From the moment the league was started in 1996, native Houstonian Carlos Balderas had a strong interest in following Major League Soccer, but without a hometown team, it was hard for him to get truly invested. However, after returning from the Marine Corps in 2006, a newspaper headline caught his eye that drastically changed his interest in the league and ultimately led to an obsession.
“I was reading the newspaper one day and I saw a headline about ‘Houston Dynamo advance to MLS Cup Final,’ and I remember freaking out and wondering when Houston even got a team,” Balderas recalled.