Off to get the royal treatment-UPDATE

Not to imply that we've been around here much for the past week, but we're headed down south for the weekend. Houston, to be exact. In a noble yet vain attempt to physically get as far away from St. Louis and the Final Four as possible (nothing makes the beer flow faster than wondering what if...), we're headed down to watch Houston host the KC Royals. A free set of killer seats mysteriously showed up in our mailbox a few weeks ago and we're not about to let them go to waste. So if you see a drunk fan without pants rounding second in the bottom of the sixth screaming "look at my ASStro!" while being chased by security, you'll know we made it to the game in one piece.

The Royals are polar opposites of the Jayhawks. See, everyone expected the Jayhawks to do well. No one, with a few drunk exceptions in the Dallas and Austin region, expect (or hope, for that matter) that the Pride of Kansas City will do anything more than show up and run out groundballs this season. But we feel duty-bound to make the journey south to cheer on the Boys in Blue. Besides, we plan on wearing our KC/Beltran jersey and forcing Astro fans to buy us beer as a token of their appreciation. Houston wouldn't have done crap in the playoffs last year if KC didn't trade the best centerfielder in the game for a few scrubs, one potential third baseman and a ton of 99¢ chalupas from Taco Bell. We figure they owe us.

We'll let you know if they feel the same way next week.

UPDATE:
We've been to five different major-legue ballparks in our travels, but none of them compare to Houston's Minute Maid Park (or the "Juice Box" as Greg calls it). Sure, Kauffman is a sentimental favorite and the history of Fenway can't be matched, but those boys down south sure know how to build a ballpark. The damn thing is an old converted train depot smack-dab in the middle of downtown. It's surrounded by numerous bars and restaurants, obviously making the area one hell of a party spot. And parking? We literally parked across the street from the stadium (no, we didn't have a parking pass, either). Cost us $7, too. Sure, it was preseason, but you pay $8 to walk a full mile when you hit a game at the Ballpark in Arlington.

Our choice seats were just left of home plate, 'bout half-way up. The only thing better than the view? The company we shared the evening with. Astro fans are pretty damn cool, even to visiting fans who cheer against their team. Our Beltran jersey was an immediate source of conversation; I let them know early on the only reason they went so far as a ballclub in the post-season was due to the Royals letting Beltran go. They agreed, but their appreciation stopped short of buying us free beer. Even when we asked.

Bottom line? It was a good trip to a great ballpark. The fans were great. Calvin Pickering's 356-foot shot made us feel a little better about Ken Harvey being sent down to Omaha. The beer was cold, the Good Guys won and we'll probably make a few more trips down before the end of the year.