I was actually first a diehard football fan only... then when the Rockets started to show some real promise (1992), I became a huge basketball fan... and esp. when the Oilers left, I was all NBA all the time. But, starting in 2000, something just "clicked", and baseball became a PASSION (ironically, it probably had a lot to do w/ MMP eventually getting built). I was always a great astros fan, esp. come playoff time, but it all didn't really start until 2000. Strangely enough, the Astros were awful that year... and yet I became a bigger baseball fan than I've ever been. It all paid off in 2001 (the rebound year), and now i've caught up w/ the history of MLB (and the Astros) since the 60's, that I actually feel like a long-time baseball fan. I'm really writing this to all the posters out there who say the NBA and NFL are much better than baseball.... trust me guys, I was once there... and you CAN be converted if you let baseball get to you. (so be careful... while baseball is the sport w/ the greatest gratification, it can also cause the most nervousness, pain, and suffering out of all of them as well.)
And the Astros are 1/2 back of the Reds! hahahahaha oh...wait a minute. And the Cubs are winning big too. That's it. The season's over.
Me too Nick. I was all about the Rockets. I didn't care about the NFL because Houston didn't have a team for me to follow. I didn't get to see many games at all while I was in Saudi, but when I moved back to the US in '98 I watched nothing but the Rockets. Then I slowly began to follow the Astros, and in 2000 something just clicked for me too. The only problem for me was I was over seas in Switzerland for 2years. But I had a fellow Houstonian with me and he got me into baseball. We would listen to the games through the internet and watch the Game Casts. Ever since then, I have loved following the Astros. And last year, man. That pretty much turned me into a HUGE homer for the stros. I am excited the season is about to start. I'lll see you guys back in the game threads in the Astros forum. Go Stros!
Growing up, I loved the Astros - Jose Cruz, Joe Niekro, Joe Sambito, Enos Cabell, Terry Puhl. They were always much better as a collective whole than individually. Now, baseball just isn't as much fun. Everybody is making outlandish salaries, don't always play hard, and worried about their contracts. Even the minor league draft is now a joke as players will simply refuse to sign unless they get millions of dollars up front. Consequently, to pay for these salaries, teams have sold their soul to corporate (ruining fan atmosphere) and blackmailed cities to build new stadiums every 10 years. Like many professional sports, the facade has become unbearable.
Nobody can play all out for 160 games...but i think players today take the game much more seriously than ever before. Nobody shows up to spring training out of shape....
It is but only at the highest level - like the BCS. College sports still retains its greatness at the local level. It's just as fun today to watch Michigan vs UT at the Rosebowl as 20 years ago. The magic of 80,000 people in a stadium divided evenly between 2 prestigious programs is unparallelled. Your school will always be your school and isn't subject to the capricious whims of an owner. College basketball is still fun despite all the high school players to the NBA (another example of how the pro game is ruining the sports experience). March Madness is still awesome. The difference between pro sports and the college game is the difference in passion between corporate executives versus college students. No contest.
Agreed... but I was focusing more on how the corporate atmosphere dictates what schools get exposed more, what HS players go to certain colleges, and how they eventually portray these events on television. If you're just talking about how the games are played, or how the fans follow the team, college will always win that debate... unless you're talking about MLB, for which there is still no comparison for... even if the game isn't as pure as it was 20 years ago.
This really hasn't changed at all. Sure we now have these super conferences in college dictated by the powerful dollar (and purists will decry how a non-Big Ten team even made it to the Rosebowl). However, if you look at the current powerhouses in college football and basketball (or even baseball), nothing has changed. Teams like Texas, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC were all powerhouses in the late 70's. In basketball, North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas were all great teams in the 70's as well (less UCLA which made a brief resurgence in the 80's). As far as baseball, there is no way a Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals will ever build competetive teams year after year (you may have some anomolies like Florida, who despite winning 2 championships is a franchise clinging to its life) The only true way baseball will survive is a profitsharing agreement similiar to the NFL.
Well, the Oilers were gone when I started getting into sports. My dad doesn't care much for watching american sports, so my brother and I had to get into it ourselves. Since my family came from central america, football wasn't really a big deal in our household, so I didn't have anybody to inherit the love for it like others around here have. Baseball, on the otherhand, is a big deal to latins. My grandfather didn't know the players, the teams, or the standings. He didn't care, he just loved watching the games. If he saw a game on, he watched it. My brother and I got into baseball as kids. We watched the Stros, went to some games, played little league, and played catch. I grew up on Biggio, Bagwell, Mike Scott, Glen Davis, Cammi, Billy Doran, Nolan Ryan(too young to remember much), etc. I'll be a baseball and Astros fan for life, and I definately plan on getting my own kids, if I have any, to be fans like me.
It'll be interesting to see if you baseball converts jump off the bandwagon if the team sucks this year, as many have predicted. I've seen many so-called experts pick the Astros behind the Cubs, which I don't understand.
For the 20 or so schools that have a legitimate shot at the BCS championship game, college football is great. For the other 100 or so schools, it sucks, and it has made a complete mockery of the once important concept of the student athlete. Now there are probably more players with criminal records amongst the ranks of college football players than there are national merit scholars. Pitiful. Graduation rates are also pathetic at these football factories.
Must have missed this. It's not only everybody on ESPN, but those baseball dorks on tv and radio and print.
