And that includes letting a couple of popular players go.

By waiving offensive tackle Zach Wiegert, defensive tackle Seth Payne and receiver Eric Moulds, the Texans cleared up salary-cap space for the start of free agency on Friday and provided opportunities for some younger players to solidify their positions on the team.

Wiegert, 34, and Payne, 32, suffered season-ending knee injuries last season. Moulds, 34, saw his performance drop off over the second half of the season.

Expected to replace them as starters are offensive tackle Eric Winston, defensive tackle Anthony Maddox and receiver Kevin Walter.

"We all face difficult decisions at this time of the year," Texans general manager Rick Smith said. "We're doing everything we can to improve our team."

The Texans saved $3.07 million on Wiegert and Payne. Moulds, who played one season in Houston, wasn't a cap casualty.

"We have several areas we want to improve," Smith said. "We've got a couple of free agents we've targeted, but we're going to be prudent financially."

Like it or not, these are older guys who needed to go. The team has struggled since the beginning, and Coach Gary Kubiak is moving in a different direction from that of the Capers era. Young players stepped-up last season and are ready to take the roles filled by these older guys.

And on another interesting note, discontent over QB David Carr's role on the team is bubbling up. This comment comes from teammate Dunta Robinson.

Texans cornerback Dunta Robinson said Wednesday night that he believes it is time for quarterback David Carr to be traded.
"It's just my opinion, but I think it's that time," Robinson said. "We haven't won. I'm not saying it's David's fault, and I'm not saying he can't be a great quarterback with another team. But he's been here for five years, and the best we've been able to do is 7-9. I just think it's time for us to make some moves that'll help the Texans become a winning team."

That he is making such statements publicly tells me that the sentiment is much more widely shared on the team. The question is, do the Texans listen to this sentiment that is shared by players and fans alike?

Posted by: Greg at 11:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Too much information – WAAAAAAY too much information!

FILM Queen DAME HELEN MIRREN has admitted she didn’t wear undies at the Oscars.

The star, 61, revealed her saucy secret on US TV as she showed off the gown she wore to the awards.

“It was all made for me so I didn’t have to have any underwear,” she told presenter OPRAH WINFREY.

“It fitted me like two angel’s hands,” she giggled, cupping her boobs to illustrate the point.

“I cried when I put it on, it is a work of art.”

TMI!

Posted by: Greg at 11:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Too much information – WAAAAAAY too much information!

FILM Queen DAME HELEN MIRREN has admitted she didnÂ’t wear undies at the Oscars.

The star, 61, revealed her saucy secret on US TV as she showed off the gown she wore to the awards.

“It was all made for me so I didn’t have to have any underwear,” she told presenter OPRAH WINFREY.

“It fitted me like two angel’s hands,” she giggled, cupping her boobs to illustrate the point.

“I cried when I put it on, it is a work of art.”

TMI!

Posted by: Greg at 11:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo begins tonight, the first of twenty consecutive days of excitement pitting man against farm animal -- and bringing some of the best in concert entertainment to Houston.

That distinct farm animal smell, the click-click of spurs and signs advertising every food imaginable "on a stick" have returned to Reliant Park.

That's right — it's rodeo time.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo kicks off today, bringing thousands of youth livestock raisers to Reliant Park.

This year's 75th anniversary edition also features a new rodeo scoring system with more prize money, a different entertainer every night of the 20-day event, and a carnival with hair-raising rides and heaps of fried food.

It's a diamond anniversary organizers promise you won't want to miss.

"This is going to be a fun year," said Leroy Shafer, the show's chief operating officer.

Seriously, the rodeo is one of the best entertainment values I've ever encountered -- tickets for tonight's competition and the post-rodeo concert by George Strait could be had for a face value of under $20.00. Try getting into any concert by a top-name star for that price anywhere else. And its good to know that the money made at the rodeo goes for scholarships for Texas students.

Cowboy up!

Posted by: Greg at 11:06 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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There is a movie coming out in the next few weeks that has a real potential to impact America for the better. It is "The Ultimate Gift" and is a movie about charity. This is the official site of the movie "The Ultimate Gift" and the grass-roots movement its starting to help charities and give to others., and they describe the movie as follows.

When his wealthy grandfather dies, trust fund baby Jason Stevens anticipates a big inheritance. Instead, his grandfather has devised a crash course on life with twelve tasks – or “gifts” – designed to challenge Jason in improbable ways, sending him on a journey of self-discovery and forcing him to determine what is most important in life: money or happiness.

Now the movie itself is based upon the book of the same title, which was published several years ago, and motivated many of its readers to engage in wonderful acts of charity towards their fellow human beings. It looks like the movie has the potential to do the same, given that at the 300 preview screenings that have been held so far there have been over $5,000,000 in charitable donations made. There is no reason to believe that there will not be more of the same once the movie opens on 800 screen nationwide on March 9, 2007. The film itself is quite powerful, if the clip they have posted online is any indication, so there is definitely reason to hope that this movement towards charitable giving, initially begun among readers of the book and continued in the previews, will continue among the viewers in the general population.

Speaking as a teacher, I hope many of my students see this film and are changed by it. Too many of them are influenced by the culture of conspicuous consumption and wealth at any cost found in popular culture. A movie like this has the potential to open their eyes and let them see that there is something more to life than the hedonistic pursuit of pleasure and property.

For more information on the film, visit the official site of the movie "The Ultimate Gift" and the grass-roots movement its starting to help charities and give to others.

Paid Endorsement.

Posted by: Greg at 06:00 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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The lengths that a talentless white-trash skank like Britney Spears will go to steal press coverage from a dead talentless white-trash skank like Anna Nicole is pretty frightening.

Britney Spears appeared in a tattoo parlor in the San Fernando Valley with her head shaved completely bald.

Video on KABC-TV showed the newly shorn Spears with tiny tattoos on the back of her neck as she sits Friday night for a new tattoo — a pair of red and pink lips.

“She just wanted something real small on her wrist, something dainty,” Max Gott, the tattoo artist at Body and Soul in Sherman Oaks, told the TV station. “She got some cute little lips on her wrist.”

This seems to be a sign of Spears flunking out of rehab.

Hey, Britney -- your 15 minutes are up. Have Howard K. Stern send you some of whatever Anna Nicole was taking and have your publicist call us in the morning.

Posted by: Greg at 10:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Let's see -- a group that no longer considers itself country and is no longer played by country radio got top country music honors from an organization whose voters are primarily drawn from outside the country music industry. Hardly a vindication, in my book. But the NY Times disagrees.

After death threats, boycotts and a cold shoulder from the country music establishment, the Dixie Chicks gained sweet vindication Sunday night at the 49th annual Grammy Awards, capturing honors in all five of the categories in which they were nominated.

The Dixie Chicks took home Grammys for the top three awards: record, song and album of the year. Their “Taking the Long Way” (Open Wide/Columbia) won best country album and “Not Ready to Make Nice” also captured best country performance by a duo or group with vocal. That song is an unapologetic response to the furor set off in 2003 when the band’s lead singer, Natalie Maines, made an off-the-cuff antiwar remark to London concertgoers: “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.”

But Sunday’s awards were the Recording Academy’s rejoinder to the country music radio establishment, which ignored the album. Accepting the award for song of the year, Ms. Maines joked, “For the first time in my life, I’m speechless.” But she found her voice on later trips to the stage. “I’m very humbled and I think people were using their voice the same way this loudmouth did,” she said, self-referentially, after “Taking the Long Way” was named album of the year. The Dixie Chicks’ sweep of the major Grammy categories served as a sharp counterpoint to their shut-out at the Country Music Association awards in November. The Recording Academy consists of members across the nation who work in all genres of music. The Country Music Association’s membership is concentrated among artists, engineers and executives tied to the Nashville establishment.

In other words, these awards are really meaningless, and probably are best seen as a political swipe at the president by an entertainment industry that has always rejected him.

And I think the positioning of the group's performance and introduction by Joan Baez indicate that the night's awards were less about the group's artistic accomplishments than their political activism.

The Dixie Chicks got the last laugh Sunday night. Rejected by the country establishment, the polarizing group was tickled to find itself in the warm embrace of the broader Recording Academy, which honored the Chicks with five Grammy Awards -- including the three biggest: album of the year, record of the year and song of the year.

The Texas trio also won for best country group vocal and best country album. The latter award was especially surprising since they were excommunicated from the church of country music in 2003 after singer Natalie Maines popped off about President Bush and the war in Iraq. Upon bouncing to the podium after the result was announced, Maines said what just about everybody inside Staples Center was probably thinking: "That's interesting." She closed her gaping mouth just long enough to grin mischievously, then said, "Well, to quote the great Simpsons, 'HA HA!' "

"Not Ready to Make Nice," the group's defiant answer to the angry country fans who'd criticized the group for criticizing Bush, won song of the year, the industry's top writing award. "I am, for the first time in my life, speechless," Maines said. Earlier, the protest singer Joan Baez had introduced the Dixie Chicks as "three brave women who are still not ready to make nice."

I've said it before -- the band has every right to make its political statements, ad to remain as defiant as they want. That is part and parcel of the First Amendment. However, country fans have every right to refuse to buy their CDs and concert tickets and country radio has every right to refuse to play their songs on the radio in response -- also protected by the First Amendment. And frankly, most of us don't feel any particular urge to make nice either.

Posted by: Greg at 11:42 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Maybe, according to owner Bob McNair, who has long been one of the troubled quarterbackÂ’s big supporters.

David CarrÂ’s future with the Houston Texans remains in limbo.
Owner Bob McNair remained non-committal about Carr on Tuesday, saying he is still being evaluated and any decision on whether the fifth-year quarterback returns next season will depend on what the Texans can accomplish in free agency.

“David has been inconsistent, and we‘ve said that” McNair said at a Texas Bowl luncheon at the JW Marriott. “He’s had some good games and he’s had some games that haven’t been as good. He’s a tremendous athlete. We’ve got to get better consistency there, either with David or with some additional help. We need more consistency at quarterback.”

McNair has been one of CarrÂ’s biggest supporters since the team drafted him with the No. 1 overall pick during their expansion season in 2002. But after five straight losing seasons that support appears to be waning. McNair has not publicly endorsed Carr in recent months and has declined to speculate on the quarterbackÂ’s future with the team for the 2007 season.

McNair said the entire team is currently being evaluated by general manager Rick Smith and coach Gary Kubiak.

It will all come down, of course, to who they can bring in to replace Carr under center. Personally, I think a year or two with Sage Rosenfels at the helm would be acceptable, if the team could pick up Kevin Kolb or a comparable quarterback in the second or third round. Properly developed over that transition time, the new quarterback would not be rushed in too soon – or have to take the many hits that have left the current starter gun-shy.

Heck, I wouldnÂ’t even mind seeing Carr back, so long as he and Rosenfels enter training camp competing for the starting job rather than with the decision made before the first practice snap is taken. Such a move would be good for both of them.

Posted by: Greg at 11:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Coming back from an opening kick-off return for touchdown and an early interception, the Indianapolis Colts have won Super Bowl XLI in convincing fashion, 29-17. Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy finally have earn their Super Bowl rings!

In a sloppy, exciting, rainsoaked NFL title game Sunday, the Colts defeated the Bears 29-17 behind 247 yards passing from Manning, the star quarterback who finally won the big one after nine record-setting seasons that was missing very little besides a championship.

It was a surreal scene for the NFL's showcase game, played indoors or in perfect weather for almost all of the previous 40 years, but not this time.

In a good ol'-fashioned South Florida soaker — the first Super Bowl to be played in the rain — the football squirted loose and bounced all over the waterlogged field. It resulted in eight turnovers, including two late interceptions thrown by Chicago's Rex Grossman that sealed the game for Indy.

And it has just been announced that Peyton manning is the MVP of this year's game! Another well-deserved honor for the league's most dominant quarterback.

To me, though, the most interesting moment were the words by Tony Dungy, when there was an attempt to turn this victory into something about race. He brought it all into perspective -- and paid tribute to opposing coach Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears -- by noting that it was about showing that you can win coaching the Lord's way.

Posted by: Greg at 03:13 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Even though I initially thought we might be treated to a performance by Aunt Jemima in drag when I saw that kerchief, I was pleased by tonight's halftime performance.

Phew! CBS got through the halftime show without a "wardrobe malfunction." The Artist Formerly Known as a Munchkin of Wardrobe Dysfunction began by singing "Let's Go Crazy," but he didn't.

* * *

The closest thing to a fashion statement Sunday night was an odd kerchief on his head. So the NFL had no repeat of the 2004 Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake show, which happened the last time CBS broadcast the game.

The 48-year-old Prince, who rose to stardom in the '80s with his distinctive fusion of R&B, funk, soul and rock, once looked androgynous and produced songs that (lest we forget) drove Tipper Gore nuts (and made her a fat target for anti-censorship types like Frank Zappa).

Musically, the diminutive, erstwhile prodigy from Minneapolis kept it old-school, rockin' the house with "Purple Rain" and other golden hits.

He delivered one of the best Super Bowl halftime shows - ever. Consequently, he didn't come across as a painfully safe choice - or a has-been, the rap against the previous couple of Super Bowl halftime acts, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones.

Now if we can just get some more decent performances in the future, we won't have to worry about the awkward "dead period" in the middle of the game.

Posted by: Greg at 02:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If there is any truth to this story, then the film in question must have an NC-17 rating slapped on it. Anything else legitimizes pornography as an art form.

Sienna Miller and Hayden Christensen are said to be convincing in their "Factory Girl" love scenes. The reason? The sex is for real, a source told the New York Daily News.

"It's not simulated," the insider said. "They're really doing it"

* * *

The News reports that Miller had a romance with "Star Wars" actor Christensen while on a break from her ex-boyfriend Jude Law — but then jilted him.

"They spent about a month hanging out," a Christensen pal told the News. "But then she decided that she didn't want a relationship. Hayden was devastated. He really fell for her."

Added a friend of Miller, "Sienna wanted to try to make another go of it with Jude. But again, it didn't work out. At the end of last summer, she and Hayden ended up in Toronto for more shooting. They hadn't talked in six months. But it turned out to be a great reunion."

It was during this "reunion" that the two former lovers, both 25, reportedly did the deed for the world to see.

Seriously -- are we going to start seeing REAL sex scenes on the big screen in the future? Or are we going to take a stand and draw a line here?

Posted by: Greg at 01:22 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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I'll be watching -- but I think I'll skip the festivities at this establishment a a couple miles up the road, even though they've been advertising for two weeks.

Oh, yeah, and by the way, even though I lived many years in the Chicago area, my wife and I are big fans of Peyton Manning, so you can guess where I stand on this one.

Posted by: Greg at 11:00 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Well, the end is fast approaching for the beloved Harry Potter series. All will be revealed, now that JK Rowling has written the last words of the saga of "the boy who lived".

J. K. Rowling, the author of the record-setting Harry Potter books, announced yesterday that the seventh — and last — installment in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” will be published on July 21.

That will be just eight days after the release of the film version of the fifth book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” promising a huge summer for fans of the young wizard.

Millions of fans around the world are fiercely anticipating the final installment. But the end of the series, in which Ms. Rowling has hinted she may kill off one of the main characters, comes as a bittersweet finale not only for readers but also for the publishing companies, booksellers and licensees that have cashed in on the international phenomenon since it began more than nine years ago with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

And it will be sad, givent he international phenomenon that hte books have been for the last decade. And while there are at least two additional movies to be made, one wonders if we really have seen the last of the young wizard and his friend. Will Rowling be able to resist the call to write additional books about Harry Potter? Or will she kill the hero? And will death be sufficient, or will he make an unexpected return like Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes did after an apparent tumble over a waterfall?

Only time will tell.

Oh, and as a side note, the big screen's Harry Potter is branching out with a nude scene in Hairy Potter and the Happy Trail Equus on the London stage.

more...

Posted by: Greg at 11:36 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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