Wednesday, October 09, 2024

Houston 30, TCU 19

A pleasant surprise! Last Friday, the Cougars finally found some offensive momentum in route to an upset of the heavily-favored TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth.

The Good: Starting in place of struggling Donovan Smith, quarterback Zeon Chriss provided the spark the offense needed. He completed 15 of 18 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown. Even better, he ran for a 71-yard touchdown late in the second quarter. The UH offense amassed 361 total yards in this game (207 of them on the ground) and did not turn the ball over.

Donovan Smith finally entered the game in the fourth quarter after Chriss got hurt and led the Cougars on a clock-chewing 14-play drive that ended in a field goal. Credit to him for continuing to be a competitor even though he lost his job as starter.

On the defensive side of the ball, defensive back A.J. Haulcy pulled down two interceptions. The Coogs forced four Frog turnovers in total. While the story of this game was that Houston's offense finally got on track, The defense's improvement continues be a bright spot to the 2024 season. Through six games last year, the Coogs ranked 114th in total defense. Through six games this season, they are ranked 22nd. 

Kicker Jack Martin scored his first points of the season: three field goals and three extra points. Two of those field goals accounted for UH's only points in the second half and kept the TCU from being able to establish momentum for a second-half comeback.

The Bad: Since losing to Georgia in the 2022 national championship game, the Frogs are 8-10. Head coach Sonny Dykes's seat might be getting warm...

The Ugly: Former head coach Dana Holgorsen now works as a defensive consultant for TCU, even as he continues to collect buyout paychecks from the University of Houston. It doesn't look like TCU is getting their money's worth from him, either, as Ryan explains:

Dana Holgorsen’s job at TCU is to prepare their defense for the opponent’s offense. Who better than Dana to get them ready for UH, right?

Houston scored six times (3 TDs, 3 FGS) against the Dana-prepped Frog defense. That’s the most scoring drives UH has had in Big 12 play, including the nine league games Dana coached last season. The six scoring drives match the combined total from Dana’s last two games at Houston.

What It Means: In addition to breaking the back-to-back shutout streak, the Cougars broke a nine-game losing streak to TCU, stretching back to the Southwest Conference. Until last Friday, the Cougars hadn't beaten TCU at Amon Carter Stadium since 1989.

All things considered, this was a milestone win for Willie Fritz and his team.

The Cougars now have a week off to enjoy the win, heal and prepare before going back on the road to face Kansas at Arrowhead Park in Kansas City. 

The stars at night are big and bright...


Taken at Corinne's aunt's farm outside of Mexia, Texas last weekend. I must say that the "Night mode" on my iPhone 14's camera works pretty well... 

You can choose two out of three

A great diagram:

Granted, "successful city" means different things to different people; to me, that means a metropolitan area that is economically vital and a place where people want to live, work and play. 

That means that there are going to be a lot of people traveling around said city, and there are trade-offs when it comes to how people want to travel around. If the private automobile is the preferred method of travel (as it is in most US cities), then there is going to be congestion. 

We can't "build our way out if it;" it just doesn't work that way.

Trust me; I've been in the transportation planning profession for a quarter-century.

Tuesday, October 01, 2024

Houston 0, #18 Iowa State 20

For the first time since the 1994, Houston's football program has suffered back-to-back shutouts.

The Good: the Cougar defense has been a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season. They held the 18th-ranked Cyclones to a field goal until late in the third quarter, and to a respectable 20 points for the entire game.  

Brad Towns calls UH defensive lineman Zykeius Strong's breakup of a Iowa State pass in the end zone "the play of the year" and breaks down how Strong as well as other defensive players all did their job to hold ISU to a field goal early in the game. Towns explains: 

In a rough season with many dark clouds and disappointment, these are the small rays of light that get me excited. The defense has shown that it can be turned around and contribute winning plays.

The Bad: Obviously it doesn't matter how well the defense plays when, for the second game in a row, the offense can't manage so much as a field goal. In addition to not scoring any points, the offense could only convert one of ten third downs and was 0 for 2 on fourth down. Donovan Smith had another rough game, completing only 8 passes for 77 yards and an interception.

The Ugly: In the fourth quarter, an Iowa State defender slipped and allowed a UH receiver to get wide open in the end zone for what could have been an easy touchdown. However, instead of seeing the open receiver, Smith threw into the corner of the endzone, where his pass was intercepted. This play exemplifies Smith's struggles at quarterback:

via GIPHY

What It Means: Martin Marroquin counsels Houston football fans to find "realistic expectations" for their team this fall:

Developing a culture is important to success, and having that many new faces means you’re starting from ground zero in every facet, more so with a new staff leading those players. This should never have been seen as an overnight transformation. To compare: Kelvin Sampson started off with a losing season and didn’t get to the NCAA Tournament until year four, and he only needs 13 players to buy in.

Most of the UH fanbase seemed happy to move on from Dana Holgorsen and equally glad to have Willie Fritz as the man to come in and right the ship. And here we are, five games into the new regime and clinging to whatever hope is available.

Outside of the win against Rice, the team has found the endzone just twice in four games, including donuts in the last two outings. Still, I think Fritz deserves an opportunity to establish his culture and build his roster before fans turn away. Even with how poorly things are going. 

Martin's right, of course. Fritz was not going to turn things around in just one season and fans need to be patient and enjoy "the small successes" (such as the defense). But that's going to be hard for the fanbase to do, especially since at this point it seems unlikely that the Cougars will win another game this season. 

Next up for the Cougars is a trip to Fort Worth for a Friday night showdown against the Horned Frogs. Can they avoid three shutouts in a row?


Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Houston 0, Cincinnati 34

The Cougars were supposed to make a road trip to Cincinnati last weekend. Unfortunately, they never bothered to show up

Ryan says there was no good or bad - just ugly - in this game, and I agree, so...

The Ugly: In addition to being shut out, the Cougars were outgained, 362 yards to 233 (they only managed 99 passing yards), managed only 12 first downs the entire game (the Bearcats had 22), turned the ball over three times (Cinci had no turnovers), missed what should have been an easy field goal, and were penalized seven times for 68 yards. 

In short, pretty much everything that could have gone wrong for the Cougars did.

What It Means: The team appeared to be making progress over the past couple of weeks, but took a big step backwards last Saturday. Through the season's first four games, UH's offense has been utterly abysmal, as Ryan explains: 

Houston is now 129th nationally (out of 133) in scoring at 13.0 ppg. The Cougars have scored 7, 12, 33, 0 for a total of 52 points in their first four games.

Yikes.

Next up for the Cougars is #18-ranked Iowa State at TDECU Stadium. This will be the very first meeting between the two programs.

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Houston 33, Rice 7

The Cougars easily avenged last year's loss to their crosstown rivals.

The Good: After sputtering through the first two games of the season, the UH offense finally came to life. Quarterback Donavan Smith passed for 142 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for two more scores, and  threw no interceptions. RB Stacy Sneed scored on a 65-yard touchdown run of his own. Mehki Mews returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown as well. The Cougar defense kept the Owls off the scoreboard until late in the fourth quarter, made an interception that led to an easy UH touchdown, and limited Rice to 159 total offensive yards for the entire game.

The Bad: While he had a good game overall, Smith only completed 12 of 21 passes and appears to continue to struggle with his passing decisions. The Coogs' third-down efficiency - they only converted 6 of 14 attempts - still isn't great. Two UH defensive players were ejected for targeting.

What It Means: Rice is unlikely to be mistaken for a good team this season, so it's hard to tell just how much this victory means in terms of the Coogs' prospects for the remainder of the fall. But getting the win - the first of the Willie Fritz era - and bringing the Bayou Bucket back to Cullen Boulevard is nevertheless a milestone in this team's rebuilding process.

The Cougars now travel to Cincinnati to begin Big 12 conference play.

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Perugia's Minimetrò

One more post about our Thanksgiving trip to Italy almost two years ago. This one is inspired by a YouTube video I recently came across.  

The Italian town of Perugia, where Corinne and I stayed while visiting her nephew and niece-in-law over the holiday, is served by a automated people mover system called the "Minimetrò." Corinne and I rode the Minimetrò during our stay in Perugia, and I took some pictures.



The single-line system is explored in the first six-and-a-half minutes of the YouTube video linked above (the rest of the video is dedicated to another "gadgetbahn" in Bologna) and provides a pretty comprehensive overview of the system. Unlike the person in the video, we did not ride it end-to-end; we just took it a few stops from the Case Bruciate neighborhood (where Corinne's nephew and niece-in-law lived) to the city center to do some exploring and shopping.



The three-kilometer-long line opened in 2008. It has has seven stations and runs from Perugia's medieval city center, located at the top of a hill, to a large park-and-ride on the outskirts of town. The purpose of this line is to reduce automobile traffic in the old city center by giving people a way to get there without using their vehicle.



The system is serviced by small cabs that can probably carry a maximum 15 to 20 passengers each. They come at fairly-frequent intervals - as short as 60 seconds between cabs - so you're never waiting long at a station for one to arrive. Here's a picture of Corinne entering a cab (and carrying a bag of Perugina chocolate!) at the Pincetto station in the city center. 





The cabs are pulled between stations by cables, which are plainly visible in the picture above. A single ride currently costs €1.50, although a variety of fare options are available.

The Minimetrò also provides connectivity to Italy's larger railway network by way of a station near Perugia's main train station. It crosses just north of the main train platform (see photo above) and there is a walkway between the two stations.



The map of the MiniMetrò system on the urbanrail.net website suggests that a second, north-south line connecting to the existing line in the city center is planned. 

My overall impression of the Minimetrò was that it was prompt, comfortable and easy to use (it didn't hurt that the signage was in English as well as Italian). Given the relatively small volumes of people the system can carry, I'm not sure if it is truly an efficient mode of transportation. However, since Perugia's population is just over 160 thousand people, maybe it doesn't need to carry large volumes of people in order to be effective. 

In terms of public transportation technologies, it is certainly unique.

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Houston 12, Oklahoma 16

Well... The Coogs covered the spread:

Jackson Arnold threw two touchdown passes and No. 15 Oklahoma held off Houston 16-12 on Saturday night.

The Sooners (2-0) struggled to move the ball and punted eight times. The Cougars (0-2) outgained Oklahoma 318-249 in total yards, including 260-174 in passing.

Oklahoma got a late interception from Robert Spears-Jennings to end one drive and a late safety from Gracen Halton to extend a slim lead.

“We did enough things wrong to deserve to lose,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said. “We were fortunate to find a way to win. Overall, our body of work on offense not very good today. I’m really proud of the guys that stepped up when they had an opportunity."

The Good: The UH defense only allowed OU to score 14 points - none after halftime - and seven of those were the result of a short field caused by a muffed punt (more on that in a moment). They picked off Oklahoma QB Jackson Arnold once, sacked him three times, and limited the Sooners to 4-14 on third down conversion attempts. 

The Bad: If Oklahoma's offense sputtered, Houston's wasn't much better. They themselves could only manage 4 third-down conversions on 15 attempts and only gained 58 rushing yards. Ryan takes note of Houston's abysmal offensive numbers through two games:

The Cougars are 129th in scoring (out of 133) at 9.5 points per game. Only three teams have scored fewer touchdowns than UH.

The Coogs are 130th in third down conversion percentage. UH was 4/7 converting on 3rd and short (1-4 yards) vs. OU, with the notable difference in attempts being way up from week one (UH was 0/2 vs. UNLV). UH is 2/14 converting on third and long this season (9+ yards).

The Ugly: Punt returner Mekhi Mews was charged with a muffed punt on Houston's ten yard line early in the game. Although reviews suggested he didn't actually touch the ball, the referees did not reverse their call and the Sooners subsequently scored. The Cougars failed on their two-point conversion attempt after they scored early in the third quarter (way too early to start chasing the points, IMO). And a poorly-executed run from the Coogs' own five yard line resulted in a safety that effectively ended the game.

What It Means: The Sooners made just enough mistakes to lose; however, the Cougars made just enough errors of their own to be unable to take advantage and pull off the upset. I don't want to take anything away from this result; facing the 15th-ranked team in the nation in front of 83,653 fans and losing by only four points is an accomplishment, especially given how poorly the Cougars played a week ago, and certainly suggests that this team is improving. 

But wow... What could have been.

Next up for the Coogs is crosstown rival Rice, at TDECU Stadium. Can they avenge last year's loss?

Wednesday, September 04, 2024

Houston 7, UNLV 27

 Yeah, it's going to be a long season.

The University of Houston Cougars football team endured a tough 27-7 loss to the UNLV Rebels in their home season opener on Saturday evening.

It marked a challenging start for Houston, as the Cougars went scoreless through the first three quarters, trailing 14-0 at halftime. The Cougars' lone score came in the final minute of the fourth quarter when wide receiver Joseph Manjack IV managed a 2-yard touchdown, narrowing the deficit to 27-7. However, this late effort was not enough to overcome a sluggish offensive performance.

If the 7-27 score, with the Coogs' lone touchdown coming in garbage time, sounds familiar, that's because it is. (They were passing out rally towels to fans commemorating the tenth anniversary of TDECU Stadium's opening. I guess the team decided to do some commemoration of its own...)

The UH defense, in spite of some lapses, actually held its own. They gave up a respectable 20 points and 308 yards of offense, even though they were oftentimes put in bad positions by the offense. They intercepted Las Vegas once and stuffed them on fourth down once. 

The offense, on the other hand, was abysmal. Quarterback Donavan Smith had his worst game in a UH uniform, completing only 15 of 30 passes for 135 yards and two interceptions. He looked tentative, held on to the ball too long, and made poor decisions; it simply wasn't a good game for him. It certainly didn't help that he has no protection from what is probably the weakest offensive line in recent UH football program history. It can neither pass block - Smith was sacked six times - nor run block, as evidenced by the Cougars' pathetic 38 total rushing yards.

It's true that the football program is adjusting to new players, new coaches, new schemes, new everything. It's also true that the Rebels are not a bad team - they won nine games, were Mountain West Conference runners-up, and went to a bowl last year. But I was nevertheless very surprised at just how bad the Cougars looked last Saturday: aside from the poor offense, there were special teams miscues, missed tackles, and too many penalties (ten for 74 yards). This team has a lot of work ahead of them.

Ryan runs some numbers from Fritz's "horrific" debut, while Brad believes that, with this loss, the Cougars "set the bar so low that it is nearly impossible to not improve" as the season progresses:

I don’t believe that hardships build character. I believe that hardships reveal character, and your response to hardships is what builds character. You might also hear that competition makes you stronger. That is partially true because competition reveals your weaknesses. How you address those weaknesses is what makes you stronger.

Next up for the Cougars is a trip to Norman to play the Oklahoma Sooners. They are 29-point underdogs.

Thursday, August 29, 2024

2024 Houston Cougar Football Preview

And there is much rejoicing, as college football season has returned.

Looking Back: Houston's first year in the Big 12 was a disappointment, as the team went 4-8 overall and 2-6 in their new conference. Of their four wins, three were decided by a combined total of six points. The Cougars lost to Rice, TCU and Cincinnati teams that all ended their seasons with losing records, and were shut out for the first time since 2000. At the end of the year, the University of Houston had no choice but to admit that their headline-grabbing gamble on Dana Holgorsen was an expensive failure and fire him.

The Big Story for 2024: For the Cougars, it's new head coach Willie Fritz. Fritz has extensive experience at almost every college coaching level and spent the last eight years at Tulane. 

Houston changes coaches as college football itself enters a new era: both conference realignment - welcome to the "Power 4" era - and an expanded, 12-team playoff will completely change the sport's landscape in 2024.

Reasons for Optimism: It's hard not to be optimistic about Willie Fritz, who brings a history of success to Houston. Tom Fornelli of cbssports.com explains:

After eight seasons at Tulane, where Fritz went 23-4 the last two years and beat USC in the Cotton Bowl, he's getting a crack at a Power Four job in Houston. The Big 12 is wide open for the foreseeable future. We don't know which, if any, will emerge as the league's dominant force. But given Fritz's successful history, don't rule out Houston.

At the very least, I expect Fritz will prove to be a better team motivator, and a better gameday coach, than Dana Holgorsen. That will hopefully account for some success this fall.

Some talent is returning as well. Donovan Smith (64.5% completion rate, 2,801 passing yards, 22 TDs and 13 interceptions in 2023) and returns as starting quarterback. Parker Jenkins (464 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on 99 attempts last season) returns at RB, Joseph Manjack (46 receptions for 577 yards and 6 TDs in 2023) returns at wide receiver, and Tank Jenkins returns on the O-line. On the other side of the ball, defensive back A. J. Haulcy, who led the team with 98 tackles last year, and linebacker Jamal Morris return.  

Reasons for Pessimism: Stop me if you've heard this before (last year, in fact!), but both the schedule and significant roster turnover are reasons I think the Cougars are going to struggle in 2024. 

The schedule is going to be brutal; in fact, Phil Steele thinks it's the fifth-toughest in the nation. The new-look Big 12 has five teams ranked in the AP preseason top 25.  The Cougars face four of them, along with former Big 12 powerhouse Oklahoma (now in the SEC). 

As for the roster, there's been a lot of churn: 63 newcomers on this year's team, to be exact. While significant turnover is probably the new normal for every team in the era of the transfer portal, 63 new faces is a lot for the program to absorb. It will take time for the team to find cohesiveness.

Finally, with a new staff comes new philosophies, new schemes and new personalities. While I'm optimistic about Willie Fritz in the longer term, in the shorter term he's going to face struggles while he instills his culture and vision for the program.

What the Computers Think: The Cougars are ranked 78th (out of 134 FBS schools) in ESPN's preseason Football Power Index and their game-by-game matchup predictor gives the Cougars more than a 50% chance of winning only two games: UNLV and Rice. Massey makes the same prediction, as do Sagarin's beginning-of-season ratings (when home field advantage is taken into consideration). The Congrove algorithm is even more pessimistic, predicting a winless season for the Cougars. Ouch!

What the Humans Think: When it comes to the Cougars, not much. The Coogs were picked 15th (out of 16 schools) in the Big 12 preseason media poll. Three of the eight sportswriters at cbssports.com predict that Houston will finish dead last in the Big 12, and only one (Dennis Dodd) thinks they will end the season higher than 13th. Heartland College Sports foresees another 4-8 campaign for the Cougars, while 247sports.com predicts a two-win season. CollegeFootballNews is slightly more optimistic, setting Houston's win total at 5.5, but thinks the only "likely win" is Rice.

What I think: Willie Fritz is by all accounts a good coach, but he's not a miracle worker. He's dealing with a roster that saw a lot of offseason turnover and he's facing a tough schedule. While I hope to see improvement as the season progresses, the team is likely to experience growing pains.

I'm predicting a three-win season, with home victories against UNLV, Rice, and Baylor. 

It probably won't be pretty. Rebuilding years usually aren't. But at least the UH faithful can enjoy the new videoboard and Trill Burgers while they watch the work in progress.

Saturday, August 24, 2024

An unsettling thought

Though now mostly forgotten, Nazi Germany's U-boat campaign targeting the United States and its allies in the early days of World War II was Pearl Harbor-level catastrophe. U-boats operated along the Atlantic Coast, in the Caribbean and in the Gulf of Mexico and torpedoed freighters, tankers and transports with impunity. Between January and August of 1942, when the Allies were finally able to deploy effective countermeasures, the Nazis were able to sink 609 ships, destroy millions of tons of vital shipping, and claim the lives of thousands of sailors, both military and civilian. The operation also caused Mexico to enter the war on the side of the Allies.

This chron.com article about the now-almost-forgotten campaign and Galveston's role in defense against it contained this tidbit:

Rumors flew wildly, of secret German submarine bases in Mexico and crewmen coming ashore to go shopping or to the movies in Houston or New Orleans.

Which got me to thinking: if we had the same vectors of misinformation and conspiracy theories in the early 1940s as we do today - namely, social media - would the United States even had won World War II? One can only imagine the discord, disunity and chaos that Imperial Japan or Nazi Germany would have been able to sow had such technologies existed at the time.

It's unsettling to think about, especially since entities that wish to do harm to the United States are employing these exact practices today. 

Houston's poaches New Mexico's Athletics Director

Welcome, Eddie Nuñez.

Eddie Nunez has agreed to a five-year deal to become athletic director at the University of Houston, the school announced Saturday.

Nunez will leave the University of New Mexico for the Cougars and the Big 12 Conference. He was named the Lobos' athletic director in 2017, and his title was changed to include vice president in 2021.

Nunez, who played basketball for former coach Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators, also worked for LSU's athletic department, and will now head a university trying to gain its footing in the clogged Big 12. He will be introduced Wednesday.

"Eddie Nunez brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success during a time of great transformation in college athletics," Houston president Renu Khator said in a statement. "His leadership will be critical as we continue to elevate our athletics programs, enhance the student-athlete experience and build on the tremendous momentum at the University of Houston."

Chris Pezman's six-and-a-half year stint as Houston's Athletics Director surprisingly and unceremoniously came to an end last June. Pezman never really lived up to his expectations at the helm of UH athletics; his contract extension for Dana Holgorsen was ill-advised and many of UH's non-revenue sports have been struggling. Apparently his relationship with President Khator became increasingly strained over time as well. After a two-month-long search, Nuñez was formally introduced as Pezman's replacement last Wednesday.

Nuñez seems to have been well-regarded at New Mexico, but he faces a tough set of challenges at Houston. UH's athletics budget is dead last of all Power Four schools, and fundraising has been anemic. In the NIL era, that's a recipe for disaster. Khator, for her part, has a vision to double the University of Houston's athletics budget. That's going to be a tall order for Nuñez; however, he was apparently successful fundraising in New Mexico. According to Miami athletics director Dan Radakovich, "Nuñez is a 'relationship person' who excels at raising money."

“He is also very gifted as a fundraiser,” Radakovich said. “You can get a lot of people together that you think might want to give some dollars, but it’s another thing to ask for them. And Eddie will ask for the gifts. The University of Houston has hired someone that is going to help take them to the next level.” 

I hope that proves to be the case. 

In addition to finding new sources of revenue fo UH athletics, Nuñez will also have to address the struggling non-revenue sports (baseball, softball, womens basketball) that Pezman essentially ignored.

Nuñez's contract will pay him a base salary of five million dollars over five years.

Another unique Houston air connection comes to an end

I always hate to see Houston lose direct connections to interesting international cities as well as service from flagship foreign carriers, but this doesn't surprise me

Singapore Airlines announced this week it will suspend its service between Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport and Manchester, England, in April 2025.

The route is the lone service from Singapore Airlines in the Houston market. The decision was made "in line with its capacity adjustments," according to a news release.

Manchester is the only airport with direct flights and from IAH via Singapore Airlines. 

As the article notes, Singapore Airlines has been serving Houston since 2008. Originally, the flights operated with a stopover at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow; however, in 2016 the stopover shifted from Moscow to Manchester.

The Houston-Manchester flights are considered fifth freedom flights. A fifth freedom flight is when a plane departs and lands in two different countries, neither of which is the home country for the airline. They are allowed when the flight will have originated or will end at an airport in the airline's home base.

In the case of the Houston-to-Manchester flight, the plane continues to Singapore following its landing in Manchester. The flight starts in Singapore when going in reverse.

After the service change in 2025, Singapore Airlines will still fly to Manchester; it simply will not continue on to Houston anymore. 

It was an interesting service, but it always seemed sort of odd because there doesn't seem to be a lot of economic or social ties between Houston and Manchester.  Ben Shlappig at One Mile at at Time seems to agree, suggesting a couple of reasons for the discontinuation:

  • For those traveling between Houston and Singapore, the travel time from Houston to Singapore is comparable via Los Angeles or San Francisco (compared to via Manchester)
  • I can’t imagine the Houston to Manchester market is that huge, especially on a year-round basis; if it had significant demand, you’d think it’s a route that United would operate, and United has a huge advantage, given its transatlantic joint venture and loyal customer base in the area

So my assumption has been that the route is just performing okay(ish), with a moderate amount of demand between Houston and Manchester, plus substantial demand between Houston and Singapore. Furthermore, obviously Singapore Airlines is committed to the Manchester to Singapore market.

Some of the commenters on Schlappig's post seem to think the reason is because Singapore's premium product isn't as good as other carriers flying between Houston and Asia, such as Qatar Airways, rendering it less competitive for high-end local travelers.

Singapore doubtlessly operated this service because it wanted to tap into to fellow Star Alliance member United's hub at IAH. In that regard, Simple Flying seems to wonder why Singapore didn't choose to operate the flight via another Star Alliance hub in Europe, such as Brussels or Zürich, in order to provide better connectivity to the alliance's network. (Nonstop flights from Houston to Switzerland would have been awesome!)

To be sure, Shlappig notes that Singapore Airlines is officially "suspending" the service, rather than cutting it entirely. But I'd be surprised to see it ever resume.

So, if you have a desire to fly nonstop from Houston to Manchester or direct to Singapore, you have until April of next year to do so.

Thursday, August 15, 2024

No, I'm not still bitter

Last June, I made a trip to Nashville, Tennessee for a family reunion. It was my first visit to Music City since I was a kid. 


While I was there, I spent some time walking around downtown. I listened to some live music, enjoyed some Tennessee whiskey, and took in some landmarks.


I got to see the Ryman Auditorium, which is the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry...


...and paid a visit to the interesting Johnny Cash museum. (Did you know Johnny Cash, while working as a radio interceptor for the US Air Force in Germany, was the first American to learn of Joseph Stalin's death? Or that the Man in Black appeared on Sesame Street in the early '70s?)


I also took a stroll across the Cumberland River on the pedestrian bridge. There I saw Nissan Stadium, the home of the Tennessee Titans. It opened in 1999, two years after Bud Adams moved what was then known as the Houston Oilers to Tennessee. 


As somebody who grew up a Houston Oilers fan, I saluted it appropriately.

I'm not still bitter. Not at all.

The Paris Olympics

Another Summer Olympiad has come and gone. I have some thoughts.

Did we win or tie? The United States won the most medals overall, with 126. China came in second, with 91. Great Britain, host nation France, and Australia rounded out the top five.

However, the United States is one of the few countries that prefers to tally national Olympics performance by overall medals; the rest of the world seems to prefer a "gold first" tallying system. Under that method, the United States and China are tied as the most successful National Olympic Committees in the XXXIII Olympiad, with 40 medals apiece. 

But even that method has a tie-breaker: the number of silver medals awarded. In that case, the United States still comes out ahead because its athletes won 44 silvers, to China's 27.

Italy had the most "aluminum metals," i.e. fourth-place finishes, with 26. I'd make fun, except that the United States came in second in that category, with 22. I've always felt bad for athletes who just miss the podium. It must almost feel better to come in 5th or 6th, rather than 4th.

Welcome to the medals club! Albania, Cape Verde, Dominica and St. Lucia all won their first-ever medals at these Olympics, the latter two winning golds. The Refugee Olympic Team, which has been competing since 2016, won its first medal as well. 

Botswana and Guatemala have previously medaled but won their first-ever golds in Paris.

Medals per capita. The aforementioned Dominica and St. Lucia leave Paris as the world leaders in the production of gold medals per capita, with one gold medal per 67,400 and 184,100 residents, respectively. For comparison's sake, the United States won one gold for every 8,397,000 residents, while China won one gold for every 35,242,000 residents. 

The most productive nation in overall medals is Grenada, with one medal per 56,300 residents. On the other end of the spectrum is India, which didn't win any gold medals and whose athletes only produced one medal per 235,152,000 residents. There are many reasons as to why the world's most populous nation underperforms in the Olympics.  

They weren't missed. Russia might be a traditional Olympics heavyweight, but that country (and neighboring Belorussia) were completely absent from the 2024 Olympics, both having been banned due to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. 

Given that Russia's "ban" from the 2020 summer games (as well as the 2022 winter games) following a massive doping scandal was a complete joke, I can't say I was upset at the country's complete absence from this year's games. The IOC should continue to ban Russia from all Olympic contests until at least Vladimir Putin dies.

A handful of Russian and Belorussian athletes were able to compete in Paris as part of an "Individual Neutral Athletes" team.

Want to see how your favorite college performed in the Olympics? There's a table for that. It ranks the number of medals produced per NCAA-participating institution, regardless of whether the student-athletes of a given university competed for the United States or some other nation. Stanford is the clear winner with 39 medals, with Cal and Texas a distant second and third, respectively. 

The University of Houston accounted for two medals, both in the men's 4x100 relay. South Africa's Shaun Maswanganyi, who won silver, and Great Britain's Louie Hinchliffe, who won bronze, both compete on the Cougar track and field team under coach (and Olympic legend) Carl Lewis.

They just keep getting faster. Speaking of Carl Lewis, 40 years ago he won gold in the Men's 100 meter sprint with a time of 9.99 seconds. That wouldn't have even been fast enough to qualify for the final round of the 2024 race. American Noah Lyles broke a 20-year American drought in the event by winning gold with a time of 9.784 - just five one-thousandths of a second ahead of Jamaica's Kishane Thompson - in a finish that even had the announcer fooled.

Unlikely up-and-comer? The South American nation winning the most medals was Brazil, with 20 (and who thought that country would become a gymnastics powerhouse?). The South American country with the second-highest number of medals was... Ecuador. 

Four years ago I joked about Ecuador becoming an Olympic powerhouse after they won three medals in Tokyo. Obviously they've got a ways to go before they reach that level, but the five medals the Ecuadorians won in Paris matches the total number of medals the county has won in all previous Olympics combined. 

An Urban Olympad. I really enjoyed the city-focused format of these games. From the Opening Ceremony featuring a parade of nations along the Seine, to the Olympic flame being located adjacent to the Louvre (rather than in a stadium), to the beach volleyball court located in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, to the bicycle races being held in the city streets, the games' organizers did a great job making all of Paris the backdrop, rather than the fancy, specially-built venues designed to be the centerpieces of previous Olympics. Most of the event venues used for these Olympics were either previously existing or were temporary.

A word on NBC's coverage. If you've read this blog for any length of time you know that I love to trash NBC's Olympics coverage. However, I really don't have a lot to complain about this time around.

For those able to watch it, NBC's daytime coverage was - dare I say it? - actually pretty good. They switched between events as they occurred and provided live look-ins on events being shown on other channels or streaming platforms (and told you where to find them if you wanted to continue watching). Since it was all live there was little in the way of maudlin "human interest" stories and other pointless tidbits that detract from the overall coverage of the games. Sometimes they even covered sports that did not feature American athletes! 

NBC's primetime coverage, on the other hand, was their typical formulaic, over-edited digest that we all love to hate. But even then they finally seems to be getting away from the fiction that their prime-time coverage - which is happening in the wee hours of the morning in Paris - is somehow "live." In an age of streaming services, push notifications and social media, NBC appears to have accepted that the days when a single network can gate keep the entire Olympics are now long gone.

I still think that replacing Bob Costas with Mike Tirico was one of biggest improvements NBC has ever made in regards to their Olympics coverage.  Tirico just needs to brush up on his vexillology before his next Olympics broadcast.

Time lists the twelve most memorable things of the 2024 Olympics, while Yahoo Sports breaks down the biggest events of the games by each day of competition.

Assisi

(This entry has been sitting on my computer, half-finished, for almost two years, so I finally decided to complete it.)

As part of our trip to Italy in November 2022, Corinne and I made a brief trip to Assisi. It is just southeast of Perugia, where we stayed with Corinne's nephew and niece-in-law for Thanksgiving. 

Assisi is religiously significant and is a UNESCO heritage site. Its Sister Cities include other pilgrimage towns, such as Bethlehem and Santiago de Compostela, as well as a city in California that is named after Assisi's most famous resident.

Assisi is like so many other villages in central Italy's Umbria region: founded in ancient times, nestled atop a hillside, full of medieval buildings and picturesque cobblestone streets. Here's a view of the town overlooked by the Rocca Maggiore fortress. 


Another Assisi street scene, featuring a small restaurant. Timelessly charming spaces like these can found in almost any medieval Italian hilltop town.


This is Assisi Cathedral, where Francis worshipped. The church was begun in 1140 and completed by 1253. It is an example of Romanesque architecture.

At the door of Assisi Cathedral is a sculpture of a lion eating a Christian martyr: a not-so-subtle reminder of the struggle of the young Christian church within the pagan Roman Empire.


The interior of Assisi Cathedral, with a statue of St. Francis on the left. Born into a wealthy family, Francis swore off that lifestyle in his twenties and embraced a life of poverty and penance. He founded the Franciscan religious order in 1210 and today is one of the most venerated figures in Christianity.


Another Assisi street scene. I could never get tired of walking these quaint, centuries-old cobblestone streets.


One of Francis's first followers was Claire, who founded a Franciscan religious order for nuns. She was canonized in 1255; construction of the Basilica of St. Claire began two years later. The flying buttresses to the left were added in the 1300s. St. Claire's remains are in the church's crypt.



Assisi overlooks the countryside of Umbria. When we visited in late November it was misty but not particularly cold.

The Piazza del Comune, which is Assisi's central square. The Temple of Minerva on the right was built by the Romans in the 1st century BC; it now houses a church. The adjacent bell tower was built in the 13th century. 


The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, which was begun in 1228, the same year Francis was canonized as a saint. Christian pilgrims come to this church to pay respect to Francis, whose remains are located within the church. 




Another view of the Basilica, which features both Romanesque and Gothic architectural elements.

On our way to the Basilica we stopped at a cafe to use the restroom and get a refreshment. A nun came in, spoke to us in English, and upon discovering we were from the United States offered us a blessing: a charming memory of Assisi we'll always have.

Corinne and I downloaded and listened to a Rick Steves audiotour of Assisi as we walked through the town, which we found very helpful. For more Rick Steves commentary on Assisi, check out this video (beginning at the 13:48 mark).

Thursday, July 11, 2024

Beryl and Black Cat

Greetings from the fabulous metropolis of Sulphur, Louisiana*, where Corinne and I are spending a rather impromptu "vacation" on account of the fact that we don't have any power at our home in Houston. After some unbearably sweaty and sleepless nights at home, and with the understanding that Centerpoint would not be restoring our electricity anytime soon, we realized that we needed to decamp to someplace that had internet access and air conditioning. This was the closest place available.

Hurricane Beryl - which was originally expected to make landfall well south of here but continued to track northward in spite of the projections of pretty much every meteorologist - made landfall early Monday morning. The east side of the eyewall roared over us between 8 and 11 am that day, causing our townhome to literally shake in the wind and driving rain.

It was a stressful and exhausting experience, to say the least; I last hunkered down through a hurricane during Ike in 2008 and this was just as agonizing as I remembered, if not more so. I continually worried that a massive wind gust would blow out a window or rip off our roof, in spite of the fact that Beryl was "only" a Category 1. I was very relieved when the worst passed through and the winds began to calm down around noon. We lost power at about 8:30 am Monday morning, but the house itself thankfully does not appear to have sustained any major damage.

As Beryl approached on Sunday, we noticed that Black Cat (his real name is "Orion" but we've always called him "Black Cat" because that's what Kirby called him when he was a toddler) was failing. He was 16 1/2 years old, which is pretty aged for a cat, and I noticed earlier in the week that he was eating less and the limp in his back leg was getting worse. But as of Saturday evening, he seemed to be doing fine, and even contentedly hung out with me in my office as I web-surfed and doom-scrolled on my computer. But by Sunday evening he was clearly not well. He was lying on the floor, weak and barely able to move. 

I could tell he was suffering and wanted to put him out of his misery. Unfortunately, no vets were available on account of the fact that it was Sunday night and the hurricane was approaching; even the 24-hour emergency vet on the Southwest Freeway told me (after being put on hold for fifteen minutes) that they were hopelessly backed-up, with only one vet on staff. So we tried to make him as comfortable as possible as he lay on the floor, his breathing increasingly labored, his body all but immobile. I wrapped him in a towel. He still purred when I pet him and croaked a few weak meows to us; but he refused any food or water I tried to give him. Black Cat hung to life even as the hurricane roared over us, but he finally expired at about 8 pm Monday evening. 

He was annoying and obnoxious, and he loved me unconditionally. I'll miss him. Orion "Black Cat" Gray 2007-2024



Monday night we tried to sleep, in spite of the lack of electricity and the dead cat in the living room. The still, humid air made everything uncomfortable as we lay in our beds in pools of sweat. The sirens, loud trucks and droning generators (from neighbors prescient enough to have bought them) rang in our ears. Maybe we dozed off a bit here and there, but we didn't get anything approaching quality sleep.

On Tuesday we wearily went over to my parents' house to check on them, as they had also lost power. While we were there we buried Black Cat in their front yard. We had always planned to bury Black Cat when he died and plant a tree atop him, as we did with Elektra. However, given the circumstances, the only sapling available for us to plant was a neglected mulberry sitting in a pot in the corner of my parents' yard. It would have to do.

I hope Black Cat's decomposing body causes the sapling to grow into the most beautiful mulberry tree ever. As annoying as he could be, with his incessant meowing and his biting and his constant demanding of food, he deserves to live on in another organism. I'm going to miss his ridiculously loud purr most of all.

Black Cat's final resting place, amidst debris left from the previous day's hurricane.


Tuesday evening Corinne and I were able to seek air-conditioned refuge and recharge our phones at my neighborhood bar, which had regained power, while my parents relocated to our friends' house in Pearland who also had electricity. That night Centerpoint released the first version of their useless power outage tracker: it showed our neighborhood as "partially energized," which is true in that some people around us on different circuits did have electricity. But we still don't, and as of the time of this writing Centerpoint's map still can't tell us when our power will be restored. Tuesday night was, once again, stifling, sweaty and sleepless. Our townhome simply wasn't built to catch a breeze or otherwise provide natural ventilation in case of power failure.

Until a crew comes to replace and reconnect the fuse armatures that are currently hanging down, we won't have power. 

Wednesday morning, as Corinne and I began to pick through our refrigerator and toss yogurt, cheese, mayonnaise and other spoiled perishables into the trash, we exhaustedly began musing about finding a hotel. That afternoon, while again seeking refuge at the neighborhood bar (and watching England punch their ticket to the Euro 2024 final), we got serious about it and began looking for available lodging. But with every Houston-area hotel either booked or unpowered, the only options available were out of town. So we found this place and made our way here - the two-hour trip along I-10 felt like an eternity - last night.

It was the right decision. We got a good, air-conditioned night's sleep last night, I was finally able to get some work done today (my employer gave us emergency leave for the past three days but as of this afternoon the office and its systems were back up and running), we were able to do some laundry, eat our first proper meal in three days, and both of us feel so much better than we did just a day ago. We will return to Houston tomorrow; as of late this afternoon we learned that electricity had been restored to my parents' house so we will have a place to stay tomorrow night regardless of whether our house has power.

I may have a lot more to say about this experience - why the forecasters struggled with Beryl's track, would it have made a difference had I taken Black Cat (whose demise I had been sadly expecting for months) to the vet earlier, why Centerpoint's infrastructure could not withstand a Category 1 hurricane and why their post-hurricane restoration effort has been a complete clusterfuck, whether it even makes sense to continue living in a city as dependent on air conditioning and as prone to climate-related catastrophe as Houston - in a future post. As for now, I'm just happy the unexpectedly brutal week of Beryl and Black Cat is coming to an end.

*I really shouldn't make fun of this place. Every person we've encountered here in Sulphur - from the staff at our hotel to the clerk at the convenience store to the attendant at the laundromat to the waiter at the Waffle House at the intersection of I-10 and LA-27 - has been nothing short of wonderful and empathetic to us.

Thursday, April 11, 2024

A cloudy eclipse on the farm

Corinne and I drove up to her aunt's farm near Mexia last weekend, hoping to see the big eclipse. Her farm was the path of totality, meaning that we would get the opportunity to see the sun fully obscured by the moon for three and a half minutes.

Unfortunately, the clouds did not cooperate, and during the three-and-a-half minutes of totality we could only catch glimpses of the sun fully obscured by the moon. These two pictures, from two separate cameras, are the best I could do (and don't compare to the pictures taken by several of my Facebook friends, who had better weather and superior camera equipment): 






























I also got a short video of the totality during a break in the clouds. Once again, my iPhone's camera just can't do it justice.

Even though I was only afforded brief views of the totality due to the cloud cover, I nevertheless marveled at the sight of a full solar eclipse. I've never witnessed one before and may never see one again.

Of course, as luck would have it, right after the totality ended the skies began to clear up.

Here are some other interesting pictures I took during the eclipse:

The crescent sun shines through a pinhole in the barn roof shortly before the totality.

The sky during the totality. It was actually darker than this picture suggests.


The crescent sun through the clouds, also shortly before the totality.
















































































I took some pictures of the farm's flora and fauna as well:

Spring is wildflower season, as this field of bluebonnets growing on the side of the farm attests. 
















Wildflowers such as winecups and blue-eyed grass were also plentiful, and attracted lots of butterflies.















The bull warily watches me as he protects his herd. Glad that barbed wire is there!
















Houston to Guyana, nonstop

This new air connection looks interesting:

United Airlines began offering direct flights from Houston to Guyana Monday as the oil-rich South American nation becomes a key growth area for Houston’s oil industry. 

The nonstop route flies four times a week from Bush Intercontinental Airport into Georgetown, Guyana’s capital. Flights ranged roughly between $1,100 and $1,700 roundtrip as of Monday. 

Guyana has been among the world’s most prolific oil-producing regions since the resource was first discovered there in 2015 by a group led by Spring-based Exxon Mobil. The region accounts for roughly 10% of the 4 million barrels per day that Exxon produces globally. It plans to expand Guyanese production to 1 million barrels per day by the end of the decade. 

Guyana is on the northern coast of South America and is that continent's only English-seaking country. It is, unfortunately, probably best known as the location of Jonestown and its mass suicide in 1978.

The rest of the article goes into the oil discovery and ensuring frictions between rival oil companies as well as territorial threats from neighboring Venezuela and its thug dictator, Nicolás Maduro. However, it also should be mentioned that aside from oil, Guyana is also an emerging tourist destination. Much of the country is covered by undisturbed Amazonian rainforest, giving it one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world. The country is also home to spectacular landmarks like Kaieteur Falls and Mount Roraima

This flight, therefore, is likely to carry an interesting combination of oil workers and eco-tourists.

Simple flying has more.

Wednesday, April 03, 2024

A heartbreaking end to an amazing season

The 2023-24 season has certainly been an amazing one for the University of Houston mens basketball program. 

The Cougars posted a 32-5 overall record, were undefeated at home, spent the entire season ranked in the top 10 (including three weeks at #1), and won the Big 12 title by two games in their first year in the conference. The team won its third-straight regular-season conference championship, made its sixth straight NCAA tournament appearance*, its fifth straight trip to at least the Sweet Sixteen, and earned its second straight #1 regional seed in the tournament. 

None of this has ever been previously accomplished in the history of Cougar basketball, not even during the halcyon Phi Slama Jama era of the 1980s. 

Unfortunately, what seemed to be a promising run at the program's first national championship ended in catastrophic fashion last Friday night after senior leader Jamal Shead severely sprained his ankle during the Cougars' Sweet Sixteen matchup against Duke and had to sit out most of the game. The Cougars were already hobbled by injuries going into the Big Dance, having several athletes playing with injuries and having completely lost key bench players Terrence Arceneaux and Jojo Tugler earlier in the season. In spite of it all, the Cougars were able to will themselves past a tenacious Texas A&M team to get into the Sweet Sixteen last weekend. However, the loss of All-American Shead and his leadership was just too much for the Cougars to withstand. The Blue Devils took advantage and ended UH's season accordingly.

The injury bug seems to strike the Cougars every year, as Chron's Josh Criswell explains:

Houston played the 2022 NCAA tournament without key guards Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark, who suffered injuries earlier in the season. The Cougars still made it to the Elite Eight, in part due to Shead's emergence as a sophomore, before falling to Villanova 50-44 in a defensive battle similar to Friday night's loss. Last year, Sasser and Shead played through injuries at the Big Dance, with UH's season ending in the Sweet 16 against Miami.

UH found itself facing adversity in the health department again as March Madness approached this month, with rotation fixtures Terrence Arceneaux and Joseph Tugler sidelined with season-ending injuries. Senior forward J'Wan Roberts hurt his shin during the Big 12 tournament, while veteran backup Ramon Walker Jr. missed the last month of the season with a knee injury, though both were available for the Big Dance.

Short-handed, sure. But with a healthy Shead, who earned first-team All-American honors, Houston was still the No. 2 favorite to win the national championship entering the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. Without him, it was going to be a massive uphill battle.

"It's a little frustrating not being at full-strength at this time of year, when you're supposed to be playing your best basketball—which we still were," sophomore guard Emanuel Sharp said. "It's just tough. You can't really find another Jamal, so not having him in the second half, for the last six minutes of the first half, we needed that. We needed him."

Now UH faithful, having just watched their team be robbed once again by injuries, can only wonder yet again what could have been. 

What must not be lost in the searing disappointment is the fact that the Cougars just completed one of the most memorable and defining seasons in program history, and are currently one of college basketball's elite programs. 

A decade ago, Cougar basketball was irrelevant. There was little local interest in the program and Hofheinz Pavilion was a tomb. Now the refurbished Fertitta Center is packed with UH fans and is one of the toughest venues for opposing schools to play in. In the ten years that Kelvin Sampson has been Houston's head coach, Cougar basketball has experienced a miraculous turnaround, one that once-jaded fans such as myself savor:

Chris Pezman, UH’s vice president for athletics, called the basketball program’s success a “generational” moment.

“I hope people don’t take this for granted. This is such a special time,” Pezman said. “All this generation knows is Houston making deep runs in the NCAA Tournament and being a top-10 team in the country. They only know Fertitta Center one way: an impossible place to play in for visitors and an incredible environment.”

Brad Towns will "always be thankful for everything they did for me as a fan, for this UH basketball community, and for all the lessons and joy they provided along the way." Chris Baldwin laments how things ended for Shead, who will go down as one of the greatest players in program history alongside Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. The Chronicle's Matt Young says the Cougars are the best program to have never won a national title, while fellow sportswriter Jerome Solomon believes that, for Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars, an NCAA title is an eventual certainty.

I hope he's right. The program and its fans deserve it. 

Alas, Jamal Shead deserved it, too.

*Which would have been seven if not for the COVID-19 pandemic that ended the 2020 season early.