In Houston, it's all Texans all the Time

Having been in radio for twenty-one years, you could say that I’ve been around. I started fresh out of college in Buffalo. I’ve worked in New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis and now Houston. In other words, you could say that I am ‘well traveled.’

I have worked in good sports cities and bad sports cities (at the risk of offending anyone I won’t identify which is which). I have worked in cities where all the teams were doing well at the same time and I have worked in cities where all of the teams were experiencing tough times at the same time.

But never have I worked in a city like Houston.

First of all, let me tell you that I really enjoy the city. I enjoy the people. I enjoy going out and doing the many different things that you can do in a city like Houston. Despite the heat and humidity, I enjoy the fact that I do not have to worry about dealing with the cold and snow.

What I don’t enjoy is the apathy that I have found here for the city’s professional sports teams.

That doesn’t mean that Houstonians aren’t passionate about their teams. They are. This city is all about the Texans. The fans can’t get enough. There’s a lot of buzz about the club, as there should be.

The team is one of the better clubs in the AFC. The way I see it, outside of the Patriots and Ravens, the Texans are the only other contenders in the conference. Their defense (outside of some of the linebacker play and one of the corners) is nasty. Their special teams are top-notch (thanks to Trindon Holliday). The only question mark is the health of the offense (Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson). But, if both players are able to stay healthy I don’t see any reason why the Texans cannot make it to the Super Bowl.

But the Texans are the only team in the city that the fans have passion for. I have looked for it with the Astros and Rockets, but I just have not found it.

Not that I blame Astros fans for keeping quiet. The club isn’t very good (again, being kind). General Manager Jeff Luhnow has a major rebuilding project ahead of him. He was left with almost nothing on the big league level and less than nothing in the minor league system. That is why he has been trading off big league assets in order to re-stock the minor league system. It is going to take a number of years for his moves to pay off.

The troubling thing for me is that I have found almost no one talking about the Astros. Forget about how bad they are for a second here. I have been around teams that have been bad before (some of the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Mets teams that I covered weren’t very good at all). But at least the fan bases were passionate about how bad things had gotten. They wanted to see a turnaround, and they wanted that turnaround to occur quickly.

I have not found that same level of passion with Astros fans. This club is so bad that Houstonians don’t even want to talk about them. The subject comes up, and nothing. Crickets. The club is ignored for the most part. Just look at the attendance figures. They are, for lack of a better word, pathetic.

I am not telling Astros fans that they have to care. I’d never force that on anyone. But can the fan base show any signs of life? Can they show that they care, even if it’s just a little bit? It almost seems like the fan base figures if they ignore it, the problems will go away.

And then there are the Rockets. Look, the Rockets aren’t a bad ball club. They just aren’t a very good ball club. The team tried to improve themselves. They tried to acquire Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic before his trade to the Los Angeles Lakers. They put their best foot forward. They just didn’t land the big fish.

Whether or not Jeremy Lin makes the Rockets a playoff teams remains to be seen. But he hasn’t really moved the needle for many Rockets fans. His signing was met with what I would call a ‘ho-hum’ reaction.

It’s actually been amazing for me to watch. This organization, after all, won a pair of NBA titles in the 1990’s. It’s not like they are an organization that has no history. They have plenty of history, and most of it has been good. Sure, they are in a rebuilding mode. But it’s not like they’ve been doormats for ten years. I went to a few Rockets games this past season and I found the Toyota Center to be as loud as your average funeral home. Where is the passion?

And then there are the two local colleges in Houston. No, not Texas and Texas A&M. Those schools have rabid fan bases all over the state. I am talking about Rice and the University of Houston.

Rice hasn’t been a good football program for a long time now, but they play in a mammoth stadium (Rice Stadium actually hosted a Super Bowl in the 1970’s). But as I watched the Owls get drilled by UCLA (not an elite program by any means) I was struck by how many empty seats I saw. The game was nationally televised (OK it was on the CBS Sports Network but still) and you know the director in the truck was cringing every time they went to a wide shot and you saw numerous sections completely empty. Not the kind of thing a television network wants to show its audience. And certainly not what school officials want to see, either.

The other local school in the city is the University of Houston. The Cougars don’t have the tradition of UT or A&M, but they aren’t Rice! Art Briles (now at Baylor) and Kevin Sumlin (now in College Station) have made sure of that (and they’ve had help from players like Kevin Kolb and Case Keenum). But as they get ready to open their season I am hearing nothing about this team. And they are on the verge of moving into the Big East!

The one exception to the apathy I have found here is the Dyanmo of the MLS. They have a brand new stadium. They have a fan base that can’t get enough. But in the big picture, soccer is a niche sport, just like hockey (and yes, Houston has the Aeros but it’s a minor league hockey team). I know that win-loss records have a lot to do with the level of passion a city has for its teams. And I know that two of the three pro teams in Houston have been (at best) mediocre for a few years.

But Houston is a big city. It’s a major city. It’s one of the biggest cities in the country. Unfortunately, it’s also a city that – for the time being at least – is treating its sports teams like an afterthought.

With exception of the Texans of course.

Rocket About to Blast Off Again

I have never been a Roger Clemens fan. I respected his ability as a big league pitcher but I just never warmed up to him. Not as a fan and not as a member of the media. This has nothing to do with the Mitchell Report. This has nothing to do with whether or not I believe Clemens used steroids. It doesn’t even have anything to do with Clemens throwing a bat at Mike Piazza during the 2000 World Series. I was just never a fan.

That said, what he’s doing tonight is pretty damn cool.

If you missed it, and frankly, it would have been tough to, Clemens will pitch competitively for the first time since the 2007 season, when he was with the New York Yankees. He will be on the mound tonight – at the age of 50 – for the Sugar Land Skeeters (an independent minor league team) against the Bridgeport Bluefish. 

I live in Houston, and there is more buzz for this particular game than there is about the Astros and their weekend series with the Mets. There is more buzz about Clemens tonight and the Texans’ pre-season matchup with the Saints (and Houston is just crazy about the Texans). Everyone is interested in seeing whether or not Clemens can pull this off.

ESPN has jumped in as well. The Worldwide Leader will be all over tonight’s game, whether it’s with live coverage on ESPN Classic or live look-ins on any of their other networks. If you are looking for it you will not miss a single pitch of Clemens’ effort tonight.

The question that has been going around ever since Clemens announced his deal with the Skeeters is whether or not he has a bigger long-term goal in mind. Does Clemens want to make a return to Major League Baseball as an active pitcher at the ripe old age of 50?

I had the opportunity to speak with a few guys that might know. Phil Garner managed Clemens with the Astros and knows a thing or two about the guy. He still keeps in touch with him. Larry Dierker is a former Astros manager and broadcaster. If it concerns the Astros, he knows something about it. Jim Deshaies is a former Astros pitcher who is now a popular television analyst for the club. None of them would be shocked if Clemens could pitch in the big leagues, especially Dierker.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he could pitch in the Major Leagues at his age. I think Roger could do it,” Dierker told me.

Deshaies thinks Clemens has designs on making it all the way back to the majors

“I don’t think he would be doing it if there wasn’t the idea in the back of his mind that he would return to the big leagues at some point. I think it’s a test,” Deshaies explained.

And none of them would be surprised if Clemens was effective.

“Don’t underestimate him,” Deshaies said. “I think he has been throwing the ball pretty well. He doesn’t want to go out there and embarrass himself.”

Who knows why Clemens is doing this. Maybe he’s bored now that he has finished his fight with the government. Maybe he wants to give something back to the game after all these years. Maybe he wants to teach something to the next generation of players. Or maybe he’s just that competitive. Only Clemens knows.

But I know this. Having watched the Astros this season, a 50-year old Roger Clemens that can still throw the ball at 87 MPH might be better than any other starter the Astros can put out there.

This ballclub is the worst in baseball. They are 40-86. Outside of second baseman Jose Altuve there isn’t a lot of reason to watch this team. They are playing a lot of kids no one has ever heard of. Outside of Altuve and Jed Lowrie they have traded every household name they had (Carlos Lee, Brett Myers and Wandy Rodriguez to name a few).

Lucas Harrell is the only starter that has a winning record (10-9, 4.04 ERA). Other than that there hasn’t been much to look forward to. Bud Norris, Jordan Lyles and Dallas Keuchel don’t get anyone excited. As a whole, this team doesn’t get anyone excited.

I’ve lived in Houston for six months. No one talks about this team. No one. There are more people talking about the local MLS team (the Dynamo) than there are people talking about the Astros. I have been to about ten games this year as a fan. I haven’t seen a big crowd yet at Minute Maid Park (a gorgeous stadium by the way).

It has been a trying season for fans of this team, so if Clemens shows that there is anything left in the tank, why not give him a start or two in September? Would it be a cheap stunt to get fans to watch the club? Yeah, it would. But there is really no other reason to watch the Astros.

There are some that say Clemens is doing this to re-start the five-year wait for Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame. That’s very possible, too. By then there will be a new batch of Hall of Fame voters, a group more likely to vote him into Cooperstown. But that’s another debate for another day.

Right now it’s about watching to see if this 50-year old has anything left. He isn’t the only old guy to try and pull this off. But he is the only former power pitcher trying to pull it off.

As much as I am not a fan of his, I’ll be interested in seeing if he can pull this off.