i'm really tired of hearing "houston, we have a problem"
Chickball. Cool.
Here's my deal. I live/breathe/die Red Sox baseball. But I'm also not Suzie, so I can't have her story. The Red Sox were always my AL team, I always liked them, I always followed them, and I knew their ups, their downs, and their way way downs of the 86 year drought. But I didn't live/breathe/die with them until I arrived for the first time in Boston in May of 2003 for BU Orientation. And to be quite honest, Fenway Park and the Sox were actually a part of the final decision to attend BU and live two blocks from the best ballpark in baseball. That's where it really began. You could say I have somewhat of an obsessive personality. I yelled out my dorm windows, busted up my right hand and left thumb, failed a midterm, stayed up for 68 hours straight, and yelled at Fox Sports over the course of the 2003 and 2004 playoffs, and when we won it all, I stood in awe at the edge of Kenmore Square, and then at the parade, photographing the whole thing for both posterity and my photo class' photo story assignment. Absolute lifelong Sox obsessee I may not be, but can I really help the circumstances of the location I was born? You don't have to watch me watch a game twice to know that I am no bandwagon fan. I live and breathe these boys, and no matter where I end up after college, I WILL subscribe to NESN. There's truly nothing like Red Sox baseball.
But.
But I was born and raised in Houston, home of the 8th wonder of the world, "Deep in the Heart of Texas" during the 7th inning stretch, Killer B's, and Houston Astros baseball. I went to my first game at age six against the now-defunct Expos, dragging my mom along for the ride. From that day on, Astros baseball became a mother-daughter bonding experience. I started collecting baseball cards and managed to finagle together 45 Biggio cards... my favorite player and childhood hero. I played softball for ten years, and every year I asked for number 7. Together, Biggio and Bagwell and the rest of the rotating lineup of "B's" made up my childhood. When the Astros moved to Enron Field/Astros Field/Minute Maid Park, I was crushed to see my beloved Astrodome go (but to be fair, I do love the new park now... but I still consider it "new"). I met Billy Wagner and Ken Caminiti, and I faithfully brought my glove to the dome every time I went, even though we almost always sat in the upper deck because you could get one dollar seats up there. Basically, I lived and breathed Astros baseball for a good majority of my life. Obviously, though, I lost that ability to live/breathe that team when I moved to Boston. Some teams don't have national networks, you know.
So where am I going with this? I'm going straight to the 2005 World Series, where my hometown boys are playing for the first time in franchise history. So for the next week, here's a Houston-biased take on the "fall classic." Oh, Fox Sports.
Game 1: Well, what can I say. After Contreras settled down, the ChiSox pitching was phenomenal. And wow, what a closer. Jenks is a monster. And with 100 mph consecutive pitches and a screw in his arm, that apparently qualifies him to be bionic in the Fox Sports book. Clemens has been fighting a strained hammy since the end of the regular season, so I don't really know what to say about his ugly performance yesterday. Dude, though, he's so old. Wandy Rodriguez pulled off a decent couple innings, and considering how young/new he is, I'll give him some props. Qualls was his usual amazing self, so all in all, I have to say that the pitching was pretty satisfactory. Taveras had some random hard-hit outfield hits, but other than that I don't have much to say for this one. Probably because I'm in the midst of watching game two now, and I don't like going back to the depressing thoughts of last night. It was a good game, baseball-wise, last night though.
And now, some random commentary.
I like the idea but despise the actual look of the boys with their playoff beards. They look like burly woodsmen, and Ausmus loses the semi-cuteness that is about as good as it gets on the 'Stros. And I think it's hilarious (and I'm really glad) that Biggio can't grow a beard. It would ruin all my memories of him, I think.
Don't ever, ever get me started on the stupidity of Tim McCarver and Joe Buck. Although you might not be able to help it because sometimes I just start ranting wildly about how much I hate Fox or those two men. Sort of like what I'm doing right now as I'm watching game two and yelling at the tv because McCarver is being an idiot again. And by the way, did he get Botox in his forehead? Because seriously, it looks fake.
Liz Phair was phenomenally terrible singing "God Bless America" last night. And that's all I have to say about that.
I do believe that's about all I've got right now. Except let's go 'Stros - do it for Bidge and Bags and 18/15 years they've given their heart and soul to Houston and fans like me. That's why I'm so emotionally attached to this series... for those two guys, and maybe Ausmus and Berkman too, since they were there a while before I left home too. If the Astros made the big one five years from now, I probably wouldn't care, because the boys I grew up on probably won't be there anymore. Do it for 5 and 7. There's a reason those two numbers are in every screen name I've ever had.
Now let's finish watching the end of game two.
Here's my deal. I live/breathe/die Red Sox baseball. But I'm also not Suzie, so I can't have her story. The Red Sox were always my AL team, I always liked them, I always followed them, and I knew their ups, their downs, and their way way downs of the 86 year drought. But I didn't live/breathe/die with them until I arrived for the first time in Boston in May of 2003 for BU Orientation. And to be quite honest, Fenway Park and the Sox were actually a part of the final decision to attend BU and live two blocks from the best ballpark in baseball. That's where it really began. You could say I have somewhat of an obsessive personality. I yelled out my dorm windows, busted up my right hand and left thumb, failed a midterm, stayed up for 68 hours straight, and yelled at Fox Sports over the course of the 2003 and 2004 playoffs, and when we won it all, I stood in awe at the edge of Kenmore Square, and then at the parade, photographing the whole thing for both posterity and my photo class' photo story assignment. Absolute lifelong Sox obsessee I may not be, but can I really help the circumstances of the location I was born? You don't have to watch me watch a game twice to know that I am no bandwagon fan. I live and breathe these boys, and no matter where I end up after college, I WILL subscribe to NESN. There's truly nothing like Red Sox baseball.
But.
But I was born and raised in Houston, home of the 8th wonder of the world, "Deep in the Heart of Texas" during the 7th inning stretch, Killer B's, and Houston Astros baseball. I went to my first game at age six against the now-defunct Expos, dragging my mom along for the ride. From that day on, Astros baseball became a mother-daughter bonding experience. I started collecting baseball cards and managed to finagle together 45 Biggio cards... my favorite player and childhood hero. I played softball for ten years, and every year I asked for number 7. Together, Biggio and Bagwell and the rest of the rotating lineup of "B's" made up my childhood. When the Astros moved to Enron Field/Astros Field/Minute Maid Park, I was crushed to see my beloved Astrodome go (but to be fair, I do love the new park now... but I still consider it "new"). I met Billy Wagner and Ken Caminiti, and I faithfully brought my glove to the dome every time I went, even though we almost always sat in the upper deck because you could get one dollar seats up there. Basically, I lived and breathed Astros baseball for a good majority of my life. Obviously, though, I lost that ability to live/breathe that team when I moved to Boston. Some teams don't have national networks, you know.
So where am I going with this? I'm going straight to the 2005 World Series, where my hometown boys are playing for the first time in franchise history. So for the next week, here's a Houston-biased take on the "fall classic." Oh, Fox Sports.
Game 1: Well, what can I say. After Contreras settled down, the ChiSox pitching was phenomenal. And wow, what a closer. Jenks is a monster. And with 100 mph consecutive pitches and a screw in his arm, that apparently qualifies him to be bionic in the Fox Sports book. Clemens has been fighting a strained hammy since the end of the regular season, so I don't really know what to say about his ugly performance yesterday. Dude, though, he's so old. Wandy Rodriguez pulled off a decent couple innings, and considering how young/new he is, I'll give him some props. Qualls was his usual amazing self, so all in all, I have to say that the pitching was pretty satisfactory. Taveras had some random hard-hit outfield hits, but other than that I don't have much to say for this one. Probably because I'm in the midst of watching game two now, and I don't like going back to the depressing thoughts of last night. It was a good game, baseball-wise, last night though.
And now, some random commentary.
I like the idea but despise the actual look of the boys with their playoff beards. They look like burly woodsmen, and Ausmus loses the semi-cuteness that is about as good as it gets on the 'Stros. And I think it's hilarious (and I'm really glad) that Biggio can't grow a beard. It would ruin all my memories of him, I think.
Don't ever, ever get me started on the stupidity of Tim McCarver and Joe Buck. Although you might not be able to help it because sometimes I just start ranting wildly about how much I hate Fox or those two men. Sort of like what I'm doing right now as I'm watching game two and yelling at the tv because McCarver is being an idiot again. And by the way, did he get Botox in his forehead? Because seriously, it looks fake.
Liz Phair was phenomenally terrible singing "God Bless America" last night. And that's all I have to say about that.
I do believe that's about all I've got right now. Except let's go 'Stros - do it for Bidge and Bags and 18/15 years they've given their heart and soul to Houston and fans like me. That's why I'm so emotionally attached to this series... for those two guys, and maybe Ausmus and Berkman too, since they were there a while before I left home too. If the Astros made the big one five years from now, I probably wouldn't care, because the boys I grew up on probably won't be there anymore. Do it for 5 and 7. There's a reason those two numbers are in every screen name I've ever had.
Now let's finish watching the end of game two.
posted by Amy at 8:49 PM
1 Comments:
I liked the part where they went into the booth and McCarver looked like he was scanning the floor for rats.
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