LOCAL Houston | The City Guide FEBRUARY 2015 | Page 56

Local February 2015 final.qxp_002houston 1/26/15 1:58 PM Page 56

IT’S TIME TO FALL IN LOVE WITH HOUSTON SPORTS
ALL OF US SHOULD STRIVE TO LEARN, EMBRACE AND LOVE EVERYTHING
ABOUT OUR CITY – IT’S OUR CITY! LEARN TO LOVE THE ARTS, THE FOOD,
THE BUSINESSES, THE TACO TRUCKS AND YOU GUESSED IT – THE TEAMS.

HOUSTON IS ONE OF ABOUT 15 CITIES TO BOAST FOUR PRO SPORTS TEAMS. It’s an honor actually. Whether you love football, basketball, baseball
or soccer, we’ve got it all. If you grew up here, you probably love the teams because of your roots. You likely grew up watching the greats and have
memories to support your unwavering love, but our city is filled with so many transplants, sometimes it’s hard to be a homer.

IN HONOR OF THE MONTH OF LOVE, HERE ARE
SOME REASONS TO FALL IN LOVE WITH HOUSTON SPORTS
•JJ WATT. This needs no explanation.

•OUR STADIUMS HAVE CONVERTIBLE STATUS. Both Minute Maid Park (1 of only 6

MLB) and NRG Stadium (1 of only 4 NFL) have retractable roofs,
making weather excuses a non-issue.

•THE 34s: Campbell, Ryan and Olajuwon.
•THE ROCKETS 1994–1995 back-to-back

championships.

•ORBIT, the Astros mascot, was
named 2014 Best Mascot by
GameOps.com. He is from
outer space, and if that’s not
reason enough, he doesn’t
wear pants. And if you need
another reason, how about he
trolls, antagonizes and imitates the opposing players in
a hilarious fashion. Orbit is
great.
•THE DYNAMO set a MLS record

with a 36-game unbeaten streak
at home that lasted parts of three
seasons and two calendar years
(June 2011–May 2013).

•THE ASTROS are a team on the rise having

finished the 2014 season 70–92 – a 19-win
improvement over their 2013 record. The 19-win
improvement was second-best in the Majors and second-best turnaround in franchise history.

56 L O C A L | february 15

•NOLAN RYAN’S BACK. Many know the impact #34 had on the Astros for nine
seasons, so fans are eager to see if he can bring it back.

•THE DYNAMO have been successful in their first nine years,
reaching the playoffs seven of nine years and
advancing to the MLS Cup Final four times and
the Conference Championship six times.

•TEXANS TAILGATING – consistently top
5 in the NFL.

•Astros outfielder GEORGE
SPRINGER, who appeared on the

cover of Sports Illustrated (June
30 issue), joining Joe Morgan,
Sonny Jackson, J.R. Richard,
Randy Johnson, Roger
Clemens and Brad Lidge as
Astros SI cover boys since the
’60s.

•The Rockets have two superstars in DWIGHT HOWARD and
JAMES HARDEN. Harden is constantly improving, has a killer
beard (Fear the Beard!), and the
healthy Howard has been sticking it to
Laker fans for two years.

By Jayme Lamm
Illustration by Running Game Clothing