I suspect them of having a hidden agenda. If you want to roll all of that up and claim that I said that they are racist, then fine, that's your opinion. But it's not fact. I do have my suspisions that there may be other factors at play though. Question If the Rockets were a playoff contender with a line up of Brad Miller Dirk Van Horn Wally Szerbiak Steve Nash do you think that Toyota Center would be sold out every night? Seriously, I'd really like your thoughts.
For the short term, I think if they are a 6-8 seed then that lineup would produce attendance similar to what it was this year. For the long term, if they are among the top teams, then they will sell out regardless of color. In Houston, winning teams tend to draw well. During the Hakeem hey-day when their lineup generally was: Hakeem Thorpe Horry Smith Maxwell they sold out every night for a few years if I remember correctly. With respect to the Astros, if it is not racism then what would their hidden agenda be?
Of the 49 players they took in this year's draft, only three were African-American. maybe threr is something .
Dunno, but ~10% of MLB players are black. If they had drafted 5 instead of 3 would you have been content, edc? If you want to contribute to a solution here guys, dontate your time and money to a couple of the organizations around town who assist inner city baseball leagues, teams and players. Don't just sit here and b****.
I have a quick question. If a couple move from africa to the Dominican Republic and has a child there. The child grows up and speaks spanish and so forth. He then goes to the astros system and becomes a player for the astros. Is he no longer considered black? Just because a black man comes from a spanish country and speaks spanish doesn't make him less black than an black guy who comes from america and speaks english. That would be like saying an African American is English cause he is from here and speaks english. A black man is still a black man regardless of the country, culture and language he speaks. So the question of not having black players on the astros is bogus cause we did have Dotel and Hildago. Now we didn't have any American Black players. But that is a whole different issue. Hispanic people are white, just the same as english people are white. Hispanic means "of spanish origin", which Spain is in the middle of Europe, blah blah blah. but could someone answer this question for me?
I would just like for my kids to be able to look at the game and be able to see someone that looks like them. It can make a difference. Edit: Just got home from the Twins game tonight.
i don't understand this. i take my 4 year old irish white kid to rockets games...there's not a player who looks like him that he cares about. not one. i'm sorry..but i'm gonna start calling this what it is...racism. seriously...what if i said..."yeah, in my neighborhood, i don't see enough white people...my next door neighbor is black...and it would make a big difference to my son if they were white." or what about this, "yeah..i have too many black guys i work with...that's not good for me..i need to see more people at work who look like me." that's bullcrap. absolute bullcrap. sincerely disappointing that we're hearing this kind of music. people are people. you don't have to share my skin color for me to be able to relate to you in some way....to be endeared to me. my favorite athletes of all time are all black, save one or two. hakeem...moon...hatcher...dishman...madmax...drexler...horry...b. sanders....jerry rice.... i've found myself inspired and entertained by all of these men...and found that i was able to look past the freaking levels of melanin in their skin. seriously, isn't that what we've been called to do for decades now?? to see people as men instead of men with colors? i'm sorry...sorry for the rant...but this just pisses me off. the idea that you would stop rooting for a team because there's white players on the team. geez...that's so freaking racist...can you see that???
I don't think it's a black and white issue ... We're all aware blacks don't play a lot of baseball anymore. Basketball and football are where most of your strongest athletes go (Black, White, Brown, Yellow, etc.) I think the real issue is the lack of any color at all. It seems to me, before the Beltran Trade, the Stros were about to field the first all-white line-up in baseball since ... who knows. Now I can understand that seems reasonable in a place like Utah. But not in Houston ... Not in baseball. Latinos, at the very least, have a solid presence in the sport, but for some reason not for our squad. I don't remember the last time a white ball player on the team was shipped out in favor of a player of color (the reverse has happened on numerous occassions). Latin players seem to have been cast in platoon roles. If the Astros were winning, nobody could say anything. I'm an ex-Longhorn and just realized for the first time tonight that Texas has little to no diversity on their WS Team, but they win (just not tonight). But the "good guys" bomb year in and year out. And they choke like clockwork. When you win, people (the fans) could care less about your color. When you lose and lose and lose, well, little things like a potential all-white line-up gain special attention. It really all could be a coincidence though. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens when they don't resign Beltran.
My daughter loves dolls (obviously), and has a diverse collection of them. That being said I find it very disturbing when I take her doll shopping and there no dolls of color to choose from at certain stores. I take issue with that. We'll have to agree to disagree I suppose. BTW, I don't root against the 'stros as my friend does. Never said that I did. After years of poor playoff performances (chokes) during the 'B' era I don't think some of the players are mentally tough enough to win it all.
Do you think that there are a number of Asian kids that see a little of themselves in a certain 7'5" Rocket?
don't you think that's a bit different? the guy is literally the first Chinese guy in the league. i understand young black kids rooting for jackie robinson like crazy back in the 50's....i get that. but geez, sports have been integrated black/white for quite some time now, in case you haven't noticed. whatever. i just don't get it. maybe it's because i'm white...i don't know. i just have no problem rooting for and relating to teams that don't have one white guy i care about. i've been doing it for years with my favorite basketball team. the only color that matters to me for them is rocket red. that's it. and i'm not of the mindset that the astros are just out to get white players...i think they're out to get the best players, within a limited budget.
That's just it. The 'stros look like a team from the 50's in the year 2004. Whether or not it's by design is besides the point. People can root for the team but also have love for a player that they can identify with without being racist. Check out Larry Bird's comments or the Boki thread over in GARM. Hell, I like Matt Bullard alot but he's revered on this board like he could walk across water. When in reality he was nothing more than a 6'10" three point threat, albeit a very good one, with zero defense and zero inside abilities. Do I have a problem with his 'legendary' status around here? Of course not.
1. MLB has a problem in and of itself...fewer and fewer blacks are playing the game. That's evident in farm systems and college teams around the country. Watch any of the College World Series this weekend??? That isnt' the 'stros, alone. It's across the board in major leage baseball. 2. Larry Bird made those comments...I disagree with them. I could care less if I have white players on the Rockets. 3. Who has revered Matt Bullard as a legend? I've seen people do that jokingly...but never with any seriousness. He was a really good shooter...end of story. We've called him Air Bullard as a joke. But you wanna see revered?? Go in to the GARM board and say something negative about Hakeem...or Clyde...they'll be all over you in there. Because they're loved...because they're legends in this town, no matter what their skin color.
So if there is a need for someone to identify with, wouldn't there need to be an African-American "star" player (or at least a regular starter), rather than just an African-American player? I mean, would African-American kids really indentify with a fifth outfielder who occassionally pinch hit and become bigger Astros fans? Heck, I can't imagine even a guy like Gary Matthews, Jr. who's played in something like 25 games so far this year (77 at-bats) for the Rangers would make any difference to any fan even though he's African-American. I haven't really heard anybody locally talking about him bringing black fans to the ballpark (though maybe when Brian Jordan comes back... Maybe if the Astros had traded for Jordan instead of Beltran, we'd get some fans in the park). I guess it opens up a bigger question. Should a team make an effort to make sure there's at least one African-American starter on the team at all times, regardless of whether the GM, Manager and coaches think that person the best for the team? Would everyone be happier if the Astros had signed Brian Jordan to play right field instead of giving Jason Lane the job (Of course, if Jordan still got hurt, Lane would be playing anyway)? Would that draw more fans of color to the ballpark?
I expect the teams that I root for to make their best effort to field the best team possible reagardless of race. I expect the members of that team to give it their best effort during every game they play. I don't care if it's 25 white Astros, 25 latino Astors or 25 black Astros. In the same vein, I don't care if its 12 white Rockets or 12 black Rockets. As long as the team is working hard, I will root fo them.
1. Yes it's across the board with black Americans. How do you explain the lack of Latins on the roster. 2. I believe there to be some truth to his statement. 3. I guess I didn't get the joke. Do you think that I dislike players because of their skin color? I used to be the biggest Killer B fan around back in the early to mid 90's. Loved Nolan, Mike Scott, Doran, Cammy, Niekro, Reynolds Wrap, etc. But at the same time I also took a liking to Billy Hatcher partly because he had game but partly because he reminded me of one of my cousins. Jose Cruz was my favorite player as a kid because not only was he a nice player but the PA announcer always gave him his due. He also had me addicted to Joe S-A-M-B-I-T-O and Rafael LANdeSTOOOYYYYYYY. As for the Yao novelty factor that you mentioned earlier, Hideki Nomo is no longer a novelty player in my opinion. But if he were aquired by the 'stros there we would be sure to see a rise in the Asian demographic at the games that he pitches.
He's the 3rd (Zhi-Zhi and Bateer), but who's really counting. When I played baseball, Brian Hunter used to be one of my favorite players because he was a leadoff hitter who stole bases (when he actually got on, ), and that's how I played. It didn't matter his color. I also was strangely attached to Andujar Cedeno because my name is Andrew, and I played SS. And I liked Mike Hampton because he was left-handed. I do see it's somewhat of a problem that there are no African Americans on the team, but if the justification is about the kids, then you're not thinking like a kid. When you're a kid, you're a dreamer- as long as there is SOMEONE out there to follow, you don't care. The stats of 80% this or 93% that simply don't matter to 8 year olds. They're more color blind than adults.
