Where Crane screwed up

Things were going so well. Lower ticket prices. Cheaper beer. Cheaper food. Hell, bring your own food! Maybe change the color scheme.

And then Crane screwed up. He mentioned exploring a name change. It doesn't matter that it was just a matter of exploration, or that he would seek fan input. All anyone is going to remember from this remarkable press conference is that it is theoretically possible that "Astros County" will have to go through a domain and Twitter name change, as well.

Crane shouldn't have even mentioned it. Fans were excited about going to Minute Maid again - and they probably still are - but they're all of a sudden too pissed off that, not only are the Astros going to be in the American League, the Astros might not even be the Astros when it happens.

In all likelihood, Crane already knows that it's unpopular. Someone maybe even printed out tweets on a dot matrix printer and showed it to him. But if he's seeking fan input, then you've already had your say. What was mentioned as a best-case scenario for Astros fans with new ownership in 2012? Everything that Crane said he'd do at the beginning of the press conference.

I would be very surprised if it even gets talked about further - other than a "We're keeping the name" press conference. For now, just settle down, everything is going to be alright. Probably.