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“Instant Karma”: Houston wins World Series
I’m not really a Houston Astros fan, even though I’ve attended multiple Astros games when spending some time in Texas. However, I’m glad to see the Houston Astros win the 2017 World Series in the traditional sport of baseball. Sports can provide an outlet for people and help measure and test them. With some other professional sports being sidetracked with side issues and politics I actually took more of an interest in the baseball postseason this year. Considering the damage Houston (and other parts of Texas) suffered at the hands of Hurricane Harvey it’s a nice storyline for the Astros to come through with an upset World Series win over the formidable LA Dodgers.
During the time when Harvey hit the Houston area, I was rather taken aback by a number of tactless and malicious comments made about Texas and Texans. As if the residents of Houston and the rest of Texas somehow deserved a terrible hurricane to cause damage and disruption to people’s lives. I recall one academic calling Hurricane Harvey “instant karma” for Texas. There even seemed to be comments in parts of the media for egging on the idea that Texas had a dreadful ability to handle the emergency and that there were even cartoons making fun of Texas residents receiving first responder help.
These comments just made no sense to me; I had trouble following the logic. The boorish commentary was simply unbecoming. Typically natural disasters are times to show support. Now the Astros have delivered the first World Series Championship to Houston after a competitive seven-game series. Sure, the World Series doesn’t take away Harvey’s effects, but it’s a nice non-controversial sports outlet and a symbol of bouncing back from hardships. A few folks feel better, I’m sure.
So maybe the Houston Astros provided a little “instant karma” for all those decent people recovering from Hurricane Harvey. And no, I don’t think there is any karma associated with LA losing the series after being hit by another Harvey … Harvey Weinstein.
Published in Sports
If somebody had to beat my Dodgers, I can be happy it was them.
It was a great World Series, though today’s game seemed a little bland.
Well, it eased my pain from the dark night of the soul that was the Giants’ 2017 season.
Brooklyn loses another.
Great Series and great win for the Houston Astros.
It was a great series. I am not much of a baseball fan, although I do watch the occasional game. Did pay attention to the series when I had time, and it was a classic. Glad Houston won, and glad it went seven games.
Seawriter
This is great for Houston. That team can mash.
Another Red State Win. What Happened? Houston must have a bunch of Russian players.
‘Dem bums! Wait’ll next year!!! Some things never change.
Congratulations to the Astros. Great series all around. (Unless you are Yu Darvish- what happened there?)
It sucks.
I don’t really care either way, but now Houston will be hanging this win over the heads of us Rangers fans forever.
Happy endings all around!
As we Brooklyn fans say, “wait ’til next year…”
I’d say what happened is that Roberts shouldn’t have started him, especially with Alex Wood sitting around. Houston had to know Darvish pretty well from his years with the Rangers.
I noticed on Drudge, around the 6th inning, that it had the Dodgers score in blue and the Astros score in red. So I paid attention, off and on, to the rest of the game.
Yeah, that’s political. But sports are always political. I just read an AHA review of a book about sports in Laos that tells how they were important in promoting nationalism and political agendas. And sports were important to Irish nationalism around the turn of the 20th century.
So I still call for the separation of sports and state, but that isn’t the same as the separation of sports and politics.
I had the enormous good fortune to be a Mets fan in New York in 1986 and nothing in my life as a fan of many sports has matched the excruciating tension of Game 6 of the NLCS when Jesse Orosco finally got the last out against Kevin Bass of the Astros in the 16th, with the Mets’ nemesis Mike Scott waiting for them in the putative Game 7 (with sandpaper in his pockets, allegedly!). So I’m thrilled that with the Mets taking a little rest this season, Houston swept the boards and exorcised some past demons ( Red Sox style maybe- speaking of ‘86?). Pity for me that the games started at 1am my time but the highlights on mlb.com kept me engaged each morning.
Congratulations to Houston! And sincere condolences to LA — they had a great season. They recovered from a late season slide to push through all opposition in the National League. But as a Giants fan who suffered through the 2002 series loss to the Angels, losing the world series actually feels worse than not making it there in the first place. So, bring on 2018.
It’s odd how your perspective on that can change. In my capacity as a Lakers fan, I find a loss in the NBA finals (the Lakers have had 15 of those) to be horribly disappointing. It is a championship, or nothing. But in my capacity as a Dodgers fan, my main focus is winning the pennant and getting to the Series. Losing in the Series is, somehow, not that bad. I became a real fan of the Dodgers in 1965, at the tender age of 10. I know the Dodgers went to the Series against Minnesota that year, and against Baltimore the next year, going 1-1. But sometimes I find it hard to remember which one was the win and which one was the loss. Of course, in those days there were no playoffs, so winning the pennant was a bigger deal.
I certainly don’t think Texans deserved being hit by a hurricane. However, I worked the oil industry for a lot of years, with people all from over the world. There are exceptions, but in general, Texans are the most obnoxious people I have ever been around.
Yes, the joys of freedom will sometimes do that.
Those were the transplants from California and the northeast. We natives are about the nicest people you’ve ever met.
Oh, and don’t be jealous that Texas is actually the greatest state in the union.
I know some wonderful Texans…and some that are annoying. I don’t think it has anything to do with geography.
But–if you’d like to get under a Texan’s skin, here’s a riddle to ask one of them:
What happens when you divide Alaska in half?
Answer: Texas becomes the THIRD largest state.
It’s not the size that matters…
Your last sentence validated my point.
No hate, I find it to be humorous. God Bless Texas, especially after this weekend.