Did I spend a couple thousand words lamenting the Tebow Circus Conundrum yesterday in this space? I believe I did. Did I laud Bill Belichick's terse responses to any question Tebow-related and his uncanny ability to defuse the Tebow hoopla before it even has a chance to get out of first gear? Why y ... More >>
"We've already talked enough about him, I think I've covered it. Anything else?" -- Bill Belichick on Tim Tebow, three minutes into his press conference Tuesday morning Hear, hear! As Tim Tebow sat on the shelf for the last several weeks, discarded by arguably the worst and most dysfunctional team ... More >>
Another day, another crippling blow to my NFL quarterback wager with my cohost John Granato. Actually, to be fully accurate, two crippling blows to my side of the wager. To refresh your memory, the bet goes as follows: True or false: Out of these three quarterbacks -- Tim Tebow, Vince Young and Ja ... More >>
As the trail of the NFL offseason winds through Organized Team Activities and training camp draws closer and closer, I am getting more and more nervous about my NFL quarterback-related bet that I have with my co-host John Granato. To refresh you memory, the bet goes like this: True or false: Out o ... More >>
Yesterday, I got an e-mail from my friend R.J. Bell, founder of wagering infotainment website pregame.com. I love getting e-mails from R.J. because they always have the gambling spin on whatever the latest sports news is. You know how some people subscribe to services that send them inspirational e- ... More >>
Judging by the tsunami level downpour of rain and hail along with the two-hour strobe light of lightning, it was around 3:30 p.m. Houston time on Saturday when the Jets officially decided to release football's former "chosen one," quarterback Tim Tebow. They just chose to announce it publicly on M ... More >>
A few of you read that headline and thought, "Oh, dear God, no!" A few others of you read it and thought, "Oh, dear God, yes!" Either way, just like your thoughts, we're pretty sure Tim Tebow's visit to Corpus Christi will involve the big man upstairs. He will be speaking tonight at Whataburger Fiel ... More >>
My co-host John Granato and I have a standing breakfast bet (which I just now realized will have to be amended to something else at stake because we're moving from mornings to afternoons on 1560 Yahoo! Sports Radio) and it goes like this: True of false: Out of these three quarterbacks -- Tim Tebow, ... More >>
It's been a rough few months for one Timothy Tebow. Despite his excitement over being traded to the Jets during the offseason last year, he's been relegated to punt protect and gimmicky specialist roles (some of them working out with predictably hilarious results), been passed on the quarterback dep ... More >>
The 10 most overhyped stories of 2012.
Journalists are really fond of writing about stories that went underreported every year. Too often, however, they forget to remind us all that those critical stories that went without needed coverage did so because stories with little merit wound up filling the airwaves and pages of newspapers. Unf ... More >>
This week's tale of gambling riches comes from Branford, Ontario, where locally their version of the lottery is actually an NFL parlay card of sorts, where if a player picks 15 games 100 percent correctly, they will win a sizable six-figure payout. In Week 3 of the NFL season, a man named Gino DiFe ... More >>
This week brings the Houston Texans -- suddenly the hot talk as Super Bowl contenders, undefeated, looking to roll -- into the Big Apple for a big-stage Monday Night Football game against the reeling New York Jets. Adding to the drama is the fact that Mark Sanchez, the Jets' starting QB, has sucked ... More >>
This past summer, my employer was kind enough to give me a few extra days off around the Fourth of July. Rather than go on an exotic journey somewhere far less humid than Houston, I opted to stay in Houston to relax and experience a few of the Houston landmarks I'd yet to see in my twelve years here ... More >>
Through the first few weeks of the football season, I had been combining my foremost thoughts and remembrances of the weekend that was in football -- Texans, college, and general NFL -- into the ever popular "4 Winners, 4 Losers" post. However, now we've got three weeks of college football in the b ... More >>
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 >>
Remember Gatorgum? No, it's not a gum disease caused by the disgustingly sweet nature of Tim Tebow that has been crippling the entire female population ever since the QB's time back at the University of Florida (although that's not a bad name for the Tebow hysteria is it?). It's the Gatorade brand ... More >>
I'm not the draft expert that some of my Press colleagues are. Yet I do watch a lot of football, especially college football, and like every football fan, I have a few thoughts about some of the things that happened over this past weekend. 10. There are probably a bunch of Houston Cougar fans that ... More >>
Rocks Off covered Eric Clapton's "Layla" and several other awful updates in January. Sometimes an artist hits it big with one great song. Real big, real fast. Before they know it, they're the hot-button item, on the lips of the hip and influential across the world. Of course, a sudden rise to fame ... More >>
EXT. NEW YORK JETS HEADQUARTERS BUILDING, FLORHAM PARK, NJ -- DAY It's a cold, crisp late March afternoon as a limousine pulls into the front driveway of the Jets headquarters building. Out steps the newest New York Jet, quarterback Tim Tebow, dressed in jeans and a long coat. As he steps out of th ... More >>
In a Texans offseason that has seen some good (Arian Foster's and Chris Myers' multiyear contract extensions), some bad (Mario Williams' leaving, although the Texans have proven they can survive that), and some ugly (the dismantling of the right side of the offensive line), strangely enough, the Tex ... More >>
Yesterday, 17 Texas Christian University students were arrested by Fort Worth authorities following a six-month drug sting. Four TCU football players -- including Tanner Brock, one of the team's top linebackers -- were among those nabbed for selling ecstasy, weed, coke and prescription pills to unde ... More >>
The world has been blessed not only by the presence of Tim Tebow, but by the re-emergence of John Parr, who was so inspired by the need to make a quick buck that he produced a Tebow-ized version of his hit "Man in Motion (Theme From St. Elmo's Fire)." To be honest, it wasn't exactly a song anyone h ... More >>
We know next to nothing about football, past 1996 when the the Oilers left, but anyone with any sort of social media account knows who Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow is. The Christian extrovert has brought prayer back to the forefront of the national conversation, and now "Tebowing" - taking a ... More >>
In his brief NFL career as the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow has pulled off several feats that border on the miraculous -- a 7-1 run in his first eight games as their starter this season, numerous late-game comebacks, and a win over the PIttsburgh Steelers in the playoffs la ... More >>
PLAYOFFS?!?!!? Oh, yeahSo is Houston ready for some playoff football? How about we go through the Reliant Stadium checklist for Saturday's game with the Bengals to find out. Notifications to season ticket holders to be in their seats 30 minutes before kickoff? Check. Colored placards in sea ... More >>
Rocks Off is fascinated by Tim Tebow for the simple fact that he is one of the most divisive figures we have seen in the last decade. He parts the Red Sea of public opinion, like Obama does the U.S. House of Representatives. One doesn't need to live in Denver to understand this. Simply, scro ... More >>
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>
The only proper usage of Tebowing.Vince Young was not who Jeff Fisher wanted to draft in 2006. His choice for the future quarterback of the Tennessee Titans was Jay Cutler. Bud Adams wanted Young, so Young became a Titan. Young was the 2006 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year as the Titans we ... More >>
Go awayThe Global Language Monitor has now recognized "Tebowing" -- "the act of taking a knee in prayer during an athletic contest" -- as an English language word. Fucking hell. Pretty sure we're not the only ones that feel that way, considering these ten tweets that dissed the Denver Bro ... More >>
The Flacco Factor: Always keep it in mindIt's the first weekend of football in November. In college football, this means we get into nut-cutting time, weekends that completely weed out the real championship contenders. This weekend includes a quasi-final four in the SEC with the huge LSU- Ala ... More >>
Tim Tebow, in the act of TebowingSo I said last weekend that we were in the midst of one of the most dominant, and in turn most predictable streaks in college football. The top ten teams each week were crushing the books to the tune of covering the number about 80 percent of their games. Two ... More >>
Arian Foster's not dead yet.It's amazing how quickly things can change. Sometimes, it takes a matter of a few weeks, like with the Kansas City Chiefs. After being outscored 89-10 the first two weeks of the season, the Chiefs were left for dead, Todd Haley was the chalk for every "first coac ... More >>
It's a hard-knock lifeIt goes without saying that, other than "best player on NBA team regardless of position," quarterback of an NFL team is the single most influential individual position impacting results in a team sport. So imagine if one-sixth of the teams in the NBA decided to bench th ... More >>
The betting window is openI 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 >>
What do you think should go on the cover of Madden 12?I've said it before, I'm a total sucker for lists. "5 Best This." "8 Worst That." "9 Reasons So-and-so Boned Such-and-such." List it and I'm in. Some will criticize this, and call it a sign of a lazy mind, that I need my world assembled ... More >>
Gary Kubiak: Three simple questionsThe only thing that has become more predictable than the Houston Texans' collective performance each Sunday (or random Monday or Thursday) is Gary Kubiak's weekly "day after game" press conference, not surprising since the content for the latter is a direct ... More >>
In and of itself, Sunday's collapse against Denver is virtually the same story that has played out countless other times over the past two seasons for the Texans. Yet the franchise has never been this close to finally breaking through. In seven days, the nightmare that is 2010 comes to an ... More >>
Rex Ryan: Can you smell them from here is the questionTwo more shopping days left. I need money. You need money. So let's get to winning. And by winning let's find a way to weave more Rex Ryan "foot fetish" talk into a handicapping discussion. Can we do this? (Can we touch them? Can we sm ... More >>
HBO drama didn't celebrate Houston as best-est place.
"Bill's not worth a shit, I love him....not worth a shit, but I wanted...they were on my ass so bad. They said J's gotta have a 'Yes Man,' so to get this fucking stadium, I need to bring his ass in." -- Jerry Jones, Owner, Dallas CowboysI'm about to vent a little bit and be part of the problem I'm ... More >>
In the end, I guess someone had to go. If you're the front office of a proud franchise like the Steelers, you can only have so many impromptu press conferences, district attorney explanations, and women screaming foul before a message needs to get sent. You're not going to move the star quarte ... More >>
By the time this post is up, March Madness will have tipped off, so I hope everyone was able to glean enough "infotainment" (a word my good friend WWE Hall of Famer, Jim Ross, loves to use) to mentally and psychologically prepare you for the next few weeks. If you missed it, you can get the Mar ... More >>
Every year around this time, NFL prospects gather in Mobile, Alabama for the beginning of what amounts to a three-month job interview, complete with numerous forty-yard dashes, questions about their upbringing, and requests to "cough while I stick my fingers right...HERE!" It's a fascinating tim ... More >>
Happy New Year to all of you. Quick question -- what is the record for breaking a New Year's Resolution that doesn't involve alcohol, drugs or sex? Because I just ate a Chipwich for breakfast...just wondering. Well, 2010 is here, and that means we get to hit the reset button on "Surreal Story of ... More >>
If you're keeping track, you know that I've been sucking on my football picks since I started posting here at Hair Balls. My sincere hope is that all of you are doing the smart thing and running to the pay window with picks the exact opposite of mine, and laughing gleefully while doing so. I dese ... More >>
The end of the college football season is fast approaching, and the rest of the nation is finally learning something that Houston Cougar fans have known all season. The best player in the country isn't Colt McCoy or Tim Tebow. The best player is Case Keenum.Several sites which poll Heisman vote ... More >>
