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Rays' All-Star Crawford just one of many Houston athletes we would love to see come home
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Carl Crawford would look better in an Astros uniform.
So the Astros contingent did not do much in the All-Star Game. A Houston athlete certainly did.
Tampa Bay outfielder Carl Crawford was named MVP for his outstanding catch that saved a run.
Crawford has been a terrific player for the Rays. He was also an awesome high school quarterback at Davis, and was offered a scholarship to Nebraska. He was also offered a basketball scholarship to UCLA.
Clearly, he made the right choice.
Crawford is a three-time All-Star. His career batting average hovers around .300. He is a four-time stolen base champ; in a game against the Red Sox earlier this year, he tied a modern major-league record with six steals in a game.
He is a legitimate superstar.
He was a second-round selection in the 1999 draft. (Yes, the Astros passed on him to select something called Mike Rosamond).
Crawford tops our top five list of Houston-born or college athletes we would love to see return to the local teams. Of course, we know there is zero chance of any of these guys coming home until they are too old or ineffective to be useful. But if everyone were suddenly a free agent, and we could go get five in any sport, here are our choices:
1) Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays. No, this isn't a knee-jerk based on his catch. Imagine what an outfield of Crawford, Michal Mourn and Hunter Pence would look like for the next five years.
He would even play in front of the Landry's Crawford boxes. In front of Crawford Ave.
Sadly, it will never happen. By the time Crawford gets out of Tampa, he'll be slower than Humberto Quintero.
2) Josh Beckett, Boston Red Sox. Beckett was a superstar in high school, the baseball equivalent of Vince Young. He was the No. 2 pick of the same 1999 draft that produced Crawford, so th Astros never had a shot.
Beckett is simply one of the best pitchers in baseball. He has a career mark of 100-65 with a 3.74 ERA. He was MVP of the Marlins World Series win in 2003, and was the 2007 ALCS MVP with the Red Sox.
A Beckett/Roy Oswalt duo would be deadly in the playoffs.
Don't hold your breath for this one, either. The Red Sox will never let Beckett leave until his arm is spaghetti.
3) Rashard Lewis, Orlando Magic. We won't beat this dead horse into the ground again; we've already done it once. Yet another local star the hometown team ignored in the draft when every human being who had seen the kid play knew he had star written all over him. He is a key cog in Orlando, and would have been a perfect fit for Rick Adelman.
Another who won't be available until he has nothing left in the tank.
4) T.J. Ford, Indiana Pacers. OK, so his pro career has been spotty. Ford orchestrated the most amazing high school basketball team ever at Willowridge in the late 90s/2000. Willowridge went a remarkable 75-1 in his last two years. Then he did the near-impossible and led Texas to a Final Four.
Ford went eighth overall in the remarkable NBA draft that included LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. Injuries have dogged him since college, and he has never really developed a shooting touch, but it would be fun to see him running the Rick Adelman offense.
This one might happen someday, but Ford will likely never be the player he could have been.
5) Kevin Kolb, Philadelphia Eagles. Vince Young fans will question this, but for the offense the Texans run, he would be a perfect fit. He can throw on the run, is incredibly accurate, and will be an effective NFL quarterback if he ever gets a chance. One of the most underrated athletes to ever play in the city. He would be a perfect fit for th Texans offense.
He will either continue to back up Donovan McNabb or eventually get a chance to start there, so he won't ever play here, either.
As for Young, we would love to see him here, but we're not convinced a return to Houston is in his best interests. Still, he tops the next five:
The next five: Vince Young, quarterback, Titans; Corey Redding, defensive tackle, Seahawks; Scott Kazmir, pitcher, Tampa Bay Rays, Donnie Avery, WR, Rams.
We tried to limit this to active athletes who played high school ball in Houston, or at Rice, UH or TSU.
There are probably 100 others; but no matter how you rank them, Crawford would be No. 1.
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