Rowdy, Raucous and Houston Proud

I am happy to say that I was in attendance at last night's Astros season opener, and I am even happier to say that Astros fans greatly outnumbered those for the South Oklahoma Rangers. But I am happiest to say that the Astros fans were rowdy, raucous and Houston proud - no polite golf clapping, no half-heartedly watching while discussing business, and no leaving early (unless you were one of the aforesaid South Oklahoma Ranger fans). Any time that Rangers fans tried to get chants going, they were quickly drowned out by the hometown faithful.

Astros fans were vocal, exuberant, loud and frequently on their feet. My favorite moment, other than seeing the fan with the "Bud Selig Can Kiss My Astros" sign, was how the crowd reacted when Bud Norris had two outs in the sixth. He had just made a terrific play on a come-backer to the mound, his pitch count was getting high and everyone knew his outing was close to an end. The crowd was on their feet and the cheers were deafening as we all tried to help Bud get that final out of the inning, tried to make it happen through sheer force of will. It wasn't the final out of the game. It was the sixth inning and people were on their feet.

It occurred to me that for every irate blogger, for every disgruntled fan I hear from on twitter, for every casual acquaintance I make in life who truly cares about the Astros, there must be hundreds more. Hundreds more for each and every one with whom I have crossed paths. They aren't bandwagon fans. They are still watching and listening and paying attention to what has happened with their team over the last few years. And they don't like what people have been saying and writing about their Astros. They don't like being laughed at for being Astros fans.

Those are the fans that came out last night. The fans that have been biding their time and licking their wounds came out in full-throated force last night and they came with a collective chip on their shoulder. They came out to say that Astros fans can make fun of their hometown nine, but everyone else had better lay off. Astros fans were rowdy, raucous and Houston Proud.