Author Topic: Astro-Orphan transitioning to a second "fan career"... help me get acclimated?  (Read 2564 times)

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Offline _sturt_

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Give me some guidance, if you don't mind... I don't have time to immerse myself in every possible thing one can read, so what would you say is the most efficient way to get up to speed on the main things-to-know about... our... (I'll get used to that eventually, but I have to admit, it feels weird)... Nationals...?

Offline houston-nat

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Well, you've chosen an excellent, very likable team. :)

For news, I'd hit the Washington Post's Nationals Journal and Mark Zuckerman's website (Nats Insider).
For player info, there's stuff all over the place and I don't know where to direct you.
For minor league players and prospects, our forum is actually probably the best resource on the internet.
A lot of Nationals traditions are explained in various places around but I don't know if any collates them. You'll want to know about Jim Bowden and his Segways and toolsy outfielders (basically, imagine if Ed Wade was a frat boy), the Racing Presidents, and a few other parts of our history.

The forum itself has a lot of inside jokes which are broken down here.

Allow me to say that, as a "Houston Nat" (resident in San Antonio), I'm glad to welcome another citizen of the nation of Texas. I never was an Astros fan, though; Nats since Opening Day '05.

Offline tomterp

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Why are you leaving the Astros?

Yeah, they are pretty much down these days, but still, part of being a fan is enduring the hard times, which makes the good times all the sweeter.

Care to share a little more with us?

Offline houston-nat

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Why are you leaving the Astros?

Yeah, they are pretty much down these days, but still, part of being a fan is enduring the hard times, which makes the good times all the sweeter.

Care to share a little more with us?

He posted in the Introductions thread, too.

Offline tomterp

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Quote from: houston-link=topic=25250.msg898313#msg898313 date=1321670743
He posted in the Introductions thread, too.

 :-[

Haven't gotten that far yet in my catching up since last visit.

Offline _sturt_

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As a fan of the Stros going back to 1971, you have to know, this isn't about the most current low for the team... not at all. This is about the new owner and his complicity with Selig in this AL move.

And btw, I'm also far from alone... but the national media just doesn't convey that to you. About 70-75% of Astros fans according to Houston Chronicle polls are angry, with about half of that percentage threatening to pull all support. Sure, some will renege on that, but you also have to remember that in Houston, they've had some practice at this kind of outrage, with all that went on with the Oilers and Bud Adams. I know from the board I've called home, about a half dozen of us are leaving. I just happen to be one who selected the Nats.

My statement is this: I didn't leave the Astros... they left me... or I should say, their new spineless insensitive Cardinals fan of an owner did. I'm just one of those people who refuses to gloss things over when basic principles are offended. I cannot support Jim Crane in any way/shape/form given his lack of scruples.

I can only imagine that it's like your mom re-marrying, and your new stepdad trashing all of your family traditions in some matter-of-fact, and thus condescending, way... and simultaneously learning he's someone you really can't trust to tell you the truth or to have your back.

Well, I'm of age and don't have to live at home, so mom, he's all yours... I'm going to find a new family. I'll be home to visit every now and then, but just to visit with you and the sibs for awhile... nothing more than that.

Transitioning out of the analogy to the cold hard facts, essentially, there are gaps in this drama that neither the national media (who have seemed overjoyed about this from the outset) nor the local media (who are just desperately trying to mount damage control since losing fan base equates to losing viewers and readers) have or are or, evidently will, probe.

The essence of it all can be read at this site: http://Crane-cott.info ...just scroll about half-way down.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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There are several Nats oriented blogs.  Nats Journal has a blog roll so you might look at some of those.  Nationals Daily News (http://www.nationalsdailynews.com/home/) is in a format of paper and has mix of columns and links to other stories.  Federal Baseball (http://www.federalbaseball.com/)is pretty good.  I don't know if he is still active that much, but I think FJB (fire jim bowden) is a good one if you are statistically oriented.  Finally, Ben Goessling is very good over at MASNSports.com , and they also have Byron Kerr who does a decent job with the minors and player profiles.

Ben G and Mark Z used to write for the Washington Times, until they dropped sports for a while. They are two of the writers who have been on the beat the longest.  Kilgore at the Post has been on it for two years and has the highest profile position. The Post also has two columnists, Tom Boswell and Dave Sheinin, who have fine reputations. Boswell was a major national writer who you may have seen on Ken Burns's Baseball. He's a bit cantankerous now, and serves as various officials' conduit, but will pop you with some great insights and writes quite well.  Sheinin is just terrific but does less on the Nats than other the others. That said, he followed both Strasburg and Harper closely through the minors, so when he comes out with a book on either or both, it'll be a must get.  Barry Svrluga's book on the first year of the Nats is a bit dated but he was a very good beat guy the first couple of years.

The fans here are from mixed baseball backgrounds.  There are a few who followed the Expos down here, but many here deny any meaningful linkage to the Expos.  Bob Short is a cuss word and, since he brought the Rangers to Arlington, probably isn't too popular in Houston, either.  More than a few followed the original Nats until they became the Twins.  If you make it to Nats Park, you'll see prominent statues of Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson, and Frank Howard, but  you'll also see Andre Dawson and Gary Carter on a ring of honor.  Those who grew up here may have followed the Os for a while, especially those who followed the Weaver and Ripken era teams, but most dropped them either due to Angelos or just becasue the Washington option was more attractive.  There are also a lot of transplants here, like me, who either have adopted the Nats as their main team or who split loyalties with an AL club.

Offline _sturt_

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Houston-nat, thanks for all of that... and fwiw, I'm in Beaumont these days, but I'm kind of the opposite of you... I grew up an Astros fan though living in West Virginia. :)

Oh, and one more "fwiw"... wife and I happen to have a trip planned to San Antonio next month. We really like it over there.

Ditto, JCA on the wealth of info... I'll try to wade through that this weekend.

Offline tomterp

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Thanks for such a thorough and informative response.  I admit to not having been up to speed on the whole move to the AL thing, though knew about the $70m deal.   :?  Selig is a scumbag, no doubt there.

Many of us here have experienced our own scarring experiences in baseball - here's the last home game I attended for over 30 years: 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/longterm/general/povich/launch/senators2.htm :?

Offline tomterp

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I grew up an Astros fan though living in West Virginia. :)


Close enough to head down for a game?  We have a few WV posters here - Berkelynat for one.

I spend the occasional recreational weekend in Morgan County.

Offline _sturt_

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Other side of the state, tomterp... where everyone's a Reds fan. Always the contrarian, I had to pick someone else as a 7 year-old, and my story is that I happened to decide on my favorite team by picking out pretty much at random a favorite player out of a pack of baseball cards... that player happened to be... Joe Morgan... the same Joe Morgan who, the next off-season, would get traded to... yes... those despicable Reds. My dad, a big Reds fan, was giddy that morning when we got the newspaper... laughing at the sudden dilemma his son was faced with... but I decided to stick by the Stros. I adopted Cesar Cedeno as Little Joe's replacement.

Offline tomterp

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Other side of the state, tomterp... where everyone's a Reds fan. Always the contrarian,

You're definitely getting in on the Nats closer to the bottom than the top.    :rofl:

 :-[

 :bag:

Offline DPMOmaha

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their new spineless insensitive Cardinals fan of an owner did.
Oh, a landing spot for Carpenter?

You'll want to know about Jim Bowden and his Segways ...

I had a dream last week that I went on a road trip on a Segway through the Rockies.  It was weird.

Offline Squab

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Welcome sturt! Great place here, you picked a good team to follow. I'm from Texas as well (San Antonio, currently going in college at UT Austin). I've been a Nats fan since 05 but really got into them these last couple of years. For getting acclimated I would:
Read articles on www.natsinsider.com,www.federalbaseball.com,http://nationalsprospects.com/ and http://www.masnsports.com/index_nationals.php
But best of all, being an out of market fan, you can take full advantage of MLB.tv. The service you're probably familiar with, lets us(Texans) watch all Nats games on the computer/iPad/iPhone/Android etc for a pretty reasonable price, I really enjoyed that last season. Also just read some threads around here, it'll give you a good feel for the Nats community. Welcome!  :w:

Offline Vega

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Greetings. I'm the orange guy.

Offline BrandonK

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I didn't realize there was so many Nats fans in Texas. I moved to Texas in 06', living in Denton now. Very cool, hopefully you've jumped aboard right before big things happen!

I'd dig through The Farm section and get to know some of the prospects. You probably already know the stars of the team -- note that Morse is "Beast Mode", not anyone from the Brewers. Um, there's a clog up the middle, and indecision in FO on wether Danny or Ian should play SS (I'd say most of us want Espi there). Ramos was recently kidnapped, but due to all the Penn State bs, you probably didn't hear about that.


Offline Vega

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Ian Desmond is a pariah, we need a center fielder, Jordan Zimmermann is the shizzle, Henry Rodriguez is maddening, and Wang jokes.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Lead off center fielder and to a lesser extent front line starter are the big game our gm hunts, but fails to bring home

Washington times is a far better source than the post locally and everyone distrusts Bob Ladosn (in a nod to his love of Bruce Harper, among others,, you'll see his name spelled in a myriad of ways), also mlbtrade rumors has us in on every high profile free agent, some cheer this, some fond it amusing

Most of us hate Peter Angelos either for keeping baseball out of DC, owning MASN, or as disaffected Os fans (or a combination) Delight is disliked for.similiar reasons

Offline BerkeleyNat

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Thanks for such a thorough and informative response.  I admit to not having been up to speed on the whole move to the AL thing, though knew about the $70m deal.   :?  Selig is a scumbag, no doubt there.

Many of us here have experienced our own scarring experiences in baseball - here's the last home game I attended for over 30 years: 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/longterm/general/povich/launch/senators2.htm :?

I was terribly scarred over the 1994 cancelation of the World Series. As a diehard Expos fan, I was crushed when they canceled the series. It was like a slap in the face. I swore off baseball at that point, because the Expos started selling off the stars on the team and were never quite the same after that. I still followed the Expos after '94, but never quite as passionately as I once had. I guess my passion was reignited when the Expos moved to DC. I've been a diehard fan ever since.  :lol:


Offline houston-nat

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I didn't realize there was so many Nats fans in Texas. I moved to Texas in 06', living in Denton now. Very cool, hopefully you've jumped aboard right before big things happen!

It's too bad Texas is so freaking huge or we could all watch a game in a bar sometime.
Well... also it's too bad the Nationals are never on TV here.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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It's too bad Texas is so freaking huge or we could all watch a game in a bar sometime.
Well... also it's too bad the Nationals are never on TV here.

You could maybe get together at Allstars and scout for talent.

Offline DPMOmaha

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It's too bad Texas is so freaking huge or we could all watch a game in a bar sometime.
Well... also it's too bad the Nationals are never on TV here.

I'd guarantee there's a bar you guys could find that carries Extra Innings.  Or you swing by my place.  If you're in Dalhart, Lincoln is closer than Dallas.  But I don't think any of you are in Dalhart...

Offline BrandonK

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I'd guarantee there's a bar you guys could find that carries Extra Innings.  Or you swing by my place.  If you're in Dalhart, Lincoln is closer than Dallas.  But I don't think any of you are in Dalhart...

Yeah, seems like we're all in different corners. We'd all have to do some serious travel to meet up.

Offline JMW IV

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So the entirety of the Astros fans outrage with Jim Crane revolves around the Astros moving to the AL? Or has he done other things too?

Offline _sturt_

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No, it's pretty much that he's disregarded the Astros' 50 year NL history, and now, is attempting to brush it all under the carpet as-if he had no other choice but to go along... but as the Crane-cott site explains, the facts just don't line up behind that assertion. He wasn't the originator (Selig was), but in order for it to happen, Crane had to be complicit.