The Astros band wagon’s rolling through Texas, and everywhere I look, at least every other person’s wearing an Astros T-shirt or hat.
The morning after the incredible Jose Altuve hit a double to clinch a spot in the World Series, I saw a man in the grocery store wearing an Astros American League championship shirt.
I’m guessing he was one of the hundreds of fans that waited in line the night before to buy anything with an Astros logo on it.
The Lone Star state’s no different than any other state, and Texans usually find a way to go over the top.
Most SEC college football fans are over the top – the Florida Gators, the Georgia Bulldogs and the Aggies. But they come in second to a college team whose fans go above and beyond every single year.
Those who support the LSU Tigers.
Game days find the Baton Rouge area covered with purple and gold, from tiger-striped chairs, jackets, hats, blankets, barbecue mitts, license plates, people’s shutters and their tailgating gear. Those who move out of state consider purple T-shirts necessary attire.
But Astros fever is about as high as I’ve seen it, and with good reason.
We love winners.
When we first came to Texas over 25 years ago, getting tickets to see the Astros play in the Astrodome was a cheap afternoon.
We attended quite a few games with our boys, and we always came home with some Astros loot – a foam pillow, a tote bag or a foam bat.
The tickets were inexpensive for a Major League game, and the boys could run up and down the Astrodome aisles because there weren’t too many people there.
The boys all wanted Astros hats and Dome dogs, and we could pick those up for a few bucks.
When my grandson wanted a Jose Altuve jersey two years ago, that youth shirt set me back over $50.
For a shirt. And an Astros World Series official jersey is over $140.
But that’s what happens when the winner emerges.
True die-hard fans aren’t surprised. They know this fandom happens every time their team wins. But what about the fan that hangs in there year after year with a team that has a zero in the win column?
I know about those fans because my dad was one of them.
For all his adult life, my dad believed in the New Orleans Saints.
They were one of the worst teams in the NFL and I thought that anybody who supported them had to be crazy.
But every summer, my dad would tell us that this would be the year. Yes sir, this would be the year the Saints would go to the Super Bowl.
And their record would be the worst in the league.
But my dad’s faith never wavered. He passed away before the Saints won the Super Bowl in 2010, but I had a feeling he was sitting in heaven’s bleachers yelling “Mais oui, I told you so!”
He never begrudged anyone who joined the Saints band wagon. He was always happy when fans saw the light and cheered on his favorite teams.
And so it is with the Astros.
People walking around with an Astros shirt on should be proud of their home-town team. They beat the odds, proved the naysayers wrong and stood behind one of the shortest players in professional baseball to watch their team go for a second World Series pennant in less than five years.
They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and the love Texans have for the Astros is about as big as it gets.
Just don’t tell an LSU fan.
This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.