TJ ex Kevin Everett is the subject of the best, most compelling piece of writing I’ve seen in a long, long time in the current issue of Sports Illustrated. Everett, who is on the magazine’s cover, is the subject of a story titled, “Against All Odds” that chronicles his remarkable road back from a devastating spinal injury in the Buffalo Bills 2007 season opener. Author Tim Layden meticulously and skillfully details every step along the road to Kevin walking again, right down to the disagreements between attending doctors over the revolutionary treatment orthopedic surgeon Andrew Cappuccino opted for, with the understanding he was putting his career on the line. If you don’t take the magazine, find somebody who does, or look the story up on SI.com. You will be glad you did . . . Everett, by the way, is coming home to Port Arthur on Thursday, Jan. 10 to be the guest speaker at Memorial’s football banquet. Memorial offensive coordinator Kenny Harrison, who goes way back with Everett, ran the idea by his friend last week and says he didn’t hesitate about accepting the offer. “He was excited about doing it. He wants to come back here and coach,” said Harrison. What Harrison and Memorial head coach Ronnie Thompson now must decide is whether to open the banquet up to everyone who would like to hear what Everett has to say. If they go that route, and it would only be done with Everett’s approval, they will need a much larger venue than Memorial’s cafeteria. And they better brace for ESPN, The NFL Network and hordes of other national media.

Absolutely no surprise here that Roger Clemens was the poster boy for baseball’s Mitchell Report that rocked the sports world on Thursday. Clemens’ before and after pictures are almost as contrasting as Barry Bonds’, and I’ve always thought it was classic ‘Roid rage’ when he threw a shattered bat at Mets catcher Mike Piazza in the 2000 World Series. Clemens’ spike in stats late in his career are every bit as suspicious as Bonds’, especially when you consider he’s a power pitcher. He’ll deny, deny, deny, but for now the Rocket deserves every bit of the scorn being heaped on baseball’s home run king . . . Nice timing for the Astros to bring in long-suspected steroid user Miguel Tejada the day before the Mitchell Report was made public. But I’m betting the timing wasn’t an accident. And isn’t it interesting that Drayton McLane’s team, long considered one of baseball’s most wholesome, is tied into so many juicers, starting with Ken Caminiti? You add Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Tejada and it’s little wonder NBC’s Keith Olberman was saying the “geographical center of the steroid world would either be New York City or Houston.” . . . Most fans, of course, especially those who don’t think about the influence steroids-using-pros have on impressionable kids, will have basically forgotten the whole thing by spring training. Tejada will be a Houston hero if he dumps enough balls into the Crawford boxes. With Tejada, Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence, the middle of that Houston lineup really does look imposing. But, given the questionable nature of Astros pitching, you’ll probable see a record number of games when both teams score more than 10 runs.

Former Memorial quarterback Donovan Porterie gets some rare national TV exposure next Saturday as he leads 8-4 New Mexico against 6-6 Nevada in the New Mexico Bowl. Porterie finished the regular season as the No. 3 ranking passer in the Mountain West Conference, completing 223-of-380 passes for 2,636 yards and 13 touchdowns. The game is being carried on ESPN at 3:30 p.m. . . . Jamaal Charles was presented the Darrell Royal Most Valuable Offensive Player Trophy and shared the Team MVP trophy with Colt McCoy at Texas’ recent awards banquet. Charles, however, despite rushing for nearly 1,500 yards and averaging 6.3 yards per carry to run away with the Big 12 rushing championship, may be looking at reduced carries if he returns for his senior season. UT head coach Mack Brown was recently quoted as saying Texas will have offensive packages next year to give backup QB John Chiles and backup running back Vondrell McKee an expanded role . . . Although he didn’t have much success against the Texans’ Thursday night, Longhorn ex Selvin Young went into the game with the second highest average per carry (5.7) in the NFL. Included in Young’s near 600 rushing yards this season are two games where he topped 100, including a 156-yard explosion last week against Kansas City. Isn’t it amazing, then, that with Young and Jamaal Charles in the backfield last year, working behind a couple of lineman who would be drafted by NFL teams, Texas had virtually no running game. Gee, you think that might have something to do with the offensive coordinator?

Most people in these parts didn’t see it, but the Texans delivered a really impressive performance in stuffing Denver, 31-13, in a Thursday night game telecast by the NFL Network. Considering that the Texans, for the third season in their brief history have put more players on injured reserve than any team in the NFL, you have to give second-year coach Gary Kubiak a lot of credit for keeping his team together. For Houston to be 7-7 is pretty amazing, in light of the players it has lost and is without. If they can add a couple more pieces in the off-season, the Texans could be pretty salty in 2008 . . . Cowboys coach Wade Phillips doesn’t have much time to watch movies during football season, but you can bet he’ll find a way to take wife Laurie to see Charlie Wilson’s War. The film about the Lufkin congressman, which stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, casts the Phillips’ daughter, Tracy, in the role of a Fort Worth belly dancer who was one of Wilson’s companions during his clandestine support of anti-Soviet rebels in 1980s Afghanistan. Tracy, who is in her late 20s, was hand-picked for what is her most significant role to date by noted producer Mike Nichols. “This is her best part yet,” says Wade. “We’re hoping it opens some doors.” The movie premieres Friday . . . PN-G ex Lew Ford will be breaking new ground for a Southeast Texas baseball player in 2008. Ford, who spent the past five seasons with the Minnesota Twins, has signed to play in Japan for the Hanshin Tigers. He was plagued by injuries in 2007 and wound up hitting only .233 in 55 games. His career best came in 2004 when he hit 15 homers, drove in 72 runs and stole 20 bases.

While Steve Roccaforte and his Lamar Cardinals are still looking for their first win over a Division 1 team, the Southland Conference is having unprecedented success. With 8-0 Sam Houston State leading the way, three SLC teams are ranked in the Mid-Major Top 25 poll. Entering weekend play, SHS was No. 9, 8-0 Texas-Arlington was No. 14 and 7-1 Stephen F. Austin, which won at Oklahoma last Saturday, is No. 25. Fortunately for Lamar, all three are in the SLC’s West Division . . . The Houston Rockets, who have undergone all sorts of problems making the adjustment to new coach Rick Adelman from Jeff Van Gundy, sank to embarrassing depths at the free throw line Wednesday night. The Rockets missed 14-of-their first 15 free-throw shots and wound up 6-of-21. Remarkably, they walked away an 80-77 winner . . . No team has undergone as dramatic a facelift as the Astros since the end of the 2007 season. New GM Ed Wade, in addition to lopping off the likes of Brad Lidge, Luke Scott, Troy Patton, Chris Burke, Adam Everett and others, has acquired 15 players. Houston’s projected starting lineup for 2008 includes only two position players — Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee — from the 2007 opener.

Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net. His Sportsrap radio show airs Thursday at 8:05 p.m. on KLVI (560-AM).