Ok, it's officially time: skip a Sunday in front of the NFL, ignore Terry Bradshaw's fake hillbilly schtick and dozens of former players pretending that they're still relevant, and watch your Houston Dynamo take on the New England Revolution for the MLS Cup. Here's five reasons why the Dynamo game should take precedence over the NFL on Sunday: 1. In case you haven't noticed: Boston sports fans, once the loveable Charlie Brown-esque losers of the......

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......

The Red Sox has permeated nearly every facet of Bostonist's lives. When they're not live-blogging the games, waxing poetic about the games, thanking Curt Schilling for his splendid work, or telling Dane Cook to watch his hair, they're watching certain presidential candidates hop on the Red Sox bandwagon (sorry, Gothamist). The Sox are so branded on the local brain that people are using the Series to spice up their sex lives. Speaking of spice, Bostonist......

There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and......

Cecil Cooper knew this day would come, but he didn't it expect it to happen like this; taking over a team from his good friend Phil Garner, but as destiny has it, this small town Texan has the chance of a lifetime. Although he was tabbed only as interim manager for the remainder of the season, Cooper has the credentials to deserve the full-time gig. Cooper, born in Independence, a small town near the......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness – we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts......

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......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

Houstonist is shocked that the naked lady continues to appear to commuters, but we've not seen her yet. In fact, she's now taking requests. The debate clamors on about whether or not she exists. Could it be that this is a hoax to get folks to buy pricier gas? Demands have been made for photographic evidence. Houstonist will fall on this grenade since it is clearly so important to humanity. See you on Friday......

Houston Astros left fielder Carlos Lee was selected to the 78th annual MLB All-Star game which will take place on Tuesday, July 10 at San Francisco's AT&T Park. Lee, who is now a three-time all-star, currently leads the National League with 68 RBI and has been everything the Astros have dreamed of so far. Along with Lee's NL-leading RBI total, El Caballo is currently sporting a .293 average with 15 home runs and 22......

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week's "Segway Mom" and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It's not West Side Story, but about as close as they'll get. They're also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested. As Chicagoist counts down the days to its third anniversary party, they found all-organic pizza to be underwhelming amidst the hoopla, tried......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... Gothamist spent the week writing about New Yorkers behaving badly: at the post office, at the Garden, and at the fertility clinic. Calvin Klein may not be misbehaving, but he's just a little dirty, and in a completely different way than some NYC kitchens. SFist had its share of misbehave-rs, too, like......

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......

So, admittedly this holiday is secular, and this news is Jewish. And the sport it concerns? Not the usually turkeyday classic. But we thought you would want to know anyway, all about Jews in baseball. (OK, we might be a little starved for off-season news. But the article has our favorite Astro, Brad Ausmus in it! Turns out there's a Jewish MVP award (the Hank and Sandy, after famous Jewish baseballers Greenberg and Koufax). This......

Your favorite home team and ours, the Astros, is finally making the most of the offseason. Reports yesterday say that GM Tim Purpura has made offers to outfielders (and power hitters, more importantly) Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano. Last year our 'Stros were last in the NL with a team batting average of .255, just one indicator of the trouble they've had offensively over the last several years. Lee played for the Brewers and the......

Houston, we have liftoff! The Astros and ESPN are reporting that Roger Clemens' retirement will be officially put on hold — again — much to the dismay of batters and Yankee, Ranger and Red Sox fans. Clemens will be paid a pro-rated salary of $22 million, so when he returns to the Astros around June 22, he'll get just under $13 million for the rest of year — approximately $3.25 million each month of......

Newsday is reporting this afternoon that Roger Clemens has signed a one-year deal with the Astros that could be worth about $10.5 million depending on when he returns to the field. The 'Stros will reportedly pay the 43-year-old pitcher $3.5 million a month under the deal. If it works out, the contract will end months of speculation about whether Clemens would stay with the Astros, go to another team — the Yankees, Red Sox and......

Now that we’ve all recovered (haven’t we?) from this weekend’s NFL draft, it’s time to refocus on the game at hand -- baseball; more specifically, Roger Clemens. Beginning today, the Astros can officially start courting Clemens to stay in Houston for another half partial season. Don’t expect Roger’s final decision to come quick, negotiations may drag out for a month or two. Most likely, he’ll land in either Houston, New York or Boston (Dallas......

The four baseball teams waiting to find out whether Roger Clemens is going to come back to baseball will have to wait a little longer: It looks like Clemens won't be back on the mound until June, if he comes back at all. The Red Sox, the Yankees and the Rangers are all trying to lure Clemens, and the Astros can't talk to him until May 1 because they didn't offer him arbitration. "I've listened......

LAist tracks an award-winning TV writer who worked on Good Times to a homeless shelter and sees a Little Old Lady get a jaywalking ticket because she can't get across fast enough (in the same post!). Poets invade Metro and an LAist contributor's new book asks WWJB. Gothamist gets down with the immigration rally and their readers want to be heard. The anniversary of the Mets' 1986 World Series is celebrated via a RBI Baseball......

The buzz continues on whether or not Roger Clemens will rejoin the Astros for another (partial) season. Seeing the Rocket as a guest at the Texas Ranger’s opening day made us all a little nauseous, but he’s also still in talks with the Red Sox and Yankees, also. As we noted before, the trouble began late last year when the Astros passed on offering Clemens salary arbitration. In a recent interview, Clemens noted, “If......

With all the hoopla around the Astros' opening week, it's easy to forget that more things are going on at Minute Maid Park than baseball — you know, like the Astros' Second Annual Leadoff Luncheon, which is set for Friday. (Yeah, we know, that's baseball-related, too, but what do you expect?) The luncheon, which benefits the Astros in Action Foundation and autism awareness, begins at 11:30 a.m. in the ballpark's Union Station lobby, 501 Crawford.......

Seattlest saw a house party get senselessly attacked with a shotgun and end in ">seven dead. A local senator is debated and their version of the big dig is investigated. To truly get to the bottom of it they interview the writer Jonathan Raban. Bostonist has its first birthday party and investigates how to attach more gambling dollars to the Red Sox. Benjamin Franklin is celebrated and Johnny Damon is not. Image by Ethan Bagley......

Phillyist notes a fistfight between local pols that leaves one man down for the count. Jehovah's Witnesses get a Philly contributor out of bed, things get a little geeky with a film festival and geeky gets taken to a whole new galaxy when they talk with the Dragon Queen of the Dark Kingdom. Shanghaiist gets all excited this week over a new nightclub in the city unfortunately named "Snatch" and Mike Tyson is scheduled to......