HARRIS COUNTY - HSA INSIDER

A weekly look at all things Houston sports from the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority: Watt joins elite company

A weekly look at all things Houston sports from the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority: Watt joins elite company
More recognition for J.J. Watt. Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated

The Harris County – Houston Sports Authority Insider will take you inside Houston Sports each Friday because #WeAreHoustonSports!

The Time 100.

It’s the iconic magazine’s annual list of the most influential people in the world. And when the list was released Thursday morning, congratulations started rolling in for J.J. Watt.

The only surprise? That it was Roger Federer who graces this week’s cover. Not Watt.

No disrespect to the greatest tennis player in the game and a man whose philanthropy off the court goes relatively unnoticed, but this was Watt’s year.

The Texans’ defensive end touched the heart and soul, not just of the city of Houston, but the world when he turned to Twitter after Hurricane Harvey devastated the area with more than 50 inches of rain with a video and the following message:

Recovery efforts from Hurricane Harvey will be massive.
We must come together to help rebuild our communities.http://YouCaring.com/JJWatt 

 His goal? To raise $200,000. He raised over $37 million in just a few weeks.

 We all knew what the three-time NFL Defensive Player could do on the field, but what he did for Houston – and continues to do – is just as legendary. He has been giving back since he was playing at Wisconsin, but what he did last year caught the eye of everyone, earning him the inaugural Houston Sports Awards Sportsmanship Award, as well the NFL’s highest honor - Walter Payton Man of the Year.

 Now, just months away from training camp, he’s on the way back from a freak injury and we’re already wondering what the 2018 season has in store. He is a team leader and, when he’s at this best, a devastating defensive force.

 But you know that. Just like everyone else, you’re thinking about what might be for the Texans this year with a healthy Watt and the return of quarterback Deshaun Watson.

So this Time 100 got us thinking.

Who are the most influential sports figures in Houston right now?

My list? Definitely not a slam dunk, but here’s what I came up with.

It starts with Watt, who could probably run for mayor when Sylvester Turner leaves office and win.

There’s nothing a healthy Watt can’t do on the field and now we know what he can do off of it. He’s a Houston’s rock star – a man who shared the passion for literacy with the late Barbara Bush, a guy who steals the show in commercials and makes the day for fans when he flashes that signature smile. That his girlfriend Kealia Ohai, who is also coming off surgery, is the team captain for the Houston Dash? Just one more reason people love him.

My other top four? Well, here they are in no certain order:

* Tilman Fertitta. The new owner of the Houston Rockets brought a lightning bolt of energy and swagger to a loaded roster that now seems destined for the NBA finals. His real estate dealings, restaurant empire – Landry’s is one of the country’s largest restaurant corporations – and his television show Billion Dollar Buyer made him a national celebrity before the Rockets. And, as chairman of the University of Houston System’s Board of Regents, his passion for his alma mater  has turned UH into a into a Tier One institution and put UH athletics back in the national spotlight. His Post Oak Motors and new Post Oak Hotel property just add to his influence in the city.

* Jose Altuve. Who doesn’t love the Astros’ second baseman? At 5-foot-6, the native of Venezuela may be the shortest player in Major League Baseball, but he also packs the biggest punch. Last year’s American League MVP  and Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year was also the league’s batting champ and helped lead the Astros to the World Series title. Every time he stepped to the plate, you waited for the magic last season as he hit.346 on the year with 204 hits and 81 RBI with 24 homeruns.  Hit .472 at Minute Maid in the playoffs and .310 with 7 homeruns in the playoffs. Can he top that? We’ll find out.

* Justin Verlander. No one has come into an MLB clubhouse and immediately commanded as much respect from his new team as the Astros’ ace did last fall. And no one has captured the hearts of fans as quickly, either. Following an August 31 trade from Detroit, Verlander stepped into the Astros starting rotation, went 4-1 and helped lead the team to a World Series title. A few days later, he was on a plane to Italy where he married super model girlfriend Kate Upton. Talk about a rock star. The guy is made for the red carpet and has a 4-handicap on the golf course. And when the Astros reported for spring training this year? No one was more excited.

* Deshaun Watson. Two words – scary good. Or unlimited potential. Or, make one up yourself. We had what felt like the briefest of glimpses into what Watson could do as a starter last season before he went down with a torn ACL. He was leading the league with 21 touchdowns and seemed headed toward Offensive Player of the Year as a rookie. He is still rehabbing his knee, but fans already have visions of Watson-to- all-pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins dancing in their heads. He only started weeks 2-8 last year and threw for 19 touchdowns and completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 1,699 yards.

There. You have my top 5. There are plenty of others to consider for sure, buy hey, I said only 5. 

Feel free to chime in and send us yours on Twitter - @HOUsportsAwards.

We’ll compile the top submissions and put it to a vote!

 

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Get your popcorn ready! Composite image by Brandon Strange.

Filed the column early this week with Astros’ baseball that counts arriving Thursday! Ideally that arrival occurs with Minute Maid Park’s roof open under sunny skies with temperature in the mid-70s and only moderate humidity (that’s the forecast).

As they ready for their season-opening four game series, the Astros and Yankees enter 2024 with streaks on the line. The Astros take aim at an eighth consecutive American League Championship Series appearance while obviously aiming ultimately higher than that. The Yankees are a good bet to fail to make the World Series for the 15th consecutive season, which would be a new Yankees’ record! At its origin in 1903 the franchise was known as the New York Highlanders. The name became the Yankees in 1913, with the first franchise World Series appearance coming in 1921. So that was 18 years of play without winning a pennant. Maybe that gives the Yanks something to shoot for in 2027.

On the more immediate horizon, the Astros and Yankees both start the season with question marks throughout their starting rotations. It’s just that the Astros do so coming off their seventh straight ALCS appearance while the Yankees are coming off having missed the postseason entirely for the first time in seven years. Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole can spend time Thursday chit-chatting about their days as Astro teammates because they won’t be pitching against one another. Cole’s absence hurts the Yankees more than Verlander’s should the Astros. Cole was the unanimously voted AL Cy Young Award winner last season, and at eight years younger than Verlander the workload he was expected to carry is greater. Cole is gone for at least the first two months of the season, the Astros would be pleased if Verlander misses less than one month.

Whoever does the pitching, the guy on the mound for the Astros has the benefit of a clearly better lineup supporting him. The Yankees could have the best two-man combo in the game with Aaron Judge batting second ahead of offseason acquisition Juan Soto. Two men do not a Murderers’ Row make. Gleyber Torres is the only other guy in the Yankees’ projected regular batting order who was better than mediocre last season, several guys were lousy. The Astros have six guys in their lineup (Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman, Chas McCormick, and Yainer Diaz) who were better in the batter’s box than was Torres last season. The Yanks have hopes for a healthy and huge bounce back season from the brittle and 34-years-old Giancarlo Stanton. Good luck with that.

Man with a plan

We have to see how things play out over the season of course, but it is exciting to see new manager Joe Espada’s progressive outlook on a number of things. Acknowledging that Astros’ baserunning has too often been deficient, Espada made improving it a spring training priority. The same with Astros’ pitchers doing a better job of holding opposing base runners at first with base stealing having occurred with the highest success rate in MLB history last season. Tweaking the lineup to bat Alvarez second behind Altuve is a strong choice. Having your two best offensive forces come to the plate most frequently is inherently smart.

Opting to bat Tucker third ahead of Bregman rather than the other way around also seems wise business. Let’s offer one specific circumstance. An opposing pitcher manages to retire both Altuve and Alvarez. Tucker walking or singling is much more capable of stealing second base and then scoring on a Bregman single than the inverse. Or scoring from first on a ball hit to the corner or a shallow gap. I suggest in a similar vein that is why the much older and much slower Jose Abreu should bat lower in the lineup than Chas McCormick and Yainer Diaz. Though Espada giving Abreu veteran deference to get off to a better season than Abreu’s largely lousy 2023 is ok. To a point.

Eye on the prize

The ceiling for the 2024 Astros is clear. Winning a third World Series in eight years is viably in play. The floor is high. Barring an utter collapse of the starting rotation and/or a calamitous toll of injuries within the offensive core there is no way this is only a .500-ish ballclub. That does not mean the Astros are a surefire postseason team. The Rangers may again have a better offense. The Mariners definitely begin the season with a better starting rotation. In the end, other than when it impacts team decision-making, prognostication doesn’t matter. But these two words definitely matter: PLAY BALL!

To welcome the new season we’ll do a live YouTube Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast about 30 minutes after the final out is recorded in Thursday’s opener.

Our second season of Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast is underway. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics weekly. On our regular schedule the first post goes up Monday afternoon. You can get the video version (first part released Monday, second part Tuesday, sometimes a third part Wednesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available at initial release Monday via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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