The 2026 College Football Playoff. Where the Rules are Made Up and the Points Don't Matter.

Unfortunately, it's that time of the year again. The time of year when ESPN rolls out the wheezing interim rankings from the incompetent College Football Playoff Committee and uses them as content fodder.

And that is all these are, just material to fill content hours on a 24 hour "sports" network that is more of a gossip rag now than anything else. Yes, ESPN still does good live sports content. They, sadly, dominate most of College Football, they put on some good College Basketball broadcasts and, without them, a ton of other College Sports would go all but unnoticed.

But, and this is important, the four-letter, Disney owned, network is an engine of destruction in College Sports. And they have set their sites on ruining College Football whether the fans like it or not. Case in point the CFP.

A couple of weeks back the Athletic (hid behind a firewall) ran a reader poll on fans attitude toward expanding the CFP to 24 teams. More than 80% of fans disapproved. Of course, ESPN trotted out their faithful mouthpieces to swear up and down on a stack of Bibles that ESPN was not the driver of this change. Then the Mouse House proceeded to plunk down $1.7 Billion dollars for exclusive broadcast rights. Rights that they can farm-out to other networks (for a profit one hopes) sure, but they own the CFP and to suggest that the CFP is not going to do their bidding is preposterous and requires a suspension of disbelief that even Trump could not hope to achieve.

And we haven't even gotten fully to the fact that the interim ratings are ridiculous. They're not based on "games played" but on "feel" and some mystery called "eye-test" which allows the committee to do silly things like place Tennessee (who beat Alabama) waaaaay behind the Crimson Tide and knocking Indiana down 9 spots despite them having an off-week.

Why do they do this?

Spoiler: It's not because this band of nit-wits truly believe this is where the teams should be ranked, although their belief in the mythical "SEC Gauntlet" (All Hail Coach SABAN!!!) is unwavering (and incorrect) what this is really about is giving the talking heads something to put in their mouths for the week. Instead of talking about the games and the rivalries and regional matchups College Football talk has devolved into "What is their path the the playoff?" or "Are they done?"

Yes it can be mildly fun to listen to some commentators lament the lack of intelligence in the CFP Committee room but eventually that gets tired. You can only hear former players and coaches talk badly about doddering old men for so long. It's like putting the Pat McAfee show on an endless loop. Eventually you just get tired of it all.

And, here's the rub. It's very possible that there are not 12 GOOD teams in the Country this year. At least, not Playoff caliber. Imagine how bad it's going to be NEXT year when the Playoff expands to 24 and they're debating which 4-5 loss SEC team should be included at the expense of a 2-loss ACC or BigXII team?

As for the Group of 6? Forget it. You get your 1 team, and pretty soon I'm sure they're going to take that away.

What this is leading to is the ultimate transformation of College Football into NFL-Lite. I predict the B1G and the SEC will, eventually, expand to 24 teams each, take their toys and walk away. They will sever fully from the NCAA and "College" Football will replace the UFL as the true minor-league feeder for the NFL.

What's left behind in the NCAA will continue to limp along, supported by ESPN+ until the House of Mouse decides they are no longer profitable and end that coverage. Don't believe me? Look at what has happened to FCS.

Last year you could find a multitude of FCS games streaming on ESPN+. Almost (but not quite) every game. It was fun, exciting football that often went late into the night as the West Coast teams had late kicks. This year? It's gone. You cannot find an FCS game almost anywhere on the streaming service, despite their multiple price increases.

There is no more "Pac 12 After Dark" on TV, or "Mountain West After Dark" or even Eastern Washington kicking off late against Idaho State. It's just not there anymore. Disney came in and decimated it. It's the same thing they're going to do to College Football.

Now, I'm not here to say that College Football is going to die. It's not, there will still be viewers for this, there will still be a TON of money to split among the 48 teams that make the Cut and most viewers will still turn in. But, and this is a big but, ESPN is risking losing the core fan of College Football, something NASCAR has learned is kind of a bad idea.

There will come a time when a not-insignificant portion of the audience just decides that they have better things to do on their Saturdays than watch a lesser version of the NFL when they can get their chores done, or other fun things, and watch the real deal on Sunday. Think about it, how many people are paying big bucks to watch the NBA G-League, or Minor League Baseball? Again, I'm not suggesting that Semi-Pro er..."College" football is going to sink that low, but it will be diminished from what it was.

The fault for that all lies at the feet of the College Football Playoff and ESPN. There is no escaping that fact.

Oh, the Georgia Bulldogs are ranked #1. But now you understand just how little that matters.

News Round-Up (11/11/2026)

Happy Veteran's Day to all who served. Thank you for your service.

Now, a lot to get through today as, you can imagine, it's been quite the few news cycles. And yes, this is going to be politics heavy because we're coming off the election. I expect this to change soon and we'll get back to things that actually matter.

Texas Senate Republicans should just get out of the way and let the Democrats do what they want. Because of the "will of the voters" or something like that.  I'm sure this person was also vociferously AGAINST the Democrats absconding to a casino in Oklahoma when they were trying to block what was then seen as "the will of the voters" right?  Oh wait, she wasn't?  Color me shocked.

Let the erasures begin (again). Ah Joy Sewing. Apparently there's only one type of minority that needs to be heard.

New Community in Katy expanding. To the Chron the lede is that it's "backed by a Billionaire". I wonder how long before they pen a follow up piece from an activist complaining about the lack of affordable housing in this development?

Evan Mintz takes a Victory Lap. I mean, he's leaning on some pretty flimsy arguments on why the Chron's endorsements mattered but hey, let them have it I guess? I've long said that a better use of the funds the Editorial Board chews up would be better redeployed into actual news gathering.

We're starting to get the bones of a legislative agenda from Democrats. If you're progressive you're going to say they are not going far enough. If you are conservative (there are still some of you around right) you're going to say they're overreaching. While "Medicare for all" is gaining some support, I predict that will collapse once people realize what that really means (i.e. the elimination of their employer health plans).

The Graft Stays, it's just the beneficiaries who change. American politics (and by extension Texas politics) has long been about paying-off your big donors and political patrons at the expense of the taxpayer. This is not going to suddenly change under the Democrats, only those who benefit.

Blue Tsunami aside, Texas voters did NOT like school bonds and tax increases. Here's the rule about increasing taxes. People hate them UNLESS they only affect those exactly one tax bracket above them and upward. Raise everyone else's taxes but me.

Dan Patrick is a petty little man. He's also not that smart, but that's for another day.

Government is traditionally a jobs program for the unemployable.

James Gunn and Peter Safran are out at DC. I lot of think pieces on why this happened. I'll make it easy for you: Their content sucked.

Why did California's Billionaire Tax fail to surf the Blue Wave? Because it was bad public policy?

Lina Hidalgo is the gift that keeps on taking. The end of this error cannot come soon enough.

Even in a Blue Tsunami election, the Chron Ed Board STILL finds more bad R's than D's who got elected. Seriously, shutter this joke of an Ed Board.

This ran two days after the election, and all of the votes still aren't counted. It. Never. Ends.

Elon Musk, Public Enemy #1 It will be interesting to see just how hard they go after him given the amount of jobs that he, admittedly, creates with SpaceX, Tesla and the Boring Co. Is Texas willing to concede their place in the space race for a political vendetta?  We shall see.

Admitting wrong-doing while claiming to have done nothing wrong. American society in a nice bow.

And finally.....

I'm going to file this under "Things that will probably never happen." I'm also curious how this is much different than Trump's $5000 payments?  Bad Policy is bad policy regardless of what letter is behind the person's name.

OK, What Now? The Happy Myth of the Fiscal Discipline of Harris County (Part II of an Occasional Series)

In case you weren't paying attention, although judging by the voter turnout you probably were, Democrats control pretty much everything in Harris County, Texas now.

As it stands they control the office of the County Judge, 3 of the 4 seats on the Commissioner's Court, The District Attorney's Office, The County Clerk, County Attorney, The District Clerk, The Harris County Treasurer (more on that office later), The Tax Assessor-Collector, the Sheriff, most of the Constables, and a solid majority of judgeships on both the Civil and Criminal side of the courts.

In short, Harris County is now the Bluest of the Blue counties in Texas.

Don't believe me?

In most races the Democrats in Harris County outpaced the Republicans by around a 2-1 margin. That means that out of every 100 votes case, 60-70% were Democratic. That means that only around 30-35 out of 100 Harris County Residents cast a Republican vote. That's not a win, that's a Mollywhopping. In football terms the Harris County Republican Party got boat raced in what they used to view as their home stadium. There might still be some Republican opposition to their policy goals but it is going to be isolated, pocketed, and unlikely to have any impact.

Harris County is now the single-party entity that dishonest players on both sides pretend to dislike. 

Of course, they don't. Not really. 

The Chronicle has been begging for the State of Texas to turn 'Purple' for decades now. But they have never once cried that Harris County is deep, deep blue and not purple. In fact, the only Purple they liked was the sartorial choices of late Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, who had a liking for the color. In fact, what the Chron is most giddy about is that both the County and the State are now politically aligned bringing in a new age of, they hope, increased political spending and funding from the State to the County to allow the Commissioner's Court members to even more greatly reward their political patrons. Watchdog media? Yeah, whatever.

But, and this is the important bit, here is my projection for Harris County after the recent Mid-Term elections.

1. Spending will skyrocket. Harris County is going to ramp up their spending spree to 11 on a scale of 10.  there will be almost nothing that is off-limits for them now. They just enacted the largest property tax, to the highest rate, in recent history and now they're hoping to get even more money. Expect them to spend every penny of it.

2. That spending will NOT go to flood control, at least, not in a meaningful manner. If you want to get updated on the depth and breadth of the problems with Harris County Flood Control I encourage you to become a reader of Reduce Flooding Now! and it's author Bob Rehak. Mr. Rehak's website does yeoman's work in detailing the issues with Harris County's flood response to date, and will probably continue that work into the future.

3. With the extra money, expect to see a return of some of Lina Hidalgo's ideas.  Remember her early child care tax increase failure? I predict that comes back in some form or fashion. I also expect the district of the remaining Republican Commissioner Tom Ramsey to get totally squeezed out of the funding pie. To the victor go the spoils in politics after all, and Tom Ramsey's constituents will continue to be spoiless until they get the message and start voting the correct way.

4. There is one, kind of odd, thing about some of this. As elected officials are making inroads about contemplating further tax increases and greatly expanding public school funding, voters roundly said NO in the same election where they voted in the same people who passed the tax increases in the first place. This leads some credence to the theory that folks in this election were voting more against the Republicans than they were FOR the Democrats. Not all, of course, but a probably not insignificant amount.

5. Will the Office of the County Treasurer ACTUALLY go away? Color me skeptical. While I agree that almost everyone with a pulse and one active brain cell agree that Carla Wyatt should not be elected to any elected office, imagining Texas Democrats mustering up the will to cut government in ANY fashion feels like a stretch. Look, it very well COULD happen, it SHOULD happen, but I'll believe it when I see it. Wyatt's best chance for survival is to cozy up to some deep-pocketed Democratic donor and have them advocate on her behalf.

Out of all of these items one thing is for certain: Harris County Government is most likely about to go on a spending spree. They just got a credit card with no oversight, no media watchdog to speak of, very few spending limits and pretty much free hand to do what they wish, when they wish, with very little chance of being held accountable by an opposition party that no longer exists in any meaningful form. It's a politician's wet-dream come to life.

What you're seeing in Harris County Government now is the closest thing in the State that you will see to the old, machine political system. They have a huge one and it's purring along just as they feel it should with Commissioner Rodney Ellis now firmly in control. They won't have much luck reducing funding for law enforcement, at least, not for another electoral cycle or two as the Democrats try to wrest control of the Texas Senate, the last bastion of Texas Republicans, and get those laws reversed, but they do have a sympathetic Sheriff, DA and judges who will be more than willing to de-facto reform the Criminal Justice system in a manner of their choosing.

All that said, do I think Harris County is going to change all that much? No, I don't. The reason for this is because a lot of the changes they wanted to make have already happened. There will be some new stuff, sure, as laws change and opportunities to enrich political patrons increase sure, they'll take advantage of those. For the rest of their items they'll just continue to push things further. In Districts under Democratic Control, spending will continue to increase despite citizens gaining little from it. In the last District represented by a Republican?  Again, if you are on the losing side, politically (and monetarily) you ALWAYS pay the price.

One thing IS certain. In American politics when elections happen and things go either wrong, or right, the electorate has no one to blame except themselves. This is going to be especially true in this situation. IF things go right then the politicians are going to take a victory lap. If things in Harris County go pear-shaped, they're going to scurry around and look for scapegoats, someone who did something that ran counter to their vision of Harris County Nirvana. The truth is that the people who voted them in should take both the credit OR the blame, whatever happens.

OK, What Now? The Democrats are on the clock. (Part 1 of an occasional series)

As opposed to Sally Fields, you REALLY, REALLY DO NOT like Donald Trump.

The election results made that perfectly clear.

Congratulations to the Democrats who are celebrating what is probably the greatest party collapse since the 1974 post-Watergate elections that gave us.....Jimmy Carter. (Eventually)

Yeesh.

For me, given that I still live in the Houston area, the biggest change lies in Texas, where the Democrats here finally found a Blue Wave so-large, and a Republican contingent so inept, that they could ride it to power.

And not just by winning a State-wide race or two. They won all of them. U.S. Senate, Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Land Commissioner, Ag Commissioner, Pick-ups in the US House, control of the Texas House, every contested seat on the Texas Supreme Court, several county judgeships (including in my Home Harris County where pretty much every elected official now carries a D after their name) and getting rid of most of the good judges on the benches. It was so bad, and the voters voted so blindly, that even the odious Carla Wyatt (her of the alleged DUIs, breaking into other's vehicles and getting into multi-car collisions {possibly while driving without insurance}) won her re-election to Country Treasurer.  Not exactly a ringing endorsement for an intelligent, informed electorate.

But the Constitution of the US does not place any intelligence test on voting. You can fog a mirror, with some restrictions such as felonies, etc. (Many of which the winning members of the DSA would be A-OK getting rid of {although, to be fair, not many other Democrats for now}) and you can vote. And you did. Overwhelmingly, especially in Harris County, those votes were for the Blue team.

But, what does all of this really mean?

That then is the issue with elections. Sure you have electoral promises from politicians while they're trying to convince you to vote for them but, as we've been in the past, what's stumped for on the campaign trail is usually not what we see when they get into office and start drinking the smoothies of political power. It tastes good, it goes down easy, and all of those people who paid a lot of money to get you into office in the first place start approaching you with their hands out looking to realize a positive ROI.

Of course, every politician will deny this "I'm not beholden to the special interests!" they claim, but they are. Maybe not Elon Musk, Dunn and all of the other Billionaire's that they railed against on the campaign trail, but they have their own roster of politically active wealthy folks to whom they now owe favors, people with different interests and different priorities that they would prefer you not take too deep a dive into for now.

Flowery campaign promises aside, the graft, payola and pay-offs to political cronies never ends, the names of the beneficiaries just change.

That is why Elon Musk is probably in for a rough few years but the wealthy donors with ties to Brazilian Billionaire George Soros were dancing a jig on their breakfast tables Wednesday morning. Of course, our staunch, watchdog media writes exposes, fainting couch opinion pieces, investigations and op-eds masking as news on some, all while writing the accusations of others are just a bunch of political hodge-podge. Sometimes the ire directed toward some of these figures doesn't even depend on the Party, it depends on the issues that the media prefers. If they agree with you, journalistic cover is provided. If they don't? Well then you're just about the worst thing since Yellow dye #5 or 6.

I will admit that what comes next in Texas is somewhat of a mystery to me. There will be some changes obviously, but the big mystery is going to be the remnants of the Texas Republican Party. Yes, they got knocked down, and it was a 9 count for sure. But it wasn't a full 10 count knockout because they do still have one very important lever of power remaining to them. They still retain control of the Texas Senate.

Harris County is easier to predict. The blueprint is already there and the architect of the destruction, Rodney Ellis, is in even firmer control now than he was before AND he replaced the erratic Lina Hidalgo with a much more predictable Letitia Plummer, who will understand which side of the bread the butter is on and will certainly play a more team oriented game than did Hidalgo, who was more interested in personal grandstanding too many times. In short, Ellis is a very happy man right now.

Which brings me (finally, I know) to the future. In short, what does it hold? What are the Democrats going to do now that they have a grasp on many (not all and that's important) levers of power at the various levels of Government that you interact with?

In the future I'll handle this in three parts: 

1. Harris County

2. Texas

3. Federal

And yes, it's true. I find divided government to be way more interesting than single-party governance. It's more fun this way. Partially this is why I've been disinterested in political blogging for quite some time now. I'm not much in the way of Federal Government (boring) and, to be honest, the State and local political scene has been boring and predictable for quite some time now.

Tuesday changed that.

Now, for the first time in a long time, things are about to get fun.

I think it's time to start talking about it again.

I will promise you this. What you've going to get on here is not the normal "One side good, the other side bad" type of blogging. I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. As a matter of fact, I don't even vote any more. I quit voting around 15 years ago because every single politician that I have met is a horrible, horrible person. I don't like either side, nor do I believe that either side is going to "ruin" the Country. I am neither MAGA nor "Orange man BAD". What I do enjoy is taking a look at the policies that both sides put forward and what I see as probable after an election.

Also, when I do decide to speak up, it's as a counterpoint to the media, who you do not hate enough. (To quote my friend Kevin, who deserves full-credit for that statement.)

So let's buckle up and start taking a look at what we (probably) have to look forward to. One thing is for sure, it's not going to be business as usual in Texas or Washington D.C. any more. (Although in Harris County it will be, just on overdrive.)

News Round-Up (09/24/2026)

 And that's the way it is.......

Bo French is a horrible candidate, he should lose. But if you think that changing the name of the Texas Railroad Commission to the "Texas Oil and Gas Commission" is the MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE in this race? You might be an idiot as well. Clearly the author is.

Horrible people doing horrible things. This Carrot Top situation is weird. The problem is I think there are no good actors on either side.

A quick note to the marijuana legalization folks: Legalization does not eliminate the black market. If anything it can strengthen it. As illegal bookies and offshore books what the elimination of PAPSA did for them. Hint: It did not hurt them. That's not to say there's not some benefits to going down this path, but poking the cartels in the eyes is not it.

Democrat Socialists avert your eyes. The best say to get things done is sometimes by utilizing the resources of the private sector who have skin in the game. I suspect that might be the case with the Colorado River watershed.

Just another reminder that The WNBA is NOT a sports league. It's a grievance machine for certain groups. Nothing more.

My feeling is that Deion is done. Yes, Colorado will let him craft the circumstances of his exit, but I'd be very surprised if he was the coach of the Buffalos next year.

Big Plans for Greenspoint. Of course, you'll have to root out the gangs who have set up shop in the former Macy's location first.

This is a good read on ESPN College GameDay and how it's contributing to the fall of College Football. They've changed their mission from highlighting the glory of the sport, to becoming a marketing arm for ESPN/SEC.  That's bad for everyone. (Same with FOX and Big Noon Saturday)

This season of America's Got Talent taught us that NO, it really doesn't. 8 of the top 10 finalists were not American, and the winner was Thai. Don't get me wrong, this is not a nativist rant, just an observation.

Once you get your claws into Houston area government, there's always a place to continue your grift off of the taxpayers. Mary Benton understands that, how to play the local game an endear herself to Houston's ruling class.

This is possibly the most racist article you'll read today. From the idea that Hispanics cannot compete, that all White's are exploitive to providing a sounding board to a fringe Democrat Socialist activist who wants to dismantle Capitalism. It's bad. I'm not sure why it's just a given that the local Hispanic population lacks the intellectual chops to thrive in this boom?

The thing about running a con is this, You have to possess at least a modicum of intelligence. It's becoming increasingly clear that Dr. Malcom Tanner does not. Popcorn time.

FIFA DOES have the intelligence to run a con. And, judging by the tax bills that American's are going to have to foot for their quad-annual Futbol extravaganza, they've perfected the art.

And finally,

This is from a couple of weeks back but I thought it worth mentioning: Las Vegas Tourists are Richer, middle-aged and gambling less.

Based on my last trip to Las Vegas (August 2026) this checks out. I saw fewer younger folks and more people my age (mid-50's, so middle-aged). And while there was foot traffic the casino floors were not near as full as usual. I know that I cut my gambling budget in half, and found myself having much, much more fun as a result.

When I want to gamble I go to Tulsa, or Coushatta (not Lake Charles, LA anymore, a subject for a future post) or Florida. I still like going to Las Vegas, but not primarily to gamble. I would even say it's 4th on my list of things to do there. Just incidental to other activities.

Las Vegas biggest problem is that it is no longer "The Gambling Capitol of the World". Hell, it's probably not even in the top 5 these days. In terms of sports betting Nevada is fringe top 10. Think about that.

What this means is that Las Vegas is going to become way, way more recession sensitive, and many of the things they took for granted won't be able to be taken for granted any longer.

You don't hate the media enough. (Sidney Sweeney Edition)

Another month, another ginned up 'controversy' by the media. This time we're focusing (again) on Ms. Sweeney prattering around our television screens in various stages of undress which has, for some unexplained reason "set women back 100 years".

But, has it? Really?

Because 100 years back would be 1926 and, last I checked, their wasn't a flood of 3/4 naked women in advertising back then. As a matter of fact, that was an era where "showing some ankle" was considered risqué. 

First it was the American Eagle good jeans ad (aside: The most shocking thing about that, to me, was that American Eagle is still a going concern) and now it's a sports betting (yes, prediction markets are betting) website NoVig.

So, of course, per the linked article, female Olympians (what???) are shocked and appalled. 

It should be of some note that they were decidedly NOT shocked and appalled when fellow Olympian (and all around bad person) Meghan Rapinoe appeared in ESPN the magazine's body issue totally nude, nor were they when any of the other athletes (many Olympians) did the same. No, they reserve this state of utter disbelief for when an actress, known primarily for her racy, nudity baring role in the HBO Max show Euphoria (which I can safely say I've never seen) shows up in shoulder pads and......yeah.

Look, by all accounts Sidney Sweeney is an attractive lady. She is fit and has a traditionally attractive body. Looking at her is not unappealing. Now, she's young enough to be my daughter so yeah, well outside of my attractiveness wheelhouse. That said, as a heterosexual male, she is undoubtedly very easy on the eyes. That I haven't seen anything she's acted in makes me unworthy of being someone who can comment on her talent as an actor. No clue.

But she seems to understand that her figure and her looks are marketable right now and, despite some people being mad about it, companies are willing to pay her what I'm assuming are large amounts of money to appear in their ads in a sexualized capacity.

Enter the media, who have never had a groupthink outrage that they didn't feel they could exploit. If there is no outrage, go out and find some former Olympians who most Americans have never heard of and whip one up. Hell, Meghan Rapinoe is always good for an "I'm pissed off about x....." quote when you need it right? I mean, she has to desperately try and stay relevant somehow.

This is not something new to the media. They have a long history of inventing outrage for things they don't like. During the Estes Keyfauver mob hearings the Publisher of the Washington Times, a staunch anti-gambling activist, practically invented a gambling related, mob-fueled crime wave (that didn't exist) to push public opinion toward his hearings. That they backfired spectacularly, and basically were responsible for driving the Mob to Las Vegas in droves, creating the town and ushering in it's golden age, is irrelevant. What's important is the media manufactured an outrage that really shouldn't exist.

But, is anyone REALLY mad about Sidney prancing around mostly naked in an ad?

No, they're not. Most people probably don't even know the ad itself exists. If they do know they probably spend just about as much time thinking about it as you do thinking about the OpenAI breakthrough that's creating an 'existential crisis' in the field of mathematics. 

In other words, no time at all.

I do have serious questions regarding the sustainability of the sports betting market in it's current form and the health of young men in the face of what is, at heart, a predatory market. And, make no mistake, sports betting in its current form is very predatory, especially toward young men.

The point here being that there is no great, societal outrage over Sweeney's commercials. There's just not. The media is trying to desperately work one up because a) They suspect Sweeney might be more right leaning politically than they want her to be and b) they still are very anti-gambling. The easiest, and currently they believe the most effective, cudgel to use against them is feminine empowerment.

So they're running with it. And they're going to keep on running with it until they're ratings or page views or numbers continue their slide down the cliff until they are irrelevant. (which, some might say, they already are).

Houston's (Unwritten) Driving Rules

A couple of weeks back, while I was in Las Vegas, Houston Chronicle Staff Writer Jhair Romero penned the following "explainer" (A term that I hate but here we are).

Every Houston Driver Knows 'Rubbernecking'. What Other Unwritten Rules are Out There?

Now, this article is behind the Chronicle's paywall so I won't block quote the body of the article, but I do think it OK to put up the question that he asks at the end.

Tell us about the rest of them, the other unwritten rules of driving in Houston. What habits and courtesies and routine traffic infractions do you spot on our roads every day?

This question got me to thinking. What DO we see on Houston roads on our commutes, driving to the store, doing our level-best to get the heck out of Dodge during Houston Live Stock Show & Rodeo season?

I will say, this list has changed mightily post-COVID lock downs. I have said several times, both on this blog and on Xitter, that I'm working under the theory that the National Response to COVID broke society into pieces. As a matter of fact, most of the things that you're going to see listed below are further evidence of that.

So, without wasting any more of your time. I give you the Top 5 Unwritten Rules of (Bad) Houston driving. These might not be exclusive to Houston, but they are legion now and happen frequently on a daily basis.

Finally, before I get fully into this list, I present my Houston driving credentials. I commute to work around 20 miles one-way three times per week. The drive takes approximately 35 minutes during the early AM hours (think 5:30AM) and around 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon (think 3:30-4:00 PM) I also drive around NW Houston A LOT, and I make the drive up North a few times per month for various reasons. I also drive to the Airports, mostly IAH but occasionally Hobby, and I've been known to drive down to NRG on occasion for various events.

Let's get into it.

Number 1: Line Cutting.

You are familiar with this one. You have to make an exit. Unfortunately in the lane to actually exit there is a back-up, due to traffic on the feeder road or heavy traffic on the Freeway you're exiting to (Aside: Houstonians cannot merge.) or some other exit. You see the back-up, move your car over, dutifully, into line and inch forward waiting your turn.

Suddenly, a car in the lane next to you on left flies by, then suddenly turns on their blinker and cuts off the cars in line, close to the actual exit, often almost causing a collision and making the exiting traffic hit their brakes to avoid it.

You have just experience the Houston Line-Cutter. The scourge of Freeway driving and one of the most self-centered, selfish, moves that a driver can make. Nothing says "My time means everything and your time and safety mean nothing to me" than this move. Tesla drivers LOVE this move, as do Chevrolet and Ford Pickup drivers and luxury sedan owners. It must be in the vehicles Owner's manual that you have to perfect this move in order to own one.

The funny thing is, these drivers get the MOST frustrated with you if you do not let them cut-in. Prior to the Pandemic Lock-Downs, I used to put up some resistance. However, one day I saw a driver run his car into the concrete barrier and the car beside him to cut in and I have since just backed off and let them go. Also, Houston drivers are very shooty right now, and one car length in front is JUST NOT WORTH GETTING SHOT over.

I don't remember this being as prevalent pre-COVID as it is now, but now it's Legion. I've a feeling it's only going to get worse.

Number 2: Right (or Left) turns from a non-turn lane.

This one is closely related to Number 1 but it can be much more likely to result in a collision.

You're in the lane to turn (right or left) your lane is a dedicated turn lane and the one next to you is not an optional turn lane (it's go straight only). Your turn arrow, or light, turns green and off you go.  Suddenly, the car next to you also turns and tries to race you to the lane.

To be honest, you're not expecting this and they don't have their turn indicator blinking so you have no warning. You catch them out of the corner of your eye and then, amazingly, they have the audacity to lay on their horn at YOU. They scream at you, glare, you're seriously worried a road rage incident is upcoming despite the fact that you have done nothing wrong.

That's the thing about these people, they don't care that they're breaking traffic laws, all they care about is that they want to get where they are going and they will not take responsibility for either a) not wanting to wait in the line for the turn lane or b) admitting that they effed up and found themselves in the incorrect lane due to inattention or lack of prior planning and are more than willing to run you off the road than to just go straight and work their way back to where they want to go.

Number 3: Stop Signs Optional

The "California Stop" is a well documented event that long pre-dated COVID. Rolling a Stop sign was a right of passage for young drivers in West Texas where I grew up. I'm not referring to that however. What I'm mentioning here is just blowing through a Stop without even a tap of the brakes, without checking for oncoming traffic or pedestrians or anything.

This phenomenon has gotten so bad I saw on my local NextDoor page that the Sheriff's office actual did some Stop Sign enforcement in our area and pulled over 7 drivers in a 20 minute span.

I once had the driver of a huge GMC pickup run the sign and LOOK RIGHT AT ME while he was doing so. Knowing that, if I did not let him go (despite the fact that I had been there, had come to a stop and was preparing to go) we would have been in a collision.

The Government has a term that it calls "knowing and willful". What they mean by this is that what you did was intentional, or that you just failed to take the basic care that an idiot would take. Most of the people running Stop signs are knowing and willfully doing so and could care less who, or what, they could hit.

Number 4: We don't need no stinking lights.

There is a line from the 80's movie Star Man where Jeff Bridges, playing an alien stuck on Earth who is trying to get home, drives Karen Allen's car for the first time suggesting that he knew how to drive by watching her. As he's driving he comes up to a traffic light that turns yellow. At that point he guns the throttle and blows through the light just after it turns red, almost causing a collision.

Allen freaks out and asks him what he was doing. "I thought you knew how to drive?!?"

Bridges Responds, I do, "Red Light Stop, Green Light Go, Yellow light Go, very fast."

I'm not suggesting that none of us have ever done this. I know that I have and I'm sure you have as well.

What we've morphed into in Houston is Green Light Go, Yellow Light Go, very fast, Red Light Go, even faster. I've seen drivers blow through Red Lights that have been turned for over 10 seconds. I've seen drivers just blow through a light that I've been sitting at Red for 30 seconds.

The worst transgressors are the drivers (usually pickups) who go into the turn-only lane to get around cars in the main lanes only to drive straight on without stopping. Either that or on the shoulder. One time I saw a car move over into the oncoming traffic lane to run the light.

The problem has gotten so bad that you now have to utilize what the wife and I have been calling the "Houston 5 second delay" before rolling forward on any Green Light at some intersections. Of course, this will most-times get you honked at by the drivers behind you who would much rather see you plow into the cross-traffic running the light than wait behind you as you let them clear the intersection.

Damned if you do, Damned if you don't.

Number 5: Pass, Brake and Turn.

This last one is one that, sadly I admit, is the one that tends to infuriate me the most. Let's say you're driving along in the right lane of a 4 lane road. Suddenly a car shoots past you in the left lane. Once past you they immediate cut you off and then, in a move of stunningly poor judgement, slam on their brakes and proceed to run right, directly in front of you causing you to have to slam on your brakes to avoid a collision. Whether they actually use their turn signal or not is optional, sometimes yes, sometimes no, but the end-result is always that your front collision detection system is going off.

This maneuver is especially egregious if there is no car behind you for quite some distance.

I believe that some of the drivers who attempt this move are intentionally trying to cause a collision. Either they upside-down on the vehicle they purchased or they just cannot afford payments or they just would like an insurance settlement. The others, much like every other bad driver on this list, are just selfish and don't care.

At the end of the day driving a vehicle in traffic is part of a large social contract. We agree to follow the rules and regulations of the road in return for the privilege of driving on them. We also agree to operate courteously and safely out of respect for our fellow drivers. Once this social contract is breached then driving becomes a free-for-all, collisions increase and insurance rates skyrocket  (if the drivers are insured at all which, increasingly, they are not.)

Sadly what passes for driving now in Houston has little to do with honoring this contract, much as functioning in polite society has become something of a lost art. I would even argue that polite society itself has become somewhat of an archaic idea, much like intelligent social media posts or quality, hard-hitting journalism.

Society is broken, the bonds that joined us are irreparably frayed. What we're left with is a selfish, me-mongering husk of a city where the people don't care and the rules are optional. Gone is the gentle raising of the index finger and a polite nod to another driver as they move over to let you down a residential street when cars are parked on the side and only one care can get through, what is increasingly replacing that is anger, bitterness and, increasingly, road rage.

I'm unsure how to fix this, outside of some Righteous traffic policing by law enforcement which doesn't seem likely at this point, but that a fix is needed seems to be beyond a doubt.

Maybe outfit us all with bazookas and allow the taking out of one transgressor a year?

Too much?    OK, yeah.  But we need to find some way to return some civility to the roads. If nothing else for the well-being of our new, increasingly overpriced vehicles.

News Round-Up (08/27/2026)

 I keep meaning to get this blog back up and running well, life keeps getting in the way. (Maybe I should just give up and call it a blogeer?)

Still, on to the news.....

Let's start off with social media, where the fights over it are going to be (mostly) inconsequential to the real world, but hilarious to watch play out. 

If you don't believe me. I give you OreoGate Which is (most assuredly) one of those "things that never really happened" but has people all up in arms.

To paraphrase an old joke. What do you call 1000 influencers at the bottom of the sea? A good start.

Dems giving primary election victories to Democratic Socialists for elections in red states seems like a pathway for the GOP to retain control of Congress even during a horrible election cycle. That's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it works out.

SmartTVs are trash, but they're just about the only option you have. Now computer monitors are moving in the same direction. Tech companies are a menace. Also, the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report is proving more prescient than Sci-Fi.

Dan Patrick seems to be running more of a future unemployment benefits campaign than an actual re-election campaign at this point. To be perfectly honest, good riddance to him.

Get the feeling that wholesale changes are coming for the Astros. The problem is that I have zero faith the current regime has the wherewithal to turn it around. The Golden Age is over. We're getting close to a return to the Uncle Drayton years.

Imagine having the gall to pen this column and NOT ONCE mention exploding budgets at the municipal level. It's either intentional, or the guy really is the idiot I think him to be.

I've a feeling the Social Security Fix at this point is going to require an "All of the Above" strategy (benefits cuts, partial private accounts, tax increases, raising of the retirement age). Sadly, it might even require more draconian fixes than that. (Whatever it is, don't expect it until somewhere around 2031. Because that's how our Ruling Class works. There are still a few election cycles to milk this remaining on the calendar.)

Farewell NFL Pro Bowl (Games) I'd like to pretend that we'll miss you but......we won't.

The Chron's Democratic Socialist Columnist is Having yet another case of the angries. When all you write about is how mad you are that things aren't going your way, are you even really a columnist any longer? Or are you just ranting? This is a good example of a paycheck that could be gotten rid of and replaced with the hiring of an actual journalist on a local beat.

Retraction is (probably) the best path forward for HISD but, of course, the parents would have kittens and the local media would bemoan the closing of "historic" schools in ever-shrinking neighborhoods. So, nothing will happen then and the wheezing beast will continue to lumber along.

Speaking of wheezing beasts. LAS passenger traffic continues to decline. Add that to the upcoming draconian water cuts that the Feds are suggesting Nevada will have to absorb and it appears that Donald Trump might FINALLY get his revenge on the gaming industry in which, as a casino owner, he utterly failed.

To really understand the WNBA, you first need to recognize that It is NOT a sports league. Not even close. In reality it is a Political Platform for the sad and crazy. But not a sports league.

And finally.....

RIP to Dolly Parton and Tim Curry Two all-time legends, both gone at 80 after lives well lived. Go listen to "I Will Always Love You", "Jolene" and then go watch Clue.

Put me in the "Change the Calendar" Camp Please.

With the Kentucky Derby coming up this weekend (and the time of year that people pay a little attention to horse racing) the annual debate around changing the Triple Crown Calendar is on again.

Put me firmly in the "let's change it up" category.

First Saturday in May: Kentucky Derby

Memorial Day: Preakness

Weekend of July 4th: Belmont.

Yes, I understand that this would have an impact on later racing, but not much when you really think about it.

The biggest issue would be the timing of the "next" big race, the Grade 1 Haskell. But the Saratoga meet is several weeks and it could be bumped back some. After that the next big race is the Travers, in late August.  I see no reason why those dates cannot get shifted some. Again, the meet at the Spa is several weeks in length.

The problem with this argument is, as it has always been in horse racing, that shifting these races around would require coordination between the various racing State entities. Such as thing just does not happen in horse racing. The States are selfish, silly, and lack the capacity to take a long view of the sport. So, while the solution seems easy, it's probably going to be more difficult than it should be and eventually come way too late for it to matter.

Horse racing is whistling past the graveyard right now. Irrelevant except for one Saturday in May (and for two more races IF the same horse wins, and all but ignored the rest of the year. That's too bad of course, how many people would be a fan of horses like Skippylongstockings or White Abbario if only they knew to pay attention to them, but it's where the industry seems bent on heading.

There are many other problems in the sport, horrible gambling product being front and center, but the inability of the State Racing Commissions to work and play well with others is at the top.

And this ignores States like Texas, whose rules are designed to end the industry all together within it's borders.

News Round-Up (03/18/2026)

 What is rapidly becoming my one time per month post. (Life gets busy and in the way y'all)

Some in the World are starting to say that It's time to move on, WITHOUT the United States. OK. While I'm all for more countries pitching in and, you know, paying for things, I'm not sure you really can move on sans what is still (just) the World's largest economy.  But, good luck with that.

It's always funny when the Media thinks that they have "discovered" something that's been going on for decades. They bump their chests, perform a King Kong style celebration dance and then.....disappear when the party they prefer does the same thing. We have spent decades electing a group of horrid people to rule us. Nothing will change until that key issue is fixed.

Derek Stevens Rising He's certainly having his moment in the Sun.  He's the one casino owner who I've personally met (his brother as well) and he is a personable guy.  That said, his attitude toward gaming has certainly damaged Downtown odds, if not visitor counts.

The Hollowing out of the TSA. I'm not entirely sure this is a bad thing.  There are already private groups who do a better job, probably much cheaper.  I feel for the employees, it's not their fault that our horrid rulers won't pay them, but perhaps a rethink of airport security is long overdue?

The Public Unraveling of Lina Hidalgo is a sad watch. What's worse is that she's still (sort of) in charge of Texas largest County.  In a perfect world, yes, should would have resigned when it became clear she was not up to the job.  We do not live in a perfect World unfortunately.  Hopefully, when her term is up, she can go back to community organizing and just kind of slip out of the public eye.  I think that would be better for her mentally.

Tillman wants Caesars. To be honest, it would probably be a good thing for them. Of course, the BlackJack would suck but everything else would probably improve.

Wow, The long outlived it's expiration date Chron Ed Board is REALLY mad that Whitmire has stopped speaking to them. I do think it's fair to ask, at this point, what purpose this wheezing, outdated group really serves?  Wouldn't it be better to shut it down and redeploy the resources to news?

Mea Culpa, I quit reading the Chron's restaurant section long ago, but this story, Centering on the controversy surrounding Noma's in LA peaked my attention.  The biggest issue here is that we convinced Chefs that they were Rock Stars, and they were totally unprepared to deal with the celebrity.

The Great Sort in Real Life. Single Party States are typically poorly ran, but you do understand why people would not wish to be ruled by those who do not share their values.

College Sports seems dead-set on killing itself  and They keep finding new depths in which to dig. All of these changes, like the changes to the College Football Playoff, are designed to create guardrails to protect the large conferences.  This year there was actual debate as to whether or not 17-16 Auburn deserved a bid.  In case you are wondering, the answer is "no, they were not deserving". (They should not have even been seriously considered)

I did not have The Chron pushing for the release of sex-offenders on my Bingo card of news items this week.  But here we are.

Speaking of "on my news Bingo Card" Chris Tomlinson writing a column where he doesn't know what he's talking about is always on there.  He's ostensibly the "Business Columnist" but he seems to know very little about....actual business. (Especially not the oil and gas business, which is Houston's largest industry)

This is a tragic story that also highlights why Jasmine Crockett should be allowed nowhere near the levers of power. Notice that she takes zero responsibility for hiring this man.  Incredible.

Apparently, Harris County has "solved" it's felony case backlog. Much like former Mayor Annise Parker "eliminated" the homeless problem in Houston.  By sweeping it under the rug.  In Parker's case she just relocated them, in Teare's case he just dismissed them.

A lot of us have been sounding the warning bells about the sad state of political polling for a while now. It's good to see the media finally get a clue.

And finally.....

Houston is trash(y).

Enjoy your Spring y'all.

BadBetting: The Answer is NOT Prohibition.

Game Fixing and Rumors of Game Fixing. American Sports, it seems, is breaking, already broken or just hopelessly doomed to be caught up in scandal.

Unsurprisingly, the most oft-called for fix is prohibition.

Americans have always loved them some prohibition. There's nothing that Americans don't like that they don't petition the government to ban. Never mind that other people might enjoy it harmlessly, or that a vast majority of sports bettors partake in the entertainment relatively harmlessly, although very seldom profitably it should be noted. Nope, let's just ban it because I don't like it.

Alternatively, Trump's Big Beautiful Bill created an unfair tax burden by limiting the deductions of gambling losses to 90%. What this creates is a situation where a gambler could be taxed on "winnings" that they never actually won.

Let me explain.  Let's say you play on a slot machine and you get very lucky and win a jackpot of $2000. You are happy, the machine locks up and you have to wait, provide some identification, sign some paperwork (a W2-G usually) and then a nice slot attendant comes out and pays you $2000 in cash. They then stand there and it is customary to tip them (at least $20) for that service. If you're sitting at a bar, say, a video poker machine, then it's also customary to tip the bar staff for your win. (Irony, under the One Big Beautiful Bill those tips are not considered taxable income).

Then, you continue to gamble and, given the laws of advantage and the house edge, you continue to play but lose that $2000 back to the casino.  You go home happy because of the gambler's fallacy, you remember the win and the adrenaline rush that it caused, the congratulations of those around you as you're paid out, the rush of having the machine lock up, then you go home and go back about your life.

Then, tax day comes and you realize just much that jackpot is going to cost you. First, you have to enter that W2-G as income. $2000 worth. If you take the standard deduction, which many do, then you are pretty much shit out of luck because prior tax changes made the deduction of gambling losses below the line calculations. That means that you cannot deduct said losses UNLESS you itemize.

But, here's the kicker, when you take your losses (which will often be more than the wins that you claim) you can only take $1800 of them by law.  That means that you are taxed on $200 of income that you never really "won". Think about that for a minute, and the fairness of it.

This is a simple, and low, example but, for many gamblers, the tax on unearned income could be four, five or even six figures given volumes and win. 

Here's where things get tricky. Many Americans are OK with this unfair taxation because it's a tax on gambling which many consider to be a "sin". So, Americans have a long history of punishing things unfairly that they take personal issue with.

If the response is not to punish it (through higher taxation at times, sometimes punitive) then the playbook for the USA has historically been to ban it.

And that has not worked out well over the years.

Prohibition of alcohol led to a massive underground market that was controlled by the mafia. Prohibition of drugs led to the rise of the cartels. Prohibition of sports gambling (prior to the Supreme Court's PASPA decision) led to the rise of massive offshore gambling rings that still operate today. Even the legalization of sports gaming however did not end the illegal market. In fact, in many ways, the underground betting market has thrived since sports betting became "legal".

Clearly then, the answer is not as simple as a sports betting prohibition. Nor is it as clear-cut as legalization in all 50 States. The problem is not that sports gambling exists, it's HOW the books are allowed to operate, and the regulatory agencies (State Gaming Control Boards) that are in place to govern them.

Dennis Miller once had a great line regarding prohibition. "You can outlaw all of the bad things in the world and people will still spin around on their lawn until the see God." The key is not prohibiting things we don't like. it's ensuring that legal things with the potential for harm, are regulated in a safe, simple, meaningful way.

I understand that, for people of a certain political ilk, regulation is viewed as a "bad thing" which should be avoided at all cost and, for people of another political ilk, there's no such thing as "too much" regulation even if said regulation is nonsensical and messy.

But I believe that good regulation can happen, provided it's done thoughtfully and designed to be implemented simply.  Here are a few ideas on how to start* fixing this issue.

1. Advertising restrictions.  We currently have restrictions on the advertisement of a host of things. From alcohol to cigarettes to almost whatever else you can think of. Putting guardrails around how and when a sports book can advertise seems a reasonable step that's pretty easy to enforce.

2. A stop to predatory practices. If you're a bartender you have an obligation to not overserve your clientele and let them get into a car. If you're a sports book you should be under the same obligation to not overserve your clients. Unfortunately the model for modern sports books is "block or bankrupt" where they plan to just limit or refuse the bets of bettors who might win, and bankrupt the poor souls who cannot. They do this through VIP services and retention bonuses for those who try and step away. Putting a stop to this practice would not be difficult.  I will say this however, limiting or banning is a stickier wicket. by outlawing that practice books would be forced to reduce their betting menus which would be horrible for bettors, reducing choice and limiting lines where weaknesses can be found.

3. Implement gaming control boards who are more than just rubber stamps for the books. Almost every week there is a new story of a book refusing to honor a bet or cancelling wagers because they claim it was "an obvious error". In many cases however these errors were not obvious until after the fact. In some cases the books just don't want to pay out grossly negative outcomes. In almost all of these cases the local gaming control agencies side with the books and allow them to void the bets, or not pay out. Strengthening the mission of the Gaming Control Boards to include gambler's rights could go a long way in preventing this.

4. A more robust tracking system for problem gaming. This should go without saying. With all of the AI and algorithms these books use identifying potential problem gamblers is not difficult. It's time to stop allowing these books (and casinos FWIW) to pay lip-service to responsible gambling and forcing them to start taking it seriously.

Of course, there are several other steps that could be taken which I'm not going to go in here, as I said earlier, the above suggestions are just a "start*" not a full on subscription for a fix. The problem people have is thinking that you can just ban something and the issue goes away. If anything, now that people have started gambling, if you outlaw legal gambling the illegal problem will get worse.

The issue with that? In MOST (not all but most) cases the alleged improprieties and fixing has been discovered through internal investigations of unusual betting patterns, self-reported by legal sports books. Illegal books, or bookies, would be highly unlikely to report the same, leaving the bad actors unreported and, in many cases, undiscovered. They would just move on to another unregulated shop to continue the scam.

Sports betting is something that needs to be fixed to the extent possible, not prohibited. Sadly, there will always be people who have their lives ruined by it, just as there are those whose lives are ruined by alcohol, drugs, junk food you name it. The key is to limit the damage as much as possible, and have resources available to help those that want out.

News Round-Up (01/07/2026)

To start, Happy New Year!!  With 2025 (thankfully) in our rearview mirrors hopefully the New Year brings us less shittery than we witnessed last year.  I doubt it, but one can hope.  Not a promising start however......

Restaurants you never heard of, and will probably never visit, continue to open and close in Houston Heights - Most of the time the phrase "exciting new concept" can be met with a yawn and a 1-2year lifespan expectation.

Houston Sports Bar Loft18 closes citing crime as a factor. - Houston is crumbling. I went to Loft18 once and it was, to be fair, pretty busy. Changes in leadership are the obvious solution but too many keep voting in the same cast of idiots.

So, the Ed Board thinks that the "solution" to the bodies in the Bayous problem is to appoint a Czar. No, just no. Yet another log on the "Shutter the Ed Board" smoldering fire.

The media's EV delusion still continues to amaze me. Tesla, despite Elon Musk's political divisiveness, continues to do OK, but the future is going to be in the Hybrid space. The Chron's growing army of Child Reporters seem incapable of performing this type of market analysis.

Calling the Texans defense "once elite" based on one game where the Colts scored primarily against the backups is rich. The Texans still have an elite defense, battling the Seahawks for the best in the league. Certainly they are the best in the AFC. The Texans offense on the other hand.......

Nebraska signs former UNLV QB Colandrea - Colandrea announced that he was entering the Portal only two days after saying he was going to stay in Las Vegas. His announcement came before the Portal opened, suggesting that someone had tampered with him. Was it Nebraska? Who knows, because they did pivot to him after losing out on the former Notre Dame QB. Still, College Football is a wasteland right now and their are really no rules because they're not being enforced.

MOAR Police on patrol. Houston's roads are rules optional right now. Almost as bad as College Football. Red Lights are suggestions, spatial awareness is all but gone, and line-cutting is at epidemic proportions. Never mind the uninsured drivers and unsafe vehicles littering the road. Dedicated Traffic Divisions could help, but not solve, this problem.

Chris Hollins is running his pre-campaign through the media. - He thinks shenanigans like this paint him in a positive light. They don't.

I, for one, will be glad to see this "Dry January" trend come to an end. - If you want a drink, have a drink. If you don't, then don't. Simple.  As for me, I'm off to have a bourbon tonight.

And finally....

'We're the Government and we're here to help" - All your base are belong to us ha ha ha.