but I went to undergrad in Troy, NY and it makes me laugh to think one of our minor league affiliates is there. if i’m not mistaken, they play at Hudson Valley Community College. i used to go to the Deli and Brew just around the corner to get pastrami subs all the time (not to indulge too much in yankee snobbery… i’m not even a yankee… but you can’t get deli subs in Texas like you can at places like that in NY).

they used to play in Latham, near the airport. i don’t know if they were affiliated with the Astros when i went to school up there. Troy is pretty much a shithole. there’s not a whole lot of industry (although i think Troybilt tractors are still made there) and the downtown is full of rowhouse apartments with vaulted ceilings and marble staircases that once housed turn of the century fat cats, but now rent for $200-300 a month to college kids that want to be able to stumble home from one of the two bars (or at least they did 10 years ago). we used to call the locals Troylets. you could always tell them from their lack of teeth and the fact that an unnecessary percentage of their net worth was invested in the Starter jacket they were wearing.

ah, the memories.