to be there. But real life can make it tough. Work busy schedules and the price. That's where Priceline comes in. Priceline has millions of deals on flights, hotels and rental cars, so you can go see it live. So find a great deal and make the trip happen. Rally the crew. Go see the game live. Turn your dream trip into reality. Book. Now with Priceline,
- [00:30]
Sean Pendergast
we know you'll always
- [00:32]
Seth Payne
find ways to look out for the people you love.
- [00:34]
Sean Pendergast
And with Amica Life Insurance, we'll help
- [00:37]
Seth Payne
build a plan to make sure you always can. Visit amica.com and get a quote. Today I want to tell you about a new podcast from Odyssey called Family Lore.
- [00:48]
Sean Pendergast
It's about interesting family stories and the truth behind them.
- [00:51]
Seth Payne
It's available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your shows now at McDonald's, get an $8 McChicken or a $9 McDouble FIFA World cup meal deal. They come with small fries, a soft
- [01:03]
Sean Pendergast
drink, four piece McNuggets and one of
- [01:05]
Seth Payne
nine legendary cups at participating McDonald's for a limited time while supplies last.
- [01:08]
Sean Pendergast
All rights reserved. 2026 McDonald's at FIFA World Cup 2026 Sports Radio 610 presents Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast.
- [01:16]
Seth Payne
We coming to eighth time. Let's get the work in, man. Let's go.
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Sean Pendergast
Eighth day. Great day. Oh, give me some juice, baby. Oh, yeah.
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Seth Payne
Let
- [01:27]
Sean Pendergast
five deep to right field.
- [01:30]
Seth Payne
All the way back and good. Put four on the board for 44. The Astros lead this game six to three. Donald Ball game over. Astros winning six to four. Winning the first two games here against Minnesota and moving back within two games of 500. That was a nice win with all their runs coming in inning. Blumer.
- [02:01]
Sean Pendergast
Well, the offense got after it in the bottom of that fourth inning.
- [02:06]
Seth Payne
Mike Burrows doing enough to keep the
- [02:08]
Sean Pendergast
Astros in the game to allow him
- [02:10]
Seth Payne
that big comeback with that big fourth inning and then the bullpen going to
- [02:14]
Sean Pendergast
work shutting it down the rest of the way.
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Seth Payne
But who knew the ABs was going to take it away from yesterday's game
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Sean Pendergast
and give it today the following day?
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Seth Payne
Pretty incredible day and a good win for the Astros.
- [02:25]
Sean Pendergast
All right, Blum, be quiet. We got a show to start here, man. Todd.
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Seth Payne
Pretty good encapsulation though.
- [02:30]
Sean Pendergast
It was. Yeah, it was not. Not probably. Probably a little long for a bump into a show, I would say.
- [02:35]
Seth Payne
But anybody who missed it, look, Mike Burrows got a rough Start three runs in the first inning, but then reeled it in after that.
- [02:42]
Sean Pendergast
Okay. I was one of those people you're talking about. I didn't get to see the game last night. I was out to dinner. It was my. My son. It was my son Sammy's birthday. So we went to the. The original Carabas over on Kirby.
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Seth Payne
Happy. But I don't know if a birthday was worth missing. A masterpiece performance by Mike Burroughs.
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Sean Pendergast
Four runs in five innings.
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Seth Payne
Yeah, well, no, I mean, it was all in the. It was all in the first inning. I mean, he loaded the bases up, hit Caratini to score a run. It was a mess.
- [03:08]
Sean Pendergast
I did see that. I saw that.
- [03:09]
Seth Payne
Looked like it was going to be a disaster.
- [03:11]
Sean Pendergast
I saw that on the TV above the bar there. We were. Reservation was at 7:30, so we got there about 7:20. I did see the caratini beaning, but. But it was nice having the phone sitting there at the table. And then all of a sudden, you know, you look down at your phone and it's six to three, Astros. I'm like, oh, anytime the score jumps like that, like, it goes from like three to two, and then you look down five minutes later and six to four, this is what it was like that game where they played Kansas City and they scored nine runs in the first inning. When it jumps like that, you're like, oh, Yordon did something. Jordan did something. And sure enough, another grand slam for Jordan Alvarez last night, courtesy of Todd Callis and Jeff Blum there from Space City Home Network. Yeah.
- [03:52]
Seth Payne
And, you know, Jordan had come into the night on an over 16 streak or whatever it was, and was quite the opposite of that. It's very, very good.
- [04:01]
Sean Pendergast
He gets into these little. He. You know, that happens to everybody, and it happens to Yordon. Happens to the best of them. You get into these little. These bad streaks or whatever. In most seasons with Yordon, when he gets into a bad. Like a. A bad slump, you look at his ops, and it's still, like, above 850.
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Seth Payne
He's still walking, you know.
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Sean Pendergast
Yeah, this year he still walks. Yes.
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Seth Payne
Yeah.
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Sean Pendergast
This year the number is a thousand.
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Seth Payne
Like, you look, you.
- [04:25]
Sean Pendergast
You like, Jordan's in a slump. He's not hitting. He needs day off. He got a day off this weekend. Like, oh, he's just. Joe Espada's favorite term is a breather. He needs a breather, whatever the case may be. And you look. And his ops is still above a thousand, you know.
- [04:40]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
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Sean Pendergast
And obviously last night, three for four in a grand slam helps. Helps that number. He's at like 10:40 right now or whatever. He's having a sensational season. He's the leader in the clubhouse for the mvp. And he won that game for you with a swing of the bat last night. But, Seth, the big at bat that's getting talked about a lot, too, from last night's game is Jose Altuve. The plate appearance right before Yordon Altuve is your leadoff guy now because Jeremy Pena is on the IL and Jose Altuve with a 3:2 count called third strike. Quickly challenges it. Quickly. Quickly. That's key. Challenge it quick. Quickly challenges it and wins the challenge. Walks, drives in a run. So that makes it three to two. But more importantly, it gives Jordan Alvarez a chance to come up with the bases loaded. Not leading off with the bases empty the next inning. And we know what happened after that. We just heard it.
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Seth Payne
Yeah. No, and it was huge.
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Sean Pendergast
From Alt.
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Seth Payne
Yeah. Jordan. When he got his first hit. Sean, Happy birthday to Sammy. When he got a first hit, the exit velocity was 115mph. Line drive. And he asked for the ball just is. Because, you know, it was momentous occasionally occasion for him getting the ball after, you know, getting a hit. After his dry run.
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Sean Pendergast
Did he really ask?
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Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't see if they actually gave it to him or not.
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Sean Pendergast
Oh. Because he was over. Whatever. I got you.
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Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Sean Pendergast
That's hilarious.
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Seth Payne
The other thing, though, too, about the. The three runs allowed in the first inning. Yeah. Jordan was partly to blame for it. Jordan. Jordan just let the ball bounce right past him in left field. And Blum very generously said that it took a weird bounce. I went back and watched it a couple times. It was. There's nothing weird about it. It was. It was classic Newtonian physics on this bounce, Sean. There was nothing about it where you handle that pure gravity.
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Sean Pendergast
It's it.
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Seth Payne
Yeah, that's. That's it. But no. And then the relievers came in and did a really good job. Yep. So it was a De Los Santos Oker, Brian King, and then Josh Hader. Yep. Just kind of mowed them all down. Yeah.
- [06:49]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. I mean. And that was good to see De Los Santos because he's been atrocious lately, so that was good to see him. And then the other three guys, you just name Okert, Brian King and Josh Hader, all lefties. A righty arm performing like those guys would be nice to have out there. Although blue balls done a nice job. But those three guys had been your linchpins. In the bullpen. So seeing those three guys come in and do what they did was really good. I love this quote from Altuve because challenges, the challenge system was a big topic on the show yesterday because of the Christian Walker aborted challenge from the night before, where Christian Walker looked into the dugout after a called third strike. We should have been, like a similar situation to Altuve. Should have been a ball four. Should have, you know, should have kind of kept the inning a little juiced. And Walker challenges too late, looks into the dugout, challenge aborted. He strikes out. He's seething. Astros lose by one. Blah, blah, blah. I love this quote from Altuve. He was asked if he was confident that if the pitch that he was challenging when the count was three two, if he was confident that it was actually ball four. Umpire called it strike three. This is his quote. He said, not really, but the situation told me I need to challenge. I thought it was a close pitch, but you got to challenge that one. Especially with the bases loaded, two outs, we're down in the game, and Jordan is hitting behind you. You've got to take a chance. End quote. I take back everything I said before the season about my nervousness or anxiety over Altuve using the ABS system. I apologize to Jose Altuve for conflating his ratchet base running for what his. Just what his decision making at the plate would be with the ABS system. He's been outstanding. He's used it. As Matt Kawahara points out in his article in the Chronicle, he's used it way more than he had forecasted he was going to use it before the season. Nobody's had more. More turned over calls, you know, successful, successful challenges.
- [08:51]
Seth Payne
Thank you.
- [08:51]
Sean Pendergast
Than Jose Altuve. But that quote right there, that is the thought process. That is how you, you hitters who are challenging oh one pitches, stop it. I don't care what time of game it is, you stop challenging. Oh, one strikes, stop doing it.
- [09:09]
Seth Payne
That's going to be happy about this. I know you weren't watching the game.
- [09:13]
Sean Pendergast
That quote from Jose Altu, is this going to. Is this going to turn the tables on Altuve?
- [09:18]
Seth Payne
No, no, no, no, no, no. Not on Altuve.
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Sean Pendergast
Okay.
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Seth Payne
Okay.
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Sean Pendergast
Yeah. No, just.
- [09:22]
Seth Payne
Christian Walker got out there and challenged. I honestly was the first pitch. He was successful. He was successful. He got up, he rectified. He got off the. Whatever psychological glitches he may have had.
- [09:35]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, my God. Anyways, so, yeah, so, yeah, I love that when Altuve says, yeah, I wasn't real confident, but you got to Challenge that because it's bases loaded, two outs down in the game, and most importantly, Jordan is hitting behind you. You know, that's. That is a challenge worth losing. You know what I mean? Like, if you lose that in a strike three and it's the end of the inning, I can live with that because all these challenges, like, most of them are within a, you know, a fraction of an inch. So I'm still amazed that some of these guys are so like, Isak Paredes being as good at that is what he is. And I would have predicted that because he's, He's a very discerning hitter up there at the plate. But I love, I love that quote from Altuve.
- [10:14]
Seth Payne
Altuve. You know, what we failed to recognize, you know, when we were forecasting this before the season began was that. Oh, yeah, let's remember Altuve is awesome at the plate. He does. Look, he's got. He knows when he's chasing, you know, he knows when he's. When he's reaching way out of the zone because he's capable of making those hits. So I didn't worry about his actual judgment about whether it was going to be a ball or a strike, but we did worry about his decision making. And yet we know he's great at the plate. Yeah, he's not great once he's on the base pass.
- [10:46]
Sean Pendergast
Right.
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Seth Payne
So this falls into the category of. Okay, this is all still at the plate.
- [10:50]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
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Seth Payne
So we should have. We should have known and recognized that that's true. That it's actually once he gets onto the base pass.
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Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
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Seth Payne
That's where the problems begin.
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Sean Pendergast
The batter's box is his safe space.
- [11:00]
Seth Payne
Yeah. Getting onto the base pass. He has. He's great at that. It's what he does when he's on them. Yep. That's the issue.
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Sean Pendergast
Yep, yep, yep. He's good at taking the reservation. He's not good at keeping the reservation. Yeah.
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Seth Payne
Yeah.
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Sean Pendergast
Here was Joe Espada after the game last night. He said the Altuve at bat, the walk was the at bat of the game.
- [11:19]
Seth Payne
Thinking the Ale challenge turned out to be a pretty. Pretty huge.
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Sean Pendergast
You know what?
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Seth Payne
I'm glad that you brought that up
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Sean Pendergast
because I thought that was like the
- [11:26]
Seth Payne
at bat of the game.
- [11:27]
Sean Pendergast
It was not the grand slam. The grand slam was pretty awesome, but it was the abad by Altuve. Saw seven pitches and you could tell, like, Joe Ryan was getting really tired, you know, after that, I bet he used a ton of pitches and Jose really squeezed him out of, you know, and then Jordan obviously With a, with a big blow. But Daltuve about what's the about of the game. Boy, that is the thing too. He touched on the Joe Ryan aspect of it there. Joe Ryan, who's basically the ace of the Minnesota stats. And we feel that. I feel that a lot. Like we're, we're in an age, an era now where fans are just way more in tuned with pitch counts. I mean, it's there at the bottom of the screen growing. When I was growing up, there weren't pitch counts at the bottom of the screen. You didn't, you weren't sitting there like looking at the pitch count going, oh, boy, I sure hope we get five out of this guy or get six out of this guy. Guys just pitched. So now you're more in tune with it. That is a demoralizing thing. When you have an at bat and your pitcher throws eight or nine pitches in at bat and loses that at bat. Yeah, that's a big deal.
- [12:32]
Seth Payne
You feel you really. You understand how much of a greater loss. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. Keeping track of the competitive at bats, it's one of the better. It's one of the ways the viewing experience has changed for the better, I think. Yeah. Like, it kind of helps you. It kind of helps you be more intelligent without having to work at it.
- [12:50]
Sean Pendergast
It does. It stresses me out more though, man. Like when they lose those at bat, like when an Astros pitcher lose a nine pitch at bat, I'm like, no,
- [12:59]
Seth Payne
but see, but, but the flip side of it is that it makes you really appreciate the ESOC paradises of the world. No doubt. Or the, or the Alex Bregman, you know. All right, okay. He's making them work. He's. He's getting that pitch count up.
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Sean Pendergast
That's exactly right. His.263 batting average is different than other guys. 263 batting averages.
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Seth Payne
You know, Christian Walker just. I just had to fact check myself, be sure my memory wasn't. It wasn't harming me. It was. Yeah, it was an, it was an oh one count.
- [13:27]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [13:28]
Seth Payne
First pitch, he challenged it and he was successful.
- [13:30]
Sean Pendergast
Okay. And then if he was successful, all's well that ends well. I just think it's empirically that's just a dumb thing to do. Unless it's just a completely, you know, unless it's just a really. Just abhorrently bad call by the umpire.
- [13:44]
Seth Payne
I don't know. You know, they, they say that they've got a strategy for which, you know, when did you use it? Based on leverage etc. Etc. I mean, there were two outs, I suppose, and whatever. What?
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Sean Pendergast
Well, they have a strategy, too. There have been some good articles about how the Astros use that, and I thought the most interesting part was they have a book on the umpires, too. Yeah.
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Seth Payne
Yeah. And last night's umpire was. He's one of the most accurate in the league. So that was where initially I was kind of surprised, too, because in the first is the bottom of the first, and Walker's up and, you know, callous had mentioned a couple of times, and I think. I think callous kind of slyly thrown a little shade at two nights ago umpire.
- [14:21]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [14:22]
Seth Payne
But just brought up a couple times how this is one of the most accurate via the tracking in the league. And Walker got it right up and made an accurate challenge.
- [14:31]
Sean Pendergast
So I saw people, people who I think are intelligent. I saw people saying that. That Christian Walker got hosed on that challenge the other night. And I'm like, what are you talking about? He looked into the dugout and took like, three seconds to challenge. Like, he didn't get hosed.
- [14:46]
Seth Payne
I don't know. I think.
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Sean Pendergast
I thought it was a good call.
- [14:48]
Seth Payne
Yeah, he didn't get hosed on the challenge. He got hosed on the call.
- [14:51]
Sean Pendergast
He did. He did. He did. I saw people saying that he got hosed on the challenge part of him. Like, how can you say that? He looked.
- [14:58]
Seth Payne
That was like, by the letter of the law. I mean, Espada didn't complain about it.
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Sean Pendergast
No.
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Seth Payne
You know.
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Sean Pendergast
No, no, he didn't at all.
- [15:05]
Seth Payne
Like, Espada basically conceded. Yeah, he looked into the dugout. I was given. I was giving Christian Walker a little bit of a break just in that. Okay. I can see his head turned towards the dugout. I don't know if he was actually looking at the dugout. Right. Potter just flat out said, yeah, he looked at the dugout. It would just. That's the very letter of the law is you're not allowed to look at the dugout before you make your challenge. So I don't. Yeah, I don't. I haven't yet seen an explanation for how he actually got hosed with anybody. Like, I haven't seen a good explanation for it.
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Sean Pendergast
Someone said.
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Seth Payne
Just like, I. It doesn't make any sense.
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Sean Pendergast
Someone said, Cam Smith challenged the first pitch last night, too. And one. I don't know if that's accurate or not, but that would be on brand for Cam Smith challenging an 01.
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Seth Payne
Cam ended up. Cam had a good night. I mean, Cam's had a Good few
- [15:50]
Sean Pendergast
games had a night. Yeah, well, I said that yesterday, the game two nights ago, and this brings me to a broader take on the Astros. But the game two nights ago where Cam hit the two home runs and they were two bombs. They were both over 400ft. Maybe, maybe this is Cam kind of coming around here and being the hitter that they thought they were ultimately going to get. Maybe not right away, but ultimately thought they were going to get when they traded Kyle Tucker for him. I think that my. My biggest thing that I like about the Astros as a team, Seth, over the last, I'll say, week or so is that they've kind of had that feel of the Astros early in the season where it didn't feel like they were out of any games. You know, the couple of those games in that Detroit series were comebacks, late comebacks. The two wins on Saturday and Sunday were both late comebacks. Monday, they didn't win the game, but they scraped some stuff together. Scrape some stuff. I mean, they hit two bombs in the bot in the bottom of the ninth inning. They didn't win the game. But if Christian Walker had successfully challenged that pitch, maybe that game goes to extra innings. And then even yesterday they fall behind early and then they're able to put a big inning together. And obviously you get Yournan Alvarez hitting a grand slam, and that cures a lot of ills offensively because that was the only inning they scored any runs in, was in the fourth inning. They scored all six of their runs in the fourth inning, and four of them came on one swing of the bat. But I think that's something that's, you know, the lineup feels like it's lengthened a little bit here. It's not just the top three or four guys doing stuff. You're getting contributions from some of the other guys down in the order. Taylor Tramel and Cam Smith. Delgado's had some contributions last week, get sent down to Sugar Land and called back up because of the Pena Il stint. So that's, that's the, the big thing, too, in the last week is they've shown much better resiliency. I mean, you've cited that stat a few times prior to. To this past week or so, which is for most of the season, they've been terrible if they've been trailing seven in the seventh inning or later in game.
- [17:42]
Seth Payne
Yeah. For. For the better part of the first half the season. They don't. They were. It was like 2 and 17 or something ridiculous when trailing in the seventh inning. And part of that is yeah. When you. I mean, when you couldn't trust your bullpen whatsoever, that that's obviously going to make a big difference and they've just. You feel so much more solid about everybody except the Brayus. Still, when you get into those final couple. Couple innings right now. Yeah. Cam Smith challenged the first pitch. It was. Yeah, it was the first pitch on an 0 and 1 count. I think. No, I think this is where is you and I learn about how teams are handling the abs. Yeah. I think the thing that I've started to realize is that the we. We act like an 01 count is we act like it's no big deal. Why are you challenging it? I do think the teams are way more. I think they're actually looking at that first pitch as is one of the better times to challenge it, to have a clean slate. If you feel get ahead of the
- [18:36]
Sean Pendergast
count, maybe certain guys are more comfortable, you know, batting from ahead. That makes sense. I'm still going to get angry when I see it happen, but I'll accept that. I'll accept that. We can't.
- [18:46]
Seth Payne
Sean, the speed at which you can turn into a dinosaur these days has accelerated dramatically. So you got to be careful on this.
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Sean Pendergast
You're right.
- [18:54]
Seth Payne
We got to be open to, you know, checking our biases and everything.
- [18:58]
Sean Pendergast
You're right. All right, we've got the latest on the Brendan Sorsby situation. I think this was the most practical ending to this saga for everybody involved. And with that in mind, Sourceby is going to be part of the 2027 QB class. How closely should Texan fans be watching quarterbacks on the collegiate level this year? Curious what people think about that. We'll discuss that coming up next. Oh, by the way. Baseball talk On Sports Radio 610 presented by Xfinity. Score the most reliable Wi Fi 1 price 5 years guaranteed Xfinity. Imagine that.
- [19:29]
Seth Payne
All right.
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Sean Pendergast
Pain and pender gas. We've got, I guess the closest thing to a resolution to the Brendan Sorsby situation. Brendan Soaresby, the would have been quarterback for the Texas Tech Red Raiders this year, except his addictive gambling habit came to light several months ago and he ended up going to rehab for that. He's fighting it every day. He fought the NCAA on their making him ineligible, successfully got an injunction and then the Big 12 boat up on him and Texas Tech said, hey, buddy, why don't you go in the supplemental draft in the NFL? We're not in this for this. This level of a fight with the. Because it looked like the conference was going to be successful in litigating their way back into him being ineligible or
- [20:15]
Seth Payne
at the very least it was going to be in every week type of scenario. Yeah, like it wasn't going to be stable or good no matter what.
- [20:21]
Sean Pendergast
Right. So this, the school encouraged Brendan Sorsby to apply for the supplemental draft with the NFL and become an NFL player this year. The NFL said, no, we're not going to have a supplemental draft. Sorry, this gambling is an issue for us. So they essentially kind of functionally ended up suspending him for the year by not allowing him to play in the NFL. He can't go back to college. He can't play in the NFL. The cfl, the Canadian Football League said, we're not going to take you. So I think this actually works out best for everybody involved. This is Adam Schefter tweeting this. Yesterday afternoon a memo was sent to all NFL teams saying that the NFLPA and Brendan Sorsby will not be pursuing any further litigation regarding his entry into the NFL and instead Sorsby will focus on his preparation for entry into the 2027 NFL Draft. Sorsby will be considered a draft eligible player for the 2027 draft. He will not be eligible to sign a contract until after the draft. He's, you know, so he's basically, he is basically a, an NFL Prospect now for 2027. Also as part of this set, they're going to allow him, the NFL to be part of the combine to do all the, the, the, the in person visits to teams.
- [21:40]
Seth Payne
They're going to basically treat him like time's been served. Yeah, he's going to be able to follow the normal progression of a draft.
- [21:45]
Sean Pendergast
He's a, he's a college player who's not playing in college this year. Yeah. So.
- [21:49]
Seth Payne
Well, you know, yeah, I kind of look at it almost like a guy that got injured or something.
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Sean Pendergast
Right.
- [21:53]
Seth Payne
You know, with something that's not going to threaten his career. So he's just going to have to miss a year. So I think this is the biggest thing. Like we had said this, a lot of people had said this. He's got to, he's got to stop acting like he's the victim here and you're not going to curry any favor with the public or anybody else at large. I mean, the only people who are really sticking up for him were lawyers because of crap that nobody really wants to think about as far as how the process played out and everything. There was no question about whether he had committed the crimes, so to speak. He was just litigating over whether he should have to serve a lengthy punishment. And nobody, like nobody has an appetite right now to say, oh yeah, if anything, you know, players should have even less of a punishment when they are found to have gambled on their own team.
- [22:37]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
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Seth Payne
Like there's just. You're not going to win that. No. In any arena other than with the attorneys that are also sports fans.
- [22:43]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [22:44]
Seth Payne
And they're not cheering. Cheering for you. They're cheering for the process. So this is, I think it's probably the smartest for him. And it does look, it's a murky gray area. Nobody's really comfortable with it now that gambling is so common and present in sports. But the, just the notion that somehow he would have been able to bet on his own team for. And, and get away with just two meaningless games for a suspension. Yeah. It's not good for anybody.
- [23:12]
Sean Pendergast
No, no. And I, the NFL, the. I was again, you know, I was a little surprised they didn't have a supplemental draft. I thought they would, I thought they would have a supplemental draft and punish him coming into the league like they did with Terrell Pry and that Terrell Pryor and I think that's a distinction. Terrell Pryor coming into the NFL with a five game collegiate suspension hanging over his head. That was for something. That was for something that quite honestly would have been legal now that was for like tattoos and extra benefits that he got. This was the NFL realizing, wow, we are flying way too close to the sun on this gambling thing. If we let this kid into the league this year.
- [23:46]
Seth Payne
There's still, and yet, I mean there's still some inconsistency and we're, we're in, you know, the natal stages of all of this. K. Shawn Booty, after he got drafted was found to have gambled on LSU games when he was in college and the NFL didn't do anything about it. They just let it go on and proceed. So Keisha Booty never got a. So I mean I like they probably there, there may have been a case for it, but it would have gotten, it would have been another thing that's just dragged out forever, you know. And Brendan Sorsby's agent, or excuse me, Brendan Sorsby's lawyer is the guy who fought to have Tom Brady's Tom Brady suspension reduced or eliminated after Deflategate and he was successful. But then that was struck down and ended up, it ended up being just a years long saga and I don't think that that would have served Brendan Sorsby well.
- [24:41]
Sean Pendergast
No. So in Storesby actually put out a statement yesterday. This. I'll only read the first paragraph of it. It's two paragraphs. You know, the second paragraph is about how he's looking forward to this journey and the, you know, no, supplemental draft is not going to affect him. He's getting ready for the draft. I thought the first paragraph was the closest thing I've seen to Brendan Sorsby of really owning what he did. He said, there's been a lot of news about me out here, and I want to share this statement to clear things up. I accept 100% responsibility for my actions. I did not have control of my gambling problem, and it took getting caught for me to realize that, but it was truly the best thing that could have happened to me. Because of this, I've been able to get the help I need and fully focus on my recovery. Now, where, where. It's. Where he's at in his recovery, only he knows that. Again, as he himself cites, this was sort of a forced recovery because he got caught.
- [25:31]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [25:31]
Sean Pendergast
You know, this wasn't him realizing an epiphany of his own, like, oh, I really need to go get help. This was. He got caught. So I feel that. I still think if I were an NFL team, I would still have some questions, big questions for Brendan Sorsby and just how recovered he is from this. How much of this was truly recovery and how much of this was PR to, you know, try to enhance his stock in what would have been a supplemental draft?
- [25:58]
Seth Payne
No. And I think that's where, like, somewhere along the way in the next eight months, you're gonna get a couple of nice little probably well polished documentary pieces or something about Brendan Sorsby and his recovery and all of that. I mean, that's. I guess that's. If you go through the psychological part of, okay, does it matter that much whether somebody got caught and then they rehabilitated themselves versus, okay, they realized that they needed help. It was a natural human tendency that, yeah, if somebody just comes forward and says, hey, I've got this problem and I've realized it, you're gonna. You're gonna buy into it a little bit more. But ultimately, that's not how you can judge whether a guy is actually recovered. And.
- [26:38]
Sean Pendergast
No, that's why I say, only he knows.
- [26:39]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [26:39]
Sean Pendergast
You know, only.
- [26:40]
Seth Payne
Only he. I fell for some engagement bait yesterday, which was, you know, when people write these, like, who knows if it was a real tweet or not, but as a woman who is complaining on Reddit about how she'd been married for 10 years and she screwed up once and cheated on her husband and that was it. He didn't give me any chance. We didn't get a counseling or anything. So of course people get into arguments about it. So when I put myself through that psychological torture of imagining, oh, what would I do if my spouse cheated on
- [27:05]
Sean Pendergast
me, I do think, what'd you come up with?
- [27:08]
Seth Payne
Well, I think that and I do. I know somebody who went through this scenario and I get it. And maybe I didn't get it as much at the time because we were young and in our, you know, early 30s or whatever. Like, so I had a friend whose spouse cheated on him, but it was one of these things. They'd been married a while and it was like she came home and immediately told him because she felt awful about it and like, so she completely just like it was obvious that she had screwed up. She felt awful about it. They had issues in their marriage, etc, etc. And I could easily see how this would have been a divorce.
- [27:41]
Sean Pendergast
They had issues before that.
- [27:43]
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was like the fact that she came forward with it because she genuinely just. She couldn't live with herself. Yeah. And. And told them immediately after the first transgression. That matters a little bit because absolutely. Somebody gets caught cheating. Yep. And yeah. They're claiming that this is the first time they've ever done it.
- [28:01]
Sean Pendergast
Right.
- [28:02]
Seth Payne
All right. Yeah, sure. So I think there is the self confession does matter.
- [28:12]
Sean Pendergast
It does. I totally agree with you. I want to hit the question that I teased into this segment also because the Sourcebee thing got me thinking yesterday. We have not had to really, from a Texans perspective, follow the collegiate quarterback.
- [28:29]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [28:30]
Sean Pendergast
Class for a few years now. Now this class in particular is going to be fun to follow, even if you were a jillion percent certain that C.J. stroud is the guy moving forward. Because it's a deep class, at least right now it's forecasted to be a deep class. These things can change. So I think just in terms of being a football fan, it's going to be a fun class to watch. How closely should we be watching it through a Texans lens this year, this quarter, this quarterback class, which they're saying has at least five, maybe seven or eight guys that are first round talents in it.
- [29:02]
Seth Payne
I think there's a meter that's going to vacillate from week to week. It's a. It's a frog. It's a CJ in boiling water scenario.
- [29:13]
Sean Pendergast
Yes.
- [29:14]
Seth Payne
I think that CJ is our frog. In boiling water where we're not going to think about it. We won't think about next year's quarterback draft class. And unless all, unless the water over the course of the first four or five weeks starts getting hotter and hotter and then all of a sudden we're going to realize, hey, why are we not spending more time on next year's quarterbacks?
- [29:33]
Sean Pendergast
Right. Right. Yeah. No, if he gets off to a bad start, that's going to be a topic. How about this? Ok, so they're running a promo on the station right now. When you and I, you and I had a conversation last week, I think it was where I asked you, like, what's your appetite for extending CJ Stroud right now? And I think you and I were kind of sympatical on it, which is, I think you said like three and a half or four. How about this as a mathematical part? If CJ is a four on a scale of one to ten to extend, then the other six, six out of ten is how intently we're going to be watching the quarterbacks at the collegiate level.
- [30:12]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [30:13]
Sean Pendergast
So let's say we get.
- [30:13]
Seth Payne
So I'm already at a six.
- [30:15]
Sean Pendergast
You're under my theory. Well, I guess I would be. It's up to you if you want to subscribe to that part of the theory. You and I are in the same, I think, range on whether they should extend C.J. i think what I'm going to do is say wherever CJ Is on the contractometer, like if he gets up to an 8 at some point, we're like, oh, yeah, they got to extend him. If we're at an 8, I'm still going to be kind of watching at a 2 out of 10 collegiately, you know what I mean?
- [30:39]
Seth Payne
I think the, this is the interesting mathematical theorem. Early in the morning, I'm a little bit just in spending more time just kind of thinking about it against my will, but because there's nothing else to think about right now.
- [30:49]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [30:50]
Seth Payne
You know that, that $55 million mark we've talked about that the quarterback market by and large has been stuck at $55 million, except for a couple of exceptions for the last three years, which is a long time for a position to stay stuck at one figure, especially that one next year you've got at least six quarterbacks who might potentially get extensions. So you've got C.J. stroud and Bryce Young. You've got Jaden Daniels, you got Caleb Williams, you've got Drake May, you've got Bo Nix. I'm probably missing somebody. Well, of young quarterbacks.
- [31:23]
Sean Pendergast
Young quarterback, I was going to say, because Lamar Jackson's going to get one.
- [31:25]
Seth Payne
Yeah, right, right, right. Well, Lamar Jackson. That's a whole nother debate. You know, like, they haven't really made any moves at all or talked about. About that. And we know that the Ravens have kicked the can down the road before. That's true. So. But Lamar Jackson might be in that cat.
- [31:37]
Sean Pendergast
There'll be a veteran or two. Yeah, yeah.
- [31:39]
Seth Payne
Oh, no, no, no, Lamar. They have to. Yeah. You know, you're. I was thinking of Jalen Hurts. Yeah. They've got to do something with Lamar Jackson. Yeah. So that's seven.
- [31:48]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [31:48]
Seth Payne
And then maybe, Maybe, maybe Hertz as well. Yeah. So the. It's going to go up, like, it's going to. It's going to get up into 60 or 65 million. So if they did sign him now at 55 million, I would feel. I would feel like, okay, well, you're, you know, you're hedging and maybe saving a bunch of money, but it's still a huge chunk of money for a guy that you're obviously not 100% certain on. And I would prefer. I'd rather pay the premium next year.
- [32:17]
Sean Pendergast
I would, too.
- [32:18]
Seth Payne
And be certain about it then. Feel like I'm getting a discount. It's like. Yeah, it's like. Then you're just like some sucker who buys something because it's on sale.
- [32:26]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [32:26]
Seth Payne
You know? Yep. Oh, clearance. A six slice toaster. I haven't had toast in seven years, but I need that. Holy crap. All I have to do is sign up for a checking account that has a $200 annual fee.
- [32:41]
Sean Pendergast
Toast sounds so good right now. I'm hungry.
- [32:44]
Seth Payne
Let's get toast during the break.
- [32:46]
Sean Pendergast
I need toast.
- [32:46]
Seth Payne
Yes. All right.
- [32:48]
Sean Pendergast
Peyton Pendergast with you. I'm curious. Text in.
- [32:51]
Seth Payne
I've been rel mostly off refined carbs for a while, but we have a house guest right now who likes bagels, so we bought a bunch of bagels and, man, it's been tested.
- [32:58]
Sean Pendergast
I was going to say. Oh.
- [32:59]
Seth Payne
I've never been as tempted to stray from marriage than I have been by that bagel.
- [33:04]
Sean Pendergast
You've not eaten a bagel yet, huh? And you got them in the house?
- [33:06]
Seth Payne
We're sitting right in there. Yeah,
- [33:11]
Sean Pendergast
Starving.
- [33:11]
Seth Payne
All right.
- [33:12]
Sean Pendergast
Pain and pender gas.
- [33:13]
Seth Payne
Cheese and everything.
- [33:14]
Sean Pendergast
Pain and pender gas all lined up.
- [33:16]
Seth Payne
You know, Brandy's a very good host. She's got the. The bagels and then in the fridge, it's the cream cheese and the butter right next to each other.
- [33:22]
Sean Pendergast
All the fixings. Yeah. All right.
- [33:25]
Seth Payne
We'll throw some scallions.
- [33:28]
Sean Pendergast
We'll get to some headlines. The Men's Tea Clinic brings you headlines. We'll get to that coming up next, including some breaking news with the Rockets. They got a point guard, huh? Too little, too late for some, but they did. They did just have a signing within the last couple minutes, so we'll have that for you, Astros. We'll hear from this. The Stro's last night. All that coming up in headlines next. Pain and Pendergast with today's headlines powered
- [33:55]
Seth Payne
by Men's Tea Clinic.
- [33:58]
Sean Pendergast
High deep to right field.
- [34:02]
Seth Payne
All the way back and gone. Put four on the board for 44. The Astros lead this game six to three. Donald Ball game over. Astros win it six to four, winning the first two games here against Minnesota and moving back within two games of 500. That was a nice win with all. All their runs coming in one inning.
- [34:31]
Sean Pendergast
Blummer. All right, there you go. Todd Callis on the call there. Space City Home network. Astros win last night six to four. Hey, real quick, just to pay off on the Rockets news, which we'll dig into in a second. Rocket signing Marcus Smart as had been forecasted for the last couple days. Two years, 13 million. So they get a little. Little more depth at point guard. We'll get to that in a second. But we bump in with the Astros. They beat the Twins last night six to four. The big swing was the one that you heard coming into the segment there. Jordan Alvarez with the Astros trailing three to two in the fourth. And the bases loaded. Hits a grand slam. It holds up. They go on to win 6 to 4. Last night. Here was Joe Espada on Jordan Alvarez. Yeah, the ball just went over the fence. So he all of a sudden he's back. No, he's been here all along.
- [35:18]
Seth Payne
He's just.
- [35:19]
Sean Pendergast
When the ball doesn't reach the grass, he's walking.
- [35:21]
Seth Payne
He's.
- [35:22]
Sean Pendergast
He's passing the baton to Paredes. Paredes passes to Walker. That's some good players do. Good teams do. And. But trust me, that was fun to see that ball go over the fence.
- [35:31]
Seth Payne
Hell, yeah.
- [35:32]
Sean Pendergast
And he hits those balls again. Catch some balls out in front. That line drive. 115, his first hit. Yeah. Just getting positive results from those balls in play.
- [35:42]
Seth Payne
You sound a little Schrager like there for a second. Oh, hell yeah.
- [35:46]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, yeah. Jordan Alvarez is this fun, young player. Texans are the.
- [35:51]
Seth Payne
This fun, young team. Yeah, Alvarez. This fun young creepier.
- [35:55]
Sean Pendergast
With time and it's not getting any less.
- [35:57]
Seth Payne
Doesn't get one bit better.
- [35:59]
Sean Pendergast
It does not.
- [35:59]
Seth Payne
We. I almost feel like we. He might have a case for a lawsuit or something. We just keep playing that without context.
- [36:05]
Sean Pendergast
Maybe the. The Astros currently Seth 26 and 17 since the pain and Pendergast reset on May 15th.
- [36:14]
Seth Payne
That's got to be like. Is that like 100 win pace?
- [36:17]
Sean Pendergast
98.
- [36:17]
Seth Payne
98. If they had started the season. Yep. On May 5th. Unfortunately, baseball abides by not being able to eliminate games from earlier in the
- [36:28]
Sean Pendergast
season calendar that you gotta keep the
- [36:30]
Seth Payne
first 1/3 of the season matters. Yeah.
- [36:32]
Sean Pendergast
Two games back in the division, 1 1/2 games back in the wild card. So they're hanging around. You know, they. They need to go on a little run here at some point. And it's the Rangers now that are leading the division. The Mariners are who they're trailing in the wild card race, but in the division right now, the Rangers have gone on a little bit of a run here. Astros will play them in about a week, week and a half, something like that. So. So they'll get their shot. But they win last night over the Twins and the rubber match will be tonight. I believe tonight is an IMAI start. So.
- [37:03]
Seth Payne
Yeah, I would just by virtue of Chandler Rome just wrote a piece by EMI about EMI and how he turned it all around. I. I put it in the show prep. We can discuss it later.
- [37:12]
Sean Pendergast
I've got it open to take a look at. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [37:15]
Seth Payne
Sie built at bowls are apparently a big part of it.
- [37:18]
Sean Pendergast
Saeed bowls one liners and deep, deep bows. How Tatsuya Imai has gotten comfortable with the Astros.
- [37:24]
Seth Payne
Deep bowels.
- [37:25]
Sean Pendergast
Deep bows. B O W s. I'm assuming it's. It's. It's bows he's talking about, not bows.
- [37:32]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [37:32]
Sean Pendergast
You know, I don't think he's, you know, got bows.
- [37:34]
Seth Payne
It's a racist assumption.
- [37:36]
Sean Pendergast
Well, it's.
- [37:37]
Seth Payne
You're a racist son of a bitch. I'm going to tell you that. Tell you that much right now. You just assume because we're talking about the Japanese pitcher and then nobody ever talks about bows in the context of baseball. You're just assuming.
- [37:53]
Sean Pendergast
Come at me, society.
- [37:54]
Seth Payne
I can't believe it. Ben, Ben, bring up the HR tab so we can file a complaint.
- [37:59]
Sean Pendergast
No, I'm putting a dump. I'm putting a chair underneath the door. They're not going to pull me out of the studio. I'm going to stay here and do all four hours with that take.
- [38:06]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [38:07]
Sean Pendergast
So the Astros win. Last night. Let's get to the NBA and the Rockets. Yes, they, they made a signing last night. They signed Bogdan Bogdanovich, a 33 year old. He's been around forever. He was with the Clippers last year.
- [38:21]
Seth Payne
Oh, yeah.
- [38:22]
Sean Pendergast
One year deal for 33 year old that's been injury prone. But he can shoot. They need shooters. He can shoot. We'll see if he stays healthy. But Bogdanovich. And then this morning, just minutes ago, they signed Marcus smart to a two year, $13 million deal. The second year is a player option. Smart is an older player. He, he came into the league in 2014, so he's played for the Lakers. Last year. We saw him in the postseason in that series against the Rockets. If, if Marcus Smart, if it turns into a situation where Marcus Smart is your, you know, your starting point guard. Cause there's issues with Fred Van Vliet in the knee. That's not great. And yet it still would be much better than what they were doing last year with the point guard situation.
- [39:10]
Seth Payne
Marcus, right, right.
- [39:11]
Sean Pendergast
He can at least get the ball
- [39:12]
Seth Payne
over half court having an actual point guard, even if he's not. Yeah. Trying to, as Dana Brown said, cobble it together. You know, instead of just bringing in a guy who can pass and dribble, we'll cobble it together and have a bunch of guys who can't pass or dribble be your point guard. So like, okay, give me a guy who can pass and dribble, play some defense. I feel really old now that Marcus Smart is an old player.
- [39:34]
Sean Pendergast
Yes.
- [39:35]
Seth Payne
I mean, it was 2000, it was 20, 22 when he won the defensive player of the year. And that's, that's long in the rearview mirror.
- [39:42]
Sean Pendergast
BY now he's 31. Or last year was his age, 31 season. So he's, he's going to be 36.
- [39:46]
Seth Payne
Yeah. You know what, though?
- [39:47]
Sean Pendergast
That's a problem.
- [39:47]
Seth Payne
I guess that's the problem. You're not allowed to be called old at 31 anymore in the NBA, I don't think. I mean, it's just, it's. There's so many guys that are thriving in their mid-30s. Yep.
- [39:58]
Sean Pendergast
So the Rockets make a couple signings there. LeBron is not going back to the Lakers. That was announced yesterday. So this will be fun to see how long LeBron strings this out. You know, it's been a while, Been a while since he's been able to do that thing where you're a free agent and you can seek some attention and things like that.
- [40:17]
Seth Payne
Be the Topic. He could do another decision. You know, I would watch. I think you could. He's kind of made fun of himself for that. They had some ad campaign around it, didn't they? A couple years ago, he was like on. He was announcing a decision and it was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna eat this brand of chicken wings or something. That's what it was. Yeah, yeah. Was it, was it for Wingstop?
- [40:38]
Sean Pendergast
I don't know if it was chicken wings, but I remember the. Him doing a commercial where he was mocking himself.
- [40:43]
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah. So I think he might now if he does it for charity, I'd be in on that. Just. It'd be kind of fun.
- [40:48]
Sean Pendergast
He did the first time. It was the, the Boys and Girls club of like.
- [40:52]
Seth Payne
Right.
- [40:52]
Sean Pendergast
Somewhere in Connecticut was the beneficiary of that. So.
- [40:54]
Seth Payne
But then it just felt like he was almost using the kids as props. So like, all right, let's make this look a little bit less self, self worshiping than it is.
- [41:02]
Sean Pendergast
If anything, it made people angrier, you know.
- [41:04]
Seth Payne
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like you brought kids along to this atrocity.
- [41:07]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [41:08]
Seth Payne
Now I think you could actually do it. As long as he was kind of poking fun at himself.
- [41:12]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, I think he was ahead of his time.
- [41:14]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [41:14]
Sean Pendergast
I think we live in a time now. There's so much that was in 2010.
- [41:18]
Seth Payne
That's true. Now you got like high school kids when they make their decision, making a huge production.
- [41:23]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, no, that we, we live in it. They'd like that. We live in much more of a content generation phase now.
- [41:29]
Seth Payne
That's true. 2010, the majority of adults would have still been really embarrassed to be seen taking a selfie.
- [41:35]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [41:35]
Seth Payne
And now it's just the standard. Like that's, that's what you do and beings do in America what you do.
- [41:41]
Sean Pendergast
Kawhi Leonard going to be headed to the Toronto Raptors. We'll. We'll get into LeBron a little bit more and the Rockets in the next segment. It's like, I'm curious what Rocket fans think. Watching all these other teams make moves, watching these superstars kind of fly off the board. It's. It's. For me, it's not been a great offseason for the Rockets so far, even with the two signings in the last 24 hours. So we'll get to all that real quick. Mexico wins last night in the World cup. They beat Ecuador 2 nil. US tonight against Bosnia and Herzegovina, 7 o', clock, the knockout round of 32.
- [42:16]
Seth Payne
I see. You know, I love the knockout round because now we're out of pool play, which I despise.
- [42:20]
Sean Pendergast
You despise pool.
- [42:21]
Seth Payne
I don't like having to keep track of stuff. I like single elimination. Maybe a, maybe a consolation round or something. But make the, make this game matter for something.
- [42:29]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [42:30]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [42:30]
Sean Pendergast
Yep. Yep. We're now to the Seth Payne phase of the of the world.
- [42:34]
Seth Payne
Simple Sethers.
- [42:35]
Sean Pendergast
There you go. All right, heading into the 7 o' clock hour here, we mentioned the Rockets, the off season so far. I It is, it's not. I in my opinion, it's not been great for the Rockets for a few reasons, even with the signings they've made in the last day OR so and LeBron James announcing he's leaving the Lakers. Who's the leader in the clubhouse to get LeBron? And what, what is his Laker legacy compared to some of the other guys? We'll, we'll discuss that as we launch the 7 o' clock hour here in just a few minutes.
- [43:06]
Seth Payne
It only happens every four years, and this time it's here. The biggest tournament in the world. Stadiums shaking, flags waving. This is history and you want to be there. But real life can make it tough. Work busy schedules and the price. That's where Priceline comes in. Priceline has millions of deals on flights, hotels and rental cars so you can go see it live. So find a great deal and make the trip happen. Rally the crew. Go see the game live. Turn your dream trip into reality book. Now with Priceline, they say if you
- [43:37]
Sean Pendergast
want to go fast, go alone.
- [43:39]
Seth Payne
But if you want to go far, go together. At Ameca Insurance, we're built for our customers and prioritize your needs.
- [43:45]
Sean Pendergast
Visit amica.com and get a quote today. How We Made youe Mother is a rewatch podcast that looks back episode by episode at the hit TV show How
- [43:57]
Seth Payne
I Met yout Mother. It's hosted by me, Josh Radner, along with series co creator and my friend Craig Thomas.
- [44:03]
Sean Pendergast
Follow How We Made youe Mother wherever you get your podcasts.
- [44:07]
Seth Payne
All new drinks are now at McDonald's with refreshers like the Strawberry Watermelon Refresher and the Mango Pineapple Refresher with Popping
- [44:16]
Sean Pendergast
Boba to crafted sodas like the Sprite Berry Blast with berry flavors and cold foam. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire six.
- [44:30]
Seth Payne
All new drinks are here now at McDonald's.
- [44:34]
Sean Pendergast
Refreshers contain caffeine. I painted Pendergast with you on a on a Wednesday Astros win last night. We'll talk about them a little bit more later, six to four if you. If you missed it, us playing in the World cup tonight. Lot going on for July 1st, by the way. July 1st also, Seth. This happens every year. It's a tradition like no other. Adam Schefter tweets. Happy Bobby Bonilla Deferral day. Oh, Bobby Bonilla, former third baseman for the New York Mets, set to collect another 1.193 million from new York Mets today, as he will every July 1st through the year 2035. Bobby Bonilla, ahead of his time, man. He's probably the most famous deferral salary taker in the history of baseball. He.
- [45:24]
Seth Payne
To an extreme degree.
- [45:25]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [45:25]
Seth Payne
Like, even. Even by modern standards, there's very few people that defer it as long as he's deferred.
- [45:30]
Sean Pendergast
He signed it, like, back in the early 90s with one of the things
- [45:34]
Seth Payne
that ended up breaking the family that owned the Mets. Yeah. They had like, all these. It was, remember because Bonilla's. It was when they went bankrupt. Can't remember the name of the previous owners. When they went bankrupt. That was one of the things that people were curious about was like, oh, wait a second. Is this gonna affect money as payments? And it did not.
- [45:52]
Sean Pendergast
It is not payment. It is not. But what a smart.
- [45:54]
Seth Payne
Not a great look, look. People are gonna tell you like, I look, when you factor in inflation, it's actually a dumb move. It's only a dumb move. It's only a dumb move if he handled all of his other money brilliantly.
- [46:06]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [46:06]
Seth Payne
I always advocate young athletes.
- [46:08]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [46:08]
Seth Payne
Do something that does. Do something that's way too conservative with at least part of your thing that makes sure that you're set for the rest of your life, you know, even. Okay, oh, no, I didn't earn my maximum.
- [46:19]
Sean Pendergast
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
- [46:20]
Seth Payne
Just shut up and take your steady
- [46:23]
Sean Pendergast
dose of how much for your 1.193 mil. 1.2.
- [46:27]
Seth Payne
But the inflation, it's not that much. Dude, you got that piece, you can make as many mistakes as you want elsewhere and you're gonna be just fine.
- [46:35]
Sean Pendergast
Peace of mind is a big deal, man. Yeah, peace of mind of one point of a check. I like to think, too, Seth, that back when he signed this deal, you probably. That was probably back in the time where you actually got a physical paycheck. I like to take the. Bobby Bonilla gets a check for 1.193 million or, you know, with taxes taken out or whatever. Whatever the net is. I like to think he walks out to the mailbox and gets that check on, like, you know, July 3rd, it
- [47:03]
Seth Payne
gets cut on the 1st. I like to think of it as that. It's more. He receives it. It's in his contract that like an old. A guy dressed up like an old time telegram boy has to ride up on a bicycle.
- [47:13]
Sean Pendergast
Yes.
- [47:13]
Seth Payne
Like an old timey bicycle. With his hat on and everything. Yeah. And he rings his bell.
- [47:18]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [47:18]
Seth Payne
He hands Bobby Bonilla the check.
- [47:20]
Sean Pendergast
That's something I would put in the contract for sure. Yeah. So. So congrats.
- [47:23]
Seth Payne
That's also being smart with your money.
- [47:25]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [47:27]
Seth Payne
You can't put a price on frivolity. You can't. No.
- [47:29]
Sean Pendergast
Frivolity is big for the. For the Rockets. Not a real frivolous off season so far. I was thinking about this yesterday. I'm like, man, I'm trying to think of. I'm trying to think it's anything that's happened good for the Rockets so far this offseason. Only because as I'm sitting there yesterday at Avalon Diner, eating my omelet and I'm watching the news of free agency start to roll in here, the big one is LeBron James not going back to the Lakers. That was the. That. That was the big news yesterday. Somebody not going back to their team. We'll get to that in a minute. But I'm like, man, I feel like as a Rockets fan, you're watching these trades go on, Seth. You're watching free agents, like, big ones are going to start either resigning or signing with other teams. And I feel like. Like Charlie in the first 10 minutes of Willy Wonka in the chocolate factory when he's got his face pressed up against the window.
- [48:16]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [48:16]
Sean Pendergast
And all the rich kids are inside, like, eating all the free candy. Like the candyman in there is, like, giving them chocolate and they're all like, you know, got strings of hard candy and Charlie's got his face pressed up like, man, that's what I feel like as a Rockets fan right now.
- [48:31]
Seth Payne
Enjoy your diabetes in the future.
- [48:33]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [48:33]
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah. That's where. That's how I'm trying to handle it. Enjoy your diabetes. I'm looking at all these other teams like, yeah. Enjoy your luxury tax issues.
- [48:40]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [48:41]
Seth Payne
Not. Yeah, we're being fiscally. We're running it back.
- [48:44]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [48:45]
Seth Payne
We even put a hashtag in front of it. Everybody's working up about it.
- [48:48]
Sean Pendergast
That's right.
- [48:48]
Seth Payne
They were chanting it just randomly in the streets the other day.
- [48:51]
Sean Pendergast
Amen.
- [48:52]
Seth Payne
Down on Kirby.
- [48:52]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [48:53]
Seth Payne
The Netherlands was doing their march or whatever and a bunch of Rockets fans were assembled yelling, run it back.
- [48:59]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [48:59]
Seth Payne
Run it back.
- [49:00]
Sean Pendergast
Didn't quite hear it because of all the Dutch people, but yes.
- [49:04]
Seth Payne
Oh, and over the screams of Fred Van Vliet in his most recent knee.
- [49:07]
Sean Pendergast
Well, that's, that's where I wanted to go. I. And I'm curious. I. There were three things that, to me that just jumped right to front of mind as I'm watching the off season. And for the Rockets, I'm going to count the off season as the. The day they lost to the Lakers is when it started for the Rockets. That's when the. When there were still, you know, several teams playing in the playoffs. The Rockets were in their off season. The. Let's. Let's talk about Fred Van Vliet first. So how do each of these things make us feel about the Rockets right now? Just to reset. This was Fred Van Vliet on his podcast saying that the. His knee injury was worse than we had initially heard.
- [49:42]
Seth Payne
Dr. Lowe did it. So I end up. And then what was up.
- [49:45]
Sean Pendergast
What.
- [49:46]
Seth Payne
What probably never was disclosed was I did ACL and both meniscus. So my whole knee exploded. Right. But you gonna come back better though. Watch.
- [49:56]
Sean Pendergast
For sure.
- [49:56]
Seth Payne
I've been, I've been working. I've been grinding Dr. Low code. Okay.
- [50:02]
Sean Pendergast
He's going to come back as Dr. Lowe cold.
- [50:04]
Seth Payne
I feel like you're saying that my knee blew up and then also just saying, yeah, Dr. Lowe's got me. I feel it puts a lot more pressure on Dr. Lowe than it should.
- [50:12]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [50:13]
Seth Payne
Than he. If his knee did indeed blow up. I just, I do think, I think that Fred Van Vliet was speaking a little bit colorfully there, I hope. Now, depending on what his meniscus damage was to both menisci. Like that could be really, really bad or it could not necessarily be all that big a deal at all. It's kind of. Do you remember when Javion Clowney, remember it was disclosed that he had micro fracture?
- [50:36]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. I remember being like, this sucks. Yeah.
- [50:39]
Seth Payne
People freaked out. And I like, it was really. It was an annoying year for me because I tried to explain to people because I've been through a bunch of surgeries that the micro fracture, it got a bad name because so many old athletes were trying to do it just to salvage their last couple years. So people would hear about a micro fracture and it was usually with some 35 year old who's trying to get one or two more years and they thought, oh, it never works out. Yeah, where. No, it's actually relatively common. It's just that you haven't Heard it used in this context. So people thought the clowney was done for back in 2015. He's still playing football right now. Right. So I think likewise with, like Fred Van Vlietz says his knee blew up. It's like, it's meniscus damage and it happens a lot. It's not all that uncommon, except that it's, it's, it's, it's unique to each individual injury, exactly how bad it is.
- [51:29]
Sean Pendergast
No, I get what you're saying. I'd rather not heard that from Fred Van Vliet, but I get what you're saying. Like, you're, you're, you're saying it's, it's quite possibly this is not anything to worry about.
- [51:39]
Seth Payne
Yeah, it might not. We just have no idea.
- [51:41]
Sean Pendergast
Right.
- [51:41]
Seth Payne
We don't have any clue right now.
- [51:43]
Sean Pendergast
We're just.
- [51:43]
Seth Payne
I mean, Fred Van Vlieto makes some bold statements at times. Yeah. Like, like the spurs aren't. Haven't proven anything, which, you know, ultimately, I guess, sure, they proved a hell of a lot more than the Rock.
- [51:53]
Sean Pendergast
That was a bad take by him. I forgot about that. Like, yeah, like the, the spurs who ended up making it to the NBA Finals. So. But, but as far as this offseason goes, it's certainly not something that makes me feel good hearing that from Van Vliet. And I think we're looking at the moot. The initial moves that have been made by the Rockets. One, I'll count the Bruce Thornton, the trade up to draft Thornton out of Ohio State, an older collegiate point guard, and now the signing of Marcus Smart. I, you know, on the one hand, you're like, oh, look, they're making all these moves for point guards. It's right after Van Vliet says this about his knee. I'm sure the team knew about the severity of his knee injury. The stuff we didn't know about it. But on the flip side, I'm like, well, yeah, this is what we were asking them to do, regardless. It was to go get some depth at the point guard position and not cobble it together anymore.
- [52:39]
Seth Payne
We'd want them to do that. If you had traded for, for instead of Kupo or Joe, there was a bunch of moves that you have to do with or without a big move.
- [52:48]
Sean Pendergast
I think, I think even if we hadn't heard that cut from Van Vliet, these are things we would have wanted them to do. Like, they just, they didn't have. They didn't have good backup point guards last year. Right.
- [52:56]
Seth Payne
Yeah. They had no options. It's just you were left and you did nothing about it. You just had utilized, like, oh, boy. Turns out we were in a really precarious position. Let's just stay exactly where we. In our. In our worst possible scenario. Yep. What do you think the. Just as far as. Just. Just to frame it.
- [53:11]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [53:12]
Seth Payne
This year compared to last year, because largely. Okay, let's say. Let's say for the sake of argument. Okay. Fred Van Vliet is going to come back and he's going to be just fine. You're like, okay, so how. How are they different now, if you, like, compared to a year ago or a little. Little less than a year ago after they had traded for Durant?
- [53:30]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [53:31]
Seth Payne
And let's assume Fred Van Vliet, for the sake of this exercise, is going to be healthy, like, and all of your young core of players are a year older.
- [53:39]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [53:40]
Seth Payne
Like, where should they be? Should you regard them and if you could ignore everything that happened, you know, in the playoffs and everything. Yeah. Would you. Would you still say, okay, they've got just as much of a likelihood of winning the championship? No.
- [53:53]
Sean Pendergast
No. As we felt a year ago. No. I mean, if. Think about it.
- [53:57]
Seth Payne
So were we dumb a year ago?
- [53:59]
Sean Pendergast
No.
- [53:59]
Seth Payne
Well, we were. Because if Fred Van Vliet had played the whole year, do you think that just there was no chance of them winning the championship?
- [54:05]
Sean Pendergast
No, no, no. So a year ago, I actually wrote about this for the Houston Houston Press today. A year ago, we were 10 days removed from them trading for Kevin Durant.
- [54:13]
Seth Payne
Right.
- [54:13]
Sean Pendergast
A year ago, we were talking about them being a legit NBA title contender, that they had this young core that all of a sudden ascended to the two seed. And you added Kevin Durant to that.
- [54:23]
Seth Payne
Right.
- [54:23]
Sean Pendergast
And now I don't feel that way at all.
- [54:25]
Seth Payne
I know you. Yeah, right. I know you don't feel that way now. But I'm saying, like, what if you. What on paper is different about this team now compared to then, other than like. Like, if we just make that. Make that little leap and say, okay, if Fred Van Vliet's gonna be healthy and play like his normal self this year?
- [54:41]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, I get. I mean, they. On paper, the only thing different from a year ago is they just signed Marcus Smart.
- [54:46]
Seth Payne
It's the same team, and they're actually. Right. So we were errant and. Well, of course, no, because then Fred Van Vliet doesn't play. So, like. So you think. You think even if Fred Van Vliet had been healthy, that this team wouldn't have done anything Impressive in the playoffs.
- [54:58]
Sean Pendergast
No, I don't. Because there, there, there became. Because Fred VanVleet was around the team all year. This is where I'm going with this, Seth. My feeling about the biggest difference with this team now compared to a year ago, everybody a year ago was talking about, oh, this chemistry is amazing. Boy, you blend in. KD and he's getting along with everybody. There was a lot of chemistry talk with this team a year ago about how good things were, and somewhere along the way it deteriorated. That was a big topic with the Rockets. So that's my biggest question about them now compared to a year ago is how much does this team like playing with each other?
- [55:34]
Seth Payne
Yeah. And I guess some of that it's always dependent on, you know, when things are going well on the court, it just tends to. Everything else tends to look a little bit better off the court. Yeah. And vice versa. There's a chicken and the egg dynamic. I just want to like. So right now The Rockets are plus 4500 to win the championship.
- [55:52]
Sean Pendergast
They were like plus 1500 a year ago.
- [55:54]
Seth Payne
They were after the signing of Kevin Durant. Yeah, they were plus 850.
- [55:58]
Sean Pendergast
Plus 850. So I was way. Yeah. So I mean they're, the experts are saying eight and a half to one a year ago and they're saying 45 to one now.
- [56:06]
Seth Payne
Yeah, I mean it's a big difference and like a lot of it. And I, And I guess that's where I'm just trying to check myself that I'm not being drastically, you know, reactionary to just the fact that, okay, in the playoffs, without Kevin Durant on the floor, without Fred Van Vliet the entire season, without Stephen Adams, that, yeah, you're gonna, you're gonna look like a drastically different basketball team. And including during the regular season without. And I know we talk about it so much and we lived with it for so long, you feel like, okay, look, I can't just sit here and act like losing an above average point guard and Fred Van Vliet, but not a great point guard made that much of a difference. But it had a trickle down effect to every area of the roster. It did that. It's a drastically different basketball team without Fred Van Vliet. Yeah.
- [56:51]
Sean Pendergast
Yep. I think the big. To me, the other thing, you know, because I'll. So I'll cite the chemistry of the team and the question marks there. The other thing is, and this is another, to me, another thing that is not broken the Rockets way this off season. And I'M defining the off season for the Rockets as the second they were eliminated from the playoffs. The San Antonio spurs got in the HOV lane when it came to their rebuild. Yeah, the Spur, like we most fans of Western Conference teams not named the OKC Thunder thought, okay, that's, that's the team, that's the dragon we've got to vanquish is okc. They won a title with a bunch of young guys, and they've locked those young guys in for the next several years. As it turns out, Victor Wembanyama, who we knew this was going to happen eventually, that he was going to become this alien. It just happened. That whole thing, that whole core they put together with Castle and. And Dear, and I know Dear and Fox had a bad playoff, but that core they put together obviously focused on Wemby, got great way sooner than anybody thought they would.
- [57:53]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [57:54]
Sean Pendergast
And that's a problem for the Rockets. I think a lot of bit that I think that's baked into them being 45 to 1 right now is they're not only nowhere near OKC, they're not near San Antonio. You got two teams you got to get. You just lost to the Lakers with no Luka Doncic, granted, without Kevin Durant. But I think that's, to me, that's the biggest thing. And throughout the course of the season, not having a real point guard and then whatever was going on behind the scenes with this team, which was discussed enough around the league to make me think there was something to it. And we know the Burner account thing with Durant, that felt like there was something to that. That's the biggest question to me because on paper with Van Vliet coming back, they're, they're very similar to what they were a year ago. But the feels on that, the vibes on them are just way, way different.
- [58:39]
Seth Payne
We might have to take it in our own hands and just try to. To somehow sabotage when Benyama in San Antonio.
- [58:45]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [58:46]
Seth Payne
Just make him demand a trade at some point. Go back to bring a drink. Bring up a bunch of the old headlines about anti French sentiment after 9 11. We'll educate him about freedom fries.
- [58:56]
Sean Pendergast
Yes.
- [58:56]
Seth Payne
And San Antonio is leading the charge on calling them freedom fries instead of French fries.
- [59:01]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [59:01]
Seth Payne
Yeah, boy. This is how you. This is where you want to represent your country.
- [59:05]
Sean Pendergast
Yes.
- [59:06]
Seth Payne
San Antonio.
- [59:06]
Sean Pendergast
Let's poison the water.
- [59:08]
Seth Payne
Funny you said has always loved the French.
- [59:09]
Sean Pendergast
Yep. This is, this is how fast a track the spurs got on this year. You just mentioned the Rockets. Odds were what, eight and a half to one going into last season to win the NBA title.
- [59:19]
Seth Payne
On average.
- [59:20]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, on average. The Spurs, 65 to 1. 65 to 1. So people just weren't counting on that, you know, And I think that's a big thing. I think the other thing, too, if you're a Rocket fan, for some Rocket fans, I think there are Rocket fans that are cool with running it back and seeing what this team can do, but if you're a Rocket fan that was looking for a big swing this off season by the front office, the names are all flying off the board. You know, the. The Giannis to Miami, Kawhi to Toronto. I know there's a few Rocket fans out there that would have been interested in John Morant. I'm not one of them, but he went to Portland. Even Lamello Ball, some would have been interested in. He went to Minnesota. Jalen Brown's the only one. It feels like it's still out there. That's sort of a trade candidate, and reportedly, the Rockets don't want Jaylen Brown, so. So if you're someone that was looking for some sizzle this offseason, like some move to make it feel like they move the needle with this team and get off of being there's, like, this is not going the way they drew it up when they traded for Durant. They're 45 to 1 to win the title right now.
- [60:19]
Seth Payne
Yeah. And. Well. And I think the signing of Marcus Smart pretty much precludes them going after Jaylen Brown, if only because. All right, they. They're hoping that Fred Van Vliet's gonna be the starter. They don't want to be caught with their pants down again this year if they don't have him. But now you've. Unless something weird happens with Fred Van Vliet, which I think, like, be actually impossible at this point.
- [60:39]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [60:39]
Seth Payne
From a contract standpoint. Yeah. That's. They're gonna run it back. Yep. It's funny, though. Their odds last year before they got Durant to win the championship, were still better than where they are right now.
- [60:49]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [60:49]
Seth Payne
Yeah. Yeah.
- [60:50]
Sean Pendergast
I think. Because I think people were looking at the team going, okay, they got knocked out in the first round, but it was by Golden State, who had a lot of old heads on there with playoff experience. They went to seven games in that series, and the biggest thing was the regular season. They'd gone from being literally a.500 team the year before, when they were 41 and 41, to the 2 seed in the West. So I think it was easy to look at them and what were their odds? Actually, what was the actual number?
- [61:14]
Seth Payne
It was before they were about 12 to 1.
- [61:18]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. Before the Durant. I mean, they were viewed as a kind of fringe contender before that trade. So. Yeah, yeah, that's. Boy, that is a 45 to 1.
- [61:27]
Seth Payne
Now remember, it is the only thing about the Jalen Brown. And again, okay, the reports are that the Rockets are. Don't, don't want or have any interest in them. I went back and looked yesterday and kind of leading up to the Durant trade, it was in the few weeks before it, there were a couple of reports and anonymous sources that said that whatever interest there had been had cooled. Yeah. And that Durant actually isn't interested in. So I try to take all of those with a grain of salt, but I just, it does feel, it doesn't feel like they're going to have to. Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart might be the most notable thing that happens.
- [62:01]
Sean Pendergast
It might be that. That might be. Yeah, it might be the most notable pickup that they make. So. So that's kind of like just things. Just if you're a Rocket fan looking for some reason to believe that 45 to 1 to win the title is just flat out wrong, there's not been a lot that the basketball gods have given you to move off of that. It's just, it's unfortunate. LeBron James announced yesterday he will not be returning to the Lakers next season, but he is going to play next year. We'll tell you who the favorite heavy favorite in the clubhouse is to land him. But this is Brian Windhorst of ESPN saying that LeBron is looking for happiness, not money. Rich Paul has made it clear that LeBron's number one priority for the season is happiness. Happiness. It's not money. So you don't. I mean, we're going to count the money, we're going to figure it out on the salary sheets and whatnot, but it's not going to be necessarily who's got the most money to offer. So now you're going to your follow up question, Matt is, well, how do you define happiness? Well, how does anybody define happiness? It's fluid. So I'm not sure he's got his mind made up here. It may take him a period to decide what his happiness is going to be. And there's several teams that are going to probably try to present their version of what his happiness can be, and we'll see how that process plays out. There's something about Windhorst's squeaky voice talking about happiness. That he's just trying to be happy.
- [63:21]
Seth Payne
Like we're all of a sudden got into a philosophy, YouTube or something.
- [63:25]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah.
- [63:26]
Seth Payne
How did Brian Windhorse or Alan Watts.
- [63:28]
Sean Pendergast
When I heard that.
- [63:29]
Seth Payne
When I heard that cut. And.
- [63:31]
Sean Pendergast
And I heard Windhorse ask rhetorically, like, how does he define happiness? I'm like, oh, I can't wait to hear the answer. And then his answer was, goes. How does anyone define happiness? How does anybody define happiness?
- [63:41]
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [63:43]
Sean Pendergast
Fair question.
- [63:44]
Seth Payne
I asked Chad, how do you define happiness?
- [63:46]
Sean Pendergast
What did the chat tell you?
- [63:47]
Seth Payne
Chat told me I define happiness as a durable sense that your life feels worth inhabiting.
- [63:54]
Sean Pendergast
You think LeBron has that or you
- [63:55]
Seth Payne
think a little too low a bar for LeBron? I feel like LeBron feels like the entire world feels like him. His life is worth inhabiting and that he is the crown prince.
- [64:06]
Sean Pendergast
Yes.
- [64:06]
Seth Payne
So I think. I think he's got a higher bar than that. Okay, so peace, meaning connection. Yeah. Agency.
- [64:14]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [64:15]
Seth Payne
And gratitude.
- [64:16]
Sean Pendergast
Okay. These are. What are this? The five elements of happiness that you're
- [64:19]
Seth Payne
reading to me right now. Some combination of these things. I think he'll be at peace, not at war with himself, as long as he goes to a team that's competitive.
- [64:27]
Sean Pendergast
Right, right, right. The favorite in the clubhouse is Golden State at minus a thousand. So one to ten. They're a. They're a heavy favorite to land him, but Sham Sharanya says any contender could be in on LeBron.
- [64:42]
Seth Payne
Like Perk said, he just listed a couple teams.
- [64:44]
Sean Pendergast
Like Denver is a team that makes a lot of sense for LeBron.
- [64:47]
Seth Payne
I wouldn't rule any team that goes into next season that feels like it
- [64:51]
Sean Pendergast
has a legitimate chance to contend and
- [64:53]
Seth Payne
have interest in LeBron James as a
- [64:54]
Sean Pendergast
suitor here because he's a free agent and so.
- [64:57]
Seth Payne
And. And there's. There's not a ready made spot for him necessarily.
- [65:03]
Sean Pendergast
Okay. The. The other favorite, Golden State's the heavy favorite right now at minus a thousand. You got to risk. You got to risk a thousand dollars just to win 100. The other teams that are sort of, you know, hanging on the front, the Cavs are easily the next closest. For him to go back to his home state of Ohio and play for the cavs again is 2 to 1. And then the.
- [65:21]
Seth Payne
That would be the meaning part of happiness.
- [65:23]
Sean Pendergast
That would be the meaning. Yeah.
- [65:24]
Seth Payne
Like your days connect to something you value.
- [65:27]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [65:27]
Seth Payne
He values Ohio.
- [65:28]
Sean Pendergast
He does. He does. Yeah. Celtics 8 to 1. I don't know if any of these teams bring any of the elements you're talking about.
- [65:34]
Seth Payne
Seth, Celtics. I feel like, I don't know, that might be the gratitude, maybe like appreciate that chance to play for that, that of like one of the old, old guard. He's had some of his in the NBA.
- [65:49]
Sean Pendergast
He's had some of his greatest games in his career against, against the Celtics in the postseason. I know that The spurs are 10 to 1 and then the Miami Heat would be the other homecoming. That would be 12 to 1 for the Miami Heat.
- [66:00]
Seth Payne
That would be meaning and connection. If you went to the Heat.
- [66:04]
Sean Pendergast
Yes.
- [66:04]
Seth Payne
Agency. He has like literally. He has agency. Yeah, he literally has free agency. So agency, agency, one of the five factors here. You feel you have some say in your life. Yes, I feel like he has that 100% to an extreme degree, both in basketball and life. It might not matter where he goes as long as he has that agency.
- [66:26]
Sean Pendergast
If any contender could be in on LeBron, I was just like in my head, like, you know, just sort of fantasy booking this thing. Now the Rockets, for what it's worth, are 66 to 1 to land LeBron.
- [66:37]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [66:37]
Sean Pendergast
Be kind of fun if the LeBron accepted like the mid level exception to come to come play here. I just, you know, I, I don't know that Durant is the superstar that people want to gang up with. I don't know how many, I don't know how many friends Kevin Durant has amongst that, amongst that aging superstar ilk.
- [66:55]
Seth Payne
You know, that's the tough thing. It's like, all right, look, we knew, we didn't, we didn't expect Durant to come in and provide vocal leadership or anything. Yeah. But now I'm at a point where I'm actually entertaining the thought of, hey, maybe, maybe LeBron would really be able to get and motivate this 35 year old to be the best version of himself or this 37 year old Howard, 38. How old's Durant now?
- [67:18]
Sean Pendergast
He's going to be 38. I think he was 37 last season. Yeah. Yeah.
- [67:22]
Seth Payne
So, yeah, that's, that's. I, it just doesn't feel like a good fit.
- [67:26]
Sean Pendergast
Can I tell you a pet peeve also of mine that, that is, it's in this statement from the, from Jeannie Buss to LeBron after LeBron announced he's not coming back to the lakers. It says LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history. Okay. I have no problem with that. We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers. Okay. Including the title he led us to in 2020. Sure. Under the toughest Imaginable circumstances.
- [67:53]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [67:54]
Sean Pendergast
Including the title he led us to in 2020 under the toughest imaginable circumstances. These teams that won Covid championships.
- [68:02]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [68:03]
Sean Pendergast
Acting like Covid was something thrust upon them and not everybody else.
- [68:09]
Seth Payne
Yeah. Right, right. And that they had to go. No, they had to go live in a luxury hotel and play basketball. Basketball.
- [68:15]
Sean Pendergast
There's players from the Lakers who've said it was easier to focus.
- [68:20]
Seth Payne
Sean.
- [68:20]
Sean Pendergast
It's all.
- [68:22]
Seth Payne
Remember the metrics we got from all the body tracking, everything.
- [68:25]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [68:25]
Seth Payne
But that was, like, the fastest version of basketball we've seen in the NBA, because guys were fresh. They were undistracted. Like, it was, if anything, while everybody else was locked up in their. Like. And all the other people locked up in their own crappy apartments, some of them with spouses they despise. Yeah. Meanwhile. Yeah. The NBA players had to go live in a luxury hotel and play basketball. Those were the toughest possible imaginable. With no travel.
- [68:52]
Sean Pendergast
They were literally living in the Grand Floridian at Disney World. Like, it was. It was bubbles in Orlando, right? Yeah. Yeah, it was.
- [69:00]
Seth Payne
No, no. Yeah. I count myself amongst the people that, during the shutdown was like, oh, I've got no obligations to leave the home. This is awesome.
- [69:08]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [69:08]
Seth Payne
Yeah. You can miss me with. These were the toughest imaginable circumstances.
- [69:13]
Sean Pendergast
And I'm not even. And if you're accurate, I'm not even talking about whether it's true or not that it was tough. I'm talking about, like, yeah, the toughest imaginable circumstances for all the teams.
- [69:25]
Seth Payne
For all the teams. Exactly the same situation. Yeah. That's.
- [69:29]
Sean Pendergast
That is a pet peeve of mine, because you know what? It is.
- [69:32]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [69:33]
Sean Pendergast
The fact of the matter is that people don't view that title as a real NBA title.
- [69:39]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [69:39]
Sean Pendergast
It was the only one that LeBron won while he was with the Lakers. In fact, LeBron had. LeBron had way more disappointing seasons as a team with the Lakers than he had seasons that met or exceeded expectations there. He missed the playoffs a couple times. He got knocked out of the first round three times out of the eight seasons he was there. So whenever teams do this, I always feel like it's them trying to prop up a title that nobody wants to prop up. Yeah. We won the COVID title. It was the toughest. I don't know if you heard. It was during a pandemic. Like. Yeah. A pandemic that was not exclusive to the Lakers.
- [70:13]
Seth Payne
It was. Everybody was playing under the same circumstances.
- [70:17]
Sean Pendergast
Mad talking about it.
- [70:18]
Seth Payne
No, no, no, no. It is like, you know, I don't want to, I don't like putting asterisks on championships or anything. But for, by and large, you know, Lakers fans, if you had asked them in the year, let's say. Let's say if you'd asked them just the beginning of 2019. Okay, what's your, you know, what's your expectation on number of championships that you're going to win over the next few years? Yeah, they probably would have three, four, five.
- [70:44]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah. With LeBron, they would have said multiple. For sure. For sure.
- [70:49]
Seth Payne
There was all. What LeBron did was led them from a period of what, six or seven years where they weren't in the playoffs at all. Yeah, he let them out of the darkness and within a couple years got them to an extra championship. But then after that, it's largely been a disappointment in terms of just what he's not going to be.
- [71:08]
Sean Pendergast
He.
- [71:09]
Seth Payne
I would have guess in Lakers fans minds. Yeah, he's way down on the mural, right?
- [71:13]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [71:14]
Seth Payne
He doesn't even come close to the, the actual mainstay Lakers legend.
- [71:19]
Sean Pendergast
No, no. Kobe, that. I put it out there on Twitter yesterday and did get some replies from Laker fans who kind of. Some said it in a gentle way, some said it in a much more harsh way. It's just like, yeah, he's just not.
- [71:30]
Seth Payne
Not.
- [71:30]
Sean Pendergast
He's not one of us is kind of what it was. You know, like he, he, he has been a somewhat hired gun throughout his career. You know, I know going back to Cleveland had some. Had some emotional feel to it, but it felt like, and I know it was eight seasons there, so he was there for a good long time. But, you know, just announcing, hey, I'm not coming back yesterday was. That's just not, you know, in, in general, like, especially when you compare it to Kobe, who was there his whole career. Magic, who was there his whole career. Kareem, who was there in the second half of his career but retired a Laker.
- [72:03]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [72:03]
Sean Pendergast
You know, Shaq might be the closest thing to LeBron because he played for so many teams, but Shaq is just beloved there.
- [72:09]
Seth Payne
Yeah. No, no. You did the old thing where you're like, hey, here's six guys in a boat. Which one are you pushing out? I think 99% of Lakers fans are shoving LeBron out.
- [72:18]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. And I'm not even bringing up guys like, you know, Jerry west and Elgin Baylor and guys, that's what I was
- [72:23]
Seth Payne
wondering with Elgin Baylor, that would be the one that would tell. They would test whether you're a ball knower or not. If you're a 24 year old who's like, who's kicking Elgin Baylor out of the boat.
- [72:32]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [72:33]
Seth Payne
Murderer.
- [72:34]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. And he did go run the Clippers for several years right across town. This was funny yesterday. I'm still trying to find out why Kendrick Perkins was so mad at Rich Paul. LeBron James agent. This was Kendrick Perkins yesterday as the news was coming out that LeBron was not going back to the Lakers.
- [72:52]
Seth Payne
Rich Paul. Okay. Rich Paul, little turtle head, snotty nose ass. Called me all throughout the season. Every time I'm on tv, I get a text message from him. I've been calling him for two days now and he'd been ignoring me. We got a problem.
- [73:11]
Sean Pendergast
Help me out text page. Why is Kendra, is Kendrick Perkins mad at Rich Paul? Because Rich Paul was kind of doing that thing where he's sort of using perk maybe with.
- [73:22]
Seth Payne
He was mad that, yeah, he couldn't get a hold of him when he actually needed him. He was kissing up to Kendrick Perkins all season long. But then now when he'd really like to maybe have a conversation or get some information or whatever, giving him the stiff arm.
- [73:36]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
- [73:38]
Seth Payne
It feels to me he's like, he's kind of calling him phony.
- [73:41]
Sean Pendergast
He got used. He sounds like he got used. Like you've been calling me all year and now when I need you, where are you at? Yeah, you ghosted me.
- [73:47]
Seth Payne
I also feel like there's a 50% chance sense that Kendrick Perkins told Rich Paul he was going to say that. I don't know. His might be at work.
- [73:55]
Sean Pendergast
Wwe. Yeah.
- [73:58]
Seth Payne
Did you call him? What was the insult?
- [74:00]
Sean Pendergast
Snotty knows. Hey, Ben, can you play the beginning?
- [74:03]
Seth Payne
Rich Paul. Okay. Rich Paul, little turtle head, snotty nose ass. Okay.
- [74:08]
Sean Pendergast
Rate that.
- [74:09]
Seth Payne
The turtle head. You know what? I kind of see it. Rich Paul, because there's always like. Rich Paul has a lot of pictures. He doesn't smile in his pictures very often. And it's. There's one of those cartoon. Cartoon turtles that always has kind of like a. It might have been from Looney Tunes. I can't place it. Who always had kind of a mopey look on his face. Everything. I think that's where he might be getting the turtle headed.
- [74:32]
Sean Pendergast
Okay. Okay. Did you happen to see that? That Freddie German soccer superfan, shut down his Twitter account. You were spot on about this. I guess.
- [74:44]
Seth Payne
Yeah, I must. He had. I had seen something about how he had planned on shutting it down when all of this was over.
- [74:49]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [74:50]
Seth Payne
And I thought maybe I just got, maybe I got a bogus account. But they, within six hours of me bringing that up, he did actually shut down.
- [74:57]
Sean Pendergast
He shut down his account. And then I saw something that looked like a statement from him later on last night and I was out, so I forgot to bookmark it or whatever. But where he explained, like, didn't know it was going to go this way on Twitter. It took longer than I thought for it to go this way. With Freddie.
- [75:12]
Seth Payne
Freddie, somebody actually found out his actual identity.
- [75:14]
Sean Pendergast
Well, I know they found out his identity, but they found some tweets on his timeline from several years ago.
- [75:21]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [75:21]
Sean Pendergast
Where he had actually been to the United States before.
- [75:25]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [75:25]
Sean Pendergast
He'd actually eaten raisin canes before.
- [75:27]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [75:28]
Sean Pendergast
You know, Freddie, the, the character of Freddie over the last couple weeks, this German superfan was, was this kind of doe eyed, naive, roaming the countryside, foreigner here in America, seeing all that's good in America for the first time.
- [75:43]
Seth Payne
But I guess as I understand it though, it's not like he ever claimed that this was his first time in America. I think people just assumed that.
- [75:51]
Sean Pendergast
Okay.
- [75:52]
Seth Payne
And he said he'd been to some of the big tourist destinations before, but he'd never just gotten out and amongst the people and out in the country and driven it all like, like he has before. So I, I stand by Freddie on that part of it. I don't think he was fraudulent in that regard.
- [76:06]
Sean Pendergast
Here's Freddie explains why he deactivated his account documenting his World cup travels. He said, hey everyone, just want to let you know why I deactivated my account. I've seen multiple people post this. I'm assuming this is him, but it's social media, so I'm going to caveat here. He said one, this was the plan all along, before we even started the World cup trip, deactivating it as you just said. Two, too many people seem to have a problem with us having a genuinely good time here in the country and this is ruining the fun a bit for us cuz we really just wanted to document our road trip and never expected that people would have a problem with it. People are digging in my 22,000 posts to find a handful of, in their opinion controversial posts and post them without zero context to make me look like a bad person. He goes on to say several more things, but it's a combination. It sounds like Seth of him A planning to do that anyways, but B, also getting a real feel for what it's like to be an American icon which is getting built up to get torn down.
- [77:05]
Seth Payne
Right. Especially on social media. You know, it's almost like he's kind of gone through the Arian Foster experience. Remember Arian Foster when he first emerged, he was just like, oh, wow, this media darling, Everybody loved him and everything. And then as soon as Arian Foster maybe just spoke his mind about a couple of things, all of a sudden it just turned drastically and Aryan got very disenchanted it very quickly because you do you see, like, oh, that was all just. You know what? It's tough because it wasn't all fake love. The problem is that in the early stages, you get nothing but the positive people. But the more notoriety you get, then the negative people jump in.
- [77:42]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, yeah.
- [77:43]
Seth Payne
And it's hard. It's hard because it feels like been one big wall of humanity when in fact, a lot of the positive people are still out there being positive, but they're shouted down by the extreme cynics and negative Nellies and whatnot.
- [77:56]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, they're. They're. Yeah. It's just a way louder voice, right? It's a voice that. It's the louder voice and it's the one that makes you feel bad.
- [78:03]
Seth Payne
It's the one that gets your attention most easily.
- [78:05]
Sean Pendergast
Yep, yep.
- [78:06]
Seth Payne
I saw, you know, Benjamin Solak when he was on Garrett Williams podcast. He was talking about how, you know, I was lucky. I got into. I was doing a lot of film analysis and everything on Twitter back before Twitter got so toxic. And I'm like, when was that? And he said, 2020. I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no. This is what happened. This is what happened, Ben Solak. It's when you have a certain number of followers, when you only have a few, it's a pretty fun place. It's like once you reach a tipping point of a certain. I don't know whether it's like 10 or 20,000 or whatever. All of a sudden that point, it's like you can't say a single thing without. You can't go on and tweet I like dogs without somebody just somehow trying to call you a war criminal because of it.
- [78:45]
Sean Pendergast
Yep, yep, yep. That's why you got to stay out of your mentions, man. As best you can, stay out of your mentions. All right, so. So there you go. That's. That's the latest with Freddy the. The German super fan. All right, coming up next, let's circle over to football. Uh, NFL.com the eight last place teams last year. We were part of one of these a few years ago. Texans did a worst to first under D' Amico Ryans back in 2023 and they've been a good team ever since. Who's got the best chance of pulling one of it? Feels like one team does it every year. Who's got the best chance this year of the last place teams in the NFL to go from worst to first? We will. We'll dig into that coming up next. Hey guys, it's Daxton and Hayden from Blundies Out Loud.
- [79:35]
Seth Payne
And if you've ever thought about starting a podcast or making money from one,
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Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
top of whatever you're already doing, which of course we love because it just
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Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
So if you're a creator or podcast
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Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
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Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
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Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
Nice.
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Sean Pendergast
Now I can instantly spend it whether I'm checking out online with Venmo or
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Seth Payne
using a Venmo debit card.
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Sean Pendergast
Say more.
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Seth Payne
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Sean Pendergast
Exactly.
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Seth Payne
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- [80:48]
Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
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- [81:24]
Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
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- [81:32]
Sean Pendergast
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.
- [81:45]
Seth Payne
I'm here to give you a new way to see.
- [81:47]
Sean Pendergast
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. All right, Pain and Pendergast, Good to be with you on a, on a Wednesday. We'll get to the Astros at the top of the hour. All right, Seth, here are the teams in the NFL that finished in last place last season. You tell me which of these teams, gut feeling has the best chance to do what the Texans actually did a few years ago, which is go from bottom of the barrel in their division to winning the division not once but twice. These were the eight last place teams. The New York jets, the Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, the New York Giants, the Detroit Lions, the New Orleans Saints, the Arizona Cardinals. You got to pick, you got to pick one to go first to first.
- [82:55]
Seth Payne
You know, a lot of times immediately I'd go to the weakest division and you know, so I would go immediately to the NFC south. And yet the NFC south is a weak division and yet has teams that are solidly mediocre in it, that have some upside where you can see the Falcons or the Bucs perhaps overperforming expectations that I just don't feel like the Saints are quite there ready to do that. So I'll kind of weirdly go with one of the stronger divisions. And I see, I think the Lions probably have the best chance at it.
- [83:28]
Sean Pendergast
They're easily, easily the best of those eight teams.
- [83:31]
Seth Payne
They're the best of those teams. They happen to be in a tough division, but you just look at the, the major players and they did have some losses like David Montgomery and whatnot. But really one of the biggest question marks is just that, all right, are they going to be able to figure out and overcome the loss of Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator, at some point? Ironically enough, he's in the division itself.
- [83:53]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [83:53]
Seth Payne
But I don't believe in the Bears and I don't believe in the packers to the extent that I don't feel like, oh, none of Those teams are, you know, like, I don't feel like none of like that the other teams in the NFC north can't be supplanted.
- [84:06]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. And the Saints too. I just know. I don't know if I'm ready to believe that Tyler Schuck is a division winning. Even in that division.
- [84:13]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [84:13]
Sean Pendergast
That he's a division winning quarterback. So I'm with you on that. If it weren't the line, like, what's the next. Can you make any case? Because, you know, I'm citing the Texans from a few years ago doing it. They looked a lot more than like the jets and the Browns and the Titans and the Raiders.
- [84:31]
Seth Payne
And I think there's teams right now where some of the bad teams, some of them, you can look at them and say, okay, I think they're doing good things. Yeah. Like the Giants. I think the Giants are doing good things. But even most sane and rational Giants fans right now would tell you they're really optimistic about the season and they expect them to win six or seven games. Right. You know, like, they really, they feel like they're all in on like a Harbaugh kind of. We've got an adult in charge now and we're doing the same things systemically or the right thing systemically. That if they go, if they win seven or eight games, they'll be like, all right, cool, we're on the right track.
- [85:04]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [85:05]
Seth Payne
I think that like. So I think the Raiders are doing probably the right things. I don't know. We don't. We got to remember that Fernando Mendoza still by, by like normal standards in a, in a draft, like if you were going in next year's draft very easily might not have been the number one overall pick.
- [85:24]
Sean Pendergast
Without question. Yeah.
- [85:26]
Seth Payne
You know, just even with the national championship and everything.
- [85:28]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [85:29]
Seth Payne
So I guess the, the only. So the teams that feel like they're doing the right thing and might actually feel. Flip it quicker than people expect. I feel like the Titans are kind of being slept on in that. We talked about this yesterday. They flipped over pretty much half the roster. And like, that's never a certain recipe for success. Lots of teams flip over half of the roster and continue to suck the next year. But a lot of that change was on the defensive side of the ball. And I think Robert Salah is going to end up having, having that defense play really well. And then they made some, they made important improvements or changes on the, on the offensive line. They draft a receiver in the first round and then it just comes down to, okay, man, what do they get out of Cam Ward? What is Cam Ward? And if that's good, then all of a sudden the Titans could be a really good football team. Yeah, they're the ones that they'll. They'd least. I think they'd be the biggest surprise in a lot of people's minds. But I think it's because people just don't think about the Titans all. No.
- [86:26]
Sean Pendergast
Well, they're the ones that to me the formula to do it most closely resembles the Texans resurgence a few years ago. From worst to first, they've assembled some young pieces. You know, in their case, their quarterback already has a year under his belt, whereas C.J. was a rookie, but a really good one. The biggest thing to me is their coaching change. I mean they literally got a guy who kind of comes from that same ethos as d' Amico Ryan's. You know, the difference is Salah has, is coming into this job with some head coaching experience already from his time with the jets, but a defensive head coach, a good defensive head coach who cut his teeth in the Shanahan tree, you know, and in a division that I know that The Jags won 13 games last year. I know the Texans won 12 games last year. But it's, you know, neither of those teams are viewed as world beaters yet. You know, they, they, they both won a bunch of regular season games last year and they were both gone after the divisional round of the playoffs.
- [87:24]
Seth Payne
The Raiders are in. And the Raiders are interesting just because Clint Kubiak did an amazing job with the Seahawks last year. And I feel like that's been under discussed that, I mean by and large I listen to a lot of podcasts, I read a lot of articles and other than people out of side of Seattle, I very rarely see people mention that. Oh yeah, the offensive coordinator that got the absolute best out of Sam Darnold is. He's gone and he's not there anymore, but he now is with the Raiders. And look, we saw in that Texans game versus the Raiders that man Ashton Genti was a lot better last year than his statistics would suggest. And that with the right offensive coordinator. And remember also that the Raiders went through two different offensive coordinators over the course of the last couple years that Clint Kubiak might really get a lot more out of that offense more quickly than people expect if he, if Clint
- [88:22]
Sean Pendergast
Kubiak in that division wins, if he's above.500 for the season. I know coach of the year usually goes to first year coaches that have a really big turnaround. You know, sometimes the bot. Sometimes the, the velvet rope is. You got to at least get into the postseason to do it. But I tell you what, when you just look at the head coaches in that division, if Clint Kubiak goes nine and eight in a division that has Andy Reid, Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh as the other three head coaches, I mean those are, those are three of the, I would say 10, easily 10 most respected head coaches in football.
- [88:59]
Seth Payne
Well, and I think also the Raiders defense was better than wherever they were statistically in a lot of ways. I think by EPA they were 16th on defense last year. But that's. Well, playing opposite of the worst offense in the league. And just kind of like when you watch Browns games. Last year when I would watch Raiders games, there are a lot of those types of games where wow, boy, that defense is impressive until like at some point over the course of three quarters of your offense not doing a damn thing. The damn breaks, you know. So two different spellings of damn there.
- [89:31]
Sean Pendergast
Yes, yes. The ones I look at here that have no chance to me, I just think the jai. I feel bad for Aaron Glenn. I just don't think it's going to end well for him there. They've got Geno Smith at quarterback. This, that jets team feels like one. Seth that's kind of built to go 3 and 14.
- [89:48]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [89:49]
Sean Pendergast
And then have an offensive head coach come in and coach Arch Manning or Julian saying or one of those guys. I feel bad for Aaron Glenn, but that's what that feels like. The Browns feel a little bit that way too, just with a better defense with Todd Monk and Monkin is an offensive coach. But he, he. That feels like a short timer to me. And then the Cardinals, The Cardinals just feel like a train wreck to me. Jacoby Brissette holding out.
- [90:14]
Seth Payne
Jacoby Brissette holding out. I think that I, it's funny because sometimes the, the, the. The real truly nerdy NFL fans or writers seem to like be they approve of what the Cardinals current strategy is. And yet, you know, it's not like you think that all of a sudden this is the year they're going to turn it around. Yep. Anything. I want to be one of those teams that gets away with being bad perennially, yet with people still crediting their approach and their process. Yeah, it's like the Browns were like that. The Browns is their first go around. The first time they tanked intentionally that a lot of people were doing that with them. Oh yeah, you know, the Bears. What's his face up there? And the Bears got that. He got the benefit of the doubt for multiple Ryan polls. Yeah, I mean for. And it's. It looks like it might start being the. But like the ability to manage the media while you're tanking, it's a really big deal because at some point usually somebody loses their stomach for it. Either you get a head coach that flips out and makes the GM look bad or the owner loses, the owner freaks out and he blames the GM for the strategy that he approved. So yeah, credit to the guys that can manage the PR on that stuff. The Cardinals seem to be doing pretty well.
- [91:29]
Sean Pendergast
No doubt. Hey one just shifting gears here real quick. Apparently one angle we played that audio of the body cam footage with Diana Rossini getting pulled over and getting out of the ticket by showing the Viking fan cop that pulled her over. Yeah, sort of a screen grab or a, you know, just a. Showed her on the phone a text conversation that she was having or had with with Kevin o', Connell, the head coach of his favorite team. And he was blown away by that. He was smitten. The cop was Tony Farmer, noted Rossini Vrabel sleuth posted yesterday. He said, if you have really good speakers, take a listen to this, take a listen to the body cam footage. And I didn't notice this the first time, but he is correct if you listen really closely. She told the cops, keep in mind this is like at 9 o' clock in the morning because the Sean McDermott news was breaking. It broke it like 9 o' clock in the morning on January 19th. She told the cop, I'm coming back from Foxborough. I've been in the car five and a half hours, which it was apparently was snowing. So that's why normally it's like a three hour or four hour trip. It was snowing that day. So naturally Tony Farmer looks to see if she did any reporting or posting or whatever about the Patriots. That would be the Patriots Texans game. Yeah, she was at the Patriots Texans game, evidently said, I'm coming back from Foxborough. I've been in the car five and a half hours.
- [92:58]
Seth Payne
You can hear her say, yeah, well
- [93:00]
Sean Pendergast
that's what Farmers like.
- [93:01]
Seth Payne
My thighs are quivering. Yeah.
- [93:03]
Sean Pendergast
So this is a business trip and you didn't do any reporting on this particular game, eh?
- [93:08]
Seth Payne
Oh yeah, yeah, man.
- [93:11]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [93:12]
Seth Payne
So Brable was distracted to begin with.
- [93:14]
Sean Pendergast
That. That's my take on this is as I'm looking at this through a technical Texans lens and I'm like, man, C.J. throwing these four picks, your team loses to a Guy who had half his mind on the game and half his mind on whatever was going to happen after the game.
- [93:28]
Seth Payne
I did, by the way, came up with a foolproof plan for getting out of tickets, which is. I've got 32 of these. I did. I changed my wife's name in her contacts. The koc, Kevin o'. Connell.
- [93:41]
Sean Pendergast
Okay.
- [93:41]
Seth Payne
So to get out of it, to get out of. I've got 32 different head coaches, but the Koc one says, it looks like I'm having a text conversation with Kevin o'. Connell.
- [93:51]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, nice.
- [93:51]
Seth Payne
And it's. And I say, hey, koc, how do you feel about law enforcement officers? And KOC replies, I don't like them. I love them. So you get a. So I get a. You know, you get a little bit of name dropping, but also a little bit of a dad joke in there. I tested non dad jokes. Yeah, they didn't test as well.
- [94:14]
Sean Pendergast
Okay.
- [94:15]
Seth Payne
Cops are biting on dad jokes. Way better. Yeah.
- [94:17]
Sean Pendergast
So you did the research on this?
- [94:18]
Seth Payne
Yeah. So I'm going to do. I'm going to do 32 of those. And, you know, I'll never get. As long as the guy who pulls me over is a fan of an NFL team. That's his longest. Yeah, basically, I, I basically, I have a license to speed you, but.
- [94:32]
Sean Pendergast
You have, but you're, you're not just football, you're a sports talk radio host. You could expand this if they like baseball or soccer.
- [94:41]
Seth Payne
Yeah, that sounds like a lot of work. Coming up with 32 fake text conversations was a lot of like that was. It was a. You know, that's gonna be two hours out of my day.
- [94:48]
Sean Pendergast
It is a lot of work. I'm just saying if you get bored, you can always expand it if you want to. All right, into the 8 o' clock hour we go. Let's circle back over to the Astros. Last night we were angry about an ABS challenge from Monday. We're thrilled about this one that happened last night that opened the door and might have been the most important at bat of the game. We will have that for you. Coming up next.
- [95:09]
Seth Payne
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Sean Pendergast
living just a B or B plus life?
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Seth Payne
It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or
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Sean Pendergast
a C plus life?
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Seth Payne
Because when you're living a B or
- [95:50]
Sean Pendergast
B plus life, you don't change it.
- [95:51]
Seth Payne
You think it's good enough? Is it?
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Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
I host a podcast called Becoming you.
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Sean Pendergast
People think okay, an A plus life
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Seth Payne
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Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
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- [97:11]
Seth Payne
High deep to right field, all the way back and good. Four of the 4:44. The Astros lead this game 6 to 3.
- [97:28]
Sean Pendergast
Donald Ball game over.
- [97:30]
Seth Payne
Astros win it 6 to 4, winning the first two games here against Minnesota and moving back within two games of 500. That was a nice win with all their runs coming in one inning.
- [97:44]
Sean Pendergast
Blum yeah, yeah, Blummer. All the runs in one inning. That was Todd Callis on the call. Space City Home Network. The Yordon Alvarez grand slam providing four of the six runs and Josh Hater coming in and getting another save. Good night last night for the Astros, who sit currently two games back of the Rangers in the division. Game and a half back in the wild card race.
- [98:06]
Seth Payne
The the other thing too we didn't bring up. The first time we talked about the Astros this morning was that the relievers when they came In. They did a great job, but it was. It was four perfect innings by those four guys.
- [98:15]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [98:16]
Seth Payne
It was a committee. Perfect four innings. Yep. I don't know what they. If they have a name for that or not.
- [98:20]
Sean Pendergast
Let's make one text 1 in. 7. 1, 3, 5, 7. 2, 4, 6, 10. The one thing we didn't hear there was Jose Altuve's at bat that allowed the Jordan Alvarez moment to happen. It was the. The Astros had, had, had got. Gotten on the board in the fourth inning, made the game 3 to 1, bases were loaded, Altuve up 3, 2 pitch that gets called a strike. Altuve immediately challenges it, as you're supposed to do. Immediately challenge without looking at the dugout. And he challenges it, and. And he's successful.
- [98:56]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [98:56]
Sean Pendergast
And that drives in a run because bases were loaded. So now it's three, two. But more importantly, Jordan Alvarez gets a shot with three guys on base as opposed to coming up to lead off the next inning. That's one of the most painful things. When Jordan leads off an inning. I'm like, oh, this feels like such a waste. You know, solo home run is all we got to root for here. But that was a huge at bat by Altuve and his explanation for it. I loved Jose Altuve challenging that pitch. And Jose, who's before the season, said he didn't anticipate using the ABS Challenge system all that much. Nobody's had more overturns.
- [99:35]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [99:35]
Sean Pendergast
Than Altuve. More successful challenges in Altuve, and then
- [99:38]
Seth Payne
at a good success rate, too. Like, he's not just. It's not a volume shooter. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's an efficient challenger. He's an efficient, productive.
- [99:47]
Sean Pendergast
That's right. That's right. This was his explanation for it, and this is the textbook explanation for using your challenges when you're not quite sure, because he asked that how confident was he that the pitch that he challenged was a ball? And again, if you go back and look, it was. It was outside. It was a ball outside. Cup, inch or two, maybe. But he asked. They asked how. In the post game, they asked him how confident he was. He said, not really, but the situation told me I need to challenge. I thought it was a close pitch, but you got to challenge that one because it's basically bases loaded, two outs, we're down in the game, and Jordan's hitting behind you. You've got to take a chance there. And that is the. That is the classic way to. To me, to look at the. The ABS Challenge system. I'm not a big fan Although you made a, you made kind of a convincing case for it not being the worst thing in the world to challenge a first pitch of an at bat. Yeah, I'm just not a fan. Because you've got the rest of the at bat to recover from that.
- [100:46]
Seth Payne
Right.
- [100:47]
Sean Pendergast
This was a situation where, boy, even if you, even if, even if you wouldn't know if, even if that were one you wouldn't normally challenge, say, if it were a 2:1 pitch or a 1:1 pitch or whatever, you got to challenge it right there. Just because of the situation on the, on the, the off chance that Jordan Alvarez gets a shot with the bases loaded and that gives him a chance to do what he did last night, which is win the game for you.
- [101:09]
Seth Payne
Yeah, that's. No. And game winning decision. There's like, there's so many different factors that over time, certain ballplayers are going to start to look like they've got a better feel for it. But there's like, where you are in the game, how many challenges you have left. What is the track record of the umpire that you're working with? And one of the things they talked about on the broadcast last night was that, you know, they don't, they don't just know about the umpire's overall success rate. They know where he struggles at times and where he makes bad calls. So there's a lot of things going into it in any given game plan, which man feels like a lot of extra information that batters have to keep track of compared to what they used to. And that's where it'll. It'll be fascinating at the end of this season to kind of parse out the data and see what, what team started to figure out about all of this. But I do think that with the Astros, at least they are. They're way more cool with guys challenging a first pitch and getting off to a clean slate and whatever. They've done a lot more research on it than I have. I do still think, look, Cam Smith had a successful challenge last night.
- [102:14]
Sean Pendergast
On an 01 pitch.
- [102:15]
Seth Payne
He's tied for the 18th most successful challenges. But he, unlike Altuve, is indiscriminate in when he challenges. He's only got a 42% success rate on those challenges.
- [102:27]
Sean Pendergast
He's a volume shooter.
- [102:29]
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like all these other guys that have eight successful challenges usually have at least four or five fewer challenges than overall challenges. Challenges than he does.
- [102:37]
Sean Pendergast
He's one of those NBA players that like, oh, he averages 22 points a game. Oh, really? Must be really Good. What's his shooting percentage? 37%. Why do you ask? So, so that was good last night. Big win. Big win for the Astros and they try to win their sixth consecutive series tonight. And they've got Tetsuya Imai on the mound.
- [103:00]
Seth Payne
I believe this is it. This is the, this is Imai vs Lambert in your mind. Right. Because you've wavered a little bit on your emi as your is your would be number two guy the playoffs started.
- [103:11]
Sean Pendergast
No, no, no. I've not wavered on that. There's, there's nothing that's happened in this series that would make me waver on that. You know, certainly Burrows didn't make me change my mind last night on that. Yeah, no, I, I, and I'm loving this article that I'm reading from Chandler Rome that you sent me about, about Imai. Yeah, it is Ema. Ema against Taj Bradley tonight over at Dyken Park.
- [103:30]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [103:30]
Sean Pendergast
Chandler Rome has a really long article and it's very. The part. I've read about half of it so far during some of the breaks in the show about Imai's acclimation.
- [103:40]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [103:40]
Sean Pendergast
To America and American baseball. And it sounds like the part that I've read mostly has to do with just he's connecting with his teammates a lot more. You know, he's got, he doesn't speak English, but he's got English sayings that he's got with certain teammates.
- [103:55]
Seth Payne
Yeah. And he, like, he tries to have different sayings. Like, he's put a lot of work into this. Yeah. Because he doesn't want to just be saying the same thing all the time. Yeah. So I think that's where I end up. The thing with Imai. And it's a lot easier to do this now where he's had, you know, he's had a handful of quality starts since he came back, and not a full handful, but almost a full handful. And I think that there's, there's that learning curve that where sometimes people who are extremely conscientious and detail oriented, they start off slower because they're trying to nail down all of these details either in their preparation or their operation and everything. And where you can see that, like it happens with quarterbacks too. I think sometimes some young quarterbacks who are more. Who really pay attention to the process more don't get off to a fast start, as fast a start as somebody that just go out there, goes, goes out there and slings it. But over time, it pays off. And hopefully that's what happened with Imai it's that, yeah, for a guy that does pay a lot of attention to detail, every little detail that's off or different is going to make. Make it that much more of a challenge early on.
- [104:58]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. He's got a routine with Stephen Okert, Seth, that involves a profound bow. In Japanese culture, young people are expected to greet their elders with a profound bow. And Stephen Okert, Even though he's 35 years old and older than Imai, they greet each other with a bow.
- [105:18]
Seth Payne
I'd be really. If I had to go live in Japan for a while, like, and had a job over there or something, I would. I would. I would go full Imai and how well I handled, like, a lot of the customs and everything in that. I wouldn't be good at it at first. You know how nervous I was even to throw the H's up because I always feel like, wait, am I doing it? Just. Is your index finger and your pinky supposed to be at a certain angle? All that? And it took me a while to get comfortable doing a simple, you know, a simple hand gesture. So the bows, like, all the protocols around the bows, man, you'd be a mess. Yeah, I'd be awful.
- [105:53]
Sean Pendergast
You would be a mess.
- [105:55]
Seth Payne
Probably end up committing seppuku.
- [105:57]
Sean Pendergast
That's.
- [105:59]
Seth Payne
And I'd screw that up. I just wouldn't. I would want to, but I'm like, how do I hold the night? I don't.
- [106:05]
Sean Pendergast
Not the Japanese custom that you want to be executed. No, no, the. Okay, these. This may fall into the category of things that. Things that only bother Shaun T. Pendergast, but maybe there's other people out there. Victor Caratini seems like a delightful human being. Really liked him as a Houston Astro. I said, this off season, this team is going to miss Victor Caratini. And thankfully, Christian Vasquez has been fine. He's come back down to earth a little bit, but whatever. Caratini plays a nice, important role on the Twins. Caratini got a tribute video the other night, a 90 second tribute video the other night. I don't know, man. Maybe I'm a spoil sport. He. He played for the Astros for two seasons. They made the playoffs and got swept in the wild card round in one of those seasons and then missed the playoffs in the other season. He had a.263 batting average and a.735 OPS while he was in. Astro hit 20 home runs in two years. All well and good. Yeah, we need standards for the tribute.
- [107:08]
Seth Payne
This is. This is that you. They've lowered their standards too much in giving viewers Victor Caratini, I think.
- [107:13]
Sean Pendergast
And I, and I hate that he's the one. I hate that he's the one. I'm making an example out of. Because the fact of the matter is there may have been another tribute video that's even below the Victor Caratini line.
- [107:24]
Seth Payne
Right.
- [107:25]
Sean Pendergast
That I missed. But I didn't miss this one. The other day I saw this one. I saw it on social media, asked people who were at the game and asked AI was, was this an actual tribute video that played before the game? And both entities, humans and the robots, said yes, it was. It was a 90 second video and I watched video and it was great. Yeah, I like Victor Caratini. I just feel like we need standards for this.
- [107:48]
Seth Payne
You know where I am on this though, Sean, you're really going to hate this.
- [107:51]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [107:52]
Seth Payne
I feel like for one Major League Baseball. I don't know why they insist on this, but by far they are the most annoyingly decrepit and antiquated sport when it comes to big board entertainment during the game. Including just showing. They are so reluctant to show any replays from the, from the game at all on the big board. I don't, I don't understand why it's that way.
- [108:14]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [108:16]
Seth Payne
And so I'm kind of all for are like anything, anything at all that you guys are willing to do to improve my, my short attention spanned brain while I'm watching a game tour. Like, oh, look at that. It's a nice. Oh yeah, Caratini. I remember that play.
- [108:28]
Sean Pendergast
The. Not to nitpick, but the tribute video played 20 minutes before the game.
- [108:33]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [108:33]
Sean Pendergast
So that's not going to help you the victor unless they replay it during the game.
- [108:36]
Seth Payne
Helps people maybe get their butts in the seats quicker.
- [108:39]
Sean Pendergast
Got to get in for the Caratini highlight tribute video.
- [108:43]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [108:43]
Sean Pendergast
This was so I, I spent more time than I should have yesterday coming up with a criteria for a player being deserving of a tribute video. Okay. This is the Pendergast criteria for former Astros being tribute video worthy. If you were not on one of the World Series teams, not on one of the World Series title teams, either 2017 or 2022, if you're just a regular player who didn't play in the World Series.
- [109:14]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [109:14]
Sean Pendergast
You have to have been an All Star. Just fulfill one of these criteria. Not all of them. Just one. You either need to have been an all Star one time, been a winner of a major award one time. Those two things would probably go hand in Hand. If you won an award, chances are you were probably an All Star. Or you had to lead the league in one major statistical category. You had to have a batting title or an RBI title. I'd even take, like, win, you know, wins above replacement, you know, whatever. You have to have one of those bold numbers on your baseball reference page.
- [109:48]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [109:48]
Sean Pendergast
That's not a high bar to clear one All Star season. Okay. That's if you weren't on the World Series team. Now, if you were on one of the World Series teams, but you didn't fulfill the All Star award criteria.
- [110:01]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [110:02]
Sean Pendergast
Then one of three things needs to have happened with you. You need an iconic game saving or game winning play in the World Series. I will call this chaz the Chaz McCormick rule. Chaz deserves a tribute video based almost entirely on that catch that he had against the Phillies in game five of the World Series. He's a hero for that one play. Now, you know, you got to go find another 84 seconds worth of stuff to put in there. It can't just be you replaying one catch and going, everybody give a round of applause for Chas McCormick. Like, you got to come up with something. But that gets him inside the velvet rope of the tribute video world. Okay, that's number one. You need an iconic individual game performance. Like, Chaz was just one play. But like, if you had a game where you went four for five or you were, say, the starting pitcher and a combined no hitter in a World Series.
- [110:58]
Seth Payne
Okay.
- [110:59]
Sean Pendergast
Christian Javier has never been an All Star or won a major award or anything, but Christian Javier being the starting pitcher in the no hitter in the World Series against the Phillies, when the Astros are trailing 2 to 1 in that series, I mean, they went on to win the rest, you know, they. They swept the rest of the way after that. Christian Javier would be deserving of a tribute video someday when he leaves. Even with his 12 ERA that he's got this year.
- [111:25]
Seth Payne
Oh, yeah, definitely.
- [111:26]
Sean Pendergast
Good.
- [111:27]
Seth Payne
He had a 12 ERA on another team, especially then. Yeah, yeah.
- [111:30]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, yeah. Then you're like, yeah, start that guy.
- [111:32]
Seth Payne
I. Okay, wait, is there.
- [111:34]
Sean Pendergast
I have one more. If you have, like an iconic, memorable performance on the way to a World Series, like in the playoffs, I'm talking about preferably against the Yankees. We'll call this the Lance McCullers 24 straight curveball rule. If you have some sort of game that people remember you for, like when people bring up Lance McCullough's name 20 years from now, for Astro fans, that's probably the most memorable Thing was him throwing those 24 straight curveballs in the ALCS.
- [112:03]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [112:04]
Sean Pendergast
That is good enough for me that, you know, I'm not a monster.
- [112:08]
Seth Payne
No Land. It's not like Lance. No. I guess Lance isn't a perfect comparison just because, like, it's. You would. Even if Lance didn't have that game, obviously he's the guy who's gonna get a tribute video.
- [112:17]
Sean Pendergast
He made it. He made an All Star game. He fits.
- [112:19]
Seth Payne
Right?
- [112:19]
Sean Pendergast
Right?
- [112:20]
Seth Payne
Yeah. No. And all. So. So somebody like that, but. But a performance like that, it's got to be something iconic. Yeah. Yeah. I guess I just. Personally, I'm. I don't. I guess maybe I don't look at the tribute video as something that should only be reserved for. I'd be cool with a Dexter Fowler tribute video. I don't. I like. Yeah. Like, I. Anybody that played for the team at all. And part of it is I. I really. I. I give the team the right to basically say, we liked this guy.
- [112:49]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, he was a really good dude.
- [112:51]
Seth Payne
We liked him. We liked him on the team. He was cool. He was cool to the equipment staff.
- [112:55]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [112:56]
Seth Payne
Whatever it might be. Yeah. I like. We like that guy. We're gonna give him a tribute.
- [112:59]
Sean Pendergast
No, that's fine. And I. And that. And the team obviously feels the way you feel about this. I feel like we're lowering our standards a little bit with the tribute videos. And I feel terrible again, that it's Victor Caratini now. I'm not to your degree where you'd be doing a Matt Dominguez tribute video from the incest. Like, who the hell was that? He was the third baseman on that horrible team in 2013. Dexter Fowler Treat. Now, the thing I remember about Dexter Fowler. With the Astros.
- [113:25]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [113:25]
Sean Pendergast
Was he. He was. He was, like, one of the few veterans on the really bad Astros.
- [113:30]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [113:30]
Sean Pendergast
And he bought everybody, like, a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black to open the season that year. They all came in and they had a bottle of whiskey in their lockers that year.
- [113:39]
Seth Payne
So I was here in 2013. Sean. No, no, no.
- [113:43]
Sean Pendergast
But Matt Dominguez is a really obscure name.
- [113:44]
Seth Payne
Do you remember Matt Dominguez? What's that? I remember the name. I remember.
- [113:49]
Sean Pendergast
That wasn't a shot at you.
- [113:50]
Seth Payne
I was still doing csn, like, even though we weren't talking about the Astros at all in 2013, I was doing CSN Houston, so I had to, like, bone up, up. And I didn't have Comcast at the time either, which is ironic that they were giving me a check. But
- [114:03]
Sean Pendergast
same Exact thing. Same. No, it was. That was. That was a shot at Matt Dominguez, not a shot at you. Yeah. So that's the criteria. And for me, if the Astros were to ever hire me in a position of tribute. Video determinator.
- [114:18]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [114:19]
Sean Pendergast
Then that would be. Those would be the criteria. Am I. Am I being text in? Am I being a jerk?
- [114:24]
Seth Payne
You're a little bit. As the listeners know, you're kind of snooty and snobby about some things. I think you're being a little snooty and snobby about maybe. I think you're being a little bit of a killjoy because it doesn't. I guess I. I guess. What's the downside to them showing those tribute videos?
- [114:36]
Sean Pendergast
That I get upset about it because we're lowering our standards.
- [114:40]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [114:40]
Sean Pendergast
That's the downside.
- [114:41]
Seth Payne
You also. You flip on players after they leave way quicker than I do, too.
- [114:45]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [114:46]
Seth Payne
Like, I. I'm kind of of the opinion that as long as they don't leave in a jerk. Fat. A jerk like fashion. I just. I live and let live, and I'm cool with those guys. I flip on them immediately.
- [114:58]
Sean Pendergast
I root against. And I would say even some of the ones that I claim to root for after they leave. Yeah. There's a little part of me that when I go look at their ops being 676 or something like that.
- [115:07]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [115:08]
Sean Pendergast
I'm like, okay, well, that's good. At least it's not doing. At least they're not doing this for the Astros. I'm glad they're doing this somewhere else.
- [115:14]
Seth Payne
I'm the one that has to keep being reminded that we're doing the pedicast when we do the pedicast.
- [115:18]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [115:19]
Seth Payne
You know, like at least twice during each pedicure. Like, hey, Seth, is the pedicure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta be a jerk.
- [115:25]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The guy who told us tells his co host to go die at the end of the show yesterday is actually the nice guy on the show.
- [115:31]
Seth Payne
Well, that was deserved.
- [115:32]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, I stand by that. You number snobs back in the old southwest days. Yeah.
- [115:39]
Seth Payne
I was never the one that was being overly strict about it, but I understood why people were. Would. Would say, oh, are you 33? Are you 34? Or whatever like that.
- [115:48]
Sean Pendergast
I do, too. If you have any shot of getting in the emergency exit row, if it's
- [115:52]
Seth Payne
just like it for this, I. I like it for the sake of just clarity. Order. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that there are a lot of people that would just there are a lot of people that were liars and cheaters in the old Southwest system, and they would jump on a little bit.
- [116:04]
Sean Pendergast
Don't get me wrong. If you were in my group of five.
- [116:07]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [116:08]
Sean Pendergast
And you belonged in a group of five behind me, but you were kind of leaning into. Oh, it's just like, like it. I know it ends with B50, but I'm like, B52. Like, it's. Yeah. No, you're a horrible person. All right. Pain and pender gas with you. NFL hot. NFL coach, hot seat rankings. Does this sound like the coaches on the hottest seats? And what are the hot. What's the hottest seat in Houston right now? We will get to that. Coming up next.
- [116:34]
Seth Payne
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Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
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Seth Payne
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Seth Payne
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Seth Payne
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- [118:34]
Sean Pendergast
All right, NFL coach, hot seat rankings. This CBSSports.com has their top five, and we'll. We'll take this into a Houston realm before the end of this segment. Jordan Dejani is one of their NFL writers. What's interesting to me about this list, Seth, of the five hottest seats in the NFL is how many of these guys were among the toast of the league not all that long ago. Like, how quickly you can go from being someone who's being heralded as, you know, the. The God's gift to coaching to being on Jordan Dejani's hot seat list.
- [119:10]
Seth Payne
Well, yeah. Well, remember how bad it was for if you won coach of the year? There was a stretch there. It was like within two years, like every coach of the year was getting fired.
- [119:19]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. And it's probably. I mean, Stefanski was coach of the
- [119:22]
Seth Payne
year a couple times. Twice.
- [119:24]
Sean Pendergast
Twice. And. And fairly recently, d' Amico's first year, he was coach of the year. He got fired.
- [119:29]
Seth Payne
Thank God d' Ameco didn't win it.
- [119:30]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, right.
- [119:31]
Seth Payne
Things really would have.
- [119:32]
Sean Pendergast
South lost by one vote. The five names on the list here.
- [119:36]
Seth Payne
No. Yeah. No. Dave all was the coach of the year in 2022.
- [119:39]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [119:41]
Seth Payne
Brable was the coach of the year in 2021. I'm telling you, he got fired and then he went on to become coach of the year again in 2025.
- [119:49]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. Good luck. Well, and I. And I've already taken the under on Patriot wins. I feel even better when you bring up that little factoid right there. The five names are very interesting here from that perspective. Counting down the five hottest seats in the NFL, Dan Quinn, Washington Commanders, Zach Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals is four. Three. On the hot seat list is Shane Steichen of the Colts in the Texans division. Number two is Todd Bowles of the Buccaneers. Number one, Aaron Glenn with the jets.
- [120:18]
Seth Payne
Who.
- [120:18]
Sean Pendergast
He's the one. He's the one name on this list that I think is one. I think it's accurate. Two. He's not fitting the same mold. I was talking about where if you think like Dan Quinn was in the NFC title game game a year ago.
- [120:30]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [120:30]
Sean Pendergast
Zach Taylor's been to a Super bowl now, granted, since that super bowl, it's not been great for the Bengals, but he's been to a Super bowl this decade. Shane Steichen, halfway through last season, was the toast of the league because of what they were doing offensively in Indianapolis with Daniel Jones.
- [120:46]
Seth Payne
Right. And they were breaking records. Shane Steichen is still. He is in this mode where the GM has just gotten by and gotten away with not winning playoff games for how long now?
- [121:00]
Sean Pendergast
Since 2018.
- [121:01]
Seth Payne
Since 2018.
- [121:02]
Sean Pendergast
Against the Texans.
- [121:04]
Seth Payne
And like, you'd think at some point, maybe the coach will catch a break instead of the gm, But Shane Steichen doesn't have a real quarterback to work with. He was doing the impressive stuff last year with Daniel Jones, and he's. But now he's got Daniel Jones coming up. Achilles tendon chair.
- [121:19]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [121:19]
Seth Payne
It's just a horrible, horrible situation to watch unravel there.
- [121:22]
Sean Pendergast
It's really too bad. You're bad about it, Graviton. And your voice reflects my feelings on that as well. I just feel terrible about the whole thing. Number two, Todd Bowles, who has been. I. I don't feel like his seat's been real hot in Tampa Bay. I think Tampa Bay's benefited from being in a bad division the last few years.
- [121:40]
Seth Payne
Yeah, but he's.
- [121:41]
Sean Pendergast
Until last year, he was. You know, he. They were like 7 and 2 at one point. He's almost a little like the defensive version of Shane Steichen. Like, midway through last season, the Bucks. Baker Mayfield was an MVP candidate, and the Bucks were. The Bucks were one of the hottest teams in the league, and then they just collapsed.
- [121:58]
Seth Payne
Well, yeah, And I feel like Todd Bowles has been one of those things where it just. It felt like an awkward hire when they first did it, but he's almost. He very easily could have become just a sacrificial holding, you know, placeholder coach or something, but I think he's out. Like, he's out. He's proven that he's a better coach than that in this. In this instance. And that, like, I felt like he's.
- [122:22]
Sean Pendergast
He's.
- [122:22]
Seth Payne
He's fought tooth and nail to keep his job. Like, he's earned. He's earned a little bit of job stability given some of the other issues they've had in Tampa.
- [122:30]
Sean Pendergast
Yep. Aaron Glenn, number one on the list. Not a surprise. I said within the last 30 minutes, we were talking about team. We were talking about teams that could go from worse to first. I just think Aaron Glenn's got no shot, and it's not even about Aaron Glenn. I just think that that organization, it's a bad organization. For one thing. They have made the playoffs through several coaches not named Aaron Glenn. I mean it's been since Mark Sanchez and Rex Ryan that they've even been in the postseason. And they're somehow looking at Geno Smith as some sort of solution when he was the opposite of that on a bad team in Las Vegas last year.
- [123:03]
Seth Payne
I think. Yeah. There. And the hard part this year is going to end up being like in that environment with that owner whose kids apparently will criticize players to their faces after games all time. The is like with all of the dysfunction that there is with the jets can. Is Aaron Glenn able to just at least maintain the. Maintain the clubhouse, so to speak? You know, like maintain the lot. You'd say maintain the clubhouse in baseball, but it just, it feels like that kind of a situation where if you just kind of let things unravel and it's. It might be impossible for him to contain with the amount of. In controversy that that organization invites.
- [123:41]
Sean Pendergast
Are they a team?
- [123:41]
Seth Payne
They're not winning games. You're right.
- [123:43]
Sean Pendergast
Because not every, not every, you know, 4 and 13 team is created equal if they're a team. Like, if, like to me, the best case scenario. The best case scenario for Aaron Glenn is that they're like a five or six win team that's competing really hard in December.
- [123:56]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [123:57]
Sean Pendergast
You know that you watch them, you go, okay, that's a team that's just not very talented. That's responding to its coach.
- [124:02]
Seth Payne
Yeah. That's where you get the benefit of the doubt. If. Because you can look at it on paper and say, all right, they're headed towards another disaster if you become a plucky team that's fighting and yeah, guys aren't letting go of the rope in December and everything. That's where regardless of what the record is, he might. They might give Aaron Glenn the benefit of the doubt in that instance. It's just, man, the jets, like people talk about New York media, it's jets media specifically that they just. I think they, they're in the business almost of being tabloid writers now more than anything because they haven't covered good football in such a long time that it's. It's really tough for any coach to keep a lid on all of the ridiculous controversy there is at any time.
- [124:43]
Sean Pendergast
Yep. So I tend to agree with this list. I think d', Ameco, Ryan's on a hot seat list. Would be in the bottom five in the NFL right now. If I had to guess I think d' Amico is as safe as it gets. Who's got the hottest seat in Houston right now? And I'll. I'll expand this to GMs also. Of the GMs and head coach slash managers in town. Who's got the hottest seat? Among. Among. For the Texans, it would be Dimiko Ryan's and Nick Casario.
- [125:10]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [125:11]
Sean Pendergast
For the Rockets, obviously, Emo Doka and Rafael Stone. And then the Astros, two guys who are in the last year of their contracts, which may almost by definition make their seats the hottest ones. Joe spotted. And Dana Brown.
- [125:24]
Seth Payne
I know there's a certain portion of Texans fans that feel like Casario should be on the hot seat more than he is. Regardless of how you feel about that, I would say my read on it is that he's not on the hot seat at all. Agree. Like, so even if you. Even if you feel like he should be, like, I understand that. I understand your arguments for that. I just. I don't feel like he is. So I think with Raphael Stone and Udoka and then with Espada and Dana Brown, I think it's more of a question of, okay, in those. Like which. Which of those guys, the GM or the coach, is more on the hot seat.
- [126:01]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [126:01]
Seth Payne
With what? With what? So would you say. Would you say Dana Brown or Joe Espada is more on the hops?
- [126:07]
Sean Pendergast
I would say Dana. Well, okay, I. Joe Espada is in more imminent danger, just in terms of timing, just because it's more common to fire a manager in season than a gm. So I think he may be in more imminent danger. And yet, if you were to ask me the likelihood of. Of Joe Espada or Dana Brown getting fired, period, at some point, I would say Dana Brown's chances are higher than Joe Espada. Like, I think there's a better chance Joe Espada is back next season for the Astros than Dana Brown is back next.
- [126:40]
Seth Payne
I think, okay, if Dana Brown and let's make this like a movie scene. Dana Brown and Joe Espada get called up to by Jim Crane to the death pit. Yep. And they have to argue for their lives. And Jim Crane's gonna boot, like, gladiator style, boot one of them into the death. I think that Espada could make the case that, hey, look. Look at the injuries we've had. Look at the churn we've had on the roster and some of the things we've had to deal with. And yet we fought our way back into being either being a threat, at least These last three, let's say three seasons at the end of this year. Yep. Whereas with Dana Brown, I think it gets tougher because his argument has to be, well, I know you wanted me to restock the farm system, but it's kind of hard to do Jim Crane when you're making me make all these trades all the time.
- [127:30]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [127:31]
Seth Payne
That he has to blame the executioner for why he hasn't been able to restock the farm system as well as.
- [127:37]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, I actually, it's funny, I had a text conversation. It turned into an email back and forth with Jimmy, who's Astro's future. And I asked because I asked him that question because I was trying to assess Dana Brown like the job that he's done. Because you can look at some of the little moves along the margin that Dana's made have been good ones. He's made some good moves in the
- [127:55]
Seth Payne
Cam Smith trade I think is still. That's a slam dunk of a trade.
- [127:58]
Sean Pendergast
I agree. And especially the more 440 foot home runs Cam Smith hits. I feel better and better about that one. I don't think it's been all bad with Dana Brown. I think the problem with Dana Brown is the glaring things they needed coming into this season. He's just failed at getting those things. Even with the injuries, the pitchers that he signed this off season. Now he was not shopping in the the greatest of bins for those pitchers, but the ERA has been really bad. Among the five or six guys he's picked up a couple of Martin even with the, with the organization anymore. The outfield is the glaring thing. And Chandler Rome had a big article about that last week. And even with this little bump they've been getting from. From Taylor Tramell lately and Cam Smith lately, it's still an outfield that's sub 700 in terms of OPS. Those are some really glaring things I like. I think if I'm Joe Espada, I don't know this would be my tactic. But I think you can point over at Dana in the death pit debate you're talking about. Go.
- [128:49]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [128:49]
Sean Pendergast
Look what this guy's given me to work with the last couple years.
- [128:52]
Seth Payne
Yeah. Well, if you're in a death pit situation. Yeah. You gotta do what you're not polite anymore.
- [128:56]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [128:59]
Seth Payne
You start bringing up the age of your kid. I like this. You do everything. Yeah. Okay. Death pit situation with the Rockets. This is the one where. Okay. Throw all of. Throw all of your highfalutin analysis out the window.
- [129:11]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [129:12]
Seth Payne
I feel if I've got I've got Udoka and I've got Raphael Stone standing next to the death pit. Yeah. I think Udoka wins by sheer alpha male energy.
- [129:20]
Sean Pendergast
He wins on Claire alone.
- [129:23]
Seth Payne
I feel like a little bit of like Fertitta almost being like I don't know what this guy Mike could do if I, if I try to kick him into the deathbed.
- [129:31]
Sean Pendergast
You're walking into the meeting with your iPad and you got all these reasons for each guy and you get in and both guys walk in and you just look at IME Odoki like, like, oh my God, that scowl.
- [129:39]
Seth Payne
You're fired.
- [129:41]
Sean Pendergast
You're fired. There was easy push him into the pit and then you go. Yeah.
- [129:45]
Seth Payne
I mean but I do think. I think Udoka and Raphael Stone. I think I side with the manager on. Or the coach obviously.
- [129:52]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [129:52]
Seth Payne
And in having the. The easier to palette excuse or explanation.
- [129:58]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [129:59]
Seth Payne
Where the GMs don't. I don't think that either of those GMs have as clear a path to explaining them.
- [130:04]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. I just feel like Eme Doka is. Is way more safe than Rocket than some Rocket fans would want him to be right now. And I do think this season maybe exposed a few warts with email Doka. I don't think they're fireable warts necessarily.
- [130:18]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [130:19]
Sean Pendergast
But you've brought this up many times. Like now bring somebody in who knows how to coach an offense, you know,
- [130:23]
Seth Payne
do if he just brings in an offensive coordinator. Right. Yeah. That it's like the same. You know, just like, you know, Dantoni understood that he needed biz delic there to be a defensive defensive coordinator. That there is a part of being a head coach that sometimes like okay. Understand where your weaknesses as a staff.
- [130:40]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [130:40]
Seth Payne
Don't think about it as yourself but like okay on our staff. How do we need to restructure this to where okay. What you needed last year given the hand you were dealt where you didn't have an actual point guard is that man to. To really make that work. Whether you got Kevin Durant on your roster or not, it's going to take some elegant solutions and that's just not Udoka's forte. On the off offensive side of the
- [131:01]
Sean Pendergast
ball, it feels formulaic to have the list this way. But I think if we're ranking the teams in terms of collective hot seats of management and general manager, it's. It goes by record. You know what I mean? Like The Texans were 12 and 5. They have the least hot seats. The Rockets were a 52 win team. Their seats are the next hottest. And then the team that's sub 500. Right now, those seats are the hottest. And in each case, I think the head coach or manager is on the cooler seat than the gm. You know, I think the GM is on a hotter seat in all three of those situations. I painted Pendergast with you. All right. LeBron James will not be returning to the Lakers. Why is he. What is he looking for? And speaking of GMs, should the Rockets be placing a phone call to LeBron James based on what Shams Sharanya said yesterday? We will have that for you. Coming up next. Pain and pender gas with you. Yeah, see, I'm the, The. The tribute video criteria that I laid out earlier in the show is getting a little bit of support here on the text page. And particularly Seth, someone taking a shot at you. Seth. You're Seth. For those who missed it, I. The Victor Caratini tribute video. And I love Victor Caratini, but it felt like the standards for tribute videos in my mind were being lowered a little bit just based on. On teams he played on and overall performance. So I. Becoming a bit of a spoil sport. Established some criteria for players, both all star caliber players and ones that were part of World Series teams that maybe didn't have the overall career numbers. Like, for example, someone says Marwin Gonzalez definitely gets a tribute video based on his humanizing of Kenley Janssen in game two of the World Series. The home run he hit. Yeah, yeah. That alone gets Marwin Gonzalez. And I would say Mar boy Marlon is one. That's testing how big an a hole I am too. Seth. You're right about that. But someone said that you're going to be all for participation awards pretty soon.
- [133:03]
Seth Payne
It's not an award. That's what I'm. That's where the disconnect is. I don't think of it as a, as an award or anything. It's not like, oh, they're in the hall of Tribute video. Yeah. It's just like, ah, we spent some time together. It's like, yeah, you've got acquaintances. You've got casual acquaintances. I have pleasant memories of people that I might have hung out with 20 years ago.
- [133:23]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [133:23]
Seth Payne
Am I gonna all of a sudden not look at, hey, take that picture out of the photo album.
- [133:26]
Sean Pendergast
I do.
- [133:27]
Seth Payne
That guy hasn't called me in five years.
- [133:29]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, it's funny, you know, I do. I have very strict criteria.
- [133:31]
Seth Payne
He introduced me to a girl that. That, that gave me herpes. I don't know.
- [133:36]
Sean Pendergast
Like, yeah, very strict Criteria for who remains on my list of friends on my.
- [133:41]
Seth Payne
You have one photo album in your home.
- [133:43]
Sean Pendergast
I have a list. I have a note where I categorize my friends in tears.
- [133:48]
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah. It was kind of a thing back in the day. You might get a proof sheet, you know, figure out which one. Am I actually going to get prints of these photos?
- [133:55]
Sean Pendergast
Yes. Oh, I know. I remember.
- [133:57]
Seth Payne
You guys have a. Did you have a service at Notre Dame where they would take pictures at parties and then you go. Go. There was like a little store in Ithaca where they would go out, they would go to, like these big fraternity parties, everything. They would just take pictures and then you would go. And then you could go to the. You could go. It's kind of like they do in an amusement park, you know, but the next day, you know, you'd straggle in there. Maybe you brushed your teeth, maybe you didn't. And they would have little. They would have proof sheets of all the pictures they had taken, and you could. You could buy a print.
- [134:25]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, really?
- [134:26]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [134:26]
Sean Pendergast
Okay. Oh, no, we didn't have that.
- [134:27]
Seth Payne
You see what we had to go through back in the days to remember things, kids, we had to go to a photo shack.
- [134:33]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. Last one and then we'll get to the item. It's. I personally think. See, this is a. This is a man or woman after my own heart. I personally think you should not consider doing a tribute video unless they were here for three years or longer. And then even then it's based on performance.
- [134:49]
Seth Payne
I don't care if they were here for three innings and traded away during. During, you know, while the GMs ran into each other buying hot dogs.
- [134:58]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. Christian. Seth already has a Christian Roa tribute video ready to go. Go.
- [135:03]
Seth Payne
Content. More. We need more content.
- [135:05]
Sean Pendergast
It's just. It's all it is, is a 90 second video of all eight innings that he pitched for the Astros.
- [135:11]
Seth Payne
That's it. Yes. More content. That's it.
- [135:13]
Sean Pendergast
That's it. All right. This was Brian Windhorst yesterday. The big news yesterday in The NBA was LeBron James will not be returning to the Lakers next season. He's going to play for somebody, but not the Lakers. He'll be back in the league. So now. Now we kind of be. It's almost like the decision. 42 years old instead of, you know, 28 or whatever, 26. Whatever he was back in 2010. This is Brian Windhorst on what exactly is LeBron looking for? Rich Paul has made it clear that LeBron's number one priority for the Season is happiness. Happiness. It's not money. So you don't you. I mean, we're going to count the money, we're going to figure it out on the, on the salary sheets and whatnot. But it's not going to be necessarily who's got the most money to offer. So now you're going to. Your follow up question, Matt is, well, how do you define happiness? Well, how does anybody define happiness? It's fluid. So I'm not sure he's got his mind made up here. It may take him a period to decide what his happiness is going to be and there's several teams that are going to probably try to present their version of what his happiness can be and we'll see how that process plays out. It was very touchy feeling.
- [136:21]
Seth Payne
I feel like he's been in some therapy or something. You're speaking that. Yeah, like, credit to him. Yeah, yeah. Like, how does one define happiness? It's individual to each person.
- [136:29]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah.
- [136:30]
Seth Payne
It might turn. I wish he had gone full circular and been like, now, what would make LeBron happy is indeed the money. But it's not about the money, it's about the happiness.
- [136:39]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah.
- [136:40]
Seth Payne
No, I think, like, that's like, it's almost a given. I think sometimes we a little too quickly think that while the aging superstar who's already made boatloads of millions of dollars is just going to go for the right fit or anything, it's never. It's usually not quite that simple. Like with Aaron Donald right now, it's very easy to say, oh, yeah, sure, he should go back and play. And they don't like to think about the fact that like Aaron Donald still on some level just doesn't want to go back and play for the minimum.
- [137:06]
Sean Pendergast
Right.
- [137:07]
Seth Payne
So there's a salary dynamic there that you got to work 100%. Yes, I think that. But with LeBron, for whatever the dollar amount ends up being. Yeah, I don't. He's got no interest in going to a place where A, they're not going to be contenders and B, that maybe he just flat out doesn't like either the coach or the players or whomever else.
- [137:25]
Sean Pendergast
Here's Sham Sharanya yesterday saying that any team that views itself as a contender should be in on LeBron.
- [137:31]
Seth Payne
Like Perk said, he just listed a couple teams.
- [137:33]
Sean Pendergast
Like Denver is a team that makes a lot of sense for LeBron.
- [137:36]
Seth Payne
I wouldn't rule any team that goes into next season that feels like it
- [137:39]
Sean Pendergast
has a legitimate chance to contend and
- [137:41]
Seth Payne
have interest in LeBron James as a
- [137:43]
Sean Pendergast
suitor here because he's a free agent
- [137:45]
Seth Payne
and so, and there's, there's not a
- [137:49]
Sean Pendergast
ready made spot for him necessarily. Should the Houston Rockets be placing a phone call to Rich Paul, LeBron James agent? Seth.
- [137:58]
Seth Payne
Oh, yeah, just make a call. I mean, because you never, like I said, usually there's like, guys aren't going to go and play for the minimum, but just sometimes, you know, the Rockets wouldn't have had any certainty that Kevin Durant was really interested in the Rockets until they talked to him. Yeah, they should definitely give a call to Rich Paul and see just what he's thinking. You could explore. And there's always. Because then especially in the NBA where you can have three, four, five, six, seven player trades that you might be a part of some kind of some transaction with LeBron. Not. Well, this is going to be a free, this is free agency.
- [138:30]
Sean Pendergast
No, but, no, but you might have to make some moves to accommodate if you were to.
- [138:34]
Seth Payne
Right.
- [138:34]
Sean Pendergast
And I think, to be clear, the audience here, I think there's a 1% chance of that happening. But we live in Houston and I think it's a question worth asking.
- [138:41]
Seth Payne
Yeah. If LeBron were going to go to another other team, but they had to make some trades to make it happen or whatever. Like, it's good to be in on the conversation. Of course, as much as they want to include you here. Yeah, man. Oh, he might, he might say, I really, I'm only going to go to a place if I can bring Kevin Durant with me. And then all of a sudden, and all of a sudden it opens things up to like, oh, you know what? Yeah, I want to go to the Celtics, but only if I can bring Durant with me. And then all of a sudden Jalen Brown plops down in Houston.
- [139:10]
Sean Pendergast
Well, the most, the, the most interesting thing about that, I mean, we're just completely fantasy booking this thing now. But I think you can make an argument that LeBron James and Kevin Durant are the two greatest players of this era. You know, Steph Curry's right there also. But I think you, I think you could stand there in a, you know, if you had to make a courtroom argument, I think you can make that argument. I don't know if it's accurate or it's correct or if the, if society agrees with it, that would make it intriguing. Like, you know, if, in your opinion, those are the two greatest guys, guys ganging up at the end of their career, that would be, that would be kind of fun.
- [139:39]
Seth Payne
I don't Think it's gonna happen, you know?
- [139:41]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [139:41]
Seth Payne
Feels like. Well, that's like the Golden State Warriors. That's. They're kind of putting a decrepit, aging banana boat together up there. Potentially. It.
- [139:49]
Sean Pendergast
Potentially.
- [139:49]
Seth Payne
Would that banana boat be. That would be.
- [139:51]
Sean Pendergast
It would be Steph Curry, Draymond Green, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis.
- [139:56]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [139:56]
Sean Pendergast
If. If it were to play out that way. Now, Golden State this morning as we awoke was minus 1,000 to be LeBron's next team. The odds just shifted. Two minutes ago, I got an email from Josh Barton, who sends out these bet online.
- [140:12]
Seth Payne
Diamonds minus 10,000. So, like, one to, like a near.
- [140:15]
Sean Pendergast
Minus a thousand.
- [140:16]
Seth Payne
Minus a thousand. Oh, minus a thousand.
- [140:18]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. So they would. That. That would be 1 to 10.
- [140:20]
Seth Payne
Like, like, almost like a guarantee. Almost.
- [140:23]
Sean Pendergast
Really strong odds. And The Cavaliers were second at plus 200, which is 2 to 1 1. The Cavaliers are now the favorite to get LeBron.
- [140:31]
Seth Payne
The Cavs are the one team that. Yeah, like, emotional tie and connection literally
- [140:36]
Sean Pendergast
on the odds board. They're minus 150 now to get LeBron. And Golden State is even money at 1 to 1, not 1 to 10. That's a big shift that just happened, which is sometimes.
- [140:46]
Seth Payne
Any news about him? And. No, there's nothing I'm seeing on ESPN.com no, this.
- [140:52]
Sean Pendergast
But this may be people knowing, like,
- [140:53]
Seth Payne
he just bought a house in Akron or something.
- [140:56]
Sean Pendergast
He's. He has a house there, I'm sure.
- [140:57]
Seth Payne
I mean, a bigger house.
- [140:58]
Sean Pendergast
Big. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [141:00]
Seth Payne
Maybe I bought a house on the lake there in Cleveland.
- [141:02]
Sean Pendergast
I don't know. But the odds.
- [141:04]
Seth Payne
Nice. A lot of the jokes about Lake Erie and the burning lake and everything.
- [141:07]
Sean Pendergast
Yes.
- [141:07]
Seth Payne
I like, they've cleaned it up somewhat, like, relative to, like, no lakes are clean anymore.
- [141:12]
Sean Pendergast
No, but.
- [141:13]
Seth Payne
But it's not like floating gasoline.
- [141:14]
Sean Pendergast
Not as bad as it used to be. Not as bad as it used to be. So. Man. So the. The. The Cavaliers now the favorite to. To land and LeBron James, by the way, if you're wondering where the rockets are, they're 50 to 1. They're. They're 50 to 1 tied with teams like the Hornets, the Pacers, the Blazers, and the Wizards. That's where the Rockets are on the list. All right, Pain and Pendergast with you. We head into the nine o' clock hour. All right. The latest on the Brendan Sorsby situation brings up a Texans question that I have, but I think as far as source be goes, I think this is the resolution that everybody needed in this. This whole matter. We'll tell you what exactly went down yesterday? We've got that coming up next.
- [141:55]
Seth Payne
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Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
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Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
wherever you get your podcasts.
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Sean Pendergast
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- [143:23]
Seth Payne
details
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Sean Pendergast
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Seth Payne
takes center stage at a home World Cup. Make sure you're listening to Call it what yout Want, part of the CBS Sports Podcast Network where you can join me. I'm Jimmy Conrad alongside Charlie Davies, Tony
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Sean Pendergast
Miola, Marcelo Balboa and Benny Fieldhaver throughout
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Seth Payne
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- [143:57]
Sean Pendergast
All right, into the 9 o' clock hour we go. Peyton Pendergast with you on a on a Wednesday.
- [144:03]
Seth Payne
It's Wednesday.
- [144:04]
Sean Pendergast
It's Wednesday. It's a short week for us. We're out on Friday.
- [144:07]
Seth Payne
That feels like a Friday. Only because I feel like tomorrow we're really gonna phone it in. Big holiday. So it's not gonna feel like a real work day at all.
- [144:14]
Sean Pendergast
Essentially, gonna be literally, like, almost figuratively in our cars, driving out of town.
- [144:19]
Seth Payne
It'll probably be one of the best shows you and I have ever done together. Typically, when you go in and just don't think about it, you know?
- [144:25]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [144:26]
Seth Payne
No mind. That's it. As the Japanese would say, that's it, man.
- [144:31]
Sean Pendergast
So the latest in the Brendan Sorsby situation, which has provided us some nice content through the last few weeks, did not, you know, the beginning of the year, I'm like, you start to look at the summer months, you're like, what can carry us through the months of June? I did not have degenerate gambler quarterback trying to petition his way into the NFL on my bingo card.
- [144:52]
Seth Payne
You can't predict when, you know, you can't predict the things that are going to disrupt your life. That's right. Like personal computers in the 1980s.
- [144:59]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [145:00]
Seth Payne
The smartphone in the 2000. And then Brendan Sorcerers in the 2020.
- [145:05]
Sean Pendergast
Same exact thing. So. So we know Sorsby's deal was he was, you know, he. He sued the NCAA to get an injunction for their ban on him successfully. And then the Big 12 kind of boat up and said, no, no, no, we're not letting you play. We're gonna.
- [145:21]
Seth Payne
We're.
- [145:21]
Sean Pendergast
We're gonna litigate, too. Which kind of frightened Texas Tech into convincing Sorsby to declare his intentions to go pro in a supplemental draft that the NFL subsequently said, no, that's not going to happen.
- [145:35]
Seth Payne
So now, yeah, yeah, he's kind of
- [145:37]
Sean Pendergast
a man without a country. Right.
- [145:38]
Seth Payne
I. You know what? I gotta. I gotta recognize the strategy of the NFL here because I think they figured, especially because Soursby was being represented by a lawyer who has taken on the NFL before, and they're kind of looking at it and they're saying, like, all right, well, what's the thing that we have the most latitude to do? And it comes to the. The supplemental draft, it feels like it's. The NFL pretty much has carte blanche to say whatever the hell they want, make whatever decision they want.
- [146:05]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [146:06]
Seth Payne
So they, like. It kind of went back to the way Goodell used to operate, Right. With punishment choices where I'm going to do whatever I want, but he can't do that anymore. But now he's like, oh, okay, we just won't let him into the league. And then we do have to think about it.
- [146:19]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, it's a good point. Like, I think, if I had to guess, the NFL is probably looking at this whole situation from afar before, even before he declared for the NFL, even when he was suing the ncaa. They pro like the. I think most people, I think most people that are sports fans were looking at it going, this guy shouldn't be allowed to play football this year.
- [146:37]
Seth Payne
Right.
- [146:38]
Sean Pendergast
And I, so I think the NFL probably looked at it and said, okay, now this kid wants to come into our league. You're absolutely right, Seth. Like what's the, what's the way with the, with the least amount of legal entanglements that essentially serve as a one year suspension for him?
- [146:54]
Seth Payne
And I guess, and I guess, and I don't. I'm getting way out over my skis here. But as I understand it, they already had a precedent because of the way the courts handled Maurice Claret back in the day, that they felt pretty rock solid about this and that, that like, okay, then we're going to do this. This is the least headache. And the kid like without like you can even people that would say, yes, he deserves a chance to play. I have a hard time thinking there's a lot of people out there that think that gambling on your own team, no matter what age you're at, should be punished by two meaningless regular season games early in the year. You know, like it just it outside of Texas Tech people there needs to be more of a punishment than that because you got a lot of people that feel like that you should never be allowed to play again after you've gambled on your own team, no matter what age you are. But like the spectrum's got to be somewhere between a one year suspension at minimum and then something. If it's more egregious then maybe you go more than that.
- [147:51]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. So Adam Schefter tweeted this yesterday and this is important because when the NFL said we're not going to have a supplemental draft, then Brendan Sorsby's lawyer, Jeffrey Kessler started saber rattling and saying, oh well, this isn't how the, this isn't how the collective bargaining agreement, bargaining agreement supposed to work work. Even though Sourceby technically isn't even covered by the collective bargaining agreement yet.
- [148:13]
Seth Payne
Right.
- [148:14]
Sean Pendergast
So he was saying no, he was making noise like they were going to sue the NFL to get this kid into the NFL this year, which would have been fascinating. I think it would have been a disaster and I think it would have been really bad for SB Everybody put their weapons down. Yesterday, Adam Schefter tweeting a memo was sent to all NFL teams saying that the NFLPA and Brendan Sorsby will not be pursuing any further litigation regarding his entry into the NFL and that instead Sorsby will focus on his preparation for entry into the 2027 NFL Draft. Sorsby will be considered a draft eligible player for 2027 and will not be eligible to sign a contract with the NFL until the completion. Until he gets drafted basically in, in 2027. Not in this tweet. But also worth mentioning is that he'll, he will be treated come draft season next year just like everybody else. He'll be allowed to participate in the combine. He'll be allowed to be one of and I would imagine he'll be on the list for several NFL teams to have a 30 visit to the facility. You know, he fits, he fits the criteria to a tee of a guy that teams are really going to want to interrogate. You know,
- [149:27]
Seth Payne
the, the athletic did an article which is interesting, man. It's, it's rare for there to be a gap year for guys between their last year of college football and then, you know, wait a year and then play football. And it's like the examples they bring up and I don't think they're just cherry picking. They're kind of trying to go through and make a list. It's either, it's either really bad or really promising. So like Maurice Claret. Yep. Couldn't enter the 2024 draft. He was out. Ended up just barely playing in the NFL.
- [150:01]
Sean Pendergast
2000, 2004.
- [150:03]
Seth Payne
What did I say?
- [150:04]
Sean Pendergast
2024.
- [150:05]
Seth Payne
Oh yeah, that's way off.
- [150:06]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. Yeah.
- [150:06]
Seth Payne
No, Mike Williams, the USC receiver, one of many Mike Williams who would play wide receiver in the NFL, but he never did much in the NFL. But then you go to service academy graduates and you get guys like Roger Staubach.
- [150:22]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [150:22]
Seth Payne
Worked pretty well for Roger Staubach.
- [150:24]
Sean Pendergast
Was the Chad Hennings in that Chad Hennings?
- [150:27]
Seth Payne
Yeah, he was another one. Yeah. Yeah. But then you go back to guys like Josh Gordon, you know, the guys that were got out for some kind of a disciplinary reason. Hadn't worked out too well. Now if you go to the COVID 19 opt outs, they didn't, it's, they didn't mention them here, which offends me. But Nico Collins.
- [150:46]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [150:46]
Seth Payne
You know, Nico Collins didn't play a year of football and got a slow start to the NFL. But he was also in a bad situation. It's worked out pretty damn well for him. Jamar Chase was an opt out.
- [150:57]
Sean Pendergast
Mike Michael Parsons was an opt out.
- [150:59]
Seth Payne
Yeah. Back in the day, Sewell was an opt out.
- [151:01]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. Boy I mean, you're talking about with Jamar Chase. Micah Parsons went healthy and Penne Sewell. You're talking about three guys that you could argue at their peak were the best at their position.
- [151:11]
Seth Payne
And the thing about those guys is that they were all drafted in the tank. Yeah, they didn't mention Nico because he got, he didn't get drafted in the first round, but, you know, it didn't. I don't think it hindered his, his career as well. He's a guy that really could have used one extra year of production and maturation that maybe you would have. Because remember when we were watching Nico Collins during training camp, you're like, if, if you walked out there, my impression was if I walked out on the field and somebody said, hey, Seth, pick out who the Texans first round pick was because they didn't have one that year. I would have looked around the rookies. Oh, it's that guy Collins.
- [151:45]
Sean Pendergast
He.
- [151:45]
Seth Payne
He definitely went in the first round, right? Yeah. So like quarterback. It's a little trickier than that because you're not going off of physical traits as much. But I think that it could potentially. He doesn't have the body of work that Jamar Chase, Penny Stool, Micah Parsons and Rashawn Slater had. Brendan Sorsby doesn't. Yeah, but, but like, I think teams aren't going to be as scared off by it as long as he's done a good job with his rehab and, and all that stuff.
- [152:10]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, it's funny, you know, as, as Texan fans, I. Yeah, like right now there's, you know, there's not even a conversation about should the Texans be looking at Source Beer? They're, they're just. It doesn't seem like they're in a quarterback market, but that can change during the season. You brought this up earlier. You said, boy, like, if C.J. has. The first four games don't look great. If the first four games. I mean, certainly if the first four games look like that Patriots game, this, this city's going to be burning to the ground. But even if they look like the Steeler game, let's say. Yeah, minus the, you know, like he's not fumbling the ball five times, but he's very inconsistent throwing the ball. But he has some wow throws here and there. I mean, keep in mind they won that game 30 to 6, but CJ didn't generate 14 of those points. You know, there was a, there was a scoop fumble score by Sheldon Rankins and there was a pick six to close out the game by Kalen Bullock. So it's not like things were great offensively in that game. If the first four games, even if they're 3 and 1, but CJ's not looking great. Like, if they're 3 and 1 and they're winning games 17 to 13. Yeah, I don't know, man. Like, I'm going to start watching some of these college games much closer.
- [153:15]
Seth Payne
I think it's 100% fair. Like, no, no, if it. And Sean, like, honestly, if all of a sudden he comes out, the last two times we've seen him, he has not been himself. There's a lot of pressure on him and it looks like maybe he just been pushing too hard. You know, when. You know how much pressure is on him right now. A lot of pressure. There's a lot more pressure on him right now than. Than there probably has been at any point in his career.
- [153:39]
Sean Pendergast
Well, especially when you factor the money in, you know that he's playing for a contract too.
- [153:43]
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think, No, I think that with Brendan Sorsby, I'm. The thing about quarterbacks is that I've always looked at that position as the one where, man, I really want to look at the off field stuff because there, there does seem to be a correlation between impulsiv the field and impulsivity on the field. And if you go and start looking at quarterbacks that throw a lot of interceptions, for instance, James a young Jameis Winston, a young Brett Favre, a Johnny Manziel, like these guys, the impulsivity off the field does seem to carry over. There's other positions where sometimes you look at impulsivity off the field and you're like, defensive line. And you might be like, this guy's kind of wired the way I want. Right, right, right. All right. You know what I was like, he's, he's had some issues, but I kind of like his moxie.
- [154:34]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [154:35]
Seth Payne
Quarterback is the opposite. So with Sourcebee, it's not just the ethical part of it, it's also that, all right, quarterbacks that show impulsivity off the field, like, there's, there's a correlation to how they perform on the field. So how much does that. And it's, you know, in the modern, in modern football, it's more of a check against you than, than it was. Was in the past.
- [154:59]
Sean Pendergast
You know, in some ways, you know, Brendan Sorsby is about to head into this year where he's probably going to be working with his quarterbacks coach, as you mentioned earlier, probably doing interviews, you know, like, like Interviews with media outlets to cleanse his image or whatever.
- [155:14]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [155:14]
Sean Pendergast
The biggest thing Sourcebee can prove to NFL decision makers is that he's not gambling anymore. And in some ways, having a season like this where he's not around a team every day, he's not. I, you know, I don't know if Texas Tech is still going to make the resources available to him to deal with his addiction to gambling. I have no idea. But there's no doubt he's going to have more idle time on his hands.
- [155:38]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [155:39]
Sean Pendergast
Texter, text in says now he's got nothing to do. All he's going to do is gamble all year. Lol. If he proves. I think it's. I think it'd be more impressive. I think proving that he's not succumbing to gambling in a year like the one he's got coming up might be to the NFL more impressive than anything he could do on a football field.
- [155:57]
Seth Payne
Yeah. That's. No, by far. When people talk to him about what his process was like over the course of this coming year, that they're going to want to see. All right. Did you build structure into your life? Because that's what keeps you on the straight and narrow is like, you've got to have some kind of structure in your life. You've got to have some kind of a plan. I'm guessing that he will. And just like, did he abide by that structure? That's the thing that's going to, you know, the, the. It needs to be done with actions more so than words. Yeah. And he's got to be able to demonstrate it without being annoying and on Instagram all the time. Just demonstrate that. Yeah, I had this plan. This is what I was working on. This was my daily routine and all of that. Teams will be. I don't know if impressed is the right word, but that's what they want to see.
- [156:41]
Sean Pendergast
It'll help. It'll help. Did you see that Paramount plus is going to be airing a docu series on the Texas Tech football programs off season dominated by the Brendan Sorsby saga. Yeah. Apparently it got announced yesterday that on Monday. I guess it got announced on Monday. Paramount plus announced it has greenlit a docu series chronicling the Red Raiders off season. The docu series began production in January and is supposed to offer, quote, unprecedented access. According to a news release, four episodes are expected to begin airing before the start of the 2026 season. What's interesting to me about that is obviously they've had cameras following people in the facility and with the program and with the school around, because I don't think. You don't announce that it's been greenlit when the off season's practically over. So that means whatever they've gathered probably makes Texas Tech look pretty favorable in this.
- [157:37]
Seth Payne
Oh, yeah. There's going to be a scene in there of Joey McGuire just, like, crying. He would have used the little eyedroppers and be like, I just care about the kids so much. Yes. I'm just worried about him. I just. I feel like the best thing, the best possible thing for him was going to be for him to come play football and these. And I just. Boy, it's just hurts.
- [157:54]
Sean Pendergast
They zoom in with, like, dramatic music. And he's got the one tier, like the Native American standing on the hill, looking at all the trash that everybody's thrown and on. On the ground. And Joey Maguire's just got that one tear streaming down his cheek.
- [158:06]
Seth Payne
I just want to do right by the. These kids, and I feel like I've failed them.
- [158:09]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. I will watch this because I've been fascinated by this whole story, and I am really anxious to see what the Texas Tech spin in a documentary form is.
- [158:18]
Seth Payne
When's it coming out?
- [158:20]
Sean Pendergast
Expected to air. Begin airing before the start of the upcoming football season. So what are we.
- [158:26]
Seth Payne
So july first month. Yes. We got court. Quarterback comes out sometime In July, too.
- [158:31]
Sean Pendergast
July 20th. Ish.
- [158:32]
Seth Payne
Okay. Like, right before tr. Training camp.
- [158:34]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. Which. And it's shaping up to be maybe the most depressing season of quarterback ever. Cause it's all injured guys or guys who failed last year.
- [158:44]
Seth Payne
Who is it?
- [158:44]
Sean Pendergast
It's Baker Mayfield. It's Jaden Daniels. You know, Baker didn't get injured, but the Tampa Bay season slid off the rails.
- [158:53]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [158:53]
Sean Pendergast
Jaden Daniels was hurt all year long.
- [158:55]
Seth Payne
Probably. We might see a clip. We'll definitely see at least a clip of him scrambling for first down against the Texans.
- [159:01]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, BAKER Mayfield. Yeah, 100% in week two. So it's Baker Mayfield, it's Jaden Daniels, it's Cam Ward. You know, so we get to watch.
- [159:11]
Seth Payne
Get some Texans action in there.
- [159:12]
Sean Pendergast
Definitely get some Texans action there. But it'll be mostly watching a number one overall pick get his ass kicked all year. And then Joe Flacco is the other one. I'm. I'm actually most intrigued by Flacco.
- [159:22]
Seth Payne
Like, he's got traded, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He got traded in the division. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The. You know, because that. We'll get that. Because you remember, Tomlin weighed in on that, too. Tomlin was all hissy about it. There was a lot of drama there with Cam Ward. The one moment that intrigued me from last year was that they had a victory late in the season and Cam Ward got at the podium and basically, like, people were criticizing him for not being more excited about the win than he was. Where I, like, I kind of looked at it as Cam Ward was saying, yeah, we've got higher standards than this. I don't want to. I don't want to celebrate just one victory so much. And that it became oddly polarizing. I was kind of impressed by it. All the reports about Cam Ward is that he's just a super mature young man.
- [160:05]
Sean Pendergast
Yes.
- [160:06]
Seth Payne
So. But I'm. I'm guessing that they'll. They'll spend a lot of time on that. One little chunk of that I'm looking forward to.
- [160:12]
Sean Pendergast
I liked. I've liked the couple of seasons they've had. I've always come away feeling other than Marcus Mariota. I've always come away from watching that series feeling more favorably about the guys they've had in it.
- [160:25]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [160:25]
Sean Pendergast
And I don't know that that's the. I don't even think that's the intent. I think they're just. Mahomes annoyed me just because we got a lot of.
- [160:32]
Seth Payne
Oh, yeah, we felt. No, we didn't. We were more negative about Mahomes and definitely about Mariota. Mariota. Mariota just looks sad all the time.
- [160:40]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. If I. If I. In that series, of all the quarterbacks they've done in the two seasons that they've done it, if we went through and said, did you come away from quarterback back feeling more favorable, Less favorable, or the same. I would have said slightly less on Mahomes just because he was annoying. And it turned into, like, a Chiefs season highlight video.
- [160:58]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [160:58]
Sean Pendergast
Because Mariota definitely less favorable. Kirk Cousins in both seasons, I came away feeling more favorable about. I liked Cousins in both series.
- [161:07]
Seth Payne
I don't like seeing quarterbacks be overly emotional in the same way that when I'm watching people on a Netflix series when they're in a position of leadership.
- [161:15]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [161:16]
Seth Payne
I don't want to see them just kind of falling apart emotionally and sobbing.
- [161:21]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [161:22]
Seth Payne
When they are desperately needed to lead.
- [161:24]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [161:25]
Seth Payne
So I don't want to give away a spoiler here.
- [161:27]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [161:27]
Seth Payne
What's the role? And now, like, how's the Dragon came out? It was on Sunday. Was the newest the new season three. I can say something about, like, the latest episode of House.
- [161:36]
Sean Pendergast
I give it a go set. The text page will tell you Whether.
- [161:38]
Seth Payne
Yes. Spoiler alert here. Okay, everybody. So, like, there's a point where, like, okay, so she. She loses a family member. A very, very close family member. Awful. Awful. Right? But you are the Would be queen. Like, you need to. You need to get over it. Yeah. Like, you're not allowed to be sad in this moment.
- [161:56]
Sean Pendergast
Right.
- [161:57]
Seth Payne
So whether you're a quarterback.
- [161:58]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [161:59]
Seth Payne
Or a queen or a king or whatever it might be, you can't be. You can't be caught up in all of your own emotions when you're being asked to lead. Maybe if somebody gets hurt on the football field fields and you're upset about it, for example.
- [162:10]
Sean Pendergast
Right.
- [162:11]
Seth Payne
You've gotta. Yeah. Yeah. So that's how I. That's why Mariota was like, like, all right, dude. Like, come on. Yeah. Have some composure here.
- [162:21]
Sean Pendergast
Halfway through the season, he quit on the documentary.
- [162:25]
Seth Payne
I'm not having fun. Yeah. Yeah.
- [162:28]
Sean Pendergast
All right. Pain and Pender gas with you. All right. I get fed on my social media. A lot of these power ranking graphics. You probably know why I love power ranking rankings. A lot of the ones where you can. They show nine possibilities, but you can only keep three. This one offended me as a Texans fan. I will tell you why. Coming up next, I. Pain in Pendergast. You're getting a lot of support for House of the Dragon on the text page as a. As a show. The people. People really like that.
- [162:53]
Seth Payne
Support is a show. What about my specific take about.
- [162:56]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, I. Yeah.
- [162:57]
Seth Payne
Renera needing to get her crap together.
- [163:00]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. They. The. That. That name is popping up only decided after Jace died. That. Spoiler alert.
- [163:08]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [163:09]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Never mind. I'm not going to read these. It's. Yeah. You're getting a lot of support that it's a good show is all. Yeah. Yeah. So. And my wife started watching. She started over from the beginning yesterday because she'd heard the exact same things you were saying, which is. It got really good. I. It was one of those series for me that, like, six or seven episodes in, I'm like, I don't know, man. There's just too much genealogy and incest and government talk for me.
- [163:32]
Seth Payne
There's too much genealogy and like, if the problem is that nothing's ever going to be as good as Game of Thrones, partly just because of the. I like the actors that were so good and they were. They had all the original, you know, dialogue and everything from the books.
- [163:46]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [163:47]
Seth Payne
Where it's just never. It's never going to be the same. But it's once you. Once you Learn. I hate saying this. I hate recommending a show by saying, as long as you put in some homework on the side. But there is a little bit of that. Like, you gotta. Like, okay, yeah. I gotta really figure out who. But some of it, too, is like, they've got. It's like on the printed page having two identical brothers, one of which is named Aaron, and the other one is named Aaron. Like, okay. On the printed page, it's easier to keep track of Aaron with an A or Aaron with an E. Right. But they've got these characters in the first couple. Couple seasons where, like, okay, they're identical twins and they're both named Aaron.
- [164:24]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [164:24]
Seth Payne
And how the hell am I supposed to know which one is which?
- [164:26]
Sean Pendergast
Yep, yep, yep.
- [164:27]
Seth Payne
It's very difficult.
- [164:28]
Sean Pendergast
She started watching it because I get. She was in the other room, and I could hear the booming theme of Game of Thrones playing in the other room. So she's starting over. Amy is from the beginning again.
- [164:38]
Seth Payne
You know what they do, too? Midway through season two, they do a cast switch.
- [164:42]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [164:43]
Seth Payne
Of, like, all of the young characters to the old characters. So then even after you've already had to do homework to keep everything. Dude, now I gotta learn. I gotta. I got to learn which is which amongst people. Brutal.
- [164:54]
Sean Pendergast
It was brutal. All right. So I mentioned in the. I mentioned heading into the break that I get fed a lot of. I get fed a lot of those things, Seth. Where you get nine faces on them and said, you've got to eliminate six.
- [165:08]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [165:08]
Sean Pendergast
You know, so they get people to reply as to who the three they're keeping are or whatever. I was a little offended as a Texan fan by one that got sent to me by fans. FanDuel Sportsbook. And it had nine running backs on it, and it says at their peak. And they're all running backs from the 2000s. You know, I would say they're all running. I'm looking at the. I'm looking at the nine faces here. I would say the oldest one in terms of when they were drafted is probably Adrian Peterson. He was drafted in 2006. The rest of them are all drafted in the 2010s or teens. But it said at their peak, pick the three best out of these nine. And the running backs were Adrian Peterson, Saquon Barkley, MARSHawn Lynch, Christian McCaffrey, Derek Henry, Shady McCoy at 6, and then Todd Gurley, Le'Veon Bell, and Ezekiel Elliott.
- [166:03]
Seth Payne
Wait a second. You got to Todd Gurley and I. And I was thinking, where's Arian Foster in this list.
- [166:09]
Sean Pendergast
Thank you.
- [166:10]
Seth Payne
Once I like. Okay. Arian Foster. Shirley is on a list where they're being asked to decide to whether peak. Peak Arian Foster or Peak Todd Gurley.
- [166:19]
Sean Pendergast
Gurley had some good years. Like these guys.
- [166:21]
Seth Payne
He had some good years, and none of his good years were as good as Arian Foster's good years.
- [166:25]
Sean Pendergast
Aaron Foster led the league in touchdowns twice.
- [166:28]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [166:28]
Sean Pendergast
In 2010 and 2012. And it's because it says at their peak. That's the big thing for me.
- [166:34]
Seth Payne
Right, Right. Their peak years, like area Foster's peak year was way better than. Than Todd Gurley's peak.
- [166:40]
Sean Pendergast
I. I contend. This has been my contention for a long time, and I contend this about this particular graphic and the nine names I just rattled off. And I tweeted this. I tweeted as much and obviously got a lot of agreement from Texan fans and a lot of. Look at this clown from fans of any of these other teams. Yes.
- [166:58]
Seth Payne
The worst thing. That's the worst emoji anybody can use on the Internet.
- [167:00]
Sean Pendergast
100%. Yes. But my feeling was, I'm like, if we're just talking, Pete, because Arian's body of work suffers from the injuries. It's. You know, he only had four really good seasons, but at their peak, I think he deserves to be on a graphic like this as one of the nine. And I would submit that at his peak, his peak was better than at least three or four of these guys.
- [167:21]
Seth Payne
I was. I was curious about Lashawn McCoy.
- [167:23]
Sean Pendergast
Me too.
- [167:23]
Seth Payne
That was the first guy I went to. And honestly, LaShawn McCoy's peak year. Yeah. Was pretty equivalent to Arian Foster's peak year.
- [167:31]
Sean Pendergast
Okay.
- [167:32]
Seth Payne
Like, which. Which means that Arian Foster should be on here. Like, Lashawn McCoy's peak year, he had 1607 yards rushing. He had total yards from scrimmage, 2146 yards average at 100 yards per carry.
- [167:48]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [167:49]
Seth Payne
Arian Foster in his peak year was 1600 yard. 160016 yards rushing. Just about the same 2,220 yards from scrimmage, 101 yards per game. Like, eerily similar. Yeah. And I think that. And they both, like, if you look at success rate, everything else like that, they were. They were pretty equivalent. And they're. And it was like that for their best two or three seasons. When I looked at it, those guys, they had similar peak production.
- [168:16]
Sean Pendergast
I would say, girl, to me, if I had to make an argument here that Arian Foster is better than is in the upper half of this graphic or close to it. I think peak Arian Foster is better than Peak Lashawn McCoy. I think Peak Arian Foster is certainly better than peak Ezekiel Elliott, and I think peak area and Foster is better than peak Todd Gurley. That's three right there. So then we can sit here like peak Adrian Peterson might be the best running back in the history of the sport. I'm not going to sit here and like, Adrian Peterson was incredible. Part of his ethos was the fact that he came back from a torn ACL and back at a time where the ACL wasn't nearly the formality to come back from that. It is now and. And was just amazing after that. The other thing I would say about Arian Foster is that we can hit you over the head with all the rushing numbers and the rushing touchdowns and yards per carry and all those things. And I think he stacks up peak area and Foster in all those areas. I blindly. I would say Arian Foster is. There's that on this graph. He's among the top three receiving running backs, and I think he's among the top three pass, like pass pro, you know, like cerebral, picking up blitzes. Arian Foster never had to come off the field for any reason, ever.
- [169:36]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [169:36]
Sean Pendergast
You know, and, you know, except when he got injured, then he had to come off the field because he was hurt. So I, I was, I was greatly offended by this graphic on behalf of Arian Foster and Texan fans everywhere. Bingo. End of subject.
- [169:52]
Seth Payne
Yeah. So I don't know if they made it on the. Who were you going to boot off then?
- [169:56]
Sean Pendergast
I would boot off. I would. I would replace either Lashawn McCoy. I, if I had to replace one.
- [170:01]
Seth Payne
If I wouldn't replace McCoy, because I would feel like for one, he's like, he's better than Todd Gurley. Like, at his peak, he was better than Todd Gurley's.
- [170:10]
Sean Pendergast
If I had to replace one. Yeah, I was just reiterating what I said. I think arian's better than McCoy, Gurley and Ezekiel. If I had to replace one guy. Guy, it'd be Ezekiel Elliott.
- [170:19]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [170:19]
Sean Pendergast
I think peak Aaron Foster, I feel comfortable in saying, is better than peak Ezekiel Elliott.
- [170:24]
Seth Payne
When. When's the next top 100 release? Oh, that. Every day or.
- [170:28]
Sean Pendergast
No, they do it every day. They do it. They do it. They do two every day. They just released yesterday was Jack Campbell, the linebacker for the Lions, came in at number 88. And Ted McMillan, the wide receiver for the Panthers, comes in at number 87. The thing I like about this area of the top 100. Where we're just kind of easing into the bottom portion of it.
- [170:51]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [170:51]
Sean Pendergast
Is you start to look at it and go, oh, okay. Well, I definitely.
- [170:55]
Seth Payne
Maybe the Texas might have tried to trade up for Ted McMillan or something.
- [170:59]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, maybe. Well, here's what I was thinking is like, when I see Ted McMillan at 87, I'm like, okay, well, Nico's definitely making it. Like he's better than Ted McMillan, you know, like, I don't think. And Nico's 32 last year in the top 100, so I don't think there's any danger of him falling out.
- [171:12]
Seth Payne
Out.
- [171:13]
Sean Pendergast
But you never know what the player votes. Like when Bryce Young made it, ironically, another Carolina Panther at 98, I'm like, all right, well, I think CJ is going to make it this year. That was a more debatable 1. Is CJ going to make it? But when Bryce Young made it at 98, I'm like, oh, yeah, CJ's going to make it.
- [171:26]
Seth Payne
Yeah. And Ted wasn't. I don't know why I said Ted McMillan trading up that. Not, not in that draft. Obviously, the. We were thinking about offensive lineman at that point. Yep. So the. How many, how many quarterbacks then so far?
- [171:38]
Sean Pendergast
Bryce Young.
- [171:39]
Seth Payne
Young.
- [171:39]
Sean Pendergast
Bryce Young might be the only quarterback so far. Yeah, I don't have the full list in front of me. The one they announced today at number 86. They announced him every weekday at 9:00 clock and 10:00 clock they unveil two new players. And so today's 86 and 85. 86 is Tuli Tui Upalutu from the Chargers.
- [171:59]
Seth Payne
Yeah, he's. He's underrated and under discussed, I think. Yeah, like, he's one of the, he's, he's really, really good. He was one of the guys I was nervous about in that Texans Chargers game.
- [172:09]
Sean Pendergast
Yep.
- [172:10]
Seth Payne
The Texans did a good job with him.
- [172:11]
Sean Pendergast
They did. They did. So he's 86. Whoever's 85 will get announced in about 25 minutes.
- [172:17]
Seth Payne
Travis HN's number 96.
- [172:19]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [172:20]
Seth Payne
And that's one. That's another one of the ones where I get. On behalf of the AFC South, I get a little offended that there hasn't really been that much discussion about the fact that the Jaguars just really did very little to try to improve their team and free agency this offseason with the stated strategy of, hey, we're going to let guys like Travis Hn just leave because we're going to get compensatory picks sometime in the future. But Also that even though the Jaguars made an impressive surge offensively in the second half of last season, they were not. They had a hard time running the ball. And that. I, man, just. It's not so simple that, oh, okay, you guys don't need to run the football. You've got Trevor Lawrence back there slinging it. I don't know if that's a. I don't know if that's the right way to approach a season. And yet the. The gm, who's just damn near. He's damn convinced that he's smarter than everybody else, feels like that is the right way to proceed.
- [173:12]
Sean Pendergast
They. They let their best player on either side of the football walk in free agency because they let Devin Lloyd walk also, I think you could argue he was their best player defensively last year. They let Travis Egg Change walk and they. Every draft pick they had was drafted like 20 or 30 spots higher than the consensus out there.
- [173:31]
Seth Payne
Right. Which is like, I. I'm cool with it. When teams supposedly reach on a player here, too. But when you. When you routinely go way above whatever the consensus is, you're either brilliant or you're a freaking.
- [173:43]
Sean Pendergast
That's a Bill o' Brien move, man. Yeah, that's. You're setting up a parlay that has a really, really long shot of even having. Having half of it happen.
- [173:51]
Seth Payne
Just routinely doing it. GMs do it like every GM reaches here and there, and it's. It's fine if it. You know, it's. You win some, you lose some, but when you're doing it all the time, it's because you think you're smarter than everybody.
- [174:01]
Sean Pendergast
And it was that video that they showed from inside the war room where he. They were getting ready to pick the. The tight end out of A and M, whose name Bork Chicker or whatever name is.
- [174:10]
Seth Payne
The. The.
- [174:11]
Sean Pendergast
Whatever his name is.
- [174:12]
Seth Payne
The.
- [174:12]
Sean Pendergast
The tight end from A and M that they picked three picks before the Texans took Marlon Klein. Mine, where he's like, let's shock the world. Let's shock the world.
- [174:21]
Seth Payne
Shock the world. Take the best player on the board.
- [174:23]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. Yeah.
- [174:25]
Seth Payne
All right.
- [174:25]
Sean Pendergast
Pain and Pendergast with you on a. On a Wednesday.
- [174:29]
Seth Payne
All right, Wednesday.
- [174:30]
Sean Pendergast
It was Wednesday. Yep, I got it. Coming up next, the Rockets make a signing today. How are we feeling about that. This EMI article that Chandler Rome has here? All right. Emai is going to start tonight. You know how I feel about. About current emi. Does this article make us feel even better about where Imai is in his progression as a major league pitcher? And how does that, how does that affect our view of Dana Brown? If Emi ends up working out the way he's worked out over most of his recent starts, we'll have that coming up next.
- [175:01]
Seth Payne
It only happens every four years, and this time it's here. The biggest tournament in the world. Stadium shaking, flags waving. This is history and you want to be there. But real life can make it tough. Work busy schedules and the price. That's where Priceline comes in. Priceline has millions of deals on flights, hotels and rental cars, so you can go see it live. So find a great deal and make the trip happen. Rally the crew. Go see the game live. Turn your dream trip into reality. Book now with Priceline. Football is fun.
- [175:32]
Sean Pendergast
Why shouldn't your football podcast be the same? Follow and listen to Heed the Call
- [175:35]
Seth Payne
NFL Podcast with Dan Hanzas and Mark Sesler. Wherever you get your podcasts, they say
- [175:41]
Sean Pendergast
if you want to go fast, go alone.
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Seth Payne
But if you want to go far, go together. At Amica Insurance, we're built for our customers and prioritize your needs. Visit amica.com and get a quote today. All new drinks are now at McDonald's with refreshers like the Strawberry Watermelon Refresher and the Mango Pineapple Refresher with Popping
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Sean Pendergast
Boba to crafted sodas like the Sprite Berry Blast with berry flavors and cold foam. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire six?
- [176:19]
Seth Payne
All new drinks are here now at McDonald's.
- [176:23]
Sean Pendergast
Refreshers contain caffeine. Fourth of July Savings are happening now at the Home Depot with select appliances starting at $398 plus get free delivery on appliance purchases of $398 or more. No membership required. Upgrade your kitchen with a modern and sleek GE profile refrigerator featuring hands free autofill for the perfect pour every time and make laundry day easier with 2 in 1 washer dryer combo innovation that completes laundry in about 90 minutes. Shop Top brand appliances now at the Home Depot offer Val June 17th July at the US only C store online for details. I wonder how Rocket fans are feeling right now. Seth Today's the kind of the first big day of free agency and you're watching Giannis go to the heat and you're watching Kawhi Leonard is looks like looks to be headed back to Toronto for an awfully big package of stuff for a guy who's in his, you know, approaching his mid-30s, but nevertheless and then you know, even guys that are probably a cut below them like Lamelo Ball and John Morant going Places. And the Rockets first big moves are a two year, $13 million deal for an aging Marcus Smart and then a 33 year old one year deal for Bogdan Bogdanovich, a shooter. I'm not going to say they don't need both of those things. They need more shooting and they definitely need a backup point guard. But for. If you're a Rocket fan that was looking for a big swing at something, the names, it's, things are starting to fly off the board now. You know, you're, you're running out of there. The sample of big moves that are available to you are running thin right now.
- [177:55]
Seth Payne
I think like the, the big year was last year with Kevin Durant and the. I just, I, I just. It feels, it's weird in the NBA and in sports in general. Everything happens so fast. It feels like the Rockets give you one big thing and then it stays the exact same for a few months and then there's another big thing like, well, I don't know, Van Vliet getting injured. But then it's that. But then the one big thing is, okay, I guess they're gonna try to make go without an actual point guard and see if one of these young guys can transition. And that turns into a season long thing. Yeah. Where you're waiting all the way up till the trade deadline to figure out just what do they think of Reed shepherd anyway and because they certainly don't seem to be trying to turn him into a point guard. Yeah. And. And then it remains the same the entire season because they didn't do anything at the trade deadline. Yeah.
- [178:45]
Sean Pendergast
It's not a huge signing like money wise by NBA standards, it's a pretty minimal signing. It's six million or six and a half million a year. And Smart gets a player option for next year. So really in essence, if he plays well this year, it's more or less a one year deal for a backup point guard. And yet that's a guy I'm like, well if he was on the team last year, they, they probably win a few more games. You know, everything.
- [179:06]
Seth Payne
I mean they could have been a much different game. It's not about the, it's not about the skill of the individual player necessarily. It's just having an actual point guard like it go. It makes a big difference when you got a bunch of young guys out there.
- [179:18]
Sean Pendergast
No doubt. I want to play one quick, funny bit of audio that we played earlier. As long as we're talking basketball, then we'll get to this Tatsuya Imai article. That Chandler Rome did for the Athletic. This was Kendrick Perkins. Keep in mind, yesterday, news right about this time was breaking that LeBron James was not going to be going back to the Lakers. That was the. That was the news item. He is going to play next year. We don't know who for. Cleveland, as of this morning is a small favorite over Golden State. And then there's several other teams after that, but Kendrick Perkins. This would have been a perfect fit for the Petty cast if it were a Tuesday issues a warning to LeBron's agent, Rich Paul, who apparently Kendrick Perkins was trying to get a hold of as all this news was coming down yet yesterday.
- [180:02]
Seth Payne
Rich Paul. Okay, Rich Paul, little turtle head, snotty nose ass called me all throughout the season. Every time I'm on tv, I get
- [180:11]
Sean Pendergast
a text message from him.
- [180:13]
Seth Payne
I've been calling him for two days now and he been ignoring me.
- [180:16]
Sean Pendergast
We got a problem, you know, and. And it would seem that Kendrick Perkins, you know, in the quid pro quo, was cashing in his side of it, which is, hey, there's news coming down with LeBron. I would like you to reciprocate me answering all your texts and calls while on the air, by the way, which is. I don't know how you feel about people text people that know your job, that know that from 6:00am to 10:00am Central Time.
- [180:43]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [180:43]
Sean Pendergast
Every day you kind of need to be focused on what you're doing.
- [180:48]
Seth Payne
They don't. I don't mind because they. All those people also know that I check my texts about once every 48 hours.
- [180:54]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah. So they know the dude deal.
- [180:56]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [180:56]
Sean Pendergast
See, I got my phone sitting like most of the time sitting like right here. Yeah, yeah.
- [181:01]
Seth Payne
Then it's annoying because you see it. Yeah, yeah.
- [181:03]
Sean Pendergast
I'm like, you know, I'm working train of thought. You know, I'm working right now, I think.
- [181:07]
Seth Payne
So he called him snot nose.
- [181:09]
Sean Pendergast
Turtle headed snot nose.
- [181:12]
Seth Payne
I think there's two. You know what, honestly, I'm gonna give Kendrick Perkins a lot of credit here because one of our listeners said, you know, we were trying to, you know, break down the. Break down the, the insult. And I kind of thought, man, I'm looking at pictures of Rich Paul. It does remind me a little bit of Cecil Turtle from Looney Tunes because Cecil Turtle kind of had those, like this mopey face.
- [181:35]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [181:36]
Seth Payne
Like, even he was smiling. It didn't quite look like he was smiling. You look at pictures of Rich Paul, you can see the resemblance there. But one of our listeners said, well, maybe he just means he's like, he's being turtle headed. He's pulling his head into his shell when now that there's something important happening and Kendrick Perkins wants to get a hold of him. Yeah, I think, I think he hit him with a double whammy.
- [181:55]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, that's as good as an insult gets. You can hit him with two different
- [181:58]
Seth Payne
connotations, physical and a metaphorical insult.
- [182:02]
Sean Pendergast
Cecil Turtle. So he lives in the same ecosystem as Bugs Bunny and all those guys.
- [182:07]
Seth Payne
Yeah, Looney Tunes.
- [182:09]
Sean Pendergast
Okay. He's way down the list though, man.
- [182:11]
Seth Payne
He was reportedly, according to reports.
- [182:14]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah.
- [182:15]
Seth Payne
He was only, he was one of the only ones, the characters that kind of of sometimes beat Bugs Bunny at his own game.
- [182:21]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, really?
- [182:22]
Seth Payne
He'd get his goat.
- [182:23]
Sean Pendergast
I, I, I can't, I can't remember one, I know who he is because I've, you know, you, you see pictures of him. I can't remember one Looney Tunes episode that I saw him in, let alone one where he's getting the best of Bugs Bunny.
- [182:36]
Seth Payne
I remember the one where he murdered Bugs Bunny and then slept with his wife.
- [182:40]
Sean Pendergast
You do? Yeah, it was an edgy episode.
- [182:42]
Seth Payne
That was one of those ones you can't find anymore. Yeah, they don't, they, they don't throw that on the replay.
- [182:46]
Sean Pendergast
That was after Netflix bought the rights to Looney Tunes and they started to make it a little more edgy. Yeah, yeah. Cecil Turtle, he's like the Renell Delgado of Looney Tunes.
- [182:55]
Seth Payne
Even from the cartoons opening titles. Avery let, oh, wait a second. From the very beginning, Avery lets on that this is the director of these things. Bugs Bunny is about to meet his match.
- [183:06]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, yeah. And it's a turf.
- [183:08]
Seth Payne
This is the first episode he appeared in.
- [183:09]
Sean Pendergast
Okay.
- [183:10]
Seth Payne
Cecil uses several relatives that look similar to him in order to, to cheat.
- [183:14]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, wow.
- [183:14]
Seth Payne
Rich Paul. I wonder if Rich Paul was in that episode.
- [183:16]
Sean Pendergast
Okay.
- [183:17]
Seth Payne
You know, playing the cousin of Cecil Turtle.
- [183:20]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he uses, so Cecil Turtle uses look alikes, I guess. Huh.
- [183:25]
Seth Payne
So Cecil Turtle. Yeah, he would confound Bugs Bunny, man.
- [183:28]
Sean Pendergast
Not easy to do. Not easy to do. This Tatsuya Imai article, Seth, I'm about 2/3 of the way through it that Chandler Rome wrote. It's a really good article. It goes deep on what ultimately might be one of the most important things to happen with the Astros this year, which is, you know, if it continues in this direction. And we'll learn more today when or tonight when he my pitches. But the, the pulling out of the nose dive of Tatsuya Imai season, sending him down to the minor leagues with what was labeled as arm fatigue, but really seemed to be just an effort to clear his head. Head. Get his mind right, get his confidence back. Maybe most importantly. Yeah, this article is a really good summary, I guess, of all the various elements to Imai kind of getting his mental game back and how that spilled over into him being much more effective physically as well.
- [184:24]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [184:24]
Sean Pendergast
What was your favorite thing from.
- [184:26]
Seth Payne
I just like the. Honestly, there's some of the things I like that he like. He likes these acai bowls.
- [184:32]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [184:32]
Seth Payne
And you're thinking like, oh, man, maybe this is something like, I don't know what the origin of the Acai bowl, if that came from Japan or not. And he says flat out, one of the things that he's gotten more comfortable with is that he likes these acai bowls that they have at the stadium, but that he'd never even had one before he came to America. He had seen that. He had seen them in Japan, but he never had one. And yet I feel that that one, to me, felt like, oh, he really does feel like he's more comfortable now. Like, even one of the things that he likes the most is something that's brand new to him.
- [185:03]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [185:03]
Seth Payne
I don't know. I felt like that was a good, hopefully, indication that in. In a lot of areas in this. In this experience where it was such a culture shock for him that, yeah, he's really. He's getting comfortable and coming into his own.
- [185:14]
Sean Pendergast
He's trying new things. Yeah, he's trying new things. I liked. I just like the connection he's having with his teammates. You know, that he's. The chemistry. They tell a story about Steven Okert having a ritual with him every day where he and Imai's trainer and Emi all bow to each other because that's customary where Imai's from. They all kind of smile about it. And that's always a conversation starter for him. You had mentioned this earlier that he's got little quips now in English for some of the guys.
- [185:43]
Seth Payne
Yeah. He learns these new phrases and comebacks.
- [185:45]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [185:46]
Seth Payne
And he, like, just. And he's trying to. You know, he doesn't always have the same one.
- [185:51]
Sean Pendergast
No.
- [185:51]
Seth Payne
So one of the ones that they do with. Let's see. It's. Well, he does it with anybody, but he does the. He does the. Come on, man.
- [185:59]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. With Bryce Matthews.
- [186:00]
Seth Payne
Oh, it's Bryce Matthews. They try to. They try to scare each other. Right. So they. So I'm guessing they do it like the Monday night Football. Come on, man.
- [186:07]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [186:08]
Seth Payne
I wonder if they told him the whole story about. Come on, man.
- [186:11]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. I don't know. Or show him the segment on, on, on, on TV when they do it.
- [186:15]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [186:15]
Sean Pendergast
Not that he'd understand the, the rest of it, but yeah, I, I, I was really encouraged by this article. I'm really encouraged by imai. This is still a starting rotation that I know Dana Brown used the word that it's stabilized. I think it, I think it's stabilized in so much as you know who most of the guys are in the rotation. It's within each guy. It's been very unstable. Like you don't know what you're going to get out of each of these guys.
- [186:38]
Seth Payne
And the going back to the off season, one of the things that the Astros told us that they were doing more of is they want to, they want to tap into the Asian market for players more. They want to be able to like, evaluate Asian players, better sign them. And like Imai the Kaiway. They bring in Kaiway tongue this year, but he's already been in MLB at least the first real big stretch was that this is the first time they've ever signed a pitcher out of the npl. So it's a big, like, it's a big step forwards for them if, if they're trying to really be better on and in that hemisphere.
- [187:13]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [187:13]
Seth Payne
And try to get players from Asia. If it works out with emi, maybe it's a, a good harbinger of things to come.
- [187:19]
Sean Pendergast
It would be great, man. That, that would be because I, that's what got me concerned about the first, whatever it was, four or five starts of the season he had before he went on the IL was like, ah, this they're never going to dip into the Asian market ever again after this. Like, it's such a, this is such a disaster.
- [187:36]
Seth Payne
Right. It would be. Well, and one of the reasons it feels good as an Astros fan is because, look, that's the edge. One of the big edges that the Astros had in the Luno years was that they were, they had a different strategy and approach to the Latin American prospects, and it worked like they were willing to sign pitchers when they were over the hill at the age of 19.
- [187:58]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [187:59]
Seth Payne
Stupid. I mean, it's stupid that that's how they used to handle it. Yeah. But then like, but then they got it. Then they up the ante by becoming really aggressive with Cuban baseball players. And a lot of major league clubs were kind of tentative about just how to evaluate Cuban players because of the differences in the league and everything. And the Astros went full bore into it, and they did a really good job with it. But those were both under the supervision of Jeff Luno and Brent Strom to a degree.
- [188:27]
Sean Pendergast
Yep. So that's where.
- [188:29]
Seth Payne
Okay. All right. I like that you're exploring avenues where. Feel like you feel like maybe you can get an edge over other. Other MLB teams.
- [188:36]
Sean Pendergast
Absolutely. And I. And Dana Brown needs to win this one. Like D. Dana Brown needs EMI to continue on this trend. The rest of the. He is for a general manager who needs some W's. He needs. He needs this one. Like, it's because he. He brought in all these pitchers in the off season, but this was by far. Imai's probably making more than the other guys he brought in or making combined.
- [188:56]
Seth Payne
Right.
- [188:57]
Sean Pendergast
You know?
- [188:57]
Seth Payne
Yeah. This was all. And he so far, like, still shows by virtue of his undefinable slider that just defies logic and anything anybody else has ever seen. Yep. He's. He's the most exciting of the additions. When you talk about his ceiling and what you can see when it's working.
- [189:14]
Sean Pendergast
No question. No question. You're listening to Kilt AM, KLT FM, HD2, Houston An Odyssey Sports Station Crosstalk brought to you by DNM Auto Leasing. Hi, guys. How are you? I am great.
- [189:25]
Seth Payne
How are you? Ecstatic.
- [189:26]
Sean Pendergast
Are you ecstatic? Dude, the energy that I was able to be a part of last night when it came to Mexico playing, where'd you go? Did you go down to Ito? Yeah, I went to Ito, went to Shell Energy Stadium, where the Dynamos soccer celebration was going on in. Buddy. I just thought I was at a soccer man. Like, I thought I was actively. They were going to get out here and play. Mexico was going to play on the field down there. That's the way that the energy was in that building. Yeah. To watch it on the big screens. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was it? It was. It was Mexico versus Ecuador. Yes, sir. Was the whole place green? It was 97% green. 97. Yes. And I say 97% because the 3% of Ecuadorians that were in the building, there was a small subsection of them that was loud and buddy, the Mexicans turned on them very, very quickly. That was a very fun spirit of the World Cup. It was very fun to experience. Like, hey, buddy, you are outnumbered and you are like Jon Snow against the hordes. Oh, yeah.
- [190:18]
Seth Payne
And it was. It was.
- [190:19]
Sean Pendergast
It was very fun to watch the bastards. It was very, very fun to watch that particular.
- [190:24]
Seth Payne
That particular.
- [190:25]
Sean Pendergast
I don't know, like, Relationship happened as well. There was another thing that happened that John gave me crap about, but I'll save that for later. Okay.
- [190:32]
Seth Payne
Yep.
- [190:33]
Sean Pendergast
By later, do we mean five seconds from now when John actually.
- [190:36]
Seth Payne
Well, you can give him a little hint.
- [190:37]
Sean Pendergast
All right. So I was sitting next to a particular group of young Mexican fans. Yeah. Because I just need to find a seat. And I was like, this one open? They're like, yeah, cool. I popped up right in front of me. The row in front of me, there were three. Three, yes. Three young women who were supporting Ecuador. Okay. And the dude next to me, to me, was cooking. I mean, like, he was doing the perfect amount of flirting in this circumstance, which was kind of poking at her, but not too much to, like, make her mad enough to, like, have conversation and banter. That's a smart move. And I was like, this dude is cooking. Of course, John Lopez immediately just like, what. What are you doing?
- [191:09]
Seth Payne
No, I said, and you are a bystander. Yeah.
- [191:12]
Sean Pendergast
Oh, he should have some of that action. What is your problem here? She could.
- [191:16]
Seth Payne
Reginald was researching the history of. To make sure that he approached her respectfully and didn't insult her culture or anything. He was getting the advanced numbers, advanced analytics. What you mean on flirting with someone from an opposing team and sitting there,
- [191:33]
Sean Pendergast
like, tickling her and making fun of her team. And Reggie's on chat GPT and he's
- [191:37]
Seth Payne
texting me, hey, you should see what's happening.
- [191:39]
Sean Pendergast
I was like, you're there.
- [191:40]
Seth Payne
You're right there.
- [191:41]
Sean Pendergast
Okay, that's gotta side with Lopez. Standing right side with Judge Johnson.
- [191:48]
Seth Payne
That's right. Which is today, by the way.
- [191:50]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, yeah. Good, good, good, good deal. So along those lines, what is the question of the day?
- [191:56]
Seth Payne
Oh, yeah.
- [191:57]
Sean Pendergast
So inspired actually by the Reggie and Ron radio thon coming up on Friday, what's your most memorable brush with celebrity? Okay. And not necessarily like, oh, radio row.
- [192:07]
Seth Payne
Like an actual.
- [192:08]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, like, that's almost cheating for us people in our business because we run into a lot of famous people.
- [192:13]
Seth Payne
What's your name? Non sports. Like, like an actual exchange.
- [192:17]
Sean Pendergast
My funniest one was this. Again, you got to be a wrestling fan to. This is a pretty famous wrestler back in the day, back in the 80s and 90s. Hillbilly Jim. Oh, I remember the name. Yeah. Hillbilly Jim. He was a. He was a guy. His character was a hillbilly, basically. And he. And he was pretty famous. And he. He ultimately was with the company for so long, they just transitioned him into like. Like a front office role. Like, at that time, he Was in charge of distributing the VHS tapes to all the video stores. This is like the mid-90s. I ended up sitting next to Hillbilly Jim on a plane for like two and a half hours. And for me, that was a huge nerd moment. For me, I'm like, I'm getting a lot of behind the scenes scoop. This is before the Internet. This is in like 1995. Okay. Before the dirt sheets were all on the Internet giving you all the dirt. And so that was. That was mine. That only wrestling fans would appreciate. But I like the ones, like, since I got into radio, it's hard to think of ones that didn't involve me actually being in radio.
- [193:15]
Seth Payne
You know what, though? Okay. So, okay, I'll cheat. It's a non celebrity or it's a non sports celebrity. But it happened on Radio row was when we interviewed Jennifer Garner. And at the time she was married to Ben Affleck. I almost said Ben Stiller married to Ben Affleck. And he was about to be in Batman, you know, and we were supposed to be talking to her about the draft day.
- [193:41]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [193:42]
Seth Payne
And we were, but we asked a couple of questions about Ben Stiller and playing Batman, where she got like out of nowhere. And I didn't expect at all. Almost. She seemed almost agitated. They were asking about Ben Stiller as if, like, that was taking the line, like, spotlight from her. Then lo and behold, if memory serves, and we know that that's a dodgy proposition. It wasn't too long after that that reports started to emerge that their marriage might not be so awesome. Yeah. I think, like, she might have been genuinely. It wasn't like a diva type thing or anything. There's a chance that we were like, rubbing a raw nerve. Yeah. That she had just. Yeah, like she. She'd headed up to there with Ben App.
- [194:23]
Sean Pendergast
Like, it's funny. Seth brings that up and Tyler Milner texts me at literally the exact same time that you interviewing Jennifer Garner reminded me of my. Probably one of my more disturbing brushes with fame, which is at that same. That same Super Bowl. Radio Row. We interviewed Kevin Costner on our show for. For Draft Day. And the reason it was so disturbing is because you had me. You know, we have a long table there where I'm sitting on one side of the long edge there. There Rich Lord sitting on the other. This is before it was a triple threat. It was just me and Rich. No Ted Johnson yet. And Kevin Costner sitting at the end of the table. Like in the king's chair. Right.
- [195:02]
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah.
- [195:02]
Sean Pendergast
Where we all the interviewees sit there, and Rich is asking some question to him. It's kind of a long winded question. Long enough for my phone to ring. Oh, no. And Kevin. And my phone is sitting in front of me, and Kevin Costner. Kevin Costner picks up my phone, looks at it, and I kind of grab it out of his hand, like, yeah. Well, I'm kind of mouthing it to him, like, hey, that's my phone. You know, that wasn't mad at him or anything, but I'm just like, kind of clarifying, like, you shouldn't be picking up this phone.
- [195:30]
Seth Payne
Sure. He.
- [195:31]
Sean Pendergast
Instead of handing my phone back to me and saying, okay, cool. He looks me square in the eye and with the. The hand that's not holding my phone, reaches out and twists hard on my left nipple. Kevin Costner. I like that you remember which side? And he just chuckles. Well, I can remember vividly where he
- [195:49]
Seth Payne
was sitting on the pain. I'm like, embarrassing. Yeah, yeah.
- [195:55]
Sean Pendergast
Did I just get to second base with Kevin? That's right. Yeah.
- [195:59]
Seth Payne
Well, based on allegations from a massage therapist. Yeah, that's. It hurt. Yeah. It made me feel like. Oh, yeah. That massage therapist, definitely. Yeah. I don't know if you remember that. I don't.
- [196:12]
Sean Pendergast
I don't.
- [196:12]
Seth Payne
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [196:13]
Sean Pendergast
Okay, so he was reliving something.
- [196:15]
Seth Payne
He was. That's his deal. Real, apparently. Okay.
- [196:17]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. Well, he. And you reminded him of that massage. No, I didn't. No.
- [196:20]
Seth Payne
No, I didn't.
- [196:21]
Sean Pendergast
But he. But he. We interviewed him a year later when he was coming to town with his band. I hope you asked him his man. No, we did.
- [196:27]
Seth Payne
We.
- [196:28]
Sean Pendergast
So he's in town. I'll make this quick. He's in town with his ba. This is at the low point for Kevin Costner. This is in between Draft Day and Yellowstone.
- [196:36]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [196:36]
Sean Pendergast
Where he kind of fell off the grid for a while. So he went on the road with his band. I remember that he had. He was the lead singer of this band, and they were playing at the. The Smart Financial Center. The one is that the one down in Stafford holds like 4,000 people. So the person promoting that concert the day of the concert calls our producer, who I think was. It might have been Matt Hammond at the time, I don't remember, and said, hey, do you guys. Do the guys want Kevin Costner on the show today? And Matt, the producer, whoever it was, gets in my ear and says, do you want Kevin Costner on the show today? I'm like, what are you talking about? And they're like, yeah, he's got a band, and he's playing the. This. I'm like, oh, yeah, I want that bastard on the show today. We got some things to clear out. And so we did. We had him on the show. And during the interview. So we're asking him questions about his band, whatever, you know, probably a Field of Dreams question. And Rich hits. Rich, tells me and Ted to all hit mute while Kevin Costner's talking. And Rich, like, you got to bring up the nipple twist. I'm like, oh, don't worry. And so I brought it up with him. I said, hey, Kevin, do you remember doing all those interviews for Draft Day on radio in New York a few years ago? He said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Said, do you remember doing an interview with a station in Houston where the. The host's phone rang, and the host tried to take back the phone, and your response was to twist his left nipple? He goes, oh, this is you guys. And then he invited us to the concert.
- [197:55]
Seth Payne
There you go.
- [197:56]
Sean Pendergast
He said, are you guys coming to the concert? And I didn't have the heart to tell him I had no idea this concert existed until 10 minutes ago. That doesn't answer question Sean. So we said no. I said, no. I had plans to, but said, no, look, you guys and your wives or girlfriends, whatever, you're gonna. I'm gonna get your names, I'm gonna put you on the list, and I'm gonna tell your producer what song will be playing when you need to go down to security to get backstage so we can hang out.
- [198:22]
Seth Payne
Wow. Yeah.
- [198:23]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. So we did. We did. And he gave us a huge group hug. Me, Rich, and Ted, when he came from, we were waiting for him offstage.
- [198:31]
Seth Payne
Yeah.
- [198:31]
Sean Pendergast
And he comes down and he's dapping his few people up, and he's got the towel around his neck like he's Springsteen. That's right. And. And he kind of. He's kind of just dapping. He gets to us, and we're like, hey, Kev. He's like, yeah. He goes, the radio guys. He's like, oh, my God.
- [198:44]
Seth Payne
But where are the radio.
- [198:45]
Sean Pendergast
We're the radio guys. And he grabs the three of us in this big group hug, and he goes, I can't. I felt so sad after this. He goes, I can't believe you guys didn't punk out.
- [198:54]
Seth Payne
And I'm like, have you had people
- [198:56]
Sean Pendergast
punking out on you? Is that the stage of your career you're at right now?
- [198:59]
Seth Payne
You know, you gotta remember, you said, you know, you pointed out that, like, on a low Point between Draft Day and Yellowstone.
- [199:05]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [199:05]
Seth Payne
It's not like Draft Day was well received.
- [199:07]
Sean Pendergast
No.
- [199:07]
Seth Payne
And it was the first two decades of this century. He really.
- [199:11]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah.
- [199:12]
Seth Payne
He was looked at as like, what the hell happened to Kevin Cosby?
- [199:14]
Sean Pendergast
Yellowstone was his.
- [199:15]
Seth Payne
He's just doing bad project after bad project after bad project.
- [199:18]
Sean Pendergast
Like a band. Yeah.
- [199:22]
Seth Payne
Yes.
- [199:23]
Sean Pendergast
So anyways, that's probably my most noteworthy brush with fame. But you've got a of lot, lot of them.
- [199:28]
Seth Payne
You got a lot of stories.
- [199:30]
Sean Pendergast
And so I feel like the reason why I wanted to bring this up is there's an opportunity to bid on an auction where you can have lunch with. With Sean and Seth come Friday with the radio thon. That benefits the Houston Food bank. And you can get those stories and more. Or maybe, maybe, just maybe you can get Sean to twist your left. You get. I'll do that. I'll do that. It'll cost more.
- [199:48]
Seth Payne
Oh, really?
- [199:49]
Sean Pendergast
Be an extra add on. Yeah, you're gonna have to bid a th.
- [199:51]
Seth Payne
Does that also go to the food bank?
- [199:53]
Sean Pendergast
It'll go to the food bank, but you're gonna have to pay more.
- [199:55]
Seth Payne
I didn't know if that was a
- [199:56]
Sean Pendergast
personal policy for you where it's like, hey, it's cost if you want to. Do
- [200:01]
Seth Payne
we really deliver too? I think both the parties that we had dinners with had a really good time last year. At one point, Sean was telling a story and it was a funny story and we were all laughing at it. And one of the guys said, man, Seth, what a good co host. Because you've probably heard that story eight times and you're still laughing at it. And I said, well, I don't. I'm not entirely listening most of the time. So this is really like the first time I actually, I've actually listened to the story.
- [200:27]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah, we. And sometimes we even tell stories we can't tell on the radio. Oh, see, and that's. That's the brilliant stuff. So, yeah, 6A to 6P can't wait, man. We'll be doing that on Friday, myself and Ron. But Seth, you're already, you're already in to be with us during that time somewhere in there, right?
- [200:43]
Seth Payne
Yeah, whatever. You want me there?
- [200:44]
Sean Pendergast
For sure.
- [200:44]
Seth Payne
For sure.
- [200:45]
Sean Pendergast
And I'll be on there. I gotta, I gotta know what my cell phone situation is.
- [200:48]
Seth Payne
Yeah, that's the thing.
- [200:49]
Sean Pendergast
We're gonna. Amy and I going to be driving through eastern Oregon and Southern Washington at that time. Oh, wow. Are we gonna need to get you like a satellite phone?
- [200:56]
Seth Payne
I don't know, Star, get a little Starlink. Starlink. Yeah.
- [201:00]
Sean Pendergast
Okay.
- [201:00]
Seth Payne
You get the kind that you can put on your car.
- [201:02]
Sean Pendergast
Okay. You can just do it for one month. Oh, okay. Well, it's. It's a rental car. Maybe the. Maybe Alamo or whoever has them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I will be on as well at some point. Yeah, I can't wait. You guys. You guys do great stuff with that, man. Thanks, man. And we. We can't do what they. Without the support of everybody at Sports Rail. 610. It's gonna be a good day.
- [201:18]
Seth Payne
All right.
- [201:19]
Sean Pendergast
We are done. We. We are out of time. Crosstalk brought to you by DNM Auto Leasing. Seth. Antibodies to you, my friend.
- [201:26]
Seth Payne
Antibodies to you. And I'm still disappointed that you didn't tell Kevin Costner that the real disappointment was that he neglected the other nipple.
- [201:35]
Sean Pendergast
Yeah. What a tease. All right, we're done.
- [201:41]
Seth Payne
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- [202:13]
Sean Pendergast
just what's inside your home that matters.
- [202:15]
Seth Payne
It's who you share it with. That's why. That's why we work even harder to protect it. Visit ameca.com and get a quote today.
- [202:25]
Sean Pendergast
I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey, and we have the podcast Office Ladies. Every Wednesday, we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories and lots of laughs. Follow and listen to Office Ladies on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. Heat up your Fourth of July at the Home Depot with our wide variety of grills under $300. And make every gathering one to REM. Remember, give your outdoor space a glow up, whatever your budget is, with savings on seasonal plants starting at $5. With the grill fired up and your backyard set to perfection, you'll be able to invite friends and family over to kick off the party.
- [203:03]
Seth Payne
Start celebrating.
- [203:04]
Sean Pendergast
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