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When Wacko Jacko dangled Blanket, his newborn baby, over a hotel balcony in 2002...THAT was a "bad move".  When Britney Spears shaved her head, THAT was a "bad move".  Me doing the chicken dance at Julie Hays' wedding.  Yes, another "bad move". 

But, none of those "bad moves" compare to Major League Baseball's decision to move the two Astros/Cubs games scheduled to be played in Houston over the weekend, from Minute Maid Park to Milwaukee of all places!

My mother taught me long ago that one of the things you can never control in life is the weather.  (She also told me that I should ask Liz Donnell to Homecoming sophomore year with a plush, stuffed Otter and a note that said "Liz, you OTTER go to Homecoming with me."  But the majority of the advice she has given me is solid, I promise.  Like the thing about the weather).

So early last week, when it became evident that Hurricane Ike was about to pummel the Texas gulf coast late Friday/early Saturday, the Astros should have known that there was NO WAY the Cubs and 'Stros were going to get any games in at Minute Maid Park over the weekend.

But instead of taking a proactive approach, the 'Stros were left scrambling for a city in which to play.  So, more than 12 hours after Ike's center came ashore in Galveston, Major League Baseball announced that the Astros - just 2.5 games out of first place in the Wild Card at the time, mind you - would "host" the Chicago Cubs in Milwaukee's Miller Park.  90 miles from Wrigley Field, the home of the Cubs.

And the rest is history.  Carlos Zambrano threw the first Cubs no-hitter since 1972 on Sunday and Ted Lilly nearly threw the second one on Monday.  The Astros got one hit in two games and lost them both.  So much for a home field advantage, huh?

I'm not saying that Zambrano and Lilly, throwing the way that did, wouldn't have still beaten the Astros if those games were played in Houston, or anywhere else for that matter- they surely would have.  But I am quite confident that the 23,000 screaming Cubs fans didn't hurt Big Z's adrenaline on Sunday night, when he was pitching for the first time in 12 days.  

Now, I've already said that I'm not blaming Mother Nature.  So she's off the hook.  Who's to blame for this debacle?  How does one justify sending a playoff contender to play two "home" games 90 miles from the locker room of the team in the so-called-visitor's dugout?

The Rangers spent the weekend playing the A's in Oakland.  I bet they wouldn't have minded helping their Lone Star state friends out and letting the Astros play in Arlington.  You know who the President of the Rangers is?  Some dude named Nolan Ryan.  I think he did a thing or two in Houston back in the day, like pitch in rainbow stripes (and a couple playoff series), throw a no-hitter and collect a paycheck all the way up until last season.  I guess the Astros didn't have his new cell phone number.

All I'm saying is someone is at fault and if the Astros lose the Wild Card by one game, or maybe even two - this matter shouldn't be taken lightly.

***

After that little rant, I'd like to share a much more uplifting Hurricane Ike story. 

Dan Ingham, Brady Taylor, Robert West, and I played in the 22nd Annual Temple College Foundation golf tournament this morning at Wildflower Country Club.  (We shot 3-under, thanks for asking.)

Like most golf tournaments, the Temple College Foundation ordered golf shirts to be given away to the tournament's 212 participants as part of our "goody bags".  However, when the Foundation learned of the number of Hurricane Ike evacuees staying in shelters in the Temple/Belton area - they decided that those folks needed the brand new shirts more than we did.  So over the weekend they delivered boxes of clean, individually wrapped golf shirts to our fellow Texans displaced by something completely out of their control - some of whom fled their homes with only the clothes on their backs.

And you thought a hole-in-one was the best feeling golf could give...