post oak all the way!

Houston Little League team swings for the fences in World Series matchup

Traffic is clearing on the road to the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with eight U.S. regional tournaments wrapping up in the next few days. Those eight winners will join eight teams from around the world in the grandest sports event for young people — the Little League World Series.

Little League Baseball is the largest youth sports organization in the world, with 2.6 million boys and girls participating in different age groups from ages 4 to 16. But when you say "Little League World Series," you're talking about one specific tournament — for baseball players 11 and 12.

And this year, the team representing Post Oak Little League in Houston stands an excellent shot at representing the U.S. Southwest in South Williamsport. Post Oak is 2-0 in the Southwest regional tournament and plays the team from Tulsa, Oklahoma tonight for a place in the title round. The game will air live on ESPN2 at 8 pm on August 6. So far, the slugging Post Oak team has clobbered Arkansas by 14-1 and Mississippi by 16-4. Post Oak has plenty of pitchers available to finish the job.

I know all about Post Oak Little League. I was a coach in West University Little League, and Post Oak was our arch nemesis. Our season ended more than once shaking Post Oak's hand and wishing them good luck in the next round.

This baseball trip is a hit
Whether or not Post Oak clinches the Southwest regional and packs their bags for South Williamsport, I would encourage all parents of Little Leaguers to take a family vacation to the Little League World Series. West U never made it to South Williamsport, but one of the best weeks of my little journalism career was covering the Pearland team in the 2010 Little League World Series.

Not to jinx anything, but I've been watching Post Oak games on the Longhorn Network. If I were a Post Oak parent, I'd be checking Trivago for hotels in South Williamsport. The Little League World Series runs August 16-26 with all games televised on the ESPN network.

Everybody says the World Series is held in Williamsport, but games actually are played in South Williamsport, just a walk across a bridge from Williamsport. Two stadiums are used for the World Series — Howard J. Lamade Stadium and Little League Volunteer Stadium. Admission is free to all games and hot dogs are only $2.50. They'll sell 75,000 dogs during the World Series, but don't go by me: I'm not good at counting hot dogs.

Of course, I followed all the Pearland games in 2010, and the guys made it to the U.S. championship round before losing to Hawaii. I got to know the Pearland parents, especially the mothers who became the rage of South Williamsport with their Texas charm and wild west wardrobe. I know there's a rule, no cheering in the press box, but inside I was rooting for Pearland.

I also spent a lot of time with the team from Japan. I was captivated by their aggressive style of play — the way they stole bases in a game where you're not allowed to lead off first base. They stole off the catcher, not the pitcher. I shook my head in wonderment when the Japanese players bowed with respect to their coaches. Yeah, try asking players to do that in West U. Little League.

A trip to the Moon
There's still a drive-in movie theater in Moon, a few miles down the highway from South Williamsport. Now playing: Christopher Robin and The Incredibles on Screen 1; Mission Impossible on Screen 2; Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again on Screen 3; and Deadpool 2 on Screen 4.

Serious stars play Little League
While you're up there, visit the World of Little League Museum. They don't have a Hall of Fame — that would be crazy — but there's a Hall of Excellence for former Little Leaguers who've gone on to great achievements. Members include George W. Bush; Kevin Costner; Chris Christie; Joe Biden; Mariano Rivera; Tom Selleck; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; Kyle Petty; Nolan Ryan; Bill Bradley; Tom Coughlin; and a pretty fair rocker who played in Freehold, New Jersey Little League, Bruce Springsteen.

Now starting at catcher: Donny Trump
President Donald Trump is not in the Hall of Excellence —yet — but "Donny" Trump did play Little League baseball in Queens, New York in the '50s. Trump was the starting catcher and sometimes shortstop for the Lance Cleaners team in Hilltop Little League.

Reader Matt Ganis told me: "We both played in Hilltop League. A lot of us came from a middle-class apartment complex called Hilltop Village. Donny Trump came from Jamaica Estates, where the rich people lived. We knew there was something different about him. He went to a fancy private school. We all rode our bikes or walked to the field. Donny was driven to games in a dark blue Cadillac." Ganis remembers Trump as a good-fielding catcher who could run. (He's still running.)

I had a strange and lasting episode the year I covered the Little League World Series. ESPN viewers don't get to hear it, but the stadium blares pop and country music between games. During one game involving a team of Asian kids, Bruce Springsteen's hit "Born in the USA" came over the loudspeakers. I commented to a Little League official, "Maybe this isn't the best song to play right now — or ever — when Asian kids are on the field and their parents and grandparents are in the stands."

The Little League official asked why. I told him, you might want to listen to the words of "Born in the USA." It talks about a U.S. Army vet down on his luck after we sent him to Vietnam to "go and kill the yellow man." And now he can't find a job back home. It's not exactly a happy-go-lucky patriotic song. The official said, "Please tell me you're kidding." I never kid about my homeboy Bruce Springsteen.

A week later, I received a note the president of Little League International:

I've enjoyed reading your columns and always welcome constructive criticism from any source. Quite honestly, I've never listened closely to the words of "Born in the USA," but after reading your column, I see clearly how it is offensive to our Little League friends from Asian nations. I have directed our folks who coordinate the stadium music to discontinue playing it in the future.

I thought, Bruce has a better song about baseball, "Glory Days," maybe Little League should play that one. Then readers pointed out that "Glory Days" isn't such a happy song, either. It's still up for grabs, but now I'm thinking "Centerfield" by John Fogerty might be the best choice. While kids on the field may not know Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, and Willie Mays, the message is clear: "Put me in, coach."

And that's the perfect Little League spirit.

The team has blown past the competition on the way to a national title.

Photo courtesy of Dave Rook/Post Oak Little League

The team has blown past the competition on the way to a national title.

ken-hoffman

holiday budgeting news

Here's how much Houstonians are budgeting for holiday gifts in 2025

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

San Antonio residents are expected to spend over $900 on their Christmas gifts this year, WalletHub found.

Residents living in Houston's well-to-do suburbs aren't stressing about stretching their holiday spending this year: A new report from WalletHub found Pearland, The Woodlands, and Sugar Land residents are all among the top-25 biggest holiday spenders in the nation for 2025.

Pearland gift givers are expected to spend $3,277 on their festive presents, says WalletHub's 2025 "Holiday Budgets by City" report.

Pearland's holiday budget earned it No. 19 in WalletHub's national ranking of cities with largest holiday budgets, with The Woodlands and Sugar Land appearing right behind as No. 20 and No. 22, respectively.

To determine the U.S. cities with the biggest holiday budgets, WalletHub's experts compared 558 cities across five categories: Income, age, a debt-to-income ratio, residents' monthly income-to-monthly expenses ratio, and their savings-to-monthly expenses ratio.

The three U.S. cities that boast the loftiest holiday budgets are Palo Alto, California (No. 1); Mountain View, California (No. 2); and Newton, Massachusetts (No. 3). Palo Alto residents are expected to spend nearly $4,500 on their Christmas gifts this year, with the latter cities budgeting for $4,266 and $4,069.

Pearland's current holiday budget is $711 higher than it was in 2024, when the city ranked No. 31 in WalletHub's list of U.S. cities with the biggest holiday spenders. It's also much higher than the $2,127 projected budget from the 2023 report, when Pearland ranked No. 36 nationally. They're definitely competing with Mr. Claus for the "best Christmas present" award.

Festive neighbor The Woodlands ranked as the city with the 10th-highest holiday budgets last year, so its current rank as No. 20 is a bit surprising. Even with a dip in the rankings, The Woodlands residents are still expected to spend a lofty $3,265 on their holiday presents this year, or about $51 less than last year.

Residents living in No. 22-ranking Sugar Land are projected to spend $3,191 on their holiday gifts this year, or $19 less than last year, the report found.

Houston proper ranked 285th on the list with a $1,302 projected holiday budget this year, or $6 more than last year's budget.

Five more Houston-area cities landed in this year's report on the heftiest holiday budgets:

No. 34 – League City ($2,997)
No. 291 – Pasadena ($1,294)
No. 321 – Missouri City ($1,233)
No. 412 – Conroe ($1,063)
No. 490 – Baytown ($890)

Regardless of the dollar amount, Houstonians should pay attention to their spending and pick a budget that works for their financial situation, experts say. The National Retail Federation expects holiday sales to surpass $1 trillion this year, and the report warns credit card debt is a major challenge faced by many Americans as they plan their holiday shopping sprees.

"The holidays bring plenty of joy, but they can also spark seasonal stress, much of it tied to overspending," the report's author wrote. "In Q3 2025, the average household carried $10,227 in credit card debt, up 2.3 percent from the year before, according to WalletHub data. Adding holiday shopping on top of that can quickly increase the financial strain, especially if balances roll into the new year."

Other Texas cities that ranked among the top 100 biggest holiday spenders include:

No. 4 – Flower Mound ($3,941)
No. 12 – Frisco ($3,491)
No. 28 – Allen ($3,055)
No. 31 – Cedar Park ($3,028)
No. 40 – Plano ($2,812)
No. 47 – Round Rock ($2,641)
No. 55 – McKinney ($2,502)
No. 56 – Carrollton ($2,498)
No. 82 – Richardson ($2,146)
No. 96 – North Richland Hills ($1,985)

According to the study's methodology, a consumer is considered to be in a "comfortable financial position to engage in holiday spending if they have: 1) enough emergency savings to cover at least six months of expenses and 2) a debt-to-income ratio smaller than 22 percent for a renter or 43 percent for a homeowner."

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