Streakers

     Immediate disclaimer--this is NOT in any way an expose about those young women and men who shed their clothes in the mid-1970's and ran amok around college campuses. This included the University of Delaware, where a raucous, beer-infused Thursday night campus quad became even more interesting for this aspiring law student when I abandoned the tedious studying inside the library to survey the tumult.

     Instead, the nature of the streak in Major League Baseball has been one of the great topics of the season. Heading the list is the remarkable streak of the defending American League champion Cleveland Indians, who won 22 straight games. At the bottom of the list is Aaron Judge's 37 game streak of at least 1 strikeout per game, setting a single season record, yet avoiding by 1 game the all-time record of consecutive games with a strikeout which was set by a pitcher, Bill Stoneman, in 1971-72.

     Then there is this season's schizophrenic team--the Los Angeles Dodgers. This team had managed to go 91-36, which included three winning streaks of at least 10 games. They had a 53 game streak of winning games that they had a lead at some point during the contest. Only to be outdone by an incredible 11 game losing skein, which really was 16 out of 17 games with a loss. But not to despair, Dodger faithful, this is the 5th year in a row that the team has won the N.L. West.

     Just as we are not to be too upset about Aaron Judge's performance in this, his rookie season. After all, even if he set another dubious record in striking out a total of 200 times--the most by a rookie, his proclivity for striking out hardly diminishes his incredible accomplishment--the first rookie ever to amass 45+ home runs, more than 100 R.B.I. and 100 runs scored.

     Speaking of sluggers, Giancarlo Stanton had a 6 game homer streak in August as he makes an assault on Roger Maris' 61 total. That is 2 short of the MLB record, held by 3 people--including his manager, Don Mattingly.  Given that Stanton is not associated with steroids and home run hitters like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire are, should the Miami Marlins' star break Maris total, it would be a feat.

     Let's also return to the Indians. They have 29 out the last 31 contests. Cleveland has won 28 straight games while allowing 4 or less runs. Moreover, the Tribe has not lost 2 games in a row since July. On Friday, when Seattle beat the Indians 3-1, the Mariners stopped a modest 5 game Cleveland winning streak and a more impressive 14 game road winning streak, while Seattle ended a 6 game losing streak of their own. Cleveland is the first team since the 1935-36 Chicago Cubs to have two consecutive seasons with winning streaks of 14+ games. Additionally, the Indians became the first team to have +100 run differential in 19 consecutive games AND were the first team since the 1923 New York Giants to hold the opposition to 32 or fewer runs over a 19 game span. No wonder Cleveland has the best record in MLB and is trying to secure home field advantage all the way through the World Series.

     Cleveland's ace pitcher and 2016 Cy Young Award winner, Corey Kluber, has fashioned some streaks of his own en route to a 17-4 record in 2017. Kluber has had two 5 game win streaks, and he was victorious today, in addition to raising his record to 18-4, he now has a 6 game winning streak and a 5 game winning streak.

     Other pitching streaks of note included the fact that when almost-certain Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw surrendered a grand slam home run to the Philadelphia Phillies earlier this month, it represented the first time in his illustrious career that he had given up a bases full homer. Baltimore Orioles left-handed closer, Zach Britton, saw his MLB record 60 game save streak come to an end in August. Boston ace starter, lefty Chris Sale, set an MLB record with 10 straight double digit strikeout performances; he is also the fastest to reach 1,500 strikeouts in MLB history. Alex Wood of the Dodgers opened the season with 11 straight victories. The surprising Arizona Diamondbacks, the probable NL Wild Card Game host, had a streak of 9 consecutive games where D-backs pitchers recorded 10 or more strikeouts of their opponents.

     Pitchers with ongoing streaks of 200+ strikeouts in a season are Max Scherzer of Washington (6) and Sale (5). This will be Kershaw's 9th straight season with an E.R.A. of under 3.00. Justin Verlander, the former Detroit Tigers' ace now pitching for the Houston Astros, has manufactured a 6 game winning streak, including 4-0 since the trade to Houston, accompanied by a minuscule 0.64 E.R.A.; he has had 200+ strikeouts in 11 of 12 years, interrupted only in his injury-plagued 2015 season. Verlander's dating Kate Upton is in another, very different category.

     The longest consecutive game hitting streaks in the AL was 21 games by Whit Merrifield of Kansas City and 19 games in the NL from Odubel Herrera of Philadelphia. Team streaks to offer are the 13 consecutive wins by the D-backs and the 69 consecutive days in first place in the NL East by the Colorado Rockies, who are battling Milwaukee and St. Louis for the final NL Wild Card spot. In a 16-0 rout of the San Diego Padres, the Minnesota Twins became the first team to hit homers in the first 7 innings of a game.

     Those are impressive streaks. But 2017 has been more than just the aforementioned MLB and league records and achievements I have chronicled. There have been numerous records set, both on a team and individual levels which do not involve streaks.

     The Yankees and Cubs set the MLB mark for strikeouts in a game at 48 in an 18 inning game. In a 12 inning game, the Dodgers and Brewers set the NL record for strikeouts in a game at 42; Milwaukee tied its own MLB record of 26 strikeouts in a game.  On June 3, an MLB mark of 7 grand slams were hit in a single day. On June 24, three Oakland A's rookies hit their first career home runs in the same game, another MLB record; all 3 homers came off of one pitcher, James Sheilds, who also recorded his 2,000 strikeout in that affair. The Shields involvement is a de facto MLB record--most homers by a rookie off of a pitcher who has 2000+ career strikeouts.

     George Springer of the Astros hit 4 lead off homers in his first 9 games of the season, a record. Trey Mancini of Baltimore hit 7 homers in his first 12 career games, tying an MLB record. Angels slugger Albert Pujols became the all-time Dominican-born record holder for R.B.I's and became the first player to hit a grand slam for his 600th homer. Aaron Judge is the first player to hit 13 homers in his first 26 games; Judge joined McGwire as the only two players to have hit 30 home runs in his first season before the All-Star Game. Scooter Gennett of Cincinnati is the first player to have 5 hits, 4 homers and 10 Runs batted in during a game. Dodgers' rookie sensation Cody Bellinger was the fastest to have 4 multi-homer games, doing that in just 45 contests and when he hit his 21st home run in his 51st career game, that, too, was a MLB record. In recording his 3,000 hit, Texas Rangers' third baseman Adrian Beltre was the first Dominican-born player to do so. Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts tied a record with 8 R.B.I.'s in a game while batting leadoff. Ichiro Suzuki, currently playing for Miami, established the record for most career base hits by a foreign-born player. Toronto Blue Jays' Steve Pearce hit 2 walk off grand slams, which tied the MLB record. Rhys Hoskins of the Phillies hit 11 homers in 18 games, which is the fastest since 1913; Hoskins did it in a record 17 less at bats. San Francisco pitcher Madison Bumgarner is the first hurler to hit 2 homers on Opening Day.

     So now, when you have had enough numbers for one season, I leave my readers with 2 thoughts. First, the MLB record for the most homers in a season was set on September 19. Second, how many more homers and records will be broken or tied in this last 8 games of the regular season?

   

   

Football weekend in Pittsburgh

     We were in Pittsburgh this weekend. On a football weekend. It was an interesting sight to see.

     Pittsbugh is a city of contrasts. Calling its people a hardscrabble lot is justifiable. At the same time, the populace is decidedly unique and different from who you see in New York, San Francisco or LA. No one tag can be placed on the types and differences within the Pittsburgh populace other than to say that diversity is common and relentless.

     The aforementioned description of Pittsburgh's inhabitants is in accord with the variance in its architecture. Still dominating the skyline is the U.S. Steel building, in its grandeur of steel and glass. Except that it is no longer the U. S. Steel building, as UPMC in large letter adorns the higher floor of the edifice, advertising who is dominant in business in the city--the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and its stable of hospitals and physicians in its insurance web. Except that UPMC fight an unending and sometimes bitter war for patients with the Allegheny Health Network and its lineup of competing hospitals and doctors. Within the facades and monuments to business in eras present and bygone, competition and conflict and is always present--whether by the dominating titans like the Mellons and the Carnegies or the unions representing the workers.

     That ever-growing, new order of skyscrapers is part of the revitalization of Pittsburgh. From Downtown to the Point, on the South Side, in Bloomfield, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill and around Bakery Square, new residences and retail shops and technical companies are rising fast. Older row houses are being revitalized. Suburban areas are becoming more and more upscale and even luxurious.

     Yet there remains an older, unprivileged population that lives in a preponderance of the buildings which go back to near the turn of the century. Businesses which stay in neighborhoods rather than expand outside of the city are aplenty, unlike the signature sandwich place,  Primanti Bros., whose large meat and potatoes sandwiches belong to a bygone Pittsburgh and which housed so many factories and workers needing food at all hours of the day was legendary and endemic of a Pittsburgh that was the epicenter of the steel industry.

     Pittsburgh has hills and three rivers. It has tunnels and bridges. Buses carry many to their destination. The old PRR logo for the long gone Pennsylvania Railroad still is on the outside of a brick and glass station which saw its glory evaporate so many years ago. It is a transportation city of all kinds--cars older and newer; trucks of all sizes and shapes; bicycles and Ubers--the latter with its fleet of Volvo SUV's with the spinning lasers on top that guide the driver and passenger(s) to a destination.

     Pittsburgh is the home to the repeat Stanley Cup champion Penguins. In winter time, but much less so at this time of the year, Penguins jerseys saluting heroes Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury, the goaltender lost to the Las Vegas NHL franchise in the recent expansion draft are vibrant in the old light blue colors or the current black,yellow and white which the Steelers and Pirates wear. Penguins fans seem to be Steelers fans and they are Pirates fans, too.

     Looking at the vacant PNC Park while the Pirates were in Cincinnati losing an unimportant series to the lowly Reds, caused me to look for those wearing any Pirates gear as the Bucs play out the season. I looked hard and found very little. Which tells me that the crowds for the remaining home games will be sparse. The Pirates faithful have moved on.

     So what did I see in Pittsburgh this weekend? Well, the masses descended upon the city for the two games to be played at Heinz Field on Saturday and Sunday. Two teams dominated the viewing at the hotels, on the streets, in the bars and restaurants and in the shopping centers.

     College football has a proud history in the Steel City. Carnegie-Mellon University, a very well known technological and liberal arts college, was a dominant football school into World War II. Now they play Division III football, a deemphasized, non-scholarship brand of the sport which is far different than its football alums played.

     Thus the mantle of college football in Pittsburgh is with the University of Pittsburgh. Pitt produced such legends from Western Pennsylvania as Tony Dorsett and Dan Marino. It won National Championships. Huge crowds went to Pitt Stadium, which has been since razed and the shiny new basketball arena with all the bells and whistles that an NBA arena might have, sits in its place.

     Young men and women wore Pitt shirts, sweatpants and cars had some Panthers flags on them. But for all of those which I viewed, there was a fair amount of orange and black representing the visiting ninth-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys who were in town to play the second of a home and home series which did not end well for Pitt last year in Stillwater.

     Those Cowboys fans were eerily polite and unabashedly reserved as they roundly enjoyed their road trip to Pittsburgh. They ate in the nicest of eateries and they walked the streets comfortably.

     As for the game itself, the Cowboys demolished the Panthers, just like they did a year ago. On a very nice, 80 degree late summer day at Heinz Field, an announced crowd of almost 39,000 featured a lot of old line Pitt faithful and the wild and crazy students who were asked to stay to the end to receive a "beverage," and those happy, orange-clad OK State fans. It felt like this was the real good preliminary bout on a fight card, with the main event to come.

     The reason so many people were excited in Pittsburgh this weekend was simple--the Steelers' home opener with visiting Minnesota Vikings was set for Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at Heinz Field. As much as the Pitt youth wore the school's colors, there was no mistaking the Steelers fans. Seemingly everywhere, people were wearing Steelers' garb--a virtual sea of black, white and yellow. Talk about a love affair between a city and its NFL team--this is legit.

     For many years, the Steelers were treated like a doormat in the NFL. They shuttled between Forbes Field, the old home of the Pirates and Pitt Stadium. Crowds were small and the excitement was pitiful. But in the glory years of the 1970's, led by the Immaculate Reception that Franco Harris somehow hauled in versus Oakland to win an AFC title, the subsequent Super Bowl wins turned a city which was depressed and almost broken and a World Championship by the Willie Stargell "We are Family" Pirates, into a city that felt like it could win and coincided with the start of the transformation of the city from a factory town to a more urbane place.

     The spirit of the "Terrible Towel" continues from its gimmick origin in 1975 by radio station WTAE and Steelers' broadcaster Myron Cope to this day; the Terrible Towel has been seen on the International Space Station, Dancing with the Stars, and even the Vatican. Steelers' fans treat the Terrible Towel with the symbolic reverence it has accumulated. It is waved with impunity at games by the zealous true believers who think that there is a hex contained in a cloth that is shaken furiously at Steelers opponents.

     The towel and the legion of Steelers' fans festooned in anything that remotely says Steelers on it have carried successful teams thru the years.  Ben Roetlithsberger and Hines Ward bridge the gap in time from Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann. Even when the Steelers dressed lesser teams than the 6 Super Bowl sinning squads, the fans were more than ever entwined with their Steelers.

     Stability in ownership and coaching has been a hallmark of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Rooney family has owned the team from its founding in 1933. Three head coaches have given the Steelers longevity and productivity on the field--Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and currently Mike Tomlin. Since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, Pittsburgh has a 480-305-2 record including playoffs. The Steelers have reached the playoffs 30 times, won the division 22 times, played in 16 AFC Championships and won 6 of 8 Super Bowls that they were in. Furthermore, once the NFL went to a 16 game schedule, the Steelers are the only team to not have had a season with twelve or more losses.

     So it is not surprising that the affair that the Steelers began in the cookie cutter dual purpose Three Rivers Stadium, shared with the Pirates on unforgiving AstroTurf, has continued unabated for now over 40 years. Fans make weekends to come to the games. Hotels fill up early, and on game day, Steelers brethren, adorned in face paint, beads, hats, shirts, pajamas and stretch pants are seemingly headed out to the game or a local bar. I actually saw a black woman in her white Steelers' jersey speak with 2 oversized white men she had never met before and make plans to tailgate in the Heinz Field parking lot. Race is of no consequence when cheering for the Steelers; Jack Lambert was as beloved as Polynesian Troy Palomalu; Jack Ham was the equal of Tony Dungy. Mean Joe Greene meant as much as Mike Webster. White road jerseys are the equal of black home uniforms.

     All of Pittsburgh pulled for the entire team. The city united with its Steelers heroes who worked hard like they understood from the days of steel furnaces and hourly wage earners. That bond is even greater today.

     I saw a smattering of Vikings fans today in their purple togs. penetrating the veil of black and gold enveloping downtown before game time. While they peaceably interacted with the throng of Steelers fans, I knew that they were so vastly outnumbered that politeness was what they must show, even if dressed like Broomhilda in a outlandish outfit that Leif Erickson might shade his eyes from in sheer embarrassment.

     For today, football Sunday in Pittsburgh, Steeler Nation was awake and hungry for the smell of another victory.They played against the backdrop of the city that has transformed itself into a new and vibrant place where the older parts are coming into the new age, and where a younger group of citizens ais on the verge of claiming the city for its generation. Alas, this nouveau sector, still having ties to a legacy of football that is ingrained deep into the roots of Pittsburghers far and wide, understands and appreciates what 16 Sundays  into January and February mean when the weather turns cold and the wind howls.

     This Jets fan in his team polo shirt, among the legion of black in the hotel, felt a pang of empathy with lots of envy. I get what they have. Something unique only to Pittsburgh.

     Such was this football weekend in Pittsburgh on the last full weekend of summer. Thus it was no surprise that the final score was 26-9 in favor of the home team.

Hurricanes

     This weekend, Hurricane Irma knocked more than power out for over 6 million in Florida. It disrupted entire communities and is still impacting the West Coast and North Central Florida with its vicious winds. Hopefully families will survive this monster storm.

     This is the second big storm of the 2017 season. Harvey rampaged through Texas, leaving water damage in the billions of dollars. Now the total estimates of damage will be again in the billions with Irma. FEMA will be nearly tapped out. Lives are already disrupted, and the storm is finally downgraded to a tropical storm, moving slowly up the left side of the Florida peninsula, spawning flooding and tornadoes too.

     I bore witness to the impact Irma had on the Sunshine State. Family spent nearly 23 hours in a car, relocating to John's Creek, GA, north of Atlanta. When we arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, I-75 was stop and go traffic on early Friday afternoon, with many more Florida license plates on the road, probably as exhausted as our relatives.

     Everyone cast a nervous glance at the TV sets and I phones to see where Irma was headed. First, it seemed like a direct hit for Miami was inevitable. Suddenly, the storm drifted west after brushing Cuba, and the West Coast was now imperiled. This was a Category 4 hurricane, which had a size which was, ironically, larger than the state of Texas. No part of Florida would be spared its wrath--just how much fury depended upon the eye wall making landfall.

     Key West and Islamorada, for certain, was dealt a thunderous blow. Pictures of storm surge in Miami's Brickell section came through in alarming repetition. Naples, in the far Southwest of Florida, recorded a 142 m.p.h. wind gust. Marco Island, Fort Myers, Punta Gorda, Sarasota, Tampa--all were subject to some of the worst of the torrential rains, winds and flooding. Destruction and devastation was inevitable. When the sun rises and the winds subside, the true accounting of the powerful hurricane named Irma will be known.

     Refugees from Florida were everywhere. On the road. In our hotel. Even on our plane back to New Jersey last night. Too many friends stayed in Florida either by choice or by need. It is our fervent hope that they are okay. Some who fled north to GA found themselves not so fortunate to have escaped, as they were facing a Tropical Storm Warning in the Atlanta area. Schools and businesses there were closed for today.

     Floridians and Georgians will need our support just as those still homeless or trying to pick up their lives in the Houston area after Harvey. Two storms--way too painful are the images.

     Just like with Harvey, sports became secondary. Early on, after mulling moving the game up to Thursday or Friday, the NFL justifiably postponed the Tampa-Bay-Miami opener until Week 11, when both teams were to have their scheduled bye. Who knows if the damage to the respective home fields will impair the ability of these teams to play this week.

     College football was greatly impacted for this past weekend. Miami did not travel to Arkansas State. Florida and Florida State canceled their home games. Appropriately, fans and the teams should not have been on the roadways. As important as football in the South can be--lives matter much more and people needed to abandon Florida rather than stay.

     The Miami Marlins went on a road trip and the wives and families were allowed to join the players when the team departed. Marlins fans could not hear the team's Sunday game--Irma knocked the radio broadcast from Atlanta off of the air.

     Tampa Bay had a series set in Boston. They were due to return to play the Yankees in St,. Petersburg for three games starting tonight. Instead, just like the Houston Astros had to play a three game series in--of all places--Tropicana Field where the Rays play--those games were shifted to a neutral site. Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets, will host the games. While the Yankees clearly have an advantage that the contest will be played in New York, the decision was made partially due to the Rays having to travel very little to get from Boston to New York. The Yankees had to fly back from Texas.

     Fortuitously, the Atlanta Braves were scheduled to play the next series in Washington. They left Georgia yesterday before conditions worsened. It was likely that the Falcons arrived back in Atlanta from Chicago early enough.

     Two teams whose cities were struck by two hurricanes squared off in Texas yesterday. Jacksonville came into Houston and trounced the Texans. The impact of Harvey may still have lingered within the Texans, although pundits believe that the Texans have quarterback issues. The Astros were similarly distracted when in St. Pete--they lost 2 of 3 to the Rangers. Undoubtedly the Rays will have their minds elsewhere too, and their performance may be similarly affected.

     The Rays will come back to Florida and the Marlins will head back to Miami. Personally, the players will assess the damage to their homes. They, like the Buccaneers, Dolphins and Jaguars, will have to put aside the bad which Irma set upon their homes and lives. College football will be back--if not in Gainesville, Tallahassee and Coral Gables, then some other locale. High school football will be a mess for the entire 2017 season.

     Lives have been inexorably changed in two states. Texans and Floridians have been linked forever in a kind of two step dance of major proportions. We will hear stories of dramatic rescues and heroism as well as the heartbreak of loss--some permanent.

     This is what hurricanes and natural disasters do. Mankind is not immune from these forces. We do the best we can to survive and rebuild. Which is what is happening in Texas and soon will start in Florida and Georgia.

     The 2017 hurricane season is in full throttle right now. Jose sits out in the Atlantic Ocean, meandering while a high pressure dome keeps it adrift and forces the remnants of Irma to curve to the north and west into Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. Katia mercifully did not strike Texas, all though Mexico did not deserve it either.

     Who can foresee if any more hurricanes will hit the U.S. mainland? Hopefully none. Maybe, as an answer to these storms, the University of Miami should change the sports teams nickname from the Hurricanes as a way of superstitiously warding off the evil spirits. I say that facetiously, but I am game to stop this onset of nature's fury.

     If anyone has any better ideas, please contact me. In the meantime, our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to those so unfortunately affected.

Labor Day

     I have always equated Labor Day with a number of sports milestones. The start of the NFL and college football seasons are upcoming. 50% correct there, as the NFL starts on Thursday night. However, college football began BEFORE Labor Day with nearly every FCS & FBS team in action; a number of D-III teams joined in, too. Baseball's stretch run is in earnest--plus waiver transactions have been consummated and the number of players eligible to be in the dugout and play swell to as many as 40 on September 1. With the latter, it is sort of odd that players who may not make the 25 man playoff roster can become instrumental in a team making the playoffs via a catch, hit or stolen base--but that is an idiosyncrasy of baseball's rules. And of course, the US Open enters its final week at Flushing Meadow, the final of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments. 

     We in the Northeast, along with most of the continental U.S., can watch this cornucopia of sport unfold, whether by attending an event or sitting in the comfort of our dens, living rooms or sports bars. From Friday night's Red Sox-Yankees tilt and college games on Monday along with lots of tennis and baseball, fans appetite's will be satiated--from the events and the sheer tonnage of food devoured. 

     I can easily surmise that a majority of people in South Texas are not that interested in sports or even a Labor Day BBQ at this point. So, so many people have been displaced--well over 40,000--and the damage is way into the billions of dollars. Hundreds of thousands are without power. Roadways and neighborhoods remain under water--some areas may not see relief until 3-4 weeks after Hurricane Harvey came ashore along with its torrential rains. Lives, homes and businesses are forever lost or irreparably destroyed. While George H.W. Bush International Airport has reopened, getting around South Texas is nightmarish. 

     When we think of catastrophic hurricanes, Katrina and Andrew immediately come to mind. Plus we New Jerseyans remember all too well our bout with the Superstorm called Sandy. The day Hurricane Harvey invaded Texas with its ferocity was also one day after the 12th anniversary for Katrina making landfall; Andrew had a time overlap with these two storms. Sandy came to New Jersey late in October 2012. 

     What Katrina did to New Orleans was beyond devastating, if such was possible. The death toll was enormous; the damage to the psyche and the infrastructure of the Crescent City was nearly unfathomable. The pictures of the way the winds ripped apart the Superdome and created significant leaks to inundate those who hunkered down inside with nowhere else to go are forever etched in our minds.New Orleans still has staggering scars from the wrath of Katrina.

     Andrew blew down so much of South Florida. Homestead was virtually wiped off the map, as Andrew"s Category 4 winds wreaked havoc over the marshland. Sandy disabled the biggest area in the Northeast--it stopped mass transit and left countless people in the dark. The image of the roller coaster at Seaside Heights now surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean is still very painful.

     All different types of storms in their own, distinct ways. But Harvey stands out differently from the others because of the record amount of rainfall that ensued once it made land. New Orleans had massive flooding. Texas will have the reminders of Harvey's flooding long after the hurricane is a historical footnote. 

     Many images have come from the days the news focused exclusively on Harvey's aftermath. Door-to-door searches; Coast Guard helicopters placing all sorts of families and pets into baskets to be hoisted to safety. People, wet and shocked, wading through waist high water on streets which were and still are impassable and interstate highways flooded out in multiple locations. Trillions of gallons of water falling in a short span can so ravage a region. 

     Despite the renewed political infighting among New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Texas politicians relating to the denial of help for Sandy victims over the content of the relief bills, there has been a large outpouring of help to Texas. Different in some ways from Katrina in that foreign countries are not jumping aboard to offer assistance without hesitation, the nation and the nearby states have come to rescue and to start the recovery from Harvey. The Cajun Navy and its armada of small craft was invaluable in backing up overwhelmed first responders and the level of donations to charities to assist Texans in need after Harvey has been nearly miraculous. 

     J.J. Watt, star defensive lineman for the Houston Texans, has been a focal point for helping South Texans. Merely by starting a charitable endeavor by making his own donation to aid those who needed help, people everywhere have embraced his efforts and have contributed over $17 million in aid and now he has set a goal of $20 million. He and his fellow Texans, sequestered outside of Dallas when the storm arrived, have returned to the area to help. While football is certainly king in Texas, the generosity and thoughtfulness of a Wisconsin transplant has offered hope to some very downtrodden people. 

     As a direct result of Hurricane Harvey, MLB's Houston Astros were forced to play a series against the Texas Rangers in St. Petersburg, Florida, in the home of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rangers would not agree to a swap of series dates, citing the problems it would create to its season ticket holders on two days notice and that the Rangers would then be forced to play a large number of road contests near the end of September. Houston won only 1 of the 3 games, with their collective minds elsewhere as they, among others living in South Texas, had felt the torment of the weather--and they could not get home to assist or to tend to personal belongings. 

     The Astros and MLB decided it was safe enough and prudent to have the series with the New York Mets be held where it was supposed to be played--at Houston's relatively unscathed Minute Maid Park. The Friday night game was postponed and a day-night doubleheader was played on Saturday. Houston won both tilts on Saturday and again on Sunday. (in an ironic twist from Game 1, the Mets' pitcher, Matt Harvey, took rather than gave the punishment--an omen?)  One of the reasons to return home for this series was that the Astros would be on a continuous road trip--they have 9 upcoming road contests--so that they could have been away from home from August 25 to September 15. Management couched this decision to come back to Houston while the region was licking its wounds and picking up the pieces terms of baseball--they are in the business of trying to win the World Series.

     That the Astros are serious contenders became more evident at the waiver trade deadline. First, the Astros swooped up outfielder Curtis Maybin, when Detroit's trade of Justin Upton to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim made the reliable Maybin expendable. Additionally, the Astros landed coveted pitcher Justin Verlander, the 34 year old ace of the Detroit Tigers staff, who has a 183-114 career record but no World Series rings. Verlander's waiving his no trade clause to head to Houston underscored his burning desire to win now--something not in the immediate future in Detroit. The trade helps Detroit as the Tigers start to rebuild, so while it may appear to be selfish on the part of Verlander to leave Detroit, he may have willingly helped the Tigers become viable more quickly. 

     While the crowds at Minute Maid Park were small and the Astros did the politically correct things to honor and respect those who helped others during the disaster, the homecoming was distinctly a business decision. Perhaps the Astros could have made use of the space inside the park to house those afflicted by Harvey and who could have stayed in the area instead of being airlifted to Dallas and north as the Texans did with NRG Stadium, but there was very little criticism. Besides, MLB and the MLBPA jointly donated $1 million towards Houston relief and the Astros' owner has pledged $4 million. 

     The NBA's Rockets showed their charitable side, with a $1 million donation from star guard James Harden and $10 million coming from billionaire owner Les Alexander. Jerry Jones held a 90 minute telethon in Dallas and raise $2 million. Individual NFL owners including the New York Jets have made $1 million donations. 

     A game between BYU and LSU set for NRG Stadium migrated to Baton Rouge. Rice University's football team traveled to Australia to be walloped by Stanford. Instead of going back to campus, they had been bivouacked in Fort Worth at the campus of Texas Christina University until September 1st. The Houston Cougars went to Austin, Texas where they were welcomed by their former head coach, Tom Herman,who is now the head coach of the University of Texas Longhorns.  

     College team have been wearing decals showing support for Houston. Baylor University hosted the season opener for Sam Houston State and Richmond, plus gave free admission and meals to Harvey evacuees for its own game versus Liberty; Baylor has also sent food and water to Houston. Southern Methodist, North Texas and other Texas schools have also provided necessities. 

     South Texas has a long road ahead in its recovery from this force of nature punishing the land and its inhabitants. Just like those affected by the pounding given by Katrina, Andrew and Sandy, Texans are resilient. They really have no choice.The property loss is projected to surpass the $160 billion that arose from Katrina. Many people did not have flood insurance. 

     Given the affection for their teams and, of course, the religion known as "Friday Night Lights," referring to high school football, sports may be a beneficial outlet for the residents of the storm-torn region. How can I not root a little bit more for J.J. Watt to sack a quarterback in lieu of what he has started? Will the Astros help to rekindle the South Texas area by heading to the World Series, as the New York Yankees buoyed the New York area after 9/11? Won't I be watching for the Rice Owls to win some games and for the University of Houston to have a nice season despite the adversity? 

     In the morality play that is part of mankind, Texas sports has the heart of the community--in both body and soul. #Houston Strong. #Houston Flood Relief Fund.