27 January 2008
For value and effort, give me the basketball Coogs over our "pro" teams
The Chronicle's soccer reporter today notes that we are lucky in Houston that our four pro teams offer good value, in relative terms, when compared to other teams in their respective leagues.
That's all well and good, but none of the major league pro teams has been all that compelling in recent years AT ANY PRICE, and soccer is what it is.
In terms of putting out a good product and always giving maximum effort, Tom Penders' basketball Cougars have, in recent years, been the best sports value in town as far as I'm concerned. If you like hoops, watching the Coogs at the Hof is a great experience (even though the arena is in sad need of refurbishment, the sight lines are still great and the seats are comfy). Unfortunately, Houston is a bad sports town and doesn't have many of the sorts of fans who will just go watch college hoops because... there's a game. So the crowds are still disappointing, despite Penders' success in rebuilding the program, which is a shame (and only builds on Houston's reputation as a mediocre sports town).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/08 10:37 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
The tortured prose continues
Jonathan Feigen's torturing of the English language in an unedited sports section continues in today's Chronicle:
Mathematical realities insist each game is worth the same, no more or less than another as it is recorded in the standings.
Human nature argues otherwise.
Some leap from the page and dwarf the agate-sized others. They test and even define, if temporarily, possibilities.
Ouch.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/08 10:29 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
23 January 2008
Redundant, much?
Here's a fun line from a Jonathan Feigen blog post:
But there comes a time when good teams rise above human nature and develop a way that they play, unshakable by a game against a poor opponent or with an early start. They show up and go to work with Saturday's determination game after game, with only a rare aberration.
Presumably, rare aberrations are different from those frequent ones.
Anyway, the graf is substantively right about good teams. At some point, people may have to start concluding that this Rockets' team, as coached by Rick Adelman, isn't a good team.
Then again, just a week ago, some Chronsters thought there had been a turnaround in the team's play, so it's hard to say.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/23/08 10:58 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
17 January 2008
Fun ledes from an unedited sports section
Jonathan Feigen offers up one of his "special" ledes today:
With the words dripping painfully from him, Yao Ming had become 7 1/2 feet of anger and disappointment.
Words dripping painfully?
Isn't that a better description of that lede?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/17/08 08:53 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
16 January 2008
Fran Blinebury imagines a Rockets' turnaround
The Chronicle ran this bit of wisdom from Fran Blinebury a few days ago yesterday:
Oh, the Rockets remember losing 100-88 to the Sixers in Philadelphia this past month. The way an electrician remembers the first time he forgot to turn off the power before poking around in a socket.
"It was painful, really painful," Yao Ming said.
It was also ugly, really ugly. Because the Rockets did not play offense, did not work on defense and did not compete. Which is why by the middle of the third quarter, the Sixers had built a 31-point lead.
Tracy McGrady limped away from the carnage early in the second half with a sprained right ankle, and Yao blasted away when it was over, calling the Rockets soft.
"It was the lowest point of our season," Yao said of the 100-88 loss.
It might also have been the night the Rockets hit rock bottom and began to scratch and claw their way back to respectability.
"I know that game hit me," Yao said. "I think that game hit the whole team. I think maybe it is a game that stays with everyone. I don't think anybody can forget it, and it has made us a different team now."
The wins didn't start to come immediately after they left Philly. But over the past three weeks, coach Rick Adelman has seen the Rockets play at a higher level.
Not to be outdone, the Chron headline writer apparently decided to mimic Blinebury's typically overwrought prose:
Loss to Philly was turning point for Rockets
When the teams met on Dec. 10, Rick Adelman's team hit rock bottom, but the defeat was a shock that sparked the team and helped it regain respect
Really?
Since December 10 (and after two pitiful home losses in a row), the Rockets' record is 9-8. Their overall record is 20-19, meaning they were 11-11 before Blinebury's supposed turnaround.
Do any editors read the Chronicle's NBA writing before it is posted, ever?
UPDATE: Just last night -- the same day the Chronicle ran Blinebury's column celebrating the Rockets' turnaround -- Blinebury wrote the following on his blog:
Turn out the lights, the party's over.
The NBA draft lottery will be held on May 20.
No matter how you say it, this was the game that made it safe to plan a spring vacation.
The Rockets are going nowhere at warp speed.
Not with a back-to-back set of games where they give up 29 and 37 points in the fourth quarter. Not with a backcourt collection that cannot execute the simple entry pass to a center who stands 7-6. Not with a collective backbone that couldn't stand up to a jellyfish.
"We let up, as we usually do," said Rafer Alston. "It was a total let-up."
A complete and utter breakdown.
This has turned into nothing short of a clown act, missing only the fright wigs, red noses and big shoes.
Between that rapid change of heart and Richard Justice's similar mood swings, you have to wonder if the Chron sports department could get a discount on medication for bipolar disorder.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/16/08 07:58 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
13 January 2008
National anthem as precursor to Coog basketball performance?
The Coogs came up short against a very good Arizona team yesterday, with seniors Lanny Smith and Dion Dowell turning into missing persons.
But even those senior Coogs didn't come up as short as the singer of the national anthem:
The national anthem singer forget the lyrics. When she couldn't readily summon the words on her second attempt past ``by the dawn's early light,'' the crowd at Hofheinz Pavilion rallied around her and started singing.
The crowd carried her through the song, but there are limits to the powers of good intentions.
Even the collective efforts of 7,917 fans couldn't do enough heavy lifting to get the Houston Cougars out of harm's way.
Ouch. Talk about your Bad Sports moments.
The singers UH tends to bring in are terrible most of the time anyway. The Cougar Brass band, on the other hand, is excellent, and they always do a great job with the national anthem. Dave Maggard should do away with the vocalists, and leave it to the band.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/13/08 11:56 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
12 January 2008
We interrupt the gushing over the new Texans' coach...
All of the usual local media suspects have been engaged in what can only be described as gushing over the Texans' hiring of Alex Gibbs.
And to some extent, the gushing is deserved -- Gibbs IS a respected offensive line coach (although he apparently will not have that responsibility for the Texans).
But it *might* be worth noting that under his tutelage, the Denver Broncos' offensive line developed a reputation as one of the dirtiest in the league, with frequent complaints from NFL teams about injuries resulting from the Broncos' blocking techniques.
Now, maybe all those complaints were just sour grapes, but weren't they at least worth a mention while the local print cheerleaders were all gushing over the Texans' new coach?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/12/08 12:10 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
11 January 2008
UH to honor Guy V at halftime Saturday
Here's a little break from Bad Sport to some good sports news, courtesy of the Chronicle's Steve Campbell:
[Tom] Penders will bring an 11-2 UH team to the Guy V. Lewis Court at Hofheinz Pavilion on Saturday afternoon for a game against the Arizona Wildcats. Lewis will give up his usual spot in an upper-level box to sit courtside during the first half. He is 85, and he suffered a severe stroke nearly six years ago, so he doesn't get around so easily anymore.
A courtside seat is a must for Lewis to participate in the halftime ceremony planned in his honor. Former UH greats Elvin Hayes, Don Chaney and Otis Birdsong will be among those present to pay tribute to Lewis, who this past fall got inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame. Lewis won 592 games in 30 seasons at his alma mater, leading 14 teams to the NCAA Tournament and five to the Final Four.
''The guy is a treasure," Penders said. ''I don't ever want him taken for granted as long as I'm here. I know what he did. He's not just a coach. He's one of the greatest coaches of all time. He's a great man. It's a chance to properly honor him."
That's not entirely true. The proper and fitting honor would be enshrinement into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. Hayes long has characterized the omission of Lewis as ''one of the great injustices of the game." Any amends from that Hall of Fame would be too little, way too late, because Lewis wouldn't be able to make the trip to that corner of the world and get the full induction experience.
No doubt, but this is a nice -- and long overdue -- honor. I'll be clapping loudly from Section 121 during the ceremony.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/11/08 09:37 AM | Technorati | Comments (0)
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