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11 Sports BLOG |
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June 2008
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May 2008 ArchivesBy Butch Alsandor 2 decades in College Station. Like all good things , the relationship between Johnson and the Aggies came to an end. ...Rice is a #6 National seed in the NCAA baseball tournament ...but it will be very tough for the Owls to get through this Regional. Texas ...fresh off winning the Big-12 Tournament is here ... along with Sam Houston State ...and St. John's. The Bearkats just won their 2nd straight Southland title ... and the Red Storm is in it's 2nd straight NCAA Tournament ..sporting two All-America players on the squad. ...By Butch Alsandor One night a few weeks ago during my dinner break, I treated myself to a nice steak at a nice eating establishment. High School Baseball is big in Houston. No ..let me re-state that ...it's not just big .... it's BIG. A pair of HISD schools ... Bellaire and Westside .... will battle later this week for a state tournament berth and you might be surprised who's favored. Rice will host an NCAA Regional ..... the University of Houston will play at the College Station Regional .... and Texas Southern will play in the Baton Rouge Regional. That's right 3 Houston teams are in the NCAA Tournament. ...By Butch Alsandor I was walking out of the Astros clubhouse Friday with play by play man Bill Brown, when we both looked up and saw a familar sight. One we'd seen many times before, Brad Lidge strolling through Minute Maid Park. He sported a huge smile. In fact, the only thing that was different was the Phillies uniform he had on. When Brad Lidge entered Thursday night's game at Minute Maid Park .... to try and close the game out for his Philadelphia Phillies ..... he was both booed and cheered. The chorus of boos was loud and it included my girlfriend. But just as the boos got started .... many people stood up and cheered for Lidge ... .in a salute for all the things he did right while he was an Astro. ...Relief pitcher Brad LIdge is back in town as the Phillies meet the Astros this week. Lidge was traded away during the off-season ...and the change of scenery seems to have done a world of good for him. He was just as professional as ever when I spoke with him before Thursday's game. ...I had a short visit with Michael Bourn in the clubhouse yesterday, before the Astros played their series finale vs the Cubs. I expected him to be a little down because of his struggles at the plate . Instead it was like talking to a man who just won the lottery. He was upbeat and poking fun at his buddies like Shawn Chacon. The first time young Michael Rockett saw a baseball game he was hooked. I know because his father Paul told me so. ...Maybe I'm in the minority, but does Major League Baseball really need to speed up the game? For some reason its easier for me to tolerate the Houston heat when I'm watching the Texans workout in it. You can't help but feel like a whimp if you whine about how hot it is, while these guys are running up and down the field. Of course, their level of compensation more than covers the hot and humidity issues. But even so, the players will do whatever it takes to stay as cool as possible and beat the heat. Take wide receiver David Anderson, who's entering his 3rd N.F.L. season out of Colorado State. Anderson has been a jack of all trades with the Texans. He's been a kickoff returner, a... Not that head coach Kyla Holas will let her young women get ahead of themselves .... but at the same time she says it's a positive that they're looking ahead to something possibly historic for the school. "Sometimes this enthusiasm is just something that you can't bottle and you hopwe each player goes out there with thus much passion and fire within them." It is only May, but we may have already seen the baseball story of the season. 24 year old John Lester tosses a no-hitter for the Boston Red Sox. Lance Berkman says he feels like he's under more pressue now than he was last year .... when his batting average was about 150 points lower...but he's not complaining. Berkman says,"When you're going through streaks like this when things are falling for you ..... it lends itself to a feeling of confidence. When you step in there you think ....'Man I'm gonna get a hit ..... as opposed to in teh past sometimes when I have thought ...'Man ..how in the world am I gonna get a hit??" The Texans began their 13 OTA'S ...or On The Field Activities Monday ... but star wide receiver Andre Johnson didn't take place in full-scale practices. He had his troublesome knee scoped after last year's mini-camp sessions and although he says he feels much better about it .......he'll be limited in his activity until training camp in July. ...The Dynamo beat the Fire in Chicago Saturday night in impressive fashion. Playing in cool, rainy and windy conditions ..... the Dynamo took the early lead on the Fire ....but faced with dropping temperatures ...and an iconic star for Chicago controlling the referees attention by his sometimes outlandish actions ...... the Dynamo turned in their best performance of the season. ...As the Astros get set to open a weekend series on the road vs the Rangers, I thought it would be a great time to have a conversation with General Manager Ed Wade. Ed is the mastermind who pulled the trigger on deals that brought Miguel Tejada, Kaz Matsui, and Michael Bourn to Houston. His vision was to put together a hard hitting , high scoring team, and so far the Astros are delivering . But according to Wade , the one thing the Astros didn't count on was Lance Berkman becoming the reincarnation of Ted Williams. "We couldn't predict Lance doing his Ted Williams impersonation, everything we'v... After starting the first 41 games for the Astros, Miguel Tejada finally got a day off. It wasn't his idea. Astros skipper Cecil Cooper insisted. So Tejada, with his oakley's on took a seat in the dugout. You may have noticed the good folks at F.S.N. Houston have started playing Carribean music whenever Tejada is at the plate. Its all done in fun , and Miguel is from Santo Domingo . But that's not his favorite music. When he turns ... As we first reported on 11 News at 10pm last night .... Texas Southern University has agreed in principle to invest several million dollars in the proposed downtown soccer stadium. Mayor Bill White tells me,"That's great! This is a significant step." ...A few years ago I was approached by representatives of the local skating community about a potential downtown skatepark. At the time .... there was an indoor facility (Van's Skate park) open just outside the loop on I-10. Now ... though there is a first class outdoor skate park with a scenic view of the downtown skyline. When I heard Annika was retiring from golf I thought, that's really sad. Don't get me wrong, the LPGA is not on my must see tv list. I really enjoy watching the big names like Ochoa, Creamer, Pressel, and Gulbis. But my d.v.r. is never full of women's golf . With that said, for me Annika is special and I know why. I was at Colonial when the 8-time LPGA Player of the Year took on the men, and actually beat some of them. The emotion and the energy surrounding her was incredible. We in the media are suppose to be beyond rooting for a specific player. But that day I became an Annika Sorenstam fan, a... A pair of Houston-area junior college teams are headed to the Junior College (a.k.a.) JUCO World Series in softball and baseball. We got the good news from the San Jacinto College and Alvin Community College public affairs departments this afternoon. ...We lost a great friend Tuesday. Former Ch-11 & Ch-2 News Anchor Ron Stone lost his battle with cancer at age 72. If you never met Ron ... I'm sure you've heard of him .... he was one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. ...Which team is it?? No it's not a Guy V. Lewis team of the past .... it's the 2008 U.H. softball team. Head coach Kyla Holas' Cougars are an impressive 50 & 9 heading into the NCAA Tournament. ...Minutes after the Texans finished their first mini-camp practice session on Friday .... team owner Bob McNair told the gathered members of the media the he's,"planning to be in the playoffs. I think that's what the players want and everyone wants." ...Texans Assistant Coach Kyle Shanahan has been putting in a lot of time and effort preparing for his first mini-camp as the team's new offensive coordinator. But as always, timing is everything and Shanahan's job will keep him from Kyle and his sister attended the University of Texas with Ms. Bush . His sister was actually in the same sorority with the first daughter, and they were close friends . With Shanahan his job comes first, but he found some humor in the situation when I asked if he was attending the weddi... We've all heard of Senator John McCain's "straight talk" express . Well, Texans head coach Gary Kubiak also takes pride in telling it like it is . Kubiak wants his players to always know where they stand , and that was true this morning as the team opened a 3-day weekend mini-camp. During the first of two workouts on Friday, Texans Media Coordinator Zac Emmons asked me if I noticed anything different about the team's number 1 offensive. As I took a closer look it was clear as a bell. Number 76, the Texans no. 1 draft pick Duane Brown was in the starting lineup at left tackle. So much for bringing th... If the pitchers were throwing jellybeans, Lance Berkman would still be knocking For Lance its just one of those things you can't explain. Its like why is Brittany Spears on tv every day ? And do we really need a "Speed Racer" movie? Far off the beaten path ......in the middle of the Sam Houston National Forest .... there is serius work being done. Not by biologists, forest rangers or environmentalists ..... no this work is being done by the finest female gymnasts in the U.S. ...The Rockets are providing their own economic stimulus package for surgeons at Memorial Hermann. Yao Ming is already rehabilitating his left foot, after surgery to repair a stress fracture . According to coach Rick Adelman , the 7 foot, 6 inch center is ahead of schedule and should be 100 percent for the Olympics this summer. Tracy McGrady underwent a pair of arthroscopic surgeries on Tuesday. Doctors operated on T-Mac's ailing shoulder
The report confirms what many have suspected, but the message is still not getting through to all the students. While extra curricular activities may grant access ... The Houston Coments of the WNBA held their annual media day Tuesday ....and the players on hand ..... seem truly excited about the "season of change" that lies ahead. ...If you're a Rockets fan then you know all about the bad officiating going on in the playoffs this year. Last year the league had to deal with the horrendous call........ that possibly cost the Suns a playoff series versus the Spurs ....followed by the gambling scandal. This year it's just plain bad officiating!! ...The Texans were scheduled to play in a charity golf event Monday .... to raise money for the team's Foundation. The tournament was rained out .....but head coach Gary Kubiak was still beaming. The reason ...?? ...By Butch Alsandor After putting in 17 years as a player, Cecil Cooper is getting his shot to be a big league manager with the Astros. So far he hasn't been shy about expressing himself, and I think that's a good thing. Recently the Astros pitching staff blew a big lead in Arizona, which made Coop a little hot under the collar. |
