The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
09/13 Hour 2 - CJ Stroud is a Football Freak and We Love It!
This iHeart Radio Station is brought to you by Vitamin Water. Don't sweat the technique! You're listening to the killer beats with Joel Blanket Jeremy Branham. On ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. Broadcasting live from the Veritex Community Bank Studios. Let's go straight out to the HR if you guess line being joined by the voice of the Astro's Todd Callis brought to us by Gulf Coast Chevy Buick GMC in Angleton. Start shopping for your new vehicle at lancezcars.com. TK thanks for taking a few minutes as you're out in the West Coast. Still on the plan for Tucker to play right field tonight? That's what I believe. Yeah, I haven't seen the lineup yet but Joe's team to indicate Joe's spot if you've indicated that's what the plan was for today. TK we were just talking about that. When you look at that and you think about how he's not quite a hundred percent yet and you got you got a situation where you know you've got the angels you got the Padres then you can come back home. I was just saying that to me personally I wouldn't be trying to rush him back into the outfield. He looked like in the pinch ran for him that he's still not running at a hundred percent. I just wonder if that's not just a little risky to kind of put too much on him by playing the outfield too. Yeah, I think at some point you have to figure out what you have and you can't wait till the postseason so I think you have to see what's going on with Tucker out there. Obviously they've reached a point where they feel like he is good enough to play in the outfield. It's not the deepest outfield it's also not the smallest outfield. It's probably a little leaning towards a bigger outfield than average. But it's certainly not as big as left field you're in and on. So for me I think you got to figure out what you have and you can't wait too much longer. And especially on a day like today where Kukuchi pitching they like to match up characterity with Kukuchi. Don't give you the flexibility of either having your not on your DH and then playing yiner at first or having yiner the DH you need that DH stop Todd Cal is joining us on the HRNP guest line. This team continues to be snakebit with injuries. You had Jose Altuve leaving the game the other day reports on him is that maybe they dodged a bullet maybe he's fine and then Chas McCormick who's had a real struggle of a year seemed like he was finding it seemed like he started to turn it on a little bit and then breaks a bone in his hand. Have you seen a season where a team has been so snakebit with injury? Yeah, it's been pretty wild. They just haven't had the core four guys together the whole year. So that's been tough and obviously the pitching staff has had a crazy amount of injuries. So when they were continuing to catch all those guys went down the six man rotations been pretty solid knock on wood. They stayed intact and needed that because there's really not much stuff behind the stick you have up here at the big league level. So the chat situation was just really unfortunate. It was a play that was in the corner. We didn't even see it initially. I didn't know he initially heard himself and then it was good for foul ball that he went a little too abruptly for that corner and admitted they parked. So one of those years for Chas that he couldn't get anything going all year long when he finally did he get hurt. It's a really, really good point to you. TK you mentioned the pitching and now we know that lately Aragetty he had the blow up Verlander hasn't been Verlander. You look at the matchups for this weekend and I start to wonder is there not almost an audition going on between now and the end of the regular season where you're going to see what Aragetty does in his last couple starts. And we had kind of penciled in that Blanco's the guy going to the bullpen but Blanco back in the starting rotation. If he's dealing again, is there a chance that he's a guy that kind of gets back into the discussion about a potential playoff starter depending on how long the series is. Yeah, I think it is. I think it's a three-man competition. I think you've got to look at Prober as your one and Hunter as probably your two with Kakuchi right in there as well. So I think those three are probably going to be your likely first three starters and then I think it's a competition. I think it's a competition. Like you mentioned between J.D. and Aragetty and we're now blocking. I really think he's last two weeks or three days because of the discernment to get that four start things can obviously change between now and then and, you know, maybe Kakuchi or Hunter struggle to the point where they don't think that, you know, that they're locked in the postseason but I think that right now those three are good to go. The Prober, you say, and Hunter, but I think that four spot is up and down based on what happened here. How weird is it to be pulling for the Rangers this time of year? Crazy. Although yesterday, yesterday was kind of cool because tomorrow rocker and so, you know, that guy's kind of a stud and it's fun to watch a young guy in his big league debut. We've got all this potential in the world. So that one was a little easy. You have a cheering for the ground tonight or server tomorrow. I'm just glad we have a game at the same time to also worry about it. Have we pretty much written off the fact that as much as it looked like New York and Cleveland were going to be within the realm that right now you just stay hyper focused on handling your business. Make sure you win the division and solidify the fact that you can set up your pitching and get into a wild card series. I was thinking about that on the bus ride because we have a long bus ride over here to stay there. I'm thinking about that on the bus ride because I feel like it's kind of like the train has left. Again, things can change here in the next week and a half where all of a sudden they get within a couple and now you have hope. But I wonder to me, I'd be serious how they've played if there are, let's say, two or three games back going into that last series against Cleveland. Do they play it all the way out where they use a Hunter Brown and a Frobber Valdez the last two games and not have them available in the postseason? To me, that would be a big risk and I don't know how the Astros would play it. But at this point, you know, five and a half back with only a couple of weeks, two and a half weeks left to play. It seems like that train is left, but again, things can change knowing you have three games left week, Cleveland at the end. I almost wish that they don't have that opportunity because I don't want, I don't want them to pitch Hunter and Frobber the last two days and then not have them available for the first round of the Wild Third Series. It'll be a tough decision that they have to make and we'll see a lot of baseball to be played between now and then that'll make that decision easier, of course. Angels, the start of the series tonight. It's been a tough first year for Ron Washington, of course, lost trout for a good chunk of the season. What are the Astros getting in the Angels this weekend? They're getting a lot of new names. I know our advanced team is working hard on the plane and earlier today, trying to get ready for this team because today's guy they've never seen before the first born and raised Italian picture. I don't know if he gets three feet out of Gary. The guy on Sunday, the new guy is 20 year old Hayden Dana, who's one of their top prospects. And then on their position player side, they have three or four guys that have made their debut in the last few weeks. So it's going to be a completely different team that we've seen in the past. They have a few guys you'll recognize. But more than any other team this season, it's a bunch of new guys that nobody's ever heard of. So I guess you don't. I don't know what to expect. I guess it's the way to answer it. I think they're I think their team is beatable. They're the only team that's been eliminated over in the White Sox in the American League. I think they're stepped down from Oakland. So hopefully playing them seven times in 10 days, they went at least five of those days. TK, we've seen a couple of hiccups again, the back end of the bullpen. We see, you know, that there's it seems like we know what the order that they want is supposed to be going, you know, reverse order that you still you want. Hater and you want Presley and you want to Bray you. Uh, Narris has been okay. Taylor Scott looked like for a time there that maybe he's had a lot of innings and he needed a little break. But how do you see how imperative is it now that we talked about the starters? We talked about Tucker, but how imperative is that then now a spotter starts to kind of figure out and solidify his pecking order at the back of the bullpen and pretty much throughout that bullpen. Yeah, I think you've got a pretty good idea right now. I think you kind of mentioned that he still likes Presley in the eighth and he likes Hater in the ninth and then that seventh inning has been mostly Brian to bring you. Obviously he can mix a match with Hector Maris and Taylor Scott in those innings as well. But he likes those guys in the sixth and maybe seventh of a brain he has been used up. But then he has a lot of comfort in those five guys and now, you know, Taylor Ferguson and Brian saying guys that are lucky to come in and get a spot in the lineup if they're overloaded with that piece as well. Uh, I think Joe's really comfortable with where he's open is right now, but going back to something we talked about earlier. If you're really stressing to try and catch, leaving that last weekend, you know, not only does that change possibly the calculus in your starting rotation. But it could also change the bullpen dynamic of those guys are throwing a couple of games, two or three games in that period and clean on the game. The series in the wild card would start on Tuesday. If you don't get that. Yeah, that's some things that they're going to have to think about TK. We appreciate the time. Have a great call this weekend. Appreciate you guys. I always talk to you in a week. Hopefully they'll be a little bit closer to where they are now. Yeah, that'd be good news. Todd Callis conversation brought to you by Gulf Coast Chevy Buick GMC in Engleton. Start shopping for your new vehicle at Lance Z cars.com. How important are the starts this weekend for Justin Verlander and Renelle Blanco? Will the starts determine their playoff potential in the rotation? It's the bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5. We're listening to the ESPN 97 5. Now back to the killer bees. On ESPN 97 5 and 92 5. Live from the Veritex community bank studios. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. Astros play baseball this weekend, but if you're a rocky on ESPN Houston, the YouTube, it's football season. Astro ship is held. Has the Astros ship sailed 7 1 3 7 8 0 3 7 7 6? Is Rocky right? Has the Astro ship sailed 7 1 3 7 8 0 3 7 7 6? Come on, Rock, you're better than that. It hasn't even started to set sail yet. When it starts getting into the prime time of the real, the real deal of the playoffs, that's ridiculous. Should the Astros make it? Should they make the playoffs? Should they? No, I'm saying. Should they make it? Oh, yeah. I still firmly believe they're going to make it. I mean, you actually make me feel better when, yeah, you also made me feel better when the fact that we hadn't looked at the final wildcard spot to know that even if they don't win the division, there is an opportunity to get in as that final wildcard. I still firmly believe they're going to win the division. I mean, the Rangers helped you yesterday, so that you have a four and a half game lead going into play today. So I wouldn't call it comfortable, but four and a half game lead, 16 to play. That's nice. Yeah, for sure. I was going to say, I thought 17 left with 16 left and you got, you're up. Yeah, I'll take that. They do play Seattle for three though. So there is. There is that. I would like the Astros lead to be greater than three whenever they take on Seattle. But Verlanar will start the game tomorrow. Kakuchi tonight, of course, Verlanar tomorrow and there were now Blanco pitches on Sunday. How important are these starts for Justin Verlanar and El Blanco, especially when you're talking about, should I make the playoffs, their role in a playoff rotation potentially? I just think it's huge. That's why I threw it out to TK as well because of the fact that we were talking about, Hey, look, in a short series, you know, you don't have to worry about it too much because it's probably going to be as we spelled out and TK back to sub. It's going to be Hunter Brown and Frohmer and Kakuchi, the first three and not in that order. And then you go from there as you get into the next series or you need more starting pitching. But as you get deeper into the playoffs, you got to figure out who you believe in, who's capable, who's pitched the best. And that's why I think it's almost an open audition and as much as everybody had kind of penciled in, Renelle Blanco, to be a guy had pitched in the bullpen before Dana Brown mentioned Blanco was the guy when they went from the six man to the five man that he would go to the bullpen. He probably needed it because he's thrown so many innings already. But if he now comes out this weekend and he's dealing, and I think especially if Verlander and/or Aragetty struggled down the stretch, you've got another guy that's fully capable that needs to be in the consideration of being a starter, not just a bullpen guy and Aragetty and Verlander speak for themselves. They have to be able to step up. I don't care what the back of the baseball card says about Justin Verlander. And I don't care how many times we've heard Espara and Dana and everybody talk about velocity and talk about the shape of the pitches. Just get guys out and try and show some kind of a semblance of being the old Justin Verlander because otherwise I don't care what you've done in the past. I can't throw you out there questioning and crossing my fingers whether you can be capable of doing what you used to do because so far since you've come back from the injured list, you haven't been able to do it. Yeah. I mean, are we just locking in Kakuchi at this point? I think I am. I think I think he's just been too good for too long since he put on an Astros uniform that he's shown he's going to keep you in a ballgame. He's capable of giving you a quality start and he's striking guys out too. I think that Kakuchi is a solidified three. Yeah, I would agree with that. I think we sleep on Blanco quite a bit, actually. Blanco has been really stinking good this year. I think we underrate Blanco. And part of it's probably because he hasn't pitched as great in the second half as he did in the first half. But we're now Blanco has a sub three ERA. We're now Blanco has the fourth best ERA in all of the American League. So like we look at Blanco, we're like, oh, okay, he's not going to hold up, shouldn't get a playoff start. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Even his most recent start that we went five shuttings against the Royals who was a playoff caliber team. He's had some rough starts along the way, especially in the second half, but he's been mostly good. And if you're asking me who would I rather start a playoff game tomorrow, Justin Verlander or no Blanco, I'm picking Blanco. Blanco's been better. That's why I threw him into the mix because of the fact that when you look at it, you say, well, it wasn't anything about his effectiveness or being able to get guys out and keep teams down. It was more so they were concerned about how taxing the amount of innings have been on him. And like you mentioned, because of the fact he didn't look like first half Blanco because he had his shoulder so much of the load for so long. And take all the extra innings. If the skipping a start and getting them a little rest kind of gives them a little bit more juice. So now he's going to be capable of going deeper into games when you need them the most. With all the injuries that you've had from the pitching staff perspective, the fact that you still have you're in a positive spot with opportunities to have another backup plan in place. If your initial plan of moving him to the bullpen and figuring out between Verlander and/or Aragetti gives you the opportunity to slide someone else in there and it's Renelle Blanco, absolutely go for it because at this point in time, I'm getting more on your side of the coin on this one of I don't care about feelings. I don't care because I don't care about Justin Verlander whether he's back next year or not. I care about winning games this year for this team, for all they've been through and where they've been capable of getting to. I care about winning games when it matters most and if Verlander's showing me an offer and a bloated ERA and he's not getting guys out, then I don't care what his resume is. I care about winning baseball games. I'll skip him and I'll do the same with an Aragetti if it means I'm getting a guy like Blanco's capable who's pitching really well. I really don't even need him to go deep into games. You're talking about the postseason. It's probably five innings and give me to the bullpen. It's like, I don't even need Blanco to go six innings, which might make it more of the reason you would go Blanco because Blanco not really goes deep into games in the second half, but he'll give you five shutout innings. He'll give you a lot of pitches, but I don't worry about that. Especially in the playoffs, I'm not worrying about a seven innings start. Give me through five innings, give up a run. Do that for me and then we'll hopefully score some runs and then turn it over to our bullpen with a lead. That's all you can ask for for number four. No, the hook is quicker in the playoffs regardless, but you look at what Kakuchi's been able to give you until recently too. He couldn't give you six, but the five, five and a third, five and two thirds. He was lights out. He was keeping it with it. If anything, you give up a run or two. The last start he gave him, I think, four. Overall, he has been so good at at least bridging the gap. And if the hook's quicker in the playoffs and you've got guys capable in your bullpen, we know what the last three guys are, but you also have guys like Scott and and Narris, and even, you know, King and to some degree, you know, Ferguson that can get guys out, even an ort that'll get you three outs so that you do get you bridge the gap to get into that seventh inning and then you can really go to town with the back end of your bullpen. That's the thing that we need to kind of condition ourselves, though. I don't think the Astros are getting a buy. I don't think the Astros are avoiding a wild card series. It's a three man rotation. It's not even a four man rotation. So if we're, if we're already booking Kakuchi as your number three starter, this conversation's moot. It doesn't matter what Verlanter does. It doesn't matter what Eric Getty does. It doesn't matter what Blanco does. They're pitching out of the bullpen. But I think that expectation is that they're going to win that series and they get to a longer series, then you still are going to have that decision to make and you're going to have to pretty much have it. You know, you're all your intel already to know which way you're leaning and that's why with these games down the stretch. I think it's you have to get to a kind of clear cut pot, you know, clear cut situation where if we move on to the next round and we need four starters. I know because of what I saw down the stretch, Blanco's my guy, Verlanter's my guy, Eric Getty's my guy, and then we'll figure out the rest of it in terms of how we fill out the rest of the pitching staff. And if a guy's going to be able to be able to come out of the pen or not like we've heard about JV, I'll deal with that. But I want to know going into the playoffs. If we get to a seven game series, if we get to a longer series, my four starter, I know who it's going to be. Yeah, you're not looking like managers. I'm going to do that, though. Like they're not looking at the division. No, they're not even looking ahead. But you're in a wild car series. That's all you're worried about. I get that. But I'm saying, as it relates to if you advance to the next series, you all, when you get to that next series, you want to already know. Look, what I saw and their performance from, you know, down the stretch tells me that guy's going to be the four. Yeah, I don't even think that again, it's going to be a three man rotation before it's a four man rotation. So, like, that's the conversation before the four man, assuming you win a wild card, that's when the four man comes into play. I think they can even go the route where they don't even announce like their game three game four starter, like they might as well. Okay, from a hundred. And it also is going to depend on who's, you know, rested because a from a hundred brown, both have to pitch in a wild card series and should you be lucky enough to win a wild card series. One of those guys probably wouldn't be available for game one. That's how I was thinking to, but the fear factor is in in all of this is that we talked about the fact from an organizational standpoint. There, I firmly believe that they're going to force feed Justin Verlander into the mix. If for that forced for starter, regardless of what he does, I just feel like, whether you feel like you owe it to him or the back of the baseball card or whatever it is. It does scare me that no matter who pitches really good down the stretch, that Justin Verlander has a trump card that might be used. Yeah, I would hope that doesn't come into play. Like, if Erlanger doesn't earn a start, then that's a big time issue. And we'll be blasting it. We blasting it. Now, hopefully, Verlander pitches really well in his last few starts and say, okay, he should get a playoff start. He should be your fourth starter. And if he gets hit early, well, then you quickly turn to Renelle Blanco or Spencer Araghetti. Maybe you're viewing that as a very short leash. If you have to piggyback it, you piggyback it. You can also have the weapons of Renelle Blanco and Spencer Araghetti if you need to go to a starter early in one of those other games you're not expecting to, or if you have an extra inning game. Like, we don't have the Manford man in the postseason. So if you have to go to the extra innings, you don't have the Manford man. You're talking about the potential of a long game, like Seattle where they went 18. It landed way back in the day where they went 18. Like, it does help if you have a guy in the bullpen or two that can give you multiple innings. Like, it can be an asset for you. So that that would be helpful from an Araghetti Blanco perspective, but Verlander would have to earn being a no doubt for a starter for this team. Because you're not just looking for an innings eater at that point. You're looking at an innings eater that can mow guys down because, you know, that is the the do or die, you know, win or go home kind of mentality you got to have. So yeah, it's still a good position to be in if the guys were talking about all kind of get back to form. JV, I think is the biggest concern. And then Araghetti's got it. You know, you don't know, forget the postseason experience. He just has to get the form of the month of August or some or most. Look, resemble it to a certain degree to where you can consider him. And then Blanco, I think, has never done anything to steer you off the fact that he's capable of getting guys out and giving you five solid inning. If Verlander doesn't earn the start in his next few starts, they should fake an injury. They should fake an injury because he doesn't give you anything out of the ball. No, and it saves the embarrassment of leaving them off the playoff roster and just said, hey, he's hurt. He's not going to be able to pitch. He's still going to be with us. And then everybody can just kind of wash their hands in it. Yeah. All right. 713780 ESPN. Is there any possibility of going Verlander and Araghetti to finish a game than risking a close game to Hater? No, like, if it's a close game, you have a lead late. You're not picking Araghetti over a Brailleur, Presley Hater, Araghetti out of the bullpen. He's either coming into Bridget to that back into the bullpen or you're in an extra inning game, but you're not using Araghetti over Hater. A key from L.A. Y'all know darn well, Verlander will get a playoff start. And for later pitches to a 90 year reign, his final three starts of the year, I don't think so. I don't think so. I just, I keep, we keep talking about it and I bring it up because of the fact, I just believe that there's a chance because of the way the organization feels they're going to try and force feed that on us. I hope to God, that's not true. I hope that cooler heads prevail and smarter people get into the decision of putting the best guy out there, but I legit think there's a chance. King says he's already said he's not hurt. It was mechanical. They can't play that car. Yes, they can. He aggravated it in his most recent start, King. Come on, Astros get hurt all the time. He could be running in the outfield and something could happen. We felt a twinge. DJ V to look somewhat like his old self at 41. I am not counting on him dominating again. Facts. Alright, 713, 780, 3776. Who said it? B-Mac has had our number. We try to get off the snide. Blankers might go slumpbuster to do so. It's who said it next with the B's on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. New listening to ESPN 97.5. It's now time for super producer Brian McDonald, AKA Tremach. I'm rude to do his best to stump Joel and Jeremy. Well, I'm stumped. It's everyone's favorite segment. Yeah, everyone loves it. Right, exactly. Who said it? Who said it? He said it with the killer B's. Alright, who said it with the B's? B-Mac greets us five quotes, said by ESPN 97.5 personalities, and then we guess who said it. Everybody was here this week. No vacations. As far as I know. Like the infamous week where Lance was gone and we were guessing Lance all in white. Man. So no one was out, right? Everybody was here. I think I might have been the only one that did that perfectly. I believe so. Alright, alright. Get a soft one this week. Alright, one on number one. On soft contact, which does seem to be an issue of late, they have the most errors in baseball since July 30th. They're really struggling. I have an idea. Since they can't handle soft contact, can airbud play in the infield because golden retrievers are so good at softly. Picking up things. What? Soft contact, is it like a super casual word? Who's pulling airbud? Lance? I think Lance could, I think Granada could, I think Del could, I think Paul could. Would Paul? I don't know if Paul says soft contact, unless he saw a tweet or something. Is he old enough to know airbud? Oh yeah, I think he'll definitely know airbud. Although I wouldn't, I wouldn't use it in like my vernacular. I know who airbud is, but it's like on the tip of my head where I'm like yeah, airbud. Can you read that one again? That one's weird to me. Sure. On soft contact, which does seem to be an issue of late, they have the most errors in baseball since July 30th. They're really struggling. I have an idea. Since they can't handle soft contact, can airbud play in the infield because golden retrievers are so good at softly. They're so good at softly picking up things. I don't know, that's a weird one. I think, I think the first part they're probably reading a tweet. No, they mentioned it on the telecast. Okay. But the airbud, the minute I heard airbud I thought Lance. Cause I don't think Granada's pulling that, but I think that, why am I looking at Brian? Cause he's not, he's going to give me the straight face. I actually think Lance could pull that move. Do you think they would have had to watch the game to say that? I think, I think it's Lance's really poor attempt at humor. But do you think he would have had to watch the game to pull that stat? I do. Do you think Lance is watching these games? He does. Okay. Alright, let's do it. Lance or Lance? On soft contact, they have the most errors in baseball since July 30th. They're really struggling. I have an idea because they can't handle soft contact. Can airbud play in the infield? Alright, we had to get to the airbud part. Yeah, just let it keep going just to rub it in. Thanks. Alright, number two. You're not out of it. Don't worry about it. If Travis Kelsey decided he was going to make that podcast, of course, they went in his relationship pretty quickly. If he was going to make it like a, like a log of everything he does with Taylor Swift, I would listen. But he's not going to do it cause he, he knows better. So I'm not going to listen to the two brothers go back and forth. I don't care. I think it's a Del vibe there. Yeah, because Joe would listen. I think, and Joe's a podcast listener. I think he would like all that. I think Paul would like all that. I think if it's Del or the, the morning guys. You just want to go with Del? Yeah, let's just do Del. If Travis Kelsey decided he was going to make that podcast, of course. Alright, there we go. One, one. Quote number three. Will Levis had his, had a sex tape, uh, leaked online, uh, this offseason. And this was worse than that. This was way more embarrassing than that. Yeah, because honestly, like that, I mean, listen, like that's an, an attractive moment. It's a shame that someone stole, like, you know, that broke their privacy and stuff. But like, this was way worse talking about his games, his gaming pick six. I should have said that at the front. Joe talking about Levis as it relates to the Bears. That was why I was at. Yeah, kind of sounds like Joe. Yeah, kind of does sound like the Joe delivery too. I didn't know that Levis had one of those. It was a few weeks ago that it came out. Really? Yeah, I didn't know about that. Interesting. Do you want to go Joe? I feel good about it. Yeah, let's do it. Will Levis had his, had sex tape, leaked online, uh, this offseason. This was worse than that. This is way more embarrassing than that. I think it's, all right, still time to rebound, still time to rebound. It was that you had the conversation right, but dang it. Wrong host. All right, quote number four. When he sees a lamb playing quarterback, he mutilates them. But then, but when, when he sees a lion, well, wolves, wolves don't win. Well, I guess a pack of wolves might win, but if wolves against the lion and he's supported, forget about it. What the hell was that? I can't give you the exact names of the people involved because they would give it away, but it's talking about a defensive coordinator playing back quarterbacks. Was that Granados forget about it? Or is that too big of a clue? I think Brian or is Brian trying to like how all over the place that throws off the stink. It was a little bit difficult transcribing it. Yeah. Forget about it. It's like manure. It was spread out all over the place that had a ton of stuff to it. I think that I don't know. Can I have a little more time for anything? Because I think you deserved after we did it again. I think you were very rolling off the stink here. All right. When he sees a lamb playing quarterback, he mutilates them. But then, but when, when he sees like a lion, well, wolves don't win. Well, I guess a pack of wolves might win, but if wolves against the lion and he's supported, forget about it. I can hear Joe saying I don't think so. No. There's a lot going on there. Like you have to be kind of a disturbed mind, I think. So who you saying it is? So Joe's not a disordered mind? Seriously. Who you think it is that? Paul again? Paul Granado. I think it could be Lance to forget about it. Weird to me. I think Brian did that on purpose. I've been surprised for the police. But going Paul would be three. Three Pauls. Yeah, I don't, I don't think it's Paul. I don't think it's Joe. I don't want to say it. What? You don't want to say who it is then because how you set it up. What do you mean? Then it must be someone that's like... No, I think it could be Lance. Oh. I think it could be Lance. I don't think it's Granado. I think the forget about it. That's what I thought I thought you were going to say. No. Because I mean, Brian could have easily left that out. Like it's the last little word. Like you wouldn't, you don't have to use the last part of it. You could just kind of, you know, trim that out. I think he left that in there to try to blow up. We haven't used Lance yet. I don't think so. All right. We might have guessed Lance, but he hasn't been. Lance has not been it correct yet. Well, he said that quick though. It's almost like he wants us to say Lance. I just don't want to get accused of being bush-like. Let me answer every week. So it's Paul. I don't know if I'm going that far into the... I think I got to read on him. I think I might be Paul. Three Pauls. I mean, he's done four. I don't... I don't like it, but... What do you want to say, Lance? You kind of talked me into Lance, where I definitely could see Lance. Who was your first guess? Joe. I don't think it's Joe. I don't think it's Joe. Well, it's where you want to go. You call it Lance or Paul? Lance... When he sees a lamb on his tail playing quarterback, he mutilates them. But then, when he sees like a lion, well, wolves don't win. Well, I guess a pack of wolves might win. Who's talking about wolves against a lion? He's talking about Brian for us. Get about it. If I told you it was about Brian for us, I think you would give away your tail because of the dolphins connections. Yeah. All right. Last one. We were never there. So, if you ask, it's going to be Poppin' this year in Houston. Because of that Christmas day game, it's going to be... They might have to add a second service. Granado, 'cause he's going to midnight mass. I don't think anybody else is. Maybe Lance gives it his daughter. It's going to be Poppin'. [laughs] Old Granado used Poppin'? Yeah. I think he could. You think it's Lance, though? I think it's Lance. His body is very, very, very church-going. I don't even think he needs that they have to go. Okay. Poppin' is the only thing for me who would say that. Lance has got enough kids that one of them would probably keep him in tune with what's hit. Yeah. And that really, at this point, I don't care. I don't really understand if we're not going to win. So, do you want to say Lance? Yeah, let's do it. Lance. Midnight Mass. Poppin' Joe? It's that Christmas day game. It's going to be... They might have added a second service. I never thought it would. All right. Should have gone with the youngest host. Yeah. That's the Poppin' was the word. Joe's the youngest host? Yeah. He looks the oldest. Well, he didn't shave his face until Mike Dicke must have decided help. He said it's been so long since he shaved his beard. He didn't find out how sensitive his skin was. He had to rash all over his face this morning. What did he shave with? I guess he did the razor, the electric, and then he did the shaver on top of it. Man, he's a few lessons. I guess so. Kind of shave his face. That Dicke look was not good for him. What was the worst part of it? Everything. He said he's wearing it to the game, too. The sweater vest? He's going to be hot. Yeah. He's going to be hot because the roof's going to be open. It's going to be hot. I'm an anti roof, by the way. That's a deep cover, by the way. What's that? That they're doing everything to distract you from the fact that they're probably open in the roof because that roof ain't ready and they don't want that on national TV. Yeah, it matters. I think it does a lot. Why? They're doing fireworks. They're doing pre-game fireworks. They're doing light up things. They're doing all these things because they're probably not to the point where they thought they were going to be when they told everybody by the first home game that the roof, at least one of the panels, will be ready if not both. Otherwise, why at 90 degrees at night? Are you opening the roof? Maybe you're onto something. Yeah. I really believe that. DJ, B, enemies, and me join us at five o'clock. I want to dive into the article that he wrote on CJ Stroud and how big of a freak CJ Stroud is. He's on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. Hey, before we go to the break, a word from a good friend, Doc Linville and the Neograph Procedure and the PRP Treatments that he does right here in the Med Center. Phenomenal guy, great at what he does and he's the best in the business of getting your hair back. If you're a guy and you're losing your hair and you don't think there's anything you can do about it and you just don't want to get into the sprays and the creams and the foams or the rugs that you're just going to mask the problem. There's a real solution and as Doc Linville explained it to me, he told me about the fact that you're never going to lose the hair on the sides in the back of your head no matter how bald you go in other areas. He's able to repurpose some of that where you need it most. That's the Neograph Procedure. 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So we haven't done it yet. You didn't miss it. Key from L.A. The roof will be open for Sunday's game. It's all over the internet. Thanks, Keith. We knew that. You kind of just said that. Thanks for putting it. I don't know what you were listening to there. Key from L.A. Yes. We know that the roof is going to be open. I think Blanker's theories. I think Blanker's theories is right. It's not just as simple as the announcement that they made, but then they started with all this pregame fireworks halftime, they're going to have things on the seat so that they're going to light up the, you know, turn down the lights and light up the stands. It's all a distraction so that you don't, especially on national TV, draw attention to the fact your roof looks like crap and your Home Depot order is late. Yeah. Cau. Mm hmm. The, um, if the roof was fine though, I would, I would rather have the roof closed because I don't want to sit in a, in a bowl. That's 90 degrees. Whatever. It could be 72. If it was a good fall night or a, you know, a winter night here in Houston and it was in the 50s or 60s. It was crisp at night. It was clear. Open the roof and show it off, but no, if it's 90 degrees and especially since you're not practicing outside in it where you could have an advantage over your opponent, yeah, I'm just not for that because kickoffs at seven supposed to be about 87 to 90 to be like 90 87, 90 degree. Yeah. I ain't doing that. That's terrible. Well, I would think yeah, it makes no sense. Yeah, it's a complete. Yeah, I think because I saw that and I was like, everybody's like celebrating all the roofs going to be open. You're going to be in a sauna like you're going to be miserable. It's going to be 87 to 90 degrees and I was like, close the roof. But now that you, you spell it out like that. They are hell bent on the fact because you think about how, how they've been adamant forever in a day. They don't open the roof and they care about their, they care about their PR, they care about their look. Yeah. Because what would happen if they closed it, you'd have camera shots that different parts of the game. I think about how many times NBC does the area. Right. You see it there too. Yeah, the light, the light draws even more attention to the two gaping long strips that are open. Would you, you think they would do it if it was just a random noon CBS game? At least once. I think that no, you think they would have it open though? Oh, yeah. I still think they will. I don't. I don't. You think you think they care more about their look. It's on national TV. I do too. Yeah. If it's a regional game, they would, they would shut it knowing they've done it in the pre-season and knowing it's also going to be substantially probably hotter than 90 87 to 90. Yes. It's an afternoon game 61 0 0, the fireworks before the game makes me think that Blankers is correct. Yeah. I'm buying this. Cash it. Cash it. I'm passionate. Blankers. That's a good call. I really believe that because I rather sit in the, I, I, I rather sit in 72 degrees than 85 degrees. Oh, yeah. A roof open. You're going to be miserable. The Pittsburgh game and the Kansas City game when they first started to figure out that the way that the architecture and everything was done, that the sun was shining and right on their sideline, not the other teams and all the, the sweet holders, they had to install awnings because of the fact that all the season ticket holders and sweet holders were complaining about how hot it was. And they realized that they probably should have done things differently. And that's when they started closing the roof all the time because they care about how ticked off their fans. It was, I remember it was the Pittsburgh game, because the idea was open the roof and wear white jersey. So the sealers have to play in the heat with black jerseys and that would just completely take them out of it. Of course, the sealers. The last in both games were out of both games by halftime and the sun was beaten down on their sideline. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely think that this is a complete distraction job for the fact that that roof ain't right. Yeah. I'm lying. I'm buying it. Uh, injury report out. Damien Pierce questionable with a Hammy. Uh, so Joe Nixon is going to carry it 35 times, uh, juice scrubs growing questionable. That would stink. That's the one that bothers me the most. Jared Patterson would be the guy to fill in. MJ Stewart out Nico Collins is a full participant today and then Dalton Schultz was a full participant. So they'll, they'll both play. It seems. Yeah. Juice drugs. The one that were sweating. Yep. I don't like that at all because look as good the continuity and as effective and good as that offensive line was specifically in the run game. I don't want to think about week two all of a sudden your center is out and you've got to already immediately get started plugging other guys in. I wasn't there yet with this off with this line. I thought this was going to be the year that we escaped musical chairs that we, if everybody stays in and builds continuity at their given position, it's only going to get better. And now we're thinking about juice missing a game. That would suck. Yeah. All right. So DJB enemies will be joining us in about seven minutes. He wrote an article earlier this week talking about CJ Stroud and kind of, you know, his leadership and some of the stuff that he's done, et cetera, et cetera. Um, a couple of pieces from this, you can find this go to DJ DJ's Twitter, DJB, anime. I would, I would recommend this read. They were talking about the, they were talking about their prep for week one between the Colts and the Texans and they were going over like how they want certain routes to be. And, you know, actually it was Stefan Diggs that was being pretty vocal and after a few minutes of back and forth between the coaches and the players, everyone turned around and looked at CJ Stroud and Stroud had the final say. So in a room that has Stefan Diggs as Nico Collins has been paid, who Bobby Sloeck who's going to be an NFL head coach, we all think next year, after a healthy conversation between all parties, they're like, Hey, CJ, what do you think? And CJ Stroud's final answer was the say, like that shows how much respect he has and like the command he has of the room. It's a really, really good article that DJ wrote and it gives you kind of what we've already heard about. We heard it all the way back to Ohio State, how he's a football nerd and he's an exes and owes guy and he knows the playbook inside and out and he's like constantly trying to learn and absorb more about football and the offense and everything else. And this just kind of solidified everything to say now the coaching staff basically went to him first to say we want the first year was just about you grasping the position. Now we want you to kind of get to that mode that we've seen the Peyton Manning's and the Aaron Rodgers that become kind of like the overall coach in general on the field that's doing everything. That's what they wanted him to kind of evolve into and it seems like he's taking that next step. He has the respect of all of his players, but now the coaches believe that he knows of a guy's out of position. He could put him in the right position. He knows where everybody has to be for the play to be successful. And then he also knows because they said that he studies so much film that he can tell you based on defenses that certain teams use and what they're going to do against it, like what plays would work best from their playbook. That's just another level to why you love CJ shroud because you don't know how many guys would be willing to do this, spend the time on it and have the intellect to kind of exit, you know, to in his mind, figure things out. It's kind of next level stuff that really makes you even more happy that he's a Texan. Ryan told ESPN for CJ was about taking more command. He's done that. The man is a football junkie. That's the one thing you have to be for the quarterback spot. And that's what allows CJ to be great. I want my quarterbacks to be football junkies like I rather than be football junkies than not be football junkies. So David Kully talked about junkies, but give me a quarterback that's a football junkie. There was a piece about how, you know, he was in the Super Bowl and he was there with the Kardashians and Russell Wilson and, you know, Michael Rubin, the fanatic CEO. He was texting Gerard Johnson about the San Francisco 49ers defense during that. Like this is what they're doing. These are things we can implement was like like some things he saw from Kansas city's offense. Like we need to apply some of this stuff, which speaks to the fact that he's a football junkie. That's just awesome. The fact that he's so dialed in that it's not just enjoying the Super Bowl because your season's over and you're not playing. They made mention of the fact that he does this with some of the top teams in the AFC, but at the Super Bowl in particular, that he's actually texting Gerard Johnson to try to talk about plays and what could beat the defense and what's the best place to call in those situations. I just think that that's the kind of next level stuff that even if you are a successful quarterback in this league, how many guys are doing that? Not many. Nope. Not many. Probably very, very few. Maybe like, you know, my homes. Maybe it. Like if he's not, if there's nothing, no game next week, my homes likes to party it up a little bit. Party. Party. What do you mean party? My homes likes to get, he likes his, his likes as Granados. He likes his Coors lights. You've seen my homes ringing Coors lights? Oh, all over. You didn't see it. Did you see, did you watch the match? No, with him and Kelsey? No, I did not. His entire cart was loaded up with them and they were talking about how the fact that that's part of their golf. Okay. Well, that's in the off season. You're not saying, but if you're in the off season, you're not playing. If he was in the same position as CJ Stroud, your season's over. You're in a sweep. Well, he was never. He has been in that position. Right. I'm saying. He's playing in them. Right. But if he was, I never really know. I mean, my home season going to Cabo during his bi-week. He was open after they won their game Thursday night and him and Kelsey and they had the days off. Right. But they're tipping Bebs and watching tennis. They like to have their beverages. He was, he was taking in, you know, the, the tennis players and how they can use their competitiveness to better the Kansas City Chiefs, I think. Final one. I just didn't know him as a partier. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. The whole Tahoe. I mean, he went to Texas Tech. Yeah. Let me see. CJ Stroud went to Ohio State. I think the parties are better at Texas Tech. At least more wild than Ohio State. He's never been doing a Ohio State party. I don't know. Is there anything else to do in Lubbock, Texas? Is there anything else to do with Columbus? I've never been to Columbus. I've never been to Columbus. I've been to Lubbock though. There's nothing there. You can see, you know, all across the land too. It's so flat. Final one, when the, when the Texans traded for Joe Mixon and Stefan Digg, Stroud invited them to his house to watch film to teach them their offensive scheme and show them how they can be incorporated, like, awesome to hear for a quarterback, also like kind of weird. Yeah. That always sounds like a, like a pyramid scheme. Here's how you fit into this sales, sales initiative. If we got a, if we got a new show, like after us or whatever, from like seven to ten, I, I'm not calling them and being like, Hey, come over to the house. Just talk about, you know, game plan, let's talk about how we're going to execute the show. That's just because you hate people. Yeah, that's true. I, I was thinking about this when reading it going, if I'm mixing in digs, I really like that my franchise quarterback of my new team wants to get to know me, but I'm not sure I want to go over to his house and watch game film to build the relationship. It's kind of like, it's a little creepy. Yeah. A little different. Never met that guy. I know. Well, he met digs at the Pro Bowl. Like there was that big guy. Really weird if it was your first meeting. Like, you've never talked to the guy. It takes you. Hey, you want to come over and watch. If you've gone to dinner a couple of times and then you have the film session, cool. But if that's the first time you've met that weird, the good one was to then after that subsequently, he lined up at the University of Miami, a three day workout for him and the tight ends and the receivers and everybody and he got the Airbnb's lined up and did the whole thing so that the guys could build camaraderie and, and run some, some offense. I love that. Alex says, why wasn't he, why wasn't he texting Bobby Sloak? It's interesting. That's interesting. That is a good question, Alec. That's a pretty good question. Maybe because the things to ride is the future. I see. I don't know. Probably because maybe because Bobby Sloak was interviewing the jobs. Super Bowl. I think he was pretty much out by the Super Bowl. I don't think so. I think he was asked for the Super Bowl. I think he was still in the running for at least one or two jobs. No, the super jobs are wrapped up before the Super Bowl. Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're all filled. I thought he was the one, wasn't Washington one of the last ones. He was still one of the finalists for one of the jobs. I thought that Washington go past the Super Bowl. I didn't think it did. Let's pull it down. I thought it did. Washington hires Dan Quinn February 3rd. That was before the Super Bowl. When the women's Super Bowl like February 10th or something like that. Was it that late? I thought it was like one of the first couple days of February. No, it's usually the second Sunday of February, I think. Let's move back. Super Bowl was played on February 12th. Okay. Yeah, so that would have been a week after. Yeah, I just thought Sloak was still in the running for a job, because that would make sense that he's probably not going to be with us. So yeah, it wouldn't that though. Phillip, 68, CJ is the opposite of Deshawn. Yeah, that's true. Pretty much true. Deshawn wouldn't have invited Mixin and Diggs over to watch film because he was in other places. He's doing other things from the Houstonian. All right. DJB anime. Great, great piece by DJ. Let's talk to DJ when we return, covers the Texans for ESPN ESPN.com. Well, chat with him when we come back. It is the bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5. Do you have trouble getting in and out of the bathtub? Are you afraid you'll slip and fall? This iHeart radio station is brought to you by Vitamin Water. Owning a rental property sounds like a dream until you realize how much work goes into getting it ready. Determine a competitive rent price, market the property, schedule the showing screen tenants draft at the lease at a rent collection, handle maintenance requests, make a communication. Whew. Sound complicated? Renters' warehouse is here to take the hard work off your rental to-do list. Qualify tenants? Check. Rent collection? Check. 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