SURREAL FEEL
From the Texans’ collapse to Astros’ scandal to Harden’s drama, 2020 has been sickening
2020 hasn’t been kind to Houston sports, but scene might improve.
I will admit my personal bias from the start.
I believe the world keeps changing — for the most part, improving. You mostly make your own luck. And just because something hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be accomplished in the future.
Real-world translation: I’ve never believed that Houston sports are cursed.
Some of you will immediately (and rightfully) point out that’s because I wasn’t born here.
But I moved to this great city way back in 2012 — when the Lastros were laughable, before the Rockets were “led” by James Harden, and just as Gary Kubiak’s Texans were reaching their 12-4 franchise peak.
Which means:
A. I am not devoting the rest of this column to the Oilers or 1980 Astros.
B. I have, in many ways, seen it all the last eight years.
From Matt Schaub and Ryan Fitzpatrick to Ryan Mallett and Deshaun Watson. Bob McNair to Cal McNair. King Bill O’Brien to Prince Jack Easterby. The 2013 Texans going a franchise-worst 2-14 during my first year on the beat, in the same season the Astros went a franchise-worst 51-111 during my first season on that beat.
Les Alexander, Daryl Morey, Kevin McHale, Dwight Howard, Mike D’Antoni, Chris Paul, Tilman Fertitta, 0-for-27, Russell Westbrook … Harden and Westbrook suddenly wanting out of Houston at the same time.
Jim Crane, Jeff Luhnow, Bo Porter, Rick Ankiel, Carlos Pena … Jose Altuve, A.J. Hinch, Dallas Keuchel, George Springer, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole … Hinch, Luhnow and a 2017 World Series title never looking the same.
Tom Herman, Major Applewhite, Dana Holgorsen. The University of Houston’s football program struggling to stay relevant in America’s fourth-largest city and asking for more patience from a wavering fan base.
Stick around in one place long enough and you see the circles completed, the storylines converge, and the old tales repeating themselves yet again.
My obvious point as the final month of 2020 mercifully approaches: There has never been a year like 2020 in the history of Houston sports.
There has never been a year like 2020 in the history of Houston sports.
Esteemed local historian Dale Robertson put it all in perspective by linking the local athletic scene with the good stuff in glass bottles.
“Somebody said ... ‘How did a sports writer become the wine writer?’ ” said Robertson, who was hosting a virtual wine tasting Saturday night before I rudely brought him back to his old professional reality. “I said, ‘Because covering sports in Houston drives you to drink.’ ... Just when we thought everything was OK, all of a sudden we have cheating scandals, the Rockets are about to fall apart, the Texans have fallen off a cliff.”
Worst year ever in Houston sports, Dale?
Please.
He linked it to 1972. Then closed the book.
“This year kind of sums up the half century that I have followed Houston sports,” Robertson said.
You’ve been living it these last 11 months and I’ve been writing about it, and we all know what’s been going on.
Chaos.
Turmoil.
Constant change.
Frustration and depression. Huge questions that can’t be answered.
More constant change.
Wait a second. Am I writing about America during the coronavirus pandemic with the White House still somewhat up for grabs or the insanity of Houston sports in 2020?
You see? That’s how crazy this year has become.
It started with the Texans blowing a 24-0 lead in a Divisional Round playoff game on the road against the eventual Super Bowl champions.
But the next morning told you what was really coming. While I was delayed inside a small, boring airport with a couple of colleagues, Major League Baseball made the worst loss in Texans history instantly forgettable by applying a theoretical asterisk to the Astros’ golden era.
And that was just the start of an insane sports year that hasn’t stopped punching us in the gut.
Hinch and Luhnow were suspended, then fired. The Astros spent months as the most hated team in sports. Justin Verlander underwent Tommy John surgery. Now, Hinch manages the Detroit Tigers and Luhnow is suing the Astros.
The Rockets entered July as Houston’s best hope. Then they barely made it to the second round of the playoffs — and that was the high point. D’Antoni walked away, Morey traded up for a more promising team, Westbrook decided he was done with Harden, and Harden — the undisputed face of the Rockets and one of the NBA’s biggest names — decided he was better off being a No. 2 to Kevin Durant in Brooklyn.
The Texans? Where do you even begin? They finally listened to the masses and fired O’Brien from two jobs at once (three if you include calling offensive plays again). But the disaster on Kirby Drive was just beginning, and Houston’s NFL team is now the laughingstock of the league.
The erased big names say it all: DeAndre Hopkins, O’Brien,
Hinch, Luhnow, D’Antoni, Morey.
If Harden is traded away before 2020 is finished, this absurd and often toxic year — firings, resignations, suspensions, injuries, drama and more drama — will receive its crowning moment.
But I also must admit this: I strive to be a realist in this column, and I’m an optimist on my good days in the real world.
Dusty Baker took a 29-31 team all the way to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, during a season when 99 percent of MLB wanted nothing to do with the remade Astros.
The Texans have Watson in his prime and a huge chance to get it right with two big hirings at once: head coach and general manager.
And as I type this, Harden and Westbrook are still wearing local red, while Friday’s signing of free-agent big man Christian Wood means the Rockets’ silly small-ball experiment is officially a thing of the past.
The Astros aren’t going back to 2011-13 anytime soon.
The Texans have serious issues but are two smart hires away from injecting hope back into NRG Stadium.
The Rockets control their future and hold the high ground with their under-contract superstars. Who knows what will happen if Stephen Silas, Harden and Westbrook actually hold a practice together?
It’s clearly been surreal and crazy. We all need next year to arrive ASAP.
But with 2020 being this bad, 2021 will surely mark a new start.
Either that, or Houston sports are going to need a vaccine for this curse.