Did you see the fan who had the "Jason Lane Rocks" sign last night? I thought that was kind of funny given the poor season Jason is having. He's mostly been rocked this season and is not necessarily the one doing the rocking.
I agree we are plenty big enough to support everything but what I notice is when less "Buzz" is around something the bandwagon fans and the "I'm going because it's the place to be" fans stop coming. Of course it will never be "terrible" at MMP because it is a much better location/venue/experiance than the dome was but unlike 2000 and 2004-2006 it wont be the "place to be" that will be Toyota with an exciting and very good Rockets team. Your right, the Texans will always sellout but if they are good it will take even more headlines away from the Stros.
MMP has never been that. Certainly not like the Summit was in the mid-90's. ballparks don't lend themselves well to that sort of crowd.
did i misread this or did you contradict yourself in the very same sentence.....? how can it be "directly" tied to performance... if people are responding to the "inherent quality of MMP/day baseball/downtown stadium/summer past time activity" - which has no bearing on the team's won-loss record? here's why the astros will always draw well - they have large corporate sponsors with zillions of season tickets. my company alone has somewhere north of a 100 different sets of season tickets (plus a box). and we are far from being the only company in town investing that heavily in the team. that's why it tends to be a more social, "business"-like crowd. the rockets and the nba are never going to achieve the same level of corporate buy-in. the sport simply doesn't appeal to companies run by rich, white guys.
but it has in the past...so i'm not sure if that's a really true. but i'm with you...the proximity of MMP to downtown businesses makes it an easy draw. their season ticket base will always be large for that very reason.
it has in the past (nba) and will again. I agree that the Stros will keep a large season ticket base (it's an easy sell for those downtown) On your other point about it not being a social scean, so many girls that never went before have been going in crazy numbers because it's easy to get behind a winner and the good times were rolling in parts of 2004 and 2005 big time.
but it's right down the street from the toyota center, which, "hot spot"-wise, has a much better location. sure, championships are going to draw corporations who want to ride the wave of public interest, excitement, etc. but basketball has for many years now been drawing a much younger and more racially diverse crowd. it lost the older, whiter (and richer) crowd years ago. trust me: the executives at my company can't relate to an allen iverson. craig biggio is much more their pace. and yet, there's really no difference between the two of them on the field/court of play.
It does seem that way, doesn't it? What I meant was that the Astros having "stellar" attendance (ie - drawing 3 million fans) vs. having merely "ok" attendance is more dependant on their W-L record than it will be on other teams in this city performing well. (as texaskans would want u to beleive) IOW, having the Rockets contend for a title in June, or having the Texans play in the super bowl in January won't directly affect the attendance for an Astros game in late July when abolutely NOTHING else is going on, sports-wise. The "inherent" MMP argument is what will keep them from having TERRIBLE attendance that the dome featured, regardless of whether or not they had an exciting team.
The only reason this is true is because the Texans conned thousands into paying for PSL's because they were expecting a decent team, not the type of idiots that pass on players like VY and Reggie Bush. So basically those fans are stuck between a rock and a hard place and it doesn't matter how the front office screws up the team or how badly they play, the place will be filled. Anyone that willingly put down any money last season to see the Texans is either a fool, or doesn't really mind throwing their money away. Of course there are alot of idiots in this world so i'm sure alot of people did. Some people like punishment I guess.
wtf are you talking about? Do you think the Texans are trying to put a bad product on the field? People like the NFL a whole lot, I really think many Texan fans would either own or go to football games if they lived in another city. As far a being a fool, anyone with half a brain realizes it takes a while for an expansion team to get on it's feet and do well but I guess others just will find anything to b**** about. Now we all know they have made many mistakes but I promise you they will be one of the better NFL teams before you know it. As far as the owner, he is the best in the city and as far as the Texans I bet they end up with a better winning% than the Astros so are you calling us idiots if we paid to see the Astros this year?
No, because the Astros didn't pass up a QB with a rating in the 60s and a RB with a pathetic 3.6 yards per carry. The Texans are doomed for the rest of our lifetimes without that kind of greatness. It doesn't matter if they have a higher winning percentage. It doesn't matter if they win a championship. The Texans missed out on their chance for heroes.
Nice to see Lidge pick up another save. One thing I noticed about the MMP was that it was dead tonite. The crowd had a much different feel. It was definitely noticeable,
And the Astros win again. That's 2 series wins in a row. ....not that Lane has had too much to do with it.
It isn't just Garner. It's also Purpura. Do these guys not realize that we have to find out if Burke can be our starting 2nd baseman next year? Are we assuming he can do the job, like we assumed Luke, Ensberg, and Lane could do the job?
Hopefully Biggio announcing his retirement will light a fire in the players to give it all for the rest of the season as a tribute to Biggio. I could definitely see that happening, but it might be too little too late. Either way, I would love to see the Astros pick it up and head into the off season on a high note.
First of all, all of the above 3... at some point... produced for an extended stretch in the big leagues. Their struggles obviously warrants decreased playing time (which has been enforced), but the Astros never "assumed" they'd do their job. They produced (Ensberg in 03,05... Scott in 06... Lane in 05), earned playing time, and were given a chance to capitlize on that. Secondly, how does playing Burke in CF (where he is a liability) help the team find out if he can be our everyday 2B???
