Allen Iverson

LeBron James Is Your Non-Unanimous 2012-13 MVP, And I'm Fine With That

I am mesmerized by LeBron James. I'll admit, he's converted me. I am a fan. This is coming from someone who wrote four straight posts around the time of "The Decision" in July 2010 about what an asshole LeBron was. This is coming from someone who openly rooted against him every time he was on my ... More >>

March Madness Final Four: Championship Game Prediction and Prop Bets!

So, here we are. Championship Monday. A lot of you had Louisville in the finals, almost none of you had Michigan in the finals, and you sure as shit didn't have then knocking off Wichita State (barely) and Syracuse (barely, again), respectively, to get there. So let's establish that right out of th ... More >>

Open Letter to the Jerks Who Killed Someone Over a Pair of Air Jordans

Dear A-Holes, Well done. You have reached the absolute lowest point on the criminal totem pole. You are now ranked down there with people who steal Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve and worthless lowlifes who literally take candy from babies. You killed a guy over a pair of shoes. I must confess I ... More >>

Daryl Morey Fires Off A Kurkjian Style Stat Dork Tweet To Defend Jeremy Lin

By any real measurement, the first season for Jeremy Lin as a Houston Rocket has been fairly pedestrian. Statistically, he has struggled shooting the basketball (.399 field goal percentage) and seen his minutes scaled back in recent weeks. Purely to the human eye, Lin has had trouble meshing with ba ... More >>

Five Sports Radio Calls That Should Be Banned from the Airwaves

I have always listened to a lot of sports talk radio. I've written about it over the last few years here as well. On the whole, I find it to be interesting, informative and rather entertaining. My fiancée will sometimes ask on a Sunday afternoon when the car radio gets switched to a sports station, ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets, And A Story Of The Worst Gambling Beat Ever

File this one under "Worst Beats Ever": According to a story on businessinsider.com, there was a bettor last week (and the story has a picture of the ticket, so I tend to believe it's true) who fired on an eight-team parlay of NFL games on Sunday, risking $50 to win $18,441. The first seven games ... More >>

Houston Rockets Acquire Marcus Camby And Derek Fisher. Wilford Brimley Next?

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post where I offered up some proposition wagers for the degenerates in the crowd who like to bet on really obscure things. (Yes, I am gazing into the mirror right now.) One of them was "Total Trades Made Before Deadline: OVER/UNDER 1 1/2" At the time, I cautiously took t ... More >>

Bet on the Rockets

What will the second half bring?

Houston Rockets Second-Half Preview in Gambling-Speak

The Rockets kick off the second half of the 2011-2012 season tonight. I'm not sure how many of you care about this. The acres of empty seats at Toyota Center lead me to believe that fewer of you care than Kevin McHale, Daryl Morey and Leslie Alexander would have hoped for. Television ratings indicat ... More >>

Top 5 Musical NBA Players

The NBA All-Star Game is coming up in a couple of weeks. There may not be any Rockets on the roster - even ex-Rocket/Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin didn't blow up in time to be added as a reserve - but musical names such as Kanye West, Rihanna (the halftime entertainment), Lenny Kravitz, Josh Groban, ... More >>

Y'all Musta Forgot: Third World's Strut

Houston's history is dotted with albums that, fairly or not, have been swept aside. We'll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. ​Strut (Self-released, 2010) Strut, created by the enigmatic musician/photographer/beard enthus ... More >>

The NBA Lockout X-Factor: Turkey (The Country, Not The Meat)

I mean listen, we're sitting here talking about Turkey​On the surface, the NFL and NBA lockouts are the same thing -- owners are closing the doors on their own leagues so they can negotiate a more beneficial collective bargaining agreement with the respective players unions. However, as most ... More >>

Top 5 Celebrities Who Tried to Go All NASCAR...and Failed

Kyle Busch: Qualified to break traffic speeding laws.​If you're going to travel at more than 80 miles an hour over the limit, you should probably be a professional speedster and not a celebrity with run-of-the-mill driving know-how. On Tuesday, Kyle Busch, a championship-winning NASCAR driver ... More >>

Tiger Moms: Seven Songs To Help Tame Those Cubs

​Amy Chua's controversial book/parenting guide, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, has moms everywhere wondering how to tame their young ones. But you don't need a copy of the book to learn how to breed strong, smart, successful cubs, because Rocks Off has found the musical translations of Chua ... More >>

NFL, College Football and Brett Favre's Wiener -- 5 Winners, 5 Losers

Brett Favre can't get out of the headlines​I hope everybody had a lovely Texans bye weekend (insert lame joke about "Texans giving up fewer than 300 yards passing to BYE" here), and that you're refreshed, rejuvenated and ready for the back half of the football season. I'm on vacation this week vis ... More >>

Rocks Off's All-Star Team Of Rap Ballers

hoopedia.nba.com​Basketball and hip-hop have crossed paths for decades. In the words of self-proclaimed No. 1 draft pick Drake: "I swear sports and music are so synonymous/ 'Cause we want to be them, and they want to be us." To mark the start of NBA training camp, Rocks Off assembled an all-s ... More >>

Artist of the Week: Proud Member of the "Overeducated Underclass" The Cocker Spaniels

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com. ​ The three coolest guys ... More >>

Game Time: Rockets Midseason Report Card

​I grew up as the oldest child in a family with three boys. There was me, two years behind me was my brother Kevin, and then six years behind him was my brother Ryan. While all three of us were, and for the most part still are, pretty intelligent fellows, report card time meant different things to ... More >>

Game Time: Woke Up This Morning, Got Myself LeBron

​Those of you who listen to my show know that I am fond of placing the "occasional" friendly wager. While handicapping the day-to-day and week-to-week ebb and flow of a football, basketball, or (if you're really sick) baseball season can be enjoyable and, at times, lucrative (especially when betti ... More >>

Houston Leads The Nation In Young-Teen Moms: A Good Thing?

​People are up in arms (Are people ever "down on arms"?) about a new report that shows Houston leads the nation in teen births, at least among women aged 15 or less.Abstinence-only ain't working, we need more abstinence-only, yadda yadda yadda.Sure, having a baby when you're 15 isn't the best choi ... More >>

Valentine's Night at Ernie's on Banks

Sports Lovers

Ludacris: Theater of the Mind

Outtakes: Daryl Morey Could’ve Been a Contender…in Baseball

Which Texas Team Will Take Home the Title?

And Now, Some Hoops

All-Star Weekend culminates with an actual game

Christmas in July

Six dozen of Houston's finest bands for a mere $7

Getting Out

Too scared to leave her house, Sandy has one last chance: a county crisis team that will come to her

Pipeline to the Pros

One of the straightest paths to the NBA begins on the summer hoops circuit. All the kids have to do in return is wear the right shoes.