Aarcraft—I understand the stress levels re: the hurricane and appreciate that it’s a totally different deal.  The thing is, the focus of the Astros’ complaints last year was not about the hurricane itself. It was about playing the ball games on the road and specifically playing them in Milwaukee.  The shirts they printed up said “Bud killed us.”  They were referring to their playoff hopes, not about the Ike-induced stress.

I disagree with Aarcraft somewhat. I suppose any given winter day in northern Maine is not quite as stressful as a hurricane, but having lived there I can say “prit’ near”. 20 degrees below zero or worse, not counting the wind - every night for weeks, even months sometimes. my first January in Maine it didn’t break double digits even in the daytime. as in Minnesota or the Dakotas or Alaska, you make serious preparations for winter EVER YEAR, or you could die. that’s stress.

the old joke about Maine’s climate? 9 months winter, three months damn poor sleddin’.

You will get no argument from me that the “Bud killed us” shirts were ridiculous. To me it showed that something was lacking in that team. I thought they had a legitimate beef, that they turned into an excuse and a crutch.