Tag Archives: Texas Sports

The End Times are Near, Cont.

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Yahoo Sports relates that Gail Payne, an Oakland A’s season ticket holder, has filed a lawsuit seeking to have MLB clubs install foul pole to foul pole netting to protect fans from foul balls, broken bats and the occasional errantly expelled chaw spit.   A Houston law firm, Hilliard Munoz Gonzalez is representing Payne, but a website asks other season ticket-holders to contact another firm handling the case, Seattle-based Hagens Berman.

”Every type of fan is constantly at risk of serious injury or death,” claims attorney Robert Hilliard. ”If that foul ball is hit hard enough, reaction time is basically zero and life-threatening injury is certain. This is a needless risk. Extending the nets will, as a fact, save lives.”

If you want to sit in good seats, you must be willing to pay attention to the game.  If you can’t do that, sit in the outfield or the nosebleeds.

Today in Texas History – May 22

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From the Annals of Golf –  In 2003, Annika Sorenstam became the first woman to play on the PGA tour in 58 years.  She did so at the storied Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.  The Colonial Invitational invited her to play based on her stellar record on the LPGA in the preceding years.  When she retired Sorenstam had won 72 LPGA events and 10 major championships.  But for Sorenstam  her two rounds at the Colonial provide a large part of her legacy. Sorenstam refers to the experience as “one of the highlights of my career.”   She ended the day at 1-over par and missed the cut by a stroke.

On a personal note, Red was there for her second round on Friday and strategically placed himself where he could watch Sorenstam play on holes 5, 6 and 7, and managed to catch her only birdie of the day.  The crowds were incredible and largely supportive.  It was a fun day to watch golf.

And who was the last women to play in an PGA event before the striking Swede?  It was Texan Babe Didrikson Zaharias at the Tucson Open in 1945.

No Thanksgiving Game for Texas A&M this Year

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LSU has rejected the possibility of the Tigers playing Texas A&M on Thanksgiving in Baton Rouge in 2015 according to CBS Sports.

LSU athletic director Joe Alleva told The Advocate there has been a push to move this year’s regular season finale against Texas A&M to Thanksgiving night, but prior traditions and the quest for ratings will not shake the AD’s stance on home games in Tiger Stadium.

Last season, the Aggies hosted LSU in a 23-17 loss on that Thursday night — the slot previously dedicated to their annual rivalry game against Texas. While Texas A&M may continue that tradition at home with the Tigers, Alleva said there is no chance the game gets moved from Saturday to Thursday under his watch.

“As long as I’m here, we will not play in Tiger Stadium on a Thursday,” Alleva said “I guarantee you that.”

It is possible, according The Advocate, that the game gets moved to the Friday after Thanksgiving, a spot on the calendar where LSU has frequently played Arkansas in the past.

Too bad for Red, who really likes watching the Cowboys and the Aggies lose on Turkey Day.  Unfortunately, he also gets to see the Longhorns lose.

Image from http://www.tigertailgating.com

The Appropriately Named Charlie Strong

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The Sporting News has an excellent story on Charlie Strong’s struggle to rise to the top of college football’s coaching ranks and his determination to succeed at UT.

A boy who grew to become a young man, who walked on to play football at tiny Central Arkansas, who wanted to be a college professor but decided to give coaching football a shot. A young man who grew to become an elite assistant coach, who was passed over and over and over for head coaching jobs because those same decades of institutional racism that confidently strolled down the streets of Batesville years earlier were engrained in the hearts and minds of university academia, too.

A coach who nearly gave up on his dream of becoming a head coach, only to get a chance at Louisville and win big, and the next thing you know, he’s standing in the posh office that overlooks the gigantic stadium at the University of Texas — smack in the middle of the best damn job in all of college football.

“I went down in the stadium and walked across the field and looked around and thought, wow, this is it,” Strong said. “I said to myself, you cannot fail, buddy. Too many people are counting on you.”

Red has a reason to root for his Texas Longhorns again.  The burnt orange tie is a nice touch.

Minor League Baseball in Texas

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The joys of Minor League Baseball are many.  Inexpensive tickets, cheap hot dogs and all kinds of weird promotions and between inning antics. However, two of the greatest joys are knowing that you are not contributing much to the deep pockets of a franchise owner slurping at the public trough (see previous post re: Mark Cuban); and knowing that the players are not knocking down millions but are playing for the true love of the game – and the opportunity to perhaps knock down millions.  So if you don’t live in Houston or the MetroPlex, go out and support your local team.

Here are the Texas Minor League teams affiliated with Major League clubs:

Corpus Christi Hooks
El Paso Chihuahuas
Frisco RoughRiders
Midland RockHounds
Round Rock Express
San Antonio Missions

Then there are the independent Sugar Land Skeeters – whose players really are playing for love of the game.  Unfortunately, the other independent team, the Fort Worth Cats, were booted from LaGrave Field and do not appear to be playing in 2015.

You really have to admire a team that has a tiny hairless Mexican dog as its mascot – even if it is one bad ass looking tiny hairless Mexican dog.

Rockets Fans Make Fun of Cuban

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Red goes back and forth on Mark Cuban.  He admires anyone who made off with the billions from other fools while the getting was good, but also thinks that professional sports franchise owners should neither be seen nor heard.  Cuban loves the spotlight almost as much as media whore Jerry Jones. Is there something in the water in the Metroplex? And Red also thinks that anyone poking fun at these oligarchs who routinely feed at taxpayer trough deserves kudos.

The Houston Chronicle reports on the latest effort by Rockets fans to sucker punch Cuban.

NFL Releases 2015 Shedules

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The NFL released the 2015 Season schedules on Tuesday.  As usual the Texans get short shrift in prime time and late afternoon national TV games and in scheduling in general.  The Texans have not a single 3:30 start and have all of 2 prime time games – one of which is the mandatory Thursday night game against the Colts at home and a Monday night game at the Bengals.   Plus, there are home games on the weekends before and after Thanksgiving (difficult for Red to attend because of travel, family, etc.).  At least there aren’t home games around Christmas.  All in all, a pretty pathetic schedule.

Here is the Texans Schedule:

Sunday, Sept. 13 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS Noon CBS
 Sunday, Sept. 20 at Carolina Panthers Noon CBS
Sunday, Sept. 27 TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS Noon FOX
Sunday, Oct. 4 at Atlanta Falcons Noon CBS
Thursday, Oct. 8 INDIANAPOLIS COLTS 7:25 p.m. CBS/NFLN
Sunday, Oct. 18 at Jacksonville Jaguars Noon CBS
Sunday, Oct. 25 at Miami Dolphins Noon CBS
Sunday, Nov. 1 TENNESSEE TITANS Noon CBS
Sunday, Nov. 8 BYE
Monday, Nov. 16 at Cincinnati Bengals 7:30 p.m. ESPN
Sunday, Nov. 22 NEW YORK JETS Noon CBS
Sunday, Nov. 29 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS Noon FOX
Sunday, Dec. 6 at Buffalo Bills Noon CBS
Sunday, Dec. 13 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS Noon CBS
Sunday, Dec. 20 at Indianapolis Colts Noon CBS
Sunday, Dec. 27 at Tennessee Titans Noon CBS
Sunday, Jan. 3 JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS Noon CBS

Let’s go up the road to Arlington. How did the Cowboys fare? As usual, the team that has won exactly 2 – count ’em 2 – playoff games in the last 20 years gets all the goodies.  The Cowboys have 5 prime time games to go with 6 national TV late afternoon games (including Thanksgiving) – only one of which (against Seattle) is actually time-zone related.  That  means 11 of the 16 regular season games for this absolutely mediocre franchise will be nationally televised. And they play on Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.  It wouldn’t be so bad if this didn’t happen every year.  Jerry Jones must have some awesome pictures.

Here is the Cowboys schedule – I hope they  go 5-11.

Week 1: Sunday, Sept. 13, vs. New York Giants (6-10), 7:30 p.m. (NBC)

Week 2: Sunday, Sept. 20, at Philadelphia Eagles (10-6), 3:25 p.m. (FOX)

Week 3: Sunday, Sept. 27, vs. Atlanta (6-10), noon (FOX)

Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 4, at New Orleans (7-9), 7:30 p.m. (NBC)

Week 5: Sunday, Oct. 11, vs. New England (12-4), 3:25 p.m. (CBS)

Week 6: Bye week

Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 25, at New York Giants (6-10), 3:25 p.m. (FOX)

Week 8: Sunday, Nov. 1 vs. Seattle (12-4), 3:25 p.m. (FOX)

Week 9: Sunday, Nov. 8, vs. Philadephia (10-6), 7:30 p.m. (NBC)

Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 15, at Tampa Bay (2-14), noon (FOX)

Week 11: Sunday, Nov. 22, at Miami (8-8), noon (FOX)

Week 12: Thursday, Nov. 26, vs. Carolina (7-8-1), 3:30 p.m. (CBS)

Week 13: Monday, Dec. 7, at Washington (4-12), 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 13, at Green Bay (12-4), 3:25 p.m. (FOX)

Week 15: Saturday, Dec. 19, vs. New York Jets (4-12), 7:25 p.m. (NFL Network)

Week 16: Sunday, Dec. 27, at Buffalo (9-7), noon (FOX)

Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 3, vs. Washington (4-12), noon (FOX)

MLB Debuts Statcast Era of Baseball

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Red wonders how much information is too much.  Major League Baseball will have additional opportunities to evaluate that age old question when it debuts Statcast tonight on MLB Network’s broadcast of the Cardinals/Nationals game.  Statcast has actually been around for a while and was used during the All-Star game and in the playoffs last season.  But tonight’s game will be the first regular season game where every play will be tracked in some form or fashion.

What is Statcast?

Statcast, a state-of-the-art tracking technology, is capable of gathering and displaying previously immeasurable aspects of the game. Statcast collects the data using a series of high-resolution optical cameras along with radar equipment that has been installed in all 30 Major League ballparks. The technology precisely tracks the location and movements of the ball and every player on the field at any given time.

In other words, every movement of every player and the bat and the ball can be tracked and analyzed.  So if you desperately want to know how many times Johnny Cueto scratches his crotch in a seven inning appearance – Statcast is for you.    With high resolution digital cameras, laser positioning equipment and highly accurate GPS, this development has been inevitable and will likely migrate to other sports in the near future.  For example, at the 2014 World Cup, they could tell us exactly how far every player had run during a match.

NBA Playoffs

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Some argue that football is the only sport noticed in Texas.  But only Texas has 3 teams in the NBA Playoffs this season.  And of states with multiple franchises, only Texas has all of its teams in the NBA Playoffs.  Of course, only California, Texas, New York and Florida have multiple teams.

It’s Never Too Early to Start Talking Football, Cont.

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NBC Sports is reporting that the Texas Longhorns’ 2015 opener in South Bend against Notre Dame will be broadcast in prime-time on NBC.  The kickoff will be on Saturday September 5 at 6:30 p.m.

The game will be an early season test for both teams who have not met since a 27-24 Notre Dame victory in Austin in 1996.  On an all-time basis, it is an attractive match-up; Texas has 884 total  victories, second only to Michigan, but  just two more than 882 for Notre Dame.