Get the daily email that brings 100% Austin news, info, and entertainment direct to your inbox
We all need a little escapism even in the best of times—certainly these days—and sports have always scored big on that field.
The roaring crowds, mile-long concession lines and heady weekend tailgates in the parking lot are mostly gone for the year, but that doesn't mean you can't cheer your guts out for your favorite teams.
Some, like local baseball, are canceled or winding up their seasons. And others, like college women's basketball, are as-yet unscheduled.
We find ourselves in an interesting fall championship game line up with pro baseball entering an extended season, minor league soccer having its postseason championships, and hockey and basketball in delayed finals seasons (that we'd normally be enjoying in the spring and early summer), it's an exciting time to be a fan!
Here are some ways to safely get your Texas sports fix right now—and the escape we're all craving.
Football
Football starts in earnest this month for the NFL and some universities. Because the pandemic didn't do much to disrupt the season, timing-wise (except for the canceled preseason), not much will change for those who watched from their couches.
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys' NFL season starts on Sept. 13, but the first home game is slated for Sept. 20 against the Atlanta Falcons at noon. Catch it on FOX, or if you're in North Texas, limited tickets and suite rentals are available at AT&T Stadium in Arlington
Houston Texans
The Houston Texans' virtual kickoff happened on Sept. 3, with Texans players, coaches, celebrities and more. If you missed it, you can catch the archive here. The season started on Thursday, Sept. 10, but the the first home game happens on Sunday, Sept. 20 against the Baltimore Ravens at 3:25 p.m. at NRG stadium. Limited tickets and suites are available.
UT Longhorns
The Big 12 season is on! UT's first game, a match up at home against UT-El Paso, happens 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12. But the first official Big 12 conference game is set for Sept. 26 against the Texas Tech Raiders. You can catch Longhorn Network games—including the season opener—on ESPN or stream them online. Some fans can also go to games at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium on the UT-Austin campus, which is only allowing a 25% capacity crowd at this time.
Baseball
Major League Baseball ends its regular 60-game season on Sept. 27 and then prepares for an extended 16-team playoff season—which some are thinking could include the Houston Astros. Check out this link to stream MLB games online.
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros' season has begun, and while they are allowing no fans in the Minute Maid Park for the games— they are making it easy to watch them on TV and online. Next game is at 7:07 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 against the LA Dodgers.
Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers, like their MLB counterparts in Houston, continue their season on Saturday against the Oakland A's at 4:05 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12. Like the other MLB franchises, they won't be playing to any crowds—with no in-person attendance at Globe Life Park in Arlington—but they're easy to find online.
You can listen to them on the radio here.
Basketball
The NBA's conference semifinals are underway, with the final matchup series set to start on Sept. 30. We're used to baseball and football championships in the fall and winter, but this is a bonus. There is no in-person seating but you can register for a chance to be a "virtual" fan here.
And while the Dallas Mavericks' season came to an end on Aug. 30 with a loss to the L.A. Clippers, there's still another Texas team to watch.
Houston Rockets
You can catch the Rockets against the L.A. Lakers in their second match-up of the series on ESPN at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12. Or register for a chance to be a virtual fan and take home viewing to a whole 'nother level.
Hockey
We'd normally be watching the NHL conference finals in the late spring and early summer, but the pandemic took care of that—and now we get to pile the Stanley Cup championships onto our high-stakes fall season.
The Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are on the short list for the cup this year, facing the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference finals, with Game 4 set for Saturday, Sept. 12.
The season is set to wind up with the Stanley Cup finals tentatively set for early October. Tickets to stadium watch parties are sold out but you can watch on FOX Sports Southwest or the Fox Sports GO app.
Soccer
We have to wait until spring for Austin's new Major League Soccer team, the Austin FC, to start playing at McKalla Place —but you can still enjoy some exciting Austin soccer.
UT Soccer
The University of Texas Longhorns soccer Big 12 season gets underway on Friday night, Sept. 10 with new guidelines issued for in-person attendance at the school's Mike A. Meyers Stadium. Watch them on the Longhorns Network.
Austin Bold FC
The United Soccer League is ending its season in early October, and our own Austin Bold FC team is angling for a spot in the USL post-season championship playoffs next month. Their next scheduled game is at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 against the Rio Grande Valley Toros. You can watch them on ESPN+ or app.
More sports:
- Sports fans will be allowed to attend outdoor pro games, Gov. Abbott ... ›
- UIL releases guidelines for fall 2020 sports season - austonia ›
- UT plans on Longhorns football in fall 2020 - austonia ›
- Major athletes in football, tennis from the Austin area - austonia ›
- Longhorns basketball jumps in rankings after Kansas win - austonia ›
- Austin Bold FC to relocate to Fort Worth, citing Austin FC's success - austonia ›
Popular
Former UT tennis coach Michael Center told Sports Illustrated he thinks others were involved in the Varsity Blues scandal at UT.
His name dragged through the mud, Center was fired, arrested by the FBI and sentenced to six months in a Central Texas federal prison after pleading guilty to two charges related to mail fraud. And over a year after his release, Center told Sports Illustrated he doubts he was the only one in burnt orange involved.
When the Varsity Blues scandal broke out to the public in 2019, the investigation was a perfect storm for nationwide attention: Hollywood glamour, blue blood conspiracy and faith in the tried-and-true American education system came to a head as 33 movie stars and other elites were found guilty of paying more than $25 million to pave their children’s way into eight colleges, including the University of Texas.
UT was one of eight schools caught in the college admissions scandal. (Laura Figi/Austonia)
Singer's client, private equity executive Chris Schaepe, was looking for a way to bend UT's tight admissions policies for his son, who was seeking a position oddly as a manager on UT’s basketball team. Through a middleman, Singer contacted Center, who eventually agreed.
Schaepe's son hadn't played tennis since his freshman year of high school. It was a detail that Center says passed through plenty of hands before he was admitted, including "academic support staff, the compliance office, the sports supervisor and, ultimately, the athletic director," SI's Jon Wertheim writes.
No one in the entire athletic department, including seven "risk management and compliant services department" employees, was named, implicated or punished. After an internal investigation, Center was the only one named in the Varsity Blues "subterfuge" in a September 2019 UT news release signed by the university president.
He told Austonia he was never contacted by the university during the investigation, and when the NCAA interviewed him for its investigation, he says it cleared him of any violations.
“I almost fell out of my chair,” Center said. “I literally couldn’t breathe. There’s no college coach in America—much less at a state school, much less a coach of a nonrevenue sport—who can admit an athlete without consulting other people in the athletic department. What they were asking people to believe, it’s just impossible.” SI said Center's assertion was backed by multiple UT coaches and administrators at other schools.
But why would the Forty Acres be complicit?
(Matthew/Adobe)
Center said UT’s then newly named athletic director Steve Patterson made clear that Center suddenly was responsible for more than building a successful tennis program. He was to be a "fundraiser first and coach second" and he would need to find donors to fund a new tennis facility. Patterson admitted to SI that he wanted his coaches to find donors and said the department was "$15 million in the red" when he started in 2013, though he denies any knowledge of the false tennis recruitment.
Center said he knew he would be "considered a team player" if he let in the son of a Silicon Valley magnate. And sure enough, Schaepe immediately began pulling out his wallet, donating $100,000 to UT tennis and a six-figure check to the school's communication program.
"I never entered this as a way to profit. This was a fundraising mission where I made a terrible mistake at the end,"
Center said.
Months after Schaepe's son was admitted, Center agreed to meet Singer at the Austin airport and found himself accepting a backpack filled with $60,000 in cash meant for him, personally. He said he immediately knew he had made a mistake. He told SI “I put the money in my basement and gave most of it away.”
“Why did I do it?” Center told Sports Illustrated. "I go to bed and wake up each day asking myself the same question. I had to convince myself that I somehow deserved the money."
Once in court, Center showed texts with UT's compliance official and mentioned Chris Plonsky, a department executive involved in "overseeing men’s tennis, compliance, academic support (which generates letters of intent) and the Longhorn Foundation," according to SI.
“I knew I had to answer for my guilt,” Center said. “But I was like, 'Man, schools are going to get hammered.'"'
But Center was the only Longhorn to go down for the crimes. “I was no rogue actor,” Center said. “And this wasn’t my word against their word. There were signatures that went along with it. That’s the system... There wasn’t one point in the process where I thought people wanted to learn the whole truth.”
Back at home in Austin, Center watched as actress Felicity Huffman served just eleven days for her part in the scandal. Some served up to five months; others simply paid a fine, and others, like Singer, await sentencing.
And because the prosecution chose to blame individual coaches, framing schools as victims in the case, universities like UT have received less than a slap on the wrist for their possible involvement.
“I was always taught that actions have consequences,” Center said. “What I’ve come to realize is that, yes, for some people actions absolutely do have consequences. Serious, heavy ones. For others, actions can have no consequences at all.”
- Excitement, tensions build as Austin expects 18k fans at first Texas ... ›
- $10 million Austin NIL scholarship fund to help Longhorn athletes ... ›
- UT plans on Longhorns football in fall 2020 - austonia ›
- UT is going SEC! Texas board of regents approves move to future ... ›
- Former UT tennis coach Michael Center in halfway house after ... ›
- Former UT tennis coach Michael Center completes 6-month ... ›
