great seats

Houston Astros offer up Minute Maid Park stadium seats to lucky fans

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Fans have a chance to own Minute Maid seats.

Houston Astros fans who want a piece of the ballpark to take home might want to take advantage of this upcoming sale.

Team historian Mike Acosta said on Twitter that seats from Minute Maid Park will be removed during the offseason for renovation.

But the seats don't appear to be up for grabs just yet. Acosta said that sales will begin soon for pairs of seats.

If you're interested, you can send an email authentics@astros.com and leave your phone number.

However, the tweet was also elusive enough to leave fans with a few questions.

"What is the renovation going to look like? Do we have pictures of the plans?" one online user asked.

"Could you tell us more about the renovations?" another fan named Nathan asked.

"Let's bring in some rainbow seats!" another suggested.

The rainbow seats are likely a nod to the colorful seats that used to sit in the Astrodome, also once the home of the 'Stros.

Thousands of old seats from the Dome were sold in an online auction in 2015. Although we don't have many details on the renovation, this won't be the first change Minute Maid Park has seen lately.

Last month, the Astros extended protective netting further down the left-field and right-field lines.

The team said the protective net was upgraded to knot-less netting to allow for "an improved viewing experience for fans."

There were calls among players in the Majors to extend netting following recent incidents of fans being hit by foul balls. A small girl was hit by a ball fouled off of Chicago Cubs player Albert Almora Jr. during an Astros game in May.

This was the second time since 2017 that the Astros chose to extend the netting.

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blast off

Houston Rockets' bold new uniforms revive 'ketchup and mustard' look

Courtesy of Houston Rockets

Championship Yellow is once again part of the Rockets' uniforms.

The eyes of the NBA may be on the finals matchup between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks, but the Houston Rockets are already thinking about next season.

The team unveiled new uniforms that revive the signature red-and-yellow “ketchup and mustard” uniforms the team wore when it won back-to-back NBA Championships in 1994 and 1995. Take a first look at them in the photos above, or in this video the team posted to social media.

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“From the time my family bought the team in 2017, we’ve heard from countless fans about how deeply those colors are tied to their memories of Rockets basketball,” said Patrick Fertitta, vice chairman of the Houston Rockets and Comets, in a statement. “We wanted to create something that celebrates the generations of fans who built Rockets basketball while inspiring the next generation of Rockets fans.”

While the return of “Championship Yellow” is new, the Rockets’ uniforms are still centered around the team’s signature “R” logo, which is featured prominently throughout. The “Dunkstronaut,” an astronaut dunking a basketball that was first introduced in the “City” uniforms, has been more fully integrated into the team’s branding. A new global logo takes inspiration from NASA mission patches, with two yellow quasars symbolizing the franchise’s move from San Diego to Houston in 1971.

Other details include a “Clutch City” jock tag that’s framed by the two quasars. Each pair of shorts has the “R” logo and the Dunkstronaut on the waistband.

In addition to the standard “Icon” and “Association” editions that will be the team’s standard home and away uniforms, a “Statement” jersey uses black fabric to symbolize the vastness of space, quasar-inspired pinstripes, and rockets rising along the side panels.

Initial reaction to the new has been overwhelmingly positive. Consider the take of writer Jeff Balke, who offered some thoughts in a column for the Houston Press.

“It’s interesting that there was a point Houston sports teams and residents wanted to do everything they could to distance themselves from what many thought was a rather embarrassing past,” he writes. “But, as an entire generation (yay, Gen X!) grew up in the city and embraced both the good and the bad, a real pride in our collective weirdness began to shape our collective identity. In terms of our city’s psyche, this feels like another step in the right direction.”

Speaking of nostalgia, the team leaned in with this promo video set at Rudy T’s, a fictional diner named for legendary Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich. Starring Houston comedian Mo Amer, the clip features cameos by Rockets legends such as Hakeem Olajuwon, Ralph Sampson, Calvin Murphy, Rudy Tomjanovich, and many more.