This NY Times article does a nice job of explaining the special place of Tex-Mex food within Texan culture. But I have one question. How does one write an article about Tex-Mex in Houston and not mention Ninfa’s on Navigation? Alison Cook comments along the same lines.
Inasmuch as the NCAA prohibits direct monetary compensation of the professional athletes who provide entertainment for us by engaging in big-time college football, one of the ways in which universities provide indirect compensation for the athletes is by building luxurious “spa facilities” for the athletes to enjoy while providing their services for the benefit of the universities. This means of indirect compensation has resulted in an “arm’s race” of such spa facilities between various big-time college football programs. The latest institution to jump into the arm’s race is Oklahoma State University, which is riding the crest of the Boone Pickens’ $250 million contribution to the institution’s athletic programs. Check out this video depicting the new facilities that will result from Pickens’ contribution.
And this isn’t professional football?
The United States Golf Association has been widely criticized often over the last several years for the absurdity of its setups for the U.S. Open. And we in Houston certainly know that golf course designer Rees Jones has endured more than a little criticism over his work. So, a few eyebrows were raised when GolfWeek‘s Rex Hoggard passed along the following tidbit about the Rees Jones-renovated Torrey Pines South Course — which is the site of next year’s U.S. Open — from the practice tee of this week’s PGA Tour event in Port St. Lucie, Florida:
Big talk on the practice range here at the Tesoro Club, site of this weekís PGA Tour stop, is on the wild fires that were raging in southern California.
One update late in the afternoon suggested Torrey Pines, site of the annual Buick Invitational and next yearís U.S. Open, is in danger of being scorched.
ìGood,î snorted one player, among the many who donít like the changes to the venerable South Course. ìThey need to start over anyway.î
Ouch.