Work Together

These sporty nonprofits are bringing athletes and inspiration to The Tailgate

Come learn more about sports-related nonprofits.

Merging Vets & Players/Facebook

If you've been psyching yourself up for The Tailgate on October 27, you likely already know what we'll be serving and what you might want to wear.

But a key component of our newest party is shining a spotlight on sports-related nonprofits —and you'll even get to meet some of the athletes that champion these important causes.

Read up on who's going to be there and how you can get involved in their life-changing work:

Houston Texans Foundation
The mission of the Houston Texans Foundation is to be champions for youth. Since 2002, the foundation has raised more than $41.7 million dollars to support programs in education, character development, and health and wellness to empower the next generation of Texans.

The Houston Texans Foundation is proud to serve children in the Houston area through partnerships with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston and the Houston Texans Teen Club, the Houston Texans YMCA in the Third Ward, the Houston Food Bank, and more. Other key programs include disaster response efforts, youth football, support for members of the military, veterans, and their families, as well as funding social justice efforts in Houston.

Two big fans of the foundation — and Texans legends themselves — will be at The Tailgate: former safety Eric Brown and former offensive lineman Fred Weary. You can meet and pose for pics with them, Texans mascot Toro, and the Houston Texans cheerleaders.

Test your skills and win prizes at the Quarterback Toss, or buy a raffle ticket for a chance to score two VIP passes to The Taste of the Texans on December 5 under the stars at NRG Stadium.

The Astros Foundation
The official charity of the MLB team harnesses the passion of baseball fans to support youth baseball and softball programs, the recognition/honor of our nation's military, childhood cancer awareness, and efforts to reduce homelessness. Cornerstone initiatives include the Community Leaders program, the Astros MLB Youth Academy, and the Astros RBI Program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities).

The Sugar Land Space Cowboys — the Astros' Triple-A affiliate team — partner with The Astros Foundation to extend these efforts and distribute funds back into the greater Fort Bend community.

The Space Cowboys will be at The Tailgate with their mascot, Orion, sharing information on the organization, their season, the 2022 Sugar Land Holiday Lights event, and how you can get involved.

Try your luck in the raffle for four tickets to a 2023 Space Cowboys game and some cool swag, plus the opportunity to throw out the first pitch.

Houston Dynamo Charities
Dynamo Charities believes in using the sport of soccer to support communities in the greater Houston area. They are committed to leveraging the passion of their players, staff, and fans to provide resources and education that positively impact lives in the community.

Photo courtesy of the Sugar Land Space Cowboys

Orion, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys mascot, will be at The Tailgate.

Stop by their tent to play yard games and show off your kicking skills at the giant inflatable goal, plus say hi to mascot Diesel while you're there.

For the raffle, each donation over $25 gives you a chance to win a 2022 team-signed Houston Dynamo FC jersey.

How to buy tickets
Fired up to make a difference in your community? Show up to The Tailgate on October 27 at Silver Street Studios, where delicious food and drink, fun games, and representatives from all these nonprofits will be waiting.

Here are all the ways you can benefit our nonprofit partners: make a donation through our Eventbrite page. Then, at the event, enter to win the ultimate sports package in the raffle and bid on silent auction items, where a portion of proceeds go back to the charities.

Get your tickets now, and use promo code CM15 for $15 off your ticket price.

sports charity promoted

Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess