Pitchers and catchers report this week! Hell yes! Our long national nightmare is over! We'll take a look at the Astros roster in more detail later this week, but until then, here's what the blogs are saying about our local teams. Warning: not responsible for ball jokes about the Rockets. - So supposedly Roger Clemens is still in the news. Who knew? Rather than slog through all the syringes and attorney b.s., here's the Dugout's......

The Super Bowl is on Sunday, and naturally we'll be watching the game (and the commericals), but the real news around town is the up-and-down season the Rockets are having. They win with T-Mac, they win without T-mac, they definitely lose without Yao. If Rick Adelman can get everyone on the same page,they could still be formidable in the playoffs. Otherwise, we're looking at another five-and-out in the first round. On to the links: -......

We usually run this column on Mondays, but the Clemens press conference inspired us to be petulant and storm out of things, so we walked away from our keyboard in a huff, drove back to our mansion in Memorial, and injected our kids whose names all begin with K's with horse steroids. After we calmed down and called our lawyer, we compiled this list of links. Here's what the sports blogosphere is talking about this......

This weekend, there's a movie coming out called Charlie Wilson's War; the eponymous Wilson was a congressman from Lufkin (actual motto: You'll Love Lufkin!) who funneled arms and money to the Afghan rebels fighting against the USSR in the waning years of the Cold War. Wilson took up the fight because the Afghans were underdogs and when they were pissed, they'd hurt the Commies in ways that red-blooded Americans of the time only wished they......

December already? Everything is reversed from the summer: back then, the Astros were dead in the water, the upcoming Texans season looked promising because of some new additions, and the Dynamo were gearing up to defend their MLS Cup title. Now, the Texans are DOA, the Astros are looking exciting next year, and the Dynamo, well, at least someone's consistent. Here's what's been going on this week in the Houston sports blogosphere: - The Dynamo......

It was a good weekend for football in Houston, whether that means the one with the pads or the one with the round ball. But there were things happening in the Houston sports scene outside of RFK and Reliant Stadiums. As we do every week, here's a recap of what the blogs are saying about your hometown teams: - The Dynamo are the big news today, so here's a fantastic live blog of the game......

This past week was a study in contrasts for Houston sports fans: the Texans were idle but the Rockets played host to the most-watched basketball game in the world; the Astros made a trade that ended the Houston career of one of our biggest anti-heroes while the Dynamo set the stage for what may be Houston's first championship dynasty since the Rockets' run in the 90's. Let's take a look at what the blogs were......

Houston vs. Dallas. Does anything else need to be said? Robertson Stadium, which is located on the campus of the University of Houston, will be hosting two different versions of this great Texas rivalry. Tonight, the 2006 MLS Champion Houston Dynamo will take on FC Dallas in the second game of this home-and-home Western Conference semi-final playoff game. In the first game, which FC Dallas hosted, the Hoops took game 1 of this aggregate-scoring......

With baseball season firmly packed into the history books, at least as far as the Astros and the rest of the NL Central are concerned (hi Cubs fans!), and basketball season around the corner, there's plenty of blog fodder out there this week. Here's what bloggers are saying about our sports teams: - The Rockets are hemorrhaging point guards. Even though the word on the street is that Rafer Alston is on the trading block,......

As any good sports fan will tell you, the end of the season is just the beginning of the fun. Here's what's going on with the Houston teams that aren't playing games right now: Rockets -Plenty of Rockets news this week, starting with the announcement of their 2007-08 schedule. Their home opener pits them against the Portland Trail Blazers and 74 year old rookie Greg Oden. Full schedule at the Rockets' website. -Yao Ming is......

Houstonist proudly names 2007 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, Bruce Matthews, the first of a series of great Houston athletes to be honored. Matthews, who was drafted ninth overall in the 1983 NFL draft, could possibly be the last of the Houston Oilers to be inducted. Matthews was a rare specimen. He played 19 seasons with one franchise which included 296 games, a NFL record for lineman and sixth best in NFL history.......

In the span of four short years Houston will have quadrupled the number of all-sports radio stations gracing its airwaves. Come August 20, KILE 1560 AM will be renamed KGOW after local businessman and owner David Gow when it signs on with a sports and entertainment talk format. Branded as "The Game," KGOW will enter a saturated market that includes KILT (610 AM), KBME (790 AM), and ESPN Radio affiliate KFNC (97.5 FM) The new......

If you're anything like us, you're probably waist deep into fantasy football magazines, watching ESPN's "Sportscenter" five times a day to catch the latest NFL training camp updates, and surfing the Internet until the wee hours of the morning to find out how that starting running back's knee is holding up to the rigors of two-a-days. No, it's just us? Either way, the dawn of a new NFL season brings with it another year of......

Tomorrow is the trade deadline for Major League Baseball, which is pretty much like shopping on Christmas Eve, but with Eric Gagne playing the part of Tickle Me Elmo. The much-maligned Astros have already made one head-scratching trade leading up to the deadline, picking up exactly what they needed in 3B/2B/1B/OF Ty Wigginton: another clean-cut white guy who plays no position in particular. But what is next for GM Tim Purpura? Mark Loretta (who has......

Good morning, Houston. Thanks to KHOU, we have a couple more details on the coming switch from Time Warner to Comcast cable — sort of. Next week, 20 new channels will come to the Houston cable market, including five HD channels — but Comcast isn't saying what they are (aside from ESPN HD and the NFL Network, which should appeal to you sports fans). Up to this point, the most visible result of the......

The eyes of Texas will be upon Houston this weekend as the No. 1 ranked Rice Owls (52-12) set to battle No. 6 Texas A & M (48-17) at Reckling Park for a birth in the College World Series. These two Texas baseball teams have been doing battle since 1914 with A & M leading the all-time series at 173-86-2 and also a 2-0 record to sport this year against Rice. But don't let......

Roger freakin' Clemens, y'all. Don't even get us started. But even if you want to call him a traitor, you gotta admit the man can pitch, and so can the guys up for the award named after him, the Clemens Award, which is presented annually to the top pitcher in college baseball. Three Rice students are on the official watch-list for the award this year. ESPN Top-100 prospect Joe Savery (with a record of 6-1......

Jeff Van Gundy was mum about his future with the ball club during last night's post game press conference. However, ESPN is reporting that Van Gundy will leave the Rockets following last night's loss to the Jazz. John Kincade broke the news to Houston listeners earlier today on his ESPN Radio show. JK stated that Van Gundy was leaving the sideline to take a break from the stress of coaching. Van Gundy's coaching performance has......

The hype machine for the NFL bid of Galveston native Walter Thomas has officially kicked into high gear. Yesterday the New York Times ran a nice article on the enormous yet agile Thomas, and the piece quickly climbed up to the most emailed articles of the day. The guy's numbers are difficult to fully comprehend: he weighs 370 lbs, runs the 40 yard dash in 4.9 seconds, can do flips and cartwheels handily, and......

The Rockets are back in the playoffs and the fun starts tonight. It's hard to believe that it's been ten years since the Rockets have won a playoff series. Tonight they start their first round run against the Utah Jazz and to this day I still don't know why that team hasn't changed its name. Utah is just not synonymous with Jazz. Tonight is the first game in a best of seven series that......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. Overpaid Teachers Saga Remember last week when we mentioned that HISD overpaid some employees because of a computer glitch? Well, we also found out that HISD is now asking for that money back and the head of the local teachers union is saying no way. Are You Experienced? New Cingular Retail Outlet Amidst crosstown traffic, AT&T has unveiled a new face in the wireless storefront community.......

OK, yeah, yeah, Superbowl. We know. But for most Houstonians, including Texas fans (and the much larger, saner part of the population, of course), football's over for the year, and we're moving on to our hometown Astros. Therefore, this week Houstonist presents The Crawfish Boxes. A subsidiary of SBNation (the SB is for "Sports Blog"), the site's got not just your run of the mill roundup of articles from sources like the Chronicle and ESPN.com.......

Super Bowl Shuffle - video powered by Metacafe Houstonist is not picking sides on this weekend’s Super Bowl (well, at least not publicly), but we do feel the need to show the Chicago Bears Shufflin’ Crew’s “Super Bowl Shuffle” from the 1985-86 season for several reasons: 1) The Bears are in the Super Bowl this year, 2) The video is so campy, it’s funny 3) We have to support our fellow –ist site in the......

Longtime San Diego Padres second baseman Mark Loretta, who spent last year hitting up a storm with the Boston Red Sox, will sign a deal with the Astros today, his agent told ESPN.com. The deal is a one year, 2.5 million dollar contract that could be worth an extra million in incentives if Loretta continues the kind of break-out hitting and defense he showed off last year as part of the league-leading defense of the......

You knew it was coming, right? The Chronicle and ESPN are both reporting that Jeff Bagwell will hang up his helmet this week after fifteen seasons, all with the Astros. (We saw him in our first 'Stros game....in 1992.) The 1991 Rookie of the Year, who won both league MVP and a Gold Glove in 1994, Bagwell is the Astros' all-time home run leader, and also has the most RBIs and runs scored. The announcement......

Tour de France champ Floyd Landis, whose unexpected victory took place just four days ago, tested positive for high levels of testosterone during Stage 17 of the race, ESPN.com reports. His team, the Phonak team, suspended Landis today pending results of his backup urine sample, which is being tested. The Swiss-based team took this action after a phonecall yesterday from the International Cycling Union allerting them to the irregularity. If Landis is found guilty......

He may be under as much pressure as any rookie in the history of professional sports, but at least Mario Williams has figured out how to settle in proper in Houston. As previously reported by Houstonist, he first plunged himself into local lore by purchasing Priscilla Slade's mega-house. And now, according to a cover story in the 7/17 issue of ESPN The Magazine, he's already figured out all that this fair city has to offer......

The Houston Bowl held in January has been mired in financial problems and was gasping for air until Lone Star Entertainment, a company owned by the Houston Texans, decided to step in and try to rescue the game. Lone Star and Harris County Houston Sports Authority president Billy Burge took their plans to Southern California yesterday to try to persuade the NCAA to keep the Houston Bowl alive. While Houston has hosted smaller bowls like......

When you think about it, it's pretty amazing: Nearly halfway through their season, the Houston Astros are getting a Hall of Famer delivered to their doorstep. With the rumors, the endless courtship and the minor league stint behind him, Roger Clemens is set to make his first start of the 2006 campaign tonight against the Minnesota Twins. It couldn't come at a better time for the 'Stros, who are hovering just above .500 and looking......

While some of us may still be stuck in morning traffic, the nation's soccer fans will be enjoying their sick day glued to the TV as the US takes on Ghana. Team USA needs a win today to even consider moving on to the second round. If they pull out the win, they will then need Italy to defeat the Czech Republic. If Italy loses, there is still a chance the US squad can......