Red Keeps Streak Alive

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Yesterday, Red kept his streak of never having seen the Houston Astros win a post-season game alive.  The Astros collapse yesterday came 35 years to the date after Red attended his first ever MLB playoff game when the Astros faced the Phillies in Game 5 of the 1980 NL Championship series.  Remarkably, in both games the opposition scored 5 runs in the top of the 8th to wrest control from the Astros.

The 1980 game seemed in complete control entering the 8th inning.  A three run lead with Nolan Ryan on the mound seemed insurmountable. But the Phillies were made of sterner stuff. They loaded the bases with nobody out on three cheap singles, including an infield hit by Bob Boone and bunt Greg Gross.  Ryan walked in a run and then the floodgates opened.  The Astros rallied to tie in the bottom of the 8th, but back to back doubles in the 10th secured the win for the Phillies.

Red was also there for Game 5 of the NLCS in 2005 when Albert Pujols hit a rocket off of Brad Lidge to win the game.  The stink of that loss was erased when the Astros pummeled the Cards in Game 6 to advance to their first World Series.

Red also witnessed two other losses to the Braves in various series included the heart-breaking loss in the last game ever played at the Astrodome in 1999.

Yesterday’s game featured a seemingly interminable top of the 8th.  It was reported to have lasted 41 minutes but it seemed like more than an hour watching the slow steady implosion.  The Astros best chance to staunch the bleeding was lost when Kendrys Morales punched a ground ball that skipped off the mound, glanced off pitcher Tony Sipp’s glove and then was whiffed by shortstop Carlos Correa.  Correa’s error allowed two runs to score and the game was tied.  Alex Gordon pushed what proved to be the winning run across the plate on a ground-out fielder’s choice and the Astros were done.

The toll of the damage from the top of the 8th inning:

5 runs

5 hits

1 error

3 Astros pitchers

11 Royals batters

53 pitches

41 minutes

Red will not be allowed to attend any more games this season.

A Texan Should be Speaker

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Considering the outsize influence Texas has in the current GOP domination of Congress, it only makes sense that a Texan should be Speaker of the House.  And at least three Texas Representatives seem willing to step forward if Paul Ryan (now allegedly too liberal – if you can believe that – to be Speaker) decides to decline to run.  The Texas Tribune indicates that Bill Flores (TP-Bryan), Michael McCaul (R-Gerrymanderland), and Mike Conaway (TP-Midland) are all interested in the job.  All would be midgets following in the Texas-sized footsteps of Congressional giants and former Texas Speakers Sam Rayburn, John Nance Garner and Jim Wright, but at least they would be Texas midgets.

 U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan, said Monday he intends to seek the gavel of the United States House of Representatives if his colleague, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, doesn’t.

Though GOP lawmakers have been urging Ryan to run as a consensus candidate, Flores said in an interview with The Texas Tribune that he spoke to Ryan on Sunday.

“I don’t want to share private conversations, but he was still a ‘no’ as of yesterday when I spoke to him,” Flores said. 

If Flores is to succeed, he will need the 25-member Texas House delegation behind him. That’s no certainty yet, given  possible home state competition. U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland, has said he will consider running for speaker if Ryan opts against a run. U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul is also mulling a run, a source close to him confirmed. 

Where we are now is, what we’ve agreed is that we’re going to hold our powder dry,” Flores said of his fellow Texans. “And then we’ll see which Texan gets the most traction, and the thinking is today that we’ll coalesce around one Texan eventually.” 

The race is complicated by the Gang of Forty ultra-right wingers who are making outsized demands as a condition of support for any candidate for Speaker.  So right now we have about 10% of the Congress who represent the most far-right lunatic fringe of what used to be a mainstream political party controlling who will hold the third most powerful position in American government.  If Ryan bails, Flores might just be the man.  First, he apparently doesn’t understand the meaning of a private conversation which positions him well to betray anyone who strays from the Tea Party line.  And second, he is apparently willing to kowtow to the Gang of Forty demands of ideological purity at the expense of actually governing.

Today in Texas History – October 9

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From the Annals of Reconstruction –  In 1871, Governor Edmund J. Davis declared martial law in Freestone County.  There had been extensive reports of coercion and fraudulent voting in Fairfield, the county seat during the election of October 3-6.  Freestone County had been a hotbed of slave ownership and a strong supporter of secession having voted 585 to 3 in favor of secession at a county convention.  Racial troubles continued after the war and well into the 20th Century with Klan activity and violence against Blacks.  Martial law was lifted a month later, on November 10. Freestone County was one of four Texas counties in which martial law was declared during Reconstruction.

This Has Bomb Written All Over It

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Former State Senator and miserably failed gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis is developing a TV show based on her life story.  Really?  We didn’t get enough of that in 2014?  If Red wants to watch a bad TV show, he’ll stick to reruns of Reba or any of the upcoming GOP debates. The Dallas Morning News has more on this – oh, words just fail Red every now and then.  Why won’t politicians just go away when the voters tell them to?

Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis confirmed Thursday night she is working on a pilot for NBC.  She said the series, about a female senator who goes to work for a law firm after losing the governor’s race, is loosely based on her life.

“It is loosely based on my personal experience,” Davis said Thursday night. “It is not an autobiographical tale.”

Davis cautioned the pilot was still in development and NBC was a “long way” from a decision about the series. She said she did not know yet who would play the character based on her.

Red hopes a “long way” means never.  But if it doesn’t, Jenna Elfman is the obvious choice.

Red’s NFL Picks – Week 5

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“Football is not a contact sport; it’s a collision sport. Dancing is a good example of a contact sport.”

Duffy Daugherty

Apparently, Duffy never went into the mosh pit.

Red Rates Himself – Last week 4-2. For the season 18-6.

Your Fox(boro)trot Pick of the Week: Patriots over Cowboys. Okay, this game is actually in Arlington, but it might as well be in the friendly confines of Foxboro as far as the Patriots are concerned. The Patriots seem to be untouchable right now and Red expects that to last for another 4 or 5 games before they start to come back to earth. The Cowboys on the other hand have so many problems that Red doesn’t know where to start or how to stop grinning. If Red’s Texans are going to stink, the smell is slightly assuaged by an even bigger odor wafting down from the Metroplex. Don’t over analyze this one. The Pats are just better than everyone else right now and will lose only if they beat themselves. The Pats have been scoring at will, but at 49.5, Red likes the under this week. New England 31 Arlington 13.

Your Texas Two-Step Pick of the Week: Colts over Texans. This is painful for Red, but he has to call them as he sees them. As weak and pathetic as the Colts look(1-3), as sorry as A. Luck has been (31st in Total QB Rating ahead of only Alex Smith), as tired and old as Andre Johnson looks (0 receptions in last 2 games), as porous their bottom-tier defense looks (27th ranked), as non-existent as their rushing attack seems (more fumbles than touchdowns), and as ready for the picking as they will ever be, Red still can’t go there in the face of a Texans team that just plain sucks right now. Maybe Arian Foster will come around, maybe quarterback play will be acceptably mediocre, maybe the once-vaunted defense will show some spine, maybe the loss of the number 2 and 3 receivers won’t kill the passing attack, but that is a lot of maybes for a team that is lost in the woods.  This is a Pick ‘Em right now. Red picks the Colts. Indianapolis 13 Houston 9.

Your Do the Hustle Pick of the Week: Giants over 49ers. This week’s triple-forward time zone hex game is an easy pick even without the latent longitudinal bias working in favor of the Giants. The Niners are last in the league in passing offense. The NFL is a passing league. ‘Nuff said. Still Red wouldn’t touch Giants minus 7 with a 100 yard pole. New Jersey 27 Santa Clara 10.

You’re It Takes Two to Tango Pick of the Week: Bengals over Seahawks. Bengals want to play with the big boys – well, they get their chance this week. Red Rifle desperately needs a big game in a big game against a big time opponent. Check, check, check. Red calls the Bengals eking one out in the NFL Game of the Week. When the Bengals win this one, watch out – Red will call the Bengals to go 13-3 and may have to file an amended pre-season Superb Owl prediction. Cincinnati 29 Seattle 27.

Your Pennsylvania Polka Pick of the Week: Eagles over Saints. Saints proved they could beat a crippled Cowboys team last week. This week they face an Eagles squad that may finally be getting some legs underneath it.   A Chip Kelly team is not going to remain in the bottom quartile of NFL offenses for the entire season. This could be the break out game. However, if the Eagles cannot beat the Saints at home, then watch out, the whiskey bottles will be flying in Philly. It’s a hefty 49.5, but take the over, over, over. Philadelphia 45 New Orleans 27.

Your Can-Can Pick of the Week: Jaguars over Buccaneers. This week’s Shit Bowl feature two regular denizens of these Foul Floridian Fecal Fights. Who will stink worse this week, Blake Bortles or Jameis Winston? Red can only feign interest for so long.   Child proof the house lest ye be tempted to add some Drano to your Margarita to end the misery if you dare watch more than 5 minutes of this one. Jacksonville 17 Tampa Bay 13.

Texas Police Shooting Database Now Available

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The Texas Attorney General’s Office is developing a basic database that will allow the public to track all police shootings in Texas.  According to the OAG:

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) will be adopting and publishing reporting forms for Officer-Involved Shooting Incidents, as required by H.B. 1036, 85th Leg., R.S. (2015), which became effective September 1, 2015.  Until the OAG has adopted and published a final version of the form, and rules governing its completion and submission, all law enforcement agencies should begin using this interim form in accordance with the instructions contained therein.

The interim form posted by the AG is fairly bare bones and will likely be revised to provide more information.  So far there are about a dozen filed reports from various police departments across the state.  There is not a compilation of the reports, but someone will certain began using these reports to analyze and track what is actually happening when Texas peace officers shoot someone.

Red supports any efforts to reduce police shootings and the shooting of police officers.  But it seems clear which is the bigger problem right now.  According to The Guardian which is tracking all States, 891 people have been killed in the U.S. by police this year.  Contrast that to Great Britain where there have been no fatal police shootings since 2012, or Germany where there have been eight police killings over the past two years.  Even Canada, a country with no aversion to firearms, had a total of 12 police shootings between 1999 and 2009.  Of course, these numbers would have to be adjusted for population, but even so the U.S. is not just an outlier it is a complete aberration from the rest of the democratic industrialized world.

Today in Texas History – October 8

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From the Annals of the Filibusters –  In 1821, James Long and his filibuster forces to Mexican Army troops commanded by Colonel Juan Ignacio Pérez at La Bahia. Long was a former U.S. Army surgeon with dreams of conquest. The Long expedition was one of the first Anglo-Americans attempts to seize control of Texas from Spain. The expedition was formed in the Natchez, Mississippi area by elements who were opposed to the boundary of the Louisiana Purchase as set up in the Adams-Onís Treaty.  In 1819, Long had some initial success in taking Nacogdoches and declaring a new Republic of Texas with Long as President.  But the filibusters were quickly driven out by Pérez and the nascent Republic lasted less than a month.  Undeterred, Long regrouped and joined forces with José Félix Trespalacios, who was organizing an expedition in New Orleans to support the Mexican liberals. Long established his headquarters at Fort Las Casas near Point Bolivar.  There he was joined by his wife, Jane Long, the “Mother of Texas.” He later broke with Trespalacios, and sailed with his wife and an uncertain number of men to the coast south of La Bahia.  The group easily took the presidio but was just as easily routed again by Perez days later.  Long’s filibustering career was over.  He was captured taken to Mexico where he died in prison six months later after being shot by a guard.

Photo of La Bahia from Texas Parks & Wildlife