Song of the Day: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Dull Life”

Last night was a relatively slow sports night. Instead I went to go see the new Coen brothers’ movie, “A Serious Man” over at the River Oaks Landmark Theater. Don’t worry, I’m not going to dissect the movie for you or anything. In fact, I probably don’t understand enough yiddish to truly grasp the movie. But, it was a good one and if you find yourself wanting something to do I’d recommend it as a viable option. One warning (which isn’t a warning at all if you’ve ever seen the Coen bros stuff before), don’t expect any closure.

So, let’s take a look ahead at the Cougars basketball schedule. Two weeks away, on November 17th the Coogs will open their season against Nicholls State. This day also happens to be the date which Them Crooked Vultures releases their debut album. Which provides me an all too adequate segue to speak of music and not sports… which I won’t take – for your sake and your sake alone.

Back to basketball… Look at that. Two teams on the schedule ranked in the preseason: Oklahoma and Mississippi State. Where’s Memphis? Why don’t they have one of those cute little numbers sitting to the left of their name? Ah, their slimy, rule-bending head coach is gone. That’s why. No more blue chip recruits for you, Memphis. Though, it would be tough to argue otherwise that the Tigers are still the team to beat in the mighty C-USA.

One game that intrigues me the most is the one against Western Kentucky late in the season. February 9th, kiddos. Mark your calendar. Who’s making the road trip to Diddle Arena (I make the trip to Diddle Town, nightly)? The Hilltoppers (awesome name, awesome mascot) have been an NCAA tournament invitee five of the last nine years (including the last two). I’m circling the game with my proverbial big, red pen right now.

And, even though it was a slow sports day, it wasn’t a slow Houston (sports) news day…. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty:

MAYORAL RACE – Ok, Houston… You have your choice. The openly gay lady or the openly black dude. Anise Parker and Gene Locke will face each other in the run off for to lead the 4th largest city in the USA. The two brought in 31 and 26 percent of the vote respectively. December 12th will be the date of the run-off. Maybe even more important to the readers of this blog, Prop 4 passed and is headed into the lion’s den of state politics…

ROCKETS – Everybody loves their morning with a slight tinge of racism, right? Well, it’s not like I’m the one being racist. All I can do is read… And read I can’t, this article from China. This is what happens when you throw something into Google Translate. You get writing that worse sounding than the stuff that FaF could ever script. Try to read past that first sentence, I dare you. If you don’t read the rest while imagining some sort of stereotypical Chinese accent from the likes of Looney Tunes, you’re not American.

UNIVERSITY of HOUSTON – For those of you that don’t think that Case Keenum should go to the NFL (like me, for reasons we’ll get into later) you’ve gotten your wish. He’s basically said he will stay around for the 2010 season with the Cougars. He has no Tebow-like flair for the dramatic. But, don’t hold that against him.

Hold on, we’re not done yet. Keenum’s also getting some play on ESPN for recognition for the Heisman trophy. I guess 25 TDs, 5 INTs and more than 3,000 yards on the stat sheet are all it takes to get some notice from the WWL. Because we can’t control the Heisman it’s pretty pointless to worry about it. Though, you still can control the O’Brien award… So, you should be voting EVERY DAY over there. Case only has 7% of the popular vote so far.

TEXANS – Steve Slaton is determined to fuck my chances at a Fantasy Football crown this year. Gary Kubiak will not name a starter until the team gets to Indy this weekend… which is awesome. Thanks, Slaton, for NOTHING. Five fumbles in 8 games is not acceptable. Instead of having a true starter it seems that Kubiak will probably go back to his Denver roots and play a running back by committee… I hate you, Slaton (but, we can kiss and make up if you score three TDs this weekend).

In other Texans news – Rice utility man, James Casey will not see action this weekend at the tight end position even though Owen Daniels is done for the season. Casey had his knee scoped to repair some meniscus damage on Monday. All hope lies on Joel Dressen now. I’m glad you’ve all heard as much about him as I have…

DYNAMO – Are proud of their Robertson stadium playoff atmosphere… so there’s that.

- Septimus Rex