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McDonald’s wets beak on chicken sandwich; Cruz settles his World Series bet with Kaine.

Just when you thought the chicken wars had gone cold, a new participant has joined the field to ruffle some feathers. McDonald’s is using select Houston-area locations to try out its new Crispy Chicken Sandwich, hoping to challenge upstart Popeyes and the dominant Chickfil-A. Fast-food giant McDonald’s describes its new menu item as a “Southern-inspired chicken fillet with sweet fried flour and a hint of dill served on a buttery potato roll and topped with butter and crinkle-cut dill pickles.” Not only does that description fail to roll off the tongue (like, say, “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame-seed bun”), it also bears a striking resemblance to another chicken sandwich. No, not just Chick-fil-A’s, but McDonald’s own “Southern Style Chicken Sandwich,” which was discontinued in 2015. Forbes says fast-food chicken revenue has nearly tripled this decade, from about $17.5 billion to $43.2 billion. So, you can’t blame McDonald’s for wanting to wet its beak a little. In fact, as long as we’re making changes, let’s talk about bringing back that McNuggets Szechuan sauce.

Call them Texas’ troublesome threesome, the terrible troika or the biased hat trick. The Chronicle home page featured three stories Tuesday morning that left us shaking our heads. First, state Rep. Rick Miller, R-Sugar Land, said Jacey Jetton, one of his primary opponents, was in the race “because he is an Asian” and had decided his “district might need an Asian to win.” Oh, boy. The backlash was swift, and Miller is no longer running for re-election. Second spot belongs to longtime Harris County Judge Michael McSpadden, who was formally reprimanded for saying black defendants were not getting good advice from their parents and listening to Black Lives Matter. McSpadden is no longer on the bench, but Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley is. The McLennan County Republican was publicly warned over her refusal to perform same-sex marriages. Let’s hope Miller, McSpadden and Hensley have all learned a lesson that isn’t repeated. It seems like only yesterday when Houston was full of hope that the Astros would overcome their deficit against the Washington Nationals and come back to win the World Series at home. We threw in our lot with Sen. Ted Cruz in his bet against Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. The Astros rewarded our faith by winning three straight in D.C., but after that … well, you know the rest. So even though we joined in trash talking the Nationals (and said Kaine would look good in orange), we now join Cruz in being a good sport and admitting that the best team … definitely lost. To cover the bet, Texas’ junior senator was forced to wear a Nationals jersey and treat Kaine’s staff to barbecue and beer (Shiner, of course). Meanwhile, we’re doing penance by not saying a bad word about the Astros trading fan-favorite Jake Marisnick to the Mets. Not. A. Word.

Sticking with sports, during Tuesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs, the Rockets’ James Harden sprinted across the court for what he thought would be an uncontested dunk — but not so fast, said the laws of physics. Harden slammed the ball into the hoop with such force that it went through the net but then swung back up onto the rim, where it bounced twice before falling away. It happened so quickly that you could easily believe that Harden botched the dunk, which is the call officials made. The Rockets, apparently too shocked to believe what had just happened, missed the 30-second window to contest a call. The team subsequently blew a 15point lead and lost to the Spurs 135133 in double overtime. The Rockets have filed a protest, which if approved might mean a replay of the game from the point of the bad call. The Thumbs are of two minds on this one. Harden deserved those two points, but it wasn’t the referees who lost in double overtime — San Antonio outhustled Houston fair and square. Still, the NBA needs to take steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again. Nobody wants to see a sad Beard.