Allow myself, to introduce myself...

by WoodrowWilson on Apr 23, 2008 9:32 AM CDT

Just so you guys don't freak out I wanted to take a minute and say yes, I am a Sooner. Ill be over here a lot seeing what's going on in good ole weird Austin. Won't be any unnecessary crap talking or anything of the sort. I respect you as a rival (something the Pokes or Aggies will never get) and seeing as my gf and roommate are Horns I figured I should stay aware of what's going on. If you have any Sooner related questions feel free to ask (no I'm not from Oklahoma, but I promise they don't only have trailer parks up there).

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I have a question...

How can you do “that” with your cousins?

Just kidding.. welcome….

by the1austin on Apr 23, 2008 9:38 AM CDT 0 recs

Well, obviously...

You have good taste in women, if I do say so myself.

by Meekrob on Apr 23, 2008 9:44 AM CDT 0 recs

Welcome

You’ll find more Sooners lurking around, a few Aggies, and even some PAC crazies.

I grew up around Cincinnati, and am a Longhorn alum. It’s like we’re polar opposites..

Hook ‘em! & go Reds!

It's a Horns' world. Even Aggies play hoops with a burnt orange ball.

by Speedway on Apr 23, 2008 9:54 AM CDT 0 recs

Welcome

Welcome to the site.

Hook ‘em

--PB--

by PB @ BON on Apr 23, 2008 10:07 AM CDT 0 recs

Thanks for the welcome...

Yea, Im sure there are always plenty of lurkers back and forth between all the Sooner/Horn sites. Its amazing the paranoia that goes back and forth. Im a Rockies, Pirates, Penguins, Steelers and Mavs fan. Grew up in Pittsburgh, went to HS in Dallas and live in Denver now. Its funny you mention you’re a Reds fan, a good buddy of mine and I make 2 bets every year (and the dollars keep going up), 1 – Who has the better overall record between the Reds and Pirates and 2 – who has the better head-to-head. He won both last year damnit.

by WoodrowWilson on Apr 23, 2008 10:08 AM CDT 0 recs

reds/pirates

that’s like betting on who’s going to win the 100-meter dash at the special olympics! when was the last time they both finished over .500? was it even in the 90’s?

Sorry, Astros fan.

by billyzane on Apr 23, 2008 10:17 AM CDT up 0 recs

Yea, its been awhile. At least it’s nice when someone trys to call me a bandwagon fan for another team they are speechless when i reply with “look buddy, Im a Pirates fan, you try losing for 15 straight years (or whatever it is)”

by WoodrowWilson on Apr 23, 2008 10:54 AM CDT up 0 recs

lifelong Reds fan here

Feel your misery. We might crack .500 this year.

by Blitzburgh on Apr 23, 2008 10:59 AM CDT up 0 recs

Breaking 0.500 would make me so happy

And it might qualify the Reds for the playoffs this year!

It's a Horns' world. Even Aggies play hoops with a burnt orange ball.

by Speedway on Apr 23, 2008 11:57 AM CDT up 0 recs

yea funny

That a DisAstros fan would have anything to say about Reds and Pirates. Pathetic franchise.

by Blitzburgh on Apr 23, 2008 11:00 AM CDT up 0 recs

see comment below as well

Since the Pirates last had a winning season, the Astros have had 13! 13 out of 15 winning seasons! The Red Sox have only had 12! And the Astros have made the playoffs 6 times since then too. The last time the Reds won the pennant was 1990. The Pirates? 1979! The Astros? 2005. That’s not a pathetic franchise. The only thing the Astros are bad at is winning in the postseason (and boy are they bad at it).

And even then, at least they lose spectacularly, like in ‘80, ‘86 and ‘04. Three of the greatest playoff series ever. All lost by the Astros. They’re nothing if not entertaining. That ‘86 series against the Mets in fact is one of my first vivid baseball memories. Game 6 pretty well defined what it means to be an Astros fan. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in epic fashion that haunts fans for years to come. When Pujols hit the home run in ‘05, it was pretty much par for the course. Of course then Roy O won the next game to send them to the Series only to get swept. Classic.

by billyzane on Apr 23, 2008 12:46 PM CDT up 0 recs

not only that

But the sweep was the closest sweep in WS history, as the ChiSox only scored 6 more runs than the Stros. It sucks when you have a good chance to win each game, but don’t. But at least we didn’t lay an egg the way the Cards did in 04 and the Rockies did last year.

BZ, you should come over to Crawfish Boxes and post a bit. It doesn’t have the community BON does, but it’s good for commentary and analysis.

by BigTexBD on Apr 23, 2008 2:16 PM CDT up 0 recs

Sounds like Aggie-speak

We may have gotten swept, but at least it was a close sweep!

Please.

by Meekrob on Apr 23, 2008 2:25 PM CDT up 0 recs

(shudder) it was admittedly aggy

I was just looking for solace somewhere from those 4 games. The point that I was poorly making is that it was competitive and we didn’t just get swept under the rug.

We had that “we’re just happy to be here” mentality. The Astros are typically an underachieving franchise, so just making the Series satisfied most of the fanbase, myself included.

by BigTexBD on Apr 23, 2008 3:58 PM CDT up 0 recs

I read it occasionally

but i never post. I don’t think i could handle getting into another blog like i have with this one.

by billyzane on Apr 23, 2008 2:35 PM CDT up 0 recs

I don't think the Pirates are going to win the overall record this year

Good luck in the head-to-head bet.

As much as I like baseball it’s just a distraction. When is it going to be football season?

It's a Horns' world. Even Aggies play hoops with a burnt orange ball.

by Speedway on Apr 23, 2008 11:54 AM CDT up 0 recs

Agreed

Once the NBA and NHL playoffs are over its a long long summer until football starts.

by WoodrowWilson on Apr 25, 2008 12:14 PM CDT up 0 recs

That's even funnier

Reds World Series Championships: 5
Pirates World Series Championships: 5
Houston Astros World Series Championships: 0

Sorry, Yankees fan (26).

by Meekrob on Apr 23, 2008 10:23 AM CDT 0 recs

yeah, that's great

for two teams that have been around since 1876 and 1887, respectively. The Astros have been around since 1962. Regardless, yeah, the Astros have had a lot of playoff futility. I was merely saying that at least they’ve been competitive for the last 15 years. The Reds haven’t made the playoffs since 1995 and the Pirates since 1992. The Reds haven’t had a winning season since 2000 and the Pirates since…you guessed it, 1992.

by billyzane on Apr 23, 2008 12:37 PM CDT up 0 recs

I guess I don't understand what it's like

To have “making the playoffs” as your ultimate goal. I fail to see how the last 15 years aren’t as much a failure to the Astros as they are to the Pirates and Reds.

0 championships in 45 years is pretty sad. So was the ‘05 World Series.

by Meekrob on Apr 23, 2008 1:03 PM CDT up 0 recs

not the ultimate goal

but i think making the playoffs does keep a franchise from being labeled “pathetic” which is what blitzburgh did above. of course losing in the playoffs is a disappointment and that’s so far what’s defined the Astros.

by billyzane on Apr 23, 2008 2:28 PM CDT up 0 recs

braves fan

Totally agree, it sucks that the Braves won only the one championship since ‘91, but if the alternative is the Pittsburgh Pirates futility, then sign the Braves up as a success.

By the way, BZ, you’ve been (relatively) absent from the comments lately, I love how the thing that sucked you back in was Astros talk.

by jc25 on Apr 23, 2008 2:50 PM CDT up 0 recs

You are right.

Even during the 90s run and into the early 00s the games were not that well attended until September and the post season. I think to some extent the Atlanta fans took for granted the winning during the regular season. Or maybe they just wanted to avoid the traffic and humid ball games stuck to a plastic stadium seat.

It's a Horns' world. Even Aggies play hoops with a burnt orange ball.

by Speedway on Apr 23, 2008 2:55 PM CDT up 0 recs

From personal experience

Braves fans are some of the worst I’ve ever been around.

by Meekrob on Apr 23, 2008 2:57 PM CDT up 0 recs

re:

Haha, I hope you don’t think that of me.

In my opinion, the biggest problem with the Braves fans is that a lot of the Atlanta area fans are from the less wealthy demographic, which was fine when they sucked and tickets were cheap. But once the “streak” started, a lot of the corporate/suburbia fans jumped on board, but after the World Series runs, they just started getting disinterested. They’ve DEFINITELY taken the Braves for granted, despite them having some of the best and genuinely nicest players in the league. It’s a crying shame.

As for “worst” fans, I haven’t really run into too many of them in Texas. I remember attending one of the playoff games in the Dome (when Houston had bases loaded, no outs in extra innings, but couldn’t cash in and the Braves went on to win), wearing my Braves hat (to the great embarrassment of my dad, an Astros fan), and the Braves fans were generally affable there. They’re definitely well-represented around the nation, thanks to TBS, so you get the good with the bad.

by jc25 on Apr 23, 2008 3:31 PM CDT up 0 recs

What I meant by that

Wasn’t that they were jerks or anything.

During my middle school years I lived in Georgia and went to maybe a half dozen Braves games a year. In my experience, the fans were generally unenthusiastic, unknowledgeable, and completely bandwagon. I was going to games before, during, and after their 1991 run, and the fanbase increased dramatically but few of them really seemed to care about baseball.

by Meekrob on Apr 23, 2008 4:23 PM CDT up 0 recs

couple of reasons

i’ve been relatively absent for a few reasons, but they’re pretty much done with and now i’m back.

also, i recently broke down and decided to ruin my summer by buying the MLB.TV online package and watching the astros lose in increasingly demoralizing ways. that plus my fantasy team (which i spend approximately 2 hours a day on when i’m not busy at work) means i’ve got baseball on the brain.

should start posting stories again tomorrow, too. it’s good to be back.

by billyzane on Apr 23, 2008 4:47 PM CDT up 0 recs

minute maid park

Is such a joke. Comfy digs and all but what a cartoonish home field. Probably all of us could hit a HR out of that stadium down the lines.

As for DisAstros being comeptitive, good pt, but they also spend much more money than Reds and Pirates, much smaller markets.

by Blitzburgh on Apr 23, 2008 1:15 PM CDT up 0 recs

You forgot

The fact that is has a freaking hill, with a freaking flag pole, on top. Seriously. What the hell? Those features alone make it the worst park in baseball. Why not just make the fence out of razor wire?

(Yes, I’m aware Yankee Stadium used to have a flag pole in play. That doesn’t mean it was a good idea.)

It’ll always be Enron Field to me.

by Meekrob on Apr 23, 2008 1:54 PM CDT up 0 recs

short porch, yeah

but the power alleys are really deep and center field is like 436 feet. for every 10 home runs the park has gifted to hitters, it’s probably taken away 6 or 7. look at the stats for astros players and you’ll see that other than the first 2 years or so, most good hitters are about even in their home/road home run splits.

as for the money, well yes, the Astros spend more than the Reds and Pirates. Well, the Reds actually spent more than the other 2 from from 1993-1997 (and probably before that also, I just stuck with my “since the pirates last made the playoffs theme”). But it’s not like the Astros are throwing money around. Only once since 1993 have the Astros ranked in the top 10 in payroll in MLB – 2006 when they were forced to pay $20M for Jeff Bagwell to not play at all because of his career-ending injury. Take out that $20M and the Astros ranked 16th, about where they were every other year since 1997 or so. Right in the middle.

by billyzane on Apr 23, 2008 2:33 PM CDT up 0 recs

Park Factor

Can’t find the data online, but was reading BP and I believe the Park Factor for the Juicebox last year actually placed it as a slight pitcher’s park (same for Coors Field as well). Could be wrong, though.

by jc25 on Apr 23, 2008 2:51 PM CDT up 0 recs

Terraces

Fenway Park, Ebbets Field, Wrigley Field & Crosley Field all used to have a terrace but that was several decades ago. Houston’s (30 degree) hill is 2 times the incline of the one Cincinnati had at old Crosley Field (15 degrees). 30 degrees!

(I heard that when Camden Yards was being designed Frank Robinson wanted a terrace to be included.)

It's a Horns' world. Even Aggies play hoops with a burnt orange ball.

by Speedway on Apr 23, 2008 2:08 PM CDT 0 recs