Detroit Pistons

The Rockets Are Back In The NBA Playoffs! Their Complete Rebuilding Anthology

With four games to go in the 2011-2012 season, the Rockets were coming off a 117-110 loss to Dallas, a loss in which Dirk Nowitzki provided a stark reminder to last season's Rockets team that they were devoid of a superstar caliber player by dropping 21 points on them in the fourth quarter. To call ... More >>

DeAndre Jordan's Dunk Immortalized By The Voice Of WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross!

In 2013, one of the biggest gauges of your brand, your legacy, your relevance is what I like to call the "Google ______" test. Put someone's name in Google and what are the first three or four items that Google self-fills in as related topics after that name. If my "Google _____" test for DeAndre J ... More >>

Six Examples of How James Harden Follows in the Tradition of Great Rockets Hair

When the Houston Rockets acquired James Harden in late October, general manager Daryl Morey finally found the superstar that he longed for. Houston would go on to post billboards around the city featuring Harden with the caption, "The Beard Has Landed!" So far, Harden has delivered, as he is one of ... More >>

Phil Jackson Words Ring True for Underground Houston Rap

Context: That's The Fury God doing one of those radio-station freestyles that radio stations like to ask rappers to do. It happened right before he performed at The Box's recent Los Magnificos Custom Car Show, alongside four other underground acts. Why It's Important: Because it might maybe possib ... More >>

Chef Endures Cancer, Loss of Sense of Taste

A stroke, a brain tumor and the loss of his sense of taste haven't kept Chef David Guerrero out of the kitchen.

Beardsanity: Rockets Stars Inspire in Win, Team Still Has Issues (with Crazy Video)

So, this James Harden kid is pretty good. He torched the Detroit Pistons for 37 points, 12 assists (a career high), six rebounds and four steals on opening night and it appears he is everything advertised and more. No doubt he isn't going to go off for that kind of game every night, but he has insta ... More >>

Boom. Roasted. -- Arkansas Sucks, OSU Cheats(?) : The Monday Morning College Football Roast

As I type this, I'm sitting in the Reliant Stadium press box after the Texans' 38-14 win over the Titans on Sunday afternoon, and admittedly it's incredibly difficult to focus on writing about college football -- partially because of the four television screens showing the late games and partially b ... More >>

NBA Finals: Series Prediction and a Few Prop Bets

Finally, it's here! If you had allowed David Stern to sit in a room with all 16 playoff teams on the wall by conference, and allow him to pick his dream matchup for the NBA Finals, it's without a doubt the Miami-Oklahoma City matchup we're getting here. LeBron versus Durant, big market versus small ... More >>

NBA Draft: Recent Stinkhole History To Enlighten Rocket Fans

Prior to Wednesday night's game between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics, the 27th annual NBA Draft Lottery took place, or as Rocket fans like to call it "a tradition like no other." For those Rocket fans, their 0.5 percent chance of coming away with the top pick gave the draft lottery a decide ... More >>

Tough Week: Rockets Go from Sixth Seed to Out of the Playoffs

Remember all the warm, fuzzy feelings last week when the Rockets came home from a 4-0 road trip, knocking on the door of a good seeding in the Western Conference playoffs? It appeared this scrappy, tough team was going to defy odds and make the playoffs with no stars and their entire starting backco ... More >>

Picking Rockets Team of the 2000s Not an Easy Task

Throughout the course of this frustrating season, the Houston Rockets have been allowing fans to pick their choices for the starting team of the decade beginning with the 1970s and continuing with the '80s, '90s and 2000s. They had all but one of their starting five for the 2000s on had for their wi ... 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 >>

Tiradito and Turf

At Samba Grille, David Guerrero is breaking the traditional steakhouse mold wide open.

NBA Season Win Totals and My Rockets Prediction

Bet the over on wins​Last add on my post from yesterday about Kris Kardashian Humphries re-signing with the Nets: For those of you who think I was a little too hard on Big Humph (and by my count, there were exactly none of you who felt that way), just know that according to results of a rece ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 2: David Guerrero of Samba Grille, On His Road to Recovery and Becoming Executive Chef

Mai PhamExecutive Chef David Guerrero in the kitchen at Samba Grille​Yesterday, we talked to Samba Grille's Executive Chef David Guerrero about how he was diagnosed with brain cancer early last year. You can read about it here. Today, he tells us the rest of his story about his extraordinary r ... More >>

30 Seconds with La Dispute's Jordan Dreyer

By fusing spoken word with an unrelenting punk-2.5 sound, La Dispute has won our allegiance. We gave singer Jordan Breyer the third degree in order to find out what we could from him in 30 seconds. Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Jordan Dreyer: It's hard for me to say, really, be ... More >>

He's Only a Perv

Court rules video voyeur not a child pornographer

Detroit Pistons Mutiny (with Tracy McGrady video)

Practice?! We're talking about practice?!​If you're keeping score at home, Tracy McGrady has left scorched earth behind every NBA franchise for whom he has played. He left Toronto for Orlando just as his career was finally beginning to blossom, eventually wore out his welcome (amidst copious ... More >>

The Cool Kids

Thanksgiving 2010: The Post Where We Get All "Thanky"

Thank you. Thank you very much.​As we prepare to gorge ourselves today on turkey (Cajun fried is the choice here), stuffing, pumpkin bread, and perhaps something green (maaaaybe, but probably not), I want to first thank all of you who stop in and read the stuff on the blog here, not just my st ... More >>

NFL, College Football, Twitter, Pancake Bites and Bestiality -- Weekend's Best Bets

A regular Paul the Octopus​So last season I did these Best Bets posts on Fridays and made every attempt to conduct myself like an actual handicapper, coming up with reams of statistics and subjective observations to lead to a conclusion that I hoped made reasonable sense. End result? A predic ... More >>

NBA 2010-2011 Preview -- Reconstructing LeBron

Please, no more operations on Yao Ming​"What should I do?" -- LeBron James, over and over and over again his new Nike spot The fact that LeBron James is posing the question in his new Nike spot perhaps tells us that he is not completely devoid of self-awareness, as he appeared to be last summer. ... 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 >>

Tracy McGrady And His Tired Legs

Tip: Don't play in "tired legs" mode​"I have been working hard all summer to get ready for the upcoming season an am thankful that I landed in Detroit. I'm doing my workouts with my trainer Ben, and I am now able to finish full workouts that I wasn't able to do for the past two years. I do feel tr ... More >>

The Quotable Tracy McGrady: "It's About Winning."

Blame Canada....or PEDs​Well, apparently I've pissed off Canada.In a post that was largely meant to illustrate the cavalcade of clown that is Les Miles and make a salient point or two about the Houston Texans, the biggest reaction to yesterday's "5 Winners, 5 Losers" came from north of the border, ... More >>

Game Time: NBA DRAFT -- Worst Lottery Picks Of The Last 15 Years

cutline​As "must see" events on the sporting calendar go, the annual NBA Draft is highly underrated. If you ask the average sports fan his or her five most watchable sports nights of the year you'll probably get canned answers like the Super Bowl, a Game 7 in the MLB or NBA playoffs, and any inte ... More >>

Summerfest Short Cuts: Mix Master Mike, Kid Sister, Miniature Tigers, Etc.

Marc BrubakerSpain Colored Orange​Spain Colored Orange: Although technical difficulties with one ticket scanner caused an enormous line of hot and restless festival-goers outside one gate, Spain Colored Orange started its set at 2:05 p.m. on the dot - before the gates had even opened. SCO informed ... More >>

Game Time: For Sale -- NBA Two Guard, 30 Y/O, Excellent Condition, Trades Accepted

​First, I want to thank everyone for their reaction, positive or otherwise, to my post yesterday which chronicled the high points of the era of Tracy McGrady's Expiring Contract I seem to learn something with every new post that I generate here on Hair Balls, and yesterday I learned that there are ... More >>

Game Time: Five Jobs The Rockets Can Give Tracy McGrady

​I'm all about people earning their money. From an accountant punching up debits and credits to a custodian cleaning the bathroom stalls to a CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation, every position in any company has an intrinsic financial value to it and as soon as the return on the investment in that ... 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 >>

Being A Fan In Houston Basically Sucks, ESPN Reports

Photo by Bukowsky18ESPN has put together another one of its Best Fan Experience lists, where they rank ballparks, arenas and stadiums for atmosphere, convenience, team success, and other highly arbitrary and pseudo-scientific categories.Houston doesn't come out too well.The top three are the L ... More >>

Five Ways To Fake Your Way Through A Rockets Conversation

Photo by Keith Allison It's been a long time since the Rockets were of any interest to most of Houston, but now that they've actually advanced past the first round of the playoffs, the bandwagon is getting full.A Houstonian will now be expected to be able to talk confidently about the team in order ... More >>

Rockets-Pistons: Can Yao Be the Closer?

Photo by Wootang01 Remember the notion from earlier this week that the Rockets' late-game offense might be better off without Yao Ming? That didn't last long. With the Rockets trailing by four late and in the midst of yet another fourth-quarter funk, Yao snapped the Rockets out of it in a major wa ... More >>

Rockets-Pistons: Can Yao Be the Closer?

Photo by Wootang01 Remember the notion from earlier this week that the Rockets' late-game offense might be better off without Yao Ming? That didn't last long. With the Rockets trailing by four late and in the midst of yet another fourth-quarter funk, Yao snapped the Rockets out of it in a major wa ... More >>

Top Ten WTF Sports Moments of 2008

It's end of year time, which means it's time for stupid lists. And if there's anything you guys have learned about me, it's that I like stupid lists. So I present this year's Top Ten WTF Moments in Sports for 2008. 10. The Cleveland Browns suspended tight end Kellen Winslow, Jr. for conduct det ... More >>

Whole Offense, Hole Defense: The Houston Rockets Preview

Super Bowl TV: What to Watch Before the Big Game

Supersonics vs. Rockets: Live-blogging with Jason Friedman

Q&A with Daryl Morey: Riding the Rocket Roller Coaster

Jason Friedman's NBA Predictions: Mavs Beat the Jazz, the Suns, the Rockets and the Pistons, Take the Championship in '08

We Love Our Boobie

The New Bad Boys? No Way

Glory Days

The return of the male strippers

Fire in the Belly

Rice's new basketball director reveals the secret of his fall from NBA stardom

Yin and Yang

The killing of Dimebag Darrell rains on Michael Haaga's Continental Club Plus and Minus Show parade

African Hideaway

Addisaba has an air of foreign intrigue — and awesome kifto and yedoro wot

A Closer Look at Dillard's

Hoop Dreams of Glory

A basketball documentary delves deep into the dangerous lure of the game

Wanna Buy a RoboDome?

The city's sports tycoons maneuver for inside position, and the questions mount: Who needs it? Why? At what cost?