Got tired of doing it, especially with all the others things that are currently going on in my life. Plus, since BudAdams.com disappeared as a fan site, I didn't think the need was there for the antibud site.
I grew up in Houston and dreamed of playing for the Oilers. Bob Taliamini spoke at my pee-wee football banquet. In college I worked for the Oilers at training camp in Kerrville and on the sidelines at home games. The Titans are my #1 NFL team but the Texans will instantly be #2 -- even though I live in North Carolina.
Hey where is oak ridge? I live in Raleigh On the topic: I was and oilers fan, I am a titans fan, I am going to be a texans fan and the titans will fall to a very distant 2nd. Go Texans!
Bud Adams looks pretty good compared to Drayton "The Astrodome is a state-of-the-art-facility (1994)" McClane. With the 17th highest payroll and the attendence again pushing 3 million McClane is still claiming to be losing money. By his account he has lost money every year he has owned the Astros and he expanded this year's payroll out of the goodness of his heart. I didn't realise that billionaires choose baseball as a charity function...please! The Astros remain a solid franchise because of their scouting, farm system and the general manger, but because of the constant nickle-and-diming they only have a small window to keep their good players (after Biggio and Bagwell) before they have to let great talents walk. The Astros will not pick up Astacio's option and Scott Elarton will be let go for nothing. Another all-star level outfielder will be let go (Alou) and don't count on Vinny Castilla, or Mike Williams coming back, either. Incidentally, when was the last big free agent obtained by the Astros, Nolan Ryan? At some point McClane's talk of doing everything it takes to be a Champion is just that, talk. Until McClane opens his books, I say he is doing some creative accounting to come up with these "loses." Even in the unlikely event that McClane is losing money now, or in the past, he will make over a $100 million profit once he sells the team. Having a stadium built for you has its perks, after all. In the '80's Bud Adams put his money where his mouth was..the Oilers regularly had one of the league's highest payrolls and the talent level ranked with anyone. The Oilers left as much as because of the Buffallo, Denver and K.C. playoff chokes, simple as that. The Astros and Rockets got new facilities in large part because the Oilers left. Bud Adams has the tact of a pitbull with rabies, but he is no more a villain than any other of his ilk. As it turns out, everything has worked out for the best for all concerned. The Titans are one of the three best run and best supported franchises in the NFL and Houston has exorcised itself of many awful memories and have a good situation to grow into. -Elvis, who thinks Yankee Les is the best owner Houston ever had, much to the chagrin of the good-ole'-boy constituency
Scott Elarton? Scott Elarton is not with the Astros, he he and a player to be named later (I don't know who) were traded to Colorado for Astacio.
NeXXes...no ****, Sherlock. Elarton would *in effect* be let go for nothing in return if Astacio's option is not picked up. Say, did you hear that Mike Hampton was traded?
It would help if you'd write better if you want people to understand you. You'd have been better off saying "The Astros will not pick up Astacio's option and Scott Elarton will have been let go for nothing" since you can't say that Elarton will be let go as he's already been let go. You can see where one would be tripped up the way you wrote it, so cut him some slack for misunderstanding your post.
Can't remember who posted it, but the Oilers rarely ever had a legitimate sell-out, despite always having one of the best teams in the league. Doesn't anyone remember there being doubt every week as to whether or not the Oilers were going to be televised, due to not having sold enough tickets? The only reason the Oilers were on most of the time is because Randall's always had to step in and buy up the remaining tickets. 110% capacity my butt.
Outside of Clutch and Jeff, mrpaige might be the last person anyone would ever want to talk trash like that to. You're the one that sounds like a jerk.
that's a gross misrepresentation of things. first of all, the 72-hour rule is not the deadline for a "legitimate" sell-out; the kickoff is. and randall's didn't step up "every" week, but on scattered ocassions. and when they did have to help out, they were usually buying up the final 1,000 or so tickets. it certainly wasn't tens of thousands, or even multiple thousands. in effect, they were buying the crappiest seats in the house. when i get home tonight, i can pull out a media guide and give more definitive numbers, but during the winning seasons, the oilers drew very well, and even when they sucked (which was far more often), they drew better than expected. houston is, and always will be a football-first town. that's why the texans' name unveiling damn near outdrew a typical rockets' game last year. the oilers were very well supported in houston, and while i won't get into the lanier-adams fracas, i will say that adams flat lied about support, and was able to do so because at the time he made the claim, the team was 2-14 and halfway out the door. so of course no one was showing up. three straight unfathomable playoff losses, followed by a 2-14 campaign, followed by threats to move...? who would suport that?
Again, I appreciate all of the unsolicited advice (not) as to both my writing style and, now, my manner. Would my response(s) go down better with some clever emoticon? Rocketman95, I don't care if Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, or my grandmother wrote on this, or any other BBS. If they, or anyone else thinks it is their place to be my English, or ethics teacher, I will respond in kind to their presumtiousness. If someone wants to disagree with the substance (or lack of substance) of my posts, that is fine. I just object to people wasting everyone's time by playing BBS wetnurse, or grammar coach. I will stop responding to this issue here on the Clutch BBS. If anyone wants to complain, flame, or discuss this matter in any way, e-mail me privately (Brenthistory@yahoo.com) and you can try to convince me why I am a jerk, or whatever is bothering you about my writing style.
Unfortunately, you're too thickheaded to see that mrpaige was actually trying to be helpful. It is people like you that make the world, and this BBS, suck sometimes. Great work.
You're writing style caused confusion in at least one poster's eyes. You call him names, someone (probably the most well liked person on this board, hardly ever flames anyone) suggests that they way you wrote the sentence caused the confusion, and you go off on him. The only person who's got a big problem is you.
The fact that Randall's had to buy up the remaining tickets makes it illegitimate, deadline or no deadline. What would have changed between the time Randall's bought up the tickets and the kickoff, that would make the "sell-out" any more legitimate? Nothing. I didn't say Randall's had to step up every week, I said there was doubt every week as to whether the game would be televised. On a given Sunday, no matter how good the team was or the importance of the game, you couldn't bank on the game being televised without Randall's interfering. That doesn't mean Randall's had to do so every week, just that there was uncertainty. Did Pittsburgh and Cleveland have this problem? A "football-first" town.
If you'd isn't a contraction, I wonder why they put it in my dictionary. I'm getting my money back on that one. Clearly Elvis here is a very angry man. Someone misunderstands him due to his unclear writing (which is not a grammar flame. Clarity is not the same thing as writing with perfect grammar, etc. If people know what you mean on a BBS, that's all we can ask for. But if people are confused, calling them names isn't really the way I would go. But that's just me, I suppose), and he goes off on the guy. There are clearly some issues there. At any rate, it doesn't matter. People that angry don't last long on this board. They either come around and quit being jerks or they get themselves banned. No skin off my nose either way. (And I have been feeling a little smarmy lately for some reason, so my posts probably do have a little more bite than previously. I can understand how that could misinterpreted as aggression or flaming. But clearly Elvis was going to attack anyone who made any comment about his post judging by his attack on the first person to question what he was saying).
I agree with MadMax on this one. Bud Adams' never negotiated in good faith with the city of Houston, and didn't make the effort necessary for a successful stadium campaign. The Oilers were a popular team; I'm sure an arrangement could have been made. But it was all about Bud's supersized ego and his pissing contest with Bob Lanier. Of course, I admit that even if Adams had been totally in the right, I still wouldn't support the Titans. I route for the city more than the team. I'm going to be a Texan fan. I hope the Titans go 0-16.
what would've changed? what would've changed?! well, by making thursday your deadline, you eliminate walk-up sales on the day of the game, and houston has always been a notorios walk-up town. also, don't forget, this was during the early 90's, back when al gore was still hammering out the blueprints for the internet. so eliminating saturday from the ticket buying equation was a big deal back then, especially for those who had to work during the week. when you're talking about a few hundred tickets (and we are), it's not inconceivable those would have sold over the course of three additional days. so that's what would've changed. however you wanna split the hairs -- you're wrong. there wasn't concern "every" week, and, in fact, it was rare randall's had to step in. they did, i'm not denying that, but that's not exactly rare in NFL circles. the 72-hour rule is bogus, a phantom deadline signifying nothing, and shouldn't be used to measure fan support. why don't we instead talk about tv ratings (which were always through the roof), talk show topics and media coverage (which the oilers dominated -- hell, two-time nba champion rudy tomjanovich couldn't score a weekly tv gig, but jerry glanville did, jack pardee did, buddy ryan did, warren moon did, ray childress did...), not to mention focusing on how many actually showed up to the games -- the dome was always packed by kickoff. the oilers were very well supported in their stay in houston. there isn't really much to debate here. give me a break. when the oilers were mired in the dark days -- and i mean dark days: 3 wins over 3 seasons kind of dark days, they still drew more than respectable numbers. that houston turned its back on bud at the end should be commended, not looked down upon. he was taking advantage of the fans, and the fans had had enough.
