ESPN Analyst Dunks on Departing Houston Athletes While Touting the City’s Incredible Food Scene

Houston sports fans have had a rough go of late, with three star players for three of the city’s top teams leaving — or asking to leave — the Bayou City in recent weeks. ESPN sports analyst Marcus Spears captured Houstonians’ frustration perfectly in a video that went viral on Twitter yesterday, essentially saying that Houston’s food scene is so lit, things must be really bad for these stars to want to leave the city.

The video came after news that Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans quarterback, had officially requested a trade yesterday.

“Let me tell y’all how mad you have to be to leave H-Town,” Spears begins. “First, there’s this place called Turkey Leg Hut. They’ve got the best turkey legs ever known to man. It’s the most poppin’ restaurant in the country. Everybody visits there when they go to H-town.”

Spears goes on to extoll the food at both Frenchy’s — “It’s probably the best chicken you’ll ever eat”; and Pappadeaux — “Pappadeaux in Houston [is] poppin’”. At the mention of Frenchy’s, fellow analyst Dan Orlovsky, who was a backup QB for the Texans, closes his eyes and starts nodding his head as if he’s being taken to church.

Spears, a former defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Ravens, grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, so he surely knowns good Cajun food when he sees it. In a tweet, Houston Chronicle writer Greg Rahjan jokingly called the video “basically a Houston chamber of commerce promo.”

Deshaun Watson is just the latest athlete to announce his desire to leave Houston. Last week, Astros outfielder George Springer was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, and before that, Rockets guard James Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets. It’s worth noting that both Harden and Watson are involved in Houston’s food scene — Harden’s brand new restaurant Thirteen just opened on January 22, and Watson’s line of cheesesteak joints, Lefty’s, is recently opened a second location in Houston’s Northshore neighborhood.

Towards the end of the video Spears mentions two other benefits of living in Houston — shopping at the Galleria, and the fact that Texas has no state income tax.

“Deshaun Watson AND James Harden trying to leave H-Town? There’s some serious stuff going on.”

• James Harden Might Be Leaving the Rockets, But His Houston Restaurant Will Still Open in January [EHOU]
• Texans Quarterback Deshaun Watson Is Already Opening a Second Cheesesteak Shop [EHOU]