I am a native of Houston, and I have been an Astros fan my entire life, but that doesn't make me a die hard. I learned to love the Astros as young boy growing up in the Northshore area of Houston. When I was 6 years old, I moved to Cincinnati, but I brought the Astros with me. I still have have a picture of me learning to ride a bike while wearing my blue Astros jersey with the rainbow colors down the sleeves. I was obsessed with Billy Doran, Mike Scott, and, for some reason, backup catcher Mark Bailey.
Every die hard baseball fan has a team that they cherish the most. The 1986 Astros is that team for me. I can still name the starting lineup and the platoon players from that team. Perhaps it's from watching the Mike Scott no hitter on a VHS tape that I got from my grandmother over and over again. I didn't defect to the Reds despite the opportunities to do so. I did go to games up there and really enjoyed Pete Rose.
In 1988, we moved to Alabama, which is Braves country. I still maintained my allegiance despite pressure from friends to be a Braves fan. I liked the Braves. I especially liked the early 1990s version of the team. One of my favorite baseball memories of all time is when I hid my Walkman under my pillow so that I could listen to game 7 of the 1992 NLCS (the Sid Bream game as it turned out), but there wasn't the element of passion that came with my Astros fandom.
In 1992, I moved back to Cincinnati. I tried to attend as many Astros games against the Reds as I could. At church camp in ninth grade, I skipped an event so that I could take advantage of the rare opportunity to listen to the Astros on the radio. That's right. We had a radio. That is considered contraband at church camp. I moved back to Houston in 1996.
A die hard isn't someone who pays no attention to other teams. A die hard is a fan who maintains his passion for his team through good times and bad. I didn't maintain my allegiance to the Astros all of those years because they were a dominant team that got tons of national coverage. I maintained that loyalty because Houston was home, and it was where most of my family was. I live in the Dallas area now after moving here to attend the University of North Texas. I currently pay attention to the Rangers and even attend games. I generally cheer them on (somethimg that will have to change some in 2013), but it is not the same.
I have a son that is currently becoming baseball aware, and he loves the Rangers. Why wouldn't he? Dallas is his home, and he is building baseball memories here. I don't care that he prefers the Rangers. I hope that he enjoys the same passion for whatever team he cheers for, because the ride is worth it.
