30 June 2006
Chron: Garner can appeal after all!
Remember how Astros beat writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz was (really really!) insistent that Astros manager Phil Garner couldn't appeal his suspension?
Apparently, Garner doesn't read the Chronicle:
Astros manager Phil Garner, who was supposed to sit out Friday's game after getting suspended for his action's in Monday's loss to Detroit, was in the dugout, awaiting a review from Major League Baseball.
[snip to cut out the unrelated crap that a Chron editor should have cut]
Although there is no formal appeals process for managers and coaches, Garner will be allowed to challenge the suspension during a conference call with Major League Baseball officials.
Ah, so Ortiz's insistence that Garner couldn't appeal was wrong.
But some good has come of all this. Brian McTaggart has apparently found Jose de Jesus Ortiz's missing apostrophe key!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/30/06 10:24 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
28 June 2006
Houston Broncos add to scouting department
The Chronicle runs this snippet from the AP:
Dale Strahm was named director of college scouting for the Houston Texans, the team said today.
Strahm spent the past eight years as a college scout for the Denver Broncos after spending four seasons as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Temple University.
Shall we just start calling them the Houston Broncos at some point?
Maybe tomorrow Megan Manfull will run one of those STAR-section-like sports profiles that we like so much.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/06 10:18 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chron: Garner can't appeal. He can't. He really can't. Garner can't appeal.
Astro's skipper Phil Garner can't appeal his one-game suspension, according to Major League officials.
And for anyone who is reading-challenged or perhaps brain damaged, Chronicle sportswriter Jose de Jesus Ortiz makes that point over and over:
Theres only one problem with Garners assumption, however: only players can appeal suspensions, according to former Astros star and general manager Bob Watson, MLB's vice president of on-field operations.
He doesnt have the right to appeal, Watson, a Houston resident, said via cell phone from New York. Coaches and managers dont have that right. Only players have the right to appeal. He can make a request of (MLB executive VP of administration) John McHale to hear his side of the story, but they dont have the right as the players do to an appeal.
In case anybody missed it, Garner can't appeal his suspension. And Bob Watson's a former Astros star and GM and lives in Houston! And Ortiz's apostrophe key is apparently not working.
Are there any editors in the sports section?
UPDATE (06-29-2006): To answer my own question, apparently so. They pulled the story I linked completely (whitewash!) and replaced it with this story. That's why I furl everything I link on Chron.com. You never know when a story will just vanish.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/06 10:12 PM | Technorati | Comments (4)
Houston's bowl game survives
For some time, it looked like Houston's college football bowl game was going to die (since it wasn't able actually to honor their financial commitments from last season).
Today, though, the NCAA renewed the bowl after hearing from a Texans-affiliated group and the Harris County Sports Authority.
It looks to be about as thrilling as ever:
The game, which does not yet have a title sponsor, will be played Dec. 28 at Reliant Stadium. It will pair the Big 12 Conference's No. 8 team against the Big East's No. 4 team. Conference USA is also included in the bowl contract.
Frankly, that just sounds terrible.
UPDATE (06-29-2006) : I like the headline in the Dallas Morning News story. Replacement Bowl seems as good a name as any!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/06 10:03 PM | Technorati | Comments (2)
20 innings of futility
So, the Astros failed to score any runs for Roger Clemens. Again.
In fact, they haven't scored a run in two games plus. Twenty innings.
But Jeff Bagwell will be back soon to give them some punch. Isn't that true, all of you who blasted Drayton McLane for filing on the insurance policy? Yeah, all of those folks have disappeared. It sure would be nice if Bagwell's contract would.
Roughly six years ago, the Astros had a hissy fit and fired pitching coach Vern Ruhle and hitting coach Tom McCraw, apparently to "show the fans" they could do something.
Does anyone sense another hissy fit coming, or are we just resigned to the terrible bullpen pitching, terrible defense, and lack of hitting?
I guess we can look for the positive. The Twins have won 15 of 16. The Astros broke up the streak. That World Series seems like a long time ago, no?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/06 09:14 PM | Technorati | Comments (2)
The David Stern Show
Tonight on the David Stern Show™ the Rockets selected Rudy Gay with the 8th pick. They then traded him to Memphis for Shane Battier.
Jonathan Feigen of the Chronicle explains it all here.
Dick Vitale breaks down the draft and more here. (Skip this page if you are prone to seizures)
Posted by Ethan Glading @ 06/28/06 08:19 PM | Technorati | Comments (2)
27 June 2006
Houston Rockets draft party Wednesday
As mentioned on the podcast, the NBA draft is on Wednesday, and you can follow it from Toyota Center:
Hey Rockets fans! The 2006 NBA Draft is coming up on June 28, and we want all of you to come to Toyota Center to watch it with us! This year we have the #8 pick, the highest we’ve had since drafting Yao Ming at #1 in 2002. We’re sure to get an impact player that will help us get to the next level, so we’re holding a HUGE party at our place to view the draft and celebrate. And you’re all invited!
Sign up now online for the Rockets’ Draft Party presented by Bud Light at Toyota Center on Wednesday, June 28. The party starts at 5:30, perfect for the post-work happy hour beverages. And we’ll have great food specials like $2 hot dogs and nachos. You’ll get to watch the draft live on the centerhung scoreboard or at any television in the building, and see current Rockets players, legends and broadcasters in person as they share their analysis of this year’s picks by the Rockets and the rest of the NBA.
We’ll also have interactive games on the concourse, locker room tours and autograph sessions, plus contests, trivia, and plenty of giveaways on center court. Plus, you can hear about the team and the upcoming season as we’ll have live interviews with players and updates from the Rockets’ “war room” from basketball operations representatives. And SportsRadio 610 will be broadcasting live from the party.
As they say, you do have to register and then print a ticket. No doubt you'll go on some Rockets marketing list, and they'll try to push season tickets on you for the rest of your life. But hey, maybe the $2 hot dogs and nachos are worth it. Of course, that must be balanced with the potential brain-numbing effects of the KILT-610 sports radio crew being in the house.
Decisions, decisions. We post, you decide.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/27/06 11:03 AM | Technorati | Comments (1)
25 June 2006
Bad Sports Podcast (2006-06-25)
In tonight's Bad Sports podcast, Ethan Glading and I are forced to record remotely using the Gizmo VoIP service (so please bear with the audio glitches).
Substantively, we take on the Astros and Roger Clemens (and Ethan jinxes the team even though they were cruising early in tonight's game), the Rice Owls baseball team, the Houston Dynamo (which needs to keep Brian Ching blogging), the stench that is about to be another Rockets draft, world classness, and other odds and ends.
The audio may be downloaded here:
Bad Sports podcast (2006-06-25)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/25/06 11:44 PM | Technorati | Comments (1)
22 June 2006
Rice's 2003 big three hindered by arm problems
Remember Rice's 2003 "Big Three" of Wade Townsend, Jeff Niemann and Philip Humber, all of whom were selected in the first round of the 2004 Major League draft?
As this New York Times story reminds us, not one of them has made it to the bigs yet, thanks to recurring arm problems.
Interestingly, the reporter could not find one person willing to speculate that one possible factor in their injuries was being used for too many pitches per appearance at Rice. The players deny it (of course). Indeed, Wayne Graham offered this theory for the reporter:
Each of the three held out before signing, and Graham hinted that might have been part of the problem.
[snip]
"I didn't want them to do that," Graham, in a telephone interview from Omaha, said of their holding out. "I wished they would have signed within a month after our season ended. But once you get into it with most agents, that's the way things happen.
"I've seen pitchers get shut down when teams didn't want them to throw for three months, six months, to a year. When they come back, they're trying to impress, and they start throwing too much too quick. That's the only thing I can see."
Maybe we'll have to put the Bad Sports research staff to work on digging up pitch counts for those three during that 2003 season. That could be interesting.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/22/06 10:07 PM | Technorati | Comments (1)
Rice hires new AD
The Chronicle's Ronnie Turner reports that Rice has a new AD:
Rice President David W. Leebron announced today that the university had hired Chris Del Conte, senior associate athletics director at Arizona, to be its new director of athletics.
Del Conte, who will be Rice’s 14th athletic director, replaces Bobby May, who announced his retirement in April after 17 years at the helm. Del Conte comes to the university after serving in Arizona’s athletic department since December 1999.
In 2003, Del Conte was elevated to senior associate athletic director and became responsible for handling media and business operations, among other responsibilities. He also worked closely with the coaches, department heads and other staff.
Chris Del Conte has one main responsibility at Rice: Keep Wayne Graham happy.
Nothing else really matters.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/22/06 09:25 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
19 June 2006
Bad Sports podcast (2006-06-19)
On tonight's Monday-night edition of the Bad Sports podcast, Ethan Glading and I discuss Andy Petitte's suckitude, the Jekyll and Hyde Astros, Wayne Graham's love of daytime soaps, the Houston Dynamo's four-game non-losing streak, Brian Ching's efforts to stay sharp while not playing for the U.S. team, the return of Roger, and much much more.
The podcast may be downloaded here:
Bad Sports podcast (2006-06-19)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/19/06 11:45 PM | Technorati | Comments (1)
15 June 2006
Burke displaces Taveras, spin commences
It's interesting to see how different baseball writers frame the same news.
In the case of Chris Burke displacing Willy Taveras from the lineup of late, the Austin-American Statesman ran with a big headline (for only two paragraphs of coverage):
Alyson Footer covered it this way for MLB.com:
Chris Burke's performance of late has made it impossible for manager Phil Garner to not include him in the lineup, and Burke started again Wednesday for the eighth time in nine games.
But Burke's increased playing time has naturally created a somewhat delicate situation. The emergence of one player means a loss of playing time for another, and in this case, it's Willy Taveras who draws the short end of the stick.
Taveras has essentially lost his starting job in center field to Burke, and while Garner isn't tipping his hand regarding how long this arrangement will last, it's apparent Taveras hasn't received a guarantee that he'll be in the starting lineup anytime soon.
Garner has had one meeting with Taveras on this matter. The two met just after Burke dislocated his shoulder swinging at a pitch last Wednesday, and after Burke was set to return after missing just one game, Garner told Taveras he was sticking with Burke in center for the time being.
"We're just going to use it for a little bit, but it's not cut in stone," Garner said. "Let's not forget we went 19-9 [in April] with Willy in center field, too."
Garner also cleared the air about a misconception that Taveras has done something specific that caused him to fall out of favor with the manager.
"Willy's a good kid," Garner said. "He continues to work. Clearly, he wants to play. The only thing you can do when you're like this is do what Chris did -- make sure you are prepared. You get an opening, make the best of it.
"It's not that Willy is out of favor. It's just the combination is working this way at this moment. We've started to play a little better, and Chris has been a part of that. Willy was sliding a little bit. That's really all there is to it. There's nothing else to it than that."
Brian McTaggart framed it slightly differently for the hometown Hearst daily:
Although Chris Burke started in center field for the fifth consecutive game, manager Phil Garner isn't ready to say Willy Taveras has lost his job as starter.
"Let's don't forget, we went 19-9 with Willy in center field," Garner said.
Burke, who went 4-for-4 on Tuesday and tied a franchise record with five runs scored, has started eight of the past nine games, six in center field.
Taveras, hitting .266, hasn't started since June 8.
"Somebody had asked me, 'What's Willy done?' Willy hasn't done anything," Garner said. "It's not like Willy's out of favor here with me or anybody in this organization. It's clearly an issue, just like it was with Jason Lane, looking to try to find a combination, putting somebody in the lineup and see if it works.
"Mike Lamb got his foot in the door and got hot and he's going to play more. I told (Taveras) when Chris came back the other day after the shoulder injury I was going to go with him for a while. There was no definite time period."
And Richard Justice pretty much says who cares -- just keep plugging Burke into the lineup!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/15/06 08:07 AM | Technorati | Comments (1)
14 June 2006
Luck: Sorry, but no water bottles after all!
The Houston Dynamo water-bottle fiasco came up previously on the podcast and on the main blog.
Rich Connelly of the Houston Press writes that Oliver Luck has had to backtrack because of Aramark's contract with UH, and that fans will not be allowed to bring water bottles to any future games:
We don't really want to keep writing about the bottled-water situation at Houston Dynamo games, but duty compels us.
As their season opened at the non-air-conditioned Robertson Stadium on the University of Houston campus, the team announced that fans would be free to bring in a bottle or two of water to fight the heat.
Which made it a bit disconcerting when security guards started confiscating bottles at the entrance gates once the season began.
Team president Oliver Luck told us at that time the water-taking was all a mistake, and that word had not been properly relayed to the security staff to let the bottles in. So we reported that, and assumed Dynamo fans, such as they are, could now lead happy, soccer-filled, hydrated lives.
But now it appears the mistake was Luck's. He called us after our item appeared to say that he had had further discussions with Aramark, the concessionaire for UH, and that the water ban is back and permanent.
"It's a contract thing, and they have the contract for the stadium, and they don't want water bottles being taken in," he says.
With their attendance hitting 20,000 regularly, the Dynamo are already one of the city's more popular sports attractions. You have to think the team is going to want an upgrade from Dave Maggard's stadium operation sooner than later.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/14/06 10:53 PM | Technorati | Comments (1)
Are we sure they weren't giggling?
Chronicle sportswriter Megan Manfull checked in earlier in the week with this dispatch from the Texans:
The difference was evident on the first day of practice this offseason. On a routine passing play, veteran tight end Mark Bruener was spotted about 10 yards down the field and was looking for the ball.
Quarterback David Carr connected with him on the pass, and then they laughed.
That's SO disappointing. If she'd written they giggled, then it would have been perfect!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/14/06 10:39 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
Touch choice?
The Bad Sports listener representative called attention to a bit of news on ESPN.com earlier:
As part of the league's 10th anniversary celebration, the WNBA on Tuesday announced its All-Decade Team.And not surprisingly, the squad included a trio that helped the Houston Comets win four straight championships and dominate the league's early years.
Current Comets stars Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson, as well as Cynthia Cooper, who retired in 2003, headlined the squad, which is comprised of the 10 best and most influential players from its first 10 years of play.
Perhaps if we post this here, the Bad Sports listener representative will not make us talk about this Houston sports news on the podcast.
We did like the ESPN sidebar (reproduced above), though, which featured the headline "touch" instead of "tough" from the commentator. We're sure it was just a typo and not some sort of Freudian thing.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/14/06 10:33 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
13 June 2006
Bad Sports listener representative needs your input
The Chronicle's reader representative takes up a pressing issue for Comets fans: Do the Houston Comets deserve more prominent placement/coverage in the Chronicle's sports section.
The post went up on June 7, and James Campbell invites comments. To date, there are no comments, although it is possible that some are waiting for approval.
The hard-working Bad Sports listener representative has asked us to solicit input about the podcast commentary on the Comets, which has amounted to one mention so far. Please let us know if that amount of coverage is too much, too little, or just about right.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/13/06 09:21 AM | Technorati | Comments (2)
11 June 2006
Bad Sports podcast (2006-06-11)
This week on the Bad Sports podcast, Ethan Glading and I talk about the Astros, the Rice baseball regional, postseason honors for two UH baseball players, the Texans and bad sportswriting (kind of fitting with our name and all), the Dynamo, and plans for a little Bad Sports World Cup soccer viewing/lunch at the Stag's Head Pub Monday.
The podcast may be downloaded here:
Bad Sports Podcast (2006-06-11)
By the way, welcome to the Bad Sports corner of blogHOUSTON. Be sure to check out the various syndication options on the right sidebar. There is a blog feed option (for posts and audio) and a podcast feed option (audio only). You wouldn't want to miss any Bad Sports after all!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/11/06 11:28 PM | Technorati | Comments (6)
05 June 2006
New sports podcast (06-04-2006)
This week on the blogHOUSTON sports podcast, Ethan Glading and I give the podcast a name (really anticlimactic, honestly), and talk a little Astros, Rockets, Texans, Dynamo, and college sports.
It's longer than usual, as we had some catching up to do.
The podcast may be downloaded here:
blogHOUSTON Bad Sports podcast (2006-06-04)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/05/06 05:04 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
New sports podcast (06-04-2006)
This week on the blogHOUSTON sports podcast, Ethan Glading and I give the podcast a name (really anticlimactic, honestly), and talk a little Astros, Rockets, Texans, Dynamo, and college sports.
It's longer than usual, as we had some catching up to do.
The podcast may be downloaded here:
blogHOUSTON sports podcast 2006-06-05
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/05/06 07:40 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)