Sports Talk Radio...who knew?

If you would have told me in August that the first local sports story in 2009 would center around sports talk radio I would have accused you of spending too much time at Nick's Place drinking beer.

Shows what I know.

Amazingly, this run of press that Sports talk radio is enjoying is being driven by a listenership that totals less than 5% of Houston's population. (If that) Part of the problem is the dismal Houston sports scene. When you hang your sporting hat on the Texans, Astros and Rockets the cupboard is likely to be bare. Granted, there's a lot of grist for the mill currently as the Rockets are concerned, the Astros are perennial weak-sauce contenders (especially during the hot-stove period) and about all that needs to be said about the Texans has already been said.

It also doesn't help conversation that Houston is a very sports media-friendly town. The Chronicle has more apologists on their staff for the local professional franchises than Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Gov. Blago combined. PR professionals have to take off the training wheels before writing sports for the Chron. Whether its John McClain dusting off his 'sage old insider' routine, Richard Justice assuring us all is well as the tanks roll into the city, Jerome Solomon once again telling fans that they're 'idiots' for being critical, or Megan Manfull, Jonathan Feigan et. all on the writers' pool dishing out glorified PR releases, its hard to find an area where Houston sports fans can get really worked up into a sufficient lather that listening to it on the radio is a big deal. (And no, we're not going to mention College Sports, Houston is not a College sports town)

Aside from all of this the biggest hurdle Houston has to clear in order to be considered a quality sports town is that the current teams have to build up some emotional equity with fans. This is hard to do because of two reasons:

1. Most Houstonians are transplants and come with pre-existing loyalties.
2. The level of History in Houston franchses is lacking in comparison to other, more sports-crazy Cities.

When it comes to the first point....Guilty as charged. Not only do I root for teams outside of Houston (Michigan, SF 49'er's, Detroit Red Wings, Texas Rangers) but the Houston team that I was invested in is no longer in town. (Oilers) The problem that I have rooting for the Texans is not that they are a sorry franchise, but that they're not....the Oilers.

"What, do you want to return to the days when Houston didn't have the NFL?" Texans fans will say in response to nay-sayers.

Yes, I do. The reason being is that I enjoyed receiving the best NFL matchups on TV every Sunday, instead of the "Texans vs. whoever" clunker that we are saddled with now. It's the same reason I don't go to many UH football games (despite having graduated from a campus in their system). Why go to Robertson to watch UH vs. Tulane when Georgia vs. Florida is the CBS/SEC Game of the Week?

I missed a lot of good football for about three years going to UH Cougar games. I watched a lot of bad football (and bad coaching) when Art Briles was at the helm. I like Kevin Sumlin as a coach, but I'm not willing to give up my afternoons at Stag's Head checking out the biggest College Football games.

Here's the rub. At the end of the day I'm a huge sports fan. I'll watch and talk about most sporting events, not just the major events. I have a passion for football (soccer) played at the highest (read: International) level, International Rugby, College American Football, NFL football, College Basketball (though not the NBA), Baseball, Golf, Hockey, Open-wheel racing, track and field, boxing, MMA, powerlifting, bodybuilding, extreme sports you name it. If its a competition I like to watch. Because of that I'm a dedicated sports-talk fan.

The problem is, most of it on Houston's airwaves isn't very good. The fourth largest City in America should have better.

That's why I'm rooting for the guys over at KGOW. They have their weak shows (Ken Hoffman) and areas where they can improve (get rid of Justice) but overall they're putting out the most entertaining sports talk around right now. It's not polished, its not 'corporate', it's just 'fun'. If they could persuade Charlie Palillo to come over it'd be the best station in Houston hands down, as it is I swap between Shawn & John and Charlie's show depending on the topic. As-is however KGOW is the best.

Which explains why they're leading the pack right now.

Texans fire strength coach, Head trainer

This is a mistake...

[John McClain, Chron.com]

The Texans continued to make changes in their staff today when strength and rehabilitation coach Dan Riley and head trainer Kevin Bastin were told their contracts were not being renewed.

Riley and Bastin had been with the Texans since their first season of 2002. A search is on the way for their replacements.

Funny, I always considered this to be one of the Texans strong suits. The team rarely seemed to fatique in the fourth quarter, and their triage unit seemed fairly effective during games. By all accounts, the Texans Strength & Conditioning Staff wasn't involved in the Pittman debacle and were one of the few S&C programs in the league to stricly limit the type and amount of supplementation the players could ingest.

Cost cutting? Perhaps. A mistake? On the S&C side, certainly. Dan Riley is one of the best.

UFC fighter Justin Levens found dead.

Apparent murder/suicide...

[From the Los Angeles Times via Newsday.com]

Authorities today are investigating the deaths of mixed martial arts fighter Justin Levens and his wife -- discovered shot in bed in their Laguna Niguel condominium -- as a possible murder-suicide, with Levens as the potential the shooter.

Justin Levens, 28, and Sara McLean-Levens, 25, were discovered about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday by McLean-Levens' mother, who had not heard from her daughter in five days, said Orange County Sheriff's Department Spokesman Jim Amormino. The bodies had apparently been in the home for at least a few days.

Autopsies are being performed this morning, in addition to ballistics and residue testing, Amormino said. No suicide note was found, but investigators recovered a handgun at the scene.

"Nothing has been ruled out," Amormino said of the case.

The article goes on to say that Levens was convicted of spousal injury in 2003. Eerily, his last UFC fight was to Evan Tanner, who recently died of exposure in the Nevada desert.

Condolances to his friends and family.

Going Dark

I'm going to be travelling to London and Paris for the remainder of November. During that time I don't forsee that the blog will be updated or comments monitored.

During my time away I'm going to enable comment moderation to prevent "those people" (comment spammers and trolls) from making a mess of the place. Comments made during the period of time between Friday, Nov 21st and Saturday, Nov 29th WILL NOT APPEAR on this blog (comments on Thurs, Nov 20th will still post however). If the comments are relevent, I will approve them upon my return.

Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving, (especially my dozen (or so) daily readers) eat too much Turkey and fall asleep on the couch.

Here's a little "mood music" to get you through...



or...(If Adam Sandler is not your style)

Adidas/Houston News

This is cool...

[Allison Wollam, Houston Business Journal]

Adidas will open its first Sports Performance Store in Texas on Nov. 22 in The Galleria.

The 8,000-square-foot store will offer a full-range of Sports Performance and Originals product lines, making it home to the most extensive selection of Adidas products in Texas.

Sports fans will also be able to shop for MLS Champion Houston Dynamo gear and official Houston Rockets NBA apparel.

The sports-inspired store design includes hanging bars that resemble weight-lifting bars and shoes displayed on running starter blocks instead of traditional shoe racks.

The Houston store is Portland, Ore.-based Adidas’ ninth Sports Performance Store in the United States.

Olympic Gold Medalist Jeremy Wariner and Olympic sprinter Doc Patton will participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony while Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder and Houston native Adam Dunn will sign autographs and greet fans from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Unfortunately, I'll be in London during the opening, but I'll be sure to check it out in the near future.

The newest player in the supplement industry is...

Amazon.com.

That's right, the on-line supercenter has decided to dive straight into the nutritional supplement market. Word is they even had a booth at the 2008 Mr. Olympia.

Previously Europa Distributors sold supplements through Amazon so this is either a re-branding of the pre-existing agreement, or a full changing of the guard from Amazon in respects to the nutritional supplement industry. Regardless of the inner workings, infusions of cash from large players in retail are a good sign for an industry that's been struggling due to increased pressure from Government regulators. While its too early to say what, if any, impact Amazon's entrance into the market will have for the fitness industry as a whole, its certainly a welcome sight to see such a mainstream interest show interest in the marketplace.

Whether or not promoters and bodybuilders can leverage this interest into sponsorships remains to be seen.

Dexter Jackson Wins the Olympia.

In case you haven't heard, Dexter Jackson won the Mr. Olympia title and there was a stunned hush throughout the land.

Followed by wild applause.

The stunning news was that Jay Cutler (the defending champion) showed up to his second Mr. Olympia in a row in less than stellar shape, leaving some to wonder if his best days of competing are behind him. His soft appearance at the Friday pre-judging left the judges with no choice but to select Jackson as a winner, lest they risk losing all credibility with the fan base.

In the end however the judges got it right, an oddity for the show, and there's a remarkably small amount of carping about the results in opposition to prior years.

If, like me, you are looking forward to next years' competitive season with anticipation instead of dread it could be because there's been a glimmer of hope in the judging this year, where the best physique has been rewarded with placings instead of the usual political decisions.

Good job to AMI and the IFBB for putting on a good show.

Other winners:

Ms. Olympia - Iris Kyle: After her Ms. International debacle (7th place after almost being disqualified for "boils" on her glutes) Iris needed a good showing here. When she's on she's the best in the land. She was on.

Fitness Olympia - Jenn Henderschott: I thought she retired? Guess not.

Figure Olympia - Jennifer Gates: Um...ok. Congrats. It's figure.