One owner with influence can block teams.......has happened before. Another thing you are clueless about. Um...Jerry was getting huge check from Bob McNair......that's why he was going to block Houston from getting a team again. There was no benefit to him......Houston having a team was good for the league. San Antonio or Austin having team would be BAD for the cowboys because of their fan bases loyal to the cowboys. Since you like Dallas so much, take your happy-ass up there and leave the Houston Sports message board.
I'd say given the era he is playing in (social media, internet, NFL is king)... JJ Watt has the highest current popularity of any Houston athlete ever. As great as Hakeem was... he wasn't universally recognized during his playing days throughout the country (and we know he preferred not to be endorsement heavy... and with the accent, was simply not as marketable). In fact, I believe Hakeem is more appreciated now by non-Houstonians than he was when he was playing.
Assuming your reasoning is true, TIMING and OWNERSHIP has made Houston a subpar sports city because the city is great enough to have an NHL team. Now the pressure is off the fans... and on time and ownership. You can sleep better at night. One thing for certain is Dallas usually gets things things before Houston (if Houston gets them at all) and is more respected around the country. Doesn't mean I'm dissing Houston and love Dallas... I'm just telling you how it is. I travel, and can name several things Dallas has had for years that Houston hasn't sniffed. Props to you though... -you finally got a clue about what a ratio is -you realized a corporation equals money You still haven't figured out space bars or apostrophes, but glad you have progressed in other areas. Oh, here comes the eye-rolling d***-rider. You couldn't fight your own battle in a different thread, now you're here. Get off your knees, trick.
I think a guy like Barkley, Tmac, or Yao was more popular. Especially world wide. When you see top endowment deals you rarely see football players.
Watt has transcended all forms of media like no other Houston athlete. Mainstream media. Pop culture media. Not really worried about "worldwide" popularity as football isn't a global sport (but it dominates nationally). He's also better at his job than any of those other guys were. Lastly, Barkley and tmac were likely bigger stars prior to coming to Houston.
That was a hot crowd last night, even if the attendance figure wasn't huge. Word is starting to get out, and we still have 2 months left in this pennant chase.
The Biggio weekend now coinciding with at least one significant trade won't hurt. I expect it'll be near capacity each night.
Attended last night. Crowd wasn't huge, but was pretty electric. Kazmir got a nice ovation that had everyone standing. It was nice and loud in there and that's only getting better. I did, however, figure there would be more people there on a Thursday night against the Angels. Excited to see what the future holds, especially adding Gomez and hopefully adding Kimbrel.
Once the crowd gets back to giving ovations with 2 strikes regularly, STOPS doing the wave, and you hear that constant "buzz" without much action going on... then you know for sure that baseball is back.
I was there last night, the wave was no big deal. Went around 3 times, and really only started during a dry patch of the game. Let's face it, pitching duels in July aren't the most exciting for fans. But like others said, the upperdeck between 1st and 3rd was 80% full and the same for lower deck from foul pole to foul pole. There wasn't much going on all game but crowd was ready to explode. Finally the astros offense gave them something to cheer about at the very end.
It is a big deal... there are no "dry patches" in a game that is just one pitch away from excitement. Pitching duels are ALWAYS exciting, regardless of when (that's part of the awareness that will come back in time). You started the wave, didn't you... you "motor-boating wave-starting SOB!" :grin:
Seriously, wave starting should be a criminal offense punished to the fullest extent of the law. Maybe just one teeny public execution to get the message across.
For legitimate baseball fans? Sure. But I don't think they are for Joe Average Fan (isn't low scoring the big obstacle for soccer in the US?) They need something to cheer and timely ground balls and strikeouts don't - as the main attraction - often cut it.
So starting the wave is the solution? Nah...not buying it. Pitching duels in the playoffs are the most exciting/edge of your seat/every pitch matters more moments there can be... while everything gets amplified in the playoffs, the game is not that much different in the regular season (or it doesn't have to be).
The Astros should hire Ted Brown, Luhnow is a good GM for baseball, but Jim Crane's team is doing an extremely poor job on running the business.
The Astros have the 3rd best baserunning added value in baseball. We do run into a lot of outs, but we also make a lot of things happen. At this point I'm almost positive aggressive baserunning is an organizational decision handed down from management, not something they just decide to do.
I think you mis-read "running the business" as "running the bases". And I think he's referring to TAD Brown (former Rockets PR guy).
Reid Ryan is in charge of business operations... what do you think they need to do better? So far, the rebrand has been great... they corrected the awful mistake of the LF signs... they're on TV now... and while I'm not for "tinkering" with dimesnions, their vision for CF will certainly add another exciting vantage point at MMP (in an area that is otherwise stale at the moment... for fans).
