Texas Rangers

Top Five Things to Do in Houston Sports This Weekend: How To Fight Early Summer Boredom Edition

Despite a last gasp of cold air last week, it's warm outside and getting hotter by the minute. For me, the best day of the year is October 1. It's the probable end to hurricane season in Texas (if not the ACTUAL end for the Atlantic), the NFL is in full swing and the NBA is about to launch training ... More >>

Eric & Kim Williams: Charged With Capital Murder In Kaufman County Prosecutor Killings; They Don't Seem To Be Part Of The Cartels Rick Perry Speculated About

The weirdest episode (we hope) in the history of Kaufman County law enforcement took a major step today as a former Justice of the Peace and his wife were charged with killing the DA, his wife and another prosecutor who had helped convict him on a theft charge. Eric and Kim Williams have been charg ... More >>

David Clyde, 1970s Baseball Phenom, Arrested for DWI

David Eugene Clyde, one of baseball's great "What if?" stories, was arrested for DWI this weekend in Harris County. In his senior year at Spring Branch's Westchester High School in 1973, the fireballing lefty went 18-0 with an ERA of 0.182. Yes, the decimal is in the correct place there -- Clyde s ... More >>

Hey Astros Fans, It's Free Agency Time

Tonight's the night Astros fans. Tonight's the night the Astros can start snapping up free agents from throughout baseball. Tonight's the night Jim Crane, with all of the money he's saved by dumping the team's high-priced veterans last season and with all of the money's he's going to make off the te ... More >>

DPS: Truckload of Immigrants Was Speeding Straight Toward Schools

The tale of the two suspected illegal Guatemalan immigrants killed by a DPS sharpshooter perched in a helicopter took a turn Thursday when the Department said the truck they were in was barreling toward a school and had to be stopped. "The pickup truck continued to speed recklessly toward William ... More >>

Roger Clemens, Steroids, and the Baseball Morality Police

There are still a lot of people upset about last week's Roger Clemens verdict. Sure, most of the people appear to be sportswriters and not actual tax-paying citizens, but that's beside the point. Sportswriter Ken Rosenthal and his baseball-reporting pals see the whole thing as a travesty of justice ... More >>

Shanice Lambert: Another Panhandle Teacher Accused of Sexual Misconduct

What in tarnation is going on in the schoolhouses on Texas's High Plains? The latest in the Shame Parade is Shanice Lambert, who looks much more glamorous on her Facebook page than in her Armstrong County mugshot. According to the Amarillo Globe-News, police in Childress accuse the 37-year-old teac ... More >>

In Which John Royal Predicts the Winner of the 2012 World Series

The major league baseball season officially started last week when the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners played two games in Tokyo. Most of the other teams open on Thursday, and the Astros get started on Friday when they host the Colorado Rockies. Thus, here are my predictions for this season. NATI ... More >>

Gilberto Montezano: Valley Cop Avoids Jail After Shaking Down Motorist For Beer

For the third time since August, a cop in the Rio Grande Valley town of Edinburg has been terminated and faced criminal charges for varied forms of corruption. In the most recent case, in April of last year, 30-year-old Gilberto Montezano pulled over a truck driven by Miguel Guzman and evidently to ... More >>

The Josh Hamilton Redemption Tour Hits Katy

Fresh off its Friday afternoon debut performance, the Josh Hamilton Redemption Tour made its second appearance on Friday night inside Katy's Merrell Center. And if Nolan Ryan and/or Jon Daniels were paying attention to anything said, then they should seriously be thinking about just how much money, ... More >>

The Year In Astros Baseball: Thank God That's Over

​So let's continue our look back at the sporting year that was 2011 by taking a look at the Top 25 events to happen to the Houston Astros. 1. They finished with the worst record in team history, which was quite the accomplishment seeing as how the Astros were pretty damn bad for most of the ... More >>

11 Odd & Occasionally Ugly Snow Globes Of Texas

A snow globe that makes sense​When you think "Texas," you don't necessarily think "snow," unless your mind is drawn to fatal and tragic accidents during Super Bowls in cities that should never have them. But snow globes are an important aspect of the souvenir trade, so whether the places in q ... More >>

6 Videos to Mentally Prepare You for Game 7 of the World Series

"Little roller up along first..."​You can debate all you want about which sport is the best or most fun to watch, but one thing most sports fans can agree on -- regardless of the sport, there is nothing quite like a Game 7. Sometimes it's not about the amount of true action, nor about person ... More >>

Eddie and Sharon Nichols: Prominent East Texas Cop/Pastor and Wife Charged with Sex Crime

Authorities in the east Texas town of Marshall say a local cop / pastor and his wife, an assistant clerk in the county clerk's office, committed indecency with a child by contact. Huey Edwards "Eddie" Nichols Jr., 49, and his wife Sharon Nichols, 33, were arrested Friday. Police there say the arre ... More >>

Moneyball

Field of Statistically Knowable Dreams

Leslie Aikens: HPD Cop Indicted for Drug-Running, Taking Bribe

Leslie Aikens: Allegedly dealing coke​The feds unsealed an indictment today against a 19-year veteran of the Houston police force accused of drug trafficking and taking a $2,000 bribe. Leslie Aikens, 46, was arrested at the end of his shift today. He is charged with aiding and abetting the p ... More >>

Veteran Cop Harry Leroy Kelley Sentenced For Selling Hollow-Point Bullets and Other Police Gun Gear

Cop Harry Kelley was the man to see for illegal arms and ammunition, feds say.​A Kingwood man who was a veteran Liberty County police officer was sentenced to a year in federal prison for illegally buying and selling police guns and ammunition, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Beaumont announced. ... More >>

For Vancouver: The Top 10 Sports Riots

twitpic/Chris WaltsNot bad, Vancouver, but you got some work to do​Oh, behave, Vancouver. Last night, a number of poor sports, distraught by the Canucks' loss to the Boston Bruins in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, went all kung fu on the British Columbia city. By past standards, Van ... More >>

Rio Grande River Shoot-Out: Texas Officers, Mexican Drug Cartel Trade Fire

Guns along the river​A dramatic firefight broke out on the Rio Grande River early this morning when federal drug agents attempting to intercept two boats traded shots with cartel members on the Mexican side, the Department of Public Safety says. "A suspicious vehicle on the U. S. side of the ... More >>

Alejandro Smith: TDCJ Prison Guard Was Also Heroin Dealer, Prosecutors Say

TDCJ: Who's guarding the guards?​A Texas Department of Criminal Justice guard has been arrested and charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute. Alejandro Smith, 21, worked in Huntsville's Eastham Unit; police got a tip that he was "providing contraband to prisoners," the U.S. ... More >>

So You Want to Own a Baseball Team? Baseball Financing 101

​There are a lot of stories coming out about how the Astros are going to face a long climb to respectability. About how all of the team's problems can't be solved by spending money. About how we're just going to have to be patient while Jim Crane's baseball people rebuild the mess left behin ... More >>

Carlos Lee, Team Leader? Well, the Astros Have Had 25 Worse Ideas

Believe it or not, this guy's not actually running the Houston Astros​Astros Manager Brad Mills traveled to Panama last week to meet with his left fielder/first baseman/slacker Carlos Lee.  The trip was billed as a bonding mission.  And while there's nothing wrong with a manager an ... More >>

Texas Rangers: World Series Tips From A Town That's Been There

Let a veteran city help you out, Metroplex​Tonight begins what -- to fans of the Peter Sellers movie The Mouse That Roared -- will always be known as the "so-called World Series."It (the Series, not the movie) features the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants. If you wanted a Red State/Blue ... More >>

S.C. Gwynne

Author's tale of an unusual American hero

Astro Roster Changes Finally Come, As Reality Sets In

The youth movement begins....​Maybe it was getting swept by the Texas Rangers, or maybe it was losing two of three games to the Kansas City Royals.Maybe it's that the Houston Astros are 2-8 for their last 10 games, or that through 70 games they are one of the worst teams in baseball with a r ... More >>

Game Time: The Caballo Chronicles, Volume 2: A Look at MLB's 20 Biggest Contracts Ever

​This is my second go round living in Houston. Prior to moving back here in the summer of 2007, the last time I was an H-town resident was between 1994 and 2001. As an Astro fan, that means I was here when the Bagwell/Biggio nucleus finally broke through in 1997 and made the playoffs, I was he ... More >>

Perry Announces Superhero Team To Patrol Border, Maybe Spawn Cable Series

​Governor Rick Perry visited Houston Thursday to introduce the Ranger Recon Team, a new border security task force aimed at beefing up the Texas-Mexico border from cartel violence spilling over into U. S. cities.  Gov. Perry cited two occurrences of violence along the Texas-Mexico border in t ... More >>

DPS Will Recruit You With Its Really Keen Graphics

Get ready for some highway excitement from the DPS!!As part of a new recruitment campaign, the agency is painting seven of its vehicles with detailed images of troopers in action. Recruiters will drive them to appearances around the state."These vehicles will be rolling billboards for DPS, featuring ... More >>

This Season's MLB Predictions: The American League

With baseball season due to start next week, I thought I should put myself on the line and make some predictions. I'm going to do the American League today. I'll follow up with the National League and postseason picks tomorrow, and I'll give a more in-depth look at the Astros on Monday. So here' ... 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 >>

Charley Pride

Tailgating: Breakfast Beer

MLB All-Star Game: Shucks, No Home Field Advantage in the Word Series for the Astros This Year

Anarchy in the Astros Clubhouse?

Astros-Rays: Houston Falls Into and Then Crawls Out of Last Place

John Royal's Forecast for the Astros in June: Not So Hot

Who's On Deck for the Houston Astros in 2008?

The Astros' post-Biggio era begins with a lot of unanswered questions, but the biggest one of all is: Just how bad are things going to get?

Astros Giveaways: Biggio Bobbleheads, Dollar Beer, Miguel Tejada Syringes and Mini Tractors

Losing Nolan Ryan. Again.

John Royal's Christmas Wish List

This One's for You, Milo Hamilton

Miss Cleo Answers the Bell

It's Art!

Yes, "Art" made of fake bombs will get attention

Getting Rogered

The soap opera continues

Messin' with Texas

The Alamo gets what it always needed: a happy ending

Rejected

Thousands of inmates rely annually on a capricious parole board for their freedom. Most, like George Dismukes, return to their cells without ever knowing why they were denied.

Striking Out

Reid Ryan embarked on a new career as a team owner facing one big obstacle: voter approval of a new stadium. Then he called in a campaigner with the perfect pitch: a father named Nolan.

Easygoing George W. Bush

With help from Democrats Pete Laney and Bob Bullock, Bush has been a Republican governor Texans love. But who'll be his pals if he sets his sights on the presidency?

Violence, TV and Demagoguery

Congressional attempts to ax TV violence may put the First Amendment under the gun