Something for Cowboys to exploit

Houston Texans keep failing the pee test: Matt Schaub's protector is out fourgames

Matt Schaub suddenly became a lot more vulnerable.
Duane Brown is suspended for the next four games.

The Houston Texans can't stop winning on the field — and losing in the bathroom.

Off to 2-0 start, having more than survived the drug-suspension loss of defensive leader Brian Crushing, the Texans have been dealt another blow by a player's inability to avoid getting caught by the NFL's hardly-Olympic-level drug testing. Left tackle Duane Brown — the man charged with protecting quarterback Matt Schaub's blind slide — received a four-game suspension today for failing a performance-enhancing drug test.

Brown will start his suspension immediately, which means he'll miss Sunday's game against an angry, desperate 0-2 Dallas team, and games against the Oakland Raiders, the New York Giants and Kansas City Chiefs. Cushing still has to sit out two more games in his suspension for failing a performance-enhancing drug test, putting two of the Texans' more important players out for both the Cowboys and Raiders games.

Unlike Cushing — who offered up some of the most bizarre excuses ever heard on a subject where scientifically implausible athlete excuses are something of the norm — Brown is not fighting his punishment. Instead, he's simply using one of the all-time favorite pro athlete explanations for a failed test: He unwittingly took a "tainted" supplement.

"First off, I want to personally apologize to (team owner Bob) McNair, coach (Gary) Kubiak and the rest of the coaching staff, my teammates, family and to all the great and loyal Texans fans," Brown said in a statement. "I take full responsibility for putting myself in this situation. I unknowingly took a supplement tainted with a banned substance and now have to deal with the consequences."

Mostly, Schaub and the Texans' offense figure to deal with the consequences against Cowboys pass-rushing extraordinaire DeMarcus Ware.

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put it on santa's amex

Affluent Houston suburbs top list of biggest holiday spenders in U.S.

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

Residents in The Woodlands looove to do up the holidays.

It looks like Santa Claus is going to be competing with residents in The Woodlands to see who brings the most lavish holiday gifts this year.

This festive Houston neighbor ranked No. 13 in WalletHub's annual report on U.S. cities with the biggest holiday budgets in 2024.

Residents in this well-to-do suburb are expected to spend $3,395 on their Christmas gifts this year. That's up $79 from the $3,316 they were ready to drop in the 2023 ranking — but it bumped them down three spots from their previous ranking at No. 10.

The U.S. Census Bureau says that The Woodlands' estimated population of 114,436 had a median household income of $130,011 in 2023. No wonder they have the extra cash to spare.

The Woodlands consistently makes the list of the top 15 U.S. cities with the biggest holiday spenders, outshining its Houston neighbor Sugar Land, which slipped one spot this year from their previous high ranking of No. 14 in 2023.

The average holiday budget in Sugar Land is still an exorbitant amount – $3,214 – but that only garnered the city No. 15 in the overall ranking out of 558 U.S. cities. You gotta spend to stay on top.

The No. 1 city in the U.S. for biggest holiday spenders in 2024 is Newton, Massachusetts, a wealthy suburb right outside of Boston, where the median income measured in 2022 was $176,373. Slots 2 through 5 were all cities in California's Silicon Valley: Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Milpitas.

Six additional Houston-area cities landed in this year's biggest holiday budgets, including:

No. 25 – League City ($2,897)
No. 60 – Pearland ($2,223)
No. 238 – Pasadena ($1,267)
No. 292 – Missouri City ($1,204)
No. 355 – Conroe ($1,087)
No. 477 – Baytown ($824)

Meanwhile, Houston proper landed at No. 241 this year with an average holiday budget of $1,334.

Each year, WalletHub calculates the maximum holiday budget for over 550 U.S. cities "to help consumers avoid post-holiday regret," the website says. The study factors in income, age of the population, and other financial indicators such as debt-to-income ratio, monthly-income-to monthly-expenses ratio, and savings-to-monthly-expenses ratio.

Whether a Houstonian's holiday budget is under $200 or more than $1,000, it's better to prioritize remaining within that budget instead of racking up the credit card bill, according to WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.

"There are plenty of ways to enjoy the holidays and show you care without spending much money, like hosting potlucks or giving handmade gifts," said Lupo.

Other Texas cities that made it into the top 100 are:

No. 7 – Flower Mound ($3,541)
No. 11 – Frisco ($3,412)
No. 18 – Allen ($3,070)
No. 23 – Cedar Park ($2,930)
No. 32 – Plano ($2,658)
No. 39 – Round Rock ($2,538)
No. 45 – North Richland Hills ($2,484)
No. 52 – McKinney ($2,386)
No. 76 – Richardson ($1,980)
No. 81 – Carrollton ($1,932)
No. 87 – Austin ($1,905)
No. 92 – Lewisville ($1,848)

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