agree with you here, completely. too bad they can't (or won't) play baseball instead of just hitting.
The NFL is different. Fewer games and greater access to non-home town games... It's FAR easier to hate teams you don't necessarily play on a regular basis. Especially when said team is shoved down your throat at every turn. Basketball and baseball requires head-to-head games to develop a rivalry, IMO.
I'd be ecstatic if we moved back to the NFC. Games against the Cowboys would become epic and would be a HUGE rivalry every season.
The Oilers were an AFC team. Time to start a real rivalry because Texans/Titans/Colts are ****ty ones. You put us in the NFC with Dallas and the city will explode like the old Steeler days.
i'm not even arguing that...i'm just making sure you knew that the oilers/texans/any other pro football team in Houston never played a minute in the NFC. "back to the NFC" kinda implied you may have thought otherwise.
I actually think those are pretty good rivalries. Much better than anything the Astros and Rockets can claim.
Considering how widely the Yankees are hated even though NL teams, except for the Mets only play them every few years and all non AL-East teams play them only two series a season I don't think you need a lot of head to head games to hate another team. Also what about the Miami Heat? Every WC team only plays them twice a year. Whoops sorry I see you are saying that. In that case I don't quite see then what is the point of developing a new rivalry if its just to have someone you can root against. The Stros already have rivals and the current system allows us to play the Rangers two series a year already.
False, David Ortiz has been pinch hitting during inter league play when the Red Sox are away. That is until the Red Sox realized they couldn't play well without their DH and they just gave him a shot at 1B yesterday. The DH position gives no advantage to the game and adds no form of strategy to the AL.
I'm sorry Reeko, I can't agree with you on the NFL. I *love* the division the Texans are in right now. Extremely competitive, the (arguably of course) best QB in the game over the last decade, a hated, hated ex... I really enjoy the AFC South. But as others have pointed out, with the limited number of games and the different way scheduling is handled, the division isn't nearly as meaningful in the NLF as in MLB.
But the Yanks and now Heat (along with the Lakers) fit the Cowboy corollary of being overexposed and shoved down our throats. The hatred is a component of media coverage not rivalries. With regards to Cowboys and Texans, specifically, it’s absolutely exasperated by our proximity and long-standing hatred of Dallas, with an added layer of our state’s deeply ingrained love of football. We don’t need to play them every year to hate them. We get enough Cowboy coverage here. All of our other rivalries, past or present, are predicated on us battling each other for division and/or league/conference supremacy.
I don't know if "false" is the right word - you're talking about a grand total of 3 games. Against the Pirates. I probably would have sat him, too. So, IOW, he's sort of, kind of an integral part of their success? Again, let me be very clear: I'm not arguing the merits of the DH. I'm an Astros' fan so I have no use for it, personally (though I don't really dislike it, either - whatever). I'm merely correcting this outdated notion that all DHs are 300-lb has-been sluggers.
The rivalries with the Titans and Colts are great, especially considering the Texans haven't even been a playoff team, so they haven't had playoff battles yet. The Cowgirls in the AFC South instead of Jags sure would be nice.
What's best for the team long-term? Where would the Astros be better off competing in and having success? I'm inclined to say NL (less chance of facing Yankees/Red Sox in playoffs), but either way it'll be years before the team is competitive.
@juicy, I'm not so sure of that. It *certainly* wouldn't be nice for Cowgirl fans, who would lose out on some very storied and colorful rivalries with the Redskins, Eagles, and Giants. For us, I'm not sure I could stomach the melodrama of dealing with Cowboys and Cowboy coverage two times a year. blyech.
