L’histoire de sa vie

The Astrodome's fate will be decided some time shortly after (or on) June 25, officially, though cynics would suggest it was already decided years ago. Demolition seems to be the most likely end for the Eighth Wonder of the World, as those with the most to gain, primarily the Rodeo, have wanted for years. But in the mean time, there's still a few weeks before the county weighs the nineteen proposals that have been suggested. My personal choice of the handful that have been made public (all will be made public on the 19th) is the "skeleton dome" plan that would strip the Dome down to its steel frame, repurposing the base as a park.

On April 9, 1965, the Harris County Domed Stadium opened for the first time, the brainchild of Judge Roy Hofheinz, a man clearly ahead of his time. It immediately became synonymous with Houston, a symbol that would stand for our city for nearly fifty years. The skeleton plan not only restores a great symbol, but allows that legacy to continue. As many before me have stated, it makes the Dome into the Eiffel Tower of Houston.

Houston is not just the fourth largest city and one of the fastest growing, it's also a city growing in culture and fame. It's a city whose restaurants are receiving national recognition, whose economy is a beacon to others in the recent times of economic turmoil, whose sports teams are present on the national stage (except for the Astros…), and where transplants (who are Houstonians upon calling themselves that and no later) who thought they'd be here only "as long as they have to" realize they don't want to live anywhere else. But it may soon be the largest city in America without an Eiffel Tower to call its own. Frankly I think that's unacceptable.

New York has the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and many other landmarks. LA has the Hollywood sign and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Chicago has Millenium Park, Navy Pier, and the John Hancock Center. Philly has the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. San Antonio has the Alamo and San Francisco has the Golden Gate Bridge. Seattle has the Space Needle. Even Saint Louis has an Arch! Saint Louis!

It would be insane to suggest that those cities would demolish those symbols or any other symbol of such magnitude. If Houston does so with the Astrodome, we will not have just torn down an old stadium. We'll have torn down a part of this city's soul.

Line & Lariat, recently called out in the Houston Press as a "top ten downtown restaurant," is only a few blocks from my office. So when they received the accolade and I then found out they offered a burger on their lunch menu, I had to check it out. Sadly, it didn't live up to expectations.

It's taken me a while to get around to writing this post because I wasn't sure how I could stretch it out or make it that good. Finally I just decided to write it and not worry about the size or quality. Which is a surprisingly good parallel to the attitude that must have gone into producing the L&L burger.

It was small. Certainly no more than 6 ounces of meat, even though our waiter claimed "it's very big."

It was weak. Low quality ground chuck with no flavor of its own surrounded by condiments that were a disappointment considering the high ceiling promised by their description: green chili onion rajas, Gruyère cheese. I'm all over Gruyère. I love that stuff with a love that borders on unhealthy obsession. You put Gruyère on something, I'm immediately going to rate it higher than it deserves on its own. And yet, somehow this burger even disappointed on the Gruyère. The thinnest slice of a cheese that was furthest from the normal hint-of-sweetness I love in my Gruyère while still being able to (I guess) claim the name. Sad. And as for the green chili onion rajas: two small slices of mild green chili. Sadder.

It was expensive. Twelve dollars should get me a lot more. But perhaps I'm being too harsh: after all, it came with fries. Frozen fries, that even though I was told would be hand-cut were certainly not. And by the time they got to the table, they were already returning to their original state, as somehow it took quite a while to get there, and I guess the fries were cooked earlier in the day.

All in all, L&L was a real letdown for the burger. I anticipate that it may be a better dinner restaurant and that lunch just isn't their thing, but I hate that that has to even be a caveat. If you don't do lunch well, either don't offer lunch, or do it better. And if you don't do burgers well, in a downtown that contains the Burger Guys (whose Tejas burger does the rajas thing much better) and Hubcap Grill, please, just don't offer a burger.

A bit of whimsy: I was looking for the most errors committed by a team in a single game of baseball and found that the answer was 24, on June 14, 1876. I couldn't at first find the box score, but after searching through old newspapers, found this story from the Boston Globe, June 15, 1876.

[Some notes: I tried to preserve a few spelling and grammar mistakes so those are of the Globe, not of me; I also relied on a box score found in the Chicago Tribune to correct the mistakes that were found in the original article. Both originals are below as well. When the Tribune disagreed with the Globe, I went with the Globe (on account of geography), unless the Tribune resolved a math error. (Such as for the line score.) Note that the Tribune claims Boston had 25 errors, but the original search that led me here in the first place stated 24; The Tribune only has a box score but does editorialize: "Following is the score of the worst professional game on record:"]

SUMMER PLEASURES.
—-
BASE BALL AND TURF EVENTS YESTERDAY.

The Bostons Defeated by the St. Louis, 20 to 6—The Athletics Defeat the Cincinnatis, and the Louisvilles Beat the New Havens—Races at Mystic and Point Breeze Parks

The St. Louis nine put in an appearance on the Boston grounds yesterday afternoon, for the first time this season, and played their first game for the championship with the Bostons. The attendance was small, it being generally thought that the St. Louisians would have very little difficulty in defeating their Boston adversaries on this occasion, and as Chadwick says: "when such a condition of things exists, there is not that inducement to invest a half a dollar," particularly when the crowd can get disgusted reading the game by innings on THE GLOBE bulletin. The visitors came on in fine form, and their play and deportment fully sustained their previous reputation. The Bostons had their usual team, with McBride as pitcher, but it was evident after the first innings that the visitors could hit him as they pleased, and it was not until the seventh innings that the captain (whoever that person is) could be induced to put in Manning in his place. The change worked well, as but two safe hits were made in the remaining innings. The St. Louis nine defeated the Bostons at every point, the only real damaging errors to their nine being passed balls by Clapp. The play of the Bostons was simply disgusting and the only players who are worthy of notice, are O'Rourke and Whitney. Leonard's play at second base was terrible, nine errors marking his score, and still the management think he can ply the position. George Wright attempted great things, but failed. Schafer also made two bad muffs. Morrill was a trifle "off," probably owing to the fact that he had lost all confidence in throwing to second base. The fielding of Bradley was the finest yet seen on these grounds. The visitors' batting was good, every player being credited with safe hits McGeary and Cuthbert made four each. The game really deserves no mention, except such as contained in the following score:

           BOSTONS            |           ST. LOUIS
                R IB PO  A  E |                 R IB PO  A  E
G. Wright, s.s  0  0  0  2  4 | Cuthbert, l.f.  1  4  3  0  1
Leonard, 2b...  1  1  4  4  9 | Clapp, c......  1  4  6  2  6
O'Rourke, c.f.  0  0  2  0  0 | McGeary, 2b...  2  4  4  4  2
Murnan, 1b....  0  1  9  0  1 | Pike, c.f.....  2  2  0  0  0
Manning, r.f..  0  0  2  0  3 | Battin, 3b....  4  4  1  0  0
Morrill, c....  0  0  5  2  3 | Blong, r.f....  2  2  1  0  1
Schafer, 3b...  1  1  2  2  3 | Bradley, p....  4  2  0  4  3
Whitney, l.f..  2  1  3  0  0 | Dehlman, 1b...  2  2 11  0  0
McBride, p....  2  2  0  1  1 | Mack, s.s.....  2  1  1  3  3
               -- -- -- -- -- |                -- -- -- -- --
 Totals.......  6  6 27 11 24 |  Totals....... 20 25 27 13 16

 Innings .......................1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
Bostons ........................0  0  0  1  1  0  2  0  2 - 6
St. Louis ......................1  0  0  4  5  7  0  0  3 -20

Runs Earned – Bostons 0; St. Louis, 5.
First base on errors – Bostons 1, St. Louis, 7.
Bases on Called Balls – Bostons, 3; St. Louis, 3.
Wild Pitch – McBride, 1; Bradley, 0.
Fly Catches – Bostons, 7: St Louis, 6.
Foul Catches – Murnan, 1; Merrill, 3; Clapp, 2; Battin, 1; Dehlman, 1.
Struck Out – G. Wright, 2; Murnan, 1; Dehlman, 1.
Double Plays – G Wright, Leonard, and Murnan, 2.
Passed Balls – Morrill, 2; Clapp, 4.
Umpire – Mr. Hodges of the Suffolks Club.
Time of Game – 2 hour 40 minutes.
The second game between the Boston and St. Louis will be played this afternoon on the Boston Grounds.

Original Images:

• Boston Daily Globe – June 15, 1876
• Chicago Tribune – June 15, 1876

After two consecutive "worst in franchise history" seasons, it appears the Astros, despite their stellar performance on Opening Night, are poised for a third. This is not a good thing: no one wants to see their team lose, and no one wants to see their team at the bottom of the league standings, the laughing stock of others, the perpetual target of every sportswriter's "incompetence" musings. But it's not necessarily a bad thing either, if losing paves the way to future victory. And that's the promise, from the leadership of this team, that holds a lot of fans today.

Rebuilding is the name of the game, and in the process, there will be losses. There will be trades and there will be minor league success. There will be #1 draft picks. There will be times where every hack makes a joke about the players who get paid more than the entire Astros' roster. There will be embarrassing games. There will be times where Marwin Gonzalez is interviewed in the same vein as he would be for a walk-off home run in the playoffs, all for getting a single hit in the bottom of the ninth to break up what would have been a perfect game. And then one day, there will be wins.

But before those wins come, I recommend embracing the nadir. Take pride in our team, knowing that they will probably never again be as bad as they are now. There's something to be said there. Something proud about losing so badly that you lose better than you've ever lost before. This team doesn't have much hope this year, and that's been admitted. But if they have to lose, let's, as fans, ask them to lose in glorious fashion. And that means breaking "unbreakable" records.

Unbreakable records are those that, thanks to changes in the game or the fact that the level of science or talent has shifted, are no longer reachable. Of course, there are only a few actual unbreakable records, such as Old Hoss Radbourn's fifty-nine (or possibly sixty) wins in one season. But there's a large number of records that seem unattainable, such as Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game, but are not actually unbreakable. These are the ones that this Astros team should reach for.

• Team Season Strikeout Record (1529) – Currently held by the 2010 Diamondbacks, this seems to be the easiest to break thanks to advances in the science of pitching. The Astros are currently on pace for 2322. This should come down a little, but 1530 is certainly in sight.
• Team Single Game Strikeout Record (20) – This one will be really hard to break, but there's even more of an incentive to do so: currently the '98 Astros hold the record but are tied with the '86 Mariners, '96 Tigers, and '12 Mariners. It's time to break ahead of the pack and hold this solely. In a typical home game, the Astros will face at minimum twenty-seven at-bats, so twenty-one strikeouts is not unattainable. Just difficult.
• Most Consecutive Scoreless Innings (56) – The 1903 Pirates hold this record and it doesn't look like it'll fall any time soon. It requires at least six consecutive shutouts, plus an additional three shutout innings to break. The Astros are currently working on this, with eighteen, but that's not even close.
• Most No-Hitters Against a Team in One Season (2) – Two no-hitters suffered in one season has happened fifteen times, most recently the 2010 Tampa Bay Rays. No team has ever been no-hit three times in one season though, and now's as good a time as any.
• Most Consecutive Losses (26) – The 1889 Louisville Colonels managed to put together the worst skid ever, and it has stood for 124 years. But the time is ripe!
• Most Grounds-Into-Double-Play (174) – This one, currently held by the 1990 Red Sox, is probably the least likely for this team to break, as it requires actually getting to base in the first place. There have been no GIDPs for the Astros this year. Don't count on this growing too fast.
• Fewest Intentional Walks (10) – The 1961 Kansas City Athletics only received ten intentional passes, the record by far. Can the Astros break this? Certainly seems possible: if there's no base runners, there's no reason for a pitcher to intentionally add one.

While some of these records may seem daunting, they're worth breaking, or attempting to break. On the surface, there's no pride in being the worst. But there is an investment of pride. Imagine, when the rebuilding has found success and the Astros aim for a title, how much more impressive it will be in the face of record-setting failure only a few years prior. When your children ask if you were there for that nadir, you can say you were there, you remember it, and you embraced it.

So there’s a whole slew of bars opening in Midtown now, many of them around Main and McGowen. So two weeks ago, I decided to stop in to the first of the new wave, Capitol Bar.

I wanted to write this post as soon as I walked up to the door and saw the “strict dress code enforced” sign, but I was so underwhelmed by the rest of the experience I apparently forgot for two weeks.

Basically, it seems as though Washington Avenue is rapidly relocating to Midtown. And this is not good. The dress code thing, of course, is an obvious warning sign, as dress codes at bars tend to be used for racist, not classy, reasons. Another warning sign is the fact that this bar, in the middle of a craft beer surge in this country, had zero beer taps.

And when I say “zero beer taps,” I don’t mean zero craft beer taps. I mean zero beer taps. Not even the most omnipresent macro beer had a tap handle at Capitol. Of course, top shelf liquor was everywhere (and I later heard, bottle service plans are in the mix), so it’s pretty clear to see what Capitol Bar is trying to be.

I asked if they had any beers on tap and the waitress very nicely described their selection: anything Silver Eagle would give them. So I got one of the three Saint Arnold offerings and walked around the place.

Capitol has a great patio. There’s no doubt. It’s very reminiscent of the area outside of the Continental Club, with an outdoor secondary bar and a nice stage. The patio and the service are easily the two biggest pluses. Sadly, the rest of the bar is a huge negative.

The attitude of Washington Avenue is one I try to avoid, and the dress-code-enforced closeted (and sometimes not closeted) racism and top-shelf bottle service atmosphere does not appeal to me. Capitol is just another Washington Avenue bar, but in Midtown.

With the closure of Sawyer Park, many gleefully announced a victory in the war against the Washington Avenue style, but I fear that the enemy is not defeated, it is just relocating.

I went to Capitol Bar so you don’t have to. I won’t be returning.

During this ongoing sequestration debate, President Obama said something that I particularly liked: “the greatest nation on Earth [cannot continue] careening from crisis to crisis.” Whether you agree with Republicans or Democrats on the sequestration issue, or even if you’re in the smaller third group of people who think the trigger of immediate across the board cuts is the real solution, you have to admit, Obama has a point.

We cannot continue to move from crisis to crisis, but it seems like for the last five years, and possibly much longer, we’ve been doing exactly that. Each crisis is real, though not necessarily in the sense the government or media would have us believe, and each crisis is present, though not necessarily with the immediacy and urgency that those same stakeholders would insist.

For the most part, it seems that many of these crises are manufactured. It’s easy to see what the media gains by such scaremongering, but not as simple to see what others gain. Washington’s approval ratings have steadily decreased after each election, with more and more citizens pointing at the government as unable to accomplish even the most basic compromise to solve the problems that the same government would have us believe are apocalyptic.

Frankly, I don’t think the sequestration will end up being that big of a deal. At least not as big a deal as the rhetoric, from both sides of the aisle, made it out to be. And I don’t believe that the debt ceiling is as big a deal either, though it certainly would have ramifications. Nor did the fiscal cliff seem that important to me. Sure, each of these things will have consequences, but not at the level that some news organizations would have you believe.

But I do think we have one major crisis that America is still in the middle of: extreme partisanship. The gridlock results in these mini-crises that I refer to above, and the inability to compromise pushes them into the spotlight. Government is not supposed to work this way. Our government especially.

America cannot continue to move from crisis to crisis. Especially when those crises are easily resolvable with only a modicum of modesty and deference to others.

Damian’s, a staple of the Houston restaurant scene, turns thirty this year, which is an amazing milestone. As someone else put it (though I cannot remember who), that’s like 120 in restaurant years. Truly impressive.

Their Italian cuisine is well-regarded throughout Houston, and I’m sad to say I’ve never had it. See, until last week, I’d never visited Damian’s, even though it’s in Midtown, and is probably my mother’s favorite restaurant. Last week, however, I had a reason that could not keep me away: a secret burger.

My mother frequents Damian’s so often that she has developed a relationship both with the chef and her favorite waiter (and now friend), Ruben. So when she found out that there’s an off-the-menu burger that the chef makes, she invited me along to come try it.

The catch with the burger is that it has to be ordered at least twenty-four hours in advance, as the chef prepares the meat ahead of time. And frankly, it shows. Though atop a rather boring bun (which is not unexpected since this is not a burger establishment) and accompanied by the usual salad fixings, this is not a bland burger by any stretch. The meat mixture is complex, well-seasoned, cooked to perfection, and straight-up fantastic.

It’s not an oozy burger, and it’s not gourmet. And because of that, it doesn’t fall prey to the many downfalls that can plague the modern burger. It simply does one thing, and it does it well. I’m glad I had a chance to try it, and I’m glad that Damian’s has survived thirty years. Here’s to many more.