Daily Archives: December 18, 2005

2005 Weekly local football review

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Dom Capers.jpgTexans 30 Cardinals 19

Now that we know that the Texans’ draft picks are not all that bad, the Texans (2-12) went out and set up a January 1st “Reggie Bush Bowl” in San Francisco against the 49ers by beating the equally hapless Arizona Cardinals (4-10) on Sunday afternoon at Reliant Stadium. The Cardinals QB Kurt Warner was hurt early in this one and the team’s second team QB (Josh McCown) came down with the flu during the game. So, the Texans were able to play most of the game against the Cardinals third-team QB John Navarre and were able to pull this one out despite gaining 63 yards in the second half. Texans fourth year QB David Carr continues to look basically clueless as he threw for a total of 134 yards passing on 33 attempts while coughing up two turnovers, which was basically the only possible way the Texans could lose this game. Oh well, at least the win makes the Texans’ season-ender against the 49er’s — who will probably also have only two wins as of that game — something to watch on New Year’s Day.
By the way, I know the Texans’ management blew it badly by having the roof open at Reliant Stadium for the Steelers game earlier this season, but who one earth decided to close the roof for the Cardinals game on a gorgeous late autumn afternoon in Houston?

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Evaluating Charlie Casserly’s draft picks

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charlie_casserly2.jpgOver the years, I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to represent several professional and major college football coaches in their contract negotiations and related legal matters. Through that experience, I have become friends with quite a few coaches and personnel experts in both professional and major college football.
As noted in this earlier post, I have been disappointed in the local sports media’s (with the notable exceptions of the Chronicle’s John Lopez and talk radio host Charlie Pallilo) lack of evaluation of the Texan GM Charlie Casserly‘s personnel decisions, I decided to ask a friend with extensive experience in evaluating college and NFL players to review and assess Casserly’s Texan draft picks. My friend graciously agreed to do so, and his final evaluation contains some surprising and interesting observations.

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Get ready for the inevitable public money request for the Astrodome redevelopment project

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TexanAtriumNight_large.jpgFollowing on this post from earlier this year, this Bill Murphy/Chronicle story updates developments in regard to the seemingly delusional plan to convert the Astrodome into a Gaylord Texan-type one-stop destination hotel for conventioneers and their families.
Astrodome Redevelopment Co., the developer of the project, envisions a 1,200-room hotel, a winding indoor waterway with small tour boats, mill wheels, walkways and lush landscaping. The developer is currently finalizing its redevelopment plan and a letter-of-intent to be delivered to the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp. next month. If Harris County signs off on the letter of intent, then the developer would attempt to secure financing for the half-billion dollar project, not an easy task in Houston’s already soft hotel market that includes a relatively new 1,200 room downtown convention center hotel that has had anything but robust occupancy. At the same time, the developer will probably look to obtain a substantial financing subsidy from Harris County in the form of a long-term lease on the facility.

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