The half mast flag is for the apparent slam dunk status of both these issues.
Case Keenum: The Invisible Man
I hate bringing up a subject that seems to delight all of my diehard tea sip friends out there, but little has changed in the Heisman power structure of things since I last wrote anything in Case Keenum’s behalf as a candidate. (By the way, I’m also a UT graduate at the doctoral level and I will always appreciate what UT did for me. They just never tried to convert me, nor could they ever have pried my heart away from UH.)
Back to football and the Heisman “Case for Keenum.”
UH Coach Kevin Sumlin did the classy, gentlemanly thing last Thursday night in New Orleans by removing QB Keenum in the third quarter with the Cougars already well on their way to an eventual 73-17 thrashing of Tulane in the Superdome. In the end, Sumlin had to order the Cougars’ third string QB to take a knee three times to keep the very youngest bench players from scoring another. Had he left Keenum and the first team in for the last quarter and a half they rested, Case might have piled up over five hundred yards and something close to the nine TDs he bagged previously against Rice.
Then comes yesterday, Saturday, Oct. 12th and the fall of Stanford and Boise and their own Heisman hopefuls. And what do we get from the ESPN golden boy? Here’s what I remember in paraphrased ideational quotes from his sign-off commentary last night:
“With both QBs Andrew Luck of Stanford and Kellen Moore of Boise State looking not so great in losing causes yesterday (11/12/11), it may be time we start looking at QB Brandon Weeden of Oklahoma State as the new choice for the 2011 Heisman. Weeden threw for 423 yards and 5 TDs in the Cowboys’ 66-6 slaughter of Texas Tech at Lubbock on Saturday and I was totally impressed.” … Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN Commentator.
C’mon Kirk! At least, give Case Keenum a little visibility on the way to your apparent judgment that the Heisman should only go to a player from one of the BCS conference schools. Some of us with a dog in this fight wouldn’t trade Case Keenum for Brandon Weeden or any of the other QBs or RBs either, but we would, at least, take a fair look at them relative to Case on our way to a fair final judgment of who deserves the Heisman above all others. In the end, I rally think that Case Keenum’s ability far transcends the strength of schedule rap against UH, but that’s not a winnable argument and I know it.
Hmmm. If I had a Heisman vote, which I don’t, I wonder who I would pledge it to? 🙂
Houston: A Town Without NL Pity
Anybody heard anything yet from Houston Mayor Annise Parker in protest to the idea of the Astros being forced to move to the AL as a condition for approving the final sale of the club to new owner Jim Crane? How about Harris County Judge Ed Emmett? Does he have an axe to grind in favor of keeping Houston in the NL? How about any of the city council members or Harris County commissioners? Or even corporate members in good standing with the Greater Houston Partnership? Isn’t there a single community leader now hooked into the local power structure who gives a rat’s ankle that our professional baseball club is about to be railroaded from our historical attachment to the National League to be placed in that other conference, the American League, the one that only plays a variant of the true game because of the “designated hitter” rule?
If it’s not too late, which it probably is, someone with clout from Houston needs to make it very clear to Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig that Houston is a National League city, that its ties to the NL go back ninety years, at least, when Houston first connected to the National League as a farm club for the St. Louis Cardinals – and that all of that identity was formed firmly before Houston struck a new path of its own in 1962 as a now fifty year direct member of the National League family.
Now the speaking up will be left to the season ticket buyers, those of you who remain from the other group that already has decided to bail out on the Houston Astros, if they make this move. – Are the rest of you season ticket holders going to renew season ticket purchases for 2013 to see Houston play in the American League West – and by the “DH” format?
What’s it going to be, Houston? Are we going to stand up and fight to keep real baseball and our National League identity safe from the uncaring, but coldly calculating plans of the Commissioner? – Or are we going to just go belly up and take this apparently impending transfer of the Astros to the American League without a whimper?
Several people, including my adult son Neal, have told me that they are through with the Astros, if the AL move becomes a reality. “Dad,” Neal said to me last night, “why don’t we just move the whole family to St. Louis where we already have a lot of other baseball friends and the Cardinals? Even if we don’t move the family, I will now become a Cardinals fan, if the Astros move to the American League West.”
Some of our leading media people don’t like this “Houston-to-the-AL-West” idea either, but they are constrained by their professional duties from speaking out on the issue. Why the powerful sociopolitical and economic leaders don’t speak out is anybody’s guess. Maybe they just don’t care.
All I know is that we “little people/everyday fans” have a choice to either speak up or shut up.
Some, I’m sure, will just ride the fence that they have now been confronted with another change in life they don’t like, but cannot control: “Maybe it will be like $3.50 per gallon gas. We didn’t like it, at first, but we got used to it after we found a way to pay the extra bucks. Maybe the AL and the DH rules in baseball will be like high-priced gas too.. We’ll just get used to it.”
What will it be, Houston?
Tags: Heisman Trophy, Houston to AL West
The Pecan Park Eagle 
November 13, 2011 at 9:57 pm |
I haven’t heard anything from Parker or the Astros; I emailed Parker and left comments for the Astros on their website. It’s a done deal; they don’t care about the fans. This is way over Parker’s head anyway. I doubt if she knows the American League from minor league soccer. I for one will not attend anymore Astros home games or purchase anymore merchandise from them. They can enjoy their TV contract with those 9pm local start times. I’m sure they’ll get a lot viewers for those.
I will gently add what a College Gameday reporter said about UH: they haven’t played anyone. Of the two mediocre programs they played, they barely won. Lack of a real schedule will hurt Keenum, too. All you Cougars, if you voted for Ann Richards, it’s your fault. The rest of you have just cause to snarl. Since Boise lost you will probably get a BCS bid–don’t blow it.
November 14, 2011 at 12:04 am |
The Astros are my home town team. And I love baseball. To not follow them any longer would only be punishing myself.
I had season tickets from 1986 till 2009 when I let them go because I finally got sick of giving money to an owner that I just didn’t like and who wouldn’t lift a finger to improve the baseball side of things. He has remained the owner of the team throughout this extortion to make them move, and he hasn’t lifted a finger except to say that he wouldn’t be giving up any of his $680 mil.
This is all on Selig. Period. I don’t like it, but I won’t punish myself by foregoing my team and my city. My prediction for some years is that the DH will be in the National League pretty soon. I think it is an inevitable downgrade of the game’s strategy.
As for any politicans trying to step in, why on Earth would anyone think that would make a difference? It reminds me of campaign material from a failed Houston city council candidate some year past in which he vowed to end early parole for criminals (in state prisons). It is just not anywhere close to their purview.
November 14, 2011 at 12:37 am |
Mike:
It’s not the official authority of politicians or community business leaders that matters, but the influence they are sometimes able to martial as powerful voices of the community that can make a great difference on specific issues effecting the city. Jesse Jones and former Mayor Oscar Holcombe are prime examples of the kind of leaders who once had that kind of influence, but their types seem to have disappeared from the greater Houston landscape.
November 14, 2011 at 5:17 pm |
Ann Richards?
November 14, 2011 at 6:41 pm |
Tom –
Here’s a bare bones far from complete explanation:
When the Southwest Conference broke up in the mid-1990s, the four state schools (UT, A&M, TT. & UH) all had their eyes on the Big 12 (nee Big 8 ) as their new home, but they needed Gov. Ann Richards’ support to get there. Richards was a self-proclaimed “Baylor Girl.” She put it this way: “If you want my support, Baylor has to be included in the deal.” Problem was – the Big 8 only wanted four new members. Somebody was going to have to take a fall. And that someone turned out to be the least politically powerful of the four state schools, UH. So the other three state schools and Baylor went to the Big 8 and transformed it into the Big 12, That’s the gist of it, I think. There may be a few twists of the knife from Lieut. Governor Bob Bullock to make it work as it did – and I also doubt that the other three state schools lost any sleep over losing UH as a too-tough-to-play opponent on a regular basis anyway.
November 14, 2011 at 11:29 pm |
Mr. Bullock, God bless him, was incahoots–he wanted both Baylor and Tech in the Big 12. Had Hobby been Lt. Gov, it may have been a different story. BB didn’t have anything against UH directly but he sure did against UT.
November 15, 2011 at 11:52 pm |
AS a longtime baseball fan and a so called “purist”, I, too, would hope that Mr. Selig will reconsider his “push” to move the Houston Astros to the American League. But without your city “powers-that-be” bringing pressure and expressing their genuine interest in keeping the Astros in the National League, I fear either the sale will fail or the Astros will be forced into the American League or worse—–a move to another city!! I pray that will not happen!!
If the potential owners are truly interested in keeping the Astros, they need to keep Tal Smith involved in the negoitations—–He has the knowledge and the experience needed to deal with any baseball situation including this one. Most problems are solved in baseball by persons who have “Baseball Expertise”!!
November 17, 2011 at 1:15 pm |
Not an Astros fan, but I hate the idea. You guys should boycott the AL games, and try to sell out the interleague games after the move. Also, start a letter writing campaign to the owner, commissioners office, and the media requesting 1. the DH be abolished. 2. if that’s not possible, the interleague games at Minute Maid be played w/o the DH. Just a thought.