As a Sports Fan in Texas, I'd Rather Live in Dallas.

That hurts me to say! But I just saw a highlight of the Dallas Stars game from tonight, and that's exactly the thought that came to mind. Let's take a moment to compare the teams from these two cities before I get into what happened at the hockey game tonight.

Baseball:
Texas Rangers (90-72) American League Champions; Won the AL West by 9 games
Houston Astros (76-86) 4th Place in a terrible NL Central; 15 Games back from the division winning Cincinnati Reds.

The Rangers also have a new majority owner, Nolan Ryan, while the Astros owner, Drayton McLane has put the team up for sale.

Football:
Dallas Cowboys (6-10) Rebounded from a horrific start to end up with the same record as the other NFL team in Texas.
Houston Texas (6-10) Looked like a train wreck after a (4-2) start.

Don't forget that the Cowboys OWNED the Texans in a week 3 matchup at Reliant Stadium, 27-13, AND there is a small annual get together for the NFL this week in Dallas. They call it the "Super Bowl", maybe you've heard of it?

Basketball:
Dallas Mavericks (33-15) Pretty exciting team to watch with an owner that cares!
Houston Rockets (23-28) A last place team with no superstars. Why watch?

Hockey:
Dallas Stars (30-17) An NHL team in Texas that has some passion about what they do, along with some passionate fans that fill the seats for every game.
Houston Aeros (28-19) A minor league hockey team that plays in a half-empty (or half-full) Toyota Center.

So, let me tell you what got me thinking about all of this: I was watching The Final Score tonight on FSN, and the first highlight I saw was the Dallas Stars facing the Boston Bruins. Admittedly, I am not a HUGE fan of hockey. It's one of those sports that I'll watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals, but that's it. Other than that, I just watch to see if I can catch a fight every once in a while. Well, in tonight's game, there was obviously some bad blood from a previous matchup, because as soon as the puck dropped in the opening period, two guys just started fighting. This happened THREE times to start the game. So, with only four seconds off the clock, there had been three fights!

This may be a stretch, but go with me here. . . This shows why the Dallas sports scene is so much better than Houston's right now. The teams in Dallas all show an extreme passion for winning, and they expect to win. When a team in Dallas does not consistently compete at the level that is expected, they take the necessary actions to try to change it. For example, firing Wade Phillips in the middle of the season this year. But wait, guess who likes left-overs. . . the Houston Texans!!

For some reason, it seems like all of the Houston sports teams are perfectly okay with taking junk from the scrap heap of 'REAL' major league teams. The biggest acquisition for the Astros this year? Bill Hall. Not really setting our expectations too high with him.

Now, I have no intention of ever moving to Dallas, but as a sports fan, the more sports I watch, the easier it becomes to tolerate that other Texas town.

Peace out,
Luke