Every Thing Sports
Jermaine Every: Don't look now, but Astros season is not too far away
Jan 30, 2018, 6:34 am
The World Series champion Astros will report for spring training in just a couple weeks. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
There’s a lot going on in sports these days. So naturally, there’s a lot going on in my head. Adult ADD isn’t so bad when you know how to control it and harness it for the sake of writing an article. So here goes…
Astros spring training draws near
The Astros are set to start defense of their World Series title. Pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 14, while position players report on Feb. 19. Spring Training always gets me excited for the upcoming baseball season. This season has me more pumped coming off the World Series win. General Manager Jeff Luhnow has done yeoman’s work in shaping this roster into not just a contender, but a contender for years to come. Pulling off the Gerrit Cole deal was akin to hustling the Pittsburgh Pirates at 3-Card Monte. Playing a 162-game schedule is a grind in and of itself. From their “pre-season” until the last out is recorded, a baseball season lasts about ten months. I believe the only thing standing in their way is staying relatively healthy for that journey. Speaking of the Astros…
Jose Altuve putting in extra work
MLB Network host and Houston native Robert Flores recently tweeted that A.L. MVP Jose Altuve has been at the Astros training facility for FOUR WEEKS! If you needed another reason to love this guy, there ya go. I applaud the fact that he’s gone about this without any shameless self-promoting social media posts (looking at you J.J. Watt). He simply told a media member and let the rest take care of itself. Never mind that, but the man could be resting on his recent accomplishments and taking it easy. Instead, he only took about a month off and got right back to work. He knows the big payday will come. Yet, with all the accolades in tow, he chooses to grind harder in order to stay at the top of the mountain. If only some other top athletes in this city would follow his lead, I wonder: where they could lead their teams?
G.O.A.T. talks
With the New England Patriots making yet another Super Bowl appearance, quarterback Tom Brady has been mentioned as perhaps the greatest athlete/sportsman ever, especially in comparison to Michael Jordan. Those types of arguments are great for debate, difference of opinion, generational divides, and overall discussion. However, one of the flaws I’ve noticed is the lack of inclusion of other athletes/sportsman. Roger Federer just became the first male tennis player to win 20 Grand Slam titles. No mention of him or the three women who did it before he did (Serena Willaims, Steffi Graf, or Margaret Court). What about Pelé, Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, or Cristiano Ronaldo of soccer? I’m guessing baseball players like Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, or Barry Bonds get no love either? I’m not even going to mention some of the others from sports less popular. Let’s be sure we open our minds and broaden our horizons when making these types of arguments before we eliminate reasonable competition.
The Rockets are ready to contend
The Rockets are ready to contend for the NBA title…if they can remain healthy. Do they need to add some pieces? They sure could use the extra help. Fellow Sports Map columnist Joel Blank laid out his argument for help in the form of another big man. While I agree with him, I believe this team’s biggest obstacle is health. Their record of 19-1 with James Harden, Chris Paul, and Clint Capela in the starting lineup is astonishing. At 35-13 on the season with a fairly firm grip on the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, they’re currently four games back of the Golden State Warriors for the No. 1 seed and hold the tie-breaker. But that’s not enough. The Warriors are like a large corporation in a lawsuit against a very successful mom & pop operation. Sure the mom & pop operation may have a winnable case in court, but the corporation has longer money and better lawyers to outlast them and will eventually win out unless something drastic happens. Going 16-12 when their version of the Big Three is out doesn’t spell success in the postseason. Making a move is one thing, making the right move (no matter what they may look like) could make or break their chances this season.
The Texans’ blessing in disguise
The Texans’ coaching staff had the task of coaching the South team in the 2018 Senior Bowl. Going into the offseason sans a first and second round pick in the draft and a change at general manager, this came as a blessing in disguise for the Texans. Bill O’Brien and his staff got the chance to be up close and personal with a group of potential draftees, or undrafted free agents, this past week. Scouts, coaches, and front office personnel often attend these events en masse. I sincerely hope they used that time wisely and were able to pick up on more than they would have given normal access had they not been coaching in the game. This would be more beneficial given the stacked deck they’re facing when it comes to rebuilding this team on the fly, particularly this offseason, given that they’re already a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.
Bonus!
-If you haven’t seen the footage of Nick Saban doing the Cupid Shuffle, it’s a must-watch.
-A New Orleans Pelicans fan sitting courtside had a brief run as a member of the team in warm-ups.
If you’re reading this, I love you. Thanks for putting up with me this long as my own attention span sometimes won’t allow me to do the same without at least three or four breaks. Remember, I’m available for rebuttal, debate, or general conversation on Twitter. Until next week, be good, or be good at it.
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Everyone raved about the leadership of second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud this week as the Houston Texans prepared for their wild-card playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Everyone, that is, except the man himself.
“I don’t think I’m a great (leader),” Stroud said sheepishly. “I don’t know. That’s probably a bad thing to say about yourself, but I don’t think I’m all that when it comes to leading. I just try to be myself.”
But the 23-year-old Stroud simply being himself is exactly what makes him the undisputed leader of this team.
“C.J. is authentic, he’s real,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It’s not only here, it’s in the locker room around the guys and that’s what leadership is to me. As you evolve as a leader, you just be authentic to yourself. You don’t have to make up anything or make up a speech or make up something to say to guys. C.J. is being C.J.”
Sixth-year offensive lineman Tytus Howard said he knew early on that Stroud would be special.
“He has that aura about him that when he speaks, everybody listens,” he said.
Stroud has helped the Texans win the AFC South and reach the playoffs for a second straight season after they had combined for just 11 wins in the three years before he was drafted second overall.
He was named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, when Houston beat the Browns in the first round before falling to the Ravens in the divisional round.
His stats haven’t been as good as they were in his fabulous rookie season when he threw just five interceptions. But he has put together another strong season in Year 2 despite missing top receiver Nico Collins for five games early and losing Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell to season-ending injuries in the second half of the season. He also started every game despite being sacked a whopping 52 times.
“He’s taken some crazy shots,” Howard said. “But even if he’s getting sacked and stuff like that, he just never lets that get to him. He just continues to fight through it, and it basically uplifts the entire offense.”
He also finds ways to encourage the team off the field and works to build chemistry through team get-togethers. He often invites the guys over to his house for dinner or to watch games. Recently, he rented out a movie theater for a private screening of “Gladiator II.”
“He’s like, ‘I want the guys to come in and bond together because this thing builds off the field and on the field,’” Howard said. “So, we need to be closer.”
Another thing that makes Stroud an effective leader is that his teammates know that he truly cares about them as people and not just players. That was evident in the loss to the Chiefs when Dell was seriously injured. Stroud openly wept as Dell was tended to on the field and remained distraught after he was carted off.
“It was good for people to see me in that light and knowing that there is still a human factor to me,” he said. "And I think that was good for people to see that we’re just normal people at the end of the day.”
Stroud said some of the leaders who molded him were his father, his coaches in high school and college, and more recently Ryans.
His coach said Stroud has been able to lead the team effectively early in his career because he knows there are others he can lean on if he needs help.
“Understanding that it’s not all on him as a leader, it’s all of our guys just buying in, doing what they have to do,” Ryans said. “But also, C.J. understanding a lot of guys are looking up to him on the team and he takes that role seriously. But it’s not a heavy weight for him because we have other leaders, as well, around him.”
Stroud considers himself stubborn and though some consider that a bad quality, he thinks it’s helped him be a better leader. He's had the trait as long as he can remember.
“That kind of carried into the sport,” he said. “Even as a kid, my mom used to always say how stubborn I was and just having a standard is how I hear it. It’s stubborn (but) I just have a standard on how I like things to be done and how I hold myself is a standard.”
And, to be clear, he doesn’t consider himself a bad leader, but he did enjoy hearing that others on the team consider him a great one.
“I just don’t look at myself in that light of just I’m all-world at that,” he said. “But I try my best to lead by example and it’s cool because I don’t ask guys and to hear what they have to say about that is kind of cool.”
Though he doesn’t consider himself a great leader, Stroud does have strong feelings about what constitutes one. And he’s hoping that he’ll be able to do that for his team Saturday to help the Texans to a victory, which would make him the sixth quarterback in NFL history to start and win a playoff game in both of his first two seasons.
“That would be making everybody around you better,” he said of great leaders. “Kind of like a point guard on the offense, the quarterback on the football team, the pitcher on a baseball team — just making everybody around you better.”