30 August 2007
Care to join our football pool?
Last year, we had great fun during football season with our inaugural football pool.
We're doing it again this year, for anybody who wants to join the fun.
The pool is located here.
If you played last year, you should be able to log in and get right back in the swing of things.
If you are new to our pool or to Sportsline, you'll have to set up an account and join our pool using the link above and the password worldclass.
The pool will have the same rules as last year -- We pick winners (no spreads) of all NFL games and the top 15 college games each week as selected by Sportsline, and weight our picks starting at 31 and going down (giving the games you feel most certain about the highest weight).
We'll come up with some sort of prizes, probably akin to what we did last year.
Good luck everyone!
PS: One quick note for returning players -- They've changed the rules on Thursday night games. If you somehow forget to make your picks for the week before that game starts, you can STILL make your picks for the remaining weekend games, although you will, of course, be penalized for the Thursday game. This is a nice change, as it is easy to forget those Thursday picks. If it happens this season, it won't be the killer it was last season.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/30/07 09:47 AM | Technorati | Comments (8)
29 August 2007
Why not just name Biggio Interim Player-Manager/Player-GM?
Cecil Cooper's debut as Astros manager doesn't make me think a turnaround is likely anytime soon.
I'm not talking about last night's familiar, losing performance against the suddenly dangerous Cards.
Rather, I'm talking about this excerpt in the Chron's baseball notebook today:
Biggio to call shots
Cecil Cooper met individu-ally with Craig Biggio and Chris Burke on Tuesday afternoon to discuss playing time.
Cooper said he will let Biggio dictate his playing time in the final month of the season, but he will play more when he makes his final career road trips to Chicago, New York and St. Louis in September.
Burke will see consistent playing time in right field against lefthanders and at second base when Biggio isn't playing.
Isn't it a problem that Drayton's pet Biggio is calling the shots?
Facts: 1) Burke is a terrible outfielder (though it's not as evident when he's in right as when he was in center to start the season). 2) Biggio is a terrible leadoff hitter. 3) Biggio has his record. 4) The team needs to figure out if Burke can be its full-time second baseman next season, which is hard to figure out when he only plays the position some of the time on the road or whenever Biggio decides it's okay.
Astros' (Cooper's? Drayton's? Tal's? Biggio's?) conclusion from those facts: Biggio will determine when and where he plays, and to heck with the rest of it.
This franchise has some real problems that obviously haven't been solved with the exits of Garner and Purpura.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/29/07 11:46 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
If only we could fire the owner
Well, he hasn't spent that much.But when McLane marched to the podium Monday and spoke of the need for better leadership and new ideas, he forgot to mention that he'd be well-served to take his own advice.
Why? Because he has done nothing lately to disprove the notion that he is as tough to work for as any owner in baseball.
Yes, he cares. And yes, he aims high. Yep, he's always around. And yep, he has spent lots and lots of dollars in the name of winning.
McLane doesn't know that much about baseball, and doesn't appear to be willing to learn. About a year ago today, I heard him speak at Rice. He answered one of my questions about using statistics in sports by saying that he didn't want his GM and manager to use statistics, and that all of that was terribly overrated anyway. He wanted his people to use their heads and follow their hunches.
When I hear people say things like "I had a hunch," it reminds me of degenerate gamblers.
Is it any wonder that the Astros are terrible? The bigger question is how they'd managed to be good enough to be in a position to get lucky in order to get to the World Series. Phil Garner was just a joke as manager, but as bad as his personnel and tactics decisions were, they were only worth a few extra losses anyway. Purpura wasn't fabulous, but he wasn't a disaster.
Garner and Purpura weren't the answer, but they weren't the problem. Drayton McLane is the problem.
Posted by Evan @ 08/29/07 01:33 AM | Technorati | Comments (1)
28 August 2007
When will the Rockets dump this guy?
Rafer Alston's tenure with the Rockets already looked shaky, with the arrival of a new coaching staff, acquisition of more talent at his position, and the fact that he really isn't that good.
This report in today's New York Daily News won't help his already slight chances of remaining a Rocket:
NBA player Rafer Alston was busted last night on charges he stabbed a man during a fight inside a Chelsea nightclub early yesterday.
The 31-year-old Houston Rockets point guard, who hails from Jamaica, Queens, was accused of slashing victim Wilbert Ashman in the right side of his neck, police said.
The alleged assault happened at 3 a.m. at Stereo, a trendy club at 512 W. 29th St., cops said.
Alston, a product of Cardozo High School in Queens, was arrested at the 10th Precinct stationhouse when Ashman picked him out of a lineup, police said.
How long will it take the Rockets to dump this guy?
BLOGVERSATION: Courtside.
UPDATE: When the Chron's Fran Blinebury first posted on his Courtside blog about this story today, he wrote:
In the grand scheme of things, Alston's legal transgressions -- no matter how they turn out -- barely register on the modern day pro athlete scale of bad behavior. There would still likely be a point-guard-starved team out there somewhere who would take him on.
Now, that paragraph has been pulled (I still have it in my furl cache).
That was probably wise editing, since it's a ridiculous statement (attempting to slash a guy's throat, if the allegation is true, does more than "barely register" on the bad behavior scale). But somebody needs to teach some of these Chron sports guys to think before they post, because it's a blogging faux pas to go back and rewrite posts later.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/28/07 01:13 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
27 August 2007
Great lineup (unless they get dumped)
The Chronicle's Richard Justice is touting his lineup for tomorrow's radio show on his blog:
You know me well enough to know I don't like to brag. But I can't help myself this one time. I think I might have the finest two hours of sports talk in history Tuesday morning. My guests will be Tal Smith, Drayton McLane, Peter Gammons, Jayson Stark and Neil Hohlfield. It's 10-Noon on 1560-AM The Game.
Better get Granato down to run the board.
Because interviews make your program interesting, and dumping all those guys like you dumped Bob Stoops on your first day would not be good radio.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/27/07 09:45 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
Astros Fire Garner and Purpura....
Well, I cannot say it is about time. Tim Purpura should never have been given the position, and Garner is the one who will also pay the price...
More later...
Posted by bweldon @ 08/27/07 04:54 PM | Technorati | Comments (1)
25 August 2007
Worst
With their loss tonight, the Houston Astros are now tied with the Florida Marlins for the worst record in the National League.
Maybe now, the Pollyanna local sports journalists who have insisted for weeks that the Astros are just one big winning streak away from the playoffs can stop with their idiocy.
The Astros haven't been in the race for most of the season. Indeed, they have been one of the worst teams in the NL.
It's time to start thinking about next season, and about whether a horrible tactical manager and a GM who doesn't perform due diligence before trades should return.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/25/07 09:52 PM | Technorati | Comments (2)
22 August 2007
Jason Jennings, Eddie Griffin, and others
Today I come to you with two different stories. Both of them are sad; however, not for the same reasons. First I start with the announcement that Eddie Griffin, the former Seton Hall, and Houston Rockets player, was identified as the person who lost his life in the collision with a moving train last weekend. The second is Jason Jennings, Baylor Bear, and Houston Astro whose season came to a sudden end yesterday with the announcement that he was having elbow surgery for a torn flexor tendon.
You may be wondering how these two athletes can be brought together, let alone have anything in common, but they do. Both young men were blessed with god-given talent to participate in professional sports; both came to Houston through trades that now look like huge mistakes. Griffin was the 7th pick in the NBA Draft and the Rockets gave up THREE first round picks, one of which turned out to be Richard Jefferson for him. He came here with a record of having problems, and those problems followed him throughout his entire career and the remainder of his life. I will not go into the details, suffice it to say that Eddie's personal demons were his eventual downfall, and may have possibly led to his premature death at the age of 25.
Jennings came to Houston, was touted as the man who would step in behind Roy Oswalt as the #2 starter and be the foundation of the rotation for the next 5 to 10 years. The team gave up our top starting pitching prospect and our starting center fielder who was a good hitter and had speed that the team had not seen since the days of Jose Cruz and Cesar Cedeno. We now find out that Jennings was damaged goods, and that apparently the Rockies did not tell the Astros about his arm problem, nor did Jennings fess up about them himself. I blame the Astros' management for not doing more to find out about the physical health of the player they were trying to get; however, once he got here and started to have problems, Jennings dropped the ball literally by not being honest with himself about his health. The fact that an Astro would hide his health status comes as no surprise. It has become part of the clubhouse environment, starting with Jeff Bagwell, and others including Morgan Ensberg and Brad Lidge.
I realize that these guys are under enormous pressure to play every day considering the amount of money they are getting paid, as well as the pressure to win that is heaped upon them, both by team ownership as well as the fans. However that is no reason to ignore, or try to play through an injury that could cost you your career.
So there you have it. Two players who have Houston ties, and who for one reason or another, had battles with personal pressures and failed to rise above them. The only good news is that one of these two will live on to play again, while the other will slowly fade into oblivion.
Posted by bweldon @ 08/22/07 09:37 AM | Technorati | Comments (1)
15 August 2007
The General phones one in
Chronicle NFL columnist John McClain starts off today's column as follows:
Based on comments you fired off to Chron.com blogs and your calls to sports talk shows, many of you already have it all figured out after one preseason game.
The regular NFL season is fast approaching, and the best a veteran columnist can do is run a column taking blog commenters and sports radio callers to task?
That's so weak.
A city the size of Houston really deserves much better than it gets from the Chronicle's beat writers in all the major pro sports it covers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/15/07 11:59 PM | Technorati | Comments (3)
There is still much more room for improvement for Munson
CrapIron tells MLB.com that he's really pleased with Eric Munson's defense of late:
But what's been more of a surprise to the Astros -- and more of a boost to his long-term role with the team -- is the improvement Munson's made behind the plate. "He's doing considerably better," manager Phil Garner said. "He's doing a very nice job of receiving the ball and blocking the ball.
And Brad Lidge seems to agree:
"I'm obviously a guy who's going to throw a few sliders in the dirt, and Munson has done a great job this year, noticeably," closer Brad Lidge said. "There was a game in Chicago [last month] where I threw a ton of sliders in the dirt and he knocked down every single one. That's a huge difference for me. He's picking up what my ball is going to do. He's seeing it. That's something I need.
"I'm very confident that with a runner on third base, if I need to strike someone out, I know I can throw a slider in the dirt and he's going to stop it."
He still looks like a woeful defensive player to me.
I wonder what Stephen Randolph thinks?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/15/07 11:52 PM | Technorati | Comments (1)
08 August 2007
Half-empty? Half-full? Try foggy or not foggy.
John McClain -- in one of his annual optimistic pre-season reports -- writes:
Fans whose glasses are half-empty believe the Texans are in trouble because they have a new quarterback with only two career starts, a starting receiver with a career-high 19 receptions, a running back on his last legs, an offensive line that's marshmallow soft, an overrated, overpaid defensive line, outside linebackers so unrecognizable they must have been hiding in the witness protection program, safeties who can't cover and a mediocre kicking game.
But if your glass is always half-full, you look closely at the Texans and see a bright young quarterback five teams tried to acquire before the Texans won the sweepstakes, a talented, hard-working receiver just waiting for his opportunity to reward the head coach's confidence in him, a 30-year-old running back on a mission to prove his former team made a huge mistake letting him go, an offensive line that will be vastly improved as pass protectors because the previous quarterback is gone and a defensive line with four first-round picks, including two who'll become household names like Mario and Amobi.
I'd have written those as "Fans whose glasses are not foggy" for the former paragraph and "Fans whose glasses are foggy" for the second paragraph.
Also, I can't believe how little attention last year's defensive Rookie of the Year gets. DeMeco Ryans was beastly last year. Every time you looked at the ball, there was Ryans.
One last thing McClain:
Kubiak and Smith believe the kind of fragile confidence that contributed to the Texans losing four games by six or fewer points is being strengthened by experience and leadership almost as much as talent.I seem to recall reading that the NFL average for losing close games is between 2 and 3. So, that fragile confidence cost them one game. Or maybe they were just unlucky. Big whoop.
Serious writers should research things like this before they include them in major metropolitan dailies.
Posted by Evan @ 08/08/07 06:33 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
07 August 2007
Quick preseason look at the Rockets
Okay, we have all been busy waiting for football season to start; however, I realized that we have been neglecting to talk about the one team in Houston that actually could be the best of the bunch. Yes, I am talking about the Houston Rockets. What with the current trades and other injuries that have occurred in the past month, the Rockets are looking more like a contender than ever before. They have quality depth, and a good mix of youth and veterans to succeed in the Western Conference. Why do I say that? Well, let's look at the roster as it stands right now:
Potential starters
7 Mike James PG 6-2 195
1 Tracy McGrady GF 6-8 223
4 Luis Scola F 6-9 230
31 Shane Battier SF 6-8 220
11 Yao Ming C 7-6 310
First 4 off bench
44 Chuck Hayes F 6-6 238
6 Bonzi Wells SG 6-5 210
3 Steve Francis PG 6-3 195
45 Jackie Butler FC 6-10 260
Final 3 active roster spots
0 Aaron Brooks G 6-0 160
13 Kirk Snyder SG 6-6 225
2 Luther Head G 6-3 185
3 potential for inactive list
20 Steve Novak F 6-10 220
9 Justin Reed SF 6-8 238
14 Carl Landry F 6-7 245
Trade bait
15 John Lucas PG 5-11 165
12 Rafer Alston PG 6-2 175
3 Bob Sura G 6-5 200
D- League possible
21 Brad Newley G 6-7 201
29 Mike Harris F 6-6 240
The final six may change depending upon what sort of health issues occur, but this team is sitting pretty right now with plenty of depth at guard and maybe more depth if Mutombo comes back for one more year.
Can they get anything for Sura, Alston, or Lucas? Maybe. You never know. But at least the season is starting with some optimism.
Posted by bweldon @ 08/07/07 02:18 PM | Technorati | Comments (2)
06 August 2007
Phil Garner really IS full of crap!
Look who's #1 on Maxim's list of Crappiest Baseball Managers?
That's right, our own CrapIron!
They're kind of late to this game.
It's hard to believe that Ron Washington is only #5 on the list, though. He and Buddy Bell would have tied for runnerup in my list.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/06/07 08:46 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
Houston Texans Preview - Part 2 Defense
It is time to take the next step in examining the 2007 Houston Texans. This time around I will be looking at the defense, starting with the defensive line. The roster currently shows the following players for the Texans at DL.
93 Jason Babin DE 27 6-2 259 4 Western Michigan
60 Earl Cochran DE 26 6-5 284 1 Alabama State
94 N.D. Kalu DE 32 6-3 265 11 Rice
97 Alfred Malone DE 25 6-5 308 3 Troy
92 Anthony Weaver DE 27 6-3 280 6 Notre Dame
90 Mario Williams DE 22 6-7 291 2 North Carolina State
79 Tim Bulman DT 24 6-3 300 3 Boston College
96 Thomas Johnson DT 26 6-2 298 3 Middle Tennessee State
99 Travis Johnson DT 25 6-3 305 3 Florida State
78 Cedric Killings DT 29 6-2 310 5 Carson-Newman
95 Anthony Maddox DT 28 6-1 305 3 Delta State
- Amobi Okoye DT 20 6-2 287 R Louisville
- Thomas Smith DT 24 6-3 300 R Pittsburgh
90 Jeff Zgonina DT 37 6-2 290 15 Purdue
The team will rotate probably 6 or 8 players in the line over the course of any game. Weaver, Williams, Okoye, Maddox look to be the starters with the Johnsons, Malone, Kalu as the next wave, and Babin and Zgonina as the final pair in the ten that may make this team. This unit is under the microscope what with four first round picks and two that are top ten picks at that. They need to be able to put pressure on the quarterback without any blitzing LBs or DBs and at the same time be able to keep the linebackers free and clear so that they can play the run better.
The linebackers this year look as solid and deep as they have since the first year that the team was in existence.
50 Charlie Anderson LB 25 6-4 243 4 Mississippi
56 Shawn Barber LB 32 6-2 240 10 Richmond
94 Marcus Bell LB 30 6-1 245 4 Arizona
51 Trent Bray LB 24 6-1 237 1 Oregon State
54 Danny Clark LB 30 6-2 245 8 Illinois
- Zach Diles LB 22 6-0 240 R Kansas State
56 Morlon Greenwood LB 29 6-0 238 7 Syracuse
53 Shantee Orr LB 26 6-0 250 5 Michigan
59 DeMeco Ryans LB 23 6-2 235 2 Alabama
59 Zac Woodfin LB 24 6-1 235 1 UAB
The starting trio of Anderson, Ryans and Greenwood, could be as good as most other LB lineups in the league, and I really think that after this season if they continue to produce as they are capable of doing you will be hearing them listed as one of the top five LB corps in the league. Ryans is without a doubt the leader of this group and he leads by example both on and off the field. He is one of the hardest workers and spends more time in the film room than most of the rest of the team. The team will probably keep four or five more LBs, some of which will be primarily for special teams; that being said, the five I see as staying around are Orr, Clark, Barber, Bell, Diles, and maybe Woodfin, on the practice squad.
Defensive Back is where we could have some change when it comes to who is playing as well as who is on the team.
22 Roc Alexander CB 25 5-10 190 4 Washington
- Fred Bennett CB 23 6-1 199 R South Carolina
38 DeMarcus Faggins CB 28 5-10 178 6 Kansas State
21 Jamar Fletcher CB 27 5-10 186 7 Wisconsin
26 Jason Horton CB 27 6-0 190 4 North Carolina A&T
34 Von Hutchins CB 26 5-9 181 4 Mississippi
20 Dexter McCleon CB 33 5-10 195 10 Clemson
28 Chris McKenzie CB 25 5-8 182 2 Arizona State
23 Dunta Robinson CB 25 5-10 174 4 South Carolina
40 John Walker CB 24 6-1 200 1 USC
25 Dexter Wynn CB 26 5-9 177 4 Colorado State
24 C.C. Brown S 24 6-0 208 3 Louisiana-Lafayette
26 Glenn Earl S 26 6-1 215 4 Notre Dame
- Brandon Harrison S 22 6-2 210 R Stanford
30 Jason Simmons S 31 5-9 199 10 Arizona State
There is plenty of competition this year in the defensive backfield and the only position that is a lock is Dunta Robinson's. There will be competition for all of the other three starting spots as well as for the backups; that, and there will be a couple of spots for those playing special teams, including punt and kick returner. Roc Alexander is out for the season so that will give someone else some more reps and the chance to make an impression.
Posted by bweldon @ 08/06/07 11:35 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
04 August 2007
Who knew the Texans' radio broadcast team could get worse?
The Chronicle's David Barron reports on a new addition to the Texans' poor radio broadcast team:
After working dozens of pregame and postgame shows for all manner of sports during two decades on Houston radio, Rich Lord finally makes it to the field this fall as sideline reporter for Texans games on KILT (610 AM).
Lord, KILT's longtime afternoon drive-time host, will deliver on-air contributions and off-air updates to the play-by-play team of Marc Vandermeer and Andre Ware. Lord also will handle postgame interviews.
"I've done it all in pregame and postgame, but this is the first time I've been part of the game broadcast," Lord said. "I hope to bring to the broadcast what I bring to the (afternoon show), which is the ability to have fun and be informative and entertaining."
Lord's previous role will be filled by Adam Wexler, who — with Matt Jackson — will host the Countdown to Kickoff and Fan Feedback shows. Dave Harbison and other KILT hosts also will contribute.
And that's how a bad broadcast team gets worse.
There is one positive, though. Lord, who is notorious for never attending local sports events despite commenting on them on the radio, will actually now be forced to attend a minimum of 16 regular-season sports events involving a Houston team this year. That may eclipse his total for the last decade!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/04/07 08:11 AM | Technorati | Comments (3)
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