Heisman Trophy

Johnny Manziel Hits Batting Practice Home Run At Petco Park (w/ VIDEO)

In the game of "Bucket List," Johnny Manziel is officially running up the score on all of us. Over the weekend, the Texas A&M Heisman Trophy winning quarterback capped off a round at Pebble Beach with his parents by knocking in a birdie on 18 to break 80. About the only surprising thing about that ... More >>

Johnny Manziel Officially Concocts The Most Creative First Pitch Ever At Padres Game

Cabo spring breaks, courtside NBA seats, luxury boxes at concerts, appearances on Letterman, rounds of golf at Pebble Beach, batting practice in Major League Baseball stadiums... I'm pretty sure that soon it will make more sense to just create a Johnny Manziel specific blog on HoustonPress.com to c ... More >>

Tim Tebow Visiting Texas...to Speak in Corpus Christi

A few of you read that headline and thought, "Oh, dear God, no!" A few others of you read it and thought, "Oh, dear God, yes!" Either way, just like your thoughts, we're pretty sure Tim Tebow's visit to Corpus Christi will involve the big man upstairs. He will be speaking tonight at Whataburger Fiel ... More >>

Spring Break! Johnny Manziel Is Exhausted From Being Johnny Manziel

"The media don't understand the pressures $42 million come with." -- Random sobbing professional athlete in the movie "Jerry Maguire" They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Certainly, on a bad day, as we grind through life, it's easy to look at the lives of others, esp ... More >>

Johnny Football! 2013 Heisman Odds Are Out; Why I Won't Bet On Johnny

2012 was good to Johnny Manziel, and 2013 is off to a phenomenal start. Of course, there was the 41-13 trouncing of Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl on January 4, where Manziel piled up roughly a billion total yards. But there's been so much more. Lucrative casino trips, lovely ladies, and Mardi Gras! ... More >>

4 Imaginary Figures That Would Have Benefitted Manti Te'o's Career More Than a Fake Girlfriend

When Deadspin broke the story Notre Dame linebacker and future NFL draft pick Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend, the whole nation was shocked. Many sympathized for him when he lost Lennay Kekua due to leukemia while he continued to play in "her" honor. Since, he has garnered a large amount of ridicule, l ... More >>

College Football: Bear Bryant Award Finalists Revealed (Aggies Will Be Happy)

If you're a prominent, successful college football player or coach, it is usually necessary to block out the second week of December. This is when most of the college football awards are handed out, the week after the regular season ends. For many, it's an exhausting, circuitous journey across the n ... More >>

Trail Of Slime: Tommy Tuberville Bolts Texas Tech For Cincinnati, Skips Out On Dinner Tab

This past Saturday night at the Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony in New York, ESPN host Chris Fowler was interviewing Notre Dame senior linebacker and Heisman finalist Manti Te'o about his mostly amazing, sometimes tragic senior season. Ever the positive thinker, Te'o at one point in the convers ... More >>

Ranking The 2012 Heisman Finalists According To Music Videos

Last week in this space, I speculated that the Vegas big board for the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner released back in June, 23 candidates in all, would actually turn out to contain no eventual 2012 finalists. If you go back and look at the list, it didn't take Kirk Herbstreit to figure that out. On M ... More >>

Johnny "Football" Manziel: How Badly Did Vegas Miss On The 2012 Heisman?

Any way you slice it, the "Johnny Manziel for Heisman" story (covered ad nauseum in this space over the last few days) is one of the most unlikely sports stories certainly of this calendar year and perhaps in the history of college football. Lightly recruited, undersized redshirt freshman quarterba ... More >>

Aggie Mailbag: "Sean, you are whats (sic) wrong with this country."

Before I get into this post, in the spirit of having to cater to the lowest common denominator of what is a rightfully proud and mostly sane Aggie fan base, and because it's about to get a little uncomfortable up in this beeyatch once this post is done, allow me to get this disclaimer out of the way ... More >>

Zapruder Video Analysis Of Drunk, Racist Aggie Fan Starting A Fight In An Airport

In the wake of Texas A&M's landscape-changing 29-24 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide this weekend, with his fame escalating from "local cult hero" to "full fledged Heisman candidate," Johnny Manziel and his family began the process on trademarking his catchy "Johnny Football" moniker. Their motiva ... More >>

Boom. Roasted. -- The Monday Morning College Football Roast, Drunk Betty White Edition

Saturday night, given the choice between staying at home with me to watch the annual Denard Robinson Tear-Notre-Dame's-Heart-Out-And-Show-It-To-Them-Apalooza (and experiencing the corresponding remote control throwing that goes with it) and going out to dinner with her girlfriends to a nice restaura ... More >>

5 Most Overrated Players in College Football

College football's media days are done, the preseason picks for top teams and players in. "And why did you pick him?" we sit here scratching our heads. A majority of these guys on this list made either Athlon Sports's first, second or third All-American teams. Please try again if you guessed M ... More >>

2012 College Football Media Days, From Best to Most All-Out Painful

A few years ago, ESPN anointed the various college football media days as the unofficial start to the season. We get it. Folks are starved for some mutha-effing football so placing an artificial start date on the season and posting previews and interviews is going to get media outlets a hell of a l ... More >>

For St. Patrick's Day: 10 Notable Irish Texans

This weekend brings St. Patrick's Day, the annual celebration of all things Irish. Even in Texas there are parades. As well there should be, because Irish Texans have definitely made their mark on the world. Like these ten: 10. Matthew McConaughey His Mom was a McCabe. "McConaughey" is Gaelic for ... More >>

Football! Baylor-UT, NFL: This Weekend's Best Bets

Let the Tebowing continue!​"College football is March Madness every week!" -- Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the Bowl Championship Series Ah, the battle cry of the BCS apologist. Specifically, the battle cry of the BCS executive director, Bill Hancock. It's what he and his minions tell ... More >>

Auburn Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn's Wife Is Insane (w/ VIDEO)

Simultaneous with the push toward bowl season every year, we have the college football coaching carousel that begins spinning around Thanksgiving and doesn't stop until around the time the bowl games end (or until around spring practice if your quarterback is trading signed memorabilia for tattoos). ... More >>

A Very Special BCS Edition of 4 Winners, 4 Losers

For the first time in the history of my Texans fandom, their bye week left me with a palpable void. Sure, I love having NFL football in this city, even bad football is better than no football, so the bye week always feels a little weird. However, this season's team is a little different. If the Te ... More >>

Texans/Bucs -- 4 Winners, 4 Losers (The "Goddammit, NOT Schaub!" Edition)

Born under a bad sign.​So, I was thisclose to hitting "SEND" on a post that would have openly discussed the Texans going 13-3 and getting home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. And then this: Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub has a significant foot injury that will force him to mi ... More >>

Best/Worst College Football QB Transfers: A List Inspired by Former Texas Main Man Garrett Gilbert

Obviously, Garrett Gilbert is no Colt McCoy. Or Case McCoy. Or David Ash. Earlier today, the Texas Longhorns announced that Gilbert -- who filled in admirably for the injured Colt McCoy during the Longhorns' loss in the 2010 BCS Championship game...and that's about it -- is leaving the program. G ... More >>

College Football Week 1 Recap: 10 Things

Coming up roses, again​College football is back, and probably for the first time I can remember, the feeling that the return of football brought with it more than anything else was relief. Finally, we can stop obsessing over agents, runners, tattoos, memorabilia, and Nevin Shapiro. The games ... More >>

Notre Dame License Plates: Texas Finally Does Something Right

​It's taken far too many years, but Texas has finally taken a baby step towards honoring the greatest football program in America. We note that the plate understandably doesn't have room to list all the national championships or Heisman winners on it -- something you could easily do with, say ... More >>

UH's Case Keenum Named To Maxwell Award Watch List

​UH's Case Keenum, once a leading candidate for a Heisman Award, has been named for the watch list of the Maxwell Award, given annually to college football's best offensive player. We profiled Keenum in the spring as he began a comeback from the injury that ended his Heisman-hopes season last ... More >>

The Final Play

After traumatic knee injury, Case Keenum has one more season to prove his talents.

Cover Story: Case Keenum's Comeback Attempt

​The underdog role is a familiar one for Case Keenum. The University of Houston star quarterback won the 2004 Texas Class 3A Division I state championship, but only received barely-audible buzz from recruiters. Then, when he arrived at UH in 2006, he was buried deep on the depth chart behind ... More >>

Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh -- What ISN'T Wrong With This Picture?

Andrew Luck pursues his architecture degree​As quarterback/head coach combinations go at the collegiate level, few have ever been as logical a fit and maximized that synergy like Houston's own Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh at Stanford in 2011. The head coach who on pure guts nearly willed th ... More >>

Texas Bowl Gets Baylor! And, Ummm, Illinois

Texas Bowl 2010: The return of Art Briles​The 2010 Texas Bowl will give Houston a look at the surprisingly successful Baylor Bears, headed by former UH coach Art Briles. The good news: Baylor is breaking a 16-year bowl drought. The semi-bad news, in terms of the chances for a compelling footb ... More >>

Houston Texans -- The Green Mile, 5 Winners and 5 Losers

Texans fans: Enjoy it today, resume griping tomorrow​The Texans beat the Chiefs on Sunday afternoon 35-31 to move to 4-2 for the first time in the history of the franchise, and I for one am going to enjoy it. Seriously, try to stop me. You can try and bring me down with your texts and tweets and ... More >>

UH Tries To Avoid Its History

Deja vu all over again​A long time ago, in a football universe far, far away, the Houston Cougars were a dominant offensive force. Their run-and-shoot offense was putting up huge numbers on college teams nationwide. The team was regularly ranked in the Top 20, and though they had been on a probati ... More >>

College Football & NFL -- This Weekend's Best Bets

Reggie Bush has always been a cheater​I'll get to the Best Bets of the weekend in a second, I promise, but first some venting.Reggie Bush is rapidly moving up my most hated list.Not because he chose to attend Southern Cal instead of Notre Dame. Not because the defining play of Notre Dame's decade ... More >>

Houston Cougars -- An Early Lock of the Century

That's a very big lock​I realize that my Best Bets for the weekend are usually a Friday thing, and rest assured after my fast start last week, no one is chomping harder at the bit to get back to the business of picking winners than me. (By the way, did ya see? 4-2, bitches! I know 6-0 and 5-1 are ... More >>

Why Notre Dame Will Win The BCS And UT Won't, 2010 Edition: Part 3

Montana: He's back!! Kinda​Time for another of our weekly efforts at explaining to you benighted Longhorn fans why UT won't win the BCS this year, but Notre Dame will.It's going to be difficult to limit the discussion to just the traditional five reasons, but ND fans are all about tradition. So le ... More >>

Game Time: College Football Week 1 -- Ain't No Party Like a Boise Party

Boise State is ready to rumble​Last night, as Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore gathered the Bronco offense in the huddle to concoct one final haymaker in their prize fight with Virginia Tech, guaranteeing we were going to see some sort of fantastic finish -- either a game-winning touchdown or ... More >>

The Five Most Overrated Houston Athletes

Nolan Ryan: Ks are nice, how about wins?​In Houston, we mostly love our athletes. It takes a lot to get on our bad side.Of course, sometimes we overlove our athletes. Not only do they hold a special place in our hearts, but we insist that they were much better than they actually were.So what athle ... More >>

Cougar Football Opens With High Hopes For The...Defense?

Case Keenum, your Heisman Trophy is waiting​The Houston Cougars got their 2010 football season underway on Friday, meeting for photos and their first practice while the team held its annual media day. \ Despite a successful 2009 season, the Cougars come into this season wanting to forget las ... More >>

Game Time: LeBron James -- Seven Scenarios For Thursday Night

@dramaqueen​"Hello World, the Real King James is in the Building 'Finally'. My Brother @oneandonlycp3 gas'd me up to jump on board so I'm here. Haaaa" -- LeBron James (oh sorry...@KingJames on Twitter, and what is sadly his most interesting tweet thus far)I've always thought that when Twitte ... More >>

Game Time: New Pac-10 ALREADY Making Southwest Conference Look Like The Ivy League (...and revised PRS rankings!)

Welcome to the Big Ten!​The winds of change yesterday went from cool breeze to Hurricane Tom (as in Osborne, as in "adios", as in "How's that taste, Kansas?"), with Nebraska apparently accepting an invitation from the Big Ten to become its twelfth member.It remains to be seen if Nebraska is ... More >>

Game Time: NFL Conference Title Predictions...Channeling College Football

There's no two ways about it, my NFL playoff predictions have been terrible. As I outlined on Monday, I reached a point this past weekend, after going goose eggs on the first seven games, where I picked the Jets to beat the Chargers outright merely because every rational thought and shred of evide ... More >>

Game Time: Five Biggest College Football Title Game Implosions

It's almost here. After wading through the sludge of bowl season, with just one more "go get me some popcorn" match left tonight between Troy and Central Michigan (Admit it, ninety percent of you reading this have no idea what state "Troy" is in), finally tomorrow Alabama and Texas will meet for a ... More >>

Game Time: Previewing College Football Awards Night

​Last night, the Rotary Lombardi Award for the top lineman in college football was given to Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. To anyone who watched him play this year, or even just watched him rag-doll and chokeslam the Texas offensive line in the Big XII championship game, Suh's winning th ... More >>

UH's Case Keenum -- What's A Dude Got To Do To Get Some Heisman Love?

​The end of the college football season is fast approaching, and the rest of the nation is finally learning something that Houston Cougar fans have known all season. The best player in the country isn't Colt McCoy or Tim Tebow. The best player is Case Keenum.Several sites which poll Heisman vote ... More >>

Why Notre Dame Will Win The BCS Title And Texas Won't: Part Nine

​We have documented weekly just how Notre Dame is moving inexorably towards a BCS championship while UT is deluding itself that it is doing so.Today, though, we discuss why ND's road may be harder.We have discovered, shockingly, that the pernicious influence of the KKK and other such anti-Catholic ... More >>

Game Time: Weekend Review

​I hope everyone had a great weekend, and that you were all able to enjoy the nice weather by moving your television and recliner into your driveway to watch football on TV.  I'd like to start off by welcoming the Texans to this new thing for them called "November".  Boys, I know in ... More >>

Halloween Countdown: How Best To Go For The `90s-Nostalgia Look

Halloween is coming, and that means many, many costuming mistakes will be made by normally sane adults. To help stop this scourge, each Thursday we will be offering tips and analysis of what to avoid, or possibly what to do. Check out past entries here and here. If VH1 has taught us nothing else, it ... More >>

The Mt. Rushmore of Texas Sports

ESPN is about to start on one of those stupid SportsCenter promotion things that has helped to make SportsCenter virtually impossible to watch. But over here at Ballz, we like stupid things - I'm sure that many of you think anything I write is stupid and virtually impossible to read anyway. So I' ... More >>

The Mt. Rushmore of Texas Sports

ESPN is about to start on one of those stupid SportsCenter promotion things that has helped to make SportsCenter virtually impossible to watch. But over here at Ballz, we like stupid things - I'm sure that many of you think anything I write is stupid and virtually impossible to read anyway. So I' ... More >>

John Royal’s College Football Preview

Longhorns Retire Kevin Durant’s Number? Really?

Tim Tebow Is So Not the Greatest