When it premiered, the Houston Astrodome was considered a major innovation in stadium technology. Often termed the "eighth wonder of the world," the Astrodome opened in 1965—as the Harris County Domed Stadium—and hosted professional sports until 1999. However, when the Astros moved to then-Enron Field the Astrodome lost its last tenant (the Houston Oilers left for Tennessee in 1996.)
Since then, the stadium has slowly fallen out of use and into disrepair. Plans to renovate the stadium for Houston's failed 2012 Olympics bid, or discussions to turn the giant facility into a movie studio or luxury hotel have yet to gain traction and so, the great concrete behemoth sits empty, rotting from the inside out. On Tuesday the custodians of the stadium gave a tour to some journalists, resulting in a great series of photos of this once-proud wonder.
For more photos from the series, hit up the link below. For my favorites, hit the READ MORE button.
[Houston Press]
no comments
The battle for Los Angeles continued on Wednesday night when the Clippers took on the Lakers for their final contest of the regular season. While the Lakers won the game, Blake Griffin once again won the night with a dominating dunk over the Lakers' Pau Gasol in the first two minutes of the game.
After Randy Foye's shot caroms off the rim, Griffin goes up high and hard, slamming the ball with authority while Pau is left sprawling on the ground after being run over by a freight train.
I'm pretty sure Gasol's grandchildren will be feeling the emotional sting of that one. I love the look on Griffin's face as he goes up in the air, it's like he knows he's about to ruin another man forever.
no comments
While sitting on his couch watching some TV in his Newport Beach home, Angels right fielder Torii Hunter found himself at the wrong end of two pistols on Wednesday afternoon. Having come home and accidentally triggered his alarm, Hunter turned it off and went about his business. However, the alarm company attempted to call his wife who was in Texas and didn't answer; with no response, they notified the police.All of which led to Hunter noticing two officers with drawn pistols approaching the back door to his home.
"I saw the cops and turned around and they had their guns out, saying, 'Show me your hands!'" Hunter said. "I'm like, 'All right, I'm cool.' I had a pistol upstairs. I'm a licensed gun owner. I'm glad I didn't get it because I could have been shot. What would have happened if I went out there?"
Having the sheer GALL to be black in his own home, Hunter was then questioned by the police. With his ID upstairs, Hunter was walked up the stairs at gunpoint to show his identification before the police would let him off the hook.
"After a while, the guy told me, 'I'm a big Angels fan. I watch you all the time,'" Hunter said. "I'm like, 'Come on, man.'"
Because, of course, if you're a big Angels fan you'd think that Torii Hunter—by all accounts one of the nicest and most gentlemanly of all major leaguers—was robbing his own home. Proving that the anecdotal accounts are true, Hunter Tweeted afterwards compliments to the police for their professionalism. That said, methinks that if Jered Weaver was sitting in HIS home after setting off the alarm that there wouldn't be any drawn pistols from the police. Ok, maybe Weaver is a bad example since he looks like a meth addict... Um, if Mark Trumbo were sitting in his home and the alarm went off there wouldn't be any guns in his face.
[ESPN LA]
Baseball is supposed to be a pastoral pastime, a civilized, gentleman's game, unfortunately, no one seemed to tell that to the junior varsity players on the Yuba City (CA) High School and the Del Campo High School teams.
A brawl broke out during the sixth inning when, after being reportedly jawed at by the Del Campo first base coach, Yuba's pitcher Jaylon Deas turned around and fired the ball at the coach. That led to the benches clearing, punches being thrown and some hilarious commentary from the bystanders. (My personal favorite is "Your high school career is OVERRRR! Congratulations! Go back to your farmland!"
Ooh! Burn!
Then of course, like any good brawl requires, one of the Yuba City parents (at least I think she's a human, she might be some sort of super-smart hippo capable of speech) comes on the field dropping f-bombs and other swears at the umps, the Del Campo team and everyone in-between as she gets ejected from the stadium.
Yuba City has suspended the team for a week and a number of individual players could receive larger penalties. So that's fun!
no comments
I'm no legal expert but it's fair to say that former #2 overall NFL draft pick, Ryan Leaf, is not in a great position with law enforcement officials. On Friday, after an acquaintance accused him of stealing oxycodone pills, Leaf was arrested, after posting his $76,000 bail, the former star QB was released. Then, on Sunday, a home owner in Helena, MT came home to discover Ryan Leaf inside their home. After informing them he had accidentally entered the wrong address, he left. After noticing their prescription medications were missing, the owners called the cops and eventually picked Leaf out of a lineup on Monday.
When subsequently searching Leaf's home, the police found 89 hydrocodone pills sitting loose in his bathrobe pocket, although those were not the same pills he burgled on Sunday. A search into the GPS in Leaf's truck revealed that he had been at the home in question, along with another 5-10 in the area and the police are investigating whether he burgled any of those homes as well.
"When I advised him that he was going to be charged with another count of burglary for the events that occurred, he didn't show any surprise—and he didn’t make any confessions or admissions," Central Montana Drug Task Force Commander Chris Hickman said.
Leaf, who is currently on probation after a 2009 buglary of a player's home while he was an assistant coach for West Texas A&M, could be extradited back to Texas and sentenced to legit jail time after these two incidents.
I'd say he's in big trouble. Turns out having a rocket arm is only part of the puzzle. Clearly Leaf is no brain surgeon, but I can't help wondering if his years as a superstar athlete growing up, where he likely was never held accountable for anything because he could throw a pigskin really far, aren't the biggest factor here. Combine that with the pain pills that college and NFL players gobble like Tic-Tacs and it's no wonder he has a problem.
[AP]
It's going to be a long baseball season in Charm City: the once-proud Orioles franchise has basically no chance to even come close to competing in the brutal AL East, they hired DAN DUQUETTE as the new GM (despite being out of baseball for a mere decade), the young pitchers haven't developed, and other than Matt Wieters and Adam Jones, there really isn't much in the way of talent on the roster. As if things weren't bad enough already, the Orioles took on the State College of Florida (formerly Manatee Community College) in an exhibition game...and LOST!Playing eight innings on Tuesday, the Orioles (who played Wieters and Jones the first five innings) managed a mere one run against the vaunted SCF pitching staff. This isn't the first victory for the former Manatees against a big-league club, in 2009 the school took on and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates (who featured a young Andrew McCutchen in the late innings.) That Pirates team finished the year 62-99. For Orioles fans everywhere, let's hope that the birds don't suffer a similar record...
Sure, it's just one game and anything can happen on a given day, but at the same time, these are supposed to be professional baseball players and they just lost to a community college.
Sorry Baltimore, there's no hope in sight.
[Bradenton Herald]
The Masters begins later this week but the festivities begin long before the commencement of actual tournament play. While taking a practice round on Monday, young Martin Kaymer, a hotshot rising in the Tour's rankings, participated in the course tradition of trying to skip his tee shot on the water of the 16th hole. Shooting second in the video below, Kaymer not only skips the ball perfectly atop the water he even scores a hole-in-one!
Golf is pretty boring but that was awesome. And for a different angle and closer shot of the ball on the green, hit the READ MORE button below.
no comments
After having one of the best seasons ever put up by a tight end, the Patriots' Rob Gronkowski has been enjoying his offseason even with the added encumberance of a walking boot after surgery on his ankle. His latest adventure, a 1920s casino night party with Playboy (and Rays third baseman Evan Longoria's girlfriend, Jamie Edmondson) clad—sans shirt—in a vest and tie. How very Chippendale's of him!
Is there anyone who has as much fun as Gronk?
[Jamie Edmondson]
no comments
A few weeks ago some photos were released of Bar Refaeli (or as I like to think of her, "the future ex-Mrs. Slanch") playing tennis in her underwear and while still images are nice, video is far far better.
Doubles anyone?
[Barstool Sports - Boston]
no comments
Russ Berkman scored four tickets to the Masters' practice round and the Seattle resident was very excited to come down and enjoy the scene. He wasn't the only one excited though, Sierra, Berkman's dog, found the tickets particularly enticing, so much so that he ATE them!So, what are you to do when you've been planning on a special trip for a long time only to have a cliche, like your dog eating the tickets, happen? Obviously you grab some hydrogen peroxide (apparently safe for dogs to drink) and get your pup to puke up the tickets.
Of course, that just leaves you with a pile of dog vomit and pieces of the tickets. Undaunted, Berkman combed through the slop and pieced the tickets back together as best as possible. Then, with the (gross) evidence in hand, he took a photo and sent it to the Augusta officials to see if they would maybe give him replacement tickets.
Fortunately for Berkman and his companions, Augusta did just that, good news for Berkman and even better news for the ticket takers at Augusta who now don't have to touch his dog vomit tickets...
[Golf Devil Ball]
no comments
