Message to Texans fans: Buzz off

The beers at Houston's Reliant Stadium this year won't necessarily taste great, but they will be less filling.

In an effort to cut down heavy drinking at games, the Houston Texans quietly reduced the size of beer cups from 24 ounces to 20 while keeping the price -- $7.75 -- the same.

Tony Wyllie, the Texans' vice president for communications, said the move to a smaller cup also was a way to avoid charging fans a higher price during difficult economic times.

"If we'd served 24 ounces this year, the price would be higher," Wyllie told the Houston Chronicle. "Honestly, it was more of a responsibility decision. It wasn't a business decision. ... We wanted to do the most responsible thing."

It also was a money-making decision. Now fans wanting to get the same buzz as last season will have to buy more beers.

• MAYBE THEY SHOULD PICK UP THE TAB -- In professional sports, $100,000 isn't what it used to be.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger makes $100,000 for every 3.6 snaps of the football. Alex Rodriguez makes the same amount every six pitches he sees, LeBron James every 21.2 minutes he plays and Tiger Woods every 11.2 holes he plays.

At the same time, it takes the average American nearly four years to make $100,000.

That makes paying $7.75 for a 20-ounce beer a tough go.

• THIS BUD'S NOT FOR YOU -- A U.S. official and some colleges are telling the brewer of Bud Light to can it.

Bud Light rolled out a marketing gimmick, "Fan Can," with beer cans decorated with college-team colors in selected markets just as the schools' football teams were gearing up for a new season.

But the campaign drew criticism from Janet Evans, a senior attorney with the Federal Trade Commission who oversees alcohol advertising, and from certain colleges because the cans could encourage underage drinking on their campuses.

"We don't ever want to see a campaign like this again," Evans said. "We're concerned about the promotion because it's targeted to college campuses where there are a large number of binge drinkers and underage persons in the audience."

The brewer -- Anheuser-Busch InBev, a Belgian-based company that bought giant U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch last year -- said the beer can campaign features 27 color combinations.

Apparently Evans and her group were only seeing red.

• QUICK READ -- The next big-name athlete with plans to pen a biography? Record-breaking sprinter Usain Bolt.

Or as Bolt is better known in reading circles, the Evelyn Wood of running.

• QUICK HITS -- Arizona Cardinals All-Pro receiver Larry Fitzgerald, to The Associated Press, on the vagaries of playing on the road: "Every stadium we go to I hear, 'Hey, Fitzgerald, you suck, but I really need some fantasy stats out of you.' "

And this from comedian Argus Hamilton, on Brett Favre Vikings jerseys flying off Midwest store shelves: "Until now, everybody's favorite purple dinosaur was Barney."

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