Mail Call

Houstoned Ballz blog readers respond to "Sure, Phil Garner and Tim Purpura Are Out, and Cecil Cooper and Tal Smith Are In, But None of That Matters So Long As Drayton McLane Is Still Around..." by John Royal, August 28

Fan site: Nice photo of Drayton and Garner. Didja pull that off PhilGarnerIsFullofCrap.com (which has been a very entertaining site)?

kevin whited

Bass-ackward: Drayton has done something that probably needed to be done. But once again he has set up things bass-ackward. It's obvious Cecil will be the manager of the future, so the new general manager doesn't have his own say as ­manager.

Hate to bring up the race card, but the 'stros have been incapable of bringing up or in any African-American Major League talent, so they created a position for Jimmy Wynn and now have Cecil as a figurehead.

The Wynn thing was throwing a bone, but the Cooper deal is a legit hire; unfortunately, the hire was by the owner instead of the GM.

Vernon Guy

He's out: Another event in a long tradition of boneheaded professional sports ownership in Houston. Historically, teams with stability in the manager's office have won — the Dodgers with Alston and Lasorda, the Braves with Bobby Cox, the Yankees with Joe Torre.

Phil Garner could have won in Houston, but the problem wasn't talent. The problem was having McLane do something very few humans can do: look over the manager's shoulder while at the same time having his head up his backside.

I won't be following the Astros much anymore. Forty-five years of idiot ownership is enough.

Bill McCormack

Houstoned blog readers respond to "Miss Pop Rocks: Ohmygawd, It's Totally Carolyn Farb," by Jennifer Mathieu, August 27

Temper tantrum: Please shut up, just shut up. Write something that can be digested, something that gives something back, but until then shut up!

mortified

Friend of Farb: Jennifer, I forwarded this to Carolyn — she's a longtime friend of mine, and we met up at the Billy Joe Shaver show. You should be aware that Carolyn is as generous, friendly and down-to-earth as they come, and is one of the nicest people in Houston, in my opinion.

Byron Hood

From our lady herself: Loved your article — of course, I love Billy Joe. About all the highway work, you flatter me as I am a natural girl. It's just living in Texas and being inspired every day.

Carolyn Farb

All-righty, then: It was especially inspiring to hear the would-be murderer sing "I'm Gonna Live Forever." I'll be watching you swim in your bloody river forever from inside the gate.

Sig Nugg

What work? I've known Carolyn for many years and she had never had any "work" done...please don't drink and write...someone could get hurt!

Dawn Koctar

Popping in: My word, I had no idea Carolyn was all natural. You have to forgive me...she looks pretty damn delicious for her age! Or for any age!

Special message to mortified...why be a hater? No one's forcing you to read, you silly goose. Go listen to NPR. I hear they're real serious over there. Tee hee.

Miss Pop Rocks

Online readers comment on "Mean in Aldine," Hair Balls, by Richard Connelly, August 23

Crappy: Wow, great reporting on the teacher's union story. What a joke. Has the Houston Press always had such "excellent" standards when it comes to reporting? Yeah, this lady is at a school, illegally parked, refusing to move or show identification. Get her the hell out of there. With all the crap going on at schools these days, who does she think she is? What a moron. It's a wonder she achieved any sort of position within the union. Oh wait, I forgot — it's a union.

The article is slanted and doesn't get information from both sides, aside from the official statement. If the official statement was all you could get, how is it properly disputed, aside from what this lady says? Were there no other witnesses you could call up? I've seen better tripe in a newspaper put together by fifth graders. Keep up the crappy work!

William Greene, Comma Billy

Crime scene: Nice to know that Aldine has no qualms about violating federal law. Union activities are protected under the National Labor Relations Board Act. It is a federal crime to interfere with organizing activities. Both the officer and the school officials should be charged by the U.S. District Attorney. Teaching children to openly flout the law is just not right.

roy hines