Football may bet the last thing on the minds of many Houston Texans players, given all of the damage done by Hurricane Ike. All the other Houston sports teams have struggled, and look for the same here.
Hurricane Ike might not have destroyed a city like Hurricane Katrina did two years ago, but it certainly has had a tremendous impact on every resident of Houston and the surrounding area.
[articleBanner]who2beton[/articleBanner]Millions (literally) are still without power, and the distractions for any sports team are most certainly significant. To prove this, all we need to do is look at the results for every sports team from Houston since the hurricane hit.
In college football, we’ve seen the Houston Cougars lose straight up and ATS as a favorite twice. It’s the same story for the Rice Owls – 0-2 SU and ATS since the hurricane hit. The Houston Astros were within two games of the wild card berth before the hurricane hit, the hottest team in baseball. After the hurricane devastated their homes and families, the Astros lost five straight, getting only 16 hits in the process. That’s the fewest hits in any five-game span in the history of the franchise. They beat the lowly Pirates on Friday, but went back to their losing ways again on Saturday.
Houston Texans tight end Owen Daniels said “It was weird being away from football for three or four days and really having your focus be completely off of it. I couldn’t help but not think about football because I had to think about fixing my house and making sure my neighbors were alright. ….It’s a mess. I have big holes in my ceilings (and) the carpet’s ruined. I’d say I really don’t like (hurricanes).” A giant pine bashed into defensive end Mario Williams’ new home and the roof of his mother’s home in blew off. Wide receiver Andre Johnson added “It was bad, worse that what I thought it would be. It’s a devastating time.” Quarterback Matt Schaub surmised “It’s going to be very challenging for us.”
Given the track record of every other team from Houston, and the personal crisis of the Texans players over the past two weeks, this pointspread looks awfully low. And when we consider that the Tennessee Titans enjoyed two of their three highest scoring games last year in a pair of wins over the Texans, this one becomes a no-brainer.
Take the Titans.
Free Pick: Titans -4½ (-110)