Monday night was a historic occasion for the Houston Astros. After winning the first World Series title in franchise history last fall, the team held its home opener Monday, which doubled an opportunity to unfurl its first ever World Series banner.
But as the Minute Maid Park crowd and the Astros’ players alike looked expectantly toward left field, something odd happened: the black sheet over the metallic pennant refused to give way. Stadium staff appeared to try several approaches to pulled down the cover, but for an agonizingly long time, none was successful. As it became clear that something had gone wrong, Jose Altuve, Justin Verlander and other Houston players were caught on camera smiling and giggling at the scene.
Finally, after about 45 frustrating seconds, the covering finally fell off the pennant, revealing a giant “17” sandwiched between the words “WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS.” Only that wasn’t the end of the struggle. Though the sheet had been mostly removed, it remained caught on the sign’s corner. As the crowd cheered, the black cover flapped in the breeze.
Astros have just a little trouble unveiling their 2017 World Series banner ? pic.twitter.com/BxkfX5TBGB
— ESPN (@espn) April 2, 2018
For all we know, that banner is still flapping up there.
We would say that struggling to unveil a championship banner is some kind of bad omen, but the Astros already have their title, and there’s nothing now that can take it away.
