https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/sports/2010-06-25/ride-the-express/

Ride the Express

By Will Eidam, June 25, 2010, 12:16pm, The Score

I love amateurs. Wait, before I get fired for being indecent, let me specify: I love amateur sports. As a result, I will be covering the Round Rock Express in detail for the rest of their 2010 season.

Growing up in Nebraska, I never got to experience having a professional sports team. The only sports us Nebraskans had were the Cornhuskers and the Omaha Royals, the Kansas City Royals AAA affiliate. We could say we've never wanted a professional team, because it would take attention away from the Cornhuskers, but really we just didn't, and still don't, have the population to support a pro team. After all, on football game days, Nebraska's Memorial Stadium becomes the "third largest city" in the state.

Austinites can probably relate. Granted, Austin has the population which could support a pro team, but I'm sure most Austinites believe UT football is their pro team. After all, most of their players get paid anyway (right? … right?).

Seriously, though, isn't it great to live in a city where the sports section's front page is about the results of a game, and not about which all-pro wide receiver is skipping OTAs or which basketball player had the latest case of the crazies? Instead, we get to witness sports in Austin for the simplest of reasons: for love of the game. (The idea, not the movie.)

Which is why we should all be paying more attention to the Round Rock Express, the Houston Astros' AAA affiliate. Just a bunch of young players hoping to make it to the bigs. We get to watch them when they're innocent, not haggling over contracts or causing a stir in the tabloids, we just get to watch them play.

The Austin Chronicle's going to be paying closer attention to the Express for the rest of the year. With Round Rock having Top 10 attendance figures in the AAA, it's obvious there's interest, so we're going to feed that interest.

On Mondays, expect a posting reviewing the last week's games, as well as a preview of the two upcoming series for the following week. We'll highlight not only top prospects in the Astros' system, but also for the opposing teams coming to town. After all, it's fun to watch a guy like Bud Norris come into town, but it's also fun to know about future all-stars on other teams. On Thursday we'll do something different, possibly post an interview from a player, maybe I'll just find a way to tie the Express to my home state of Nebraska. (After all, I've managed to do that in all of my other postings, why not keep the streak going?)

It's going to be great, and I hope you all read along as we ride the Round Rock Express for the rest of the season!