Geographist

DeMeco Ryans Born: July 28, 1984 Sport: Football (All-American, Defensive Rookie of the Year, 2-time Pro Bowl, 2-time All Pro, 21-17 coaching record) This week was bittersweet for Houston sports fans as our beloved Astros missed out on the playoffs for the first time in 8 years, and the Rockets announced starting PG Fred VanVleet will likely miss the entire upcoming season after tearing an ACL, but at least the Houston Texans finally got their first win of the year.  I was going to do a post on someone who had ties to Houston and the team we beat, the former Oilers and current division rival Tennessee Titans, but then I decided that the spotlight should stay on the home team.  After all, why pay attention to the franchise that we just beat down 26-0, our first shutout win since 2010?  So this week seems like a great time to look at the history of the man currently serving as the head coach of the Texans, DeMeco Ryans, and understand why his playing career meant he was suc...

The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) Born: March 24, 1965 Sport: Wrestling (7-time world champion, 7-time world tag team champion, Hall of Fame)  As baseball season winds down to its final week of the regular season and football season continues to progress, I find myself increasingly frustrated with my local teams.  Both the Astros and the Texans have struggled to score in recent days, displaying less "offense" and more "offensive" play with both teams dropping three straight and currently sitting outside of any sort of playoff scenario.  Some of the recent sports TV news has focused on a major wrestling event that happened this weekend, and the persona of a Houston-based star of that sport may end up being the only kind of help my beloved hometown teams will need if they don't improve soon.  With that in mind, I figured that this week we should take a look at the story of The Undertaker, one of the longest-lasting celebrities of professional wrestling, and a proud pr...

Ray Childress Born: October 20, 1962 Sport: Football (2-time All American, 5-time Pro Bowl, 5-time All Pro, College Football Hall of Fame) Both professional and collegiate football are continuing to march through their early season schedules, and already there have been a few marquis matchups that have caught the attention of fans across the country.  This week, in recognition of nearby Texas A&M's victory over Notre Dame, who had been ranked in the top 10, I thought it might be good to look at a player who competed for the Aggies as well as for Houston's NFL team.  Because none of the players from College Station have made a major impact yet for the Texans, we have to go back in time to the previous franchise.  In the mid-80s, a defensive lineman named Ray Childress was drafted by the Houston Oilers and became a staple for the team for over a decade.  Even after his career ended, he stayed local to start a business and remained a recognizable face on TV.  L...

Arian Foster Born: August 24, 1986 Sport: Football (4-time Pro Bowl, 2-time All Pro) Today the Houston Texans officially kicked off their latest season.  Since the first game in the franchise's history (almost exactly 23 years ago, a 19-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys) there have been a few seasons that have created the sort of success that made the fans cheer a little more, and a handful of players that have combined talent and personality to become true fan favorites.  Houston loves cheering for the underdog, so when an undrafted free agent named Arian Foster emerged as the team's first-string running back the city was ready to rally around him.  His quirky style and unapologetic individualism endeared him all the more with anyone who followed the Texans.  By the end of his career he had etched his name in the record books, so this week let's take a look at the story of Arian Foster.  Houston's Reliant Stadium, home of the Texans Born in Albuquerque, New Me...