Be Gone, February!

It's now March and everyone around these parts couldn't be happier to see February 2019 turn into history.  

The shortest month of the year was notable for snow, bitter cold temps and even some rain.  To be sure, I'm confident this wet winter will yield significant benefits come growing season and within weeks this part of the country will be a nice shade of green.  

But for now we still have Old Man Winter hanging around.  While yesterday had plenty of sun and temps to melt some of the lingering snow, today is gray, chilly and more snow is in the forecast for overnight tonight.  Following that we can expect brutal cold wind chill to remind us we don't live in Florida or Arizona.  

As I'm continually saying to myself: Remember--this will pass!  Just a few more weeks and the outdoors will be bearable again.  

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I read this article yesterday with just a little feeling of pride.  Little, because I had nothing to do with the resurgence of the Cougars in college sports hierarchy, but positive emotions nonetheless since I resided in Houston in the distant past and am happy to see U of H headed in the right direction.  

Let me explain.  I lived in the Bayou City as a child, from 1974 to 1982.  I cheered on the Astros and rooted for the Oilers.  Anyone who remembers that era of Houston sports knows there was more disappointment than elation.  At the end of the '70s and into the '80s both teams showed promise but sadly neither team reached the point where they could hoist a championship trophy.  (Mainly because of the *!@#!**$! Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Phillies!)  

As I got older I noticed Houston never seemed to get its due, credit or recognition despite great effort.  When I was in my early teens the city became the fourth largest in the country, yet because it wasn't on the eastern seaboard nor was it Chicago or Los Angeles it never was mentioned among the prominent U.S. burgs.  Never mind that NASA's Mission Control was there, or wealth that came along with the oil boom.  

To add insult to injury, Dallas was perpetually the Texas city getting national notice.  Their NFL franchise, unlike the Oilers, was a consistent playoff participant and took home a couple of Lombardi trophies.  Then NFL films gave the Cowboys the moniker "America's Team."  

If that wasn't enough for the Houston faithful to swallow, how about a prime-time soap opera titled "Dallas" becoming the hottest show on the tube?  

Yet times have changed and now Houston can be proud of their Astros, Rockets (back-to-back NBA titles in the '90s) and the Texans are far from being a sad-sack organization.  

So the time seems right for the Cougars to return to national attention.  I'm quite interested to see how Dana Holgerson will fare with the football team.  

Why not dream big?  Wouldn't it be awesome for U of H to be invited to join the Big 12 Conference? But if not that, what about The American becoming a conference with some fearsome football and basketball teams?  

Gotta say the future looks good for southeast Texas.