San Francisco 49ers

Super Bowl LI Officially Awarded to Houston

Houston will host its third Super Bowl in February 2017. NFL owners voted to award the event to Houston over Miami, who lost the bid when stadium plans fell through. The last Super Bowl in Houston was XXXVIII in 2004. The first, Super Bowl VII, was held at Rice Stadium in 1974. The San Francisco ba ... More >>

5 Thoughts On These Way-Too-Early NFL 2013 Season Win Totals

So this is my second post in about five days where I go through betting lines for the 2013 NFL season with a fine tooth comb. Keep in mind that none of the games I'm investing my time and energy in here take place until at least four months from now, but still, I pore over schedules, draft classes, ... More >>

Early Betting Lines On NFL Weeks 1 Through 16

It's always good to get in on something at the beginning, at the ground floor. In the world of sports wagering, for bettors equally long on hubris and illness (gambling is a sickness, my friends), some betting outlets realize that no time is too soon to put out lines on NFL games. The draft just en ... More >>

NFL Free Agency 2013: "Dead Money" Overview

As a concept, the NFL salary cap is a fairly easy one to understand. Unlike the NBA, with its myriad of loopholes, exceptions, and fine print that allow teams like the Lakers and, well, almost everyone else to zoom past the artificial "cap", the NFL is a simple hard cap. What you spend is what what ... More >>

So, Who Should Play the Super Bowl Halftime Show Next Year?

This past weekend, I was honored to cover the Super Bowl XLVII festivities and game in New Orleans for the Houston Press and local TV outlet KIAH (Channel 39). Great fun, if not for locals in NOLA, who were ravaged by drunken football fanatics puking onto their 49ers and Ravens jerseys in the street ... More >>

Testament's Dark Roots of Thrash Run Deep

If classic thrash metal's "Big Four" (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer) ever decided to expand to a "Big Five," then that slot would certainly be taken by California's Testament (sorry, Exodus fans...). And while seemingly every band of a certain longevity will proclaim their latest record "jus ... More >>

Super Bowl XLVII: 4 Winners, 4 Losers

"Ain't about redemption. Ain't about that. It's a business. The Texans gave me my chance out of Lane College, and now I'm a champion." -- Jacoby Jones On a night where the only thing standing between Jacoby Jones and the Super Bowl MVP award being a yeoman's performance from Joe Flacco was the seco ... More >>

Randy Moss' And Chris Culliver's Nuclear Trolling Of San Francisco

As an NFL player playing in the biggest football game known to the free world, the last thing you want to do during Super Bowl week is give your opponent any bulletin board material. Trash talk is not highly recommended. This year, perhaps because (more likely, in spite of) the two head coaches are ... More >>

Super Bowl XLVII: Five Prop Bets And Game Prediction

We are about there now, that time of the week leading up to the Super Bowl where everybody is getting antsy and we all just want the game to get here. I've been on Radio Row in New Orleans the better part of the last three days (humblebrag alert!), and all the signs of "anticipation fatigue" are set ... More >>

The NFL Experience Lands In New Orleans

On Wednesday, the The Super Bowl 47 NFL Experience opened to fans at the Morial Convention Center. Featuring a mind-boggling amount of merchandise, GMC automobiles, and chances to exercise your crazed fandom, the 850,000-square-foot fan fest is a feast for the eyes and a strain on the muscles. Seri ... More >>

The Harbowl, Colin Kaepernick, Ray Lewis Dominate Super Bowl Media Day

On Tuesday morning the sports media world centered itself on the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and Super Bowl Media Day, with the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers diving into the days' orgy of interviews on the stadium floor. Media from all over the world were present to ask players the toug ... More >>

Football! NFC and AFC Title Game Best Bets

Last weekend, when we were down to eight teams left standing in the NFL playoffs, on my radio show I placed the remaining starting quarterbacks into three distinct "buckets": ELITE (3): Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning These three all were secure in their legacies regardless of the outcome ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets, NFL Divisional Round Nut Cuttin' Time!

This past Monday night, I had the privilege of attending the BCS Title Game in person in Miami. I say "privilege" because, despite my Notre Dame background, the trip itself and the magnitude of the event were amazing. Yes, my team lost, but it the vibe in the building before kickoff was surreal. As ... More >>

NFL Playoff Scenarios: A Guide To This Sunday

Week 17 of the NFL season is upon us this weekend, and while there are still plenty of moving (or potentially moving) parts left to be slotted, the one thing we are sure of is that in the NFC the Atlanta Falcons will have a first round bye and home field throughout the playoffs. The Texans have to ... More >>

The Houston Texans 2012 All Character(s) Team

Having a good team requires a mix of straight arrows -- guys like Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson, who appear nearly asleep when they aren't slicing and dicing opponents like cold cuts -- and goofballs who keep things light in what can often be a very intense work environment. Throughout the years, Ho ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets, "Satan Hates Auburn" Edition

I was saddened on Thursday to hear of the passing of legendary college football historian and journalist Beano Cook, who passed away in his sleep at the age of 81. Back in the `80's and early `90's, before the television landscape was cluttered with literally dozens of studio shows all blending toge ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets, Another Crappy Notre Dame Video Edition

Popcorn lung. Apparently, that's a thing. On Wednesday, a federal jury awarded a Denver man named Wayne Watson $7.2 million from various food companies after they determined that the respiratory problems he developed in 2007 were due to his frequent inhalation of the buttery aroma from microwave po ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets, "Taking The Escalator" Edition (Also, Praise For UConn's Jim Calhoun)

Sitting and watching Jim Calhoun's retirement press conference as I type this post, and I got to thinking....it's nice to build something. In 1986, Jim Calhoun inherited a UConn men's basketball program that was 12-16 the year before and to that point had won just four NCAA tournament games in its ... More >>

The 2012 NFL Schedule Is Here! The 2012 NFL Schedule Is Here!

In the timeless Steve Martin comedy The Jerk, there's a famous scene where Martin's character Navin R. Johnson sprints across the parking lot to snag a copy of the new phone book to confirm that, indeed, his name and phone number are included. When he is able to find his name he screams that inclus ... More >>

Football! AFC and NFC Title Game Best Bets!

You can't spell "elite" without E-L-I. Really, you can't​We interrupt this Texans-grieving for an update on the Alabama tea bagger and my AFC and NFC title game picks! (I'm pretty sure when my parents sent me off to college, they didn't think I'd be typing that sentence in my job.) The main c ... More >>

Houston Texans Grieving Process 1.0: At Least We're Not in Louisiana!

Ha-ha!​Forty-eight hours have come and gone since Sunday, and the Texans' loss to the Baltimore Ravens is still maddening and painful. How does one process the anguish coming out of a sporting event in which your team had every chance to win the game and put themselves one step away from th ... More >>

Texans, Saints, Tebow and Eli! This Weekend's NFL Playoff Best Bets

The scarcity of games on these NFL playoff weekends is a huge reason why wagering in the postseason can be a death trap of second-guessing for me. Fewer games on the board means there's way more time to focus (and, frankly, OVER-focus if there is such a thing) on the scant few games being played. ... More >>

NFL Week 17 Viewing Guide -- What in the Blue Hell Each Game Means

"College football has the best regular season of any sport, and the lack of a playoff is one big reason why." -- Bill Hancock, Executive Director, Bowl Cartel Championship Series That's my favorite inane argument against a college football playoff -- that somehow the existence of a playoff cheapens ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets: Take the Bullies

Not when it comes to betting.​Nobody likes a bully. That is, nobody likes a bully unless that bully can win you piles of loot by doing their bully things. And that's exactly what the gambling gods have continued to bless us with this season. As I outlined last week, if you just rode the four ... More >>

2011 NFL Preview, Spoken In Wagering-ese

The betting window is open​I hope everyone who has had a chance to check out our Texans 2011 preview "The New Normal" has enjoyed it. Big ups to Monica Fuentes for coming up with the season-long interactive game card tracking Texans' results. You need to go check it out. If you haven't read ... More >>

Rocca Fellers

Former pool hall is Houston's newest hip-hop spot.

Talk Dirty to Me: Ten Filthy-Sounding Sports Terms

This is not sexual, but T-Mac is serving up a "facial."​In few places are slang terms as popular as in sports. There is virtually an entire language dedicated to describing play on the field, court, course or pitch. These terms create sort of an insiders club of those who know them and follow ... More >>

College Football and NFL: Weekend's Best Bets (One Day Early)

Brett Favre: Readying the "elbow tendonitis" excuse?​If you're keeping score at home, it was not a pretty week for society. In no particular order, in the last seven days, the following occurred: -- Much like the self-handling of his own Johnson (and we have the pictures to prove it), Brett Favre ... More >>

Game Time: NFL 2010 -- A Journey In Wagering

Betting is fun! If you don't mind losing​The first week of the NFL season is always one of the busiest for me. I've never been an accountant, nor will I ever be an accountant, but I would imagine that the first week of college and NFL football together is how the week of April 15 feels for someon ... More >>

The Texans: Mission Not Quite Accomplished

​Perhaps it was appropriate that the former president Bushes were in attendance for yesterday's Houston Texans game. Especially Bush the Younger. Because just as the Younger stood on an aircraft carrier with a "Mission Accomplished" banner displayed proudly behind him long before the mission was ... More >>

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: Were You Ready for Some Boring Football?

I can't believe I wasted over three hours of my life watching the Houston Texans last night. Sure, they won the game 30-17, but damn, that was an awful game to watch. I found the document review I was working on to be more interesting than most of that game - and you attorneys out there know that ... More >>

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: Mike Singletary Gives the Weekend's Best Performance

John Royal's NFL Power Rankings

John Royal's NFL Power Rankings

San Francisco Wants to Help Us Recycle

Helping Hand Spurned

Miss Cleo’s Fearless Forecast: Super Bowl XLIII Winner Revealed!

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 16: Super Mario Snubbed, But That’s a Good Thing

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 15: Tomahawk Chop, Baby Jesus and One Grisly Neck Beard

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 14: Turning into T-Rex (the Dinosaur, Not the Tolkien-Loving Glam-Rock Band)

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 12: Lions, Turducken and Bears...

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 11: Tough Week, But Take the Texans

John Royal’s NFL Picks, Week Ten: Georgia (the Country, Not the State) Loves the Texans

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week Ten: Openly Defying the Gods Since October 2007

(Texans vs. Raiders) (Pats vs. Colts) = Pass the Prozac Please

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week Five: Whorin’ for Hits? Or Just Lovin’ the Ladies?

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week Three: Approaching the Promised Land

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks: Week Two

Finally! Mock Draft Version 5.0

Scoring the Super Bowl

NFL Films' music may be stirring, but these songs tell the real story of the big games

Winning in the Worst Way

Rock Knapp transformed little Northwest Academy from gridiron patsy to playoff powerhouse. So why are some parents calling for his head?