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MLB Fan Cave is running a contest to find the #1 baseball fan in the nation. Of the fifty finalists, only one is representing our Astros. So it is beholden upon us to VOTE FOR HIM. Vote now. Vote often and repeatedly. Go to this link:
http://mlbfancave.mlb.com/fancave/vote.jsp?fliqzid=12a6d03451554c16a9a17057f6e9b4b7
The Astros have lost over 200 games during the last two seasons. Most experts project them to be even worse in 2013. Let's win this competition for the Astros, and to show that their fans are still around and take this game seriously.
In a fun twist of fate, the Astros' representative in the MLB Fan Cave finals is Jay Ducote, who I've known well for a decade. Jay is a professional and successful food blogger from Baton Rouge, LA, and when I attended LSU I came to be friends with him when for two years I lived with his brother Eric in a dumpy apartment near the golf course.
Jay and Eric are 100% responsible for my return to baseball fandom. After I finished my little league stint in Middle School as a waning Reds fan, my interests turned to other things (trumpet, computers, writing) and I gave baseball very little thought. Jay and Eric are baseball nuts, and they invited me to play in my first Fantasy Baseball League in college. We'd watch the Astros almost every night over Rasin' Canes chicken fingers and rounds of Texas Hold 'Em. Their influence on me turned baseball into a drug in my blood, which in turn led me to use baseball as an outlet to practice the craft of writing. Eventually, I came to the attention of the The Crawfish Boxes' editors. In a very true and non-exaggeratory sense, the Ducote brothers are the reason I have the privilege of sharing my thoughts on this blog, was able to interview Astros front office and player personnel a few weeks ago, and have been given the opportunity to blog about any games I want this season from the Minute Maid Park press box.
So, if you've enjoyed my philosophical ramblings, haikus, classical musical criticism, film noir, and overbearing statistical analysis, please go vote for Jay over at MLB Fan Cave.