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Does anyone take John McClain seriously?
Please indulge me one last Texans-related post for the week. John McClain, the lead Chronicle sportswriter covering the Texans, condemned this past Sunday's Texans' loss as the worst in the team's history. Now that normally wouldn't be all that...
McClain keeps mailing it in
This really was not meant to be my "bash the Chronicle" week. I mean, really -- the local newspaper already has enough problems. But what else can one do when confronted with this blather from the Chronicle's lead NFL columnist,...
2008 Weekly local football review
(AP Photo/George Nikitin; previous weekly reviews are here) Raiders 27 Texans 16 Amidst the Chronicle cheerleaders becoming enraptured again during the Texans' (7-8) first four-game winning streak, the local team reminded us today against the Raiders (4-11) why they...
Cheerleading patience
As the Texans fade to their sixth straight losing season and fifth last place finish in their six year existence, head Texans cheerleader John McClain is preaching patience. A year ago at this time, the Texans looked deader than a...
What's really wrong with Ahman Green
Leading Texans cheerleader, Chronicle pro football columnist John McClain, reports on the baffling nature of the injury that is holding back the Texans' high-priced running back, Ahman Green: Meanwhile, the Texans asked running back Ahman Green, 30, to have his...
"Just comes naturally?"
I used to think that former Texans QB David Carr is a nice fellow who just doesn't have the gumption to be a top-flight NFL QB. But now I'm wondering if he is simply a nice fellow who isn't very...
I spoke too soon
As soon as I acknowledge one of Chronicle NFL columnist John McClain's rare good columns in the previous post, he serves this blog post entitled "Texans should be embarrassed after 26-16 defeat" in response to the Texans' loss yesterday at...
Giving due
I am a frequent critic of Chronicle NFL sports columinst John McClain's seemingly endless cheerleading for the Texans. But McClain is still capable of writing a good column on occasion, such as this recent one on the colorful fights over...
More from the real Texans cheerleading squad
In mid-December of last year, with two games to play in the 2006 NFL season, the Texans looked deader than a doornail and not like a particularly well-coached team. The Texans closed the season by upsetting the Colts and beating...
Houston Texans, Year Six
Rejoice! The seemingly unending National League Football pre-season is over! It's Year Six for the Houston Texans and the fourth annual preview of the Texans since this blog began back in 2004 (previous previews are here). Thankfully, this past off-season...
It's football time in Texas
It's the lull before the onslaught of the college football bowl games, but football still permeates the culture of Texas as the high school playoffs move toward conclusion, the Cowboys contend for an NFL playoff berth and the Texans prepare...
2006 Weekly local football review
Bills 24 Texans 21 Key note to first year Texans' coach Gary Kubiak -- the Texans (3-7) are not yet good enough to put the offense in a phone booth while trying to milk the clock with a narrow 4th...
Fred Weary's adventure
H'mm, now let me get this one straight. As Stephanie Stradley reports in detail (John McClain's comments are here), Texans offensive guard Fred Weary left work at Reliant Park a little after noon on Tuesday. Weary, who is 6'4", 308...
2006 Weekly local football review
Ohio State 24 Texas Longhorns 7 Ohio State came into Austin on Saturday night and won the season's first big game by playing as exceptionally as Texas did last year in Columbus. The Horns did not play badly and would...
Houston Texans, Year Five
Has it really been only a year since the pre-season review of the Texans' 2005 season? Look at all that has transpired over the past year: The Texans had a disastrous start to what was considered a promising 2005 season,...
McClain leads more cheerleading for the Texans
As noted earlier here and here earlier, even his hyprocrisy in turning on the Texans during their disastrous 2005 season after predicting in the pre-season that the team was a playoff contender does not deter Chronicle NFL sportswriter John McClain...
What was that about Casserly not being fired?
As noted in this earlier post, Texans owner Bob McNair allowed former Texans General Manager Charlie Casserly to resign under the pretense that he would be pursuing a job with the National Football League's main office, which Casserly subsequently failed...
John McClain can't help himself
Given the largely meaningless nature of NFL pre-season football, I'm holding off on posting my annual pre-season blog post on the Texans until the first regular season game is close at hand. But given the Chronicle's blanket coverage of the...
More Chronicle Cheerleading for the Texans
After Richard Justice's fawning column yesterday on new Texans' receiver Eric Moulds, Chronicle columnist John McClain gets into the cheerleading act today as he states the following regarding Texans placekicker Kris Brown in his daily report on the Texans' practice:...
Cheerleading for the Texans
As regular as the sun rising, the Chronicle sports staff reverts to hometown cheerleaders during each pre-season training camp of the Houston Texans, chloroforming readers with puff pieces such as this Richard Justice column on new Texans wide-receiver, Eric Moulds....
Casserly is gone
As noted in this post from over a month ago, one of the worse-kept secrets in Houston sports circles over the past several months is that Houston Texans General Manager Charlie Casserly would -- take your pick -- either resign...
Did John McClain just call himself a charlatan?
Chronicle sports columnist John McClain makes the following rather odd observations at the outset of his column today on the quality of the Texans' picks in the just-completed NFL draft of college football players: "First of all, let's reiterate that...
Bye-bye Reggie; Hello Mario
Although perhaps not always fulfilling, things are certainly always interesting over at Texansville. In a stunning development, the Texans ignored conventional wisdom and threw today's National Football League draft into chaos by signing North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams...
Gene Elston -- the best Stros announcer, ever
As noted in this previous post on former Stros owner John McMullen, one of the biggest public relations blunders in Stros history was McMullen's decision in 1986 to fire Gene Elston, the first radio play-by-play announcer hired when the Stros...
Examining the train wreck that is the Texans
Recent posts here, here and here have noted the lack of research and insight in recent articles by Chronicle NFL beat writer John McClain and columnist Richard Justice on the subject of the woeful Houston Texans. Into that vacuum of...
The David Carr dilemma
The Houston Texans face a vexing decision with regard to quarterback David Carr, the team's first draft pick in its existence -- whether to pick up an $8 million option to retain Carr's services over the next four seasons? In...
Unconstructive criticism
Kevin Whited over at blogHouston.net is one of the most insightful local bloggers on matters relating to football. In this post, he observes that John McClain -- the Chronicle's main beat writer on the National Football League for many years...
Does Joe Pendry use the Run 'N Shoot?
Looks as if Chronicle NFL sportswriter John McClain better avoid political analysis and stick to football. In the introduction to a column noting that new Texans offensive coordinator Joe Pendry is much more conservative in his offensive philosophy than the...
The NFL as Lake Wobegon
John McClain, the Houston Chronicle's National Football League writer, apparently believes that the NFL is a bit like Garrison Keillor's fictional Minnesota town Lake Wobegon, where "all of the children are above-average." In today's Chronicle here and here, McClain rates...
Super Bowl Return to Houston?
John McClain, the Houston Chronicle's main NFL reporter, weighs in with an articlethat Houston's success in hosting Super Bowl XXXVIII will likely result in another Super Bowl later in the decade. Frankly, I do not have a clue on how...
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