Butch Alsandor: April 2008 Archives

Former Lamar High School baseball standout Thomas Hamilton almost didn't go to the Naval Academy. Now he can't imagine what his life would be like without going to Annapolis. The senior is the captain of the Navy baseball team and on Tuesday he broke the Academy record for hits in a single- season.

Hamilton went 4-for 6 in a 17-to-5 rout of Delaware State on Tuesday. The performance pushed his season hit total
to 73, beating the old record by 2 hits. Hamilton is having a stellar season batting .380, leading the Midshipmen in
several catagories. But becoming Navy's all-time single-seas...

>> Continue reading: Houston native sets record at Navy

Comments (0)

Ok , so Tracy McGrady hasn't been the second coming of Michael Jordan in the 4th quarter. Outside of Kobe, and sometimes LeBron who has been. Listening to talk radio this week , its clear to me that some of you think T-Mac has a better disappearing act than Criss Angel. For you guys , I have a suggestion. Instead of focusing in on the final quarter checkout the first 3. Better yet , imagine where the Rockets would be without McGrady. Do you really want to run the guy out of town?

No T-mac, no 22 game winning streak. Without McGrady, do the Rockets even make the playoffs ? I don't think so .
...

>> Continue reading: T-Mac haters, be careful what you wish for

Comments (0)

When I saw Cecil Cooper in his office on Friday before the Astros opened a 3-game series vs the Rockies, he was all smiles. The smile only got bigger when he said second baseman Kaz Matsui was healthy and ready for action.
It was like Coop knew something the rest of us didn't , that his lineup was about to improve drastically. While the Astros dropped 2 of 3 to Colorado, Kaz was outstanding against his former team.

In fact, in his last 5 games the switch hitter is batting a hefty .333 going 7 for 21 . But more important than his four runs batted in, is the way he's helping ignite the Astr...

>> Continue reading: Kaz to the rescue

Comments (0)

I've interviewed Tracy McGrady of the Rockets a lot , and as far as superstars go he's as good as it gets. You ask him a question and he'll answer it. He's really a sensitive guy , who from time to time will answer from his heart so sometimes he's misunderstood.
Texans quarterback Matt Schaub's style is straight from the Gary Kubiak school of doing interviews. Give the media a little, and if possible give them less. You can't blame them because that approach does away with distractions and leaves nothing to come back to bite you.

That brings us to Astros star Lance Berkman. I had a little visit with ...

>> Continue reading: For real straight talk forget John McCain, Lance is the man

Comments (0)

The first thing I noticed talking to the Rockets about their opening playoff series vs Utah , is that Rick Adelman has nothing but love for Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. The two men have a history. They were teammates back in the 70's with the Chicago Bulls. Adelman got to see Sloan's tenacity up close and personal and he never saw a more hard nosed player. "If you played with Jerry you respected how hard he worked, if you played against him you hated him," said Adelman.

Back in the day, Sloan and Chicago guard Norm Van Lier were the "Bruise Brothers". Sloan was consistently on the N.B.A. All-Defensive Fi...

>> Continue reading: Jerry Sloan as player , Fine line between tough and dirty

Comments (0)

I wasn't really looking forward to the next 2 weeks on the PGA Tour. Basically, it was going to be 14 days without Tiger, but I figured I could bite the bullet until he returned to defend his crown at the Wachovia Championship .
But "holy nike Batman", now its going to be 4 to 6 weeks because the "King of Swing" had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee for the second time in 5 years.
Don't get me wrong , it was great watching Trevor Immelman marching to his first green jacket at the Masters.
You can't say anything negative about Immelman, that guy has game and is to legit to quit. But I li...

>> Continue reading: Tiger's knee injury is killing my motivation to watch golf

Comments (0)

It took 12 games into the 2008 season, but the Astros starters finally notched a victory.
Brandon Backe got the win vs the Marlins on Saturday night. But it wasn't just a win, it was
a shutout. Backe combined with Geoff Geary, Doug Brocail, and Jose Valverde on a 9 hitter to blank the fish.
The thing is, Backe wasn't really that good. It wasn't his best outing by far, but that's
how it goes in baseball. The righthander had runners in scoring position every inning as
he surrendered 5 hits and walked 5. Opportunity was knocking for the Marlins but
the Astros defense just woul...

>> Continue reading: Backe first Astros starter to taste victory

Comments (0)

On Saturday afternoon, the Klein boys soccer team played Lewisville Marcus
for the 5-A state title. Unfortunately, the Bearkats didn't nail down their 4th state championship. They were shutout by the Marauders 3-nil .
It marked the end of a remarkable season, the Kats went 20-3-2,
and the brilliant coaching career by Allen Baker.

Coach Baker had already planned to retire at the end of the season.
I remember interviewing coach Baker many times because he had so many good teams . Under Baker the Bearkats advanced to 13 state tournaments and 3 state titles .

>> Continue reading: Longtime Klein Soccer coach Baker retiring

Comments (0)

One of the best things about my job is you can just drop in on practice and see how the local teams are progressing. This week I popped in on the Houston Cougars to checkout their first spring training under coach Kevin Sumlin.
The first thing I noticed about Sumlin was he's really a likeable guy. Its a quality that's
a must when you are recruiting young men into your program.

I also met his father Bill, and realized right away where Kevin got his personality from.
Bill, who's now retired was also a coach. For the Sumlin clan, family life centered around
football. Kevin never ...

>> Continue reading: Like Father, like Son

Comments (0)

I was at Rockets practice today and you could tell this team is playoff bound. They appeared to be very relax getting set to face the Suns on Friday. One of the best things
about being on an N.B.A. team besides the big check, is being able to rag on your
teammates about anything. The Rockets had a free throw contest today and it looked
like game 7 of the N.B.A. Finals they were competing so hard.
According to T-Mac ,Dikembe Mutombo and Rafer Alston are always trying to finesse
the rules to their own interpretation. Actually he said they were the biggest cheaters .

Meanwhil...

>> Continue reading: Rockets having fun but looking to get healthy

Comments (0)

I went to Minute Maid Park before the chickens got up for a cameo on
"Great Day Houston" to talk about the Astros. When we were done I ventured out to the Astros "Street Party" to celebrate the home opener.
This always reminds me of a line from the movie "Field of Dreams". "If you build it, they will come". Where the street party is concerned, its more like , "If the food is free they will come" and the pizza and nachos were free.
Several hundred Astros die-hards showed up to eat, drink, and be merry.

Some even came for tonight's game vs the Cardinals . But the "Street Party" has be...

>> Continue reading: Street Party kicks off Home Opener

Comments (0)

I was at Redstone on Thursday watching Adam Scott roll to a course record 63 in round 1 of the Shell Houston Open. His round gave me a new respect for golfers.

We all think of Tiger as the ironman of golf, but Scott showed a lot of determination and focus during his round. At the end of the day, Scott shared first place with Johnson Wagner
who tied the course record matching Adam's 9 under . But the conditions Scott played under made his round really special.

The defending champ came to Houston with a fever and swollen glands around his throat.
Actually, I had a mild case of strep thro...

>> Continue reading: "Great Scott" Adam is on the prowl again

Comments (0)