Oh absolutely - and that's how rivalries start. Generally one team cares more than the other and eventually beats them in something important and thus starts the rivalry. I think it makes perfect sense that Texans fans really want to beat the Cowboys - I just don't think the opposite would be true. Due to the Vince thing along with the Houston ties, Houston's real rival (I was wrong when I said the Texans have none) is really Tennessee. Both sides have issues with other. Fair enough - I have no such feelings about preseason games.
You mention how the Texans won their inaugural game against the Cowboys, then seemingly forget about it when you write that they only played once in the regular season (which the Cowboys won). They have played twice in the regular season and it's 1-1.
This is the best post in the entire thread. Finally someone who can see this for what it really is. Ok, now I'm done.
Dallas sucks. When I go to Dallas, I know i'm there when the pavement starts to turn into dirt. Or when my toyota turns into a bmw with a lease. or when all my credit cards are maxed out for buying clothes I really can't afford.
Suuuuuuuuuure you are. BTW, the Rockets have won 2 championships, and the Mavs have won zero. So, by your logic, the Mavs, due to their lack of a "rich" and "storied" history filled with championships galore, are insignificant and not worthy of the Rockets' attention, right? Yep, the Rockets obviously have little motivation to win against a team that resides a scant 240 miles away. Um, okay, dude. Whatever makes you sleep at night.
The Rockets want to beat the Mavs because they are *good*, not because they are 240 miles away. There was no Rockets/Mavs rivalry in the 90's when the Mavs sucked. The Mavs may have cared about beating the nearby Rockets, but the Rockets and us fans couldn't have cared less about Dallas. Now, Rockets fans hate the Mavs because (a) they are good and (b) they beat us in the playoffs - THAT is what makes it a rivalry. The distance adds a little to it, but the main reasons we consider them rivals are the same reasons we consider the Jazz rivals. The Cowboys have no such relationship with the Texans - it's much like Mavs/Rockets in the 90's.
Thank you for the correction - I was counting the inaugural game as a preseason game, which it wasn't. Texans have played Dallas three times: twice in the regular season with each team winning a game, and once in the preseason which Houston won. If I could edit my post, I would.
Major, seriously, you're welcome to believe what you want, but I was there, sitting 10 rows behind the Cowboys bench. Those guys were fired up. Saw it with my own two eyes. Look, I would not be arguing so vehemently or using such absolute language if I didn't bear witness to this first-hand. Regardless of what the state of the rivalry is, the Cowboys showed that they wanted this game badly, and the Texans manned up and denied them. The end. No excuses. If Cowboys fans would just admit that the better team won that day, everything would be just peachy. But instead, they're pulling this "it's only preseason and we weren't motivated" crap, which makes me go into berserker mode, seeing as I was there and personally experienced the "playoff-like" atmosphere.
Its absolutely silly to think the Cowboys werent aiming for the win. And all my Dallas friends did nothing but talk crap during the days leading up to the win...and now its "just preseason". Whatever.
I'm fairly certain there has been more than one preseason game between the two teams. You need a fact checker, dude. Edit: Okay, I looked it up, here is the history in the preseason. 2003, Week 2: Houston 6, Dallas 34 (Their revenge for the previous season's opening day loss) 2004, Week 1: Houston 18, Dallas 0 2005, Week 3: Houston 9, Dallas 21 2007, Week 3: Houston 28, Dallas 16 So they are 2-2 against the Cowboys in the preseason and 1-1 against them in the regular season.
Right, my mistake. We didn't play them in the preseason 2006...I guess since we played them during the regular season.
I remember '03 because there was a smattering of Cowboy fans talking smack about it since it was such a blowout. Of course, most of that was answered resoundingly with "19-10" remarks. '04 I remember as well because we shut them out...but I don't remember many details of that shutout.
Thanks for the correction! I'll work harder on my research the next time I try my hand at writing a sports article.
Of course the players and fans want to win - if you're going to play, you want to win. But that's very different from doing everything you can to *try* to win. Coaches aren't calling a normal gameplan - on both sides. Defenses are testing things, offenses are testing things, etc. At the end of the day, I would argue that neither team really cares who won. Certainly, from a competitive aspect, they'd like to - just like you want to win when playing Playstation even though there's no reward. But from a pragmatic standpoint, ultimately both sides recognize that winning wasn't the goal they went into the game with, so no one really cares what the final score was. That's my point.
That's true. Honestly, I'd forgotten about most of those games as well. But in the moment: kill 'em. Beat 'em down. I think I've already expressed myself rather clearly on this point.
Would it be fair to say that a rivalry exists if the residents of two cities in near geographic proximity talk crap about each other? You get Dallas people talking crap about people from Houston and vise versa. Now, if the fans feel a abnormal desire to beat the teams from that other city, and the teams know that the fans would more appreciate a victory over them, doesnt it make sense that they might be inclined to try harder for the win? Seems to me that could constitute a rivalry. Most Texans fans are old Oiler fans, and we DID consider Dallas our rivals back then. It is perfectly normal that Texans fans should consider Dallas a honest to god rivalry regardless of actual on-field history of the teams.
