WORTH A SHOT?
Upcoming Astros promotion serves as amazing sign of progress
Jun 11, 2021, 12:23 pm
All 30 teams will hold a similar vaccination event this month. Composite image by Jack Brame.
Get vaccinated at Minute Maid Park on June 15, and receive two free tickets to watch the Astros take on the Texas Rangers that night. Plus you'll get a free 2017 World Series championship ring. And to top it off, June 15 is a Tuesday, which means it's Dollar Dog Night. Batter up … eat up.
Houston doesn't get any better than that. OK, maybe it's a tossup with Washington State where they're giving free weed ("Joints for Jabs") to get people to roll up their sleeves. Or Ohio, where they're holding million-dollar lotteries for newly vaccinated people. In New York and Connecticut, they're using free beer as vaccination bait.
What a difference a few months make. Earlier this year, people were hovering over their computers like vultures, hopping on planes and dressing like grannies to secure a precious COVID vaccine shot. Now states must resort to bribing people with free baseball tickets, marijuana and alcohol. Recently I drove past the mega vaccine site at NRG Park. They didn't even charge for parking, a rarity, which probably made NRG Park officials sick to their stomachs. The place was empty. They can't give away the vaccine.
The Astros deal is part of MLB's "Vaccination at the Plate," where all 30 teams will hold a similar vaccination event this month.
No appointment will be necessary at Minute Maid Park. Just walk into the ballpark's Union Station between 5-8 p.m., roll up your sleeve, get the jab, and enjoy the game. If you can't make that night's game, you can opt for tickets to the upcoming series against the Baltimore Orioles June 28-30.
The Astros should be commended for hosting the vaccination event, even though they're under orders to do it by MLB. The truth is, the Astros have sent mixed signals about their support of COVID protocols since Day One of the 2021 season.
Before the season started, the Astros announced that they would abide by MLB's pandemic rules, including all fans must wear a face mask or be subject to ejection. On opening night in Houston, the Astros posted signs throughout the stadium and made several announcements about the mask mandate. Hosts of the radio pre-game show told fans that they would have to wear a mask at all times except when actively eating or drinking.
However none of that was enforced once the umpire yelled "Play Ball!" Practically nobody in the stands was wearing a mask. This was back in early April, when the pandemic still was wreaking havoc and Houston was in the red danger zone. On TV the center field camera, while no longer helping the Astros steal the opposing catcher's signs, certainly caught team owner Jim Crane and Astros Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio sitting in the Diamond Club section without masks. As one MLB.com veteran told me, "it wasn't a good look."
As the pandemic eases, MLB still "encourages" unvaccinated fans to wear masks during baseball games. It's the honor system at Minute Maid Park. Nobody's checking and practically nobody is covering up.
People are not considered "fully vaccinated" and protected against contracting COVID until two weeks after they receive two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Next week the Astros will invite fans to get their first or second vaccine shot, give them a free World Series replica ring and then have them sit next to people who may not be vaccinated and aren't wearing a mask. COVID is still risky business, this is no time to let our guard down.
When the Astros recently visited Buffalo to play the Toronto Blue Jays, the stadium was limited to 35-percent capacity with separate sections for vaccinated and unvaccinated fans. While that may sound extreme to 100-percent open Houston, at least Blue Jays fans were safe at home.
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Hulk Hogan has passed away at the age of 71. Photo via: Wiki Commons.
Hulk Hogan, a mustachioed, headscarf-wearing icon in professional wrestling who turned the sport into a massive business and cultural touchstone, died Thursday at age 71, Florida police said.
In Clearwater, Florida, authorities responded to a morning call about a cardiac arrest. Hogan was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said in a statement on Facebook.
Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even company chairman Vince McMahon.
He won at least six WWE championships and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.
“One of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan’s family, friends, and fans,” WWE said.
“Hulkamania,” as the energy he created was called, started running wild in the mid-1980s and pushed professional wrestling into the mainstream. He was a flag-waving American hero with the horseshoe mustache, red and yellow gear and massive arms he called his “24-inch pythons.”
In recent years, Hogan has waded further into politics.
At the 2024 Republican National Convention, Hogan merged classic WWE maneuvers with President Donald Trump’s rhetoric to vociferously endorse his longtime acquaintance.
“Let Trumpamania run wild! Let Trumpamania rule again! Let Trumpamania make America Great Again!” Hogan shouted into the crowd.
He ripped off a t-shirt emblazoned with a picture of himself on a motorcycle to reveal a bright red Trump-Vance campaign shirt underneath. Then-presidential candidate Trump stood to applaud the move.
In 2016, a Florida jury awarded Hogan $115 million in his sex tape lawsuit against Gawker Media and then added $25 million in punitive damages. Hogan sued after Gawker in 2012 posted a video of him having sex with his former best friend’s wife. He contended the post violated his privacy.
Hogan smiled and wore black throughout the three-week trial.
“Everywhere I show up, people treat me like I’m still the champ,” he said of the support from fans.
Hogan first became champion in what was then the World Wrestling Federation in 1984, and pro wrestling took off from there. His popularity helped lead to the creation of the annual WrestleMania event in 1985, when he teamed up with Mr. T to beat “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff in the main event.
He slammed and beat Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III in 1987, and the WWF gained momentum. His feud with the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage – perhaps his greatest rival -- carried pro wrestling even further.
Hogan was a central figure in what is known as the Monday Night Wars. The WWE and World Championship Wrestling were battling for ratings supremacy in 1996. Hogan tilted things in WCW’s favor with the birth of the Hollywood Hogan character and the formation of the New World Order, a villainous stable that put WCW ahead in the ratings.
He returned to the WWE in 2002 and became a champion again. His match with The Rock at WrestleMania X8, a loss during which fans cheered for his “bad guy” character, was seen as a passing of the torch.
He was perhaps as known for his larger-than-life personality as he was his in-ring exploits. He was beloved for his “promos,” hype sessions he used to draw fans into matches. He often would play off his interviewer, “Mean” Gene Okerlund, starting his interviews off with, “Well, lemme tell ya something, Mean Gene!”
He crossed over into movies and television as well. He was Thunderlips in the movie Rocky III in 1982.