Fair-Weather Fans?
A view of Houston fans from a non-native Houstonian
Sep 11, 2017, 7:00 am
I moved to Houston a few years ago to pursue my lifelong dream of rotting away in a cubicle and getting stuck in rush-hour traffic. If only I knew about the wonderful tsunami-esque rain that Houston received, I would have relocated years ago. I mean, who doesn’t want it to be 95 degrees and sunny when they are knee-deep in water and sewage run-off. Speaking of sewage run-off, let’s talk about our good ol’ Houston sports teams.
Not the teams, specifically, but the Houston fair-weather fans that I have come to know ... and hate.
The days of the “Killer B’s” are over, but the Astros have some of the best talent in the American League. I have been to a few games down at Minute Maid, and one thing is for certain, the fans suck. First, Houston is closing in on the third-largest city in the country, and to see empty sections in rivalry games is extremely depressing. Altuve and Correa are all-stars, and the starting pitching is coming around. Show some frickin’ support for your team.
I should never be able to sneak down to the third baseline in the fourth inning because you didn’t want to miss the turtle races at Little Woodrow’s. I’ve seen the Skeeters fill a stadium better than the Astros. Out of all the major sports teams of Houston, this one has the best chance at winning a championship, so show them the support they deserve.
On a more positive note, I feel Houston Rockets fans are a lot more optimistic and dedicated to their team. Harden is on a tear like no other right now, and with the support of Gordon, Anderson, Capella and the rest, the future is looking bright for the Rockets. My issue is that fans keep pushing for Harden for MVP rather than addressing the needs of the team.
Harden may be the best player in the league this year and for the foreseeable future, but that won’t win the Rockets a championship. No one remembers that Steph Curry was MVP last year, they just remember his face when the Cavs came back from 3-1 in the finals. So, stop campaigning the NBA for Harden to win the Podoloff Trophy and start campaigning Daryl Morey to pick up a legit rim protector. The Rockets should be contenders in the West for several years to come.
Finally, I saved the worst for last. I pity you. Yes, you! The guy with the Texans car magnet/hitch protector combo on his jacked up, low self-esteem truck. You know who you are.
August rolls around and you tell your co-workers and unwilling listeners that “This is the Texans 'year.” How “we” will fix the QB situation, and with J.J.’s return, “our” defense will be comparable to the ’85 Bears. October comes, the QB sucks more than a Dyson, and the defense is banged up, yet you still tell Jim in accounting not to worry, “they” will turn it around. December finally hits and you wake up from your depressed stupor, contemplating starting an angry mob, calling for Bill to be executed on Discovery Green, and experiencing the same deja vu you have had for the last 15 years.
But I have some words of encouragement for you: the Texans are a damn good team. They are a QB, interior O-lineman, head coach, and GM away from a championship. Keep your head up fictional fan. Good times are ahead.
This all being said; Houston’s sports future is looking on the bright side. You could be a NY or LA fan and struggle through the next decade of rebuilding years. So, stop complaining and go support your team.
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Originally appeared on houstonsportsandstuff.com.
Looming over baseball is a likely lockout in December 2026, a possible management push for a salary cap and perhaps lost regular-season games for the first time since 1995.
“No one’s talking about it, but we all know that they’re going to lock us out for it, and then we’re going to miss time,” New York Mets All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso said Monday at the All-Star Game. “We’re definitely going to fight to not have a salary cap and the league’s obviously not going to like that.”
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and some owners have cited payroll disparity as a problem, while at the same time MLB is working to address a revenue decline from regional sports networks. Unlike the NFL, NBA and NHL, baseball has never had a salary cap because its players staunchly oppose one.
Despite higher levels of luxury tax that started in 2022, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets have pushed payrolls to record levels. The last small-market MLB club to win a World Series was the Kansas City Royals in 2015.
After signing outfielder Juan Soto to a record $765 million contract, New York opened this season with an industry-high $326 million payroll, nearly five times Miami’s $69 million, according to Major League Baseball’s figures. Using luxury tax payrolls, based on average annual values that account for future commitments and include benefits, the Dodgers were first at $400 million and on track to owe a record luxury tax of about $151 million — shattering the previous tax record of $103 million set by Los Angeles last year.
“When I talk to the players, I don’t try to convince them that a salary cap system would be a good thing,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “I identify a problem in the media business and explain to them that owners need to change to address that problem. I then identify a second problem that we need to work together and that is that there are fans in a lot of our markets who feel like we have a competitive balance problem.”
Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, 2026, and management lockouts have become the norm, which shifts the start of a stoppage to the offseason. During the last negotiations, the sides reached a five-year deal on March 10 after a 99-day lockout, salvaging a 162-game 2022 season.
“A cap is not about a partnership. A cap isn’t about growing the game,” union head Tony Clark said Tuesday. “A cap is about franchise values and profits. ... A salary cap historically has limited contract guarantees associated with it, literally pits one player against another and is often what we share with players as the definitive non-competitive system. It doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. That’s why this is not about competitive balance. It’s not about a fair versus not. This is institutionalized collusion.”
The union’s opposition to a cap has paved the way for record-breaking salaries for star players. Soto’s deal is believed to be the richest in pro sports history, eclipsing Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million deal with the Dodgers signed a year earlier. By comparison, the biggest guaranteed contract in the NFL is $250 million for Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
Manfred cites that 10% of players earn 72% of salaries.
“I never use the word `salary’ within one of `cap,’” he said. “What I do say to them is in addressing this competitive issue that’s real we should think about whether this system is the perfect system from a players’ perspective.”
A management salary cap proposal could contain a salary floor and a guaranteed percentage of revenue to players. Baseball players have endured nine work stoppages, including a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that fought off a cap proposal.
Agent Scott Boras likens a cap plan to attracting kids to a “gingerbread house.”
“We’ve heard it for 20 years. It’s almost like the childhood fable,” he said. “This very traditional, same approach is not something that would lead the younger players to the gingerbread house.”