I was in Colorado about a month ago for business. Went to a Rockies game. On the way there, I stopped at a sports bar for a burger and beer. I was sitting next to a stranger from Philly who was also there on business. We started talking baseball...and he said, "What MLB did to Houston was just disgusting. So disrespectful. To pretend that 50 years means nothing is disrespectful." Then he went on to talk about the playoff series between the Phillies and Astros. He talked about how they should have moved the D-Backs instead if they really had to do it. But he must have used the word "disrespectful" ten times in that conversation. It was nice to hear that from someone who is NOT from Houston, but who gets it. Then he said, "But you guys sure have yourselves a football team down there right now, don't you?"
Change is good for the product on the field. Since we already have a great ballpark (that they've put hideous signage up in), we really only needed a better team for the casual fan.
the astros dont have a real rival, nothing can match the intensity of an AL/NLCS especially against a division foe so comparing them to a astros/rangers series in terms of importance is not what i meant.. however theres never been a shortage of trash talk, rowdy environments in either ball park when this series takes place.. i was at BPIA for Lambs almost cycle/GMJ catch, i didnt hear the end of it there. now the rangers are really good and their fans are a bit cocky and need to be brought down a notch.. as for some astros fans not disliking the rangers, well.. casual fans dont have any idea of whats going on.. they will trash talk the mavs and cowboys then turn around and root for the rangers in the world series because they are clueless.. they see TEXAS on their jersey and get all giddy not realizing they are a dallas team.. an opportunity is presenting itself for the astros to gain a real rival and everyones against it.. if 20 years passes by and the astros/rangers rivalry hasnt taken off then there will be a bigger problem.
I can use anecdotal evidence as well. I have been to games in Chicago, San Diego, Minnesota and St. Louis. Fans didn't let me hear the end of it (good and bad) with respect to the Astros in those games. Based on my personal anecdotal evidence (as demonstrated by you), those are 4 rivals. Again, were you around for regular season games in the the 70s/80s against the Dodgers, 90s/00s against the Braves? Those games tended to be intense.
Hell, Rangers fans didn't go to games, Astros or otherwise, until the last few years. The idea that they cared about the Silver Boot? Hell, they didn't care about the team to begin with. They just drew 3 million fans this year..for the first time in franchise history. The Astros and Rangers have YET to play one memorable game. In no way is that a rivalry.
Whenever I here someone mention the Rangers, I immediately think of the New York Rangers. And I'm not even a hockey fan.
the point was the rangers werent really good then but there was no love lost between Dallas and Houston, much like the stros are terrible now and the games at MMP were intense among the crowd. packed stadium , despite half the crowd being rangers fans, and nothing really at stake the games had a playoff atmosphere.. miss me with your smartass responses old man. keep clinging to some games you remember from your hayday in the 70's..the astros are moving to the AL, deal with it.. we have no real rival and the potential to form one is staring you in the face..
I really hate manufacturing rivalries such as the Rangers. The only thing I have against them is the Rangers encroaching on Astros territory and that's more on incompetence and terribleness on the Astros side. I'm not against the DH, I rather both leagues adopt the same rules. I just really hate the focus the AL has on the Yankees/Red Sox. Hell, a lot of the positives on the move was that we get the "pleasure of playing the Yanks/Sawx on a regular basis".
The Cubs & Cardinals were real rivalries I've enjoyed. The only epic rivalries in baseball are with baseball's century old clubs. NYY/BOS Dogers/Giants Cubs/Cardinals. Rangers/Astros will never be that. Think about how the Mavericks/Rockets were never a rivalry until the past decade, and that was dependent on a great 7 game series.
Sorry, but I would rather see NL baseball which I (and countless others) have enjoyed for 50 years rather than some potential rivalry with the Rangers. I enjoy the strategy and appeal of NL baseball, which I will now not see the vast majority of the season. I enjoy the rivalries with their NL counterparts. It is OK for folks to embrace the AL move, for whatever the reason. Not sure why you have to seemingly insult me. Not sure where I was being a smart%^. Not sure what a 'hayday' is. Never lived on a farm.
Who the hell gives out a trophy for a PROFESSIONAL SPORTS "rivalry"??????? (It's in quotes because I have never considered it as such.) Personally, I much prefer the National League side of things.
perhaps "smartass reponses" is all that is merited by the mindless drivel you and others have flatulated into this discussion. as far as this "clinging to some games from the 70s" goes, it was 1980, 1981, 1986, the late 1990s, 2001, 2004, and 2005. In case you forgot. And your pretending that that history doesn't exist is actually making bobrek's point. pretending there was no rivalry between the Dodgers and Astros in the 1980s because you were in diapers or a gleam in your daddy's eye is just ignorant.
no his smartass response was assuming that what i posted was evidence of an existing rivalry between the astros/rangers. i was responding to the comment that said astros fans dont dislike rangers fans and vice versa and i merely stated that attending the games proves otherwise. he saw it as an opportunity to twist my words and say that since he had some trash talk in chi/minny that those should be rivalries too "according to my logic." but whatever im done with this topic, all thats going to happen is you old geezers will continue to **** yourselves over the move to the AL, but there is nothing you can do about it. your b****ing and complaining will rectify absolutely nothing.. so have fun reminiscing about the good ole days...
First, I do not believe I ever said Astros fans don't dislike Rangers fans and vice-versa. Second, why is your personal anecdote any different than my personal anecdote? Why can you use your experience at an Astros-Rangers game to 'prove' the validity of a 'rivalry', but I can't use my experience at out of town games to 'prove' the validity of a 'rivalry'? Why am I a smarta%# and you aren't? Third, do you think you are actually being insulting by referring to me as an 'old geezer'? If so, does that make you feel better? Fourth, I don't like the move. I don't like the way the move was forced upon the Astros. I don't like the fact that 50 years of history was tossed aside. Fifth, I will continue watching the games. I will continue following them as I have every year they have been here. I will continue to reminisce about going to games at Colt Stadium, the Astrodome, and MMP where they announced my dad's 70th birthday on the scoreboard. I will fondly remember watching the games and their old 'rivalries' (they truly did exist, regardless of what you say or think) with my late father. Perhaps, when you grow up, you will be able to reminisce as well.
juicy said it i was responding to him.. i wasnt using that as any type of evidence to validate any "rivalry." again i was responding to the comment about ranger/astros fans not disliking each other.. you interpreted it as me giving you evidence of what makes a rivalry and that was not what i was doing.. its a smart ass response because you took the opportunity to basically respond with "well some guys yelled at me in Minnesota. therefore, the twins are our rival... according to you." completely missing the point of what i was responding to..
Perhaps I am old, but I looked at every juicystream post in this thread and the first time he said the word 'Rangers' was after your post. I don't see any where in this thread where he referred to Astros/Rangers fans liking or disliking each other.
I am unsure myself. Houston dislikes Dallas. I think Dallas thinks they're better than Houston. Rangers/Astros isn't that important. About the only reason Rangers/Astros has ever mattered is Nolan Ryan. Him going there as a FA, then the HOF, then leaving us again to be President, and now be part owner, and finally being part of the movement to have the Astros go to the AL. Everybody hates the Dallas Cowboys (that is no way limited to Houston). We hate the Dallas Mavericks because we lost a 7 game series to them. Rangers/Astros will eventually be something, but just as Astros/Cardinals was something, and Astros/Braves was something. Meeting in the postseason and having great division races is what creates rivalries, not geographic location.
