RoundupReads May the best center win (updated!)

May the best center win (updated!)

2017-11-01
Nov. 1 update. 

The out-of-this-world World Series wager is garnering media attention. See a video and story of Ochoa and Watkins on KHOU that goes in depth on the NASA center/baseball rivalry.

Screenshot of KHOU news story.
Screenshot of KHOU news story.  

Original story below.

We know you’ve been following the World Series, of course, but have you been following the rivalry that has been brewing between our center director, Ellen Ochoa, and Michael Watkins, center director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)?
Ellen Ochoa tweet

On behalf of their respective centers, Ochoa, who actually is a native Californian, and Watkins, who actually is a University of Texas at Austin alumnus, have decided the World Series deserves to be the subject of a little bragging rights wager.

So, here’s the contest: If the Houston Astros win the best-of-seven series, Watkins will have to wear an Astros jersey for a day. If the series goes the L.A. Dodgers’ way, Ochoa will wear a Dodgers jersey.

“JSC is proud to be a citizen of Houston and, as such, we are proud of all the city’s accomplishments and its great spirit,” Ochoa said. “And, our team is actually named after our space center, so I’m happy to be able to show support for that, and glad to have a little fun in challenging a center that, except for this week, is our close partner in exploration. I am looking forward to seeing a little bit of Houston at JPL soon.”

“JPLers are proud to work and live in the Los Angeles area here in beautiful Southern California," Watkins said. “We love the chance to show our support for this great city, and for the great baseball tradition of the Dodgers. This is a nice way to have a little fun with our good friends at JSC and we hope to see some Dodger blue there shortly.”

When it comes to the reality of spaceflight, the two centers have collaborated and compared notes on a variety of space projects for nearly half a century. NASA understands that robotic exploration has always been a precursor to human space exploration and that more and more, we see robots and humans flying together, helping each other explore. Rather than rivals, Johnson and JPL are close teammates in expanding our knowledge of the universe and increasing the limits humanity explores.

But, in the meantime, Johnson invites all Astros fans to “Orange Out,” and JPL invites all Dodgers fans to “Bleed Blue.” May the best team win!
Follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #OutOfThisWorldSeries and on the Johnson and JPL social media accounts as the two baseball teams go head to head:

https://twitter.com/NASA_Johnson
https://twitter.com/NASAJPL