31 October 2006
Bad Sports podcast (2006-10-30)
There is a new Bad Sports podcast available here:
Bad Sports podcast (2006-10-30)
In this week's edition of the Bad Sports podcast, Ethan Glading and I discuss:
* David Carr's horrid play and benching in the Texans' loss to the Titans.
* UH's victory over lowly UCF
* Odds and ends, including the Dynamo's playoff victory "miracle" and the start of the Rockets season on Wednesday.
Here is a link to the blog post mentioned in the podcast.
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Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/31/06 07:25 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
Bye Bye, Bagwell
Jeff "The One Armed Salary-Bandit" Bagwell was finished in Spring Training 2006, switching from 1B to DL.
Twenty-seven million dollars later, Jeff Bagwell gets his walking papers:
Jeff Bagwell's playing career with the Astros officially came to an end Tuesday when the Astros, as expected, announced they were declining their option on his contract for the 2007 season. The Astros will instead pay Bagwell a $7 million buyout.
Bagwell, the franchise's career leader in homers and RBIs, missed all of this season with a deteriorating right shoulder. He played for the Astros for 15 seasons and was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1991 and the NL Most Valuable Player in 1994.
I guess we'll see if there's any bad blood still left six years hence when he chooses what appears on his ballcap on his Hall Of Fame plaque.
Posted by Laurence Simon @ 10/31/06 02:40 PM | Technorati | Comments (4)
David Carr quote
David Carr reacts to getting benched this past weekend:
"It's going to take a hand grenade to get me off the field the next time."
That's only for a grass field like Reliant, David.
Because Giants Stadium has a FieldTurf surface, they'll probably just need a spatula to remove you after half a dozen sacks.
Posted by Laurence Simon @ 10/31/06 11:23 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
29 October 2006
Carr should be a hot topic on the radio this week
Megan Manfull is now apparently back from maternity leave, so of course the Chronicle's coverage of the Texans has begun to suffer accordingly.
Earlier this week, the newspaper ran a Manfull story on David Carr's improvement this season.
It appeared with two different headlines that I've found (we're not sure why Chron.com changes the headlines like they do, since they're usually just as dreadful, but whatever):
and
To be fair, Carr had shown improvement much of the season, although he has been far from what you'd consider a franchise quarterback and still far too prone to dumb errors. But the timing of this article is still pretty awesome.
Carr's play and Kubiak's decision to stick by him will be hot topics on Houston talk radio this week, and I don't think either one is going to have many defenders.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/06 04:11 PM | Technorati | Comments (2)
Quarterback controversy!
We all realize that a team with a decent lead plays softer defense.
That said, Sage Rosenfels looked awfully good running the offense today (with hardly any reps in practice) after relieving David Carr, who looked more like a guy in his first year in the league than a five-year veteran.
Does Gary Kubiak go with Rosenfels next week?
Or, let me bias that question with -- how can Kubiak not go with Rosenfels next week?
UPDATE: In the postgame show, John Granato says that Kubiak said emphatically that David Carr will start next week. Whee.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/06 03:05 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
28 October 2006
Simmons on the Saints and Texans
Here's a bit of fun from ESPN.com's, Bill Simmons:
New Orleans (5-1)
An inspiration to every crappy NFL team: One smart free agent signing (Brees), one smart coaching hire (Sean Payton), one blue-chip pick (Bush) and one lucky late-round pick (Colston) and suddenly you're a playoff team. This is an amazingly simple sport sometimes.
(Hold on, give the Texans fans a second. They're a little slow in Houston because of the humidity.)
(One more second...)
(One more...)
(One more...)
Hey, can you hear the swearing coming from the Lone Star State? That's the sound of the entire Texans fan base realizing that their team could have picked Bush, hired Payton as their new coach and dumped David Carr to sign Brees. Ouch.
Ah well.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/28/06 03:01 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
25 October 2006
Rivalry, rivalry!
Some Chron folks desperately want the Texans to have rivals.
So desperately that we've already had Cowboys-as-Rival and Jaguars-as-Rival stories in this young season. Never mind that fans of those teams don't really think of the Texans as rivals (although Jags fans have to wonder why their superior talent has so much trouble with the Texans).
Today, we get the big whammy on the closest thing to a rivalry the Houston NFL franchise has:
A boil?
Come on. These are two of the worst football teams in the league. "Boil" comes to mind, but not quite in the context of that headline.
Anyway, Bud Adams and the Titans are sure to fire up Houston fans. This IS a rivalry game from our point of view, even if it's not entirely clear that the Titans fans care that much. Nothing could get their attention like a good ol' stomping. Think the Texans can deliver?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/06 09:58 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
23 October 2006
Bad Sports podcast (2006-10-22)
There is a new Bad Sports podcast available for download:
Bad Sports podcast (2006-10-22)
In this episode, Ethan Glading and I discuss the Houston Texans' big victory over Jacksonville, UH and Rice college football wins, the Houston Dynamo's loss in the first of a two-game playoff series (which we don't quite understand), and a Houston Councilmember who wants the city to buy the WNBA team.
We want your voice feedback! If you want to drop us a brief comment for the next podcast, you can:
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Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/23/06 11:16 PM | Technorati | Comments (1)
Peter King likes Carr
SI's Peter King has David Carr as his NFL co-offensive player of the week today:
A week after getting embarrassed at Dallas, Carr faced a tough Jacksonville defense, completed 25 of 34 passes for two touchdowns, no picks and 224 yards and led Houston to a surprisingly easy 27-7 win. Watch Carr one of these weeks. The Texans aren't going anywhere this year, but Carr is, and Houston should follow soon.
This year is about rebuilding David Carr and getting a bunch of young defensive players some experience. Next year, we can start to keep an eye on wins-losses, but that's not what this season is about (even if the Texans' marketing department can't allow anyone to admit as much). The last game was good on both counts, but there almost certainly will be more stumbles along the way.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/23/06 10:45 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
21 October 2006
Tracking Justice on David Carr
We often talk and post about Chronicle columnist Richard Justice's tendency to change his mind on sports topics, sometimes even in the same column.
The H-Town Sports crew actually took the time to document the phenomenon on the topic of David Carr.
Hats off to them. That had to be brutal work.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/21/06 02:41 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
19 October 2006
Veteran NFL writer regains some perspective (as predicted)
On Tuesday night's podcast, Ethan and I talked about the lack of perspective that seems to afflict some veteran Chronicle sports scribes who cover the NFL.
I went off on one particular writer, whose liveblogging of the last game reached almost hysterical levels.
Ethan made the good point that as the week progresses, these guys usually calm down and regain a little perspective.
Right on cue, McClain wrote a pretty good column yesterday discussing the Texans' lack of talent (which should have been evident from the start of the season if not long before). And today, McClain posted that it's too early to get down on Gary Kubiak and listed similar records of some pretty good coaches in their rookie seasons.
So, advantage Ethan, for predicting exactly how the coverage would go this week!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/19/06 10:29 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
18 October 2006
Dynasty For Sale!
It's not just a WNBA Franchise on the auction block... it's a Dynasty up for sale!
"After a lot of discussion and trying to figure out what's best for the Comets organization, Mr. Alexander has decided to put the team up for sale and see if there are any local buyers out there who might be interested," said Tad Brown, senior vice president of sales, marketing and broadcasting for the Comets and NBA's Houston Rockets. "Ideally, (the sale) would be (to local investors).
"There are a few people who have expressed interest, and we'll continue to talk with those people. We're going to evaluate each opportunity on its own."
Does the price tag include that ugly blue shaggy freako mascot with the gigantic zit on its... nose?
Posted by Laurence Simon @ 10/18/06 12:05 PM | Technorati | Comments (1)
How'd That Taste?
One my pet peeves is when somebody tastes something and says "yuck, that's terrible!" and then tries to hand it to me while asking "do you want it?" Sure, with a ringing endorsement like that who wouldn't want it. I was reminded of this as I read John McClain's latest column regarding erstwhile Texan Phillip Buchanon. In essence, the Raiders drafted a can of Buchanon Cola, tasted it, said "Yuck!" and then turned to the rest of the NFL to see if anybody wanted some. The Texans did. So did the Redskins according to McClain. That should be red flag number two.
Player evaluation is more of an art than a science as it is currently practiced. And certainly there have been times when a change of scenery has turned around a player's performance but in hindsight the Texan's signing of Buchanon defies logic. Only Charley Casserly could sign a player that 1. The Raiders said could not play (the Raiders!) and 2. The Redskins wanted. I guess the "coaches wanted him."
Posted by Ethan Glading @ 10/18/06 10:32 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
Bad Sports podcast (2006-10-17)
A new podcast is available here:
Bad Sports podcast (2006-10-17)
In this rare Tuesday night edition of Bad Sports, Ethan Glading and I ramble on about Houston Texans' putrid performance against the Dallas Cowboys (and subsequent roster moves), we talk about Rice and UH college football, and cover assorted odds and ends (including a little Russian commentary from a valued listener and friend).
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Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/18/06 06:17 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
16 October 2006
McClain: Let's give away some (more) draft picks!
The Texans are a terrible football team.
And they did nothing to prepare fans for how bad this season is going to be.
The best indicator of the outlook for this season came not from any of the local media's Kubiak cheerleading, but during roster moves around the start of the season, when the Texans effectively churned the bottom of their roster to grab other teams' discards. For this Cowboys fan, that brought back memories of Jimmy Johnson's first season in Dallas (the one-win season), when the Jimster engaged in similar roster shuffling.
After Charley Casserly's bungling (and some injuries), these Texans are similarly devoid of talent. Unfortunately, there is no Herschel Walker to trade for draft picks and a quick rebuild. This thing is going to take some time.
In a recent blog post, John McClain suggests that the Texans need to consider trading draft picks for yet another journeyman running back.
That's exactly the WRONG thing to do. This team already has several journeymen running backs. What the team needs is talent. And talent comes from using draft picks, wisely.
I said above that the Texans did nothing to prepare fans for the next couple of years of rebuilding. Maybe they were deluding themselves (and veteran local journalists who ought to know better). Or maybe they realized it's not smart marketing to say, "We have a three-year plan -- stick with us while we stink and we'll be a lot more like the Broncos in Year Three!" Whatever the case, smart football fans had to realize that the early (and ongoing) roster churning spelled trouble (even if some local journalists didn't). And smart football fans need to realize that panicking and trading draft picks for marginal players isn't the fix for this team.
This team needs another draft and a solid free agency period. It would be nice if this team had a few players other teams want who might be dangled for draft picks, but that's not the case unfortunately. So, we're going to have to have a little patience, and trust that Gary Kubiak and crew really are as good as all the fawning local journalists suggested when he was hired and again after he had a nice preseason.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/16/06 09:05 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
11 October 2006
Houston to get third sports talk station
The Chronicle's David Barron reports that Houston is about to get a third sports talk radio station:
KFNC (97.5 FM) will become ESPN Radio's Houston affiliate in January, giving the city three all-sports radio stations, the general manager of the Cumulus Media-owned station said Tuesday.
Pat Fant, the longtime Houston radio executive who is Cumulus' Houston market manager, said the station will mix ESPN Radio programming with one or more local shows and, if the opportunity presents itself, local sports play-by-play.
"This opportunity presented itself to us, and it was a clear fit for the goals of our company and for ESPN to leverage that big brand name on an FM station in this market," Fant said. "We're excited about the talent we're going to put front and center on the FM version of ESPN Radio."
ESPN Radio will switch from KBME (790 AM), which signed on as Houston's second all-sports station in late 2004, in early January.
[snip]
Fant said [KFNC] "has a number of options and is talking to some great talent right now" about local talk shows.
Most national sports talk is a total bore, with the exception of Jim Rome. It's cheap enough for a station that nobody listens to (97.5) to pump in sports satellite feeds of radio snores like Dan Patrick, but my guess would be that people want to hear local sports talk. Afternoons are pretty well covered (the 610 crew has the ratings despite the drag of Rich Lord, and 790's Palillo has his appeal), mornings are still up for grabs (610 is entrenched, and 790's morning show is truly awful), and afternoons are Rome's. Since ESPN is switching affiliations because they want their national show on instead of 790's truly awful morning show, they don't seem likely to gain a local sports talk following.
A Ticket-like station might still be a hit in Houston, but no programmer seems inclined to do that. So, instead we'll have three so-so sports talk stations in Houston.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/11/06 10:23 AM | Technorati | Comments (3)
10 October 2006
Bad Sports podcast (2006-10-09)
There is a new Bad Sports podcast available here.
In this week's podcast, Ethan Glading and I ramble on about bad performances from UH and Rice in football, the Astros coaching staff, A-Rod, Yao Ming's toe and shoes, the Dynamo, and other assorted weirdness.
We'd still like to include some audio feedback in the podcast. If you want to drop us a brief comment for the next podcast, you can:
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Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/10/06 10:24 PM | Technorati | Comments (1)
05 October 2006
Burke goes under the knife
Houston Astros outfielder and second-baseman Chris Burke had his shoulder operated on today...
As expected, Chris Burke underwent successful surgery Thursday in Birmingham. Ala., to tighten the capsule in his left shoulder. The procedure was performed by Dr. James Andrews, with assistance from team medical director Dr. David Lintner.
Burke, whose shoulder popped out of its socket on three separate occasions beginning in September 2005, is expected to be fully recovered in time for Spring Training.
Congratulations to Chris Burke, who will be ready in time to watch Craig Biggio crawl out 70 hits on the road to 3,000 while Tim Purpura once again tries to low-ball and find the next Preston Wilson to hand Burke's outfield slot to.
Crapiron Garner, will of course, intervene... and make the case for giving that slot back to Jason Lane.
Posted by Laurence Simon @ 10/05/06 06:17 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
04 October 2006
Another year of Crapiron Garner
Drayton added a year to Garner's contract while cutting Jim Hickey loose.
Yeah, when the manager tells the world he's demoting his closer twice but still keeps dragging him out to blow saves, that's the fault of the pitching coach.
Damn those Astros starters for not demanding more run support! Pitching coach!
Refusing to start Sampson despite some good, but short, starts. Then bringing him up so he can sit on the bench for a week before sending him back down while starting Wild Wandy. Pitching coach!
Oswalt bagging Pitcher Of The Month in September and looking at a Cy Young. Pitching coach!
The rest of the coaching staff will return in tact: bench coach Cecil Cooper, third-base coach Doug Mansolino, first-base coach Jose Cruz, hitting coach Sean Berry and bullpen coach Mark Bailey. Berry replaced Gary Gaetti at the All-Star break and has had his interim tag removed.
Um... what was Manso doing on the last game of the season when Quintero slapped an easy fly to right and slower-than-Ensberg Huff stumbled right into a gundown by Francoeur?
Oh well. Another year of renewing firephilgarner.com.
Posted by Laurence Simon @ 10/04/06 03:24 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
Astros dump Hickey, extend rest of coaching staff
The Astros dumped pitching coach Jim Hickey today:
The Houston Astros announced today that the club has extended the contract of manager Phil Garner by one year, through the 2008 season. The club also retained five members of the 2006 coaching staff: bullpen coach Mark Bailey, hitting coach Sean Berry, bench coach Cecil Cooper, first base coach Jose Cruz, and third base coach Doug Mansolino. Pitching coach Jim Hickey will not be retained for the 2007 season. The announcements were made by General Manager Tim Purpura.
Why does Sean Berry get to return as hitting coach?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/04/06 02:49 PM | Technorati | Comments (4)
03 October 2006
Premature, much?
Greg Johnson at the KHOU news blog posts the following:
Following his first-ever win as a head coach in the NFL, Gary Kubiak is a nominee for coach of the week, 11 Sports' Matt Musil reports.
It has to be a joke. Right?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/03/06 11:07 PM | Technorati | Comments (1)
Bad Sports podcast (2006-10-02)
In the latest Bad Sports podcast, Ethan Glading and I talk about:
- The end of the Astros season (and why I'm not that sad this flawed team didn't back into the playoffs)
- The Texans big win against Miami, which saw the return of Dom Capers, now a Dolphins defensive assistant (and wearer of a rug, in my opinion)
- A resounding first win for Todd Graham and Rice football, and an oh-so-close loss for Houston at the Orange Bowl
- Odds and ends, including the latest Rockets acquisitions and the start of their camp, and the Dynamo's playoff berth
The podcast is available for download here.
We'd still like to include some audio feedback in the podcast. If you want to drop us a brief comment for the next podcast, you can:
Leave a message at this phone number: 775-261-9133
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Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/03/06 09:35 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
01 October 2006
Live Blogging The Game
2:56 - It's over. Texans win it. I bet Capers is already in his car and getting the hell out of there.
2:53 - Now the Texans are doing what they should have done last time and letting the clock run...
2:51 - Miami went for the onside kick and nearly got the ball. But it is 1st and 10 for the Texans. Culpepper looks like he may be considering retirement.
2:47 - Touchdown Miami... and they don't get the two-point conversion. Texans still lead 17-15
2:44 - Astros will not be in the post season. It's not a prediction this time. It's a fact.
2:40 - A Miami receiver just dropped an extremely catchable ball on 3rd and 3. But they get a huge gain on 4th down. Lots of time left...
2:37 - After some questionable play calling and a bad punt, Miami now has the ball on the 20 with lots of time.
2:34 - Carr just completed a pass to the sideline. I guess he's just used to being the one trying to catch up. It's ok to let the clock run, boys.
2:30 - Miami field goal cuts the lead to 8.
2:29 - Kubiak has ditched his usual "this never happened in Denver" look for an "I can't believe I'm in a close game with Miami" look. It's a subtle difference. Sabin is quietly chanting "can't lose to the Texans" to himself on the sideline. And Miami is in the red zone...
2:25 - Miami's offense seems to be waking up. There is still plenty of time left...
Posted by Ethan Glading @ 10/01/06 12:04 PM | Technorati | Comments (3)
Mr. Cunningham is swell!
Chronicle sportswriter Jose de Jesus Ortiz decided to suck up to his boss today, in a column about postseason baseball awards:
Long and Meritorious Award — Houston Chronicle Deputy Managing Editor Dan Cunningham.
In his 17 years at the Chronicle, Cunningham has lifted the Chronicle's sports section into one of the best in the country.
Well, Mr. McLane AND Mr. Cunningham are SWELL!
But if he's such a great editor and runs such a great shop, why did that garbage make it into a column about postseason baseball awards?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/01/06 08:38 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
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