Hope for the Houston Texans?

Where's the love? I was reading the Texans article in this week's issue, and I damn near choked on my breakfast taco when Richard Connelly referred to my beloved Astros as a "disaster" ["Hope," by Rich Connelly, September 4]. What the hell, man? Since when is 74-66 a disaster? If we were a few miles away in the NL West, we'd be in first place. We're good enough to be in a tight race in most of the other divisions. Someone needs to remind Connelly that the season is still on, and that the Astros have been sucking it up since before most Texans players were born. Show some love for the good guys — that's all I'm saying.

William Barnard
Houston

Left out: Interesting article on the Texans' season in this week's Press. You forgot a couple of other teams we cheer for in Houston — the Comets and the Dynamo. They have good times and not so good times, but they are Houston sports teams.

Kathy Wilcox
Houston

Online readers weigh in:

No more negativity: That article sucked. It's the same old story, just with another guy's name tacked on. Your summary is riddled with negativity just like every other writer who covers the Texans.

Did you know that the Seattle Sea­hawks, when at home, benefit from something called the 12th man? They play at Qwest Field, and the crowd noise is so insanely loud that the opposing team has a hard time calling plays. The Crowd is the 12th man.

Regardless of how the Seahawks play or have played in the past, that 12th man is always there making a decibel meter go off the charts. The fans get hyped because they have something Houston lacks. They have a positive, forward-looking attitude despite getting knocked out of the playoffs year after year.

If the writers in this town would tell us about the positives rather than the negatives, then maybe the city could get behind them instead of waiting in the shadows for the other shoe to drop. Oh, poor us, we suck, the cards are stacked against us, it's just too hard.

I don't care if your name is Justice, Royal or McClain, if you can't write something positive, then shove the typewriter back up where the sun don't shine, 'cause I'm sick and tired of reading worthless shit like this.

Texans Fans, you have a lot to look forward to. Fuck this tough schedule shit. We can beat any of these teams. The Titans scare you? Why? Vince can't throw to save his life. His confidence is shot and the pressure is too hot. The Titans are going to fall apart.

So while the sports writer-wanks talk their doom and gloom, I say fuck them, and fuck that. We have weapons; we've made progress. Preseason is over — now it's time to get down and dirty and show these naysayers who's got the balls to get the job done. You go ahead and say 1-4, and when we are 5-2 at the break, don't come lookin' to jump on the bandwagon, because I'm driving it and there isn't any room for you or any other manically depressed Texans writer.

Show some love for your team!

Comment by Only Optimistic Texans
Fan in Houston from Space City

Duh, the Dynamo: "It's all Houston sports fans have left to hang onto." What? What about the Houston Dynamo, who are back-to-back ­champions in Major League Soccer and just had a crowd of 22,500 watch them defeat the Chicago Fire 2-1 Sunday night? In the print edition of your paper, there is a half-page ad for the upcoming home match versus Kansas City on Sunday afternoon. I hope that Connelly could find time to attend this match and write about the best sports team in town.

Comment by Amber R. from Houstona

The Houston area is full of artists and innovators who are changing our creative and cultural landscape. We'll honor some of these creative superstars on Saturday, November 15, when the Houston Press presents three winners with Master­Mind awards of $2,000 each. Winners will come from areas such as visual arts, performance arts, film/video/media and literary arts. The awards will be presented at Winter Street Studios.

Anyone can nominate a potential Master­Mind. Our goal is to honor current, cutting-edge work being done right now, right here. This is not a lifetime achievement award, nor is it a popularity contest, and nominees need not submit proposals outlining how they'd use the money. Instead, a committee of Houston Press representatives will evaluate the potential honorees in each field, and then pick winners whose cultural and creative contributions are helping to redesign — and redefine — where we live.

Deadline for nominations: October 3, 2008. For more information, go towww.houstonpress.com and nominate someone, or see our full-page ballot in today's paper. And if you think you're deserving of the honor, by all means, nominate yourself.