photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
I've listened to all the bull bleep and crap spewed after Jim Crane allowed Rob Manfred to clip his manhood and put them it a glass case with the heavy handed punishment in regards to the Astros sign stealing scandals. He then bowed down even further by forcing his players to publicly apologize at Spring Training. It was despicable. In the first hour of Late Hits, Patrick Creighton and Jayson Braddock laid out how many times throughout history teams were caught stealing signs and how they were doing it. This crucifixion of the Astros as if they're some sort of lone bandit is sickening!
All the people bitching and complaining, the frivolous lawsuits, the blatant ignorance, the spreading of baseless accusations...This should all serve as fuel to the Astros and their fans this season. They got caught. They thumbed their noses at the whole apology thing, especially Alex Bregman (shot out to Justin Verlander for wearing the "Nobody Cares" hat at the golf outing). Bleep it! Let's go full heel mode! The heel turn is complete.
First Things First
A heel turn is a wrestling term used to describe a good guy (a babyface or face) turns into a bad guy or heel. The Astros were the fun-loving bunch of homegrown talent of a franchise that endured tanking in order to restock their minor leagues. That paid off in a major way in 2017 when they won a World Series. It was extra sweet considering Houston was hit by Harvey that August. Most of the world fell in love with them. They were the John Cena of baseball. They were beloved by most, and still hated by a good amount of folks for their antics.
Scandals Tear Away At Their Image
Sign stealing was the straw that broke the camel's back. When they signed Roberto Osuna, there was a ton of backlash and understandbly so. He was suspended amid a domestic violence incident and they traded for him anyway. That lead to another incident in which former GM Brandon Taubman was fired for causing a stir in the locker room for being obnoxious about the Osuna trade towards some female reporters. Top this bleep cake off with thew fact that former GM Jeff Luhnow created a toxic work environment, and you have the making of a heel turn.
Heel Mode: Activated
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Back in 1996, Hulk Hogan turned heel when he joined the nWo. The wrestling world was turned on its ear. Everyone actually thought WWE sent them to take over WCW. Fans were shocked to see their hero of the last 10-plus years turn heel. This is how Astros fans must feel right now. Their beloved team got caught stealing signs. Now what? Bleep it! Go with it. Yeah they got caught. No they weren't the only ones. Sure the punishment is harsh. And yes, the trolls and piece-riders in media and other fan bases are annoying AF, but embrace it!
Relish The Role
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You know what happened to the nWo? They ended up becoming the hottest act in wrestling. Stone Cold Steve Austin did something similar. Both were supposed to be heels, but were so good at it and so cool, people ended up liking them. They were cheered, sold a ton of merch, and drove ratings through the roof. So much so that WCW actually beat WWE in the ratings for over a year. This is what the team and fans need to do. I don't give a flying flip that they cheated! "If you aint cheatin you aint tryin!" and my other favorite line "It's only cheatin if you get caught!" Become the cool heels. Celebrate homeruns and big hits by simulating buzzers and banging trash cans. Have a trash can bobblehead giveaway. Pretend to talk into fake buzzers and devices in the dugout. Fans: wear "Steal It Back" shirts and create other parody paraphenelia to thumb your noses at the crybabies from other teams.
I don't give a damn what people may think. If they stink, do it anyway. Do it more if they're mashing the ball and leading the division. During the All Star festivities, keep it going by pretending to steal signs and bang trash cans. That World Series win isn't going anywhere. It's history, it happened and they can't undo it. Ignore the dumbasses online and in the media. They're going to say all kinds stuff to keep this going, so don't feed them MLB can pretend to investigate other teams all they want, but we all know they want this to go away faster an unwanted rash in their nether regions. So let's go full heel Houston! Screw them! It's us versus all yall mentality from here on out!
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Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points, Jeremy Sochan added 17 points and 12 rebounds, and the San Antonio Spurs held on to beat the Houston Rockets 109-106 on Saturday night in their home opener.
Wembanyama added seven rebounds and three blocks while shooting 10 for 17 from the field.
Chris Paul added three points and nine assists, including a drive and feed to Sochan for an open layup that put San Antonio up 104-99 with 1:35 remaining.
After trailing by 22 points in the first half, Houston was within one possession for much of the final minutes. The Rockets went on a 21-8 run in the opening six minutes of the final quarter, turning an 18-point deficit into a 95-90 lead for San Antonio.
Jalen Green had 27 points for Houston. Fred VanVleet added 18 and Dillon Brooks had 16.
Takeaways
Rockets: Houston wasted a good finish with a poor start. After shooting 34% through three quarters, including 17% in the second period, the Rockets shot 60% in the final quarter.
Spurs: San Antonio went 2 for 13 on 3-pointers after opening the game 6 for 7.
Key moment
After struggling mightily at times last season to get the ball into Wembanyama’s hands around the rim, a pair of passes from Paul yielded much promise and thunderous celebrations. Paul’s first lob resulted in an alley-oop dunk for Wembanyama with 2:12 remaining in the first half that put the Spurs up 57-38. Paul and Wembanyama repeated the alley-oop dunk a minute later, giving the Spurs a 59-38 advantage.
Key stat
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich has stressed the need for his team to be more physical and the Spurs responded, outrebounding Houston 57-46.
Up next
The Rockets face the Spurs again on Monday to close out a two-game set in San Antonio.