Leslie Alexander

PR 101: The Astros Could Learn a Lot From Other Houston Team Owners

Fame has a fifteen minute half-life, infamy lasts a little longer. - The Insider Owners of sports franchises never have it easy. From Charlie Thomas to Les Alexander, John McMullen to Drayton McLane, Bud Adams to, yes, even Bob McNair, fans are ruthless and we're talking Houston, not Philadelphia o ... More >>

The Houston Aeros Are No More, R.I.P.

The Houston Aeros lost 7-0 to the Grand Rapids Griffins in Grand Rapids on Saturday night. With the loss the Aeros are done for this season, having lost the deciding game of round one of the AHL Calder Cup playoffs. And with the loss, the Houston Aeros are done in Houston. They are no more. The nex ... More >>

The Great CSN Houston Tax Scam

Everybody's pretty damn tired of the CSN Houston situation. Tired of being screwed out of Rockets games. Tired, maybe, of not being able to see the Astros get swept by the Oakland A's. Tired of watching CSN's Matt Hutchings constantly on the television and lying out of his teeth about who's responsi ... More >>

Say Goodbye To The Aeros & Pro Hockey: The Team Is Moving To, Ummm, Iowa

The Houston Aeros, it now seems assured, will not get to celebrate their 20th anniversary of being the only hockey game in town. The Minnesota Star-Tribune, which covers the Aeros' parent team, the Minnesota Wild, reported today that Wild officials have all but ended negotiations with the Toyota Ce ... More >>

Aeros One Step Closer To Playoffs, One Step Closer To Des Moines

Lost in the talks of the Houston Aeros relocation, of the vitriol being spewed toward Les Alexander, of the jobs being lost, the families uprooted, is one simple thing. The Aeros are still playing hockey. And with four games left in the regular season, the Aeros are still very much in a fight for a ... More >>

Oh, You Mean There Is Actually A Game During NBA All-Star Weekend? (Plus, Can You Name The Rappers In Our Courtside Photo?)

After a weekend of human gridlock at the Galleria, traffic snarls, bottles poppin', and all the parties you could handle, NBA All-Star Weekend in Houston came to a close on Sunday with the Western Conference defeating their Eastern foes 143-138, the Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul getting the game' ... More >>

Sports Illustrated Gets In Depth with Rockets GM/Geek Daryl Morey

If you've ever seen the movie Moneyball, you probably have a tiny inkling of what goes into the data-heavy methodology behind modern sports analytics. It's a complex mix of raw data, probability and computing power. Prior to Daryl Morey's hire as the Rockets GM, no one had seriously tried it in the ... More >>

Rockets Mediocrity: Blame the Strategy of the Owner

There's something unholy about a team playing out the string of games knowing it won't make the playoffs. It's even weirder when said team felt its season end with a thud after a horrid stretch of games that lasted right up until the second-to-last game of the year. Going one step farther, that game ... 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 >>

Say What You Will About the Rockets, At Least They Aren't The Clippers

We all learned yesterday that the Rockets have fallen to the bottom of the heap when it comes to local television ratings, worse than all but three woeful NBA franchises despite having a winning record now halfway through this lockout-shortened season. In fact, their ratings dropped a whopping 40 p ... More >>

No-Good Goods

Readers on American Grocers

Is Bob McNair Houston's Worst Sports Franchise Owner

Sad McNair is sad​No matter how beloved the owner of a sports franchise may be, there will always be plenty of reasons for fans to hate him. In a city like Houston, with three major sports franchises, there are bound to be times when owners take a beating, particularly when the teams are losin ... 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 >>

Sports Things To Be Thankful For, And Not Thankful For

​It's that time of year when we start to look back at the events that have happened. And since it's Thanksgiving, I thought I would give a list of sports things for which I'm thankful, as well as listing a few of the turkeys of the year. So...1. I'm thankful for the MLB Network. The network and it ... More >>

Which Houston Team Has The Dumbest Front Office?

​Richard Justice actually had a decent blog post the other day. In it, he attempted to evaluate which of Houston's big three sports franchises was the smartest -- sorry Dynamo fans, he didn't include them because he says the team hasn't been here long enough, and I won't include them because I con ... 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 >>

Houston Rockets To Lower Ticket Prices -- Wait, They Meant "Raise," Right?

There is only one actual major league team in Houston to ever win a world title. The Houston Rockets. And there is only one legit major league team in Houston that ever makes the effort to field a winning team every season. And yet there is only one legit major league professional team in this c ... More >>

Houston Rockets To Lower Ticket Prices -- Wait, They Meant "Raise," Right?

There is only one actual major league team in Houston to ever win a world title. The Houston Rockets. And there is only one legit major league team in Houston that ever makes the effort to field a winning team every season. And yet there is only one legit major league professional team in this c ... More >>

Amazingly, the Comets Couldn't Survive

Who's Got Next?

Seven Things We'll Miss About The Houston Comets

Shocking news this morning -- the Houston Comets are no more.First reactions were predictable. "The Houston Comets were still around? Do tell." But then reality began to sink in.The Comets won the first four WNBA championships at a time when no Houston team was winning anything. They brought joy to ... More >>

Rocket Science: Daryl Morey Brings Hard-Core Statistical Analysis to the NBA

Houston's pro basketball team pins (at least a part of ) its hopes on a brainiac GM

Best Lobbyist

Bill Miller

Rockets' Legal Déjà Vu

Minority groups take Alexander to court again

Les's Lost Weekend

Minorities' suit against the Rockets revs up, with a mayoral hopeful caught in the fray

Not So Suite?

City officials to the Rockets: Don't mess with our freebies

Rockets Court Date?

The NAACP rattles sabers in the arena vendor disputes

Rocket Rodney

A state senator moonlights as arena point guard

Year of the Yao Woo

The crazy times in 2002 — Kmart raids, Olympian losses, stadium mania and more —- now make sense. Houston was just mining Ming.

Back at the Trough

The politics behind the new arena

Dead or Alive

Dead Horse Walking

Home Court Advantage

The Rockets rack up frequent flyer miles.

"Clearing House" Sweepstakes

Urban League deal-maker scores in Aramark stadium contract

News Hostage

Love and Rockets

Stadia Watch

Hoopla. Will the Rockets relocate? Don't bet on it.

Stadia Watch

Les for the Money

Ad Nauseam

Despite what the campaign says, that new arena will cost plenty

The Killer-est B

Forget Biggio, Bagwell, Bell. Move over, Barkley. The sports figure of the decade is...

Aria Speedwagon

Letters

Saint Rudy

Greed Head

There's a darkness at the edge of Clutch City, but one thing is clear: Les Alexander will get his. And maybe yours, too.

Les's Turn

,,, And Don't Talk to Barkley

Pinched for fat. Put in their place. The Rockets Power Dancers don't care, just as long as they're given a chance to make their moves.

Stadia Watch

Stadia Watch

Stadia Watch

Forecast: Raining Stadiums

Forget the committee -- the city's sports future already is being negotiated by the mayor

The Insider

Wanna Buy a RoboDome?

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