HOUR 1 - We Feeling Any Better About Astros Rotation? + Texans D Shown National Love + Headlines

Summary

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Payne & Pendergast — Hour 1, July 8, 2026

Episode Overview:
This episode covers Houston’s sports landscape after another Astros win, with Seth Payne and fill-in co-host Luke Morrow analyzing the state of the Astros’ rotation, discussing the Texans’ rising national profile on defense (including placement on ESPN’s annual positional rankings), and touching on a few memorable sports headlines. The hosts blend sharp analysis, insider insight, and playful banter throughout.

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Astros Victory & Rotation Woes

Theme: Parsing silver linings and persistent concerns after Houston’s 6–3 win over the Nationals.

Start: 02:30
Key Points:

• Astros win 6–3 to even series with Nationals; climb back to within two games of .500.
• The bottom of the lineup “did all the damage” (02:46), with recent call-up Bryce Matthews highlighted.
• Rotation concern persists.
  • Seth: “When you and I last talked, we were very down on Burroughs, and Burroughs himself is now down in the minors.” (04:12)
  • Imai’s performance: Decent results, but only lasted 3⅔ innings despite being paid like a staff ace. “What are you paying 18 million for? He can't even get through the fourth inning.” (16:32–16:35)
  • Overuse of the bullpen: “They can't keep using six relievers every time that Imai's in the game.” (16:32)
• Bullpen Cart Tradition:
  • Entertaining aside about bullpen carts, with Seth applauding reliever Oakr for “a throwback to old school baseball, old time baseball, when people were softer.” (06:27)
  • Luke: “It's tough where you can't get through the ninth inning and it forces Josh Hader to have to come in just to get that final out.” (06:40)
• Health & Help on the Horizon:
  • McCullers, Blanco, and Wisneski making rehab appearances. Jeremy Peña also beginning a rehab assignment.
  • Open question: Should fans feel better about the rotation? Both agree optimism remains cautious at best.
• Bryce Matthews’ Home/Road Splits:
  • Noted that Matthews is excelling on the road (.265, .800 OPS) but struggling at home (.100, .300 OPS).
  • Luke references distractions from playing in your hometown; Seth is skeptical this is the main cause: “I'd be hard pressed to blame that… there’s just too many other guys that have been able to perform at home.” (10:00–11:22)
• Trade Regrets:
  • Luke laments the “worst move the Astros have made in the past decade”, trading Willie Abreu for a brief rental of Christian Vázquez. “Now Abreu is a multi time Gold Glove winner in Boston. Left handed hitting outfielder. Be nice to have that guy.” (07:55)

Notable Quotes:

• Seth: “I’m actually more invested in the Yankees falling than I am right now with the Astros in the AL West. Is that bad?” (03:36)
• Luke: “It's almost like every single week or every single bad performance, there's a different explanation for it [Imai’s outings], and this one, at least is more visible. And he fought through it, so there's that.” (15:17)

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Texans D: National Recognition

Theme: Texans defenders shine in ESPN’s 2026 positional rankings.

Start: 25:50
Key Points:

• ESPN Top 10 NFL Positional Rankings:
  • Cornerbacks:
    • Derek Stingley Jr. ranked #2, just behind Patrick Surtain II.
      • “No cornerback has more interceptions since 2023 than Stingley… his zone vision is outstanding.” — veteran NFL coach via ESPN (28:54)
      • Seth: “He’s just got such elite ball skills compared to a lot of great cornerbacks who you also say, yeah, you can see why he's a defensive back instead of a wide receiver. Stingley is one of those rare ones…” (29:21)
    • Kamari Lassiter on the cusp, listed as first honorable mention (effectively #11).
      • “Really good ball skills, not the fastest, but ultra competitive... The best number two corner in the league.” (30:17)
  • Edge Rushers:
    • Will Anderson Jr. at #3, just behind Micah Parsons and Myles Garrett;
    • Danielle Hunter at #6.
    • Seth: “I feel like Will should be number two overall just based on the fact that he played a lot of football last year.” (36:02)
  • “Texans and Eagles: only two teams with two defenders in the top 11 at a single position,” Luke observes (34:22).

Other Cornerback Notes:

• Sauce Gardner (now with Colts) dropped to #9.
  • Seth: “Part of it is just flat out pettiness that he's with the Colts now and that I like seeing him... at number nine on this list.” (33:16)
  • Blistering scout quote: “Sauce lost the sauce ... He's a long strider and has the confidence to overshadow his weaknesses ... Sometimes he's not playing [zone] correctly.” (34:28)

Notable Quotes:

• Seth: “That's his ability on 50/50 balls ... he's just got such elite ball skills compared to a lot of great cornerbacks.” (29:21)
• On Kamari Lassiter: “He’s going to have a perception battle against him... because he’s going to be looked at as the guy that plays alongside Derek Stingley.” (30:43)

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Sports Headlines & Banter

Theme: National stories and amusing digressions

Headlines Start: 40:11

Key Points:

• Yankees’ Strikeout Futility:
  • “Yankees just struck out 17 times again for the second straight game. First team in AL history to strike out [that much].” (40:44)
  • Aaron Judge homers, but team in a funk; “terrible product,” laments Luke (41:23)
  • Four MLB players on pace to break single-season strikeout record
• Soccer Comeback Stuns:
  • Argentina’s 3 goals in 11 minutes to beat Egypt 3–2 draws praise from Tom Brady, who claims it outshines the Patriots’ 28–3 Super Bowl comeback (43:12)
  • Seth: “If I know Bostonians, Bostonians are going to be livid about this. Why are we not listening in on Boston sports Radio right now? Tom Brady can't help but just continue to take shots at the New England Patriots...” (44:06)
• Sean Payton–Belichick Concoction Rumor:
  • Wickersham’s book claims Sean Payton wanted Belichick to coach Denver for 15 games, then step aside after breaking win record.
  • Seth skeptical: “This is a cockamamie scheme that just might have been cockamamie enough to work … The biggest surprise for me is that it came from Sean Payton, who's got a huge ego.” (47:19)
  • Luke is unconvinced, hearing self-promoting PR: “I don't buy it for one second.” (47:54)

Banter & Comic Relief:

• Can You Shower During a Thunderstorm?
  • Luke: “I was always told you can’t shower during a thunderstorm because you could get electrocuted from the lightning. …Do you follow that at all?” (20:22)
  • Seth: “Oh, I'll shower, yeah. Any damn time I please. I'll shower in an open field during a thunderstorm. I'm not ... I await the superpowers that will come to me if I ever do get stuck by lightning.” (21:07)
  • Ultimately, CDC says don’t do it (22:24)
• J.J. Watt, Shark Tank Guest:
  • Both hosts have fun with how his résumé is described for non-football fans: “Founder of the Justin J. Watt Foundation. Well, gosh, sounds like it never really worked out for the young man in the NFL. But at least started a foundation, right?” — Seth (49:43)

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• Astros Rotation:
  • Seth: “I'm actually more invested in the Yankees falling than I am right now with the Astros in the AL West.” (03:36)
• On Pitching & Imai:
  • Luke: “What are you paying 18 million for? He can't even get through the fourth inning.” (16:32)
  • Seth: “They can't keep using six relievers every time that Imai's in the game.” (16:32)
• Texans’ Stingley & Cornerbacks:
  • Scout (via ESPN): “His zone vision is outstanding ... the way he sees the field and anticipates in zone is special.” (28:54)
  • Seth: “That's his ability on 50/50 balls ... he's just got such elite ball skills compared to a lot of great cornerbacks.” (29:21)
• Banter:
  • Seth (on showers/lightning): “Oh, I'll shower, yeah. Any damn time I please. … I await the superpowers that will come to me if I ever do get stuck by lightning.” (21:07)
  • Seth (on Sean Payton's supposed offer to Belichick): “This is a cockamamie scheme that just might have been cockamamie enough to work.” (47:19)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Astros recap & rotation: 02:30 – 19:25
• Bryce Matthews, trade regrets, playing in your hometown: 07:55 – 14:39
• Shower during storm aside: 20:36 – 22:56
• Texans defensive national love (cornerbacks, edge rushers): 25:50 – 36:22
• Headlines/banter (Yankees, Argentina soccer, Payton/Belichick, J.J. Watt’s Shark Tank, etc.): 40:11 – End (51:20+)

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Bottom Line

A quintessential Houston sports hour:
Sharp Astros analysis—cautious on quick-fixes to the rotation, wary of bullpen overuse—meets Texans optimism, as four defenders earn respect on ESPN’s top-position rankings. Throughout, Payne & Morrow deliver insightful banter, whether it’s roasting the Yankees, questioning old-sports clichés, or riffing about the risks of showering in a thunderstorm.

Quote of the Hour:
“Oh, I'll shower, yeah. Any damn time I please. … I await the superpowers that will come to me if I ever do get stuck by lightning.” — Seth Payne (21:07)

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Transcript

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[Luke Morrow]

Evening Buyer's Remorse Buy a new car. I'll be moving in. Let's get started.

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[Seth Payne]

You what?

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[Seth Payne]

So there's no.

[Commercial Announcer]

No, no Buyer's remorse. More like buyers rejoice.

[Seth Payne]

I guess I'll let myself out.

[Luke Morrow]

Congratulations. I mean it.

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[Luke Morrow]

610 presents Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast.

[Seth Payne]

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

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Let's go. Great day.

[Seth Payne]

Great day. Oh give me some juice baby. Oh yeah. Let's do it.

[Luke Morrow]

Got em ball.

[Seth Payne]

Game over Astro. Hold on to win it six to three as they take the middle game of this three game series against the Nationals and Get back to within two games of.500. Didn't come easy against this Nationals offense. Plumber. But that's a nice win on the road.

[Luke Morrow]

It is a nice win on the road.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

This offense has the potential to come back. It took a little extra effort out of that bullpen to finish this thing off, but what a beautiful thing to be able to have the bottom part of your order do all of that damage. That's right. Astros get the win last night 6:3 to even that series with the Nationals. Happ. Especially after that Astros victory. Payne and Pendergast. I'm Luke Morrow in for Sean alongside Seth Payne. Seth, how we doing?

[Seth Payne]

I'm good. You know, every morning I eagerly check the standings to be sure if the sub.500 record has an exit. Hasn't actually vaulted the Astros up into the division. They're still two games back from the Mariners and the Rangers are half game back from the Mariners. So this I'm happy about last night. Also happy to see that the Yankees struck out 17 times for the second straight day in a row.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So I'm almost. I'm actually more invested in the Yankees falling than I am right now with the Astros in the AL West. Is that bad? No. Is that me being too focused on negativity?

[Luke Morrow]

No, I'm with you. Look, I grew up in Connecticut. We grew up family of Red Sox fans. And so there's been years, especially recently, where. Yeah. Like your. Your championship is just making sure the Yankees don't have success because you're having a down year. So I'm. You're. You're. You're preaching to the choir right now. We watch growing up, as many Yankee games as Red Sox games just to simply root against them. So I'm all for it.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bastards, I think. Okay. So when you and I last talked, we were very down on Burroughs, and Burroughs himself is now down in the minors.

[Luke Morrow]

Yes.

[Seth Payne]

And we were just saying, okay, but Imai, there's. There's hope that. That Imai might be the one. And how are you feeling after last night?

[Luke Morrow]

Maybe the same. I mean, a little bit better. Like, he didn't pitch terribly, obviously give you a chance to win, but still. And I don't know what the analogy would be like, you still couldn't get to the fifth inning. They're paying you, what, 18 million a year. You're coming off a start where Burrows had to tax the bullpen a little bit. It'd be nice if you could count on him a little more. And too often, we get these starts where he's just like not. He's not giving you the length or the innings. So yeah, I mean he. His final line last night was two earned runs, four hits, three walks, three strikeouts. That sounds fine until you zoom out. You're like, I was only 312 3rd innings. It's almost like an opener.

[Seth Payne]

And you've got to burn through all these relievers. I mean, so Oakr De los Santos, Brian King, Brian Abreu, Alan Bear, Santa and Josh Hader all pitched last night and all of them use the. All of them use the bullpen cart except for Hayter. Oker started Oakheart, started the trend using the bullpen cart because the Nationals are one of those teams that have one. And every single reliever after him used the bullpen card as well, which is, I mean, the IR that is. And they deserve it. If they're going to be used that heavily every time somebody like Imai comes in, then by all means, save your legs.

[Luke Morrow]

I miss that tradition of the bullpen cart that kind of ended like in the late 90s, I think it was. And it would always be funny to see them, you know, drive in, especially how quickly sometimes they drive in the reliever. And then back in the day, like when you go back to the 70s or 80s, whenever it was where they had the cart that was an actual baseball that didn't sit in, or at least one of the teams had that. I'd be pretty embarrassed if I'm coming in to like close out a one run game in the ninth inning and I have to sit into this mini baseball to get driven out to the mound.

[Seth Payne]

But only there's only. I think there's only four teams, give or take, that do do a bullpen cart. And then a lot of guys just don't. Most guys don't use it because it's either out of the routine or they just think it's soft.

[Luke Morrow]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

I think that was a veteran move by Oakr to. It's not the first time he's done it, but I applaud him as a. In a throwback to old school baseball, old time baseball, when people were softer.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And he's been pitching well, so he deserves it. I like Santa, but it's tough where you can't get through the ninth inning and it forces Josh Hader to have to come in just to get that final out. And granted, Hayter wasn't entirely sharp either and has to leave the tying run on base in the bottom of the night. Yeah, it made that game a little sweatier than you had to at the end. And then also at Josh Hayter. I mean, you know, you don't love to use him on back to back days and multiple innings and whatnot. They try to be careful with him. So to have to burn him in that game, so to speak, when you were up six to two heading into the ninth, that was the one. If I'm nitpicking because the bullpen was good again. But if I'm nitpicking, having to run hater out there too, along with all those other arms you mentioned, that wasn't ideal in what was a nice 6 to 3 win on the road.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

And I think seeing some life out of the back end of the lineup in the last couple nights has been big for sure. And Bryce Matthews, Bryce Matthews is really just. Maybe he's turned a corner or something. We'll wait and see. But they've, they, they've got to do. I mean, Dana Brown's been talking very openly about trying to get a left field, left handed outfielder out there. And I just. The. We'll hold our breath, I suppose.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. Which gives me another chance to bring up what I think is one of the worst moves the Astros have made in the past decade. And I bring this up all the time because it still irks me a bit for the Astros. But when they traded Willie or Abreu for half a season of Christian Vasquez a few years back and Vasquez posted I think a negative WAR that year with the Astros. And now Abreu is a multi time Gold Glove winner in Boston. Left handed hitting outfielder. Be nice to have that guy hits 20 homer. 20 plus homers a year. But I digress. Hey, you mentioned Bryce Matthews and you know, turning a corner, maybe it's just simply a road trip. The, the fact that they're on the road. This became a talking point yesterday. His splits.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

And it actually came up on in the Loop and then the fellas on the drive also brought it up. How Bryce Matthews on the road has pretty good numbers. 265 average, five homers. His OPS is like almost 800 on the road. And those are good numbers. You'd sign up for that. But at home he's hitting just over 100 and his OPS is like 300. He has two runs batted in at home and nearly 100 at bats. It's such a big discrepancy. And the guys were wondering why yesterday on the radio. And I said at least on social media, you know, When I worked in baseball, teams didn't like. And Seth, I'm sure you can speak to this as a professional athlete yourself, but, you know, teams didn't like when guys would go play in their hometowns because of all the distractions. And this is like, It's. It's always a distraction. He's living and playing constantly in his hometown. This isn't just a road trip to the city he grew up in. Bryce Matthews obviously grew up here. This is his hometown still for his baseball career. And you worry about, you know, between having to get all the tickets and the family friends are intent in attendance. You have a big crowd every night. So now you're pressing and the pressure, and, you know, and then you go out to lunch or dinner with your aunts and uncles and high school friends and family, and all this. Just all the distractions. You know, I know when I was. Like I said, when I was in baseball, teams didn't love it. And for Bryce Matthews, I mean, that's now half his season.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. I guess the thing is, though, when you're traveling and you're on the road, it's such a big disruption to your routine where, if you. If you live and play in your hometown and, you know, he went to Atascocita, that you should be able to get into some kind of routine where it's not necessarily as big a deal. And I, like. I. Yeah, I don't know. We'd have to. We'd have to ask Clyde Drexler if it was ever. Was it ever a distraction having so many family and friends around. You know, James Harden going to LA every now and then. Was that was always a concern? Because was he gonna just. Was he. Was he out enjoying too many of the spoils of his hometown? I don't know. I would. I'd be hard pressed to. I'd be hard to press to blame that on Bryce Matthews right now or that being the reason. I just. When they were talking about on the broadcast last night, the first thing I thought of was the 2023 Astros, who remember where they were. I think there were 51 and 30 on the road in 2023, but they were just about 500 at home. And it's. It was just one of those. One of those flukish things that probably didn't really. It might have been just random chance or circumstance. You try like hell to dig for a reason for it, but I'm not. I can't. I can't buy it as an excuse right now because it's there's just too many other guys that have been able to perform at home.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. And you, you, you brought them up earlier of Clyde Drexler, as you mentioned, but Nolan Ryan, Roger Clements, Andy Pettit, so, you know, there are a lot of examples.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Nolan and Pettit would be both guys that were already pros when they came back to play play in Houston. So then it's, you've already got more of it nailed in the young athlete like Jalen Petrie. Jalen Petrie had an up and down first couple of years and, and now he's figured it out. Jalen Petrie. It's worked out very well for. But I guess football, you know, football is not as much of a. You're more insulated around the games than you are when you're in baseball.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, well, you know, Boomer Sison always said, obviously he's from Long Island. He went to the jets later in his career in the 90s, and he has said since now, look, those jets teams are not good. I believe that was like rich. The Rich Kotite. And Boomer has since said that he regrets that he wishes he didn't play for the jets and he encourages NFL players to not go back to their hometowns because as, as I was laying out before, like the distractions, having to get a suite for the family for every games. And then for Boomer, specifically, because those teams weren't very good. He said family members always bring up the bad news, like, hey, I saw what they wrote about you on the front page. And he's like, hey, I'm trying to, I'm trying to ignore that. Stop telling me all the terrible things people are saying about me.

[Seth Payne]

The worst is when somebody tries to let you know that they're in your corner. Like, hey, hey, I was on, I was online battling for you yesterday when this guy said this and that guy said that and then this guy said this. Yeah, you don't need guys. I, I think though, again, back in the day that if you were geographically removed from a situation, you just didn't see a whole lot of it. Where now it doesn't matter because your sister's texting you, forwarding you an article or something from the local paper. This is why, you know, why, you know, I'm hesitant to really buy into this as a potential theory because what's the solution? You know, like, oh, okay, oh, oh. All we need to do is go back in time and make Bryce Matthews not from here, and then it'll be all just fine. So I don't know, unless people in Atascosita can perhaps weigh in on. Is Bryce Matthews having to entertain too many people all the time. Are you over at Bryce Matthews parents houses and it's just a steady entourage. Steady. A steady procession of third cousins walking through with their hands out asking for tickets.

[Luke Morrow]

I think the, the, the way to solve it just go on the road. Keep them on the road is a lot 10 game road trips only.

[Seth Payne]

Only play him on the road.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. Apparently his numbers are almost three times as good on the road.

[Seth Payne]

You don't hear about the LED lights as much anymore. Except that's. I mean, I feel like that that's still a factor for some people just adjusting to the lighting at Dyken Park.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. And I know like there's been complaints in the past about the batter's eye in center field an issue. So maybe that's for somebody like Bryce Matthews. Maybe that's more of a problem. I don't know. It is odd. It is odd to have such polar opposites where he's batting a.100 at home, but on the road he, like I said, his ops is nearly.800. That's really good.

[Seth Payne]

Maybe it's in the task high school thing, you know, Kenyon Green. Kenny Green didn't make it in Houston either after his teammate at Bryce Matthews, if I recall correctly. I might be mix. Mixing up, mixing up my athletes here. But Kenyon, it wasn't as much of a home or away issue, is just staying healthy and playing football in general.

[Luke Morrow]

It was. Yeah, it was an anywhere anywhere issue. So anyways, Astros get the win last night. And if you're an Astros fan, you might have felt like it was two wins because Mike Burrows gets sent down to Triple A. Like Seth had mentioned before, the game starts. So you get the Burrows demotion. You get the email start last night where the Astros win the game and he might doesn't get knocked around too bad. And then you also had Lance McCullers and Blanco make what's supposed to be their final rehab appearances last night for Sugar Land. Are we feeling better 24 hours later? Do we feel better about this Astros starting rotation as a whole, or is it still, you know, was that just breadcrumbs here? The last.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. I don't. Yeah. When it comes to when we talked about it yesterday. All right. We know what the. We know that seal. We know that Imai has a whole bunch of potential, but he's just got a. He's got to start going deeper into games more consistently. And he's had some Good performances. I think the biggest. The biggest, hopefully positive sign from last night was that he had James Wood take him deep very early, and it didn't spiral out of control for him there, that he had to work his way through some difficulty. He had it looked at one point there like they were performing open hand surgery on him on the mound was in the first or second inning, he was bleeding profusely from his pitching hand. And you're. And you're thinking, oh, that's. That's it. This is it for him. But it was just his fingernail had sliced a little gash on his ring finger. And it didn't end up being a huge deal, but it's like it ended up being yet another atypical thing that we're talking about with Imai. After a game, there's always. It's almost like every single week or every single bad performance, there's a different explanation for it, and this one, at least is more visible. And he fought through it, so there's that. And you give him credit for that, but he's just. They can't keep using six relievers every time that. Every time that Imai's in the game.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. What are you paying 18 million for? He can't even get through the fourth inning.

[Seth Payne]

Well, you talked about. Yeah. Potentially trading away blue ball or somebody like that. And I mean, you need guys like blue ball who. Who can give you some middle relief if you've got guys like Imai as your starting pitchers.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. So I think that's why they do love or loved Mike Burroughs, where they would always compliment, like he's an innings eater. Because the very next day it's like, well, we're going to need our bullpen tomorrow for ima. So at least Burroughs saves us for having to use too many relievers.

[Seth Payne]

If you're. If your goal is to lose as many baseball games as possible, well, preserving your bullpen, he's a hell of a guy for that. He's one of the best all time at giving you bad outings, but just being willing to stay out there and muddle through his bad outings.

[Luke Morrow]

And I don't want to be, I don't know, pessimistic here to start the morning, but like Burrows, next turn of the rotation, he gets sent down to aaa. So his next turn in the rotation will be Sunday, the final game before the All Star break. The Astros can find a way to fill that spot. You could just plug in Christian Javier for a spot start, if you like, or blue ball or do a bullpen game because you're gonna have almost a week off after that and then because of the break of the All Star Game, you can then start your rotation again. You wouldn't need Burrows spot in the rotation until it would be July 21st. So essentially two weeks from now. My point being in all of this, we saw the Astros already try to demote Burroughs out of the starting rotation just to put them right back in. I am curious if on July 21, which would be the next time you would need that Burrows start if he actually is back up in the big leagues and this is just an opportunity to, hey, let's send them down to Triple A for two weeks, try to freshen up some things. And in the meantime we can use an extra bullpen arm for those two weeks because we don't need the burrow starting spot. I'm curious how long lasting this demotion will be if this is it until Burroughs really turns a corner down to the minors or if this is more like a strategic type of play while also allowing Burroughs to take a breather in Triple A for the next two weeks.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I think they've got to figure out ways to, you know, sending him into the bullpen for that one game. All right. Did he figure anything out? Doesn't appear so, but it also, you know, I think it was in Chandler Rome's article. It paints a picture of man, the, you know, between his arm slotting and some of the other things that he's tweaking his delivery, it sounds like he's, it sounds like he's a mess. Like he's just. Whenever you hear about a pitcher working on multiple things at the same time, it just feels like you're grasping for straws there. And if you can't just dial in on one thing, fix it. So I. This flux that you're going to have as McCullers and Blanco and Wisneski start to come into the fold, you're. You're going to be burning up some minor league options along the way as long as you're just so unsettled. But you have so many numbers. It's at potential starting pitchers.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. McCullers and Blanco those final rehab appearances, I believe supposed to be final last night. So we'll see if one of those guys gets plugged in for Sunday's game before the All Star break. And then Jeremy Pena began his rehab assignment last night. They hope he returns this weekend for the Rangers series. That's quite the night to go to Sugar Land last night where you know, probably ten $15 tickets. And you could see three Astros in that game last night. Not bad. But the Astros get the win last night. 6 3. They'll try to win the series now tonight against the Nationals. 5:45. First pitch here. Central time so good that they got back in the win column. But still, two games under.500. What? Two games out of the division Still. Baseball Talk on Sports Radio 610 is presented by Xfinity. Score, the most reliable Wi Fi 1 price. 5 years guaranteed Xfinity. Imagine that. By the way, Seth, I stayed up later than I wanted to last night. Obviously got to get to bed early to get up early these days filling in for Sean while he's on vacation. There was a thunderstorm, and I had to shower before bed. And I've. You know, I was always told he can't shower during a thunderstorm, a lightning storm, because you could get electrocuted from the lightning. You ever. You ever. Was that ever a wife's tale in your life? Do you follow that at all?

[Seth Payne]

I think it's. If you've got copper pipes, that's when you have. I don't know, places don't have copper pipes anymore. So I might be completely wrong on that. Nobody listening right now. Take my advice and, like, just start brazenly showering during a thunderstorm, especially because there's a good chance that there's zero percent truth to what I just said.

[Luke Morrow]

I.

[Seth Payne]

Wait, that's why. But that's all. Yeah. If you've got copper pipes and, like, right up from the. From the outside, right up to your shower. I think that's where it's an issue.

[Luke Morrow]

So you'll shower during a thunder and lightning storm?

[Seth Payne]

Oh, I'll shower, yeah. Any damn time I please. I'll shower in an open field during a thunderstorm. I'm not. I await the superpowers that will come to me if I ever do get stuck by lightning. That's another thing. As I understand it, that's what happens.

[Luke Morrow]

You're a daredevil. I waited like, an extra hour. I gotta get to bed. Well, this lightning end already, so I could hop in the shower.

[Seth Payne]

Geez, I know you're not supposed to stand extra. I've always. That's one of those things kind of like with cpr, you know, Like, I got CPR certified however many decades ago, and if it. If it came up right this moment, I'd be screwed. Everything would blank out. Other than just. I might be able to do the chest massage or whatever. But likewise for lightning storms. You're not supposed to stand near a big tree, but you're also not supposed to stand in an open field. And I don't know if you're stuck out in nature, I don't know exactly what you're supposed to do other than, like, try to get to the woods, but not near any big trees, but not in an open field in the, in a clearing in the woods. You just got to have your head on a swivel the entire time.

[Luke Morrow]

That's true. Yeah, we were, we were always told the car is the safest place. Get inside a car. You can join the conversation 713-572-4610. Or in the YouTube and Twitch chats. Do you shower during lightning storms? Are you as crazy as Seth is?

[Seth Payne]

CDC is saying, don't, Don't. It's not safe to shower during a thunderstorm.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. I spared my life last night.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, don't bathe or do the dishes during a storm.

[Luke Morrow]

Oh, wow. I didn't know about the dishes. I gotta add that to the list. I'm already neurotic enough. Now I can't even do the dishes when it's raining outside.

[Seth Payne]

Glad we figured that out. I almost killed somebody just now.

[Luke Morrow]

That's gonna be my excuse. Honey, sorry, I can't do the dishes. I think there's some rain coming in.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, yeah, sorry.

[Luke Morrow]

Can't help you out.

[Seth Payne]

What's one of the benefits of living in Houston?

[Luke Morrow]

That's right.

[Seth Payne]

Large swaths of time where you just simply can't do the dishes.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, exactly. Hey, coming up, Texans defense getting a lot of love from those around the league. Of course. We'll talk about it next. It's Payne and Pendergast.

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[Luke Morrow]

Texans Defense Getting some love? It's Payne and Pendergast. I'm Luke Morrow in for Sean alongside Seth Payne. 713-572-4610 to join the conversation on the text line or always in the YouTube and Twitch chats as well. We referenced this yesterday. Look, it's list season and there might be other lists that we get to throughout the morning, but everyone's putting out their list this time of year as we get ready for training camp to start in a couple weeks. And ESPN right now is going through their series of their polling executives, coaches and scouts in the NFL for the top 10 at each position. So yesterday we had talked about running backs. Well, since then, running backs came out on Monday. Since then yesterday was top 10 cornerbacks and today top 10 edge rushers. So two defensive categories with a Few Texans mixed in there as well. And I guess it should be no surprise that the Texans defense is getting some respect by others in the league, because obviously it's. It's the best or at least one of the best defenses in the NFL. But when you look at the top 10 cornerbacks, Derek Stingley Jr. Wound up at number two. Some people ranked him as high as number one on their list. Last year, he was number two. He's number two again this year behind Patrick Certain Jr. Of the Broncos.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, and I think that's. It's. Generally, this is every power ranking you see of cornerbacks. It seems like it's certain number one, and then Derek Stingley number two. And. And I. I have a hard time arguing against that, just partly because I think the Broncos play a boatload of man coverage. They blitz a lot. They put a lot of pressures on their cornerbacks, and they're. They're gonna. You're always gonna get more respect the more you do that. That. There's almost like a ceiling with those two right now. Unless Patrick certain starts to fall off a little bit or Stingley somehow makes, like, another step forward or leap ahead somehow, that. That's probably where it would stay if both these guys continue to play the exact same way for the next three years. It's just a. It's partly a matter of scheme. And then I think also especially because the Texans pass rush is so well regarded. I know the Broncos had, you know, damn near a record number of sacks last year, but a lot of it was based on heavy blitzing, which puts a lot of pressure on the cornerbacks. So I'm. I'm. This is exactly how I would have power ranked it. I think the one thing with Stingley that might be interesting is that because of the scheme and because he's just so good at what he does, he might continue to get a lot more interceptions than the top cornerbacks tend to get. You know, like, it's. It's not so easy to just not throw the ball anywhere near Derek Stingley when there's times where he's in zone or when you've got Kamari Lasseter on the other side of the field, that he might. He might break the mold a little bit in terms of turnover production, where typically with the really good cornerbacks, you see their first few years, they'll have four or five interceptions a year, and then it trails off as their career goes on because people just don't test them. Stingley might break that mold a little

[Luke Morrow]

bit, and in the blurb it says no cornerback has more interceptions since 2023 than Stingley. A veteran NFL offensive coach said his zone vision is outstanding. He can play man at a high level, but the way he sees the field and anticipates in zone is special. And a veteran NFC coach said elite feet and back to the ball instincts. If you throw a 50, 50 ball, he's probably going to come up with it and the quarterback will choose to throw some of those because the pass rush is so good.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, that's his ability on 50, 50 balls is the, you know, aside from scheme and everything else is part of that. To the. Just where I think he's. He's just got such elite ball skills compared to a lot of great cornerbacks who you also say, yeah, but you know, you can see why he's a defensive back instead of a wide receiver. Stingley is one of those rare ones where I think, yeah, a lot of people figured he could play NFL wide receiver if he felt like it. The other thing, too, okay, about him versus certain, you remember that he was working through those oblique injuries this year early in the first half of the season and he wasn't, you know, his peak self. So with an entire healthy season and now, you know, two years ago when he really, when he stayed healthy and really, really delivered on everything, that was the first time that people kind of vaulted him up into that elite tier of cornerbacks. So the, the battle between him and Sir Tan will be fun to watch over the next few years.

[Luke Morrow]

On the honorable mention. First honorable mention is Kamari Lassiter. So I guess we could take that to assume that means he's 11th on the list. And an NFL NFC offensive coach said, really good ball skills, not the fastest, but ultra competitive. A little more size and speed and he might be the best NFC defensive coach said the best number two corner in the league. Does honorable mention feel like the right spot for Lassiter?

[Seth Payne]

I. Yeah, I think so. I think Lassiter. I think Lassiter, he's going to have a perception battle against him when it comes to stuff like this just because he's going to be looked at as the guy that plays alongside Derek Stingley, which honestly, he should get more credit instead of less because of that, because he's going to be the focus of attention, but he's also, he's going to get like, you know, on average, a little bit more help at times than Derek Stingley does. Stingley's still the guy that they're going to want to track the best wide receiver at various times. But I think that that's the, almost the perception battle that he'll have to work against. I think the, you know, people get sensitive whenever they bring up, whenever somebody brings up that, you know, he doesn't have elite top end speed. And because there was a, there was misreporting about his 40 time and everything. His 40 time, the 40 time discussion was way overblown. And yet I think it's fair to say that, yeah, he wasn't as slow as whatever his reported 40 time was. It was like, like 4, 7, 40 or something ridiculous, which was bogus based on how he plays on the field. And yet I think that one of the things that he does to make up for that genuinely top tier athleticism is he's got a freakish ability to understand when the ball's arriving and you can think about so many of the big plays he's made. It's a well thrown ball to a receiver that's got a half step on Lassiter. But Lassiter just has a really good feel for Armbar and right up into the, the path of the football and, and causing pass breakups. So. But when people are given style points and everything on where they rank the top corners, they, the, the subjective part of that, they don't want to, they don't want to give as much credit to that as just the pure classic

[Luke Morrow]

cover, cover traits on the text line. Someone said. I'm personally tired of the sauce propaganda. Lassiter needs one of those top 10 spots, which does take us.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

To Sauce Gardener, the only other cornerback from the AFC south on this list. Of course, with the Colts. He's number nine on the list after being five last year. But he keeps dropping. Where are you on Sauce Gardner at this point in his career?

[Seth Payne]

I think, I mean, for one, he's got that annoying, really, really annoying thing where he's a huge guy but doesn't seem to really relish the physical part of the game, which I know, you know, if it's Deion Sanders, that's one thing. But I, your Sauce Gardener, like come up, come up and make a tackle, you know, or how about an interception every now and then? What was this? That three interceptions in four NFL seasons?

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, I believe so. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. And he look and he's. I think that I don't know if he's progressed beyond where he got away with being handsy a lot. And I don't know if he's refined his game enough like over the course of the past four years to really. He does, I don't look at him as one of those guys that is so elite at kind of playing the game and understanding exactly when you can and cannot hold and what you can get away with and what you cannot. And it's such a big part of his game that at some point that starts to. To work against you. And part of it is just, just flat out pettiness that he's with the Colts now and that I like seeing him. He's at number nine on this list. Should Derek Stingley be or should Kamari Lassiter be above him? If Kamari plays again this year the way he did last year, then yeah, I think, I think Kamara will be in the top 10. And hopefully Sauce Gardner is coming off a really disappointing year with the Colts and that, you know, people are wondering why the hell you traded two first round picks for this guy.

[Luke Morrow]

Texans and The Eagles. Only two teams that have two guys in the top 11 on this list.

[Seth Payne]

Best quote from an offensive coach about Sauce Gardner before we move off. Yeah, Sauce lost the sauce. Now he got traded for a reason. He's a long strider and has the confidence to overshadow his weaknesses. He can press and play cover too, but he's not going to tackle all the time. He's not going to crack, replace. And when he's playing zone, sometimes he's not playing it correctly. It's just hard for him to hold up over the course of the game. That doesn't sound like a top 10 cornerback whatsoever.

[Luke Morrow]

No. Right. I think at this point it's sort of off that reputation of what he did early in his career, really just his rookie year.

[Seth Payne]

He's also been playing for a crappy football team, too. I think when it comes to the turnover production, if I were to play devil's advocate and give him a break, I like, like who on earth goes up against who's playing the jets in the last few years saying, like what? There's one thing we got to do, it's. We got to test Sauce Gardener. If there's one thing I do before I leave the Meadowlands, it's target sauce gardener 10 times because that's the weakness on that jets defense. That's. So it's. It's been few and far between how much, how many teams have actually tested them.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, that's fair. That's a, that's a fair point. Like I said, Texans, Eagles, only two teams to have two different guys on this list. And when it comes to edge rushers, which is the list that just came out about an hour ago from ESPN Texans are the only team with two guys in the top 10 there will Anderson Jr number three Daniel Hunter number six. I know we have to hit the break. I've been, I've been late on breaks all week. But real quick, Will Anderson Jr. Number three on this list and we could circle back to this later on this morning as well. He's only behind Micah Parsons and Miles Garrett. Does that seem fair?

[Seth Payne]

It's fair. I Micah Parsons got to he didn't go in head to head competition competition with Will Anderson last year, so to speak, just because, you know, he wasn't available. And that, that part of it irks me a little bit that I feel like Will should be number two overall just based on the fact that he played a lot of football last year.

[Luke Morrow]

You can find those lists on ESPN.com we might circle back to the edge rusher list later on this morning to dive more in depth on Will Anderson Jr. And Daniel Hunter and their spot in the NFL. But coming up, we got to get to headlines, get you caught up on everything in the sports world of the last 24 hours, including a comeback even greater than the 283 Patriots Super Bowl. We'll talk about it next.

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[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.

[Luke Morrow]

Work busy schedules and the price.

[Seth Payne]

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.

[Luke Morrow]

Rally the crew.

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[Luke Morrow]

Hey, this is Richard Deitch, 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.

[Luke Morrow]

Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said no.

[Seth Payne]

I was booked on the Deitch podcast

[Luke Morrow]

before the Taylor Swift phenomenon.

[Seth Payne]

I must live up to my responsibility.

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Listen wherever you get your podcasts,

[Seth Payne]

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

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, time for headlines. Get you all caught up on everything going on here on Pain and Pendergast. I'm Luke Morrow filling in for Sean alongside Seth Payne. Astros got the win last night, 6:3, beating the Nationals to even up that series. We got the replay on the TV here in the studio, so get to watch the victory again. But we spoke about the Astros a little bit earlier and we'll get back to the Astros later on. Let's talk about the New York Yankees because they just struck out 17 times again for the second straight game. First team in Al history to strike out.

[Seth Payne]

It's an Al record.

[Luke Morrow]

Al record.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Wow.

[Seth Payne]

The Yankees can't stop breaking Al records. Good for them. Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

Aaron Judge hitting homers. The team striking out 17 times in back to back games, you know, even the AL pennant, but couldn't win the World Series. That's, that's, that's. That's their ceiling. Evidently. These.

[Seth Payne]

So the Astros are two games back in the AL West. The, the Yankees are four games back from the Rays in the AL East. I'm surprised they're having such a hard time with the Rays. I just saw them. I didn't think they were all that difficult a conundrum to fix. You know, that's just. Hey, some, some teams can do it and some teams can't.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

New York Yankees.

[Luke Morrow]

Sorry, I can't handle it. Aaron Judge. This team's been lousy without Aaron Judge. They just lost like seven straight. Look, old man yelling at the clouds. I do hate this. Like, the Yankees won the game two nights ago. They had only three hits. All three hits were homers. And they struck out 17 times and still beat a first place team. I think that's a terrible product, if I'm being honest, and I love baseball, but that's terrible.

[Seth Payne]

Well, that's kind of in the book on the Yankees, hasn't it? The last true years is just. Yeah, that's great. And you get. You can rack up a whole bunch of stuff versus. Versus. Bad pitching in the regular season. They just can't consistently do it against good pitching in the postseason. So save for every now and then a trip to the World Series.

[Luke Morrow]

Right. And by the way, there's also four guys on pace. Not one, but four guys on pace to break the strikeout record this year for batters. I'm not saying they're all in the Yankees. I'm just saying in baseball in general, the record that Mark Reynolds has held for like 20 years, four guys are set to break it this year. So strikeouts are at an all time high.

[Seth Payne]

Have you been, have you been tracking the whole scenario with the manufacturing of the baseballs and the differences and everything?

[Luke Morrow]

Not really.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, I, It's. I. Other than that, it's been a quagmire ever since MLB decided they were going to get into the baseball manufacturing business. That. I just wish it, I wish it were somehow affecting the Astros more, either as something that could prop them up or something that they could exploit. You know, I had high hopes for the torpedo bat. You know, the torpedo bat. I was like, okay, come on, all you, all you former NASA engineers, you're supposed to. Why are we not on top of this? Give me Some Torpedo bats. Juvon used one for a little while. The Torpedo bat ended up being no big deal really in general.

[Luke Morrow]

I know that was a heck of a two weeks for the Torpedo bat and then. And then haven't heard about it since.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, it was annoying because then you found out like, oh, they've actually been using this Torpedo bat for two years already. Just the first time anybody wrote about it.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it was ridiculous. The Yankee. That Yankees stretched to open up the season. But I guess I had to do some other things elsewhere. Argentina. So, you know, I admit I'm not the biggest soccer fan, but I was following this, this game yesterday, and now that us is out of the World cup. You might not be paying attention out there to the World cup either, But Argentina scored three goals in the final 11 minutes of the match yesterday to beat Egypt 3 2. They were down two nothing. They score three goals in the final 11 minutes. They beat Egypt three to two. Tom Brady on Twitter called it more impressive of a comeback than the Patriots 28 to 3 Super bowl comeback. Which therefore makes this maybe the most impressive comeback we've seen in Sports. To score three goals in 11 minutes.

[Seth Payne]

If I know Bostonians, Bostonians are going to be livid about this. Why are we not listening in on Boston sports Radio right now? Tom Brady can't help but just continue to take shots at the New England Patriots, including. Remember last year he said he had no dog in the fight with the Patriots Super Bowl. Wasn't like Brady was broadcasting the game or anything. Had to be careful about it. It was one of his former teammates is the head coach. His old offensive coordinator is still the offensive coordinator, but he's got no dog in the fight now. And now Argentina is, you know, Argentina has rendered the 283 comeback is just no big deal historically.

[Luke Morrow]

It's true. It is. It is odd. He's trying to undo anything there in New England.

[Seth Payne]

I think he's trying too hard. You know, people get upset with JJ Sometimes when he's doing a Texans game.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

He's being too impartial.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Which is a compliment to jj really. If you don't have, if you don't have people from both teams saying that you're, that you're, you know, you're being too favorable to the other team, then you're probably not all that. It's usually a pretty good indicator of people on Both sides are PO'd. But when it's JJ doing the Texans, I feel like people have a higher. They, they expect him to be somewhat of a homer, and he just can't do it. It's not a baseball broadcast. Yeah, that Cowboys. The Cowboys fans feel like Troy Aikman is too mean to them when he does Cowboys games.

[Luke Morrow]

I don't think so. I feel like people think Troy's a bit. I don't know. Maybe not. He can be critical of the Cowboys. I feel like he.

[Seth Payne]

Like he and Irvin are the two guys that I feel don't hold back all that much when it comes to criticizing Jerry Jones. Like, they'll. They'll kind of dish a little bit on how Jerry Jones has hurt the organization.

[Luke Morrow]

That's fair. Yeah. Troy is pretty critical. So. So I don't. Yeah, I don't think there's that reputation. I mentioned earlier that, you know, we. I grew up in Connecticut, and we grew up as Red Sox fans. Jim Reynolds, I don't know if he's still an umpire, but he was a longtime umpire in Major League Baseball, and he grew up in our town, and he was a Red Sox fan. And so that was always the theory. People would always say, oh, this guy, he always screws the Red Sox just so people can't accuse him of any bias as a big league umpire.

[Seth Payne]

I wish he lived in the age of ABS where. Check him on this. You can't get away with that crap no more.

[Luke Morrow]

That's right.

[Seth Payne]

Even if you're doing it subconsciously. You know, now they. They've got data on every single pitch.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, he. He retired after 20, 22.

[Seth Payne]

He knew what was coming down the pike. He saw that this ABS thing was entering the minors, and it was just a matter of time. Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah. So Argentina gets that big win. Brady very impressed. Hey, speaking of Belichick, the Patriots, so on and so forth. I don't know if you saw this, Seth, but Seth Wickersham is writing a book on the Broncos, I guess, and he was. He followed the Broncos. He was in the room, the locker room, and everything throughout the playoff run.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

And this tidbit came out from the upcoming book that Sean Payton had the idea that when Belichick was essentially let go from the Patriots, he had the idea to bring in Belichick to be the acting head coach of the Broncos. Sean Payton would become his offensive coordinator, and they would wait until Belichick got the 15 wins to set the record, and then Sean Payton would take over once again for the head coach, and Belichick would retire after getting his 15 wins. This.

[Seth Payne]

This is a cockamamie scheme that just might have been cockamamie enough. To work. And I. It's the biggest surprise for me is that it came from Sean Payton, who's got a huge ego. And I honestly feel like that's. I. I'm impressed. I'm impressed by Sean Payton. That. Either because of his loyalty to Belichick or because he just, like, thought it would be a really interesting way to shake things up. You don't share my being impressed, huh?

[Luke Morrow]

Cause I don't. I don't buy this.

[Seth Payne]

I think you don't think it was real at all. Oh, you think it's pr.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, you mentioned that. Ego. So I think that's why Sean Payton wouldn't do it. I think that's why he makes up this story to put in a book and come out now of like, hey, I was willing to have Belichick. I had this great idea of Belichick setting the record. I'd be his offensive coordinator. I don't buy it for one second.

[Seth Payne]

That's. That's like. After I read, I just read the Rise and the Fall of the Third Reich, trying to brush up on my World War II history, and that's what all the. All the Nazis afterwards were like. Ah, by the way, I had this incredible plan. We were just about to put it into action to topple the regime. I'll tell you what, that Hitler guy, he was no good from the get go, I could tell you. But that's what I was gonna do.

[Luke Morrow]

Right?

[Seth Payne]

You guys just got here too soon. I was ready. I had the gun in my hand. I was about to assassinate him. Then all of a sudden, you guys all came rolling into Berlin.

[Commercial Announcer 3]

Whoops.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. So I get off, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I like your way of thinking. Yeah. This just. This is just propaganda by Peyton.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Actually planned on doing this.

[Luke Morrow]

It's like my friend I referenced on Monday who, whenever there was a scuffle or a fight, he'd always say, man, if one more punch was thrown, I was gonna jump in. It's like, okay, I'm sure you were.

[Seth Payne]

Those guys. Those guys don't know how lucky they were that I didn't unleash the Dragon. Right? Exactly. You guys call me Dragon, right? My alter ego.

[Luke Morrow]

I'm not a Sean Payton fan. I don't buy any of his nonsense, and I don't buy this either.

[Seth Payne]

He plays the media game hardcore.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Oh.

[Seth Payne]

So, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Luke Morrow]

He's just. The media loves him, and that's why he's almost Teflon himself. And you get this story instead real quick, because we gotta run. J.J. watt announces a guest Shark on Shark Tank, which somebody just said on the text line. I want J.J. to be a commentator on an Astros game. Or even you, Seth. Uh, well, JJ is going to be on the tv, but for Shark Tank, would you tune in to watch JJ Watt on Shark Tank?

[Seth Payne]

JJ Watt on Shark Tank. So now he's, he's submitting a business proposal. I think it's like celebrity shark tank because Mr. Mr. Beast is on there too. But this is how. Let me ask you real quick if this is the right resume for J.J. watt. They've got his photo here. This is J.J. watts resume. So for non football fans, they'll understand what a big celebrity they're dealing with. Former NFL defensive lineman, first round draft pick of the Houston Texans, founder of the Justin J. Watt Foundation. Well, gosh, sounds like a. It sounds like it never really worked out for the young man in the NFL. But at least he started a foundation, right? Yeah, yeah. Like there's a. Each, each one of those things you could have put something else that made a lot more sense to frame just the level of sports celebrity. Damn.

[Luke Morrow]

It sounds right to me.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Mr. Mr. Beast. It's founder of the Mr. Beast channel on YouTube. Like, oh, okay, that's it. That's. There's like literally millions of YouTube channel founders. He's done a little bit more of that with it.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, yeah. Nothing happened after he started the page and Nothing happened for J.J. watt. That was noteworthy after he was drafted in the first round. Except now that he's gonna be on Shark Tank.

[Seth Payne]

I'm just setting, I'm getting angry in advance after they reject JJ's idea, whatever it is. Well, JJ's got a lot of side business that do really well. So I am actually intrigued that it might be, it might be something that entices one of the billionaires.

[Luke Morrow]

Yeah, he's quite, he's quite the businessman. So tune in to Shark Tank to check that out. I don't even know when the date is on the episode, but tune in. Hey. Coming up, Terry and Arnold. This story just gets crazier and crazier. I need Seth to explain it for me and we'll do it next here on Pain and Pendergast. Refresh your yard this summer with fourth

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[Luke Morrow]

From backyard get togethers to end of summer upgrades.

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[Luke Morrow]

Deliver the power and mobility to keep

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[Luke Morrow]

Power on the go is here, and summer projects are easier than ever with

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[Luke Morrow]

Every week on the Moth Podcast, you'll

[Commercial Announcer]

hear true stories that will intrigue you,

[Luke Morrow]

inspire you and make you laugh, he said.

[Seth Payne]

Is there anything in your diet that might be spiking your blood sugar? I said sometimes I eat pizza until I'm unconscious, he said. I think that might be it for real. Stories live on stage from comedians, astronauts,

[Luke Morrow]

accountants, farmers and people just like you.

[Commercial Announcer]

Follow and listen to the Moth wherever

[Commercial Announcer 3]

you get your podcasts.

[Commercial Announcer]

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