Houston Sports Round Up: Reasons For Hope

HOUSTON, TX — The Houston sports environment is either good, bad, or gives the fan a sense of real hope for a championship season. For Astros fans, then the possibility of a World Series repeat with the ALDS happening this weekend may have them absolutely giddy.

The Stros kick things off Friday against the Tribe in the first game of the ALDS. Justin Verlander takes the mound for game 1 of the series.

The Astros will follow that up with a Saturday game at Minute Maid before heading to Cleveland for a Monday game. There are lots of reasons for fans to hope that the Astros continue their prolific march through the postseason. Those include a great starting rotation, and consistent hitting and fielding. Plenty of reasons for a hopeful postseason.

Dynamo fans are happy, too. On Tuesday, Houston City Hall was a sea of orange as leaders celebrate the Dynamo’s winning the 2018 U.S. Open Cup Championship in September with a huge win over the Philadelphia Union 3-0.

With the victory, Houston will return to the CONCACAF Champions League in 2019 and for the first time since the 2013-2014 edition of the tournament.

Then of course, there’s Mauro Manotas who set a new club single-season scoring record with his 15th of the year when he scored on a right-footed blast against the San Jose Earthquakes on Sept. 29. The goal put Manotas into a tie with former Dynamo forward Giles Barnes for fourth on the club’s all-time scoring list with 31 career goals in regular-season play. A great many reasons for hope.

The Rockets are on their preseason run and giving fans their first glimpse of Carmelo Anthony with new teammates James Harden and Chris Paul. The Rockets had an impressive run last season and were the early favorites to represent the Western Conference before they fell to the Golden State Warriors.

With the start of the new NBA season, there’s a reason to hope that the Rockets will still make a good run, despite the fact that LeBron James has ditched the Cleveland Cavaliers for the LA Lakers, and Golden State is still scary. The season is young, and there’s still reason for hope.

The Houston Texans gave fans a reason for hope with their victory against the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday. The defense looked pretty good at times, while the offensive line remained abysmal, to say the least. Texans fans may be wondering why the heck Deshaun Watson doesn’t have an offensive line, how long J.J. Watt can keep doing what he does, and why on earth Coach Bill O’Brien is still a head coach.

But there’s reason for hope. This Sunday, the Texans draw a marquee matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. They are hoping Watt can stay on pace to becoming his old destructive self on defense. They are hoping Watson can find some real mojo with rookie wideout Keke Coutee who had a great outing in his first official start against the Colts.

With just a quarter of the way through the football season, and with the Texans sitting at 1-3, the so-called experts all say there is still hope of a playoff appearance. This gives the fans a the faintest sliver of hope, that maybe Houston’s version of an NFL franchise can pull out a win against the Cowboys, and few other teams along the way. So there’s hope, but only just a little.

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Image: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets drives with the ball against Jordan Bell #2 of the Golden State Warriors during Game Six of the Western Conference Finals in the 2018 NBA Playoffs at ORACLE Arena on May 26, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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