FYB

[Ebby Calvin]

It's an acronym now.

[Arky Vaughan]

It's an acronym now.

That pretty much sums it up.

[ValpoCory]

Thanks Ebby.  Great article, summing up my frustrations.   FYB.

[headhunter]

It's an acronym now.

Ebby,
Thanks for my new signature, and the great article.
FTC is now hollow, so yesterday.
 FYB--I'm making a shirt.
I really really hate this.  feels something like when someone you love dies after a long illness. you expect it, it seems inevitable and you try to accept it but then you get the news and it is so much worse than anything you thought it could be. 
I'll catch you guys in the Spring. I really hope most of you are here. The fact that a lot of you won't be makes this even worse.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

Good job Ebby, but I think you went a little easy on Bud. And it's amazing how well those lyrics stand up 45 years later. That was one kick ass album.

[Ty in Tampa]

This could very well kill my love for the Astros and MLB. It sure feels that way right now.

[Ebby Calvin]

And it's amazing how well those lyrics stand up 45 years later. That was one kick ass album.

Swiss Movement remains one of my favorite albums ever.  Glad you caught it.

[GreatBagwellsBeard]

Fuck Bud.

Fuck the weak-knees at the Chronicle.  Not ONE front-page of the Sports section article about fan opinion.  Not a damned one.  I know why they didn't do it, but if ever there was a moment to make a stand as a member of the sports press, this is it.

Fuck you Pinwheel.

[jbm]

Nice work. 

Spot on observation about the irony of FYB employing the real shady business practices in this deal. 

[jwhudson]

I would proudly wear that t-shirt.  Very nicely done, Sir.

[Ron Brand]

It's a t-shirt. It's a coffee mug. It's a big banner to fly on Opening Day.

Thanks, Ebby.

[roadrunner]

It's a big banner to fly on Opening Day.

I will donate to this cause.

[Mr. Happy]

Excellent work, EC!

[EasTexAstro]

I will donate to this cause.

Could we buy an ad on the big screen? Something like "FYB from SnS"?

ETA: Maybe our own tombstone to go with it?

[Ron Brand]

Could we buy an ad on the big screen? Something like "FYB from SnS"?

ETA: Maybe our own tombstone to go with it?

Now that we've outed ourselves, maybe not.

[remy]

Glad (or sad) to see my avatar caption made it in.

FYB.

[Texifornia]

Hypothetical historical question:
You are in a room with Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Bud Selig. In your hand is .45 caliber pistol with two bullets.
Who do you shoot?

Answer: Bud Selig twice.

[Ebby Calvin]

Hypothetical historical question:
You are in a room with Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Bud Selig. In your hand is .45 caliber pistol with two bullets.
Who do you shoot?

Answer: Bud Selig twice.

Because thankfully the other two are already dead.

[OregonStrosFan]

Good stuff Ebby, thank you (though like Sphinx, think you went a little easy on Bud there).

[Limey]

Nice work.  If you want some stats to back up your hatred of the AL/DH, here's a interesting set from the Chronicle:

The typical NL team pinch-hit 259 times and had 71 sacrifice bunts last season, compared to 76 and 38 in the AL.

[Lefty]

Occupy Bud Selig

[Ebby Calvin]

More confirmation.

HOUSTON -- Major League Baseball told Houston businessman Jim Crane it would not approve his purchase of the Houston Astros unless he agreed to move the team to the American League, The Associated Press has learned.

Crane was forced to agree to move the sale along, a person familiar with the negotiations said Wednesday on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made by MLB or the Astros. Approval of the sale could be announced as early as Thursday at a meeting of baseball executives in Milwaukee.

For 15/15 realignment, Houston would be the team moving to AL West. Would create more fairness in baseball ... 15 teams in each league would necessitate interleague play every day but it will be better schedule overall.

This isn't Crane.

[Arky Vaughan]

More confirmation.

This isn't Crane.

Fairness? Like the fairness of having some shriveled-dick commissioner ripping a team out of the National League after 50 years just because it was the first team to come up for sale when realignment was on the table? How is that fairness, Mr. Commissioner? You can take your fairness, and your realignment, and shove them both straight up your ass.

[gleach]

More confirmation.

This isn't Crane.

And this is why I don't necessarily understand all the vitriol towards Crane. The guy has a chance to live his dream of owning a major league baseball team. Bud Fucking Selig forced his hand. If it had been anyone else, the team still would have been moved to the AL. So yes, fuck Bud Selig, and fuck Drayton McClane for being Bud's little fucking bitch, but Crane is simply doing whatever he has to do to own the team.

[Andyzipp]

And this is why I don't necessarily understand all the vitriol towards Crane. The guy has a chance to live his dream of owning a major league baseball team. Bud Fucking Selig forced his hand. If it had been anyone else, the team still would have been moved to the AL. So yes, fuck Bud Selig, and fuck Drayton McClane for being Bud's little fucking bitch, but Crane is simply doing whatever he has to do to own the team.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE YELLING ABOUT!  LOUD NOISES! /brick

[Señor Stan]

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2011/11/16/local-attorney-says-astros-move-to-al-violates-lease-agreement/

Citing provisions from a 2000 agreement that expires at the end of 2029, Yankowsky said the terms spell out that the home team — the Astros — be a National League franchise.

Article 1, Section 1.1 of the lease states that all capitalized terms in the lease have meanings assigned in a glossary of defined terms. One of the key provisions, Yankowsky said, comes in Article 5, Section 5.1 defining “Permitted Uses” of Minute Maid as including “exhibition, presentation and broadcasting of Baseball Home Games and activities related thereto.”

The Glossary of Defined Terms classifies “Baseball Home Games” as “any major league baseball game in which the Team as the host Team for its opponent (i.e. the Team takes the field in the first half of each inning and bats in the last half of each inning of such baseball game).” Team, as defined by the Glossary, is “the major league baseball team owned by the tenant pursuant to the rights granted to it as a National League franchise under the Franchise, currently named the Houston Astros Baseball Club.” Franchise, as defined in the lease, is “the Team issued by the National League.”

“In the simplest form, what this means, in my judgment, is come opening day of 2013, the Sports Authority can refuse to let them play because it’s not a permitted use of the stadium,” Yankowsky said. “They can quite simply lock the doors and say, ‘No, it’s not a permitted use.’ The play of Major League Baseball games, by definition, are limited to games in which a National League team is the home team.”

If only we had some lawyers around here that could make some sense of this...

[jbm]

I'm no lawyer, but what incentive do they have to turn down a paying tenant?

[austro]

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2011/11/16/local-attorney-says-astros-move-to-al-violates-lease-agreement/

If only we had some lawyers around here that could make some sense of this...

It's not like Bud couldn't switch the rules so that the Astros hit first when they're the host. It wouldn't be any more absurd than hosting a "home" game in Milwaukee.

[The Spleen]

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2011/11/16/local-attorney-says-astros-move-to-al-violates-lease-agreement/


If only we had some lawyers around here that could make some sense of this...

If the stadium lease is used as leverage, that would give Selig/Crane an opening to play the relocation card...

[HudsonHawk]

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2011/11/16/local-attorney-says-astros-move-to-al-violates-lease-agreement/


If only we had some lawyers around here that could make some sense of this...

This is likely a non-starter, since the American and National Leagues were basically dissolved in 2001.  They exist in name, but not in function any longer.

[Limey]

And this is why I don't necessarily understand all the vitriol towards Crane. The guy has a chance to live his dream of owning a major league baseball team. Bud Fucking Selig forced his hand. If it had been anyone else, the team still would have been moved to the AL. So yes, fuck Bud Selig, and fuck Drayton McClane for being Bud's little fucking bitch, but Crane is simply doing whatever he has to do to own the team.

He's buying a severely hobbled franchise (very little talent anywhere in the organisation) with a vastly diminished fanbase, and agreeing to further alienate a vast swath of what fanbase remains.  It may be his dream to own a team (any team, apparently), but it's a terrible, terrible business decision.

If he wasn't taking the Astros down with him, I'd be cheering for him to go down in flames.  I firmly believe he will in any case, whether I cheer for it or not.

[Limey]

I'm no lawyer, but what incentive do they have to turn down a paying tenant?

They can bend Crane over and make him amend the terms of the lease.  Apparently he's ok with this kind of treatment.

[gleach]

He's buying a severely hobbled franchise (very little talent anywhere in the organisation) with a vastly diminished fanbase, and agreeing to further alienate a vast swath of what fanbase remains.  It may be his dream to own a team (any team, apparently), but it's a terrible, terrible business decision.

If he wasn't taking the Astros down with him, I'd be cheering for him to go down in flames.  I firmly believe he will in any case, whether I cheer for it or not.

I think we, as members of this forum, are pissed. I think the cast majority of Astros "fans" don't give a shit. Chicks dig the long ball and all that. But the league the team is in, in my opinion, will have relatively little to do with the common fan paying big bucks for beer and tickets. Just win, baby. Half the fuckers in the section I sit in are Cardinals fans anyway.

[Limey]

I think we, as members of this forum, are pissed. I think the cast majority of Astros "fans" don't give a shit. Chicks dig the long ball and all that. But the league the team is in, in my opinion, will have relatively little to do with the common fan paying big bucks for beer and tickets. Just win, baby. Half the fuckers in the section I sit in are Cardinals fans anyway.

The people in your section are owners, restauranteurs and former presidents.

I think the big issue regarding casual fans is that they won't watch 9pm road games on TV, and they will show up at home only for the Yanks and Sawx*.  In the meantime, if concerns over the Crane group's finances prove to be true, the team will not get any better any time soon.  Then you become the Houston Royals.


* Once the novelty of playing the Rangers wears off, and the boredom of being stomped by them sets in, I think these games will fail to be a notable draw in either city.

[S.P. Rodriguez]

* Once the novelty of playing the Rangers wears off, and the boredom of being stomped by them sets in, I think these games will fail to be a notable draw in either city.

Keep it up with this line of doomed to failure and I will support the Astros out of sheer spite and schadenfreude directed at Nolan and his Ambiguously Gay Rangers (nttawwt)....

[austro]

* Once the novelty of playing the Rangers wears off, and the boredom of being stomped by them sets in, I think these games will fail to be a notable draw in either city.

And then we'll be full-circle back to when I became an Astros fan (mid-70s), when we could leave for the Dome at 6:30, grab tickets in the gold seats, and then migrate down to good seats pretty much wherever we wanted.

[Mr. Happy]

And then we'll be full-circle back to when I became an Astros fan (mid-70s), when we could leave for the Dome at 6:30, grab tickets in the gold seats, and then migrate down to good seats pretty much wherever we wanted.

Remember the "Arm Farm?"

[gleach]

The people in your section are owners, restauranteurs and former presidents.

I think the big issue regarding casual fans is that they won't watch 9pm road games on TV, and they will show up at home only for the Yanks and Sawx*.  In the meantime, if concerns over the Crane group's finances prove to be true, the team will not get any better any time soon.  Then you become the Houston Royals.


* Once the novelty of playing the Rangers wears off, and the boredom of being stomped by them sets in, I think these games will fail to be a notable draw in either city.

I'm with you. However I think that when Astros start winning again the people will get less irritated by the 9:00 pm start. The Astros were in the NL West and managed to survive. I guess I just don't have faith in the common fan to distinguish between AL and NL.

[austro]

Remember the "Arm Farm?"

No, I don't. What have I forgotten?

[Limey]

I'm with you. However I think that when Astros start winning again the people will get less irritated by the 9:00 pm start. The Astros were in the NL West and managed to survive. I guess I just don't have faith in the common fan to distinguish between AL and NL.

I think you're right about this.  Fans will go to see a winner and most don't get/care about the differences the DH brings.

But to build a winner will take time and money - a lot of both.  I'm not sure that a cash-strapped owner with a meagre revenue stream is going to be able to pull that off.

[OregonStrosFan]

I think you're right about this.  Fans will go to see a winner and most don't get/care about the differences the DH brings.

I don't care nearly as much about the DH as I do that Bud Selig just held a gun to my head and threatened to shoot. FYB!

[Arky Vaughan]

I don't care nearly as much about the DH as I do that Bud Selig just held a gun to my head and threatened to shoot. FYB!

I care about the DH, but I suspect that's going to be imposed on both leagues eventually anyway. And the late starts don't bother me, as I wouldn't have had a fundamental problem with moving the D-Backs to the AL West and the Astros to the NL West.

But the way this was imposed is a travesty. It is unique in baseball history. But what else can you expect from this commissioner?

[ValpoCory]

If the stadium lease is used as leverage, that would give Selig/Crane an opening to play the relocation card...

Which in turn would open MMPUS to begin lobbying for a new NL franchise.   

"Hi, I represent the Pittsburgh Pirat..."

"Keep Walking."

[Mr. Happy]

No, I don't. What have I forgotten?

Back in 75 and 76, the club marketed its young pitchers as an "arm farm." Unfortunately, with "arms" like Mark Lemongello, it didn't go very far.