This weekend the big game is on! We know the teams, Falcons vs Patriots. We know we’ll all go Gaga at the halftime show. And we know that we will eat about 1.3 billion chicken wings. But what do we really know about Houston, the city that will host this football game of football games this year? Here are some interesting facts about Houston.
- Its nicknames are Space City (Houston, we have a problem); it’s home to America’s astronaut corps, where they train for their ventures into space. It’s also known as Bayou City as it is home to ten winding waterways and known as H-Town, especially amongst the entertainment community.
- They love theater; in fact their theater district is second only to NYC in terms of concentration of seats in a single block.
- Houston is home to more Fortune 500 company headquarters (23) in America, except (again) NYC.
- The Texas Medical Center is the largest single employer in Houston and the largest medical center in the world.
- Oil and gas is big in Houston, it’s the center of the petrochemical industry.
- Their unemployment level is well below the national average.
- The city is more ethnically and racially diverse than any other city, more than 90 languages are spoken throughout the Houston area.
- The city has more parks than any other top-10 metropolitan area.
- They love their rodeo, attracting one the largest rodeos each year, The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at Reliant Stadium.
- If you like hip-hop, you have found a home in Houston, they’ve produced artists like Chamillionaire, Mike Jones, Paul Wall and Slim Thug. Beyonce was born there (and so was I, which explains why I have such a Beyonce vibe).
- They are number 4 in population size, coming in after New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
- The city was founded by the Allen Brothers and they named it Houston, after Sam Houston, the popular general at the Battle of San Jacinto.
On February 5th, 2 teams will go to battle on the field at NRG Stadium. One will go home with rings and money; I may just go home with shoes.
