17 TO REMEMBER

Not to get all Charles Dickens on you, but sports-wise this year offered the best of times and the worst of times to a degree we’ve rarely, if ever, seen simultaneously in these parts. Only in Houston could we transit, in less than 24 hours, from joyously celebrating a World Series championship to finding out that Deshaun Watson had suffered a season-ending ACL tear. I mean, really? But the 56-years-in-coming World Series triumph was a really, really big deal and, by its lonesome, ensured the city would finish solidly way in the black for the year. Adding Watson, the franchise quarterback the Texans never have had, plus future Basketball Hall of Famer Chris Paul to the mix further gilded our lily. In fact, so much fun stuff happened that John Daly’s securing his first Champions Tour title at the Insperity Invitational — also his first tournament victory anywhere in 13 years — didn’t the make the cut for the 17 most memorable things to go down on or around our playing fields in 2017.

We had it good, despite a smattering of bad.

MARCH 9: OSWEILER TRADED

Call it addition by subtraction. Brock Osweiler was arguably the most expensive, highest-profile mistake any of our franchises have ever made, but at least the Texans cut their losses and exiled him to Cleveland before we had to endure a maddening second season of trying to get Brock unbroke.

APRIL 27: TEXANS DRAFT WATSON

Anybody who saw the final minutes of the Clemson-Alabama national championship game knew what kind of talent Deshaun Watson was, and how he would handle the big moments. After the Texans traded up to draft him, he arrived with high expectations and found a way to exceed them, throwing for 19 touchdowns in the 26 quarters he played. That’s prorates out to 47 over a full season, which would have broken Peyton Manning’s record for a rookie by 21.

JUNE 26: ROCKETS’ REWARDS

The Rockets’ season hadn’t ended well, but Rockets’ Mike D’Antoni winning Coach of the Year and Eric Gordon being Sixth Man of the Year helped remind us of how much talent they had in place. D’Antoni’s style of play made going to the Toyota Center fun again and Gordon, oft-injured his previous life as a Pelican, had been a right-guy-in-the-rightplace-at-the right-time pickup with his sweet-stroking from 3-point range. He finished with more treys — 246 — than all but four players in the league.

JUNE 28: BACKCOURT BLOCKBUSTER

After the Rockets reached a trade agreement with the Clippers for Chris Paul, some questioned whether he could really coexist comfortably with James Harden because they’re both players who need the ball in their hands. But Paul he has proven he has the right temperament — and still enough talent — to make this thing work. The Rockets have won 20 of the 22 games he has played in. He’d either scored at least 20 points or distributed at least 10 assists in his first eight games back from a bruised knee before suffering a strained groin. While keeping him healthy could be an issue, keeping him content won’t be.

AUG. 31: JUSTIN TIME

Call him “V for Victory.” After the Astross acquired Justin Verlander for three prospects minutes before the trade deadline, he won all five of his regular-season starts as an Astro and added four more postseason V’s before finally being stymied. There’s no way the Astros would have won their first World Series without him.

SEPT. 2: COMING HOME When the Astros returned home to play the first home games after Hurricane Harvey, it was a poignant, feel-good moment for a reeling city and proved a sound read on what was ahead for the team and Houston’s fans. SEPT. 5: NEW BASKETBALL BOSS Local ownership is never a bad thing. Tilman Fertitta, who bought the Rockets for $2.2 billion, is a flamboyant guy who enjoys the limelight, but he has given no indication that he’ll be anything but a positive force behind his hometown team. SEPT. 17: WEST IS WON

See above. In his home debut, Justin Verlander gave up three hits and one earned run with 10 strikeouts over seven innings against the Mariners as the Astros clinched their first division title since 2001. We were happy.

OCT. 1: TITANIC ROUT

franchise-record 57 points in a beatdown of the Titans. It’s impossible to imagine two more spotless debuts coming just two weeks apart for athletes who, it’s reasonable to assume, will make us happy many more times in the coming year.

OCT. 14: MAD DASH

Jose Altuve raced home on Carlos Correa’s walkoff double to win Game 2 of the ALCS against the Yankees at Minute Maid Park. Most Valuable Players make these kinds of plays. Although Altuve isn’t especially fast, he has remarkable instincts when it comes to picking his spots, particularly when hitters behind him double. In his career, he had made it all the way home 30 times on 58 two-baggers — he was 6-for-9 in 2017 — but none came at a more critical juncture. We weren’t sure a 2-0 lead would hold up against the Yankees, but we could at least exhale.

OCT. 17: OPENING THRILLS

It was only one win in an 82-game season, but the Rockets starting their season by beating the Warriors on their floor on the night they hung their championship banner showed some serious chutzpah. Game on, Dubs!

OCT. 21: SEVENTH HEAVEN

Charlie Morton would such a differencemaker when the Astros signed him? In Game 7 of the ALCS against the Yankees, portending his similar clutch mastery in Game 7 of the World Series, he pitched five innings, giving up two hits and no runs. Lance McCullers Jr. was no less perfect, allowing only a single hit over his four innings. Nothing could feel better than beating the Yankees for an historic first AL pennant … except beating the Dodgers to win the World Series.

OCT. 25: MARWIN’S MAGIC

Marwin Gonzalez had only seven hits in 43 previous post-season at-bats, but he picked his spot to break out, with his ninth-inning homer tying Game 2 of the World Series and giving the Astros a chance to finally win a Fall Classic game. Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen, who served up the pitch, hadn’t allowed a run in the 2017 playoffs up to that point and had strung together 13 scoreless October appearances going back to 2016.

OCT. 28: COOGS RISE UP

The Cougars had played poorly the previous two weeks, giving up 80 second-half points in losses to Tulsa and Memphis, but D’Eriq King, who replaced starter Kyle Postma at quarterback in the first half, completed a 30-yard pass on a fourth-and-24 before scoring the winning touchdown himself. The 28-24 victory ended No. 17 South Florida’s 12game winning streak, the longest in the country at the time, and gave the Cougars a much-needed morale boost in Major Applewhite’s hot-cold first season as head coach.

OCT. 29: ONE WILD NIGHT

It was either the greatest World Series game ever played or the worst, depending on what you think baseball is supposed to look like. No matter, though. Bregman did his star turn, with his 10th-inning walkoff single winning Game 5 of the World Series 13-12 and getting Astros to within a game of their first championship.

NOV. 1: TOP OF THE WORLD

The biggest victory in Astros history — a 5-1 triumph at Dodger Stadium in Game 7 of the World Series — came 20,294 days after their first victory in the 1962 opener. Yes, in the end, it was worth the wait.

NOV. 5: DYNAMO STUNNER

Dylan Remick, a surprise starter in the second leg of the Western Conference semifinal, jump-started the Dynamo with just the second goal of his career in the first half and the visitors pulled off the 2-1 upset of the top-seeded Timber.