Author Archives: Tom

The Rockets’ stathead

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daryl-morey.jpgCheck out this excellent Jason Friedman/Houston Press article on new Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey. As noted in this previous post, I liked Les Alexander’s decision in hiring Morey, who is a stathead. That quality has been sadly lacking in the Rockets’ management suite over the past decade as the team declined from its mid-1990’s dominance. Now, if Morey can just find the Rockets an above-average point guard.
By the way, if you want to read a blog that Morey almost certainly reads, then check out Dave Berri’s Wages of Wins. Berri is one of the co-authors of the popular Wages of Wins (Stanford 2006) that shows how statistical analysis debunks a large amount of the conventional wisdom regarding professional sports. In this post prompted by Friedman’s article on Morey, Berri explains how the traditional basketball boxscore often misleads the reader as to the effectiveness of the participants in a particular game. In my view, Berri is writing the most insightful analysis on the NBA in the blogosphere right now, and his insights on the NFL aren’t bad, either.

Why is Richard Justice analyzing sports, part II

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houston_chronicle%20sports%20logo.jpgChronicle sports columnist Richard Justice’s inability to analyze the subject that he covers has been a common topic on this blog (see also here and here). Following up on that theme, Matt over at DGDB&D provides this clever post on his attempt to engage Justice in a dialogue over the latter’s constant criticism of Texans’ defensive end Mario Williams. He also notes that most of the articles and columns generated by the Chronicle sports staff about the Texans can be categorized into one of three columns:

At this point in the season, the majority of columns proffered by that group (that aren’t pure Megan Manfull rumormill) can be lumped into one of three categories: (1) Richard Justice bashing Mario Williams like a jilted schoolgirl, (2) blame-laying columns that excoriate the whipping-boy du jour (these are sometimes disguised as Vince-Young-praise columns that excoriate the fact that he was not drafted by Houston), and (3) jump-off-the-bandwagon pieces from the same people who profess to be the biggest cheerleaders.

The specialized blogs covering the Texans — DGDB&D, Stephanie Stradley, and Texans Tail Gate, to name just three — are far superior to the Chronicle in providing insightful analysis of the local team. Those layoffs that occurred this past week over at the Chronicle happened for a reason — readers are gravitating toward better analysis than what the Chronicle is providing. Absent an influx of new talent on the Chronicle sports desk, that drift is not likely to change.

Look who is hosting another “charity” golf tournament?

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Doug%20Sanders.jpgSo, this Chronicle article reports that former PGA Tour golfer and longtime Houstonian Doug Sanders is hosting another charity golf tournament, this time at the Palmer Course in The Woodlands on November 12th. The article notes that Sanders has signed up 16 foursomes for the event, but would like to have 20.
I wonder if Wayne Dolcefino has put a foursome together yet?

Speaking with authority

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kucinich1.jpgI swear, you can’t make this stuff up.
On Tuesday morning, Ohio congressman and chronic Democratic Party presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich questioned President Bush’s mental health:

“I seriously believe we have to start asking questions about his mental health,” Kucinich, an Ohio congressman, said in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board on Tuesday. “There’s something wrong. He does not seem to understand his words have real impact.”

On Tuesday evening during a debate between Democratic Party presidential candidates, Kucinich confirmed that he had once seen a UFO and that it was O.K. because former President Jimmy Carter once admitted that he had seen a UFO, too.
As the blog post notes, at least Carter didn’t admit it on national television.

A Halloween harbinger?

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From the incomparable Stu Rees of Stu’s Views:
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Mayor White’s L.A. moment

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Bissonet%20high%20rise.jpgHouston Mayor Bill White is capriciously manipulating local governmental power to sidetrack development of a condominium project (nicknamed the “Ashby high-rise”) in a neighborhood where he raises a substantial political campaign funds. The incident has received some national attention through this Wall Street Journal ($) article, which somehow suggests that Houston’s phenomenal growth over the past 50 years has been in spite of — rather than because of — the city’s lack of zoning and liberal land use policies.
At any rate, it’s really a sad reflection of the state of political discourse in Houston that the Mayor has been given a pass on undermining a project for the benefit of his campaign war chest. The property was valued and sold to the present owners on the assumption that a large-scale redevelopment would be built there and the owners followed all the city’s rules and regulations in obtaining the necessary permits to proceed with construction. When a few wealthy neighbors of the development pulled Mayor White’s chain, he blithely ordered one of the city’s approvals to be revised to delay the development and now is attempting to ramrod two ordinances through city council to stop the project altogether.
In short, the developers invested a substantial amount of money in buying the property and followed the laws in preparing the large-scale redevelopment, dozens of which dot Houston’s landscape. Mayor White and his friends don’t like the development, so White is changing the laws. And this is political leadership?
At any rate, all of this reminded me of this excellent Virginia Postrel/Atlantic.com article that compares the radically different land use policies of Los Angeles, on one hand, and Dallas (which are quite similar to Houston’s), on the other. Suffice it to say that the likes of Mayor White favor the Los Angeles approach over that of Dallas and Houston. Think about that the next time you vote for mayor.
Update: The website for the group opposing the project is here. A copy of the proposed “emergency” ordinance is here.
Update 2: A recent West U Examiner article on the project is here.

“A rusted-out battleship in a spruced up port”

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astrodome%20103107.jpgAmazingly, the silly notion that it might be economically feasible to convert the Astrodome into a Gaylord Texan-type convention hotel has been making the local rounds for over three years now.
Maybe the combination of the Texans and the Rodeo coming out against the proposal will finally put the nonsense to rest. As the Chron article notes, even County Judge Ed Emmett is skeptical about the merits of the proposal:

County Judge Ed Emmett signaled in September that he isn’t convinced the project is viable. While attending the Texans’ home opener in September, he said the Astrodome struck him as an aging, rusted-out battleship that remains in a spruced-up port.

It occurs to me that the Astrodome hotel promoters decision to obtain a financing commitment for the project before getting the consent of the Reliant Park tenants to the project put a very large cart before the horse. Sort of like Oilers’ owner Bud Adams unveiling a model of a proposed new downtown football/basketball stadium back in the mid-1990’s without telling Rockets owner Les Alexander and Mayor Bob Lanier about it first. And we all know what happened after that imbroglio.
All of these machinations over what to do with the Dome would be relatively harmless except for the fact that the Dome continues to “eat” — that is, it costs Harris County a hefty sum (probably at least $3 million or so annually) just to mothball the Dome. Hopefully, the opposition of the main tenants at Reliant Park to the hotel redevelopment plan will finally lead to the Dome property being used for the best land use, which is probably parking. That’s not as sexy as a big hotel, but it provides something that is actually needed and will generate some revenue.
By the way, a good sign that a project is almost kaput is that its supporters become delusional. According to the Chron article, that’s already happening to certain promoters of the Astrodome hotel project:

Willie Loston, director of the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp., said the county attorney’s office is researching whether the county could approve the project over the objections of the Texans and the rodeo if the sports corporation determined the development would not hurt their operations.

The booming Texas Triangle

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tgv_triangle_medres.jpgClear Thinkers favorite Tory Gattis does the calculations and concludes in this post that the Texas Triangle Megalopolis — the area between Houston on the southeast edge to Dallas-Ft Worth on the northern tip down through Austin and to San Antoinio on the southwest edge — is the 10th largest economic mega-region in the world (and fifth largest in the U.S.) with $700 billion in GDP (based on 2000 numbers).

Coach Fran’s nightmare worsens?

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Coach%20Fran.jpgJust when it seemed as if Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione’s season couldn’t get much worse, it looks as if it just might.
As noted in previous posts over the past two years here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, Coach Fran’s tenure at A&M has been on the thinnest of ice for quite some time. The latest thud in Coach Fran’s reign in Aggieland was the thorough trouncing that the Kansas Jayhawks laid on A&M this past Saturday night in front of 85,000 demoralized Aggie faithful.
stoops.jpegBut that game against Kansas may look positively pleasant in comparison to what faces the Aggies next Saturday night on ABC — playing the sixth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in Norman.
Now, playing OU in Norman is never a picnic. But the subplot to this particular game is that Coach Fran inexplicably gave OU extra motivation with a preseason jab against the Sooners. In speaking to the Houston Touchdown Club in early August, Franchione said he wasnít sure who would be the Soonersí starting quarterback, but “that may be the only question mark they have . . . other than what jobs they are going to work this year. That is a joke. I couldnít resist.” Coach Fran was making light of OUís recent NCAA violations involving players receiving unearned compensation from a Norman automobile dealership.
Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops — who already strikes fear in at least one other Texas big-time college football coach — was asked yesterday during the Big 12 weekly coaches’ news conference if he plans to remind his players this week about Coach Fran’s preseason comments:

“We donít need to do that,î Stoops said.

Yeah. Right.
Franchione is 0-5 all-time against Stoops-coached teams (four of which have been while at A&M), including the worst lost in A&M history, a 77-0 debacle in 2003.
Things could get very ugly on Saturday night in Norman.

“A glorified club championship?”

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PGATOURLogo.pngThe first run of the PGA Tour’s Fed Ex Cup did not exactly transfix golf fans. However, this Bob Harig/ESPN.com article makes the Fed Ex Cup look like the Masters in comparison to the PGA Tour’s initial Fall Series:

Dubbed the Fall Series, the final seven events on the PGA Tour schedule will mercifully come to an end next week in Orlando, where the biggest stories will revolve around players losing their full-time status (despite making $700,000 this year) or secure veterans who try to fit in golf around visits to the Disney theme parks.
“There were 100 people following the final group last Sunday in Scottsdale,” said PGA Tour veteran Steve Flesch. “It’s like a glorified club championship. I don’t think that’s what the tour intended. And I think they need to address it.”

Ah, the ever-widening Tiger chasm.