Then & Now: Changes in Astros history since 2001 division title

HOUSTON – When you think of 2001 what pops into your head? For most of us it's probably 9/11 or tropical storm Allison. 

However as we dug into history we realized that year was also huge for all of Houston's major sports teams. Starting of course with you Astros.

“It was a great year. I mean that was the epitome of the killer b’s. You know, Biggio, Berkman, Bagwell, I mean nobody could beat us,” David Carriere said.

It was also only the second year of Enron Field being open, and the last for that name. David remembers it all, having been a Houston sports fan since he was a kid.

“I was 20 years old at the time and I still knew what Enron was and then having that associated with our ballpark and the thievery and deception and lies. It just had a bad taste,” Carriere said.

But that wasn't the only big change in the Houston sports scene. Sixteen years ago, the Lakewood Church building wasn’t a church at all. It was the home of the Houston Rockets, The Compaq Center

“I grew up in Houston, been in Houston a majority of my life, so I didn’t really know anything different. At the time, yeah, it was a big old stadium that I could run around as a kid in,” Carriere said.

That's also the year construction began on the Toyota Center.

“I was excited about the possibilities of what players it would bring back to Houston with being a new arena because everybody wants to play in a new place,” Carriere said.

Now, let’s talk Texans.

In 2001 the city had just been awarded a brand new NFL franchise and NRG Stadium was being built from the ground up.

Of course, at the time it was called Reliant Stadium and David remembers first seeing the completed sports venue.

“It was astonishing. I'd never seen anything like that," Carrieri recalled. “That was huge to have this city back, have a football team because we’re Southern. Texas is football. That’s what we do.”

It’s fair to say 2001 was a turning point for Houston big three sports.

“It was the beginning of the change for the teams to go where they needed to go," Carrieri said.  â€śEverything was popping there and this city has continued to grow and thrive.”

Grow is right. Two of many other big changes include: The city has gained about 400,000 people and Discovery Green was just two big parking lots. As for this year's Astros team, David truly believes they'll make it to the league championship, if not the World Series.

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