It's been a busy day here at Reliant Stadium. New strength and conditioning coach Cedric Smith started his job, and we shot a quick video with him on what was a busy first day. He blocked for Emmitt Smith as a fullback at Florida in the late 1980's, and then played for seven seasons in the NFL. He'll bring a unique perspective to the job.

Also, running back Steve Slaton will be in the offices on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. for a live chat online. Send in your questions by clicking here.

LeGarrette Blount is an enormous running back: he clocked in at 6-2, 242 lbs. at the Senior Bowl weigh-in. We talked with him in Mobile and he was an interesting conversation.

Hey Texans fans! It's Sonya, one of your 2009 Houston Texans Cheerleaders. Megan D, Ashley T., Larisa and Marisa and I have had a great trip to Iraq visiting with some of our troops overseas.

Check out these photos from our trip!

Day 2 - The Longest Day Ever!

We left Camp Arifjan at 3 a.m. and headed to Camp Ali Ahsaleem to catch our flight into Iraq. When we arrived there were hundreds of deployed soldiers waiting for their flight. While waiting we met Sgt. Daniel Fellew who took great care of us and told us an amazing story about a mission in Iraq. His story really made me realize how dedicated and brave our soldiers are.

While we were waiting we were issued our “Battle Rattle”, or a 30-pound vest and helmet that we were required to wear when we flew. At first we all were very excited about getting cute pictures of ourselves in our armor. We soon realized that this wasn’t the most comfortable outfit.

After we checked in we hopped on a shuttle bus with a group of soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas. One soldier, Staff Sgt. Barry Arrington, even met Ashley T. and I at the Community Strong event in Fort Hood two months ago! Small world!

Staff Sgt. Arrington, Sonya and Ashley T. pose for a pic on the C-130.

We boarded the C-130 and got to meet the flight crew before our 90-minute flight to Q-West Base. During the flight the crew allowed us to pick one soldier to join us for a quick tour of the cockpit. I asked Staff Sgt. Arrington to join me and we learned that the C-130 that we were on was built in 1973 and that as procedure we would perform a combat landing. This didn’t feel great on the stomach but I somehow got through it !

We arrived at Q-West, which was significantly colder than Kuwait, and learned that we were now in northern Iraq about 30 miles from Turkey. Our lodging that night consisted of a CHU (a Containerized Housing Unit) which is similar to small portable metal container with a heater, a small bed, a locker and a night stand. The restroom, or latrine, was a good four minute walk from our CHU. The lodging area was surrounded with bunkers and barbed wire fences which made it very real to me that we are indeed in a war zone.

The CHU that Sonya and the Houston Texans Cheerleaders slept in during their trip to Iraq.

We headed to lunch at one of the largest dining facilities (DFAC‘s) that we have seen so far. This place was huge and you could pretty much find anything you wanted to eat here! Seriously, they had a stir-fry or pasta station, salad and fruit bar, hamburgers, pizza, ice cream, you name it! To my surprise several soldiers agreed that they get a little tired of the food in the DFAC.

We got a tour of the base and stopped into several offices to surprise the soldiers working there. The coolest part of the day is when we got to go in the M-RAP (Mine Resistant Artillery Protected) simulator. Soldiers are trained in this simulator to figure out the what to do if the M-RAP flips over. Marisa was our driver, I was the truck coordinator, and the rest of the girls plus one of our escorts, Jason was riding in back. We got strapped in and were instructed when the simulator flips us over we are to remain calm and repeat “rollover rollover rollover”. As soon as we started to turn, Meg D.’s helmet came flying off and hit poor Jason in the stomach!

Sonya and Marisa ride in an M-RAP on a visit to Northern Iraq

We left a little dizzy and headed to the MWR (Military Welfare & Recreation) center to get ready for our show and meet-and-greet. The show was so much fun! There were about 200 soldiers at our performance and we even saw a Houston Texans Battle Red towel in the audience! They got a kick out of our show and quickly jumped in line to get an autograph and photo.

We finished up the evening around 11 p.m. and were absolutely exhausted after being up for 20 hours! We arrived at our CHU’s and went to the restroom as a group. It was pitch black outside and had to avoid bunkers, wires and large rocks on the way to the restroom…thank goodness we had a flashlight!!!!

Back in Texans-land...the Houston Chronicle is reporting that the team has a new strength and conditioning coach.

Wide receiver Andre Johnson wins again! He picks up the NFL Alumni Wide Receiver of the Year.

We also have videos up of our interviews with Cal DE Tyson Alualu and Wayne State RB Joique Bell. Both guys were impressive in Mobile at the Senior Bowl, and it will be intriguing to see where they get drafted.

Is the NFL getting rid of the 3-point stance?

We made it!!

The 12-hour flight was surprisingly very smooth and we made it in great time. When we approached the coast, Andrea and I gazed out the window to see the clouds cast beautiful shadows over the Pacific. I have to admit, it is a little intimidating flying over such a large body of water, but it was such a beautiful site flying through the sun and the clouds approaching the Japanese coastline. We are all elated and feel so blessed today!

When we got off the plane we grabbed our luggage and were introduced to Mr. Bob McKeta, the Director of the MWR Sponsorship. Bob greeted us all with a warm hand shake and big bear hugs! What a jewel he is! He will be with us throughout the weekend.

He led us to our bus and said, "It might be a good idea to put on your jackets girls." I think we were thinking, "Nahhh."  At that moment the automatic door flew open and a burst of FREEZING cold air hit us all at once!

We put on our jackets. :) Japan is quite cold at the moment.

We have a two hour bus ride to Camp Zama which Bob told us is about 35 miles outside of Tokyo. He was kind enough to bring along a few base newspapers that feature our pictures in ads regarding the Super Bowl Festivities that will be taking place! How exciting!!!!

As soon as we get to Camp Zama we will settle in and get some grub!

Can't wait to begin the week!

Lindsay

Like Jacoby Jones, David Anderson and Brian Cushing before him, left guard Chester Pitts was the latest Texan to hit the airwaves on radio row in South Florida.

Pitts joined the media frenzy on Friday, a day after he represented the NFLPA at DeMaurice Smith’s press conference at the NFL Media Center. Pitts interviewed with SportsRadio 610 AM of Houston, Sirius NFL Radio and a Jacksonville radio station before speaking with HoustonTexans.com.

“I’m having fun.” said Pitts, one of the Texans’ most media-savvy players. “This is very enjoyable, doing all this. I’m in my world. I’m in my element.”

Picking against his division rival, Pitts predicted a 28-24 victory for the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

“I can’t root for Indianapolis,” he said. “I want the Saints to win, plain and simple. New Orleans is going to get it done.”

Texans wide receiver David Anderson was at radio row on Friday at the NFL Media Center in Fort Lauderdale. Anderson has been in South Florida since last week; he and other Texans receivers were flown down for the Pro Bowl by Andre Johnson.

“This is crazy,” Anderson said in between interviews on Friday morning. “I’ve never been to radio row here. This is a pretty big event. We need to definitely go to the Super Bowl to have a little fun with something like this.”

Anderson arrived at the media center Friday at 9 a.m. His first interview was with SportsRadio 610 AM, where Anderson joined hosts Marc Vandermeer and John Lopez (listen to the podcast here).

I asked Anderson his prediction for the game on Sunday.

“To be honest, a lot of people have asked me, but I’ll tell us,” he said, referring to the Texans’ website. “I really don’t care. I mean, do you want me to root for our AFC South Colts or root for the team we got in a fight with in preseason? It’s kind of hard, so either way it’s a win-win or a lose-lose for us. But I’ve always been a fan of (Peyton) Manning, and I think the way the Colts play the game is pretty fun, so I guess I’ll root for them. But it’d be cool to watch that city of New Orleans just explode with a victory.”

Anderson also commented on what it’s like to see the Colts, a team the Texans came close to beating twice this season, in the Super Bowl.

“I think you realize that we gave away that opportunity and they’re just taking advantage of theirs, and that’s only our fault,” he said. “It just stinks to see them because we know if we had given ourselves that opportunity to get in the playoffs, we would’ve probably created some havoc. But what are you gonna do? It’s over and it’s done with, and now you’ve just got to be a fan of football like we all should be as well as players. I don’t know, though. I just know next year we’re not going to give away two victories."

Here's a photo of Anderson with the 610 guys:

Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin won the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year award on Thursday, beating out Texans linebacker Brian Cushing and three other finalists. Cushing and fellow finalist Michael Oher were at the ceremony at the NFL Super Bowl Media Center in Fort Lauderdale; Harvin couldn't attend due to travel complications.

The award was voted on by fans --- Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com reports that 1.59 million votes were tallied on NFL.com. Last month, Cushing won the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, which is voted on by a 50-member Associated Press media panel. The AP also selected Cushing as a second-team All-Pro, and he was chosen for the Pro Bowl by a combination of votes from fans, players and coaches.

At the Media Center on Thursday, Cushing held court with the media for about 10 minutes before heading down to Radio Row. There, he interviewed with SportsRadio 610 AM (check out the podcast) and several other stations. During his session with reporters, Cushing reflected on having to miss last Sunday's Pro Bowl because of injuries.

"It was a whole bunch of things, from knee injuries to rib fractures, broken hand, broken pinky," Cushing said. "I really would’ve loved to play in the game, no question about it, especially because of the honor it was to be selected to it. But you know, I just have to make a couple more now. That’s the bottom line. I'm just really happy I was able to be picked for it."

The time has finally come!! Tomorrow morning, Nicole, Tracy, Jessica, Andrea, Megan W. and I will take off to Tokyo, Japan to visit the Army troops at Camp Zama. I cannot begin to describe how incandescently happy I am to represent the Houston Texans and how BLESSED we are to have been chosen for such an amazing trip! I have never flown this far before, so I was a little apprehensive for a few weeks leading up to the day. Now that it is finally here I can’t feel anything else in the world except excitement and wonder for the incredible experience we are about to have.

I can definitely tell you that packing wasn’t easy. I’ve been going down my list of countless items and will be tying up all loose ends today before our departure early tomorrow morning. When I say EARLY, I’m talking 3:45 a.m. wake-up time! We have a pretty early departure to Dallas/Ft. Worth. Tracy will be my roommate in Japan and my early morning wake-up call to make sure that my behind is out of bed and ready to go! I’m a heavy sleeper and a “Snooze Button” lover! Don’t let me down Tracy! Ha!

I think I’ve got my 13hr. 25 min. “Flight Survival Kit” finally put together. I’m packing the I-pod, books, journals, school books/reviews (to get that extra study time in on the plane), and other necessities to keep my wandering mind busy during the flight.

My family is so excited for me. I think my Mom is a little nervous, and naturally so. Her baby girl is going across the world! I’m sure this is the same for the other girls too. Everyone is so energized and ready to see the base and meet our troops!

This trip will be really special for Andrea, whose birthday is today! We will be celebrating her birthday throughout our stay in Japan. What a great birthday present for Andrea! Happy Birthday!

Well, I’m going to wrap it up here. I will do my best to blog on the plane, and as soon as we get to Japan and get settled I will post an update again!!

Here’s to a safe and blessed trip across the world!!

Lindsay

Texans wide receiver Jacoby Jones joined SportsRadio 610 AM, the Texans' flagship radio station, for an interview on Radio Row here at the NFL Media Center in Fort Lauderdale today.

Jones, a New Orleans native who is close friends with several Saints players, sat down with SR610 hosts Rich Lord and Robert Henslee at the top of the 2 p.m. CT hour. Along with talking about the Super Bowl, he discussed Texans coach Gary Kubiak's reported contract extension.

Listen to the interview in a SportsRadio 610 podcast here. Below is a photo of Jones with SportsRadio 610 morning show producer Chris Jones.

Also, listen to the podcast with Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who talks about Andre Johnson and the Texans re-signing Dunta Robinson.

The Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year award will be announced tomorrow during a 12:30 p.m. CT press conference in South Florida. Texans linebacker Brian Cushing is one of five finalists.

Cushing already has won AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors and was named to the Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro squads. For the Pepsi award, he's a finalist along with Jairus Byrd of the Buffalo Bills, Percy Harvin of the Minnesota Vikings, Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers and Michael Oher of the Baltimore Ravens. Cushing and Matthews, whose uncle Bruce Matthews is a Texans offensive assistant, were linebacker teammates at USC.

The awards ceremony will take place at the NFL Media Center in Fort Lauderdale, where I've been camped out all week helping out with the NFL's PR staff. I'll be sure to attend the ceremony and report back afterward with Cushing's reaction, win or lose. He's certainly got the credentials worthy of a winner, but it's hard to peg a likely winner since this award is determined by fan votes tallied on NFL.com.

Running back Domanick Davis/Williams is the only Texans player who has won the award. He did so after his rookie season in 2003.

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez made the rounds this week knowing that if his team played better against the Colts in the AFC Championship Game, he would be in the Super Bowl. Instead, he was promoting a worthy cause (see NFL.com) with DeMarcus Ware. Sanchez roomed with Brian Cushing at USC and said Cushing was texting him, jokingly urging the QB to lay down against the Bengals in the regular-season finale to let the Texans into the playoffs.

Legendary defensive end Deacon Jones loves the way Mario Williams is playing, pointing out that high sack totals aren't the only measure of a valuable DE. Former Raiders cornerback Mike Haynes was with him on our show promoting prostate cancer awareness.

Haynes and Lester Hayes formed a devastating CB tandem that stopped the Washington Redskins in 1984 as Joe Theismann couldn't rally his team. It would have been fun to have Theismann on the air with Haynes, but Joe came on earlier Wednesday morning with plenty to say about Matt Schaub.

Theisman thinks Schaub is 98 percent on his way to being an elite QB. And he means Brady-Brees elite. He feels Schaub is already one of the best in the business. He wants to see Matt cut down on the big mistake, like his fourth-quarter picks against Indy and Arizona.

Chad Ochocinco made a lot of stops promoting a Madden showdown but also expressed his love for Andre Johnson on the show. Chad also said he feels the CBs he faces understand his trash talk is all in the spirit of competition and fun. He asked us to ask Dunta Robinson about it, and we will, next chance we get.
 
Drew Brees and Reggie Bush got the most attention during Saints’ Super Bowl media day, to no one's surprise. But I really enjoyed talking with Billy Miller, who is sidelined and plans on coming back next year. It's been tough to watch his teammates get to the Super Bowl, but he keeps things in perspective. He knows he's always been a long shot coming into the league as a seventh rounder, getting cut, eventually joining the Texans as a street free agent and scoring the first TD in club history.

At Super Bowl Media Day in South Florida today, I ran into former Texans safety Will Demps. Demps, who played with the Texans in 2007 and 2008, is doing correspondence work for the TV show "Extra" as he explores a potential new career in the entertainment industry.

I'll have more on this tomorrow, as well as some soundbites from New Orleans Saints tight end Billy Miller, the former Texan who scored the first touchdown in franchise history in 2002.

Haven't seen any Texans players around Radio Row yet this week, but I know that wide receiver David Anderson will be on with SportsRadip 610 AM on Friday morning. The Texans' flagship radio station has a great set of guests lined up this week, so be sure to tune in to them from morning 'til night. Their confirmed lineup of guests for tomorrow morning includes Chad Ochocinco, rapper The Game, Lynn Swann, Deacon Jones, Mike Haynes, Mark Sanchez, DeMarcus Ware and Raja Bell.

Sonya and a few other Houston Texans Cheerleaders are headed to Iraq to entertain the troops. She blogged about it yesterday, and took a few snapshots this morning before taking off on a flight. The first one is of herself, and the bottom one features Megan D., Larisa and Marisa, Ashley T., and Sonya.