Rammer

From ESPN:

'Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinal series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets was the most watched basketball game ever on ESPN.

The Rockets' 95-80 victory on Thursday drew 7.35 million viewers, topping the 6.6 million that watched Miami beat Detroit in Game 6 of the 2006 Eastern Conference finals.'

While Houston is small compared to L.A., we are one of the larger NBA cities.

Here is a list of NBA cities with their MSA(Metropolitan Statistical Area) rankings in order.

(1) New York Knicks

(2) Los Angeles Lakers/Clippers

(3) Chicago Bulls

(4) Dallas Mavericks

(5) Philadelphia 76'ers

(6) Houston Rockets

(7) Miami Heat

(8) Atlanta Hawks

(9) Washington Wizards

(10) Boston Celtics

(11) Detroit Pistons

(12) Phoenix Suns

(13) Golden State Warriors(San Francisco/Oakland/Fremont)

(16) Minnesota Timberwolves(Minneapolis/St. Paul/Bloomington)

(21) Denver Nuggets

(23) Portland Trailblazers

(25) Sacramento Kings

(26) Cleveland Cavaliers

(27) Orlando Magic

(28) San Antonio Spurs

(33) Indiana Pacers(Indianapolis/Carmel)

(34) Charlotte Hornets

(39) Milwaukee Bucks

(41) Memphis Grizzlies

(44) Oklahoma City Thunder

(46) New Orleans Hornets

(49) Utah Jazz(Salt Lake City)

*It's hard to rank the New Jersey Nets, especially since they are trying to move to the Bronx*

*Toronto is about the same size as Houston*

Seattle Supersonics would have been 15th.

San Diego is most deserving of a team at 17th.

Houston has a larger population than current playoff teams Orlando & Cleveland combined.

Stern's nightmare scenario: Utah Jazz vs Milwaukee Bucks

Rick Adelman is punking his nemesis on the world stage.

If you weren't already familiar with Jackson's incredible coaching career, you'd think Phil was a rookie coach in this series!

Maybe the Rockets should make a poster of Rammer with the banner:

WARNING! - Fair Weather Fan

I'm not a fair weather fan. I'm just far more impressed with a 5'11", 160 lb point guard(Brooks) and a 6'6"(Hayes) stopper playing against 7-foot centers than I am rooting for giants.

I'll root for the tough, undersized underdogs everyday.

First Mutombo now Yao. Game over I'm afraid.

Dikembe played 18 seasons; 11 times he played at least 70 games.

Yao has only had 4 seasons of 70+ games.

They should make of poster of Yao on crutches with the following banner:

FRAGILE - Made in China

yao's out...broken foot

Gee, what a surprise.(sarcastic)

Actually, it just means they get tossed out of the current game. That's why we were awaiting to see if Derek Fisher would be suspended. Plus, JFV asked right after it happened if he'd be suspended and they said no.

Did you see Yao's bruise on his knee while he was sitting down? ouch

Artest's foul was downgraded to a flagrant 1, so he can play in game 4.

If a player has too many cumulative flagrant fouls, they can be kicked out of the series.

That's why Kobe's 'after-game' flagrant had significance.

What do you mean?

Everyone knew Joey Crawford was going to put Yao in foul trouble as soon as it was announced he would be reffing the game. I do think however that Yao needed to be more aggressive. It's good that he draws a double team and kicks it out for threes, but he needs to learn to force the issue sometimes even when the double team is there or coming and/or take the shot before the double team gets there.

Also, yall should read the daily dime report on ESPN. JA Adande explains that Kobe's elbow by league rules could actually get him suspended (as it got Dwight Howard suspended, too)

Only one of Yao's fouls were questionable. I can't stand it when a player argues with a ref when their guilt is plainly obvious. It seems like Yao still hasn't learned the rules of defense.

How a 7'6" player can continually lose the jumpball tip is beyond belief.

He even knocked a simply defensive rebound opportunity into a basket for the Lakers!

Yao is a great offensive threat/freethrower...but a butterfingered & effortless rebounder.

I went to Galveston the other day and talked to residents.

The GOOD news: I was told one of the major public housing units was totally destroyed. Galveston had one of the largest allotment of public housing for a city of it's size in America. NO public housing units should be built or repaired in Galveston.

I saw repairwork being done in the Strand area.

The seawall world is very active.

The BAD news: One of the largest employers, American National Insurance, is transferring people to San Antonio, South Shore Harbour, and other inland locations.

In Fish Village, the key street was Marine Drive. Houses to the west of Marine Drive survived Ike pretty well, but those to the east of Marine Drive had more severe damage.

As for the 42 proposed projects, there is a difference between fantasy and reality.

Fisher's elbow was as blatant, premeditated, and focused as cheapshots get.

Artest should have been held back by teammates after Kobe's elbow (to avoid ejection).

Yao went WNBA/Von Wafer has the title of 'Dumbest Rocket' locked up.

Everyone else played tough.

Game 3 will be WILD!

Meanwhile, Rafer Alston continued his poor decision making....for the Orlando Magic. Good trade.

WOW! Mr. Shirazi should win some type of major worldwide architectural award for this!

Thanks for the post, G-man.

Where do I begin with this? The keyword associated with all of this is deception.

First, notice that Frank Liu has two plans associated with the Duany Plater-Zyberk diagram.

The second plan has better stormwater retention pond plan. Unfortunately, when you look at the Fenway Development site, they only display the first plan....the less water retention friendly plan.

Also, the description '..and a large field used temporarily as a horse pasture' is ridiculous.

The horses roamed freely from Kempwood to Emnora for at least 20 years! I usually counted about 35-50 horses, one time I counted 75 horses. When I add up the acreage (under the deceptive owner name of 'KEMPSPRING INVESTMENTS LTD') in HCAD, I get 81.41 acres. Perhaps I miscalculated or he owns 28 acres under another name.

Notice that one entry has 2900 Hollister ST, while another has 2900 Hollister RD. There are a total of 4 entries for KEMPSPRING INVESTMENTS. The subdivison to the east of the plan is Langwood II, the structure to the east is Edgewood elementary(lower east).

To make another part of a long story shorter, Frank Liu still hangs out at 5177 Richmond, suite 1166(despite the signage/security desk).

If anyone can help stop the cars, crime, and water coming to this area, please help.

Not according to this study; Houston is 36. The rankings explain how people's quality of life and city economic and management preparedness are likely to fare in the face of an uncertain future.

These indicators gauge, for instance, which cities' public transit, renewable energy, local food, and development approaches are most likely to either limit or intensify the negative economic and environmental impacts of fossil fuel dependence.

1. Portland, OR (1)

2. San Francisco, CA (2)

3. Seattle, WA (3)

4. Chicago, IL (4)

5. New York, NY (6)

6. Boston, MA (7)

7. Minneapolis, MN (10)

8. Philadelphia, PA (8)

9. Oakland, CA (5)

10. Baltimore, MD (11)

11. Denver, CO (9)

12. Milwaukee, WI (16)

13. Austin, TX (14)

14. Sacramento, CA (13)

15. Washington, DC (12)

16. Cleveland, OH (28)

17. Honolulu, HI (15)

18. Albuquerque, NM (19)

19. Atlanta, GA (38)

20. Kansas City, MO (18)

21. San Jose, CA (23)

22. Tucson, AZ (20)

23. Jacksonville, FL (36)

24. Dallas, TX (24)

25. Omaha, NE (37)

26. San Diego, CA (17)

27. New Orleans, LA (32)

28. Los Angeles, CA (25)

29. Louisville, KY (35)

30. Columbus, OH (50)

31. Detroit, MI (43)

32. Phoenix, AZ (22)

33. San Antonio, TX (21)

34. Miami, FL (29)

35. Charlotte, NC (34)

36. Houston, TX (39)

www.permapavenw.com

The word 'study' is used very loosely with these various publications.

Somebody mentioned the loss of greenspace in Spring Branch.

The biggest loss of greenspace is just about to take place - the Spring Branch horse stables are history. Frank Liu is helping to destroy over 100 beautiful acres with another unnecessary townhouse project. How the City/Planning & Development board can approve this is beyond sad. They 'talk the talk' about greenspace...then lick the nearest developer's butt. There are already homes flooding on Blankenship at Hollister. I'm betting that number is about to increase bigtime in the Binglewood/Langwood II area.

There is already an empty cankersore subdivision on Emnora(next to post office). Lui ought to call this obscene project 'Ghost Town Townhomes'.

Supposedly there will also be a private school built, too.

Wow, where and how long did you play sports? Did you Ever play on the professional level? Maybe your body or your diet did not allow for the weight gain..

It's not fair to call someone a steroid user...I was 175lbs as a junior in high school and just before the combine (6 yr's later)...I was 244lbs and never took steroids and never knew anyone who took steriods...so go figure. It's funny, bc I eventually reached 252lbs w/o any supplements and I was never over 13% body fat..

I'm 6'2", 210 lb., and never really wanted to be any bigger/bulkier than that(receiver).

I consider Andre Johnson the largest naturally lean muscled athlete 6'3", 225 lb, that I've seen.

Anything heavier than that and we are venturing into either fat or muscle boundness(for that height).

Schwarzenegger dropped from 260 lbs to 215 lbs after steroids ruined his aortic heart valve.

Jose Conseco's body is now unable to produce testosterone on it's own.

You're right, it is somewhat unfair to judge Cushing(10% fat) at this point.

Only time and testing will tell. Or a liver, kidney, or heart valve problem.

You can find photos of Cushing where it is believed he stopped taking steroids for a time during an injury. He developed a case of gynecomastia - which is the development of abnormally large mammary glands in males resulting in breast enlargement(pecs turn into mammaries).

It is a classic sign of previous steroid use.

I saw the stuff about Cushing a while ago...if you compare pictures of him from his freshman year at USC to this past year....'nuff said.

In the Chronicle today:

'After he went from being a 165-pound freshman to a 225-pound terror and the top linebacker in the country at Bergen Catholic (Park Ridge, N.J.), students at rival high schools taunted Cushing with steroids-based chants.'

The only question now is when will he fail his drug/steroid test?

He will go from being a 'great' pick to a 'stupid' pick overnight.

One week ago I had never heard of Clay Matthews.

I started to look at the linebacker draft rankings and noticed that there was a story about how Matthews only weighed 160 lbs when he was a junior in high school. As a former athlete who has lifted weights my entire life - my suspicions were immediately raised. A linebacker going from 160 lbs to 240 lbs in only 5 years??? We're talking muscle, not fat. Yeah, you can eat your way to an 80 pound weight increase in 5 years, but not muscle. To make matters more doubtful, he had been a walk-on at USC! So I google 'Matthews' and 'steroids'. A multitude of rumor stories involving Matthews and the Texans 1st draft pick, Brian Cushing, fill my computer screen.

Let me cut to the chase....Clay Matthews is/was a steroid user. He will eventually be caught.

I don't know anything about Cushing, but Matthews is a steroid user.

Bet.

Are the Texans rolling the dice with Cushing?

The seawall side of Galveston looks much better than people probably imagine.

Almost all the restaurants are back, most of the motels are open, and there are people everywhere.

The most obvious casualties are the ocean extensions: the Flagship, the fishing pier, the Balinese, Hooters, etc.

The Hollywood Dinner Club. The first big Maceo brothers enterprise. It was opened in 1925 and closed in 1939 after a narcotics bust. It boasted gaming tables and fine dining and featured nationally known performers and celebrities. There's an apocryphal story that a Dinner Club bandleader, desperate because of an absent trumpet player, gave a chance to a young kid from Beaumont named Harry James. Later it was used as a storage area for furniture and old gaming equipment from the Balinese Room.

The Hollywood Dinner Club building stood vacant (except for storage) from 1939 until it was destroyed by a fire in 1959. Here are a couple of pictures from the Rosenberg Library, reprinted in Frank Chalfant's book "Galveston: Island of Chance"

HDC in its heyday:

HDC, vacant and neglected in 1957 before the 1959 fire

Great photos.

From the Galveston Architecture Guidebook: 'At 2301 61st Street and Avenue R is the site of the Maceo brothers' famous roadhouse, the Hollywood Dinner Club. It burned in 1959 and was not rebuilt'

There is a Jack-in-the-Box at that location today.

Go to GoldmanSachs666

Goldman Sachs runs our government.

Was out in Galveston this weekend doing some work on our place.

Decided to go take in the island with the nice weather Sunday after the hellashish rain storm all day Saturday.

Seawall side was very nice with many folks on the beach but the strand was depressing. Not much to get out and walk around to see as most still seemed closed except for the bar, etc that seem to be springing back up. Also didn't look to safe (sorry it is what it is) with some of the characters we did see walking up and down the street and along the streets adjacent to the strand.

Shame used to spend many a day in that section but now mostly stay on Tiki, Moody Gardens or the Seawall side.

Wish the Strand would make it back. I know its got to be tough for those folks and doesn't seem like the city can help them much.

It did seem like lots of the buildings were for sail and I wonder if maybe this is why some have not reopened as the owners of the buildings don't want the tenants at this stage, but I am only guessing and can't say for sure.

"...lots of the buildings were for sail"

Freudian spelling slip?

Yao doesn't miss a shot,

Brooks plays like a premier point guard,

Artest doesn't hog the ball,

Battier is named captain of the 'All-Rambis' team,

Mutombo wags his finger after a block,

And Brent Barry dunks one like the old days.

SWEET!!!

Unless you're talking about a different Koch Building it certainly does.

This is the picture from the KS&T website:

Which seems to be pretty clearly visible in the overhead (NW corner of Cummins and Norfolk):

Google Maps

Is the parking garage in between the two some kid of Google mirage?

Now that's some creative architecture!

...And Fred Hofheinz lives on Waverly Ct. It's downright incestuous, I say!

Yeah, Hofheinz has his parked vehicle sticking out so visitors have a tough time turning around.

Typical controlling and asinine politician.

Waverly Ct....probably the most deceitful cul-de-sac since Knots Landing!