I never really had anything against the city of Detroit. It was always a city north of Huntsville, which made its citizens automatic Yankees. Nothing more, nothing less. Then I read Brian Hernalsteen’s article on Houston sports franchises and their fans. Now, it’s war. So the Astros lost in the World Series? At least they’re not the laughingstock of Major League Baseball-119 losses for the Tigers in ’03, anyone?-and haven’t been for the past decade the way Detroit has. In fact, only the Yankees have a higher regular-season winning percentage than the Astros in the past 10 years.
You speak of not living in the past, yet your argument when sticking up for your beloved kittens is talking about the lone WorldSeries victory you’ve seen? Fine. Just stop contradicting yourself As for the “asterisks” next to the Rockets’ championships, I didn’t see anyone else banging down the door to take on the Knicks or Magic those years they won back-to-back titles. So they should be penalized because they won? The 1995 run through the playoffs from the sixth seed is arguably one of the greatest runs in post-season history. Not only that, but take a look at the record of the “greatest player ever to lacethem up” against the Rockets during his prime. Losing. That’s right, MJ had a 1-5 record vs. the Rockets during the first three-peat the Chicago Bulls enjoyed, and an overall record of 11-13 vs. Houston while Jordan played for the Bulls. In fact, Hakeem Olajuwon’s squads were probably the only teams that could have ever threatened Jordan’s dominance-and MJ is on record as saying so, himself. They had no answer for Dream. You may have heard of him Meanwhile, one of the key cogs to the Detroit Pistons’ title teams of 1989 and 1990-Isiah Thomas-is busy turning himself into the biggest joke in sports management history.
He tanked the Continental Basketball Association when he owned it, was routinely a puppet as a coach of the Indiana Pacers (where current coach Rick Carlisle was really doing all the work), and has now managed to somehow guide the New York Knicks to the worst record in basketball, yet they won’t have either their first or second-round pick in this year’s draft, thanks to his fine handiwork as general manager. Nice. When it comes to the NFL, well, let’s just call it a draw. Detroit had Barry Sanders; Houston will soon have Reggie Bush.
I call Joey Harrington and David Carr a washof course, Carr is currently still employed by the team that drafted him in 2002. So you speak of not living in the past, and that Houston has no real future?
Let’s see: the Texans have four of the top 66 picks in the NFL draft later this month (including No.1 overall); the Astros are just coming off a World Series appearance and Roger Clemens will most likely re-sign with the team in midseason; and the Rockets have two of the top 10 players in the NBA in Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. Detroit? Well, at least the Lions signed Jon Kitna to play QB next year. In all seriousness, I like the Pistons’ chances to win the NBA title in June. But other than that, I’ll take my 75-degree Christmas Day every year over being buried in snow and crime…among “other things”. Take your weak Motown smack back to 8 Mile Road.
–Adam Clanton
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