HOUR 1 - Janice McNair Passes Away + Will Astros Break Their "Rule" Over Yordan? + Headlines

Summary

Payne & Pendergast – Hour 1 (July 15, 2026) Episode Summary

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Overview

This episode opens with the somber news of Janice McNair’s passing and pivots into analysis of the Houston Astros’ current state—specifically, Yordan Alvarez’s future and whether the team will break tradition to retain his services. Hosts Seth Payne and guest host Luke Morrow also share lighthearted banter, cover sports headlines, and discuss Houston’s major teams with their signature mix of insider stories and candid opinions.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Remembering Janice McNair (Starts at 03:26)

• Personal Reflections:
  • Seth Payne recounts his experience with Janice McNair, highlighting her role as a "team mom" deeply invested in the well-being of players and the Houston community.

    "Just a very tender-hearted lady...like she cared about the players and she very much cared about the philanthropy and giving back to the city of Houston." — Seth Payne [03:26]

  • Both hosts highlight the McNairs' humility despite their wealth, referencing stories of down-to-earth public encounters.
• Community Impact:
  • The McNair family’s civic obligation and philanthropic focus are repeatedly emphasized.
  • Payne stresses how genuine the family’s commitment to Houston has been since day one.
• Social Media Consistency:
  • Luke Morrow notes that Janice’s universally positive reputation stands out—nobody, even on social media, had anything bad to say.

2. MLB All-Star Game: Astros’ Lone Representation (Starts at 06:54)

• Astros’ Sole All-Star:

  • Yordan Alvarez was the only Houston representative, going 1-for-2; this is the fewest Astros All-Stars in over a decade.
  • The AL won 4-0 “despite a historically bad season,” prompting musings on parity and the league’s talent pool.

    "I get stuck, man...I'm happy that we still can talk about the Astros as a playoff contender right this moment, yet at the same time...it's only because the AL is so weak..." — Seth Payne [08:15]

• Yordan’s Boo from Phillies Fans:

  • A light discussion about the half-hearted boos Alvarez received during lineup intros, referencing his game-changing 2022 World Series home run against Philly.
  • Memorable play-by-play calls are relived, and Payne dubs it one of the “all-time great moments of the golden era” for Houston [11:19].

  “That was one of the all-time great moments and calls in a World Series...That was a really, really good moment.” — Seth Payne [11:16]

• All-Star Game Changes & Nostalgia Segment:

  • Both criticize the loss of tangible reward for winning the game (“no home field, no nothing. Just bragging rights”).
  • Morrow riffs on a clumsy, drawn-out on-field ceremony involving kids and players holding sparklers: it felt forced and awkward, with players barely masking their indifference. [15:41]

    “This thing was going on way too long.” — Luke Morrow [15:58]

3. Will Astros Break Their Contract 'Rule' for Yordan Alvarez? (Starts at 22:39; resumes intensely at 25:32)

• Current Situation:

  • Alvarez has two years left on his team-friendly deal (6 years, $115M), will be a free agent at age 32.
  • The Astros rarely extend players far into their 30s—the only recent exception is Altuve.
  • Morrow points out, “They let all these guys walk instead of paying them… [Bregman, Tucker, Springer, etc.] And there’s even obviously talks about Jeremy Pena right now.”

• Debate:

  • Both doubt Alvarez will get more than a 6-year extension from Houston.
  • Payne: Astros will stick to tradition (“as long as Jim Crane’s the owner”) and only pay top dollar to rare exceptions. A front-loaded, declining-value deal like Altuve’s could be possible.
  • They speculate Yordan’s temperament may make him more likely to strike a compromise—he signed an early extension once and seems not “wired” for maximum-dollar showdowns.

    "I don't think there's a chance in hell that he gets anything longer than a six-year contract." — Seth Payne [26:57]

  • Morrow: International players often accept “life-changing money” early for security versus chasing absolute top market value, unlike most American players.

    “Eight of the top 10 highest-paid players in Major League Baseball right now are Americans...these international players like Acuña, like Yordan, they take these team-friendly deals because like, yeah, $120 million, sure, where do I sign?” — Luke Morrow [35:04]

• Historical Significance:

  • Yordan has been “arguably the best hitter in baseball,” making his current contract “absurdly good” for Houston.
  • The conversation concludes that unless both sides are unusually motivated, Yordan is unlikely to become the franchise’s second exception to the “no mega contract” rule.

4. Quick Hits & Headlines (Starts at 37:49)

• Janice McNair Tributes: (Expanded segment)

  • Quotes from J.J. Watt, Justin Reid described McNair as “that motherly figure” and highlighted her importance to Houston’s NFL culture. [38:39]

    "You kind of look at Ms. McNair fondly, as if she was your own, like, grandmother...she always had a warmth about her, just to open, extending arms and always look out for a guy." — Justin Reid [38:39]

  • Praise for the McNairs’ focus on the community and how their brand of local ownership contrasts with detached venture capital groups elsewhere in sports.

• International Soccer Headlines:

  • Spain defeats France to advance to the World Cup final; Argentina and England set to play in the other semi.
  • Seth picks Argentina as the sentimental favorite over “the old colonial overlords.”

• Houston Rockets in Summer League:

  • Bruce Thornton continues to impress; Seth compares the optimism to early-surprise summer league breakouts.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Janice McNair’s character:

  “Just a very tender-hearted lady...She cared about the players and she very much cared about the philanthropy and giving back to the city of Houston.” — Seth Payne [03:26]

• On Houston sports ownership:

  “It's nice…there's still people like that who genuinely care about their community.” — Seth Payne [04:10]

• On Yordan’s reception in Philly:

  “That was a disappointing boo...it was disrespectful in how muted it was and that the cheers drowned out the boos very, very quickly.” — Seth Payne [10:57]

• On Astros’ All-Star representation:

  “If you only cared about the Astros, you could have tuned out by the fourth inning.” — Luke Morrow [06:54]

• Philosophizing on player contracts:

  “As long as Jim Crane’s the owner, I’d be astounded if the Astros ever break that policy of not giving out these mega-long contracts.” — Seth Payne [27:04]

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Segment Timestamps

• Janice McNair tributes & Houston sports philosophy: 03:26 – 06:54, 37:56 – 41:44
• MLB All-Star Game/Astros talk: 06:54 – 21:09
• Yordan Alvarez contract speculation: 22:39 (setup); in depth 25:32 – 35:46
• Headlines (World Cup, Rockets, Quick Hits): 37:49 – 46:53

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Tone & Language

• Conversation flows naturally—with a warm, nostalgic, and humorous undertone, particularly during personal recollections and banter about “awkward” All-Star Game moments.
• Hosts blend thoughtful analysis with comic relief (e.g., tangents about being buried alive, gripes about streaming platforms, ribbing about Philly fans, and “load management” in the NBA Summer League).

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Conclusion

This episode stands out for its heartfelt memorial to Janice McNair and a nuanced, realistic debate over Yordan Alvarez’s contract future—all wrapped in the personable, unfiltered style that defines Payne & Pendergast. Regular listeners—and Houston sports fans at large—are treated to both hard sports analysis and genuine slices of life from inside the city’s franchises.

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Next episode tease: Will the Texans’ current roster and culture actually have them one piece away from a Super Bowl? (Previewed at 46:53)

Transcript

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[Luke Morrow]

more of what you value.

[Seth Payne]

Comfort Inn. It's calling your name. Save on the stain. Oh, and free waffles are yours to claim.

[Luke Morrow]

Book [e-mail] Sports Radio 610 presents Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast.

[Seth Payne]

We coming to eighth time. Let's get the work in man.

[Rachel Braethen]

Let's go.

[Ad Read Announcer]

Great day.

[Seth Payne]

Great day. Oh, give me some juice. Slamming. Oh, yeah.

[Ad Read Announcer]

Yes, sir.

[Luke Morrow]

Good morning, Houston. Happy Wednesday, Payne and Pendergast. I'm Luke Morrow in for Sean alongside Seth Payne. You could join us over the course of the next four hours. 713-572-4610 on the text line or YouTube and Twitch chats as well where you can watch along. Happy to be back in the saddle for Sean as he recovers. Expected to be back tomorrow, but he

[Seth Payne]

just had a little bit of a hitch in his voice and we want to in an abundance of caution before the real work begins. We wanted to be sure that he got a little bit of a break. So I'm very happy to have you back, Luke. Between you and Chris Partee, you guys have been doing an admirable job filling in. So I appreciate it.

[Luke Morrow]

Oh, appreciate the kind words. Always good to be here. You know, after the radio thon, Reggie and Ron were both off that following Monday and I made the comment sort of tongue in cheek that it was a vocal maintenance day. Yeah. And somebody, I think they were joking around but somebody gave flak on the text line of. Did he just say vocal maintenance day? Well, I'll tell you what, sometimes it's needed. Shawn needed a couple vocal maintenance days and then he'll be good to go.

[Seth Payne]

Sometimes you got to go down to the two day IL because you have vocal cord discomfort. Exactly. Which by the way, that was the. While you were gone. One thing that did happen was that when Mike Burroughs was sent down to the il, they gave the most specificity I can ever remember in an injury report in recent years because they said it was a, was the elbow had something to do with the ulnar nerve or whatever. But they, they gave the actual term for it, which I said, you know, good for you, Astros. This is way more transparency than we usually get.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, much appreciated. And a vocal cord injury, by the way, sounds like the type of injury if any team were to have somebody on the Astros would somehow have a vocal cord injury.

[Seth Payne]

Oh yeah, they have vocal cord discomfort. And he'd be on the, He' be on the 10 Day I album and then all of a sudden you wouldn't see him again for the next three years.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, exactly. Sounds like the Astros.

[Seth Payne]

We'll hit this a couple times today, but I just want to be sure we touched on the beginning of the show. Most of you listening know that Janice McNair passed away yesterday. And we'll play some audio from former players and whatnot. But just from my own personal experience, everything that everybody has said about her is 100% true. At least in my experience is just, just, just, just a very tender hearted lady that from the very get go it felt like she was a team mom. You know, like she cared about the players and she very much cared about the philanthropy and given back to the city of Houston. And Bob and Janice McNair both from the time I came onto the team in 2002, there was a very strong message to the players about how important it was for that team to give back to the community. And that that was really the driving force to behind why the McNairs made a push to get a team in Houston. You know, Bob, Bob and Janice felt like with the departure of the Oilers, they could feel that, that void in the Houston landscape. And you know, obviously it's a great business venture, but they also felt like it was something important to do and they, there was a, there was a sense of civic obligation there and it was just, it's nice, it's that there's still people out there like that that genuinely care about their community. And I think the McNairs have continued that tradition for a long time and a lot of it, you know, most of it started with Janice McNair.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, certainly just thankful even the next, you know, the new generation of fans, thankful that they made it happen and brought the Texans here. But you know, I know obviously when someone passes away, usually, obviously everyone is always very kind and positive. I get that. But still, if someone's a jerk, people will be honest sometimes. Or at least on social media, right? People can be jerks and say terrible things. And I'll say, like, I have not seen a single bad thing mentioned about Janice McNair from on Reddit, on, you know, social media from people talking. Just everyone seemed to, certainly she seemed to be beloved by people that knew her personally or fans on the outside. And so unfortunate news to get yesterday of her passing, especially with the anniversary season coming up.

[Seth Payne]

Well, you know, the first time I ever ran into the McNairs in nature, like outside of a football event or something, my, my wife and I and Chris Brown, the kicker and his wife and I want to say it was Mark Bruno. No, Mark Bruner wasn't there yet, but we were at Maggiano's in The Galleria and Mr. And Mrs. Mrs. McNair were there just, you know, you know, as billionaires tend to do, just have a nice dinner at Maggiano's. Like it's not, yeah, like it's a nice place and everything, but it's not, you know, five star white day. It's. And I just went over to say hello to him and that was like my first, that was the first time I realized how down to earth they were and that, you know, if you look into how Bob McNair made his fortune, they, he's a self made man. And they never had the heirs of anybody, you know, people who weren't anything other than just he was like any business person, you know, except that he happened to do fantastically well. But they were just really, really down to earth people. And I don't think that she ever lost, lost touch with that part of just being a normal human being and operated just with a sense of obligation. So really just a genuinely sweet and good and tender person. And yeah, I've never heard a single bad thing ever about Janice McNair.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, and it's something I said last week too, even about Cal, now that I told the story of a couple weeks back being at a Starbucks. He just pulled up in like a regular truck, came in normal dress guy grabbed his coffee. Like they just, the whole family has seemed to be just regular down to Earth people despite, you know, the fortunes that they have in the NFL franchise and whatnot. So that's always cool to see. And certainly our condolences go out to the entire McNel McNair family and Texans organization after the sad news of Janice's passing yesterday. Well, as Seth mentioned, we'll, we'll continue to circle back to that throughout the morning. We have audio to get to, but let's make the awkward transition to the All Star Game last night for Major League Baseball, where the American League got the win. 4 nothing, first shutout in 13 years. Jordan 1 for 2. The lone Astros represented. If you're an Astros fan, you watch Jordan get a hit in his first at bat. He goes one for two, checks out of the game. And if you only cared about the Astros, you could have tuned out by like the fourth inning because that was it. Fewest All Stars for the Astros in over a decade. But Jordan got the. The base hit in the first inning. AL won four to nothing. I find it funny for as bad as the American League is this year, historically bad, they still shut out the NL last night for nothing and have now won 11 out of 13 all star games. So I don't know, at least maybe at the top of the al, maybe it's not as bad as it seems.

[Seth Payne]

It's a. I don't know. Yeah, the Players association would have you believe that. Look, ever. There's way more parity than people think there is. And like in any given year that there's a lot of teams that are lower payroll that are doing just fine, at least in the regular season. And yeah, maybe, maybe the, the parody from league to league, at least when it comes to just having individual players and everything that, that can swing at any point, I don't, I get stuck, man. I guess I'm, I'm happy that we still can talk about the Astros as a playoff contender right this moment. Yet at the same time, I just, I, it, it feels muted because it's only because the AL is so weak and like, yes, star players aside and performance of guys like Jordan and whatnot, it's just, it's a, it's a miserable state of affairs in the al. But good job on the All Star Game.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

What do we win? What do we win now because of the. What's the spoil now for winning the All Star Game?

[Luke Morrow]

Bragging rights for a year.

[Seth Payne]

Okay.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, that's it. No home field advantage.

[Ad Read Announcer]

Zero.

[Seth Payne]

There's zero. Any. I knew the home field advantage wasn't there, but the zero. Anything yeah. You don't, like, get a weighted coin toss or something if it comes down to a penalty kick?

[Luke Morrow]

I don't think so. I think that's what they should do.

[Seth Payne]

They should decide it in penalty kicks. That's what we should do.

[Luke Morrow]

Well, I think they did the swing off. Was that last year? Because the game was, like, tied instead of going extra innings. Right. I don't. I don't really care for that.

[Seth Payne]

No, I want playoff games, actual playoff games to be decided by penalty.

[Luke Morrow]

Oh, wow. That would be something.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Bring a. Bring a goal out there and have at it.

[Luke Morrow]

I think because of the win last night, American League executives get to go first in the buffet line at the winter meetings. I think that's what. That's what they won last night. So, Yordon, look, the Yankees, of course, we've been. We've been having fun piling on the Yankees lately because of how bad they've been playing. But then those damn Yankees, last night, two of their. The Yankees drove in the three runs in the first inning. I was like, oh, man, I have to be thankful for the Yankees because I still root for the American League. I still root, you know, for our league in the All Star Game. But Yordon did start the rally with his single. However, go back to the introductions. Jordan, when he was introduced, the Philly fans, they booed. The Dodger players, they booed, of course, players from the NL east, they booed Yankees. So good job. They booed Justin Verlander and they also booed Jordan. Here's how it sounded when Jordan took the field last night, batting second from the Houston Astros, the designated hitter, Jordan Alvarez.

[Seth Payne]

You know, when I went, I hadn't seen the intro originally, and I saw the tweets about it and everything. That was kind of a disappointing boo.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, it wasn't that bad.

[Seth Payne]

I felt like it was disrespectful and how muted it was and that the cheers drowned out the boos very, very quickly. We'll all recall exactly why Phillies fans might feel a certain type of way of Yordon. And it all came courtesy of this little thing that he did in Game 6 of the World Series.

[Luke Morrow]

A 2:1 Alvarez. It's a high drive, center field.

[Seth Payne]

Veer leans back. This game is turned upside down. Yeah, this game has been turned upside down. That was. That's a. That was one of the all time great moments and calls in a World Series. That was a really, really good moment. Now, that was at Minute Maid park over the batter's eye. So Phillies fans didn't have to experience it necessarily firsthand. Well, there were a lot of. That was. I can't remember if game six, one of those games was played while the Texans were playing the Eagles on Thursday Night Football, if I recall properly. But yeah, I mean, there were a lot of Phillies fans there, but it wasn't. That was. That was. That was one of the all time great moments of the golden era.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. And I do. I'm not a big Joe Davis guy, but I do. That is a really good call. That game, by the way, was on a Saturday, that World Series game, as I look it up here.

[Seth Payne]

Okay, so that wasn't it. Yeah, that wasn't that one.

[Rachel Braethen]

Okay.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. So must have been earlier in the series. But.

[Seth Payne]

But no, that game, Luke, it was weird. It was because the. There were. There were just. You'd go during the football game, the seats were like half empty. Everybody was up in the club levels or on the concourses watching the TVs, watching the, watching the World Series game.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, I could imagine. It's like, oh, what happened? Oh, that was. Oh, I know it was. Yes. San Diego fans were given a hard time going back a couple years when San Diego State made a run to the Final Four, like surprisingly three years ago. And San Diego fans were given a hard time because they were. They all went to like a Padres, you know, like early baseball, Padres game. And we're watching the Final four game like on the video board at the Padres game.

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Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

And people already give San Diego sports fans a hard time of not being real sports fans. So that was a story I remember a couple years ago. But that's pretty cool. If you could go to like an NFL game and watch the World Series while at the stadium. That's a. That's a pretty sweet, you know, quasi doubleheader there.

[Seth Payne]

It was. You know what, it was interesting. I remember doing the pregame show for that. And it was, you know, because the Eagles that year, or, excuse me, the Phillies that year, it had just kind of been all of a sudden a surprise out of nowhere to Phillies fans. And it seemed like people were way more invest in the Eagles. And they were like, obviously those are people who had traveled to Houston to go to a football game. But they weren't nearly as it wasn't, I expect. You know what, Honestly, because it was Phillies fans or Philadelphians, I thought that there would be more vitriol, but there wasn't. Usually I get way more. The worst treatment I get from fans in the pregame show is from Colts fans. And that's why One of the reasons I despise Colts fans so much, they're just rude. Just unsophisticated, low rent individuals in general.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Not to generalize.

[Luke Morrow]

Right, of course.

[Seth Payne]

All of them. Every single one of them.

[Luke Morrow]

That's.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

Take that, Peyton Manning. That's actually a segue. You know the idea. NFL's king. Right. So I wouldn't be surprised that there's more people interested in the Eagles than even the Phillies in the World Series. Which takes me to that. We can use that as the segue because I don't know how locked in to the All Star game you were last night, Seth. I kind of just had it on in the background.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

It's not the same as it you. I used to love the baseball All Star game going back like 20 years ago. It doesn't feel the same now, but I still enjoy at least having it on. Checking in and they did this weird nostalgic baseball ad, like in the sixth inning in between innings, where it was the final commercial of the commercial break. And we've seen, like, the NFL or Major League Baseball, they do this where it starts as a commercial and then it turns into, like, live people at the stadium. And so it started like a sandlot commercial. Kids were riding their bikes and they were going door to door to get their friends to go play a baseball game. And they were all in old baseball uniforms. And then eventually those kids made their way onto the field and it was like this nostalgic, like, hey, baseball's America's pastime. It started off kind of cool, but, like, in the group text with my buddies, I wasn't alone in this. That we were all saying, like, this is kind of weird. It really lingered way too long. The players, the kids came on the field to stand with different players. Jordan, they showed him, like, trying to talk to one of the kids. Mike Trout is trying to give another kid batting tips. The players are holding sparklers on, like, the baseline.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

Fireworks are shooting off for what felt like 10 minutes.

[Seth Payne]

I didn't see this.

[Luke Morrow]

Oh, my gosh, Ray Charles.

[Seth Payne]

So did it look like it did? It looks staged to look so. It looked like Trout was, like, trying to give batting tips, but it was. Somebody had told them to do that. He's gonna stand here and then you're gonna give batting tips and we'll zoom to you.

[Luke Morrow]

Or he's just trying to make the most out of the situation because they're just standing there. Like, you just have this kid standing next to Trout and the fireworks are going off for like, 10 minutes. This thing was going on way too long.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

So they. All the players, obviously, they're trying to be nice guys. There's these kids here, so they're trying to talk to them and, like, pass the time, but it just seemed like the players weren't really interested. Also, I'm sure you've been in these scenarios many times, Seth, where it feels like someone's just lingering and you have to, like. You feel like you have to draw out the conversation, but it's like there's nothing really to be said here, and they're just standing there still instead of walking away.

[Seth Payne]

What's one of my biggest fears in life is that I'm gonna somehow end up as an extra on a Hollywood movie set, and they're just gonna tell me, now you two just engage in conversation in the background and. And you're like, crap, what the hell do I talk about with this person? To make it look like I'm. Like, I'm having a conversation. Yeah. So that's. That's one of my top three fears in life. The other one is being having to stand on the stage of Saturday Night Live at the very end, when you're just standing there after the host says goodbye, and everybody just kind of mingles or dances or whatever. And then the third one is being buried alive. Those are my three biggest fears.

[Luke Morrow]

Buried Alive. Those are good fears. Buried Alive was big in the 90s, by the way. They did all those films. I think they were made for tv, but my brothers and I always used to watch them. Movies called Bury Alive, Buried Alive one, Buried Alive two, Buried Alive three. And there was a good actor, I think it might have been. Gary Cole was, like, the main character, and he kept getting buried alive. And, yes, that was, like, my biggest fear as a kid growing up. That and Sixth Sense. Where in Sixth Sense. Sorry, my parents probably listening to this at some point on the podcast or whatnot. But. Seth, have you ever saw Sixth Sense? The mother poisons her son and it's caught on camera.

[Seth Payne]

I don't remember that part.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Commercial Announcer]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

There's a camera set up in his bedroom. I forget why. I think he was playing around. And then he jumps into bed and the camera's still running, and it shows the mom coming over, coming in and, like, bringing him soup. And then she puts it over on the dresser with her back to the sun, but she's right in front of the camera. She doesn't realize it. And she pours, like, something into the soup. And so I had a wonderful Mother. I really had no reason to have any fear. But after watching that movie when I was, like, nine years old, I thought, oh, man, I'm gonna get poisoned. And every time I would drink from, like, a water bottle at soccer practice, that felt like the soap residue was still in there.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

Oh, this is it for me. I'm sorry.

[Seth Payne]

It happens.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. All the fake stories about what happens on Halloween. The big. The actual. The movie in the 90s about getting buried alive that had an A. Lister in it was the Vanishing. That was with Jeff Bridges.

[Luke Morrow]

Wow.

[Seth Payne]

If I remember correctly, Jeff Bridges plays the creep. And I might be off on that. He's either the hero or the villain in that. No, he's the. He's the villain. In Kiefer Sutherland was the husband whose wife is abducted by Jeff Bridges.

[Luke Morrow]

Huh.

[Seth Payne]

I think Sandra Bullock's in it.

[Luke Morrow]

Wow.

[Seth Payne]

And that was the one that. Yeah, that creeped me out. And they never really go into the detail about the whole thing. Everything that would happen when you're buried alive, which is mostly the defecation. You know, that part. That part that might freak me out more than the actual claustrophobia really is just having to sit there in your own filth while you're doing all that.

[Commercial Announcer]

That's.

[Luke Morrow]

That's what you're more afraid of. Instead of, like, suffocating or running out of air, you're like, oh, man, I gotta pee my pants now.

[Seth Payne]

That's why I carry a cyanide ampoule around my neck that I can always bite into. If things ever get real, I can just go ahead and take care of it.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. Yeah. You know, we've been working together now a couple years, but I never felt comfortable to ask you why you walked

[Seth Payne]

around with a cyanide. Hey, Seth, why do you have a cyanide ampoule?

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, I tried to ask.

[Seth Payne]

Shockingly high rate of people getting buried alive, Luke.

[Luke Morrow]

Exactly. By the way, speaking of, you know, like, soiling yourself, somebody on the text line, and you could text us all. Morning, 713-572-4-610. As we're off and running, somebody said, seth, I took your idea from last week and I started wearing a diaper. They said, a week later, I took it off, and it was filled with Philadelphia sports fans.

[Seth Payne]

So a week later, you took it off. That's not how it's. That's not its recommended use. You got to follow the instructions, Damn it. Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Philly fans are trash.

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The.

[Seth Payne]

Now, the one fun part about Justin Verlander getting booed was that both he and his wife had just been giving the bird to anybody and Everybody during that 2022 World Series. And that was all in fun. So Verlander getting booed was a little bit more of a like, probably lighthearted and fun in nature.

[Luke Morrow]

And tough week for Philly fans. You had Kyle Schwaber come up short in the Home Run Derby. You had last night where their starter, their pitcher Sanchez was on the mound, gave up the three runs in the first inning in front of the home crowd and having to deal with guys like Yordon and Verlander. So tough, tough couple of nights there in Philadelphia for the baseball sports fans. Not that. Not that we mind Baseball Talk On Sports Radio 610 is presented by Xfinity Score, the most reliable Wi Fi 1 price 5 years guaranteed Xfinity. Imagine that. The Baseball Talk continues because when we come back, I was thinking about this as I was watching him be the lone Astros representative last night. Will Yordon make the Astros break their rules? We'll talk about that next Payne and Pendergast Life can feel overwhelming, but on

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[Rachel Braethen]

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[Luke Morrow]

will Yordon make the Astros break their rules? We'll talk about that here on Payne and Pendergast. I'm Luke Morrow in for Sean alongside Seth Payne had the All Star game last night. Baseball gets back underway fully on Friday, including the Astros. So we're in a bit of a lull here the next couple of days without the Astros. Really without much to watch on tv. That's the biggest thing. I might watch, that Buried Alive movie you reference, Seth, coming up tonight.

[Seth Payne]

Vanishing.

[Luke Morrow]

Vanishing. Yeah, it sounds good.

[Seth Payne]

Vanished. No, they're vanishing also. Well, and you know what? There's two things that have sustained me from the NFL side of things. The NFL top 100, which I despise, and the ESPN top 10 position rankings, which actually I feel like they have a lot more validity, but there's a flaw to that, too. But then also Netflix's series quarterback. Oh, yes, dropped yesterday. And I don't, I don't, I don't like when things get dropped all at once. The entire series is out there because all of a sudden it feels like a chore. But I watched a few little snippets of it and it looks like it's pretty good this year.

[Luke Morrow]

We'll get into some of that audio in a little bit. By the way, to your point, Netflix has found that their viewership from season one to season two drops off like 45%.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

And a lot of people are saying, yeah, cuz it takes you now. People watch these shows in one weekend and then you have to wait like another two years for the next season to be produced. As opposed to old school tv. You had one episode a week, it carried you for eight months. Then they came back after the summer.

[Seth Payne]

So anyway, so unless, unless it's something that people really love, they just kind of forget about it and put it on a shelf. And then when the next season comes out, it's, it's just too far gone.

[Luke Morrow]

Right? Exactly. You lost the moment. People were into that show two years ago.

[Seth Payne]

You know, you know what, real quick, it happened to me yesterday for the first time was on Netflix. I was watching some Seinfelds and as you know, I despise the stand up portion of Seinfelds, but I still love the show and like it. When it went to the next episode, a little prompt came up and said, are you still watching? And I felt like, don't try to take data on me, Netflix. As if they're not already taking a bunch of data, like they're trying to figure out which shows people are Actually watching or whether it's rather like it's. They're gonna act like it's for my welfare. You know, when they're just trying to figure out. Exactly. Wait a second. Like, which of these shows are people actually watching versus they just let it go and they forgot about it and ran off. If that's what. I need to go to sleep. You. Damn it. You. You just leave it on there.

[Luke Morrow]

I hate that reminder. That's true. I know. Then it'll wake you up in the middle of the night when the TV stops playing. I hate that reminder. And I hate the apple watch telling you to stand up once an hour. I hate.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, you get. Oh, I don't have an apple watch

[Luke Morrow]

if I don't stand. If I'm being lazy, I guess.

[Seth Payne]

Guilt trips. Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

I'm. Watch football game on the couch and tells you you got to stand up, walk around a little bit. That's the.

[Seth Payne]

I'm supposed to claim you're in the flow state. I'm doing deep work here.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And you're interrupting me. You're interrupting my flow state.

[Luke Morrow]

Exactly. Buzz off. Will Yordon make the Astros break their rules? So I was thinking about this, as he was the lone representative last night for the Astros in the All Star Game, and as I said earlier, first time the Astros had just one All Star Since, I believe, 2015 over a decade ago, and Yordon was in the starting lineup, went 1 for 2, and hurrah. But he's going to be a free agent. You know, we talk so much about Hunter Brown. We talk a lot about Jeremy Pena. Hunt Jordan is going to be a free agent in two years. He has two years left on the deal. It's coming up soon. Yeah, because you don't want him to go into a lame duck season. I would imagine so. Like, a year from now, you're talking a contract, a new contract, but he'll be 32 years old, which is still young for baseball purposes. But he's a dh, doesn't play the field. He's a slugger, which sometimes, you know, power can diminish as you get a little bit older. There have been some injury concerns in recent years, and we know the Astros don't love to extend guys long into their 30s, except for Jose Altuve is the one exception.

[Seth Payne]

And so. Yeah, good.

[Luke Morrow]

Well, I was going to say it seems like Jordan would. Would easily be in that Altuve camp, but just the way we've seen the Astros operate and what I just laid out, DH doesn't play the field. You know, slugger injury concerns might not age as well as even an Altuve or some other players. I'm just curious if even Jordan would fall into that box of the Ashers of like, ah, we can't give this guy 250 mil or whatever it's going to be and pay him till he's 40.

[Seth Payne]

I think, I don't think there's a chance in hell that he gets anything longer than a six year contract. And if he does, I think that it ends up being like what they did with Altuve where it's front loaded and it's, you know, Altuve's contract is. The value goes down, the salary goes down as he gets older, which was good. I mean, and that's. It takes two to tango on that. You know, it takes Alvare, it takes your Altuve and the Astros to be willing to do that. I think there's a, I think there's a more of a chance that Jordan is that guy who's kind of wired like Altuve, that likes it here, wants to maybe, you know, remain with the team without just doing as much as he can to get as much money possible. And I don't say that just, you know, because I hope that's the case. He signed an extension early in his career with the Astros. Already that was a little bit of like, okay, I understand this is a boatload of money. I might be good. I'm giving up, you know, a potentially ridiculously big payday, but I like where I'm at and yeah, we'll take this money. Now that I think he might be more willing than a lot of major league all stars to meet in the middle somewhere. So I would be, I'd be just really astounded if the Astros ever, as long as Jim Crane's the owner, if they ever break that policy of not giving out these mega long contracts, but they might be able to come to some kind of an agreement.

[Luke Morrow]

He's on a current six year, $115 million deal, which by the way, ridiculously good contract. Right. That's probably the biggest bargain. I mean, it is the biggest bar because he's, he might be the best hitter in baseball right now. That, that I don't think I realized how good of.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, it's absurdly good. It's really. As long, as long as he's healthy, it's a, if you look at what he's making compared to what Aaron Judge is making, it's just, it's, it's helped a lot. It's allowed the Astros to muddle through despite making some egregiously bad deals elsewhere. Even short term deals, like having a guy like that that can provide as much as he does while having. Not to pay, not to. Not having to pay him nearly as much as other guys of his stature. It's. It's a good deal.

[Luke Morrow]

That's a good point in the fact that it's like a rookie contract for the quarterback where you're not paying your quarterback all this money you can spend. It's. It is interesting. The Astros payroll is so large and you. Most people would probably assume like, well, yeah, because they're paying Jordan, you know, 50 mil a year and they're not, and yet they still are throwing around a lot of money. And yet you look at the roster and it's like, yeah, this doesn't really match the $200 million payroll or whatever it is this year.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, no, I know 100%, and I didn't. You know, Chandler Rome did a nice article on Yordon a week or two ago, and it kind of just paints a picture of a guy who's just. He's just like a simple guy in a good way now. Like, not like saying he's a simpleton. He doesn't. He likes. He likes fishing, he likes hunting. He just likes playing baseball and being around his family. And there's. I don't think there's any part of him that yearns to be a huge star or, you know, and you can see that just by the way he operates, everything is just even keeled as could be that that might be one of those rare baseball players that's not seeking to just maximize his contract. And I never begrudge those guys, and I don't begrudge Alex Bregman for, for being a hell of a businessman and just, you know, eking out every little bit of leverage that he has and getting the best contract he can. I just think that Jordan might be wired a little bit differently.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. And. And I think it was in that same story that you referenced from Chandler Rome that when, when there were rumors about Jordan potentially being moved, he did go to the front office to check in and almost seemed like from a perspective of, hey, I don't want to be traded or I do want to stay here, so maybe you do get some sort of hometown discount. And I guess that would be what it would take. But I'm just throwing it out there, putting it in the mind of Astro fans, because I was thinking about it, free agency for him coming up in two and A half years here, not all that far away. He'll be 32, which again sounds young. You think, oh, you're down at 32, of course I'll sign up for that. But Kyle Tucker was 28, Alex Bregman was 31, George Springer 31. Fromber, different position obviously, but 32. They let all these guys walk instead of paying them. And there's even obviously talks about Jeremy Pena right now. Are they going to be willing to pay him? And he's going to be 31 years old when he becomes a free agent. So Jordan is right in that territory of. Well, in the past, the Astros haven't wanted to reward these guys with long term contracts. Maybe Yordon is that one.

[Seth Payne]

Except, I mean the 10 year deals are just stupid. And I mean like Altuve's extension, I mean that's, that's as close as they've gotten to basically conceding that we're probably, we're probably not going to get the most out of you, but we love you and you want to be an Astro for life. So we're going to give you this extension that takes you into your late 30s. But even then they, they, they accounted for, as did Altuve, the fact that, yeah, there's most likely going to be a drop off as you get older and we'll pay you less at the end of the deal than we will now. The other part about Yordan, like, because I don't, I'm not trying to paint him out as a saint of All Saints or anything, they gave him that extension in June of 2022, which was his first big, huge breakout All Star season. A lot of agents, and I'm guessing his agent at the time might have been saying, like, listen, man, all right, if you just push this to free agency, it's going to be an absurd amount of money. But Yordon, by that point in his career had already seen, you know, like just the frailty perhaps of the human body. He is playing on two partially torn patellar tendons before he got that fixed. And that was part of his turnaround that I think he just kind of weighed the pluses and minuses of. Look, it's always nice to have a huge wad of guaranteed money right now, even if you're forgoing a little bit more later on. I don't know if he's going to be any more of, you know, cool and calculating now that he's already got his huge wad of guaranteed money and that he could, he could be as, I don't want to say greedy, but he could be, you know, he could really go for just a ridiculously large contract. I've always tried to put myself in this position. You know, when you put yourself in that position, you always pretend that you're like the most rational and egoless person alive. And I've always thought like, well man, you know what? For one, it's not necessarily all that much fun no matter how much money you're making, to be viewed by an entire city and fan base as a, as a drain on your team. You know, like to be Pujols and just to be making an absurdly large amount of money for no good reason for year after year after year. I don't, I like, I like to think that I just don't, I don't want to, I don't need to, I don't want to make that, that exchange. You know, like almost like trading your dignity for a big wad of cash. But then I remember that I also do like big wads of cash and that in given that situation that I probably would think differently than my hypothetical self.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, yeah. It's a tough one. You know, you bring up a good point though. About like these, even these international players, there's been a trend now and I know we have to hit the break, but there's been a break. Yeah, what's, that's what, that's what I've been saying. Ben's probably been sweating back there with me here in the last week plus because I'm a terrible clock manager. But there's been a trend in baseball where major league baseball teams have found a way, they found not a loophole. But like international players love signing these team friendly deals early because they just want the money. Because you know, they come from these third world countries where I worked in baseball and I saw a lot of guys were set with their signing bonus. They did not care if they made it to the majors because they just got whatever. For some of the big prospects they got $3 million handed to them. Which, you know, when they come from Cuba or Dominican Republic or wherever Venezuela, like that goes a lot further there obviously. And they feel like, hey, I'm set for life.

[Seth Payne]

Like I don't even have to make

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it to the big leagues.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, well, you're coming from a country where the average annual household income is just, you know, in the four digit category. It's a, it's a big, big deal just to get six figures in a, in a signing bonus.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. You know, eight of the top 10 highest paid players in Major League Baseball right now are Americans. It's us greedy Americans where these international players like Acuna, like Jordan, they take these team friendly deals because like yeah, 120 million, sure, where do I sign when really they could get a lot

[Seth Payne]

more but average and now Cuba is a whole different scenario also because guys, it's not easy for them to go back and forth and everything. But like Venezuela for instance, average household income in Venezuela, $300 per month.

[Luke Morrow]

My God, sounds like what my grandfather used to talk about, you know, raking in back in the day. Coming up, we'll get to headlines, including more on the sad passing of Janice McNair yesterday. And we'll do that next Payne and

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

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I remember telling my boss it'll be

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[Luke Morrow]

Hey, this is Richard Deitchch, the host of the Sports Media Podcast. If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the Sports Media podcast has you covered.

[Seth Payne]

I've been turning down interviews all week. Hoda Kapi reached out. Oprah George Stephanopoulos so I said no. I was booked on the Deitch podcast

[Luke Morrow]

before the Taylor Swift phenomenon.

[Seth Payne]

I must live up to my responsibility.

[Luke Morrow]

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

[Seth Payne]

Payne and Pendergast with today's headlines, powered by Men's Tea Clinic.

[Luke Morrow]

That's right. Let's get you caught up on the biggest things in sports here on this Wednesday. Payne and Pendergast. I'm Luke Morrow in for Sean alongside Seth Payne. And we start with the sad news, which is the same way we opened the show earlier, but yesterday we got the news of Janice McNair's passing at the age of 89. She was put into the ring of honor this past year, so that was nice at least. But unfortunately passing away before this anniversary season coming up, a lot of great statements. We mentioned this earlier and Seth, obviously you were part of the organization. You were around the McNairs, as you said, you never heard a bad word about Janis. We haven't seen a bad word yet either. All the tributes are pouring in. Everyone has such nice things to say. But Janice McNair passing away yesterday at the age of 89.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. And this one just bounced. Just one of the things that bounced down my timeline yesterday. Justin Reed, former Texan, who just had this to say about Janice McNair. You kind of look at Ms. McNair fondly, as if she was your own, like, grandmother. You know, she was that motherly figure that was around and, you know, quiet for the most part, but she always had a warmth about her, just to open, extending arms and always look out for a guy. So, yeah, Houston, Houston's a bit of a sad day, a sadder place today, having known that she's passed. And from the very beginning, I think the thing about the McNairs that was just felt different to me from what I knew of just NFL owners and what you'd heard and read was just how genuinely focused they were on the community. And I think that that's, that's something that's, you know, people give lip service to it, you know, in every major league sports city. But that was like a driving force with Bob and Janice McNair. And every time I ever saw or interacted, whether it was usually with one of the Texans foundation initiatives or, you know, going to one of the, one of the local youth centers that they had started that like that from the very beginning, before we had ever played a game, it was clear that that was going to be a focus. And it's, you know, it's the McNair is owning the Texans and really you have this with the three major sports in Houston is you do have local owners, people that live in the community. And the McNairs are very much about being Houstonians and have a different kind of mindset than where you see with a lot of other, a lot of other teams. It's, you know, it's going the venture capital route.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And it's going a much more just extremely streamlined and focused business centric model. And the, the, the McNairs are really good business people. They do the business side of it really well. But I think they managed to have their foot in both worlds more so than a lot of other places.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. So thoughts and prayers out to the entire McNair family and just Texans community. As Janice McNair passed away yesterday at the age of 89. JJ Watt on Twitter said rest in peace. All of us who were graced with your presence and kindness are better for it. You can find online. They have, you know, obviously Demiko Ryan's put out a statement a lot of former players as well. So a lot of tributes and kind words put out for Janice McNair who passed away yesterday at the age of 89. Elsewhere in the sports world as again we make that awkward transition but Spain beat the World cup favorite, I believe France yesterday to nothing to advance to the finals. So we have Spain in the finals and we have today at 2pm England versus Argentina. The winner will face Spain in the finals. Seth, I looked this up. If I'm wrong, soccer fans, if I'm wrong, sorry, blame AI. But Argentina I guess is the defending champs. Spain hasn't won the World cup since 2010.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

And then England hasn't won since 1966 between Spain, England and Argentina. Is there a country you would prefer to win this thing at this point?

[Seth Payne]

I always go for the, the, I always go for not the underdog in a soccer sense but for the country that doesn't have as much like clout internationally or necessarily the history regardless of soccer history or anything. So I'm an Argentina fan in this, I'd say the old, the old colonial, you know, overlords. Spain and England, they can, they can all go wither away with their faltering economies and their, their misplaced self esteem that they have from back when they used to rule the world.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

No go Argentina.

[Luke Morrow]

That's right. Yeah, take that. So Argentina takes on England today to true. The winner gets to face Spain in the championship 2pm Central time today. That match also started at 2pm Central time yesterday. I don't know. We were just talking about this actually during the commercial break. Like time zones in other countries. So, Seth, you would probably know better than me. I don't know if this is to help out other countries, but that seems like a weird time, at least for the United States, where they're hosting the Games to Central 2:00pm Central on a weekday for both semifinal matches. I know it's the summer, kids are out of school, but that just seems, at least for the hosting country, it's a weird time.

[Seth Payne]

It's Eurocentric. It's. It's easy. These. It's these colonizers over there. They want to. They want it ap. They want it prime time in. They want it prime time in Europe. So it's like 8 or 9pm over there. And yeah, that's, that's the problem. They don't give a damn about the rest of the world.

[Luke Morrow]

Well, I mean, soccer is bigger in other countries than here, I suppose.

[Seth Payne]

Pretty big in Argentina. That's what I'd say.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. So go Argentina. Bring it home. It's been so long since the last World cup championship four years ago, the last time they held the World Cup.

[Seth Payne]

Well, plus Argentina, like the entire continent of South America is way further east than we ever realized. Like, you always think of it as due south. And then you look at a map of the world and you got to remind yourself, oh, yeah, that whole damn continent is basically east of the. The eastern seaboard of the United States. So it did benefit. It makes a little bit more sense for everybody except America, by the way.

[Luke Morrow]

I honestly just found out. Yeah, well, that's true.

[Seth Payne]

But, you know, at least everybody in the, you know, in that part in this hemisphere.

[Luke Morrow]

Going back to what I just said last segment, though, you know, greedy Americans. I want that game in a prime viewing time for me. I wouldn't watch it anyways, to be honest with you. I just found out yesterday that they have a third place game in the World Cup. I didn't know this was a thing. I think that's pretty lame, to be honest with you. You in the semifinals. Who cares about third place in the World Cup?

[Seth Payne]

I don't like a consolation bracket unless there's a genuine. I don't like a consolation winner unless there's an actual, like a consolation bracket where you go back into a bigger pool. So it always feels. It feels a little bogus. I always feel like there should be a team that, like maybe the second, you know, a team that's, you know, actually the second best team in a tournament. But Lost to the ultimate winner. Like, should have a chance to go back and at least finish third. But, like, sometimes it just doesn't. Sometimes those guys lose in the quarterfinals or the round of 32 or whatever. I don't like it when it's just taken from a pool of four.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, yeah, it's lame. To me, it's about winning the championship. I don't care that you won in. You won third place. Big whoop. The Rockets improved to 2 and 1 in summer league play. They beat the Sixers yesterday, 90 to 64. And Bruce Thornton had 18 points made three threes. Real quick, Seth, are you starting to get excited about the rookie Bruce Thornton?

[Seth Payne]

I am. I'm allowing myself to. Just because we talked about this yesterday. It's like, more times than not. Like, with Reed Shepherd. He had an incredible start to the summer league, and then it kind of fizzled out. His team started to attack him and realize what his strengths and weaknesses are. But sometimes. Sometimes the fizzle never comes, and a guy just. Yeah, so you just keep getting a little bit more excited each time it shows up. And as people start to focus more on them and get, you know, get more of a feel and play against them. If he continues this, it's a. It's a really, really good sign.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, it sure is. So Rockets rolled yesterday over the six years, and Bruce Thornton's averaging, like, over 20 points a game right now, three games into the summer league. Oh, and by the way, I hate. We got load management now in the summer league. That's the lamest thing, too. So that's even worse than the third.

[Seth Payne]

Run these kids until their legs fall off. Damn it.

[Rachel Braethen]

Right?

[Luke Morrow]

We used to play five AAU games in one weekend. Come on, Bruce. No difference.

[Seth Payne]

No difference there.

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Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

Same skill level, I would say. Come on, please. I was equivalent to an NBA summer league player.

[Ad Read Announcer]

There is.

[Seth Payne]

Load management is. I'll be a grumpy old man all day long about load management just because it's. I know that it makes sense. I know all of the reason it makes sense. I just don't like it. All right? And there's no amount of logic or reasoning that you're going to show me that makes. Makes me in my soul just hate load management.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, Me. I'm with you. I hate it. So enjoy Bruce Thornton while you have it. That was my point. Because at some point, they're probably going to sit him down for the rest of this thing, because God forbid athletes play games. Coming up, are the Texans just this one thing away from actually winning the super bowl this year. We'll talk about it next.

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[Rachel Braethen]

metrics that look great till the CFO sees them. That's bullspend and marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions.

[Luke Morrow]

I remember telling my boss it'll be

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good for the brand when leads were slow.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, it wasn't.

[Rachel Braethen]

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[Ad Read Announcer]

Introducing Taco Bell's new jalapeno citrus Salsa with Bright citrus Real Red Jalapenos Guajillo chiles. Usually you add sauce to the food, but when the sauce is this good, the food is just there to get the sauce to your mouth. That rolled Quesadilla. Not a rolled quesadilla anymore. Now it's a sauce shovel. Taco Bell's Jalapeno Citrus Salsa get it with any item on the Cantina Chicken menu while it's here. The participating U.S. taco Bell locations for a limited time only while supplies last contact store for availability.

[Luke Morrow]

History that Doesn't Suck is a legit, hard hitting American history podcast told through entertaining stories. History that Doesn't Suck An Odyssey Podcast available wherever you get your podcasts.