How Fox Sports' rant against Texans player completely misses the point!
HOT AIR
08 March 2024
A new low for Skip Bayless and Keyshawn Johnson. Composite Image by Brandon Strange.
Coming off a big contract extension with the Houston Texans, tight end Dalton Schultz joined The Pat McAfee show to discuss his new deal, and the Texans' success in the 2023 season.
Schultz spoke about head coach DeMeco Ryans and the culture he has created with the team. McAfee followed up by asking about the differences between the Texans and Schultz's former team, the Dallas Cowboys.
Dalton spoke about how it was a more public environment in Dallas, and how the facility is open to the public at times, with tours coming through.
Little did he know at the time, Schultz's comments caught like wildfire, after he compared the environment to a “zoo,” with people watching you through glass while you're getting in your workout.
People like Skip Bayless and Keyshawn Johnson took his assessment as disrespect to the Cowboys. When Schultz was really only answering a specific question from McAfee.
But in this world of headline manipulation and social media, Keyshawn and Skip acted like Schultz was rubbing the Texans' success in the faces of the Cowboys and their fans.
But here is what everyone is getting wrong. "Zoo" has different meanings.
1. An establishment which maintains a collection of wild animals for study, conservation, or display to the public.
2. A situation characterized by confusion and disorder.
Clearly, Dalton was referring to the first definition. He literally talked about people taking tours through the facility, watching players workout, and even tapping on the glass of two-way mirrors.
But because the Cowboys are an easy target after flaming out in the first round of the playoffs, people are trying to make it look like Schultz was referring to the second definition of “Zoo.”
Which does make some sense, owner Jerry Jones does have a reputation for running his organization like a carnival barker. But that's not what Schultz was talking about in the interview.
Keyshawn and Skip are acting like he has a grudge against Jerry Jones and the Cowboys because they parted ways after the 2022 season. When in reality, Dalton was saying something positive about his current team that just rewarded him with a 3-year, $36 million contract extension.
Bayless regularly complains about how Jones runs his franchise, and would also like to see Mike McCarthy fired as head coach. We believe Skip and the rest of the media are using this quote to overblow a controversy that never existed, based on their own insecurities about the Dallas franchise.
Be sure to check out the video above as we call Keyshawn and Skip out for their ridiculous takes on the situation.
How the Altuve experiment embodies the Astros’ changing philosophies
Feb 20, 2025, 3:52 pm
With overnight temperatures dipping into the 20s this week in Houston, it seems good timing to have the warm thoughts of baseball being back, at least spring training games. The Astros have more shakiness about their squad than they have had in nearly a decade, but the Astros still have a nucleus of an American League West contender. With the exits of Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, it’s just a notably different nucleus than in recent years.
Jose Altuve is the last remaining mainstay of the greatest era in Astros’ history, and he is one of the biggest stories of their preseason as he for the time being at least is left fielder Jose Altuve. By every indication he is embracing the challenge with class and energy. The obvious impetus for test driving the move is the soon-to-be 35 years old Altuve’s defensive deterioration. It can be tough for the player himself to notice that his range has declined. The voiding of defensive shifts after the 2022 season shined a brighter light on Altuve’s D decline. Still, last season Altuve made his ninth All-Star team and despite also displaying some offensive decline remained the clearly best offensive second baseman in the American League. It’s part of the tradeoff of reducing the defensive workload on Yordan Alvarez, and hoping to upgrade defensively at second with some combo of Mauricio Dubon, Brendan Rodgers, or other.
The natural comparison in Astros’ history of a franchise icon losing his defensive spot and making a late-career position change is to Craig Biggio. Biggio’s All-Star days were behind him when the Astros moved him from second base to center field for the 2003 season because of the signing of free agent Jeff Kent. It spoke to the athlete Biggio was that at 37 years old he could make the move at all. After not quite a season and a half in center, Biggio moved to left when the Astros traded for young stud center fielder Carlos Beltran. Both Kent and Beltran left in free agency after the 2004 season, and Biggio moved back to second for the final three seasons of his career.
Second basemen are often second basemen and not shortstops in part because of their throwing arms. Altuve’s throwing arm will be an issue in left field. Even though Daikin Park has the smallest square footage of fair territory in Major League Baseball because of its left to left-center field dimensions, Altuve’s arm will be a liability. In understandably wanting to put an optimistic spin on things, manager Joe Espada and general manager Dana Brown have talked of how Altuve will be able to get momentum behind throws more so than when playing second. That’s true when camping under a fly ball in the outfield. That is not true when Altuve will have to cut off balls hit toward the left field line, or cutting across into the left-center field gap. There will be balls that would be singles when hit to other left fielders that will become doubles when Altuve has to play them, and baserunners will go from first to third and second to home much more readily. As an infielder Altuve has always been outstanding at running down pop-ups, so there is reason to believe he’ll be solid tracking fly balls in the outfield. However, the reality of a guy who is five foot six inches tall (in spikes) is that there will be the occasional fly ball or line drive that is beyond is grasp that more “normal” sized outfielders would grab. Try to name a good outfielder who stood shorter than five-foot-nine...
Here’s one: Hall of Famer Hack Wilson was five-six. Four times he led the National League in home runs topped by a whopping 56 in 1930 when he set the still standing record of 191 runs batted in for a single season.
Here’s another: Hall of Famer five-foot-four “Wee” Willie Keeler. Who last played in 1910.
Just a bit outside
Another element new to the Grapefruit League in Florida (and Cactus League in Arizona) this year is the limited use of what Major League Baseball is calling the Automated Ball Strike System. The ABS is likely coming to regular season games next year. This spring will be our first look at its use in big league games. Home plate umpires making ball and strike calls will not be going the way of the dinosaur. Challenges can be made until a team is wrong twice. Significantly, only the batter, pitcher, or catcher can challenge and must do so within two seconds of the pitch being caught. No dugout input allowed. No time to watch a replay.
The Astros’ spring park in West Palm Beach is not among the 13 facilities set up with ABS cameras. That seems silly given that the Astros share the place with the Washington Nationals. More use would be gotten from, and more data collected there than will be from a park with half the spring games played in it.
The countdown to Opening Day is on. Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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