What about them? If it had been another team that moved to Houston, would it be so odd that some U of H fans continued to root for the San Diego Rockets because Elvin Hayes was on the team? Some people can feel that connection just because the team plays in Houston. Some people can't, or they lost that connection when the Oilers left or were never big NFL fans to begin with.
Well to be fair, Schaub would have had a TD last week against the Jags if Andre Davis hadn't fumbled on the one inch line.
Ironically, the toxic taste in Houston's mouth about football was created by the Oilers, yet their latter-day fans (via St. Vince) are the most vocal about hating the Texans! However disappointed I was in Bob McNair, Charlie Casserly, or Dom Capers, or David Carr, they never embarrassed the city like Bud Adams did over and over again. Again, any Houstonian who wants to be associated with that trash is welcome to him. Vince Young and a thousand bars of "Irish Spring" won't wash the stink off you.
OK...so what is the minimum amount of time you have to be in a city to garner loyalty? Your post here is missing logic to the point that it is silly. What a lame way to distinguish the situation...the Rockets have been here longer. What a load of BS. The Rockets are the NBA team in my city. I root for them. I went to A&M and really like Acie Law. He is the best thing to come out of my college's basketball program. I'm not going to do the bush league thing and buy tickets to the Rockets-Hawks game and trot out my A&M gear to go and root against the Rockets. It isn't my fault you don't get that...oh I forgot...the Rockets have been here longer. What a weak argument.
You're missing the whole point. The idea is that everyone has different reasons for following franchises. One *major* one is an extended time period following that team, particularly when young. That might not apply to you - it does to others. Why are people so concerned with whether someone else roots for a team or not and why?
Why? It's an insult if some random guy on an internet message board that you (not you in particular, but you in the general sense) don't even know roots for some other team? There about 300 million people in the country, and less than 3% probably root for Houston teams. Are people insulted by the 290+ million that don't?
to me, i completely understand why people here would root for the Titans, especially b/c of Vince Young. i'm more irked by Houstonians who celebrate a Houston franchise loss. that, makes no sense at all. and by houstonians, i mean those who take pride from being from Houston, not just b/c you live here.
It's one of the most valuable franchises, yet I'm still convinced they didn't want Vince or Bush because of the expected pricetag. Regardless, it's still Houston's team and it's hard for me not to root for it. And the players have nothing to do with Oiler-esque management. Todays game was great, and it SUCKED.
Long enough to develop a connection to the team. Some people can do that right away, many people cannot. The Rockets have a decades long relationship with Houston that encourages those connections and nurtured them. The Texans aren't even a decade old - and so don't have the same connection. But what if the Rockets weren't here? What if the team you'd rooted for for as long as you can remember just up and left? Then some new team comes along that you have no connection with. How can you have the same connection with this new team that you had with the old one when the old one was built upon years and years of following the team? Some people can do that, some people can build that connection because they play in Houston - some people cannot. People who cheer for the Titans over the Texans aren't casting aside lifetime allegiances over one player - because they never existed to cast aside in the first place.
Everything you are saying is reasonable. Unfortunately, too many of your UT brethren and their T-shirt fans are anything but reasonable. It's not enough that they prefer the Titans to the Texans, they also have to rub it everybody's faces as if it's some badge of honor. Too many of the Vince-o-philes also adopt this weird spurned lover tone towards the Texans for not choosing their hero. The active rooting *against* the Texans by so many Houstonians is what disgusts me.
lol uh no I must have missed Acie Law winning a national championship, I must have missed Acie Law being regarded as the greatest collegiate player at his position EVER, I must have missed Acie Law being from Houston, I also must have missed the Rockets having an oppurtunity to draft Acie Law. The two situations have NOTHING in common. Vince Young was one of the greatest college QBs of ALL TIME. Reggie Bush was one of the greatest RBs of ALL TIME in college. The Texans had the chance to draft one of these AMAZING players. The fans of Houston were stoked that one of these talents would play for our team. But NO, the Texans decided to get cute, get fancy, and choose somebody who bench pressed alot at the combine. They dissed the hometown hero, they dissed the fans, so pardon me, the fan, for laughing as that decision blows up in their face week in and week out.
If they're Houstonians, they've likely got a semblance of "bandwagon" in their nature (Houston is still, even though they've made progress, a bandwagon/"what have you done for me lately" town). Thus, if Vince wasn't there, and the Titans still floundering (or showing mild success with Kerry Collins, but not to be confused with SB contenders), I doubt you'd see your so-called "allegiance" simply because they were once the Houston Oilers. I understand the holdovers from the Eddie George/McNair era... they actually did play some in Houston, and the Texans weren't even in existence when those guys were in their prime. But did tons of people buy Billy Volek and Drew Bennett jerseys in Houston? Hell no. And, I wouldn't be bringing up the Rockets as a model of a "long-standing love affair" a team can have with a city... there is still a good amount of people here who could care less about them until they get past the first round of the playoffs... and the radio/tv/newspaper coverage coincides with that as well (along with there still being tickets available for the home opener... unheard of in the other sports here). The Astros are actually more historic, have more generations of born/raised Houstonians, have had more heartache, and weren't a product of relocation (still, nobody will confuse either loyalty/relationship with those of the Cubs, Yankees, or Red Sox have with their cities). And if the Texans weren't struggling, the fan support would be there in excess... cause Houston loves a winner.
one of the greatest college QBs of All Time is so far mediocre at best. Don't even get started on one of the greatest RB's of ALL TIME in college averaging 3 YPC. Mario Williams ain't lighting up the league either. but the top 3 picks of last year's draft, to put it succinctly, have sucked. if you're gonna ridicule the Texans for screwing up the draft, pick some better examples.
Albert Haynesworth on his hit on Schaub: "It was good to knock him out I guess, but he's going to come back and I don't think there'll be any kind of quarterback controversy because they pay that guy a lot of money." Classy individual. He's glad he knocked another player out of the game. Jackass. At least he didn't stomp on Schaub's head after the hit.
No need to single out Houston in there, pretty much everywhere over the world people will bail on a team when they're losing. I don't think the fact that the Titans were the Oilers actually has anything to do with it for most - except to increase the antipathy Texans fans feel towards the people who do cheer for them. If Vince was drafted by the Jaguars, his support would likely be the same - but not necessarily the reaction from Houston fans. eh, it doesn't have to be a love affair - but there is a longer relationship between Houston and the Rockets than the Texans. Even most of the apathetic fans probably have some memory of celebrating the two titles in the mid-90s, or Hakeem Olajuwon or even the excitement of Yao when he first got here. And the same thing for the Astros, I just used the Rockets as an example because this is a Rockets BBS, and the Rockets nearly moved a few years ago. And I wouldn't include the Yankees support with the Red Sox - when the Yankees were bad they were near the bottom of the AL in attendance. Yes, the Oilers leaving - Texas returning to prominence, the Texans being terrible and Vince's sparkling college career all seemed to coincide to create a situation where there were a significant number of fans in Houston who felt stronger about Vince Young and the Longhorns than David Carr and the Texans and so when Young went elsewhere - they followed him.
And yet this city has more of a pulse on what's going on with the Texans on a daily/weekly/yearly basis than what happens with the Rockets... a lot of that has to do with the popularity of the NFL, and this state being enamored with football, but it contradicts the "length of franchise tenure = interest" theory. It also coincides with how "easy" it was for Houston to embrace those Luv ya Blue teams... as the Oilers had only been around for 13 years at that time, and they got support/had a following at a level that NO Houston team has seen since. Sure, there are more fans who've followed the Rockets over all their years... and sure, those championship memories will always be there for everybody who was alive during that time... but unfortunately, it doesn't mean squat in the "what have you done for me lately" mindset that permeates this city. Sure, the Texans haven't developed the unconditional/"I'm a fan of you no matter what" type loyalty that comes naturally with winning... but their actions (whether it be postivie or negative) have a collective grip on this city, and I can clearly see why it would be more annoying to have local fans who openly root against the local team, rather than simply "not have interest" in them.
