Posted on Wed, Oct. 13, 2004 http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/9906420.htm?1c Sports superiority of Metroplex goes south By Randy Galloway Star-Telegram This was the way it used to be: Some five or six years ago, after an interview with Astros owner Drayton McLane, he requested an off-the-record moment McLane was puzzled. With centrally located Temple being his hometown and business base, he said for all his life he had followed the sports teams in both Houston and here. Why, he asked, were the fan support, the interest, the intensity and the teams so much better here? My answer didn't help McLane. Actually, I didn't have much of an answer. "Just because," I said, "it's always been that way. And, I guess, always will." Always? Fort Worth, we've got a problem. And it's not just us. This includes the large city to the east. Here in the North Texas mega-mess, no matter what else happened, we always knew we were superior in all jock kingdom areas to that quaint Texas village down south. Houston was hopeless, compared to us. When it came to sports, all you needed to know was the Cowboys ranked as the most popular team in that town. And that was even when Houston had an NFL club of its own, which it didn't for a while after the Oilers split. Houston was our sports wasteland. We laughed at Houston. But now ... Houston laughs at us. We wish we could be Houston. McLane's Astros are just the latest example of why. The Astros have broken the Tex Hex. The first Texas team to win a postseason baseball series. And now playing in the National League Championship Series that starts tonight in St. Louis. The Astros drew more than three million fans this season, the second time they've done so. The Rangers never have. Mr. McLane, as it turned out, was in the right city all along for baseball ownership. Another local jolt comes in the form of the propaganda for the Cowboys' stadium vote in Arlington. Why is this stadium a good deal? For one reason, it would be a facility that would allow us to catch up with -- gulp -- Houston when it comes to bidding for Super Bowls, Final Fours, college championship games. Houston now has the hammer. We are the nail. The word from down there is the Oilers up and moving turned out to be the best kick in the butt the city could have received. "I think so," said longtime Houston Chronicle sports columnist Mickey Herskowitz. "There was so much indifference to the Oilers leaving, then when it happened the city went into an uproar. It sent a charge though the city." Infamous Oilers owner Bud Adams had demanded a new stadium for his team. "I doubt that would have ever happened," Herskowitz said. "But once the Oilers left, McLane hinted the Astros might be next. Suddenly, there were three new arenas on the drawing board. And all three [for the Astros, for the new NFL team, and for the Rockets of the NBA] were built." And when you take a current look at the teams in those facilities? The Cowboys would swap rosters with the Texans immediately. Quarterback David Carr alone would be the difference-maker in that transaction. The Mavericks would swap rosters with the Rockets. Yao Ming alone would be the difference-maker in that transaction. The Astros? Well, that's an older team, making probably a final run at the postseason. The Rangers wouldn't make a roster trade, except they'd like to have Roger Clemens on loan. Kinda like that time we stole Nolan Ryan from the Astros. But that was back in the day when we rated Houston a cheap imitation of us in the jock kingdom. The Rockets ran off a couple of NBA titles in the '90s, but we discounted that because Michael Jordan was taking one of his many retirements. Houston could never be better than us, except in mosquitoes, smog and traffic congestion. We've gained on them in those areas. They've now passed us as a sports town.
Having gone to the University of North Texas and living in the Metroplex during that time and a little after--6 years, calling Dallas a "nicer, cleaner city is like saying that one port-o-potty roasting in the hot sun at Lalapalooza smells better than the other". YES, Dalls is FAAAR more yuppy and newer in some parts--but as far as commerce and being an international city, its nothing more than a fart in the wind compared to H-Town. In either case...Ranger fans are COMPLETE dolts when it comes to baseball knowledge compared to Houston...I have been to MANY a Ranger games and sports bars--they know JACK about good baseball. These were the folks that were proclaiming Pennent after the signing of A-Rod--YEAH-that bad. Hell, there were more Cub fans in the bars than Rangers.
Dallas is a better city for Presidents getting killed, stuck up people, and dry counties. Houston is a better city for sports, partying, food, chicks, and life.
I enjoyed reading it, I especially liked the parts about trading rosters. My suitemate is from Dallas, wants to be a journalist and says Randy Galloway is his favorite writer who he wants to be just like. However, he claims that Galloway might not neccessarily believe the things he wrote in that column because he's just creating controversy so that radio listeners will tune into his show. I'm pretty skeptical of that, even if he doesn't mean it, he still wrote it and we're getting satisfaction from it so it's all good.
Just from driving on the freeways you get the feeling that Dallas is nicer than Houston. It's not littered with billboards like 45 or Southwest Freeway. In Dallas, there's nice landscaping between the lanes and on the sides of 75N. In general their layout is much better planned than Houston. The airport is only a 15-20 minute drive from downtown, and they have a functional rail line that takes you to and from different areas in the city. And I'm not quite sure why Houston doesn't have an area like Lower Greenville, which beats Rice Village any day of the week.
When I lived off 75 for a year in Dallas, I saw a comparable number of billboards there as opposed to here in Houston. Certainly, not enough difference to call it a postive over Houston. Try driving off the freeway as well, you'll also change your opinion...if you weren't so biased against Houston. Um, what? Are you talking about the first part of the North Central Expressway just outside of downtown? If so, what's so beautiful about big concrete walls? The rest is just as littered with strip malls and billboards as Houston. Up towards Richardson and Plano are horribly ugly. I like all the trees up 45 and 59 once you get to the suburbs. Dallas has nothing like that, even though I do adore that huge scrapyard on the east side of 45 going into downtown. How exactly is their layout better than Houston's, outside of the rail line? The airport in Houston is about a 20 minute drive from downtown if you go up 59. Or south to Hobby on 45. From where I lived in Dallas, in the Knox-Henderson area, I never made it to DFW in 20 minutes. Love Field yes, but DFW was more of a 30-40 minute drive, especially with traffic. What we lack in a comparable cluster of bars, even if I disagree that Rice Village is that much worse that Lower Greenville, we make up for in quality of establishments, IMO. Not to mention, most people making up the clientele are $30k millionaires idiots. I hope those people never come to Houston in the quantity they have in Dallas. The only parts of Dallas I'm jealous of are Deep Elum and the light rail.
We lose a NFL team then get another along with a new kick azz stadium not. Not many cities can do this not even LA. PS Jordan was in the league in our 2nd championship campaign.
It was great hearing Galloway (and Company - as they call it aka "GAC") on ESPN 103.3 FM in Dallas today talking about this... His sidekick, Bill Stenneford (sp?), grew up in Houston... I love it when Bill talks 'Stros and Galloway gets upset... Hee, hee... Galloway is great on the Radio though.. What he's saying about the "Jordan" thing is that the DFW area was wrong for buying that crap, because hey... what have the Mavs done?? If the 'Stros can pull off the unpredictable at this point, then the 'Boys (long since champs) and the now NHL defunct Stars will forever be the only thing Dallas sports have to boast. At the rate that the Texans and Rockets are improving, and the direction the 'Stros are currently heading in, we'll see more Championships than they will, and sooner. As Bill said to Galloway today concerning Houston sports... "I finally agree with your column, Randy." Randy Galloway is really a straight shooter... he's never a homer. He lays blame where blame is due, even calling out Parcells (whom most think is the greatest since Jimmy, or even Tom) this week... Good read. I'd forgotten about them mentioning it on the air.
