I think the US as whole is a football country is really what it boils down to. There is no area of the country where baseball is more popular. Give the Astros another two or three years of winning and the Texans ineptitude and this will be the area of the country where baseball will be closest to overtaking football particularly with the demographics such that they are and are becoming here. I don't think we are too far away from seeing Houston permanently becoming a baseball first City.
This is not meant to be a political comment but a comment about the way politics has effected sports fans. Most of the serious conservatives I know stopped watching football about 5 years ago mostly due to the political coverage of that sport and the NFL's willingness to allow the ideology of some players to become part of the game. Political stands from one side or the other by teams or leagues only serves to alienate half of the fan base. Baseball is teetering on the edge and could easily slide down that same slope. I like to think that baseball is something we can all enjoy together and a little courtesy is all it takes to ensure that is the case.
Houston is most definitely as much of a baseball city as any non-historic market out there. Houston is also very much a front-running/supportive city when any team is doing well… but that being said, the Astros being this good for this long has created some generational fans that wouldn’t be there if this era was short-lived or one and done, back in a rebuild.
PTI and ATH covered it in depth yesterday. Moreso than college football (that really becomes back page news after Saturdays)
They should do a documentary on the Texans fans who attended the game last Thursday that went head to head with the WS. From what I heard, majority of club level fans were just watching the Astros by the bar and not in their seats. I’d also say its fair that most Astros fans have the ability to also be Texans fans and vice versa (and throw basketball in as well…)
No offense to those guys, but they are second/third tier (imo) compared to the shows I mentioned. SAS and Skip Bayless, and their platforms, love em or hate em, are the heavy hitters (on youtube). It seems like the media's way of downplaying the success of the Astros is to give them second rate coverage, if not zero coverage. They covered the Braves win last year, but nothing for the Astros this year.
the Pressly entrance is worth buying a ticket for. I’m thinking they do this in the regular season, so fans can witness it live. I know it was more hype during the post season, but the effect is so strong live it’s worth going in reg season
The Braves won on a Tuesday. The Astros won on a Saturday. It was covered Sunday AM and Monday…. But in this day and age, things that happen 48 hours prior don’t get front page coverage when the week starts, and the NFL rules all. All the college football upsets also didn’t register on Monday. This is how the modern news cycle works. There is no agenda of “downplaying” the success. More baseball fans hate-watch and hate-consume Astros news than ever before. The national media saw the interest in this and exploited them for months with that story because EVERYBODY was clicking and tuning in for it.
I remember being an Astros fan living in dfw during the time when they were the worst in their existence while the Rangers made back to back world series. was worried the rangers were going to take over Texas forever. when Yu Darvish almost had a perfect game with rangers fans going crazy in MMP, that was horrible. thankful for Marwin always for that hit. although the rangers havent been as bad, the astros have been way more successful. I wonder if theyve made a dent in dfw. they have everywhere else in Texas for sure the Cards won 5 titles in 15 years in the 1930s-40s and a big reason why they were popular was their massive reach on radio. I feel like the Astros are becoming the new age Cardinals if they can have sustained success throughout the 2020s. Even 1 more title would do a lot, but 2+ more the Astros could develop a large permanent fanbase. if you consider how many immigrants from the Caribbean/LATAM that Houston is getting a larger share of nowadays due to high prices in traditional coastal immigrant areas. radio not needed with how accessible the mlb is from streaming.
I will have to respectfully disagree, although I won't totally discount your point about the 48 hrs news cycle as this seems reasonable enough. But not one single 5/10 minute segment for a world series win from any of the major media personalities/shows I mentioned seems a bit off to me considering this is the WORLD SERIES. And your point about them running the cheating scandal story ad nauseum was nothing if not downplaying the Astro's success (while also getting tons of clicks in the process, win win). Equally, not having any of the major sports commentators discuss the Astro's latest world series win takes away some shine from their victory. So it seems to me the media personalities I've mentioned are happy to cover the Astros when they're shown in a bad light (the cheating scandal was a juicy topic that HAD to be covered, I'll admit), but unwilling to give them their proper accolades when they've achieved greatness. If the situations were reversed and the Phillies had won the series on Saturday, I'd bet that SAS/SKip would have had a few segments squeezed in about it. Maybe the cheating scandal left a sour note and this is their punishment for the stros. But hey, if they cover the win today or tomorrow I'd be cool with that too.
That has to absolutely burn their asses that not only did that trade suck for them but the guy basically delivered us another chip
Those shows you mention are click-bait shows, not really news. PTI/ATH are steered more towards fans who want the entire landscape, not listen to guys yell at each other and show how smart they are, and they each devoted dedicated segments (ATH actually led off the show with it, surprisingly). Again, if it happened on Sunday, you’d have heard more about it. And its not like they didn’t covered the WS for all those weekday games.
Plus the debate shows need an angle to tell the story. There was nothing to debate except for whether or not Wheeler should have been taken out. And the series did not generate a mega superstar. And they could not speak to the NY fans or LA fans. So there wasn't really much to talk about. Meanwhile, Kyrie was stepping into a political firestorm and opening his mouth. Choice was easy for them. Kyrie and Football. I don't mind even if I would have liked it the other way around.
