The Ups and (Mostly) Downs of Being a Houston Sports Fan
Tonight the Astros begin playing the L.A. Dodgers for the World Series. You can’t imagine what this means to Houston. We are perennial also-rans in the sports world. To have a team in the ultimate showdown is nothing short of miraculous. I’ve lived in Houston all my life. My dad was a big fan of football and baseball, and only slightly interested in basketball. Every year I had to listen to every man in my family talk about how this was “their year.” Sometimes they were right because there was a line drawn through my family between Houston fans and Dallas fans. Oh, the quarrels that ensued. But every year, the Houston teams failed to make it “their year.” It wasn’t for lack of trying. I remember one year, listening to an Oilers game, back with Bum Phillips as coach and Earl Campbell as running back. The announcers talked about how the defense was one of the best in the league, and how strange it was that they had never won. The same with baseball. I can’t tell you th...