2013 NBA All-Star Game: How Houston stacks up to Dallas on some of the biggest stages in sports

February 15, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Some have wondered why Houston has earned a second NBA All-Star Game weekend in a seven-year span.  The fact is, Houston — and Texas — consistently churn out as much if not more basketball talent than basketball hotbeds like New York or LA, summer basketball one of the primary reasons for the surge.

Set in downtown Houston at the Toyota Center, the 2013 All-Star weekend will turn Houston into a festival of basketball, parties and celebrity events. Lebron James will try to win his second All-Star MVP, and the Slam Dunk Contest is always a blast with the no-hold barred mentality that you don’t get in live games. In 1989 Houston set the record crowd for an All-Star Game with 44,735 attendees- a record that was shattered by another Texas city when Dallas hosted in 2010, with 108,713 fans at the game.  NBA officials estimate the three-day event this weekend will have an economic impact of more than $80 million on the Bayou City.

In addition to hosting the NBA All-Star game, both Houston and Dallas have  drawn a number of other high-profile sporting events, including the Super Bowl.   New stadiums built in the last ten years have allowed these Texas giants to continue attract major events and support their portfolio of professional teams (both cities boast at least four). But despite the similarities between Houston and Dallas as sporting meccas, an ongoing cultural rivalry has driven many comparisons between the two cities, from food to architecture.  So in honor of the game this weekend, we’ve pitted the two cities against each other to determine who reigns supreme on some of the biggest stages in sports.

Filed Under: NBA Tagged With: , , , ,

Larger Than Life

February 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

always tell people to go to professional or college sporting event especially if they can get close to the players. The average size of a man is 5’11” and you will quickly discover at most sporting events that there is very little average about big time athletes.

 

A trip to the University of Texas, Alabama, the Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs and even the Dallas Stars will give you a real perspective on the size and speed of the athletes we look at on television.

Yao Ming and JJ Watt

Yao Ming and JJ Watt

The debate between Michael Jordan and Lebron James is as much useless as it is silly but it is still fun. The world had never seen a player like Michael Jordan but has never seen an athlete with the size, strength and speed of Lebron James.

JJ Watt is one of the most fierce and best players in the NFL. I spoke with him on Radio Row the week before the Super Bowl in New Orleans and he is a big man. Again he is one of the most feared players on the defensive line in the NFL. Look at him next to former Houston Rocket Yao Ming. He is dwarfed. It looks like Yao’s head is twice as big as JJ Watt’s.

Get yourself to a game and get the perspective on just how large the athletes we see on television really all in real life.

I’m not a small guy and it amazes me

Filed Under: NBA, NFL

What a Weekend

November 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

What a weekend!

Fun Fun Fun Fest took over Austin and for a guy who cut his teeth in life during the golden age of hip hop (1988 – 1993), this weekend was special. Over the course of the weekend RUN – DMC, De La Soul and Rakim took the stage and took people like me back to another time.

Meanwhile on the gridiron, the Texas Longhorns got a win that most thought was remotely possible but never probable. Texas showed everyone that you truly don’t know what you will get with the Longhorns from week to week. While it has probably driven some Longhorn fans to drink, Texas is 7 – 2 and ranked in the Top 20 in the country. Not knowing whether they will win or not can be tolerated when 7 – 2 is the result.

My poor hapless Lakers finally got a win after going 0 – 8 in the preseason and 0- 3 to start the season. The team that was penciled in to already be in the NBA Finals has looked more like a NASCAR driver playing football than a champion. Here’s some perspective, the Lakers are in 3rd place in the Pacific and the team leading the division is my home town Golden State Warriors. Yeah, neither one of those teams will stay in the same place. History tells us that.

The Dallas Cowboys found another way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The Atlanta Falcons were 7 – 0 coming into the game so there is no need to hang your head when you lose 19 – 13. The Cowboys have talent but are 3 – 5 and seemingly always find a way to lose. They will have to finish 6 – 2 just to get to 9 – 7 to have a chance at the playoffs. The good news for them, they only have one team with a winning record left on the schedule. The Cowboys are almost like the Longhorns in that you never know which team is going to show up.

Filed Under: College Football, Concerts, NBA, NFL

The Most Infamous Sports Superstitions

October 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Today is a day where people dress like zombies, animals, princesses, or whatever the latest celebrity joke is. Some people decorate their house with spider webs, carve pumkins, and set out a bowl of candy. And some people believe in supersititions… like not walking in front of a black cat. In the sports world, athletes may not do something special, specifically for today, but they definitely have their own superstitions. Check out our list of sports superstitions – you just may be surprised.

Filed Under: Auto Racing, NBA, NFL, NHL

A Team With A New Dream

August 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A few weeks before the London Olympics began, one of today’s greatest NBA players came forth and made a gutsy statement. It was Kobe Bryant and his statement went something like, “The 2012 Dream Team would beat the legendary 1992 Dream Team.” As confident as Kobe may have been in making that call, the only thing I can say about it is that I would love to see that game. Whether the 2012 USA team could beat the official Dream Team or not, one thing is for certain: there was no team in the London Olympics that could beat the highly-talented 2012 squad.

The USA Basketball team entered the London Olympics with a roster so impressive even the non-basketball enthusiast had to tune in for a game or two. With guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook, this “New Dream Team” featured some of the most explosive players the NBA has ever seen. Through their eight-game schedule one could see why Kobe’s statement may not have been as outlandish as everyone thought in the beginning. The group of NBA all-stars found their groove early taking out France and Tunisia by more than 25 points before a truly remarkable display against Nigeria, winning 156 – 73. Lithuania gave the US team its first close call as they squeaked out a 99 – 94 win.

The U.S. managed to get back on track against Argentina, then in the quarterfinals as we matched our b-ball favorites up against Australia, who the U.S. managed to dismantle by 33 points to move into the semifinals. Knocking out Argentina again 109 – 83, the U.S. was pitted again Spain, who also has some high-quality NBA talent. The gold medal game would be the second close call for USA in the London Olympics, but the star-studded managed to come out on top 107 – 100 to bring home some bragging rights and the 2012 gold medal.

Back to Kobe’s pre-Olympic statement, the 2012 team was no doubt the best team at the London Olympics, but were they better than that 1992 team that combined some of the greatest players of all time? Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and oh yeah, that one guy… Michael Jordan was his name? In a brief statistic comparison the answer is a no. I will be the first to say that just comparing statistics in any sport doesn’t mean much but in this comparison we will never know for sure, so stats is all we have and they don’t lie. Yes, both teams went undefeated and won the Gold but the 1992 team did it beating their opponents by an average of 44 points with the highest margin of defeat at 79. Not to take anything away from Lithuania, but the 2012 U.S. team barely managed a victory in that game. I think it’s safe to say we may never see another team like the great 1992 Dream Team, but we will let this 2012 group of young greats slide in and have the slot as the second greatest Dream Team…for now at least.

The TicketCity play of the week goes out to the 2012 USA Olympic basketball team and their feat to add another gold medal to the list. Congrats to them and enjoy this compilation of highlights from the London Olympics.

Filed Under: NBA, Uncategorized
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