Subject: Nolan Ryan

• Rocket-hater or Realist?

  May 2, 2007

• Why John McMullen, Not Drayton McLane, Is the Best Owner in the History of the Astros

  August 3, 2007

• For a Sucky Team, the Astros Sure Have Retired a Lot of Numbers

  August 27, 2007

• Losing Nolan Ryan. Again.

  January 29, 2008

• Astros-Cubs: So That’s What a Good Team Looks Like…

  May 20, 2008

• The Five Best Trades in the History of Houston Sports

  May 30, 2008

• John Royal’s Roster of the Greatest Astros Ever

  June 12, 2008

• The Top Five Astros-Killers of All Time

  June 20, 2008

• Aftermath: Geto Boys at Warehouse Live

  July 8, 2008

• Every Girl's Crazy `Bout A Real Old Song

  August 25, 2008

• Top Ten Astrodome Sports Moments

  September 23, 2008

• Top Five Beatdowns in Houston Sports

  October 9, 2008

• Strike Three, They're Out

  April 1, 1999

• Best Use for the Astrodome

  Mock naval battles

  September 21, 2000

• J.R. Richard: The Human Condition

  September 2, 2004

• A Dream Team for Barack Obama

  November 6, 2008

• They're Making A Documentary About The Dome, And They Want Your Family Keepsakes

  Via the always-entertaining Bayou City History blog at the Chron we learned of a budding documentary about that quaint old abandoned building that used to be the Eighth Wonder of the World.Chip Rives, one of the producers/directors/writers of The Dome, tells Hair Balls he and his partner have done interviews with Nolan Ryan, Bum Phillips and Dan Pastorini, but also some of the non-sports people connected with the place (George HW Bush; Judge Hofheinz's daughter Dene).A preview on their websi

  June 3, 2009

• Born to Win ... or Lose?

  May 11, 1995

• 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've decided to rip-off ESPN's idea, which frankly I hear done on sports talk radio all of the time anyway, so... What ESPN is going to do is come up with is a Mt. Rushmore of Sports for each of the 50

  January 21, 2009

• The Usual Suspect(s)

  October 24, 1996

• John Royal's Top 25 Random Baseball Facts

  There's this new list craze going around Facebook in which you list 25 random things about yourself. And the geniuses at the Big League Stew baseball blog got hold of this and made it into a list of 25 Random Things About Yourself As It Relates to Baseball. Thus... 1. I am happiest in a baseball stadium. I've got no fears, no problems, no troubles. The only thing that exists for me is the baseball game. 2. I worked for the Houston Astros scoreboard/video crew from 1988 through the 2001 s

  February 4, 2009

• Letters

  December 12, 1996

• Letters

  February 5, 1998

• Letters

  February 19, 1998

• News of the Weird

  October 22, 1998

• Striking Out

  January 21, 1999

• News Hostage

  May 20, 1999

• John Royal's Top 25 Random Baseball Facts

  There's this new list craze going around Facebook in which you list 25 random things about yourself. And the geniuses at the Big League Stew baseball blog got hold of this and made it into a list of 25 Random Things About Yourself As It Relates to Baseball. Thus... 1. I am happiest in a baseball stadium. I've got no fears, no problems, no troubles. The only thing that exists for me is the baseball game. 2. I worked for the Houston Astros scoreboard/video crew from 1988 through the 2001 s

  February 4, 2009

• 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've decided to rip-off ESPN's idea, which frankly I hear done on sports talk radio all of the time anyway, so... What ESPN is going to do is come up with is a Mt. Rushmore of Sports for each of the 50

  January 21, 2009

• The Best Houston Astros Home Grown and Acquired Rosters of All Time

  So I was fooling around on the interwebs yesterday, and between the launch of the MLB Network, the naming today of the new class for the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the coming of spring training, I was in a bit of a baseball mood. And I came across this blog detailing the All-Time Rosters for various baseball teams, including the Houston Astros. Now this guy gives two rosters, the All-Time Home Grown team and the All-Time Acquired team. I'll let you go look at his rosters, but I thought I wo

  January 12, 2009

• Diamond Life

  July 6, 2006

• ZZ Top, David Allan Coe, Hank Williams III, Old 97's

  ZZ Top, David Allan Coe, Hank Williams III and Old 97's perform Saturday, July 14, at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Dr., The Woodlands, 281-363-3300.

  July 12, 2007

• Cred Sheet

  Stuff you need to know to avoid musical ostracism

  November 30, 2006

• Chillin' with tha Eskimoz

  We have a Whatachat with the guys behind the fast-food rap video

  June 29, 2006

• Game Four: A Bitter Sweep Ending

  The Astros’ attempt to win without scoring somehow fails

  October 13, 2005

• Ming's Dynasty?

  Yao Ming

  May 5, 2005

• A Kinky Kind of Campaign?

  Friedman may be just the one to muss up Guv Goodhair's re-election plan

  December 4, 2003

• The Mystery of Monsters

  Kiss the Dome good-bye at this weekend's Monster Jam

  November 14, 2002

• Dream Team or Bad Dream?

  Democrats sift pre-election portents for the answer

  October 31, 2002

• Aging with Grace (and Science)

  American steaks: second of a three-part series

  August 30, 2001

• Getting to the Show

  Minor leaguers toil away, hoping for a shot at the majors. One of them, Round Rock's Jason Green, got a call from the Astros, giving him a chance to live the dream. Others labor on.

  August 31, 2000

• Stadia Watch

  Sacrifice Flies

  January 6, 2000

• Houstowne, Texas

  Shrouded by mists and unrecovered documents, the history of Houston is still worth a probe

  December 30, 1999

• News Hostage

  April 1, 1999

• Picks

  January 20, 1994

• Please Come Home, Nolan Ryan: All Is Forgiven, For God's Sake

  There's not much discussion of the Texas Rangers down in these parts -- except for when they're beating the asses of the Houston Astros, which they seem to do quite often. So Tom Hicks announcing now that he's willing to sell a majority interest in the franchise normally wouldn't generate much interest in Houston.Normally, that it is. Except when Houston icon Nolan Ryan might be involved.Ryan is a partner in two successful minor league franchises affiliated with the Houston Astros, the Round Roc

  May 29, 2009

• Why The Hell Should Wandy Rodriguez Listen To Pudge Anyway?

  In this corner, we have Wandy Rodriguez. Wandy's the very definition of a mediocre pitcher who has managed to hold on in the majors only because he's a left-hander. His career record is 42-45 and his career ERA is 4.59. This season, he's 5-5, but he's lost his last three games, pitching a total of only 13.2 innings in those three starts. Yet, in that short amount of time, he's surrendered 29 hits, 18 runs, 12 earned runs, and four home runs.  And in this corner we have Ivan "Pudge" R

  June 9, 2009

• The Ten Least Intimidating Athletes In Houston History

  There have been some tough guys in Houston sports history -- native sons George Foreman, Nolan Ryan, and Roger Clemens (even if you factor in his chemically-aided roid rage) -- all come to mind. Anybody can rattle off a list of ten of those guys -- and we might just do that next week -- but we were thinking today of the least toughest, most unintimidating athletes in Houston sports history, and without further ado, here they are: 10. Ernest Givins, Oilers: We'll give Givins some credit -- he kep

  August 4, 2009

• Five Songs to Send Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez Back to Arlington

  Aaron Sprecher​Future Hall Of Fame catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez, signed to a quick one-year contract by the dis-Astros at the end of spring training in April, was dealt to the Texas Rangers yesterday for two mid-level minor leaguers. The Rangers are deep into a playoff race (remember those?) and were looking to bolster their depth at the backstop position. Rodriguez will actually be the back-up catcher on the roster, behind daintily named UT ex Taylor Teagarden. Seriously, open up a bed and

  August 19, 2009

• Five Songs to Send Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez Back to Arlington

  Aaron Sprecher​Future Hall Of Fame catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez, signed to a quick one-year contract by the dis-Astros at the end of spring training in April, was dealt to the Texas Rangers yesterday for two mid-level minor leaguers. The Rangers are deep into a playoff race (remember those?) and were looking to bolster their depth at the backstop position. Rodriguez will actually be the back-up catcher on the roster, behind daintily named UT ex Taylor Teagarden. (Seriously, open up a bed an

  August 19, 2009