Who's with me?
Rooting for Houston sports teams puts you in good company
Sep 12, 2017, 7:00 am
Beyonce always creates a buzz when sitting courtside. Photo by Ray Amati/Getty Images
Watching a big sporting event has plenty of excitement built into the experience, but sharing that energy with another group of people makes the game even more exhilarating and fun, especially when those other people are celebrities. Below is a list of the biggest celebrity Houston sports fans. You might be surprised by how many stars root for Houston teams.
ZZ Top
The most famous beards in music don’t mind checking out the most famous beard in basketball. Dusty Hill, the bassist from the Houston-born band, has been a longtime sharer of Rockets season tickets, according to Texas Monthly. So, seeing him and his bandmates rooting on their beard-mate James Harden isn’t far out of the ordinary.
Paul Wall
After helping bring Houston rap — and Houston "grills" — to the mainstream, Paul Wall remains a big fan of Houston-based teams, including his alma mater, the University of Houston. In 2015, Wall equipped former University of Houston coach Tom Herman with his own set of grills leading up to the Cougars’ win over Florida State in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. He’s also fitted former Texans Andre Johnson and Arian Foster with personal sets of grills.
But there’s one old Houston athlete he’s got a keen eye on. “I’m a huge baseball fan,” Wall told SBNation.com. “Roger Clemens. That’s my boy. We gotta get Roger a grill. Put the word out, man.”
Chamillionaire
The Chamillitary Man is also a Houston sports fan. The “Ridin’” rapper is a big fan of Houston teams, even though he was spotted sitting courtside during the 2017 NBA Finals to watch Cleveland vs. Golden State. Chamillionaire is a Houston native who comments on Houston teams, especially the Rockets, going so far as to pine for Carmelo Anthony on Twitter.
Joel Olsteen
As one of the world’s most popular pastors, Houston’s own Olsteen isn’t shy about getting into his town’s sports. Olsteen told The Christian Fan he’s “a big Texan fan, mainly,” but he has also been pictured courtside at Rockets games.
George H. W. Bush
The 41st president of the United States is a big-time Houston sports fan who doesn’t mind coming out to games. His son, 43, George W. Bush, is more of a Rangers fan (he used to own them, after all), but he has attended Texans games with his father, who even did the coin toss for the 2017 Super Bowl at NRG Stadium.
Slim Thug
The Houston rapper hasn’t been shy about his fandom and has become an ambassador of sorts to Houston sports teams. Thug — along with Houston rappers Paul Wall and ZRo — actually made a song devoted to the Texans called “Houston.” The lyrics, “Houston Texas, Home of the Texans,” play over a sample of the NFL on Fox theme music.
The video has over 2,500,000 views on YouTube and features cameos from Texans Brian Cushing and J.J. Watt. Thug is also a Rockets fan and publicly pleaded for Dwight Howard on Twitter when he was a desired free agent back in 2013. The Rockets landed Howard, something we're sure Houston fans are excited to reminisce about.
Jim Parsons
Bazinga! The Big Bang Theory’s own Jim Parsons has grown into quite a Texans fan (though he grew up indifferent to the Oilers) as well as a quasi-recruiter for the Rockets. In 2013, he made an impassioned plea on YouTube to get free agent Dwight Howard to come to Houston. The plea worked, but as many Rockets fans can tell you, Howard did not.
Travis Scott
One of the hottest hip-hop acts in the country, Houston-native Scott has become a popular face at Rockets games. Scott also had James Harden appear (and lip-sync) in his music video “Way Back.” In May, Scott designed shirts for Game 6 of the second round series against San Antonio that had “Run As One” on it. The Rockets were sent home that night, but at least they looked good.
Richard Linklater
Few in the film industry have done more to showcase Houston on screen than Boyhood director and Astro fan Linklater. He played baseball as a teenager, getting an athletic scholarship to Sam Houston State and imagining he’d play for the Astros before he won an Academy Award. He’s also devoted a lot of his movies to baseball, especially his recent feature geared around college baseball, Everybody Wants Some.
While he may have happy endings in his movies about baseball, he knows the burden of being an Astros fan is something most people in Houston can relate to. “We just accept our fate. I guess that's the thing about being from the Houston area: We don't have that entitlement. But it's a special fan base," Linklater told ESPN in 2016.
Beyonce
There’s only one Beyonce, and luckily for Houston sports, she reps her teams hard. Beyonce and her husband, Jay-Z, have been spotted courtside of many Rockets games through the years.
Of the Houston teams, the Rockets seem to be her favorite. She reps them on Instagram, wearing hats to leotards. She also dons a James Harden jersey in her video for “No Angel.” Now the only question is, why didn’t she play the Super Bowl in Houston? It remains a mystery.
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Isaac Paredes has been a steady force in the middle of the Astros’ order, but a tweaked hamstring suffered during Thursday’s win over the White Sox may force Houston to recalibrate, again.
If Paredes misses time, the most logical shuffle would see Jose Altuve sliding back to second base, with Mauricio Dubón stepping in at third. It’s a reasonable patch. But internally, there’s also some intrigue around whether Cam Smith—currently thriving in right field—could slide back to his original position on the infield. The idea isn’t without merit; Smith is the club’s best offensive option at third in Paredes’ absence. But defensively, it’s hard to justify moving him right now. Smith made several standout plays in the Chicago series, reinforcing just how important his glove has become to the Astros’ outfield defense. One thing is for sure, the Astros can't afford to play both Dubon and Brendon Rodgers in the infield regularly. The offense would take a huge hit.
Timing, however, might be on Houston’s side. The next stretch of games features the Twins, Athletics, and Angels—three teams the Astros can beat even while navigating lineup instability. It helps that Yainer Diaz and Christian Walker are showing signs of life at the plate. Diaz, in particular, has been red-hot, posting an OPS north of 1.200 over the past week. Walker is batting over .300 during that same span, giving the Astros enough firepower to survive short-term turbulence.
Elsewhere, the outfield presents its own set of choices. Jacob Melton has shown enough in the field to warrant a serious look as Chas McCormick’s replacement when he returns from injury. He’s still searching for consistency at the plate, batting under .200 in his first 10 big league games. But his arm and left-handed bat give manager Joe Espada a little more lineup flexibility—especially with Yordan Alvarez still out and the offense skewing right-handed.
For now, the Astros have room to adjust. But if Paredes ends up missing significant time, they’ll need more than just a few temporary solutions to keep their momentum going.
There's so much more to cover! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.
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