Category Archives: Other sports

Congratulations to St. John’s and their head coach John Gagliardi for doing what my Trinity Tigers could not do last year: beat the best team in college football in the Stagg Bowl for the Division III national championship. Yes, I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Chron’s John McClain notes that after this week, a dubious achievement will no longer be associated with Houston. If Detroit loses at Carolina, as expected, the Lions will own sole possession of a record they have shared with the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Congratulations to the Trinity University men’s soccer team for winning their first national championship! They had a tough road to the title but came through in style. Talent and attitude helped Trinity win its first Division III national championship last … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Everyone takes their shots at the BCS today, from Dennis Dodd and Ivan Maisel to King Kaufman and John Lopez. I don’t think the problem here is strength of schedule, though Kaufman makes a great point about how a team … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You know, I don’t actually like Kansas State. I don’t like their coach, Bill “King Cupcake” Snyder, who’d schedule nonconference games at home against high school teams if he could. But when they can throw the entire BCS structure into … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s a total tuque-a-rama in Quebec! MONTREAL (CP) – The Heritage Classic has made a simple Montreal Canadiens’ hat into the hottest product in Quebec. Demand has been “overwhelming” for the red, white and blue tuque with the Canadiens logo … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Rice MOB gets profiled by a classical music critic for the Star-Telegram, who was a member of the Baylor band 30 years ago. He did a pretty nice job of it, too, even if he didn’t include any of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Chron has a longish article about the prospects of an American sports franchise moving to or being founded in Mexico City. It has the standard reasons why a league (most likely the NBA or Major League Baseball) might do … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Rice has signed on the dotted line to join Conference USA, along with SMU and Tulsa, thus rejoining its former mates Houston and TCU. Rice University president Malcolm Gillis signed an agreement Friday with Conference USA, paving the way for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I caught a bit of this in the IHT earlier this week (thankfully, both our B&B and the hotel in Paris had this lifeline for me), but the story has advanced since the last I’d read of it. Apparently, the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I was going to do a rundown on Rush Limbaugh’s bad day yesterday, which included his resignation from ESPN and a screaming headline about allegations of drug abuse, but why bother when Eric McErlain’s on the case? He’s got all … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Althea Gibson, the pioneering women’s tennis player who won two Wimbledon titles in the 1950s, died today at the age of 76. Gibson was the first black to compete in the U.S. championships, in 1950, and at Wimbledon, in 1951. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Doug proposes a let’s-do-it-and-get-it-over-with mega-conference realignment for college football that would get every Division 1A school into one of ten reasonably suitable groups, and throws in a possible playoff structure as a bonus. It’ll never happen, of course, since college … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via Eric McErlain comes this article by Allen Barra about WUSA’a demise. Barra makes a pretty good point in that in terms of league building, the WUSA was putting the cart before the horse. Lamenting the closure of the WUSA … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Your football team is 0-3, and you’re on the road for a tough game. The good news is that you’ve won the last two times you’ve played there, you’ve got some injured players coming back, and you’re staying at the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Rice renews its rivalry with the Texas Longhorns tonight in the first game of a six-year series, to be played at Reliant Stadium. The Chron’s Mickey Herskowitz reminisces about the 1994 Rice win over UT, in a game that was … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Should have known that Eric McErlain would be the place to go to get all the links you need on the story of the WUSA folding. See here and here, and then check out Women’s Hoops (start there and scroll … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s bad enough to read that the women’s professional soccer league WUSA is folding as a result of cash shortages, but this just rubs salt into it: “This is a sad day for women’s soccer and women’s sports,” U.S. international … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The San Antonio Spurs have hired three-time NBA champion Mario Elie as an assistant coach for the 2003-04 season. “I’m the happiest man in the world right now,” Elie said. “When I retired two years ago, I let everyone know … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Abar Rouse, the assistant basketball coach at Baylor who taped a conversation with disgraced former head coach Dave Bliss in which Bliss discussed labelling slain player Patrick Dennehy as a drug dealer in order to cover up Bliss’ illegal payments … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Hey, what do you know? A couple of oligopolists are conspiring to restrain the market in NFL fandom. You already knew this, but Houston isn’t big enough for the Texans and Cowboys to co-exist, either on the football field or, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In all the excitement yesterday, I failed to post about the death of former TCU football coach Jim Wacker, who succumbed to cancer at the age of 66. He was a breath of fresh air in the old Southwest Conference … Continue reading → Continue reading →

On the day that the tape recording which revealed his desire to tar murdered player Patrick Dennehy as a drug dealer became public, disgraced former Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss visited a player’s home in an attempt to enlist him … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I didn’t think it was possible for the story of murdered Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy to get any sleazier, but I was wrong. WACO — Baylor University president Robert Sloan and chairman of the Board of Regents Drayton McLane … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Dan Cook, the San Antonio sportswriter and broadcaster who coined the phrase “The opera ain’t over till the fat lady sings”, has written his last column after 51 years in the business. [L]ooking back, it was my great privilege and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Gotta hate it when that happens: The University of Florida, whose school mascot is the alligator, sent out 19,000 copies of its football media guide before anyone figured out that the animal on the guide’s cover is a crocodile. Oops! … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Western Athletic Conference, home of your 2003 National Champion Rice Owls Baseball Team, is thinking about expanding to 12 teams. Speaking at the WAC preseason football media gathering, [WAC Commissioner Karl] Benson said the league’s athletic directors expressed interest … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Texas Monthly has an article on Rice University President Malcolm Gillis (requires free registration) in which he shares his thoughts on the state of college athletics and how a school like Rice fits in. A few excerpts to whet your … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm, one of the fresh, marketable faces of the WNBA, has a bet with a radio DJ in her town that involves…I’ll let Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times describe it: Sue Bird has agreed … Continue reading → Continue reading →

What were they thinking? Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh will soon be calling some signals for ESPN’s weekly football preview “Sunday NFL Countdown.” Starting in September, Limbaugh, 52, will join the show’s line-up as the “voice of the fan,” delivering … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Legendary sportswriter and broadcaster Dan Cook, who celebrated his 50th anniversary at the San Antonio Express News last August, has announced his retirement after 57 years in the business. They don’t make ’em like Cook any more. Enjoy the retirement, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Am I the only person who doesn’t hate the Houston Rockets’ new logo? Kevin, Jack, and Larry all heap scorn on it. I’m not saying it’s a thing of beauty, just that it’s an improvement over the cartoon character rocket-ship-with-teeth … Continue reading → Continue reading →

King Kaufman looks into the future following the ACC’s raid of Miami and Virginia Tech from the Big East and sees big changes ahead: At some point, the most athletically powerful schools are going to realize that the NCAA, with … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Houston was one of four cities that won a bid to hold the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four in an upcoming year: Houston will host the 2011 NCAA Final Four at Reliant Stadium, the NCAA announced this afternoon. College basketball’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →