Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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It's been a long time since the Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl, but tomorrow marks the start of "real games" in the National Football League. Nine teams will be starting new quarterbacks this weekend when the 2022 NFL launches its new season. Longtime starters Russell Wilson (Seattle), Matt Ryan (Atlanta) and Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh) won't be with the same team they quarterbacked with Wilson traded to the Denver Broncos, Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts and...
I’ve been following high school football for a newspaper since my days of wearing a crew cut at McNeese State in Lake Charles. And that’s a LONG time ago. But the start of another season is as exciting to me as it was back in 1960 when I was working weekends at the Lake Charles American Press, mainly taking results of the many high school games and writing a couple of paragraphs about each one. I can even remember my first week of covering high school football for the Orange L...
Games This Weekend WEST ORANGE-STARK over NEDERLAND—I missed this pick last year when I didn’t figure in the monsoon that canceled the game in the second half with the Mustangs slightly behind on the scoreboard. This is always a tough game for WO-S, but I’m picking the Mustangs for two reasons: 1. Their rock-ribbed defense 2. Their homefield advantage. ‘Nuff said!! LITTLE CYPRESS-MAURICEVILLE over HARDIN-JEFFERSON—The Battlin’ Bears had a better season than predicted i...
This is the time of the year that I dislike the most. First of all, the middle of August has always been referred to as “The Dog Days of Summer.” But more importantly, this is the time that the National Football League stages its exhibition football season. Fans fill the stadiums eager to see a football game, even if it’s not what you paid a premium price to see. Many exhibition game tickets are included in the season ticket packet. I used to use these preseason games to fo...
The Houston Astros and New York Yankees have had the best win-loss percentage in major league baseball since April, especially in the American League, where they both made trades last week that would improve their chances of playing in the World Series when October rolls around. The Astros have been doing most of their winning in the first four months with their pitching—both starting and relieving—while the Yankees have been outscoring their opponents with their big bat...
The month of August has sneaked in amid a nationwide heat wave which will test all football players from the high school level, colleges and the National Football League to work hard but most important keep hydrated during this month of training for opening day. The NFL greeted all of their candidates for those precious 53-man rosters of the league’s 32 franchises who all claim to be undefeated and hopeful of making the playoffs and then Super Bowl LVI. I will take a look a...
The Houston Astros appear to be a lead-pipe cinch to make the post-season playoffs and win the American League West Division championship with their 13-game lead in the standings and the second-best record in the league. That’s not what the ultimate goal is by the Aug. 2 trading deadline for third-year General Manager James Click. He wants the whole enchilada—the 2022 World Series ring. Houston is walking away with the division, mainly from its six starting pitchers and sti...
One thing National Football League players may or may not be aware of is the fact the team has a huge investment in every player and sees to it that they do everything above board. If a player hangs out with the wrong crowd or gets arrested, members of the franchise delve into the situation with both feet and investigate the matter to the fullest before making any decisions or even making a statement about the alleged incident. This was the case with All-Pro quarterback...
The idea of football teams leaving the conference they have played football in for decades to join the two main "super-conferences" like the Southeastern Conference or the Big Ten came about after the Supreme Court's 1984 antitrust ruling in the case of NCAA vs. Oklahoma's Board of Regents. This ruling stripped the NCAA of its ability to regulate college football's TV contracts and team appearances on the air, according to an article in Sunday's edition of the Washington Post...
I really don't like writing about the same subject two columns in a row, but the Houston Astros left me no choice because of a couple of records they set in the last two weeks and the great month they had in June. And with the new and improved (?) Spectrum not able to settle their contractual differences with AT&T, those baseball fans in Southeast Texas and Southwestern Louisiana without a dish were also without the Houston Astros. So that's where I come in. After a very medio...
When two great major league baseball teams face each other, one leading the majors in pitching and the other MLB's best hitting outfit, I always pick the team with the best pitching. And that's the way the four-game series between New York's Pinstripers and the Houston Astros went last week at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx. The Astros' starting pitching was superlative, completely quieting the mighty bats of the Yankees. Houston's bullpen, which is among the best in the MLB...
When I was playing college baseball for McNeese State back in the early 1960's, after the season ended and final exams were over, I would head home to Schenectady, New York and play summer baseball up there. It was a league consisting of college players past and present, some area high school coaches and even some former professional players. It always gave me a good feeling to see some of my old high school teammates. coaches and guys I grew up with. It was something I...
The Houston Astros have been to three World Series in the last five years, mainly because they had the right players for the job on their rosters. During the entire 2021 season they kept talking to shortstop Carlos Correa trying to find out what it would take for him to sign a contract extension and forget about testing the free-agent marketplace after the season ended. The crafty shortstop dropped a few hints like wanting to be the highest-paid shortstop in the major leagues...
Anybody that thinks pitching isn’t 75 per cent of the game of baseball, needs to re-think their position on the subject—or take a gander at the American League West Division standings where the Houston Astros are leading by 3½ games and sporting a nifty .625 winning percentage with their 30-18 record in games through Sunday. And the ‘Stroes have been doing most of their winning with their mound prowess, because their hitting with runners in scoring position is practi...
Rabid college football fans in the Lone Star State and Alabama are already looking forward to October 8 when Alabama hosts Texas A&M in a Southeastern Conference grudge match at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Crimson Tide is seeking revenge for 41-38 upset victory by the Aggies last Oct. 9 at Kyle Field in College Station. Although the players on both teams have finished their final exams and are looking forward to some summer fun before the grind begins in two...
I’m not talking about major league baseball, NFL football, the NBA or NHL playoffs, but there are two events coming up this week that are very significant in their respective sports—the second major golf tournament and the second horse race for the Triple Crown. The PGA Championship begins tomorrow at Southern Hill Country in Tulsa while the Preakness Stakes is set for late Saturday afternoon at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore. But the major golf tournament will be wit...
Before Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, the sport of horse racing was virtually on oxygen getting ready to perhaps sing its Swan Song. The sport was under intense scrutiny after the industry had been rocked by scandal in recent years, including the disqualification of last year’s Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit for failing a post-race drug test after crossing the finish line first. The Medina Spirit disqualification resulted in a horse-doping conspiracy involving trainers and...
More than half of the 30 major league baseball teams would be very happy with a .524 winning percentage for the month of April, but not our Houston Astros who finished the strike-shortened month with an 11-10 record. Of course, one must understand the Astros are the defending American League pennant winners and losers in six games to the Atlanta Braves in the 2021 World Series. Houston's record would have been much better if the entire starting lineup was healthy and the bats...
Tomorrow will feature the most important National Football League event between February's Super Bowl and September's Opening Day of the 2022 regular season when the first round of the 2022 NFL draft begins. There has been much speculation from both the sports media and the 32 NFL teams themselves about what positions need to be filled for each team. There have been mock drafts galore from every sports publication, radio and television sports talk shows, podcasts and even Face...
Ever since West Point graduate Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the sport of baseball, teams have tried to figure out ways to get a leg up on the opposition by trying to find out what that team is trying to do to beat your team. The most popular tactic is by stealing the other team's signals-either the coach's signs to steal a base or for the batter to take a pitch or utilize the hit-and-run, or the catcher's signal for the type of pitch the person on the mound should...
Major League baseball fans were relieved last month after the billionaire owners and the millionaire players agreed on the money aspect of the game and decided to start the 2022 season only one week late--and that was last week. Many of those fans who swore during the strike they'd never see the inside of another major league ball park again were seen standing for the national anthem at most of the stadiums last week for the season openers. Although everything looked the same...
One of the greatest comebacks in National Football League history occurred last winter during the Buffalo Bills-Chiefs playoff game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Even though I wanted the Chiefs to win that playoff game (because wife Susan is from the Show Me State), I was overly impressed how Buffalo refused to run up the white flag after Kansas City scored with 19 seconds left in regulation play. The Bills extended those 19 seconds to more than five minutes of...
With the Kansas Jayhawks the only No. 1 seed in this weekend's Final Four, they have to be the favorites to win the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Right? Not so fast came the reply from many basketball gurus featured on the sports talk shows both on the television and radio early this week. After all, the Jayhawks didn't have to sweat it out at the end of any of their four victories leading up to their semifinal clash against No. 2-seeded Villanova Saturday evening in...
While sports fans were enjoying the second round of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament last weekend, Houston fans had some madness of their own as they watched two of the city's best players at their respective sport and position decide in less than a 24-hour period to leave town and head north to resume their illustrious careers. What I'm referring to is the fact former quarterback Deshaun Watson-who was rated by most fans as the best quarterback to ever wear a...
March 16 officially marks the beginning of the 2022 National Football League season, enabling teams to sign the free agents they have pursued since last month and to officially get the signature on new contracts or trades that were agreed upon verbally or with a handshake in the last few weeks. Last week was a busy one for three franchise quarterbacks who either agreed to a new contract, the dollar figures from a verbal trade or—in the Houston Texans’ case—a grand jury...
