Former sports writer/sports editor, magazine editor and professional writer now teaching at Oklahoma State University. I grew up in Houston and became a baseball/sports fan early on. I started as a Boston Red Sox fan because of Ted Williams, but my No. 1 team became the Houston Colt .45s/Astros once Houston joined the major leagues. I attended the first official game in the Astrodome in 1965 (the Phillies and Chris Short beat the Astros 2-0 with Dick "Don't Call Me Richie" Allen hitting the first home run the year after Philadelphia's infamous collapse to end the 1964 season).