HOUSTON (AP) The Latest on how Hurricane Harvey has affected sports in and around Houston (all times local):
3:05 p.m.
The Houston Astros will play their series against the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, because of flooding from Hurricane Harvey. The three-game set begins Tuesday.
The team says a three-game series against the New York Mets that begins on Friday may also be played in Florida. A person with knowledge of the decision tells The Associated Press that the decision to also play that series there has already been made and shared with the players.
Both the Astros and Rangers flew to Dallas after their games in California on Sunday to await news of where the series would be held. After an off day Monday, they will now head to Florida where the Astros will have home games far away from home like they did in the wake of Hurricane Ike in 2008 when they played two scheduled home games in Milwaukee.
If the Astros play both series in Florida, they will end up playing 19 straight games away from Houston, where the AL Central leaders last played on Aug. 24. A 10-game road trip begins after the Mets series.
Astros president Reid Ryan says: ”The safety of our fans, players and staff remain our main priority We are extremely grateful to the Tampa Bay Rays organization for allowing us to use their facility. We’ll make a decision on this weekend’s series vs. the Mets in the upcoming days as we continue to monitor the conditions.”
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2:20 p.m.
Texans star defensive end J.J. Watt hears the sentiment that Houston needs the same kind of help it offered New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina swamped Louisiana’s largest city 12 years ago.
Tens of thousands of evacuees ended up in Houston when New Orleans was flooded in 2005, and many stayed. Now Houston is dealing with massive flooding from Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast south of the nation’s fourth-largest city.
The Texans played a preseason game in New Orleans on Saturday, and flew to the Dallas area because of the deteriorating conditions at home. They aren’t sure when they’re going back to Houston.
Watt says: ”Now it’s kind of Houston’s time. Houston needs the help. Houston’s the one that needs some of the funds, they need some of the help, they need the resources. It’s nice to see people from all over paying Houston back.”
A fundraising page that Watt started has already raised more than $570,000 since Sunday. He says a $50,000 donation from new Houston Rocket Chris Paul pushed it over the $500,000 mark and the new goal is to raise $1 million.
– AP Sports Writer Schuyler Dixon in Frisco, Texas
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2:05 p.m.
Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts is keeping his family in the Houston area in his prayers amid the flooding from Hurricane Harvey. He says it won’t affect his focus for the opener against No. 3 Florida State on Saturday.
Hurts is from Channelview, Texas, about 20 miles from Houston. He says he is OK if his parents miss the top-ranked Crimson Tide’s opener at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
He says he wants them to be safe and so far they are fine and able to watch TV because they have electricity.
– AP Sports Writer John Zenor in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
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1:50 p.m.
A person with knowledge of the decision tells The Associated Press that the Houston Astros will play their next two series at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, because of flooding from Hurricane Harvey.
This includes a three-game series beginning Tuesday with the Texas Rangers and a three-game series with the New York Mets starting on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not yet been announced by the teams or by Major League Baseball.
Both the Astros and Rangers flew to Dallas after their games in California on Sunday to await news of where the series would be held. They’ll now head to Florida where the Astros will have home games far away from home like they did in the wake of Hurricane Ike in 2008 when they played two scheduled home games in Milwaukee.
It means the Astros will end up playing 19 straight games away from Houston, where the AL Central leaders last played on Aug. 24. A 10-game road trip begins after the Mets series.
– AP Sports Writer Kristie Rieken in Houston
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12:20 p.m.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and his family have pledged to match all funds donated to the American Red Cross in support of the Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief Fund up to $1 million. The team is currently working with the American Red Cross to create a site to accept donations.
The Patriots have fond memories in Houston, which was the site of their Super Bowl wins in 2017 and 2004. Kraft says Houston was wonderful during those visits and the team is eager to return the favor.
– AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
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12:10 p.m.
TCU coach Gary Patterson says the Horned Frogs will do whatever they can to help the displaced Rice Owls.
The Rice team was scheduled to arrive in the Dallas-Fort Worth area Monday after traveling from Australia, where they started their season over the weekend with a 62-7 loss to 14th-ranked Stanford. Patterson says there are still specifics to work out to host Rice on the Fort Worth campus while the Houston area deals with severe flooding from Hurricane Harvey.
Patterson says the Owls are worried about loved ones, but also ”all their belongings and their apartments, and their housing.”
Rice coach David Bailiff was on TCU’s staff with Patterson from 2001-03 before going to Texas State as head coach in 2004, and then to Rice in 2006.
– AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins in Fort Worth, Texas
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11:45 a.m.
University of Texas football coach Tom Herman says he hasn’t seen any of his former Houston players yet, but figures that will change when the Cougars make their way to the Austin campus to resume practice Monday afternoon.
Houston’s team went to Austin on Friday, ahead of Hurricane Harvey’s landfall, and practiced there Saturday.
Herman spent the past two seasons at Houston and is now in his first season with the Longhorns. He says Texas will try to do anything it can to help the Cougars.
Herman says the Cougars canceled their scheduled practice Sunday when the flooding was getting worse back in Houston, and players were ”worried and not really being focused on football, nor should they have been.”
– AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins in Fort Worth, Texas
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11:20 a.m.
The Houston Texans and owner Bob McNair are donating $1 million to the United Way of Greater Houston Flood Relief Fund. The team announced the donation on Monday as the relocated Texans were in suburban Dallas, practicing at the Cowboys’ practice facility.
Moments after the donation was announced, Charlotte Jones Anderson said that the NFL Foundation would match the $1 million donation pledged by the Texans and McNair.
– AP Sports Writer Kristie Rieken in Houston
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11 a.m.
The Houston-area home of former Texans running back Arian Foster has been flooded.
He didn’t provide many details, but posted a video on Twitter with the caption: ”neighbors took a video of our crib from across the street.” The 12-second video showed a neighborhood submerged in water with several houses that had water covering them up to the middle of their doors.
Foster played for the Texans from 2009-2016.
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10:25 a.m.
Washington Redskins left tackle Trent Williams, who lives in the Houston area in the offseason and co-owns a training facility there, says most of his family members were able to avoid Hurricane Harvey and get back to the Longview, Texas, area where he’s from. Williams says the power is off in Houston and it’s hard to get in contact with people.
He says he fears the worst is yet to come with more rain the next couple of days, and that it is “going to get ugly.”
– AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in Landover, Maryland
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10 a.m.
The Rice football team is relocating to TCU as flooding continues to inundate Houston in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
The Owls opened the season over the weekend in Australia, where they lost to Stanford. They arrived in Los Angeles on Monday morning. They are expected to arrive in Dallas this afternoon and will temporarily set up headquarters at TCU in Fort Worth until things improve in Houston.
Coach David Bailiff says: ”While we would love to be coming home today, our first responsibility is the safety of these players. We learned some lessons in 2008 (during Hurricane Ike) about coming home too soon.”
The Owls have a week off before traveling to play UTEP on Sept. 9.
Rice is the latest Houston sports team to have its plans altered because of the storm. The Texans have relocated to Dallas and are awaiting word on where their scheduled home preseason game against the Cowboys on Thursday will be played. The Astros are also in Dallas, waiting to see where their scheduled home series set to begin on Tuesday against the Rangers will be played.
– AP Sports Writer Kristie Rieken in Houston
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