AP Online
01-22-2004
Dateline: HOUSTON
A statue of H. Stuart Lang, Jr, a former Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo president, stands next to Reliant Stadium, site of Super Bowl XXXVIII, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004 in Houston. Things are good deep in the heart of Texas. The Spurs are NBA champs, Roger Clemens is heading to Houston, Bill Parcells has the Cowboys on the rise _ and the Super Bowl is coming to town.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Roger Clemens will play for the Astros, the Spurs are NBA champions, Bill Parcells has the Cowboys on the rise _ and the Super Bowl is coming to Houston.
When it comes to sports, things are just dandy deep in the heart of Texas. Houston, especially.
'This is a great time to be a Houstonian,' Texans center Steve McKinney said. 'Houston's big on the national spotlight.'
When the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers meet in the Super Bowl on Feb. 1, much in this city of 2 million will have been chronicled by a media horde and visited by thousands of out-of-towners.
The NFL title game gives Houston a golden opportunity to send out a positive impression of the nation's fourth-largest city.
'You don't really rebrand a city on an event, but it's a nice platform to start,' Super Bowl host committee chairman Chuck Watson said.
And that's exactly what it is _ just the beginning. After the Super Bowl, the city will host baseball's All-Star game in July and the Tennis Masters Cup in November.
But right now there's a Super Bowl to gear up for, and Houston is doing its best to look good for the world. After all, the city is sensitive about its reputation for pollution, traffic and corporate hijinks.
Workers have planted trees and painted guardrails on major arteries; a new light rail line connecting Reliant Stadium to downtown is running; a four-day street festival is set; and dozens of new restaurants, bars and hotels are bracing for an estimated 120,000 visitors. Houston police expect to spend $1.2 million in overtime for security; in all, 25 federal, state and local agencies will be involved in keeping the area safe.
The whole state has gotten in on the act of luring big names to big _ and small _ cities.
Clemens and Andy Pettitte left the Yankees for the Astros. In the NBA, former New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy is now leading the Houston Rockets, and he brought along retired center Patrick Ewing to tutor blossoming star Yao Ming.
Shortstop Alex Rodriguez is still with the Texas Rangers; Bob Knight resides in Lubbock, where he coaches Texas Tech; and ex-Alabama coach Mike Price is the new football coach at Texas-El Paso.
Other Texas cities will host big events this year, too: The Final Four is set for San Antonio, and the Breeders' Cup Thoroughbred World Championships will be held at Lone Star Park, near Dallas-Fort Worth.
Folks in these parts figure the last time Houston was such a hot sports town was 1986, the year Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon took the Rockets to the NBA Finals, baseball's All-Star game was played at the Astrodome, and the Astros and Mets played a memorable six-game series for the NL championship.
'I think '86 is a good point of reference,' said Randy Hendricks, Clemens' agent and a longtime Houstonian. 'The Astrodome was still considered what it was _ the first indoor stadium. The Astros' playoffs with the Mets was the magical series, and there was an All-Star game with the local kid being the MVP.'
That, of course, would be Clemens.
The difference then and now is greater expectations. The year has just started, but there's hope that the Rockets can reach the playoffs for the first time in five years, the Astros can finally make it to the World Series, and maybe the Texans can give the city its first NFL playoff berth since the Oilers' last hurrah in 1993.
That could mean a lot of hot tickets at three new sports venues that cost nearly $1 billion to build, but McKinney isn't worried.
'I think it all feeds off each other,' he said. 'Houston's a big city _ there are more than 5 million people in the area. There's room for everybody.'
Copyright 2004, AP News All Rights Reserved
