Sunday, March 3, 2013

Astros Inferno: Greed!

We are pinpointing the exact date the Astros have traveled Dante's trip through Hell in The Inferno. Read the archive here
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So many options. So many choices. At what point do we narrow down the precise moment in time in which Astros fans encountered Greed? 

Here, the prodigal and the avaricious suffer their punishment, as they roll weights back and forth against one another. 

You will share eternal damnation with others who either wasted and lived greedily and insatiably, or who stockpiled their fortunes, hoarding everything and sharing nothing. The two groups roll heavy weights against each other. 

"...I saw multitudes to every side of me; their howls were loud while, wheeling weights, they used their chests to push. They struck against each other; at that point, each turned around and, wheeling back those weights, cried out: Why do you hoard? Why do you squander?" - Dante

Was this date November 17, 2011, when Jim Crane purchased the Astros for $680 $610 million, completing the sale from Drayton McLane as well as the move to the American League? Too early to tell. Should the team return to national discussion (other than from the lazy-nuts media who think it's really funny to not know anything about the Astros, or at least in terms separate from "HERPston you have a problem!"), I imagine we'll sing a different tune about Jim Crane's ownership. 

No. We don't know enough about Crane's tenure as owner to make this call. But there is a date that sticks out in my mind: November 1, 2004. The date that two diametrically oppositional figures in Astros' history stopped rolling their weights against each other and Gerry Hunsicker resigned as general manager of the Astros. 

It was no secret that Hunsicker and McLane did not get along. Yet they ultimately could not overcome their differences, and Hunsicker's departure led to the slow flame-out of the franchise. Hunsicker begat Purpura who begat Wade. 

Drayton owned the team from 1993-2011. In those 19 seasons, the Astros finished with a losing record six times. Four of those six seasons came after Hunsicker left. Why do you hoard? Why do you squander?