The Houston Astros Broke My Heart More Than it Already Is
By Diego Garcia III | The Brownsville Beacon Sports Editor
I have been an Astros fan ever since I've known what baseball is. I never really cared that they hadn't ever won a World Series. I would have been a fan regardless if they had won it all in 2017. I've been to games in the Astrodome. I went to games when their new ballpark was called Enron Field. I suffered through the years they wore black and brick red (black is one of my least favorite colors to wear). I saw Roger Clemens pitch sitting ten feet from the owner of the team. I saw my best friend drop his hot dog on the left field side of Minute Maid Park as I wondered why there were pumpkins in the coal car above the left field wall (it turns out they were oranges, not pumpkins — of course they were oranges, the place is called Minute Maid park, after all).
I will always root, root, root for the Astros. That doesn't mean I am not disappointed with what has been happening with the team.
Last season, a former player was being interviewed after a game when he admitted the Astros were involved in an elaborate sign-stealing ploy involving the cameras used for instant replay. They would then use another complex system of signals to let batters know what pitches were coming their way, giving them an unfair advantage.
As a result of this, AJ Hinch, the manager and Jeff Luhnow, the general manager of the team were suspended and subsequently fired from the team. The Boston Red Sox also fired Alex Cora, their manager, since he was a bench coach for the Astros in 2017. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2018. Carlos Beltrán, a former member of the Astros, was going to be the manager of the New York Mets. Since news of this scandal broke, Beltrán will no longer be the manager of the Mets. Who knows what other potential fallout will come.
To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I know there have always been players who have been accused of stealing signs, but nothing of this magnitude has ever surfaced.
The real problem is, other than the people suspended, the players involved will likely not be impacted by this. The Astros have been stripped of their first and second round draft picks for the next two years, but the way things are structured in Major League Baseball, that isn't as big a deal as it would be in the NFL.
It is disappointing that from now until the end of time, there will be an asterisk next to the 2017 World Series champion.
The only way teams like this will stop cheating is if the penalty is so severe, they'll never consider doing anything like this again. Honestly, as much as it pains me to say this, the Astros and the Red Sox should be stripped of their World Series titles. I know that sounds extreme, but that's the only way they'll get the attention of the other teams in the league.
The New England Patriots are always mired in one video taping or ball deflating controversy. They should probably also be stripped of their Super Bowl wins if an investigation actually showed wrongdoing.
We idolize these athletes and worship these teams. We treat sports like a religion in this country. We raise children to play these sports and say playing them teaches them to be a part of a team.
Apparently, we're also teaching them it's OK to cheat their way to the top. In my humble opinion, that is unacceptable.
I'll always root for the Astros, but that doesn't mean I won't be heartbroken because of what they did. I guess it's not that big a deal, since my heart was already shattered and in pieces before this happened, anyway.
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| I'm the one on the right. |
I will always root, root, root for the Astros. That doesn't mean I am not disappointed with what has been happening with the team.
Last season, a former player was being interviewed after a game when he admitted the Astros were involved in an elaborate sign-stealing ploy involving the cameras used for instant replay. They would then use another complex system of signals to let batters know what pitches were coming their way, giving them an unfair advantage.
As a result of this, AJ Hinch, the manager and Jeff Luhnow, the general manager of the team were suspended and subsequently fired from the team. The Boston Red Sox also fired Alex Cora, their manager, since he was a bench coach for the Astros in 2017. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2018. Carlos Beltrán, a former member of the Astros, was going to be the manager of the New York Mets. Since news of this scandal broke, Beltrán will no longer be the manager of the Mets. Who knows what other potential fallout will come.
To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I know there have always been players who have been accused of stealing signs, but nothing of this magnitude has ever surfaced.
The real problem is, other than the people suspended, the players involved will likely not be impacted by this. The Astros have been stripped of their first and second round draft picks for the next two years, but the way things are structured in Major League Baseball, that isn't as big a deal as it would be in the NFL.
It is disappointing that from now until the end of time, there will be an asterisk next to the 2017 World Series champion.
The only way teams like this will stop cheating is if the penalty is so severe, they'll never consider doing anything like this again. Honestly, as much as it pains me to say this, the Astros and the Red Sox should be stripped of their World Series titles. I know that sounds extreme, but that's the only way they'll get the attention of the other teams in the league.
The New England Patriots are always mired in one video taping or ball deflating controversy. They should probably also be stripped of their Super Bowl wins if an investigation actually showed wrongdoing.
We idolize these athletes and worship these teams. We treat sports like a religion in this country. We raise children to play these sports and say playing them teaches them to be a part of a team.
Apparently, we're also teaching them it's OK to cheat their way to the top. In my humble opinion, that is unacceptable.
I'll always root for the Astros, but that doesn't mean I won't be heartbroken because of what they did. I guess it's not that big a deal, since my heart was already shattered and in pieces before this happened, anyway.
I am a first time reader to your blog and a long time Astro Fan (Colt 45's). I enjoyed your article and have the same feelings. On an other topic, as a college football fan, I hope that if UTRGV does establish a football program that a football stadium be built between Edinburg and Brownsville so that both campuses can attend and provide support to the program. Also, would love to see the University of Texas A&M at Brownsville. Bring the Cadet Corps to Fort Brown.
ReplyDeleteI would love for there to be a Texas A&M University Brownsville, and I would love for it to have a Corps of Cadets. So many of our young men and women join the military, it would be awesome if instead they were the ones giving the orders as officers rather than following the orders as low rank enlisted men and women.
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