Stanford University

David Chase Achieves His Rock-'n'-Roll Dreams

Patent Law: The New Cold War

On the frontlines of the costliest battle in the high-tech world.

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets, Helping NBA Stars With Their Finances

To exactly nobody's surprise, the Rockets and James Harden agreed on Wednesday afternoon to a five year, $80 million contract extension, making Harden the first maximum contract player that Daryl Morey has inked to a deal in his tenure as Rockets general manager, and sending a clear message that Har ... More >>

What The Hell's Going On With Rice Basketball? Their Best Players, Connected To Former Coach Marco Morcos, Leaving In Droves

Just what is going on with the Rice Owls men's basketball team? It was supposedly a program on the rise the last time they played a game in Houston. But since that time, only about six months, the team has become not only a national laughingstock, but also the poster child of an issue known as up-tr ... More >>

Julian Castro: Three Things We Learned About San Antonio's Mayor At Last Night's DNC

At first, it seemed strange that, on one of the most important nights for Democrats, they would open with a a guy with a sprawling white smile who no one had heard of before. But hey, Dems must have thought, it worked in 2004 -- why not play this hand again? So they did, trotting out Julian Castro ... 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 >>

Top 5 Liars in College Football History -- A List Dedicated to Bobby Petrino

Fired and liars rhyme. Just sayin'. This week, Bobby Petrino, a married father of four, was canned from his gig as head football coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. As Hair Balls previously rapped about, Petrino was let go for lying about his motorcycle accident, his extramarital affair with a fello ... More >>

Top 10 Worst Sports Stadiums, In Honor Of ASU's "Tampon With Wings"

This week, Arizona State University unveiled artist renderings of an overhauled Sun Devil Stadium. The project, which will eliminate some 16,000 seats and install a canopy-type roof at the circa 1958 venue, was spearheaded by new ASU athletic director Steve Patterson. (If you remember, Patterson was ... More >>

Failure Breeds Success

Alexander Payne's pessimism is good for business.

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets

When Steve Jobs passed away yesterday, I was in Target. I learned of his death on my iPhone while standing in the technology section behind the iPad showcase and in front of a rack of DVD's that included several Pixar features. It's about as poignant a moment as you can have learning about the dea ... More >>

Steve Jobs RIP: Apple Founder Succumbs To Cancer At 56 #SteveJobs

Apple has passed along the sad news that it's founder, Steve Jobs, has died this evening at the age of 56. News of his death is now sweeping the web and social media is afire. The tech mogul and pioneer in personal computing had been battling pancreatic cancer for a few years now. He stepped down ju ... More >>

Bobby Fuller: Still No Answers 45 Years After His Death

​Forty-five years ago today, on July 18, 1966, rocker Bobby Fuller was found dead in the front seat of his car in Hollywood, covered in gasoline, with the liquid also found in his system. The cops said he died of gas inhalation, with the fumes doing him in, but couldn't conclude for sure if it ... More >>

Pit Crew

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. prefer the Beach Boys to NASCAR.

HISD Trustees Prove They Can Go Hours Without Peeing

Margaret DowningTrustee Michael Lunceford and Superintendent Terry Grier wade through another marathon budget meeting​Houston ISD board members resolutely stayed anchored at the board room table for hours Monday, picking through programs, considering projections (What if there's a 3.3 percent ... More >>

Looking Back at This Weekend's Houston College Classic

John RoyalRice's Michael Ratterree slides across the plate to score a run yesterday against Baylor​The 11th Houston College Classic was played at Minute Maid Park this weekend, and though it's only March, it's probably safe to say that the best baseball to be played in Minute Maid Park this se ... More >>

College Baseball: Rice Sweeps the Trojans While UH Struggles Against the Rebs

John RoyalRice's Michael Ratterree tags out USC's Matt Foat trying to advance on a sac fly​In the first weekend of the college baseball season, it was the Houston Cougars pulling off the home sweep of UT-Arlington while the Rice Owls were losing two of three to visiting Stanford. The competit ... More >>

The Pomplamoose Revolution

How a band with no CDs or record deal is changing the music industry

Meet Anthony Rendon, Rice Baseball's Newest Whiz Kid

John RoyalMeet Anthony Rendon​His name is Anthony Rendon. You might have heard of him if you're a fan of Rice Owls baseball, or if you follow college baseball. You might also have heard of him if you're one of those people who follow Houston-area high school baseball. If you're a fan of the ... 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 >>

This Weekend's Best Football Bets: Live From The East Coast

UConn football: It's like LSU-Bama, except for EVERYTHING​So my vacation rolls on and I just landed in the sports mecca -- Hartford, CT. Tonight I will be taking my talents to Rentschler Field (or as I like to call it, The House Orlovsky Built) for UConn against West Virginia.So I land at 12:45 p. ... More >>

Texans-Cowboys Debacle 2010 -- 5 Winners, 5 Losers

The Texans bombed big-time​In retrospect, we probably should have seen this coming. For all the talk about this being a different Texans team, about the Cowboys coming in as a wounded animal, about Wade Phillips being thrilled about the noon kickoff so he wouldn't miss the early bird special, has ... More >>

HISD Kicks Off Its Apollo 20 Program For Troubled Schools

Photos by Christopher Patronella, Jr.HISD's Terry Grier with a student at an Apollo 20 school​As if surrendering your long, lazy summer to the start of another tedious school year is not hard enough, students from five HISD middle schools and four high schools are making that plunge an entire week ... More >>

Get Out!

Arizona and America join Joe Arpaio in rushing to inquire: Are your papers in order?

What? Tom Penders' UH Team Had Trouble With Academics?

Go to class!! If you can​Here's a surprise -- the University of Houston men's basketball program has been warned by the NCAA about poor academic performance, the Houston Chronicle reported. It's not surprising because of the absolute jaw-dropping notion that UH athletes might not be racking up GP ... More >>

Game Time: Hating Duke, A Visual Montage

​I'll admit it, I hate the Duke Blue Devils. The players, the assistant coaches, the head coach, the Cameron Crazies. All of them. In all of their floor-slapping, charge-taking, horrid-flopping, leg-humping, press-conference-crying, nose-picking, baby-whining, face-painting, Speedo-wearing Vita ... More >>

Teflon Man

Now playing in River Oaks, Gary Ross has stayed one step ahead of trouble and judgments across the country.

Game Time: The Week In Tweets

​Maybe I'm biased because I use it all the time, but I'm going to make the bold statement that Twitter has surpassed "fad" status and that it's here to stay. Even at this point, people who don't use Twitter recognize kinda sorta how it works, and even recognize a Tweet when they see it -- "it's go ... More >>

All I Want For Christmas Is A Football Coach

​Dear Santa Claus:I haven't asked much from you in the past few years. So since I've tried to be a good person, I'm hoping that you'll do me a solid and fulfill my wishes this Christmas. Especially since I'm not asking for Ashley Judd, like in the past, but since I'm asking for something that w ... More >>

Game Time: Tiger Woods And John Daly Role Reversal...Oh, This Is Gonna Be Good

​I have to admit, I love a good train wreck. When you're driving down the freeway, and traffic is at a standstill because there's a five-car pile up on the OTHER side of the interstate, I'm the guy who's slowing everything down, taking it all in. My top two priorities on my DVR are Beverly Hills ... More >>

The Rise and Fall of the Stanford Financial Group

Castles and corruption lead to criminal charges.

At Least This Financial-Scandal Houstonian Is More Eccentric Than Ken Lay

Photo by yomanimusBloomberg is reporting that the Houston-based Stanford Group Co. is under investigation by the Feds. In the aftermath of the Bernie Madoff scandal, both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority want to know how Stanford can keep payin ... More >>

College Football Preview, Zooey Deschanel Edition

College Football Preview, Tea Leoni Edition

The John Royal College Football Top 25, Week Two

Cheap Move: Astros Draft Jason Castro

John Royal’s Friends’ Top Twenty Sports Moments of 2007, Part Two

So Long, Art Briles. Stay Away, Jack Pardee.

The College Football Preview, Week Nine: What Do Pushing Daisies, The Office and Chuck Have to Do with Football? Good Question.

The College Football Preview, Week Seven: Babes. Lots and Lots of Babes.

The College Football Preview, Week Six: The Red River Showdown, the Tears of Touchdown Jesus, the Glory of the Rice Owls

Dissecting the Dirty Dozen

Pandora's Boss

Meet the guy behind the Web site that could be the MySpace.com of music

These Kids Go to the Best Public High School in Houston

This week: Our first- through fifth-place finishers

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

We Know You Like to Watch!

An Internet fishing expedition titillates City Hall

Rice Freeze

Market losses force a temporary hiring ban at the university

Tired of Turkey?

Chef Wakasugi's sushi is designed to please the Texan palate

Lost His Place, Lost in Space

Jose dropped out and can't figure out a way to get back in. Neither can his mom. HISD is deep into a hands-off mode.

Rollin' on the River

San Antonian Jim Cullum and his band keep the Dixieland torch alive and burnin'

Meet the Aztec Love God

Novelist Tony Diaz stirs up a Latino writers movement in Houston and, in some respects, becomes his own main character