The Astros owe me $386.50

As a Cubs fan, my largest foe, most despised team is the Chicago White Sox. The only thing worse than a White Sox fan is a bandwagon-ing, son of a bitch fair weather White Sox fan, which they now have in abundance in Chicago. After the Sox, many of my comrades take on the Cardinals as they’re not only closer but also a very talented team in our division.

However, I chose the Astros and their fans. Only five years in Houston could make me care as little about the Astros as I do now. Too often they disappointed many a Cubs fan, only to blow it in the post season.

So I entered this post season with very few worries...at least one of my two least favorite teams would lose, hopefully both.

Of course as the playoffs advanced (as did the Sox and Astros) I became more and more disappointed with the results. Granted, they were both good teams, and it was nice to see everyone in Houston in such great moods so I was not very vested in the post season at all…my hatred of both teams coupled with happier environment around Houston lead to plain ambivalence on my part.

Foolish was I to think I could not be hurt by these two teams.

Around the time of the NL Championship series, I entered the ticket lottery for World Series tickets in Houston, as did apparently, everyone else in Houston. When I didn’t win the first round, I was certain it was Northern carpetbaggers, if you will, who registered online to buy them and sell them on eBay, etc. Mind you my only reasons for wanting to go to the series are because 1) it’s the World Series and 2) they tend to be good ball games too.

So now with no tickets, I swear off every caring about the Astros…if they could offer me WS tickets, I could find it in my heart to root for them; at least to get to the WS…but no, they had spurned my love.

Astros saving moment #1: I’m offered two tickets to game five of the NLCS, the last game of three in Houston at cost from by a coworker. Houston’s up 3-1 in the series and if they win this, they’ll go to the series for the first time ever. These were fun seats; right field just next to the Cardinals’ bullpen. You can’t see the full scoreboard, but other than that they had pretty good view lines.

The game was awesome. The crowd was outrageously loud as soon as the Astros took the lead. Between the eighth and ninth innings the deck above us, essentially concrete and steel beams, was shaking. A lot. Like easily a foot. The beams would bend up and down as I (the only person not intently focused on the Astros’ warm up) gazed at it, thankful that this was a new stadium and that my family would get a large settlement out of my untimely death.

Anyways, when Pujols hit what must be one of the biggest home runs ever, it was unreal...again, as the only divested spectator, it was amazing. Luckily, the deck above stopped shaking.

Afterwards I took a break from the post season…I was really concerned with who was playing, who was winning, etc.

Sunday noon, I got an email from the Astros…I had won the last chance lotto for the rights to buy tickets to the World Series. 10 am on Monday was the zero hour.

I come out of the mess with two tickets for Thursday’s game five…field level, section 132 (half way between first base and the outfield wall), second row. I’m psyched.

All that is needed: one Astros win…they have two games at home to pull it off and the previous games have been close, so it looks good.

Too bad the Astros were all like, “We don’t want to win. We much prefer going up by four runs and blowing it to winning. Winning is for losers.”

All I wanted was good seats to a good game on a good night. I wouldn’t even care who wins.
I should have known my two least favorite teams could stick it to me one more time this season.