Summary of Blogging

This was my first time blogging ever, and after a semester of doing it, I can honestly say that I could see myself continuing it. It is extremely helpful with my writing, not to mention, I get to write and get the news out there on a topic that I love. It was great seeing that people actually took the time out of their day to read what I had to say and at one point, even reply and give feedback. When I did the storify project, I started getting retweeted by all these people I never met before because I tweeted them and that was something cool I did not think could happen. I have learned a lot over this semester, especially how to cater to an audience, which I am still in the process of learning. The tool I found most effective was the links, because it provided a way to demand interaction within my posts from the reader. I definitely plan on using this blog as I further my education and get into the professional world. I would love to learn as much as possible and using this tool gave me the hands-on work that I needed. Something I would have implemented was maybe a little background music, or a certain profile that you had, not just a name. Other than that the site was excellent and I cannot wait to use it more as I continue my path of journalism.

 

 

Blowout and Embarrassing Game by the Houston Texans

The game that took place on primetime television in front of the entire world was to be the game of the year between the New England Patriots and the Houston Texans. Two minutes into the game, it turned into a pro team looking like it was prepping for the season to start by roughing up some division 2 college team. Sad and humiliating, the tabeles never turned and after the first score, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots never looked back. Bradu, as usual, put up monster numbers, including 3 touchdowns in the first half. Soon after the first half was over, it looked like the Texans defense had buckled down and started to get rhythm, but right when you realized Brady was 1-7 for 11 yards in the 3rd quarter, he chunks it 63 yards to Donte Stallworth to take a commanding lead and end his night with 4 touchdowns with an entire quarter to play. The Texans only score 1 touchdown on their first team, the second came in closing minutes against each other’s bench players so I do not like to count that. The final score of 42-14 and once again on national television, the Houston Texans left nothing but doubts in the critics minds. Their next game is against the division rivals, Indianapolis Colts. The stipulations are raised, if they win against the Colts, they secure the AFC South Title, also during this week, if the Patriots lose to the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos lose to the Baltimore Ravens, the Houston Texans secure a 1st round bye, which is something that we need at the moment. Hopefully by then, we can get our defense back at semi-healthy, although Cushing and McCain will still be out, but it could take a little pressure off of us if we let these other teams duke it out at the wild card game while we rest up and study film for 2 weeks.

 

Houston Texans vs New England Patriots

This Monday will be the toughest match-up of the season for the Texans, and given the situation, the most important game of the season. It seems we say this every time they play a great team, but this one is different. It could possibly determine who has home field advantage throughout the play offs in the AFC. I created a storify to show how much this game is blowing up twitter already on Tuesday. I can only imagine how this game is going to be talked about when the weekend comes up. Although the Texans are two games ahead of the Patriots at 11-1. If we lose, they will be 1 game within home field advantage. After that we play the Colts twice and the Vikings once, those games are tough and we could end up being tied with New England for #1 seed, with them having the tie-breaker. We already have tie-breaker over the 9-3 Ravens and Broncos, so I am not as worried about them as I am of the Patriots. This could prove to be a character reveal of the Texans and we will see which Texans show up. The Offense has looked great all season and it is great to have Andre Johnson looking like himself again as of late, but the Defense has given up alot of yards to not-so-good offenses such as the Jaguars and Titans. Not to mention we let Detroit run all over us on Thanksgiving even though we came out with the win in OT. This defense needs to show up and shut down Wes Welker and Tom Brady. I am not worried about Steven Ridley because our fornt 7 is as good as anyones and I feel we can shut him down to under 100 yards rushing this week. I guess only time will tell when it comes to this game and who gets #1 seed in the playoffs this year.

[View the story "The Houston Texans VS New England Patriots" on Storify]

Suh the dirtiest player

Suh the dirtiest player, a set on Flickr.

Ndamukong Suh has always had a bad rep for being a dirty player in the NFL ever since his rookie year. He has always been a dominant player, but that does not amount to the amount of injuries that Suh creates on the field. Mainly because he tackles at the neck and attempts to take every players head off. The league has warned him multiple times but he does not care. He then took it a step further when he would do late hits on QB’s and attempt to take them out the game. Then comes Thanksgiving 2011, the Lions were playing the Packers, and Suh STEPS on a players head after the play. They were having a scuffle on the ground after the play and when Suh was picked up by a player, he returned and stepped with force, on a players head and was immediately thrown out of the game. Now comes the Thanksgiving game the Lions had with the Houston Texans this past Thursday. Suh, once again, goes to the ground with his leg cocked back and kicked the Texans quarterback, Matt Schaub, right in the groin. It was very clear that it was intentional, and it does not help that he has been labeled a dirty player his whole career. He did not get thrown out of the game and he was not suspended. It blows my mind that he has done so many things and it is clear he has not learned, and all the league does to punish him is fine him $30,000? That will not teach him, not to mention, he said he will not apologize for what he did. I am disgusted with this player and his antics need to be put to a stop. How many people must he injure before the league steps in? They want to fine the great Ed Reed for hitting hard, but clean shots, and not fine Suh for his dirty

Thanksgiving Win for Texans after Bizarre Play

The Houston Texans recieved their 10th win on Thursday after defeating the Detroit Lions in another slugfest in over time for the play-off destined team. One play left a sour taste in most NFL fans, particular, the Lions fans, and that is when Houston Texans running back, Justin Forsett ran for an 81 yard touchdown, but was clearly down by the elbow and knee after an 8 yard gain. He did what any play would do and that is play until the whistle is blown, and since no whistle was blown, he got up took off to the end zone. Anxious and impatient, Detroit head coach Jim Schwartz threw the challenge flag. Since every touchdown is an automatic review by the officials, he was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which negated any chance of a replay for the already-called touchdown, which made the run stand as the longest run in Texans history. It is safe to say that play played a huge part in the outcome of the game, but it was not the Texans who blew the call, it was the officials. The Texans just did what any other team would do and that is continue playing. The video I created to demonstrate what happened in a slideshow format is linked at the bottom.

My “Would-Be” Iphone App

I am sick of not being able to watch the games on Sunday because I am either at work, or out and about. I was asked to create an idea for an Iphone app. The first thing that came to my mind was, “watch nfl games.” Now I know they have something for basketball but it is like $20 and the graphics are not the best. But when I look for an app for football, all I see are score update apps, not live plays. So my idea for an amazing app would be in connection with NFL network. It would be called NFL Network mobile, but not a website. The interface will let you choose between the games such as the picture suggests below, and all you do is press “watch now” and you will be streaming live the game of your choosing with great graphics since you have a phone capable of doing so. The cost would be $14.99 and it would be a one-time payment for the whole season with very little ads only during commercials. It will include pregame coverage, in-game coverage, and post game coverage. To have no adds and for your services to continue during the playoffs, you would pay $19.99. One big thing about this app, it does not require a wi-fi connection. I know some highpowered apps require wi-fi even though you have 3G. Well not this app, 3G is enough but to have no interuptions obviously wi-fi would be the better choice to have if you have the capability to connect. Not only does this have the coverage, it also as interviews, and NFL network specialty shows for your choosing. I personally think this app would sell like crazy, but the feasability would be questioned, but hey this is imagining something great so I have the fiat power to imagine. Now I am not a professional artist so do not judge my drawings, but this is somewhat of a glimpse of what it could look like.

This is how it will look once it is launched. It will let you choose the game you want to watch.

This is what the app would look like on your Iphone home screen before actually opening the app, of course with a little more color and detail.

Texans 5-0, Comes at Large Cost

Texans ILB Brian Cushing gets taken down by a “legal” chopblock

So, on Monday night, the Houston Texans played their 5th game of the season against the New York Jets on prime time. It was a cold night in Texas so I could only imagine what the weather was like in New York in Met Life Stadium. The Texans have never defeated the Jets in our 10 year history. We have never won on a prime time game as the away team. Although we were 4-0, the odds were not in our favor, we had just one a pretty easy game against the Titans, but the Jets had just lost by a huge margin to the San Fransisco 49ers. Anybody that knows Rex Ryan knows he chewed his players out and made sure they came out gunning this next week. The game played on Monday was a sloppy one to say the least, We had a few dropped passes that could have resulted in 1st downs rather than 4th downs. We had no help from our #2 running back even though our #1 played exceptional. Our defense could not figure out the trick plays the Jets were throwing at us the whole night. The Jets at one point had Tebow AND Antonio Cromartie in at the same time, then would throw in Mark Sanchez and Tebow at the same time, then had Tebow on the Punt Team. Just not something we would expect to see from them. by the time the 2nd quarter was coming to an end, something horrible had happened. We saw our beloved Brian Cushing laying on the ground holding his left Knee in what appeared to be dramatic pain. They showed the play over again to see what happen and what I saw was horrific, OL Matt Slauson being beat on the play by Cushing, then, away from the play, Slauson taking Cushing down with a behind-the-back chop block to his knee and rolled on it. If that wasn’t the dirties play I have ever witnessed, the play was pretty much over, Cushing was not even near the play,but Slauson felt the need to “get back” at Cushing by taking his knee out. Eventually we got the win last night, but at what cost? Head Coach Gary Kubiak told reporters today that Brian Cushing suffered a torn left ACL and will require surgery and will be out for remainder of the season. Now for those that do not know the significance of losing Brian Cushing let me put it like this. His rookie year he won NFL Defensive player of the year and was 2nd in the AFC in tackles behind Ray Lewis, then last year he led our team in tackles, and now this year he was leading our team in tackles. If that is not a blow to our team than I do not know what is. Now if I am Rick Smith I am already thinking of replacements because I know Tim Dobbins cannot fill that huge void left by Cushing. I am thinking of players like James Farrior who is a free agent. If I am Rick Smith I am thinking of moving Brooks Reed over to ILB and convert Whitney Mercilus to OLB. Now obviously any new move would take time to get used to, but leaving Tim Dobbins in there is not the best situation if you ask me. We actually get Darryl Sharpton back next week, he was going to initially be our ILB starter instead of Bradie James until he got injured. Not only will it be hard to fill the void he left on the field, but he was the leader of that defense off the field and in the locker rooms. Who fills that void? It sure isn’t Demeco Ryans who we traded in the off-season. Now what do we do with this young linebacking core we have. Our next game is against the Green Bay packers on Sunday night in Houston, hopefully we can rebound and make a statement against a “good” team since every one likes to claim we have an easy schedule and are pretenders rather than contenders. Until then, take a look at the injury as it took place and you be the judge on if it was dirty or not.

 

 

http://blog.chron.com/fanblogtexans/2012/10/texans-vs-jets-recap-a-look-at-the-mnf-game-with-onetexfan/