Probably, by now, you've heard about the ESPN story regarding the Texan's taking some liberties with O.T.A. workouts (allegedly) and you probably had the same reaction as did I. (And the Houston Press' John Royal for that matter.)
Just how dumb IS Gary Kubiak really?
To their credit, despite being scooped the Chronicle's terrible trio isn't pulling any punches after the fact. I 1/2 expected to witness a Richard Justice unloading on Alex Gibbs remeniscent of his "I am the media" tirade (or his un-called for trashing of Stephanie Stradley). Instead he (rightly) laid the blame at the feet of Head Coach Gary Kubiak, who most certainly had the final say in this matter.
For the Texan's part (according to a radio report this morning on 1560 The Game) they're responding to the negative reporting by the local media by questioning why they're saying something now, but didn't say something in May when the drills were taking place? Over on Sportsradio 610 the Texans radio team was busy casting this as "no big deal" and something that "every team does". Yeah, its just the Texans that cut players after they receive career-ending injuries after (allegedly) illegal practice drills right?
The most depressing thing about all this? Imagine you're a free agent and the Texans are on the other line...Would YOU want to play for the Texans now?
The bottom line is that the Texans are in a mess of their own making. Their attempt to cast the blame on the media is lame, as is their radio team parroting the line that these are things every team does. Yes, the writers for the Chronicle should have noticed something was wrong. That's what they're paid to do. According to industry sources however spotting newspaper or TV guys at a Texans OTA is something akin to hearing an Aggie talk about those nice folks over at UT. The notable exception to this rule is Fox Sportscaster Mark Berman (who, coincidentally, often scoops the competition on big stories.) The fact of the matter is the newspaper guys should be there, or have a reporter there, at every practice following up every lead. Unfortunately in Houston it just doesn't happen that way. Maybe our reputation as a bad sports media town is not as undeserved as some contend.
What 3CB is fairly sure of however is that this is another black-eye for a Texans organization that can't seem to figure out how to handle player, executive or fan relations. This is a mess of a team that no, credible, veteran free agent is going to want to sign with because of their track record of handling things in a less-than-first-class manner. Whose fault is it? The coach's fault. Kubiak has almost complete control of football operations. Rick Smith knows perfectly well that its his job to work with Kubiak to get the pieces of the puzzle in place. But Kubiak's got the blueprints. So far all we're seeing are blueprints for mediocrity despite team assurances that the 'talent is in place'. The talent may be there (although I dispute that) but the organizational discipline that's needed to win consistently is missing. After this debacle and embarassment there can be little debating that point.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Minor League Soccer
(h/t: Mike McGuff)
The Chron's David Barron is reporting that the Houston Dynamo (Houston's Minor League Soccer franchise) has inked a deal with KHOU Channel 11 to broadcast 17 games not on KHOU itself, but on their back-door digital affiliate 11.2.
In other words they're moving from my20TV in Houston, which is a small network but over the air, to a obscure portion of the KHOU channel that's mainly known for Great Day Houston re-runs and The Dining Diva?
Judging by the comments in the Chron article MLS fans are trying to spin this as a positive. After their efforts spinning low ratings experienced on Thursday nights by ESPN2 one has to wonder if they're getting dizzy?
In a way I feel sorry for MLS fans. Soccer is a great game, I'm a huge fan of the International leagues and play at the National level, the MLS? Not so much. Rather than offering up the best soccer in the world, it's developed into a farm league where Americans can play alongside other Country's rising stars or their aging names. Which is OK, but it's nowhere near deserving of the level of hype head-in-the-sand fans heap on it.
Moves like this position the Dynamo closer to the Houston Aeros than they do the Houston Texans. The main difference being the Aeros understand their place in the Houston sports heirarchy and are content to play their games at the Rocket's pad. The Dynamo are still trying to get Oliver Luck his downtown corner office at taxpayer expense.
The Chron's David Barron is reporting that the Houston Dynamo (Houston's Minor League Soccer franchise) has inked a deal with KHOU Channel 11 to broadcast 17 games not on KHOU itself, but on their back-door digital affiliate 11.2.
In other words they're moving from my20TV in Houston, which is a small network but over the air, to a obscure portion of the KHOU channel that's mainly known for Great Day Houston re-runs and The Dining Diva?
Judging by the comments in the Chron article MLS fans are trying to spin this as a positive. After their efforts spinning low ratings experienced on Thursday nights by ESPN2 one has to wonder if they're getting dizzy?
In a way I feel sorry for MLS fans. Soccer is a great game, I'm a huge fan of the International leagues and play at the National level, the MLS? Not so much. Rather than offering up the best soccer in the world, it's developed into a farm league where Americans can play alongside other Country's rising stars or their aging names. Which is OK, but it's nowhere near deserving of the level of hype head-in-the-sand fans heap on it.
Moves like this position the Dynamo closer to the Houston Aeros than they do the Houston Texans. The main difference being the Aeros understand their place in the Houston sports heirarchy and are content to play their games at the Rocket's pad. The Dynamo are still trying to get Oliver Luck his downtown corner office at taxpayer expense.
Hope Springs Eternal
For those of you whose favorite College Football teams made you want to hollar "Wait until next year!" (Yes, I'm speaking of us, Michigan fans) Well, today markes the Beginning of next year.
The Chron has a nice database for local football talent but the go to place for Big School recruiting news is Rivals.com...
For instance. A quick glance at the "Top Dual-threat QB" page reveals that the Wolverines have a commitment from Tate Forcier, one of the top QB prospects in the country and someone who's tailor made to run Coach Rodriguez' spread-run option attack. Overall the 2009 Wolverine recruiting class is shaping up quite nicely. Teric Jones is a RB in the mold of current Houston Texans standout Steve Slaton and the entire list is full of quality speed, especially on the lines (where the Big Tenelven suffers against other conferences).
Hopefully 2009/2010 will turn out a little better than 2008/2009 did for the maize and blue. Bowl qualification would be nice.
Unfortunately, for smaller schools Rivals just doesn't commit the resources to scouting and often miss-grade several prospects.
The Houston Cougars have a list that's full of local talent, and (predictably) heavy on defense. A.J. Dugat and Tyler Chambers are two potential stars at Wide Reciever and Phillip Steward out of Hightower is a potential impact LB (Rivals has his rating incorrect at two stars, he should be a four-star guy). Houston has five OL recruits verbally committed that could be 3-4 year quality starters. Coach Sumlin is building what has the potential to be a CUSA powerhouse over the next two to three years. This is the best Cougar recuriting class that I've seen since before Art Briles came to town.
Rice (which doesn't have a rivals.com team page and who's self-ran team-page is a terrible recruiting resource) has a solid recruiting class led by Turner Peterson and Charles Ross. Looking to replace all-world WR Jerret Dillard will be difficult, but undersized Donte Moore and Andre Geautreaux could grow into a competent tandem. Defensive End Cody Bauer is an undersized, high-motor guy of the type that's experienced success at Rice for quite a while now.
Of course, it's possible that none of the players I've mentioned here will ever see the field. More likely is that fact that some will excel, some will be average, some will change schools and several players unregarded out of HS will become stellar players, such is the inexact science of HS recruiting. I can tell you this however, USC, Florida and Texas will be hovering around all of the National pundits "top 5" lists. There's a reason the same schools compete for National Championships almost every year.
Next year is here.
The Chron has a nice database for local football talent but the go to place for Big School recruiting news is Rivals.com...
For instance. A quick glance at the "Top Dual-threat QB" page reveals that the Wolverines have a commitment from Tate Forcier, one of the top QB prospects in the country and someone who's tailor made to run Coach Rodriguez' spread-run option attack. Overall the 2009 Wolverine recruiting class is shaping up quite nicely. Teric Jones is a RB in the mold of current Houston Texans standout Steve Slaton and the entire list is full of quality speed, especially on the lines (where the Big Tenelven suffers against other conferences).
Hopefully 2009/2010 will turn out a little better than 2008/2009 did for the maize and blue. Bowl qualification would be nice.
Unfortunately, for smaller schools Rivals just doesn't commit the resources to scouting and often miss-grade several prospects.
The Houston Cougars have a list that's full of local talent, and (predictably) heavy on defense. A.J. Dugat and Tyler Chambers are two potential stars at Wide Reciever and Phillip Steward out of Hightower is a potential impact LB (Rivals has his rating incorrect at two stars, he should be a four-star guy). Houston has five OL recruits verbally committed that could be 3-4 year quality starters. Coach Sumlin is building what has the potential to be a CUSA powerhouse over the next two to three years. This is the best Cougar recuriting class that I've seen since before Art Briles came to town.
Rice (which doesn't have a rivals.com team page and who's self-ran team-page is a terrible recruiting resource) has a solid recruiting class led by Turner Peterson and Charles Ross. Looking to replace all-world WR Jerret Dillard will be difficult, but undersized Donte Moore and Andre Geautreaux could grow into a competent tandem. Defensive End Cody Bauer is an undersized, high-motor guy of the type that's experienced success at Rice for quite a while now.
Of course, it's possible that none of the players I've mentioned here will ever see the field. More likely is that fact that some will excel, some will be average, some will change schools and several players unregarded out of HS will become stellar players, such is the inexact science of HS recruiting. I can tell you this however, USC, Florida and Texas will be hovering around all of the National pundits "top 5" lists. There's a reason the same schools compete for National Championships almost every year.
Next year is here.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Pre-March Madness
Feeling those post-Stupid Bowl Blues? Fear not Sports fan, It's time to start seriously thinking about your March Madness Bracket.
UConn is number one (for now) and could be the best team in the land. Jeff Adiran is a power forward throwback to the days of Larry Johnson and Karl Malone while Center Hasheem Thrabeet could be the best big man in the land. Add to that the strong backcourt duo of A.J. Price and Jerome Dyson, the coaching of Jim Calhoun and a deep, deep bench and you have a team that's poised to make a deep, deep run into the tournament.
Oklahoma is number two and boasts one of the Country's best players in Black Griffin. Oklahoma's bench is 10 deep, which provides Coach Jeff Capel plenty of flexibility to run the offensive and defensive principles that he learned while playing at Duke under the tutalege of Coach K.
Handicapping top seeds at this point of the game is liar's poker, but right now I'm pretty comfortable stating that these two teams have at least a 50/50 chance of securing a coveted number one seed from the selection committee.
Looking at things from a conference standpoint, The Big East Conference looks to have seven seats locked up with West Virginia being a possible eighth team 'on the bubble'. The Mountaineers are going to need a quality win or two on the road to make the dance IMO however. The ACC has the potential to place a stunning NINE teams in the tournament. I think they'll cap out at eight, but they are certainly the best conference in the land right now. Due to top-end potential however the Big East (with Marquette, UConn and Pitt) is a strong second. A distant third is the Pac-10 and Big XII which are pretty equal in my mind. Each should garner somewhere in the 4-6 bid range.
Locally the picture is a little less rosy.
Houston (12-7, .5335 RPI[110th]) is currently stuck in the middle of a three game losing streak that was highlighted by two must-win losses against Arizona and Memphis respectively. The Cougars had a large halftime lead against the Wildcats which quickly evaporated after the (now infamous) stomping incident. Current projections have the Cougars finishing at 19-10 which will probably guarantee them yet another invitation to either the NIT or some other tournament (as was the case last year). There are growls in Cougar land that Tom Penders has taken this team as far as he can and that AD Dave Maggard might want to consider a change.
Rice (7-14, .04751 RPI [205th]) - As grim as things are for the Cougars they're looking worse for Rice. Short-term that is. With a new coach, a new building and tons of optimism for the athletic department the Owls are hoping to use this year as a learning experience and move forward in a new direction. It's still a shame that former Coach Willis Wilson wasn't allowed to enjoy the fruits of his years of laboring under adverse conditions however.
What this means for Houston is that (this year) the tournament is going to be primarily viewed via television. No Houston site is on the list as a tournament venue in 2009. Expect productivity to slow to a crawl as frazzled bracketers refresh their web-browsers religiously to see is that 5-12 upset they picked will put them over the top.
It's the best playoff system in sports, and it's a little over a month away.
UConn is number one (for now) and could be the best team in the land. Jeff Adiran is a power forward throwback to the days of Larry Johnson and Karl Malone while Center Hasheem Thrabeet could be the best big man in the land. Add to that the strong backcourt duo of A.J. Price and Jerome Dyson, the coaching of Jim Calhoun and a deep, deep bench and you have a team that's poised to make a deep, deep run into the tournament.
Oklahoma is number two and boasts one of the Country's best players in Black Griffin. Oklahoma's bench is 10 deep, which provides Coach Jeff Capel plenty of flexibility to run the offensive and defensive principles that he learned while playing at Duke under the tutalege of Coach K.
Handicapping top seeds at this point of the game is liar's poker, but right now I'm pretty comfortable stating that these two teams have at least a 50/50 chance of securing a coveted number one seed from the selection committee.
Looking at things from a conference standpoint, The Big East Conference looks to have seven seats locked up with West Virginia being a possible eighth team 'on the bubble'. The Mountaineers are going to need a quality win or two on the road to make the dance IMO however. The ACC has the potential to place a stunning NINE teams in the tournament. I think they'll cap out at eight, but they are certainly the best conference in the land right now. Due to top-end potential however the Big East (with Marquette, UConn and Pitt) is a strong second. A distant third is the Pac-10 and Big XII which are pretty equal in my mind. Each should garner somewhere in the 4-6 bid range.
Locally the picture is a little less rosy.
Houston (12-7, .5335 RPI[110th]) is currently stuck in the middle of a three game losing streak that was highlighted by two must-win losses against Arizona and Memphis respectively. The Cougars had a large halftime lead against the Wildcats which quickly evaporated after the (now infamous) stomping incident. Current projections have the Cougars finishing at 19-10 which will probably guarantee them yet another invitation to either the NIT or some other tournament (as was the case last year). There are growls in Cougar land that Tom Penders has taken this team as far as he can and that AD Dave Maggard might want to consider a change.
Rice (7-14, .04751 RPI [205th]) - As grim as things are for the Cougars they're looking worse for Rice. Short-term that is. With a new coach, a new building and tons of optimism for the athletic department the Owls are hoping to use this year as a learning experience and move forward in a new direction. It's still a shame that former Coach Willis Wilson wasn't allowed to enjoy the fruits of his years of laboring under adverse conditions however.
What this means for Houston is that (this year) the tournament is going to be primarily viewed via television. No Houston site is on the list as a tournament venue in 2009. Expect productivity to slow to a crawl as frazzled bracketers refresh their web-browsers religiously to see is that 5-12 upset they picked will put them over the top.
It's the best playoff system in sports, and it's a little over a month away.
Monday, February 02, 2009
The SuperBowl in 20 words or less....
"Three bad quarters, followed by two outstanding plays."
Congrats to the Steelers.
We can now shift our focus to the 2009 NFL draft.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Big Stupid Sports Weekend
In honor of the Stupid Bowl and all things NFL football, I'm taking the weekend off from blogging and will be gorging myself on cars, beer, football and cigars.
In the interim here's a little of "Houston's Own" Beyonce performing her best song in my opinion. (mainly because this has become a burrowing ear-worm to me lately and I feel the need to share.)
Eat too much this weekend.
In the interim here's a little of "Houston's Own" Beyonce performing her best song in my opinion. (mainly because this has become a burrowing ear-worm to me lately and I feel the need to share.)
Eat too much this weekend.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Make it S-T-O-P!!!!
There's nothing more trying to the sports fan then the seemingly endless two-week run-up to the Stupid Bowl. Not only is the media full of personal interest stories you also have to deal with the inevitable sideshows and lunacy that's a result of untalented sports writers running out of things to say about a less-than-compelling matchup.
In short, it sucks.
This could all go away and the game could be played the week after the Conference Championship Games if the Stupid Bowl had anything to do with Football. We all know by now that it doesn't.
The Stupid Bowl is about money and silly, petty people throwing 'pimp n' ho' balls, getting way to drunk and local citizens heading to parties that they can't afford during a recession in order to maybe 'get a hook-up' with someone who's marginally famous. A borderline celeb such as Kathy Griffen would be a queen at these parties because, well, she's someone that the drunk masses have seen before on TV. Kevin Federline has been seen at Stupid Bowl parties for crying out loud.
When the Stupid Bowl came to Houston we were greeted with Gina Gaston in fishnets.
Somebody, somewhere has to put an end to this madness before the cliches get out of hand.
I'm looking at YOU Roger Gooddell.
In short, it sucks.
This could all go away and the game could be played the week after the Conference Championship Games if the Stupid Bowl had anything to do with Football. We all know by now that it doesn't.
The Stupid Bowl is about money and silly, petty people throwing 'pimp n' ho' balls, getting way to drunk and local citizens heading to parties that they can't afford during a recession in order to maybe 'get a hook-up' with someone who's marginally famous. A borderline celeb such as Kathy Griffen would be a queen at these parties because, well, she's someone that the drunk masses have seen before on TV. Kevin Federline has been seen at Stupid Bowl parties for crying out loud.
When the Stupid Bowl came to Houston we were greeted with Gina Gaston in fishnets.
Somebody, somewhere has to put an end to this madness before the cliches get out of hand.
I'm looking at YOU Roger Gooddell.
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