NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: Texans, porn stars, and The Legion of Super-Heroes
Aug 15, 2019, 6:15 am
NERDS AROUND TOWN
Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
The week is winding down and we're coming up on the weekend, you ready?
Last week while talking about the Gulf Coast Blood Center, the good people reached out to me and pointed me to another awesome thing they're doing so I thought I'd bring it to your attention now. The Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center is working with Team Liquid through the year and eligible people can win an Alienware Aurora Computer valued at $800. The campaign is called Heal For Real, and I like it. Get involved today.
I haven't written about the Overwatch League lately because it was going very well for Houston and I didn't want to jinx it but the last few weeks have turned against them and we're back to our losing ways. After making the playoffs in Stage 3, we are now tied for 17th out of 20 in this Stage and are basically done for the year. The team has gone through a lot, including being sold twice, the ownership sold to a group that already owned an Overwatch team and therefore they agreed to run The Outlaws until they could find a new ownership group for them. They were sold again for $40 million dollars about a month ago and since then the losing has picked up again.
The Texans can't figure out how to resolve the Clowney problem. Essentially what it boils down to is that now because they have missed the date to negotiate a long term deal with Clowney who has a franchise tag offer currently unsigned, he has a rather untradeable contract number. The goal now sounds like they are looking for offensive tackles and they would trade Clowney for the tackle who hopefully has a similar contract number. The problem is there aren't a lot of high priced tackles that teams are looking to trade away, mostly because high valued tackles are a lot like high value pass rushers, they're hard to come by. While plenty of teams would love to have Clowney for the right price, they might not be able to accommodate the roughly $16 million dollar cap charge for this season even if they had players to give up in a trade. This is a mess.
DC Comics and mega star writer Brian Michael Bendis are on the verge of bringing back one of the oldest and most confusing franchises in DC comics, The Legion of Super-Heroes. The massive team of super powered teens from across the universe, who work to keep the year 31st century safe by protecting the entire collection of United Planets. Because the team is based out of the future, their story has been restarted a couple of times due to large events during the history of various DC events. Changing costumes and characters and line ups and the stories that are told, the Legion has had several different looks and themes over the years. It's been several years since they've been featured and their last run ended quietly and there was a peep of some of these characters when DC did the Rebirth launch by having a few members of the team stranded in current times, however they never followed up with any of those storylines.
Former porn actress Mia Khalifa revealed that in the three months she made adult films, she only earned about $12,000. Which isn't a lot of money and the notoriety has been linked to her forever. While she has been able to pivot all of this into a career of sorts as a "famous person" like so many others these days, she stated how limiting it had been job wise. Now I've seen before where she's bailed on interviews or gotten upset because they mention the adult films in her intro pre interview and honestly, I was always exasperated with her. It's the thing that kind of "broke" her into the scene and made it possible to write about whatever else she was doing or promoting at the time because she was already a "known" quantity and that's how this game works in a lot of ways. I don't have Johnny on the street on my radio show, I have people with a value to our topic on the show and those are going to be people established or relevant in some way. The thing that broke her in was adult films and honestly the better and more honest advice is embrace and pivot which it looks like she is finally doing. Good luck Mia.
Feel free to check out my brand new comic book Another Day at the Office or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
This week, the Houston Texans take on the Colts in a matchup with division supremacy on the line. If the Texans are able to come away with a victory, they will own the tiebreaker over Indy and enjoy a comfortable lead in the division.
However, a loss to the Colts means the Texans will be in a virtual tie with Indy in the AFC South. So what do the Texans need to do to secure a win?
On offense, they'll have to do a much better job of protecting CJ Stroud. In their last game against the Packers, Stroud faced immense pressure on third downs, with 12 of his 14 dropbacks resulting in pressure.
During one series, Stroud was flushed from the pocket and forced to scramble on three straight plays. They have to clean up the protection, or it will be another long day for the offense.
Fortunately for the Texans, this game is at home. So hopefully the communication issues the Texans o-line dealt with on the road last week won't be an issue at NRG.
Rushing attack
Houston can't afford to rely solely on Joe Mixon and the run game to carry the offense. While Mixon has been terrific, contributing significantly in recent weeks, the Texans will need a balanced attack. Which means Stroud must have time to operate in the pocket.
Bulls on parade
The defense last week was another story for the Texans. They played well against Green Bay, limiting them to 24 points. This week, they face a very different type of quarterback. Anthony Richardson is dead last in passer rating and completion percentage, so that's definitely working in their favor.
We know what Richardson can do with his legs, and Indy is expecting running back Jonathan Taylor to return from an ankle injury, so the rushing defense will be tested.
Richardson's accuracy is certainly a weakness, but he does throw a good deep ball that gave the defense problems in Week 1 this season.
What does Vegas think?
The Texans are favored by 5 points and the total is set at 45.5 points.
This is one video you don't want to miss as we share our in-depth breakdown of the game, as well as our predictions for Sunday's contest.
For Texans’ conversation, catch Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo on our Texans On Tap podcasts. Thursdays feature a preview of the upcoming game, and then we go live (then available on demand) after the final gun of the game: Texans on Tap - YouTube
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Fans of Houston sports and Houston food can now score tickets to The Tailgate, CultureMap's all-out party devoted to everyone’s favorite way to get in the gameday spirit. The event, presented by Verizon, goes down from 6-9 pm November 11 at 8th Wonder. Find out more about it here.