10 Reasons Why it's Actually Awesome to be a Fan of a Losing Team

Being a fan of the Houston Astros currently means watching one of the worst teams in the history of the game slog through series after series with very little hope of taking two out of three games.....or even one of three.

It doesn't mean all things are terrible though. There's actually two handfuls of reasons why it's pretty damn awesome to be a fan of the team.

10. Every game is a fun guessing game. You get to guess who will play where, you get to guess what each new players name is and you get to guess how many runs they will lose by on any given night.

9. No matter how bad they play, they are still guaranteed an All Star (almost certainly to be Jose Altuve, MLB's shortest active player).

8. We get to enjoy one of the best minor league systems in the game.

7. Jose Altuve.

6. Looking at the schedule and realizing one of your fantasy baseball starting pitchers is facing the Astros. Though it doesn't bode well for the Astros, it does your fantasy team plenty good.

5. Getting to watch guys who have either ran out of chances with other teams or perennial minor leaguers get the chance to get consistent at bats at the big league level (I still have hope in Fernando Martinez, who was a HUGe prospect for the Mets for a long time).

4. Drafting #1 overall two years in a row (and knowing that both players you drafted/will draft are absolute studs with tons of upside).

3. Having a genius like Jeff Luhnow in charge. All one has to do is look at what he did in St. Louis to know that his being in this organization can only bode well for the future.

2. Gloating when they beat a team that is much better than they are (ie: opening day win over Yu Darvish and the Texas Rangers).

1. At least were not cheering for the Marlins!!

Houston Astros Topps Team Sets

This is a list of the Houston Astros/Colt .45's that I need from Topps sets starting in 1962 and ending in 2013:

1962: All but 23, 44, 74, 126, 156, 177, 227, 354
1963: All but 24, 45, 77, 99, 53, 189, 204
1964: All but 38, 142, 179, 226, 282, 339
1965: All but 48, 80
1966: All but 21, 174
1967: All but 8, 73, 136, 212, 231, 298, 318, 390
1968: All but 41, 57, 128
1969: All but 360
1970: All but 15
1971: ALL
1972: All but 20, 155, 339
1973: 242, 495, 519, 546, 572, 589, 613, 637
1974: All but 21, 91,224, 328, 337, 395, 500, 556, 579
1975: All but 96, 279, 301, 334, 455, 479, 541, 563, 590
1976: All but 75
1977: ALL
1978: All but 13, 226, 330, 358, 437, 514, 677
1979: All but 49, 107
1980: 69, 106, 205, 206, 207, 437, 554, 617
1981: All but 45, 82, 129, 253, 269, 329, 350, 411, 513, 617 642
1982: All but 305, 306, 404, 433, 441, 509, 611, 672, 683, 734, 761
1983: All but 117, 172, 221, 382, 478, 558, 639, 662, 723, 752
1984: 4, 36, 45, 66, 116, 217, 248, 292, 301, 422, 441, 470, 507, 559, 692, 707, 752
1985: 7, 44, 156, 264, 353, 382, 479, 482, 564, 666, 736, 760, 786
1986: 100
1987: 24, 85, 757
1988: 6, 250, 661
1989: 49, 180, 530
1990: 4, 50, 181, 196, 267, 558, 637, 648
1991: All but 32, 119, 149, 174, 194, 423, 646, 703
1992: All but 34, 69, 124, 134, 184, 288, 393, 437, 564, 614, 640
1993: 227, 506, 680, 743
1994: All but 427, 456, 484, 541, 674
1995: All but 22, 366, 488
1995: ALL
1996: ALL
1997: ALL
1998: All but 350, 373, 380, 426
1999: All but 441
2000: 129, 163, 290, 339, 362, 365
2001: 162, 250, 310, 374, 407, 485, 499, 605, 727, 764
2002: 50, 69, 251, 343, 364, 443, 470, 542, 566, 653, 674,
2003: All but 54, 95, 143, 399, 452
2004: 25, 438, 486, 518, 635, 682
2005: All but 56, 84, 111, 140, 187, 220, 242, 279, 321, 526, 610, 650, 694
2006: All but 37, 95, 108, 156, 173, 277, 301, 456, 502, 563, 557, 567, 575
2007: All but 3, 26, 51, 122, 152, 172, 233, 259, 297, 336, 340, 517, 648
2008: 395, 404, 543, 575, 581, 601
2009: All but 47, 125, 148, 241, 256, 344, 399, 618
2010: NONE
2011: All but 88, 539
2012: ALL
2013: ALL

If you have any of these cards available, please email me at anicolausk AT yahoo DOT com.