29 October 2007
Talk about Bad Sports...
Patriots-Colts week is finally upon us!
These two teams are clearly a cut above everyone else, and it should be a great game on Sunday.
Unfortunately, Houstonians won't get to see it. We'll have Texans-Raiders instead.
That is some Bad Sports.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/07 09:45 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
23 October 2007
There's no QB controversy. Yes, we've "got it"
Some of the local sports journalists have been unintentionally amusing since the Texans' latest loss.
Recall that Sunday, Matt Schaub got beaten up pretty badly, so Sage Rosenfels came in and looked awful for all but part of a quarter, when the Titans let their guard down a bit and the Texans rallied.
For two days now, some sports journalists have made a point of repeating some variant of, "All you fans who think there's now a quarterback controversy, there's not! Got it?!"
The thing is, no knowledgeable sports fans in town think there is a quarterback controversy. The team made a significant investment in Schaub, and he's looked pretty good so far this season, given that he's effectively a rookie (in terms of starts) and has been short of weapons most of his games. Sage Rosenfels is a perennial backup, and not a guy a team that has high aspirations installs as its starter (unless by necessity). Schaub is the guy. Discussion over.
So, the local sports journalists who are wagging their little fingers and acting like all Texans fans are ignorant reactionaries can just stop. It's insulting and condescending.
And it's lazy. If they can't find some actual Texans' problem/controversy to explore (hard to imagine, with so many things wrong!), then they aren't trying very hard. Or maybe they'd rather try to generate discussion about a quarterback controversy, without actually admitting that they are the ones driving the idiotic discussion of a non-issue. Whatever.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/23/07 08:17 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
22 October 2007
Sports Justice or Sports Whitewash?
John Royal noticed something interesting about Richard Justice's blog:
I need to call out Richard Justice for cowardice. I happened to go to Chron.com during the game yesterday. And around half-time, Justice had this post on his blog about the team being a disaster and about how they just needed to blow up and start all over again. By firing Kubiak and hiring Marty Schottenheimer. And I’m sure some of you reading this are saying, Wow, I’d like to read what Justice wrote about this. There’s just one problem. You can’t. He deleted it. Don’t believe me? Think I’m making things up? Well: “I'd like to apologize for all the bad things I [Justice] said about Gary Kubiak and others. I'll just hit the delete button.”
Yep, he said some nasty things about Gary Kubiak, but because the Texans got back into the game, he changed his mind and hit the delete button. But there’s nothing in what Justice said that would’ve been changed by a victory. He got on Kubiak for poor clock management. For failing to have a good game plan. For bad personnel decisions.
So what’s the deal? Are you hoping that no one read the original entry? Are you hoping Kubiak didn’t see it, or hear about it, and won’t cut off your access?
One of the informal "rules" of blogging is that you don't go back and significantly change blog entries with no warning. Minor edits or updates (usually with an "update" or "updated" tag) are fine, but not wholesale changes to posts (or deletions). For one thing, blog aggregators and google and such tend to pick up the blog entries, so it won't do much good to change it anyway. For another thing -- the main thing -- it's dishonest.
It's not the first time Richard Justice has had a little temper tantrum on his blog and then gone back for the do-over. It's also not the first time he's been caught.
One time is a mistake or perhaps ignorance. Multiple incidents suggest a dishonest journalist, albeit perhaps one who is at least embarrassed at some point after he loses his temper (hint: Maybe work on that temper BEFORE hitting the post button or sending out bizarre emails to people).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/22/07 02:31 PM | Technorati | Comments (1)
03 October 2007
Thank you Craig Biggio - Houston Icon
I could sit here and talk about a whole lot of negative things in the sports world; however, I have come to the realization that we do not praise those who do things the right way enough. We do not recognize those that come to the park every day and give 110% both on the practice field and in the game. Houston has been blessed with several players of that ilk over the past twenty years. Players like Nolan Ryan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Earl Campbell, Jeff Bagwell, even Yao Ming, Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman to name a few current players. There is one however that as far as I am concerned deserves to be at the top of that list. Craig Biggio. He spent 20 years in Houston, several times passing up free agency to stay here and play for less than what he could have gotten back in New York, or Chicago, or somewhere else. He was a class act on and off the field and deserves to be mentioned as a first ballot hall of fame candidate. Just look at his numbers, and when you figure that he started his first season in August of that year, he lost almost 50 games to the strike in 1994 and another 60 to a knee injury that would have had most people out for a full year, his numbers are very good. Then if you take a look at how many times and different categories he was in the top 10 in the league you see how consistent a player he really was. Now then when you figure the most important numbers based upon his playing 155 games a year for a full 20 years, his numbers would be quite different. I mean, we are looking at him missing almost one and a half seasons due to call ups, injuries and work stoppages. Can you imagine what his numbers would have been if he had remained consistent through that extra season and a half? We are talking about 2000, runs scored 3300+ Hits, 310+ Home Runs, 700+ doubles, 450+Stolen Bases, 300+ Times hit by the pitch. Now where would he rank in the all-time categories with those numbers? I'll tell you.
Hits - he would be in the to 10 with the likes of
9. Paul Molitor+ 3319 R
10. Eddie Collins+* 3315 L
11. Willie Mays+ 3283 R
Runs Scored Top 8
7. Willie Mays+ 2062 R
8. Cap Anson+ 1996 R
9. Stan Musial+* 1949 L
Doubles top THREE
2. Pete Rose# 746 B
3. Stan Musial+* 725 L
4. Ty Cobb+* 724 L
5. Craig Biggio (41) 668 R
Total Bases Top 12
12. Dave Winfield+ 5221 R
13. Cal Ripken+ 5168 R
14. Tris Speaker+* 5101 L
Stole Bases top 50
47. Ed Delahanty+ 455 R
Ron LeFlore 455 R
49. Curt Welch 453 R
50. Steve Sax 444 R
and Extra Base Hits Top 15
13. Jimmie Foxx+ 1117 R
Ted Williams+* 1117 L
15. Ken Griffey* (37) 1103 L
All of this and he was a very quiet but very active member of the community, and has been a solid citizen off the field. Craig Biggio is one of a rare breed that does things the right way, and his hard work, determination and dedication will be missed. Congratulations on a great career, best of luck in all you do from now on.
Posted by bweldon @ 10/03/07 02:43 PM | Technorati | Comments (0)
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