HARTFORD, Conn. — The UConn men’s basketball team was the talk of Houston after cruising to a national championship on Monday, but Houston’s attention has turned from the brilliance of the Huskies to the perceived ignorance of Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont after comments he made about the host city.
Lamont was one of the thousands of UConn fans to descend on Houston for the Final Four, and while he was impressed with UConn’s performance, he wasn’t exactly as impressed with Houston itself, which he made known on WPLR’s Chaz & AJ in the Morning.
“You walk around Houston, which is butt ugly, not much there,” Lamont said before being cut off by laughter.
“You know that’s going to be tweeted,” said one of the hosts. “Houston, we have a problem.”
Lamont didn’t backtrack, continuing by saying: “Except for the UConn fans. Everywhere you’d hear bouncing off those big, empty walls. Let’s go UConn, UConn Huskies.”
As you might expect, Texans weren’t too thrilled with the governor’s comments.
“Oh no, hell no,” Houston mayor Sylvester Turner responded in an interview with KHOU-TV in Houston. “We’re not going to feed you, dine you, host you, house you, and you’re going to go back and talk about butt ugly? Which end was he looking from?”
“The governor’s comments lacked class, lacked dignity, and we’re insulted by them,” said Dr. James Dixon, chairman of NRG Park, where NRG Stadium, host of the Final Four, sits. “I think the governor should say I’m sorry, I looked at a corner, and thought I was looking at Houston.”
Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Dade Phelan responded on Twitter, saying: “I fully support a budget amendment tomorrow on HB 1 to purchase the state of Connecticut and turn it into a parking lot for the Houston Rodeo. You can never have too much parking.”
Turner’s office also released an official statement on Lamont’s comments.
“I wonder how Governor Lamont would feel if someone made a similar comment about one of his cities in Connecticut? And when was the last time Connecticut hosted an NCAA Final Four? The UCONN Huskies won, and they should be commended. As for the Governor’s comments, they didn’t reflect the best of his state. By the way, Houston downtown is terrific, and we are getting ready to host the college football championship in January! Take that!!!”
Sen. Ted Cruz responded by tweeting, “The gov of Connecticut- a commuter suburb of NYC that features lovely and safe towns like New Haven- found Houston not up to his aesthetic standard. … Stay classy, Ned.”
Houston Astros radio broadcaster Robert Ford had this barb on Twitter: “That’s rich coming from someone who lives in Hartford.”
In the interview, Lamont went on to laud UConn for its victory, saying it’s “enormous for UConn, and it’s enormous for the state of Connecticut. … For one shining moment, everyone was talking about the state of Connecticut.”
Later on Thursday, Lamont responded to the uproar surrounding his comments in remarks after the state bond commission meeting.
“Look, we had a ball in Houston at the NCAA Final Four. The people of Houston were incredibly gracious and welcoming, and the basketball game was pretty darn good as well.
“I love (Mayor Turner’s) comments, he said, ‘Maybe the governor is looking at the wrong end of a beautiful horse,’ and, I guess, I resemble that comment. But I want to say more importantly, nothing compares to the beauty of that amazing basketball championship on Monday night.”
Asked if Chaz and AJ dragged him down to their level during the interview, Lamont said: “We were joking around.”
Lamont will be present at the championship parade being held for the Huskies beginning at the State Capitol on Saturday. The parade is scheduled to kick off at 11:30 a.m.
