Not Offended
Harrisvotes.com put out the Day 1 Early Voting results last night and mail ballots are down from 2018. Before folks start theorizing on why, here is my humble take. They just didn’t mail most of them out on time. My Dad and I got ours later than usual.
Plus, 75 thousand ballots have been mailed this year, compared to 114 thousand in 2018. Right now, the rate of return is 29% compared to 45% on Day 1 in 2018. It looks like fewer folks applied for mail ballots in 2022 for whatever reason.
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Christmas is two months from today and Hallmark and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channels started airing their Christmas flicks this past Friday.
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Commentary doesn’t take a back seat to anyone when it comes to being an Astros fan. I watched Bob Costas on TBS after we won the ALCS late Sunday night. I heard him bring up the cheating scandal from 2017. It is written up in USA Today Sports here:
Sports fans, similar to the athletes they cheer for, can turn any perceived slight into a grievous insult.
Veteran sportscaster Bob Costas has a knack for igniting those types of feelings with his comments, doing so once again Sunday night in the wake of the Houston Astros’ sweep of the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
On the TBS postgame show, Costas suggested the Astros’ extended run of success — with four World Series appearances in the past six seasons — helped put the infamous sign-stealing scandal behind them.
“This in no way excuses what the Astros did in 2017 and whatever might have surrounded that. They were sanctioned for it,” Costas said. “Some people say the sanctions were not stiff enough. But at the very least their championship in 2017, for many, carries a mental asterisk if not an official asterisk.”
Some Astros fans weren’t happy to be reminded of the scandal so soon after their team had just won the AL pennant.
But Costas was actually trying to pay the Astros a compliment. He continued:
“But those who continue to say that that explains away their success — it’s like people who try to put all the (New England) Patriots’ success and (head coach Bill) Belichick and (quarterback Tom) Brady under the heading of Deflategate or taping a Rams’ practice before their first Super Bowl victory.
It just doesn’t add up. These guys have been to the LCS six straight years, and they’ve gone to the World Series four out of six. And they can’t bang on trash cans anymore.”
This time though, not only were Astros fans offended, but the reference to the Patriots pulled in an entirely different fanbase.
Two sets of fans feeling attacked in one comment.
For Costas, it was almost a routine double play.
I was not offended by what Costas had to say. He has been around the game for a long time. I may not agree with all his takes, but I respect him.
The 2017 cheating scandal got the team punished by getting fined a few million dollars, losing the top picks in two drafts, and the firing of our manager and general manager. It also scored us legions of haters in every MLB city in America and Canada except for H-Town.
The team’s players take the brunt of the hate. They respond by winning pure and simple. That is the way it is going to be for a while. The hate and the wins.
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Our first postseason appearance was against the Phillies in 1980. None of the players on either 2022 team were around 42 years ago. The only connection was Dusty Baker who was with the Dodger when the Astros played them in the 163rd game of the season, a one game playoff at Dodger Stadium to determine the NL West Champion.
We lost the 1980 NLCS to the Phillies, 3 games to 2.
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Hall of Fame great Pedro Martinez signed off TBS’s postgame coverage after the Astros clinched the ALCS with a shot at Yankee Nation saying, “who’s your daddy now.” Pedro is 51 today. Happy Birthday, Pedro Martinez!
#LevelUp!