An Aussie geek stuck in Texas

On Sunday the Houston Astros designated Morgan Ensberg for assignment meaning that gave them 10 days to either trade him ,release him or send him down the the minor leagues but they made it clear the latter was not an option. this kind of saddened me as Morgan is a great guy, truly one of the “Good Guys” sure he had been struggling lately but just recently he had found his swing and was hitting pretty well so was showing a lot of promise!

Yesterday some co-workers and I actually saw him at Best Buy, my first thought was just to leave him be and not bother him as I am sure plenty of fans annoy him already but in hindsight I kind of wish I went up to him to let him know the fans still care about The Vital Organ and wish him all the best!

Today just before the trade deadline it was announced he was traded to the San Diego Padres for either an unknown player or cash, at first I thought that was a tough break but then I learned he had a house in San Diego so it sounds like it all worked out for him! So Morgan best of luck with the Padres, hopefully we see you as a regular starter and knocking the stuffing out of the ball! Oh and when the Padres are in town you better do some outfielding in batting practice and say hi to all of us at the 9 Amigo’s Bar in centerfield!

Anyone who has been to an Astros game must have seen the Astros Girls at sometime or another, you know the girls where one of them has AST painted on their stomach and the other has ROS along with a  snarky remark about the away team on their backs? Well if you haven’tthen you need to stop by the 9 Amigo’s bar at the juice box or just keep your eyes on the TV coverage!

Anyway I digress… The whole point of this post is that one of the Astros Girls, Amberlee is embarking upon a modeling career and needs your help! She is currently a candidate for the Girls Riding 2008 Calendar but in order to make the cut she currently needs 87 more posters of herself (of the picture linked in this post) to be sold by April 22nd so you have like 25 days to spend your $9.99 (plus postage) and as an added bonus you will also receive the 2008 calendar so what do you have to lose?

Visit the Girls Riding online store and help out an Astros Girl today! I’m sure you could also persuade Amberlee to personally autograph the poster and/or calendar as well!

I finally got my act together and just purchased my tickets to Opening Day for the Houston Astros v. Pittsburgh Pirates on the 2nd April, which is conveniently just two days after I return to Houston after a 3 month stint back in Perth, Australia!

From what I have read so far about how Spring Training is going it is looking like it could be quite a successful year for the Astros and we may actually get a good level of run support for our pitchers this year unlike last season!

Now all I have to decide is who is going to get my second ticket and join me on opening day at 9 Amigos!

EDIT: As you can see from the comments Kelly is the lucky one that gets to join me!

[tag]Astros[/tag]Next season just isn’t going to be the same without Willy Taveras after the Astros traded him today to the Colorado Rockies as part of a deal that saw Willy T, Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh traded for Jason Jennings and Miguel Ascensio. That trade just doesn’t make sense to me, Hirsh was primed to have a great major league season for the Astros this year after being the 2006 Triple-A Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year this last season, Buchholz admittedly didn’t have a great season but Willy T. was a bit of an icon even beginning to approach the kind of status Biggio holds with the crowds especially those of us that sit in center field. Jason Jennings doesn’t seem to be that much of a catch and is hardly a replacement for Pettitte so I don’t know what the Astros were thinking with that trade!

Thankfully last season I managed to get both Pettitte and Willy T. to throw me balls during batting practice and even managed to get Willy to autograph my jersey for me towards the end of the season! It is sad to see Willy T move to the Rockies, Willy you will be missed by the fans!

[tag]AFL Grand Final[/tag][tag]Houston[/tag]I have had a few people contact me through my blog looking for somewhere to watch the AFL Grand Final here in Houston so I thought I would make a public announcement along with an open invitation for any interested parties to come along to my AFL Grand Final viewing party.

The background is that only one channel over here, Setanta Sports televises the AFL and Setanta Sports is only available on DirecTV, which most bars don’t get as they are all on cable plus any that do have DirecTV usually only have a special package for American Football and can’t add on additional channels. It is also likely the game will go beyond 2:00am and hence be a problem for most bars for us to stay beyond closing. Last year it was shown on Fox Sports so I had arranged for a bar (Little Woodrows Midtown) to stay open but stop serving drinks at 2:00am to allow us to stay until the end but am unable to get them to get Setanta Sports.

So I got one of those nifty ITVN internet TV boxes just to get Setanta Sports and have that hooked up to my moderate size 30incher so am hosting a bit of a viewing party for all interested Aussies and any one else that is curious about Australian Rules Football or people that just want to have fun with a bunch of drunken Aussies. I live in the Museum District so pretty much in central Houston so if you are interested in coming along then please drop me an email via the contact me link over on the right hand sidebar.

[tag]UFC[/tag]Okay so yes Matt Hughes beat Royce Gracie hands down but was the fight maybe staged? Gracie was obviously not fazed by Hughes’s ground & pound and actually got up smiling after big John stopped the fight. What was with that? Why was he smiling? Was it all just a big publicity stunt? If I was Gracie and had a call like that go against me then I’d be pissed especially if it didn’t prevent me from being able to smile.

It reminds me of a Renegades (no closed fists above the shoulders) fight I once saw where one guy was “ground & pounded” with open handed slaps, I think the receiver was laughing about it actually but the referee stopped the fight and gave it to the person doing the slapping! The crowd almost erupted into an all out brawl between the two gyms that coached the fighters, it was actually a bit scary as I was actually there and not watching it on TV.

[tag]Astros[/tag]On Wednesday night at Little Woodrows Midtown the Fox Sports Network and Coors Light were filming for their current sports debate promotion so both Megan and I gave it a go. Amazingly we were the only couple that was game enough as the other ‘couples’ were just guys.

So during the Astros game tonight keep an eye out when the commercials are on as it was supposed to air during the next home game. I’ll be the one in the Astros get up with an Aussie accent.

[tag]Astros[/tag]Dear 9 Amigos,

Could you please bring back Sally as a server? On Monday night it was near impossible to get a beer, where even during the World Series Sally was able to keep us all well lubricated.

So please bring back Sally!

Regards,
Jason

[tag]Houston[/tag][tag]AFL[/tag][tag]Football[/tag]Want to see how real men play football? The Dallas Magpies Australian Rules Football Club is holding an informal & fun footy game in Houston’s Memorial Park on the 8th April and if you want to see what Australian Rules Football is all about then this is a prime opportunity to come out and watch or even play!

I’ll be there along with at least another fellow Aussie friend plus probably some of our mountain bike team so come out and join us for a good time! I’m sure there will be an Aussie style BBQ and other Australian related fun, plus us Aussies are a friendly bunch so you can’t lose! The details of the day are still being finalized so once they are I will post them here.

I am now both licensed and registered to ride in the first race of the Spring season of the TMBRA on the Daniel Boone Cycles MTB Team, go me!

Wish me luck this Sunday!