30 April 2007
Time to talk a little Bad Sports
After taking last weekend off, we'll be back with the Bad Sports BlogTalkRadio program tonight at 8pm.
You can stream the thing live here if you're so inclined, or even call in and contribute to Bad Sports.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/30/07 07:33 PM | Technorati | Comments (3)
29 April 2007
Umm, not the Cowboys
Here's a little Bad Sports, courtesy of the Chronicle's John McClain:
The Cowboys got lucky in the second round when cornerback Eric Wright was available. He's a first-round talent who can help in nickel coverage at worst and might be able to earn a starting spot at best.
The problem: The Cleveland Browns acquired that pick from Dallas, and took Wright.
Whoops!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/29/07 11:37 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
27 April 2007
Will the Texans swap with the Broncos?
Over at Inside The League, Neil Stratton reports that the Broncos and Texans have reached agreement on a deal reported earlier:
You heard it hear first: Inside the League has learned that the Houston Texans, as rumored previously, will swap first-rounders with Denver later today in exchange for Denver's second-round pick this year, No. 56. The Broncos will select Mississippi IB Patrick Willis.
With the Texans' first- and second-round picks, Houston is considering four players: Utah FS Eric Weddle, Ohio St. WO Anthony Gonzalez, Southern Cal WO Dwayne Jarrett and Florida FS Reggie Nelson, with Weddle heading the list of players expected to still be available at 56 when the Texans are on the clock.
The Chronicle's John McClain shot down the rumored Broncos/Texans trade earlier.
We'll find out soon enough who's right.
UPDATE (04-28-2007): The Texans took DT Amobi Okoye with the #10 pick. John McClain is proven right on the trade issue.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/27/07 03:40 PM | Technorati | Comments (3)
25 April 2007
16 more games....groan
Gregg Easterbrook nails my thoughts on the Matt Schaub trade:
Let's inject a little realism on the Texans' wily quarterback moves. In the 2006 draft, Houston passed on Vince Young, who's from Houston. Now Houston gives up two second-round draft choices -- the equivalent of a first-round pick -- for Schaub, a backup with a grand total of two career starts. A decade ago, Buffalo gave Jacksonville a No. 1 choice for backup quarterback Rob Johnson, and perhaps you remember how that turned out. Schaub's career passer rating is lower than Carr's, while their career YPA and touchdown-interception ratios are essentially the same. That is to say, Schaub has performed somewhat less well than Carr, despite playing in a dramatically better offense. What does Schaub bring to the Texans? The sense that he hasn't played enough to be viewed as a disappointment. Houston management considers this worth the equivalent of a No. 1 draft choice, while considering David Carr worth nothing at all, since the Texans waived him.I think the Texans' two high-profile moves -- trading for Schaub, signing Ahman Green -- are disasters. Not necessarily in the sense that either is terrible, just that they overpaid for them. Plus, neither QB or RB is what is wrong with the Texans.
It's gonna be another long season.
Posted by Evan @ 04/25/07 09:48 AM | Technorati | Comments (2)
17 April 2007
Bad Sports program (2007-04-16 edition)
There is an archive of last night's Bad Sports BlogTalkRadio program available here.
This time, we chat a fair amount about the Astros, a little about the Rockets, less about the other local teams, and quite a bit about travel and Vegas.
The show seems to be evolving into Bad Everything! :)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/17/07 09:55 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
16 April 2007
Talking Bad Sports
Ethan Glading and I will be talking a little Bad Sports tonight.
If anyone wants to stream it or, heaven forbid, call in, the info is here.
I don't have much tonight, and will surely be putting the BAD into the program.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/16/07 07:29 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
10 April 2007
McClain has a point
There's an interesting (if inadvertent) concession in John McClain's latest blog post:
Now, speaking of the NFL draft, the Chronicle starts two weeks of daily coverage beginning Sunday with a Texans preview. We're going to have videos galore. Megan Manfull and I will shoot seven videos previewing positions that will run on chron.com when that position runs in the Chronicle.
Anna-Megan Raley and I are shooting videos as well. On draft days, we're going to be videoing fools.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/10/07 09:14 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
Bad Sports program (2007-04-09 edition)
There is an archive of last night's Bad Sports BlogTalkRadio program available here.
In this edition, Ethan Glading and I talk mostly Astros and a little Rockets, and cover the usual odds and ends.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/10/07 07:38 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
08 April 2007
BlogTalkRadio postponed until Monday
We had to postpone the Bad Sports BlogTalkRadio program from the usual Sunday 8pm slot to Monday at 8pm.
Please do feel free to call in and talk some Bad Sports with us Monday night. After the week's performance by the Rockets and Astros, there is quite a bit in the way of Bad Sports to discuss.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/08/07 11:36 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
07 April 2007
On one hand... but on the other hand
These confusing observations from chronicle columnist Richard Justice's online chat amused us earlier this week:
Ken__Guest_: Wandy and Jason Lane seemed to be locks to make the big league team this Spring, why? Are we going to wait until Neive and Pence are 30 to bring them up, like we did Lane? Sometimes what this team does with prospects makes my head hurt.
Richard_Justice: You're wrong on Lane. He was given a chance to come in and make the club. He met with Tim Purpura after the season and asked for another chance. His contract wasn't guaranteed. Now you don't want to hear this, but he's a guy they could trade. Scouts love his skills. I don't know if he'll ever clear his head enough to be as productive as he was in '05. Wandy did get the first crack at the rotation. He almost pitched his way out off the roster in spring training. He's on a short leash. Every team goes in with a blueprint. What you're seeing now is that blueprint. Now we'll find out if they were right.
[much later in the chat]
Sizzlean__Guest_: If Luke Scott performs at or near last year's level, do you think the Astros would look to trade Jason Lane for pitching?
Richard_Justice: I don't think he has much trade value.
Well, all righty then!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/07/07 11:13 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
06 April 2007
Carr signs with Carolina
The Chronicle's John McClain writes that another team is about to enjoy the David Carr experience:
After visiting Carolina and Seattle this week, former Texans quarterback David Carr has agreed to a contract with the Panthers to back up Jake Delhomme.
The Charlotte Observer reported that Carr’s deal is for two years.
Carr replaces Chris Weinke, who was released after a season in which he played poorly and was 1-2 as a starter after Delhomme suffered a thumb injury. The Panthers also brought in Joey Harrington for an interview before deciding on Carr.
The Texans play at Carolina this season. Although Carr will go to camp as the backup, because Delhomme was inconsistent last season and often under fire from fans and media, there already is speculation in Charlotte that Carr could push for a starting job.
Speculation from whom?
The sorts of people who are drunk already at 2 pm and call sports talk shows?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/06/07 10:50 AM | Technorati | Comments (1)
04 April 2007
PGIFOC
Fire Phil Garner, says Laurence.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/04/07 02:37 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
Lopez sees the light at the point
As our handful of Bad Sports listeners know, I have been pretty adamant that the Rockets will not be a true Western Conference contender so long as someone named Rafer Alston is manning the point.
Chronicle columnist John Lopez, one of the last Rafer holdouts, has finally come around to that view:
In fact, it may already be the biggest reason between the Rockets being in a better playoff spot and losing games like they did Sunday night at the Toyota Center.
As some of you know, I have been saying since last year that the Rockets can win with Rafer Alston running the point. In fact, they can. But can they contend? Can they win a playoff series?
That's where I need to correct the assessment of Alston as point guard for a team that fancies itself as a title contender. Two years is way too long for Alston to still not have wrapped his arms around this club and made it his own. Two years is way too long for moments to arrive like crunch-time in the season's biggest game thus far Sunday night, and Alston disappears.
Alston's ball-handling is among the best in the NBA. He keeps turnovers down, energy high and has knocked down some big 3s.
But as I watched the game from a sports bar here in Atlanta, where I'm covering the Final Four, on another TV screen was the Spurs and Pacers. Right there in living color were difference-making point guards not afraid to take over, the Spurs' Tony Parker and the Pacers' Jamaal Tinsley, who won the game for Indiana on Sunday with a last-second drive to the hole.
That's what is missing with the Rockets.
Yes. That's why some of us hoped the Rockets might try to get point guard help at the trading deadline.
With T-Mac, Yao, and Battier, this team is very good. But it needs a really good point guard to push it into that upper tier in the West (perhaps with Alston as a reliable backup).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/04/07 09:50 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
03 April 2007
Isn't that TWO big problems with the Astros?
Tom Kirkendall posts about "a big problem with the Stros."
And he's not talking about Brad Lidge, who is obviously a big problem with the Astros.
He's talking about Phil Garner, a bad tactical manager who frequently gets outmaneuvered during games. Kirkendall was puzzled by Garner's opening-day batting lineup, and so was I.
I'm close to adopting Laurence Simon's nickname of CrapIron for the guy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/03/07 09:00 AM | Technorati | Comments (2)
02 April 2007
Bad Sports program (April Fool's 2007 edition)
There is an archive of last night's Bad Sports program here.
We're a little sports-light in this one, but we do talk about Patrice Pike, weird emails I get from unlikely blog readers, and other fun stuff.
And we offer up our win predictions for the Astros. I went optimistic (82) and Ethan was less optimistic (80). The Vegas over/under I looked at before the show was 78.
Judging from Brad Lidge's ongoing sorry act, maybe we were both too optimistic. As we've discussed on the podcast previously, it's just hard to understand why the Astros didn't move him if some teams were truly interested in acquiring him (as was reported).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/02/07 08:30 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)