New TCB writer: stephon146

Dear Readers,

I just want to, first of all, introduce myself. My name is Stephen. Yes, it is pronounced Steven. I'm known on twitter as @stephon146 and @ssydnor95. I have the two accounts for the sheer purpose that one be a professional account, and the other one is a medium where I have a bit of fun. You are welcome to follow me on both. I will warn you that I will bombard you with a request to listen to my weekly radio show, read any article that I like, or just offer up the dumbest trades ever. Before I explain my Astro fandom, let me give you some background into who I am.

I am a junior at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. The school takes up a lot of my time, but I could not resist the temptation to join TCB.

Generally, the commenters are polite, intelligent, and amusing. The Crawfish Boxes gives me a chance to hone in on my writing skills while talking about my favorite sports team. When I'm not at the capitol running the camera's for Arizona Capitol Television, talking on my weekly radio show, or attending my two in-class classes, (a few more online if you are curious why I only have two in person) I will be offering up whatever I can to the readers of TCB. I have to say that I love sabermetrics, but I'm not good at it. I have to look at Fangraphs to refresh my knowledge of some of the more advanced stats.

My Astros story

I think I have written about this before in a fan post, but my fandom started in 2004. That's at least the estimate I can give you. I was nine at the time. My grandma had season tickets to the Astros. She would take me, my brother, father, grandfather, and I to the games. We would sit in the nosebleeds behind home plate. I saw Brandon Backe, Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt, and many others during the good years.

My fandom did not stop when the team turned bad. In fact, since I was getting older, I began to follow the team more. I went to the summer caravan a few times. I watched the MLB draft. I even went to the games. I remember seeing guys like Brian Moehler, Shawn Chacon, Jason Jennings, Bud Norris, Fernando Abad, Jordan Schafer, and Tommy Manzella. I know that some of those are the end of the good era, while others are during the 100 loss seasons.

There was still something fun about rooting for a bad team. I didn't get a bandwagon label. No one cared as much because the team was bad. Although at one point my family moved from Houston to a town near Arlington, I still rooted for the Astros. I was forced to look at Ranger gear. I had to see all the ugly blue and red shirts. My parents even took the Rangers as their second team. Luckily the Rangers didn't win a ring during the three years that I was there. (Thanks, Lance Berkman)

I am busier now than I was in high school, but I still follow the team. My family now lives in western Iowa, in a town where everybody knows me as the son of the presbyterian preacher that goes to ASU.

Even as the Rockets are taking the league by storm, my heart can't wait for baseball. I love all four Houston teams, but the Astros have always been number one. With all that being done, I'll be happy to answer any questions in the comments, on twitter, or by any method that you like. Thank you for your attention.